The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-02-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Second Discourse of the Series to
the Women of America.
Advice as to the Choice Of HUI .band-Au
Uncongen'a al Marriage a Living Death
High, Worldly Marriages Not
Necessarily Happy.

In the second sermon of his series ad.
dressed to the women of America, Dew. T.
Dewitt Talmage took for his subject
Marriage for Worldly Success Without
Regard to Moral Character" His text
was:
And there was man in Maon whose posses
sions were in Carmel; and the man was very
great, and he had three thousand sheep and a
thousand goats.-I Samuel, XIV. 2.
DIR. Talmage said; My text introduces
us to a drunken bloat of large property.
Before the day OF safety deposits and
government bonds and national banks
people had their investments in flocks and
herds, and this man, Nabal, of the text,
had much of his possessions in live stock.
He also came of a distinguished family
and had glorious Caleb for an ancestor.
But this descendant was sneak, q churl,
a sot and fool. One instance, to illus.
trate: 1t was wool-raising country, and
at the time of shearing great feast was
prepared for the shearers; and David and
his warriors, who had in other days saved
from destruction the threshing floors
of Nabal, sent to him ask.
ing in this time of plenty, fol
some bread for their starving men. And
Nabal cried out: "Who is David?" AS
though an Englishman had said: "Whc
is wellington" or German should say:
"Who is Won Moltke~ or an American
should say: "Who is Westinghouse
Nothing did Nabal give to the starving
men, and that night the scoundrel lay
dead drunk at home, and the Bible gives
us full-length picture of him sprawling
and maudlin and helpless.
Now that was the man whom Abigail
the lovely and gracious and good woman,
married-a tuberose planted beside q
thistle, a palm branch twined into q
wreath of deadly nightshade. Surely
that was not one of the matches made in
Heaven. We throw up our hands in
horror at that wedding. How did she
ever consent to link her destinies with
such creature! Well, she NJ
doubt thought tia. it would be an
honor to be associated with an aris-
tocratic family and no one can de.
spise great name. Beside this, wealth
would come, and with it chains of gold
and mansions lighted by swinging lamps
of aromatic oil, and resounding with the
cheer of banqueters seated at tables laden
with wines from the richest vineyards
and fru its from ripest orchards, and nuts
threshed from foreign woods, and meats
smoking in platters of gold set on by
slaves in bright uniform. Before she
plighted her troth with this dissipated
man she sometimes said to herself: Show
can endure him? To be associated for
life with such a debauchee l can not and
will not" But then, again, she said tt
herself: 'It is time l was married, and
this is cold world to depend on, and
perhaps might do worse, and may be
will make sober man out of him, ant
marriage is a lottery anyhow" Ant
when one day this representative of {
great house presented himself in {
parenthesis of sobriety, and with an as
sumed geniality and gallantry of man
ner, and with promises of fidelity ant
kindness and self-abnegation, a Jun,
morning smiled on a March squat, aut
the great-souled woman surrendered he,
happiness to the keeping of this infamou.
son of fortune whose possessions were il
Carmel; and the man was very great, anC
he had three thousand sheep and one
thousand goats.
Good and genial character in a man il
the very first requisite for woman
happy marriage. Mistake me not al
depreciative of worldly properties
There is a religious cant that woult
seem to represent poverty as a virtu
and wealth as crime. l can take
you through thousand mansions wher
God is as much worshiped as he ever wa
in cabin. The Gospel inculcates tn
Uirfnac which o,.J T,
the millennium we will all dwell il
palaces, and ride in chariots, and sit a
sumptuous banquets, and sleep under ricl
embroideries, and live four hundred O.
five hundred years; for if, according t.
the Bible, in those times child shall di
one hundred years old, the average of hu
man life will be at least five centuries
The whole tendency Of sin is toward pow
erty, and the whole tendency of right
eousness is toward wealth. Goodness i
profitable for the life that now is as wei
as for that which is to come. No inven
tory can be made of the picture galleries
consecrated to God and of sculpture ant
OF libraries and pillared magnificence
and OF parks, and fountains, and garden
in the ownership of good men and women
The two most lordly residences in which
was ever guest had morning ant
evening prayers, all the employees pres
ent, and all day long there was an air Of
cheerful piety in the conversation
and behavior. Lord Radstock carrie,
the Gospel to the Russian nobility. Lor,
Cavan and Lord Cairns spent their vaca
ton in evaugelistic services. Lord Con
2leton became missionary to Bagdad
And the Christ who was born i'm an east
ern caravansary has again and again
lived in a palace.
1t is grand thing to have plenty o
money, and horses that don't compel yo,
to take the dust of every numbering ant
lazy vehicle, and books of history thai
give you glimpse of all the past, ant
shelves of poetry to which you may q,
and ask Milton, or Tennyson, or Spen Ger
or Tom Moore, or Robert Burns to ste,
down and spend an evening with you:
and other shelves to which you NAV gt
while you feel disguised with the sham.
OF the world and ask Thackeray to ex
press your chagrin, or Charles Dickens t,
expose the Pecksniffianism, or Thomae
Carlisle to thunder your Indignation, o.
the other shelves where the old Gospe
writers stand ready to warn and cheer II.
VIII lie they open doors into that city which
is SO bright the monday sun is abolished
There is no virtue in owning horse
that takes four minutes to go a mil,
If you can own one that can go in lttl,
over two minutes and a half. no yirtue /,