The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-02-17
DR.. TALNAGE'S SERMON.
HUSBAND AND WIFE IN HAIR
MONY.

The subject of the Rev. DIR. TalmageS
fourth sermon of the series upon the Mar
riage Ring" was entitled Husband and
Wife in Harmony or Out of Tune" The
text was chosen from Amos, ILL.,, 3: Can two
walk together except they be agreed!'
No, Amos, they cannot! They will either
be tripping each other up, or pushing each
other down. Under such circumstances the
marriage relation will be the sounding of an
everlasting war-whoop. la this course OF SER
mons which i am preaching on The Mar
riage Ring" I want this morning to discuss
the mutual duties Of husbands and wives,
leaving to other sermons the discussion OF
church, q republic within a rerublic, world
within a world, is word spelled by
four letters: ''H-o-m-o!" If things
go right there, they 60 right
Everywhere. If thin ngs go wrong there they
20 wrong everywhere. The doorsll is the
foundation of church and state. A man
never gets higher than his own garret, or
lower than his own cellar. In other words,
domestic life overreaches and underglrds all
other life. The highest house of Congress is
the domestic circle and the rocking chair is
higher than the throne. George Washington
commanded the forces OF the United States,
but Mary Washington commanded George.
Chrysostom's mother made his pen for him.
If q man start out and run for seventy years
ir straight line he cannot get out from
under the shadow of his own nantlepiece. 1t
is, therefore, a sub ject of infinite and eter-
nal moment that present to you this morn
ing when I talk to you about
your homes. AS lndlyldpals H,n1 I'VE we
the race in parts, then gradually puts us to-
gether. What you lack make up, what
lack you make up, and our surpluses and de-
ficits of character are the cogwheelS in the
great social mechanism. God gives to one,
courage; to another, patience: to another,
placidity: to another, enthusiasm; and what
one lacks the other makes up, or
they all make up. Butfaloes in
herds, grouse in broods, quails in focks and
the human race in family circles. So all
these things are beautifully arranged That
conservative balances that radical. I have
no more right to complain of another man
because he thinks differently from myself
than drive wheel has q right to complain of
the iron shaft thad holds it to the centre. A
ship must have mast and cutwater and taf-
frail and ballast, and society is made up of
great many different parts If it is going to
prosper at all. thank God for Princeton,
and thank Him for Andover, just the op-
posites. John Wesley balances Calvin's In
stitutes All these varieties divinely arran ged
and Sivinely directed The trouble is that we
are not contented to stay where God puts us,
and the water wheel wants to come inside the
mill and grind the grist, and the hopper wants
to 90 outside and dabble in the water. Our
happiness our success, our prosperity depends
upon staying just where God puts us. The cold
theologian makes the bones of theology for
Scotland, but Thomas Chalmers and Thomas
Guthrie clothed those bones with throbbing
heart and warm flesh. so we are all IN one
great community, and God arranged it SO
and arranged it beautifully. Then for pur-
poses of compactnesS and greater usefulness
we are brought into smaller circles and into
the home group. There you find the same
principle. Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers,
all different in temperament and tastes. II
the husband be all impulse, the wife must be
all prudence. If our sister have sanguiDe
temperament, the other sister must have lynn
phatic tempsr!ament rsouO Mary y and M Martha ha
S;oner are necessities fa Christi there if will there BE be
no Martha and there will be no audience
for Christi there be no Mary. Ills divine
ly arranged. Eden is gone, the bowers are all
down, the animals that came up for Adam to
stroke as he gave them their names on that
famous morning, have thrust forth sting and
tusk, or growled panther at panther, and mid
SKY with their beaks have plunged until with
torn wing and eyeless sockets they came
whirling down from under the sun in blood
and fire. Eden is gone. There is only one
fragment OF it left, and that is the
marriage institution That foated out
on the waters of the Hiddekel from paradise.
Instead OF as then being the taking away of
one rib, it is the addition of many ribs. This
institution of marriage has been DETAINED in
cur time, and there are influences abroad to
turn this nation into Turkish harem, or
great Salt Lake City. While for the most
part tho pulpits are silent on these subjects,
novels, their cheapness only equaled by their
nastiness, propose to educate this nation in
regard to the subject of holy marriage which
makes or breaks for time and for eternity.
All! it is not a mere question Of wardrobe
OF of residence; it is q question of gigantic
ioy or gigantic sorrow. Alas! for this new
dispensation of George Sand. Alasl for this
mingling Of the nightshade with the marriage
garlands. Alas! for the venom Of adders spit
into the tankards. Alas! for the white frosts
The whole attempt isto change marriage into
q commercial enterprise, an exchange .ot
house and land and equipage, partnership
of two stuffed with stories Of romance and
knight errantry and unfaithfulness and fem
inine angehood. After while the twain
wake up to find that Instead of being paradise
it is Van Amburghs menagerie filled with
tigers and wild cats. The whole influence
abroad to-day is to destroy or belittle the
marriage institution. Eighty thousand di-
vorces in Paris IN one year preceded the
worst revolution that France ever saw, and
thare is not an intelligent man or woman In
this house to-day but knows right well that
wrong notions about the marriage relations
are the foundations Of the worst outrages OF
our time. There are here many who have been
in the conjugal relation. There are Others
here who have recently set up their homes
and only for few months or a fe"