The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-02-24
DR. TALhAGE'S SERMON.
DUTIES OF HUSBANDS TO
WIVES.

The theme of Dr. Talmage's fifth sermon in
the series upon the Marriage Ring" was
'Duties of Husbands to Wives" The text
was:
And Isaac went out to mediate in the
field at eventide, and he lifted up his eyes.
and saw, and beheld, the camelS are coming.
Genesis xiv. 63.
A bridal pageant on the back Of drome-
daries The camel has often been called the
ship of the desert. It's swaying motion in the
| distance reminds one of vessel rising and
falling with the billows Though awkward,
how imposing these creatures as they move
along through ancient or modern times,
Bagdad to Aleppo, or from Basara to DAM
ascus. In my text there is caravan. You
notice the noiseless tread of the broad feet Of
the camel and the velocity of the mot 7, and
the gay comparison Of saddle and gi and
the green awning that shelters the travellers
| from the hot sun, and the hilarity Of the
mounted passengers, and you cry out, 'Who
wife, and it is time he had one, for he is forty
years of age. His servant has been sent out
and has been divinely directed and has Sc
| lected Rebekah, and with her companions
and her maidens she is on the way to her new
home, carrying the blessing of all her friends.
Isaac is out in the field 1neditating on the pro-
posed passage from celibacy to monogamy,
and he looks up and he sees speck against
the sky, and then he sees group Of people
advancing, and then he finds out that the
greatest earthly blessing that ever comes to
man is coming in that gay caravan. The
drivers shout to the camels, "kneel!n and the
camels kneel, and the bride puts her foot on
the neck of the stopped beast and dismounts
and greets Isaac, who was as worthy OF her
as she was worthy of him. "And Isaac went
out to mediate in the field at eventide, and
ho to1 11r, hoh
camels were coming"
In this fifth discourse on The Marriage
Ring having spoken to you among other
things about the divorce Of a lifetime COM
panion, I shall this morning take it for
granted, oh, man, that your marriage was di
vinely arranged, and that the camels came
from the right direction and that they ar
rived at the right time, and have brought, 70
you your intended consort, the one intended
for you as a consort, q Rebekah and not a
Jezebel And shall proceed to give you advice
as to how you ought to treat your wife, and
my ambition is to tell you more plain truth
that you ever heard in any previous three
quarters of an hour in all your life. First Of
ALL I charge you, realize the responsibility in
having taken her from the custody, the care,
the homestead in which she was sheltered
How much courage you must have had, how
much confidence in yourself, to have practi-
cally said to her: II will be to you more than
your father or mother, more than all the
friends you ever had or ever can
have. I feel myself competent to
take you through life. I know
you are an immortal being. feel myself
competent to defend you and to make you
happy. Come with me. Though your
present home is bright and conf fortable, and
though in one room is the armchair in which
you were rocked, and in the garrett the cra
die in which you were hushed, and the trunr
die bed in which you slept, and in the sitting
room are the father and mother who got
wrinkled-faced and stooped-shouldered and
dim-sighted in taking care Of you, come with
beside. You can trust me-" 1t is annoying
that any of ushad the sublimity of impudence
to ask such transfer from home estab-
ished to one conjectured and unbuilt. Would
not I be considered a daring and haz-
ardous adventurer if I should go
to one of the piers in the North river, and
without any knowledge Of navigation and at
time when there was a lack of shipcaptains
and offer my services and propose to take
vessel across the ocean to Havre or Glasgow,
saying: "An aboard haul in the plank,
swing out now into the darkness and the
tempest" With no knowledge of navigation
that ship would never be heard of. But that
is the boldness of every man who proffers
marriage. He practically says, ''all aboard
no" LOT HeCiHe voyage VIII Jake you
through all the cyclones and the tempestss
and the hurricanes of life in safety, ]
will run clear of all the rocks and icebergs.
have no experience, l have no sea chart, but
will see you through all the voyage of this
life. I know there have been ten thousand
shipwrecks on this very route, but don't hesi-
tate. Tut, tut, now, no crying: brides mustn't
the woman practically says: II have but ons
life to live, and entrust it all with you. My
arm is weak, but I rely on the superior
strength of yours. have but little knowl-
edge of the world, depend on your wisdom.
Iput my body, my. mind, my SOUL my time,
my eternity in your keeping. |
1s,an make no res reserve; % Even vs my ~ name n,eo !;
suggestive of 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. join you in journey which shall
not end except at the edge of your grave or
mine. Ruth, the Moabite, was not more
thorough in her self abnegation than I am
when take her tremendous words the pathos
of which centuries have not cooled: 'Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from fol-
lowing thee, for where thou goest | will go,
where thou lodgest will lodge, Thy people
shall be my people and thy God my God.
Where thou diest will die, and there will
I be buried. The Lord do SO to me
and more also if aught but
death part thee and me-. Side by side in life,
side in heaven Before God and man, and
putting my immortal soul into my oath, I
swear to you eternal fidelity" Now, how,
my brother, ought you treat her4 You ought
to treat her well. You ought to treat her
better than any being in tho universe except
your God. Her name ought to be to you
sweeter music than anything that Chopin, or
Bach, or Schumann ever composed. Her
eyes, though swollen with three weeks of
onght to be to you more attractive than q
May morning. After the last rose petal has
faded from her cheek, after the
last feather has dropped from the
ravens wing in her hair, after her fare is
crossed and recrossed with as many wrinkles
as there are graves oyer which she has wept,
you ought to be able truthfully to say to her
in the words of Soloman's song! Behold thou
art fair, my love, behold, thou art fair" and
perhaps she may answer in the words of
matchless Robert Burns, the only man who
ever had pen or ink or head or heart that
could write it:
John Anderson, my 10 John,
We climb the hill together,
And many canty day we had with one an,
other.
Now we must totter down John,
BuC mana IN mana we go,
And sleep together at the fort,
John Anderson, my 10.
If anyone assail her name you will have
hard work to control Your temper, and if you
strike him down the sin will not be unparGon-
able With as much surrender as the uni
verse has ever seen, except that of the Son ii
God for your salvation and mine, she has q
first mortgage on your body, mind and soul,
and the mortgage is foreclosed, and you nc
more certainly own your two hands and