The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1886-01-20
TALMAGE.s SERMON.
he First Of a Series Of Discourses
on the Marriage Ring"
-he Choice Of Wife-Some Men Who
Have No Right to Marry-Moral and
Spiritual Beauty More Desirable
the Mere Physical.


sing," the fret of which, covering the
Choice of Husband and Wife," we give ,
below. The following was the text:
Isthere never woman among the daugh'
ters OF thy brethren, or among all my peo'
pie, that thou goest to take wife OF the un'
nircumcised histlnes?-Judges, xlv.,a
Samson, the giant, is here asking con-
sent of his father and mother to marriage
with one whom they thought unfit for him.
He was wise In asking their counsel, but not
wise In rejectingit. Captivated with ner
looks, the big son wanted to marry a daugh-
ter of one Of the hostile families, a deceitful,
hypocritcal whining and saturnine crea-
ture. who afterward made for him world
of trouble till she quit him forever. In my
text his parents forbade the banns,
a practically saying: "When there are
SO many honest and beautiful maidens
of your own country, are you SO
hard put to for lifetime partner that |
you propose conjugality with this Tor
eign frtP Is there such dearth OF ILL.,
& dies in our Israelitish gardens that you
must wear on your heart Phhistine
thistleY Doyou take crab-apple because
there are no pome granatesl is there
never a woman among the daughters OF
thy brethren, or among all my people,
that thou goest to take wife of the un-
circumcised PhilistinesP"
Excuseless was he for such a choice in
land and amid a race celebrated for female
and moral worth, land and a
race of which self-denying Abigail, and
heroic Deborah, and dazzling Vashti, and
II s,Iartnrto Dt,th and Mary
who hugged to her heart the blessed Lord
were only magnificent specimens. The
midnight folded in their hair, the lakes OF
LIQUID beauty in their eyes, the graceful
ness Of spring morning in their posture
and gait were only typical OF the greater
brilliancy and glory Of their soul. Like
wise excuseless Is a man in our time VINO
makes lifelong alliance with any one who,
because of her disposition, or heredity, or
habits, or intellectual vanity, or moral
classification, may be said to be one oil the
Philistines.
The world never owned such opulence OF
,womanly character or such splendor Of
womanly manners or multitudinous In
stances of wifely, motherly, daughteriy,
sisterly devotion as It owns to-day.
have not words to express my admiration
for good womanhood. Woman is not onll
mans equal, but in affectional and re-
liRious nature, which is the best part OF us
she Is seventy five per cent. his superior
Yea, during the last twenty years, throug
theincreased opportunity opened for femal
education, the women OF the country ar
: better educated than the majority OF th
men; and il they continue to advance
mentality at the present ratio, before lon
the majority Of men will find diffiulty
finding In the opposite sex enough ignoi
ance to make appropriate consort. III
am under a delusion as to the abundan'
of good womanhood abroad, consequei
upon my surrounings since the hour ei
tered this work until now, hope the deli
sion will last until embark from th
planet. SO you win understand, II So
in this course Of sermon something tn
seems severe, am neither cynical nor di
gruntled.
There are thousands of American pu
pits, among them this pulpit, guilty IN u
fact that on some Of the subjects ON whi
men and women need practical advi
thew have been silent, or teaching the
onlv In forceless circumlocution. Abo
the choice Of a lifetime companion,
question in which so much OF time ana
of eternity are involved, what univers
silence in the Church, that there are
ten people In this house who have eY
heard a discourse OF this theme; and
first one have ever heard is the one
preocbing. We leave to the hippant no
or the spectacular play, or the jingle ol
\ doogerel rhyme, that which ought to bI
den the most tremendous sermon o min
\ ter ever breaches, from the day when
tokes ordination TO the day when in 1uc
n mont he meets his God. And so, In I
coursa Of ss.u,uns, am going to hitch
M NV hest team 10 the whifietree, and
III tbs coulter of the plow clear up to
beam, and go straight on from renee
fence, however many nests oil moieS
serpents may be ripped up by the turr'
and however many alarmed people
cry "WhoaW ...,
Tbot marriage Is the destination OF
brnan Is n mistake that want to corr
before 20 further. There are multitu
~ vybo never will marry, and still gre'
,,rItit,des who are not fit to marry.
Great Britain TO day there are 94S,oOO II
,yomen than men, and that, understa
"a about the ratio In America. By ma
,oatical and inexorable law, you see,
lions of women will never marry.
., snnplv for matrimony greater than the
or msnd, the first lesson Of which is that
III srv woman ought to prepare to take
ofberself II need be. Then there are u
If sands of men who have no right 70 ma
-t because they have become so corrup,
" character that their offer OF marriage
insult TO any good woman. Society
have To be toned up and corrected on
subject, so that it shall realize that
woman who has sacrificed her honor
stted for marriage, so is any man wh'
aver sacrificed his purity. What
have you. oh masculine beast whose
has been loose, to take under your car
spotlessness of virgin reared IN tne
tity of a respectable homer Wui pu'
dare TO court a dove!
But the majority Of you will marry
have q right to marry, and, as you
Iigious teacher, l wish to say 70 these
IN The choice of a wife, first Of oil see
vine direction. Abut thirty live year
when Martin Farquhar Tupper'
English poet, urged men
nr.vsr before they decided