Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-23

| II Is Shenstone, the owner OF The Iseaso,yos
II have lost my road to happiness san
the respondent man Il am angry and en-
yions, and detected and frantic, and disra
gard all present things just as it becomes
o mailman to dor My friends, thore is N,
solid happiness in anything but religion.
/ care not how bright Il home .Orpah has Il
Moab, when she turns away from duty
she turns away from pence. Amid the bac
chanalia of Belshazzar's feast aud the Gilt.
ter of chalices there always will come out
handwriting on the wall fearfully omi
nous; 'Tekel-weighed in the balances and
found wanting" When you can rean
harvests of bare rocks, and gather balm
! out of nightshade, and make sunlight sleep
in the heart of sepulcbers, and build a
firm house on a rocky billow, then can an
unpardoned soul find firm enjoyment amid
lis transgressions. Then can Orpah 90
back to Moab without weeping.
ALIVE IN CHRIST. DEAD IN SIN.
Again, this subject teaches that a re-
ligious choice and the want of it frequently
divide families. Ruth and Orpah and
Naomi We're tenderly attached. They were
all widows, and their life had been conse-
Grated by baptism of tears. In the fire
of trial their affections had been forged
Together they were so pleasantly united
you can hardly imagine them separated.
Yet fatal line is drawn dividing them
from each other, perhaps forever Naomi
cannot live in heather country. She
must go into Bethlehem, that there amoug
the pious she may worship the true God.
Ruth makes similar choice, but Orpah
rebels. "And they lifted up their voice
and wept again, and Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her"
The history of this family of Elimelech is
the history of many families of this day.
How often it is that in circle of rela-
tiyes, while they look alike and walk alike
and talk alike, there is q tremendous off
ference. Outwardly united in the afTec
tional relations Of this life, they are sepa-
rated IN the most important respects. Some
now are the children of light and others
the children of darkness. These are alive
in Christ and those are dead in sin. Ruth
in the land of Bethlehem, Orpah in Moab.
OF the same family are David and Solo
mon, worshipers of the most high God,
and Adonijah and Absalom, who live and
die the enemies of all righteousness. Be
longing to the same family was the holy
and devout Eli and the reckless Phineas
and Hophni. Jonathan Edwards, the
good, and Pierrepoint Edwards, the bad,
belong to the same family. Aaron Burr,
the absolute, had a most excellent father
Dying yet immortal nearer, by the solem-
nifty of the parental and filial and coniugal
relation, by the sacredness of the family |
hearth, by the honor of the family name, |
by the memory Of departed kindred j |
point out this parting of Ruth and OrpGh !
REAsoNs FOR REFUSING CHRIST.
Again, this subject suggests to me two |
OF the prominent reasons why people re- |
fuse the kingdom Of Christ. There may |
have been many other reasons why Orpah |
left her sister and mother-in-law and went |
back home, but there were two reasons |
which l think were more prominent than
lhe rest. She had been brought up in idol
ttries. She loved the heather gods which
ler ancestors had worshiped, ana though
Jhese blocks of wood and stone could not
near she thought they could hear, and
though they copld not see she Thought
hey could see, and though they could not
eel she thought they could feel A new
'eligion had been brought to her attention
She had married godly man. She must
'ften have heard her mother-in-law talk of
he God of Israel. She was so much shaken
n her original belief that she concluded to
cave her idolatries, but coming to the
margin of the land of Bethlehem her de
failed her and speedily she re-
urned to her gods.
This Is the very reason why multitudes
# persons never become Christians. They
annot bear to give up their gods. Bust
less is the American juggernaut that
PUSHES more men than the great car of the
ilndoos. 10 it they say their morning
nd evening prayers. A little of Christ's
eligion may creep into the Sabbath, but
1onday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
'riday and Saturday are the days devoted
D this American idol Every hour there
} sacrifice on the altar. Home duties,
ealth of body, manly strength and i'm
lortal affections must all burn in this
Men act as though they could
AXE their bonds and mortgages and saws
nd trowels and axes and day books with
hem into the kingdom of heaven.
NEGLECTING RELIGIOUS DUTIES.
There are many who have no unholy
nirst for gold, yet who are devoting them.
elves to their worldly occupations with a
linous intensity. Men of the Stock EX,
hange, men of the yardstick, men of the
NV, men of the trowel, men of the day
ook, what will become of you, if unfor- ,
lven, in the great day when there are no !
ouses to build, anttnho goods to sell, and
o bargains to maker II is possible TO de
ote ones self even to n lawful calling until :
becomes sinful. There is no excuse on :
lie earth or under the earth for the neglect
our deathless spirit. Lydia was seller =
purple, yet she did not allow her often
We occupation to keep her from becoming :
Christian. Daniel was secretary of state =
nd attorney general in the empire of Baby !,
n, and yet three times a day he found =
me to pray with his face toward Jerusa- :
M. The man who has no time TO attend r
religion will have no time to enter :,
'aven. -
But there are Others who, while their ;,
orldly occupation has no particular fasci- n
ltlon over them, are entirely absorbed i'm Il
e gains that come to that occupation h
ais Is the worship of Mammon. The ring :,
dollars and cents is the only litany they :,
er utter. Though in the last day the ~
rth itself will not be worth e farthing, a
ap of ashes scattered in the whirlwind,
ely are now giving their time and eternity
+ the acquisition of so much of it as you Il
ght at last hold in the hollow of one Il
nd. st
The American Indian who gave enough N
nd to make u state out of for string of b,
ads made a princely bargain compared la
tn the speculation of that man who gains
e whole world and loses his own soul. lie
NV much comfort do the men take who oil
I'd unforgiven ten years ago, leaving W
'ge fortunes to their heirsY Do they ever m
me up to count the gold they boarded or
Tx through the mansions they built? sE
Tough they could have bought an en- tn
'e, they have not now as much money as in
u have this moment in your pocket. al