The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-06-16
TALKS; ON BIGOTRY.
Rev Dr.. Talmage Discusses a Del
icate Subject.
CcpIores SectarInn Difference in the
HOme-CautiOns Parents to
Its Evil Effect on the
Children.
copyright, 1889. by Louis Klopsch.l

a topic which will interest domestic
circles everywhere. The text is Gene
sis xiii, s: Let there be no strife, |
pray thee, between me and thee, and
between my herdmen and thy herdmen,
Is not the whole land before thee?"
Uncle and nephew, Abram and Lot,
both pious, both miIlionaires, and with
such large flocks of bleating sheep and
lowing cattle that their herdmen got
into a fight, perhaps about the best
pasture, or about the best water privi-
lege, or because the cow of one got
hooked by the horns of the other. Not
their poverty of opportunity, but their
wealth, was the cause of controversy
between these two men. To Abram, the
glorious old Mesopotamian sheik, such
controversy seemed absurd. 1t was
like two ships quarreling for sea room
in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.
There was vast reach of country, corn
fields, vineyards, harvests and plenty
Of room in illimitable acreage. Now"
said Abram, "Iet US agree to differ.
Here are the mountain districts, swept
by the tonic of sea breeze and with
wa , Oe'O1iiAiS5 DACSIINSIS oAN IANA 10
the plain of Jordan, with tropical lux
uriance. You may have either" Lot,
who was not as rich as Abram and
might have been expected to take the
second choice, made the first selection,
and with a modesty that must have
made Abram smile, said to him:
You may have the rocks and the
fine prospect; 1 will take the valley
of the Jordan, with all its Insurance of
cornfelds, and the river to water the
fiocks, and the genial climate, and the
wealth immeasurable." So the con-
troversy was forever settled, and great
souled Abram carried out the sugges-
tion of the text: LET there be no
strife, l pray thee, between me and
thee, and between my herdmen and thy
herdmen. Is not the whole land be-
fore thee?"
Well, in this, the last decade of the
nineteenth century, and in this beauti-
full land, which was called America,
after Anercus Vespucius, but should
have been called Columbia, after its
discoverer, Columbus, we have a wealth
of religious privilege and opportunity
that's positively ldering-churche
of all sorts of cTeeds, and of all kinds of
government, and all forms of worship,
and all styles of architecture. What
opulence of ecclesiastical opportunity!
Now, while in desolate regions there
may be only one church, in the opulent
districts of this country there is such a
profusion that there ought to be no
difficulty in making a selection. No
fight about vestments, or between ltur-
gical or nonliturgical adherents, or as
to baptisimal modes, or a handful of
water as compared with a riverful. If
Abram prefers to dwell on the heights,
where he can only get a sprinkling
from the clouds, let him consent that
Lot have all the Jordan in which to
immerse himself. ''Let there be no
strife, 1 pray thee, between me and
thee, and between my herdmen and thy
herdmen. Is not the whole land before
thee?'
Especially is it fortunate when
families allow angry discussion at the
breakfast or dinner or tea table as to
which is the best church or denomina-
ton, one at one end of the table saying
he could never endure the rigid doc
trines of Presbyterianism, one at the
other end responding that she never
could stand the forms of Episcopacy,
and one at one side of the table saying
he did not understand how anybody
could bear the noise in the Methodist
church, and another declaring all the
Baptists bigots. There are hundreds
of families hopelessly split on ecclesi-
asticism, and in the middle of every dis
cussion on such subjects there is a
kindling of Indignation, and it needs
some old Father Abram to come and put
his foot on the loaded fuse before the
explosion takes place and say: "Let
there be no strife, l pray thee, between
me and thee, and between my herdmen
and thy herdmen. Is not the whole
land before thee?"
1 undertake a subject never under
taken by any other pulpit, for it is an
exceedingly delicate subject, and if not
rightly handled might give serious Of
fense, but | approach it without the
slightest trepidation, for | am sure l
have the Divine direction in the mat
ters 1 propose TO present. 1t is a tre-
mendous question, asked all over
Christendom, often asked with tears
and sobs and heartbreaks and involv-
ing the peace Of families, the eternal
of many souls. In matters
of church attendance should the wife
go with the husband, or the husband
60 with the wife?
First, remember that all the even
gelical churches have enough truth in
them to save the soul and prepare us for
on earth and in Heaven. /
will go with you into any well-selected
theological library, and will show you
from ministers in all denom-
nations that set forth man as a sinner
apd Christ as a deliverer from sin and
sorrow. That is the whole Gospel. Get
that into your soul, and you are fitted
for the here and the hereafter. There
are differences, we admit, and some de-
nominations we like better than Others
But suppose three or four of us make
agreement to meet each on i'm
portant business, and one goes by the
New York Central railroad, another by
the Erie railroad, another by the Penn
sylvania railroad, another by the Bal
umore & Ohio railroad One goes this
way because the mountains are grand
er, another takes this because the cars