The Yale expositor., 1898-10-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
MAKE HOME HAPPY" LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
From the Text, John, Chapt. go, Verse
10, as Follows; THE Disciples Went
Away Again Unto Their Own Homes"
Modern Marriage.

| Nlluln u republic, WOIlu Nllhlh
world, is spelled by four letters
Home! If things go right there, they
go right everywhere. The doorsill OF
the dwellinghouse is the foundation OF
church and state. A man never gets
higher than his own garnet or lower
than his own cellar. Domestic lie
overarches and undergirdles all other
life. The highest house of congress IS
the domestic circle; the rocking chair
In the nursery is higher than a throne
George Washington commanded the
forces of the United States, but Mary
| Washington commanded George.
Chrysostoms mother made his pen for
him. If man should start out anu
run seventy years in a straight line' ne
| could not get out from under the shd-
dow Of his own mantelpiece. l there
fore talk to you about a matter OF IN
fnite and eternal moment when l
speak of your home.
AS individuals we are fragments.
| God makes the race in parts, and then
he gradually puts us together. Whal
| lack, you make up; what you lack,
make up; our deficits and SURPRISES
Of character being the cog wheels IN
the great social mechanism. One per-
son has the patience, another has the
courage, another has the placidity, an
other has the enthusiasm; that which
Is lacking in one is made up by an
other or made up by all. Buffaloes IN
herds, grouse in broods, quails in
focks, the human race in circles. Goa
has most beautifully arranged this. IL
is in this way that he balances society;
this conservative and that radical
keeping things even. Every snip
must have its mast, cut-water, tafrall'
ballast. Thank God, then, for Prince
ton and Andover, for the opposites. l
have no more right to blame man
for being different from me than
driving wheel has q right to blame the
iron shaft that holds it to the center.
John Wesley balances Calvin's Insti-
tutes. A cold thinker gives to Scot
land the strong bones Of theology; DR..
Guthrie clothes them with a throb-
bling heart and warm flesh. The diff
hculty Is that We are not satisfied with
Just the work that God has given us
to do. The water wheel wants to come
inside the mill and grind the grist. and
the hopper wants to go out and dabble
In the water. Our usefulness and the
welfare of society depend upon our
staying in just the place that God has
put us. or intended We should occupy.
The institution of marriage has been
DETAINED in our day. Socialism and
polygamy, and the most damnable Of
all things, free-lovism, has been try
ing to turn this earth into Turkish
harem. While the pulpits have been
comparatively silent, novels-their
cheapness only equaled by their nasti-
ness-are trying to educate this nation
in regard to holy marriage, which
makes or breaks for time and eternity.
Oh, this is not mere question Of resi-
dence or wardrobe! 1t is a question
charged with gigantic Joy or sorrow,
with heaven or hell. Alas for this
new dispensation of George Sands!
Alas for this mingling of the night
shade with the marriage garlands!
Alas for the venom of adders spit into
the tankards! Alas for the white
frosts of eternal death that kill the
orange blossoms! The gospel of Jesus
Christ is to assert what is right and
to assail what is wrong. Attempt has
been made to take the marriage insti-
tuition, which was intended for the
happiness and elevation of the race,
and make 1t mere commercial enter
prise; an exchange of houses and lands
and equipage; a business partnership
Of two stuffed up with the stories OF
romance and knight-errantry. and un-
faithfulness and feminine angelhood.
The two after a while have reused uD
to find that, instead of the paradise
they dreamed of, they have got moth
ing but Van Amburghs menagerie.
filed with tigers and wild cats. Eigh-
ty thousand divorces in Paris in one
year preceded the worst revolution
that France ever saw. And l tell you
what you know as well as I do, that
wrong notions on the subject of Chris
lldh MAJ idBS are Tic Cdubt DIT lnlS Qdg
of more moral outrage before God and
man than any other cause.
There are some things that want TO
bring before you. l know there are
those of you who have had homes set
up for great many years; and, then,
there are those here who have Just
established their home. They have
only been in that home a few months
or few years. Then, there are those
who will, after a while, set up for
themselves a home, and it is right that
| should speak out upon these themes.
Ny first counsel to you is, have God
In your new home, IL it be new home;
and let him who was guest at Beth
any be in your household; let the d.
vine blessing drop upon your every
hope and plan and expectation. Those |
young people who begin with God end !
with heaven. Have on your right |
hand the engagement rings of the dl- /
vine affection. IL one of you be a |
Christian, let that one take the Bible |