The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1892-05-30

Some one got the laugh on the Bible
and caricatured the profession Of re-
ligion as hypocrisy, or made pun ont
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 Inca
pacity to answer? No. Lack of oppor-
tunity? No. 1t was a blow on both
your lips by the wing Of the dumb devil.
II some one should maiign your father
or mother or wife or husband or child
you would flush up quick. and either
with an indignant word or doubled up
fist make response. And yet here is our
Christian religion, which has done so
much Cor you and so much for the world
that it will take all eternity to celebrate
1t, and vet when it was attacked you did
not so much as say: Il differ, 1 object,
l am sorry to hear you say that There
is another side to this
You Christian people ought In such
times as these to 60 armed, not with
earthly weapons, but with the sword of
the Spirit. You ought to have four or
five questions with which you could con-
found anv man who attacks Christianity.
A man 80 years old was telling me few
days ago how he put to flight . scoffer.
My aged friend said to the skeptic, Ibid
you ever read the history of Joseph in
the Bible?" "Yes," said the man; 1T is
q fine story. and as interesting q story as
l ever read" .'Well, now," said my old
friend, suppose that account of Joseph
stopped half way?" "Oh," said the
ran. ''then it would not be- entertain
i'm SsvV III - n p;
have in this world only half of every
thing, and do you not think that when
we hear the last half things may be con-
sistent, and that then we may find that
God was right?'
Oh. friends, better load up with few
Interrogation points. You cannot afford
to be silent when God and the Bible and
the things of eternity are assaulted.
Your silence gives consent to the bonn
bardment Of your fathers house. You
allow a 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 a
sickly 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 golden rule laid
down In the Scriptures? Are you in
favor Of the ten commandments? In
your large and extensive reading have
you come across lovelier character
than Jesus Christ? Will you please to
name the triumphant deathbeds of inf
deIs and atheists? How do you account
for the fact that among the out and out
believers in Christianity were such per-
sons as Benjamin Franklin, John
Ruskin. Thomas CARLYLE, Darlington
Macaulay, William Penn, Walter Scott.
Charles Kingsley, Horace Bushnell,
James A. Garfield, Robert E. Lee, Stone
wall Jackson, Admiral Foote. Admiral
Farragut, Ulysses S. Grant, John Mil
ton, William Shakespeare. Chief Justice
Marshall, John Adams, Daniel Webster,
George Washington? How do you ac-
tian religion? Among the innumerable
colleges and universities of the earth
will you name me three started by inf
dels and now supported by infideIs?
Down in 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?
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 60. You will put him in a
sweat that will beat Turkish bath.
You will put him on a rout compared
with which our troops at Bull Run made
no time at all. Arm yourself, not with
arguments but Interrogation points. and
I promise you victory. Shall such q
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 whole
sale. In the most responsive religious
audience have you noticed how many
people never sing at all? They have a
book, and they have a voice, 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 out Of hundred
sings loud enough to hear his own voice.
They hum it. They give sort of relig-
ious grunt They maze the lips 90, but
it is inaudible. With q voice strong
enough to stop 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 a small Heaven between
the four walls. they let the opportunity
go bv unimproved.
The volume of voice that ascends from
the largest audience that ever assembled
ought to be multiplied about two thou
sand fold. But the minister. rises and
gives out the HYMN; the organ begins;
the choir or precenter leads; the audi
ence are standing SO that the lungs may
have full expansion, and q mighty har-
mony is about 20 ascend, when the evil
spirit spoken Of in my text-the dumb
devil-spreads his two wings, one over
the lips Of oue-halr the audience and the
other wing over the lips of the other half
OF the audience, and the voices roll back