Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-09-14
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
TALMAGE ON THE COMMUNION
OF SAINTS.
The Sectarian BigOt Gets n Scathing
Denunciation-Truth and Error Now
On Trial-Cause OF Intolerance
Liberality Coming.

IalHiage, VINO is now IN Australia,
whence he will shortly sail for Ceylon
and India, has selected as the subject
for to-day's sermon'through the press,
Communion of Saints" the text
chosen being Judges ;2:vI, "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"
DO you know the difference of pro-
nunciation between shibboleth and
sibboleth? A very small und unim-
portant difference you say. And yet,
that difference was the difference be-
tween life and death of great many
people. The Lords people, Gilead and
Ephraim, got into great fight, and
Ephraim was worsted, and on the re-
treat came to the fords of the river
Jordan TO cross Order was given that
all Ephraimites coming there be
slain. But how could it be found
out who were Ephraimites?
They were detected by their pro-
nunciation. Shibboleth was word
that stood for river. The Ephraimites
had brogue of their own, and when
they tried TO say "shibboleth" always
left out the sound of the 81" When
it was asked that they say shibboleth
they said sibboleth, and were slain.
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. A very
small difference, you say, between
Gilead and Ephraim, and yet how
much intolerance about that small diff
ference! The Lords tribes in our
time-by which l mean the different
denominations of Christians-some-
times magnify very small difference,
and the only difference between scores
of denominations to-day is the differ
ence between shibboleth and sibbo-
leth.
The church of God is divided into a
great mum Der of denominations Time
would fail me to tell of the Calvinists,
and the Arminians, and the Sab
batarIans, and the Baxterians, and
the Dunkers, and the Shakers, and
the Qualers, and the Methodists, and
the Baptists, and the Episcopalians,
and the Lutherans and the Congre-
gationalists. and the PresbyterianS
and the Spiritualists, and a 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 / demand
for myself liberty of conscience,
must give that same liberty to every
other man, remembering that he no
more differs from me than l differ
from him. / advocate the largest lib
erty in all religious belief and form
of worship. In art in politics, in
morals, and in religion, let there be
no gag law, no moving of the previous
question, no perse cution, no intoler-
ance
You know that the air and the
water keep pure by constant circula-
ton, and l think there is tendency
in religious discussion to publication
and moral health. Between the
fourth and sixteenth centuries the
church proposed 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 or
thodox; but it was discovered that
you can not change mans belief by
twisting of his head nor make a man
see differently by putting 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 l speak, be-
tween the fourth and sixteenth CEN
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
RIGHTEOUSNESS such as the world never
heard of, and the very sewers of per-
dition 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 religion, there
were twenty men ready to advocate
it; so have not any nervousness in
regard to this battle going on 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 sceptic's shout
and transcendentalists spur, let il
run, Gods angels of wrath are in hot
pursuit and quicker than eagle beal'
clutches out a hawks heart, God S
vengeance will tear it to pieces.
propose to speak to you of sec
tarianism-its origin, its evils, and its
cures There are those who would
make us think that this monster with
horns and hoofs. is religion. / shall
chase it TO its hiding place, and drag
il out of the caverns of darkness and
rip off its hide. But / want TO make
distinction between bigotry and the
lawful fondness for peculiar religious