The attempts that are now being made in the old country to elevate the condition of that large class of the human family whose lot it is to labor and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow is one of the most cheering signs of our times. Amongst the men who are devoting themselves to the accomplishment of this great and good work none occupy a more honorable or useful position than the clergyman whose name appears' at the head of this article. Mr. Brown seeks to attain his object by means of lectures bearing directly upon subjects intimately connected with the temporal and spiritual state of the " masses" in Liverpool.
Now, then, reader, observe how our lecturer deals with this subject as respects cleanliness of speech. The dirt of the tongue is quite as prevalent as the dirt of the body, and what was addressed to the men of Liverpool might, we regret to add, be addressed with equal force to the men of Australia. The habit so powerfully inveighed against in the paragraphs we are going to quote is so intimately connected with all the baser passions of our nature that every effort should be put forth to eradicate it.
" One can scarcely walk far in the streets without perceiving that there are not only many dirty faces, but also many dirty tongues ; how many there are whose ' mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, and under whose lips is the poison of asps.' Dirt meets the eye, dirt meets the nose, and the very foulest dirt meets the ear. It is bad enough when a violent provocation calls forth a burst of angry profanity, but infinitely worse when blasphemy and filth are uttered in cold blood, and constitute the ordinary forms of speech. To other sins a man may be incited by temptation, but I do not see what can tempt a man to garnish his speech with the offal and filth of language ; yet it is very common, and common among men, young men, who pride themselves on being neat, on being well-dressed, who would be ashamed of a dirty face, who brush their hats and their coats, and are particular even about the cleanliness of their boots ; they take a pride in being nice in their personal appearance —an equal pride in being as nasty as possible in their speech; thus illustrating Swift's rather severe remark—' A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.' My friends, will you set yourselves resolutely against this abomination ? You know better than I how prevalent it is, and what a dirty tone conversation often assumes when young men get together, in their workshops and in their social gatherings. When Sir Christopher Wren was building St. Paul's, he made it a rule that every man guilty of profane language should be instantly dismissed by the clerk of the works. I do not appeal to employers in this matter, but to the men themselves; you know that such language is utterly detestable, and I do not speak merely of profane expressions, but of dirty expressions, which are still more common. Do you wish to be regarded not as fools, but as men of common sense ?-then give them up. Do you wish to be considered not blackguards, but gentlemen? — then give them up. Do you wish to have credit, not for a vicious, but for a highly moral tone of feeling?—then give them up, and discourage such language in every possible way ; don't on any occasion allow it to be addressed to you ; consider yourself insulted when any foul-mouthed fool speaks to you in this the devil's language. If you have any right moral sense, to say nothing of religious principle, such language will be offensive and disgusting : set a good example yourselves ; let the words of your lips be pure words, and advocate among your companions the total abolition of all nasty speech ; try to purify the circles in which you move. The faculty of speech is one of the noblest you possess ; consider who gave it to you, and for what purpose it was given, and never prostitute it by making it the channel of filthy communication. For this, as for all other gifts, we shall be held, and most righteously shall we be held, responsible. The Great Teacher says that 'for every idle word that men shall speak,' much more for every blasphemous and every obscene word, ' they shall give an account in the day of judgment.' Young men, it 's all right that you should be cleanly in your person, and neat in your dress, but what am I to call you if with all this you are beastly in your talk ? I must call you a low hypocrite, a ' whited sepulchre ;' you assume the appearance of a gentleman, but it is only to hide a blackguard. Remember, the ' cleanliness that is next godliness' involves cleanliness of speech."
Upon the subject of dirty literature Mr. Brown has the following manly and indignant expostulation. Dead, indeed, to all sense of shame must he be who is not touched by it.
" But still there is dirty literature, vile and debasing beyond all description ; there are books which are bought and sold on the sly ; which people are ashamed to purchase openly, but not ashamed to devour in secret. Books, with pictures all in keeping with their contents, every page of which is intended to excite the lowest passions to their utmost intensity, and utterly to corrupt and destroy all moral principles, and all regard for decency. Young men, some of you have read such books ; some of you possess them at this very hour ; you keep them locked up in your trunk, and you peruse them, when you can do so without fear of interruption. You know that what I say is true, and you know that those books have defiled your imagination, and made your heart most dreadfully impure. I ask you to commit such books and pictures to the flames, no matter what they have cost you ; what you gave for them in money is nothing to what they have taken from you in morals ; burn them forth-with, and would that you could only burn the thought of them out of your mind, and destroy all those images of obscenity and lust which they have produced, and left indelibly stamped upon your memory. My friend, I give you fair warning; I will be plain and faithful with you those books are damning your soul ; they are the literature of hell ; they have Satan for their author, and Satan's angels for their publishers. To put it on no higher footing, are you not ashamed ? do you not feel utterly degraded when you purchase and read a book by stealth? feeling that it is not fit to be seen ! do you not acknowledge by this very fact that it is not fit to be read? No more dirty songs, dirty books, dirty pictures, if you wish to have a reputation for cleanliness ! "
The above extracts furnish a very fair specimen of our author's style of lecturing, a style which, as before stated, we believe eminently calculated for the noble end which Mr. Brown has in view.
The South Australian Advertiser 1 November 1858,
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