Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-05-26
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
REV. ..DR. TALMAGE's DISCOURSE AT
BROOKLYN TACERNACLE.

ssTHe BROOKLYN TAcERNAcLE.
Trouble Develops and Ennoblcs Charae-
.trr-Tha Eenuty of Unfnltcrng Friend
isssbip-A Path Which stnrts Enrkly
Often Ends Brightly.
BEooKLYN, May 20-TEo opening hymn
4 at the Tabernacle service today begins with
/ tic words:
Moro love to theo, @ Christ.
| 49, More love To thee.
after making n running commentary on
some passages of Scripture tile Rev. T. DE
Witt Tunmgc D. D., took the text: And
she went, nnd came anil CLEANED i'll the field
.nfter the reapers: and her hap was to light
on a part of tile field belonging unto Boaz,
Who was of tho kindred Of Elimelcch" Ruth
ii9. Flo preached from these words the
following sermon:
strhe time that Ruth and Naomi arrive at
Bethlehem is harvest time. twus the custom
when q shcnf fell from load in the harvest
| field for the reapers to refuse to gather it
IN; that WIS to be left for the poor who
might happen to come along that way. Ii
| there were handfuls of grain scattered across
tie field after the. main harvest had beer
reapcd, instead of rakng 1t, as farmers do
now, it was, by tho custom of the land, left in
1ts place, so TINT the poo-, coming along that
way, might gleanit aud get their bread
But you say: what is the use of ell these
/ harvest fields to Ruth and Naomi1 Naomi
is too old and feeble to go out and toll In the
! sun; and can you expert TINT Ruth, the
young and tho beautiful, should tan her
cheeks und blister her hands in 1.-The harvest
! fields3"
Boaz owns large farm, and he goes out to
SEQ the reapers gnthor in the grain. Coming
there right behind the swarthy, sun Drowned
reapers, be beholls beautiful woman CLEAN
ing-a woman moro fit to bend to a harp or
sit upon throne than to stoop among the
sheaves. All, that was an evcntful day
1t was love ut first sight. Boaz forms IN
attachment for the wonanly gleaner-an at
tachment full of undying interest to the
church of God in oil ages; while Ruth
with an ephah, or nearly bushel of barley,
goes homo to Naomi to tell her the successes
aid adventures of the dry. That Ruth, who
left her native land of Moab in darkness, and
Travelled through an undying affection for
! her mothcr-in-law, in the harvest field Of
Boaz, is ailianced 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 night did there ever dawn
so;bright lnorningi
| 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 tho
IF bot ic
very unfortunate man who has no trouble
1t was sorrow that made John Bunynn the
better dreamer, and DR.. Young the better
poet, and O'Conneil 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.
lonce asked an aged man In regard to his
pastor, who was a very brilliant man:
"Why is it that your pastor, so very bril-
liant, seems to have so littIo heart and ton
derness in his sermons2" "Wcll,n ho re-
piled. "the reason is our pastor has never
had any trouble When misfortune comes
upon him, bis style will be different" After
.awhle the Lord took child out of that
PASTORS house; and though the preacher was
| juSta brilliant ns he was before, oh, tho
warmth, the tenderness. of his discourses.l
| -TSSc fact Is that trouble is great educator.
! You SEQ sometimes musician sit down ut o11
Instrument and his execution is cold and
formal and unfeeling Tho reason Is that an
his life he has been prospered. But let mis-
| fortune or bereavement come to that man,
and hc sits down ut an instrument, and you
discover the pathos in the first sweep Of the
keys.
Misfortune and trials arc great educators
A young doctor comes tlto a sick room
where there is u dying child. Perhaps he is
very rough i'll his prescription, and very
rough i'll his manner, and very rough in
tho 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 lie
comes into the sick room. and with fearful
eye hc looks at the dying child, and he says:
"Oh, how this reminds ME of my Charlicl"
Trouble, tho great educator. Sorrow, scs
its touch in the Grandest painting; hear its
trcmor in the sweetest song; feel its power
in the mightiest argument.
Grecian mythology said that the rountain
OF HiplocTcne was struck out by the foot of
the winged horse Pegasus have often no.
tced in life that the brShtcstnn and most beau
tiful fountains of Christian comfort and spir-
final life have been struck out by the iron
shod hoof Of disaster and calamity. SEQ
Daniels courage hest 10y the FASH of Ncbu-
chadnezzars furnace see Paml's proves
| best when find him en- the laundering ship
undor the glare of the lightning in tho
breakers of Meita' God crowns his children
amid the bowling CT wild beasts and the
chopping of blood splashcd guillotne and the
cracking fires of nartyrdom. 1t took the
persecution Of Marcus Aurcius to develop
Polycarp and Justin Martyr. 1t took the
worlds anathemn to develop Martin Luther.
1t took all the hostilities against the Scotch
Covenanters and the fury of Lord ClnveE-
house to develop James Renwick, and An
drew Melville, and Hugh McKail, the glo-
rious martyrs of Scotch history Ittook the
stormy sea, and the December blast, sld the
desolatc New England coast. and the war
whoop of savages, to show forth tho proves
of the Pilgrim Fathers.
When amid the storms they sang,
And the stars heard. aud the sea;
And the sounding aisles Ct the dim wood
RAM, To the anthems of tho free.
1t took ell 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 tyrannics
that bnvc jeercd shall h, swept down under
/ the ornnipotent wrath Of God, who hates
despotism, and who, by the strength of his
owll red right arm, will make all mon free
And so it is individually, and in the family,
and in the church, and in tho world, that
through. darkness and storm and trouble
nen, women. churches, nations are developed.
II. Again. sec in my text the beauty Of
unfaltering friendship. suppose there were
! silently of friends for Naomi while she was In
prosperity: but of all her acquaintance, how
many were willing to trldge off with her
.oward Judah VIXEN she had to make that
.nnnl,, innr,ley2 Ora-thn lernina of my text