The Penn's Grove record., 1899-02-17
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.



pare One For Future blessings.
TEXT: 'Lord, dost Thou not care that
my sister hath left me to serve aiene? Bid
her therefore that she help me.'-Luke X,
40.
Yonder is n beautiful village homestead.
The man CT the house Is dead INT his
widow has charge OF the premises. 1t Is
Widow Martha, of Bethany. Yes, | will
show you also the pet of the household, 1t
is Mary, the OUNCE sister, with q book
under her arm, and In her face no sign OF
care or ar xiety about anything. Company
hns come. Cbrist's appearing at the outside
of the dopt makes some excitement inside
the door. The sisters set back the disar.
ranged furniture, arrange their hair, and
In q fash prepare to open the door. They
do not keep Christ waiting outside until
they have newly appareled themselves OF
deliberately arranged their %tressesi and
then with affected surprise come out and,
pretending not to hare heard the two or
three previous ~knockings, say, 'Why, ,s
that YOU'D" No, they were ladies, and al
ways ~presentable, although perhaps they
had not on their best. None OF us always
have on our best, Otherwise very soon
our best would not be worth having on.
They throw open the door and greet Christ.
They say: "Good morning, MASTER Come
in and be seated" Christ brought a com
pany of friends with Him, and the influx
Of so many city visitors, you do not Won
der, threw the country home into some
perturbation. Isuppose the walk from the
city had been a keen appetizer, The
kitchen department that day was a very
important department, and / think as soon
rs Martha had greeted her guests she went
to that room. Mary had no anxiety about
the dinner She had full confidence that
her sister Martha could get up the best
.1,Drar L. pathap, and Ehn ~ aftao1lyr
said: Nov, let us have a division Of
Martha, you, cook and III sit down and
learn
The same difference you nov sometimes
see between sisters, There is Martha, in
dustrious, pa%instaking, a good manager,
ever inventive OF some new pastry, discov-
ering something in household affairs.
Here Is Mary, fond of conversation, liter
airy, so full of questions of ethics she has
no time to discuss questions of household
welfare. tits noon. Mary is in the par
lor. Martha is In the kitchen. 1t would
rave been better for them to have divided
the toll, and then they could have divided
the opportunity of listening to Christ. But
Mary ~monopolizes Christ, while Martha
swelters before the fire. 1t was very i'm
portant that they have a good dinner that
day, for Christ was hungry, and He did not
often have luxurious entertainment. Alas,
me, II all the responsibility of that enter
tainment had rested with Maryl What a
repast they would have hadl But some
thing went wrong in The kitchen. Either
the fire would not burn or the bread would
not bake or something was turned black
that ought to have been only turned
brown, or Martha scalded herself, and,
forgetting all the proprleties of the occa-
sion, with besweated brow she rushed out
of the kitchen into the parlor, perhaps
with tongs in one hand and pitcher in the
other, n she cried out: Lord, dost Thou
not care that my sister has left me to serve
alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me-" Christ scolded not n word. II 1t
We're scolding, I would rather lave Him
scold me than anybody else bless me.
There was nothing acerb in the Saviour's
reply. He knew that Martha had been
working herself almost to death to get Him
something to eat, but He appreciated her
kindness, and He practically said: my
dear woman, do not worry. Let thed din
ner go. Sit down here On this couch be-
side your younger sister, Mary. Let us
talk about something else. Martha, Mar
tina, thou art careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful."
As Martha throws open the door l look
in to-day, and l see a great many
household anxieties, perplexities, fatigues
and trials, and about them l am going to
speak II the Lord OF Mary and Martha and
"a hOiH Ah0 w iiS Shtot
AS I look into that door, in the first
place, / see the trial of nonapproo.-tion.
That was what made Martha so yexed at
Mary. Mary, the younger sister, had no
proper estimate Of the elder sisters IA
tigue. Just as now men having annoy
ances Of store and factory and shop, or az
the Stock Exchange, come home at night
and hear of some ho' sehold annoyance,
and they say, "0h, thu t's nothingl You
ought to be in n factory a day n have ten
or fifteen or twenty or 100 subordinates.
Then you would know something about
annoyance and trouble" Oh, man, let me
tell you that a wife and a mother has to
conduct at the same time a university, a
clothing establishment, n restaurant, a
officer, police and president Of the whole
realml She has to do a thousand
things, and to do them well, in order to
make things 90 smoothly. and that is what
puts the awful tax on a woman's nerves
and a woman's brain. l know there are
exceptions to the rule. Sometimes you
will flnd a woman who can sit in the arm
chair Of the library all day without any
anxiety, or tarry OIL the be.ated pillow,
and all the cares Of the household are
thrown upan servants who have large
wages and ikreat experience; but that is
the exception. I speak OF the great masses
Of housekeepers, to whom life is a strug-
gle, and who at thirty years of age look as
though they were forty. The fallen at Cha
Ions and Austerlitz and Gettysburg and
Waterloo are a small number In comparison
with those who AVE gone down under the
Armageddon of the kitchen. Go out to the
country and look over the epitaphs on the
tombstones. They are all beautiful and
poetic, but II the tombstones could tell the
ruth thousands of them would say, "Here
lies a woman who was killed by too much
~ apAinn a,I auyip npI aktpr "a md ca6t,r
ing and scrublng," and the weapon with
which she was killed was a broom or a
sewing machine or u ladle.
The housewife rises in the morning half
rested. At an irrevocable hour she must
have the morning repast ready. What IL
the fire will not burn, what il the clock
stop, what II the marketing has not been
sent in? 70 matter that; it must be ready
at the 1, ocable hour, Then the chill
1ren must got ready for school. But
what If th> rments be torn? What II
they do not h n their l~essons2 What II
the hat or SASH is lost? They must be
ready. The you have the duty of the day
or perhaps several days, TO plan out. But
what IL the butcher sends meat unmasti-
cable? What If the grocer furnishes your
articles of food adulterated2 What II the
piece of silver be lost, or a favorite chalice
be broken, or the roof leak, or the plumb
Ing fail, or any one of a thousand things
occur? No matter. Everything must be
ready. The spring is coming and there
must be a revolution In the family ward
robe, or the autumn is at hand, and you
must shut out the northern blast. But
how II the moth has preceded you to the
chest? How II the garments OF the last
year do not fit the children now2 What il
all the fashions have changed?
A young woman of brilliant education
and prosperous surroundings was called
down stairs to help in the absence of the
servant, and there was a ring at the bell
and she went to the doo and an admirei
entered. He said: II thought 1 heard
music In the house. Was 1t on the piano
or the harp?" She said; Neither; it was a
frying pan accompaniment to a gridironI
In other words, l was called down stairs
to help. l suppose ONE time | shall have
to learn, and / have begun now." WheI
will the world learn that every kind o.
work that is right IS honorable?
AS Martha opens the door | look in and
[ also see the trial of severe economy
Nine hundred and ninety-nine households
out o. a thousand are subjected to it either
under the greater or less stress OF circum.
stances. 1t is especially so when a mar
smokes expensive cigars and dimes Al
sostly restaurants. He will be very apt t.
snjoin severe economy at home. That 1: