Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-06

antagonistic to poIygamy Genesis ii, "a:
/ Therefore shall man leave his father and
| mother, and shall cleave unto his wife" Not
| his wives, but his wife.
| How many wives did God spare for Noah in
the ark? Two and two the birds: two and two
the cattle; two and two the lions: two and two
| the human race. If the God of the Bible had
| favored multiplicity of wives He would have
! spared a plurality of wives. When God first
/ launched the human race He gave Adam one
! wife. At the second launching of the human
! race He spares for Noah one wife, for Ham one
| wife. for Shem one wife, for Japhet one wife.
! Does that look as though God favored polyg-
| amy7 In LevIticus xviii, is, God thunders His
prohibition OF more than one wife.
a Permission Not a Sanction.
God permitted polygamy. Yes; just as he
permits to-day murder and theft and arson and
all kinds of crime. He permits these things as
you well know, but he does not sanction them.
Who would dare to say he sanctions them?
Because the Presidents of the United States
have permitted polygamy in Utah, you are not,
Therefore to conclude that they patronzed it.
that they approved II when on the contrary,
they denounced II. All of Gods ancient Israel
knew that the God of the Bible was against
polyCamy, for in the 430 years of their stay in
Egypt there is only one case of polygamy re-
corded-onlv one. All the mighty men of the
Bible stood aloof from polygamy, except those
who, falling into the crime were chastised
within an inch of their lives Adam, Aaron,
Noah Joseph, Joshua, Samuel, monogamists.
But you saw: Didn't David and Solomon
favor polvgamy?" Yes. and did they not get
well punished for it? Read the lives of those
two men, and you will come to the conclusion
that all the attributes of Gods nature were
against their behavior. David suffered for his
crimes in the caverns of Adullam and Massada,
in the wilderness Of Mahanaim, in the bereaVe-
ments of Ziklag. The Bedouins after him.
Absalom after him, Ahtophel after him,
Adonijah after him, the Edomites after him.
the Syrians after him, the Moabites after him,
death after him. the Lord God 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 warnings in Proverbs, read his self
disgust in Ecclesiastes He throws up his
hands in loathing, and cries ont: Vanity of
vanities. all is vanty.' His 100 wives nearly
peStered the life out of him. solomon got
well 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 marriage. If the Bible IS the
friend of polygamy WHY is it that in all the
lands where the Bible predominates polygamy
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 mis-
sionaries have done their work: while polygamy
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.
Not AntagOn1stlc 10 W omen.
Another false charge which infidehty has
made against the Bible is that it is antagonistic
to women, that 1t enjoins her degradation and
belittles her mission. Under this impression
many women have been overcome OF this plague
of infdelity. Is the Bible the enemy of woman?
Come into the picture gallery. the Louvre, the
Luxembourg of the Bible, and see which pic
lures are the more honored. Here is Eve a
perfect woman, as perfect a woman as could be
made by a perfect God. Here is Deborah,
with her womanly arm huIling a host into
the battle. Here is Miriam, leading the Israel
itish orchestra on the banks of the Req Sea.
Here is motherly Hannah, with her own
loving hand replenIshiug the wardrobe of her
son Samuel, the prophet. Here Is Abigail
kneeling at The foot Of the mountain until the
400 wrathful men, at the sight of her beauty
and prowess halt, halt-a hurricane stopped at
the sight of water lily, dewdrop uashing
back Niagara. Here is Ruth, putting to shame
all the modern slang about mothers-in-law as
she turns her back on her home and her coun-
try. and faces wild beasts and exile and death,
that she may be with Naomi, her husbands
mother. Ruth, the queen of the harvest fields
Ruth, the grandmother of David. Ruth, the
anceStress of Jesus Christ The story of her
virtues and her life sacrifice the most beautiful
paste ever written.
Here is Vashti, defving the bacchanal of a
drunken lords, and Esther, willing to
throw her life away that she may deliver her peo-
fame gliding her philanthropic needle, and
the woman with perfume in a box made from
the hills of Alabastron, pouring the holy
chrism on the head of Christ the aroma linger- |
ing all down the corridor of the centuries.
Here is LYDIA the merchantess of Tyrian pur-
pie immortalized for her Christian behavior.
Here is the widow with two mites, more
famous than the Peabodys and the Lenoxes of
all the ages, while here comes in, slow of gait |
and with careful attendants and especial honor |
and high favor. leaning on the arm of inspira- |
tion, who is the JOY and pride of |
any home so rarely fortunate as to |
have one, an old Christian grandmother, |
Grandmother Lois. Who has more worshippers |
to-day than any being that ever lived on earth, |
except Jusus Christ? Mary. For what pur- |
pose did Christ perform his first miracle upon |
earth? To relieve the embarrassment of |
housekeeper at the falling short of |
beverage. Why did Christ break up the ST. |
lence of the tomb, and tear of the shroud and |
rip up the rocks? 1t was to stop the bereave- |
ment of the two Bethany sisters. For whose |
comfort was Christ most anxious In the hour |
of dying eXcruciation? For a woman an old |
woman. 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 |
into one utterance, "Behold thy |
mother" Does the Bible antagonize woman?
More Charges Against Infidelity.
Intidelity scrapes lint for the wounded, |
bakes no bread for the hungry shakes up no |
bereft. gilds no grave for the dead. While |
Christ, our Christ, our wounded Christ. our |
risen Christ, the Christ of this old-fashioned |
be His glorious name forever! |
our Christ stands this hour pointing to the |
hospital, or to the asylum, saying; II was sick |
and We gave Me couch, l was lame and We |
gave Me crutch. | was blind and We ply |
ricianed My eyesight was orphaned and ye |
mothered My soul, was lost on the mountains
and We brought Me home; inasmuch as ye |
did it to one of the least of these, ye did it to
Me-"
But thank God that this plague of infdelity |
will be stayed. Many of those who hear me |
now by the Holy Ghost upon their hearts will |
cease to be scoffers and will become disciples, |
and the day will arrive when all nations will |
accept the Scriptures, The book is going to
keep right on until the fires of the last day are
kindled. Some of them will begin on one side |
and some on the other side of the old book |
They will not find bundle of loose manuscripts |
easily consumed like tinder thrown into the |
fire. When the fires of the last day are kindled,
some will turn on this side, from Genesis |
toward Revelation, and others will turn on this |
side, from Revelation toward Genesis. and in |
all their way they will not find single chapter
Gr single verse out of place. That will be the |
first time we can afford to do without the Bible |
What will be the use of the Book of Genesis,
descriptive of how the world was made, when
the world is destroyed?
What will be the use of the prophecies when |
they are all fulfilled? What will be the use of |
the evangelsIic or Pauline description of Jesus |
Christ when him face to face? What |
will be the use of his photograph when we have |
met him IN glory? What will be the use of the |
Book of Revelation, standing as you will with |
your foot on the CLASSY sea, and your hand on |
the ringing harp, and your forehead chapleted |
with eternal coronation. amid the amethystine |
and 12-g4ted glories of heaven? The emerald |
1asbing its green against the beryl and The |
oeryl dashing its blue against the sapphire and /
the sapphire throwing Its light on the 1aciptb, |
aud the jacinth dashing its fire against the |
and you and 1 standing in the |
ylories of 10000 sunsets.