The Wedding Ring: A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those Contemplating MatrimonyTalmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Religion
The Wedding Ring: A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those Contemplating Matrimony
Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Marriage
some time ago misused trust funds, and he went from fraud to fraud,
and from knavery to knavery, until it was necessary for him to leave
home before daylight. His wife said: "Where are you going?" "I am
going to New York," said he "I am going on the early train." "Why,
isn't this sudden?" she asked. "Oh, no; I expected to go," and then he
left the room and went up to the room where his daughters slept,
looked upon their calm faces for the last time, as he supposed, and
started. He was brought back by the constables of an outraged law, and
is now in the penitentiary.
Do you suppose that man, with a good wife, as he had, an honest wife,
as he had, a Christian wife, as he had, could have got into such an
enormity if he had consulted in regard to her wishes? Consultation is
the word--domestic consultation.
III. Again: in order to domestic happiness, there must, in the
conjugal state, be
NO SECRETS
kept one from the other. What one knows both must know. It is a bad
sign when one partner in the conjugal relation is afraid to have the
letters opened or read by the other partner. Surreptitious
correspondence is always dangerous. If a man comes to you and says, "I
am going to tell you a great privacy, and don't want you to tell
anybody, not even your wife," say to him, "Well, now, you had better
not tell me, for I shall tell her as soon as I get home."
There must be no secrecy of association. You ought not to be unwilling
to tell where you have been, and with whom you have been. Sometimes an
unwise wife will have a lady confidante whom she makes a depository of
privacies which they are pledged to keep between themselves. Beware!
Anything that implies that husband and wife are two and not one
implies peril, domestic peril, social peril, mighty peril.
In the vast majority of cases of domestic infelicity coming to
exposure in the courts, the trouble began by the accidental opening of
a letter which implied correspondence which was never suspected. In
the conjugal relations, secrets kept one from another are
nitro-glycerine under the hearthstone, and the fuse is lighted!
IV. Again: in order to your happiness there must be a spirit of
FORBEARANCE.
In the weeks, the months, the years that you were planning for each
other's conquest, only the more genial side of your nature was
observable, but now you are off guard, and the faults are all known
the one to the other. You are aware of your imperfections, unless you
are one of those self-conceited people who are quickly observant of
faults in others, but oblivious to faults in yourself; and now having
found out all of each others imperfections, forbear.
If the one be given to too much precision, and the other disorderly in
habits; if the one be spendthrift and the other oversaving; if the one
be loquacious, and the other reticent, forbear. Especially, if you
both have inflammable tempers, do not both get mad at once. Take turn
about! William Cowper put it well when he said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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