The Penn's Grove record., 1899-01-20
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

DIVINE.
Subject: "Th Value of Good Wives"-
Qualities Which Crown Noble Woman
hood-woDders Christianity Has Don,
For the Weaker Sex.
TEXT: elisha passed to Shunem, whert
was a great woman."-II Kings w., 8.
The hotel of our time had no counterpart
in any entertainment Of olden time, Tht
vast majority Of travellers must then be en-
tertained at private abode, Here comes
Elisha, a servant of the Lord, on a divine
mission, and he must find shelter. A bal
cony overlooking the valley of EsdraeloI
is offered him in a private house, and II Is
especially furnished for his occupancy
chair to sit on, q table from which to eat, Q
candlestick by which to read and q bed OIL
which to slumber, the whole establishment
belonging to a great n good woman. Hell
husband, 1t seems, was q cody man, bul
he was entirely ~overshadowed by his wife's
exceliences; Just as o you sometime.
find In a household the wife the centre Of
dignity and influence and power, not By
any arrogance or presumption, but by SUI
perior intellect and force of moral nature
welding domestic affairs and at the SAM
time supervising all financial and business
affairs-the wife's hand on the shuttle OF
the banking house or the worldly business
IOu SEQ uuuuIGuS v luGu WIN uIb SUI
cessful only because there is q reason al
home why they are SO successful. II q man
marry q good, honest soul, he makes his
fortune. II he marry q fool, the Lord helI
him. The wife may be the silent partner
In the firm, there may be only masculine
voices down on Exchange, but there often.
times comes from the home circle a poten-
tial aud elevating influence. This woman
Of my text was the superior of her husband.
He, as far as | can understand, was what
we often see In our day, a man of large for
tune and only q modicum of brain, intense
ly quiet, sitting a long while In the SAINT
place without moving hand or foot, II you
say YES" responding "Yes;' II you say
NO." responding "No"-inane, eyes hall
shut, mouth wide open, maintaining his
position in society only because he has a
large p%atrimony. But his wife, my text
says, was a great woman. Her name has
not come down to US. She belonged to
that collection Of people who need no name
to distinguish them. What would title OF
duchess or princess or queen-what would
escutcheon or cleaning diadem be to this
woman Of my text, who by her intellige nce
and her behavior challenges the admira-
tion of all ages? Long after the brilliant
women Of the court of Louis XIV have been
forgotten and the brilliant women of the
court of Spain have been forgotten and
the brilliant women who sat on the throne
OF Russia have been forgotten some grand
father will put on his spectacles, and hold
ing the book the other side the light read
to his grandchildren the story of this great
woman of Shunem who was so kind and
courteous and Christian to the good
prophet Elisha. Yes, she was Il great
woman.
In the first place, she was great In her
Inequalities. Uncivilized and barbarous
nations have this virtue. Jupiter had the
NJ ~ n M Of tha IIaanttalI az aud hn wac
said especially to avenge the wrongs Of
strangers. Homer extolled it in his verse.
The Arabs are punctilious on this subject,
and among some of their tribes 1t is not IN
til the ninth day of tarrying that the oecu-
pant h6s a right to ask his guest. "Who
and whence art thou2" If this virtue is SO
honored among barbarians, how ought it
to be honored among those of us who be-
lieve in the Bible, which commands us to
use hospitality one toward another with
out grudgingi
OF course 1 do not mean under this cover
to give any idea that l approve OF that
vagrant class who go around from place
to place, ranging their whole lifetime, per-
haps under the auspices Of some benevo-
lent or philanthropic society, quarterIng
themselves on Christian families with q
great pile of trunks in the hall and carpet
bag portentous of tarrying. There Is many
a country parsonage hat looks out week
by week upon the ominous arrival of
wagon with creaking wheel and lank horse
and dilapidated driver, come under the
auspices OF some charitable institution to
spend u few weeks and canvass the neigh
borhood. Let NO such religious tramps
take advantage OF this beautiful virtue Of
Christian hospitality. Not SO much the
su~mptuousness OF your diet and the
regality Of your abode will impress the
friend or the stranger that steps across
your threshold as the warmth of your
greeting; the informality of your recep-
ton, the reiteration by grasp, and BY
look, and by a thousand attentions, In
significant attentions, of your earnest
ness Of welcome. There will be high
appreciation Of your welcome, though
you have nothing but the brazen can
dlestick and the plain chair to offer
Elisha when be ZONES to Shunem. Most
beautiful is this grace of hospitality
when shown in the house of God. l am
thankful that l have always been pastor
of churches where strangers are well
ZONE. But l have entered churches
where there was no hospitality. A
stranger would stand In the vestibule
for a while and then make a pilgrimage up
the long isle. No door opened to him until,
flushed and excited and embarrassed, ne
started back again and, coming to some
half filled pew, with apologize air entered
1t. while the occupant glared on him with a
look which seemed to say, well, i'll must,
l must" Away with sue aceursed indie
cency from the house OF God. Let every
church that would maintain large Christian
influence In community culture Sabbath by
Sabbath this beautiful grace of Christian
hospitality.
Agood man travelling in the far West, In
the wilderness, was overtaken by night
and storm, and he put in at a cabin. He
saw firearms along the beams of the cab q
and be felt alarmed. He did not know but
that he had fallen into a den OF thieves.
He sat there greatly perturbed. After a
while the man OF the house came home
with a gun on his shoulder and set 1t down
In a corner. The stranger was still more
alarmed. After awhile the man of the
house whispered with his wife, and the
stranger thought his destruction wal be-
ing planned. Then the man of the house
came forward and said to the stranger:
stranger, We are a rough and rude peo-
pie out here. and we work hard for
a living. We make our living by
hunting, and when we come to the
nightfall We are tired and We are apt to 30
to bed early and before retiring we are al
ways in the habit of reading a chapter
from the word Of God and making a prayer.
II you don't like such things, If you will
Just step outside the door until we get
through I'll be greatly obliged to you"
vi tOuisO TIC ildukoI hdIIlbu III tnc IOOm,
and the old hunter tool hold of the horns
of the altar and brought down the blessing
OF God upon his household and upon the
stranger within their gates. Rude but
glorious Christian hospitality
This woman Of the tex was only q type
of thousands Of men and women who come
down from mansion and from cot to do
kindness to the Lords servants. / could
tell you Of something that you might think
a romance. A young man graduated from
New Brunswick Theological Seminary was
called to a village church. He had not the
means to furnish the parsonage. After
three or four weeks of preaching a commit
tee of the officers of the church waited on
him and told him he looked tired and
thought he had better take a vacation
OF a few days. The young pastor took
1t as an intimation that his work was done
or not acceptable. He took the vacation,
and at the end Of a few days came back,
when an elder said: "Here is tho key OF
the parsonage. We nave been cleaning 1t
up. You had better go up and look at 1t. :"
So the young pastor took the key, went up
to the parsonage, opened the door, and 10,
1t was carpeted, and there was the hatrack
all ready for the and the umbrellas
and the overcoats, and on the left hand
of the hall was the parlor, sofaed
chaired, pictured. He passed on to the
other side Of the hall, and there was
A.