Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-19
SERMON.
, discourse of tho Series on
nrhe Marriage Ring"
,.t;ne Marriages, Elopen'entS ana
matrimonial Escapades Con-
..1 nv the Light of Script
and Common Sense.

.,;rr MarriaSeS'
Y,tr;monial E%scapades Con-
.,orcd By the Light of Script
> and Common Sense.
y Dewitt Talmage delivered the
.is series of %discourses before a
Segregation at the Brooklyn Taber-
I .sn interest in the series having be-
.n n;to marked. In presenting the
w." 81 his subject under the heading
' "a, ondrstire Marriages and Es-
,unNr. Talmage took the following
m,tors are sweet, and bread taken
IN nleasant. But he knoweth not
,oad arc there.-Proverbs tx, l7-ls.
rreaeher said:
{ rden of Eden was a great orchard
~ hearing trees, bushels and bushels
.aa ripe, glorious fruit, butthe horti-
~ and his wife having it in charge,
,.,a for one special tree, simply be-
\ vas forbidden, starting a bad
=. ~ human nature, so that children
sometimes do something simply
nv, they are forbidden to do it. This
=, ,be human race is not easily un-
ID Tell a company that they may
;.toonv twenty rooms of a large house
-. ana. and their chief desire is to see
oro, though all the others were pict-
]n.l,erjes and that a garrett. If there
in . region ofmineral springs twenty
[t,ius, but the proprietor had fenced in
,ral against the public, the one fenced
,onld be the chief temptation to the
lows and they would rather taste of
,hon of the other nineteen. Solomon
brnized this principle in the text, and
| tba disaster that follows forbidden
lauct when he said: "Stolen waters
sweet, and bread eaten in secret is
os,nt. But he knoweth not that the
d are there
/ This course of sermons on "The Mar
90 Ring."I, this morning, aim q point
nl, shot at "Clandestine Marriages and
c,nades." Yonder comes up through
] narrows of New York harbor a ship
ring all the evidence of tempestuous
ksorc; Saltwater mark reaching to the
| Of the smoke-stack. Mainmast, FORE
ct. mizzenmast twisted off. Bulwarks
ocked in. Lifeboats off the davits. Jib-
pets and ee-bowlines missing. Captains
doe demolished. Mainshaft broken. All
/ pumps working to keep from sinking
fore they can get to wharfage. Thatship
the institution of Christian marriage,
unched by the Lord grandly from the
nix of the Euphrates, and floating out on
c seas for the admiration and happiness
all nations. But free-loveism struck It
ON one side, and Mormonism struck it
ON another side, and hurricanes of lib
ttinism have struck it from all sides, until
be old ship needs repairs in every plank,
bid beam. and sail, and bolt, and clamp,
nd transom. and stanchion.
In other words, the notions of modern
kcietv must be reconstructed on tho sub
ct of the marriage institution. And when
E have got it back somewhere near what
was when God built it in Paradise, the
rth will be far on toward resump-
bn of Paradisaical conditions. Do
bu ask what is the need of q
prse Of sermons on this subject? The
Rn or woman who asks this question is
her ignorant or guilty. In New En-
and, which has been considered by many
9 most moral part of the United States,
ere are 1000 divorces per year. And in
assachusetts, the headquarters of steady
bits, there is one divorce to every four.
IN marriages. The State of Maine, con.
aered by many almost frigid in proprie-
IS has in one year 47S divorces. In Yer
oht swapping wives is not q rare trans
tlon. In Connecticut there are women
no boast that they have four or five
aes been divorced. Moreover, our boast
Frotestantism is, on this subject, more
than Roman Catholicism. Roman
''hoslcism admits of no divorce except
reason that Christ admitted as a law
reason. But Professionalism is admit
Pc anything and everything, and the
Fser the proportion of Protestants in any
p't OF The country, the larger the ratio OF
Sofce' DO you not s.then think that
osestanllsm needs some toning up on
is subject?:n
we admit that clandestinity and esca-
"e are sometimes authorized and made
sn, by parental tyranny or domestic
'i"oh: There have been exceptional
PES where parents have had a mono
|a"ia IN regard to their sons and daugh.
49, demanding their celibacy or forbid
relations every way right.
t'roueh absurd family ambition parents
W sometimes demanded qualifications
equipment of fortune unreasonable
expect or simply impossible. Chill.
an are not expected to marry to please
!s' parents, but to please themselves.
',el sood morals, means of a livelihood,
o"opfiate age and quality of social posi-.
:, ana no parent has q right to pro.
~. d union that seems deliberate and a
a'ter of the heart.
~, .,e'' Philip Henry, eminent for piety
~ sood sense, used to say to his chill.
Please God and please yourselves,
h you shall never displease NO."
Durlns our civil war a marriage was
t 10 De celebrated in Charleston, s. c.,
s"een Lieutenant de Rochelle and Miss
.l1e daughter of Ex-Governor Pick.
AS the ceremony was about to be
- a shell broke through the ROOT
ia, dundee nine Of the guests, and the
iell dying, and, wrapped in her
wedding robe, her betrothed kneel-
1S nef SIDE, in two hours she expired
mere has been many as bright 9
:, hearts as that proposed, that The
H.. Snel OF outrageous parental indig.
mas wounded and scattered and