Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-05-30

IL. again, see IN my text the Deauty
unfaltering friendship. I suppose Their
were plenty of friends for Naomi while sh
was in prosperity; but of all her acquain
tances, how many were willing to trudg
off with her toward Judah, when sh
had to make that lonely journey? ON
the heroine of my text. One-absolutel,
one. suppose when Naomi's husband wa
living, and they had plenty of money, ant
all things went we'll, they had great many
callers; but suppose that after her HUSBAND
died, and her property went, and she go
Old and poor, she was not troubled very
much with callers. All the birds that sunl
in the bower while the sun shone have gon,
to their nests, now the night has fallen.
Oh, these beautiful sunfowers that spread
out their color in the morning hour! bu
are always asleep when the sun is going
down Job had plenty of friends when h
was the richest man in Uz; but when hi
property went and the trials came, thel
there were none so much that pestered al
Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shu
hite, and Zephar the Naamathite.
Life often seems to be mere game, wher,
the successful player pulls down all the 9th
arise about mans character, and he be-
COluC5 llhO d UdAk Ill d pdulC. anu oil bue
imputations rush on him and break dowr
in day that character which in due time
would have had strength to defend itself
There are regulations that have been half q
century in building, which 60 down under
some moral exposure, as vast temple il
consumed by the touch of a sulphurou;
match. A hog can uprOOt century plant.
In this world, so full of hsartlessness anG
hypocrisy, how thrilling it is to find some
friend as faithful in days of adversity as in
days of prosperity! David had such 6
friend in Hushsi; the Jews had such frienC
in Mordecai, who never forgot their cause
Paul had such friend in Onesiphorus, who
visited him in jail; Christ had such in the
Marys, who adhered to Him on the cross;
Naomi had such one in Ruth, who cried
out: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to
return from following after thee; for whith.
er thou goest, I will go, and where thou
lodgest, will lodge; thy people shall be
my people, and thy God, my God; where
thou diest, will I die, and there will be
buried; the Lord do SO to me, and more also,
if aught but death part thee and me.''
III. Again: learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and darkness
often come out in places of joy. When
Ruth started from Moab toward Jerusalem,
to 90 along with her mother-in-law, sup
pose the people said, "Oh, what foolish
creature to go away from her fathers house,
to 90 off with a poor old woman toward the
land of Judah They won't live to get
across the desert. They will be drowned in
the sea, Or the jackals of the wilderness will
destroy them" It was very dark morn
ing when Ruth started off with Naomi; but
behold her in my text in the harvest-feld
of Boaz, to be affianced to one of the lords
of the land, and become one of the grand
mothers of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
And so it often is that path which starts
very darkly ends very brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh,
how dark was the hour of conviction-how
Sinai thundered, and devils tormented, and
the darkness thickened All the sins of
your life pounced upon you, and it was the
darkest hour you ever saw when you first
found out your sins. After awhile you went
into the harvest field of Gods mercy; you
began to CLEAN in the fields of divine prom
ise. and you had more sheaves than you
could carry, as the voice of God addressed
you, saying, "Blessed is the man whose
are forgiven, and whose sins
are covered" A very dark starting in con-
viction, a very bright ending in the pardon
and the hope and the triumph of the Gospel!
So, very often in our worldly business or
in cur spiritual career, we start Off on
dark path. We must go. The flesh may
shrink back, but there is voice, within, or
a voice from above, saying: "You must
co." and we have to drink the gall, and we
have to carry the cross, and we have to
traverse the desert, and we are pounded
and failed of Misrepresentation and abuse,
and we have to urge our way through ten
obstacles that must be slain by
our own right arm. We have to ford the
river; we have to climb the mountain; we
have to storm the castle; but, blessed be
God, the day of rest and reward will come.
On the tip top of the captured battlenents
We will shout the victory; if not in this
world, then in that world where there IS no
gall to drink, no burdens to carry, no bat
Ties to fight. How do l know it? Know it!
I know it because God says so: "They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
mere, neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall lead them to liv-
ing fountains of water, and God shall wipe
all tears from their eyes"
1t was very hard for Noah to endure the
scofing of the people in his day, while he
was trying to build the ark, and was every
quizzed about his old boat that
would never be of any practical use: but
when the deluge came, and the tops of the
disappeared like the backs of
sea- m nsters, and the elements, lashed up
in fury, clapped their hands over drown
cd world, then Noah in the ark rejoiced in
his own safety and in the safety of his
family, and looked out on the wreck of a
ruined earth.
Christ, bounded of prosecutors, denied a
pillow, worse maltreated than the thieves
on either side Of the cross, human hate
smackingsits lips in satisfaction after it had
been draining His last drop of blood, the
sheeted dead bursting from the sepulchres
at His crucifxion. Tell me, o Gethsemane
and Golgotha! were there ever darker times
than those? Like the booming of the mid
night sea against the rock, the surges of
Christ's anguish beat against the gates of
eternity, to be echoed back by all the
thrones of heaven and all the dungeons of
hell. But the day of reward comes for
Christ; all the pomp and dominion of this
world are to be hung on His throne, un-
crowned heads are to bow before him On
whose head are many crowns, and all the
celestial worship is to come up at HIS feet,
like the humming of the forest, like the
rushing Of the waters, like the laundering
of the seas, while all heaven, rising on theiI
thrones, beat time with their sceptres
"Halleluiah for the Lord God omnipoteni
reigueth! Hallelujah, the kingdoms of thi;
world have become the kingdoms of oul
Lord Jesus Christ!''
.That song of love. now low and far,
Ere long shall swell from star to star;
That light, the breaking day which tips
The golden-spired Apocalypse"
Nv. Again: l learned from my subject
that events which seem to be most insignif
icant may be momentous. Can you imagine
ANYTHING more unimportant than the com
ing of poor woman from Moab to Judahi
Can you imagine anything more trivia
than the fact that this Ruth just happened
to alight-as they say-just happened tc
alight on that field of Boaz? Yet all ages,
all generations, have an interest in the fact
that she was to become an ancestor of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and all nations and king.
doms must look at that one little incident
with thrill of unspeakable and eternal
satisfaction. So it is in your history and
ia m inc: events that you thought of no i'm.
portance at all have been of very great
msment. That casual conversation, that
accidental meeting-you did lot think of il
again for long while; but how it changed
all the phase Of your life!
1t seemed to be of no importance that Ju
bal invented rude instruments of music
calling thsm harp and organ; but they were
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