The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-12-15
4. DELICATE SUBJECT.
How It Was Handled by Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage, D. D.

elm the Matter Of Church Attendance,
Should tho Wife Go with the Husband.
or tho Husband Go with the
wifes"--A Great Question.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, Nov. N.-Mr. Talmage
preached this morning on tho subject:
SHOULD the Wife Go to Church with Her
Husband, or the Husband with His Wife"
He took for his text Genesis l3: 80: "Let
there be no strife, pray thee, between me
and thee, and between my herdmen and thy
herdmen; for we DO brethren. Is not the
whole land before thee'" The sermon was
as follows:
Uncle and nephew, Abram and Lot, both
pious, both .nillionaires, and with such
large fOcks Of bleating sheep and lowing
cattle that their herdmcn got into fight,
perhaps about the best pasture, or the best
| water privilege, or because the COW Of one
got hooked by the horns OF the other. Not
their poverty Of opportunity, but their
wealth, was the cause Of controversy be-
tween these two men. To Abram, tho glO-
! rious old Badouin sheik, such controversy
| seemed absurd. It was like two ships
Quarrelins for sea room in the middle OF the
Atlantic Ocean. There was vast reach
Of country, corn fields, vineyards, harvests
and plent Of room in illimitable acreage,
! "Now," SAYS Abram, "Let us agree to diff
| fer. Hero arc mountain districts, swept by
| the tonic and sea breeze, or with wide reach
ing prospect, or there is the plain OF the
Jordan, with tropical luxuriance. You may
| have either"
| Lot, who was not as rich ms Abram, and
| might have been expected to take the sec
Ond choice, made the first selection, and
with q modesty that must have made
Abram smile, said to him: "You may
| have the rocks and the fine prospect; ! will
take the valley Of the Jordan, with all its
luxlriince of corn fields, and the river to
water the fiocks, and the genial climate,
and the wealth Unreasonable" So the
controversy was forever settled, and great
s0ulec A BRAN carried out the suggestion Of
the te It .''Let there be no strife, pray
thee, tetween thee and me, and between
my hordmen and thy herdmen. Is not the
Who'll" land before thee,"
| Well, in this tho last quarter of the nine
teenth century, and in this beautiful land,
which was called America after Americas
Vespucius, but ought to have been called
| ultCt Y, uiNIONcTCI,
we have a wealth of religious privilege and
Opportunity that is positively bowildcring
Churches of all styles Of crceis, and of all
styles Of governments, and all styles of
worship, and all styles of architecture.
What opulonce Of ecclesiastical ocportuni-
| ty! Now, while in desolate regions there
may be only ono church, and it must be
that CT nothing, in the opulent districts of
this country there is such aprOfusion that
thcre ought to be no difficulty in making q
selection. No fight about vestments, or
between liturgical or non-liturgical adher-
ents, or as to haptsmal modes, or q handful
| Of water as compared with riverful. II
Abram prefers to dwell in tho heights,
wnerc he can only get sprinkling from
The clouds. let him consent that Lot have
all the Jordan in which to immense him.
self. LET there be no strife, l pray thee,
between me and thee, and between my
herdmen and thy herdmen. Is not the
whole land before thees"
Especially is unfortunate when families
allow, at the breakfast, or dinner, or tea
ltable, angry discussion as to which is the
best church or denomination, one at one
end of the table saying he could not endure
the rigid doctrines of Presbyterianlsm; one
OF the other end responding that she never
Icould stand the forms Of Episcopacy; and
one at one side of the table saying he did
not understand how anybody could bear the
luoise in the Methodist Church, and another
declaring all the Baptists bigots. There
are hundreds of families hopele ,sly split on
ecclesiasticism and in the middle Of every
discussion on such subjects there is kind
ling Of Indignation, and it needs some old
father Abram TO come and put his foot on
the loaded fuse before the explosion takes
lplacc, and say: "let there be no strife
pray thee, between me and thee, and be-
tween my herdmen and thy herdnen. Il
uot the whole land before theei'
undertake subject never before under
takon in any pulpit, for it is an exceedingly
delicate subject and if not rightly handled
might give serious offense; but approach
It without the slightest trepidation, for
I'M suro I have the Divine direction in thu
matters l propose to present. 1t Is u tire
mendous question, asked all over Christen
iom, flcu asked with tears and sobs ant
heart breaks, and involving tho peace o.
families, the eternal happiness of man,
souls: In the matter of church attendance
should the wife go with the husband, or TIT
husband go With the wifoi r.....
FIRST, remember that all the evangelical
churches have enough truth in them t
save the soul and prepare US for Happiness.
On earth and in Heaven. l will go with
; you into any well-selected theological
library, aud will show you sermons from
minister's in all denominations that se
forth man as sinner and Christ as a dc
tiverer from sin and sorrow. That Is tn,
whole Gospel. Get that into your soul AM
you arc fitted for the here and the here
after. The world has twenty-six letters il
its alphabet, and there are only two letter
in the Gospel alphabet-S and C; s stand
ing for our sin, G standing for Christ, ou
rescue, blessed be His glorious name for
, ever! In any church where you ca
thoroughly learn these two letters, and al
, they stand for, you ought to be edited an
aappy.
There are differences, we admit, an
some denominations We like better tina
others. But suppose three or four Of U
, make solemn agreement to meet each othe
= . week from now in Chicago on importan
! business, and one goes by the New Ycr
, Central railroad, another by the Erie raj
road, another by the Pennsylvania raj
!, road, another by the Baltimore & Obi
railroad. One goes this way, because tn
= mountains are grander; another takes Thu
!! because the cars are more luxurious; NJ
other that, because the speed is greater
another takes the other, because he hs
lloug been accustomed to that route and a
the employees are familiar So far rs on