The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-10-14

/ Special to the Courler-J curnal.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 10.-Thls morn
ing the Rev. DIR. Talmage preached
as follows from the text Genesis
H., 23), This is now bone of my
| bones and flesh of my flesh"
SUBJECT, ''NIARRIAGE."
Me.==::..:s e,;...s'.-:: e,..s'.: -, = v,v.,;. Av
mosphere withou: chill. Foliage
without a crum mbled leaf. Fruits
without curculio. Meadows with
out a thorn. Fit morning for the
worlds first wedding. 1t is to be
in church-the temple of a world
sky-domed, mountain-pillared, sap
phire rooted: sparkling waters of
Hiddekel and Gihon filling the bap-
tismal fonts; larks, and robins, and
goldfnches to chant the wedding
march; violet, and lily, and rose
burning incense in the morning
sun; luxuriant vines sweeping
their long trail through the forest
alsles; gorgeous upholstery of a
spring morning on all sides; the
wild beasts standing outside like
servants looking from the back
room upon the nuptials. The ca
gle, king OF birds, the locust. king
Of insects, the lion, king of beasts,
waiting. Carpets of grass, like en-
eI aid, for the human pair to walk
on Hum of expectation, as there
always is before the ceremony. All
the leaves, and grass fields, and
branches whispering, and birds
chatter each one with his mate.
But, hush the winds! Hush all the
birds! Hush the voices of the wa
ters! The king of the human race
is advancing, with his bride-a per-
feet man leading to the altar a per-
feet woman. God, her father, gives
the bride away, and angels hear
the betrothal, and tears of morn
ing dew stand in the eyes of
the violets as Adam takes the
round hand that never had been
worn of work or stung of pain in
his strong grasp and says: This
is now bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh" Then tumults of Joy
break forth, and the :rees clap their
hands and all the galleries of the
woods break forth with carol and
chirp and chant, and the circle of
Edenic gladness was complete. For
awhile each quail had answering
quail, and each fish its answering
fish, and each fowl answering fowl,
and every beast of the forest its APP
propriate paniOnship, at last
man immortal had for mate woman
immortal. Married, on the second
Tuesday morning OF May in the
year l, Adam, the first man, to Eve,
the first woman, the Lord OF heaven
and earth officiating. Away with
the coarse notion that marriage is a
mere civil contract! 1t is aparadis-
iacsl, six thousand years old, divine
institution, and all the laws before
and since Blackstone can never mar
ry two hearts till the Almighty God
marries them.
propose to consider some Of the
deadly foes of this marriage institu-
tion. First of all crawls out upon
our observation polygamy; more
people in this country believe in it
now than ever before, and in all
parts of the land there are many
who, under one name or another, or
no name at all, practice it. Not only
do Mormons, but men who despise
that name, say that the Bible sane
toned plurality of wives, and Chris
tian people do not know how to
meet the SANDER. The Bible in many
places recognizes it's existence, as
it does all other kinds of sin, but it
does not in any case, sanction
it. On the contrary, in Leviticus,
eighteenth chapter and 18th verse,
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 hus-
band" Lamech was tie first po-
lvgamist mentioned in the Bible,
and he, by his own confession, was
murderer. For forty years the
Israelites, Gods own chosen peo
pie, were in the wilderness. Yet
among the 100000 Israelltes
there was in all the forty years
only one case of polygamy. And
when in your Bible you find man
with more than one wife you find
him up to his neck in trouble. Da-
vid dates his letter from the belly of
hell; and Solomon, pestered 10
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 polygamy. God
said at the beginning, ''It is not
good that man should be alone. /
will make for him a helpmeet."
Mark you, it is in the singular nun
ber--a helpmeet. If anybody ever
needed more than one companion,
Adam was the man, for there was
mo society. As God was starting
the institution, He, of course, would
start it right, then of coure it would