The Indiana State sentinel., 1891-04-15


Almighty after him. The poorest peasant
in all the empire married to the plainest
Jewess was happier than the king in his
marital misbehavior. How did Solomon
get along with polygamy? Read his warn
ings in Proverbs, read his self-disgust in
Ecclesiastes. He throws up his hands in
loathing, and cries out: VANITY of vani-
ties. all is vanity" His seven hundred
wives nearly pestered the life out of him.
Solomon got we'll paid for his crimes-well
paid. / repeat 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 mar
ria2e. IL the bible is the friend OF polyg-
amy, why is it that in all the lands where
the bible predominates it 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
missionaries have done their work, while
polvgamy 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 polygamy.
Another false charge which infdelity
has made against the bible is that it is
antagOnistic 10 woman, that it enjoins her
degradation and belittles her mission.
Under this impression many women have
been overcome of this plague of intidelity.
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, q perfect woman, as perfect
a woman as could be made by
a perfect God. Here is Deborah, with
her womanly arm hurling host into the
battle. Here is Miriam, leading the
lsraeiitish orchestra on the banks Of the
Red Sea. Here is motherly Hannah, with
her own loving hand rep!enishing the
wardrobe OF her son Samuel, the prophet.
Here is Abigail. kneeiing at the foot OF
the mountain until the 400 rathful men,
at the sight OF her beauty and prowess
halt, halt-a hurricane stopped at the
sight of water lily, a dewdrop dashing
back NiaRra. Here is Ruth, putting to
shame all the modern slang about moth
ers-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 fielfs.
Ruth, the grandmother of David. Ruth,
the ancestress OF Jesus Christ. The stor-
les Of her virtues and her ie-sacrifice. the
most beautiful pastoral ever written. Here
is Nashti defying the bacchanal OF
thousand drunken lords and Esther, will
ling 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 q box made from the hills OF
4 abastron, 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 immOrtaized for her Christian
behavior. Here Is the widow with two
mites more famous than the Pea
boiys and the Lenoxes 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 ins s2irAtion, one who is the Joy and
pride of any home so rarely fortunate as
TO have one, an old Christian grand
mother, Grandmother Lois. Who has
more IWorshipers today than any being
who ever lived on earth, except Jesus
Christ? Mary For what purpose did
Christ perform his first miracle upon
earth? To relieve the embarrassment OF
a womanlv 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 anxious in the hour OF dying
excruciation? For woman, an old wo-
man, q wrinkled-faced woman, a 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. All the
pathos of the ages compressed into one
utterance, Behold thy mother" Does
the Dibie antaVOnize woman?
III the bible is so antagonistic to woman,
how do you account for the difference in
wOmans condition in China and Central
America? 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 plows. she
carries the hod, she submits to indescrlba-
BILE indignities. She must be kept in a
private apartment and if she comes forth
she must be carefully hooded and re-
ligiously yelled as though it were a shame
to be woman. Do you not know that
the very first thing the bible does when
it comes into new country is to strike
oil the shackles of wOman's serf-
dom? Oh, woman, where are your chains
today? Hold up your arms and let us see
your handouts. Oh, we see the hand
cuffs; they are bracelets of gold bestowed
by husbandly. or fatherly, or brotherly, or
sisterly, or loveriv affection. UnlooSen
the warm robes from your neck. On, wo-
man, and let us see the yoke of your bond
age Oh, l find the yoke carcenet of
silver, or a string of comedians, or acluster
of pears 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 a blessing?
| Why is it that woman when she is
troubled will go to her worst enemy, the
| bible? Why do you not go for comfort to
| some of the great infidel books, Spinoza's 8
Ethics" or Hume's Natural History of
Religion" or Paine's Gage of Reason" or
Dedro's Dramas" or any OF the two hun
dred and sixty volumes OF Voltaire? No,
| the silly, deluded woman presists in hang
| ing about the bible verses, Let not your
| heart be troubled" "All things work to-
gether for good, weeping may endure
for night" az am the resurrection, Z"
Peace, be still"
Furthermore, rather than invite, I re-
sist this plague of infdeiity, because it
| has wrought no positive good for the
world, and is always a hindrance. | ask
you to mention the names OF the merciful
/ and the educational institutions which in
| fidelity founded and is supporting, and
has supported all the way through. insti-
| tutiOns pronounced against God and the
Christian religion, and yet pronounced in
behalf of suffering humanity. What are