1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



579 



ligion went. He could not be a Christian, 

 and sell drink to his fellow-men. The place 

 finally got to be so bad that he was fined and 

 imprisoned. I found him in the jail, and 

 had long talks with him, and he seemed al- 

 most ready to give up his hotel, and every 

 thing else that stood in the way of his serv- 

 ing the Lord. At our last meeting in the 

 jail I took him by the hand, and asked him 

 to hold fast to the strong Arm, no matter 

 what happened. He looked up and smiled, 

 although he did not readily give a positive 

 promise ; and as I saw him no more, 1 had 

 almost forgotten him. Last evening a friend 

 told me the following : 



He went back to his old business, and be- 

 came intemperate ; not only himself, but 

 one of his boys al»out fifteen years old learn- 

 ed to drink. One day last week he had oc- 

 casion to leave home ; and before doing so 

 he told his wife to be very sure not to let the 

 boy get at the liquors. The father came 

 home intoxicated, and learned that the boy 

 had been drinking also. He afiked his wife 

 why she did not do as he told her. She re- 

 plied that she did do the best she could, and 

 told him he would have to stay at home and 

 take care of the boy himself. She went into 

 an adjoining room, and heard him say, 

 " Good-by, Rhoda," and immediately after- 

 ward heard the report of a pistol. lie had 

 shot himself, but it did not kill him imme- 

 diately. Physicians were called, but he or- 

 deied them oft' the premises, and declared 

 he had shot himself with the intention of 

 making a finish of it, and die he would ; and , 

 turning over to the opposite side of the bed, 

 declined any treatment. He died last eve- 

 ning. Now, friends, if such a spirit is not 

 the spirit of Satan, where do we find Satan V 

 Some one has declared, that alcohol is the 

 Devil is solution. Does it not seem to be 

 just about that V 



I have told you the above little story to 

 show you the attitude of the human heart 

 when it rejects God. My friend, are you re- 

 jecting him V are you a swearing man ? do 

 you ever take his holy name in vain ? If 

 so, pray consider we are all serving either 

 God, or Satan, the adversary of man and em- 

 bodiment of evil. We all have stubborn 

 wills ; and unless these wills are broken, 

 or become subservient to God, we are on 

 the ground of the enemy. 



The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a bro- 

 keu and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not de- 

 spise.— Ps. 51:17. 



I know the belief has gained ground in 

 some, that a submissive spirit means a weak 

 spirit. No greater mistake was ever made. 

 Our young friend in jail, in giving a reason 

 why people swear, said that it adds empha- 

 sis to their words, i'oe.s it add emphasis, 

 boysV Do you have more faith in a man 

 who declares with an oath that he will pay 

 for a thing you trust him for V To be sure, 

 not. Men who take God's name in vain, to 

 emphasize their assertions, are almost inva- 

 riably men who can not be trusted. If you 

 look about yon, I think you will find it so. 

 My friends, it is surely true that nothing 

 Aveakens your standing among men more 

 than the fact that you are a swearing man. 

 Men who are great in the best sense of the 



word are quiet men. You see a man who 

 commands great wages (and 1 have respect 

 and honor for the man who can command a 

 salary of from $10.00 to $25.00 per day), and 

 he is always a quiet man. His mildest words 

 have more weight than the loud tones of a 

 profane swearer. People are often deceived 

 for a time into thinking that recklessness 

 means courage. The man who shot himself 

 defied God and man. and, without care or 

 compunction, fiung himself into the fathom- 

 less abyss. He found his command over his 

 boy was gone. Instead of helping his poor 

 wife in her efforts to bring the boy up to an 

 honest and honorable life, he shirked the 

 whole responsibility, and left it all for her, 

 by an act that we can hardly find words to 

 express it as it should be. He sold himself 

 to Satan irretrievably, and through all eter- 

 nity. One who takes God's name in vain 

 does this in another way. He curses every 

 thing that is good, noble, and holy. Very 

 often, after a man professes to be a skeptic, 

 he declares he does not believe in Jesus 

 Christ nor the Bible ; but if he has good com- 

 mon sense, he well knows in his inmost soul 

 that there is a wise and loving Gofl over all. 

 Now, the swearing man curses his God — not 

 the God that anybody else has proposed, but 

 his Maker and Riiler, the Architect. In 

 other words, as everybody knows good from 

 bad, the profane man rejects good and wel- 

 comes bad. If you do not agree to this, 

 listen to the words that you hear such a man 

 use, and study their meaning. Why do 

 drinking men and criminals almost invari- 

 ably swear ? and why is it that the phrases 

 and the words which they use are the holiest 

 that they can possibly command ? There 

 seems to'be sometimes a Satanic ingenuity 

 exercised in coupling sacred words together. 

 Another thing that indicates the Satanic or- 

 igin of words of blasphemy is, that he who 

 utters them seems to be impelled by some 

 unseen power to go on from bad to worse, 

 even on the slightest provocation. I have 

 told you of the wife, who simply remon- 

 strated for his punishing the children when 

 they had committed no offense. Under the 

 influence of liquor, he cursed her. This 

 other one, under the infiuence of evil, and a 

 slight provocation, deliberatly shot himself. 

 Do you remember when Jesus had given 

 Judas the sop, that John says, " Satan enter- 

 ed into him " V Does it not seem in the 

 cases mentioned, that Satan had literally en- 

 tered and taken possession V 



Now, my friends, when you are tempted to 

 swear again, please consider whether 1 am 

 not right in saying that the oaths you utter 

 are a tacit acknowledgment that you have 

 openetl the door of your heart to Satan, and 

 that he has entered in and taken up his abode. 

 You have for the time yielded to the Prince 

 of Darkness, and to evil, and have volunta- 

 rily banished yourself from the Lord, and 

 from Hiui who is the light of the world. 

 '' Thou Shalt not take the name of the Lord 

 thy God in vain." This text comes to us 

 down through ages, and goes through all 

 eternity. No matter who you are, or what 

 you believe, or whom you worship, have you 

 any right, or can there be any necessity or 

 defense, for setting at naught this command? 



