The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-31
DIR. TALMAGE ON MARRIAGE.
The Third Discourse of the Tabernacle
Preacher on "The Marriage Ring"
Clandestine Marriages, ElOpements and Mat.
rimenial Escapades Considered in the
Light of Scripture and Common Sense.

On Sunday, the oath, the Rev. 7. De Witt Tai
mage, D. D., preached in the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle the third OF his series of sermons on THE
gaticn begins:
My soul be on thy guard
Ten thousand foes arise,
And hosts of sin are pressing hard
To draw them from the skies.
Prof. Browne rendered on the organ the
Sonata No l, in D minor, by Guilmant The
subject of DR.. Talmage's sermon was "Clandes-
line Marriages and Escapades," and the text
Stolen waters are sweet and bread taken in secret
Is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are
there.-Proverbs TX. IL, lS.
The preacher said:
The garden of Eden was great orchard OF
fruit bearing trees, bushels and bushels Of
round ripe glorious fruit, but the horticulturist
and his wife having it in charge hankered for
one special tree, simply because it was forbid
den, starting bad streak in human nature so
that children will sometimes do something
simply because they are forbidden to do it. This
kink IN the human race is not easily unsnarled
Tell company that they may look into any
twenty rooms of large house except one. and
their chief desire is to see that one. though all
the others were picture galleries and that a gar
ret. II there were in region of mineral
springs twenty fountains, but the proprietor had
fenced in one we'll against the public, the one
fenced in would be the chief temptation to the
visitors, and they would rather taste of that
than OF the other nineteen. Solomon recognized
this principle in the text, and also the disaster
that follows forbidden conduct when he said:
"Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in
secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the
dead are there"
In this course of sermons on 'The Marriage
Ring" l, this morning, aim point blank shot
at "Clandestine Marriages and Escapades."
Yonder comes up through the narrows Of New
York harbor ship having all the evidence OF
tempestuous passage: Saltwater mark reaching
the top of the smokestack; mainmast, foremost
mizzenmast twisted off; bulwarks knocked in;
life-boats off the davits; b-sheets and lee bow
lines missing captains bridge demolished; main
shaft broken; all the pumps working to keep
from sinking before they get to wharfage
That ship is the institution of Christian mar
riage, launched by the Lord grandly from the
bank of the Euphrates, and floating out on the
seas for the admiration and happiness of all ma
TONS But free-loveism struck it from one
side, and Mormonism struck it from another
side, and hurricanes of libertinisn have struck
it all Sides until the old ship needs repairs in
every plank. and beam, and sail, and bolt. and
clamp, and transom, and stanchion.
III other words, the notions of modern society
must be reconstructed on the subject of the
marriage institution And when we have got it
back somewhere near what it was when God
built it in Paradise the earth will be far
toward the resumption of paradisaical condi-
tions Do you ask what is the need of course
of sermons on this subject The man or woman
who asks this question is either ignorant or
guilty. In New England. which has been con-
sidered by many the most moral part of the
United States, there are 2 600 divorces per year
And in Massachusetts, the headquarters of
steady habits there is one divorce to every four
teen marriages. The State of Maine. considered
by many almost frigid ir.proprieties, has in one
year 478 divorces. in Vermont swapping wives
is not a rare transaction. In Connecticut
there are women who boast that they have four
or five times been divorced. Moreover. our
boosted Professionalism is on this subject. more
lax than Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholi-
cism admits of no divorce. except the reason that
Christ admitted as a lawful reason. But Prot
estantism is admitting anything and everything.
any part of the country, the larger the ratio of
divorce Do you not. then, think that Protest
antism needs some toning up on this subject?
Aye, when you realize that the sacred and di-
vine institution is being caricatured and DETAINED
by clandestine marriages and escapades all over
the land, does there not seem call for such dis
cussion9 Hardly morning or evening paper
comes into your possession without reporting
them. and there are fifty of these occurrences
where one is reported because it is the interest
of all parties to hush them up. The victims are,
all hours of the night climbing down ladders or
crossing over from State to State, that they may
reach laws OF greater laxty, holding receptions
six months after marriage to let the public know
for the first time that half-year before they
were united in wedlock. Ministers of religion
and justices of the peace, and mayors of cities
willingly Joining In marriage runawayS from
other States and neighborhoods; the coach box
and the back seat of the princely landeau in fir
tation; kilograms flashing across the country for
the arrest of absconded hool-misses who start
cd off with armfui of books, and taking rail
rains to meet their affianced-in the snow-drfts
.f the great storm that has recently passed over
re country some of Them I read, have persisted
thousands of people in a marriage whose banns
Lave never been published; preciptated coniu
gaty; bigamy triumphant: marriage a ioke
society blotched all over with putrefaction
this subject. which no one but the Almighty God
arrest
We admit that clandestinty and escapade are
sometimes authorized and made right by parent
al tyranny or domestic serfdom. There have
been exceptional cases where parents have had a
monomania in regard to their sons and daugh-
tiers, demanding their celibacy or forbidding re-
lations every way right Through absurd fam
lily ambition parents have sometimes demanded
qualifications and equipment of fortune I'M
reasonable to expect or simply impossible. Chill
dren are not expected to marry to please their
parents, but to please theselves. Given good
morals, means of livelihood, appropriate age
and quality Of social position and no parent has
right to prohibit union that seems deliberate
and matter of the heart.
Rev. Philip Henry eminent for piety and good
sense, used to say to his children: sPlease God
and please yourselves, and you shall never dis
please me-
be celebrated in Charleston, S. c., between Lieu
tenant De Rochelle and Miss Anna the daughter
of Ex-Governor Pickens. AS the ceremony was
about to be solemnlzed, shell broke through the
roof and wounded nine of the guests and the
bride fell dying, and wrapped in her white wed
ding robe her betrothed kneeling at her side. in
two hours she expired. And there has been
many as bright union of hearts as that pro-
posed, that the bombshell of outrageous parent
al Indignation has wounded and scattered, and
slain.
If the hand offered in marriage be botched of
intemperance if the life of the marital candidate
has been debarched if he has no visible means
of support, and poverty and abandonment seem
only little way ahead; if the twain seem entire
ly unmatched in disposition, protest and forbid
and reinforce your opinion by that of others,
and put all lawful obstacles in the way but do
not join that company of parents who have
ruined their children by plutocracy of domestic