Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-04-16

arson and all kinds ot crime. He permits
these things, as you well know, but he
does not sanction them. Who would dare
20 say he sanctions themi Because the
presidents Of the United States have per-
mitted polyRamy in Utah, you are not,
therefore, to conclude that they patronized
it, that they approved it, when, on the
contrary, they denounced it. All Of Gods
ancient Israel knew that the God of the
Bible was against polygamy, for in the
four hundred and thirty years Of their
stay in Egypt there is only one case Of
polygamy recorded-only one. All the
mighty men of the Bible stood aloof from
polygamy except those who, falling into
the crime, were chastised within an inch
of their lives. Adam. Aaron, Noah, Jo-
seph, Joshua, Samuel, monogamists. But
you say, Didn't David and Solomon favor
polygamyp Yes; and did they not get
we'll punished for itI
Read the lives of those two men and
you will come to the conclusion that all
the attributes Of Gods nature were against
their behavior. David suffered for his
crimes in the caverns of Adullam and Mas
sada. in the wilderness of Mahanaim, in
the bereavements of Ziklag. The Bedouins
after him, sickness after him, Absalom af-
ter him, Ahithopel after him, Adonijah af-
ter him, the Edomites after him, the Sy-
rians after him, the Moabites after him,
death after him, the Lord God Almighty
after him. The poorest peasant in all the
empire married to the plainest Jewess was
happier than the king in his marital mis-
behavior. How did Solomon get along
with polygamy? Read his warnings in
Proverbs; read his self disgust in Ecclesi-
astes. He throws up his hands in loath-
ing and cries out, "Vanity of vanities, all
is vanity" His seven hundred wives
nearly pestered the life out of him. Solo
omon got we'll paid for his crimes-well
paid.
Irepeat that all the mighty men of the
Scriptures were aloof from polygamy, save
as they were pounded and failed and cut
to pieces for their insult to holy marriage.
If the Bible is the friend of polygamy why
is it that in all the lands where the Bible
predominates polygamy is forbidden, and
in the lands where there is no Bible it is
favored. Polygamy all over China, all
over India, all over Africa, all over Persia,
all over heathendom, save as the mission
aries have done their work, while polyg-
amy does not exist in England and the
| United States, except in defiance of law.
The Bible abroad, God honored monogamy.
| The Bible not abroad, God abhorred polyg-
| amy.
THE GLORY OF CHRISTIAN wOMANHOoD.
Another false charge which infidelity has
made against the Bible is that it is antago-
nistic to woman, that it enjoins her degra-
6ation and belittles her mission. Under
this impression many women have been
] overcome of this plague of infdelity. Is
the Bible the enemy of woman? Come
into the picture gallery, the Louvre, the
| Luxembourg of the Bible, and see which
pictures are the more honored. Here is
| Eve, perfect woman; as perfect a woman
as could be made by a perfect God. Here
| is Deborah, with her womanly arm hurting
| a host into battle. Here is Miriam, lead
ing the Israelitish orchestra on the banks
of the Red sea. Hereis motherly Hannah,
with her own loving hand replenishing the
wardrobe of her son Samuel, the prophet.
| Here is Abigail, kneeling at the foot
| of the mountain until the four hun
dred wrathful men, at the sight of her
beauty and prowess halt, halt-a hurricane
| stopped at the sight of water lily, dew
drop dashing back Niagara. 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 grandmother of David.
Ruth, the ancestress of Jesus Christ. The
story of her virtues and her life sacrifice is
the most beautiful pastoral ever written,
Here is Vashti defying the bacchanal of a
thousand drunken lords, and Esther will
ing to throw her life away that she may
deliver her people. And here is Dorcas,
the sunlight of eternal fame gliding her
philanthropic needle, and the woman with
perfume in 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 behavior.
Here is the widow with two mites, more
famous than the Peabodys and the Len
oxes of all the ages, while here comes in
slow of gait and with careful attendants
and with especial honor and high favor,
leaning on the arm of inspiration, one who
is the joy and pride of any home SO rarely
fortunate as to have one, an old Christian
grandmother, Grandmother Lois. Who
has more worshipers today than any being
that ever lived on earth except Jesus
Christ? Mary. For what purpose did
Christ perform his first miracle upon earthi
To relieve the embarrassment of woman
ly housekeeper at the falling short of a
beverage. Why did Christ break up the
silence of the tomb, and tear off the shroud
and rip up the rocks? 1t was to stop the
bereavement of the two Bethany sisters
For whose comfort was Christ most anx-
ious in the hour Of dying excruciation!
For woman, an old woman, wrinkle
faced woman, woman who in other days
had held him in her arms, his first friend
his last friend, as it is very apt to be, his
mother. ALI the pathos of the ages com
pressed into one utterance, Behold thy
mother" Does the Bible antagonize WON
an?
A CALL FOR THE WITNESSES
If the Bible is so antagonistic to woman
how do you account for the difference il
woman's condition in China and Centra
Africa, and her condition in England anC
America? There is no difference except
that which the Bible makes. In lands
where there is no Bible she is hitched like
beast of burden to the plows, she carries
the hod, she submits to indescribable in
dignities. She must be kept in private
apartment, and if she come forth she mus
be carefully hooded and religiously veileG
as though it were shame to be woman
Do you not know that the very frs
thing the Bible does when it come.
into a new country is to strike of