Year: 1866




ever circumstances you can imagine that
men become reckless of law, disregarding it,
treating it with Indifference, and looking
upon sin as a very small matter, then you
may look for the most disastrous conse-
quences


Now, what are we to understand by fools
making mock at sin? give you Divine
authority, which l have in the 25th verse of
the 5th chapter of Isaiah " Woe unto
them that call evil good, and good evil Why
say good unto them that call evil good and
good evil a.? Is it good to run the ears on
the Lord day? Is it good to drink? Is it
good to drive out Is it good to do thou
sand other things which are done in these
! degenerate days on the Sabbath Why do
they violate the law Of God, and insult the
authorities of the land, and trample upon
the law of the Most High God? They put
darkness for light and light for darkness );
they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter
No man repenteth Of his sin saying, what
have l done? Sin, then, is the violation of
law; law is to govern and control


Now, what are we to understand by BIAS
phemy? Blasphemy, strictly and morally
speaking, is an indignity offered to God, by
words, or writing, or speaking disrespect-
fully or lightly of these things; and this
! blasphemy is constantly employed every
where The name Of God is blasphemed by
a vile and vulgar profanity. God, then is
/ blasphemed by the light and Indifferent way
in which his name is employed, and the light
/ and Indifferent way in which His name is
employed, and the light manner in which
we speak of His authority and of His good
ness. Ribaldry is mean, lewd, brutal and
vulgar language.


l ask you, then, whether this blasphemy
and ribaldry are not, every day that you live
in this land, popuiarized by reason of those
that mock at sin? No wise man, no dis
Greet man, no just, true and noble man
would do this. Human society, allow me
to remark, can only live, flourish and raise
to great eminence as it is intelligent, refined,
virtuous This you may rely upon as a uni
versal fact, that human society can never
rise to any eminence,-to any degree of en-
inence, only as that society is chaste, elegant,
refined. / ask you, then, whether in your
Judgment in this respect, we are improving
in this country? Ny brethren, my private
opinion is that we are not that we are ev-
cry day becoming more blasphemous; that
we are speaking lightly of God, lightly of
His government, Indifferent Of the great
principle which He has laid down to regulate
and control us.


Why, the very youth Of the land are be-
coming vile. This is as true as that we live
to-day. For example, respect for age and
station is declining rapidly; and has been
for the last thirty years in the United States
l trace this condition of things as far back
as lS29-3O, and along there, when the pub
lie press of this country assailed the wife of
one of the greatest men Of our land in the
most bitter language. Then young man,
| saw where these things would end, when
the Chief Magistrate of the nation was re-
preached. rebuked and villifed, and all that
was sacred and holy was assailed in the vilest
and the most cruel language-the man
whose character should be chaste and sacred
| in the minds of men.


And oh, how cruel how malignant how
/ devilish must that heart be that viii speak
Ill of the character of a woman! The very
children in the streets learn the lesson that
they hear at their fathers morning, noon
ana evening festive board. The boys could
be heard and the girls too. 1t has been get
| ting worse from that day TO this. I say that
/ the very children in the streets use the viicst
vulgarity; and the lowest species Of Ian
guage is employed by mere children. This
language Is conveyed TO them through the
public press, which commenced this TRADE
of abuse many years ago, even before the
period to which l have referred. They
speak approvingly of the most vituperatiye
and blasphemous language


The object of the press is to keep alive
party spirit. This, then, is its use. In this
way you find that the very children in the
land have not the slightest regard for God 5
authority. We are told in the ODD chapter
and the 2Sth verse of Exodus that "thou
shalt not revile thy gods THAT is the Judges
nor curse the ruler of thy people" Now
| have you heard this? Is there man or
woman in this house that has not heard the
very Chief Magistrate of our own nation
spoken of in the vilest, in the most vulgar
terms, and in the most blasphemous man.
ner


Haven't you heard the very boys say =
You old dotard, what do you know?"
and turn round and villify the character of
the rulers of the nation And that is the
very language that is employed The Apos-
tie Paul makes a statement in the 5th verse.
25d chapter of Acts 1t was written after
he had rebuked the high priest "Then,
said Paul, Il wish not brethren, that he