St. Landry democrat., 1886-01-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The First of Series of Discourses
ON the Marriage Ring"
The Choice of a Wife-Some Men Who
Have No Right to Marry-Moral and
Spiritual Beauty More Desirable
the Mere Physical.

The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage has begun
a series of sermons on "The Marriage
Ring,'' the first of which, covering the
"Choice of Husband and Wife," we give
below. The following was the text:
Is there never woman among the daugh-
tiers of thy brethren, or among all my peo-
nile. that thou goest to take wife of the un-
circumcised observation-disclosures, xiv, ).
Samson, the giant, is here asking con-
sent of his father and mother to marriage
with one whom they thought unfit for him.
He was wise in asking their counsel, but not
wise in rejeetingit. Captivated with her
= looks, the big son wanted to marry daugh-
ter of one of the hostile families, deceltful,
hypocritical, whining and saturnine crea-
ture. who afterward made for him world
of trouble till she quit him forever. In my
text his parents forbade the banns,
practically saying: When there are
so many honest and beautiful maldens
of your own country, are you SO
hard put to for lifetime partner that
you propose conjugality with this for
eign firt? Is there such dearth of ILL
lies in our Israelitish gardens that you
must wear on your heart a Philistine
thistle? Doyou take crab-apple because
there are no pome granates: is there
never woman among the daughters of
thy brethren, or among all my people,
that thou goest to take wife OF the I'M
circumcised PhilistinesP"
Excuseless was he for such choice in
land and amid race celebrated for female
loneliness and moral worth, a land and
race of which selfdenying Abigail, and
heroic Deborah, and dazzling Vashti, and
pious Esther, and glorious Ruth, and Mary
who Rugged to her heart the blessed Lord,
were only magnificent specimens. The
midnight folded in their hair, the lakes of
liquid beauty in their eyes, the graceful
ness OF spring morning in their posture
and gait, were only typical of the greater
brilliancy and glory of their soul. Like.
wise excuseless is man in our time who
makes lifelong alliance with any one who,
because of her disposition, or heredity, or
habits, or intellectual vanity, or moral
classification, may be said to be one of the
Philistines.
The world never owned such opulence of
womanly character or such splendor Of
womanIy manners or multitudinous in
stances of wifely, motherly, daughterly,
sisterly devotion as it owns to-day. /
have not words to express my admiration
for good womanhood. Woman is not only
mans equal, but in affectional and re-
iigious nature, which is the best part of us,
she is seventy five per cent his superior
Yea. during the last twenty years, through
theincreased opportunity opened for female
education, the women of the country are
81, nf fhn
men; and il they continue to advance in
mentality at the present ratio, before long
the majority of men will find diffiulty in
finding In the opposite sex enough ignor-
ance to make appropriate consort. If
am under delusion as to the abundance
of good womanhood abroad, consequent
upon nay surroundings since the hour | en-
tered this work until now, / hope the delu-
sion win last until / embark from this
planet. So you will understand, if say
I'm this course of sermon something that
seems severe, am neither cynical nor dis
gruntled.
There are thousands of American pub
pits, among them this pulpit, guilty in the
fact that on some Of the subjects on which
men and women need practical advice
they have been silent, or teaching them
only in forceless circumlocution. About
the choice of lifetime companion, q
question in which SO much of time and all
of eternity are involved, what universal
silence in the Church, SO that there are not
ten people in this house who have ever
heard discourse of this theme; and the
first one / have ever heard is the one / am
preaching. We leave to the fippant moved
OF the spectacular play, or the jingle of .
doggerel rhyme, that which ought to bur-
den the most tremendous sermon minis
ter ever breaches, from the day when he
takes ordination to the day when in judg-
ment be meets his God. And so, in this
course of sermons, am going to hitch up
my best team to the whiff1etree, and put
the coulter Of the pillow clear up to the
beam, and go straight on from fence to
fence, however many nests of moles and
serpents may be ripped up by the furrow,
and however many alarmed people may
cry "Whoa"
That marriage is the destination of the
human is mistake that want 10 correct
before I 20 further. There are multitudes
who never will marry, and still greater
multitudes who are not fit to marry. In
Great Britain to-day there are 94S, 600 more
women than men, and that, understand,
is about the ratio in America. By mathe-
NAUTICAL and memorable law, you see, mil
lions of women will never marry. The
supply for matrimony greater than the de-
mand, the first lesson of which is that ev-
cry woman ought to prepare to take care
of herself if need be. Then there are thou
sands of men who have no right to marry,
because they have become so corrupt of
character that their offer of marriage is an
insult to any good woman. Society will
have to be toned up and corrected on this
hot Il shall raalizo faaaf IL a