Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-12-08
A Family Difficulty Settled
DIR, TALMAGE'S SERMON SUNDAY,
NOV. 2STH.
"SHOULD THE WIFE GO TO THE
HUSBANDS CHURCH OR THE
HUSBAND TO THE WIFE'S?"
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF A RE-
LIGIOUS DISCUSSION AT BREAK
FAST TABLE.
ALL EVANGELICAL CHURCHES
HAVE ENOUGH TRUTH IN
THEM TO SAVE THE SOUL.
THE CONVERTED PARTNER BET
TER GO TO THE CNCONVERT
ED PARTNERS CHURCH.
WHEN BOTH ARE MEMBERS LET
THE ONE LESS PARTICULAR GO
WITH THE OTHER WHO Is
VERY PARTICULAR.

THE ONE LESS PARTICULAR GO
WITH THE OTHER WHO Is
| VERY PARTIC ULAR.
The Question as 1t affects the Children.
BROOKLYN. N. Y, November 2S.-Tbe
Rev. T Dewitt Talmage, DID,, preached
in tie Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning Oh
the subject: 'In matters of Church Atten-
dance Should tho Wife Go with the Hus-
band or the Husband Go with the Wife,
The Tabernacle still retains the decoration
of Thanksgiving Day, being specimens OF
American products from the North, South,
East and West. A vast congregation sang
the opening hymn, beginning:
"Come, let us join our friends above
VINO have obtained the prize,
And on the eagle wings OF love
10 Joys celestial rise.''
For the greater part, the hymn used in
DR.. Talmage's church are old and familiar,
and when the whole audience rises to sing,
led by Prof. Ali, the cornetist, and Prof
Henry Eyre Browne, the orgauist, the effect
is overpowering.
DR.. Talmage's text was from the 18th
chapter Of Genesis, and parts of the eighth
and ninth verses, "Let there be no strife,
pray thee, between me and thee. and be
tween my hsrdmen and thy hsrdmen. Is
not the whole land before theep' DR.. Tai
mage said:
Uncle and nephew, Abram and Lot, both
pious, both millionaires, and with such large
focks of bleating sheep and lowing cattle,
that their herdmen got into a fight, per-
haps about the best pasture, or about 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, the
glorious old Bedouin sheik, such contro-
| versy seemed absurd. 1t was like two ships
quarrellipg for sea room in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean. There was vast reach
of country, corn fields, vineyards, harvesss,
and plenty of room, in illimitab acreage
"Now, says Abram. 'Ltt us agree to diff
fer. Here are the mountain districts, swept
by the tonic sea breeze, and with wide
reaching prospect, or there is the plain of
the Jordan, with tropical lnxuriaDce. You
may have either" Let, who was not as rich
as Abram, and might have been expected
to take the second choice, made the first
selection, and with modesty that must have
made Abram smile, said to him: 'Yon may
have the rocks and the fine prospect; will
take the valley Of the Jordan with all its
luxuriance of corn fields, and the river to
water the focks, and the genial climate,
and the wealth immeasurable. So the CON-
| tioversy was forever settled and great
seuled AbIam carried out the suggestion Of
the text: ''Let there be no strife, 1 pray
thee, between me and thee, and between
my herdmen and thy herdmen. Is not the
| whole land before thee?'
Well, in this, the last quarter of the nine
L IL =
which was called America, after Amerjcu,
Vespucius, but ought to have been called
Columbia, after it's discoverer. Columbus,
we have a wealth Of religious privilege and
opportunity that is positively bewidering.
Churches of all styles of creeds, and of all
styles. of government, and all sty les of wor-
ship, and all styles Of architecture. What
opulence Of ecclesiastical opportunity !
Now, while in desolate regions there
| may be only one church, and it must be
that or thing, in the opulent districts of
this country, there is such profuson that
there ought to be no difficulty in making a
selection. No fight about vestments, or
between liturgical or non liturgical adher-
ents, or as to baptlsmal modes, or a hand
full of water as compared with river full.
II Abram prefers to dwell 10 the heights,
where he can only get sprinkling from
the clouds, let him consent that Lot have
all the Jordan in which to immerse himself.
"Let there be no strife, pray thee, between
thee and me, and between thy herdmen and
my herdmen. Is not the whole land before
thee ?'
Especially is it unfortunate when families
allow, at the breakfast or dining or tea ia
BILE, angry discussions as to which is the
best church or denomination, one at one end
1 \