Year: 1870




And any true observation of the


life we are living will bring the assur.


ance that marriages of this sort are by


no means so few as cynies and satir-


lists would leave us to infer. If from


thirty to forty years of intimate obser.


walton in two widely separate sections


of society, two worlds, and the init


macy of minister to boot, can be of


service in forming an opinion, it is


mine that great prepOnderanee OF


the men and women that become hus-


band and wife find their heIpmeets,


thir matches, the one being they need


to make up the full measure so far of


their life in the man or woman they


marry. 1t is probable they may not


find what may call their ideal man


or wOman-the wonderful person the
romances can make so much better
than the Lord makes US, in the sense
that the pictures in fashiOn-plate are
finer than the portraits Of Healy or
Eaton. When we form our taste on
this sort of standard, we are likely to
be disappointed and ought to be. 1t Is
possible, too, for many reasons L shall
not give, that in the truest match the
Lord himself can make there will be
times when the husband and wife
see eye to eye, or make one
music of the base and alto in which
they plighted their faith. 1t is ex-
tremely probable, if a man canpot al
ways feel satisfied with himself before
he is married, he will not always feel
satisfied with his wife after; and, if
she sometimes charges herself with
folly when she is maiden, she may
do the same now and then by her hus-
band when she is wife. If my self
love cannot hide or eXtenuate what is
wrong in myself always, it must be a
very tender and holy and everlasting
love that will steadily overlook what
may be wrong in another that 1 only
love as IOeU as myself. Indeed, /
know of nothing in the structure of
this universe, or in life. or in the BIZ
bic that can bear me out in the idea
that a doubled possibility of happi-
ness in the addition of another life to
mine oughtnot to bringjust that much
more trial also. Twice the felicity
implies twice the infelicity in every
Jther direction. The most delicate
is always exposed to the
most appalling pain. This is in some D..
way to be expected then. In what
way we cannot very well foresee, and
t is not best we should. 1t may be
health, or temper, or habit. 1t is no
natter, there must be trial of our faith
n each other, as there is of our faith
n God; and some doubt now and then
# each others love, as there is now
MI fbap Of fHa dixvfnar IOx-o cf IIaa,-
N. No man or woman has any busi-
less to enter into this intimate one
less of life and soul without such an
When the lark scars
md sings over a mountain tarn, his !
hadOw is as deep in the water as his
caring is high in heaven. Wise old !
Bishop Taylor says: Marriage has |
n it less of beauty than a single life, !
'ut more of safety. 1t is more merry, |
'ut also more sad. 1t is fuller of joys, |
'ut also of sOrrows. 1t lies under more |
but is supported by the |
trength of love, so that these burdens !
'ecome delightful" Something like !
hat, then, is to be expected in the |
cry nature of things. 1t is to be |
Ound ,as the shadows cast by the truest |
nd purest light that ever shines in
Iome. The sweetest wife that ever
wed has said things to her husband |
cores of times that she would allow |
70 human being to say about him, or
nee for all that third person must
ear piece of her mind. if it were in


prayeT-meetfug; and the truest hus-
and will now and then make his will
nOwn to his wife in tones so imperi-
US that, if he heard another utter
hem TO the same woman, it would
ring him leaping like a leopard at
ne scoundrel who dared to speak so
} the mother of his children. Jack"
-e said to our journeyman, when he
ad been down home, Jack, what is
le matter?" "Matter enough, /" Jack
eplied, sheepishly. Il wer going past
house at OtleytOwn end am L hee'ard


woman scream murder. 1 rushed
/, and there wer her husband hitten
er; so hit him and knocked him
Don, and wer holding him by the !
lroat, ant first thing knew she wer
itten me with POKER, an wanting to
ga what / struck her husband for" {
was an illustration from a range of
fe among the Yorkshire hills-that ,
as little better, thirty years age, than
lie savage-of principle that holds
)od in the sweetest and best homes
the land, where the uttermOst hurt


a sharp word, that is repented of {
Id forgiven the moment it is spoken. (
and wives, when they are
ise, understand and act up to it as
Ie condition of being what they are,
Id bear and forbear within all fair 1
nes and limits.
With these elements in them, and !
rming part of their very structure, I
V observation convinces me that the :
ue match is the rule. In the over |
helming majority of instances those s
at come to be husband and wife G
ere made to be husband and wife, G
the face of our sins and fOllies, very {
ten by the tender mercy of God,
ID not at all of our deserving, the v
eat gift is given that makes a heav- d


for us where we would have made q
rditiOn for ourselves sometimes, and I
metimes the blessed life comes of 5
nor and truth all their lifelong in C
ose that are made one in it. John 4
d Mary sit in their home and Won b
r how Thomas and Susan manage to s.
AXE so brave a show OF their small q
,ck of esteem, and Thomas and Su- v
d shake their heads now and then A
out John and Mary. But you find h
ut somehow within it all there is a
tier with the worse, as there is worse G.
tn the better. Very tender and true C:
, they all when sickness smites fl
am; very sorely they weep over lit "


graves; and then, if they must part Ct
d one goes to the long home and one a
Us in this, whatever they may do cl
It are left to mend the poor broken cl
, is well done if they do it modest rs
and truly, and has the blessing of az
, Risen One. But, then, in that IL
e, it is always one more in heart


de larger to hold one more; never di
: cast out to make way for another! hi
e match made in Heaven is never fu
made.