Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-01-18
Young Woman, Seek Not Perfect
Man, He is Not for
You.
Wed Not an Unbelieyer, He VIII with
IcoReciastic Hand SKATER Your
Household Gods.
Follow the Example OF that Good Old
woman Naomi. and Ask tho
Lords Aid,


Of his series OF sermons on zine Marriage
Ring" Having spoken last Sunday on
"The Choice of Wife," he to-day
preached on "The Choice OF a Husband y
The organist rendered the Sonata in 9
minor, by Rheinberger. Congregational
singing, led by Professor AUS cornet, in
cluded that Of the hymn beginning;
Awake, ms soul to Joyful lays,
And sing Thy great Rodeemer's praise"
Selecting his text from Ruth |, o "The
Lord grant you that We may find rest, each
of you in the house OF her husband" the
eloquent preacher said;
This was the prayer Of pious Naomi for
Ruth and Orpah, aud Is an appropriate
prayer now IN behalf OF unmarried
womanhood. Naomi, the good old soul,
knew that the devil would take their
cases in hand II God did not, so she prays
"The Lord grant you that ye may ind
rest, each OF you in the house of her hus-
band"
In this series OF sermons on "The Mar
riage Ring" last Sabbath gave prayer
fui and Christian advice to men In regard
TO tho selection of wife, and to-day |
give the same prayerful and Christian ad-
vice TO women in regard TO the selection
of husband, but In all these sermons
PIRATE for all ages and all classes.
applaud the celibacy of multitude
of women who, rather than make unfit
selection, have made none at all II has
not been u lack of opportunity for marital
contracts on their part, but their own
culture and refinement and their exalted
idea as To what husband ought to be,
have caused their declinature They have
seen so many women marry imbeciles, or
rutilans, or lnclpient sots, or lifetime in
capabes, or magnificent nothings, or men
who before marriage were angelic and
afterward diabolic, that they have been
alarmed and stood back. They saw so
many boats go into the maelstrom that
they steered into other waters. Better
for n woman TO live alone, though She live
thousand years, than to be annexed to
one of those masculine failures with
which society is surieited The patron
saint OF almost every family circle Is some
such unmarried woman, and among all the
families OF cousins she moves around,
and her coming in each house is the
morning, and her going away is the
night
In my large circle OF kindred, perhaps
twenty families in all, 1t was an Aunt
Phoebe. Paul gave letter Of introduce
ton TO one whom he calls "Phoebe, our
sister, as she went up from Cenchrea to
Rome, commenting her for her kindness
and Christian service, and imploring for
her all courtesles. ! think Aunt Phoebe
was named after her. Was there sick
ness in any of the households, she was
there ready to sit up and count out the
drops OF medicine. Was there marriage,
she helped deck the bride for the altar.
Was there n new soul incarnatod, she was
there to rejoice at the nativity. Was there
sore bereavement, she was there to con
sole. The children rushed out at her first
appearance, crying "llerc comes Aunt
Phoebe" and but for parental interfer-
ence they would have pulled her down
with their caresses, for she was not strong,
and many severe Illnesses had given her
enough glimpses OF the next world TO
make her hehvenly-minded Her table
was loaded up with Baxter's "Saints'
Rest" Doddridge's "Rise and Progress
and jays "Moming and Evening EXer-
cises," and John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress, +" and like books, which have
lifted ont whole generations for the
heaven upoa which they have already eu-
tered.
Dewitt" she said to me one day,
"twice in my life have been so over
whelmed with the love of God that
tainted away and could hardly be resus-
citated. Don't tell me there is no
heaven, | have seen II twice" IL you
would know how her presence would
soothe an anxiety, or lift burden, or
cheer sorrow, or leave blessing ON
every room In the house, ask any of the
Talmages She had tarrled at her early
home, taking care Of an invalid father,
untIl the bloom OF life had somewhat
faded, but she could interest the young
folks with some three or four tender
passages in her own history, so that we
all knew that II was not through lack of
opportunity that she was not the queen
of one household, instead OF being a BEN
ediction upon a whole circle of house,
holds. At aNout seventy years OF age she
made her last visit to my house, and
when she sat In my Philadelphia church
| was more embarrassed at her presence
than by all the audience, because l felt
that In religion had got no further than
the C, while she had learned the whole
alphabet, and for many years had finished
the and Y. when she went out OF this
life into the next, what shout there
must have been In heaven, from the front
door clear up TO the back seat In the
highest gallcryi | saw the other day in
the village cemetery OF Somerville, N. j =,
her resting place, the tombstone having
on II the words which thirty years ago she
told me she would like 10 have inscribed
there, namely, "The morning cometh."
Had she admission in the world2 Ger
tainly Az much az Caroline Herschel,
first amanuensis for her illustriuus
brother, and then his assistant in astro-
nomlcal calculations, and then discover
ing worlds for herself dying at ninety
eight years Of age, still busy with the
stars till she sped beyond them; as much
AZ had Florence Nightingale, the nurse OF
the Crimea; or Grace Darling, the oars
woman OF the Long Stone lighthouse; or
Mary Lyon, the teacher ~ Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary; or Hannah Moore, tho
Christian authoress OF England; or Doro-
thea Dix, the angel of mercy for the in
sane; or Anna Etherldge, among the
wounoed OF Blackbnrn's Fort; or Marga-
ret Breckenridge, at Vicksburg; or Mary
Shelton, distributing roses, and grapes,
and cologne, In Western hospitals; or
thousands OF other glorious women Ike
them, who never took the marriage sacra-
a. .t.f a