The Brookhaven leader., 1891-06-25
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Reviews
the Battle of the Creeds.
DoctrinsI Contests Not Only Useless but
Slnful-An Abundance of Certain
ties without Delving Into
the Mysteries.

Ign tabernacle: "1he Battle of Creeds. -
His text was:
He that passeth by and meddleth with
strife belonging not to him, Is like one that
takcth dog by the ears.-Proverbs xvi, IL.
Solomon here deplores the habit of
rushing in between contestants, of TAX
ing part in the antagonisms of others,
of joining in fights which they ought to
shun. They do no good to others and
get damage for themselves. He COM
pares it to the experim ent of taking a
dog by the ears. Nothing so irritates
the CANNES as to be clutched by the
Jugs Take them by the back of
the neck and lift them and it does not
seem to hurt or Offend but take the
dog by the ear and he will take you
with his teeth. In all the history of
kennels no intelligent or spirited dog
will stand that. Now" says Solo
mon, you go into quarrels or contro-
versies that are not yours and you will
get lacerated and torn, and bitten.
lie that passeth by and meddleth with
strife belonging not to him is like one
that taketh a dog by the ears"
This is time of resounding ecclesas-
teal quarrels. Never within your
memory or mine has the air been so
full of missiles. The Presbyterian
church has on hand a controversy so
great that it finds it prudent to post
pone its settlement for at least one more
year, hoping that something will turn
up. Somebody might die or a new gen.
eral assembly have grace to handle the
exciting questions. The Episcopal
ahl hoS act Loft 70
and its digestive organs are taxed to
the utmost in trying to assimilate
others. "Shall women preach?" cor be
sent as delegates to conference" 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 through
out Christendom the air is now like an
August afternoon about five o'clock,
when it has been steaming hot all day,
and clouds are gathering, and there are
lions of thunder with grumbling voices
and flashing eyes coming forth from
their cloudy lairs, and people are wait
ing for the full burst of the tempest.
am not much of a weather prophet,
but the clouds look to me mostly like
wind clouds. 1t may be big blow,
but hope it will soon be over. In re-
gard to the battle of the creeds, | am
every day asked what | think about it.
want to make it so plain this morning
what | think that no one will ever ask
again.
Let those who are jurymen in the
case, | mean those who in the di fferent
4
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 man as he
goes in. Some of the ministers, in all
denominations, who, before the present
acerbity were good and kind and useful,
now seem almost swearing mad. These
brethren l notice always open their
violent meetings with prayer before de-
vouring each other, thus saying grace
before meat. They have moral hydro
phobia that makes us think they have
taken 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 Be
fore the controversies are settled, a
good many ministers will, through what
they call liberalism, be landed into
practical intidelity, and others thro ugh
what they call conservatism, will shrink
up into bigots tight and hard as the
mummies of Egypt which got through
their controversies three thousand years
ago.
This trouble throughout Christendom
was directly inspired of Satan. He saw
that too much good was being done.
Recruits were being gathered by hun
dreds of thousands to the Gospel stand
ard The victories for God and the
truth were too near together Too
many churches were being dedicated.
Too many ministers were being or
dained. Too many philantropies being
fostered. Too many souls were being
saved. 1t had been dull time in the
Neither world, and the arrivals were too
few So Satan one day rose upon his
throne and said ''Ye powers of dark
ness, hear!' And all up and down the
caverns the cry was: Hear Hear!'
board of commissioners for foreign mis-
sions. 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 Andover and get the professors
discussing whether the heather can be
saved without the Gospel. Divert them
from the work of missions and get them
in angry convention in room at
Young's hotel, Boston, and by the time
they adjourn the cause of foreign mis-
sions will be gloriously and magnifi-
Gently injured. Diabolus, the Younger!
You go up and get Union Theological
seminary of New York and the gen.
eral assembly of the Presbyterian
church at Detroit at swords point and
diverted from the work of making earn
est ministers of religion, and turn that
old Presbyterian church, which has
been keeping us out of customers for
hundreds of years, into a splendid pan
demonium on a small scale. Abaddon
the Third! You go up and assault that
Episcopal church, which has been
storming the heavens for centuries with
the sublimest prayers that were ever
uttered-church of Bishop Leighton,
Bishop White and Bishop McIlvaine,
and get that denomination discussing