, 1886-04-11
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
T%HiRTEtNTH OF THE SERIES ON
1.-THE MARRIAGE RING"

A Pies for women-Tbs Wife Conducts
a University. Clothing EsfabHsbment.
Laundry and R~e.tauranii ALSO Health
omcsr. Police aud President.
BROOKLYN, April AFTER going rs far as
St. Louis and Kansas City, and lecturing and
preaching In sixteen cities and speaking at
t Q Mis- ouri university and Central college.
DIR. 7. Ds Witt Talmage, preached to-day in
the Brooklyn Tabernacle the thirteenth OF the
series OF sermons on The Marriage Ring
entitled "Ths Trials OF housekeeping" Tho
hymn sung WINS
"olpry to God GU high.
Let heaven AM earth rclolca~
After expounding an appropriate chapter
Of Scripture. the preacher took for his text
Luke I, 10: Lord, dost Thou not care that
my sister hath left m, to serve alonef Bid
her. therefore, that she help mer Following
Is the sermon In full;
Yondsr Is a beautiful village homestead.
The mar OF the house Is dead, and his widow
IL taking charge Of the premises This Is the
widow Martha OF Bethany. Yes. I will show
you also the pet OF the household. This is
Mary, the younger sister, with a book under
her arm, and Ter face having no APP
pearance Of anxiety or perturbation
1ODlDhuy ms Cptut. tuItL tAhnua Oul-
side the door, ard. OF course. there
Is - good deal o. excitement inside the
door. The disarrpnred furniture is hastily
put inside, and the hair is brushed back. and
the dresses are adjusted as well as, In so short
a time, Mary and Martha can attend TO these
matters. They did not keep Christ standing
at the door until they were newly appareled,
or until they had deliberately arranged their
t~resscs, then coming out with their affected
surprise as though they had not heard the
two or three previous k~nockings, saying:
why, Is that your No. They were Indies
and were always presentable, although they
may not have always had on their best. for
none OF us always have on our best; II we did
our best would not be worth having on. They
throw open the door and greet Christ.
They say; Coed morning. mas or; como
in and be seated Christ did not
como alone; He had a group of friends with
Him. and such IN influx OF city visitors
would throw any country home into pertur-
baton | suppose, also, the walk from the
city had been a good appetizer. This kitchen
department that day was a very important
department, and | 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
nave a division OF labor. Martha. you cook
and III 1T down and be good SO you have
often seen n great difference between two
sisters. There Is Martha, hard working,
painstaklng. a good manager, ever inven-
live OF some new pastry or discovering
somethiny in the art OF cooking and
housekeeping. There Is Mary, also, fond OF
conversation, literary, 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 Is In the kitchen. It would have
ben better II they had divided the work. and
then they could have divided the opportunity
Of listening to Jesus; but Mary m~onopolizes
Christ while Martha swelters at the FIRE. 1t
was a very important thing that they should
have n good Inner that day. Christ was
hungry. and he did not often have a
luxurious entertainment. Alas, mel II the
duty had devolved upon Mary, what a repast
that would havc been. But something went
wrong In the kitchen Perhaps the fro
would not burn, or the bread would not
bake, or Martha scalded her hand, or some
thing was burned black that ought only TO
have been a brown; and Martha lost he-
patience, and forgetting the proprieties Of
the occasion, with besweated brow, and, per-
haps with pitcher In ono hand and tongs in
the other, she rushcs out OF the kitchen into
the presence OF Christ, saying: "Lord dost
thou not care hat my sister hath left me to
serve aloner' Christ scolded not a word II
IL were s~colding, / should rather
have His scolding than anybody else's
blessing. There was nothing acerh. He
knew Martha had almost worked herself to
death TO get Him something TO eat, and so
He throws a world Of tenderness into His In
trn n tim n q He ar~st,. - suU4 ar l..-~.
man, do not worry; let the dinner 90 Sit
down on this ottoman beside Mary. your
younger sister. Martha, Mar .ha, thou art
careful and troubled about many things but
one thing Is needful-r As Martha throws
open that kitchen door / look In and sec a
great many household ~porplexities and ankle
ties ~
Trt-Thcre is the trial Of ~non-apprecia-
ton. That Is what made Martha so angry
with Mary. The younger sister had no esti-
mate OF her older sixtsr's fatgucx. As now,
men bothered with the anxietics OF the store
and office and sbop, or. coming from the
stock exchange, they say when they get
home; @Oh, you ought to be In our factory a
little while; you ought TO have TO manage
eight or ten or twenty subordinates, and then
you would know whit trouble and anxiety
are o, sir, the wife and the mother has
to conduct at the same time a university, a
clothing establishment, a restaurant. a iaun-
dry, a library. while she Is health officer,
police and president OF hor realm She must
do a thousand things, and do them well, In
order 30 kesp things going smoothly; and 40
her brain and her nerves are tsxei to the ut
most know there arc housekeepcrs who
are 40 fortunnte that they can sit in an arm
chair in the library. or lie on the belated pill
low, and throw on all the care upon subor-
dinstes who, hav ng large wages and grcnt
experience, can attend to all OF the affairs Of
the household. Thoss are the exception /
am speaking this morning OF the great mass
Of housekeepers-the women to whom life
Is n struggle. and who, at thirty years Of
nge, look as though they were forty, and at
forty look as though they were ffty, and
~ fifty look as though th>y were
sixty. The fallen at chalons and Aastorlltx.
and Gettysburg and Waterloo are q small
number compared With the slain in the great
Armageddon OF the kitchen. You 20 out to
the cemetery, and you will see that the tomb
stones all read beautifully postics but II those
tombstonss would. speak tho truth thousands
OF them would say: Here lies a woman
killed by too much msndlng and sewing, and
baking and scrubbinz and sccurings The
veapcu With which abe vs slain was a
orocm, or . sewing machine, ora ladlel
You think, oh man OF the world, that you
have all the cares and anrieties II the cares
and anxietics OF the household should
come upon you for one week, you would be a
fit csndidnts for Bioomingdale-I mean In
sane asylum Tho half -rcsted housekeeper
Arise< In the morning, She must have the
morninG rcpest prepared o. an i~rrevocsbls
hour. What IL The FIRE Will not iizhtf what
II the marketing did not comei what II the
clock has stopped-no matter, she must have