The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-26
RUTH AMONG THE REAPERS.
TALMAGE POINTS OUT THE LES
SONS FROM HER LIFE.

The Beauty OF bnialteElh@ NNANAA"
ship-Paths Which Open In Hard
shin and Darkness often Come
out In Places of JOy-Evcnts which
Appenr insignificant often Mo-
mcntOuS.
Washington, April 25.-The sermon of
DIT Talmage which we send out to-day
could not have been prepared by any one
not born in the country. 1t is fun of the
breath of the fields. The text is, Ruth
2:3: And she went, and came, and CLEAN
ed in the field after the reapers; and her
hap was to light on part of the field be-
longing unto Boaz, who was of the kin
dred of Elimelech.
The time that Ruth and Naomi arrive
at Bethlehem is harvest-time. 1t was
the custom when a sheaf fell from load
in the harvest-feld for the reapers to re-
fuse to gather it up: that was to be left
for the poor who might happen TO come
along that way. If there were handfuls
of grain scattered across the field after
the main harvest had been reaped, instead
OF rakng it, as farmers do now, 1t 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-felds to Ruth and Naomi? Naomi
is too old and feeble to go out and toll
in the sun; and can you expect that Ruth,
the young and the beautiful, should tan
her cheeks and blister her hands in the
harvest-ield.
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 beholds a beauti
full woman gleaning-a woman more fit to
bend to a harp or sit upon throne than
to stoop among the sheaves. All, that
was an eventful day!
II was love at first sight. Boaz forms
an attachment for the womanly cleaner
an attachment fun of undying interest to
the Church of God in all ages; while
Ruth, with an ephah, or nearly a 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 mother-in-
law, is in the harvest field of Boaz, is af
famed to one of the best families in Ju-
dab, and becomes in after-time the an
cestress of Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory! Out of so dark a night did there
ever dawn so bright a morning?
/ learn, in the first place. from this sub
ject how trouble develops character. 1t
was bereavement, poverty, and exile that
developed, illustrated, and announced to
all ages the sublimity of Ruth's character.
That is a very unfortunate man who has
no trouble. 1t was sorrow that made John
Bunyan the better dreamer, and Doctor
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 encyclopedias, and
Ruth the better daughter-in-law.
l once asked an aged man In regard to
his pastor. who was a very brilliant man,
why is ii that your pastor, so very bril-
liant 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 differ
emit" After awhile the Lord took a child
out of that pastors house; and though the
preacher was just as brilliant as he was
before, OH the warmth. the tenderness of
his dtscoursesi 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 I'M
feeling. 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 instrument, and You dis
cover the pathos in the first sweep of the
keys.
Misfortune and trials are great eduea-
tors. young doctor comes into a sick
room where there is a dying child. Per-
maps 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 cues
ton; 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 nv
Charlie?" Trouble, the great educator
Sorrow-I see its touch in the grandest
painting; hear its tremor in the sweetest
song; l feel its power in the mightiest
argument.
Grecian mythology said that the foun-
tam OF Hippocrene was struck out by the
loot OF the winged horse Pegasus. I have
OFTEN noticed in life that the brightest and
most beautiful fountains of Christian com
fort and spiritual life have been struolx
out by the iron-shod hoof of disaster ana
calamity. i see Daniels courage best by
the nash OF Nebuchadnezzars furnace |
see PauIs proWess best when l find him
on the laundering ship under the glare of
the lightning in the breakers of MeNta.
God crowns his children amid the bowling
OF wild beasts ana the chopping of blood
splashed guillotine and the cracking fires
OF martyrdom. 1t took the prosecutions of
Marcus Aurelius TO develop Polycarp and
Justin Martyr. IL took all the hostilities
against the Scotch Covenanters and the
fury Of Lord Claverhouse to develop James
Renwick and Andrew Melville and Hugh
McKail, the glorious martyrs of Scotch
history. 1t took the stormy sea, and the
December blast and the desolate New
England coast, and the warwhoop OF saw
ages 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 ais.es of the dim wood
Rang TO the anthems of the free.
II took all our past national distresses
and it takes all our present national sor-
rows to lift up our nation on that high
career where IL will march long after The
foreign aristocraces that have Knocked
and tyrannies that have jeered. shall be
swept down under the omnipotent wrath
of God. who hates despotism, and who.