News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-02
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. T3LMAGE'S
STERLING D!SCOURSES.
Subject: "Marriage for Worldly
Success without Regard to
Moral Character"

sand sheep Gtd thousand gOatS. u Sam
uel, XIV, =.
My text introduces us to drunken blolt
of large property. Before the day of safety
deposits and government bonds and national
banks peOp'e had their investments, in flocks
and herds, and this man. Nabal, of the text,
| had much of his possession in live stock.
| He came also of a distinguished family and
had glorious Caleb for all ancestor. But tn s
| descendant was d sneak, churl, sOt and
| fool. One instance to illustrator 1t was
| wool raising country, and at the time of
| shearing great feast was prepared for the
shearers; and David AMI his warriors, who
| had in other days SAVED from destruction
| the threshing floors of Nabal, sent to him
| asking, in this time Of plenty, for some bread
| for their starving men. And Nabal cried
! out: "WhO is David?" As though an Eng
| lishman had said: WHO is Wellington" or
| a German should say: "Who is Won Moltbe!"
or an American should say: WHO is Wash
| ington:" Nothing did Nabal give to the
| starving men, and that night the scoundrel
| lay dead drunk at home, an the Bib,e gives
us full length picture of him SprlWllng an
maudlin and hopeless.
| Now that was the man whom Abigail, the
| lovely and gracious and good woman, mar
| ried-a tuberoSe planted beside a thistle,
| palm branch twinel into a 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 a Creature Well, she no doubt thought
| that it would be an honor to be associated
| with an ariStOcratic family, and no one can
| deSpise great name. Beside this wealth
| wCu d come, and with it chains of gold and
| mansions lighted by swinging lamps OF
| aromatic oil, and resOunding with tho cheer
| of bangueterS seated at tables laden with
wines from the richest vineyards, and fruits
| from ripeSt orchards an nuts threShe1 from
| foreign woods, and meats smoking in patters
| of gold, set on by slaves iii bright uniform.
| Before she plighted her trOth with this dissi-
pated man she sometimes said to herself;
| How can / endure him! To he associated
| for life with such q debauchc | cannot and
will not" But then again she said to her.
| self: IL is time | was married. and this is d
cold world to depend on, and perhaps ]
| might do worse and may be | will make q
| sober man cut Of him; and marriage is a lot
| tery ANYHOW And when one day this rep
resentatve Of great house presented himself
| in a parentheSiS OF sObriety and with an
assumed geniaLty and gallantry OF manner,
| and with promises of fidelity and kindness
| and salf-aOnegatiOn, June morning smiled
| on a march squall, 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 and q thousand goats.
| Behold here domestic tragedy repeated
| every hour of every day all over Christen-
| dom-marriage for worldly success without
| regard to character. So Marie Jeanne
| Phhpon, the daughter of the humble en-
| graver Of Paris, became the famous Nine.
| Roland of history, the viyacious and brill
liant girl united with the cold, formal, mo-
| uOtonOus man, because he came of au atiiu 3nt
| family of Amiens and had lorily blood in
his 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 tie ak, AMI she
said to an aged man whom she had cOmfOrted
as they assembled the scaffold: $50 first thet
| 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
EFhi"lr her Jtncongenial marriage dag vas the
first.
Good and genial character in a man, the
very first requisite for a woman happy mar
riage. Mistake ME not as depreciative OF
worldly properties. There is a religious
CANT that would seem to represent poverty as
q virtue and wealth as crime. | can take
you through thousand mansions where God
| is as much wOrshiped as he ever was in a
cabin. The gospel int ulcates the virtues which
tend toward wGa tn. In the mi lenuum we viii
all dwell iii palaces and ride in Chariots, and
sit at sumptuouS banqIlatS, anil sleep under
| rich emhrOiderieS, and I've 100 OF 500 years
for, if according to the Bible in those time,
q child shall die 100 years Obi the average cI
human life will be at lea,t five centuries. I ht
! whole tendency Of sin is toward pOver,y. an
the whole tendency Of Righteousness is towart
wealth. Godliuess is profitable for the lif
| that now is as well as for that which is t
come. No inventory can be made OF til,
picture gall ries COnSecrated to God, and o
sculpture, and of libraries, and p!lqIel mag
nifcence, and OF parks, and fountains auC
| gardens in the ownership of coed men RnC
women. The two most lordly residences il
which | was ever a guest had morning auC
evening prayers, all the employees present
and all day long there was an air of Cheerful
piety in the con ersaton and behavior. Lore
Radstock carried the gospel to the Russian
nobility. Lord Cavan and Lord Cairns spent
their yactiOn in evGngelistic service. Lore
CUngletOn became missionary to Bagdad
And the Christ who was born in an eastern
caravansary has again and again lived in &
palace.
1t is a grani thing to have plenty oi
money, and horses that don't compel YOU &c
take the dust of every numbering and lazy
vehicle; and books of history that give yOt
a glimpse Of all the past; AMI shelves o.
poetry TO which you may go and ask Milton
or TennYson or Spencer or Tom Moore OF
| Robert Burns to step dOwh and spend an
| evening with you; and other Shelves tC
which you may go while you feel dlSgustet
with the Shams of the world, and ask lhack
| eraY to express your chagrln, OF Charlie!
| Dickens to expose the Pecksniffiani5m, ol
| Thomas CARLYLE to thunder your indignation
OF the shelves where the old gospel writers
| stand ready to warn and cheer us whi 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 mile, if you can own one
that can 90 in little over two minutes and
| a half; no virtne in running into the teeth
| of a northeast wind with thin apparel,
! if you can afford furs: no virtue ID
| being poor when you can honestly be rIch.
| There are names of men and women that !
have only to mention and they suggest not
only wealth but religion and generosity and
| philanthropy, such as AmCS Lawrence, James
| I ('nODa1- William
| 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
| them are Christians. The fact is that about
| all the brain and the business genius is on
the SIDE of religion. Intidelity is incipient i'll.
| sanity. All infideS are Cranks. Many OF
them talk brightly, but you soon find that III
their mental machinery there IS a screw
loose. When they are not lecturing against
Christianity they are sitting in barrooms
squirting tobacco juice, and when they get
mad swear till the place is sulphurOus. They
only talk to keep their couag, up and al
best will feel like the infdel who begged TO
| be buried with his Christian wife and
daughter. and when asked why he wanted
such burial replied If there be resurres,
tiCn of the good, as some folks say there Will
be, my Christian wife and daughter VII
somehow get me up and take me along Wlth
them
Men may pretend to despise religion, but
they are rank hypocrates. The sea captain
was right when he came up to the village Oh
the sea coast and insisted on paying $40 tC
the church although he did not attend him
self When asked his reason, he said thai
he had been in the habit of carrying cargoe'
of oysters and CLANS from that place, ana he
found since that church was built the people
| were more honest than they used TO be, tOl
before the church was built he often found the
load when he came to count it n thOu7anC
CLAIMS short. Yes Goodness is profitable
for both worlds. Most Of the great, honest
permanent worldly sue esse5 are by tn IS
who reverence God and the Bib.e But wha
| do say is that if a man have nothing ou
social position and financial resources,
woman who puts her happiness by marriag'
in his hand re-enacts the folly or AOIgal
when she accepted disagreeable NabaL
..rvhose possessions we're in Carmel; and the
man was very great, an1 he had three thou
sand sheep. and one thousand goats
If there be good moral character accom-
,onied by affiuent circumstances congratu
fota Won If not, let the morning lark Il,
clear of the Rocky Mountain eagle. The sac
rifice of woman on the altar OF social an'
financial expectation is cruel and stupendu'is
| 7 ,katch Won q scene you have more tnll
o,,co witneSseH% A comfortable nome VIII
| nothing more than ordinary surrounding
:, | hut an attractive daughter careiuilS an
. CI,ietianlv reared From the outside Worl
oan,ee in n man with nothing but mOney,uI
loss Won count profanity and scii5hhcsS an
, fnn,noss for champagne and Sen5ral reIt
r. iossness az part of his possession. ne nas III