The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-05-09

20 Marry-some Eminent Blundersrs-
Avoid MatOhmazers-Essent Quali-
ties-Beauty Benediction.
WASHINGTON, D. C-The following
discourse is one of a series of sermons on
domestic life delivered several years ago
by the late Rev. DR.. 4. De Witt Talmage,
and by many admirers is considered his
pulpit masterpiece, In commemoration
OF his death 1t Is now republished. It was
founded on the text, Judges xiv, g. "Is
there never woman among the daugh-
ters OF thy brethren, or among all my
people, that thou goest to take a wife Of
the uncircumcised PhilistinesD
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
counsel, but not wise in rejecting it. Cap.
tivated with her looks, the big son wanted
to marry a daughter of one of the hostile
families, a deceitful, hypocritical, whining
and saturnlne 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 a lifetime part
ner that you propose conjugality with this
foreign hirtg Is there such a dearth Of
lilies in our Israelitish gardens that you
must wear on your heart a Phiistine
thistle? Do you take crabapple because
there are no pomegranates? is there never
woman among the daughters of thy
brethren, or among all my people, that
thou goest to take a wife of the uncircum-
cised Phihstines2
Excuseless was he for such choice in a
nd ~ i s.
male loveliness and moral worth, a land
and a race of which self-denying 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 specimens.
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.
likewise excuseless is any man in our
one who because of her disposition, or
heredity, or habits or intellectual vanity,
or moral classification, may be said to be
of the Philistines.
The world never owned such opulence
of womanly character or such splendor OF
Womanly manners or multitudinous in
stances of wifely, motherly, daughterly,
sisterly devotion, as it owns to-day.
have not words to express my admiration
for good womanhood. Woman is not
only mans equal but in affectional and res
hgious nature, which is the best part of
us, she is seventy-hve 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
iority 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 I am under a delusion as to
the abundance of good womanhood abroad,
consequent upon my surroundings since
the hour / entered this life until now, l
hope the delusion will last until l 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-sacrihcIng 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 girlhood; 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
an their predecessors, a fact that will be
acknowledged by all men except those who
are struck through with moral decay from
toe to Uranium; and more ineXcusablC
than the Samson of the text is that mar
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 yol
from going over the same precipice, I or!
out in the words of my text: us Their
never q. woman among the daughters 0
thy brethren, OF among all my people, tina
thou goest to take a wife of the uncir
cumcised PhilistinesT
That marriage is the destination of tn
human race is mistake that | want u
correct before I 90 further. There ar
mu!titudes who never will marry, and still
greater multitudes who are not mt t.
marry. In Great Britain to-day there ar
nine hundred and forty-eight thousan,
more women than men, and that, ! un
derstand, is about the ratio in America
Bv mathematical and memorable law yo
see millions of women will never marry
The supply for matrimony greater tina,
Ehe demand, the first lesson of which
that every woman ought to prepare t
take care Of herself if need be. Then Their
are thousands of men who have no RICH
to marry because they have become S
eorrupt of character that their offer {
marriage is an insult to any good woman
Society will have to be toned mp and COZ
rected on this subject, so that it gha
realize that if woman who has sacrifice
her honor is untitled for marriage, so
anv man who has ever sacrificed his pu
TN. What right have you, 0 masculiu
beast whose life has been loose, to tax
under your care the spotlessness Of a VI
ioin reared in the sanctity Of a respectab
home? Will a buzzard dare to court
dove?
But the majority of you viii marry, an
have a right to marry, and as your T