The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-05-19

the other group, women hidden and
carefully secluded in side apartment,
where they may hear the voice of the
preacher, but may not be seen. No re-
fnemant. No liberty. No hope for this
life. 40 hope for the life to come.
Hinged nose. Cramped foot. Disfgured
face. Emhruted soul. Now. compare
those two conditions. How far toward
this latter condition that | speak of
would woman go If Christian influ
ences were Withdrawn and Christianity
were destroyed? II is only question
of dynamics. If an object he lifted to
a certain point and not fastened there
ard the lifting power be withdrawn.
how long before that object will fall
down to the point from which il start
ed? II will fall down, and it will go
still farther than the point from which
il started Christianity has lifted wom-
an up from the very depths of degrade
ton almost to the skies. II that lifting
power be withdrawn she falls clear
back to the depth from which she was
resurrected, not going any lower, be-
cause there is no lower depth. And yet,
Notwithstanding the fact that the only
salvation of woman from degradation
and woe is the Christian religion-and
| the only influence that has ever lifted
| her i'm the social scale is Christianity
| | have head that there are women who
| reject Christianity. ! make no remark
| in regard to those persons. In the 81
| lence of your own soul make your OBJ
/ servations.
I II iniidelity triumph and Christianity
/ he overthrow. ii means the dcmoraliza-
/ ton Of society. The one idea in the
/ Bible that atheists and inidels most
/ hate is the idea Of retrilutiun. Take
away the idea Of retriEutiou and pun
ishment from society, and it will begin
very soon to disntcgrate, and take
away from the minds of men the fear
of hell, and there are a great many Of
them who would very soon turn this
world into a he'll. The majority Of those
who are indignant because of the idea
of punishment are men whose lives are
bad or whose hearts are impure and
who hate the Bible because of the idea
of future punishment for the same rea-
son that criminals hate the peniten-
tiary. OH, | have heard this brave talk
about people fearing nothing of the
| consequences of sin in the next world,
and have made up my mind it is mere
~ towards whistlinC to keep his cour-
age up. have seen men ilaunt their i'm
moraities in the face of the communi-
~, and have heard them defy the judy
ment day and scofI at the idea of any
future consequence Of their sin, but
when they came TO die they shrieked
until you could hear them for nearly
two blocks, and in the summer night
the ncighbors got up to put the win
lows down because they could not en-
dure the horror.
would not want to see rail train
with 500 Christian people on board go
down through a drawbridge into Il
watery grave; | would not want TO see
SEQ Christian people 20 into such dis
astcr, but tell YOU plainly that could
more easily see that than could for
any protracted time stand and see an
iniidel die, though his pillow were OF
elder down and under a canopy of YER
million. have never been able 10
brace up my nerves for such a spec
I lhtlts Itit - ShllltllilllE at sum a
time so indescribable in the counte-
nance. just looked in upon it a min
ute or two, bur the clutch of his fist was
so diabolc and the strength of his voice
was so unnatural could not endure it.
There is no he'll, there is no hell, there
is no hell" the man had said for ca
years, but that night when | looked
i'm the dying room OF my intidel neigh
Dor there was something on his counte-
nance which seemed to say: "There is.
there is, there is, there ISL The
mightiost restraints to-day against
theft, against immortality, against lib
ertinism, against crime of all sorts
the mightiest restraints are the retri-
buttons Of eternity. Men know that
they can escape the law, but down in
the offenders soul there is the rcaliza-
ton of the fact that they cannot escape
God. lie stands at the end of the road
of profgacy, and He will not clear the
guilty. Take all idea of retribution and
punishment out of the hearts and
minds of men, and it would not be long
before our cities would become Sodoms
The only restraints against the evil pas
sions Of the world to-day are Bible re-
straints.
Suppose now these generals of athe
,sm aud nfdclity got the victory, ant
suppose they marshaled a great army
made up of the majority of the world
They are in companies, in regiments
in brlgades-the whole army. For
ward, march, ye hosts of intidels ant