Marble Hill press., 1892-05-19

they We're Sorry for afterwaru. lee,
after all the alleviations shackled
tongue is an appalling limitation. But,
we are not this morning speaking of
congenial mutes. We mean those who
are born with all the faA..i.i-s of
vocalization, and yet hav. been struck
by the evil one mentioned in the text
the dumb devil to whom Christ called
when he said, Thou dumb and deaf
spirit. l charge thee, come out of him.
There has been apotheosization of
silence. Some one has said silence is
golden. and sometimes the greatest
triumph is to keep your mouth shut.
But sometimes silence is crime and
the direct result of the baleful influence
of the dumb devil of our text. There
is hardly man or woman in this house
to-day who has not been present on
some occasion when the Christian re-
ligion became target for ralllery.
Perhaps it was over in the store some
day when there was not much going
on and the clerks were IN group: or
it was in the factory at tie noon spell:
or it was out on the farm under the
trees while you were resting; or it was
in the club-room: or it was in a social
circle; or it was in the street on the
way home from business; or
it was some occasion which
you remember without my describing
it. Some one got the laugh on the
b;h on1 n, -; n, %,,rod <bo profoSS;op Of
religion as hypocrisy, or made a 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
opportunity? No. 1t was a blow on
both your lips by the wing of the
| dumb devil. If some one should ma
Ign 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 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: Il differ.
object I 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 christi
anity. A man 80 years old was telling
me few days ago how he put to fight
a scoffer. My aged friend said to the
slSeptic: Ibid you ever read the his
tory of Joseph in the Bible?" "Yes," I"
said the man, sit is a fine story, and as
interesting story as I 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 "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 we may find that God was
right?' Oh friends, better load up
with a few Interrogation points. You
cannot afford to lie silent when God
and the bible and the things of etern-
ity are assailed Your silence gives
consent to the BON 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 assassina-
ton on the rocky bluff back of Jeru-
salem, you dared not face sickly joke.
Better load up with few questions so
that next time you will be ready.
Say to the scoffer: "My des-
sir, will you tell me what
makes the difference between the
cosdition of woman in China and the
United States? What do you think o1
the sermon on the Mount? How &c
you like the golden rule laid down il
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 death beds of infdels anG
atheists? How do YOU account for the
fact that, among the out and out be
levers in christianity were such person.
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 Footc, Admira
Farragut, Ulysses s. Grant John Mil
ton, William Shakespeare, Chief Justic'
Marshall, John Adams, Daniel Web
ster, George Washington? How d,
account for their fondness Of th'
Christian religion? Among the il,
. numerable colleges and universities o
the earth, will you name me three
: started by inHdels and now supportes
BY inddels? Down In your heart ar'
you really happy in the position 20,
4 A. l-4s .