Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-09-18
THE WINGS OF LOVE.
TABERNACLE SERMON ON THE
EXPERIENCE OF RUTH.

Salutation OF BOaz-Ruth Had Become
a Voluntary Exile for Love, and Her
Reward Was Great
The subject of recent discourse by
DIR. Talmage was ''Wings Of Love, the
famous preacher taking for his text the
words, 'The Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come 10 trust
Ruth II, 10.
Scene-An Oriental harvest field.
Grain standing. Grain in swatns. Grain
in sheaves.
At the side Of the field a white tent in
which TO take the incoming, jars OF vim
egar or of sour wine TO quench the thirst
of the hot working people. Swarthy
men striking their sickles into the rus
Ting barley. Others twisting the bands
for the sheaves, putting one end OF the
band under the arm, and with the free
arm and foot collecting the sheaf. Sun
burned women picking up the stray
straws and bringing them to the binders.
Boaz, a fine looking Oriental, gray
bearded and bright-faced, the owner OF
the field, looking on, and estimating the
value Of the grain and calculating SO
many ephahs to the acre, and with his
large, sympathetic heart pitying the
overtasked workmen and the women,
with white faces enough to faint, in the
MONDAY sun. But there is one woman
who especially attracts the mans atten-
tion. She is soon to be with him the
joint owner of the field. She has come
from distant land for the sole purpose
of being kind to an aged woman.
know not what her features were;
but when the Lord God sets behind a wo-
mans face the lamp of courage and faith
and self sacrifice there comes out glory
independent of features. She is to be
the anceStress of Jesus Christ. BoaZ,
the owner of the field, as soon as he un-
derstands that it is Ruth, accOstS her
with a blessing: ga full reward be given
thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wing thou art come to trust"
Christ compares himself to hen gather
ing the chickens under her wings. In
Deuteronomy God is represented as an
eagle stirring up her nest. In a great
many places in the Psalms David makes
ornithological illusions; while my text
mentions the wings of God, under which
the poor, weary soul had come to trust.
Task your attention, therefore, while
taking the suggestion of my text, I
speak to you in all simplicity and love of
the wings of the Almighty.
First, I remark that they were swift
wings under which Ruth had come to
trust. There is nothing in all the handi-
work of God more curious than birds
wing. You have been surprised some
times to see how far it could fly with
one stroke of the wing; and when it has
food in prospect, or when it is affrighted,
the pulsations of the birds wings are
unimaginable for velocity. The English
lords used to pride themselves ON the
speed of their falcons. These birds,
when tanned, had in them the dart of
lightning. How swift were the carrier
pigeons in the time of Anthony and the
siege of Jerusalem! Wonderful speed
A carrier pigeon was thrown up at
Rouen and came down at Ghent-ninety
miles off-in one hour. The carrier
pigeons were the telegraphs of the olden
time. Swallows have been shot in our
latitudes having the undigested rice of
Georgia swamps in ther crops, showing
that they had come 400 miles in six
hours. 1t has been estimated that in
the ten years of a swallows life it flies
far enough to have gone around the
world eighty-nine times, so great is its
velocity.
And so the wings of the Almighty
spoken of in the text are swift wings.
They are swift when they drop upon a
foe, and swift when they come to help
Gods friends. If a father and his son
be walking by the way, and the child
goes too near d preclpice, how long does
it take for the father to deliver the child
from danger? Longer than it takes God
to swoop for the rescue of His children.
The fact is that you cannot get away
from the care of God. If you take the
steamship or the swift rail train he is all
the time along with you. "Whither
shall I go from thy spirit, and whittier
shall flee from thy presence? II as
cend up into Heaven thou art there. If
I make my bed in hell, behold! thou are
there. II take the wings of the morn
ing and dwell in the uttermost parts OF
the sea, even there thy hand shall hold
me-"
The Arabian gazelle is swift as the
wind. If it gets but one glimpse of the
hunter it puts many crags between.
Solomon four or five times compares
Christ t. an Arabian gazelle calling it
by another name) when he says, ''My
beloved is like a roe.' The difference is
that the roe speeds the other way; Jesus
speeds this. Who but Christ could have
been quick enough to have helped Peter
when the water pavement broke? Who
but Christ could have been quick enough
to help the Duke of Argyle when, in his
dying moment, he cried: ''Good cheer!
could die like Roman, but l mean to
die like Christian. Come away, gen.
tlemen. He who goes first goes clean
estr' I had friend who stood by the
rail track at Carlisle, Pa, when the am
munition had given out at Antietam, and
he saw the train from Harrisburg,
| freighted with shot and shell, as it went
| laundering down to the battlefield. He
said that it stopped not for any crossing.
They put down the Makes for no grade.
They held up for no peril. The wheels
were on fire with the speed as they
dashed past. If the train did not come
up in time with the ammunition it might
| as well not'co at all,
| So, my friends, there are times in oUl
lives when we must have help immed:
| ately or perish. The grace that comes
too late is no grace at all. What yor
and want is God-now. Oh, is it moi
blessed to think that God is always il
such quick pursuit of his dear children:
When sinner seeks pardon, or batfiet
soul needs help, swifter than thrush.
wing, swifter than ptarmigan's wing
swifter than fiamingo's wing, swiftel
than eagles wing are the wings of tn,
i