The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-05-25

L
| Often Ends ri.htiy
BROOKLYN MAY ~. The opening hymn
at the Tabernacle service today begins with
| the words:
More love to thee, o Christ.
More love To thee
| After making a running commentary on
some passages of Scripture the Rev T. DE
Witt Talmage, D. d., took the text: sand
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 Boaz
who was of the kindred of Elimelech." Ruth
ii, 8 He preached from these words the
| following sermon:
The time that Ruth and Naomi arrive al
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 il
up. that was to be left for the poor who
might happen to come along that way. Il
there were handfuls of grain scattered across
the field after the main harvest had beer
reaped, instead of raking it, as farmers dc
now, it was, by the custom of the land, left in
its place, SO that the poor, coming along thai
way. might CLEAN it and get their bread
! But you say: "What is the use of all thest
|
Is 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 heI
cheeks and blister her hands in the harvest
feldsf"
Boaz owns large farm, and he goes out tc
see 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 Oh
sit upon throne than to stoop among the
sheaves All. that was an eventful dayl
| 1t was love at first sight Boaz forms an
attachment for the womanly gleaner-an at
tachment full of undying interest to the
church of God in all ages, while Ruth
with an ephab, 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 through an undying affection for
her mother in law, in the harvest field OF
Boaz, is afiianced to one 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 night did there ever dawn
so bright a morning2
| learn in the first place from this subject
how trouble develops character. 1t was be
reavement, poverty and exile that developed
illustrated and announced to all ages the
sublimity of Ruth's character That is g
very unfortunate man who has no trouble
1t was sorrow that made John Bunyan the
better dreamer, and DR.. Young the better
poet, and OConnell 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
once asked an aged man i'm regard to his
pastor, who was a very brilliant man
why is it that your pastor, SO very bril-
liant. seems to have so little heart and ten
derness in his sermonsP' well" he re
piled. 1.-THE reason is our pastor has never
bad any trouble When misfortune come:
upon him, his style will he different" After
| awhile the Lord took a child out of thai
pastors house; and though the preacher wa.
just as brilliant as he was before, oh, the
warmth, the tenderness of his discourses
The fact is that trouble is great educator
! You see sometimes a musician sit down at ar
instrument. and his execution is cold anc
formal and unfeeling The reason is that al
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 are great educators
| A young doctor comes into sick room
where there is dying child Perhaps he i.
very rough in his prescription, and very
rough in his manner, and very rough II
the feeling of the pulse, and rough
in his answer to the mothers anxiou.
question, but years roll on, and there ha.
been one dead in his own house. and now hC
comes into the sick room and with tearfu
eye he looks at the dying child, and he says
oh. how this reminds me of my Charlier
Trouble, the great educator. Sorrow, | SCI
It's touch in the grandest painting; hear it.
tremor in the sweetest song; feel its power
In the mightiest argument
GrecIan mythology said that the fountain
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
itual life have been struck out by the iror
shod hoof of disaster and calamity. | sex
Daniels courage best by the fash of Nebu
chadnezzar's furnace. | see Pauls proves
best when find him On the laundering shil
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 It took the
persecution Of Marcus Aurelius to develoI
Polycarp and Justin Martyr It took the
worlds anathema to develop Martin Luther
It 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 It took thu
stormy sea, and the December blast, and tn.
desolate New England coast, and the wal
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 II
lift up our nation on that high career wher,
It will march along after the foreign arts
tocracies that have Knocked and the tyrannie.
that have jeered shall be swept down under
the omnipotent wrath of God, who hate!
despotism. and who, by the strength of hi
own red right arm, will make all men free
And so it is individually, and in the family
and in the church, and in the world, thai
through darkness and storm and troubl,
men, women, churches. nations are developed
IL Again, see in my text the beauty Of
unfaltering friendship | suppose there were
plenty of friends for Naomi while she was in
prosperity hut of all her acquaintance how
many were willing tc trudge Off with hel
toward Judah when she had to make that
lonely Journey One-ths heroine of my text
One--alsolutely one Gsuppose when Naomi.
husband was living, and they had plenty Of
money and all things went well, they had
many callers hut | suppose that after heI
husband died and her property went, and
she got OLD and poor, she was not troubled
very much with callers. All the birds thai
sung in the isower while the sun shone have
gone to their nests, now that the night has
fallen
Oh, these beautiful sunflowers that spread
out their color In the morning hour, but ar
always asleep when the sun is going down
Job had plenty of friends when he was th,
richest man in Uz; but when his propert,
went and the trials came, then there wer'
none so much that pestered as Eliphaz tn,
Temanite. and Bildad the Shuttle, ant
Zophar the Naamathite.
Life often seems to be mere game, wher
the successful player pulls down all the othe
men into his own lap Let suspicious aris
about n mans character, and he becomes lik
bank in a panic, and all the imputation
rush on him and break down In day tina
character which in due time would have hac
strength TO defend itself There are reputa
tions that have been half century in build
ing which go down under some moral ex
posure, as vast temple is consumed by tn
touch of a sulphurous match. A hog can up
root century plant
In this world, so full of heartlessness anc
hypocrisy, how thrilling It is to find som
friend as faithful in days of adversely as Il
days Of prosperity David had such frienC
In Hushai. the Jews had such a friend Il
Mordecai, who never forgot their cause; Pau