Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-02-03
Mp TALMAGES SERMON.
., If tho Series to Women" at the
Tabernacle.

.,rd To Moral Character the Subject
,, who Pretend to Dcspisc Religion
Are rank siypocritcs.
r,,,ov1.yN. Jan. 15.--In the Brooklyn
.,J',%Ypocle this morning the Rev. I. De
w., ,"" 'lalmace, ID. D., preached the second
VIZ sarjes of sermons to the women of
on ,. s,r with important hints to men.
::,i", snblect OF the sermon was, Marriage
NJ ,.nridiy success without regard to
loi character" and the text was from l.
llS.',,al NV. =: "And there was man i'll
Nan. whose possessions were IN Carmel,
ga tbe man was very great, and he had
, i thousand sheep and thousand
us. u Or. lalmage said:
w VIZ, text introduces us to a drunken bloat
.,,oroe property. Before the day of safety
o. 3a'nsi,s and government bonds and ma
a sGs,"oI banks people had their investments
w 4oei,s and herds, and this man, Nabal, of
~ ~ ,oyt. had much of his possessions in
,iu sock. He came also of a distinguished
t,..il, and had glorious Caleb for an an
Tar Eut this defendant was n sneak, q
IND Il sot. and a fool. One instance to
,I1nsirate: II was wool raising country,
ava ot the time Of shearing a great feast
mas prepared for the shearers; and David
anJ his war; ors, who had in other days
we'd from destruction the threshing floors
ri Na,a. sent to him asking, in this time
Vi nientv, for some bread for their starving
men, md Nabal cried out: "Who is
n.y;d2o AS though an Englishman had
.oi,l, "Who is Wellington?:" or German
sSol,Id saw, "Who is Won Moltke?" or an
1mercan should say, "Who is Washing
,on2n Nothing did Nabal give to the starv-
mo men, and that night the scoundrel lay
,lts drunk at home, and the Bible gives
rs n full-length picture of him sprawling
and maudlin and helpless.
Now chat was the man whom Abigail, the
lovely and gracious and good woman mar
red-a tuherose planted beside thistle, q
nolm branch twined into q wreath of deadly
riohtshade. Surely that was not one of
the matches made in Heaven. We throw
nm our hands in horror at that wedding.
How did she ever consent to link her des-
tinies with such a creature! Well, she no
1onlt thought that il would be an honor to
he associated with an aristocratic family,
and no one can dispise great name. Be-
sides this, wealth would come and with it
chains of gold and mansions lighted by
swinging lamps of aromatic oil, and re-
soundirp with the cheer of banqueters
seated at tables laden with wines from the
richest vineyards. and fruits from ripest
orchards, and nuts threshed from foreign
woods, and meats smoking in platters Of
cold, set on by slaves in bright uniforms.
Before she plighted her troth with this dis
spated man she sometimes said to her.
self: "How can l endure him! 10 be as
sociated for life with such a debauche I
cannot and will nol!" But then again she
said to herself: at is time | 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, and
marriage is a lottery anyhow" And when
one day this representative Of great house
presented himself in a parenthesis of So
briefly. and with an assumed genality and
gallantry of manner, and with promises of
fidelity and kindness and self-abnegation,
4 June morning smiled on March squat,
and the great souled woman surrendered
her happiness TO the keeping of this infa-
were in Carmel; and the man was very
great, and he had three thousand sheep
and q thousand goats.
Behold here q domestic tragedy repeated
every hour of every day all over Christen-
dom marriage for worldly success with
out regard to character. SO Marie Jeanne
Phlipon, the daughter OF the humble en-
grayer Of Paris, became the famous Nine.
Roland of history, the vivacious and bril-
liant girl united with the cold, formal,
monotonous man because he came of an
atfuent family of Amiens and had lordly
: blood in his veins. The day when, through
political revolution, this patriotic woman
was led TO the scntiold, around which lay
piles of human heads that had fallen from
the AK, and she said to an aged man whom
she had confronted as they assembled the
scaiiold: "tio first, that you may not wit
ness my DEATH" and then, undaunted,
took her turn to de--thnt day was to her
only the last act OF tragedy of which her
uncongenial marriage day was the first.
Good and genial character in q man, the
very first requisite for Il womans happy
marriage. Mistake me not as depreciative
OF worldly properties. There is a relig-
ious cant that would seem to represent
poverty as a virtue and wealth as crime.
can take you through thousand man
sions where God is Ms much worshiped rs
He ever was in cabin. The gospel in
culcates the virtues which tend toward
wealth. In the millennium we will all
dwell in palaces and ride in chariots and
sit at sulnptuous banuuets and sleep under
rich embroideries and live 400 or 500
Years, for, ii. according to the Bible in those
times, child shall die lOD years old, the
average of human life will be at least five
centuries. The whole tendency of sin is
toward poverty, and the whole tendency of
righteousness is toward wealth. Godli-
as we'll as for that which is to come. No
inventory can be made of the picture GAL
lerles consecrated to God, and of sculpture
aud of libraries and pillared magnitcence
and Of parks and fountains and gardens in
the ownership of good men and women.
The two most lordly residences in which
was ever guest had morning and even
ngprayers, all the employees present, and
all day long there was an dir of cheerful
piety in the conversation and behavior.
Lord Radstock carried the gospel to the
russian nobility. Lord Cavan aud Lord
Cairns spent their vacation in evangelical
services. Lord Congleton became mis-
sionary to Bagdad. And the Christ who
was born in an Eastern caravansary has
again and again lived in palace.
1t is grand thing to have plenty of
money, and horses that don't compel you
to take the dust of every numbering and
lazy vehicle; and books of history that give
youa glimpse of all the past; and shelves OF
poetry to which you may go and ask Mil
ton or Tennyson or Spencer or Tom Moore
Or Robert Burns to stop now and spend
an evening with you, and other shelves to
which you may go while you feel disguised
with the shame of the world, and ask
Ihackeray to express your chagrin, or
Charles Dickens TO express the Pecksnif-
En,> IL Iou