Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-07-04

arrow % the mark the sermon struck
them. They thought the minister must have
heard OF their case and was preaching right
at them. They thought the sermon was very
short, nor did they once coil themselves up
in their pew with their eyes shut and head
avertei with an air Of unmOred dignity.
They began to pray with an e4rnestness that
astOnlshed themselves and astOnlShed others,
Showing the plane, or writing UP accounts,
or walking the streets wnen you might have
thought their mind entirely upon the world,
they were Sd wing within themselves: "Oh,
that | were a Ctristian~ Orpah IS fully
started on the road TO Bethlehem. Christian
friends observing the religious anxiety Of the
awakened so1l say: He must certainly be
q Christian. There Is another soldier IN
Christ's ranks, another sick one has been
cured Of the leprOsy.' The observers turn
their attention another way: they say: Or
pah is safe enough, she has gone TO Bethle-
hem ."
Alas! alas! Starting out for heaven is a
very different thing from arriving there.
Remember Lots wife. She looked back
with longing TO the place from when She
came, and was destroyed. Half way be
tween Sodom and the city of refuge that
strange storm comes upon her, and It's saIe
and birthstone gather on her garments I'M
til they are SO stiffened she cannot proceed,
nor can she lie down because Of this dread
full wrapping around her garments and
limbs and long after her life has gone she
still stands there, so covered up by the
strange storm that she is called a pillar OF
salt, as some sailor on ships deck in the
wintry tempest stands covered with mail
of ice Ten thousand times ten thousand
men have been destroyed half way between
Sodom and the city Of refuge. Orpah might
as well never have started as atterward TO
turn back Yet multitudeS have walked III
her footsteps. Go among those the least IN
terested in sacred things, and you VIII ina
that they were once out of the land of Moab
Every one of them prayed right heartily and
studied his Bible and frequented the sane
tuary, but Lots wife looked back wistfully
to Sodom, and Orpah retreated from the
company of Ruth and Naomi. 1t Is an I'M
pressive thought that after Orpah had gone
so far as actually to look over into the land
of Bethlehem she turned back and died IN
Moab.
Again. let our subject impress upon us the
truth that those who have once felt it their
duty to leave their natural state cannot give
up their duty and go back to hardness of
heart without a struggle. After Orpah had
thoroughly made up her mind tC go back to
the place from which she started she went
through the sad scene of parting with Ruth
and Naomi. My text says: They lifted up
their voice and wept." All, my nearer, 1T
requires more decision and perseverance to
stay away from thu kingdom Of God than to
enter it. Although she did not know 1t,
Orpah passed through greater struggle IN
turning back into the land Of Moab than
would have been necessary to take her clear
through to Bethlehem. Suppose you that
those persons who have remained In their
evil ways have had no struggle? Why, they
have been obliged to fight every inch of their
way.
The road to death is not such easy travel
Ing as some ministers have been accustomed
to describe it. From beginning to end it is
fighting against the sharp sword of the
Spirit. 1t is climbing over the cross. It is
4l1ol I0ff 1o S0F1 or
God. 1t is scaling mountains Of privilege.
1t is wading through lakes of sorrow. 1t is
breaking over communion tables and bap
tismal fonts and pulpits and Bibles. 1t ls
wedging ones self through between piOus
kindred who stand before and press us back
and hold on to US by their prayers even after
we have passed them in our headlong down.
ward career. No man ought to think of I'M
dertaking to go back into Moab after having
come within sight OF Bethlehem unless he
have a heart that cannot be made to quake
and a sure foot that will not slip among inf
mite perils, and an arm that can drive back
the Son of God, who stands in the centre OF
the broad road spreading out His arms and
shouting into the ear Of the thoughtless pill
grim, stop! stop"
We talk about taking up the cross and
following Jesus, but that cross is not half so
heavy as the burden which the sinner car
ries. 1t is a very solemn thing to be Chris
tian, but it is a more solemn thing not to be
q Christian. There are multitudes who
afraid of the self denials of the Christian,
rush into the harder self denials of the unbe
lever. No yoke but Christ's however tight
and CALLING! Orpah goes back to her idola-
tries, but she returns weeping, and all who
follow her will find the same sorrows. just
in proportion as Gospel advantages have
been numerous will be the disturbance of the
heart that will not come to Christ.
The Bible says in regard to the place where
Christ was buried: In the midst of the gar
den there was sepulcher;" and in the MIDST
of the most fowery enjoyments of the I'M
pardoned there is a chiliness of death. Al
though they may pull out the arrows that
strike their soul from the Almighty's culver,
there remain sting and smarting. If men
wrench themselves away from Christ they
will bear the mark of His hand by which He
would have rescued them. The pleasures of
the upbraidings of conscience, but are like
Supplying drugs that dull the pain only
temporarily. Ahab has a great king
dom. and you would think he
ought to be happy with his courtiers
and chsriots and palaces, yet he goes to bed
sick because Naboth will not sell him his
vineyard. Haman is prime minister Of the
greatest nation in the world, and yet one
poor man who will not bow the head makes
him utterly miserable. Herod monopolizes
the most of the worlds honor and yet is
thrown into rage because they say a little
child is born in Bethlehem VINO may after
awhile dispute his authority. Byron con-
quered the world with his pen, and yet said
that he felt more unhappineSs from the
criticism Of the most illiterate reader than
he experienced pleasure from the praise of
all the talented.
In the last century in England lived the
immortal Shenstone. Portions of his life
were given to the writing of poetry, but this
was not evidently the field for which nature
had equipped him. His name will never be
forgotten, because of the home which he