Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-06-26

writing up accounts. or walking the street
when you might have thought their mind
entirely upon the world. they were saying
within themselves. -0h. thatI were Chris
tiani- 0rpah Is fully started on the road to
Bethlehem. Christian friends observing
the religious anxiety OF the awakened soul
say, He must certainly be a Christian.
There Is another soldier In Christ's ranks;
another sick one has been cured OF the
leprosy. The observers turn their atten-
tion another way. They say. -0rpah is safe
enough; she has gone TO Bethlehem
Alasl Alasi Starting out for heav en- Is
very different thing from arriving there.
Remember Lots wife. She looked back
with longing to the place from which she
came, and was destroyed. Hall way be-
tween Sodom and the city of Refuge that
| strange storm comes upon her. add its salt
and birthstone gather on her garments un-
| 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 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 So
dom and the City of Refuge. 0rpah might
as well never have started as afterward TO
turn back. Yet multitudes have walked in
her footsteps. Go among those the least
interested In sacred things and you will
| find that they were once out of the land Of
Moab. Every one of them prayed right
| heartily and studied their Bibles and fire.
quented the sanctuary. but Lots wife
looked back wistfully to Sodom and Orpah
retreated from the company Of Ruth and
Naomi. 1t is an impressive 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 can
not give up their duty and go back to hard
ness Of heart without struggle. After
Orpah had thoroughly made up her mind to
| 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
liftedup their voice and wept." All, my
hearer, it requires more decision and per-
| severance to stay away from the Kingdom
of God than to enter it. Although she did
not know it 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. Sup
pose you that those persons who have re-
manned in their evil ways have had no
struggle2 Why, they have been obliged to
| fight every inch Of their way. The road to
death Is not such easy travelling 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
| over the cross. 1t is wading through the
deep blood Of the Son Of God. 1t is scaling
mountains of privilege. 1t is wading
through lakes of sorrow. 1t is breaking
over communion tables and baptismal fonts
and pulpits and Bibles. It is 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 downward
career. No man ought to think of UNDER
taking to go back into Moab after having
come within sight of Bethlehem. unless he
have heart that cannot be made to quake,
and sure foot thatwin not slip among in
finite perils, and an arm that can drive
back the Son Of God, who stands in the
center Of the broad road spreading out his
arms and shouting into the ear Of the
thoughtless pilgrim, "Stopl stopl"
We talk about taking up the cross and
following Jesus. but that cross is not half
so heavy as the burden which the sinner
carries. 1t is very solemn thing to be a
Christian, but it is more solemn thing not
to be Christian. There are multitudes
who, afraid of the self denials of the Chris
tian, rush into the harder self-denials of the
unbeliever. No yoke but Christ's, however
tight and gallingl 0rpah goes back to her
idolatries, 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 disturb
ance 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 garden there was a sepulcher;" and in
the midst of the most fowery enioyments
of the unpardoned there is the chilliness Of
death. Although they may pull out the ar
rows that strike their soul from the AL
mighty's culver, there remains sting and
q 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 world may give
| temporary relief from the upbraidings Of
conscience, but are like stupefying drugs
that dull the pain only temporarily.
Adab has great kingdom, and you would
think he ought to be happy with his
courtiers and chariots 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 his
head makes him utterly miserable. Herod
| monopolizeS the most Of the worlds honor,
and yet is thrown into a rage because they
say little child is born in Bethlehem who
may after while dispute his authority.
| Byron conquered 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.
Again, this subject teaches that a religious
choice and the want of it frequently divide
families. Ruth and Orpah and Naomi were
tenderly attached. 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. Together they
were so pleasantly united you can hardly
! imagine them separated. Yet fatal line is
drawn dividing them from each other, per-
haps forever. Naomi cannot live in q
heathen country. She must go into Beth
lehem, that there among the pious she may
worship the true God. Ruth makes a SIM
liar choice, but Orpah re els. "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
Elmelech is the history Of many families Of
this day.
How often it is that in circle ofrelatives
while they look alike, and walk alike and
| talk alike there is tremendous difference
Outwardly united in the INSTRUMENTATION
OF this life, they are separated 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 Solomon, worshipers
| of the most high God. and Adonijah and
| Absalom, who live and die the enemies Of
1 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 Ed
wards, the bad. belonging to the same
family. Aaron Burr, the dissolute, had a