The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-06-26
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Reviews
the Battle OF the Creeds.
DoctrlnaI Contests Not Only Useless but
Sinful-An undan Of Certain
ties n DeivIng Into
the Mysteries.

~" $3.50 RA"HEAn ~ HA1 hAN01AtNA VIM
strife belonging not to him. is like one that
taketh a dog by the cars.-Proverbs XVI. n.
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 10 no good to others and
get damage for themselves He COM
pares it to the experiment of taking a
dog by the ears. Nothing so irritates
the CANNES as TO be clutched by the
Tugs Take them by the back of
the neck and lift them and 1t 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" a y Solo
mon, you 60 into quarrels or contro-
versies that are not yours and you viii
get lacerated and torn, and bitten.
HI that passeth by and meddleth with
strife belonging not to him is like one
that taketh a dog by the ears"
This is a time of resounding ecclesas-
teal quarrcls. Never within your
memory OF 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 it's settlement for at least one more
year, hoping that something will turn
up. Somebody might die or n new gen.
eral assembly have grace to handle the
exciting questions. The Episcopal
church has cast out some recalcitrants,
and it's digestive organs are taxed to
the utmost in trying to assimilate
Others shall women preach?'' ''Or be
sent as delegates to conference?" are
questions that nave put many of Il
Methodist brethren on the anxious
seat" And the waters i'm some Of the
great baptistries are troubled waters.
Because Of the controversies through
out Christendom the air is now like an
August afternoon about five o'clock,
when it mas 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.
i am not much of a weather prophet,
but the clouds look to me mostly like
wind clouds. 1t may be a 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 il.
i 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 different
ecclesiastical 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
denominations, who, before the present
acerbity were good and kind and useful,
now seem almost swearing mad. These
brethren / notice always open their
violent meetings with prayer before de-
v~ouring each other, thus saying grace
before meat. They have a moral hydro
phObia that makes us think they have
taken a 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 Brook questions got into full
swing. May the rams of the sheepfold
Don 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 inidelity, 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 nun
dreds of thousands to the Gospel stand
ard. The victories for God and the
truth were too neal together. Too
many churches were being dedicated.
Too many ministers were being or
dained. Too many philantropies being
fostered. Toe many souls were 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: -'Ye powers of dark
ness, hear!' And all up and down the
caverns the cry was: Heart Hearl'
Satan said: There is that American
board Of commissioners for foreign mis-
sions. IL must either be demolished or
crippled, or the first thing you know
they will have all nations brought to
God. Apollyon the Youngerl You 60
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 a room at
Young's hotel, Boston, and by the time
they adjourn the cause Of foreign mis-
sions will be gloriously and magnif-
Gently injured. Diabolus, the Youngerl
You 60 up and get Union Theological
seminary of New York and the gem
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 pau
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
men instead of discussing the eterni-
ties Abaddon the Fourth You go up
TO that old Methodist church, which
has, through her r~evivals, sent millions
I o Heaven, which we would otherwise
have added 10 our population. the
church Of Wesley and Matthew Simp-
son, against which we have an especial