The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-19

profane words by which you condemn your fellow men if they were literally carried out? Have you ever stopped to consider that when you ask God to con- demn your fellow men to the internal re- gions you express a desire that through all the coming ages they will suffer greater torture than ever a human vic tim suffered upon the operating table, under a surgeons knife. when anaesthet ics could not. be administered? You ex- press desire that they shall be thrown into "the lake of fire and birthstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever, You express a de- sire by your profane oaths to see human beings suffer as Mark Antony and Cleo patra commanded them to suffer. when. at the banquet table. this guilty. merei- less twain ordered poison to be admin istered to their slaves and prisoners so that they might witness their eonvul- sions in the throes of an awful death.
 But" answers some blasphemer, you know just as well as I that there is not one man out of 8 thousand who ever means what he says when he blas- phemes, His profane oaths are mere ex- clamations They come from the lip and not from the heart.' Then, my brother, there is only one other deduction which can come from the use of this evil habit. Either you as profane man wish to condemn your brother to eteranl misery or you are lacking in reverence to God, which Is precisely the attitude con demned in this commandment Either you despise your fellow men or else you despise the name of your Creator and your King. There Is no other outcome to these two extremes Either you are cursing your fellow man or else you are
 
 The Beginnings of Profanity.
 The profane habit is to be dreaded be- cause 1t if often the outgrowth of seem ingly very harmless beginnings. The blood curdling paths heard in the home of the rich man and among the so-ealled respectable members of society are not. as a rule, born among the saloons and the outcasts They were not once the inhabitants of the slums and the places of wassail and crime. Tn all probability their germs were fostered in the parlors of Christian homes and in the weekday school rooms attended by Christian chill dren. These germs of the most horrible of profane paths were once the exelama- tions and ejaculations and the slang ex- presslons so commonly used by ladies and children upon our streets. They are the By Georges the By Graciouses, the '.By This and By That's" and the By Other Things. They are the ejac- ulations which arc used today by many people who consider themselves educated and polite and refined.
 Profanity can grow from seemingly very harmless beginnings. therefore II is the duty of all Christian parents not only to refrain from the use of such un- necessary and absurd exclamations as those just quoted. but they should instill into their children the right use of the English language. The Anglo-Saxon tongue is noble tongue. It Is especially rich in vehement, emphatic, expressive and If I might use the expression, sledgehammer words, powerful enough to annihilate any foe. In Its broad sweep of denuneiatory words the English lan-s guage is unexcelled by any language. Therefore Christian parents, in the edu- cation of your children you should teach them never to use slang. You should teach them that slang Is only the imma- ture-child which will grow up into the destroying monster called Profanity. You should teach them that God hurls his condemnations at slang as well as at the hideous monster called Profanity when Christ says: Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for 1t Is Gods throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it Is the city of the great King Neither shalt thou swear by the head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black But let your communication be- Yea, yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these colli- eth of evil" Could any denunciation be more vehement against the use of slang common among our women and children and also among the men than those words of Jesus ChristY
 4 Suicidal Habit.
 profanitv is A suicidal habit because 1t runs directly counter to the expressed oommands of God Albert Barnes once wrote. sorhere is not in the universe more cause for amazement than Gods forbear-I ance in his dealings with the blasphem- CT" But that God will ultimately punisn those who take his name in vain there is no doubt. The Bible distinctly asserts It. And that God sometimes instantly pun tshes the sin of blasphemy Is also un- questioned Incident upon incident can be cited to illustrate this fact.
 Some years ago two English soldiers In the Chatham barracks gathered some of their comrades about them as judges. Then these two men made wager. Then each started out to find out who could utter the greatest number and the most awful variety of blood curdling oaths so as to win that wager. After one of the soldiers had gone on TOT aWnne III ms blasphemous sin he suddenly stopped and said Now I shall utter one more oath, more horrible than all the rest of them, and then I am done" Instantly God s condemning wrath struck him dumb. For three long hours he suffered and strug- gled for breath Then he died condemn ed blasphemers death. After the heart of the blasphemer's body had ceased to beat his corpse by the order of his offi- cers, was made a public spectacle to teach the populace and the soldiers and the sailors alike that they might realize the awfulness of the warning in the third commandment, that God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name fin vain.'' Gods condemning wrath in that instance came as suddenly as stroke of lightning
 My father often mentioned an incident tl.s.