The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-06-01

~ W % ous VA WAY 80 ~ uuuoE lilo bICCb
while you were resting; or It was In tho
club room; or twas In social circle;
or it was in the street on the way home
from business; or it was on some occa-
sion which you remember without my
describing it. Some one got the laugh
on the Bible and caricatured the pro-
fession Of religion as hypocrisy, or
made pun out of something that
Christ said. The laugh started and you
joined in, and not one word OF protest
did you utter. What kept you silent?
Modesty? No. Incapacity to answer?
No. Lack Of opportunitys No. 1t
was blow on both you lips by the
wing Of the dumb devil.
If some one should malign your faith
er, or mother, or wife, or husband, or
child, you would flush up quick, and
either with an angry word or doubled
up fist make response. And yet here is
our Christian religion which has done
SO much for you and so much for the
world that it will take ali eternity to
celebrate it, and yet when 1t was at
tackled you did not so,much as say: II
differ. / object. ! am sorry to hear you
say that. There is another side to this"
You Christian people ought in such
times as these go armed, not with earth
ly weapons, but with the sword Of the
spirit. You ought to have four or Ave
questions with you which would con-
found any man who attacks Chris
tianity. A man 90 years old
was telling me few days
ago how he put TO fight scoffer. My
aged friend said to the sceptic: "Did
You ever read the history Of Joseph in
the Bible?'' ''Yes," said the man, at is
a fine story, and as interesting story as
l every read" "Well, now" said my
old friend, suppose that account Of Jo-
seph stopped half way?" 'Oh," said the
man then it would not be entertaining. :,
"Well, now" said my friend, I'VE have
in this world only hat 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?' Oh, friends, better load
mp with few interrogation points.
You can not afford to be silent when
God and the Bible and things Of eterni-
ty are assailed.
Your silence gives consent to the bonn
bardment Of your fathers house. You
allow slur to be cast on your mothers
dying pillow. In behalf Of the Christ,
who for you went through the agonies
Of assassination on the rocky bluff back
Of Jerusalem, you dared not face sick
ly joke. Better load up with few
questions so that next time you will be
ready. Say to the scoffer: my dear
sir, will you 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 gold
en- rule laid down In the Scriptures?
Are you in favor Of the ten command
ments? In your large and extern
sive reading, have You come across
lovelier character than Jesus Christ?
Will you please to name the triumphant
death-bed Of infidels and atheists? How
do you account for the fact that, among
the out and out believers in Christianity
were such persons as Benjamin Frank
lin, John Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle,
Darlington Macaulay, William Penn,
Walter Scott, Charles Kingsley, Horace
Bushnell, James A. Garfield, Robert E.
Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Admiral Foote,
Admiral Farragut, Ulysses s. Grant,
John Milton, William SHAKESPEARE, Chief
Justice Marshall, John Adams, Daniel
Webster, George Washington? How
do you account for their fondness for
the Christian religion? Among the in
Vulnerable colleges and universities of
the earth, will you name me three,
started by infidels and now supported
by inidels? Down in your heart are
you really happy in the position you oc-
cupy antagonistic to the Christian re-
ligion?
"When do you have the most raptur-
GUS views of the next world?" Go 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 go. You will put him in q sweat
that will beat Turkish bath. You
will put him on rout compared with
which our troops at Bull Run made no
time at all. Arm yourself, not with ar
guments, but with Interrogation
points, and l promise you victory.
Shall such man as you shall such a
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
exercised when he said: II charge thee
to come out of him." takes people by
the wholesale. In the most responsive
religious audience have you noticed
how many people never sing at all?
They have book, and they have a
voice, and they know how to read.
They know many OF the tunes, and yet
they are silent while the great raptures
OF the music pass by. Among those
who sing not one out of hundred sing
loud enough to hear his own voice.
They hum it They give a sort of reli-
gious 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 about half whisper, With
enough sopranos, enough altos enough
bassos to make small heaven between
the four walls, they let the opportunity
go by unimproved. The volume of
voice that ascends from the largest
audience that erar assan,hlad .,,erh4 A,