The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-05-18

UOEy dU uOOn Spoll, OrlU was Oh Jhc ldh III
under the trees while you were resting;
or 1t was in the club room; or 1t was in
o social circle; or it was in the street on
the way home from business; or 1t was
on some occasion which you remember
without my describing it. Some one
got the laugh on the Bible and carl
catured the profession Of religion as hy-
pocrisy, or made pun out of something
that Christ said. The laugh started and
you Joined in, and not one word of pro-
test did you utter. What kept you ST.
lent? ModestyP No. Incapacity to an
swer? No. Lack of opportunityp No.
1t was blow on both your lips by the
wing of the dumb devil. If some one
should malign your father, or mother,
or wife, or husband, or child, you would
flush up quick, and either with an in
dignant word, or doubled up'fst, 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 all eternity to celebrate it,
and yet when it was attacked 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 to
go armed, not with earthly weapons,
but with the sword Of the Spirit. You
ought TO have four or five questions
with which you could confound any
man who attacks Christianity A man
ninety years old was telling me a few
days ago how he put to fight scoffer
My aged friend said to the skeptic: "Did
You ever read the history of Joseph in
the Bible?" Eyes" said the man, 'it is
q fine story, and as interesting a story
as / ever read" "Well, now," said my
I'old friend, suppose that account of
Joseph stopped half way?" 60" said
the man, "then it would not be enter
tanning" "Well, now," said my friend,
1--WE 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 I'VE may
find that God was right" o, 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 assailed. Your silence
gives consent to the bombardment OF
your fathers house. You allow slur TO
be cast on yourmother's dying pillow. In
behalf of the Christ, who for you went
through the agonies Of assassination on
the rocky bluff back Of Jerusalem, you
dare not face a siclSly joke. BE tier load
mp with few questions so that next
time you will be ready. Say to the SCOT
fer: "My dear sir, will you tell me
what makes the difference bet ween the
condition of women 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 ex'
tensive reading have you come across a
lovelier character than Jesus Christi
win you please to name the triumph
ant death-beds Of infidels and athe
lists? How do you account fol
the fact that, among the out
and-out believers In Christianity wer,
such persons as Benjamin Franklin
John Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle, Babing
ton Macaulay, William Penn, Walter
Scott, Charles Kingsley, Horace Bush
nell, james A. Garfield, Robert E. Lee
Stonewall jackson, Admiral Foote, Ad
miral Faragut, Ulysses s. Grant, John
Milton, William Shakespeare, ChiefJus
tice Marshall, John Adams, Daniel Web
ster, George Washington. How do you
account for their fondness for the Chris
tian religion2 Among the innumerable
! colleges and universities of the earth
will you name me three, started by inf
dels and supported by infidels2 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 en-
gagement and must go. You will put
him in a sweat that will beat u Turkish
bath. You will put him on n rout com
pared with which our troops ut Bull
Run made no time at all. Arm your.
self, not with arguments but with in.
terrogation points, and | promise you
victory. Shall such man as 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 exor.
cised when he said: ~ charge thee tc
come out OF him." takes people by the
wholesale. In the most responsive re.
ligious audience have you noticed
how many people never sing al
all? They have book and they
have voice, and they know how tc
read. They know many of the tunes
and yet are silent while the great rap
lures Of music pass by. Among those
who sing not one out Of hundred sings
loud enough 10 hear his own voice.
They hum it. They give a sort Of a re-
liSious grunt. They make the lips go,
but II is inaudible. With 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 small heaven between
the four walls, they let the opportunity
go by unimproved. The volume Of
voice that ascends from the largest audi
ence that ever assembled ought TO be
multiplied about two thousandfold. But
the minister rises and gives out the
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