The Yale expositor., 1897-04-30

who might happen to come along tha'
way. IL there were handtuis VI Bun
scattered across the field AFTER Ihe man
harvest had been reaped. insteau vi
raking II, as farmers do now, IL was
by the custom OF the land, lelI III i'S
place, so that the poor coming aious
that way might CLEAN 1t. and get tneir
bread. But, you say, what is the use
of all these harvest fields to RUIN anu
Naomi? Naomi is too old ana ieeoie
TO go out and toll in the sun; ana can
you expect that Ruth. the young anu
the beautiful should tan her CHEEKS
and blister her hands in the harvest
field?
Boaz owns a large farm, and he goes
out to see the reapers gather III lhe
grain. Coming there. right peninu .ne
swarthy, sun-browned reapers. ne pe-
holds a beautiful woman cleaning
woman more fit to bend to a harp vi
sit upon a throne than to stoop among
the sheaves. All, that was an eVen'iui
day!
WAS lONe Ut hAot SAbAN'
forms an attachment for the womahy
gleaner-an attachment full OF unuy-
ing interest to the church OF Goo IN ali
ages; while Ruth. with an epnah, OF
nearly a bushel OF barley. goes nome
TO Naomi to tell her of the successes
and adventures of the day. That Rutn'
who left her native land OF moap III
darkness, and Travelled through an nm
dying affection for her mediterranean
is in the harvest field of Boaz. is am
anced 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 a night ala
there ever dawn so bright morn
ing?
/ learn. in the first place, from this
subject. how trouble develops charact-
er. II was bereavement, poverty ana
exile that developed, illustrated. and
announced to all ages the sublimity oil
Ruth's character. That Is a very un-
fortunate man who has no trouble. IL
was sorrow that made John Bunyan
the better dreamer, and Doctor Young
the better poet, and O'Connell the bet
ter orator, and Bishop Hall the better
preacher. and Hayelock the better SOL
der. and Kitto the better encyclopae-
dist, and Ruth the better daughter-in-
law.
I once asked an aged man in regard
to his pastor. who was very brilliant
man, why Is IL that your pastor. SO
very brilliant, seems to have so little
heart and tenderness in his sermonsr
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 a while
the Lord took a child out Of the pas.
| tors house; and though the preacher
was lust as brilliant as he was before
oh. the warmth. the tenderness of hi:
discourses! The fact is, that trouble
is a great educator. You see sometime:
a musician sit down at an instrument
and his execution is cold and forma
and unfeeling The reason is that al
his life he has been prospered. Blu
let misfortune or bereavement come Il
that man, and he sits down to the in
strument, and you discover the patho
in the first sweep of the keys.
Misfortunes and trials are great ed
ucators. A young doctor comes int
sick room where there is a dyin,
child. Perhaps he is very rough IL
his prescription, and very rough in hi
manner, and rough in the feeling O
the pulse, and rough in his answer {,
the mothers anxious question: bu
years roll on, and there has been on
dead in his own house; and now h
comes into the sick room, and wit
fearful eve he looks at the dying child
and he says. "Oh. how this remind
me of my Charlie!" Trouble. the grea
educator. Sorrow see its touch Il
the grandest painting; l hear its trem
or in the sweetest song; l feel IL
power In the mightiest argument.
Grecian mythology said that tn
foundation of Hippocrene was struc
out by the foot of the winged hors
Pegasus. i have often noticed in If
that the brightest and most beautift
fountains of Christian comfort an
spiritual life have been struck out b
the iron shod hoof of disaster an
calamity. 1 see Daniels courage beI
by the flash of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ful
mace. I see Pauls prowess best whe
I find him on the laundering shi
under the glare of the lightning In III
breakers Of Meiita- God crowns h
children amid the bowling OF will
beasts and the chopping of BLOOD
eplashed guillotine and the cracklin
fires of martyrdom. II took the pei
secutions OF Marcus Aurelius to d.
velop Polycarp and Justin Martyr.
took all the hostiiities against scotc
Covenanters and the fury OF Lor
Claverhouse to develop James Renwic
and Andrew Melville. and James in
Kali. the glorious martyrs of Scotc
history IL took the stormy sea, an
: the December blast, and the desola
New England coast. and the warwhoc