The Princeton union., 1891-08-13
THE HARVEST FIELD
1t Was Located in Bethlehem and
Reaping Was Done With
5 a Sickle.
Boaz Was the Owner and Gen
tie Ruth Cleaned SheaVes
Therein.

OREEN MOUNTAIN FALLS, lopeClal.
DR.. Talmage preached here. His
text is taken from Ruth IL, 8: "And
she went and came and cleaned in the
tield after the reapers: and her hap
was to light on part OF the field be-
longing unto Boaz who was OF the
kindred of Elimelech"
Within few weeks 7 have been in
North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylva-
MIA, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Cana
da, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Mis-
souri,, and they are one great harvest
field, and no season can be more
enchanting in any country than the
season of harvest.
The time that Ruth and Naomi ar
rive at Bethlehem is harvest time. 1t
| was the load custom that when a.
sheaf tell from a wagon in the harvest
field for, the reapers to refuse to gath
er it up; that was to be left for the
poor who might happen to come that
way. If there were handfuls OF grain
| scattered across the field after the
main harvest had been reaped, instead
OF raklng it, as farmers do now, it was,
by the custom of the land, left in it's
place, so that the poor coming along
that way might CLEAN it and get their
| bread 0. IT,.
Boaz 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 be-
| holds a beautiful woman gleaning-a
woman more fit to bend to a harp or
to sit upon a throne than to stoop
among the sheaves. All, that was an
eventful day ,.s. .:..
| 1T WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
Boaz forms an attachment for the
womanly gleaner-an attachment full
OF undying interest to the Church OF
God in all ages; while Ruth, with an
ephah, or nearly a bushel of barley,
goes home to Naomi to tell her the
successes and adventures ofathe day
That Ruth, who left her native land of
Moab in darkness, and journeyed
through an undying affection for her
mother-in-law, is IN the harvest field
OF Boaz, is afianced to one of the best
families in Judah, and becomes in aft
er-tlme the ancestress of Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory! out of so dark a
night did there ever dawn so bright a
morning? 49,.
learn, in the first place, from this
subject how trouble develops charac-
ter. 1t was bereavement, poverty,
and exile that developed, illustrated,
and announced to all ages the sublim-
| ity Of Ruth's character. That is a
very unfortunate man who has no
| trouble. 1t was sorrow that made
John Bunyan the better dreamer, and
Doctor Young the better poet, and
O'Connell the better orator, and Bish-
op Hall the better preacher, and Have
lock the better soldier, and Kitto the
better encyclopedias, and Ruth the
better daughter-in-law. 49,. D..
Again, [ see in my text the beauty
| UNFALTERING FRIENDSHIP. e..
lsuppose there are plenty of friends
1or Naomi while she was in prosperity;
but of all her acquaintance, how
many were willing to trudge off with
her towards Jud@a, when she had to
make that lonely journey? One-the
heroine of my text One-absolutely
one. I suppose when Naomi's hus-
band was living, and they had plenty
OF money, and all things went we'll,
they had great many callers; but
suppose that after her husband died,
and her property went, and she got
old and poor, she was not troubled
much with callers. All the birds that
sang IN the bower while the sun shone
| have gone to their nests, now the
night has fallen.
On these beautiful sun-fowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hour! but they 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 pro-
perty went and the trials came, then
there were none SO much that poster
ca as Ellphaz the Temanite, and Bill
dad the Shuttle, and Zophar the
| Naamathite.
Life often seems to be a mere game,
| where the successful player pulls down
Rll the other men into his lap. Let
suspicious arise about a mans char
! acter, and he becomes like bank in
~ toooAAiC' o'llu c1ll Clle LII puCGU1OnS rush
on him and break down in day that
character which in due time would
have had strength to defend itself.
Again learn from this subject that
paths which open in hardship and
darkness often come out in places of
Joy. 1t was a very dark morning
| when Ruth started off with Naomi;
but behold her in my text in the har-
vest field Of Boaz, to be affianced to
one Of the lords Of the land, and be-
come ono Of the grandmothers Of
Jesus Christ, the Lord Of glory. And
it often is that path which starts
very darkly ends very brightly.
So, very. often in our worldly
business or in our spiritual career,
we start off on a very dark path. We
must 60. The flesh may shrink back,
but there is q voice within, voice
above, saying, "You must CO., and
we have to drink the gall, and
we have to carry the cross, and we
have to traverse the desert and we
are pounded and failed OF misrepre-
| HentatiOn and ahlisa md ,va pora ~