Sylvanus Stall

“ During the past centuries men have been planting and replanting this seed of divine truth, sowing and resowing the earth with it, gathering and reaping the harvest and sowing again. And the days are coming when all the earth shall wave as one vast harvest field, waiting for the reapers of God, who shall gather this blessed fruitage into the garner of the skies. ”

“ How many anecdotes and stories do you tell your wife to provoke a smile or a laugh? How many roses or pinks do you pin on your coat, and how many do you bring home to her? Are you careful of your own appearance in the long evenings when there is no other woman but her to be captivated by your manly charms? I am inclined to believe there is more excuse for her, if her dress has not been changed, her hair made tidy, than there is for you, most noble husband! ”

“ Just as light carries the photograph or picture, so the air carries the sound of our words and other vibrations of the atmosphere which we call sound. Thus you see the light is one book and the air is another, and God doubtless has many other forms of making and keeping the record of our actions and words—yes, even of our thoughts, and in the great Judgment Day these words which we utter will say themselves over again in our ears. ”

“ Youth is the spring-time. It is full of hope, and full of bright prospects. But, as we grow older, and the cares and responsibilities of life multiply, then we begin to bear the toil and labor which comes with the later years. Then we are like the farmer who enters into the harvest field where hard work has to be done under a very hot and scorching sun. ”

“ Yet any one can readily imagine that it is possible for a man of strong sensual nature, who places no curb upon his appetite, to render the life of the delicate, pure-minded woman, intolerable to the last degree. As mutual affection is the heavenly bond of marriage, so mutual pleasure should also sanction its earthly bond. Love should be prepared to give as well as to receive—to be self-denying when self-denial is required of it. I cannot believe that a wife who sees her husband thus considerate will be unreasonable in her refusal. ”

“ Napheys, in "Physical Life of Woman," says: "From the moment of conception a new life commences; a new individual exists; another child is added to the family. The mother who deliberately sets about to destroy this life, either by want of care, or by taking drugs, or using instruments, commits as great a crime, is just as guilty, as if she strangled her newborn infant, or as if she snatched from her own breast her six months darling and dashed out its brains against the wall. The blood is upon her head, and as surely as there is a God and a judgment that blood will be required of her. ”

“ The sun shines and dispels the darkness, and makes it light. And do you know that the moon does not shine by its own light, but it simply throws back again, as we say, reflects, the light of the sun, just the same as when a boy takes a small piece or looking-glass and throws the light across the street? There is no light in the looking-glass itself, but it simply takes the rays of light which fall upon it from the sun and bends them, or turns them, so that the boy can throw the rays of light across the street, or upon anything that he desires that is in range of him. ”

“ What intelligent man or woman shall dare trample under their feet all the sacred relations of life, and call into being an immortal spirit whose temporal and eternal destinies are to be affected by its advent into a world that is waiting to brand it because begotten of an illicit union? What husband or wife can regard with dishonor, or dare debase, the God-given powers of reproduction? ”

“ He comes to you and to me, desiring to save us from our sins and from everlasting death; to save not only our bodies, but our souls for all eternity. If we reject Him we are told in the Bible that "we crucify Him afresh, and put Him to an open shame." I am sure no thoughtful boy or girl would be guilty of wilfully stabbing any kind dog that would come to their rescue if they were perishing in the snow, and I trust that none of you will ever reject Jesus and thrust Him away from you, and thus crucify Him for yourself and put Him to an open shame before the world. ”

“ The ovules have felt the thrill of life, the beauty fades, the fragrance is gone, the wedding-garments are laid aside, and henceforth the father-nature and the mother-nature of the plant live not for themselves, but for the life they have begotten, and the plants that shall be. Their joy abides, and they live in the glad hope of participation, in the succeeding resurrection of the life and beauty and fragrance that is to await the coming of another springtime. ”

“ For, as Isaiah says, "We all do fade as a leaf." We are all very apt to forget that we must die. And so each year, when the summer is over and the fruit is gathered, the leaves begin to wither, and the early frost tinges the forests of the closing year, like the sun oftentimes makes the clouds all crimson and glory at the close of the day. These things should teach us that as advancing years come, we also must fade and die. ”

“ It has aptly been said that children are golden links that bind the husband and wife in a bond of closest endearment. They also serve as a buffer to break the jars of family life. These little ones awaken the best qualities in the natures of both parents. They enlarge and round out those qualities which would otherwise remain dwarfed and prematurely die. They afford a purpose in life for the father and mother, such as can be found in no other object upon earth.
In the study of their own children parents have an opportunity to learn human nature as they can learn it nowhere else. ”

“ So every one in perplexity reaches out to lay hold of something. But the text which I quoted in the beginning says that this hope which we have as an anchor to the soul lays hold of something, and that something is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is like the ship whose anchor goes down, far below the waves, deep down out of sight, and lays hold of the rocks which form the foundation of the earth. So the faith of the Christian is staid, not on things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen. ”

“ She should be able to point out to the troubled wife the fact that intelligence and care will greatly mitigate, and indeed enable her largely to avoid all physical suffering; to explain to her how, as the months go by, the mother-love will spring up in her heart as the time approaches for the happiest hour in her life, when for the first time her own infant child shall lie in her arms or by her side; to picture the joy of her husband and the gladness which will come into the hearts of all who know her and who will come to rejoice over her newborn child ”

“ When I find a book that teaches a boy good business habits and helps him to become a good business man, I know that book was written with that object in view. When I find a book that teaches one how to understand the human system, the nature of disease and the character of the remedies which are to be used when people are sick, I know that book was written with a view to help people to understand the nature of disease and the character of medicine. ”

“ In its twofold nature love ennobles its possessor. It makes him responsive to the love of God upon the one hand and to the love of mankind upon the other. It gives purpose and zest to life, brightens the intellect, quickens the imagination, inspires purpose and imparts physical power. It beautifies and glorifies the individual, and makes him worthy of redemption. "When it is pure and true it unites two souls in bonds of happiness which never chafe, and which become stronger as time passes and the passions become chaste and subdued." ”

“ Look about you and see the results of worthless story-papers, of card-playing, of theatre going, of social drinking, of round dancing, lying, swearing, cheating, and all forms of wickedness, and then remember that these same influences, if wrought into your life, will also produce the same result. Do not be like the foolish mouse, which sees its dead companion in the trap, and then walks up unthinkingly and pokes his head into the same inevitable death and destruction; but remember that Satan waits to destroy you, just the same as he has destroyed others. ”

“ If the baby coughs or cries at night the father sleeps on oblivious of the fact, but the infant cannot stir without being heard by its anxious and attentive mother. If sickness compels, she bends in anxious vigils over the little life that lies in the cradle. If the breadwinner is brought home sick, it matters not how manifold the duties of the mother, no trained nurse can take the place of the wife at the bedside. In health and in sickness, in prosperity and adversity, during the day and at night, the wife and the mother finds herself the centre of duties, and very often of exactions. ”

“ Beneath a good and generous face you will find a good and generous heart. Beneath a bad face you will find a bad heart. If we are Christians we shall become more and more like Christ. We shall grow up into His likeness, and into His image, and into His stature. We are told that not only will we become more and more like Him, but that at last, in the great Resurrection, we shall behold Him as He is, and we shall be like Him.
If I were to take some pictures and place them in a bottle they would shine out through the glass, and you could see them. ”

“ Liquor is not only a curse to the individual who uses it, but it wrecks the health and happiness of the wife and curses their yet unborn children. It not only affects their morals, health and intelligence, but where the children are not born imbeciles or idiots they often inherit the appetite for drink and become depraved and drunken to the third and fourth generation. The great minds which have shone in the intellectual firmament of the past, or brighten and bless the present generation, were not begotten of parents who were given to excess and dissipation. ”

“ Perhaps afterwards they have studied medicine and become physicians, or have read law and become lawyers, and they think that they are able with all they know to find the true path of blessing through life. They think they have light enough of themselves. They do not seem to know that all about them there is a darkness of great mystery; that sin and death and destruction lurk all along [143] their way through life, and that their pathway is full of snares, and pitfalls, and dangers, but they try to walk with the little light that there is in the human understanding. ”

“ The joys of the newly-married are not only noticeable, but very beautiful. The outgoings of human affection are as beautiful and impressive as the relation of the birds that don their brightest plumage, sing their sweetest songs and build their nests in the springtime, when the mating instincts and emotional nature of the birds reach their highest and most animate expression. A young bride, in conversation with one of her intimate friends, in alluding to her happiness, said: "It is too good to last." ”

“ Are you the child of a King who is the King above all kings? Has He promised you a crown? Will your crown be perishable? How long will it last? Can you quote any of the passages of Scripture which tell of our being the children of the King of kings? Could the crown of an earthly king be bought? Is there money enough in the world to buy a crown of everlasting life? How then is this crown to be obtained? Who once stole a crown and the crown jewels of England? Was he successful in getting away with them? Who tries to steal our crown of everlasting glory? Is he ever successful? ”

“ Many a husband has had cause to regret that in his lack of consideration he has allowed his passion to awaken in his wife such a feeling of disgust as to obliterate her affection for him, to blast the prospects of all future happiness, and render both himself and wife miserable throughout all their subsequent years.
In the first place a young husband should know that many women, even at the time of their marriage, are totally ignorant of all questions relating to sex. There are some women who do not so much as know that there are any physical differences between men and women. ”

“ Does the tree abide when the leaves fall? When we die do the great influences which we have helped forward remain to bless the world? Who still notes our deeds when we pass away? Which are more beautiful, summer or autumn leaves? ”

“ A wife never ceases to love the expressions of admiration, appreciation and affection upon the part of her husband.
If you start out with a struggle to determine whether the will of the wife or the will of the husband shall have preference and pre-eminence, you may reasonably expect contention and strife for all the rest of your life. Let each seek to surpass the other in consideration, deference, and even self-denial, and the light and the joy which break upon your home in the beginning will abide to the end. ”

“ Do you use your eyes to read worthless story papers and books, or to look at evil pictures? Then your eyes and thoughts are not pure. Do you permit your ears to listen to improper talk? Then your ears and mind are not pure. Do you harbor bad thoughts in your heart? Then your heart is not pure. Do you defile your body by improper eating and drinking? If you do, then your body is not pure. If you and I desire to be pure, we must go to God and earnestly ask Him as David did when he cried unto God and said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." ”

“ All women to whom I applied for counsel said it was my duty to submit, that husbands expected it, had a right to it, and must have this indulgence whenever they were excited, or suffer, and that in this way alone could wives retain the love of their husbands. I had no alternative but silent, suffering submission to his passion, and then procure abortion or leave him, and thus resign my children to the tender mercies of one with whom it seemed I could not live myself. Abortion was most repulsive to every feeling of my nature, and at times rendered me an object of loathing to myself. ”

“ While we live upon the earth we should use the things of this world but not abuse them; remembering that finally we must go and leave everything behind us, and that we can take nothing with us into eternity except the characters which we formed here. Wealth and reputation, and all worldly things will have to be left behind us; but character, that which you and I really are, shall never pass away, but shall enter into an eternal state of being on high. All these earthly things are the mere chaff, while character is our real selves. ”

“ It would scarcely seem necessary to enjoin industry as an essential to happiness in married life; and yet the happiness of many homes is wrecked on the rocks of ease and idleness. An idle person is like the ship that simply floats upon the seas without a cargo, and without a destination. There are ten thousand directions to shipwreck, but only one course that will bring the mariner to any desired port in safety.
In making labor essential, God conferred a great blessing upon man. ”

“ Many people try to shine or to attract the attention of others to themselves, but that is not what Jesus said or meant, but rather the reverse. Neither are we to attempt to shine, or to attempt to attract the glory or honor to ourselves. Let not yourself so shine, but let your light so shine that others seeing your good works may glorify—not you, but your Father which is in heaven. We must let Jesus Christ shine in and through us. ”

“ The heart of the home is the cradle; it is the cementing tie between husband and wife. God intends that husbands and wives should become parents; and no pure woman nor honorable man will enter upon matrimony with intentions to the contrary. If they do, God will visit upon them degraded morals, ruined health, financial loss, or other terrible inflictions. The world has millions of faithful wives and mothers, but there are thousands of childless wives who are so because they entered into that black crime of conspiring with the devil to prevent them from being mothers. ”

“ All we do is being constantly photographed, not in a camera like this, but upon the rays of light as upon the pages of a great book, and in the great Judgment Day, God will judge us out of the things recorded against us in these books. Our acts record themselves, and in that great day we shall no more be able to deny the correctness of the record than we would be able to deny the personality or identity of our own photograph. ”

“ The protection and preservation of the unfolding human life is more important, and hence the greater care displayed in guarding and nourishing it.
The future mother, whose nature only recently craved her husband's caresses and embraces, now, perhaps all unconsciously to herself, changes, to fit her for the better completion of the sacred and holy work which God has assigned her. The eye loses somewhat of its lustre, the cheek its ruddy glow, and her entire being something of that pervasive sweetness which but recently made her peculiarly attractive. ”

“ Now, if you cannot be weighed against these different requirements and you have come short of them in the past, how can you expect to stand in the great Day of Judgment, when God shall take into account every idle word that we have ever uttered, every wicked thought; when we shall be weighed in the just balances of an infinite God? ”

“ Grand as life may have been in the past, the present and the future are full of new meaning, of grander possibilities and of larger blessing. God has meant that love should come to man to glorify life and to lift the lower nature of husband and wife into higher realms of thought and being; to transform, deepen, broaden and soften. In them love becomes the potent source of mightiest inspirations. The husband's duty seemed formerly to be to care, to arrange and to provide only for himself. Now he has assumed additional responsibilities. ”

“ Perhaps one of the happiest moments in your life will be when you step into a house which you can call your own home, and for the first time sit down at your own table. If you wish to perpetuate that joy, see to it that you are attentive, devoted, given to a verbal expression of your affection and an appreciation for every effort made by your wife to render your home attractive, your food palatable and your life enjoyable. ”

“ The responsibilities, are grave, but the state of two congenial souls made one in happy marriage is the grandest and most blessed earthly condition conferred upon man by God himself. It meets the requirements of our being, and, when properly understood and faithfully conformed to, brings the largest happiness that mortals are capable of upon earth. Husband and wife, parents and child, home and country, form the centre of all that makes life dear. ”

“ The foundation of marriage and of home can only be built permanently upon the abiding nature of love. Like our own being, love has a twofold nature. Its spiritual part is immortal and unchangeable; its physical part is temporary in purpose and continuance, and is liable to perversion and debasement. The physical may even be permitted to overshadow, debase and quite obliterate the spiritual. In its natural unfolding and manifestation love is very much like the plant that is rooted in the earth while it flowers in the sunlight. ”

“ In woman, the love of home is usually more dominant than in man. By cultivating this in yourself you will produce a harmony of thought and purpose which will contribute greatly to the comfort and well-being of both. Adorn your home with your own hands. Beautify the lawn, the shrubbery, and all external surroundings. It matters not how great your wealth, or how small your purse, every consideration, effort and sacrifice you make in these directions will add to your own health and happiness and endear you to your wife. ”