The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-01-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The First Of Q Series Of Discourses
=. on the Marriage Ring" 50

the First OF Series Of DiscourDes
80 on the Marriage Ring"
The Choice ~ . Wifs-Some Men Who
Have Ne Right TO Msrry-Morsl and
' Spiritual Bsa.ty More Desirable
q the Here Physleal. y
* The Rev. T. DEWITT TAlmage has begun
. series Of sermons on "rhe Marriage
Ring" the first Of which, covering the
"Choice Of Husband and Wife," We give
below. The following was the text: 4,
L there never woman among the daugh.
ters Of thy brethren, or among all my PEG
pie. that thou goest 70 take wife OF the IN.
circumcised Phiiistines.- Judges. XIV, a..
Samson, the giant, 10 here asking con.
cent Of his father and mother TO marriage
With one whom they Thought uuGs for him.
He was wise In asking their counsel, but not
wise L. rejecting Il Captivated with her
books, the big son wsntedto marry daugh.
Ter Of one Of thehostile families, . dscsitful,
Aypocritical, 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 banas,
practically saying: When there are
so many honest and beautiful maldensl
Of your own couatry, are you 20
hard put to for . lifetime partner that
you propose conjugality with this for
eign hirtf Is there such . dearth of ILL.,
Hes in our Israelitish gardens that you
must wear On yeur heart q Philistine
thistles Doycu take crab-a apple because
/ there. are no pome granatssr lie there
never . woman among the daughters Of
% thy 'brsthrea, o. among al my people,
that thou geest to take q wife Of the un-
circumcised PAilistines!" b.-
Excuseless was he for such choice in
land and amid race celebrated for female
loneliness and moral worth, . land and .
race Of which self denying Abigail, and
heroic Deborah, and dazzling Vashti, and
pious Esther, and glorious Ruth, and Mary
who Rugged to her heart tn, blessed Lord,
were only magnificent 81 ecimens. 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 soal. Like.
wise excuseless is q man in our time who
makes lifelong alliance with any one who,
because Of her disposition, or keredity, or
habtH. Or INTEL ctual vanity, Or moral
classification, may be said to be one of the
Philistines. ''".9 ,t,.,,
The world never owned such epulence Of
oh p,axykor np
vomanly manners or multitudinous in
stances of wifely, motherly, daughterly,
sisterly devotion a. it owns to-day. I
have not words TO express my sdmiration
for good womanhood. Women 10 not only
msns equal, but In affectieal and re-
ligious nature, which is the best part of us,
she ia seventy 1--we per cent his superior.
Yea, during the last twenty years, through
tAeincreassd opportunity opened for female
education, the women Of the country are
better educated than the majority Of the
=" mens end II they continue to advance in
., mentality at the present ratio, before long
the majority Of men viii fnd difiulty in
Anding In the opposite sex enough ignor-
ance to make appropriate censort II /
an under q delusion as to the abundance
q good womanhood abroad, consequent
upon my surroundings since the hour en-
tered this work until now, hope the delu.
planet. SO you viii understand. II say
In this course of sermon something that
seems severe, am neither cynical nor dis.
gruntled.
There are Thousands of American pull.
pits, among them this pulpit, guilty in the
fact that on some Of the subjects on which
men end women need practical advice
they have been silent, or teaching them
only in forceless circumlocution. About
the choice Of Lifetime companion, a
question in which so much Of time and all
Of eternity are involved, what universal
silence In the Church, so that thare are not
ten people In this house who have ever
heard . discourse Of this theme; and the
6rst one I have ever heard Is the one am
preaching. We leave to the Aippant novel
or the spectacular play, or the Jingle Of .
doggerslrAyme, that which ought to bur.
den tie most tremendous sermoa minis.
ter ever breaches, from the day when he
takes ordination to the day when In judg.
ment he meets his God. And %, In this
course Il sermons, am going 70 hitch up
my BEST team to the whifletrse, ed put
che cosater Of the plow clear up 70 the
beam, and 20 straight on from fence to
fence, however many nests Of moles and
serpents may be ripped up by the farrow,
and however many alarmed people nay
cry "Whoat" .'Heft
That marriage 10 the dsstinaSiSn at ~
human b mistake that want 70 correct
before 60 fsrther. There are multitudes
who never wiA marry, and still greater
multitudes who are not At to marry. II
Great Britain To-day there are 94S 600 more
women than men, and that, understand,
10 about the rattle in America. By mathe.
. NAUTICAL and memorable law, you see, mil
lions Of women will never marry. The
supply for matrimony greater than the de.
mand, the first lesson Of which is that ev.
cry woman ought to prepare to take care
Of herself il need be- Then there are thou.
sands of men who have no right to marry,
because they have become so corrupt of
character that their offer of marriage Is an
insult to any good woman. Society win
have to be toned up sid corrected on this
subject, so that it shah realize that IL .
woman who has sacrifcsd her honor'is un.
lifted for marriage, 50 Is any man who has
ever sacrificed his purity. What right
AAye you, Oh 1Ascnline beast, whose life
~ been loose, 70 take under your care the
tSeessness Of virgin reared in the sane.
~ Of respectable homer Win buzxard
dafs to court dover