The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-01-26
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Dhoourses Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subjects '.NInrringc for World.
IN Success Without Regard
to Moral Charactcr.'


t,-Exr: "Amd thevs teds a man ~ Maon,
whose possessions were IN Carmel; and tbs
ssun ,ctls gerry great, and he had three thou
sand sheep and a thousand goats. VI Sam.
usl, XIV, 2.
My text introduces us to A drunken blsat
Of large property, Before TIE DAY 6f safety
deposits aud government bonds and national
banks people had their investments, in hocks
and herds, and this man, Nabal, of the text,
had much of his possession in live stock.
dc cAne also Of q distinguished family and
had glorious Ca!oh for ON ancestor But this
descendant aesS ant was sneak, churl, sss and a
wool raising country, and at the time Of
khearinB great feast was prepared for the
shoarers; and David AMI his warriors, WHO
had In other days sav.d from destruction
tho threshing floors of Nabal sent to him
asking, III this time of plenty, for some bread
,a, lor 'neir aM starving men And Nabal cried
lishman had said; "Who ia Wellingtonln or
German Should say: 'Who is Won Moltke!n
or an American should say: WHO is Wash
ington!" Nothing did Nabal give to the
starving men, and that night the scouudrel
lay dead drunk at home, an the Bible gives
us full length picture Of him sprawling and
maudn and hopeless,
Now that was the man whom Abigail; tBe
lovely and gracious and good Woman, mar
ried-a tuberpse planted beside thistle, O
palm branch twinei into wreath of deadly
nightshade Surely that was not one of the
matches made in h,avel. We throw up our
hands in horror at that wedding How did
she ever consent to link her destnies with
such orcaturel WE'LL she no doubt thought
that it would DO an honor to be associated
IN mil ND
despis, great naine Beside this, wealth
would come, and with it chains of gold and
mansions lighted by swinging humps Of
aromatic oil, and resembling with the cheer
OF ban9ueters seatel at tables laden with
wines from tho richest vineyards, and fruits
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 piighted her treth with this dissi-
pated man she sometimes said to herself:
How can endure hint To be associated
for life with such n debauche cannot and
will notm But then again she said to her.
self: 1T Is time was married, and this is a
cold world to depend on, and perhaps |
might do worse and may be l will make a
sober man out Of him, and marriage is lot
terry anyhow" And when one day this rep
resentative o. great house presented himself
in parenthesis OF sobriety aud with an
assumed genal.ty and gallantry of manner,
and with promises OF. fidelity AMI kin lness
and self-abnegation q June morning smiled
on march sqrH,l, and the great souled
woman surrendered her happiness to the
keeping Of this infamous son of fortune
whore possessions were in Carmel; and the
man was very great and he had three thou
sand sheep AMI q thousand goats.
Behold here domestic tragedy repeated
every hour of every day ali over Christen.
dom-,marriage for worldly success without
regard to character. So Marie Jeanne
PhBpon, the daughter of the humble en-
graver Of Paris, became the famous Mme.
Roland OF history, the vivacious and brill
liant girl united with tho cold, formal mo-
notonous man, because he came of IN atfiu ,nt
family OF Amieiis and had lordly blood in
lis veins. The day when through political
revolution this patriotic woman was led to
the scaffold around which lay piles of human
heads that had fallen from the ak, an | she
said to an aged man whom she had comforted
as they ascended the scaffold: go first that
you may not witness my death, 'and then
undaunted took her turn to die-that day
was to her only the last act of the tragedy Of
first. WV
Good and genial character in man, the
very first requisite for woman's happy mar
riage. Mistake me not as Representatives Of
worldly properties There is religious
cant that would seem to represent poverty as
vlrtuo and wealth as q crime. / can take
you through thousand mansions where God
Is as mu' worshiped as he ever was in a
cabin. The gospel inculcates the virtues which
tfl1 toward wea tn. In the millennium we will
an dwell IN palaces and ride in chariots and
sit at sumptuous banquets, and sleep nnder
rlcn emorolderes. and live 400 or 500 wears.
ior, IL accord.n .ng to the Bible in those times
chlld shall die 100 years oil, the average ~
human life will be at least five centuries. The
whoie tendency of sin is toward poverty. an
tne whoie tendency of righteousness is toward
Weaitn Godilness is profitable for the life
That now is as well as for that which il IN
como. No inventory can he made of tho
picture galleries consecrated to God. and of
sculpture, and OF libraries, and pillarei mag
innocence, and of parks and fountains and
gardens IN the ownership of good men and
women. The two most lordly residences in
wh.cn was ever guest had morning and
evening prayers, all the employees present.
and all day long there was mn air of che arfni
Plety In the conversation and behavior ord
haastocK carried the gospel to thu Russian
noDlIity Lord Cavan ami Lord Cairns spent
tnelr vactlon in evangelistic service. ord
Iongleton became missionary to Baedad
ana the Christ who was born in an eastern
caraVansary has again and again lived in a
1t is grani thing to have nlentv ~
take the dust or every numbering and lazy
vehicle; and books of history that give you
a glimpse OF all the past; and shelves OF
poetry to which you may go and ask Milton
or Tennyson or Spencer or Tom Moore or
Robert Burns to step dowl and spend an
evening with you; and other shelves to
which you may 20 while you feel disguised
with the shams of the world, and ask Thack
cray to express your chagrin, or Charles
Dickens to expose the Pecksniffianism. OF
Thomas Carlyle to thunder your Indignation
or the shelves where the old gospel writers
stand ready to warn and cheer us whi g they
open doors into that city which is so bright
the MONDAY sun is abolished as useless. There
is no virtue in owning horse that takes four
minutes to go a mile, il you can own one
that can go in little over two minutes and
half; no virtne in running into the teeth
OF northeast wind with thin apparel.
il you can afford ffurs; no virtue in
being poor when you can honestly be rich
There are names of men and women that
nave only to mention and they suggest not
only wealth but religion and generosity and
philanthropy, such as Amos Lawrence, James
Lennox, Pet,r Cooper, William Z. Dodge,
Shaftesbury, Miss Wolf and Mrs Astor'
A recent letter says that of fifty leading
business men in one of our Eastern cities
and Of the fifty leading business men
of one Of our western cities three-fourths of
all the brain and the business geniu. :, on
the side of religion. Infidelity is incipient in :
sanity. All infidels are cranks Many of
them talk brightly, but you soon find that in
their mental machinery there is a screw
loose. When they are not lecturing against
Christianity they are sitting in b1rrooms
squirting tobacco juice, and when they get
mad swear till the place is sulphurous. They
only talk to keep their courage up and at
best will feel like tho infidel who begged to
be buried with his Christian wife and
daughter, and when asked why he wanted
such burial replied ''If there be resurrec-
tion of the good as some folks say there will
be, my Christian wife and daughter will
somehow get me up and take me along with
themn
Men may pretend to despise religion, but
they are rank hypocrates. The sea captain
was right when he came up to the village on
the sea coast, and insisted on paying $40 to
the church although he did not attend him
self When asked his reason, he said thai
he had been in the habit of carrying cargoes
of oysters and clans from that place. and he
found since that church was built the people
were more honest than they used TO be, for
before the church was built he often found the
load when he came to count it a thousand
clans short Yes God,iness is profitable
for both worlds. Most of the great, honest,
L.. Al