The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-06-03
NO.. A..
That song Of love, now low and far,
Ere long shall swell from star to star;
That light, the breaking day which tips
1hp cold rs -Srlirnl Annnnn

AGAIN, learn from my Sublec that
| events which seem to be most insigniti-
cant may be momentous. Can you i'm
agine anything more important than
the coming of poor woman from Moab
to Judah? Can you imagine anything
more trivial than the fact that this
Ruth just happened to alight-as they
say-just happened to alight on that
| field of Boaz? Yet all ages, all genera
tions, have an interest in the fact that
she was to become an ancestress of the
| Lord Jesus Christ, and all nations and
kingdoms must look at that one little
incident with thrill of unspeakable
and eternal satisfaction. SO it is in
your history and in mine; events that
you thought of no Importance at all
have been of very great moment. That
casual conversation, that accidental
meeting-you did not think of it again
for long while; but how it changed
all the phases of your life.
1t seemed to be matter of no inn
portance that Luther found Bible in
monastery; but as he opened that
Bible, and the brass bound lids fell
back, they Jared everything, and the
rustling of the wormed leaves was the
sound of the wings of the angel of the
Reformation. 1t seemed to be matter
of no importance that woman, whose
name has been forgotten, dropped a
tract in the way of very bad
man by the name of Richard
Baxter. He picked up the tract
and read it, and it was the means of
his salvation. In after days that
man wrote book called The Call to
the Unconverted" that was the means
of bringing multitude to God, among
others Philip Doddridge. Philip Dod-
bridge wrote book called THE Rise
and Progress of Religion" which has
brought thousands and tens of thou
sands into the kingdom of God, and
among others the great Wilberforce.
NilberfOrce wrote book called
"A Practical View of Christian
| itY." which was the means of
bringing great multitude to
Christ, among others Leigh Richmond.
Leigh Richmond wrote tract called
The Dairvman's Daughter" which
has been the means of the salvation of
unconverted multitudes. And that
tide of influence started from the fact
that one Christian woman dropped a
| Christian tract in the way of Richard
| Baxter, the tide of influence rolling on
| through Richard Baxter, through
Philip Doddridge, through the great
Wilberforce, through Leigh Richmond,
on, on on, forever, forever. So the in
significant events of this world seem,
after all, to be most momentous.
Again. see in my subject an illus
tration of the beauty of female indus
try.
Behold Ruth toiling in the harvest
field under the hot sun. or at noon TAX
ing plain bread with the reapers, or
eating the parched corn which Boaz
handed to her. The customs of society,
of course, have changed, and withou
the hardships and exposure to which
Ruth was subjected, every intelligent
woman will find something to do.
| know there is sickly sentimental
ity on this subject. In some families
there are persons of no practical service
to the household or community; and
| though there are SO many woes all
around about them in the world, they
spend their time languishing over
new pattern or bursting into tears at
midnight 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-in-law, Naomi. All this fas-
tidiousncss may seem to do very
well while they are under the
shelter of their fathers house; but
when the sharp winter of misfortune
comes, what of these butterflies? Per-
sons under indulgent parentage NAV
get upon themselves habits of indo-
lence; but when they come out INTO
practical life, their soul will recoil with
disgust and chargrin. They will feel
in their hearts what the poet so severe
ly satirized when he said:
Folks are so awkward, things so impolite,
They're elegantly painted from morning until
night.
Once more | learn from my subject
the value of cleaning.
Ruth going into that harvest field
might have said: There is a straw,
and there is straw, but what is a
straw? l cant get any barley for my
self or my mother-in-law out of these
separate straws." Not SO, said the
beautiful Ruth. She gathered two
straws, and she put them together, and
more straws, until she got enough to
make sheaf. Putting that down, she
went and gathered more straws, until
: she had another sheaf, and another,
and another, and another, then she
brought them altogether, and she
threshed them out. and she had an
ephah of barley, nigh bushel! 0, tina,
we might all be cleaners.
There are few moments left worth
, the cleaning. Now, Ruth to the field
I May each one have a measure full and
! running over. Oh, you cleaners, to tht
field, And if there be in YOUR house
= hold an aged one or sick relative tina
is not strong enough to come
1 forth and toll in the field, ther
. let Ruth take home to feeble Naom
: this sheaf Of cleaning: He that goetf
y forth and weepeth, bearing precio u
. seed. shall doubtless come again will
J. | hao Wi r.