The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-09-03

On thee, my Saviour and my Hodi
Well may this glowing heart rejoice
And tell Its rapsures all abroad.
o happy bond that seals my vows
To Him who merits all my love!
Let cheerful anthems al His house,
While to His sacred throne move.
High Heaven. that heard the solemn vow.
That vow renewed shall daily hear;
Till in iife's latest hour bow,
And bless in death bond so dear.
2. Again, IL we want to be Christians,
like Ruth in the text, we must take the
Christians path:
where thou goest, I will 60,
cried out the beautiful Moabitess to Naomi,
the mother.in.law. Dangerous promise
that. There were deserts to be crossed.
There were iackals that came down
through the wilderness. There were ban.
dts. There was the Dead Sea. Naomi
says:
"Ruth, you must 60 back. You arc too
delicate to take this journey. You will
give out in the first five miles. You can
not 60. You have not the physical STAN.
ina or the moral courage to 60 with me-"
Ruth responds:
"Mother, am going anyhow. II I stay
in this land will be overborne of the
idolators; il go along with you l shall
serve God. Give me that bundle. Let me
carry it. I am going with you mother,
anyhow"
And if we want to serve God, we must
do as Ruth did, crying out:
Where thou goest, will SO.
Never mind the Dead Sea. Afoot or
horseback. II there be rivers to ford, We
must ford them. If Their be mountains to
scale, we must scale them. If there 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 quIver of the lip, indicative Of
scorn! They do not surrender to tempta.
ton, but they bend to It. And il in .
company there be those who tell unclean
stories they will 60 SO far as to tell some.
thing on the margin between the pure and
the impure. And il there be those who
swear in the room and use the rough word
"damn," they will 60 so far as tho word
"darn," and look over the fence, wishing
they could go farther; but as to any de-
termination like Ruth's 10 go the whole
road of all that is right, they have not the
grace 10 do it. They have not in all their
body as much courage as Ruth had in her
little finger. Oh, my friends, let us
start for Heaven and go clear
through! In the river that runs by
the gate of the city we shall wash off all
our bruises. When DIR. Chalmers Painted
his astronomical discourses, they were
were read in the haylofts, in the fields, in
the garrets and in the palaces. because
they advocated the idea that the stars
were inhabited. o, nearer. does not your
soul thrill with the thought that there Is
another world beautifully inhabited? Nay,
more, that you by tie grace of God may
become one of its glorious citizens:
s. Again l remark: If 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 be Chris.
tian home, and she wanted to he in il.
What do mean ty Christian home: I
mean a home in which the Bible is the
chief book; a home i'm which the family
kneel in prayers: home in which father
and mother are practical Christians: a
home in which on Sabbath, from sunrise
to sunset, there is profitable converse, and
cheerful! song, and suggestions of a better
world. Whether the wall I've frescocd or
not, Or only a ceiling Of unplaned rafters;
whether the marble lions te couchant at
the front entrance, or a plain
latch is lifted Ivy tow-string-that
home is The ante-chamber OF
Heaven. A man never gets over
having lived in such an early home. It
holds You in an eternal grip. Though
your parents may have been gene forty
y.ars, the tears of penitence and gladncss
that were wept at 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 yo. up in the bed and
prayed for your welfare here and for
your everlasting welfare before the throne:
o. We who are to set up your own home,
see that it be a 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: hut
The Lord encamrcth around about the
habitation of the just.
What a grand thing it is to have God
stand guard at that door, ard the Lord
Jesus the family ply stefan; aud 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
mother be 4 Christian. say 10 you it is
Just as important that the husband and
father be a Christian. Yet low many
clever men there aee who say:
"My wife does all the religion of nv
house. l am a worldly man, but have
confidence in her, and think she will
bring the whole family UP all right"
twill not do, E,v brother. The feet
thatyou are not Christian has more ia.
your wife is a Christian. Your ,childRen
will say:
''Fsther's a very good man; he is not a
Christian. and if he can risk the future, /
can ris,, the fu!ure.'
p o father and husband. join your wife
on the road TO Heaven, and at night gath
er voIrffamily at the altar. d. SOU say:
81 can't pray. lam a man of few wo.tis
and dent think could put half a dozen
sentences together il snch a PRAYER"
You can pray; yoz can. If your child
were down with scarlet fever, and the
next hour were to decide its recovery or
its death, you would pray in sobs, AMI
groans aud paroxysns of earneStness.
Yes, yoE can pray. Vixen the eternal
life of your ihousehold may depend apon
your supplieation, let wour knees ltsnbe