The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-15
r,,Ises When DIR. Cha1mers orinted his

citizensl
III. Again I remark, if we want to become
Christians, like Ruth in the text, we must
choose the Christian habitation. "Where
thou lodgest, will I LODGE" cried Ruth to
Naomi. She knew that wherever Naomi
stopped, whether it were howell or mansion,
there would be q Christian home. and she
wanted to be in it What do I mean by g
Christian home? mean home in which tn.
Bible is the chief book; ZONE in which the
family kneel in prayer; home IN which
father and mother are practical Christians; q
home in which on Sabbath, from sunrise to
sunset, there is profitable converse and cheer
full song and suggestions Of better world.
Whether the wall be frescoed or not, or only
a ceiling Of uDplaned rafters; whether mar
BILE lions are couchant at the front entrance,
or plain latch is lifted by tow-string, that
home is the ante-chamber OF heaven. A man
never gets over having lived in such home.
It holds you in an eternal grip. Though
your parents may have been gone forty
years, the tears Of penitence and gladness
that were wept at the family altar still gilt
ter in your memory. Nay, do you not now
feel hot and warm on your hands, the tears
which that mother shed thirty years ago,
when, one cold winter night, she came and
your welfare here aud for your everlasting
welfare before the throne?
Owe who are to set up your own home, see
that it be Christian home! Let Jesus make
the wine at that wedding. A home without
God is an awful place, there are so many
perils to threaten it, and God himself is so
bitterly against it; but ''the Lord encampeth
around about the iuhabitation Of the just. "
What grand thing it is to have God stand
guard at that door, and thu Lord Jesus the
family physician; and the wings OF angels the
canopy over the pillow, and the Lord Of Glory
perpetual guest. You say it is important that
the wife and mother be Christian. say to
you it is just as important that the hus-
band and father be a Christian. Yet
how many clever men there are who say:
''My wife does all the religion Of my house
am worldly man; but 1haye confidence in
her, and 1 think she will bring the whole fam
ily up all right" 1t will not do, my brother.
The fact that you are not a Christian has
more influence on youf family than the fact
that your wife is Christian. Your children
will say: "Father's very good man; he Is
not Christian, and if he can risk the future,
Join your wife on the road to heaven, and at
night gather your family at the altar. Do you
say: 'Ican'tpray. / am man Of few words
and don't think I could put half dozen
sentences together in such q prayer" You
can pray; YOU can. II your child were down
with scarlet fever, and the next hour were to
decide its recovery or its death, you would
pray in sobs and groans and paroxysms OF
f Ys PTay NAV
upon your supplication, let your knees timber
and 20 down, but, if you still insist that you
cannot compose prayer, then buy or bor-
row q prayer book Of the Episcopal church,
and gather your family, and put your prayer
book on q chair and kneel down before 1t,
and in the solemn and hushed presence OF
God gather up all your sorrows and tempta-
tions and sins, and cry out: "Good Lord, de-
liver u.s."
Nv. Again I remark: II we want to be-
come Christians, like Ruth in the text, we
must choose Christian associations Thy
people shall be my people, cried out Ruth to
Naomi ''The folks you associate with l
want to associate with They will come and
see me, and I will 60 and see them want
to move in the highest Of all circles, the circle
of Gods elect; and therefore, mother, l am
Do you who are seeking after God land I
suppose there are many such In this pres
God prefer Christian society to
worldly societyl mo-" you say,
81 prefer the worlds mirth, and the
worlds laughter, and the worlds innuendo,
and the worlds paraphernalia." Well, this
is free country, and you shall have the
right Of choice; but let me tell you that the
purest mirth, and the most untrammeled
glee, and the greatest residence Of soul are in
Side Christian companionship, and not OUT
side Of it. have tried both styles Of COM
panionship-the companionship Of the world
and the companionship Of Christ, and know
by experience. l have been now so long in
the sunshiny experience and society OF
Christian people. that when am compelled
to go for little while amid intense worldly
society feel depressed. 1t is like going out
of q June garden into an icehouse. Men
never know fully how to laugh until they
become Christians The worlds laughter
has Jerk Of dissatisfaction at the end; but
when man is consecrated to God, ard he Is
all right for the world to come, then when he
laughs, body, mind and soul crackle. Let
group OF ministers Of thu gospel, gathered
from all denominations Of Christians, be to-
gether in dining hall. or in social circle.
and you know they are proverbially jocuud,
o, ye unconverted people! know not how
you can stand it down in that moping, bill
fous saturnine, worldly association. Come
up into the sunlight OF Christian society
those people for whom all thingsare working
right now, and will work right forever. I tell
you that the sweetest japonicas grow in the
Lords garden; that the largest grapes are
from the viney yards Of Canasn; that the most
OF Ages. DO not too much pity this Ruth OF
my text. for she is going to become Joint
owner Of the great harvest fields Of Boaz-
V. Once more: If we want to become
Christians. we must. like Ruth in the text
choose the Christians death and burial. Shv
exclaimed: "Where thou diest will die, and
there will be buried" think we all, when
leaving this world, would like to be sur
rounded by Christian influences. You would
not like to have your dying pillow surrounded
by caricaturists and punsters and WINE
bibbers How would you like to have
John Leech come with his London pic
torials and Christopher North with his
loose fun, and Tom Hood with his rhyming
jokes, when you are dyingl No! No! mol
Let me have a Christian nurse in my last
sickness. Let me have Christian physician
to administer the medicine. Let it be a
Christ an wife, or parent, or child. that
watches the going out OF the tides Of my
mortal existence Let Christian men come
into the room and read Of the illuminated
valley and the e1tinguishment Of grief, and
drown the hoarse blasts Of death with the
strains of MT Pisgah" and "St. Martin"
In our last moment we will all be children.
Said DR.. Guthrie, the famous Scotch clergy.
man, when dying, "Sing me a BARNS hymn" "
hour the world will stand confounded around
us Our friends may cry over us; tears will
not help us. They may look sad; what we
want is radiation in the last moment
thinking it will help them die. In our
last moment we want that bread which
came down from Heaven. Who will
give it to us3 Oh, we want Chris.
tan people in the room, 80 that
if our hope begins to struggle they may say:
"Courage, brother! all is we'll! Courage"
In that expiring moment want to hear the
old songs We used to sing in church and
prayer meetings. In that last moment wsnt
to haar tha Yoica of some Christian friAnd