Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-04-09
PLAGUE OF INFIDELITY,
Or. TAlMAGE SAYS 1T is THE
MOTHER OF PLAQUES.
infideiity n Negative Religion.-It
Can Offer the Christian Nothing
in Exchange for His Faith.

| MS course OF sermons on 'Ihc len
: Plaques of the Cities" Rev. DIR. Talmage
today took for his subject 1.-THE Plague OF
lnfdelity.' The discourse was delivered
TO large and appreciahve audiences at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music in tho fore
noon and tho New York Academy OF
Music in the evening. The text was,
Romans 3. 4: Let God be true, bat every
man LIAR
That is if God says enc thing and the
whole human race says the opposite, Paul
would accept the Divine veracity. But
there are many in our time who have dared
arraign the Almighty for fatsehood. In
fidelity is not only plague, but it Is the
mother of plaques.
II seems from what we hear on all sides.
that tho Christian religion is a huge
, blundrr; that the Mosaic account Of the
creation is an absurdity large enough to
throw all nations into rollicEing guffaw;
that Adam and Eve never existed; that the
ancient flood and Noah's ark were impossi-
bilttics; that there never was miracle;
that the Bible is the friend Of cruelty, of
murder, Of polygamy, OF all forms of base
crime; that the Christian religion is
womans tyrant md mans qualifications
that Ia" Bible from lid to lid is fable, "A
martyrs who died for its truth were miser-
able dupeS; that the Church of Jesus
Christ is properly gazctted as fool: that
when Thomas Carlyle, the sceptc, said,
The Bible is a noble book " he was drop
ping into imbeCi,ty; that when Theodore
| Parker declared in Music Hall, Boston,
Never boy or girl in al Cbristendom
but was protited by that great book" he
was becoming very weak minded: that il Is
something 20 bring a blush to the check
Of every patriot. that John Adams. the
father of American independence, de
cl6rcd The Bible is the best book in all
The world" and that hearted Andrew
Jackson turned into snivel-
ling coward wh'n he said, THAT
book. sir is the rock on which
our Republic r",ts:' and that Daniel
! WEBSTER abdicatad the throne Of his intel
lertual power and resigned his logic and
: from being the great cxpounder Of the
! Constitution and the great lawyer of his
age turned into an idiot, when he said
/ My heart assures and treasures me that
the Gospel Of .esu, Christ must be a
/ 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
/ AMI N.giiaut contemplation, and if there is
anylh NJ in my styl" or thought to be
commented. the credit is due to my kind
parents in instilinr into my mind an early
love of III" = ripturcs:' and that William
H. Seward, til" diplouatist of the century,
only showed his puerlity when he
declared, The whole hone of human
progress is suspended on the ever-growing
| influences of the Bible" and that it is
wisest for us % take taat book from the
throne In the affections Of unCounted
mulitudes, and put it under our feet to be
| trampled upon by hatred and kissing con-
tempt: and that your old father was hood
winked. and ca.oled. and cheated and
OelUO!Cd when he leaned on this as "A staff
after his steps shortened as he 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. and of |
the ending of all her aches and pains, and
| reunion not only with those Of you who !
stool around her. bat with tho children !
she had buried with infinite heartache, so |
that she could read no more until she took !
of her spectaclcs. 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 old book might be cut upon the !
tombstone under the shadow of the old |
country Westinghouse. where they sleep /
today waiting for resurrection that will |
never come. This book having deceived /
them and having deceived the mighty in /
tcAccts OF the past, must not he allowed to .
deceive our larger, mIghtier, vaster. more !
stupcndOus intellectS. And 50 out with the |
boo; from the courtroom, where it is used I
III tn sDIemuzatiOn OF testimony. Out /
| with it. from under the foundation of church /
and asylum. Out with it from the domes- /
tie circle. Gather together all the Bibles
| the childrcns Bibles. the family Bibles, .
ih"s" newly bound aud those with lid near .
| j. worn ont and pages almost Obliterated !
by the fingers long ago turned to dust |
bring them all together, and let us make .
bonfire Of them. aud by it warm our cold .
criticism, and after that turn under with /
! tie ploughsnarc of public indignation the !
pc'luied ashes Of that loathsome. adulter- /
Gus, obscene cruel and beautiful book .
which is 50 awta"Ouistic to mans liberty.
and woman, honor. and the worlds happi- ,
ness.
Now that is the substar ce OF what inf |
! deity purposes aud declares. and the at
tack Oh thc Binlc is accompanied by great .
ocoa.ty. and there is hardly any subject .
| .Dp At which NOR, m!rth is kindlcd than
..uuUt the bible
Now in this sentiment OF infdel thinkers /
| cannot lou. AMI propose to give you /
! some rca-ons why | cannot be an infidel. /
and 50 ! will Try 20 help out of this present /
condition any who may have been struck .
with tue awful plaque of scepticism.
! FIRST, ! cannot he an infdel because iu- /
! fidelity has no good substitute for the con- !
aU.dton il proposes 20 take away. You
! know there arr millions of people who get .
| their chief consolation from this book
! IutldcIity is y rcljg on Of Don't know" /
Is tie soul imInortIl1 Don't know. Is there
Il God? Don't know A religion of don't I
know for the religion of Il know" Il
know IN whom have believed" Il know /,
! That my Rrdecmcr liycth." Intidelity pro-
! poses 10 substitute a religion Of awful neg
, atjvcs for our religion Of glorious positives.
| Furthermore, I cannot be an iufdeI, be-
cause Of the false charges infdelity is all
! the tiIic making against the Bible. Per
! lIapS the SANDER that has made the most
| Impression aud that sCme Christians have
/ not been intelligent enough TO deny is that
! the Bible favOrs potygamy. Does the God
Of the Bible uphold polygamy, or did he?
! How many wives did God make for Adam?
| He made oac wifr. Does not your COM
mon sense tell You wien God started the
marriage institution. he started it as he
| wanted II to continue? If God had
| favored poly=amy he could have created
| 'or Adam i've yves. 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 % monogamy aud
and antagon.stic 10 pOiygamy. Genesis
2. "a: Therefore shall man leave his
f.ther and mother ard shall cieave unto
his wife" Not his wives, but his wife,
How many wives did GoI spare for Noah
in the ark? Two aud 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 a multiplicity Of
wives. lie would have spared u plurality Of
wives. When God first launched the
human race. he gaze Adam one wife. At
the second luu,h.rr Of the human race
he spares for Noah Cnc wife. for Ham one
wife, FOR Shem one wife, for Japhet one
r. ~