Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-23

! tIans, ike RUtl IN the text we must eeh
| the Christians path: "Where thou goest
/ | will 60" cried out the beautiful
/ Moabitess to Naomi, the mother-in-iaw
! Dangerous promise that, There were
! deserts to be crossed. There were jackal'
that came down through the wilderness
! There were bandits, There was the Dead
Sea. Naomi says: Ruth, you must e
back. You are too delicate to take this
Journey. You will give out in the frs
i've miles. You cannot go. You have
not the physical stamina or the mora
co urage to 20 with me-" Ruth responds
"Mother, am going anyhow. If stay
in this land ] will be overborne of the
idOlaters; if go along with you l shall
serve God. Give me that bundle. Let me
carry 1t. | am going with you, mother
anyhow"
Ana if we want to serve God we must
do as Ruth did, crying out: where thou
goest will 60" Never nina the Dead
Sea. AtoOt or horseback. If there be
rivers to ford we must ford them.
there be mountains 10 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. On,
how many Christians there are who can
be diverted from the path by culver OF
the lip indicative OF scOrn. They do not
surrender to temptation, but they bend to
it. And If 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 who swear in the room, and use
the rough word dam" they Will 90 so
far as The word darn" and look over the
fence wishing they could 20 farther; but
as to any determination like Ruth's to go
~. l. a ,F all g..bN hnR
nave not the grace TO 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 20
clear through! In the river that runs by
the gate OF the city we shall wash off all
our bruises. When DR.. Chalmers printed
his astronomical discourses, they were
read in the haylofts. in the fields, in the
garrets, and IN the palaces, because they
advocated the idea that the stars were in
habited. On, hearer, does not your soul
thrill with the thought that there ia
another world beautifully inhabited?
Nay, more, that you by the grace of God
may become one OF its glorious citizens
Ill. Again, l remark: If we want to
become Christians, like Ruth in the text,
we must choose the Christians hablta-
ton. "Where thou lodgest, viii | lodge"
cried Ruth to Naomi. She knew that
wherever Naomi stopped, whether 1t were
howell or mansion, there would be Chris
tiau home, and she wanted to be in it,.
What do | mean by a Christian home
| mean a home in which the Bible is the
chief book; nome in which the family
kneel in prayers; home in which father
and mother are practical Christians; a
home in which on Sabbath, from sunrise
to EslInset, there is profitable converse,
and cheerful song, ard suggestions Of 81
better world. Whether the wall be fres-
coed or not, or only ceiling of unplaned
rafters; whether marble lions are couch
ant at the front entrance, or a plain
latch is lifted by tow-string,
that home is the ante-cham Der
of heaven. A man. never gets over having
lived in such an early nome. 1t holds
you in an eternal grip. Though your
parents may have been gone forty years,
the tears of penltence and gladness 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 you 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 II be Christian home! Let Jesus
make the wine at that wedding. A Mons
without God is an awful place, there are
80 many perils to threaten 1t and God
Himself is 50 bitterly against it; but 1.-THE
Lord encsmpeth around about the habita-
ton OF the just" What a grand thing it
is 10 have God stand guard at that door,
and the Lord Jesus the family physician
and the wings Of anaels the canopy over
the pillow; and the Lord of Glory per-
al Nnt. iai inn MR. . h nt
the wife and the mother be a Christian.
say to you it is just as important that the
husband and father be Christian. Yet
how many clever men there are
who say: "My wife does all the
religion of my house. | am "a worldly
man; but have confidence in her, and
think she will bring the whole family ur
all right" 1t will not do, my brother
The fact that you are not Christian has
more influence on your family than the
fact that your wife is a Christian. Your
children will say: "Father's very good
man; he is not Christian. and il he can
risk the future | can risk the future" O.
father and husband! join your wife on
the road to heaven, and at night gather
your family at the altar. Do you say: 81
can't pray. l am man of few words
and don't think | could put half dozen
sentences together in such a prayer
You can pray; you can. IL your child
were down with scarlet fever, aud the
next hour you we're to decide its recovery
or its death, you would pray in sobs, anC
grOans, and parOYysms of earnestness
Yes, you can pray. When the eternal lif,
OF your household may depend upon you
supplication, let your knees timber anC
go down; but if you still insist that you
can not compose a prayer, then buy o.
borrow prayer-bOok of the Episcopa
church, and gather your family, and put
your prayer-book on a chair, and knee
down before it, and in the solemn ant
hushed presence of God, gather up al
your sorrows, and temptations, and sins
and cry out: "Good Lord, deliver us.n
". Again L remark: IL we want T.
become Christians. like Ruth in the text
we must choose Christian associations
"Tby people shall be my people," cIlet
out Ruin TO Naomi. 1.-The folks YOU as
sociate with, l want to associate with
They will come and see me, and | will q
and see them. | want to move in tn
highest OF all circles, the circle of God
elect; and therefore, mother, | am goin,
back with you to the land of Judah" d.
you who are seeking after God-and
suppose there are many such In thi
presence-do you who are seeking afte
God prefer Christion society to worldly
society? "No," you say; 81 prefer thu
worlds mirth, and the worlds laugh
ter, and the worlds innuendo. ant
the worlds paraphernalia." Well. thi
Is free country, aud you shall have tbs
right Of choice; but lei me tell you tina
the purest mirth, and the most untram
melled glee, and the greatest resilieuc,