The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-03-28

oAOo40 RQSo q e" 44C VASAS
no more Bibles printed in America and
no more Bibles read. IF there are 49,
Co., 600 grown people in the United
States, there would be 100000 peo-
pie in an army to put down such a law
and defend their right to read the Bible.
But suppose the congress Of the United
States should make a law against the
reading or the publication Of any other
book, how many people would go out IN
such a crusade?
Could you get 40, 900, 900 people to go
out and risk their lives IN defense OF
Shakespeare's tragedies or Gladstone's
tracts or Macaulay's "History of Eng
land:" You know that there are 1000
men who would die in defense of this book
where there is not more than n MAI
who would die in defense of any other
book. You try to insult my common
sense by telling me the Bible is fading
out from the world.
It is the most popular book of the cen
tury. How do I know it? l know it just
as I know in regard to other books. How
many volumes of that book are publish
ed? Well, you say, 5000. How many
copies of that book are published? A
hundred thousand. Which is the more
popular? Why, of course the D that
has 100, 900 circulation. And iffhis book
has more copies abroad in the world, II
there arefve timesa as many Bibles abroad
as any other book; does not that show
you that the most popular book on the
planet today is the word of Goo?
esOh,' say people, ssthe church is a col
lection Of hypocrites, and it is losing its
power, and it is fading out from the
world" Is it? A bishop Of the Metho-
dist church told me that that denomipa-
ton averages two new churches every
day of the year. There are at least 1,5C0
new Christian churches built in America
every year. Does that look as though
the church were fading out, as though it
were a defunct institution? Which in
stitution stands nearest the hearts OF the
people of America today? LIDO not care
In what village, orin what city, or what
neighborhood you go. Which institution
is it? Is it the postoMce? Is it the no
tel? Is it the lecturing hall? All, you
know it is not. You know that the IN
stitution which stands nearest to the
hearts of the American people is the
Christian church. If you have ever seen
a church burn down, you have seen
thousands of people standing and look
ing at it-people who never go into a
church-the tears raining down their
cheeks. The whole story is told.
AN UNPOPULAR BELIEF.
You may talk about the church being
a collection of hypocrites, but when the
diphtheria sweeps your children OF
whom do you send for? The postmaster,
the attorney general, the hotel keeper,
alderman? No, you send for a minister
of this Bible religion. And if you have
not a room in your house for the obse-
quies, what building do you solicit: Do
YOU say Give me the finest room in the
hotel:" Do you say, "Give me that
theaterg:' Do you say: "Give me a place
in that public building, where l can lay
my dead for a little while until we say a
prayer over it?' No. You say, "Give
US the house Of God"
And if there is a song to be sung at the
obsequies, what do you want? What
does anybody want? "The Marseillaise'
hymn. .God Save the Queen" Our own
grand national air? No. They wantthe
hymn with which they sang their old
Christian mother into her last sleep, or
they want sung the Sabbath school hymn
which their little girl sang the last Sab
bath afternoon she was out before she
got that awful sickness which broke your
heart. / appeal to your common sense.
You know the most endesring institu-
ton on earth, the most popular institu-
ton on earth today, is the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The infdels say, 'Infdelity shows its
successes from the fact that it is every
where accepted, and it can say what it
will" Why, my friends, infidelity is
not half so blatant in our days as it was
in the days of our fathers. Do you know
that in the daysof ourfathers there were
pronounced infdels in public authority
and they could get any political position?
Let a man today declare himself antas-
onistic to the Christian religion, and
what city wants hin for mayor, what
state wants him for governor, what ma
ton wants him for president OF for king?
Let a man openly proclaim himself the
enemy of u glorious Christianity, and
he cannot get a majority of votes in any
state, in any city, in any county, in any
ward Of America.
Do you think that such a scene could
be enacted now as was enacted in the
days of Robespierre, when a shameless
woman was elevated as a goddess and
was carried in a golden chair to a cathe-
dral, where incense was burned to her
and people bowed down before her as a
divine being, she taking the place of the
Bible and God Almighty, while in the
corridor of that cathedral were enacted
suchscenes Of drunkenness and debauch-
cry and obscenity as have never been