The Brookhaven leader., 1886-02-25
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
me Fifth Discourse of the Series
On 'Ths Marriage Ring"
fhs Husbands Duty to the wife - Re-
sponsibIlity of the Marriage State
Ante-Nuptial Love Compared
with Post-Nuptial Life.


Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
nfth discourse Of the series on 1.-THE Mar
rage Ring" before q highly interested
congregation, and the husbands, present
and prospective, were given an outline as
10 their duties. The text was:
And Isaac went out to mediate in the field
pt the eventide; and he lifted mp his eyes.
end saw, and, beheld, the eamels were com.
he.-Genesis xiv, IS.
Following Is the sermon in fnll:
A bridal pageant on the back Of drome.
carries The camel is called the ship of the
desert. It's swinging motion in the dis
tanoe 10 suggestive Of q vessel rising and
falling with the pillows. Though awk-
ward, how imposing these creatures as
they move along, whether in ancient or
modern times, sometimes carrying four
hundred or four thousand travellers from
Bagdad to Aleppo, or from Bassora to
Damascus. In my text comes q caravan.
We notice the noiseless step Of the broad
foot, the velocity of motion, the gay ca
parison of saddle and girth and awning,
sheltering the riders from the sun; and the
hilarity Of the mounted passengers; and
we cry out: "Who are they?" Well, Isaac
has been praying for a wife, and it is time
be had one, for he is forty years Of age;
and his servant, directed by the Lord, has
made a selection of Rebekah; and with her
companions and her maidens she is on her
way to her new home, carrying with her
the blessings of all her friends. Isaac is in
eka iAoti al
passage from celibacy to monogamy. And
he sees a speck against the sky, then groups
Of people, and after a while he finds
that the grandest earthly blessing
that ever comes to a man is approaching
with this gay caravan. The drivers cry
"Kneelw to the camels, and they kneel,
and putting foot on the neck of the stoop-
Eng beast the bride dismounts and grsets
the man who was as worthy of her as she
was worthy of him. sand Isaac went out
60 mediate in the field at the eventide;
and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, be-
hold, the camels were coming"
In this fifth discourse on the FMarriage
Ring" having spoken OF the choice of a
lifetime companion, take 1t for granted,
o man, that your marriage was divinely
arranged, and that the camels have ar
rived from the right direction, and at the
right time, bringing the one that was in
tended for your consort, Rebekah and
not Jezebel. proceed to discourse as to
how you ought to treat your wife, and my
ambition is to tell you more plain truth
than you ever heard in any quarters
of an hour in all your life.
First of all, charge you realize your re-
sponsibility in having taken her from the
custody and care and homestead in which
she was once sheltered. What courage
you must have had, and what confd ence
In yourself, to say to her practically: 81
will be to you more than your father and
mother, more than all the friends you ever
had or ever can have. Give up everything
and take me. feel competent to see you
through life in safety. You are an
immortal being, but I am competent
60 defend you and make you hap
by. However bright and comfort
able a home you have now, and
though is one of the rooms is the arm
chair in which you rocked and in the gar
ret is the cradle in which you were hushed,
and the trundle-bed in which you slept,
mother who have got wrinkle-faced and
stoop- shouldered and dim eye-sighted in
taking care of you, yet you will do better
60 come with me-" am amazed that any
of us ever had the sublimity of impudence
10 ask such transfer from a home assured
30 home conjectured and unbuilt.
You would think me a very daring and
hazardous adventurer il / should go down
90 one of the piers of the North river, and
at time when there was a great lack of
sea captains, and should, with no knowl-
edge Of navigation, propose to take
steamer acrossto Glasgow or Havre, and
say: "An aboardl Haul in the planks
and swing out" and passing out in the sea
plunge through darkness and storm. If l
succeeded in getting charge of one, that
would be the ship that would never be
heard Of. But that is the boldness Of every
man that proffers marriage. He says: 81
will navigate you through the storms, the
welcomes, the fogs of lifetime. / will run
Jar Of rocks and icebergs. have no ex-
perience and / have no seaport, but all
aboard for the voyage of 9 lifetime!
admit that there have been ten thousand
shipwrecks on this very route, but don't
hesitate. Tut! Tut! There now! Don't
cryl Brides must not cry at the wedding"
\ In response to this the woman, by her
action, practically says: 81 have but one
life to live and intrust it all to you. My
arm is weak, but / will depend on the
strength of yours. don't know much of
the world, but rely on your wisdom.
put my body, my mind, my soul, my time,
my eternity, in your keeping. / make no
reserve, though mine is a name that sug-
gests all that was honorable in my father,
and all that was good in my mother, and
all that was pleasant in my brothers and
sisters. start with you on my journey
which shall not part except at the edge of
your grave or mine. Ruth, the Moabitess,
made no more thorough self -abnegation
than make, when take her tremendous
words, the pathos of which many CEN
turtles have not cooled:
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to re-
turn from following after thee; for whittier
thou goest, will go, and where thou
todgest, l will lodge. Thy people shall be
any people, and thy God my God. Where
thou diest, WIN die, and there will be
buried. The Lord do so to me and more
also, il ought but death part thee and me.
''Side by side in life. Side by side in the
burying ground. Side by side in Heaven.
Before God and man, and with my i'm
mortal soul in the oath, swear eternal
fidelity"
Now, my brother, how ought you to treat
herr Unless you are an migrate infinite
you win treat her well. You will treath her
better than any one in the universe except
your God. Her name will have in it more