The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-05-20

the dumb devil of our text. There ]
hardly ii man or woman IN this hous
today who has not been present on soma
occasion when the Christian religion be
came target for raillery Perhaps /
was over in the store some day Whel
there was not much going on and thu
clerks were in a group, or 1t was IN TN
factory at the noon spell, or 1t was ou
on the farm under the trees while you
were resting. or it was in the clubroom
nr it was in a social circle, or it was II
the street on the way home from bust
ness, or it was on some occasion wh1cl
You remember without my describing 1t
Some one got the laugh on the Bible
and caricatured the profession OF re-
| liglon as hypocrisy, or made pun out
Of something that Christ said The
laugh started and you Joined III, and not
one word of protest did you utter. What
kept you silent? Modesty? No In
capacity to answer? No Lack of OPP
portunity? 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 mp 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 as say: II differ, | OBJ
ject, 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 Chris
tianity A man ninety years old was
telling me few days ago how he put to
fight scoffer. My aged friend said to
the skeptic, Did you ever read the his
tory Of Joseph in the BibleY' yes"
said the man; lit is a fine story, and as
a story as 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, 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 up with few
points. You cannot afford
20 be silent when God and the Bible
md the things Of eternity are assailed.
our silence gives consent to the bonn
parchment Of your fathers house. You
allow slur TO be cast on your mothers
lying pillow In behalf of the Christ,
who for you went through the agonies
If assassination on the rocky bluff back
If Jerusalem You dared not face a sick
y joke Better load up with few ques-
ions so that next time you WILDE 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
7ou think of the sermon on the mount?
How do you like the golden rule laid
Town in the Scriptures? Are you in
iavor of the ten commandments? In
your large and extensive reading have
you come across a lovelier character
han Jesus Christ? VIII you please to
lame the triumphant deathbeds of in
idels and atheists? How do you account
or the fact that among the out and
,ut believers in Christianity were such
PERSONS as Benjamin Franklin, John
2uskin, Thomas Carlyle, Darlington
Iacaulay. William Penn, Walter Scott,
Charles Kingsley, Horace Bushnell,
Talnes A. Garfield, Robert E. Lee, Stone
vail Jackson, Admiral Foote, Admiral
7arragut Ulysses S. Grant, John Mil
on, William Shakespeare, Chief Justice
Iarshall, John Adams, Daniel Webster.
george Washington? How do you ac-
cunt for their fondness for the Christian
eligion? Among the innumerable col !
eyes and universities of the earth will |
on name me three started by infdels |
nd now supported by infidels? Down |
4 your heart are you really happy in |
nc pOSlllOi YOU occupy dulO5OLl1hIIC 70 |
he Christian religion? When do you
ave the most rapturous views of the |
ext world?
Go at him with few such questions
nd he will get so red in the face as to
lggest apoplexy, and he will look at
is watch and say he has an engagement
nd must go. You will put him in
weat that will beat a Turkish bath.
'ou will put him on a rout compared
nth which our troops at Bull Run made
o time at all. Arm yourself, not with
rguments but interrogation points, and
promise you victory. Shall such a
ian as you, shall such a woman as you
to one of the meanest spirits
lat ever smoked up from the pit-the
umb devil spoken of in the text?
But then there are occasions when
lis particular spirit that Christ exer-
sed when he said, 81 charge thee to
ome out of him" takes people by the
holesale. In the most responsive reli-
ious audience have you noticed how
ANY people never sing at all? They
ave book, and they have avoice, and
ley know how to read. They know
any of the tunes, and yet are silent
lille the great raptuTes of music pass
7. Among those who sing not one out
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