Milford chronicle., 1888-05-25

nutP--A rain hhieh stafAa bAiAAy
often Ends Brightly.
BROOKLYN, May sO.-The opening hymn
at the Tabernacle service today begins with
the words;
More love to thee, o Christ.
More love to thee
After making running commentary on
some passages Of Scripture the Rev. T. De
Witt Talnage. D. D.. took the text: "And
she went, and came, and CLEANED in the field
after the reapels: and her hap was to light
on part Of the field belonging unto Boaz,
who was Of the kindred of Elmclech.n Ruth
ii, 8 He preached from these words the
following sermon;
The time that Ruth and Naomi arrive at
Bethlehem is harvest time 1t was the custom
when a sheaf fell from load in the harvest
/ field for the reapers to refuse to gather it
/ up; that was to be 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 beeii
I reaped, instead Of raking it, as farmers do
now, it was. by the custom of the land, left in
its place, so that the poor, coming along that
/ way, might CLEAN it and get their bread.
/ But you say: What is the use of all these
harvest fields to Ruth and Naomil Naomi
is too old and feeble to 90 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
fieldsF
Boaz owns a large farm, and he goes out to
sec the reapers gather in the grain. Coming
there, right behind the swarthy, sun Drowned
reapers, he beholds beautiful woman CLEAN
ing-a woman more fit to bend to a harp or
sit upon a throne than to stoop among the
sheaves. All, that was an eventful dayi
1t was love at first sight Boaz forms an
attachment for the womanly gleaner-an at
taehment full of undying 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
I and adventures Of the day. That Ruth, who
left her native land Of Moab in darkness, and
Travelled through an undying affection for
her mother-in-law, in the harvest field OF
Boa2, is aiiianced to ono of the best families
in Judah. and becomes in after time the an
cestress Of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Out of so dark a night did there ever dawn
so bright a morninga
! learn in the first place from this subject
how trouble develops character. It was be-
reavenent, poverty and exile that developed,
illustrated and announced to all ages the
sublmity of Ruth's character That is
very unfortunate man who has no trouble.
1t was sorrow that made John Bmyan the
better dreamer, and DIR. Young the better
poet, and 0Connell the better orator, and
Bishop Hall the better preacher, and Have
lock the better soldier and Kitto the better
encyclopedias, and Ruth the better daughter
in-law.
l once asked an aged man in regard to his
pastor, who was a very brilliant man:
why is it that your pastor, 50 very brill
liant, seems to have 20 little heart and ten
derness in his sermonsf' 'WeI" he re-
piled, "bhe reason is our pastor has never
had any trouble When misfortune 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 brilliant as he was before, oh, the
warmth, the tenderness of his discourses.
The fact is that trouble is a great educator
You see sometimes musician sit down at an
instrument, and his execution is cold and
formal and unfeeling The reason is that all
his life he has been prospered. But let mis-
fortune 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 arc great educators.
A young doctor comes into a sick room
where there is dying child. Perhaps he is
very rough in his prescription, and very
rough in his manner, and very 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; and now he
comes into the sick room and with fearful
eye be looks at the dying child, and he says:
"Oh, how this reminds mo Of my Charleln
Trouble, the great educator. Sorrow, see
its touch in the grandest painting; hear its
tremor in the sweetest song; feel its power
in the mightiest argument.
Grecian mythology said that the rounrain
Of Hippocrene was struck out by the foot of
the winged horse Pegasus have often no
ticed in life that the brightest and most beau
tiful fountains of Christian comfort and spir-
it;ial life have been struck out by the iron
shol hoof of disaster and calamity | see
Daniels courage best by the flash of Nebu-
chadnezzars furnace. see Paul's prowess
best when find him On the laundering ship
under the glare Of the lightning in the
breakers Of Melita. God crowns his children
amid the bowling Of wild beasts and the
chopping Of blood splashed guillotine and the
cracking fires of martyrdom. 1t took the
persecution of Marcus Aurelius to develop
POlycarp and Justin Martyr It took the
worlds anathema to develop Martin Luther.
1t took all the hostilities against the Scotch
COvenanters and the fury of Lord Claver-
house to develop James Renwick, and An
drew Melville, and Hugh McKail, the glo-
riOus martyrs Of Scotch history. Il took the
stormy sea, and the December blast, and the
desolate New England coast, and the war
whOop of savages, to show forth the proves
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.
It took all our past national distresses to
lift up our nation on that high career where
it will march along after the foreign aris-
tocracies that have Knocked and the tyrann1es
that have ieered shall be swept down under
the omnipotent wrath Of God who hates
despotisni, and who, by the strength Of his
own red right arm, viii make all men free
And so it is individually, and in the family
and in the church, and in the world, that
through darkness and storm and trouble
men, women, churches, nations are developed.
II. Again, l see in my text the beauty Of
unfaltering friendship. suppose there were
plenty OF lfleilus iol NAOMI Wnlie sne was III
prosperity; but of all her acquaintance, how
many were willing to trudge of with her
toward Judah when she had to make that
lonely journeyl One-the heroine 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
many callers; but / suppose that after her
husband died, and her property went, and
cbo frot old and NOR she was NOT froublad
very much with callers. All the birds that
sung in the bower while the sun shone have
gone to their nests, now that the night has