New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-05-30
ALMAGEHS SERMON.
Sorrows, Mlsfortunes, and Trials Are
Great Educators and Develop
Character.
lGhesa Made John Bunyan the Better
Dreamer and DIR. Young the
Better Poet.

AeCSeCE IOcG.
Inc orenlng hymn at he Tabernacle scry-
aee sunday began with the words:
IN More love to Thee, Christ
More love to Thee
es After making a running commentary on
g,oine passages of scripture the Rev. It. De-
y Ivy aimage, ID. D., took the text: .sAnd
que Went and came, and CLEANED in the
nelo after the reapers; and her hap was too
light on part of the field belon gino unto
-Doaz' VINO was of the kindred OF Elimelech.0
huth ll;3 He preached from these words
the following sermon:
Inc time that Ruth and Naomi arrive at
bethtehem is harvest time. 1t was the cu,-
sotn Wilcn sheaf fell flom load in a lar-
Vest-held for the reapers to refuse to gather
lSAip; that was to be left for the roor who
lnisnG happen to come along that way. If
.llefe We're handfuls of grain scattered across
ehe led after the main harvest had been
Geaped, instead of raking it as farmers do
now 1t was, by the custom of the land, left
~ us place so that tie poor, coming alpng
tiiab way, might CLEAN it and ge their
bread. But you say: .sWhat is the use Of
all these halvest-felds to Ruth and Naomis
NAOMI is too OLD and feeble to go out and
lon IN the sun; and can you expect that
hufh, the young and the beautiful, should
tan her cheeks and blister her hands in the
sFfvest-feld?o
boaz owns large farm, and he goes out
20 see the reapers gather in the grain. Com
ing there, ri-ht behind the sWarIhy, sun
Drowned reapers. he beholds a beautiful
woman gleaning-a woman more fit to bend
TO a harp or sit upon throne than TO stoop
among the sheayes. All, that was an event.
ful day.
lt was love atfirst sight Boaz forms an
a1Iachment for the Womanly gleaner-an at
tachment full of undying interest to the
(. church of God in all ages; While Ruth, with
an ephah, or nearly bushel of barley, goes
nome to Naomi to tell her the successes and
adventures OF the day. That Ruth, who lie #
AGer native land of Moab in darkness, and
grayeled through on unSlying affection tor
ner motherin-law, in the harvest-feld of
BoaZ, is atfianced to one of the best families
IN .Judah, and becomes il after time the an
eestress OF Jesus Christ, the Lori of Glory.
Out of SO dark night did there ever dawn
80 bright a morning?
learn in the first page from thi, subject
how trouble delelopes character. 1t was
Bereavement, poverty, and exile That deyel
the sui Unity OF Ruth's character. That is Il
very unfortunate man who has no trouble.
1t was sorrow that made John Bunyan the
better dreamer. aud Dr.. Young the better
poet, and OConnell the better orator, and
..Ib1shop Hall the better preacher, and Have
%foCh the better so der, and kit:o the better
encyclopaedia and Ruth the better daughter
in-laW.
once asked an aged man in regard to his
pastor, who was a very brilliant man: 'sWhy
Is IL that your pastor, SO very brilliant, seems
TO nave 50 little heart and tenderness in his
sermons" swell" he rep led, '.the reason
Is OUR pastor has never had any trouble.
When misfortune comes upon him his style
Will be different" After While the Lord
took Chi out of that pastors house, and
though the preacher was just as brilliant rs
he was before, oh, the warmth, the tender
ness OF his discourses. The fact is that
trouble is a great educator. You see some-
times a musician sit down at an instrument,
and his execution IS cold and formal and I'M
feeling. The reason is that all his life lie
has been prospered. But let misfortune Or
bereavement come to that man, and he sits
edOWn at in instrument, and you discover
'h2the pathos in the frSt sweep of the KEYS
Misfortune and trials are great educators
A Yong doctor comes into the sick room
where there is o dying child Perhaps he
Is very rough in his presoript, Oh, and very
rough in his manner. and rough in the feel
ing 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 eyes he looks at the dying
child, and he says: .Oh, how this reminds
me of my Charliew Trouble, the great
educator. Sorrow, I see its touch in the
grande painting; / hear the tremor lii the
sweetest song; 1 feel its power in the might
lest argument.
Grecuin mythology said that the founda-
ton of Hippocrene was struck out by the
= foot Of the winged horse, Pegasus. / have
i often Loticed in life that the brightest and
most beautiful fountains Of Christian comfort
and spiritual lite have been struck out by
the iIol-shod hoof of disaster and calamity
/ see Daniels courage best by the flash of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS furnace. / see Paul's
prowess best when L find him ON the found
ering ship under the glare OF the lightning
in the breakers OF Meliia. God crowns his
children amid the bowling of wild beasts,
and the chopping blood-splashed guillotine.
took the prosecutions of Marcus AuIelils to
develope Polycarp and Justin Martyr. 1t
took the worlds anathema to deyelope Mar
tin Luther. 1t took all the hostilites against
the Scotch covenanters and the fury of Lcr
ClaYelhouse to develope James RenWicl
and Andrew Melville and Hugh HckaiI.
the glorious martyrs of Scotch h story. It
took the stormy sea, and the December blast,
and the desolate New England coast, and
war-whcop of savages to show forth the
prowess of the pilgrim fathers.
When amid the storms they sang,
And the stars heard and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim wee
Rang to the anthems of the free
It took all our past national discusses to
lift up our nation on that high career where
1t will march along after the foreign aristoc-
racics that have Knocked and the tyrannies
that have jeered shall be swept under the ON
nipotent wrath of God, who hates despotism
and who by the strength of his own red right
arm will make all men free. And TO it is
individually, and in the family. and in the
church, and in the world, that through dark
ness and storm and trouble men, women,
churches, nations are developed.
2. Again see in my text the beauty of
unfaltering friendship. | suppose there were
plenty of friends for Naomi while she was in
prosperity; put of all her acquaintances how
many were willing to trudge off with her to-
ward Judah when she had to make that lonely
journey? One-the heroine of my text. one
absolutely. suppose when Naomi's hus-
band was living and they hid plenty of
money and all things went we'll they had a
great many callers; but suppose that after
her husband died and her property went and
she had got old and poorshe was not troubled