The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-05-06

u. s
way If there were handfuls OF grain
scattered across the field after the main
harvest had been reaped, 1nstead OF
raking it, as farmers do now, It was,
by the custom of the land, left IN It's
place, so that the poor coming along
that way might CLEAN it, and get their
bread. But, you say, ssWhat is the use
of all these harvest fields to Ruth ana
Naomi? Naomi is too old and feeble
to go out and toll in the sun; and can
you expect that Ruth, the young ana
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 in the
grain. Coming there, right behind the
swarthy, sun-browned reapers, he be-
holds 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 eventtul
day!
1t was love at first sight. Boaz
forms an attachment for the Womanly
ESitaueI-du -cIldCuluSllL lu11 VI uAuJr
ing interest to the church of God in all
ages; while Ruth, with an ephah, or
nearly a busheI of barley, goes home
to Naomi to tell her of the successes
and adventures of the day. That Ruth,
who left her native land of Moab in
darkness, and Travelled through an I'M
dying affection for her mother-in-law,
is in the harvest field of Boaz, is afh-
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 did
there ever dawn so bright a morn
ing? &.
learn, in the first place. from this
subject, how trouble develops charact-
er. 1t was bereavement, poverty and
exile that developed, illustrated and
announced to all ages the sublimity Of
Ruth's character. That is a very I'M
fortunate man who has no trouble. 1t
was sorrow that made j ohm Bunyan
the better dreamer, and Doctor Young
the better poet, and O'Connell the bet
ter orator, and Bishop Hall the better
r.
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 it that your pastor, so
very brilliant, seems to have so little
heart and tenderness in his sermons?"
'''Well,'' he replied, "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 just as brilliant as he was before,
oh, the warmth, the tenderness of his
discourses The fact is, that trouble
is great educator. You see sometimes
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 bereavement come to
that man, and he sits down to the in
sstrument, and you discover the pathos
in the first sweep of the keys.
Misfortunes and trials are great ed
ucators. A young doctor comes into
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 feeling of
the pulse, and rough in his answer to
the mothers anxious question; but
years roll on, and there has been one
81 ~
comes into the sick room, and with
fearful eye he looks at the dying child.
and he says, ooh. how this reminds
me of my Charlie!" Trouble, the great
educator Sorrow see it's touch in
the grandest painting; hear it's trem-
,or in the sweetest song; I feel it's
power in the mightiest argument.
Grecian mythology said that the
foundation Of Hippocrene was struck
out by the foot Of the winged horse
Pegasus have 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 disaster and
calamity. l see Daniels courage best
10y LUC lldSu vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Iur-
mace. l see Paul's proves best when
/ find him on the laundering shin
under the glare of the lightning in the
breakers Of Melita. God crowns his
children amid the bowling of wild
beasts and the chopping of blood
-splashed guillotine and the cracking
fires of martyrdom. It took the per-
secutions of Marcus Aurelius to de-
velop Polycarp and Justin Martyr. II
took all the hostilities against Scotch
Coyenanters and the fury of LORD
Claverhouse to develop James Renwici
and Andrew Melville, and James Me
Kali, the glorious martyrs Of Scotch
History. 1t took the stormy sea. anf
the December blast, and the desolate
New England coast, and the WarWhool
of savages to show forth the proves
of the Pilgrim Fathers.