Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-05-05
NO. q.


In my text In the harvest field of Boaz to be
affianced to one of the lords OF the land and
become ore of the grandmOthars Of Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory. Aud so 1t often
Is that n path which often starts very derkly
ends very br Chilly.
When you started ont for heaven. oh, how
dark was the hour OF convection; how Sinai
thundered and the devils tormentei and the
darkness thickened! All the sins of your life
pounced upon you AMI 1t was the darkest
hour you ever saw when you first found out
your sins. After awhile you went into the
harvest field OF Gods mercy. You beran to
CLEAN in the fields of divine promise and you
had more sheavas than you could carry as
| the voice OF Col addressed you saying.
blessed is the man whose transgresstons are
| forgiven and whoss sins are covered" A
very dark starting in conviction, II very
bright ending 10 the pardon aud the hope
and the triumph Of the gospel.
So, very often in our worldly business OF
In our spiritual career We start off on a very
| dark path. We must go. The flesh may
shrink back. but thereis a voice within. or
voice from abova, saving. "You must 60"
And wa have to drink the gall. and we have
| to carry the cross. and we have to traverse
he desert, aud we are pounded and failed
| of misrepresentation and abu=e, and we have
| 20 urge our way through 10, 900 obstacles
| that havo been slain nv our own right arm.
We have to ford the river. We have to climb
| the mountain We have to storm the castle.
but, blessed be God, the day of rest and ro-
ward will come. On the tin top OF the cap
| turei battlements we will shout the victory;
| IL not in this world. then in that world where
there is no gall to dr. nix. no burdens to carry
no battles to fight. How do | know It? Know
IL l knowit it because God says so: They
shall hunger no more. neither thirst any
more, neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat for the Lamb which is in the
miist of the throne shall lead them to living
fountains If water and God shall wipe all
tears from their eyes
1t was very hard for Noah to endure the
scoffiug Of the psople in his day, while he
was trying to build the ark and was every
morning quizze about his old boat that
would never he of any practical use; but
when the deiuge came and the tops OF the
mountains disappeare | like the backs OF sea-
monsters, and the elements. lashed up in
furv capped their hands over a drowned
world then Noah in the ark rejoiced in his
own safety and in the safety OF his family
and looked out on the wreck of ruined
earth
Again, see in my subject an illustration
of The beauty of female industry.
Rehod Ruth toiing in the harvest field
under the hot sun or at noon taking plain
bread with the reaperS or eating the parchet
corn which BoaZ handed to her. The Gus
toms of society. OF course. have changed,
and without the hardships and exposure to
which Ruth was subjected every intelligent
woman will find something to do.
| know there is a sirkly sentimentality on
this subject. In some families there are
persons OF no practical service to the house
hold or community. and, though there are SO
many woes all around about them in tho
world they spend their time languiShing over
a new patt. IN or bursting into tears at mid
night over the story Of some lover who shot
himself They would not deiGn to look at
Ruth carrying back the barley on her way
home to her mother-iu-law. Naomi. All
this fastidiousness may seem to do very we'll
while they are under the shelter of their
fathers house, but when the sharp winter OF
misfortune comes what of these butterflies?
Persons under Inlulgent parentage may get
upon themselves habits Of Incidence, hut
when they come ont into practical life their
soul will recoil with disgust and chagrin.
They will feel in their hearts what the poet
so severely satirized when he said:
Folks are so awkward, things so impolite,
They're elegantly -pained from mornng until
n1gnL
Through that gate OF Incidence how many
men and women have marched, useless on
earth, to DESTROYED eternity! Spinola said
TO Sir Horace Vere "Of what did your
brother dep "Of having nothing to do"
was the answer. "Ah." said Spinola, that's
enough to kill any general OF usi" oh, can
it be possible in this world, where there Is so
much suffering to be alleviated, so much
darkness to be enlightened and so many bur
dens to be carr ct that there Is any person
who cannot find anything to do?
Nine. de Staei did IA world of work In her
time. and one day, while she was seated
amid instruments OF music, all OF which she
had mastered. and amid manuscript books
which she had rtten, some one said to her,
.How do you find time to attend to all these
things?" "Oh," she replied. "these are not
the things am proud OF. Ny chief boast is
in the fact that 1 have seventeen trades, by
any one of which l could make a livelihood IL
necessary" And, if in secular spheres there
is so much to be done, IN spiritual work how
v-st the field How many dying al! around
about us without one ord OF comfortl We
want more Abgails. more Hannahs. more
Rebeccas. more Marys, more Deborahs, con-
secrated, body, mind. soul, to the Lord who
Once more I learn from my subject the
value of cleaning.
Ruth gong into that harvest field might
have said There is II straw, and there ls a
straw, but what is straw / cant get apy
sarley for myself or my mother-iR-law out
of these separate siraws. Not so said
beautiful Ruth She gathered two straws,
and she put them together and more straws,
until she got enough to make sheaf- Put
| ting that down, she went and gathered mora
| s,raws, until she had another sheaf, and
| another. and another, an another, and then
| she brought them together and she threshed
| them out, and she hal an -phah OF barley,
, nigh hushel. Oh, that we might all be
( Cleaners
Elhu Burritt learnei many things while
| toiing in u blacksmith shop. Abeicrombie,
| the world renowned philosopher, WIS "A
/ philosopher IN Scoiland, and he got his phil
! osophy, or the chief part of II, while as a
| physician he was waiting for the uoor the
| sicktoom to open. Yet how many there are
in this dav who say they are so busy they
have no lime Tor mental or spiritual I'M
| provement. The gr-at duties of life cross
| the field like strong reapers and carry of all
| the hours, AMI there is only here and there
a fragment left that is not worth glraning
! Ab. my friends, you could 70 into he busiest
day and busiest week of your life and find
| golden opportunities, which. gathered,
| might at last make whole sheaf for the
Lords garner. 1t is the stray opportunities
and the stray privileges which, taken up and
bound together aud beaten out, will at last
I'LL you with much JOY.
There are II lew moments LETT worth the
cleaning. Now Ruth, to the Held! May each
one have measure iull and running overl
Oh you cleaners, to the field! And II there
| be in vour household an aged one or Il sick
relative that il not strong enough TO come
forth and toll in this field, then let Ruth take
home to feeble Naomi this sheaf OF cleaning.
He that goeih b forth and weepeth, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
him" May the Lord God OF Ruth and
Naomi be our portion forever,