The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-04-30

1NAMZWhharvest had been
A||NIH reaped, instead of
REV. TALMAGE. raking it, as farm
ers 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?"
and toll in the sun; and can you expect
that Ruth, the young and the beauti-
full, should tan her cheeks and blister
her hands in the harvest field?"
Boaz owns large farm, and he goes
out to see the reapers gather in the
grain. Coming there, right behind
the swarthy, sun-browned reapers, he
beholds beautiful woman cleaning
a woman more fit to bend to harp or
sit upon a throne than to stoop among
the sheaves. All, that was an event
| full day!
1t was love at first sight. Boaz forms
an attachment for the womanly CLEAN
er-an attachment full of undying in
| terest to the church of God in all ages;
while Ruth, with an ephah, or nearly
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
travelled through an undying affection
for her mot her in-law, is in the harvest
field of Boaz. is affianced 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 morning?
l learn, in the first place, from this
subject how trouble develops charac-
ter. 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 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.
once asked an old man in regard to
his pastor. who was a 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. 1.-The reason is. our
pastor has never had any trouble.
When misfortune comes upon him, his
style will be different" After awhile
the Lord took child out of that pas
tors house; and though the preacher
was just as brilliant as he was before,
oh, the warmth, the tenderness of his dis
courses! The fact is, that trouble is a
great educator. You see sometimes 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 bereavement come to
that man, and he sits down at the in
strument, and you discover the pathos
in the first sweep of the keys.
Misfortune and trials are great edu-
Gators. A young doctor cones into a
sick room where there is dying child.
Perhaps he is very rough in his pre-
scription, and very rough in his man
ner, 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 dead
in his own house; and now he comes
into the sick room, and with fearful
eye he looks at the dying child, and he
says: ''Oh. how this reminds me of |
my Charlie~ Trouble, the great edu-
Gator. Sorrow-I see its touch in the |
grandest painting; hear its tremor in
the sweetest song; feel its power in
the mightiest argument.
Grecian mythology said that the
fountain of Hippocrene was struck out |
by the foot of the winged horse Pega-
sus. l have often noticed in life that |
the brightest and most beautiful fOun-
tains of Christian comfort and spiritual |
life have been struck out by the iron
shod hoof of disaster and calamity. / |
see Daniels courage best by the flash
OF NebuchadneZZar's furnace. | see
Pauls proves best when l find him on
the laundering ship under the glare of
the lightning in the breakers of Melita.
God crowns his children amid the
bowling of wild beasts and the chop
ping of blood-splashed guillotine and
the cracking fires of martyrdom. 1t
took the prosecutions of Marcus
Aurelius to develop Polycarp and
Justin Martyr. 1t took all the HOSTILE
ties against the Scotch Covenanters
and the fury of Lord Claverhouse to
develop James Renwich and Andrew
Melville and Hugh McKail, the glor-
ious martyrs of Scotch history. 1t
took the stormy sea. and the December
blast, and the desolate New England
coast and the war-whoop Of savages to
show forth the prowess of the pilgrim
fathers.
When amid the storms they sang
And the stars heard, and the sea;
And the sounding aisles OF the dim wood,
Rang to the anthems OF the free
It took all our past national dis