Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-04-06

PACK OE LIES ON HER LAP
/ while reading of the better country and of
/ the ending of all her aches and pains, and
reunion not only with those Of you who
I stood around her, but with the children she
/ had buried with infinite h1Lrtache,
so that she could read no more until
she TOOK OF her Spectacles. and wiped from
/ thssmS The h1avy mist Of many tears. Alas:
tb5afor forty and fifty Years they should have
.s5Fsllled under this deLGsi0n ana had il under
3{sfher PILLOW when they lay a-dying in the
back room. and asked hat some words from
! the old book MIGHT be cut upon the tomb
stone under the shadow of the old country
Westinghouse where they sleep to-day
waiting for Il resurrection that viii oevcr
/ come This book having deceived them.
and having decided the mighty inte!lects of
the past, must not be .Ilowel TO deceive our
larger. miChticr, vaSter, more StupeudouS
iutelleCtS. And so out with the book from
the courtroom where il is used in the SOL
emnization of testimony. Out with It from
under the foundation of church and asy
1 llm Out wi h ii from the domestic circle.
Gather together all the Bibles-the chill
Gren'S Bibles, the family Bibles, those
newly bound and those wi lid nearly
worn out and pages almost Ob!iterated by
the fingers long ago turned to duSt-oring
them all together, and let us make bonfire
Of them, and by it warm our cold criticism.
and after that turn under with the plough
share of public Indignation the polluted
ashes Of that loathSome. adulterous, OBJ
scene, cruel and beautiful book which is SO
:lutarouiStic to man S liberty and woman's
honor. and the worlds happiness.
Now. that is the substance OF what inf
deity proposes and declares. and the at
tack on the Bible is accompanied by
great jocosity, and there is hardly any
subject about which more mirth is
lEndled than about the Bible. like fun;
10 man was ever built with a keener APP
probation Of it. There is health in laugh
ter instead of harm-physical health, men-
tai health. moral health, spiritual health
provided you
LAUGH AT THE RIGHT THING.
The morning is iocund. The Indian with
its own mist baptizeS the cataract Mime
haha. or laughing water. You have not
kept your eyes open, or your ears alert, II
yOu have not seen the sea smile. or heard
the forests clap their hands, or the orchards
in blossom-week aglee with redolence. But
there is 4 laughter which is beautiful, there
Is i laughter which has the rebound Of de-
spair. 1t is not healthy to giggle about
God. or ChuCaile about eternity. or smirk
about the things of the immortal soul. You
know what caused the accident years ago
on the Hudson River railroadl Il was an
intoxicated man who for joke pulled the
string OF the air-brake and stopped the
train At the most dangerous point of the
Journey. But the lightning train, not know
ing there WAS any impeachment i'll the way,
came down crushing out OF the mangled
victims the immortal souls that went speed
ing instantly TO God and Judgment 1t was
only iohe. He thought il would be such
fun to sop the train. He stopped it. And
so infdclity is chiefly anxious 10 stop the
long train Of The Bible, and the long train
Of the churches. and the long train of
Christian influences, while coming down
upon Us are Gea'h. Judgment, ard eternity,
coming thousand miles 4 minute coming
with more force than all the avalanches
that ever slipped from the Alps, coming
with more strength than al the lightning
express trains that ever whistled. or
shrieked, or Numbered across me Continent.
Now in this sentiment Of infdel thinkers
| cannot join, and / propose to give you
some reasons why I cannot be an infidel.
and so will try TO help out Of this present
condition any who may have been struck
with the
AWFUL PLAGUE oE sCEPTlCISN.
First | cannot be an infidel because inf
deity has no good substitute for the conso-
iatlon II proposes to take away. You know
there are millions Of people who get their
chief consolation from this book. What
would you think Of a crusade of this sort'
Suppose man should resolve that he
would organize q conspiracy to destroy all
the medicines from Ill the apothecaries and
from all the hospitals of the earth. The
work is done. The medicines are taken
and they are thrown into the river, or the