Profanity a Monstrous Deformity in Human Language By George Sumner Weaver 1855

Profanity a Monstrous Deformity in Human Language By George Sumner Weaver 1855

There is still one other evil use of language to which I wish to refer. I mean profane swearing. I should be glad to speak at length upon this point, but must content my self with brevity. Of all useless, worthless, totally good for-nothing, and totally depraved habits, to which men bow in willing, voluntary bondage, the habit of profane swearing heads the list, and crowns the whole. For nearly all evil habits there can be some apology offered, some faint semblance of an excuse, some dim outline of the shadow of a reason, but for this I have never heard the first feeble attempt at a defense. This stands out a monstrous deformity in human language, with none to plead for its life or tell a single merit due to its being. In the use of profane language, no idea is to be expressed, no object is to be attained, no end secured, no ear to be pleased, no taste to be gratified, no friendship to be obtained, no appetite to be administered to, no passion to be fed, no title to be acquired, no wealth to be earned, no possible good, either real or imagined, is had in view. "Of all sinners," says a wise man, "profane swearers serve the devil for less wages than any other class." Indeed, they serve for nothing and find themselves, run their own risks, and make their own repairs at that. Mean service indeed, it would seem, that was not worth the poor pay of some pretended good. No one will pretend that there is any wisdom in profane swearing, for its words are not used to express ideas or convey thoughts, or impart instruction, or inspire meditation. No such thing as this is thought of. They are not designed, when spoken, for any such offices. They are used, as are all by-words, in consequence of a lack of wisdom, a want of good sense, to supply the place of ideas. They mean nothing. Surely no one would use them if he had ideas that he thought worth expressing, in their place. In consequence of a scarcity of ideas, these profane words are thrown in, to keep up the sound and give the appearance of thoughts. They are wicked cheats, playing a game of deception, attempting to palm off a blustering sound for a substantial thought. Profanity is surely a good witness of a terrible dearth of wisdom, a frightful scarcity of ideas. Nor will any one pretend that there is any good in profanity; for besides being an arrant cheat, it is an idle and wicked use of the names of the greatest and best Being in the universe, the best and truest friend of every human creature. In this no one can believe there is any good. It breeds contempt for God, for His sacred name, for all holy things. It outrages the best and holiest feelings of our moral natures, our reverence for Deity, and our gratitude to the best friend we have, for unnumbered favors. It blunts the moral sensibilities, and confounds all our ideas of justice, goodness, and gratitude. It moreover offends the ears of our best earthly friends, God's holiest and loveliest men and women, and sends a thrill of anguish through their hearts. Surely no one can dream of there being good in it. It is a totally evil thing. Neither will any one contend that it is courteous, or civil, or polite, or gentlemanly. It is opposed to all ideas of courtesy, to all rules of politeness, to all regulations for gentlemanly behavior.

Every one would be most heartily ashamed of himself should he, by an unlucky slip of the tongue, use profane words in a refined circle of acquaintances.

The utter good-for-nothingness and silliness of profane swearing is well shown in the anecdote of a good Quaker. He had by some accident offended one of his neighbors. The neighbor, to vent his wrath, wrote him a long and most terribly profane letter, being about half made up of profane words. The good Quaker wrote him a very mild reply, of about the same length, in which he interspersed very thickly, in parenthesis, the phrase, "bottles and tongs" to supply the place of his neighbor's profanity. Now, if all profane swearers would do as the Quaker did, use the phrase "bottles and tongs," instead of profane words, they would see what a pigmy atom of sense is found in profane swearing, and what a terrible outrage of pure language it is. I can not dwell upon this subject. But, before I close, permit me to urge it upon every young man who has ever indulged in the wicked and worthless habit of profanity, or any thing that looked like it, to think seriously upon the subject, before he ever profanes the name of his God, or wounds the ears of his most refined friends, or defiles the purity of our beautiful English again. It is a sin against God, a sin against man, and a sin against the chastity of language. Let it be viewed in its proper light. Our thoughts we should prize too highly, and respect too deeply, to deform their dress with the deformity of profanity or any other vulgarism. We dress our bodies with good care and taste. We decorate and adorn them. Are not our thoughts of much more value? Whatever adornments we may give our physical bodies, let us not fail to attire our thoughts in the most chaste and tasteful garments, and adorn them with the most refined beauties of language. Let us adorn them with the beautiful words of chaste and refined sentiment, which are like apples of gold in pictures of silver.