Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-04-06
A PLAGUE OF UNBEIIER.
TIE MOVING CAUSE or AL The
PLAQUES OF CITES

G~e<ee a ShrtsSk1ntty ana AEuoa$iekSxo-
Ths Gasrisss Rssaits - . Living EsarA-
What Hss inadslity Dens,
NV Yozx, April a. Ccntinuing bis
eourse Of sermons on The Tea Plaques Of
tue Cities" Rev Or. Taimage TO-DAY took
for his subject The Plague Of lnsidelity."
The discoarss wss delivered 70 large and
appreciative audiencss at the BROOKLYN
Academy Of Music in the forenoon aud the
New York Academy Of Muse in the even
Ing. Tie text was Romans iii, (, Let
God Be true. bat every man liar"
That Is II God says Que thing and the
whole human race says the opposite, PAID
would accept the Divine veracify. Bat
there are many in our time who have dared
srraagn the Almighty for faisehood. Ia
hdshty Is net only plague. but Il Is the
mother OF plaques.
IL seems from what we hear on all sides
that the Christian religion Is a huge blun-
der, that the Gosaic account OF the creation
h an absardisy large enough to throw all
nations into rollicking gu0aw; that Adam
and Eve never existed. that the ancient
Hood and Noah's ark were impossibilities;
that there never was q miracle; that the
kibie Is the friend Of cruelty, of murder, Of
polygamy, Of all forms Of base crime; that
the Christian religion Is woman's tyrant
and mans qualification; that the Bible
from lid to lid h fable, cruelty, hum
bug. sham. . lie; that the martyrs who
died for It's truth were miserable dupes;
that the church Of Jesus Christ is
properly gaxcttsd as . fool; that when
Thomas Carlyle. tho skeptic, said. ''The
- ha Av.
into imbecility; that when Theodore Parker
declared In Music hall, Boston, "Never q
boy or girl In all Christendom but was
proflted by that greet book" he was be-
coming very weak minded; that it Is somc-
thing to bring blush to the cheek Of
every patriot that John Adams, the father
Of American Independence. declared, The
Bible Is the best book In ell the world"
and that lion hearted Andrew jackson
turned into y sniveling coward when be
said, THAT book, sir. Is tho rock on which
our republic rests" and that Daniel Web
ster abdicated the throne Of his intellectual
power and resigned his logic, and from
being the great expoundcr Of the constitu-
ton and the great lawyer of his age turned
into an idiot when he said, "My heart as
sures and reassures me that the gospel OF
Jesus Christ must be . divine reality.
From the time that at my mothers feet
or on my fathers knee first learned to
lisp verses from the sacred writings they
have been my daily study and vigilant con-
temptation, and II there is anything in my
style or thought to be commended the
credit Is due to my kind parents In instill-
ing into my mind an early love Of the
Scriptures" and that William II. Seward,
the diplomatist Of the century, only showed
his puerility when he declared. 1.-THE whole
hope OF human progress Is suspended on
the ever growing influences OF the Bible;"
and that it is wisest for us TO take that
book from the throne in the affections Of
uncounted multitudes and put 1t under
our feet, to be trampled upon by ha-
tired and Kissing contempt; and that
your old father was hoodwinked and
cajoled and cheated and befooled when
he leaned on this Us q staff after his
hair grew gray, and his hands werc
tremulous, and his steps shortened as be
came up to the verge of the grave; and that
your mother sat with pack Of lies on her
lap while reading of the better country, aud
OF the ending of all her aches and pains,
and reunion not only with those Of you
who stood around her, but with the chill
dren she had buried with infinite heart
ache, so that she could read no more until
she took OF her spcctaclcs and wiped from
them the heavy mist of many tears. Alas
that for forty and fifty years they should
have walked under this delusion and had
il under their pillow when they lay a-dying
In the back room, and asked that some
words from the vile page might be cut upon
the tombstone under the shadow of the old
country meeting house where they sleep
today waiting for q resurrection that will
never come.
This book. having deceived them, and
having deceived the mighty intellects OF
the past. must not be allowed TO deceive
our larger, mightier, yaster, more stupen-
dous intellects. And SO out with the book
from the court room, where it Is used in
the solcmnixation Of testimony. Out with
II from under the foundation of church
and asylum. Ont with it from the domes-
tic circle Gather together all the Bibles-
the children's Bibles, the family Bibles,
those newly bound, and those with lid
nearly worn out and pages almost obliter-
ated by the fingers long ago turned to
dust-brlug them all together, and let US
make bonfire Of them, and by IL warm
our cold criticism, and after that turn I'M
der with the plowshare Of public indigna-
ton the polluted ashes Of that loathsome,
adulterous, obscene, cruel and deathful
book which is so antsgonistic. to mans
liberty, and woman's honor, and the
worlds happiness.
AGSosTIcs ATTACK THE VERY LIFE
Now that Is the substance Of what inf
deity proposes and declares, and the at
tack on the Bible II accompanied by great
jocosity, and there 10 hardly any subject
about which more mirth 10 kindled than
about the Bible. I like fun; no man was
ever built with kecncr appreciation Of II.
There II health in laughter instead OF harm
physical health, mental health, moral
health, spiritual health - provided you
laugh at the right thing. The morning Is
jocImd. The Indian with its own mist bap-
ties the cataract Mnnehaha, or Laughing
Water. You have rot kept your eyes open
or your ears alert IL you have not seen the
sea smile. or heard the forests clap their
hands, or tho orchards in blossom week
aglee with rcslolcncc. But there IL . langh-
ter which il deathful. there il a laughter
which has the rebound Of despair. II is
not healthy to gi9gle about God or chuckle
about eternity OF enirk about the things
OF the immortal soal
You know what caused the accident
years ago on the Hudson River railroad
II was an intoxicated msn who for a JOKE
palied the string Of the air brake and
stopped the train ut the most dangerous
point Of the journey. Das the Lightning
train, net knowing there was any impedi-
naeus In the war. came down. crushing ont
of the mingled victims the immortal souls
that won't speedins instantly TO God and
Judgment Is was only a joke. lie thought
il would be snch fun TO stop the train He
stopped it, And % ioadslity Is chiefly