Show Ii a HIS G PASSION P Force of Habit Too Great to With Withstand Withstand Withstand stand Philadelphia Ledger Profanity said a Chicago clergy clergyman clergyman clergyman man becomes such a habit that some men use profane language l in absolute ignorance of the fact f ct that they are do doing doing ing lug SQ so I have hae known several men of this kind and their virtues were such that I could not nt honestly blame them themas as I should when they were guilty The habit I condemned and did what I could to correct it i 1 but the sinning it itself itself itself self seemed to be so much a part of them that I treated it with a leniency which I 1 knew was not right and yet I i could not nat wholly hoIty condemn them for It ItI 1 I remember particularly the case of or orOld old Ben B n Stiles Ben had been a sailor for many man years and when I first knew him he was the t most profane man I had ever heard talk In every other re respect respect respect he was one of the finest charac chara characters teri tEr I ever knew in his walk of life He lived near me and frequently did odd Jobs about the tle parsonage In this way I I came to know him quite well and in itt inthe inthe the course of two or three years ears I had almost broken him Jim of his profanity But not entirely and whenever he was deeply moved he was sure to swear in one way or another At first Ben would not come to church but by and by b he was present every Sunday and when we had a great revival on one occasion he con confessed confessed confessed his sins and asked the prayers of the church He only needed the re revival revival revival vival influence to come out squarely on the right side We Ve were all nih profoundly prof rejoiced when he arose in the meeting and asked for our prayers I took him by bs the hand and told him he must pray himself while hIle we were praying for him We Ve knelt together and for some sometime sometime sometime time Ben could not speak Finally he found utterance and I am sure I shall never n er forget that prayer and I know that the tears of the Recording Angel Angl blotted out the one word in it that should not have been there yet was no sign that he h was not truly repentant Oh Lord he prayed help me a poor sinner Im sorry 0 O Lord for the sins I r have committed and help me pie to tobe tobe tobe be better if I aint too d dd d bad badA A eri It was unlike any other prayer I had ever heard but it was from the I heart and Ben never knew that he had used the wrong word He died a Chris Christian Christian tian ten years ye rs after his conversion and after atter that last unexpected oath I never heard him swear again |