Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-09-10
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE DISCUSSES THE
COMMUNION OF SAINTS.

For Christian Union.
BROOKLYN, Sept 9.-Rev. DR.. Tai
mage, who is now in Australia, whence
he will shortly sail for Ceylon and In
Tia, has selected as the subject for to-
days sermon through the press Com
munion of Saints, - the text chosen be-
ing Judges xii, 6: ''Then said they
unto him, Say now shibboleth, and he
said, sibboleth, for he could not frame
to pronounce it right. Then they took
him and slew him at the passages of
Jordan. F"
Do you notice the difference of pro-
nunciatiqn between shibboleth and sib-
boleth? A very small and unimportant
difference, you say. And yet that diff
ference was the difference between life
and death for great many people. The
Lords people, Gilead and Ephraim, got
into a great fight, and Ephraim was
worsted, and on the retreat came to the
fords of the river Jordan to cross. Or
der was given that all Ephraimites
coming there be slain. But how cC~ld it
be found out who were Ephraimites?
They were detected by their pronuncia-
tion. Shibboleth was word that stood
for river.
The Ephraimites had brogue of their
own, and when they tried to say ''shib
boleth'' always left out the sound of
the ''h." When it was asked that they
say shibboleth, they said sibboleth and
We're slain. ''Then said they unto him,
say now shibboleth, and he said sibbo
leth, for he could not frame to pro-
nounce it right. Then they took him
and slew him at the passages of Jor-
dan" A very small difference, you say,
between GiIcad and Ephraim, and yet
how much intolerance about that small
differencel The Lords tribes in our
time-by which mean the different de-
nominations of Christians-sonetime
magnify a very small difference, and
the only difference between scores of
denominations today is the difference
between shibboleth and sibboleth.
Religious Discussion.
The church of God is divided into
great number of denominations. Time
would fail me to tell of the Calvinists,
and the Arminians, and the Sabbatari-
ans, and the Baxterians, and the Dun
kers, and the Shakers, and the Quakers,
and the Methodists, and the Baptists,
and the Episcopalians, and the Luther
ans and the Congregationalists, and
the Presbyterians and the Spiritualists,
and score of other denominations of
religionists some of them founded by
very good men, some of them founded
by very egOtistic men, some OF them
founded by very bad men. But as 1 de-
mand for myself liberty of conscience l
must give that same liberty to every
other man, remembering that he no
more differs from me than differ from
him. | advocate the largest liberty in
all religious belief and form of worship.
In art i'll politics, in morals and i'll re-
ligion let there be no gag law, no NOV
ing of the previous question, no persc
cution, no intolerance.
You know Ahat the air and the wa
ter keep pure by constant circulation,
and l think there is tendency in reli-
gious discussion to publication and
moral health. Between the fourth and
the sixteenth centuries the church pro-
posed to make people think Alright by
prohibiting discussion, and by strong
censorship of the press and rack and
gibbet and hot lead down the throat
tried to make people orthodox, but it
was discovered that you cannot change
mans belief by twisting off his head
nor make man see differently by put
ting an awl through his eyes There is
something in a mans conscience which
will hurl off the mountain that you
threw upon it, and, unsinged of the fire,
out of the flame will make red wings
ON which the martyr will mount to glory
In that time of which / speak, be-
%l,a cTxyfo
turtles, people went from the house of
God into the most appalling iniquity,
and right along by consecrated affairs
there were tides of drunkenness and Ii
centiousness such as the world never
heard of, and the very sewers of perdi
ton broke loose and flooded the church.
After awhile the printing press was
freed, and it broke the shackleS of the
human mind. Then there came a large
number of bad books, and where there
was one man hostile to the Christian re-
igion there were 20 men ready to advO-
cate it, so have not any nervousness in
regard to this battle going Oh between
truth and error. The truth will conquer
just as certainly as that God is stronger
than the devil. Let error run if you
only let truth run along with it. Urged
on by skeptic's shout and transcendental-
lists spur, let it run. Gods angels Of
wrath are III hot pursuit, and quicker
than eagles beak clutches out a hawks
heart Gods vengeance will tear it to
pieces.
Religious Preference.
1 propose to speak to you of sectari-
anism-its origin, its evils and its
cures. There are those who would make
US think that this monster, with horns
and hoofs, is religion. 1 shall chase it
to its hiding place and drag it out of
the caverns Of darkness and rip off its