The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-29
TALMAGE AT CAMPAIGNING.
A Sermon at Grimsby, Ont, with "The
Daughter-in-Law" as the Subject.
Ruth's Love for Naomi-The Five Essential
Things Which the Faithful, COnscien-
tious Christians Must Choose.
On Tuesday. Aug. %, DIR. Talmage preached
at GrimbsbY. Ont camn-ground. His text was:

On Tuesday, Aug. o. DIR. Talmage preached
at Grmbsby, Ont, camp-ground. His text was:
Entreat not to leave thee to return from fol-
b Sr thee te for whittier thou goe v
shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where
thou dest will die, and there will be buried The
Lord do so to me- and more, also if aught but death
part thee and me.-Ruth /, 10, IT.
Following is DR.. Talmage's sermon:
Famine in Judah. Upon fields distinguished
for fertility the blight came. and at the door of
princely abodes want knocked Turning his
back upon his house and his lands, Elimelech
took his wife. Naomi. and his two sons, and
started for the land of Moab in search of bread.
Getting into Moab, his two CONS married idola-
ters-Ruth the name OF one, Orpah the name of
the other. Great calamities came upon that
household. Eimelech died. and his two sons,
leaving Naomi, the wife, and the two daughters
in-iaw. Poor Naomil In strange land and
her husband and two sons dead. She must go
back to Judah. She cannot stand 1t in place
where everything reminded her of her sorrow.
Just as now, sometimes you see persons moving
from one house to another, or from one city to
another, and you cannot understand 1t until you
find out that it is because there associations
with a certain place that they could no longer
bear. Naomi must start for the land of judah;
but how shall she get there2 Between Moab and
the place where she would like to go, there are
deserts; there are wild beasts ranging the wilder
ness; there are savages going up and down, ana
there il the awful Dead sea. Well you say, she
came over the road once, she can do so again
Ali 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 separated from her two daughtersin-
law Ruth and Orpah. They were tenderly at
tached, these three mourners: They had bent
over the same sick bed; they had moved in the
same funeral procession; they had wept over the
same grave. There the three mourners stand
talking. Naomi thinks of the time when she
left Judah with q prince for her companion
Then they all think of the marriage festivals
when Naomi's two sons were united to these wom-
en-, 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 re-
solve to 60 little way along with her. They
have gone but short distance wher Naomi
turns around and says to her daughters-in-!a
go back There may be days of brightness
yet for you in your native land can't bear to
take you away from your home and the homes
not along with me. The Lord deal gently with
you as ye have dealt with the dead and with
men
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 q sad parting
goes away; but Ruth, grand and glorious Ruth,
turns her back upon her home She says:
II can't bear to let that old mother go alone
1t is my duty to go with her."
choices must we all make il we ever want to get
to heaven.
l. In the first place, if we want to become
Christians, must, like Ruth in the text,
choose 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. Naomis
God was Jehovah; Ruth's god was Chamosh the
divinity of the Moabites. whom she had wor-
shipped under the symbol of black star. Now
<l,o lab
divinity. and takes the Lord, in whom there is
no darkness at all; the silverstarred divinity to
whom the meteor pointed down in Bethlehem;
the sunshiny God of whom the Psamist wrote,
'The Lord God is a sum-"
And so, my friends. if we want to become
Christians we must change gods This world is
the Chemosh to most people. 1t is a black
starred god. 1t can heal no wounds. It can
wipe away no sorrows. 1t can pay no debts 1t
can save no undying soul. 1t is great cheat. so
many thousand miles in diameter and so many
thousand miles in circumference. If should
put this audience under oath, one-half of them
would swear than this world is liar. 1t is a
bank which makes large advertisement of what
it has in the vaults snd of the dividends it de-
cares, and tells US that If we want happiness all
apply for it. In the hour Of need we go 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 everything
burning incense at thv shrine!
Now Ruth turned away from this god Che
mosh, and she took Naomis God. Who was
that9 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 watched US in childhood, and led US
through the gauntlet of infantile distresses,
feeding when we were hungry, pillowing
49, IL t.
only Son to wash away our pollution with the
tears and blood of His own eve and heart, and
offering to be our everlasting rest, comfort
and ecstacy. A loving God. A sympathetic
God. A great.hearted God. An allen
himself on this world in very abandonment of
everlasting affection The clouds, the veil of his
face. The sea, the aquarium of his palace. The
stars the dewdrops on his lawn. The God of
Hannah's prayer, of Esther's conservation, and
Marys broken heart, and Ruth's loving and bereft
spirit o choose We between Chemosh and Je-
hovah! The one service is pain and disappoint-
ment; the other service is brightness and life.
have tried both. chose the service of God be-
cause was ashamed to do otherwise. / felt it
would be imbecile for me to choose Chemosh
above Jehovah.
g. Again: If we want to be Christians like
Ruth in the text. we must take the Christians
path: "Where thou goest, / will co." cried out
the beautiful Moabtess to Naomi, the mother-in@
law. Dangerous promise that There were des-
erts to be crossed. There were jackals that
came down through the wilderness There were
bandits. There was the Dead sea. Naomi
says:
Ruth. you must go back. You are too deli
cate to take this journey. You will give out In
the first five miles. You cannot go. You have
not the physical stamina or tho moral courage to
go with me-"
Ruth responds
Mother. am going anyhow. If / stay in this
land will be OVorbOrn0 of the iG0lators. If T 90
along with you | shall serve God. Give me that
bundle Let me carry it l am going with you,
mother, anyhow"
And if we want to serve God we must do as
Ruth did, crying out: Where thou goest I will
CO."
Never mind the Dead sea. Afoot or horse
back. If there be rivers to ford, we must ford
them. IL there be mountains to scale, we must
scale them. If there be enemies to fight we
must fight them It requires grit and pluck to
fassa A.ah - IiL or