The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-02-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Second Discourse of the Series on
"The Marriage Ring"
Pointed Suggestions ~ to What Woman
Should Avoid In Choosing = Husband
None Hut God Safe Guide n
Deciding the Question.

ANOHe nut OOu y Shto 0ulOo u
Deciding the Question:.
WI give below Rev. T. De Witt Tai.
nase's second sermon OF his course on
''Tbs Marriage Ring" delivered recently
IN the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The text for
this discourse was:
The Lord grant you that we may find rest.
eeeh Of you, In the house OF her husband.
Dr.. Ta,mage said: sE
This was the prayer Of the pious Naomi
for Huth and Orpah, and is an appropriate
prayer now in behalf of unmarried wom-
anhood. Naomi, the good old soul, knew
that the devil would take their cases in
hand II God did not, so she prays: "Ths
Lord grant you that We may find rest,
each of you, in the house Of her hu band"
In this series of sermons on "Ths Mar
riaXe Ring" last Sabbath gave prayer.
full and Christian advice to men in regard
70 the selection of wife, and to -day give
the same prayerful and Christian advice
TO women in regard to the selection Of
husband, but in all these sermons saying
much that hope will be appropriate for
all ages and all classes.
iApplaud the celibacy Of multitude Of
women who, rather than make unit selec.
zion, have made none ut all. It has not been
. lack OF opportunity for martial contract
on their part, but their own culture and re.
Anement and their exalted idea as to what
husband ought to be, have caused their
declinature. They have seen so many
women marry inbeciles, or ruffians, or in.
eipient sots, or life-long incapables, or
magnificent nothings, or men who
before marriage were, angelic and
afterward diabolic, that they have
been alarmed and stood back. They saw
30 many beats go into the maelstrom
that they steered into other waters.
Better for q woman to live alone, though
she live a thousand years, than to be
annexed to one Of these masculine fail
ures with which society Is surfeited.
The patron saint of almost every fam.
fly circle is some such unmarried woman,
aud among all the families of cousins she
moves around, and her coming in each
house 10 the morning, and her going away
b the night.
In my large circle of kindred, perhaps
twenty families in all, it was an Aunt
Phoebe. Paul give letter Of introduce
ton to one whom he calls "Phebe, our
sister," as she went up from Cenchrea
10 Rome, commencing her for her kind.
ness ana Christian service, and implor-
ing for her all courtesies. l think Aunt
Phoebe was named after her. Was there a
sickness 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 tho bride for
the altar. Was there a new soul incar.
mated, she was there to rejoice at The
nativity. Was there a sore bereavement,
she was there to console. The children
rushed out at her Arst appearance crying,
"Here comes Aunt Phoebe" and but for
parental interference they would have
pulled her down with their caresses, for
she was not very strong, and many severe
Illnesses had given her enough imposes of
the next world to make her heavenly
minded. Her table was loaded up with
Baxter's Saints Rest" Doddrdge's
"Rise and Progress" and jays "Morning
and Evening Exercises" and John Bun.
vans pilgrims Progress" and like books,
which have fitted out whole generations
for the heaven upon which they have
already entered.
Had she mission In the worlds Ger.
tainly. As much as Caroline Herschel,
FIRST amanuensis for her illustrious brother,
and thon his assistant in astronomical cal
culations, aud then discovering worlds for
herself, dying at ninety EIGHT years of
age, still busy with the stars till she sped
beyond them; as much as had Florence
Nightingale, the nurse of the Criinea; or
Grace Darling, the oarswoman of the
Long Stone Lighthouse: or Mary Lyon,
the teacher of Mount Holy oke Female Sem.
mary; or Hannah Moore, the Christian
authoress Of England; or Dorothea Dix,
the angel Of mercy for the insane; or Anna
Etheridge, among the wounded Of Black
burns Fort; or Margaret Breckenridge, at
Vicksburg; or Mary Shelton, distributing
roses and grapes and cologne in Western
hospitals; or thousands of other glorious
women like them, who never took the mar.
rage sacrament. Appreciate all this, my
sister, and it will make you deliberate be.
fore you rush out of the single state into
another, unless you are sure of betterment.
Deliberate and pray. Pray and deliber.
ate. As l showed you in my former SER
o,,nht m 20 li,,inA
guidance in such crisis; how much more
important that you solicit it! 1t is easier
for man to find an appropriate wife than
swoman to find good husband. This 10
amatter Of arithmetic, as l showed in .
former discourse. Statistics show that in
Massachusetts and New York States
women have q majority Of hundreds Of
thousands. Why this is we leave others to
surmise. 1t would seem that woman ID
afavorite with the Lord, and that there.
fore be has made more Of this kind. From
the order q the creation in Paradise, it ID
evident that woman Is an improved edi.
tion Of man. But whatever be the reason
for it, the fact Is certain that she who
selects husband has smaller number Of
people to select from than he who selects q
wife. Therefore, woman ought to be es-
pecially careful in her choice Of lifetime
companionship. She can not afford ID
make mistake. II q man err in his selec.
tion he can spend his evening at the club
and dull his sensibilities by tobacco smoke
but women have no club room for refuge
and would find Il difficult to habituate her
self to cigars. II woman make a bad
job of marital selection. the probability ID
that nothing but funeral can relieve it
Divorce cases in court may interest thu
public, but the love letters Of . married
couple are poor reading except for thos'