The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-08-07
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
REV. DR.. rALMAoE DESCRIBES A
HARVEST SCENE.

HARVEST SCENE.
TIE Brooklyn Divins's Sermon ON Sun
day. Aug. 2-Text Of His Remarks
Ruth u, a3--A Discourse That VIII b,
Read with Interest.
GLENwooD. Colo, Aug IA ser
mon redolent with the breath of the
vast harvest fields of the west indicates
that Dr. Talmage has found In the
scenes through which he has been trav
cling and In his present surrounding
suggestions of Gospel lessons. His text
d taken from Ruth Ii, g. "And she
went and came and CLEANED in the field
after the reapers; and her hap was to
Light on part Of the field belonging
unto Boaz, who was of the kindred OF
Elimelech."
Within few weeks I 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 bar.
vest.
The time that Ruth and Naomi ar
rive at Bethlehem Is harvest time. It
was the old custom when a 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. If there
were handfuls of grain scattered across
the field after the main harvest had
been reaped, 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
cay, What is the use of all these har-
vest fields to Ruth and Naomi2 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 field2"
BoAz SEES RUTH.
Boaz owns a large farm, and he goes
out to see the reapers gather in the
grain. Coming there, right behind the
swarthy, sunbrowned reapers, he be-
holds beautiful woman gleaning-a
woman more fit to bend to harp or
Gt upon throne than to stoop among
the sheaves. All. that was an eventful
dayl
1t was love at first sight. Boaz forms
an attachment for the womanly cleaner
AN attachment full of undying inter-
est to the church of God in all ages
while Ruth. with an ephah, or nearlya
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 affec-
ton 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 after time the ancestress Of
Jesus Christ, the Lord Of glpryl Out
OF SO dark night dt0 EVER dawn
10 bright morningG
l learn in the first place from this
subject how trouble develops charac-
ter. It was bereavement, poverty and
exile that developed, illustrated and
announced to all ages the summit of
Ruth's character. That is very un-
fortunate man who has no trouble. 1t
was sorrow that made John Bunyan
the better dreamer, and DR.. Young the
better poet, and O'Connell the better
orator, and Bishop Hall the better
preacher. and Havelock the better
soldier. and Kitto the better encyclo-
pedist. and Ruth the better daughter
in-law
TENDERNESS COMES FROM TROUBLE.
once asked an aged man in regard
to his pastor, who was very brilliant
man, Why is it that your pastor, so
very brilliant. seems to have SO little
tenderness in his sermonsT" WELL"
he replied, 1.-The reason is. our pastor
has never had any trouble. When mis-
fortune comes upon him his style will
be different After awhile the Lord
took a child out of that pastors house,
and though the pastor was just as bril-
liant as he was before, oh, the warmth,
the tenderness of his discourses! The
fact is that trouble is great educator.
You sometimes see a 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
prospered. But let misfortune or be-
reavement come to that man. and he
sits down at the instrument, and you
discover the pathos in the first sweep
of the keys. Misfortune and trials are
great educators
A young doctor comes into sick
room where there is a dying child.
Perhaps he is very rough in his prescrip-
ton, and very rough in his manner,
and rough in the feeling of the pulse,
and rough in his answer to the moth
er's anxious question; but the years
roll on, and there has been one dead