Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-03-03

BROOKLYN. n Y, February 21.-Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage, D. D, preached to-day
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. the seventh
of his series of sermons on s'The Marriage
Ring" the subject being 'Duties of Wives
to Husbands' Before the sermon he read
and expounded the last chapter of Proverbs
descriptive of prudent and sensible wife,
Prof Browne rendered on the organ soc
cato in D minor by Bach. The congrega
tion united in singing the hymn
| BLOW, ye, the trumpet! Blow
The gladly solemn sound:
Let all the nations hear
| To earth's remotest bound"
| The text was I. Samuel, XIV, 8: "The
name of his wife, Abigail; and she was a
woman of good understanding, and of u
beautiful countenance." Following is the
semon.-
| The ground in Carmel is white, not with
fallen snow. but the wool from the backs of
three thousand Sheep for they are being
sheared. And hear the grinding of the
iron blades toge ther, and the bleating of the
flocks held between the knees of the shear
ers while the clipping goes goes on, and the
rustic laughter of the wurkmen. Nabal
and his wife Abigail preside over this home
stead. David, the warrior, sends delega-
tion to apply for aid at this prosperous time
of sheep-shearing, aud Nabal perez ptorily
declines his request. Revenge is the cry.
Yunder over the rocks come David and four
hundred angry men with one stroke to de-
molish Nabal and his sheepfolds and vine
yards. The regiment march in double
quick, and the stones of the mountain lons
en- and roll down. as the soldiers strike
| them with their swift feet, and the cry OF
tt IN
| the commander is 'Forward! Forward!
| Abigail. to save her husband and his
property, hastens to the foot of the hill. She
| is armed, not with sword or spear, but with
her own beauty ard self sacrifice, and when
| David sees her kneelng at the base of the
crag, he cries: Hold! hOd"' Abigail is
the conqueress! One woman in the right
mighlier than four hundred men in the
| wrong! A hurricane stopped at the sight of
water-lilly! A dew-drop dashed back Nj
agara! By her prowess and tact she has
| saved her husband, and saved her home,
and put b fore all ages an illustrious speci-.
men of what wife Can do if she be G dlv
and prudent and self sacrificing and vigilant
and devoted to the interests of her hus-
band, and attractive.
As, Sabbath before last, | took the re-
sponsibility of telling husbands how they
ough t. treat their wives-and though |
noticed that some of them squirmed a little
in their pew, they endured It well-I now
take the responsibility of telling how wives
ought to treat their husbands. l hope your
domestic alliance was SO happily formed
that while MARI ed life may have revealed
in him some frailties that you did not sus-
pect, it has also displayed excellencies that
more than overbalanced them. I snppo,e
that if could look into the hearts of hun
dred wives here present and ask them where
is the kindest and best man they know of.
and they dared speak out, ninety-nine out of
a hundred Of them would say: ''At rhe 9th
er end of this pew Though sometimes you
may have snapped each other up a little
quick, think the most of you are as well
paired as couple of whom I have read.
The wife said to her husband: Il have made
up my mind to be submissive, notwith-
standing all the misfortunes that have come
upon u.s." They had lost their children,
he had lost his health and hence the income
of his profession, and the wife had tempo
rarily lost her eyesight. Eyes" said the
husband, eve ought to be submissive. Let
me see what we have to submit to. First,
we have home; we can submit to that
Then we have each other; we can submit
to that. Then we have food and raiment;
we can submit to that. Then We have
great many f, lends; we can submit to That
We have heavenly Father to provide for
US" stop! stop. SAID the wife; II
will talk no more about submission.
[ hope, my sister, you have married a
man as Chris ian and as well balanced as
that. But even if you were worsted in con-
,jugal bargain, you cannot he worse off than
this Abigail in my text. Her husband was
coarse and ungrdtefu, an inebriate, for on
the very evening after her heroic achieve
ment at the foot of the hill, where she cap
tured a whole regiment with ler genial and
strategic behavior, she returned home and
found her husband SO drunk that she could
not tell him the story but had to postpone
it until the next day. So, my sister, do
not want you to keep saying within yourself
as proceed: s''rhat is the way to treat a
pei feet husband;'' for you are to r,mem-
ber that no wife was ever worse swindled
than this Abigail of my text. At the other
end Of her table sat a mean, selfish, snarl
ing, contemplate saG and il she could d"
so well for a bastard, how ought you to do
with that princely and splendid man with :
whom you are to walk the path of life?
First, / counsel the wife to remember in
what a severe aud terrific battle of life her
husband is engaged. Whether in profess
sional or commer cial or artistic or mechan-
ical life, your bnsbann from morning till
night, is in a Soferiuo if not Sedan. 1t
is wonder that your husband has any
nerves or patience or suaviry left. To get |
living in this next IT, the last decade of
the nineteenth century is a Struggle If he |
come home and sit down pleoccupied, YOU
ought t., excuse him. If be do not feel like |
gong out that night for a walk Or enter
tainm.nt, remember he has been out all
day You say he ought to leave at his place
of business his aunoyances and come home
CHEEKY But if man hae been betrayed
by business partner, or customer has
iockeyed him out of a large bill of goods, or
a protested ncte has been flung on his desk,
or soniebu udy has called him "a liar aud ev.
erything has gone wrong from morning to
night, he must have great genius and for
getfuness if he do not bring some of the
perple kitty home with him When you tell
me he ought to leave it all at the store :. r
bank OF shop you might AS we'll tell storm
on the Atlantic to Stay ont there and not
touch the coast or ripple the harbor. Re-
member, he is rot overwol king SO much for
himself as he is overworking for you and