The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-06-09
SHEAVES
Garnared By True and Devoted
Christians.
Sermon Preached In Brooklyn Tabernacle
by Rev. 7. Dewitt TaImage D. D., on
Sunday. Iune 8, 1888.
Opening hymn:
'sThe fields are white, the harvest waiting,
Who Will go and bear the sheaVos RWayT'

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Subject Of the Sermon: "Sheaves Of
Harvest"
TExT-Ruth H., 3: "And she went and
came, and CLEANED in the field after the
reapers; and her hap was to light on the
part of the field belonging unto BOaZ,
who was the kindred of Elimeleeh."
The time that Ruth and Naomi arrive
at Bethlehem Is the harvest time. 1t
was the custom when sheaf fell from
load in the harvest field for the reap
ers to refuse to gather 1t up; that was to
be left for the poor who might happen
to come along that way. If there were
field after the main harvest had been
Teaped, instead of taking it, as farmers
do, 1t was, by the custom Of the land,
left in its place, 80 that the poor coming
along that way might CLEAN 1t and get
their bread. But you say: what Is the
use Of all these harvest fields to Ruth
and Naomi? Naomi is too old and fee
BILE to go out and toll In the sun, and
can you expect that Ruth, the young
and the beautiful, should tan her cheeks
and blister her hands In the harvest
field2" BOaz owns large farm, and he
goes out to see the reapers gather in the
grains. Coming there, right behind the
swarthy, sun-brOwned reapers, he be-
holds beautiful woman gleanlng-a
woman more fit to bend to q harp or sit
upon throne than to stOOp among the
sheaves. ALL that was an eventful day.
1t was love at first sight. BOaz forms an
attachment for the wOmanly CLEANER
an attachment full Of undylng interest
to the Church Of God in all ages; while
Ruth with an ephah, or nearly bushel,
Of barley goes home to Naomi to tell her
the successes and adventures OF the day.
That Ruth, who left her native land Of
Moab in darkness and travelled great
distance through an undying affection
for her mOther-in-lRw, this evening in
the harvest field Of BOaz Is affianced to
one Of the best families in Judah, and
becomes In after time the aneestress Of
Jesus Christ, the DOrd of GlOryl Out of
so dark night did there ever dawn so
bright morning?
/ learn In the first place from this sub
ject how trouble develops character. 1t
was bereavement, poverty and exile that
developed. illustrated and announced to
all ages the sublimity OF Ruth's charac-
ter. 1t was sorrow that made John Bun
yam the better dreamer, and DR.. Young
the better poet, and O'COnnell the better
orator, and Bishop Hall the better
| preacher, ands HaVelOck the better sol
der, and KittO the better encyclopedia,
and Ruth the better daughter-in-law.
once asked an aged man In regard to his
pastor, who was a very brilliant man,
"Why Is 1t that your pastor, so very
brilliant, seems to have so little heart
and tenderness In his sermOns2" We'll,
| he replied, "the reason Is our pastor has
never had any trouble. When misfor-
tune comes upon him his style will be
different" After awhile the Lord took
child out of that PASTORS house, and
though the preacher was Just as brill
liant as he was before, OIL the warmth
the tenderness of his diacOuTsesi The
fact Is that trouble Is a great educator
You see sometimes a musician sit down
at an instrument and his execution is
cold and formal and unfeeling. The rea-
son Is that all his life he has been pros
porous. But let misfortune or bereave-
ment come to that man, and he sits down
to that instrument and you discover the
pathOs In the first sweep of the keys
Misfortune and trials are great educa-
/ tors. A young doctor comes into q sicH
room where there Is dying child. Per.
haps he is very rough In his pFescrip-
| tiOn, and very rough In his manner, and
rough in the feeling Of the pulse, and
rough in his answer to the mothers an
xiOus question: but years will roll on
and there has been one dead In his owl
house; and now he comes into the sicE
L
the dying child, and he says: "Oh, how
this reminds me Of my CharlieP
Trouble, the great educator. Sorrow
Il see Its touch In the grandest paint
ing; hear its tremOr in the sweetest
song; 1 feel its power in the mightiest
argument. Grecian mythology said thai
the fountains of HippOcFene was strucl
out by the foot Of the winged horse
Pegasus. have often noticed in lift
that the brightest and most beautiful
fountains Of Christian comfort anC
spiritual life have been struck out by
the irOn-shOd hOOf of disaster and calam
ity. see Daniels courage best by tn
fash of Nebuehadnezzar's furnace.
see PauPs prOwess best when find hin
on the laundering ship, under the glarl
of the lightning, in the breakers of Mel
ita. God crowns his children amid thl
bowling of wild beasts, and the chop
ping Of blood-splashed guillotine, ant
the cracking fires Of martyrdOm. L
took the prosecutions OF Marcus Azure
Illus to develop POlycarp and justin
Martyr. 1t took the POpe's bull, and tn
Cardinals curse, and the worlds ana
thema to develop Martin Luther. 1t too
all the hOstilities against the ScOtcl
cOvenanters and the fury of Lord Claver
house to develop James RenWick, an
Andrew Melville, and Hugh McKail, tn
glorious martyrs of Scotch history.
took the stormy sea, and the Decembe
blast, and the desOlate New Englan
coast, and the war whOOp OF savages +
show forth the powers Of the pilgrim
Fathers
when amid the storms they sang,
And the stars heard. and the sea;
And the sounding alsles OF the dim wood
Rang 70 the anthems OF the free"
1t took ali our past national distressel
and 1t takes all our present nstiOna
sorrOws to lift up our nation on tha
high career, where it will march lon
after the foreign aristoeraeies that haV
Knocked and the tyrannies that hay
: jeered shall be swept down under th
: omnipOtent wrath OF God, who hate
despotism, and who, by the strength {
His own red right arm will make a
men free. And 80 1t Is individually, an
In the family, and In the church, and
the world, that through darkness, an
: storm, and trouble, men, wOmeI
: churches, nations are developed.
J. Again, l see in my text the beauty {
|. m N "a ltorfnop erfandahfn Il aunnOaQ thar