Sharp County record., 1891-05-14

the Hudson River railroad 1t was an
intoxicated man who for joke pulled
the string Of the air brake and stopped
the train at the most dangerous point
OF the journey. But the lightning
train, not knowing there was any i'm
pedlment in the way, came down crush
ing ont Of the mangled victims the i'm
mortal souls thatwent speeding instant
Iy to the God and to Judgment 1t was
only joke. He thought it would be
such fun to stop the train. He stopped
1t. And so infdelity is chiefly anxious
to stop the long tram of the Bible, and
the long train Of the churches, and the
long train of Christian influences, while
coming down upon us are death, iudg-
ment and eternity coming a thousand
miles minute, coming with more force
than all the avalanches that ever slipped
from the Alps, coming with more
strength than all the lightning-express
trains that ever whistled or shrieled. or
thundered across the continent.
-NoHs III llll0 SGuIllutuU Ol llUQtl
thinkers | can not join, and I propose
to give you some reasons why can not
be an infdel, and so l will try to help
out of this present condition any who
may have been struck with the awful
plague of skepticism.
First, l can not be an infdel because
intidelity has no good substitute for the
consolation it proposes to take away.
You know there are millions of people
who get their chief consolation from this
book. What would you think Of crll-
sadie Of this sort? Suppose man should
resolve that he would organize a con-
spiracy to destroy all the medicines
from all the apothecaries aGd from all
the hospitals of the earth. The work
is done. The medicines are taken and
they are thrown into the river, or the
lake, or the sea. A patient wakes up
at midnight in paroXysm of Distress
and wants an anodyne. "Oh," says the
nurse, the anodynes are all destroyed:
we have no drops to give you, but-in-
stead of that I'll read you book on the
absurdities of morphine, and on the alb
surdities of all remedies" But the man
continues to writhe in pain, and the nurse
says: "Ill continue to read you some
discOurses on anodynes, the cruelties Of
anOdynes, the indecencies of anodynes
the absurdities of anodynes. For your
groan I'll give you a laugh Here in
the hospital is patient having a gan
grened limb amputated He says, "Oh,
for ether Oh, for chloroform." The
doctors say; "Why, they are all de-
stroyed; we don't have any more chlo-
reform or ether; but l have got some.
thing a great deal better I'll read you
a phamphlet against James Y Simp-
son, the discOverer of chloroform as
an anasthetic, and against Drs.
Agnew and Hamilton and Hosacll
and Mott and Harvey and Abernethy."
But, says the man, Il must have some
anHsthetics. No." say the doctors,
"they are all destroyed, but we have
got something a great deal better.
"Nhat is that?" Fun" Fun about
medicines. Lie down, all We patients
in Bellevue hospital and stop your
groaning-all We broken-hearted of all
the cities and quit our crying; we have
the cathOlicon at last Here is dose of
, ,.,;4 H. ta4-! -!1--a' .'-----s,>-,ba
sarcasm, here is a bottle Of ribaldrv
that you are to keep well shaken up
and take a spoonful of it after
each meal, and if that does not
cure you, here is a solution of bias
phcmy in which you may bathe, and
here is tincture Of derision. Tickle
the skeleton of death with repartee!
make the king Of terrors cackle. For
all the agOnies Of all the ages, Joke!
Millions Of people willing with up
lifted hand toward Heaven to affirm
that the Gospel Of Jesus Christ is full
of consolation for them, and yet in
fidelity proposes to take it away, giving
absolutely nothing, except fun. Is
there any greater height, or depth, or
length, or breadth or immensity of
meanness in all Gods universe?
, Infdelity is q religion of "don't
know" Is there a God? Don't know!
Is the soul immortal? Don't know! If
we should meet eachother in the future
world will we recognize each other?
Don't know A religion Of ''don't know
for the religion of 81 know" 81 know
in whom | have believed" 81 know
that my Redeemer liveth." Infdelity
proposes TO substitute religion of
awful negatives for our religion of glo-
rious postivcs showing right before us
q world of reunion and ecstasy, and
high companionship, and glorious wor-
ship, and stupcndous victory; 'he might
lest Joy of earth not high enough TO
reach to the base Of the IIimalaya Of
upliftcd splendor awaiting all those
who on the wing of Christian faith will
soar toward it,
Furthermore, can not be an inGdel
because Of the false charges infdelity
is all the time making against the Bible,
Perhaps the slander that has made the
most impression, and that some Chris.
tians have not been intelligent enough
to deny, is that the Bible favors polyg-
amy Does the God Of the Bible up
hold polygamy, or did He? How many
1vivps did God make for Adomp ITo