, 1886-04-04
MOTHERHOOD
DR.. TALMAeE's TWELFTH SERMON
ON 1.-THE MARRIAGE RING"

There Ire No Persons In n Community
Who Need to Bs So wise and Wen
Informed a. Bfothers-Hannah's Solicit
tude for Her Son.
81. LOUIS, March 2s.-Rev. T. De Witt
Talmnge, d D., OF Brooklyn, preached in
this city this morning. on his way home from
his western trip, the twelfth OF his series OF
sermons on "The Marriage Ring Its subject
was Motherhood
The eloquent preacher took for his text, |
Samuel ii, 10; Moreover his mother made
him a litils coat, and brought it to him from
year to year, when sine came up with her hus-
band to offer the yearly sacrifice"
The stories Of Deborah and Abigail are
very apt TO discourage n woman's soul. She
says within herself, at is impossible that |
ever can achieve any such grandeur Of char
acter, and | don't mean TO try;n as though a
child should refuse to play eight notes because
he cannot execute a william Tell This
Hannah Of the text differs from the persons l
just now named She WINS an ordinary
woman, with ordinary intellectual capacity,
placed in tho ordinary circumstances, and
yet, by extraordinary piety, standing out be-
fore all tho ages to come, the model Christian
mother.
Hannah was the wife Of Elkanah, who was
a person very much like herself-unromantic
and plain, never having fought n battle or
been tho subject Of a marvellous escape.
Neither Of them would have BEEN called a
genius Just what you and / might be, that
was Elkanah and Hannah.
Thu brightest time in all the history OF that
family was the birth Of Samuel. Although
no star ran along the heavens pointing down
to his birthplace, ! think the angels Of Go
stopped at the coming Of so wonderful a
prophet
As Samuel had been given in answer to
prayer, Elkanah and all his family, save
Hannah, started up to Shiloh to offer sacri-
fees OF thanksgiving. Tho cradle where the
child slept was altar enough for Hannahs
grateful heart; but when the boy was old
enough she took him to Shiloh and took three
b~ullocks, and an ephah Of -four and n bottle
Of wine, and made Offering OF sacrifice unto
the Lord, and there, according TO n previous
vow, she left him; for there he was TO stay
all the days Of his life, and minister in the
temple.
Years rollod on, aud every year Hannah
made with her own hand a garment for
Samuel, and took IL over to him. The lad
would have got along vol without that gar
ment, for l suppose he was we'll clad by the
ministry OF the temple; but Hannah could
1T DG AOINIAAfu hAANH III ni1 MI ~ AAAlAl
doing something for her darling boy. More
over his mother made him a little coat,
and brought it to him from year to year,
when she cans up with her husband TO offer
the yearly sacrihcs."
Hannah stands before you, then, in the
first place, as an industrious mother. There
was no need for her to work. Elkannh, her
husband, was far from poor. He belonged to a
distinguished family; for the Bible tells us
that he WIS the son OF ~Jcroboam, the son OF
Elihu. the son Of John, the son OF Zuph.
Who were theyf' you gay. l do not know;
but they were distinguished people. no doubt,
or their names would not have been men
toned.
Hannah might nave seated herself with
her family, and with folded arms and dis
heveled hair, read novels from year TO year,
II there had been any to read; but when | see
her making that garment, and taking it over
to Samuel, I know she Is industrious from
principle as well as from pleasure. God
would not hnve a mother become a drudge or
a slave; He would nave her employ all the
helps possible in this day in the rearing of
her children But Hannah ought never to
be ashamed TO be found making n coat for
Samuel
Most mothers need no counsel in this direc-
ton The wrinkles ON their brow, the pallor
on their check, tho thimble mark on their
finger attest that they are faithful in their
maternal duties The bloom and the bright
ness and the vivacity Of girlhood have given
place for the grander dignity and usefulness
and industry Of motherhood. But there is a
heathenish Idea getting abroad in some Of the
families OF American; there are mothers
who Danish themselves from the homo circle
For three fourths OF their maternal duties
they prove themselves incompetent They
are ignorant Of what their children wear and
whnt their children eat and what their chill
dren read They intrust to irresponsible per-
sons these young immortals, and allow them
10 be under influences which may cripple
their bodies, or faint their purity, or spoil
their manners, or destroy their souls
From the awkward cut Of Samuel's cont
you know his mother Hannah did not make
IT, Out from under flaming chandeliers, and OIL
from imported carpets, and down the granite
stairs there has come a great crowd OF chfl-
dren, In this day unframed, saucy, incompe-
tent for all practical duties Of life, ready to
be caught In the first whirl OF crime and
ssnsuality. lndolent and unfaithful mothers
will make indolent and unfaithful children.
You cannot expect ~neatness and order In any
house where the daughters see nothing but
slatternliness and observation-disclosures in
their parents. Let Hannah be idle, and most
certainly Samuel will grow up idle.
Who arc the industrious men in all our
occupations and professions Who are they
managing the merchandise OF the world.
building the walls, timing the roofs, weav-
ing the carpets, making the laws, governing
the nations, making tho earth TO quake and
heave and roar and rattle with the tread of
gigantic enterprisesi Who are theyi For
the most part they descended from indus
bious mothers, who, in the old homestead,
used TO spin their own yarn and weave their
own carpets and plat their own door
mats and flag their own chairs and
do their own work. The stalwart men
and the influential women OF this day, ninety.
nine out OF a hundred OF them, came from
such an llustrious ancestry OF hard knucklcs
and home-pun-
And who arr these people in society, light
as froth, blown every whittier OF temptation
and fashion-the peddlers of filthy stories,
the dancing jacks Of political parties, the
scum Of society, the tavern lounging, the
store i~nfesting. the men Of low wink and dlthy
chucklo, and brass breast pms, and rotten as
sociationsi For the most part, they came
from mothers idle nd.disgusting-th scandal
mongers Of society, going FROM house 10 house,
attending to everybodys business but their
own, believing in witches and ghosts, and
horseshocs to keep the devil out OF tho churn,
and by n goilesz life setting their children on
tho very verge Of hell. The motherS Of
Samuel johnson, and OF Alfred the Great
and OF Isaac Newton, and OF st. Augustine,
and Of Richard Cecil and OF President Ed
wards, for the most part were industrious
~hard-wdrking mothers.
Now, while ] congratulate all Christian
mothers upon the wealth and the modern
science which may afford them all kinds OF
help, let me say that every mother ought TO
b. ob~'ryant of har childruns walk, her
childnns behavior, hor childIen's food, her
childrens loks, her childrea's companion
Nhlps HOwcvar much holp Hannah maj