The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-04-16

a
woman, an OLD woman, u wrinkle 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 Bible
antagonize womanl
CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN WOMAN CON-
TRASTED.
II 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 Bi
BILE she is hitched like beast of bur
den to the plows, she carries the hod,
she submits to indescribable indigni
ties She must be kept in private
apartment, and If she come forth she
must be carefully hooded and relig
iously yelled, as though it were 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
OFF the shackles of woman's serfdom?
0 woman, where are your chains to-
daya Hold up both your arms and let
us see your handouts. Oh, we see the
handSAlsl They are bracelets of gold
bestowed BY husbandly or fatherly or
brotherly or sisterly or loverly affec-
ton. Unloosen the warm robe from
your neck, o woman, and let us see the
yoke of your bondage. Oh, find the
yoke a carcenet of silver, or string of
carnelans, or cluster of pearls that
must gall you very much How bad
you must all have it'll
Since you put the Bible on your
stand in the sitting room has the Bible
been to you, o woman, curse or
blessing2 Why is it that woman
when she is troubled will go 70 her
worst enemy, the Bible? Why do you
not go for comfort to some of the great
infidel books-Spinozas Ethics" or
Humes Natural History of Religion"
or Paine's Age of Reason" or Dedro's
Dramas, or any one of the two hun
dred and sixty volumes Of Voltaire2
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" 81
am the resurrection, peace, be still. )"
Furthermore, rather than invite l re.
slst this plague of intldellty because It
has wrought no positive good for the
world. and is always a hindrance. l
ask you to mention the names of the
merciful and the educational institu-
lions which infidelity founded and is
supporting, and has supported all the
way Observation-Disclosures pronounced
against God and the Christian religion,
and yet pronounced in behalf of suffer
ing humanity. What are the names of
them? Certainly not the United States
Christian commission or the sanitary
commission, 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 infdelity and supported by
infdelity, pronounced against God and
the Bible, and yet doing work for
the alienation of suffering9 Infdel-
iiy is ~ very loud IN its bragga-
docio it must have some to men
| ton. Certainly, if you come to speak
of educational institutions, it is not
Yale. it is not Harvard, it is not Prince
ton, it is not Middletown, it is not Cam
bridge or Oxford, it is not any institu-
ton from which a diploma would not
be disgrace. Do you point to the
German universities as exceptions?
have to tell you. that all the German
universities today are under positive
Christian influences, except the univer-
sity of Heidelberg, where the ruffianly
students cut and maui and mangle and
murder each other as a matter of pride
instead of infamy. Do you mention
Girard college, Philadelphia, as an ex
ception-that college established by
the will of Mr.. Girard, which forbade
religious instruction and the entrance
of clergymen within its gates3 My re
ply is that lived for seven years neal
that college and knew many of its pro
fessors to be Christian instructors, an(
nc better Christian influences are to b.
found in any college than in Girart
college.
INFIDELITY A KNow-NoTHING AND
Do-NoTHING.
There stands Christianity. Their
stands infidelity. Compare what the.
have DONE Compare their resources
There is Christianity, a prayer on he
lip, benediction on her brow; boil
hands full of help for all who wan
help; the mother of thousands of col
: leges; the mother of thousands of asy
lums for the oppressed, the blind, tn
sick, the lame, the imbecile; the mothe
of missions for the bringing back o
the outcast; the mother of thou
sands of reformatory institutions TO
the saving of the lost; the mothe
of innumerable Sabbath schools bring
ing millions of children under a drill t
prepare them for responsibility an
usefulness, to say nothing of the grea
future That is Christianity.
Here is infidelity; no prayer on he
lips, no benediction on her brow, bot,
handr clenched- what for9 To figh
Christianity. That is the entire bus
ness. The complete mission of infide
ity to fight Christianity. Where ar
her schools, her colleges, her asylum
of mercy? Let me throw you down
whole ream of foolscap paper that 20
may fiji all of it with the names of he
beneficent institutions the colleges an
the asylums the institutions of mere
and of learning founded by infidelit
and supported alone by infidelity, PR
nounced against God and the Christia
religion and yet in favor of making I'll
world better ssOh YOU saw "a real