The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-02-14

/ dS6uieHl " utT nuSpdIO III Ody >,
a stimulus to him in the face of difTi-
culties, and a quieter of his fears in
troublous times, as every man here who
has a good wife can testify, When
ever the husband sees ghosts of fail
ure, distress and disaster, the wife
often gets up and scares them away.
You may remember the story of
Manoah and his wife as recorded in
the book of Judges. The angel of the
Lord visited the wife, who was child
less, and told her she should have
| son. He came again to the house,
when Manoah and his wife were to-
gether there, and in such guise that
he was not recognized as an angel of
the Lord He told them again about
the child and how they should rear him
when he came to them. Then they
took kid with a meat offering, and
offered up a burnt offering. And in
the smoke of that burnt offering the
messenger went up to heaven Manoah
was terribly frightened and said to
his wife, I'VE shall surely die. because
we have seen God" But the good wife
said calmly: IF the Lord were pleased
to kill US He would not have received
a burnt Offering and meat offering
/ al Jul AdiIQS, IICItNSI NOQiQ I1S uoNC
showed us all these things, nor would,
as at this time, have told us such things
as these This is but a Bible picture
! of what is occurring again and again
in these days. Dr. Talmage draws this
beautiful picture of one of these good
wives, when her husband comes home
with the awful story that he is f1nan-
cially wrecked He comes in and says:
| : 10,
ever; care not whether I live or die"
1t is an agitated story he is telling in
the household that wintry night He
says: THE furniture must 60 the house
must go, the social position must so,
and from being sought for obsequiously,
as once, we mus be -shoudered
everywhere" After he has ceased
talking and the wife has heard all in
silence, she says: rs that all? Why,
you had nothing when l married you,
and you have only come back to where
you started. If you think my happi-
ness and that of the children depends
on these trappings you do not know me.
though We have lived together thirty
years. God is not dead, and the ma
tional bank of heaven has not sus-
pended payment, and if you don't mind
food and raiment the rest of our lives
We can get, and I don't propose to sit
down and NOPE and groan. Mary,
hand me that darning- needle. and John
! light one of the other gas burners;
and Jimmy open the register for q
little more heat; Fanny, fetch your
fathers slippers. declare. 1 have for
gotten to set the rising for those
IC3kPCf' nd typj 81, tel -
hears her humming Newton's old hymn
about Tomorrow:
1t can bring with it nothing.
But he will bear US through;
who gives the lilies clothing
| VIII clothe his people too;
| Beneath the spreading heavens
| No creature but is fed
And he who feeds the ravens
| VIII give his children bread
Though vine nor fig tree either
Their Wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the fields should wither,
| Nor fiocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding
His praise shall tune my voice:
For while in him confiding
| cannot but rejoice.
| The husband looks I'D in amazement
and says: well, you are the greatest
woman 1 ever saw" Well did Ecclesi-
astes say long ago: 1.-TWO are better
than one. because they have a good re-
ward for their labor. For if they fall
the one will lift up his fellow; but woe
to him that is alone when he falleth:
| for he hath not another to help him up"
| Let me not be understood to say that
all the good people in the home are hus-
bands and wives. Neither let be under
stood te say, because it has been assert
| ed that God had made woman to be
mans nnlnnept that thnSa
recreant of duty who have never mar
ried. If all men were good husbands
| perhaps some Of these saints would not
have been so much afraid to marry. In
this unmarried state many must re-
main, for the women outnumber the
men. 1t is said that in Great Britain
there are 94S,00 more women than
men, and the ratio is about the same in
America. But many of these women,
as well as those who become helpmeets
to husbands, fill nobly the places in
which God puts them. They are the
stay of many an aged parent, the blessed
comforter of many a lonely brother,
strong and faithful workers in the
church, the landmarks of Christ.
| There was given but one simple direc-
ton for conduct in the first home
and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife; and they shall be one flesh"
The word translated cleave is a COM
prehensive word and includes the idea
of affection. The wife is to be a help
meet to her husband, and the husband
was to cleave unto the WIFE, They stood
side by side. The relations were mutual.
In a narrative in which the greatest
events are spoken of so briefly the fact
that God said even thus much in regard
to the relations of husband and wife
shows the deep interest God takes in
homes, and that marriage is indeed a
holy estate. These directions are re-
peated and enlarged upon farther on in
| Scripture. Paul wrote of this subject in
two of his weighty letters, those to the
Ephesians and Colossans. Wives, sub
NIT yourselves unto your own husbands,
as unto the Lord. Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church, and gave Himself for IT." "Nev-
ertheless, let everyone of you in particu-
| lar, so love his wife even as HIMSELF
and the wife see that she reverences her
husband" Peter also wrote upon this
subject saying: Likewise, we husbands,
dwell with them Il. e., your wives ac-
eording to knowledge giving honor unto
| the wife, as unto the weaker vessel. and
as being heirs together of the grace
of life; that your prayers be not him
dered."
These very practical exhortations in
regard to conduct in the home point in
two directions. They seem to me to
point to a tenderer affection in the home
and palmer manifestation of it, There