Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-08-23
20, happy bond that seals my VOWS
To Him who merits all my loyel
Let cheerful anthems fiji His house.
While TO His sacred throne move.

II
like Ruth in the text we must
TAKE THE CHRISTIANS PATH.
Where thou gOest, will Co." cried out
the beautiful MOabiteSs to Naomi, the
mother-in-law. Dangerous promise that
There were deserts TO be crossed. There
were jackals that came down through the
wlldneSs. There were bandits. Their,
was the Dead Sea- Naomi says: Ruth
you must go back. You are too delicate
to take this journey. You will give out in
the first five miles. You cannot 20. You
have not the physical stamina or the moral
courage to 20 with me-" Ruth responds
Mother, j am going anyhow. Ii | stay
IN this land | will be OyerbOrne of the
idolaters; if | go along with you shall
serve God. Give me that bundle. Let me
carry 1t. | am going with you, mother,
anyhow"
And if we want to serve God we must
do rs Ruth did, crying out: "Where thou
gOest, will 60" Never mind the Dead
Sea. AtOOt or horseback Ii there be
rivers To ford, We must ford them. Iftherc
be mountains to scale, we must scale them.
ltthere be enemies to fight, we must fight
them. 1t requires grit and pluck to get
from Moab To Judah. Oh, how many
Christians there are who can be diverted
from the path by quiyer of the lip, indi-
catIve Of ScOrn! They DO not surrender tO
temptation, but they bend to it. And il
IN company there be those who tell
unclean stories they will 90 so far as to tell
something on the margin between the pure
and the impure. And if there be those
Nj hn h.. l.
word damn they will 20 50 far rs the
word darn" and look over the fence
wishing they could 90 farther; but rs to
any determination like Ruth's to 20 the
whole rOad of all that is right, they have
not in all their body rs much courage rs
Ruth had in her little finger Oh, my
friends, let us start for heaven and 90 clear
through! In the river that runs by the
gate OF the city we shall wash oil all our
bruises. When DIR. Chalmers printed his
astronomical diScOurSeS they were read in
the haylOitS, in the fields, in the garretS,
and III the palaces because they advocated
the idea that the stars were inhabited. q
hearer, does not your soul thrill with the
thought that there is another world beau
titully inhabited? Nay, more, that you
by the grace of God may become one OF its
glorious citizens?
III. Again remark: II we want to be-
come Christians, like Ruth in the text, we
must
CHOOSE THE CHRISTIANS HABITATION.
Where thou lodgest, will lodge" cried
Ruth to Naomi. She knew that wherever
Naomi stopped, whether it were hovel or
mansion, there would Dc Christian home
aud she wanted To Dc in it, What do
mean by u Christian home? | mean 4
home in which the Bible is the chief book {;
home in which the family kneel in pray
crS u home in which father and mother
are practical Christians; u home in which
on Sabbath, from sunrise To sunset, there
Is profitable converse, aud cheerful song,
and suggestions of u better world. Whether
the wall be frcScOed or not, Or only 4 cell
ing OF uuplancd ratterS; whether marble
lions are cuuchInt at the front entrance, or
u plain latch is lifted by 4 tow
string, that home is the ante-chamber
of heaven. \ man never gets over having
lived in such an early home. 1t holds
you in an eternal grip. Though your
parents may have been gone forty years,
the tears OF penitencc and gladneSs that
were wept ~ the family altar still glitter
in your memory. Nay, do You not now
feel warm and hot on Your hands the tears
which that mother shed thirty years ago,
when, one cold winter night, she came and
wrapped you up in the bed and prayed iOr
your welfare here and for your everlasting
welfare before the throne?
q We who are to set up your own home,
see that ii De
\ CHRISTIAN HOMEi
Let Jesus make the wine ut that wedding.
4 home without God is an awful place,
there are ~ many perils to threaten 1t and
God Himself is 80 bitterly against it; but
the Lord encampeth around about the
habiiatiOn of the just. What grand
thing It is To have God stand guard ut that
door, and the Lord Jesus the family phySi-
elan; and the wings of angels the canopy
over the pillow; and the Lord Of
Glory a perpetual guest. You say
it is important that the wife and the moth
er be a Christian. | say to you it Is Just as
important that the husband and father be
a Christian. Yet how many clever men
there are who say: My wife does all the
religion of my house. | am 4 worldly
man: but have confidence in her, and |
think she will bring the whole family up
all right" 1t will not do my brother
The fact that you are not n Christian has
more influence on your family than the
flrt that your wife is a Christian. Your
children will say: Fathers a very good
man: he Is not Christian, and If he can
risk the future, can risk the future. y
father and husband! Join your wife on the
road To heaven, and ut night gather your
family at the altar. Do You say: Il
can't pray. | am u man of few words
and | don't think | could put halfa dozen
sentences together in such prayer. You
ran pray; YOU can. Ii your child were
down with the scarlet fever, and the next
bour were 10 decide its recovery or its
death, YOU would pray in sObs, and groanS
and parOxysmS Of carnestneSS. les, you
can pray. When the eternal life OF your
household may depend upon your suppl
cation. let YOUR knees timber and 90 down;
but if YOU still insist that you cannot COM
noSe a PRAYER. then buy or borrow 4
PRAYER Book of the Episcopal Church, and
rather YOUR family, and put your Prayer
Rook ON a chair and kneel down before 1t,
and in the solemn and hushed presenc" OF
God, gather up all your SORROWS ana
and sins, and cry out: ''GOod
Lord, deliver us.
4. Again remark: If we want TO be
come Christians like Ruth in the text we
must
CHOOSE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS.
.sThy people shall be my people, cried
mt Ruth to Naomi. The folks you asSo-
riate with want to associate with. They
will come and see me and l will go ana
ace them. l want to move in the highest
,f all circIes-the circle of Gods elect ana
therefore, mother, am going back wlth
vou to the land of Judah" Do You VINO
1re seeking after GOd-and / suppose there
are many such in this Preseneem-do you
who are seeking after God prefer Christian
society to worldly society? mo, yon
Say II prefer the worlds mirth, and the
worlds laughter, and the worlds inuend0'
and the worlds parapherndiia-" " Well
nd shall