The Iola register., 1891-04-10

her lie Sacraflce the most beautiful pas
/ toral ever written. Here is Vashti, de-
flying the bacchanal of 1000 drunken
lords, and Esther, willing to throw her
life away that she may deliver her peo
\ pie. And here is Dorcas. the sunlight
of eternal fame, gliding her philan-
thrOpic needle, and the 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 OF
Tyrian purple, immortalized for her
Christian behavior.
| II the Bible is so antagonistic to wo-
men how do you account for the differ
ence in woman's condition in China and
Central Africa and her condition in
| England and America? There is no
difference except that which the Bible
makes. In lands where there is no Bi-
bic she is hitched like beast of burden
to the ploughs. she carries the hod, she
submits TO indescribable indignities.
She must be kept in a private apart
ment. and if she comes forth she must
be carefully hooded and religiously
veiled as though it were shame to be
a woman. Do you not know that the
very first thing the Bible does when it
comes into new country is TO strike
off the shackles of woman's
serfdom? o. woman, where are your
chains today? Hold up both your arms
and let us see your handouts. o. we
see the handouts: they are bracelets OF
gold bestowed by husbands, or fatherly,
or brOtherly or sisterly, or loverly af-
fectiOn. Unloosen the warm robe from
your neck, o, woman, let us see your
YOKE of bondage. o, find the yoke a
cOronet of silver, or string of cornell
ians. or a cluster of pearls that must
gall you very much. How bad you must
all have it!
Since you put the Bible on the stand
in the sitting room. has the Bible been
to you. o woman, a curse or a blessing?
| Why is it that woman when she is
troubled will go to her worst enemy,
the Bible? Why do you not go to some
of the great infidel books, Spinoza's eth
les or Hume's natural history of relig-
ion, or Paine's age of reason, or Dedre'
dramas, or any of the 260 volumes of
Voltaire? So, the silly. deluded wo-
man persists in hanging about the Bible
verses, LET not your heart be troub-
led, " All things work together for
good, Weeping may endure for a
night" 81 am the resurrection, ="
peace, be still"
There stands Christianity. There
stands intidelity. Compare what they
have done. Compare their resources.
There is Christianity, prayer on her
lip: benediction on her brow; both
hands full of help for all who want help;
the mother of thousands of colleges: the
mother of thousands of asylums for the
oppressed. the blind. the sick. the lame,
the imbecile: the mother OF missions for
the bringing back of the outcaSt: the
mother of thousands of reformatory in
stitutions for the saving of the lost: the
mother of innumerable Sabbath schools
bringing millions of children under a
drill to prepare them for respectability
and usefulness, 20 say nothing of the
great future. That is Christianity.
Here is infidelity: no prayer on her
lips, no henediction on her brow. both
hands clenched-what for: To fight
Christianity. That is the entire bust
ness. The complete mission of infideli-
ty TO fight Christianity. Where are
her schools. her colleges, her asylums
Of mercy,
Get out you miserable pauper OF the
Universe! Crawl into sumo rat hole OF
everlasting nothingness. Intidelity
standing to-day amid the suffering,
groaning, dying nations and yet doing
absolutely nothing, save trying to i'm
pede those who are toiling until they
fall exhausted into their graves in try
ing to make the world better Gather
up all the work, all the merciful work,
that in6delity has ever done, add it all
together. and there is not so much no
bility in it as in the smallest head of
that sister of charity who last night
went up the dark alley of the town, put
a jar of jelly for an invalid appetite on a
broken stand. and then knelt in the
bare floor. prayingthe mercy of Christ
on the dying soul.
Infidelity scrapes no lint for the
wounded, bakes no bread for the hum
CRY, shakes up no pillow for the sick,
rouses no comfort for the bereft, gilds
10 grave for the dead. While Christ,
our Christ, our wounded Christ, our
risen Christ, the Christ of this old fash
ioned Bible-blessed be his glorious
name forever, our Christ stands this
asylum, saying: 81 was sick and We
gave me couch, I was lame and We
gave me crutch, l was blind and ye
my eyesight, l was or
phaned and We mothered my soul, was
lost on the mountains and We brought
me home: inasmuch as We did it to one
of the least of these, We did it to me-"
But thank God that this plague of
infdelity will be stayed. Many of those
who hear me now by the Holy Ghost up
on their hearts will cease to be scoffers
and will become diciples, and the day
will arrive when all nations will accept
the scriptures. The book is going to
keep right on until the fires of the last
day are kindled. some of them will be-
gin on one side and some of them on the
other side of the old book. They will
not find bundle of loose manuscripts
easily consumed like tinder thrown in
to the fire. When the fires of the last
day are kindled. some will burn on this
side, from Genisis toward Revelations,
and others will burn on this side, from
toward Genesis, and in all
their way will not find single chapter
or single verse out of place. That
will by the first time we can afford to do
without the Bible. What will be
the use of the book of Genesis.
of how the world was made,
when the world is destroyed? What
will be the. use of the prophecies when
they are all fulfilled? What will be the |
use of the evangelistic or Pauline de- |
scription OF Jesus Christ when we see
Him face to face? What will be the use |
Of his photograph when we have met |
Him in glory? What will be the use of
the Book of Revelation, standing as You
will with your foot on the CLASSY sea,
and your forehead chapleted with eter-
nal coronation, amid the amethystine |
and twentu-ratad Glnries of neayen2 |