Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-09-20
A SERMON ON HOUSEKEEPING.
The Cares and Trials Of Women.

BY REV. T. DEWITT TALMAGE.
TEXT: Luke <. 40: "Lord, dost thou not
care that my sister hath left me to
serve alone Bad her, therefore, that
she help me-"
You ask why more sermons are
preached to men than to women. I re-
ply, it is because women are better than
men. I do not say this in compliment
or In spirit of gAllantry-for when wo-
men are bad, they are dreadful-but is
fact which cannot be contIOverted.-
They have fewer temptations to out
breaking sin are naturally more rever-
entail and loving; 1t is easier for them
to become Christians; they are in the
majority In the church on earth and I
suppose that if you should count the wo.
men and children of Heaven you would
have counted three. fourths of its pop
ulation. 1t is because men are more In
need of being preached to that 1 have
given them the majority Of sermons
But see yonder beautiful village
homestead. The man of the house is
dead, and his widow is taking charge of
the premises. Come, let me introduce
you. This Is the widow Martha. of
Bethany. Yes, will introduce you
also to the pet of the household. This is
Mary, the youngest sister, with book
under her arm, and her face having no
appearance of anxiety or perturbation.
Company has come. Christ stands out
side the door, and of course there Is q
good deal of excitement inside the door,
The disarranged furniture is hastily put
aside, and the hair is brushed back, and
the dresses are adjusted as well as, in so
short time, Mary and Martha can at
tend to these matters. They did not
keep Christ standing at tie door until
they were newly apparelled or until
they had elaborately arranged their
tresses. then coming out with their af.
fected surprise as though they had not
heard the two or three previous knock
ings, saying: "Why, is that you?" No.
They were ladies, and were always pre-.
sentable, although they may not have
always had on their best if we did, our
best would not be worth having on
They throw open the door and greet
Christ. They say: "Good morning,
Master; come in and be seated" Christ
did not come alone: He had gr"up of
friends with Him, and such an influx
of city visitors would throw any coun-
try home into perturbation. I suppose
also the walk from the city had been a
good appetizer. The kitchen depart
ment that day was very i'm portant de-
partment, and I suppose that Martha
had no sooner greeted the guests than
she fed to that room. Mary had no
anxiety about household affairs. She
had full confidence that Martha could
get up the best dinner in Bethany. She
seems to say: "Now let us have divi.
sion of labor, Martha, you cook and I'll
sit down and be good" So you have
often seen a great difference between
two sisters. There is Martha, hard
working, painstaking, good manager,
ever inventive of some new pastry, OF
discovering something in the art OF
cooking and housekeeping. There is
Mary, also, fond Of conversation, liter
ary. so engaged in deep questions OF
ethics she has no time to attend to the
questions of household welfare. 1t is
noon;
MARY is IN THE PARLOR WITH CHRIST ;
Martha ia in the kitchen. 1t would have
been better if they had divided the work
and then they could have divided the
opportunity of listening to Jesus; but
Mary monopolizes Christ, while Martha
swelters at the fire. It was very i'm
portant thing that they should have q
good dinner that day. Christ was huns
cry, and he did not often have luxur-