The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-04-08

widow with two mites, more IA
nous than the Peabodys and the Len
oxes Of all the ages, while here comes
In slow of gait and with careful at
tendants, and with especial honor and
high favor, leaning on the arm Of in
spiration, one who is the Joy and pride
Of any home so rarely fortunate as to
have one, an old Christian grand
mother, Grandmother Louis. Who has
more worshipers to-day than any being
that ever lived on earth except Jesus
Christ? Mary. For what purpose did
Christ perform His first miracle upon
earth? To relieve the embarrassment
of woman house-keeper a the falling
short Of beverage. Why did Christ
break up the silence Of the tomb, and
tear off the shroud and rip up the rocks?
1t was to stop the bereavement Of the
two Bethany sisters. For whose COM
fort was Christ most anxious in the
hour of dying excruciation? For a
woman, an old woman, q wrinkle-faced
woman, a woman who in other days
had held him in her arms, his first
friend, his last friend, as it is very apt
to be, his mother. All the pathos
Of the ages compressed into one
utterance, Behold thy mother"
Does the Bible antagonize womans
II the Bible is so antagonistic to wo-
man, 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
Bible she Is hitched like beast Of bur-
den 10 the plows, she carries the hod,
she submits to indescribable indignities.
She must be kept in private apartment
and II she come forth she,must be care
fully hooded and religiously veiled As
though II were shame TO be woman.
Do you not know that the very first
thing the Bible does when It comes into
a new country is to strike OF the shack
les Of woman's serfdom? o, woman,
where are your chains to-day? Hold
up both your arms and let us see your
handouts; they are bracelets Of gold
bestowed by husbandly, or fatherly, or
brotherly, or sisterly, or loverly affec-
ton. Unloosen the warm robe from
your neck, o, woman, and let us see
the yoke Of your bondage. o, / find
the yoke carcenet Of silver, or string
of comedians, or a cluster of pearls that
must gall you very much. How bad
you must all have Ill
Since you put the Bible on your stand
in the sitting room, has the Bible been
TO you, o woman, 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 for COM
fort to some Of the great infidel books,
Spinoza's Ethics or Hume's Natural His.
tory Of Religion, or Paine's Age Of Rea'
son, or Dedro's Dramas, or any one Of
the two hundred and sixty volumes Of
Voltaire? No, the silly, deluded woman
persists in hanging about the Bible
verses, "Let not your heart be trou'
bled," "All things work together fol
good" weeping may endure for q
night" ""I am the resurrection, ""Peace
be still"
Furt6ermore: rather than invite re
sist this Plague OF fidelity because 4
has wrought no positive good for the
world, and is always hindrance.
ask you to mention the names OF the
merciful and the educational institu
tions which infidelity founded and 4
supporting, and has supported all tho
way through, institutions pronounced
against God and the Christian religion
and yet pronounced in behalf of suffer
ing humanity. What are the names o.
them? Certainly not the United States
Christian Commission; or the Sanitary
Commission, for Christian George H.
Stuart was the president of the one, and
Christian Henry w. Bellows was presi
dent of the other. Where are the
asylums and merciful institutions
founded by inHdelity, and supported by
infdelity, pronounced against God and
the Bible, and yet doing work for the
alleviation Of suffering? Infdelity is SC
very loud in its braggadocio II must
have some TO mention. Certainly, L
you come TO speak Of educational insti
tutions IL is not Yale, II Is not Harvard
IL is not Princeton, IL Is not Middletown
il Is not Cambridge or oxford, II As MOI
any institution from which n diploma
would not be disgrace. Do you point
to the German universities as excep
tions2 i have TO tell you that all the
German institutions to-day are under
positive Christian influences, except the
University Of Heidelberg, where the
ruffianly students cut and maui and
maugle and murder each other as 9
matter OF pride instead Of infamy. Dc
you mention Girard college, Philadel
phia, as an exception, that college es
tablished by the will Of Mr.. Girard
which forbade religious instruction, and
the entrance Of clergymen within Ia
gates My reply is that l lived fol
seven years near that college and knew
many OF It's professors TO be Christian
instructors, and no better Christian In
fuences are TO be found in any college
than in Girard college.
There stands Christianity. There
stands InHdelity. Compare what they
have done Compare their resources
There is Christianity, prayer on hei
lip; benediction on her brow: both
hands full Of help for those who want
help; the mother Of thousands Of col
leges; the mother Of thousands Of asy
lums 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 re-
formatory institutions for the saving Of
the lost; the mother Of innumerable Sab
bath-schools bringing millions Of chill