The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-02-09
INFIDELITY,
Continued from Page 81

NOOulluu6u IIOm rage 81
virtues and self-sarrifice, the finest pas
tOral ever writICr; Vashti defying the
bacchanalian rey~lry of a thousand
lords; and Esther tlinging her life away
to save her eXiled people; DOTcas, the
sunlight of eternal fame gliding her
philanthrOpic needle; the woman with
perfume in a box, made from the hills
of AlabastTOE, pouring the chriSm on
the head of Christ, the aroma lingering
all down the corridor of the centuries;
Lydia, the merchantress of Tyrian puT
pie, immOTtalized for her Christian
choice; the widow with two mites more
famous than the PeabOdys, or the Len
nOXes or the Girards; while brought in
with slow gait and careful attendance
and in high favor, leaning on the arm
of inspiration, is that pride and joy of
every household which is so fortunate
as to have one, an Old grandmother, |
grandmother Lois. The Bible does not !
seem so very antagOnistic to woman. |
What name next to Christ commands |
more worship on EARTH? Mary. For |
what purpose did Christ perform his |
first miracleI TO relieve the embaTraSs- |
ment of WOmanly hOusekeeper at the |
falling short of a beverage. For whom |
did Christ break up the silence of the |
grave and rend shrOud and hurl away |
tllN AbNhs IL sup lllb btltdN tultlllS VI |
two Bethany sisters. To whom is the |
Churchin Heaven admiringlyc ycOmpared? !!
TO bride. For whose comfort did |
Christ, in dying eXcruciatiOn, seem es-
peclally anXlOuSI For a woman; an |
old woman; a wrinkled woman; the |
woman who had held him in her arms; |
his first friend; his last friend, as it is |
very apt to be-his mother. Is Mr.. In |
geTsOll right when he says the Bible is |
VVpmDn'G nnnDpuS What 10
ence between wOman's condition in
China or Central Africa and woman in
England or America? The difference
made by the Bible. lii other lands she
plOws the field and carries the hOd and
suffers indescribable indignities, and is |
kept in private room or goes forth care
fully yelled as though it were a shame |
to be woman. The Bible is wOman's |
emancipation, WOman's eulOgy, wOman's |
song, WOman's heaven. The very first |
thing that the Bible does after entering |
any country is to strike off the shackles |
of WOman'S SeTfdOm. Look through all |
our Christian homes and tell me if the |
Bible has been wOman'S damage or ben |
efactiOn. Where are your chains, 0 |
woman? Throw up your arms and let |
us see your handouts. Oh, | find the |
handouts are bracelets of gold, bestOw- |
ed by husbandly or fatherly or brOtheTly |
or lOyerly affection. Unfasten the thick |
warm furs from your neck and show me
the yoke of your bondage. All, find it
is Il carcanet of silver OF string of cor |
uelian or cluster of pearls that have |
not CALLED your neck very much. How
bad you must have it? Does your hus-
band ri e from reading the woman
hating Bible and strike you in the face
Why is it that woman, when she is
troubled, goes to her worst euemy-the
Bible? Why does she not go to some of
the great intidel5 for relief?-tO SpinO-
za's Ethics" or Hume's Natural His
tory of Religion" or Paine's age of
Reason" or DiderOts dramas, or one of
the two hundred and sixty separate pub
licatiOns of YOltaire? No, they will be
hanging about the Bible words: "Let
not your heart be troubled" or "All
| things work good" or Weeping may
endure for the night" or 81 am the
| resurrection" Why do more women
read the Bible than men? Because,
while the Bible is the friend of hui
manity, it is still better friend of
woman. See how cruel to women are
the Bible injunctiOns: Honor thy
mOtherw Husbands love your wives
even as Christ loved the church, and
gave himself for it,"
Let them Ghe new cOnverts) learn
first to show piety at home" Then,
demonstrating that the kindness of this
| book to women exceeds all other kind
ness, there is that wonderful picture
where the bailiffs rushed a woman of
debated character into Christs presence
demanding her death as by quick court
martial, and Christ, with flashing eyes
and quiyering lip, drew on them the
keen sword of his sarcasm, hewing
them through from scalp to heel with
the utterance: LET him that is without
sin cast the first stone at her" Has the
| Bible since first you put it upon the sit
! tlng-rOOm table i'll your household been
a curse or blessing? Yet Mr.. Inger-
| soil stands in the presence of an audi.
ence and tells them that the Bible is
wOman's enemy, and a thousand idiots
clap their hands in cOmmendatiOn.
While L must postpone to other Sab
bath mornings much of my reply to Mr..
| lngersOll, | want to caution you against
pOstpOnlng making up your mind about
this book. The world has been discuss
ing since 1771 in more than one hun
dred volumes devoted to the subject who
was the author of the sarcastic and vi
Imperative Junius letters which stirred
the ex-pTiest political excitement in
| England more than century ago.
| While it is a curious question to discuss
it makes no practical difference to us
whether it was written by Sir Philip
Francis or Horace Walpole or Henry
UIdGIdu OF LOTu CUdGnAn OF h1ScOunJ
ScOville or John HorntOOke or any one
of the fOrty-four men seriously charged
with the authorship. But it is practi-
cal question, and an ardent question,
and an all decisive question, the author
ship of this Bible, whether written by
the God of heaven and earth, or by dupes
and scOundrels and impOstOrs. We can
| afford to adjourn decision no more than
the sea captain can afford to say: ''This
is dark night, and l have lost my
bearings; do not know what light
house that is; 1 will go to sleep and
find out in the morning" Before morn
ing he may be on the rocks and the
beach strewn with the white faces of
the dead crew. While we deliberate
about the Bible, want you to under
stand we are not at anchor, but going
nearer to the coast, going at swift speed
going with the furnaces in full blast,
going at seventy heart-thrObs a minute.
But must know whether it is going to
be harbOr or shipwreck.