Democratic messenger., 1894-03-24

ing with Bibles from Switzerland. Sup
pose the congress of the United States
should pass IA law that there should be
no more Bibles printed i'll America and
no more Bibles read. Ii there are 10.
OOO,OOO grown people i'll the United
States. there would he 10000. 900 Ieo.
pie in an army to put down such Il 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 i'll
such Il crusade!
Conld you get i0.000.00 people to 90
out and risk their lives in defense of
Shakespeare tragedies or Gladstone's :
tracts or Macaulav's History of Eng
land:" You know that there are 200
men who would die in defense of this book
where there is not more than one man
book. You try 10 insult my common
SENSE by telling me the Bible is fading
out from the world.
1t is the most popular book of the cen
tury. How do know il: know it just
as know III regard to other books. How
many volumes II 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 one that
has lOO, 900 circulation. And If this book
has more copies abroad in the world. if
there are five times 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 God:
"Oh." say people. 1.-THE 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 denomina-
tion averages two new churches every
day of the year. There are at least 800
new Christian churches built iii America
every year. Does that look as though
the church We're fading out. as though it
were defunct institution: Which in
stitution stands nearest the hearts of the
people of America today. do not care
III what village, or in what city, or what
neighborhood you go. Which institution
is it? Is it the postoffice. Is 1t the no.
tel: Is it the lecturing hall? All, you
know il is not. You know that the in
stitution which stands nearest TO the
hearts of the American people Is the
Christian church. II you have ever seen
church burn down, You have seen
thousands of people standing and look
ing at it-people who never 20 into u
church the tears raining down their
cheeks. The whole story is told.
AN UNPOPULAR BELIEF.
You may talk about the church being
collection Of hypocrites, hut when the
diphtheria sweeps your children off
whom do Won send for? The postmaster,
the attorney general, the hotel keeper,
alderman: No. you send for minister
of this Bible religion. And If you have
not IA 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
theater:" 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 want the
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 endearing institu-
tion on earth, the most popular institu-
tion on earth today, is the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The infidels say, "lnfidelity shows its
successes from the fact that il is every
where accepted, and it can say what it
will" Why. my friends. infidelity is
not half so blatant i'll our days as il was
in the days of our fathers. Do you know
that in the daysof our fathers there We're
pronounced infidels in public authority
and they could get any political position:
Let man today declare himself antag-
onistic to the Christian religion, and
what city wants him for mayor, what
state wants him for governor. what ma
ton wants him for president or for king!
Let a man openly proclaim himself the
enemy of our glorious Christianity, and
he cannot get "A majority of votes i'll any
state, i'll any city, in any county, in any
ward of America.
RELIGION Is SCIENCE.
Do You think that such scene could
be enacted now as was enacted III the
days of Robespierre, when shameless
woman was elevated as "a goddess and
was carried in golden chair to 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
such scenes of drunkenness and debauch-
cry and obscenity as have never been
witnessed: Do You believe such IA thing
day? No. sir! The police, whether of
Paris or New York, would swoop on it.
know infidelity makes a good deal of
talk in our day. 1t is on the principle
that If IA man jump overheard from a
Cunard steamer he makes more excite
ment than all the 800 people that stay on
the decks. But the fact that he jumps
overheard that stop the ship: Does
that wreck the 5OO passengers! 1t makes
great excitement when Il man jumps
from the lecturing platform OF from the
pulpit into iniidelity. but does that keep
the Blble and the church from carrying
their millions of passengers into the
skies:
They say, these men, that science is
overcoming religion i'll our day. They
look through the spectaclcs of the infidel
scientists. and they say: 1T is impossi-
Bile that this book can be true People
ARE finding it out. The Bible has got tu
go overheard. Science is going To throw
it overheard" DO you believe that the