The Penn's Grove record., 1891-04-17

ana taKe q spoonful OF IL dItef edcn inca
and il that does not cure you here is a solu
ion of blaspbemy in which you may battle
md here is a tincture of derision. Tickle tn
skeleton of death with a reparteei Make tn
King of Terrors cackle! For all the agonie
If ali the ages a jokei Millions of peopl
willing with uplifted hands toward heavel
% affirm that the Gospel of Jesus Christ |
ty proposes to take it away, giving nothing
absolutely nothing, except fun. Is therean
greater height or deptA or length or breadtI
,r immensely of in all Gods uni
verse?
Inidelity is a religion of ''Don't know.
Is there a God? Don't know! Is the sou
mmortalf Don't knowi II we should NEE
zach other in the future world will we recog
,ize each others Don't knowl A religio
If don't know" for the religion of g
Know" II know in whom | a believed,
II know that my Redeemer liveth." Inf
| ielitv proposes to substitute a religinr !.
awful negatives for our religion Of glorious
oositives, showing right before us a world Of
reunion and ecstacy and high companionship
sory, the mightiest joy Of earth not high
enough to reach 10 the base of the Himalaya
of uplifted splendor awaiting all those who
IN wing of Christian hsith will soar toward
t.
Have you heard of the conspiracy to put
| put all the lighthouses on the COAST Do you
| Know that on a certain night of next month,
Eddystone lighthouse, Bell Rock lighthouse.
S~herryvore lighthouse, Montauk lighthouse,
Hatteras Lighthouse. New n light!
house, Barnegat lighthouse, and the 640
lighthouses on h Atlantic n Pacific
coasts are to be extinguishedr 'Oh," you
ay, what will become of the ships on that
iiehti What will be the s... - the 81:
million sailors following the scar What will
1e the doom Of the millions of ~passengerss
Who will arise to put down such a conspiri
lcyy' Every man, woman and child in
America and the world. But that is only d
able. That is what infidelity is trying To
io-put out all the lighthouses on the coast
If eternity, letting the soul go up the MAR
'ows' of death with no light, no comfort, nc
,eace-all that coast covered with the black
less of darkness. Instead of the great light
house, a glowworm Of wit, a FREELY Of jocos-
ty. Which do you like the better, o voy-
ger for eternity, the FREELY or the light
house?
What a mission inidelity has started on
The extinguishment of lighthouses, the
breaking up of ~lifeboats, the dismissal Of all
he pilots, the turning Of the inscription on
FOUR child's grave into a farce and a lie.
Walter Scott's '.Old Mortality" chisel in
hand, went through the land to cut out into
palmer letters the half obliterated inscrip-
ions on the tombstones, n 1t was a beau
iful mission; but infdelity spends its time
with hammer and chisel trying to cut out
rom the tombstones of you dead all the
story of resurrection and heaven. 1t is the
conoclast of every village graveyard and Of
,very city cemetery and of Westminster Alb
oey. Instead of Christian consolation for
;he dying, a freezing sneer. Instead of
PRAYER a grimace. Instead Of Paurs
triumphant defiance of death, a going out
you know not where, to stop you know not
when, to do you NOW not what. That is in
idelity.
Furthermore: 1 cannot be an inidel, be-
cause of the ialse charges infidelity is all the
time making against the Bible. Perhaps the
SANDER tn has made the most impression
and that some Christians I've not been in
selligept enough to deny is that the Bible
tavors polygamy. Does the God Of the Bible
uphold polygamy, or did BE! How many
wives did God make for Adamf He made
one wife. Does not your common sense tell
you when God started the marriage institu.
ton He started it as He wanted 1t to on
tinues Ii God had favored polygamy He
could nave created for Adam five wives or
ten wives or twenty wives just as easily as
He made one.
At the very first of the Bible God shows
Himself in favor of monogamy and antago-
nistic to polygamy. Genesis H., "a, There
fore shall a 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 arkf Two and
two the birds; two and " the cattle; two
and two the lions; two and two the human
race. II the God of the Bible had favored
a 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 n wife, for
Japhet one wife. Does that look as though
God favored polygamys In Leviticus xviii,
than enc wife.
God permitted polygamy. Yes; just as
He permits to-day's murder and theft and
arson and all kinds of crime. he permits
these things, as O 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 poly
gamy in Utah, you are not, therefore, to con-
clude that they patronized 1t, that they ap-
proved it, when, on the contrary, they de-
nounced it. All Of Gods ancient Israel
knew that the God of the Bible was against
polvgamy, for in the four hundred and thirty
years of their stay in Egypt there is only
one case Of polygamy recorded-only one.
All the mighty men of the Bible stood aloof
from polygamy except those who. falling
into the crime, were classified within an inch
of their lives. Adam, Aaron, Noah, Joseph,
Joshua, Samuel; ~monogamists. But you say,
'Didn'tDavid and Solomon favor pologamyf
Yes; and did they not get well punished for
itr
Read the lives Of those two men and you
will come to the conclusion that all the at
tributes of God nature were against their
behavior. David suffered for his crimes 10
the caverns Of Adullam and Massada, in the
wilderness of Mahanaim, in the bereave
ments Of 20. The Bedouins after him,
sickness Absalom after him,
Ahithopei xIver -pnijah after him,
the Edomites after NM, the Syrians after
him, the Moabites after him, death after
The poorest peasant in all the empire mar.
ried to the plainest Jewess was happier than
the King In his marital m~isbehavior. How
did Solomon get along with ~polygamyf.
Read his warnings in Proverbs; read his self,
disgust In Ecclesiastes. He throws up hi
hands in loathing and cries out, VANITY o
v~anities, all is vanity" His seven hundred
wives nearly pestered the life out of him.
Solomon got well paid for his crimes-wen
paid.
Scriptures were aloof from polygamy, save
as they were pounded and failed and cut to
pieces for their insult to holy marriage. II
the Bible Is the friend OF ~polygamy why is il
that in all the land where the Bible pre-
dominates polygamy is forbidden, and IN the
lands where there is no Bible 1t is favored.
Polygamy all over China, all over India, all
over Africa, all over Persia, all over heathen'
dom, save as the missionaries have Tor
their work, while polygamy does not exist III
England and the United States, except in de
flance Of law. The Bible abroad, God hon
ored monogamy. The Bible not abroad
God abhorred polygamy.
Another false charge which inbdelity has
made against the Bible is that it is antago.
nistic to woman, that it enjoins her degrade.
ton and belittles her mission. Under thu
impression many women have been over
come of this plague Of inidelity. Is the
Bible the enemy OF womant Come into the
picture gallery. the Louvre the Luxembourg
Of the Bible, INC see which pictures ara the
more honored. Here is Eve. a perfect
woman; as perfect q woman as could be
made by q perfect God. Here 10 Deborah,
with her womanly arm hurting q host into
battle. Here Is Miriam, leading the Israeli
fish orchestra on the banks of the
Red Sea. Here Is motherly Hannah,
with her own loving hand replenishing the
wardrobe Of her son Samuel, the prophet.
Here is Abigail, kneeling at the foot of tina
mountain until the four hundred wrathfuL
men, at the sight Of her beauty and prove ss
malt, halt-a hurricane stopped at the sight
II a water lily, O dew drop dashing back Nj