The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-02-14

the factory at the noon spell, or It was
out on the farm under the trees while
you were resting, or it was in the club
room. or 1t was in a social circle, or
1t was in the street on the way home
from business, or 1t was on some occa-
sion which you remember without my
describing 1t. Someone got the laugh
on the Bible and caricatured the pro-
fession OF religion as hypocrisy, or
made pun out of something that
Christ said. The laugh started, and
you joined in, and not one word of pro-
test did you utter. What kept you
silent? Modesty? No. Incapacity to
answer? No. Lack Of opportunity?
No. 1t was blow on both your lips
by the wing Of the dumb devil. II
someone should malign your father or
mother or wife or husband 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 it will take all eternity to
celebrate it, and yet when it was at
tackled 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 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
Christianity. A man 80 years old was
telling me how he put to flight scoffer.
My aged friend said to the skeptic,
Did you ever read the history OF
Joseph in the Bible?" YES" said
the man, "it is fine story and as in
,teresting a story as l ever read"
We'll. now" said my old friend, "sup-
pose that account of Joseph stopped
half way?" "Oh," said the man, "then
1T would not be entertaining" "Well,
now," said my friend, 1--WE 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?"
Silence Gives Consent.
Oh, friends, better load up with a
few interrogation points! You cannot
afford to be silent when God and the
Bible and the things of eternity are
assailed. Your silence gives consent
to the bombardment of your Fathers
house. You allow 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 sickly joke. Bet
ter load up with few questions, so
that next time you will be ready. Say
to the scoffer: My dear sir, will you
tell me what makes the difference be-
tween the condition of woman in
China and the United States? What
do you think of the sermon on the
mount? How do you like the golden
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 love-
lier character than Jesus Christ? Will
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 4
Christianity we're such persons as
Benjamin Franklin, John Ruskin.
Thomas Carlyle, Darlington 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 religion? Among the in
Vulnerable colleges and universities of
the earth will you name me three
started by infidels and now supported
by infidels? Down in your heart are
you really happy in the position you
occupy antagonistic to the Christian
religion? When do you have the most
rapturous views of the next world?"
Go at him with a tNw such questions,
and he will get so red in the face as to
suggest apoplexy, and he will look at
his watch and say he has an engage
ment and must go. You will put him
in sweat that will beat Turkish
bath. You will put him on rout COM
pared with which our troops at Bull
Run made no time at all. Arm your
self, not with arguments, but with in
terrogation points, and promise you
VIafnru ho1
shall such woman as you, surrender
to one of the meanest spirits that ever
smoked up from the pit-the dumb
devil spoken of in the text?
Public Recognition of God.
Do not let the world deride the
church because of all this, for the
dumb devil is just as conspicuous in
the world. The great political parties
assemble at the proper time to build
platforms for the candidates to stand
on. A committee of each party is ap-
pointed to make the platform. After
proper elaboration, the committees
come in with ringing report. Where
as" and Whereas" and Whereas"
Pronunciamentos all shaped with the
one idea of getting the most votes. All
expression in regard to the great moral
evils of the country ignored No ex-
preston in behalf of temperate living,
for that would lose the vote of the
liquor traffic. No expression In re-
gard to the universal attempt at the
demolition of the Lords day. No recog-
milton Of God in the history OF ma