Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1891-12-23

Well. used to do these things; 1 was
brought up. 1 suppose. rs you were, in
religious family. and / believed all
those things but l got over it The
fact is, since 1 came to town / have
read great deal. and have fonnd that
there are great many things in the
Bible that are ridiculous Now, for in
stance, all that about the serpent being
cursed to crawl in the garden of Eden
because il had tempted our first par
ents- Why, you see how absurd it is.
You can tell from the very organiza-
ton of the serpent that il had to crawl.
1t crawled before it was cursed
just as well as it crawled after
wards You can tell from its or
ganization that it crawled Then,
all that story about the whale swallow
ing Jonah, or Jonah swallowing the
whale; which was it? 1t don't make
any difference, the thing is absurd. 1t
is ridiculous to suppose that a man
could have gone down through the
jaws of n sea-monster and yet kept his
lilo Why. his respiration would have
been hindered. He would have been
diSested The gastric juice would have
dissolved the fabrine and coagulated
albumen, and Jonah would have been
changed from prophet into chyle. Then
all that story about the miraculous
conception-why, it is perfectly dis
graceful. o! sir. believe in the light
of nature. This is the nineteenth CEN
fury. Progress, sir, progress. don't
blame you, but after you have been in
town as long as / have, you will think
just as do"
Thousands of young men are going
down under that process day by day,
and there is only here and there a
young man who can endure this artil-
lery of scorn. They are giving up their
Bibles The light of naturcl They
have the light of nature in China: they
have 1t in Hindostan; they have it in
Ceylon. Flowers there, waters there,
winds there; but no civiliza-
ton, no homes, no happiness.
Lancets to cut, and juggernauts to fall
under and hooks to swing on; but no
happiness tell my young brother, we
have take religion of some kind.
We have to choose between four or
five. Shall it be the Koran of the No
hammedan, or the Shaster of the Hin
doc, or the Zendavesta of the Persian,
or the Confucius writings of the Chi
ncse, or the Holy Scriptures? Take
what you will; God helping me. / will
take the Bible. Light for all darkness;
rock for all foundation; balm for all
wounds glory that lifts its pillars
of fire over the wilderness march. Do
not give up your Bible. II these peo-
pie scott ut you as though religion and
the Bible were fit only for weak-mind-
ed people, you just tell them You are
not ashamed to be in the company of
Burke, the statesman. and Raphael, the
painter, and Thorwaldsen. the sculptor
and Mozart, the musician. and Black
stone. the lawyer, and Bacon, the phil
osopher, and Harvey. the physician.
and John Milton. the poet.
Ask them what infidelity has ever
done to lift the 40. 600, 600 of the race
out of barbarism. Ask them when in
fidelity ever instituted u sanitary COM
mission and before you leave their so
ciety once and forever. tell them that
they have insuited the memory of .your
Christian father, and spit upon the
death bed of your mother, and with
swine's snout rooted up the grave of
your sister who died believing in the
Lord Jesus.
Young man. hold on to your bible. 1t
is the best book you ever owned. It
vii tell you how to dress. how to bar
gain, how to act. how to live, how to
die Glorious bible! whether on parch-
ment or paper, in octave or duodecimo.
on the center table of the drawing.
room or in the counting-room of the
banker. Glorious bible! Light to orr
feet and lamp to our path. Hold on to it!
The second class of insidious tempta-
tons that comes upon our young men
is led on by the dishonest employer.
Every commercial establishment is a
school In nine cases out of ten. the
principles of the employer become the
principles of the employee. / ask the
older merchants to bear me out in these
statements II, when You were lust
starting in life, in commercial life. Won
were told that honesty was not mar
ketable. that though you might sell all
the goods in the shop, you must not sell
your conscience, that while you were
TO exercise all industry and tact. you
were not to sell your conscience-if Won
were taught that gains gotten by sin
were com bustible. and at the moment of
lgnltionwould be blown on by the breath
of God until all the splendid estate
"Cuiu ahiSH lIlJO WHITE aSneS scattered
In the whirlwind-then that in truction
has been TO you precaution and help
ever since. There are hundreds Of com
mercial establishments in our great
cities which are educating a class of
young men who will be the honor of
the land, and there are other establish
ments which are educating young men
10 be nothing but sharpers. What
chance is there for a young man who
was taught in an establishment that il
Is right TO lie, il il is smart and that n
French label is all that is necessary TO
make thing French, and that you
ought always 10 be honest when IL paws
and that IL is wrong 90 steal unless Won
do 1t we'll? Suppose. now. a young
man just starting in life enters a
place OF that kind where there are
ten young men, all drilled in the
infamous practices OF the establish
ment He Is ready TO be taught. The
young man has no theory of CONNER
cial ethics Where is he 20 get his
theory? He will get tho theory from
his employers One day he pushes his wit
a little beyond what the establishment
demands OF him. and he fieeces n cus-
toner until the clerk Is on the verge OF
being seized by the law. What is done
In the aafoITtrtv,cwto IL =