The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-04
THB HOMEEAKERS.
The Saeredne>s Of the Marriage Gus
tom-Religfon In the Home Circle.
The Relation of Husband and Wife.
How Homes are Made


Copyright 1898. by American Press
A~ssociation.)
DR.. Talmage in this discourse sets
forth radical theories, which, if adopt
ed, would brighten many domestic cir
cles; text. John Xxx. 10, The disciples
went away again unto their own
homes
A church within a church, a republic
within a republic, a world within a
world is spelled by four letters-home,
II things go right there, they go right
everywhere. II things go wrong there,
they go wrong everywhere. The door
sill Of the dwelling house is the founda-
ton Of church and state. A man never
gets higher than his own garnet or low
er than his own cellar. Domestic life
overreaches and u~ndergirdles ali other
life. The highest house OF congress is
the domestic circle. The rocking chat
in the nursery is higher than a throne.
George Washington commanded the
forces of the United States, but Mary
Washington commanded George. Chrys-
ostom's mother made his pen for him.
II a man should start out and run 20
years in a straight line, he could not
get out from under the shadow of his
own mantlepiece. l therefore talk TO
you about a matter of infinite and eter-
nal 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. What l
lack o make up. What you lack |
make up. Our deficits n SURPRISES of
character being the cogwheels in the
great social mechanism. One person
has he patience, another has the cour-
age, another has the placidity, another
has the enthusiasm. That which is lack
ing IN one is made up by another. or
made up by all. Buffaloes in herds,
grouse in broOds, quails in f1ocks. the
human race in circles. God has most
beautifully arranged this. 1t is in this
way that he balances society," This con
and that radical keeping
Things even. Every ship must have it's
mast, cutwater, taffrail. ballast. Thank
God, then, for Princeton and Andover,
Tor the oppOsites.
have no more right to blame a man
for being different from me than a
driving wheel has a 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
Ian the strong bones of theology. DR..
Guthrie clothes them with a throbbine
heart and warm flesh. The difficulty
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.
OUR EDEN OF ORANGE Bios
SONS.
For more compactness and that we
may be more useful we are gathered
IN still smaller circles in the home
group, n there you have the same
variety again-brothers, sisters. hus-
band and wife-all different in temper
aments and tastes. 1t is fortunate that
it should be so. If the husband be all
1mpulsive, the wife must be all pru-
dence. If one sister be sanguine in her
temperament, the other must be lynn
phatic. Mary and Martha are neceSsi-
ties. There will be no dinner for Christ
if there be nc Martha. There will be
no audience for Jesus if there be no
Mary. NE home organization is most
beautifully constructed. Eden has
gone, the bowers are all broken down.
>io tiloC Iuoll SlIohS III
his hand that morning when they
came up to get their anne have since
shot forth tusk and sting. and growled
panther at panther, and midas iron
beaks plungs, till with clotted wing
any eyelesS sockets the twain come
Whirling down from under the sun in
blood and fire. Eden has gone, but
there is just one little fragment left.
It foated down on the River Hiddekel
out of paradise. 1t is the marriage in
stltution. 1t does not, as at the begin
ming, take away from man a rib. Now
it is a addition or ribs.
This institution of marriage has been
DETAINED in our day. Socialism and po-
lygamy, and the most damnable of ali
things, free loveism, have been Trying
to turn this earth into a Turkish ha-
rem. While the pulpitS nave been COM
paratively silent. nOvels-their cheap
ness only equaled by their nastiness-
are trying to educate, have taken upon
themselves to educate, this nation in
regard to holy marriage, which makes
or breaks for time and eternity. Oh,
this is not a mere question of resi-
dence or WARDROBE It is a question
charged with gigantic joy and sorrow,
heaven or hell. Alas for this new dis
penSatiOn of George Sands Alas for
this mingling Of the nightshade with
the marriage garlands. Alas for the
venom of adders spit into the tank
ards! Ala for the white frosts of eter-
nal death hat kill the orange bios
sons 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 institution, which
was intended for the happiness and
elevation of the race and make it a
mere commercial enterprise: an ex-
change Of houses and lands and equip
age; a business partnership of two
stuffed up with stories of a and
knight Grants and unfaithfulness and
feminine anglehood. The two after
awhile have reused up to find that. in
stead of the paradise they dreamed Of,
they have got nothing but a Van Am
burgh's menagerie, filled with tigers
and wildcats. Eighty thousand divorces
in Paris in n rear preceded the worst
revolution that France ever saw. And
/ tell you what you know as well as |
do. that wrong notions on the subject
| of Christian marriage are the cause at