St. Landry democrat., 1888-06-02
sound of the wings of the angel of the Re-

way of very bad man by the name Of
Richard Baxter. He picked up the tract
and read it, and it was the means of his
salvation.
In after-days that man wrote a book
called ''The Call to the Unconverted,"
that was the means of bringing a multi.
tude to God, among others Philip Dodd.
ridge. Philip Doddridge wrote a book
called "The Rise and Progress OF Re-
! ligion," which has brought thousands and
tens Of thousands into the kingdom OF
| God, and among others the great WILDER.
force. Wilberforce wrote a book, called
"a Practical View of Christianity" which
was the means Of bringing great multi
tude to Christ, among others Leigh Rich
| mond. Leigh Richmond wrote a tract
| called ''The Dairyman's Daughter"
which has been the means of the salvation
| of unconverted multitudes. And that
| tide of influence started from the fact that
one Christian woman dropped Christian
tract in the way Of Richard Baxter-that
tide of influence rolling on through Rich
ard Baxter, through Philip Doddridge,
through the great Wilberforce, through
| Leigh Richmond, on, on, on, forever, for
ever. So the insignificant events of this
| world seem, after all, to be most moment
1
street or this street seemed to be Of nc
Importance to you, and the fact that you
went inside some church may seem to be
matter of very great insignifcance to
| vou but YOU will find it the turning point
in your history.
| Again: see in my subject an illustra-
ton of the beauty of female industry. Be-
| hold Ruth toiling in the harvest-field I'M
der the hot sun, or at noon taking plain
| bread with the reapers, or eating the
| parched corn which Boaz handed to her.
| The customs of society, of course, have
| changed, and without the hardships and
exposure to which Ruth was subjected,
every intelligent woman will find some.
| thing to do.
| know there is sickly sentimentality
on this subject. In some families there
are persons of no practical service to the
| household or community; and though
there are so many woes all around about
them in the world, they spend their time
| languishing over new pattern, or burst
| ing into tears at midnight over the story
of some lover who shot himself They
would not deign to look at Ruth carrying
back the barley on her way home to he~
mother-in- law, Naomi. All this fast!di'
| BUSINESS may seem to do very well while
| they are under the shelter OF their ia
! theirs house; but when the sharp winter
Of misfortune comes, what of these but
| terfiies? Persons under indulgent parent
age may get upon themselves habits of
| Incidence: but when they come out into
| practical life their soul will recoil with
disgust and chagrin. They will feel in
their hearts what the poet so severely sa-
tried when he said:
| Fo,ks are so awSard, things so impolite,
| They're elegantly panied from morning until
| night.
Through that gate of Incidence how
many men and women have marched.
| useless on earth, to destroyed e4sznf<Y
| Spinola said to Sir Horace We're:
'Of what did your brother die?"
"Of having nothing to do" was the an
swer. .--.
"Ah," said Spinola, 'that's enough to
| kill any General of u.s."
| Obi can it be possible in this world,
where there is so much suffering to be al
| leviated, so much darkness to be en-
| lightened, and so many burdens to be
| carried, that there is any person who can
not find any thing to do?
Nine. de Stael did world Of work In
her time; and, one day, while she was
which she hao mastered, and amid manu-
script books which she had written, some
one said to her:
Chow do yon find time to attend to all
these things?"
"Oh," she replied, ''these are not the
things 1 am proud of. My chief boast
in the fact that 1 have seventeen trades
by any one of which could make liveli-
hood if necessary"
And if in secular spheres there is so
much to be done, in spiritual work how
| vast the field! We want more Abigails,
more Hannahs, more Rebeccas, mors
Marys, more Deborahs consecrated-
body, mind soul-to the Lord who bought
them. - ...-..-..
Once more: learn from my subject the
value of gleanings. Ruth going into that
harvest field might have said:
There is straw, and there is straw,
but what is a straw? I can't get any bar
lev for myself or my mother law out OF
these separate straws."
Not so said beautiful Ruth. She gath
cred two straws, and put them together,
AID more straws, until she got enough to
make sheaf. Putting that down, she
went and gathered more straws, until she
udQ GHOlueT Suea1, anu uIolLeI, dilu all.
other, and another, and then she brought
them all together, and she thu eshed them
out, and she had an ephah of barley,
nigh bushel. Oh, that we might all be
cleaners!
Elihu Burritt learned many things while
toiling in a blacksnith's shop. Aber-
crombie, the world renowned philosopher,
was philosopher in Scotland, and he got
his philosophy, or the chief part of it,
while, as physician, he was waiting for
the door OF the sick room to open. Yet
how many there are in this day who say
they are so busy they have no time for
mental or spiritual improvements; the 1
great duties of life cross the field like
strong reapers and carry off all the hours.
and there is only here and there frag.
ment left that is not worth cleaning. All,
my friends, you could go into the busiest
day and busiest week of your life and find
golden opportunities, which, gathered,
might at least make whole sheaf for the
Lords garner. It is the stray opportuni-
ties and the stray privileges which, taken
up and bound together and beaten out /
will at last fill you with Astounding joy.
There are a few moments left worth the
cleaning. Now, Ruth. to the feldi. May
each one have measure full and run
ming over! Oh, you cleaners, to the field
And if there be in your household an
aged one or sick relative that is not