The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-05-27
JACKSON, OHIO, THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1890

| er hand, the people who heard tn
voice of the living God turned to serv
idols. But what skeptical philoso
pliers could not do, and what judaism
could not do, Christianity accomplish
ed No human being to-day bows t.
Jupiter, no temple is open to Venus
no assembly prostrates itself befor
Mars, no garment saved from ship
wreck is hung up in the Temple o
Neptune. All this through tn
preaching of the cross! To-day wher
is Paganism? Crouching in the darl
parts of the earth. No man Of learn
ing dreams that Paganism shall again
be power ON this earth. Christian
ity is making inroads on it everywhere
Paganism has not in the ages made ;
convert from Christianity. How is i
in India, where it has come in confiic
with Brahmanism, in a system thai
has much in it that is beautiful, many
of its precepts are sublime and many
Of its declarations are good, yet 200,
100000 of the people Of India with
less than 100000 Of Englishmer
who used to be on the Island just al
one extremity of the earth. Why:
How? Because the system fails tc
develop men, because Christianity does
develop manhood and gives it strength
and power.
Compare Christianity with the teach
ings of Confucius. Well do remem-
Der when a boy to have read the doc
trines of Voltaire and Volney and 9TH
ers who speak Of the wonderful infu-
ence Of this form Of heathenism. We
have lived to see the day when men in
prisons in California feel that the Chi
nese civilization is so uniformly be-
meath them that it contaminates them,
and the cry has been, ''The Chinese
must 60" Because the civilization is
so poor, SO low. And if that be the
case, what is the result of the teach
ings Of Confucius? Why, old China
with her 1000 years upon her head is
to-day bowing to young America and
sending her sons to be educated; and
Japan by her side is asking for our
teachers and our schools. Applause. !
To-day in Japan the Bible is text
book in some Of her schools-the
young people are beginning to see the
light and glory that emanate from
Christianity. Now, [ say on the prin-
ciple of the survival Of the fittest'' is
Christianity failure? Paganism is
gone; Brahmanism is going; Confu-
cianism is going down-Christianity
is just rising. Oh I see there is beauty
on her brow. There is luster in her
eye, there is glory On her cheek. see
her distributing blessings on the sons
of men.
But you tell me there is infdelity?
Yes. What is infdelity? A mega
tion-something not to be believed.
It is no system. Where are its tenn
pies? Where were they ever? Where
are its schools? Where were they
ever? Where are its hospitals?
Where were they ever? What did it
try to do for man, anywhere? There
have been men-strong men, learned
mon, wise men-who have been skep-
tical, infdels, but they have never
worked together powerfully for the
alienation of the race. There was
one Nation, and only one, that I know
of, that ever tried this system of inf
deity. It was France. They cried,
"There is no God, and death is an
eternal sleep" And the result was
that in few years their streets ran
with blood; society was upheaved, and
men were glad to go back even to poor
temples for the sake Of finding some
relief from the errors and terrors into
which infdelity had thrown them.
But even infidelity has had it's era.
Take the last century, and see how
Voltaire and Volney affected the pub
lie mind for time. Some years ago
| was in Berlin with the Evangelical
Alliance. | went to Pottsdam, the
old palace of Frederick. There we
We're shown into room where we held
our onsultations-the room that Vol
taire stood in, and wrote part of his
works, and where he and Frederick
thought they were about to.overthrow
Christianity. Yet in that very hall
we came to consult about the best
means Of spreading Christianity over
the world. Voltaire said he lived in
the twilight of Christianity, and so he
did. But it was not, as he fancied it,
twilight deepening into darkness, but
twilight opening up, new and bright
er day, and the Sun Of Righteousness
is shining now in supreme beauty over
our world. England, century or
more ago, was in the dominion of in
fidelity The result was deprivation
of morals and general degradation of
society. But as reaction there came
forth those works of Butler, Wesley.
and host of others to defend the
principles of Christianity. And we
have to-day, / believe, purer, clear
er and stronger Christianity because
of these attacks of infdelity. Where
are the infdels and their writings of
that day? They have scarcely left
their mark. Christianity is taking
little children by the hand, and they
Join with us in singing ''All Hail the
Power Of Jesus Name" Applause.
Yes. Christianity is growing stronger
and stronger, and as | said, on the
principal of the survival Of the fit
test she is the only power remaining
in strength and in beauty.
But they tell us sometimes the dis
coveries being made are undermining
the foundations of Christianity; they
they tell us that the world is great |
deal older. the fossils Of the earth show
that millions Of years have elapsed;
that those great rocks, those immense
deposits show that a long time ago,
before biblical knowledge, the earth /
existed. What if it did? The Bible |