The Red Cloud chief., 1891-04-17
PLAGUE OF INFIDELITY,
Dr.. Talmage Continues His Sermons
on the Ten Plaques.
ypHdeilty's Attacks on the Bible Answered
The False Charges Of skeptics-ChrIsti-
snIty liver the Friend Of Women
Glorics For True Christians.

ut brooklyn on the Ten Plaques of the
Cities" Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in a
late discourse took for his subject 1.-THE
Plague of Infdelity." His text was
from Romans iii 4: Let God be true,
but every man a liar" lie said:
That is if God says one thing and the
whole human race says the opposite,
Paul would accept the Divine veracity.
But there are many In our time who
have dared To arraign the Almighty for
falsehood. Infidclity is not only a
plague, but is the mother OF plaques.
II seems from what we hear on all
sides. that the Christian religion is a
huge blundcr; that the Mosaic account
of the creation is an absurdity; that
Adam and Eve never existed; that the
ancient food and Noah's ark were inn
possibilities; that there never was q
miracle; that the Bible is the friend of
cruelty, of murder. of polygamy, Of all
forms of base crime; hat the Christian
religion is woman's tyrant and mans
qualification; that the Bible from lid
10 lid Is a fable, a cruelty, a hum
bug, "A lie that the martyrs
who died for its truth were miserable
%.luTes; that the church of Jesus Christ
IS properly gazctted as a fool; that when
Thomas Carlyle, the skeptic, said, 1.-THE
bible is a noble book" hc was dropping
into imbccility; hat when Theodore
Parker declared ia Music hall, II ,ston,
never a boy or girl in all C~hristcndom
but was profted by that great book"
he was becoming cry weak minded;
that il is something TO bring a blush 10
the cheek OF every patriot that John
Adams, the father of American indie
pcndencc declared, 1.-The Bible Is the
best book in all the world" and that
lion hearted Andrew Jackson turned
into a snivclling coward when he said:
THAT book, sir, is the rock on which
our republic rests" and that Daniel
Webster abdicatcd the throne u his
intellectual power and resigned his
logic. and from being the great ex-
FOUNDER Of the constitution and the
great lawyer Of his age, turned into an
IDIOT when hc said: My heart assures
me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ
must Ice "A divine reality. From the
time that al my mothers feet, OF on
my fathers knee, | first learned
10 lisp verses from the sacred
writing, they have been my daily
study and vigilant contemplation, and
If there is anything in my style or
thought to bc commended, the credit Is
due tn my kind parents in Installing into
my mind an early love Of the script
- - - a., NI.Ils.,. N A.-.rl a..
diplomatist of the century, only showed
his pucriliiy when he declared: The
whole huyt of human progress is sus
pended on the cvcr-growing influences
of the Biblc;" and that il is wiscst for
us Ia takc hat book from the throne in
the affections of ~uncountcd m~ultitudcs,
and put il under our feet to bc ~tranpled
upon hy hatred and kissing contempt;
and that your old father was hood
winkcd, and cajoled. and cheated, and
brfoolcd, when he leaned on this as "A
staff after his hair grew gray. and his
hands were trcmulous, and his steps
shortened rs he came up to h verge of
the grave: and that your mother sat
with a pack of lies on her lap while
reading IF the better country and of the
ending Of all her aches and pains and
reunion not only with those of You who
stood around her, but with the children
she had buried with infinite heartache.
Alas. that for forty and fifty years
they should have walked under this de-
fusion and had IL under their pillow
when they lay a-dying in the back
room. and asked that some words from
the old book might Ice cut upon the
tombstone under the shadow of the old
country meeting housc where they
sleep to-day, waiting for "a resurrection
that will never come. This book. hav-
ing deceived them, and having deceived
the mighty int"llccts OF the past, must
not be allowed tn deceive our larger,
mighticr, v~aSicr, more stnpcndous in
tcllccts. And. 80 ont with the book
from the court room. where il is used
in the sulcmnization of testimony. Out
with il from under the foundation of
church and asylum. Out with il from
the domestic circle. Gather together
all the Bibles the childrcn's Bibles,
those newly bound. and those with lid
nearly worn ont and pages oblit"rated
hy the fingers long ago turned To dust
bring them all together and let us
make a bonfire of them, and bv il warm
our cold criticism, and after that turn
under with the plowSharc Of public in
,lignatinn the polluted ashes of that
loathsumc. adultcrouS, obscene, cruel
and beautiful book which i so autago-
niStic to mans liberty and woman's
honor and the worlds happiness.
Now that is the substance of what in
fidelity proposes and declares. and the
attack on the Bible is accompanied by
great iocosity. and there is hardly any
subject about which more mirth is
kindled than about the Bible. IL is not
healthy to giggle about God, or chucklc
about eternity. or smirk about things of
the immortal soul.
Now in this sentimentof infidcl think
ers | cannot join. and | propose Ia give
Won some reason why ! cannot be an in
tidcl. and so i will try to help out of
this present condition any who may
have been struck with the awful plague
Of skepticism.
First. I cannot he an infidcl because
infdclity has no good substitute for the
consolation il proposes In take away.
You know there are millions of people
who get their chief consolation from
this book. suppose n man should rc-
solve that he would organize a con-
spiracy Ia destroy all the medicines
from all the apothccarics and from all
the hospitals of the earth. The work il
done. The medicines are taken and
thrown into the river, or the lake, or
the sea. A patient wakes up at mid
night in n paroNysm Of distress and
wants an arodyrc. oh" Says the
nurse, the auodyncs are all destroyed:
We have no drops - give You. but in
stead of that I'll read you n book on
the ahsuriities 81 morphine, and on the
ah>urlitics If all remedies" But the
man continues - writhc in pain, and
the nurse saws: III continue 10 read
YOU some discourscs on anodyneS the
crucliies Of anodynes, the indcccncies
Of anodynes,t the ab>urdities ofanodynes
For Your groan I'll give Won n laugh"
Here in the hospital is n patient having a
ganCrened limb amputated- lie says;
20. for ether, q. for chloroform." The