Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-08-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divines Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "GIeaners In Lies Field"
preached at Glenwood COLI

Within few weeks have been in North
Carolina. Virginia. Pennsylvania, New
York. Ohio, Michigan. Canada, Indiana,
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 arrive
at Bethlehem is harvest time. 1t was the
old custom when a sheaf fell from a
load in the harvest field for the rea ers
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 reaped instead Of
raking it, as farmers do now, 1t 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 20 out and toll in the sun; and can
Won expect that Ruth. the young and the
/ beautiful, should tan her cheeks and blister
her hands in the harvest fieldF'
Boaz owns a large farm, and he goes out
/ TO see the reapers gather in the grain. Com
| ing there. right behind the swarthy, sun
Drowned reapers, he beholds beautiful wo
man gleaning-a woman more fit to bend to
harp or sit upon throne than to stoop
]
/ full day
II was love at first sight. Boaz forms an
attachment for tho 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 bar
lev. 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 UNI
! diving affection for her mother-in-law, is in
the harvest field Of Boaz, is affianced to one
of the best families in Judah, and becomes
in after time the ancestress of Jesus Christ,
the Lord of Glory Out Of so dark night
did there ever dawn so bright morning.
learn in the first place from this subject
how trouble develops character. 1t was be-
reavement, poverty and exile that developed,
illustrated and announced to all ages the sub
Unity of Ruth's character That is very
unfortunate man who has no trouble. 1t
was sorrow that made John Bunyan the
better dreamer, and DIR. Young the better
Doet and OConnel the better orator. AMI
Bishop Hall the better preacher, and Have
lock the better soldier, and Kitto the better
encyclopaedia, and Ruth the better daughter
in-law.
/ once asked an aged man in regard to his
nsstor. who was a very brilliant man: why
is it that your pastor, so very brilliant
seems TO have so little tenderness in his SER
monsy "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. oh. the warmth, the tender
ness of his discoursss, The fact IS
that trouble is great eiu-
Gator. You see sometimes a musician SIT
down at an instrument, and his execution
is cold and formal ami unfeeling. The rea-
son is that all his life he has been prospered'
But let misfortune or bereavement come to
that man. and he sits down at the instru-
ment. and ycu discover the pathOs in the first
sweep OF the keys. Misfortune ana Irlais arc
great educators.
A Young doctor comes into a sick room
where there is a dying child. Perhaps he
Is very rough in his prescription, and very
rough in his manner, and rough in the feel
ing o. the pulse, and rough in his answer
10 the mothers anxious question, tut
the years roll on and there has bsen one
dead in his own house, and now ne comes
into the sick room. and with fearful eye he
looks at the dying child and he says, 'Ol,
how this reminds me Of my CharheF
Trouble. the great educator Sorrow
see its touch in the grandeSt painting;
hear its tremor in the sweetest song, l feel
its power in the mightiest argument.
Cirecian mythology said that the founda'
ton Of Hippocrene was struck out by tne
foot of the winged horse, Pegasus have
Dftep rctced in life that the brightest ana
mist beautiful fountains % Chrls.iah cOin-
fort and spiritual life have been struck out
by the iron shOd hoof Of disaster and ca
lamity. | see Daniels courage best by the
flash OF Nebuchadnezzar' furnace see
Paurs proves best when | find him on the
laundering ship under the glare of the light
ming in the breakers of Melita. God crowns
His children amid the bowling Of wild beasts
and the chopping ofblood splashed guiuotlne
and the cracking fires of martyrdom.
II took all our past national dlstresseS,
and il takes all our present national sor-
rows. to lift up our nation on that hlgh
career where it will march along after the
foraipn despotisms that have Knocked ana
the tyrannies that have jeered shall De
swept down under the omnipotent WRATH
of God. who hates oppression, and VINO, oyy
the strength of His own red right arm VIII
make all men free. And so it is individually
and in the family. and in the church, and in
the world. that through darkness and storm
ana trouble men, women, churches, nations,
are developed.
Again, see in my text the beauty Of I'M
fnltering friendship / 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 with her toward Judea. when she had
to make that lonely Journey? One-the
heroine Of my text. One-absolutely one
/ suppose when Naomi's husband was liv-
ing and they had plenty of money, and all
things went well, they had a great many
callers. But | suppose that after her hus-
band died. and her property went and she
got old and poor, she was not troubled very
much with callers. All the birds that sang
in the bower while the SUI shole have gone
to their nests. now thu night has fallen.
In this world so full OF heartleSsness and
hypocrisy how thrilling it is to find some
friend as faithful in days Of adversely as in
days of prosperity! David had such
friend I'm Hushai the Jews had such a
friend In Mordec1i who never forgot their
cause; Paul had such friend in Onrsiph-
orus, who visited him in jail: Christ had
such in the Marys, who adhered to Him on
the cross: Naomi had such a one in Ruth,
who cried out, "Entreat me not TO leave
thee, or to return from following after thee;
for whittier thou goest, will go; and where
thou lodgeSt will lodge: thy people shall be
my people, aud thy God my God; where thou
diesI will die, and there will | be buried;
the Lord do so to ms and more also, II aught
butdeath part thee and me-"
Again, learn from this subject that paths
which open in hardship end darkness often
come out in places of joy. When Ruth started
from Moab toward Jerusalem, to go along
with her mother-in-l law, | suppose the people
said: "Oh what foolish creature 10 go away
from her fathers horse, to 90 off with a Door
old woman toward the land Of Judeal They
won't live to get across the desert. They will
be drowned in the sea, or the jackals OF the
wilderness will destroy them" 1t was a
very dark morning when Ruth started off
with Naomi but behold her In my text in
the harvest sld of Boaz, TO be affianced to
one of the lords Of the land, ami become ono
OF the grandmothers Of Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory. And so it often is that
path which starts very darby ends very
brightly.
II was very hard for Noah TO endure the
sconing Of the people in his day, while he
was trying to build the ark. and was every
morning quizzed about his old boat that
woul never be OF any practical use But
when the de.uge came, and the tops OF the
mountains disappeared like the backs OF sea
monsters and the elements, lashet up III
fury. clappsd their hands over drowned
world. then Noah in the ark rejoicel in his
own safety and in the safety OF his family,
1 anil i~yoled ont ON the wreck OF n ruinet