The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1886-02-17
TALMAGES SERMON.
The Fifth Discourse Of the Series
On "The Marriage Ring"
The Husbands Duty to the Wife = Re-
sponsibiliss OF the Marriage state
Ante-Nuptiai Love Compared
with Post-Nuptial Life.


Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
fifth discourse of the series on "The Mar
riage Ring" before highly interested
congregation, and the husbands, present
and prospective, were given an outline as
to their duties. The text was;
And Isaac went out to mediate in the field
Mt the eventide; and he lifted up his eyes,
and saw, and, beheld the camels were COM
ing-Genesls XIV, 63
Following Is the sermon In fnll:
A bridal pageant on the back Of drome-
dares The camel is called the ship of the
desert. Its swinging motion in the dis
tance is suggestive of vessel rising and
falling with the pillows. Though awk-
ward, how imposing these creatures as
they move along, whether In ancient or
modern times, sonnet les carrying four
hundred or four thousand travellers from
Bagdad to Aleppo, or from Bassora to
Damascus. In my text comes a 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 theyW Well, Isaac
has been praying for wife, and IL is time
he had one, for he is forty years Of age;
and his servant, directed by the Lord, has
made 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 speck against the sky, then groups
of people, and after a while he finds
that the granaest earthly blessing
that ever comes to man is approaching
with this gay caravan. The drivers cry
"Kneel! !" 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"
In this fifth discourse on the Marriage
Ring" having spoken Of the choice Of a
lifetime companion, 1 take it for granted,
o 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. proceed 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
sha ves once sheltered. What courage
you must have had, and what confidence
in yourself, to say to her practically; "I
will be to you more than your father an d
mother, more than all the friends you ever
had or ever can have. Give up everything
and take me. feel competent to sec you
through life in safety. You are an
immortal being, but I az competent
TO defend you and make you hap
py. However bright and comfort
able 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 are the father and
mother who have got wrinkle faced and
stoop- p-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
10 ask such transfer from a home assured
to home conjectured and unbuilt.
You would think me a very daring and
hazardous adventurer II should 60 down
TO one Of the piers OF the North river, and
at a 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 I
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: "I
will navigate you through the storms, the
cyclones, the fogs Of a lifetime. will run
clear of rocks and icebergs. / have no ex-
perience and l have no seaport, but all
aboard for the voyage Of n life.timel l
admit that there have been ten thousand
shipwrecks on this very route, but don't
hesitate. Tutl Tut There nowl Don't
cryl Brides must not cry at the wedding"
In response to this the woman, by her
action, practically says: "I have but one
life to live and intrust II all to you. My
arm is weak, but will depend on the
strength Of yours. don't know much Of
the world. but l rely on your wisdom. /
put my body, my mind, my soul, my time,
my eternity, in your keeping. l make no
reserve, though mine Is a 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. l start with you on my journey
which shall not part except at the edge OF
your grave or mine. Ruth, the Moabitess,
made no more thorough self-abnegation
than l make, when take her tremendous
words, the pathos Of which many CEN
turies have not cooled:
"Entreot me pot to leave thee, or TO re-
turn from f.iowing after thee; for whittier
thou gOest, will go. and where thou
lodgest, will lodge. Thy people shall be
my people, and thy God my God. Where
thu diest, will | die, and there will be
buried. The Lord do so TO me and more
also, II ought but death part thee and me.
"side by side in life. Side by side In the
burying ground. Side by side In Heaven.
Before God and man, and with my inn
mortal soul In the oath, swear eternal
fidelity"