St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-05-29
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Lessons From the Beautiful Story
OF Ruth and Boaz.

Lessons From the Beautiful Story
OF Ruth and Boax.
How Trouble serves to Develop Character
Beauty Of Unfaltering Frlcndship-
Paths Leading From Dark.
ness to Light.
Rev. +. Dewitt Talmage furnishes
the following sermon for publication
this week. Is is based on the text:
And she went, and came. and cleaned in the
field after the reapers; and her hap was to
light on part OF the field belonging unto Boax,
who was OF the kindred OF Elimelech.-Ruth.
L,4
The time that Ruth and Naomi ar-
rive 1t Bethlehem is harvest time. II
was the custom when . sheaf fell from
. load in the harvest fleld for the reap
ers to refuse to gather it up; that was
to be left for the poor who might hap
pen to come along that way. II there
were handfuls Of grain scattered across
the field after the main harvest had
been reaped. instead Of raking it, as
farmers do now, it was, by the custom
Of the land, left in it's place, 50 that
the poor, coming along that way, might
CLEAN it and get their bread. But you
cay: "What Is the use Of all these har-
vest fields to Ruth and Naomi? Naomi
Is too old and feeble to 60 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 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 be-
holds : beautiful woman gleaning-a
woman more fit to bend to harp or
sit upon = throne than to stoop among
the sheaves. All, that was an eventful
day!
1t was love at first sight Boaz forms
IN attachment for the womanly CLEAN
er-an attachment full of undying in
terest to the church Of God in all ages;
while Ruth, with m cphah, 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 affianced to one of the
best families in Judah, and becomes in
after~time the anccstress of Jesus
Christ, the Lord Of glory! Out Of 70
dark . night did there ever dawn 20
bright . morning?
learn, in the first place. from this
subject how trouble develops charac-
ter. It was bereavement, poverty and
exile that developed, illustrated and
announced to all ages the sublimity OF
Ruth's character. That is . very un-
fortunate man who has no trouble. 1t
was sorrow that made John Bunyan
the better dreamer, and DR.. Young the
better poet and OConnell the better
orator, and Bishop Hall the better
preacher, and Havelock the better sol
dier, and Kitto the better encyclope-
dist, and Ruth the better daughter-in-
law.
Misfortune and trials are great edu-
catorA A young doctor comes into .
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
rolls 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 It the dying child, and he
says: sOh, how this reminds me OF my
Charlie" Trouble, the great educator.
Sorrow see its touch in the grand
est painting; hear its trcmor in the
sweetest song; feel its power in the
mightiest argument
It took al our past national DIS
tresses, and it takes all our present ma
tional sorrows to lift up our nation on
that high career where it will march
long after the foreign aristocracies
that have Knocked and tyrannies that
have jeered, shall be swept down under
the omnipotent wrath OF God, who
hates despotism, and who. by the
strength OF His own red right arm,
will make al men free. And 50 it is
individually, and in the family, and In
the church, and in the world, that
through darkness and storm and trou-
bic men, women, churches, nations are
developed.
Again. see in my text the beauty
Of unfalterinR friendship. suppose
there were plenty Of friends for Naomi
while she was in prosperity; but Of all
her acquaintances, how many were
willing to trudgc OF with her toward
Judah when she had to make that
lonely journey. One-the heroine Of
my text One-absolutely one. sup
pose when Naomi's husband was iv-
ing, and they had plenty of money,
and Ill things went well, they had .
great many callers; but l suppose that
after her husband died, and her prop
erty went, and she got old and poor.
she was not troubled very much with
callers. All the birds that sung in the
bower while the sun shone have gone
to their nests, now the night has fall
en-.
Oh, these beautiful sundowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hour! But they are always asleep when
the sun il going down! Job had plenty
Of friends when he was the richest man
in Us: but when his property went and
the trials came, then there were none
% much that pestered 8 Eliphaz the
Temanite, and Bildad, the Shuhite, and
Zophar, the Naamathite.
Life often seems to be . mere game,
where the successful player pulls down
Ill the other men into his own lap.
Let suspicious arise about = mans char
acter, and he becomes like . hank in .
panic, and Ill the imputstaons rush on