The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-04-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Fifth Discourse of the Series
On "The Marriage Ring"
The Husbands Duty to the Wife - Re
sponsibiIfty of the Marriage State
Ante-Nup.ial Love Compared
with Post-Nuptial Life.

sponsibilfty of the Marriage state
Ante-Nup.ial Love Compared
with Post-Nuptial Life.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
fifth discourse of the series on "The Mar
rage Ring" before a highly interested
congregation. and the husbands, present
and prospective. were given an outline as
to their duties. The text was:
And Isaac went ont to mediate in the field
at the eventide; and he lifted up his eyes.
and saw, and, beheld, the cameis were COM
ing.-Genesls XIV, 63.
Following is the sermon in fnll:
A bridal pageant on the back of drome-
diaries. The camel is called the ship of the
desert. Its swinging motion in the dis
lance is suggestive of a vessel rising and
falling with the pillows. Though awk-
ward, how imposing these creatures as
they move along, whether in ancient or
modern times, sometimes carrying four
hundred or four thousand travellers from
Bagdad to Aleppo, or from Bassora to
Damascus. In my text comes caravan.
We notice the noiseless step of the broad
foot, the velocity of motion. the gay ca
parison of saddle and girth and awning,
sheltering the riders from the sun; and the
hilarity of the mounted passengers: and
we cry out: "Who are they?" Well. Isaac
has been praying for a wife, and it is time
he 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
way to her new home, carrying with her
the blessings of all her friends. Isaac is in
the fields, meditating upon his proposed
passage from celibacy to monogamy. And
he sees a speck against the sky, then groups
of people, and after while he finds
that the grandest earthly blessing
that ever comes to a man is approaching
with this gay caravan. The drivers cry
"Kneel 20 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"
III tAlS hlbu 0lSCOuIS sc Oh tuC AdIilAkC
Ring" having spoken of the choice of a
lifetime companion, take it for granted,
q man, that your marriage was divinely
arranged, and that the camels have ar
rived from the right direction, and at the
right time, bringing the one that was in
tended for your consort, Rebekah and
not Jezebel. Iprocsed 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, charge You realize your re-
sponsibility in having taken her from the
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
will 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 I am competent
to defend you and make you hap.
Ply. 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 hushed,
and the trundle-bed in which you. slept,
and in the sitting-roo 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-" am amazed that any
of us ever had the sublimity of impudence
to ask such transfer from a home assured
to a home conjectured and unbuilt.
You would think me a very daring and
adventurer if I should go down
to one of the piers of the North river, and
at time when there was a great lack of
sea captains, and should, with no knowl-
edge of navigation, propose to take a
steamer across to Glasgow or Havre. and
say: "All aboard! Haul in the planks
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 be
heard Of. But that is the boldness of every
man that proffers marriage. He says: 81
will navigate you through the storms, the
cyclones, the fogs Of a lifetime. I will run
clear of rocks and icebergs. have no ex-
perience and / have no seaport, but all
aboard for the voyage of lifetime!
admit that there have been ten thousand
shipwrecks on this very route, but don't
Tut! Tut! There nowi Don't
cry! Brides must not cry at the wedding"
In response to this the woman. by her
action, practically says: II have but one
life to live and intrust it all to you. Ny
arm is weak, but I will depend on the
strength Of yours. don't know much of
the world, but I rely on your wisdom. /
put my body, my mind, my soul. my time,
my eternity, in your keeping. I make no
reserve, though mine is name that 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. / start with you on my journey
which shall not part except at the edge Of
your grave or mine. Ruth, the Moabitess,
m ade no more thorough self-abnegation
than I make, when take her tremendous
words, the pathos o: which many GEN.
turtles have not cooled:
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to re-
turn from following after thee; for whittier
thou goest, viii 60, and where thou
lodgest, viii lodge. Thy people shall be