DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON. Worldly Marriages. “And there was a man fn Maon whose pos- ‘Sessions were in Carmel, and the man was very #&veat, and ho had threo thousand sheep and Thousand goats.” 18am. 25:2. My text introduces us to a drunken bloat of large property. Before the «lay of safety deposits and Government bonds and national banks, psople had their investment in flocks and herds, and this man, Nabal, of the text, had much of his possessions in live-stock. He came also of a distinguished family, and had glorious Caleb for an ancestor. But this descendant was a sneak, a «hurl, A BOT AND A FOOL. One instance to Rlustrate: It was a wool-raising country, and at the time of shearing a great feast was prepared for the shearers; and Pavid and his warriors, who had in other days saved from destruction the threshing-floors of Nabal, sent to him, asking, in this time of plenty, for some bread for their starving men. And Nabal cried out: ““Who is David?” As though an En- glishman had said, “Who is Welling- ton?” or a German should say, “Who is Von Moltke?’ or an American should say, “Who is Washizgton?” Nothing did Nabal give to the starving men, and that night the scoundrel lay «dead drunk at home; and the Bible gives us a full length picture of him, sprawling and maudlin and helpless, Now that was the man whom Abi- gail, the lovely and gracious and good Woman, married—a tuberose planted beside a thistle, a palmn-branch twined into a wreath of deadly nightshade, Surely that was not one of the matches made in heaven. We throw up our hands in horror at that wedding. How did she ever consent to link her desti- nies with such a creature. Well, she no doubt thought that 1t would be an honor to be associated with an aristo- cratic family; and no one can despise a greal name, Beside this, wealth would come, and with it CHAINS OF GOLD. and mansions lighted Uy swinging lamps of aremdtic oil, and resounding with the cheer of banquelérs, sewted at tables laden with wines from the rich- est vineyards, and fruits from ripest orchards, and nuts threshed from for- eign woods, and meats smoking in platters of gold, set on by slaves in bright uniform. Before she plighted her troth with this dissipated man, she sometimes said to hersell: “How can I endure him? To be associated for Nfe with such a debauchee I cannot and will not!” But then again she said to herself: *‘It is time 1 was marned, and this is a cold world to depend on, and perhaps I might do worse, and maybe I will make a sober man out of him, and marriage is a lottery, anyhow.” And when, one day, this representative of a great house presented himself In a parenthesis of sobriety, and with an assumed geniality and gallantry of manner, and with promises of fidelity and Kindness and self-abuegation, a June morning smiled on a March squall, and the great-souled Yoman surrendered her happipess to the keeping of this infamous %on of for- tune, whose possessions wese in Carmel; “and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thous- and goats,” Behold here z domestic tragedy re- peated every hour of every day, all over Christendom-—marriage for wordly sue. cess, without r to character. So Marie Jeanne Philipon, the daughter of the Liun.ble engraver, became THE FAMOUS MADAME ROLAND of history, the vivacious and brilliant girl, united with the cold, formal, mon- olonous man, because be came of an affluent family of Amiens, and had lordly blood mr his veins. The day when, through political revolution, this patriotic woman was led to the scaffold, around which lay piles of human heads that had fallen from the axe, and she said to an aged man whom she had comforted as they ascended the scaf- fold, “Go first, that you may not wit. ness my death,” and then, undaunted, took her turn to die—that day was Lo her only the last act of a tragedy, of which her day was the first, Good and genial character in a man, THE VERY FIRST REQUISITE for a woman's happy marriage. Mis- take me not as depreciative of worldly prosperities, There is a religious cant that would seem to represent poverty as a virtue, and wealth as a crime. I can take you through a thousand ma where God is as much worsh He ever was in a cabin. The inculcates the virtues which toward wealth, In the millennium we will all dwell in ard ride in chariots, and sit at sumptuous ban. quets, and sleep under rich embroid- eries, and live four or five hundred years, for, if according to the Bible, in those times a child shall die a hundred years old, the average of human life will be at Jeast five centuries, The whole tendency of sin is toward poverty, and the whole tend of righteousness is toward wealth, Godli- ness is profitable for the life that now ka well as for that which is to come, o inventory can be made of the pic- ture- to God, and of scul lared ificence, and of parks and fountains and gardens in the ownership of good men and women. The two most lordly residences In which became missionary to Bagdad : the Christ who was born in an Eastern caravansary has lived in a palace, WHAT RICHES CAN DO, It is a grand thing to have plenty of mgt rank to which you may go while you feel disgusted with the shams of the world, and ask Thackeray to express your chagrin, or Charles Dickens to expose Pecksniffian- ism, or Thomas Carlyle to thunder your indignation; or the other shelves where the old Gospel writers stand ready to warn and cheer us, while they open doors into that City which is so bright the noonday sun is abolished, There is no virtue in owning a horse that takes four minutes to go a mile, if you can own one that can go in a little over two minutes and a half; no virtue in running into the teeth of a northeast wind with thin apparel if you can afford furs; NO VIRTUE IN BEING POOR when you can honestly ba rich, These are names of men and women that I have only to mention, and they suggest not only wealth, but religion and gen- erosity and philanthropy, such as Amos Lawrence, James Lenox, Peter Cooper, William E, Dodge, Lord Shaftesbury, Miss Catherine Wolfe and Mrs, Astor. A recent writer says, that of fifty lead- ing business men in one of our Eastern cities, and of the fifty leading business men of one of our Western cities, three fourths of thei: are Christians, The fact is, that about all the brain and the business genius is on the side of religion. Infidelity is tncipient insanity, All infidels are cranks, Many of them talk brightly, but you soon find that in their mental machinery there is a screw loose, When they are not lecturing against Christianity they are sitting in bar-rooms, squirting tobacco juice, and when they get mad swear till the place is sulphurous. They only talk to keep their courage up, and at best will feel like the infidel who begged to be buried with his Christian wife and daughter, and when asked why he wanted such burial, replied: *‘If there be a resurrec- tion of the good, as some folks say there will be, my Christian wife and daughter will somehow get me up and take me along with them, Men may pretend to despise religion, but they are rank hypocrites. The sea- captain was right when he came up to the village on the seacoast, and insisted ou paying ten dollars to the church, al- though he did not attend himself. When asked his reason, he said that he liad been in the habit of carrying car- goes of oyslers and clams from that place, und he found, since that church was built, the people were more honest than they used to be, for before the church was built he often found the load, when he came to count it a thou- sand clams short. Yes. Godliness is profitable for both worlds, Most of the great, honest, FEEMANENT WORLDLY SUCCESSES are by those who reverence God and the Dible. But what 1 do say 1s that if a man have nothing but social position and financial resources, a woman who puts her happiness by marriage in his hand, re-enacts the folly of Abigail when she accepted disagreeable Nall, “‘whosz possessions were in Carmel: and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats.” If there Le good moral! character ae- companied by affluent circumstances, I congratulate you. If not, let the morn- ing lark fly clear of the Rocky Moun- tain eagle, THE SACRIFICE OF WOMEN on the altar of social and financial ex- pectation is erpel and stupendous, I sketch you a scene you have more than once witnessed. A comfortable home, with nothing more than ordinary sur- fully and Christianly reared. From the outside world comes in a man with nothing but money, unless you count profanity and selfishness and fondness for champagne and general recklessness as a part of his possession. He has his coal collar turned up when there is no chill in the air, but because it gives him an air of abandon; and eyeglass, not because he is pear-sighted, but be- cause it gives a classical appearance; and with an attire somewhat loud, a cane thick enough to be the club of Hercules and clutched at the middie, his conversation interlarded with French phrases inaccurately pronounced, and a sweep of manner indicating that he was not born like most folks, but ter. restrially landed, By ARTS LEARNED OF THE DEVIL be insinuates himself into the affeciions of the daughter of that Christian home. All the kindred congratulate her on the almost supernatural come in that the young man is fast in his habits, that he has broken several young hearts, and that he is mean and selfish and cruel. But all this is covered up with the fact that he has several houses in his own name, and has large deposits at the bank, , more than all bas a father worth many hundred thou. sand dollars and very feeble in health, and may any day drop off, and this is the only son; and a round dollar held Sh LAUNCHED OX A DEAD SEA, its waters brackish with You are nothing iui a woman, anyhow, Down, you miserable wretch!” Can balls of mosaic, ean long lines of Etrus. can bronze, or statuary by Palmer and Powers and Crawford and Chantry and Canova, can galleries rich from the pen- oll of Bierstudt and Church and Kensot and Cole and Copan, could flutes play- ed on by an Ole Bull, or planos lingered by a Gottschalk, or solos warbled by a Sonntag, could wardrobes like that of a Marle Antoinette, could jewels like those of a Eugenie, make a wife in such a companionship happy? IMPRISONED IN A CASTLE Her gold bracelets are the chains of a lifelong servitude. There is a sword over her every feast, not like that of Damocles staying suspended, but drop- ping through her lacerated heart. Her wardrobe is full of shrouds for deaths which she dies daily, and she is buried alive, though buried under gorgeous upholstery. There is one word that sounds under the arches, and rollsalong the corridors, and weeps in the falling fountains, and echoes in the shutting of every door, and groans in every nots of stringed and wind Instrument: **Woe! Woe!” The oxen and sheep, in olden times, brought to a temple of J upiter to be sacrificed, used to be covered with ribbons and flowers—ribbous on the horns and flowers on the neck, But the floral and ribboned decoration did not make the stab of the butcher's knife less deathful, and all the chande- liers you hang over such & woman, and all the robes with which you enwrap ber, and all the ribbons with whieh you adorn her, and all the bewitching charms with which you embank her footsteps, are the ribbons and flowers®f @ horrible butchery. As if to show how wretched a good Woman may be in splendid surround. ings, we have two recent illustrations, TWO DUCAL PALACES in Great Britain, They are the focus of the best things that are possible in art, mn literature, in architecture, the accumulation of other estates, until their wealth is beyond calculation, and their grandeur beyond description. One of the castles has a cabinet set with gems that cost two million five hundred thousand dollars, and the walls of it bloom with Rembrandts and Clandes and Poussins and Guidos and Raphaels, and there are Southdown flocks in sum- mer grazing on its lawns, and Arab steeds prancing at the doorways on the “first open day at the kennels.” From the one castle the duchess has removed with her children, because she can no longer endure the orgies of her husband, the duke, and in the other castle the duchess remains, confronted by insults and abominations, in the presence of which I do not think God or decent society re- quires a woman to remain, Alas for those ducal country-seats! They on a large scale illustrate what on a smaller scale may be seen in many places, that without moral character in a husband, all the accessories of wealth are to a wife's soul tantalization and mockery. When Abigail finds Nabal, her husband, beastly drunk, as she comes home from interceding for his fortune and life, it was no alleviation that the old brute had possessions in Carmel, and ‘“‘was very great. and had three thousand sheep, and one thousand goats, * and he the worst goat The animal in his nature seized the soul and ran off with it. De. GFNTEEL VILLAINS are to be expurgated. Instead of being welcomed into respectable society bee cause of the amount of stars and garters they ought to be fumigated two or three years before they are allowed, without peril to themselves, to put their hand on the door-knob of a moral house, The time must come when a masculine estray will be as repugnant to good society as a feminine estray, and no coat of arms or family emblazonry or epaulet can pass a Lothario unchal- lenged among the sanctities of home life. By what law of God or ectiimon sense, is an Absalom better than a Delilah, a Don Juan better than a Mes. salina? The brush that paints the one black must paint the other black. But what a spectacle it was when last sammer much of “watering-place” society went wild with enthusiasm over an unclean foreign dignitary, whose name in both hemispheres is a synonym for profligacy, and princesses of Anser- fean society from all parts of the land had him ride in their carrisges and sit at their tables, though they knew him 10 be a portable lazaretto, a charnel house of moral putrefaction, his breath a typhoid, his foot that of a Satyr and his touch death, Here is an evil that men cannot stop, but women may. KEEP ALL SUCH oUT of your parlors, have no recognition for them in the street, and no more think of allying your life and destiny with theirs than “gales from Araby’ would consent to pass the honeymoon with an Egyptian plague. All that money or social position that a bad man brings to a woman in marriage is a did de spair, a gilded horror, a brilliant agony, a prolonged death ; and the longer the marital union lasts, the more evident will be the fact, that she might better never have been born, Yet you and I have been at brilliant weddings, where, before +The feast was (ver, he Dride- groom's tongue was thick, glassy, and his step a stagger, rly clicked glasses with jolly comrades, all over thee!” Let Him put upon thee the ring of this royal marriage, Here is an honor worth reaching after, By repentance and faith yon may come into a marriage with the Emperor of uni- versal dominion, and you may be an Empress unto God forever, and reign with Him in palaces that the centuries cannot crumble, or cannonades de- molish, High, worldly marriage is not neces- sary for woman, or marriage of any Kind, in order to your happiness. Celi- bacy has been honored by the best Be- ing that ever lived and His greatest apostles—Christ and Paul, What higher honor could single life on earth have? But what you need, O WOINAL, isto be aManced forever and forever. and the banns of that marriage I am this moment here and now ready to pub- lish. Let the angels of heaven bend from their galleries of Hght to witness, while I pronounce you one—a loving God and a forgiven soul. One of the most stirring passages in history with which I am acquainted, tells us how Cleopatra, the exiled Queen of Egypt, won the sympathies of Julius Cmsar, the conqueror, until be became the bridegroom, and she the bride, Driven from her throne, she sailed away on the Mediterranean Sea in & storm, and when the large ship anchored, she put out with one womanly friend ina small boat, until she arrived at Alexan- dria, where was Casar, the great gen- eral. Knowing that she would not be permitted to land or pass the guards on the way to Cwsar's palace, she laid upon the bottom of the boat some shawls and scarfs and richly dyed uphol- stery, and then lay down upon them, and her friend wrapped her in them. and she was admitted ashore in this Wrapping of which was an- nounced as A PRESENT FOR CESAR, This bundle was permitted to pass the guards of the gates of the palace and was put down at the feet of the Roman general. When the bundle was un- rolled, there arose before Cwmsar one whose courage and beauty and brillian- cy are the astonishment of the ages, This exiled queen of Egypt told the story of her sorrows, and he promised her that she should get back her throne gods, dominion in his own heart. Afterward they made a triumphal tour in a barge that the pictures of many art galleries have called “Cleopatra's Barge," that barge was covered with awnings, and its deck was soft luxuriant silver-tipperd, and the prow was gold and with the spicery of tropical gardens, and re- sonpant with the music that night glad as the day. are not a Cleopatra, and that the One to the sins of Cwsar, the conqueror. But and sky, Though it may be a dark night of spiritual agitation in which you put out into the harbor of peace, you may sail, be found at the feet of Him who will put you on a throne to be acknowledged as His in the day when all the silver trumpets of the sky shall proclaim : ina barge of light you sail with Him of glass mingled with fire. EE ——— He Was an Economist. mile,” an old negro asked of a street car conductor. *'I wanter go out ter see Brudder *Lias Smif. Ain't er flosh- an'-blood brudder yet, understan’, jes er brudder in de faith.” “Five cents.’ “Jes for er mile? I tell yer dat de man ain't more sho nuff er brudder— jes a brudder in the faith.” “The fare is five conte.” “Jes for er mile?" “Yea! “How much is it fer two miles?" “Just the same," “Look yere, how fur vou take me fur fi’ cents?” “Five miles. “Whut's de name o' (le place?” “City limits.» “Take me all de" way out fur cents?” “An' won't take me mo’n er mile wa'r Brodder Smif libs for no less?” “No. 5" “1 ain’t got no bizness out dar at your limits, but yer may take me out dar an’ I'l walk back ter war Brud- der Smif libs. Yere's money, sah; I'se one o’ dese p*li ‘economists an blebs in gettin’ de full worth o' mer money. It would be er mighty fool man that would pay er dollar fur er pair o” britches w’en he kin get er whol suit o’ close fur de same price. Take me on to yer limits, sah.” sm A Gallant Resoue, SUNDAY SCHOGL LESSON. Busoay, Fen, b, 1888, The Transfiguration. LESSON TEXT. (Matt. 17: 1.18, Memory verses, 4, i.) LESSON PLAN. Toric oF THE QUARTER: Jesus the King tn Zion. GOLDEN TEXT FOR THE QUARTER: He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and fatthful.—Rev, 17 : 14. Lesson Toric: The King's Follow- ers Honored, Lesson (1 By a Wondrous Spectacle, va, 1-4 Outline : 5% By a Divine Message, va. 5.49, * (8. By a Gracious Instructor, ve. 9-18. GoLpeN Text: And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Bon: hear him, —Luke 9 : 35. M. Matt. 17 : 1-13. followers honored. T.—Mark 9: 2-13. led narrative, W-—Luke 9 : 28.346, lel narrative, T. Exod. closed to Moses, F.—~1 Kings 19 : closed to Elijah, , S.~Ezek, 1 : 4.28, to Ezekiel, S.Rev, 7: 9-17. to the redeemed. The King’s Mark's paral- Luke's paral- 33 : 12:23. God dis- 1-18. God dis- God disclosed (rod disclosed LESSON ANALYSIS, I. HONORED BY A WONDROUS SPEC- TACLE, IL The Shining Face : His face did shine as the sun (2). The fashion of his countenance was al- tered (Luke 9 : 20), A light... .above the brightness of the sun (Acts 26 : 13). The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor, 4 : 8). His countenance was as the sun Rev. 1:16). | IL The White Raiment : i ! light (2). : : § } i 3 ! | He interpreted to them... the things concerning himself (Luke 24 ; 27), II Foretelling Events : Even so shall the Son of man suffer of them (12), Begzn Jesus to show... how that he must. . . . be killed (Matt. 16: 21). The Son of man shall come in his glory (Matt, 25:81). Though he die, yet shall he lve (Joh 11 : 25). Again a little while, and ye shall sec me (John 16 : 16), L “Tell the vision to no man.” (1 The wonderful vision ; (2) The na- tural publication! (8) required secrecy. . “Elijah is come already.” (1) An expected coming ; (2) An errone- ous understanding ; (3) An asuthor- tative explanation, 3, "Even so shall the Son of man aiso suffer of them.” (1) How John did suffer ; (2) How Jesus shall suffer, ~{(1) The persecutors ; (2) The vic- tims ; (3) The sufferings, LESSON BIBLE READING, THE TRANESFIGURATION, The occasion (Matt, 17 : 1; Mark 9 ; 2: Luke 9 : 28). Jesus’ companions (Matt, 17 : 1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9: 28), The place (Matt. 17: 1; Mark 9: 2: Luke 9 : 28), His first act (Luke 9 : 28, 20). The fact of transfiguration [Matt. 17 : 2; Mark 9 : 2). His transfignred Luke 0 : 20), His transfigured raiment (Matt, 17 : Mark 9 : 3: Luke 9 : 29). His guests (Mass, 17 : 3: Luke 8 : 301. Their appearance (Luke 9 : 31), Their conversation (Luke 9 : 31). What the disciples saw (Luke 9 (Matt, 17 : face Mark 2 : wy I Peter's comment (Matt, 17 : 4; Mark 9:5, 6; Luke 9: 33). The cloud (Matt, 17 : Oy; Mask 9:7 Luke 9 : 34). The voice (Matt. 17: 5; Mark 0: 7 Luke 9 : 85). Fears quieted (Matt. 17 : 6, 7). Jesus only (Matt, 17 : 8; Mark 9 : Luke 9 : 36), HR ! ceeding white (Mark 0: 3). | His raiment became white and dazzling i {(Luke?9 : 20), | They shall walk with me in white (Ros 3:4). i II The Supernatural Visitors : | There appeared Moses and Elijab talking with li i So Moses, | did Moab { Deut, 34 : 5). | Elijah went up by a whirlwind heaven (2 Kings 2: 11). There appeared unto them Elijah with Moses (Mark 9 © 4). | Moses and Elijah : glory {Luke 9: 31). 1. “Bringeth them up into mountain apart.” (1) Selected of Jesus ; (2) Submissive to Jesus : (4) Led of Jesus: (4) Alone with Jesus: (5) Honored of Jesus: (6) Happy in Jesus, i there nn the land of into who appeared in and Elijah.” (1) Representing the law and the prophets; (2) Repre- senting the dead and the translated: (3) Acknowledging the Messiah's majesty, 4 “It is good for us to be here.” (1 Here, in the place of duty; (2) Here, in the place of honor ; (3) Here, inthe place of privilege.—(1) The place ;: (2) The beneficiaries: (3) The blessing ; (4) The benefactors. E I've Voice: {5}. And lo, a voice out of (Matt. 3:17). the heavens {Mark 9: 7. A voice came out of the cloud (Luke 9: 35). There came such a voice. ...from the excellent glory (2 Pet. 1: 17). IL The Message : This Is my beloved Son : ! him (5), { This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matt, 3 : 17). This is my beloved Son: hear ye him {Mark 9: 7). This is my Son, my chosen: hear ye him (Luke 9 : 35). I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again (John 12: 25). Il. The Impression : They fell on their face, and were gore afraid (6), Let not God speak with us, lest we die {Exod. 20: 19). If we hear the voice... .any more, then we shall die (Deut, 5 : 25). The multitude... .said that thundered (Jolin 12 : 20), They that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken (Heb, 12; 19), 1 “This is my beloved Son,” Py, The approving Father; (2) . honored Son.--{1) The The hearers ; (3) The 2. “Hear ye him,” ...hear ve it had your 1) Hear, to learn; (2 — (8) Hear, to obey, 3. “Jesus ony a ha a present oom 3 a glorious friend a; () As an authorized in- structor ; (4) As a divine Saviour. fl. HONORED BY A GRACIOUS IN. them, mying, Tell Asano having nithority 10; Luke 9 : 36), 17, 18). LESSON SURROUNDINGS. In all three accounts, the transfigura- a journey of some length. Mount Tabor in Lower Galillee, nearly due west of the southern end of the lake of Genne- This would be the longest con- Unuous journey of our Lord’s ministry, so far as the record shows: and it seems be passed by without notice, Moreover, the account of Mark jm- plies (without directly affirming) that the healing of the lunatic boy at the The evident purpose of ment for the instruction of the disciples, Casaren Philippi, and that the “high Other sites have been suggested, but tradition since the fourth century has Indeed, there was probably a The time is one week after that of the last lesson, in the summer of the year of Rome 782 — A. D. 20. Parallel passages: Mark 9 Luke 9 : 298.96. santos MAIR sss The Latest in Paper, 2-13; Doors, which one would think wers polished mahogany, but that they posed each of two thick paper stamped and moulded into panels, and glued together with glue and potash, and then rolled through heavy rollers, These doors are first covered with a waterproof coating, then painted and varnished, and bung in the ordinary way. Few persons can detect that they are not made of wood, particular- ly when used as sliding doors, Black walnut is said to ba getting very scarce in this country, but picture frames are now made of colored like walnut, and are so Der- fect that HO une oui detect Shem without cutting t . Paper, Pp, glue, linseed oil and carbonate of lime or whiting are mixed together and heat- ed into a thick cream, which, on being allowed to cool, is run into moulds and hardened, : be handsome pianos manufactured from paper, a French invention. A beruti- musical instritten ent of this kind. “as
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