The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-10-21
RltsCel ellamEn11s.
REV. 7. Dewitt TALMAGE
OAK AND IVY.
Bone Of Ny Bone, Flesh Of Ny FleSh-TO ADAM
the FIrst Man, to Eve. the First Woman
The Ceremony Performed by the Lord OF
the Universe.
suBJECT-"MARRIAGE."

bone, and flesh of my flesh"
Morning withouta a cloud; atmosphere
without chill; foliage without crumb-
led leaf; fruits without curCulio; meld'
ows without thorn; fit morning for the
worlds first wedding; it is to be in
church-the temple of a world, skJ do
med, mountain pillared sapphire rooted
Sparkling waters of Hiddekel and Gi'
hon filling the baptismal fonts; larks and
robbins and goldfnChes to chant the
wedding march; violet and lily and rose
burning incense in the morning sun; lux
uriant vines sweeping their long trains
through the forest aisles; the wild beasts
standing outside like servants, looking
from the back room upon the nuptials
The king Of the human race is advanc.
ing, and his bride-a perfect man, lead
ing to the altar a perfect woman. God
her father, gives the bride away, and an
gels hear the betrothal and tears of
morning dew stand in the eyes Of the
Violets, as Adam takes the round hand
that has never been stung of work or
stung of pain, in his strong grasp and
eays: "1his is now bone of my bone and
flesh of my flesh. Then tumults Of joy
break forth, and all nature rejoices.
Married, on the second Tuesday morn
ing of May, in the year one, Adam, he
first man, to Eve, the first woman, the
Lord of heaven and earth officiating
Away with the coarGe notion that mar
riage is mere civil contract. 1t is a
parad isaiCal, six thousand years old, Di-
vine institution, and all the laws made
before or since Blackstone can never
marry two hearts till the Lord Almighty
marries them.
/ propose to consider some Of he
deadly foes of his marriage institution.
First of all crawls out upon our observa'
ton polygamy. More people in this
country believe in it now than ever be-
fore, and in all parts of the land there
are many who, under one name or an.
other, or no name at all, practice it. Not
only do Mormons, but men who despise
that name, say tie Bible sanctions plu
rality of wives, and Christian people do
not know how to meet the slander. The
Bible in many places recognizes it's eG'
istenCe, as it does all other kinds of sin,
but does not in any instance sanction it.
On the contrary, in LevitiCus 1918, the
unmistakable command is: Neither
shall man take one wife unto another"
while Paul puts it squarely before all
nations when he says: "Let every man
have his own wife, and every woman
her own husband" And when in your
Bible you find man with more than
one wife, you find him up to his neck in
trouble. Dates his letter from the belly
of hell, and Solomon, pestered TO death
with his own ungovernable household,
says: There is no good under the sun;
vanity of vanities, all is vanity" The
whole drift Of the Bible is against polyg.
amy. God said at the beginning 1T is
not good that man should be alone. |
will make for him a helpmeet." Mark
you, it is in the singular number-a help.
meet. If anybody ever needed more
than one companion, Adam was the one,
for there was no society. As God was
starting the institution, He of course
would start it right; and if po ygamy was
right, then of course it would have been
demonstrated, and instead of one rib ia.
ken, Adam would not have had rib
left. The human race was to bridge
over the food, How many wives did
Noah take into the ark? His wife, and
each of his sons a wife. II polyamy
had been right they would each have
taken a dozen, and 30 much larger a
number would been saved from drown.
ing, The men and women in each gen.
Grafton, and in I'll countries since the
world stood, have been about equal or,
in cases of slight exception, men have
been in the majority. No surplus of wo-
manhood. Does that lock as if the Gre.
ator of the race favors polygamy? The
Bible is not more opposed to theft, and |
and murder than to polyga
my. Yea, in proportion as civilization
Is in nigh advance, and in proportion as
general good morals prevails, plurality of
wives is disGountenanCed. How much
peace and prosperity in England would
there be, il four or five Queens attemp-
cd, with Queen Victoria, to occupy the
same throne or live in Windsor Castle7
Just as much as there can be quiet and
happiness in domestic establishment
where more than one wife attempts to
be queen. One of the mightiest foes of
he family relation is pOlygamy.
Woman must be recognized as an
equal of man. All that poetry about
nan being an oak and woman the ivy is
Ita 9, fat and untrue. In tens of thou-
ands Of cases Of financial disaster where
men have been flung and trOdden under
oot, they have gone home determined
% give up the struggle Of life, wishing
hey were dead; although when a man
Iays he wishes he was dead he lies. At.
empt to kill him, and see how much he
wants to be dead. But, utterly discaur
'ged, men have gone home and the wife
las given encouragement; the wife has,
~ her faith in God, hidden him be of
Iood cheer; the wife has told him not to
mind the misfortune, and she planned
'ther ways Of getting along, and on the
strength Of the wife's courage, the hus.
,and has been helped into renewed
prosperity. Who is the oak now, and
which of the twain is Q ivy2 In order
o have domestic felicity, the wife must