News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-09
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR, TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject: Broken Promises of Mar
riage."

EAdSCs
TEXT: "T&c5e opened my mouth unto the
Lord, and canno. go ObGch."-Judges XII, 50.
General Jephthah, the commandsr-in-chief
of the Israelitish forces, Is buckling on the
sword for the determination OF the pestifer-
Gus Ammonites and looking up to the sky
he promises that if God will give him the
victory he Will put to death and sacrifice as
burnt offering the first thing that comes
out from the door OF his homestead when he
goes back. The hurrahing of triumph soon
runs along the line of all the companies,
regiments and divisions of Jephthah's army
A worse beaten enemy than those AmmOnites
never strewed any plain with their carCasses.
General Jephthah, fresh from the victory, is
now on his way home. As he comes over the
hill and throu h the valleys the whole march
homeward for his men is q cheer, but for
him greater anxiety, for ne remembers lis
vow to slay and burn the first thing that
comes forth from his house to greet him after
his victory.
Perhaps it shall be the old watch dog that
shall first come out and who could get heart
to beat out the life of faithful creature like
that as he comes fawning and barking and
frisking and putting up his paw against his
master in merry welcome after long absence:
No; it was not that which came forth to meet
Jephthah Perhaps 1t might be a young
dove let out from its cage i'll the Generals
home which, gaining its liberty, may seem to
rejoice in the public glldness and tlutter on
the shoulder of the familiar head of the
household. But who could have the
heart to say such a winged inno-
cent? No; it was not that which came forth
to meet Jephthah. Or it may be some
good neighbor that will rush out to greet him
after having first been in to tell the family Of
the near approach of the General. But who
could slay neighbor who had come on the
scene to rejoice over the reunited household!
No; it was not that which came forth to
meet Jephi hah.
As he advances upon his home the door
opens, and out Of it comes one whose appear
anCe under other circumstances would have
been an indescribable Joy, but under the
pledge of a sacrifice becomes q horror which
blancheS his cheek and paralyzes his form
and almost hurts him fiat to the earth. His
child, his only child, his daughter, comes skip
ping out to greet him, her step keeping time
to a timbrel which she shakes and smites.
Did ever a conQuerOrS cheer end in such a
bitter groan9 No wonder Dre in two of
his masterpieces presents the scene. Ard Han
del made it the last and Climacteric work of
his life to put this pathetic and overpowecing
circumstance in an oratOrlo, seven months
toiling amid its ma jestic harmOnieS until his
eyesight gave out; and, as though the sad
scene of Jephthah's daughters sacrifice were
too much for mortal vision, the grand old
musician was led blind into the orchestra for
the first rendering of "Jephthah." All the
glories of victorious war are blotted out from
Jephthahs memory, and his banner is folded
in grief and his sword goes hack into the
scabbard with a dolorous clang, and the muf-
fed drum takes the place of the Gym
balls and the ''tremOlO'' the place
of the trumpet, and he cries out: "Alas!
my daughter thou hast brought me
very low, and thou art one of them that
trouble me; for [ have opened my mouth to
thp | ord ond | PannOt ha olE y I)nrIn y
two months amid the mountains without
shelter, the maidens who would have been at
her wedding ranged with Jephthah's daugh-
ter up and down, bewalling her coming sac
rifiCe.
Commentators and theologians are in dis
pute as to whether that girl was slain or not,
and as to whether if she were slain it was
right or wrong i'll Jephthah to be the eXecu-
TONER, question into which | shall not be
diverted from the overmastering considera-
ton that we rad better look out what we
PROMISE better he cautions what engagement
we make better that in regard to all mat
ters of betrOthal and plighted VOW we feel
the responsibility, lest we have either to sac
rifice the truth or sacrifice an immortal
being, and we be led to cry out with the
parOXysm of a Jephthah: Il have opened
my mouth unto the Lord and 1 cannot go
back
There is one ward in almost all the insane
asylums and large region in almost every
cemetery that you need to visit They are
occupied by the men and women who are the
victims OF broken promises of marriage. The
women i'll those wards and in those mOrtuary
receptacles are in the majority, because
woman lives more in her affections than does
man, and laceration of them i'll her case is
more apt to be a dementia and a fatality. In
some regions Of this and the promise of mar
riage is considered to have no sOlemnity or
binding force. 1t was only made in fun.
They may change their mind. The engage
Il
tive in person or opulent in estate appears on
the scene; then the rings are returned and
the amatory letters and all relationship
ceases. And so there are ten thousand Jeph-
thah's daughters sacrificed as burnt offerings.
The whole subject needs to be taken out of
the realm of comedy into tragedy, and men
and women need to understand that, while
there are exceptions to the rule, once having
soemnly pledged TO each other heart ami
hand, the forfeiture and abandonment of
that pledge makes the transgressor in the
sight of Sod perjurer, and so the day of
Judgment will reveal it. The one has lied to
the other; and all liars shall have th-ir place
in the lake that burneth with fire AMI brim-
stone.
II a man or woman make a promise IN the
business world, is there any Obligation to
fulfill it? If a man sign a note for five hun
dred dollars, ought he to pay it: If a con-
tract be signed involving the building of a
house or the furnishing of a bill of goods,
ought they stand by that contract? "Oh,
veS,n all will answer. Tnen l ask the
further questions: Is the heart, the happi-
ness, the welfare, the temporal and eternal
destiny of a man or woman worth as much
as the house, worth five hundred dollars,
worth anything! The realm of proIligacv
is filled with men and women as result of
the wrong answer to that question. The
most aggravating, stupendoIs AMI God de-
flying lie is a lie in the shape Of broken
espouSaL
But suppose a man changes his mind,
ought he not back out2 Perhaps here and
there may be a case, but not once IN ten
thousand times What if change my mind
about promissory note and decline to pay
it, and suddenly put my property IN such
shane that YOU could not collect your note!
How would you like that! That, you say,
weuld be fraud. SO is the other a trand,
and punish it God WILL certainly as you live,
and lust as certainly if you do not live. |
have known men betrothed to loving and
good womanhood resigning their engagement
and the victim went down in hasty consump
ton, while suddenly the recreant man would
go up the aisle of a chnrch in brilliant bridal
party, and the two promised Il Will with a
solemnity that seemed insurance of a Lifetime
happiness. But the simple fact was, that
was the first act of a ShakeSpearean drama en-
titled, flaming the Shrew.o He found out
when too late that he had not married into
the family of the "GraceS' but into the fam
lily or tine uflSS, 10 CIe uay Oh MS uedJIt
the murder of his first betrothal followed
him.
The Bible extols one who ''sweareth to his
own hurt and changeth not That IS when
you make promise keep it at all hazards.
There may be cases where deception has been
used at the time of eng lgement, and extraor-
dnarY circumstances where the promise is
not binding, but i'll nine hundred and ninety
nine cases out of q thousand engagement is
as binding as marriage. Robert Burns with
all his faults well knew the force of a marital
engagement In obedience to some rustic
idea he, standing on one side of the brook,
AYR, and Mary Campbell OH the other, they
bathed their hands in the water and then
put them on the boards of the Bible, making
their pledges of fidelity On the cover of the
Old Testament of that book to this day, in
Robert Burnss handwriting, may be found
the words: ''l.eviticus, xix, IL: Ne shall not
swear by my name ia SalY; am the Lord
And on the cover of the New Testament in
his own handwriting: "Matthew,v., 80: Thou
shalt not fOrswear thvself but shalt perform
unto the Lord thine oathS.n
Suppose a ship captain offers his services
to take ship out to sea. After he gets lit
tie way he comes alongside of a vessel with a
more beautiful flag, and which has perhaps a
richer cargo and is bound for more at
traCtlve port Suppose he rings a bell for the
engineer to slow up and the wheel stops. Now
l see the captain being lowered over the side
VI Iile NeSSel lilIo Sillal Doat, ana ne crosses
to the gayer and wealthier craft, and climbs
up the sides, and is seen walking the
bridge of the other ship. | pick up his
resigned speaking trumpet and l shout
through it: " Captain, what does this mean?
Did you not promise to take this ship to
Southampton. England y YES" says the
captain, " but have changed my mind and
have found | can do better, and | am going
to take charge here. shall send back TO you
ali the letters | got while managing that ship
and everything I got from vOur ship, and it
IL, al Iii. TN fl,.f