The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-12-02
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
AT THE TABERNACLE-"A FAMILY
DIFFICULTY SETTLED"

the Wife Go with the Husband or tho
Husband with the Wife?-The Gospel
Alphabet
BROOKLYN. Nov. 2S.-The Rev. T. Dewitt
TaImage, d. D., preached in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle this morning on the subject: TN
Matters of Church Attendance Should the
Wife Go with the Husband the Husband
Go with the Wife, The tabernacle still re-
tains the decoration OF Thanksgiving day,
being specimens Of American products from
the north. south, east and west vast con-
gregation sang the opening hymn, beginning:
Como, let US join our friends above,
Who have obtained the prize.
And on the eagle wings OF love
To Joys celestial rise.
For the greater part, the hymns used in
DR.. Talnage's church are old and familiar,
and when the whole audience rises to sing,
led by Professor Ali, the cornetist, and Pro-
fessor Henry Eyre Browne, the organist, the
effect is overpowering
DR. Talmage's text was from Genesis xiii,
| 50. "Let there be no strife, pray thee, be-
tween me and thee, and between my herdmen
and thy herdlnen. Is not the whole land be
| fore thees" DR. Talmage said:
Uncle and nephew, Abram and Lot, both
! piouS both miliionaires, and with such large
| focks OF bleating sheep and lowing cattle
| that their herdmen got into q fight, perhaps
about the best pasture, or about the best
water privilege, 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 between
| these two men. To Abram, the glorious old
| Bedouin sheik, such controversy seemed alb
| surd. 1t was like two ships quarreling for
| sea room in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.
| There vast reach of country, corn
| fields, vineyards, harvests and plenty of
/ room in illimitable acreage. "Now," says
! Abram 'Iet us agree to differ. Here are
/ the mountain districts, swept by the tonic
| and sea breeze, and with wide reaching pros
| pect, or there is the plain of the Jordan, with
/ tropical luxuriance. You may have either
Lot, who not rich as Abram, and
might have been expected to take the second
| choice, made the first selection, and with a
mOdeSty that must have made Abram smile,
! said to him: ''You may have the rocks and
the fine prospect; 1 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 immeasur-
| able" So the controversy was forever
settled and great souled Abram carried out
| the suggestion of the text: "Let there be no
! strife, [ pray three, 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
which was called America, after Americas
Vespucius but ought to have been been
called Columbia, after its discoverer, Column
| bus we have a wealth of religious privilege
and opportunity that is positively bewilder-
ing. Churches of all styles Of creeds, and of
all styles of governments, and all styles of
worship, and all styles of architecture. What
opulence of ecclesiastical opportunity! Now,
| while in desolate regions there may be only
| ocn,,r md Ia of
in the opulent districts of this country, there
is such profusion that there ought to be no
difficulty in making selection. No fight
about vestments, or between hturgical OF
non-liturgical adherents, or as to baptismal
modes or handful of water as compared
with a riverful. If Abram prefers to dwell
in the heights, where he can only get q
sprinkling from the clouds, let him consent
| that Lot have all the Jordan In which to i'm
merse 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 thee4"
Especially is it unfortunate when families
allow, at the breakfast, or dining, or tea ia
BILE angry discussion as to which is the bes
church denomination, one at one end Of
the table saying he could not endure the
rigid doctrines of Presbyterianism, one a,
the other end responding that she neve1
|
at one side Of the table saying he did no
understand how anybody could bear tn,
noise in the Methodist church, and another
declaring all the Baptists bigots There ar
hundreds of families hopelessly split on eccle
siasticism, and in the mitSlle Of every discus
sion on such subjects there is kindling o
indignation, and it needs some old fathe
Abram to come and put his foot on the load
ed fuse before the explosion takes place, anc
| To%fl hav off, 20 II 1o
tween me and thee, and between my herd
men and thy herdmen. Is not the who'll
land before thee'"
undertake a subject never before under
taken in any pulpit, for it is an exceedingl,
delicate subject, and il not rightly handle,
might give serious offense; but approach
without the slightest trepidation, for I an
sure 1 have the Divine direction in tn
matters propose to present. 1t Is a tremen
dous question, asked all over Christendom
often asked with tears and sobs and hear
breaks, and involving the peace of families
the eternal happiness of many souls:
matters of church attendance, should th
wife go with the husband, or the husband g
with the wifes
First, remember that all the evangelica
churches have enough truth in them to say
the soul and prepare US for happiness on cart
and in heaven. / will go with you into an
Wei SelecUeu tHeoiosSiCdl library. ana WI
show you sermons from ministers in all d.
nominations that set forth man as a slime
and Christ as a deliverer from sin and sorrow
That is the whole gospel. Get that into you
soul and you are fitted for the here and til
hereafter. The world has twenty-six letter
in its alphabet, and there are only two letter
in the gospel alphabet S and c; S standing fe
our sin, G standing for Christ, our rescu
blessed be His glorious name foreverl In an
church where YOU can thOrOuQhly learn thes
two letters, and all they stand for, you ougl
to be edited and happy. There are diffe
ences, we admit, and some denominations "
like better than others. But suppose thrt
or four of US make solemn agre
. ment to meet each other wee
from now in Chicago on important bushes
:, and one goes by the New York Central raj