The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-03
UPR0ARS IN THE CHURCHES.
REV. DR. JORDAN DISCUSSES RE-
LIGIOUs CONFUSION.

Roman Catholics, EpiscOpnIians,
Presbyterinns, MethOdists and Bap-
lists Have All Had Their Troubles
and Some Stiu Have Them-The
Lack of the Presence of the Master
end His Spirit the Cause of Church
Confusion.
The subject discussed by Rev. John D.
Jordan at the First Baptist Church yes
terday morning was why All This Con-
fusion?' an inquiry as to the various dis
turbing causes which have agitated the
various Christian churches in recent years.
The text was based upon the portion of
the Acts of the Apostles which gives an
account Of the uproar created when Paul
visited the temple after his return to Je-
rusalem. The old version has it that "all
Jerusalem was in an uproar." The re-
vised version uses the word Confusion"
"Uproars and confusions in religious
matters are entirely too numerous" said
Dr. Jordan. Ever since l was a child l
have been hearing of religious
uproars. l find from the rec
ords of the text and other scrip
lures than such uproars were quite fire.
quent, even in apostolic times. We find
humanity given over to uproars man
and his wife will have an uproar over
where the furniture shall be paced In
the house. A church may get into an up
roar over the question as to where a pew
shall be placed and a whole denomina-
ton will get into an uproar over some
trivial question The reason of this con-
fusion is that neither the great Master
His shirt n i=
q gospel of peace and not of confusion
His design was to tell men how to live
together peacefully and how to work to
gelher tremendously"
zone Of the earliest confusions Of which
I heard in my boyhood was in the Roman
Catholic Church, concerning the infalli-
bilitv of the Pope and whether or not IL
was possible for one to be saved outside
the Roman Catholic church. l do not be-
lieve in popes, and neither do l believe
any man to be infallible, and believe &c
is just as easy to be saved outside the
Catholic church as it is to be saved In it,
I further believe that one can be saved
outside any church, and that only the
saved are entitled to church membership
and church ordinance, but if l were going
to be a Catholic 1 would be a loyal one
and take in all their doctrines.
II hear great confusion in the Episco-
pal Church over high church and low
'AlAi I'll anu chipping lllt wigs OIL the
bishop / suppose 1t would be impossible
for me to be an Episcopalian at all, for
/ could not be member of any denomina-
ton that teaches Sprnkling for baptism
and regards infants as scriptural subjects
for baptism. But If were an Episcopalian
l would try to be broad and liberal enough
to let any particular congregation that
desired to be just as high church or just
as low church as it might wish, provided
it preserved the true standard of dignity
of sons and daughters of Cod
cot recent years there has been much
confusion among the Presbyterians about
Briggsism and higher criticism. DR..
Briggs was excluded on the charge of
heresy and went over to the Episcopal
Church. Whether this was a compliment
or a calamity to the Episcopal Church 1
do not pretend to say. Now the Presbyte-
rians have Dr.. McGiffert under the
charge of heresy, and it IS suggested that
ne viii not stand a church trial. but VIII
so over 10 the Episcopal Church like DR..
Briggs. This would indicate that the
Episcopal Church was becoming some
thing of q dumping ground for Presbyte-
rian heretcs, and against their reception
some devout Episcopahans justly protest"
VERY recently there has been great
confusion among the Southern MethOdists
about government money. During the late
civil war the Southern Methodist Church
had certain property destroyed for which
il made q just claim against the govern
ment. man was employed TO look after
this claim. who seems to have been more
of a politician than a Christian, and more
Of a lobbyist than a lawyer. He had two
of the Official brethren TO send certain
telegram to Washington, the contents of
which were not true to the facts, and on
the strength of this telegram obtained the
payment of the claim. The facts leaked
out and great uproar was
raised among our Methodist brethren.
THE statistics seem to show that South
ern Methodists lost something over l2,C00
members last year Certain church phi
losophers are wont TO explain this on the
ground that the church has received I'M
holy money. The Methodist Church is no
more to me than other bodies of Christian
brethren. but l do protest against over
a million of good men and women being
held responsible for the unjust and I'M
riehteOus deed of Two or three of their
brethren over whom they had no con-
troll.
"Our own denomination has not escaped
the uDroars. OF late years we have heard
much of the 'Whilsitt matter Very little
has been said about it in Savannah but
in other places the uproar has been great.
Again | ask Why all this uproar among
Christian people,? and again the answer
comes. II is because neither the Master
nor his Spirit has first place among us.
fact that we rely too much upon news
paper reports that are Inaccurate. Let us
remember that our Lord came to bring
peace on earth and good will to men. He
preached tho gospel of peace and expects
us TO live the gospel of peace, and my
prayer is that the peace of God may pos
sess the hearts of all his people every
where and that The Spirit of Christ may
pervade our whole lives
At the night service DR.. Jordan's ser
mon was a plea to young men. the sub
ject and text being rs the Young Man
Safe?' The words are those of King Da-
vid to the messengers who brought him
news Of the defeat of his son Absalom
DR.. Jordan did not make any specific
allus,on to local conditions, his discussion
OF The subject being general rather than
particular. He laid especial stress upon
the evil of young men living beyond their
salaries. He mad read in newspaper ac-
counts Of young men who had gone
wrong he said, that they had tried TO
Loo