Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-15
BATTLE OF CREEDS.
Rev. DR.. TaImage on This Ex-
haustiveY Discussed Theme.
ECCLESIASTICAL QUARRELS.
A Fresh ard Original Contribution Made to the
Recent Assembly Controversy.
He That Passcth BY and Meddleth With
Strife Belonging Not to Him 10
Like One That Taketh y Dog
BY the Ears"
Special to the Gazette.


Special 10 the Gazette.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, June 14.-Dr. Talmage
| dealt In his sermon this morning with the
very timely topic, the Battle of the Creeds.
After SO long and exhaustive discussion
IN clerical circles ard in the secular press
there seemed nothing more to be said on
the subject. DIR Talmage, however, has his
own way of looking az all subjects, and even
| people who thought they knew all that
could be said ON both sides. received light
| from the fresh and original contribution
which he made to the controversy. His
text was taken from Prov, ..xxvI, Il: He
that passeth by and meddleth with strife
belonging not to him is like one that taketh
a dog by the ears"
Sol mon here deplores the habit of rush
| ing IN between contestants, of taking
part ia LIE antagonisms OF others, of join
l ~ ka1Shts which they ought to shun.
LICK do no good to others and get damage
I for themselves. He compares it TO the eX-
pertinent of taking dog by the ears.
| Nothing so irritates the CANNES as to be
| clutched by the Tugs Take them by the
not seem to hurt or offend, but you take
| the dog by the ear, and he will take you
| with his teeth. In all the history of ken
nels no intelligent or spirited dog will stand
| that. now says Solomon, you go into
| quarrels or controversies that are not yours
! and you viii get lacerated and torn, and
bitten He that passeth by and meddleth
| with strife belonging not to him is like one
| that taheth dog by the ears
| ECCLESIASTICAL QUARREL.
This is time of resembling ecclesiastical
| quarrel. Never within your memory or
| mine has the air been so full of missiles
| The Presbyterian church has on hand Il
| controversy so great that it finds it prudent
! 10 postpone its settlement for at least one
| more year, hoping that something Will turn
| up. Somebody might die or new general
| assembly may have grace TO handle the
| exciting questions The Episcopal church
| has cast out some recalcitrants, and its
| digestive organs are taxed to the utmost III
| trying to assimilate others. Shall women
| preach?n "Or be sent as delegates to con-
| ference2'' are questions that have put many
| of our Methodist brethren on the anxious
] seat And the waters in some of the great
| tapestries are troubled waters. Because
! OF the controversies throughout hristendom
| the air is now like an August afternoon
| about ) O'Clock, when it has been steaminS
| hot all day, and clouds are gathering, and
! there are lions of thunder with grumbliDg
| voices and flashing eyes coming forth from
| their cloudy lairs, and people are waiting
| for the full burst of the tempest. l am not
| much of weather prophet, but the clouds
| be big blow, but hope it will soon be
over. In regard TO the battle of the creeds,
lam every day asked what l think about it.
fsxaS% ant to make it so plain this morning
what 1 think that no one
WILL EVER ASK AGAIN.
Let those who are jurymen in the case
mean those who in the different eccleSiaSti-
| cal courts have the questions put directly
before them, weigh and decide. Let the
rest of us keep out. The most damaging
thing on earth is religious controversy. No
one ever comes out of It as good a man as he
goes in. Some of the ministers, in all de-
nominations, who, before the present
acerbity were good and kind and useful,
now seem almost swearing mad. These
brethren 1 notice always open their violent
meetings with prayer before devouring
each other, thus saying grace before meat.
They have moral hydrophobla that makes
us think they have taken q dog by the ears.
They never read the imprecatory psalms of
David with such zest as since the Briggs
and Newton and MacQueary and Bridgman
and Brooks questions got into full swing.
May the rams of the sheepfold soon have
their horns sawed off. Before the contro-
versies are settled, good many ministers
will, through what they call liberalism, be
landed into practical infidelity, and others
through what they call conservatism, will
shrink up into bigots tight and hard as the
mummies of Egypt, which got through
.vtbSlr controversies
PES# THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
This trouble throughout Christendom,
was directly inspired of Satan. He saw
that too much good was being done. Re
cruits were being gathered by hundreds of
thousands to the gospel standard. The VIC
tories for God and the truth were too near
near together. Too many churches We're be-
ing dedicated Too many ministers were
beng ordained. Too many philanthropies
L.
being saved. 1t had been a dull time in the
Neither World, and the arrivals were too
few. So Satan one day rose upon his
throne, and said, aye powers of darkness,
hear" And all up and down the caverns
the cry was: Hear! hear!' Satan said:
There is that American board of commits
sioners for foreign missions. 1t must either
be demolished or crippled, or the first thing
you know they will have all nations brought
to God. Apollyon the Younger! You go
up to Andoyer and get the professors dis
cussing whether the heather can be saved
without the gospel. Divert them from the
work of missions, and get them in angry
convention in q room at Young's hotel, Bos-
ton, and by the time they adjourn the cause
of foreign missions viii be gloriously and
magnifcently injured. Diabolus, the
Younger! You go up and get Union theo-
logical seminary Of New York and the
general assembly of the Presbyterian
Clurcl al DeIrOlu at SWoru'S points anu Ill
verted from the work of making
EARNEST MINISTERS OF RELIGION,
and turn that old Presbyterian church,
which has been keeping us out of Gus
toners for hundreds of years, into splen-
did pandemonium on a small scale. Abad-
don the Third. You go up and assault that
old Episcopal church, which has been
storming the heavens for centuries with
the sublimest prayers that were ever ut
tered--church of Bishop Leighton, Bishop
White and Bishop Mcllvaine, and get that
denomination discussing men instead of
discussing the eternities. Abaddon the
Fourth! You go up to that old Methodist
church, which has, through her reviyals,
sent millions TO heaven which we would
otherwise have added TO our population,
the church of Wesley and Matthew Simp-
SON, against which we have an especial
grudge, and get them so absorbed in dis
cussing whether women shall take part in
her conference that they shall not have so
much time 10 discuss how many sons and
daughters she will take to glory"
What amazes me most is that all people
do not see that the entire movement at
this time all over Christendom is satanic
Many of the internal attacks are sly and
hidden and strategic and so ingenious that
theyxare not easily discovered. But here
is = Bold and uncovered attempt of the
% Frs of darkness to split up the churches,
n S,et ministers To take each other nv <ha