Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-08-07
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
REV. DIR. TALMAGE DESCRIBES
.~~--~ A HARVEST SCENE.
Tho Brooklyn Divine's Sermcn-Text of
els Remarks, Ruth ii, "a Discourse
That VIII BE Read with Interest.


DR.. Talmagc's text is taken from Ruth
ii, 3: "And she went and came and
CLEANED in the field after tho reapers:
and her hap wes to light on part of
the fielC belonging unto BoaZ, who was
of the kindred OF Elimelcch.'
Within few weeks l have been in
North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania,
New York, Ohio, Michigan, Canada, In
diana, Illinois, kentucky, Missouri, 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 old custom when sheaf fell
from load in the harvest field for the
reaper to refuse to gather it up; that
was to be left for the poor who might
happen to come that way. Ii there were
handfuls of grain scattered across the
field after the main harvest had been
rcaped, instead OF raking it up as 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 it and get
their bread. But, you say, "What is
the use of all these harvest fields to
Ruth and Naomi? Naomi is too old and
feeble to go out and toll in the sun; and
can you expect that Ruth, the young
and the beautiful, should tan her cheeks
and blister her hands in the harvest
feld9"
Boaz owns large farm, and he goes
out TO see the reapers gather in the
grain. Coming there, right behind the
swarthy, sunbrowped reapers, he be-
holds q beautiful woman cleaning
woman more fit to bend to a harp or sit
upon throne than to stoop among the
sheaves. All, that was an eventful day!
1t was love at first sight. Boaz forms
an attachment for the womanly cleaner
@an attachment full of undying interest
to the Church of God in all ages-while
Ruth, with an ephah, or nearly bushel
OF barley, goes home to Naomi to tell her
the successes and adventures of the day.
That Ruth, who left her native land of
Moab in darkness and journeyed through
an undying affection for her mother-in-
law, is i'll the harvest field of Boaz, is af-
tianced to one of the best families in
Judah, and becomes in after time the an
cesuess of Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory! Out of so dark a night did there
ever dawn so bright morning?
l learn in the first place from this sub
ject how trouble develops character. 1t
was bereavement, poverty and exile that
developed, illustrated and announced to
I'll ages the summit of Ruth's character.
That is very unfortunate man who has
no trouble. 1t was sorrow that made
John Bunyan the better dreamer, and
DR.. Young the better poet, and O'Conncll
the better orator, and Bishop Hall the
better preacher, and Havelock the bet
ter soldier, and kitto the better cncyclo-
pedist, and Ruth the better daughter-in-
law.
once asked an aged man in regard to
his pastor, who was a very brilliantman,
''Why is it that your pastor, so very
brilliant, seems to have so little tender
ness in lis sermons?" "Well," he re-
piled, "the reason is, our pastor has
never had any trouble. When misfortune
comes upon him his style will be differ
ent." After awhile the Lord took child
out OF that pastors house, and though
the pastor was just as brilliant as he was
before, oh, the warmth, the tenderness of
his discourses The fact is that trouble
is great educator. You sometimes see
o musician sit down at an instrument,
and his execution is cold and formal and
unfeeling. The reason is that all his life
he has been prosperous. But let misfor-
tune or bereavement come to that man,
and he Sits down at the instrument, and
you discover the palhos in the first sweep
OF the keys. Misfortune and trials are
great educators.
A young doctor comes into sick-room
where there is dying child. Perhaps
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 questions;
but the years roll on, and there has been
one dead in his own house; and now he
comes into the sick-room, and with tear
full eye he looks at the dying child, and
he says, "Oh, how this reminds me of my
Charles" Trouble, the great educator
Sorrow see its touch in the grandest
paintings; l hear its tremor in the sweet
ost song; feel its power in the mightiest
argument.
Greclan mythology said that the foun-
tain OF HipDocrene was struck out by the
foot of the winged horse Pegasus. Ihavc
often 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 dis
aster and calamity. see Daniels cour-
age best by the flash of Nebuchadnez-
Ears furnace. see Paul's proves best
when find him on the laundering shin
under the glare of lightning in the break
ers OF Melita. God crowns His children
amid the bowling of wild beasts, and the
chopping of blood splashed guillstine,
and the cracking fires of martydom.
1t took the prosecutions of Marcus
Aurelius to develop Polycarp and justin
Martyr. 1t took the Pope's bull, and the
Cardinals curse, and the worlds anath-
ema to develop Martin Luther. 1t took
all the hostilities against the Scotch
covenanters and the fury of Lord Claver-
house to develop James Renwi,k and
Andrew Melville and Hugh McKail, the
glorious martyrs of Scotch history. 1t
took the stormy sea, and the December
blast. and the desolate New England
coast, and the war whoop of savages to
show forth the proves of the Pilgrim
Fathers
When amid the storms they sang.
And the stars heard, and the sea:
And the sounding aisles Of tho dim wood
Rang to the anthems of the Free
1t took all our past National distresses.
and it takes all our present National
sorrows, to lift up our nation on that
high career where it will march along
of bo