The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-09-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
4 Oomp-Meeting Discourse on the
Daughter.in-Law.

The Love Of Ruth for Naomi-F1ve Indls.
psasables which the Faithful Chris.
tian Must Possess In Order to
live ard Die Right
Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, in o recent
visit to the historic old camp-meating at
Grimshy, Ont, preached a sermon, taking
for his subject the beautiful story of Ruth
and Naomi. His text was:
Eutreat me not to leave thee, or to return
lrom following after thee: for whittier thou
goest, will GO; and where thou lodgest.
Will lodge; thy people shall be my people,
and shy God my God; where thou diest will
I die. and there will be buried: the Lord do
20 to me. and more also. II aught but death
part thee and me.-Ruth L. 1911.
Following is DIR. Talmage's sermon:
Famine in Judah. Upon fields distfn.
guished for fertility the Eight 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 sons married
idolators-Ruth the name of one, Orpah
the name of the other. Great caiamities
came upon that household. Elimelech
died and his two sons, leaving Naomi, the
wife, and the two daughters law. Poor
Naomi! In a strange land and her husband
and two sons dead. She must go back to
Judah. She can not stand it in q place
where everything reminded her Of her
sorrow. Just as now, sometimes you see
persons moving from one house to anoth.
or, or from one city to anoth-
er, and you can not understand
1t until you find out that 1t is because
there were associations with a GER
tain place that they could no longer bear.
Naomi must start for the land of Judah !;
but how shall she get there? Between
Moab and the place where she would like
to 60, 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 road once, she can do SO
again. All! when she came over the road
before she had the strong erms of her hus-
band and her two sons to defend her.
Now they are all gone.
Tho hour of parting has come, and
Naomi must be separated from her two
daughters-in-law,R 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 over
the same grave. There the three mourners
stand talking. Naomi thinks of the time
when she left Judah with a prince for her
companion. Then they all think of the
marriage festivities, when Naomi's two
sons were united to these women, who
have now exchanged the wreath of the
Gride 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
tance when Naomi turns around and says
to her dauGhters-in-law:
''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 Of your kindred.
l am old and troubled. Go not along with
ne. The Lord deal gently with you as We
have dealt with the dead and with me.'
But they persisted in going, and SO the
three Travelled on until after awhile Naomi
turns around again and begs them to 60
hack. Orpah takes the suggestion, and
after sad parting goes away; but Ruth,
grand ami glorious Ruth, turns her back
upon her home. She says:
81 can't bear to let that old mother go
alone. 1t is my duty to go with her."
And throwing her arms around weeping
Naomi she pours out her soul in the
tenderness, and pathos, and Christian
obedience OF my text:
Entreat me not to leave thee, or to retur n
from following after thee; for whittier t,,ou
Soest, will go and where thou lodgest, l
gill lodge: thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God; where thou dicst W II /
die and there will be buried; tine Lord do
80 e. me, aud more also, IL aught but death
part thee and me.
Five choices Ruth made 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 be.
come Christians we must. like Ruth in The
text. choose the Christians God. Beauti-
full Ruth looked up into the wrinsled face
of Naomi, aud said:
Thy God sf.all be my God.
You see it was a change II Gods.
Noami's God WAS Jehovah; Ruth's god
was Chemosh. the divinity of the Moab.
ties, whom she had worshi0ed under the
symbol Of black star. Now she comes
out from under that black starred divin.
iiy, and takes the Lord in whom there is
no darkness at all: the silver-starred
divinity to when the meteor poured down
IN Bethlehem. the sunshiny god Of whom
the Fsalmist wrote:
The LORD GeG Is a sun.
And so, ms friends, il We want to be.
come Christians we must change gods.
This world " the Chemosh tn m ost people.
1t is black Starred god. 1t can heal no
wounds. 1t c.m wipe away no sorrows.
II can pay no debts. II can save NJ un-
dying soul. tits greater cheat. so many
Thousand niles in diameter and SO many
Thousand miles in circumference. II I
should put this; aa'iience Gnder oath. one
half of them would swear that this world
Us liar. It ts.c bank which makes large
advertisements Of what it has in the veults
.aId of the dividends that q declares, and
tells US that if we want happiness, alive
have got to do s-to come to that bank Nnd
supply for il. In the hour of,1eed we g to
chat hank to get happiness. and we find
that the vaults are empty, nni all reEa-
Utilities have .aksoonded nnd we are
swindled out Of eSerythinG. . thou tlaes--
starred Chemosh. how many are burning
incense at thy shrine1
Now Ruth turned away from this GOD
1, 81, L.