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

tdAilo EllulDR lbI DQfidQ-
shropic needle, and the woman with perfume
10 a oo8 made from the hills of Alabastron,
: pouring tine holy chrism on the head of Christ,
me aroma lingering all down the corridor Of
, me centuries. Here is Lydia, the merchan-
|, less OF Tyrian purple immortalized for her
|, christian behavior. Here is the widow with
, Two mites, more famous than the Peabodys
and the Lenoxes of all the ages, while here
, comes In slow of gait and with careful atten-
:. aants and with especial honor and high favor,
Gaming on the arm of inspiration, one who
: s the JOY and pride OF any home so rarely
, fortunate as to have one, an old Christian
: grandmother, Grandmother Lois. Who has
more worshipers to-day than any being
, mat ever lived on earth except Jesus Christi
| Mary. For what purpose did Christ perform
{ dis first miracle upon earth1 To relieve the
: Embarrassment OF a womanly hou,ekeeper
4, 1t the falling short OF a beverage. Why
i lid Christ break up the silence of the tomb.
, and tear Off the shroud, and rip up the rocks?
: IL was to stop the bereavement of the two
. bethany sisters. For whose comfort was
Christ most anxious in tine hour of dying
sxcruciationi For a woman, an old woman.
! wrinkle faced woman, q woman who in
other days had held Him in her arms His
drst friend, His last friend, as it Is very apt
10 be, His mother. All the pathos of the ages
compressed into ons utterance, Behold thy
mother" Does the Bible antagonize
womans
If the Bible Is so ~antagonistic to woman.
how do you account for the difference in
woman's condition in China and Central
Africa, and her condition in England and
American Therei is no difference except that
which the Bible makes. In lands where there
g n Bible she is hitched like a beast of bur-
len to the plows, she carries the bod, she SUBJ
nits to indescribable indignities. She must
be kept in a private apartment, and IL she
some forth she must be carefully hooded and
tel1giously yelled as though it werea shame
10 be a woman. Do you not know that the
very first thing the Bible does when II comes
INTO a new country is to strike off the shackles
H woman'ss erfdomf o woman, where are
POUR chains to-day Hold up both your arms
ind let US see your handouts. Oh, we see
he handcuns. They are bracelets of gold
oestowed by husbandly or fatherly or
orotherly or sisterly or lovely affection. Un-
oosen the warm robe from your neck, o
woman, and let us see the yoke Of your bond
lga Oh, | find the yoke a carcenet of silver,
,r a string OF carnelians, 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, has the Bible been to you,
D woman, a curse or a biessings Why is it
hat a woman when She is troubled will go
70 her worst enemy. the Bibler Why do
Fou not go for comfort to some OF the
great infidel books, Spinoza's Ethics"
Dr. Hume's Natural History of Religion"
81 Paine's cage Of Reason or any one Of
,he 2S0 volumes of Voltaire? No, the silly
1eluded woman persists in hanging about
our Bible verses, Let not your heart be
troubled,1 "All things work together for
good" weeping may endure fol a night"
II am the resurrection" 'Peace, be still"
Furthermore, rather than invite l resist
this plague Of inhdelity because 1t has
wrought no positive good for the world and
S always a hindrance, | ask you to mention
the name of the merciful and the education
Il institutions which inddelity founded and
| s supporting, and has supported all the way
through pronounced against
Sod and the Christian religion, and yet pro-
bounced in behalf OF suffering humanity.
What are the names of them? Certainly not
The United States Christian commission, or
ihe sanitary commission, for Christian
George H. Stuart was the President Of the
,pe, and Christian Henry w. Bellows was
The President of the other.
Where are the asvlums and merciful In
titutions founded by infdelity and sup
ported by intdelity, pronounced against
Sod and the Bible, and yet doing work for
The alienation of suffering? Infidelity is so
very loud in its braggadocio 1t must have
| ZONE to mention. Certainly, II you come to
peak of educational institutions it is not
Yale, it is not Harvard, it is not Princeton,
I is not Middletown, it is not Cambridge or
Oxford, 1t is not any institution from which
/ diploma would not be a disgrace. Do you
point to the German universities as excep-
ionss ! have to tell you that all the German
universities to-day are under positive
Christian infusnces, except the University
IT Heidelburg, where the rufiianly students
| .ut and maui and mangle and murder each
other as a matter of pride instead of infamy.
Doyou mention Girard College, Philadelphia,
rs an exception, that college established by
The will Of Mr.. Girard which forbade re-
igious instruction and the entrance Of
,lergymen within its gates. My reply is
that I lived for seven years near that college
and I knew many of its professors to be
Christian instructors, and no better Christian
influences are to be found many college than
In Girard College.
There stands Christianity. There stands
lnfidelity. Compare what they have done.
Compare their resources. There is Chris
tianity, q prayer on her lip; a benediction on
her brow; both hands full of help for all who
| want help; the mother of thousands of col
| leges; the mother Of thousands of asylums
for the oppressed, the blind, the sick, the
| lame, the fmbecile; the mother of missions
for the bringing back of the ~outcast; the
| mother of thousands of reformatory institu-
4 ions for the saving Of the lost; the mother
Of innumerable Sabbath-schools bringing
| millions of children under a drill to prepare
| them for responsibility and usefulness, to
say nothing Of the great future. That Is
Christianity.
Here is infidelity; no prayer on her lips, no
| benediction on her brow, both hands clenched
what fori To fight Christianity. That is
the entire business. The complete mission
Of infidelity to fight Christianity. Where
are her schools, her colleges, her asylums of
mercys Let me throw you down a whole
ream of foolscap paper that you may fill all
IF 1t with the names Of her beneiicent in
stitutions, the colleges and the asylums the
institutions of mercy and learning, founded
by intidelity and supported alone by infdel-
lty, pronounced against God and the Chris.
tian religion. and yet in favor OF making the
world better. "Oh." you say, "a ream of
paper is too much for the name of those in
stitutions." Well, then, l throw you a quire
Of paper. Fill it all up now. l will wait
until you get all the names down. "Oh,"
you say, 'that is too much" Well, then,
will just hand you a sheet OF letter paper.
Just fill up the four sides while we are talk
ing of this matter with the names of the
merciful institutions and tue educational in
situations founded by infidelity and supported
all along by intdelity, pronounced against
God and the Christian religion, yet In favor
of humanity.
"Oh," you say ''that is too much room.
We don't want a whole sheet of paper to
write down the names" Perhaps had bet
ter tear out one leaf from my memorandum
BOOK and ask you fill both sides of 1t with the
names OF such institutions. "Oh," you say,
that would be too much room. l wouldn't
yant so much room as that" Well. then.
suPpvs0 you oounU Uuern on your Ten ungers
NOh," you say, mot quite so much as that
Well, then, count them on the fingers OF ons
hand. ''oh," you say, I'VE don't want quit
so much room as that Suppose, then, you
halt and count on one finger the name Of any
institution founded by infdelity, supported
entirely by iufldelity, pronounced against
God and the Christian religion, yet toll
ing to make the world better. Not one
Not oneI
Is infdelity so poor, so starveling, GO
mean, so uselessg Get out, you miserable
pauper o. the universe Crawl into some
rathole of everlasting no~thingness. InHdelity
standing to-day amid the suffering, groaning,
dying nation, aud yet doing absolutely
nothing save trying to impede those who arr
toiling until they fall exhausted into then
- in trying to make the world better
-.Vuer up ali the worK. an Sns ..-~
work, that inidelity has ever done, add b
all together, and there is not so much nobiL
ity in 1t as in the smallest bead of that sister
Of charity who last night went up the darh
alley Of the town, put a jar OF jelly for an
invalid appetite on a broken stand, and then
knelt on the bare floor praying the mercy oil
Christ upon the dying soul.
In6deiity scraDe no lint for tle woundad |