Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-09-18
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON
IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIANITY
IN THE HOME.
preached at Grimsby, canada.l

rot1rn from following after thee; for whittier
500 gocst, will go; and where thou lodgest,
will lodge; thy people shall be my people.
and thy God my God: where thou dat, viii
die, and there will be buried; the Lord do
SO to me, and more also, if aught but death
part thee and me. Ruth l., Ii and IL.
Famine in Judah. Upon fields distin-
guished for fertility the blight came, and at
the door Of princely abodes want knocked.
Turning his back upon his house and his
lands, Elimeech took his wife, Naomi and
his two Sons and started for the land of
Moab in search of bread. Getting into
Moab, his two sons married idolaters-Ruth
the name of one, Orpah the name Of the
other. Great calamities came upon that
household Elimelech died and his two sons,
leaving Naomi, the wife, and the two daugh-
ters-in-law. Poor Naomi. in a strange land
and her husband and two SOILS dead She
must go back to Judah. She cannot stand it
in place where everything reminded herof
her sorrow. Just as now, sometimes you
see persons moving from one house TO anoth-
er, or from one city to another, and you can
not understand it until you find out that it is
because there were associations with GER
tain place that they could no longer bear.
Naomi must start for the land of Judah; but
how shall she get thsrei Between Moab and
the place where she would like to go there
are deserts: there are wild beasts ranging the
wilderness; there are savages going up and
down, and there is the awful Dead Sea
Well, you say, she came over the read once,
she can do so again. All, when she came
over the road before she had the strong arms
OF her husband and her two sons to defend
her; now they are all gone. The hour of
parting has come, and Naomi must be sepa-
rated from her two daughters-in-l law. Ruth
and Orpah. They were tenderly attached,
these three mourners They had bent over
the same sick bed; they had moved in the
same funeral procession: they had wept
Thcro
mourners stand talking. Naomi thinks
of the time when she left Ju-
dab, with a prince for her companion.
Then they all think of the marriage festivals
when Naomi's two sons were united to these
women, who have now exchanged the wreath
of the bride for the veil of the mourner.
Naomi starts for the land of Judah, and Ruth
and Orpah resolve to go little way along
with her. They have gone but a short dis
lance when Naomi turns around and says to
her daughters-in law: $50 back. There
may be days of brightness vet for YOU in
your native land. can't bear to take Won
away from your home and the homes of Your
kindred. | am old and troubled Go not
along with me. The Lord deal gently with
you as We have dealt with the dead aud with
me-" But they persisted in going, and so the
three Travelled on until after awhile Naomi
turns around again and begs them to go back
Orpah takes the suggestion, and after a sad
parting gees away: but Rnth. grand and
glorious Ruth, turns her back upon her home
She says Il can't bear to let that old mother
go alone. 1t is my duty to go with her."
And throwing her arms around weeping Ma
omi, she pours out her soul in the tenderness
and pathos and Christian eloquence of nv
text: 'Entreat me not to leave thee. or to
return from following after thee for whittier
thou goest, will 90: and whittier thou lodg-
est, will lodge; thy people shall be my peo-
pie. and thy God nv God: where thou dieSt
7 vii nd fhara will 7 - Il. A.
Lord do SO to me, and more also, if aught
but death part thee and me-
Five choices made Ruth in that text and
five choices must we all make. if we ever
want to get to heaven.
/. In the first place. if we want to become
Chr Istians, we must, like Ruth in the text,
CHOSE the Christians God Beautiful Ruth
looked up into the wrinkled face of Naomi
and said: "Thy God shall be my God" You
see it was change of gods. Naomi's God
was Jehovah; Ruths God was Chemosh the
divinity of the Moabites, whom she had wor-
SHIPPED under the symbol of a black star.
Now she comes out from that black-starred
divinity, and takes the Lord in whom there
Is no darkness a. all: the silver-starr divin-
ity TO whom the meteor pointed down in
Bethlehem, the sunshiny God, Of whom the
psalmlst wrote: ''The Lord God is a
TO become Christians, we must change
gods. This world IS the Chemosh to
most people. It is black-starred god. II
can heal no wounds. 1t can wipe awav no
sorrows. 1t can pay no debts 1t can save
no undyiDg soul 1t is a great cheat, so
many thousand miles in diameter and so
many thousand miles in circumference IL
should put this audience under oath, one
half OF them would swear that this world is
q liar. 1t is bank which makes large adyer-
tisement of what it has in the vaults and of
the dividends that 1t declares and tells US
that If we want happiness, all we have got
to do Is to come to that bank and apply for
it, In the hour of need, we go to that bank
TO get happiness. and we find that the vaults
are empty, and all reliabilities have alb
seconded and we are swindled out of every
thing. U thou black-starred Chemosh, how
many are burning incense at thy shrine!
Now, Ruth turned away from this god
Chemosh, and she took Naomi's God. Who
was that The God that made the world and
put you in it. The God that fashioned the
heaven and filled it with blissful inhabitants.
The God whose lifetime study it has been to
make You and all his creatures happy. The
God who watcher us in childhood. and led MS
through the gauntlet of infantile distresses,
feeding US when we were hungry, pillowing
US wnen we were somDolent, and sending his
only Son 70 wash away our pollution with
the tears and blood OF his own eye
and heart, and offering to be our
everlasting rest, comfort, and &c
Itt5ys n loving OO1. n SYMPATHETIC
God. A great-hearted God, An all-encom-
passing God. A God who filings himself on
this world in a very abandonment of ever
lasting affection. The clouds, the veil of his
lace. The sea, the aquarium of his palace.
The stars, the dew-drops on his lawn. The
God Of Hannah's prayer and Esthers conse-
grafton, and Mary's broken heart and Ruths
owing and bereft spirit. Oh, choose We be-
tween Chemosh and Jehovah' The one SER
vice is pain and disappointment; the other SER
vice IS brightness and life. have tried both.
! chose the service Of Gcd because / was
tshamed TO do otherwise. / felt it would be
1nbecile for me TO choose Chemosh above
Jehovah.
"Oh, happy day that fixed my choice
Oh Thee, my Saviour, and my God
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its rapture all abroad.
ooh, happy bond that seals my vows
To Him who merits all my love-
Let cheerful anthems fill His house,
While 70 His sacred throne move.
High heaven, that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renewed shall daily hear;
Till in LIES latest hour bow.
And bless in death a bond 30 DEAR
II. Again, if we want to be Christians
IKE Ruth in the text, We must take the
thirst ans path. Where thou goest | will
3d." cried out the beautiful Moabiteys 10
Nonfuf tho u7ofbe~ s,.f L..