The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-06-07


when Ruth started off with Naomi but behold
her in my text in the harvest field OF Boaz, TO oe
aflianced to one of the lords of the land. ana
become one of the grandmothers OF Jesus
Christ, the Lord Of glory And so it often
is that a path which starts very darkly ends
| very brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh,
| how dark was the hour of conviction
now Sinai thundered and devils tor
mented, 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 promise, and you had more sheaves
than you could carry, as the voice
| Of God addressed You, saying: BLESSED is
| the man whose transgressions are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered" A very dark
| starting in conviction, very bright ending
| In the pardon and the hope and the triumph
| If the GOSPEL!
So, very often in our worldly business or in
| our spiritual career, we start off on a very
| dark path. We must go. The flesh may
shrink back, but there is a voice within, or a
| voice from above, saying: "You must go;"
| and we have to drink the gall, and We
have to carry the cross, and we have
totraverse the desert, and we are pounded and
| failed Of misrepresentation and abuse, and
| we have to urge our way through ten thou
| 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 iio gall to
| drink, no burdens to carrv no battles to
| fight How do know it! Know it know
| it because God says SO: "They shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any more
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 living foun-
tains of water and God shall wipe all tears
| from their eyesn
1t was very hard for Noah to endure the
scotfing of the people in his day, while
he was trying to build the ark, and
was every morning quizzed about his
old boat that would never be of any
| practical use; but when the deluge came,
and the tops of the mountains disappeared
like the backs of saa-monsters and the ele-
| ments, lashed up in fury, clapped their
hands over drowned world, then Noah in
the ark rejoiced in his own safety and In the
safety of his family, and looked on the wreck
of ruined earth.
Christ, bounded of prosecutors, denied
| pillow, worse matreated than the thieves
on either side of the cross, human hate
sElacking its lips in satisfaction after
it had been draining His last drop of
blood. the sheeted dead bursting from the
sepulchres at His cruciixion. Tell me,
Gethsemane and Golgotha! were there ever
darker times than thoses Like the booming
| of the midnight 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. Eut the day of reward
comes for Christ; all the pomp and dominion
Of this world are to be hung on His throne,
| uncrowned 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 their thrones, beat
time with their sceptres; "Hallelujah, for
| the Lord God omnipotent reignethl Halle.
| lujah, the kingdoms of this world have be-
come the kingdoms of our 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"
| ". Again: learn from my subject that
events which seem to be most insignificant
may be momentous. Can you imagine any
| thing more unimportant than the coming
of poor woman from Moab to Judah. Can
| you imagine anything more trivial than the
| fact that this Ruth just happened to alight
AS they say-just happened to alight on
that field of Beaz! Yet all ages, all genera
tons have an interest in the fact that she
was to become an ancestor of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and all nations and kingdoms must
look at that one little incident with
thrill of unspeakable and eternal
satisfaction. So it is in your history and in
mine; events that you thought of no import
ance at all have been Of very great moment.
That casual conversation, that accidental
meeting-you did not think of it again for
long while; but how it changed all the phase
| of your life
It seemed to be of no Importance that
Jubal invented rude instruments of music,
calling them harp and organ; but they were
the introduction of all the worlds minstrelsy;
and as you hear the vibration of stringed
instrument even after the fingers have
been taken away from it, SO all music
now of flute and drum and cornet is only the
| long-continued strains of JubaTs harp and
Jubals organ. 1t seemed to be matter OF
very little Importance that Tubal Cain
learned the uses of copper and iron; but that
rude foundry Of ancient days has its echo in
the rattle of Birmingham ma machinery and
the roar and bang of factories on the Merri-
mac
1t seemed to be matter Of no importance
that Luther found Bible in a monastery;
but as he opened that Bible, and the brass
bound lids fell back they Jared everything,
from the Vatican to the furthest convent in
Germany, and the rustling of the wormed
leaves was thesound of the wings of the Angel
of the Reformation. 1t seemed to be matter
of no Importance that a woman, whose name
way of a very bad man by the name OF
Richard Baxter. He picked up the tract
and read it, and it was the means Of his
salvation.
In after-days that man wrote book called
"The Call to the Unconverted," that was the
means of bringing a multitude to God.
among others Philip Doddridge. Philip Dodd.
lriI I,ravx yrpta q hnn fsal1
Progress of Religion, which has brought
thousands and tens of thousands into the
kingdom Of God, and among others the
great Wilberforce. Wiberforce wrote q
book called: "a Practical View OF Christi
anity," which was the means of bringing 6
great multitude to Christ, among Others
Leigh Richmond. Leigh Richmond wrote
a tract called: "The Dairyman's Daugh
ter" which has been the means of the sal
walton of uncounted multitudes. Ane
that tide of influence started from the fac
that one Christian woman dropped Chris
tian tract in the way of Richard Baxter
the tide Of influence rolling on throngh Rich
ard Baxter, through Philip Doddridge,
through the great Wilberforce, through
Leigh Richmond, on, on. on, Tor
ever, forever. So the insignificant
events of this world seem, aftel
all to be momentous The fact that yor
came up that street or this street seemed tt
be of no Importance to you, and the fact thai
you went inside of some church may seem tt
be matter Of very great insigniticance u
you, but you will find it the turning point II
your history.
V. Again: see in my subject an illustra
tion of the beauty of female industry.
Behold Ruth toiling in the harvest-field
under the hot sun, or at noon taking palT
bread with the reapers, or eating the parched
. corn which Boaz handed to her. The Gus
|, tons of society, of course, have changed and
without the har lships aud exposure to which
Ruth was snb iectei every intelligent woman
| will find somathino to do.
know there is a sicSly sentimentality on
) this subject. In som, families there are per
sons of no practical service to the household
or community; and though there are so man,
woes all around about tlem in the world
they spen their time languishing over I
new pattern, or bursting into tear
at midnight over the story of some lover whC
shot himself. They would not deign to lool
at Ruth carrying back the barley on her wa,
home to her mother-in-law, Naomi. All thi
T.. IL II