The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-05-31

pariIS winch 0r6n In hardship ana darkness
often come cut fiji places OF joy. WIelR Ruth
along with her mother.ir.law / suppose the
people said: s.sOh, what 1 foolish creature
to 80 away from her fathers house to g0o1
with q poor old woman toward the land Of
JUDAH They wont live to get across the
the jackals Of the wilderness will destroy
them" It was q very dark morning when
Ruth st ,rted OF with Naomi; but behold her
in my text In the haryest-field Of Boaz to be
atianced to one Of tho lords Of the ia I'd and
become one Of the .grandno.he.s Of Jesu,
Christ, the lord Of glory. AM SO 1t often -
that a path which starts very darkly ends
| very brightly.
When you started out for heaven, oh. how
dark was the hour of conyiction-how S.nx1
thun 1ered and devils tormented and the
darkness thickened! All the sins Of your
life bounced upon you, and 1t was the dark,
est hour you ever saw when you first fonad
out your sins. After awhile you went into
the harvest field Of Gods mercy; you began
to CLEAN in the fields Of divine promise, n
you had more sheaye, than you could carry
blessed is the mar whose t.ansgressions a.e
forgiven and whose sins are covered" A
very dark starting in conviction, very bright
ending in the pardon and the hope and the
triumph of the gospel.
So, very often in our worldly business or IN
our spiritual career, we start Oft on q very
dark path. We must 60. The flesh may
vo;cs from above, saying: "You must go;"
and we have to::drlnk the gall, and VIC have
to carry the cross, and we have to traverse
the desert, ana we are pounded and flailcd
Of misrepresentation and abuse, and we have
10 urge our way Though ten thousand ob.
arm. We have 10 ford the river, we have 10
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 battlemepts we will shout the
victory if not in thi, void, then in that
burdens to carry, no battles to fight. How
do I know it? Know It! know it because
God says so: '"Ihey 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 fountains OF water, AMI God
shall wipe all tears from their eyes,.
1t was very hard for Noah to endure the
soothing of the people in his dav, while he
was trying 10 build his ark, and was every
morning quizz,d about his old boat that
would never be Of any p .ctlcal use but
when the de;uge came and the top. OF the
mountains %disappeaie | like tie backs Of sea.
monsters, and the element, dashed up in
fury, clapped their hlnds over a drowned
world, then Noah in the ark rejoiced in his
own safety and in til safety OF his family
and looked out on the wreck Of a ruined
earth.
h. Christ, bounded of prosecutors. denied o
i pillow, worse maltreated than the thieves
on either side Of the cross, human hate
smacking its lips in satisfaction after it had
been draining His last drop OF blood, the
she It dead bursting Ms from tbs h sepulehres
and Golgotha, Were there ever darker
times than those? Like the booming Of the
midnight sea against tie rock. the surges Of
Christs anguish beat .g inst the gates OF
eternity, 10 be echoed back by all the
thrones Of heaven and all the dungeons of
hell. But the day Of reward come, for
Christ; all the pomp and dominion of this
world are to be hung IN His throne, I'M
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 Ill lheaven. rising on their
thrones, beat time with their sceptres:
"Hallelujan, for the Lord God omnipotent
reignethl Hallelujah, the kingdoms of this
world have become the Kingdoms Of our
Lord Jesus ChristY Qrx s.s@zz.5 ea..
"That song Of love, now low and far,
Ere, long shall swell from star 70 star;
The golden-spired apocalypse"
4. ASulus l. lCnEA lIOiu NY SuUJcCL G01t
events which seem to be most insignificant
may be momentous. Can you imagine any,
thing more unimportant than the coming Of
a poor woman from Moab to Judah? Can
you imagine anything more trivial than the
fact that this Ruth just happened to alight
on on that field Of Boar Yet ali-a yes, all gen.
erations, have IN interest in the fact that
she was to become an ance ,tor of the Lord
Jesus Christ and oil nations and Kingdoms
mustilook at that orc little incident with. a
thrill of unspeakable an eternal satisfaction.
Sol Is in your history and in mine : events
that you thought Of no importance at all have
been of very great moment That casual
conversation, that accidental meeting-you
did not think of it again for q 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 min
strelsy; and as you hear the vibration Of q
stringed instrument, even after the fingers
have been taken away from it, so all music
now of lutte and drum and cornet is only the
long continued strains Of JubaPs harp and
JubaYs organ. It seemed to be q matter of
very little importance that Tubal Cain learn
ed the uses of copper and iron; but that
rude foundry.o of an ,ient days has Its echo in
the rattle Of Birmingham. machinery, and
the roar and bang OF factories on the Merri-
Il seemed to be d matter OF no temperance
that Luthur found a bible in q monastery. but
as heopended that bible, and the brass.bound
lids fellsback, they Jared everything, from
the ~vantican to the furthest convent In Ger.
many, and the rustling Of the wormed leaves
was the sound of the wings of the angel OF
the reformation. It seemed to be . matter
Of no Importance that a woman, whose name
has been forgotten, dropped q tract in the
way of q very bad man by the name VI Rich.
ard Baxter. He picked up the tract and
read it, and it was the means Of his saliva
ton. .
In after days that man wrote a book called
"The Call to the Unconverted' that was the
among others Philip Dodridge.- Philip bod.
bridge wrote q book called 1.-THE Rise and
Progress Of Religion" which. has brought
thousands and tens Of thousands into tha
kingdom of God, and among others the great
4 Wflbertorce. Wilberforce wrote q book
called GA Practical View Of Christianity"
which was the means Of bringing . great
multitude to Christ, among others Iegf
Richmond. Leigh Richmond wrote . tract
has been the means Of the salvation Of unc0n.
verted multitudes. And that tide Of inffl
ence started from the fact that one Christian
woman dropped a Christian tract in the way
Of Richard Baxter the tide Of influence
rolling on through Richard Baxter, through
Philip Doddridge, through the great WILDER.
force, through Leigh Richmond, on, on, on, for
ever, forever. so. the Insignificant events p
this world seem,a after al, to be most moTnen.
tous. The fact that you came up that street
or this street'seemed to. be Of no importanc,
to you, and the fact that you went inside o
some church may seem to be q matter o
very great insignifcence to you, but you will