Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-04-30

DARKNESS AND DAWN
REV. DR.. TALMAee'S SERMON IS FULL
OF THE BREATH OF THE FIELDS.
He Points a Moral From the Bible Story
of the Attachment of Boaz For Ruth.
The Uses Of Trouble-value of Field
Cleaning.
WASHINGTON, April 25.-The sermon
Of DR.. Talmage which we send out to-
day could not have been prepared by
any one not born in the country. 1t IS
full Of the breath Of the fields. The text
is Ruth ii, ,, "And she went and came
and CLEANED in the field after the reap
ers, and her nap was to light on a part
of the field belonging unto Boaz, who
was Of the kindred Of Elimelech. "
The time that Ruth and Naomi ar
rive at Bethlehem Is harvest time. 1t
was the custom when sheaf fell from
load il the harvest field for the
reapers to refuse to gather it up. That
was to be left for the poor who might
happen to come along that way. II
there were handfuls Of grain scattered
across the field after the main harvest
had been reaped, instead Of gaking 1t, as
farmers do now, it was, by the custom
of the land, left in its place so that the
Door. coming along that way might
CLEAN it and get their bread. But, you
saw. "What is the use Of all these har-
vest fields to Ruth and Naomi? Naomi
is too old and feeble to 90 out and toll
in the sun, and can you expect that
Ruth the young and the beautiful,
should tan her checks and blister her
hands in the harvest field?'
Boaz Owls large farm, and he goes
out to see the reapers gather III the
grain. Coming there, right behind the
swarthy. sun Drowned reapers, he be.
holds a beautiful woman Cleaning
woman more fit to bend 20 a harp or sit
upon a throne than to stoop among the
sheaves. All that was IN eyentful day.
It was love at first sight. Boaz forms
an attachment for the womanly cleaner
an attachment full of uudying inter
est 10 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 ma
tive land Of Moab in darkness, and tray
eled through an undying affection for
her mother-in-law, is in the harvest
field Of Boaz, is afiianced to one Of the
best families in Judah, and becomes IN
after time the ancestress Of Jesus Christ,
the Lord If glory. Out Of so dark a
night did there ever dawn so bright a
morning:
Two Great Educators.
I learn in the first place from this
subject how trouble develops character
1t was bereavement poverty and exile
that developed, illustrated and an
nounced to all ages the sublimity Of
Ruth's character. That Is a very unior-
tunate man who has no trouble. Ii was
sorrow that made John Bunyan the bet
ter dreamer, and Dr. Young the better
poet. and O'Conncll the better orator
and Bishop Hall the better preacher,
and Havelock the better soldier, and
Kitto the better encyclopaedia, and
Ruth the better daughter-in-law.
once asked an aged man IN regard
to his pastor, who was very brilliant
man. "Why is it that your pastor so
very brilliant, seems to have so little
heart and tenderness in his sermonsf
"WelI," he replied, "the reason Is our
naetor has never had any trouble. when
misfortune comes upon him, his style
will be different After awhile the
Lord took child out of that pastor
house. and though the preacher was
inst as brilliant as he was before, Oh,
the warmth. the tenderness Of his DIS
courses! The fact is that trouble IS
preat educator. You see sometimes q
musician sit down at an instrument
and his execution is cold and formal
and unfeeling The reason Is that all
his life he has teen prospered. But let
misfortune or bereavement come to tha'
man. and he sits down at the instru-
ment. and YOU discover the pathos IL
the first sweep Of the keys.
Misfortune and trials are great edu
Gators. \ young doctor comes INTO
sickroom where there is a dying child
Perhaps he is very rough in his prescrip
tion and very rough in his manner anC
roupb in the feeling Of the pulse anC
rough in his answer to the mother
anxious question:. But years roll on
and there has been one dead III his owl
house. and now he comes into the sick
room. and with fearful eyes he looks a
the dying child, and he says, "Oh, nov
this reminds me Of my Charliel' Irou
bic, the great educator. Sorrow se
its touch in the grandest painting,
hear its tremor in the sweetest song,
feel its power in the mightiest argu
ment.
Grecian mythology said that the toun
tain Of Hippocrene was struck out D
tbe foot of the winged horse Pegasus.
have often noticed in life that IN
brightest and most beautiful fountain
OF Christian comfort and spiritual III
have been struck out by the iron sho
hoof of disaster and calamity. Sc
> Daniels courage best by the hash :
Nebuchadnezzar' furnace. l see Paul
prowess best when | find him on tn
! foundering ship under the glare OF IN
lightning in the breakers of Melita
. God crowns his children amid the how
. ing of wild beasts and the chopping {
blood splashed guillotine and the cracE
ling fires of martyrdom. 1t took the PEI
secutions of Marcus Aurelius TO deyelo
Polycarp and Justin Martyr. 1t took a
the hostilities against the Scotch Cove
nanters and the fury of Lord Clavei
4 house to develop James Renwlck an
q Andrew Melville and Hugh Mckail, Il
glorious martyrs of Scotch history.
: took the stormy sea and the Decemo'
blast and the desolate New Engian
, coast and the war whoop of savages
-, s.l .ko ,,royvpSs Of the pilgrll