The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-08-07

And she went and came and CLEANED |
in the field after the reapers; and her |
hap was to light a part of the field /
belonging unto Boaz who was of the |
kindred of ElimeIech-' The preacher |
said:
The time that Ruth and Naomi ar
rived at Bethlehem is harvest time It
was the custom when a sheaf fell from
"a load in the field for the reapers to re-
fuse to gather it up; that was to be left
for the poor who might come that way
If there were handfuls of grain scat
tered across the field after the main
harvest had been reaped, instead of
raking 1t, 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 beau
tiful, should tan her cheeks and blister
her hands in the harvest feld?" BOaz
owns a large farm, and he goes out to
see the reapers gather in the grain.
Coming there, right behind the svarthy.
-sun-brCwned reapers, he behOlds a
beautiful woman cleaning woman
more fit to bend to harp sit upon a
throne than to stOop among the sheaves-
All. that was an eventful day! 1t was
love at first sight Boaz forms an at
tachment 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 q
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 in the harvest
field of Boaz, is affianced to one of the
best families in Judah, and becomes in
aftertime the ancestress of Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory! Out of SO dark a
night did there ever dawn so bright a
morning?
1 learn, in the first place, from this
subject how trouble develops char
acter. It was bereavement poverty
and exile that developed, illus
trated and announced to all ages the
sublimity of Ruth's character. That is
q very unfortunate man who has nc
trouble. It was sorrow that made
John Bunyan the better dreamer, and
DIR. Young the better poet, and O'Con-
nell the better orator, and Bishop Hall
the better preacher, and HavelOclc the
better soldier, and KittO the better en-.
cyclopedist, and Ruth the better daugh.
ter-in-law.
once asked an aged man in regard
to his pastor, who was very brilliant
man: why is it that your pastor, 81
very brilliant, seems to have so little
tenderness in his sermOns?" ''Weu,
he replied, 1.-The reason is, our pastor
has never had any trouble. When mis-
fortune comes upon him, his style viii
be different" After while the Lore
took child of that pastors house, ant
though the preacher was just as bril-
liant us he was before, o, the warmth
the tenderness of discOurses! The fac
is that trouble is a great educator. YOl
atf oil 81 n
an instrument, and his execution is col,
and formal and unfeeling. The reason
IS that all his life he has been prosper
GUS But let misfortune or bereave
ment come to that man, and he sit
down at the instrument, and you dis
cover the pathOs in the first sweep o
the keys. Misfortune and trials ar
great educators
I see Daniels courage best by tn
flash of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS furnace.
see Paul's prOwess best when I I'm
him on the fiOUndering ship under tn
glare of the lightning in the breaker
of Melita. God crowns His chiidre
amid the bowling OF wild beasts an
the chOpPing of blood splashed guile
tine and the cracking fires of marty
dom.
It took all our past national distresse
and it takes all our present nations
sorrows to lift up our nation on thu
high career where it will march alon
after the foreign despotisms that hay
Knocked, and the tyTsnnies that hay
jeered shall be swept down under tt
-omnipotent wrath of God, who hat.
oppression. and who, by the strengt
of His own red right arm will make a
men free. And so it is individual,
and in the family, and in the churcl
and in the world that through darkne
and storm and trouble men, womei
churches, nations are destroyed
Again I see in my text the beauty
~unfaltering friendship. I suppose the
were plenty of friends for Naomi viii
she was in prosperity, but of all b.
acquaintances how many were williE
to trudge off with her to Judea vvhs
she had to make that lonely journe,
Gne-the heroine of my text One
absolutely one. I suppose when Naon
husband was living and they had plen
Of snnnar and al Tin -.-..r,A Ill III.