The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-04-09

and the United StSteS. except ii Oenalce O1
law. The Bible abroad, God honored mono
samy. The Bible not abroad. Goo abhored
polygamy.
ANOTHER FALSE CHARGE
which infdelity has made against the Bible
is that it is antagoniStic to women. that 1t
enioins her degradation and belittleS her
mission. Under this impression many
women have been overcome of this plague
of infidelity. Is the Bible the enemy Of
womenl Come into the picture gallery,
the Louvre, the Luxembourg OF the Bible,
and see which pictures are the most hon.
ored. Here is Eve, perfect woman, as
perfect a woman as could be made by a
perfect God. Here is Deborah, with her
womaDly arm hurting host into the bat
tie. Here is Miriam, leading the Israel
itish orchestra on the banks OF the Red sea.
Here is motherly Hannah, with her own
loving hand replenishing the wardrobe or
her son Samuel, the prophet Here is Abb
gail. kneeling at the foot OF the mountain
until the four hundred wrathful men, at
the sight Of her beauty and proves halt,
halt-a hurricane stopped at the sight OF q
water lily, 4 dewdrop dashing back Mag
ara. Here is Ruth, putting to shame all
the modern slang about mOthers-In-law as
she turns her back on her home and her
country, and faces wild beasts and exile
and death, that she may be with Naomi,
her husbands mother. Ruth, the queen
of the harvest fields. Ruth, the grand
mother of David, Ruth, the aucestress Of
Jesus Christ, The story of her virtues and
her life sacrifice, the most beautiful pas
toral ever written. Here is Nashti, defy
ing the bacchanal of thousand drunken
lords and Easter, willing 10 throw her life
away that she may delivor her people.
And here is Dorcas, the sunlight Of eternal
fame, gliding her philanthropic needle, and
the woman with perfume in a box made
from the hills of Alabastron, pouring the
holy chrism on the head of Christ, the
aroma lingering all down the
CORRIDOR OF THE CENTURIES.
Here is Lydia, the merchantess of Tyrian
purple immortalized for her Christian be-
havior. Here is the widow with two mites,
more famous than the Peabodys and the
Lenoxes OF all the ages, while here comes
in slow gait and with careful attendants
and with especial honor and high favor,
leaning on the arm of inspiration, one VINO
is the Joy and pride of any home so rarely
fortunate as TO have one, an old Christian
grandmother, Grandmother Lois. Who
has more worshippers to-day than any being
that ever lived on earth, except Jesus
Christi Mary For what purpose did
Christ perform his first miracle upon earth!
To relieve the embarrassment OF 4 womanly
Lousekeeper at the falling short of beyer-
age Why did Christ break up the silence
of the tomb, and tear off the Shroud and rip
the rocllss 1t was to stop the bereavement
of the two Bethany sisters. For whose
comfort was Christ most anxious in the
hour of dying eXcruciation? For woman,
an old woman, wrinlle-faced woman, q
woman who in other days had held him i'll
her arms his first friend, his last friend, as
it is very apt to be, his mother. All the
pathos Of the ages compressed into one ut
terance, Behold thy mother" Does the
Bible antagonize woman!
If the Bible is so antagonistic to woman,
how do you account for the difference in
woman's condition in China and Central
Africa, and her condition in England and
America2 There is no difference, except
that which the Bible makes. In lands
where there is no Bible, she is hitched like
a beast of burden to the ploughs, she carries
the hod, she submits to indescrioable in
dignities. She must be kept in a private
apartment, and if she come forth, she must
be carefully hooded and religiously yelled
as though it were
A SHAME TO De A WOMAN.
Do you not know that the very first thing
the Bible does when it comes into new
country is to strike off the shackles of
woman's serfdom? o woman, where are
your chains to-dayl Hold up both your
arms and let US see your handouts /;
OH, we see the handouts; they
handy, fatherly, or brotherly, or sisterly,
or loverly affection. Unloosen the warm
robe from your neck, o woman, and let US
see the yoke of your bondage. Oh find
the woke carcenet of silver, or string Of
comedians, or a cluster OF pearls that must
gall you very much. How bad you must
all have it.
Since you put the Bible on your stand in
the sitting room has the Bible been to you,
o woman, a curse or blessinga Why is
it that d woman when she is troubled will
go to her worst enemy, the Biblef Why
do you not go for comfort to some of the
great iufidel books. Spinoza's Ethics or
Hume's Natural History of Religion, or
Paine's Age of Reason, or Dedro's Dramas,
or any one of the 2GO volumes Of Voltairef
No, the silly, deluded woman persists in
hanging about the Bible verses, Let not
your heart be troubled ''All things work
together for good" Weeping may endure
for night" Il am the resurrection, -
peace, be still"
Furthermore, rather than invite resist
this plague of infidelity because it has
wrought no positive good for the world, and
is always hindrance. l ask you to men
ton the names of the merciful and the
educational institutions which infdelty
founded and is supporting, and has sup
ported all the way through; institutions
pronounced against God and the Christian
religion, and yet pronounced in behalf of
suffering humanity What are the names
of them2 Certainly not the United States
Christian commission; or the sanitary COM
mission, for Christian George H. Stuart
was the president of the one, and Christian
Henry W. Bellows was the president OF the
other.
WHERE ARE THE AsYLUMs
and merciful institutions founded by inf
delity. and supported by infdelity, pro-
nounced against God and the Bible, and yet
doing work for the alienation of suffering
Infidelity is so very loud in its braggadocio
it must have some to mention. Certainly,
if you come to speak of educational institu-
lions it is not Yale. it is not Harvard, it is
not Princeton, it is not Middletown, 1t is
not Cambridge or Oxford, it is not any in
stituticn from which diploma would not
be a disgrace. Do you point to the German
universities as eXceptions2 l have to tell
you that all the German universities to-day
are under positive Christian influences, ex-
cept the University of Heidelberg, where
the ruffianly students cut and maui and
mangle and murder each other as matter
of pride instead of infamy. Do you mention
Girard college, Philadelphia, as an eXcep-
ton, that college established by the will of
Mr.. Girard which forbade religious in
struction and the entrance OF clergyHen
within its gates. My reply is that lived
for seven years near that college and knew
many of its professors to be Christian in
structors, and no better Christian influences
are to be found in any college than in
Girard college.
There stands Christianity. There
stands infdelity. Compare what they
have done. Compare their resources.
There is Christianity, a prayer on her
lip; benediction on her brow; both hands
TY,11 Of hnl a