The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-05-23


group women hidden and carefully Sc
Guided in q side apartment, where they may
hear the voice OF the preacher, but may
not be seen. No refinement. No liberty.
No hope for this life. No hope for the
life TO come. Hinged nose. Cramped foot.
Dlshgured face. Embruited soul. Now
| compare these two conditions. How far
toward this latter condition that 1
| speak OF would woman go If Christian in
! tiuI 3es were withdrawn and Christianity
We're destroyed? It is only question of
| dynamics. If an object be lifted to a GER
tain point and not fastened there, and
| the hftingpower be Withdrawn, how long
/ before that object win fall
down to the point from which it started?
| 1t will fall down, audit will 60 still further
than the point from which it started.
Christianity has lifted woman up from the
very depths of degradation almost to the
skies. If that lifting power be Withdrawn
| she falls clear back to the depth from
which she was reSurrected, not going any
| lower because there Is no lower depth.
And vet, notwithstanding the fact thatthe
only salvation OF woman from degradation
and woe is the Christian religion, and the
only influence that has ever lifted her in
the social scaleis Christianity have read
that there are women who reject Chris
tianity. / make no remark In regard 10
those persons. | make no remark In re-
gard to them. In the silence OF your soul
make your observations.
Ii infdclitv triumph and Christianity be
overthrow Il means the decentralization of
society. The one idea in the bible that
atheists and infidels most hate Is the idea
OF retribution. Take awav the idea of
retribution and punishment from society
and it will begin very soon TO disintegrate
and take away from thousands of men the
fear OF hell, and there are a great many OF
them who would soon turn this world into
a hell. The majority of those who are in
dignant against the bible because OF the
punishment are men whose lives are bad
or whose hearts are impure, and who hate
the bible because OF the idea OF tut
ure punishment Tor the same reason that
criminals hate the penitentiary. Oh,
have heard this brave talk about people
fearing nothing of the consequences of
sin in the next world, and / have made
up my mind 1t is merely q towards whist
ling TO keep his courage up. have seen
men haunt their immOralities direct in the
face OF the community, and have heard
them defy the judgment day and scott at
the idea OF any future consequence oftheir
sin; but when they came to die they
shrieked until you could hear them for
nearly two blocks, and in the summer
night the neighbors got up 10 put the
windows down because they could not en-
dure the horror.
| would not want TO see a rail train
with 500 Christian people on board 60
down through a drawbridge into a watery
grave. l would not want to see 500 Chris
tan people go into such a disaster, but l
tell you plainly that L could more easily
see that than l could for any protracted
time stand and see an infdel die, though
his pillow were OF eider-dOwn and under
a canopy OF vermillion. have never
been able TO brace up my nerve for such
a spectacle. There is something at such a
time so Undesirable in the cOuntenance.
| Just looked in upon it Tor minute or
two, but the clutch OF his fist was so dia-
bolic, and the strength of voice was so I'M
natural, / could not endure it. There is
no hell. there is no hell! there is no
hell" the man had said for sixty years;
but that night when l looked in the diving
room of my infdel neighbor, there was
something on his countenance which
seemed to say: There is, there is, there
is, there is"
The ni2htiest restraints today against
THEFT, against immortality, against libertin-
ism, against crime OF ali sOrts-the might
lest restraints are the retributions of
eternity. Men know that they can escape
the law, but down in the offenders soul
there is the realization OF the fact that
they cannot escape God. He stands at the
end OF the road OF profigacy, and He will
not clear the guilty. Take all idea of re-
tribution and punishment out OF the hearts
and minds of men, and il would not be
long before Brooklyn and New York and
Boston and Charleston and Chicago be-
came Sodoms. The only restraints against
the evil passions of the world to-day
are bible restraints.
Suppose now these generals of atheism
and Infidelity got the victory, and sup
pose they marshaled great army made
up OF the majority OF the world. They
are in companies, in regiments, in
bTigades-the whole army. Forward,
march We host OF infidels and atheists,
banners flying before, banners flying be-
hind, banners inscribed with the words:
NO God! No Christ! No punishment!
No restraints! Down with the biblel Do
as you pleasew The sun. turned into
darkness.
Forward, march We great army Of inf
dels and atheists. And first OF all you will
attack the churches. Away with those
houses of worship They have. been
standing there so long deluding the people
with consolation in their bereavements
and SORROWS. All those churches ought to
be extirpated they have done so much to
relieve the lostl and bring home the
wandering, and they have so long held up
the idea OF eternal rest after the paroxysm
of this life is over. Turn the st. Peters
and ST. Pauls and the temples and the tab
ernacles into club-houses. Away with
those churches!
Forward, march, We great army of in
fidels and atheists. and next of all thew
scatter the Sabbath-schools-the Sabbath
schools filled with bright-eyed, bright
checked little ones who are singing songs
on Sunday afternoon and getting instruc-
ton when they ought TO be on the street
corners playing marbles, or swearing-on
the commons. Away with theml For
ward, march! We great army of infidels
and atheists; and next of all they will at
tack Christian asylums-the institutions
of mercy supported by Christian philan-
thropies. Never mind the blind ewes and
the deaf ears and the crippled limbs and
the weakened intellects Let paralyzed
old age pick up its own food and orphans
fight their own way, and the hall re-
formed 90 back to their evil habits. For
ward, march! We great army of infidels
and atheists, and with your battle-axes
hew down the cross and split up the
manger of Bethlehem.
On, We great army OF infdels and
atheists and now they come to the grave
wards and cemeteries OF the earth Pull