Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-05-21

OOlue ono BOL Lne laugh OH lHo OlUie
and. caricatured the profession of re-
ligion as hypocrisy, or made IL pun out
.of something that Christ said. The
laugh started and you joined in. and not
ono word of protest did you utter. What
kept you silent? hlodesty? No. In
l5capacity to answer? No Lack of OPP
,portunity! No 1t WIS IL blow OH both
| your lips by tho wing of the dumb devil.
IF some one should nlalign your father
or mother or wife ur husband or child
you would flush M quick. and either
with an indignant word or doubled up
fist make response. An yet here is our
Christian religion, which has done so
much for you and so much for the world
that it will take all eternity to celebrate
it, and yet when it was attacked you
did not so much rs say: II differ. OBJ
eject, am sorry to hear you say that.
There is another side to this.
You Christian people ought in such
times MS these to go armed, not with
earthly weapons. but with the sword Of
1.-THE Spirit. You ought to have four or
lSiye questions with which You conld
| confound any man who attacks Chris
tianity. A man ninety years old was
telling me few days ago how he put to
fight sccfFer Ny aged friend said to
the skeptic. did You ever read the his
tory of Joseph in the Bible?" Yes
said the man; "it is a fine story, and as
interesting story rs ever read"
''Well. now," said my old friend. sup
pose that account Of Joseph stopped half
way?" "Oh," said the man, then it
would not be entertaining We'll,
now" said my friend. I'VE have in this
world only half of everything, and DO
you not think that when we hear the
last half things may be consistent, and
that then we may find that God was
right"
LOAD Up WITH INTERROGATION POINTS.
oh. friends, better load mp with few
Interrogation points. You cannot afford
to be silent when God AMI the Bible
and tho things of eternity are assailed.
Your silence gives consent to tho bonn
bard1nent of your fathers house. You
allow slur to he cast On your mothers
diving pillow. In behalf Of the Christ,
who for you went through the agonics
of assassination on the rocky bluff hack
of Jerusalem. yon dared not face sick
ly joke Better load up with a few qucs-
tons so that next time you will be ready.
Say to the scoffer: My dear sir, will
Won tell me what makes the difference
between the condition of woman in
China and the United States! What do
You think Of the sermon on the mount?
How do you like the golden rnle laid
down in the Scriptures: Arc you in
favor of tho ten commandments? In
your large aud extensive reading have
YOU como across a lovclicr character
than Jesus Christ? Will you please to
name the triumphant deathbetis OF in
fidels and atheists? How do you account
for the fact that among the out and
out believers in Christianity were such
persons MS benjamin Franklin, John
Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle, Darlington
Macaulay. William Penn. Walter Scott,
Charles Kingsley, Horace Bushnell,
james y. Garfield, Robert E. Lee, Stone
wall jackson. Admiral Fnote, Admiral
F'arragut, Ulysses $. Grant, John Mil
ton. William Shakespeare, Chief Justice
Marshall, John Adams. Daniel Webster
George Washington? How do you ac-
count for their fondness for the Christian
religion? Among the innulnera5lo col
lcccs and universities Of the earth willt
you name Inc three started by infidals
and now supported by intidcls? Down
III your heart are you really happy in
the position you occupy antagonistic to
the Christian religion: When do you
have the most rapturous views of the
next world?
70 at him with few such questions
and he will get so red in the face, as to
suggest apoplexy, and he will look at
his watch and say he has an engagement
and must 30. You will put him in
sweat that will beat Turkish bath.
You will put him on rout compared
with which our troops ut Bull Run made
no time at all Arm yourself. not with
arguments but Interrogation points, and
| promise you victory. Shall such Il
man rs you, shall such woman as you
surrender to one of the meanest spirits
that ever smoked up from the pit-the
dumb devil spoken of in the text?
But then there are occasions when
this particular spirit that Christ eyer
cised when he said, "a charge thee to
come out of him" takes people by the
wholesale. In tile most responsive reli-
gious audience have you noticed how
many people never sing at all? They
have book. and they have avoice, and
they know how to read. They know
many of the tunes, and yet are silent
while the great raptures of music pass
by. Among those who sing not one ont
of hundred sings loud enough to hear
his own voice. They HIM, it. They give
sort Of religious grunt. They make
The lips go, but it is inaudible. With
voice strong enough to stop a street car
one block away. all they can afford in
the praise of God is abont half a whis-
per. With enough sopranos. enough
altos, enough bassos TO make i small
heaven between the four walls, they let
the opportunity go by ulrilnproved.
The volume of voice that ascends from
the largest audience that ever assembled
ought to i,e multiplied about two thou
sand fold. But the minister rises and
gives ont tile hymn; the organ begins;
the choir or preceutor leads; the audi
ence arc standing so that the lungs may
have full expansion, and u mighty har-
mony is about to ascend, when tic evil
spirit spoken of in my text-the dumb
devil-spreads bis two wings. one over
the lips of one-half the audience and the
ether wing over the lips of the other half
of the audience, and the voices roll back
into the threats from which they started.