The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-06-01
TROUBLE AN EDUCATOR.
Dr. Talmage Discourses on the Ex.
ample Of Ruth.

ample Of Ruth.
u True Frisaaship-rhe Reward Of
PntIeaes-Mlseort1as O1sn Pre-
csdss Honor.
In ais late sermo.i at the Brock yn Taber.
nacle on Ruth's example, Rev. Dewitt
Talmage preached from the text. "And she
went, and came, and CLEANED IN the field
after the reapers, and her hap was to light
on . part Of the field belonging unto Bosz,
who was Of the kindred of Eiimelech."
Ruth ii. 3 He said:
The time that Ruth and Naomi arrive 1t
Bethlehem 10 harvest time. It was the
custom when she at fell from load In the
harvest feld for the resp.rs TO refuse to
gather it up; that was to b. left for the
poor who might happen To come along that
way. II there were handfuls Of grain
scattered ACROSS the field after the main
harvest had been resped, instead Of raking
1t as farmers do now, it was, " the custom
OF the land. left Ia its place, So that the
POOR coming along that way might CLEAN it
and get their bread. But you say: "Wh~t
IL the use Of al these harvest fields to
Ruth and Naomi! Naom, il too old and
feeble to 60 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 fieidr
Bvaz owns q large farm and he goes out
to see the reape,s gather in the grain.
Coming there, right behind the swarthy,
sun-browned reapers, he beholds q beauti-
full woman cleaning. . woman more fit to
bend to harp or sit upon a throne than to
stcop among the sheaves. All, that was An
eventful day.
1t Was love at first sight. Boaz forms an
attachment FOR the womaniy cleaner, an
attachme 1t full Of undying interest to the
Church OF God in all ages, while Ruth,
with an ephah, or nearly bushel OF bar
ley, 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, through An uudying
affection for her mother-in-lsw, in the har.
vest field Of Beaz, is affianced to one Of tho
best families in Judah and becomes in after
time the ancestress Of Jesus Christ, the
Lcrd Ct glory. Out Of 50 dark hight did
there ever dawn 50 bright morningi
learn in the first place from this subject
how trouble develops character. 1t was
bereavement, poverty and ex lie that devel-
oped, illustrated and announced to all ages
tie sublimity Of Ruth's character. That is
. very unforiun nate man who has no
trouble. 1t WAS sorrow that made John
Bunyan the better dreamer. and DIR. Young
the better poet, and OConnel the better
orator, and Bishop Hall the better preach
er, and Havelcck the better soldier. and
Kiito the better encyclopedia, and Ruth
the better daughter.in-law.
I once asked an aged man In regard to
his castor, who 10 . very brilliant man:
"Wby is IT that your pastor. 50 very brill.
liant, seems to have so little heart and
tenderness in his sermonsf' well, he
replied. the reason is our pastor has
never had any trouble. When misfortune
comes upon him bis style will be different"
After awhile the Lord took child out of
that pastors house; and though the
preacher was just as brilliant rs he was
before, o, the warmth, the tenderness OF
his discourses. Ths fact il that trouble Is
great educa.or. You see sometimes q
musician sit down at an instrument and
his execution is cold and formal and unfeel-
ing. The reason is that all his life has
been prospered. but let misfortune or
bereavement come to that man, and he sits
down at An 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 a sick
room where there is dying child. Per
haps he is very rough IN his prescription,
and very rough in his manner. and rough
in the feeling OF the pulse, and rough in his
answer to the mothers anxious question;
but years roll on, and there has been one
dead in his own house; ami now he comes
into the sick room. and with fearful eye he
looks at the dying child, and he says: 20.
how this reminds me Of my Charlier'
Trouble, the great educator. Sorrow, l see
its touch IN the grandest painting: l hear
its tremor in the sweetest song; l feel its
power in the mightest argument.
Grecian mythology said that the fountain
of Hippocrene was struck out by the foot
of the winged horse Pegasus. have often
noticed in life that the brightest and most
beautiful fountains OF Christian comfort
and spiritual life have been struck out by
the iron-shod hoof Of disaster and calamity.
l see Daniels courage best by the fash Of
furnace. see Paul's
prowess best when find him on the found
ering ship under the glare Of the lightning
in the breakers Of Meta God crown- his
children amid the bowling Of wild beasts
and the choppinx Of b!ocd-splashed guIlio-
tine aud the cracking fires OF martyr dom
1t took the prosecutions Of Marcus Aurelius
to develop Polycarp and Justin Martyr. 1,
took all tue b, stIlities against the Scotch
and the fury Of Lord Claver.
house to develop James Renwick ard An
drew Melville and Hugh McKail, the glo
r. oas martyrs Of Scotch history. 1t took
the stormy sea and the December blast and
the desolate New England coast, and the
Of sayages, to show forth the
prowess OF the pilgrim fathers.
when amid the storms they sang
And the stars heard and the sea:
And the sounding aisles of the dim wood
Rang to the anthems OF the free"
I took ali our past National distresses to
l:ft cur Nation o" tha. high carer where
it will march along after the foreign aris-
tina, have Knocked and the tyran-
MES that have jeered shalt be swept down
under the omulpotent wrath OF Gcd, who
hates depotism and who, = the strength
CT lis own red right ara, will make all
men free. And so II /, individually and in
the family, aad in the church and in the
world. that through darkness and storm
and trouble men, women, churches, ma
lions are developed
A9.fn. I see in my tex. the beauty Of un-
friendship. suppose there were
p.en,y Of friends for Naomi while she
was IN prosperity; but OF all her acquaint-
ances how many were willing to trudge
Of with her toward Juiah when she had TO
nake that lonely jouruey! Oue-the hero.
inc OF my text One-absolutely one.
suppose when Naomi's husband was living
and they had plenty Of money and all
things went well they had plenty Of callers;
bu. suppose that after her husband died
and her property went. and she got old
and poor, she was ro. troub lsl very much