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

p;ness IN anything but religion care not
how bright home Orpah has In Moab when
she turns away from duty she turns away
from Ueaca Amid the bacchanalia OF Bel
shaZzar's feast and the glitter o. chaiices
there always will come out a handwriting
on the wall fearfulIy omlnous: "Iekel-
weigh in the balances and found wanting
Again this subject teaches that religious
choice and the want OF II frequently DIVIDE
families Ruth and Orpah and Naomi were
tenderly attached. They were all widows,
and their life had been consecrated by hap
tisrn Of tears In the of fire trial their aifec-
tions had been forged. Together they were
50 pleasantly united you can hardly imagine
them separated. Yet a fatal line Is drawn
dividing them from each other, perhaps for
ever. 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 make a similar choice, but Or
pah rebels And they lifted up their voice
and wept again, and Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law bu: Ruth clave unto her
The history o. this family of E!imelech is
the history Of many families of this day.
How often it is that In a circle of relatives,
while they lock alike and walk alike and talk
alike there is a tremendous diff erence, Out
wardly united in the affectional relations Of
this life, they are separated in the most i'm
portant respects. Some now are the chill
dren of light and others tbs children of dark
ness. These are alive in Christ and those
are dead in sin. Ruth in the land of Bethle-
hem, Orpah in Moab. Of the same family
are David and Solomon, worshpers Of the
Most High God, and Adoniiah and Absalom
who live and die the enemies of all righteous
ness. Belonging to the same family was the
holy and devout Eli and the reckless Phlneas
and Hophni Jonathan Edwards, the good,
and Pierrepont Edwards, the bad, belong to
the same family. Aaron Burr, the dissolute,
had most excellent father. Dying yet i'm
II nv fhn c01p IN
parental and filial and conjugal relation,
by the sacredness of the family hearth by
the honor of the family name, by the memory
of departed kindred, point out this parting
Of Ruth and Orpah.
Again, this subject suggests to me two OF
the prominent reasons why people refuse the
kingdom of Christ. There may have been
many other reasons why Orpah left her sis
ter 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 at
tentiOn. She had married 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 con-
cluded to leave her idOlatrieS but coming to
the margin of the land of Bethlehem her
determination failed her and speedily she re-
turned to her gods.
This is the very reason why multitudes of
persons never become Christians. They can
not bear to give up their gods. Business is
the American juggernaut that brushes more
men than the great car Of the HindOOs. To
1t they say their morning and evening pray
ers. A little OF Christ's religion may creep
into the Sabbath, but Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Satur-
day are the days devoted to this American
idol. Every hour there is 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 mortgages
and saws and trowels and axes and day
books with them into the kingdom of heaven.
There are many who have no unholy
thirst for gold, yet who devOting them
felves to their worldly occupations with a
ruinous intensity. Men of the Stock Elk
change, men Of the yardstick, men of the
saw, men of the trowel, men of the day
book, what will become of you, if unfOr-
given, in the great day when there are no
houses TO build, and no goods to sell, and
no bargains to make? 1t is possible to de-
vote ones self even to a lawful calling until
it becomes 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 offensive
occupation to keep her from becoming a
Christian. Daniel was secretary of State
and attorney general in the empire of Baby
Ion, and yet three times a day he found
time TO pray With his race toward Jerusa-
lem. The man who has no time to attend to
religion will have no time to enter heaven.
But there are others who while their
worldly occupation has no particular fascina-
ton over them, are entirely absorbed in the
gains that come to that occupation. This is
the worship of Mammon. The ring of dol
lars and cents is the only litany they ever
utter. Though in the last day the earth itself
will not be worth farthing, a heap OF ashes
scattered in the whirlwind, they are now Civ
ing their time ard 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 State out of for string of
beads made princely bargain compared
with the speculation of that man who gains
the whole world and loses his own soul. How
much comfort do the men take who died I'M
forgiven ten years ago. leaving large for
tunes to their heirs? Do they ever come up
to count the gold they boarded or walk
through the mansions they built? Though
they could have bought an empire they have
not now as much money you have this
moment In your pocket. Solomon looked
upon his palace and the grounds surrounding
it, pools trimmed with gold and circling
roads along which at times rushed his four
teen hundred chariots, while under the out
branching syCamOres and cedars walked the
apes and peacocks which by the navy of
Hiram had been brought from Tarshish, and
from the window curtains with embroidered
gold and purple through which came out the
thrill OF harps and psalteries mingling with
the song Of the waters.
When Solomon saw that all these luxuries