The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-04-14

uVub uutufe were against their be-
hayior. David suffered for his crimes
In the cayerns of Adullam and Massada.
In the wilderness of Afahanaim, In the
b~ereayemeuts of Ziklag. The Bedouins
alter him, sickness after him, Absalom
alter him, Ahithopcl after him, Adon-
iJah after him, the Edomites after him.
the Syrians after him, the Moabites after
him, death after him, the Lord God AL
mighty after him. The poorest peasant
in Ill the empire married to the plamest
Jewess was happier than the king In his
marital misbehayior. How did Solomon
get along with polygamy2 Read his
warnings, in Pr verbs, read his selt-dis-
gust ! n Ecclesiastes. He throws up his
hands in loathing, and cries out: ssVan-
lily OF yanities, all is vanity,n His seven
hundred wives nearly pcstered the life
out OF HIM. Solomon got well paid for
his crimes-well paid. L repeat that all
the mighty men of the Scriptures were
aloof from polygamy, save as they were
pounded and Hailed, and cut to pieces
Tor 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,
1t is favored9 Polygamy all over China,
all over India, all over Africa, all over
Persia, all over heathendom, save as
the missionaries have done their work,
while polygamy does not exist in Eng
land and the United States, except In
defiance oflaw. The Bible abroad, God
honored monogamy. The Bible not
abroad, God abhorred polygamy.
Another false charge which in6delity
has made against the Bible is that it Is
a~ntagonistic to woman, that it enjolns
her degradation and belittles her mis-
sion. Under this impression many wo-
men have been overcome OF this plague
OF inidellty. Is the Bible the enemy Of
woman? Come into the picture gallery,
the Louvre, the Luxembourg of the BIZ
pie, m see which pictures are the more
honored. Here is Eve, aperfect woman,
as perfect q woman as could be made by
a perfect God. Here Is Deborah, with
her womanly arm hurting o host into the
battle. Here is Miriam, leading the
lsraelitish orchestra on the banks Of the
Red Sea. Here is motherly Hannah,
with her own loving hand replenis hing
the wardrobe of her son Samuel, the
prophet. Here is Abigail, kneeling at
the loot of the mountain until the four
hundred wrathful men, at the sight Of
her beauty and prowess halt, halt-a
hurricane stopped at the sight of the
water lily, adewdrop dashing back Mag
ara. Here is Ruth, putting to shame all
modern slang about mothers-in-law as
she turns her back on her home and her
country, 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, tho grand
mother of David. Ruth. the ancestress
of Jesus Christ. The story of her vir-
tues and her life sacrifice the most beau
tiful pastoral ever written. Here is
Vashti. defying the bacchanal ola thous-
and drunken lords, and Esther, willing to
throw her lie away that she may deliver
her people. And here is Dorcas, the
sunlight of eternal fame gliding her phil
anthropic needle, and tho woman with
perfume in a box, made from the hills of
Alabastron, pouring the holy chrism on
the head of Christ, the aroma lingering
all down the corridor of the centuries.
Here is Lydia, the merchantess ofTyrian
purple, imm~ortalized for her Christian
behavior. Here is the widow with two
mites, more famous han the Peabodys
and the LenoXes ofall ages, while here
comes in slow of gait and with careful
attendants and with especial honor and
high favor, leaning on the arm of inspir-
alton, n 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 ary being that
ever lived on earth, except Jes Is Christ?
Mary. For what purpose did Christ per-
form His first miracle. pom earth? To
relieve the embarrassment of q woman
ly housekeeper at the falling short of a
beverage. Why did Christ break up the
silence of the tomb, and tear off the
shroud and rip up the rocks? 1t was to
stop the bereavement of tho two Beth
any sisters. For whose comfort was
Christ most anxious in the hour ofdying
excruclation? Fora woman, an old wo-
ran, q wrinkle-faced woman, q woman
who in other days had held him in her
arms, his first friend, his last friend, as
is 1t very apt to be, his mother. All the
pathos of the ages compressed into one
utterance, "Behold thy mother" Does
the Bible antagonize woman?
If the Bible is so .a~ntagonistic to wo-
man, how do you account for the differ
ence in woman, condition in China and
Central Africa, and her condition in
England and America? There is no diff
ference except that which the Bible
makes. In lands where there is no BIZ
BILE, she is hitched like a beast of bur-
den to the ploughs, she carries the hod,
she submits to indescribable ind.gnitles.
She must be kept in a private apartment
and if she come forth she must be care
fully hooded and religiously yelled as
though 1t were q shame to be a woman.
Do you not know that the very first thing
the Bible does when it comes into q new
country is to strike Off the skackles of a
woman's serfdom? O woman, where
are your chains to-day? Hold up both
your arms and let us see your handouts;
they arc bracelets of gold, bestowed by
~husbandly, or fatherly. or brotherly, or
sisterly, or loverly affection. Unloosen
the warm robe from your neck. o wo-
man, and let us see the yoke Of your
bondage. Oh, 1 find the yoke o carcenet
of silver, or q string of comedians, or a
cluster of pearls that must gall you very
much. How bad you must all have it.
Since you put the Bible on your stand
in the sitting room mas the Bible been to
you, o woman, q curse or a blessing?
Why Is it that a woman when she 10
troubled will go to her worst enemy the
Blble9 Why do you not 60 for comfort
to some of the great infdel books, Spi-
noza's Ethics, or Hume's Natural His
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