Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-05-19

cal csrth, the destruction Of Christianity
would be TO tho moral world Tho sun
turne;l into darkness. htidclity IN or time
is considered n great joke. There arc people
who reioice to hear Christianity caricatured,
and 70 hear Christ assailcd with quibblc and
quirk aIid Misrepresentation and Dandlage
and haricquinadc.
lproposo this morning to take iniidellty
and atheism ont Of tho realm Of 5ecular.ey
Into one of tragedy, md show you what they
pro1osc. and what, if they are successful,
they will accomplish There gro those IN au
cur communities who would like to SEQ tue
Christian religion overthrown, andwh say
the world would DO better without it. want
70 show YOU what Is the end Of this road,
and what is the terminus of this crusade,
and what this world will be when atheism
and inilde,ity have triu:nped over it, il they
can. I shy, II they can l reiterato IL, II
they can.
In the first place, it will be the complete
and r1uttara,lc degradation OF woTnanhood.
| will provo it by facts and arguments which
no honest nan will dispute Lin oil COM
nunities and cities and states and nations
where the Christian religion has been doni-
nant, womans condition has been amcii-
orat,zl ard improved, and she Is deferred to
ard honorcd In thousand things, and every
gentleman takes OF his hat before her. II
your associations havo been good, you know
THAT the name Of wife, mother daughter,
suggest gracious surroundings. You know
there arc 10 better schools and se!ninaries in
Brooklyn or in u:iy city OF this country than
the schools and seminaries for young ladies'
You know that while woman may suffer in
Justice in England and tho United States,
she has more OF her rights in Cnristendom
than sho has anywhere else.
Now, compare this with womans condi-
ton in lands whore Christianity has undo
little or no advance-iu China, i'll Barbary,
in Bornco, in Tsrtary, in Egypt, In Hindo-
stan. Tho Burmese sell their wives and
daughters az SO many sheep. Tho Hlndoo
Bible makes it disg-aceful end an outrage
for woman to listen TO music or look cut or
tho window in the absence of her husband,
and gives as lawful ground for divorce q
,7olnan,s beginning to eat before lcr husband
has finished his meal What lnein these
white bundles on the ponds and rivers
in China III tho morning7 InfaMticide fol.
lowing infanticide Fenlaio children dc
stroycd simply because they are female.
| Woman harnessed TO q pillow os IN OK. Wo-
man yelled and barricaded, end in all styles
|. of cruel scclusion. Her birth a misfortune.
| Her life torture. Her death
horror. The missionary Of tho cross
today In heathen lands breaches gcner-
ally to two groups-a group of men
who do as they please and sit whcrc they
.i.>.o. A., x,+i,o- r-,o,,,, rrOnon hirlinn md
carefully secluded in side apartment, where
they may hear the voice OF tho preacher but
may not be seeu No refinement No lib
erty. No hope for this life. No hope for the
life to conc Ringe; nose. Cranped foot.
| Disfgurcd face EinhruSc,l soul. Now COM
pare those two conditions How far toward
| this latter condition that ! speal; OF would
woman 20 if Christian Influences were with
drawn and Christianity were Destroyed 1t
is only question of Gynamics- II an object
be lifted to certain point and not fastened
there, and the lifting power be withdrawn,
how long before that object will fall down to
the point from which it startedf 1t will
fall dowh, and it will go still further than
the point from which it started. Christian
ity has lifted wonlan up from the very depths
1T degradation almost to the skies. II taat
lifting power be withdrawn she falls cleai
back to the depth from which she was rcsur
rected, not going any lower because there !:
/ no lower depth. And ycs, notwithstanding
the fact that the only salvation OF woman
from degradation and woe is the Christian
religion, and the only influence that has ever
lifted hor in the social scale is Christianity
have read that there are women who reject
Christianity. l make no remark in reGart
to those persons make no remark i'll re
gard to them In the silence 'of your OWL
s-soal r1ake-your observations.
I ninfdelity triumph and Christianity 81
overthrow. it means the Generalization o.