News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-06-26

shaztth there a. 'szill cone out hand.
found wanting. When you can reap
harvests off bare rocks, and gather
balm out of nightshade and make sun
light sleep in the heart of sepulchers,
and build a firm house on a rocking
billow, then can an unpardoned soul
find firm enjoyment amid its trans
gressions. Then can Otpah go back to
Moab without weeping.
FAMILIES DIVIDED BY RELIGION.
Again, this subject teaches that a
religious choice and the want of it fire.
quently divide families. Ruth and
Orpah and Naomi were tenderly at
tached. They were all widows, and
| their life had been consecrated by a
baptism of tears. In the fire of trial
| their affections had been forged. To-
| gether 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 a heather coun-
! try. She must go into Bethlehem, that
there among the pious she may worship
the true God. Ruth makes a 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 his
tory CT many families of this day.
How often it is that in a circle of rel
atives, while they look alike, and walk
alike and talk allie there is a ire
mendous difference Outwardly united
in the affectional relations of this life,
tli5y are separated in the most i'm
portant respects. Some now are the
children of light and others the chill
dren 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 ara David
and Solomon, worshipers of the most
high God, and Adoniiah and Absalom
who live and die the enemies of all
Righteousness. Belonging to the same
family was the holy and devout Eli
and the reckless Phineas and Hophni
Jonathan Edwards, the good, and
| Pierrepont Edwards, the bad, belong
| to the same family. Aaron Burr the
dissOlute, had a most excellent father
Dying yet immortal nearer, by the
solemnity of the parental and filial
and conjugal relation. by the sacred
III !,
of the family name, by the memory of
departed kindred point out this part
ing of Ruth and Orpah.
WHY PEOPLE REFUSE CHRIST.
Again, this subject suggests to me
two of the prominent reasons why PEG
pie refuse 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 | think were more
prominent than the rest. She had been
brought up in idolatries She loved the
heather gods which her ancestors had
worshiped, and though these blocks of
wood and stone could not hear, she
thought they could hear, and though
they could not see, she thought they
could see, and though they could not
feel, she thought they could feel A
new religion had been brought to her
attention. She had married a godly
man. She must often have heard her
mother-in-law talk of the God of Israel.
She was so much shaken in her original
belief that she concluded to leave her
idolatries, but coming to the margin of
the land of Bethlehem her determine
ton failed her and speedily she returned
to her gods.
This is the very reason why multi
tudes of persons never become Chris,
tians. They cannot bear to give up
their gods. Business is the American
Juggernaut that brushes more men than
the great car of the Hindoos. To it
they say their morning and evening
prayers A little of Christs religion
may creep into the Sabbath, but Mon
day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday are the days de-
voted to this American idol Every
hour there is a sacrifice on the
altar. Home duties, health of body,
manly strength and immortal affections
must all burn in this holocaust. Men
act as though they, could take their
bonds and@psortgasS.s..Si -sl~s and.
them into { Iues 'gdom of heaven.
There are IN Az who have no unholy
thirst for 70. yet who are devoting
themselves to their worldly occupations
with ruinous intensity Men of the
stock exchange, men of the yardstick,
men of the saw, men of the trowel, men
of the day book, what Will become of
you, if unfOrgiven, in the great day
when there are no houses to build and
no goods to sell, and no bargains to
make2 1t is possible to devote ones self
even to lawful calling until it be-
comes sinful There is no excuse on
the earth or under the earth for the
neglect of. our deathless spirit. Lydia
was a seller of purple, yet she did not
allow her extensive occupation to keen
her from becoming a Christian. Daniel
was secretary of state and attorney
general in the empire of Babylon, and
yet three times day he found time to
pray with his face toward Jerusalem.
The man who has no time to attend to
religion will have no time to enter
heaven.
THE WORSHIP OF MAMMON.
But there are others who, while their
worldly occupation has no particular
fascination over them, are entirely alb
sorbed in the gains that come to that
occupation. This is the worship of
Mammon. The ring of dollars and
cents is the only litany they ever utter.
Though in the last day the earth itself
will not be worth farthing, heap of
ashes scattered in the whirlwind, they
are now giving their time and eternity
for the acquisition of so much of it as
you might at last hold in the hollow of
one hand.
The American Indian who gave
enough land to make a state out of for