Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-03-05
TALNAGE's SERMON.
NTH Discourse of the Series
"' ON "The Marriage Ring"
u,snand,s Duty to the Wife Re-
,onsibi.ity of the Marriage State
,nte-Suptial Love Compared
with Post-Nuptial Life.

,o T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
ct.l, discourse of the series on The Mar
hi 'no Ring" before a highly interested
r"ss aeation, and the husbands, present
prospective, We're given an outline as
a' .,eir duties. The text was:
1s,oc went out to mediate in the field
An sn evcntide; and he lifted up his eyes,,
AZ ,Nr and. beheld, the camels were ON.
"r-Genesis xiv, 63.
ro,lowing is the sermon in fnn:
hridal pageant on the back of drome-
,-.;os, The camel is called the ship of the
,asert. Its swinging motion in the dis
.ance is suggestive of a vessel rising and
s.,lina with the pillows. Though awk-
aa,6, how imposing these creatures as
.nav move along, whether in ancient or
.1odorn times, sometimes carrying four
nnndred or four thousand travellers from
pocdad to Aleppo, or from Bassora to
damascus. In my text comes a caravan.
We notice the noiseless step of the broad
,oot. the velocity of motion, the gay ca
,,rjson of saddle and girth and awning,
sbeltering the riders from the sun; and the
bilarity of the mounted passengers: and
we cry out: "Who are they?" Well, Isaac
hos been praying for a wife, and it is time
ne 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
vay to her new home, carrying with her
the blessings of all her friends. Isaac is in
the fields, meditating upon his proposed
Fror, colihoo ~ RI r,onorDvrxy AvJ
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 aravan. The drivers cry
"Knecl." to the camels, and they kneel,
and putting foot on the neck of the stoop-
ing beast the bride dismounts and greets
the man who was as worthy of her as she
was worthy of him. "And Isaac went out
to 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 Marriage
Ring" having spoken of the choice of a
lifetime companions, l take it for granted,
Oman, that your marriage was divinely
arranged, and hat the camels have ar
rived from the right direction, and at the
right time. bringing the one that was in.
tended for your c%onsort, a Rebekah and
not a Jezebel. l 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 three-quarters
of an hour in all your life.
First of all, l charge you realize your re-
sponsibility i'll having taken her from thu
custody and care and homestead in which
she was once sheltered. What courage
You must have had, and what confidence
in Yourself, to say to her practically: 81
viii 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 l am competent
to defend you and make you hap
py. 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 kushed,
and the trundle-bed in which you slept,
and in the sitting-room are the father and
mother who have got wrinkle faced and
stoop-shouldered and dim eye-sighted in
taking care of you, yet you will do better
to come with me-" l am amazed that any
OF US ever had the sublimity of impudence
to ask such q transfer from a home assured
to a home coniectured and unbuilt.
You would think me a very daring and
hazardous adventurer if l should go down
TO one Of the piers of the North river, and
at a time whent there was a great lack OF
sea captains, and I should, with no knowl-
edge of navigation, propose to take a
steamer across to Glasgow or Hayre, and
say: "All aboard! Haul in the planls
and swing out" and passing out in the sea
plunge through darkness and storm. II
succeeded in getting charge of one, that
would be the ship that would never he
heard of. But hat is the boldness of every
man That p~roffers marriage. He says: 81
VIII navigate you through the storms, the
cyclones, the fogs of a lifetime. will ruu
clear Of rocks and iceberGs. I ave no ex-
perlence and l have no seaport, but all
ABOARD for the voyage of a lifetime!
admit that there have been ten thousand
shlpvreclls on this very route, but don't
hesitate. Tut! Tut! There now! Don't
cry! 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 I intrust it all to you. My
arm is weak, but 1 will depend on the
strength of yours. I don't know much OF
The world, but l rely on your wisdom. ]
put my body, my mind, my soul, my time,
my eternity, i'll your keeping. I make hc
reserve, though mine is a name hat 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. l st.rt with you on my journey
which shall not part except at the edge CT
your grave or mine. Ruth, the Moabitess
made no ,,-Jre thorough elf-abnegatior
than l MAKE, wnen / take her tremendous
words, the pathos of which many cen.
turtles have ~nctyooled:
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to re.
turn from following after thee; for whittier
thou goest, l will 60, and where thou
lodgest, l will lodge. Thy people shall be
my people, and thy God my God. Where
thou diest, will I die, and there will ] be
buried. The Lord do so to me and more
also, if 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.