Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-09-18

lilies 70 ukQLsWE Lluot llSut tQelus III EoOulIGI
grit and pluck to get from Moab to Judah. Oh,
bow many Christian 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 a
company there be those who tell unclean
stories, they will go 50 far as to tell some,
thing on the margin between the pure and
the impure. And if there be those who
sWear in the room and use the rough word
"damn.n they will go so far as the word
"5arn," and look over the fence wishing they
could go farther: but as to any determine
ton, like Ruth's, to 60 the whole road of ~
that is right, they have 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
go clear through. In the river that runs BY
the gate of the city we shall wash off all ouI
bruises When DR.. Chalmers printed his
astronomical discourses. they were read in
the haylofts, in the fields, in the garrets, ami
in the palaces, because they advocated the
idea that the stars were inhabited. Oh,
hearer. does not yo1r soul thrill with the
thought that there is another world beauti-
fully inhabitedl Nay. more, that you by the
grace Of God may become one of its glorioH
citizensl
III. Again remark, if we want to become
Christians, like Ruth in the text, we must
choose the Christian habitation. "Where
thou lodgest, will lodge cried Ruth to
Naomi. She knew that wherever Naomi
stopped, whether it were howell or mansion,
there would be a Christian home. and she
Santed to be in it. What do / mean by
Christian home! mean home in which tn
Bible is the chief book; home in which the
family kneel in prayer; a home in which
father and mother are practical Christians;
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 a tow-string, that
home is the ante-chamber of heaTen A man
never gets over having lived in such home.
1t 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
wrapped you up in the bed and prayed for
your welfare here and for your everlasting
welfare before the thronel
o We who are to set up your own nome, 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: but ''the Lord encampeth
around about the inhabitation OF the just.
What a grand thing it is to have God stand
guard at that door, and the Lord Jesus the
family physician: and the wings of angels tbs
canopy over the pillow, and the Lord Of Glory
aperpetual 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 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 fam
ily up all right 1t will not do, my brother
The fact that you are not Christian has
more influence on yous family than the fact
that your wife is a Christian. Your children
will say: feathers a very good man; he is
rot Christian. and if he can risk the future,
can risk the future" father and husbandl
DIN your wife on the road to heaven, and at
light gather your family at the altar. Do you
ay: "ican't pray. ] am man Of few words
md don't think I could put half dozen
'entences together in such prayer" You
AN pray: you 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 and groans and paroxysms OF
.aFnestnesS. Yes, you can pray. When the
.tsrnal life Of your household may depend
Ipon your duplication, let your knees Timber
md go down, but. if you still insist that you
,annot compose prayer, then buy or Dor
low prayer book of the Episcopal church,
md gather yoar family, and put your prayer
1ook on chair and kneel down before it,
md in the solemn and hu.hed presence Of
5od gather up all your sorrows and tempta-
ions and sins, and cry out: Good Lord, de-
liver US"
". Again remark: If we want to be
come Christians, like Ruth in the text, We
must choose Christian associations. THY
1eople shall be my people, +" cried out Ruth to
Naomi 1.-THE folks you associate with |
want to associate with. They viii come and
sas me, and l will 90 and see them. | want
&c move in the highest Of all circles, the circle
,. Gods elect; aud therefore, mother, / am
going back with you to the land Of Judah
Do you who are seeking after God-and |
suppose there are many such in this pres
ence-do you who. are seeking after
God prefer Christian society to
81 prefer the worlds mirth, and the
worlds laughter, and the worlds innuendo,
and the worlds paraphernalia." Wei, 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 cut
side of it. / have tried both styles Of com
panionship-the companionship Of the world
and the companionship of Christ, and know
by experience. i have been now so long in
the sunshiny experience and society OF
Christian people, that when am cOmpelle0
to go for little while amid intense worldly
society feel depressed. 1t is like going out
of 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 consecrate1 to God, and he is
all right for the world to come, then when he
laughs, body, mind and soul crackle. Let a
group of ministers of the gospel, gathered
from all denominations of Christians, be to-
gether in dining hall. or in a social circle
and you know they are proyerbially jocuud,
o. We uncovered people. / know not how
you can stand it down in that moping, bill
ious 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. ! tell
you that the sweetest japonicas grow in the
Lords garden. that the largest grapes are
from the vineyards of Canaan; that the most
sparkling floods break forth from the Rock
OF Ages. Do not too much pity this Ruth Of
my text, for she Is going 10 become Joint
owner of the great harvest fields Of Boaz.
V. Once more: II we want to become
Christians, we must, like Ruth in the text,
choose the Christians death and burial. She
exclaimed: Where thou diest will die, aud
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
Il rrunE