Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1902-04-25
DEATH Of DIR. TALMAGE
Makes Appropriate Reprinting
HIS FAMOUS SERMON
Considered by Many the Mas
terpiece of the Great
Pulpit Orator r.
"On the Choice Of a Wife. "
Marriage Not For l-Multitudes Who
Never Will Marry, Who Are Not Fit
to Marry-Some Eminent Blunderers-
Avoid NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Quail
ties-Eeauty a Benediction.

to Marry-Some Eminent Blunderers-
Avoid NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Quail
ties-Yeauty a Benediction.
WASHINGTON, D. C-The following
discourse is one of series of sermons on
domestic life delivered several years ago
by the late Rev. DR.. 7. De Witt Talmagee,
and by many admirers is considered his
pulpit masterpiece. In commemoratlon
of his death it is now republished. 1t was
founded on the text, Judges xiv, 3: is
there never a woman among the daugh-
tiers of thy brethren, or among all my
people, that thou goest to take wife of
the uncircumcised Philistines"
Samson, the giant, is here asking con-
sent of his father and mother to mar
riage with one whom they thought unfit
for him. He was wise in asking their
tivated with her looks, the big son wanted
to marry daughter of one of the hostile
families, deceitful, hypocritical, whining
and saturnine creature, who afterward
made for him world of trouble till she
quit him forever. In my text his parents
forbade the banns, practically saying:
"When there are so many honest and
beautiful maidens Of your own country,
are you so hard put to for lifetime part
ner that you propose conJugallty with TINS
foreign hirt? Is there such a dearth OF
lilies in our Israelitish gardens that you
must wear on your heart Phlllstlne
thistle? Do you take a crabapple because
there are no pomegranates! is there never
brethren, or among all my people that
thou goest to take a wife of the uncircum-
cised Philistines?"
Excuseless was he for such choice IN a
land and amid a race celebrated for re;
male loneliness and moral worth, land
and a race Of which self.denyng Abigail
and heroic Deborah, and dazzling Miriam,
and pious Esther. and glorious Ruth, and
Mary, who Rugged to her heart the blessed
Lord, were only magnificent snecimens.
The midnight folded in their hair, the
lakes of liquid beauty in their eye, the
gracefulness of spring morning IN their
posture and gait, were only typical OF the
greater brilliance and glory OF Their soul.
time who makes lifelong Alliance with any
one who, because OF her dispos ton. or
heredity, or habits. or intellectual vanity,
or moral justification, may be said to be
of the Phlistines.
The world never owned such opu.ence
of womanly character or such sD.endor OF
womanly manners or multitudnous IN
stances of wifely, motheriy daughteriy,
sisterly devotion, as it owns to-day. L
have not words to express my admiration
for good womanhood. Woman Is not
only mans equal but in affectional and re
ligious nature, which is the best part OF
us, she is seventy-hye per cent his SUI
perior. Yea, during the last twenty years,
| through the increased opportunity opened
| for female education. the women of the
country are better educated than the ma
| jority of men; and if they continue to
| advance mentally at the present ratio. be-
| fore long the majority OF men will have
| difficulty in finding in the opposite sex
| enough ignorance to make appropriate
| consort. If | am under delusion as to
! the abundance of good womanhood abroad,
| consequent upon my surroundings since
| the hour l entered this life until now, |
hope the delusion will last until / embark
from this planet. So you will understand,
| if I say in this course of sermons some
\ thing that seems severe, l am neither
| cynical nor disgruntled.
There are in almost every farmhouse IN
| the country, in almost every home of the
great town. conscientious women, worship
| full women, self-sacrifcing women, holy
women, innumerable Marys, sitting at the
| feet of Christ: innumerable mothers, help
| ing to feed Christ in the person of His
| suffering disciples; a thousand capped and
specialized grandmothers Lois, bending
over Bibles whose precepts they have fol.
lowed from early grlhood; and tens Of
] thousands of young women that are dawn
ing upon us from school and seminary,
that are going to bless the world with
| good and happy homes, that shall eclipse
all their predecessors, a fact that will be
| acknowledged by al men except those who
ctrt fhrOunb wifi
toe to Uranium; and more inexcusable
than the Samson of the text is that man
who, amid all this unparalleled munifi-
cence of womanhood. marries a fool. But
some of you are abroad suffering from
such disaster, and to halt others of you
from going over the same precipice, cry
out in the words of my text: "Is there
never a woman among the daughters of
thy brethren, or among all my people, that
thou goest to take a wife of the uncr'
cumcised Philistines?"
That marriage is the destination of the
human race is a mistake that | want to
correct before | 60 further. There are
multitudes who never will marry, and still
greater multitudes who are not fit to
marry. In Great Britain to-day there are
nine hundred and forty-eight thousand
more women than men, and that, | un.
derstand, is about the ratio in America
By mathematical and memorable law, you
see, millions of women will never marry.
The supply for matrimony greater than
the demand, the first lesson of which is
that every woman ought to prepare to
take care of herself if need be- Then there
are thousands of men who have no right
to marry, because they have become so
corrupt of character that their offer OF
marriage is an insult to any good woman.
Society will have to be toned up and cor,
rected on this subject, so that it shall
realize that if a woman who has sacrificed
her honor is untitled fan.or1nreu MS pur.
N2~ nat right have you, o masculine
beast! whose life has been loose, to take
under your care the spotlessness of vir.
gin reared in the sanctity of a respectable
home? Will buzzard dare to court q
dove?
But the majority of you will marry, and
have a right to marry, and as your re-
ligious teacher | wish to say to these men,
in the choice of wife first of all seek
divine direction. About thirty-fve years
ago, when Martin Farquhar Topper the
English poet, urged men to prayer before
they decided upon matrimonial association
people laughed. And some of them have
lived to laugh on the other side of their
mouth
The need of divine direction I argue
from the fact that so many men, and
sonessof them strong and wise, have
wreckesAeir lives at this juncture. Wit.
ness Sams ea this woman of Timnath!
R SoeFas a3zsd of the historical
AWhose wife had
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by a. tsSfffAffG f spa mar
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bsSksSohM Wesley, one IF NIX