The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-19
DIR. TALMACE'S SERMON.
nx rHE REv HANK oE wITT TALMAeE. D. D.

WI tSEmAGEg Ds D.
 tumble upon the platform, as an average congressman lets a trunk fall to the ground, my friend doubled up his fist and knocked that porter clear into The tracks. He hit him so hard that the policeman who ran up at first thought nm dead. But, though the policeman was about the arrest the suffering fa- ther, he did not, for when he heard how the porter had sworn at the body of the dead child he turned and said,
 Brother if that brutal porter comes to, nit him again little harder than you nit him before, and l will stand by and. if necessary. help you" That spirit which my friend showed toward the por- ter who swore at his little girls body you, blasphemer, would show toward anyone who would insult the fair name of a pure. noble daughter, whom you devotedly loved
 Now, my sinful brother. you who are addicted to the habit of swearing in pub lie, did you ever stop to think that near iy always there are Christian men and women around you who love the name of Jesus Christ more than they love their father or mother or wife or daughter, or you love your child? Did you ever stop to think that by your profanity you are dishonoring the name of that Christ for whom those men ana WO1nen 1T neceSSd- ry would be willing to die? Have you a right to insult their Christ's name any more than they have a right to insult your child? Oh, my blaspheming broth CT, I called you a cruel coward. take 1t all back. I take that statement back because you may have sinned thought lessly. I cannot belive that you have deliberately intended to do this cruel thing. In the past you have not realized 1f 4r.4Ys frt, 1Nxr the public habit of profanity you are doing against some of your fellow men. You are so kind-hearted you would not hurt a dog or a eat. Surely after this you will cease to use blasphemous words in public and not further cut and lash into the bleeding hearts of your Chris tian brothers and sisters with the sharp. merciless impiety which has heretofore proceeded from your profane lips.
 A Cruel and Foolish Habit.
 Profanity is not only a cruel, but also a very foolish, habit. My profane brother, can you cite me one instance in all your life when the indulgence in the habit of swearing helped you in the least? Did the stone over which you stumbled get out of your way and apol- ogize to you because you cursed it? Did the winds ever abate when you were
  phemed them? Did your employees ever love you better or work for you harder because you lost your temper and hurled at them a whole tornado of oaths? Did your horse ever drive better because you swore at him until you were red in the face? Did the blood stop flowing when you cut your finger merely because you made the air sulphurous with your de- nunciatory imprecations? "No!s you an- atr,Ir f.f nad ra- suit that ever came from the evil habit of profanity. It is such a foolish habit that I some times wonder why God does not let the sticks and the stones and the dumb brutes have power of speech to re- buke me, as he once bade the long-eared beast of burden open his mouth and speak to the quick tempered and un- reasonable prophet of old. I ought to have better sense.'
 And yet this evil habit of profanity would be absolutely ridiculous and ludi- crous if it were not so heinous in It's re- sults We have read how one of the kings of old in order to prove that he was master of the seas as well as of the lands ordered his soldiers to come down to the seashore and with whips lash the waves as they tumbled upon the beach. and when we read of that royal order we have laughed at the kings actions as those of a madman and of an egotistic, cracked-brained person. Wherever we have noted the imbecile act of an un- balanced mind we have compared 1t to the insane ambitions of the hero of the celebrated Spanish romance which Ger vantes wrote. But were the picture of a king fighting the waves with whips and lashes or the escapades of Don Quix- ote ever more ridiculous and imbecie than the act of a great big, strong man cursing stone merely because his toe stubbed against 1t or swearing at the axle merely because the grease ran dry or blaspheming the iron head of a ham, mer merely because he. as a carpenter, was clumsy fingered and hit the end of ms thumb instead of the nail in the plank? Was ever sight more ridicu- lous if there was not eternal misery in its outcome than a man standing at the gate of an elevated depot cursing the train and wishing that its platform. wheels and glass windows and wooden seats might be consumed in the fires of an inferno merely because he was too lazy to get up in time for breakfast to catch that elevated express which would have landed him at his office in time to meet the important business ap- pointment? I tell you there is something weak about a mans head who will con- tinually swear at everybody and every thing. There is something soft about his brain as well as something very sinful about his heart.
 Profanity is a monstrous habit. It either comes from totally depraved heart, because that heart wishes to con demn a fellow human being to the awful agonies of an eternal condemnation, or else it teaches the users of profane words to have an utter contempt for the name of God and for his commandments
 Blasphemer, nave you ever stopped to consider what would be the effect or your