The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-07-25
ROBUST AND BRAWNY.
Is the Religion of Christ and the
Bible.
A Revolution That Will Ransaok and
Turn the World Upside
Down.
IT. DEWITT TALMAaE.l
.le: "Upside Down" !"

hlther also"
There is a wild, believing mob around
the house of Jason, in ThessalOnic lea,
What has the man done so greatly to
offend the peOplep He has been enter
tanning Paul and his comrades. The
mob surround the house and cry, Bring
out those turbulent preachers They
are Interfering with our business They
are running our religiOnl They are ac-
tually turning the world upside DOWN.
The charge was true; for there is moth
lug that so lnterteres with sin, there ia
nothing so ruinOus to every form ,Of es-
tablished iniquity there is nothing that
has such tendency to turn the world
upside down as our glorious Christi
anity. The fact is that the world now
wrong side up, and it needs to be turned
upside down in order that 1t may be
right side up. The time was when men
wrote books, entitled them Apologies
for Christianity" | hope that day has
passed, We want no more apologies for
Christianity. Let the apologies be on
the part of those who do not believe in
our religion. We do not mean to make
any compromise in the matter. We do
not wish to hide the fact that Christi
anlty is revolutionary and that its ten
dency is to turn the world upside down.
Our religion has often been misrepTe-
sented as principle of tears and mild
ness and faStidOusneSS; afraid of cross
ing peoples prejudices; afraid of making
somebody mad; with silking gloves lift
ing the people up from the church pew
into glory as though they were Bohemian
glass, so very delicate that with one
touch it may be demolished forever.
Men speak of religion as though 1t were
refined imbecility; as though 1t were
spiritual chlOrOfOrm that the people
were to take until the sharp cutting of
life were over. The Bible, so far from
this, represents the religion of Christ as
robust aud brawny-ransacking and up.
setting 10000 things that now seem TO
be settled on firm foundations. L hear
some man say, II thought religion was
peace" That Is the inal result. A mans
arm Is out of place. Two men come, and
with great effort put 1t back in the
socket. 1t goes back with great pain.
Then IL gets well. Our world is hOrri-
bly, disOrdered and out of joint. 1t must
come under an OmnipOtent surgery, be-
meath which there Will be pain and an
guish before there can come perfect
health and quiet. proclaim, therefore,
in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, re-
VOlutionl
The religion of the Bible will make
revolution in the family. Those things
that are wrong in the family circle will
be OVerthrOwn by it, while justice and
harmony will take place. The husband
will be the head of the household when
he is fit to be. | know man who spends
we'll as all the money his wife makes;
do you tell me that he is the head of
that hOusehOldP If the wife has more
nobility, more courage, more consistency
more of all that is right, she shall have
the supremacy. You say that the Bible
says that the wife is to be subject to the
husband. | know it. But that is hus-
band, not a masculine caricature. There
is no human or divine law that makes
woman subordinate to man un-
worthy of her. When Christianity comes
into a domestic circle 1t will give the
dOminancy to that one most worthy of
1t. As religion comes in at the front
door mirth and laughter will go
out of the back door. 1t will not hop
pie the ehildren's feet. John will laugh
just as loud and George will jump high
or than he ever did before. 1t will steal
from the children neither ball, nor bat, |
nor hoop, nor kite. 1t will establish |
family altar. Angels will hover over it. |
Ladders of light will reach down to it, |
The glory of heaven will stream upon |
it; the books of remembrance will record |
1t, and tides of everlasting blessedness
will tiOw from it. Not such a family al |
tar as you may have seen, where prayers |
are long and long chapter Is read with !
tedious explanation, and the exercise |
keeps mp until the children's knees are |
sore and their backs ache, and their pa |
thence lost; but | mean such an altar as |
You may have wandered far off in the |
paths of sin and darkness, but you have /
never forgotten that altar where father /
and mother knelt, impOrtuning God for
your soul. That is memory a man new
or gets over. There will be a hearty.
joyful altar in every domestic circle. /
You will not have to go far to find Han J
nah rearing her Samuel for the temple, |
or a grandmother Lois instructing her /
young Timothy in the knowledge of
Christ, or Mary and Martha and Lazarus
gathered in fraternal and sisterly affec-
tiOn, or home in which Jesus dwslls as
in the house of Simon the tanner. The |
religion of Jesus Christ, coming into the
domestic circle, will overthrow all jeal-
Ousies and janglings, and peace and or
der will take possession of the home.
Christianity will produce a revolution
in commercial circles. Find me fifty
merchants and you find they have fifty
standards of what is right and wrong.
You say to some one about a me reliant,
is he honestP" "0h, yes, the man says,
'he Is honest, but he grinds the faces of
his clerks. He is honest, but he exag-
gerates the value of his goods. He is
honest, but he loans money on bond and
mortgage with the understanding that
the mortgage can lie quiet for ten years.
but as soon as he gets the mortgage he
records 1t and begins foreclosure suit,
and the sheriff's writ comes down and
the day OF sale comes and away goes a
homestead and the creditor buys it In at
half price," HOnestl When he loaned
the money he knew he would get the
homestead at half price. HOnestf Tho'h
he sells property by the map, forgetting
70 tell the purchaser the ground is all
under water. But it Is generous for him
to do that. he throws the water into the
bargain. All, my friends, there is but
one standard of the everlasting right
and the everlasting wrong, and that is
the Biblep When that principle shall
gets its pry under our commercial hous-
es 1 believe One-half of them will go
over. The ruin will begin at one of the
streets and 1t will be crash cTashl crashl
all the way down to tho docks What Ia