Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-02-16

/ when the Christian religion became
target for raillery. Perhaps it was
over in the store some day when there
was not much going on and the clerks
were in a group. or 1t was in the fac
l.tory at the noon spell. or 1t was out
on the farm under the trees while you
Ewere resting. or it was in the clubroom,
or Ii was in social circle. or il was
in the street on the way home from
business, or 1t was on some occasion
which you remember without my de-
scribing 1t. Some one got the laugh on
l.the Bible and caricaturcd the prOfes-
sion 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. lncapaclty to answer? No. Lack
of opportunity? 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 bus
band 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 1t will take
all eternity to celebrate il, and yet
when 1t was attacked you did not so
much as say: Il differ. | object. am
Sorry to hear you say that There
Is another side to this" You Christian
people ought in such times as these
60 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 Christianity. A man
30 years old was telling me how he put
to fight n scoffer. My aged friend
said to the skeptic Ibid you ever read
the history Of Joseph in the Bible"
"Yes," said the man. sit is fine story
and rs interesting story as | ever
read" "Well, now." said my old friend,
Suppose that account Of Joseph stop
ped 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 mat when we
hear the last half things may be con-
slstent and that then we may find that
God vas right?'
Interrogation Points.
Oh, friends. better load up with few
Interrogation points. You cannot afford
70 be silent when God and the Bible
and the things Of eternity are assailed.
Your silence gives consent 10 the bom-
bardment of your Fathers house. You
allow a slur to be cast on your mothers
dying pillow In behalf Of the Christ,
who for you went through the agonies
Of assassination on the rocky bluff
back of Jerusalem, you dared not face
a sickly joke. Better load up with
few questions. so that next time you
VIII be 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 you think of the sermon on
me mountf fIow'do you like the gold
en- rule laid down In the Scriptures?
Are you In favor Of the Ten Command
ments? In your large and extensive
reading have you come across a love-
Ter character than Jesus Christ? VIII
you please to name the triumphant
deathbeds of infidels and atheists?
How do you account for the fact that
among the out and out believers In
Christianity we're such persons as
BENJAMIN Franklin, John Ruskin,
Thomas Carlyle. Bablngton Macaulay,
William Penn, Walter Scott, Charles
Kingsley, Horace Bushnell, James A.
Garfield, Robert e. Lee Stonewall
Jackson, Admiral Foote, Admiral Far
ragut. Ulysses S. Grant John Milton,
William Shakespeare. Chief Justice
Marshall, John Adams. Daniel Web
ster, George Washington? How do you
account for their fondness for the
Christian religion7 Among the innu-
merable colleges and universities Of the
earth will you name me three started
by infidels and now supported by infi-
dels? Down in your heart are you real
" happy In the position you occupy an
tagonistic to the Christian religionf
When do you have the most rapturous
views of the next world" Go at him
with a few such questions. and he will
get so red In the face as to suggest apo
plexy, and he will look at his watch
and say he has an engagement ana
must go. You will put him in a sweat
that will beat Turkish bath. You
will put him on rout compared with
which our troops at Bull Run made no
time at all. Arm yourself not with ar
guments. but interrogation points. and
I promise you victory. Shall such
man as you, shall such woman as
Won. surrender to one Of the meanest
spirits that ever smoked up from the
pit-tbe dumb devil spoken Of In the
text?
Lift Up the Voice.
But then there are occasions when
this particular spirit that Christ ex'
orcised when he said 81 charge thee
I to come out of him" takes people by
the wholesale. In the most responsive
RELIGIOUS audience have you noticed
how many people never sing at alif
They have a book, and they have
voice, and they know how to read.
They know many of the tunes and yet
are silent while the great raptures OF
music pass by. Among those who
sing not one out Of a hundred sings
loud enough to hear his own voice
They hum It, They give a sort OF re-
ligious grunt. They make the lips CO.
but it Is naudble. With a voice strong
enough to stop a street car one block
away, all they can afford in the praise
of God Is about half a whisper. With
enough sopranos, enough altos, enough
bassos to make a small heaven be-
tween the four walls, they let the op-
portunity go by unimproved. The vol
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