Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-05-31
TROUBLE AN EDUCATOR.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the Elk
ample Of Ruth.
Trouble Develops the Character-Beauties
Of True FriendshIp-The Reward OF
Patience Misfortune Often Pro-
cedes Honor.

In dis late sermc.; at the Brooklyn Taber
nacie or Ruth's example, Rev. Dewitt
Taimase preached from the text, "And she
went, and came, and CLEANED in the field
after the reaper, and her hap was to ligh
Oh par, OF the field belonging unto Boaz
who was Of the kindred OF Elimelech.'
Ruth ii. B. He SAID:
The time that Ruth and Naomi arrive III
BeihIeh IN is harvest time. 1t was the
custom wi.ei a sheaf fell from a load in the
harvest fed for the reap.rs to refuse Il
e Their it up; that was to be left for the
p'or who might happen to come along that
way. II there were handouts OF grain
8, at cred across the field after the main
harvest had been reaped, instead OF raking
il a, farmers do now, it was, by the custom
OF the land. left in its place, so that the
poor coming along that way might CLEAN ii
AID get tn .ir bread. But you say: What
4, the use of all these harvest fields to
Ruth nd Naomi! Naomi is too old and
feeble 10 60 out and toll in the sun; and
can you expect that Ruth, the young and
tie lie ,utifuI. should tan her cheeks and
blister h hands in the harvest tieldF'
T. az owns "A large farm and he goes out
TO see the reapers gather in the grain.
Coming there, right behind the swarthy,
sun-browned reapers, he beholds a beauti-
full woman cleaning, woman more tit to
bend To a harp or sit upon throne than to
stoop :mpng the sheaves. All, that was an
eventful day.
It vas love at first sight. Boaz forms an
att cam mt for the womanly cleaner, an
ntIarume IT full of undying interest to the
Church of God in all ages, while Ruth,
with an ephah, or nearly bushel OF bar
lev, gees home to Naomi to tell her the
successes and adventures of the day. That
kutn, who left her native land of Moab in
darkness and travelled, through an undying
affec' IN for her mother-iu-law, in the har-
vest field of Bcaz, is affianced to one Of the
best iami les in Judah and becomes in after
time the ancestress of Jesus Christ, the
l. rd glory. Out of so dark night did
there ever dawn so bright morning!
lie. rn IN the first place from this subject
how trouble develops character. 1t was
bereavement, poverty and ex lie that devel-
orei, illus rated and announced TO all ages
the .ublimity of Ruth's character. That is
q very unfortunate man who has no
trouble. 1t was sorrow that made John
Bunyan the better dreamer. and DIR. Young
the better poet, and U'Conne.l the better
Ora' or, aud Bishop Hall the bettcr preach
err. and Havelock the better soldier, and
Ki,to the better encyclopaedia, and Ruth
the better daughter-in-law.
once asked an aged man in regard to
his aston, who is very brilliant man:
'Why is it that your pastor. 50 very brill
liant, seems to have so little heart and
tenderness in his sermousW "Well, he
replied, 1.-The reason is our pastor has
never had any trouble. When misfortune
comes upon him his style will be different"
After awhile the Lord took child out Of
that PASTORS house; and though the
preacher was just as brilliant as he Was
before, o, the warmth, the tenderness OF
his discourses. The fact is that trouble is
great educator. You see sometimes a
musician sit down at an instrument and
his execution is cold and formal and unfeel-
ing. The reason is that all his life has
been prospered. But let misfortune or
bereavement come to that man, and he sits
down ut an 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 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 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 eye he
locks at the dying child, and he says: 30,
how this reminds me Of my Charlie"
Trouble, the great educator. Sorrow, see
its touch In the grandest painting; l hear
its 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
o. br
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 calamity
see Daniels courage best by the flash Of
Nebuchadnezzav's furnace. see Paurs
prowess best when find him on the found |
ering ship under the glare Of the lightning
i'm The breakers of Melita. God crowns his |
children amid the bowling Of wild beasts |
and the chopping of blood-splashed guilio- |
tine and the cracking fires OF marty rdom |
II took the prosecutions of Marcus Aurelius |
to develop Polycarp and Justin Martyr. 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 glo |
rous martyrs of Scotch history. 1t took |
the stormy sea and the December blast and |
the deso!ate New England coast, and the |
warwhoop Of savnges, 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 wood
Rang to the anthems of the Free
/ took all our past NATIONAL distresses to
la cur Nation On that high care err where
il will march alnno after the foreign aris-
hot hax, md = a
mes that have jeered shall Ce swept down
under the omnlpotent wrath of Gcd, who
hates depotsm and who. ty the strength
Of / is own red right arm, Will make all
men tree. Aud so II Is individually and in
the family, and in the church and in the
world that through darkness and storm
and trouble men, women, churches, ma
lions are developed.
Again, see in my text the beauty of un-
faltei ing friendship l suppose there were
plenty Of friends for Naomi while she
was IN prosperity; but of all her acquaint-
ances how many were willing to trudge
off wi h her toward Judah when she had TO
make that lonely journey! One-the hero.
inc OF my text One-absolutely one. l
suppose when Naomi's husband was living
and they had plenty Of money and all
things went well they had plenty of callers:
but suppose that after her husband died
and her property went, and she got old
ana poor, she was rot troubled very much
with callers. All the birds that sung in
the bower VIII lie the sun shone above have
gone to their nests, now that the night has
fallen.
o, these beautiful sunfiowers that spread
out their colors in the morning hour! but
are always asleep when the sun is going
down. Job had plenty Of friends when he
was the richest man in Uz, but when his
property went and the trials came, then