The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-02-15
A SILENT RELIGION.
DR.. Talmage Sets Forth Its Evils
in His Sermon.
Duty of Christians to Speak Out
Heartily on the Side of Right
eousness-CastingO Out the
Dumb Spirit.
Copyright, 1901. by Louis Klopsch. N. 70
Washington,

Washington,
In this discourse DR.. Talmage calls
for more demonstative religion and g
hearty speaking out on the right side
of everything; text, Mark 9:25: Thou
dumb and. deaf spirit, I charge thee
come out of him."
Here was a case of great domestic
anguish. The son of the household was
possessed of an evil spirit, which
among other things, paralyzed his
tongue and made him speechless. When
the influence was on the patient, he
could not say a word-articulation was
impossible. The spirit that captured
this member of the household was a
dumb spirit-so called by Christi
spirit abroad to-day and as lively and
potent as in the New Testament times
Yet in all the realms of sermondom
cannot find discourse concerning this
dumb devil which Christ charged up
on in my text, saying: Come out of
him"
There has been much destructive su-
| perstition abroad in the world concern
| ing possession by evil spirits. Under
| the form of belief in witchcraft, this de-
fusion swept the continents. Persons
were supposed to be possessed with
some evil spirit, which made them able
| to destroy others. In the sixteenth CEN
tury in Geneva 1,5OO persons were
| burned to death as witches. In one
neigh borhood of France 1000 persons
were burned. In two centuries 100000
| persons were slain as witches. So
mighty was the delusion that it includ-
| Cd r. vi Of tho q r
est intellects of ali time, such as Chief
Justice Matthew Hale and Sir Edward
| Coke, and such renowned ministers of
religion as Cotton Mather, one of whose
books, Benjamin Franklin said, shaped
| his life-and Richard Baxter, and Arch
| bishop Cranner and Martin Luther;
| and, among writers and philosophers,
| Lord Bacon. That belief, which has
become the laughing stock of all SEN
sible people, counted its disciples
| among the wisest and best people of
| Sweden, Germany, England, France,
| Spain and New England. But while we
| reject witchcraft, any man who be-
lieves the Bible must believe that there
are diabohcal agencies abroad in the
| world. While there are ministering
spirits to bless there are Internal spirits
to hinder, to poison and to destroy.
Christ was speaking to a spiritual ex-
istence when, standing before the af-
fiicted one of the text, he said: Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, come out of him."
Against this dumb devil of the text I
put you on your guard. Do not think
that this agent of evil has put his blight
on those who, by omission of the vocal
organs, have had the golden gates of
speech bolted and barred. Among
those who have never spoken word
are the most gracious and lovely and
talented souls that were ever incarnat-
ed. The chaplains of the asylums for
the dumb can tell you enchanting
stories of those who never called the
name of father or mother or child, and
many of the most devout and prayerful
souls will never in this world speak the
name of God or Christ.
There has been apotheosiza ton of 81
lence. Some one has said silence is
golden, and sometimes the greatest tri-
umph is to keep your mouth shut. But
sometimes silence is a crime and the
direct result of the baleful influence of
the dumb devil of our text. There is
hardly a man or woman who has not
been present on some occasion when
the Christian religion became target
for raiilery. Perhaps it was over in
the store some day when there was not
much going on, and the clerks were in a
group, or it was in the factory at the
noon spell, or it was oCt on the farm
under the trees while you were resting,
or it was in the clubroom, or it was
in a social circle, or it was in the street
on the way home from business, or it
was on some occasion which you re-
member without my describing it.
Some one got the laugh on the Bible
and caricatured the profession of re-
ligion as hypocrisy, or made pun out
of sonnet thing 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.
Incapacity to answer? No. Lack of
opportunity? No. 1t was a blow on
both your lips by the wing of the dumb
devil. If some one 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 eter>
nifty to celebrate it, and yet when it was
attacked you did not so much as say:
81 differ. 1 object. I 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 fight scoffer.
Ny aged friend said to the skeptic:
Ibid you ever read the history of
Joseph in the Bible?" ''Yes," said the
man, ''it is fine story, and as interest
ing a story as 1 ever read" 'Wel,
now," said my old friend, suppose that
account of Joseph stopped half way?"
"Oh," said the man, "then it would not
be entertaining" swell, 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 tEat then we
may find that God was right?"
Oh, friends. better load up with few
interrogation Poiutsl You cannot at.