Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-25

i'ANCOAA4 ~ ~ Ot@us Ats--ANGfs l.
Dewitt Talmage, d. d., preached to-day
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the third of
bis series Of sermons on ''The Marriage
Ring" The hymn sung by the congrega-
tion begins:
M Y soul, be on thy guard!
Ten thousand foes arise,
And hosts of sin are pressing hard
To draw thee from the skies"
Brof. Browne rendered on the organ the
Sonata No l, in d minor, by Guillmant.
The subject of DIR. Talmage's sermon was
"Clandestine Marriages and Escapades,"
and the text, Proverbs tx, II and Is;
''Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eat
en- in secret is pleasant. But he know
eth not that the dead are there" The
preacher said:
The garden of Eden was a great orchard
OF truit-bearlng trees, bushels and bushels
of round, ripe, glorious fruit, but the hor-
tculturist and his wife having it in
charge, hankered for one special tree sum-
ply because it was forbidden, starting a
bad streak in human nature, so that chill
dren VIII now sometimes do something
simply because they are forbidden to do
1t. This kink in the human race is not
easily unsnarled. Tell a company that
they may look into any twenty rooms Of
arge house except one, and their chief
desire is to see that one, though all the
others were picture galleries and that
garret. II there were in region of min
eral springs twenty fountains, but the
proprietor had fenced in one well against
the public, the one fenced in would be the
chief temptation to the visitors, and they
would rather taste of that than Of the
other nineteen. Solomon recognized this
principle in the text, and also the disaster
that follows forbidden conduct, when he
said; ''StOlen waters are sweet, and bread
eaten in secret is pleasant. But he know
eth not that the dead are there"
In this course Of sermons on 'The Mar
riage Ring,' l, this morning, ann point
blank shot at "Claudestine Marriages and
Escapades." Yonder comes up through
the narrOws Of New York harbOr a ship
having all the evidence of tempestuous
passage; salt water mark reaching to the
top Of the smOke-stack. Manmast, fore
mast, miZzenmast twisted OF. Bulwarks
knocked in. Liteboats off the daVit. Jib-
sheets and lee-bowlines missing. Cap
tain's bridge demolished. Main shaft
broken. All the pumps working to keep
from sinking before they can get to
wharfage. That ship is the institution Of
Christian marriage, launched by the Lord
grandY from the banks OF the Euphrates.
and floating out on the seas for the admi-
ration and happiness Of all nations. But
Free-lOyeism struck it from one side, and
MormOnism struck il from another side.
and hurricanes OF libertinism have struck
it on all sides, until the Old ship needs re-
pairs III every plank aud beam and sail
and bolt and clamp and transOm and
stanchion.
In other words, the notions of modern
society must be reconstructed on the sub
ject OF the marriage institution and when
we have got it back somewhere near what
it was when God built it IN Paradise, the
earth viii be far on toward resumption Of
Paradisaical conditions. Do you ask
what is the need of a course of sermons on
this subject? The man or woman who
asks this question is either ignorant or
guilty. In New England, which has been
considered by many the most moral part
OF the United States, there are 1000 di-
VOTces per year; and IN Massachusetts,
the headquarters of steady habits. thereis
one divorce TO every IA marriages. The
State OF Maine, considered by many al
most frigid in proprieties, has in one year
AIS divorces. In Vermont swapping
wives is not rare transaction. In Con-
necticut there are women who boast that
they have four Ortiye times been divorced
Moreover. our bOasted Professionalism is,
on this subject. more lax than Roman
Catholicism. Roman Catholicism admits
OF no divorce except the reason that Christ
admitted as a lawful reason. But Pro
testantism is admitting anything and
everything, and the larger the proportion
OF PrOtestauts IN any part of the country.
the larger the ratio of divorce. Do Won
not, then, think that Professionalism needs
some toning up on this subject?
Aye, when you realize that the sacred
and divine institution is being caricaturcd
and DETAINED by claudestine marriages
and escapades all over the land, does
there not seem call for such discussion?
Hardly a morning or evening paper comes
into your possession without reporting
them, and there are fifty Of these occur
rences where one is reported, because it
is the interest of all parties 10 hush them
up. phe victims are, all hours OF the
night, climbing down ladders or crossing
over from State to State, that they NAV
reach laws OF greater laXIUy, holding re-
ceptions six months after marriage to let
the public know for the first time that
half year before they were united in we'd
lock. Ministers Of religion. and Justices
Of the Peace, and Mayors Of cities will
ingly joining in marriage runaways from
Otner states and neighb0rhoods; the
coach box and the back seat OF the
princelv landau in fiirtations; teie-
grams flashing across the country for
the arrest Of abscOnded school misses
who started of with armiull o. books, and
taking rail trains to meet their afhanced;
in the snow drifts OF the great storm
that has recently passed over the coun-
try some OF them, read, have perished-
thousands Of people m "a marriage whose
banns have never been published; pre-
cipitated conjugahty; biRamy triumph
ant; marriage joke; society blOtched
all over with putreiactiOn on this sub
ject, which no one but the Almighty God
can arrest.
We admit that clandestinity and esca-
pade are sometimes authorized and made
right by parental tyranny or domestic
seridOm. There have been exceptional
cases where parents have h8d "a In0nona-
MIA IN regard % their sons aud daughters.
demanding their celibacy or forbidding
relations every way right. Through alb
surd family ambition parents hnve some.
times demanded qualifications aud equip
ment of fortune unreasonable 90 expect
on simply impossible. Children arc not
expected tO marry % please their pa
rents, but 40 please themselves. Gigpn
good morals. means Oi "a livelihood uu-
propuate afo and quality ~ social posi-
ti0a, and n0 parent has "a rightt0 prohibit
"a union that seems deliberate and "a mat
Tor Ol heart
Rev. Philip Henry. eminent i0f piety
and good sense utOd ~ fay tO bic chf.
NfDrt tfIFInaHn 4 tnH nmH UITua uoftf..It..