The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-05-30

coming along that way might CLEAN it and
get their bread. But you say: "What is
the use of all these harvest-felds to Ruth
and Naomi? 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 bis
ter her hands in the harvest-feld?"
Boaz owns a large farm, and he goes out
to see the reapers gather in the grain. Com
ing there, right behind the swarthy, sun
Drowned reapers, he beholds a beautiful
woman cleaning woman more fit to
bend to a harp or sit upon a throne than
TO stoop among the shelves. An, that was
an eventful day.
1t was love at first sight. Boaz forms an
attachment for the womanly gleanor-an
attachment full of undying interest to the
church OF God In all ages; while Ruth,
with an ephah, or nearly bushel of bar
ley, 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
on undying affection for her mother-in-
law, in the harvest-ield of BOaz, is afii-
anced 10 one OF the best families in Judah,
and becomes in after-time the ancestress
OF Jesus Christ. the Lord of Glory. Out
OF So dark night did there ever dawn so
bright morning?
learn in the first place from this sub
ject how trouble develops character. 1t
was bereavement, poverty, and exile that
developed, illustrated, and announced to
all ages the sublimity OF Ruth's character
That Is a very unfortunate man who has
no trouble 1t was sorrow that made
John Bunyan the better dreamer. and Dr.
Young the better poet, and O'Conneil the
better orator, and Bishop Hall the better
preacher, and Havelock the better soldier.
and hlttO the better encyclopedias, and
Ruth the better daughter-in-law.
/ once asked an aged man in regard to
ms pastor, VINO was very brilliant man:
"Why Is it that your pastor, so very bril-
liant, seems TO have so little heart and
tenderness III his sermons?" 'Well." he
replied, 'the reason is our pastor has
never had any trouble When misfortune
comes upon him his style will be differ
ent.' Alter while 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 tender
ness OF his discourses. The fact is that
trouble is great educator. You see some
times a musician sit down at an instru-
ment, and his execution is cold and formal
lie he has been prOspered But let mis-
fortune or bereavement come to that man,
and he sits down at that instrument. and
you discover the pathos in the first sweep
OF the keys.
Misfortune and trials are great educa-
tors. A young doctor comes into the sick
room where there is dying child Per-
haps he is very rough IN his prescription,
and very rough in his manner, and rough
In the feeling OF the pulse, and rough in
ms answer to the mothers anxious cues
ton; but years roll on, and there has been
one dead in his own house; and now he
comes into the sick-room. and with tear
f1l eyes he looks at the dying child, and
he SAYS: ooh, how this reminds me of
my Charliew Trouble, the great educa-
tor Sorrow, l see its touch in the grand
est painting; hear its tremOr in the
sweetest song; / feel its power in the
mightiest argument.
Grecian mythology said that the foun-
datiOn oil HippOcTOne was struck out by
the foot OF the winged horse, Pegasus. [
have often noticed in life that the brightest
and most beautiful fountains of Christian
comfort and spiritual life have been struck
out by the iron-shod hoOf of Disaster and
Gala nifty. / see Daniels courage best by
the lash OF Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. 1
see PauPs prOwess best when / find him
on the laundering ship under the glare Of
the lightning in the breakers of Melita
God crowns hischildren amid the bowling
of wild beasts, and the chopping of blood
splashed guillotine, and the cracking fires
OF martyrdOm. It took the prosecutions
of Marcus Aurelius 10 develop Polycarp
and Justin Martyr. 1t 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
glorious martyrs Of Scotch history. 1t
took the stormy sea and the December
blast, and the desolate New England
coast, and the war-whoop Of the 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 10 the anthems Of the Tree.
II took all our past national distress to
lift up our nation on that high career
where it will march along after the foreign
missionaries that have Knocked and the
tyrannies that have Jeered shall have
been swept down under the omnipotent
wrath of God who hates despotism. and