E'S SERMON,
A Case of Love at First Sight
“An ! she went and eame and gloanoed in the
field after the reapers; and her hap was to
light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz
who was of the kindred of Elimelech.—Ruth
i 3.
Tue time that Ruth and Naomi ar-
vive at Bethlehem 1s harvest-time, It
was the custom when a sheaf fell from
a load in the harvest-field for the reap-
ers to refuse to gather It up; that was
to be le(t for the poor who might hap-
pen to come along that way. If 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 its place, so that the
poor, coming along that way, might
glean it and get their bread, But, you
say: “What is the use of all these
fhiarvest-fields to Ruth and Naomi?
Naomi is too old and feeble to go out
and toil in the sun; and can you expec!
that Ruth, the young and the beauti-
ful. should tan her cheeks and blister
Ler hands in the harvest-tield?”? Boaz
owns a large farm, and he goes out to
see the reapers gather in the grain.
Coming there, right behind the sun-
browned reapers, he beholds
A BEAUTIFUL GLEANER
a woman more fit to bend to a harp,
or sit upon a one, than to
among the sheaves, Ah, that was an
eventful day! It was love at flrst sight.
Boaz forms an attachment full of undy-
inv interest to the Church of God in all
while Ruth, with an ephah, or
a bushel of barley, goes home to
Naomi to tell her the successes and ad-
ventures of the day. That Ruth, who
teft her native land of Moab in dark-
ness, and travelled through an undying
affection for her in the
harvest-field of Boaz, is affianced to one
of the best families in Judah, and be-
comes in after-time
THE ANCESTRESS OF JESUS
Out of
dawn
$1
.4
thir 8100]
SCs,
near:y
‘Christ, the Lord of glory. 80
dark a night did there ever
bright a morning?
I learn im the first place from thi
subiect how trouble dope log 8s character.
It was bereavement. poverty and exile
tirat developed, illustrated an-
nounced to all ages the sublimity of
Ruth's character. That is a
fortunate man who has no trouble.
was sorrow that made John
the beter dreamer,
better poet, and O'Connell the
orat and Bishop Hall th
preacher, and Hawvelock t
dier, aud Kitto the better encyclopedist
and Huth the better ddughter-in-law,
I once asked an aged man
to his pastor, who was a very
man: “Why is it that your |
very brilliant, seems to have
heart aud tenderness in his sermous
““Well," he replied,
pastor has never had an
misfort
wil
SQ
1
an
+ Ha
¥
:
»
is
1
i
I
HH
3 v33iie ’
briiiant
pasion
mn y
3H Ir, 80
i igel
80 little
3 91
i
seg)
1 TeasOll 13 (
trouble, Wh
him, his sty.e
. :
l
¥
e comes upon
upon
» Aller
of th
fail
different. awh
Lord took a child out at
house: and though the preacher was
just as brilliant as he was before, ol
the warmth, tenderness of |
The fact is that.
A GREAT EDU
sometimes musician
the
Courses,
TROUBLE 18
i see
down to an instriygnen
tion is cold and formal
The reason is that all
been prospered. Dut le
bereavement come tot
sits down at an insirg
discover the pathos int
of the keys,
great educators. A young doctor comes
into a sick-room where there
child. Perhaps he is very roug
prescription, and very rough
ATOR.
o
t, and h
and uo
+ hig life
A233 LAN
nen
he
irst sweep
is a
in his
pulse, and rough in his answer to the
mother’s anxious question; bul years
"ne
ny
the sick-room, and with tearful eyes he
looks at the dying child, and he says:
‘42h, how this reminds me
Chaclie!” Trouble, the great educator.
Sorrow, | see its touch in the giand-
est painting; I hear its tremor in tbe
Grecian mytho-
of Hip-
mightiest argument,
logy said that the fountain
the winged horse Pegasus. 1 have of-
g ®
and most beautiful fountains of Cliris-
tian comfort and spiritual life have
been struck oul by
THE IRON-SHOD HOOF
of disaster and calamity, 1 see Dan-
iel's courage best by the flash of Ne-
buchadnezzar’s furnace, I see Paul's
prowess best when I find lim on the
light ng in the breakers of Melita,
Gad erowns his children amid the howl-
ing of wild beasts and the chopping of
blood-splashed guillotine and the crack-
ling fires of martyrdom. It took the
pessecutions of Marcus Aurelius to de.
velop Polycarp and Justin Martyr, It
took the world’s anathema to develop
* Martin Luther, It took all the hLostili-
ties against the Scotch Covenanters and
the fury of Lord Claverlouse to de-
velop James Renwick, and Andrew
Meiville, and Hugh McKall, the glori.
ous martyrs of Scotch history, It took
the stormy sea, and the December blast,
and the desolate New England coast,
aud the war-woop of savages, to show
forth the prowess of the Pilgrim
Fathers
“When amid the storms they sang,
And the stars beard, and the sea ;
A nd the sounding aisles of the dim wood
Hang to the anthems of the free.”
It took all our past national distres.
ses to litt up our nation on that high
carcer where it will march along after
the foreign aristocracies that have
mocked, and the tyrannies that have
jeeted, shall be swept down under the
Jomnipotent wrath of God, who hates
despotism, and who, by the strength of
¥iis own right arm, will make all men
free. And so it 1s individually, ond in
the family, and in the Church, and in
. the world, that through darkness and
storm and troubles men, women,
churches, nations, are developed,
IT. Again, I see in my text the
beauty of
UNFALTERING FRIENDSHIP,
I suppose there were plenty of friends
for Naomi while she was in prosperity;
But of all her aoauaintan es, how many
rm SC —_ TS
were willing to trudge off with her to-
ward Judea, when she had to make
hat lonely journey? One—the heroine
f my text. One—absolutely one, 1
suppose when Nuomi's husband was
living, and they had plenty of motey,
wd all things went well, they had a
«reat many callers; but I 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 fallen.
Oh, these beautiful sun-flowers that
spread out their colors in the morning
hour! but are always asleep when the
sun is going down! Job had plenty of
friends when he was the richest man in
Uz; but when his property went and
the trials came, then there were none
s0 much that pestered us Ellphaz the
temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and
Zophar the Naamahite,
Life often seems to be a 1nere game,
where the successful player pulls down
all the other men into Lis own lap.
Let suspicions arise about a man's
in a panic, and all the
rush on him and break down in a day
tuut character which in due time would
have haa strength to defend itself.
half a century in
down under some moral exposure, as a
vast temple i8 consumed by the touch
of a sulphurous match. A hog can up-
root a century plant.
In this world, so full of heartlessness
hypoerisy, how th illing it
find some friend
FAITHFUL I>
and is to
N ADVERSMTY
David had
A
Jews had
as in days of prosperity!
such a friend in Huasbai; the
such a friend in Mordecal, who
forgot their cause; Paul had
friend in Onesiphorus, who vis
in jnil; Christ had such in the Marys,
who adhered to Him on the cross; Na-
omi had such a one in Ruth, who cried
out, “Entreat me not (0 leave
to return from following alter
for whither thon goest I will go, and
where thou lodgest I will
people shall be my people, . and
my God; where thou diest,
and tl ill 1 be buried; the
never:
Mich
i“
3 5
thee, or
re Ww
EL © WN
ord do
SU & nore also,
death d
’
part the i me,
I OF SORROW,
III. Again, I learn from this sub-
ject that paths which open in
and darkness often comes out
of joy, When Ruth started from Moab
toward Jerusalem, to go al with her
mother-in-law, 1 suppose the peopl
“Oh, what a foolish
f her
off withh a poor oll woman towanl the
land of Judmal They won't live to get
They will
the sea or the jackals
1" 1 y 3 L
ess will destroy them.
ip
x
hardsh
S11 ¢F
Rik
t W opie
ure t
real
thor!
K
iin
nw
lern
ff with Naomi; but behold |
text in the harvest-field of Doaz,
iffianced to one of the lords of the land,
antl become of the grandgothers «
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
0 it often is, that hicl
very darkly, 3
When you started ot
»
ends
WwW is th 3 1 Ur
10W
the sins of ye
ind it was
All
YOu, Aha
found out
while you went In
field o mercy; began to
glean in the elds of divine promise,
and you had more than you
could carry, as the voice of God ad-
dressed you, saying, “Blessed is the
ou frst 8
After a t
{io the
1
fri’
you
sheaves
and whose sins are 2oversd.'' A very
starting in conviction, a very
bright ending in the pardon and the
bope and the triumph of the gospel.
So, very often in our worldly busi-
ness, or In our spiritual career, we start
off on a very dark path, We must go.
The flesh may shrink back, but there is
i
'
like the humming of the forest, like the
rushing of the waters, like the thunder-
ing of the seas, while all heaven, rising
on their thrones, beat time with their
sceptres : “Hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth! Ialle'ujah,
the kingdoms of this world have be-
come the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus |
Christ!
“That song of 1 ove, now low and far,
Ero long saall swell from star to star
That Hght, tho breaking day which tips
The golden-spired Apocalypse.”
IV. Again:
jeet that events
most,
INSIGNIFICANT MAY
Can you imagine anything more unim-
portant than the coming of a 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, nll generations, have an in-
terest in the fact that she was to become
an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all nations and kingdoms must
look at that one little incident with a
I learn from my sub- |
which seem to
BE MOMENTUOUS,
faction. So itis in vour history and in
imporiance at all have been of very
great moment. That casual conversa- |
accidental meeting—you did
not think of it again for a long while;
but how it changed all the phase of
10 importance that |
r
Ii
o of
It seemed to be
vented
¢
Of
in ott cl Brrr rent)
ill rua usirumens
inction of all
were
e world's minstrels
th
Lil
you hear
8
taken |
of lute
only the long-
EO all
cornet
away from it,
and drum and
ntinued
STRAINS O}
io bens}
importance that
of
It
little
il Cain learned the uses
See ine 1
i
saying: “You must go;
own right arm. We have to ford the
ed be God, the day of rest and
REWARD WILL COME,
ments we will shout the victory; if not
How do 1
I know it because God says
so: “They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, neither shail
the sun light on them, nor any heat,
for the Lamb which is in the midst of
carry, no battle to fight.
all tears from their eyes.’’
the scoffing of the people in his day,
while he was trying to build the ark,
and was every morning guizz.d aby
his old Boat that would never be of any
practienl use; but when the deluge
came, and the tops of the mountains
disappgared like the backs of sea-mous-
ters, and the elements, lashed up in
fury, clapped thelr hands over 8 drown.
al word, then Noah in the ark rejoie-
ed in Lis own safety and in the safety
of his family, and lobked out on the
wreck of a riined earth,
CHRIST ROUNDED OF PERSECUTORS
dented a pillow, worse maltreated than
the thieves on either side of the cross,
human hate smacking its Tips in satis.
faction after it had been draining Ilis
inst drop of Dood, the sheeted dead
bursting from ‘the sepulchres at His
ccnoifixion. “Tell me, O Gethiémane
and Golgotha! were there ever darker
times. than those? Like the booming
of the midnight
the serges of
against the gates of eternity, to bg echo
el back by all the thrones of heaven
andiall the dungeons of But the
hell,
day of xo mes shirist; ali the
dp aot Beno of thi wotld are to
be bung on his th unérownad
heals are th boW before Tint on whose
head are many crowns, atid all the cel.
estinl worship is to come up at His feet,
‘
in uu
machinery
and bang of
Merrimac, It seemed
of no importance that lL.u
Dut as i
y
18 eCiu Wi pili
ancient days has
wt Bible, and the brass-bound lids fell
k they jarred everything,
Vatican to the faithest «
. and the rustling
leaves was
angel
mvent in
of the
1 of the
Reform
Germany
Wr 1
t hun
WOTrthea Lie
of ths
Le
ino impor.
has
$4
foro
wry Ti
Lil 3
er
* name of
way of a very
ard Da
Lint tive
P81] Ait
onverted
ning a multitude t
Philip Doddridge,
; » wrote a book
and Progress of Heligi
! rhit thous ds i
Al
Wilberforee
od:
kingdom of Crond,
great
i Vid w of .Christia iv, ‘whi
the means of bringing a great mul-
among others Legh
i at
to Christ,
the tide of In- |
gh Richard
Dod ili ge,
wo, through
Legh Richmor forever, |
forever. So the insignificant events of
this world seem, after all, tO be most
momentous, The faet that you
came up that street or this street seemed
to be of no importance to you, and the
fact that you went inside of some
church may seem to be a matter of
very great insignificance to you, but
you will find it the turming-point in
your history.
VY. Again:
illustration of
rfiE BEAUTY OF FEMALE IXDUSTRY.
Behold Ruth toiling in the harvest.
field under the hot sun, or at noon tak-
I see in my subject an |
handed to her. The customs of society,
of course, have changed, and without
the hardships and exposure to which
uth was subjected, every intelligent
woman will find something to do.
1 know there is a sickly sentimentality |
on this subject, In some families there
are persons of no practical service to
household or community; and
there are s0 many woes all
around about them In the world, they |
spend their time languishing over a new |
pattern, or bursting into teats ot mid-
night over the story of seme lover who
shot himself! They would not deign to |
i
i
on her way home to her mother-in-law,
Naomi, All this fasti-liousness may
seem to do very well while they are
under the shelter of their father’s
house: tut when the sharp winter of
misfortune comes, what of these butter
flies? Persons under indulgent paren-
tage may get upon themselves habits of
indolence: but when they come out into
practical life their soul will xecoil with
disgust and chagrin. They will feel in
their hearts what the poet so severely
satirized when he said:
“Folks are so awkw things 30 impo
They're elegantly - on po
antil night"
Through that gate of indolence how
many men and women have marched,
useless on earth, to adestroyed etarnity !
Spinola said to ir Horace Vere; “Of
what did your brother die?” “Of hav.
ing to do,”" was the answer.
“Ah,” said Spinols, “that's tw
kill any general of us,’ Ohlcan. it be
possible in this world, where there is 80
much suffering to be alleviated, so much
darkness to be enlightened, aud so many
burdens to be carried, that there is an
person who cannot find anything to do
MADAME DE STARL
did a world of work in Lier time; and one
tay, while she was seated amid instro-
ments of musie, all of which he bad
masterad, and amid manuscript books
to her: “How do you find time to
attend to all these things?” **Oh,”
she replied, ‘these are not the things 1
am proud of, My chief boast is in the
fact that 1 have seventeen trades, by
any one of which I could make a live-
lihood if necessary.” And if in secular
spheres there is so much to be done, in
spiritunl work how vast the field! We
wilnt more Abigzails, more Hannahs,
moe Rebeceas, more Marys, more
Deborahs consecrated body, mind, soul
to the Lord who bought them,
VI. Once more: I learn from my sub-
ject
THE VALUE Ol
Ruth going Into that harvest-fleld |
have said: “There isa straw,
and there is a straw, but what 18 a
straw? I can’t get any barley for my-
self or my mother-in-law out of these
separate straws,” Not so said beauti-
ful Huth, Bhe gathered two straws,
GLEANING,
straws, until she got enough to make a |
sheaf, Putting that down, went |
and gathered more Blraws, she |
and |
then she |
and she |
Hig i “a
she
until
another,
another, and
all together,
of barley,
and
an
bushel.
Elihu
ephah
things |
shop.
the world-renowned
was a philosopher in Scot.
i il
iy, Or ii
Burnt learned many
Abercrombie,
philosoph
got his philoso} {
, while, as
wi wailing for the door of the sick. |
pen, Yet | many th
8 bay wWiio S80 Ls)
ave |
it a phy
he wi
oom to HOW
nil 'Y Al
for menial
th
0 Lime
improvement;
6 rent
Ty off all
3 Ofily Liere
that
and th
golden
. might i
he Lord’s garner,
STRAY OPPORTUNITIES
and the stray
up and bound toge
Privileges wii
«ft het
I at least fil]
moments
yw, Ruth, "t
# Heasire
1, you gileaners
111 yout
—-—— -
Tondon Hall Saturday.
I was a year
day,
t led to the
got at all recon 3
1300}
f Luci.
the
could not count o1
I was continually going
afternoon to the printing «
ing everybody g
the four bank holidays
frozen terror to the American. A paper
has to be got out about a week ahead
in order to tide over that terrible Mon- |
day, for any employer will tell you that |
it generally takes most of the weeks to
get things going smoothly again, I
pity the man who bas to go anywhere
on a bank holiday, Traffic seems to be
knocked milly, You can buy a third
class ticket and go into a first class car-
riage-——and then stand up.
Saturday |
down in
Mn seeT find
PLT ARIMA Al.
gone,
are a
Bist
Pia
They Were Out of Fggs.
————— Ee —
A Newfoundland dog named Don
bad been sent for eggs. As he was re-
turning home, carring his basket with
a proud, dignified air, he 4 dog
bad an old
met
fully on the walk; then, giving a bark |
adead run, A friend of his mistress,
who witnessed this peoceeding, picked
up the basket and carried it Lo its prop- |
er destination. Meanwhile, Don, hays
ing vanquished his fod returned to the
spot Wiiere die had left hideggs. On
he ran aroun frantically, trying to find |
they. Finudifig Wid effort “vain, he sat
dowa. and lifted wp Ris voice in a howl |
of anguish, a8 visions or Nis niislress’
whip, or atleast the loss of his dinner, |
filled. 1058 Wind,” Suddenly "Be Siarted |
for home Bt a brigk trot. Sowaking out
into the back yard hie picked up @n old |
posited It. 4b the, feet of his mistress, |
He hash been taught, when +he goes to
the grocery for auy article. théy do not
happen 10, have, to return and give a
proceeded to do, as if to say,
were oll 'of eggs to«day.
. *They
Earthquakes Versus Nerves,
Many persons who experienced the
earthquake in the Riviera have since
suffered serio from nervous shook,
although they not at the time ap-
ar te be groaly distarbed, 'T'his in-
jcates that more injury may be done to
the nerves by an nndue excitement than
ived at the time.
POLICEMAN ~~ Come along, now,
quietly, or it will be the worse for you.
O'Tool -Oi'll not. The magistrate
ER rp, to:
waich she hal written, som: one saad
{12 to obey Lis fustouc i sms
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
Buxpay, Jusg 10, 1588,
Jesus Risen.
LESSON TEXT.
Matt. 28: 1.15. Memory verses, be.
‘LESSON PLAN.
Taric oF THE QUARTER ;
King tn Zion,
Jesus the
Corpex TeXT vor THEQUARTER!
Dut we behwold him who hath been made a
Little lower than the angels, cven Jesus,
because of the suffering of death crowned
with glory and honor, —Heb, 2 : 9.
Lesson Toric:
Over |
Death, |
Ty tumphinyg
f L
Lesson 2.
Outing
The Mesris of Trinmph ve 1-4
8 The Discreditiog of Triumph, va
GoLpEN TEXT:
visen from tu dead ,
Ind now 48 Chri
ana become the fir
Danny HoMme READINGS:
M.—Matt, 28 : 1-15.
over death,
Mark 16 : 1-13
lel narrative,
W.—Luke 24 : 1-35.
lel narrative,
T. Marks
NALYSIS,
1. THE MEANS O Pil
I. The Great Earthquake
i
Titi
4
ie Wil A STeis
The
reid
rans
earth
Mat
There followed thu
lev 5).
IL. The Ministering Angel :
An angel of the LL on
earthiuaks
: i
Terrified Guard
¢ :
Ihe
Its Sonroe:
T! view)
ae angel
’
A IAN, . « « 81
16 : Sl.
od
young
robe (Mark
Two men stood Ly
parel (Luke 24 : 4).
Two angels in white
Jesus saith unto her,
163.
Its Purport:
He is not here; for
he 6
John 20 : 1:
Mary Jol
i.
he
I8 risen, even |
i
SA i
3
i
v, and tell 1
risen (Matt, 28 : 7).
He {8 nsen; he
61.
He
unto you
iis disciples, He is |
is not here
{Mark 16 :
is risen: remember how he
(Luke 24 : 6
feet,
3).
spake {
that itis] |
myself (Luke 24 : 1
IL. Ys Parpose:
Fear not ve... . Fear not;
brethren (5, 10).
Because 1 live, ye
14: 19).
Now hath Christ been mised from the
dead, the first fruits (1 Cor, 15 : 20).
If .... Jesus ....ro8e again, even 801
them also will God bring {1 Thess,
4: 14).
unto a Hving hope by the res-
urrection of Jesus {1 Pet. 1 : 3):
or
go tell my
shall live also (John
1. “Fear not ye; for I know that ye |
seek Jesus,’ (1) The seeking dis
ciples: (2) The risen Lord; (3) The |
comforting angel.
2 “He is nsen, even as he said.” {1)
Christ's resurrection in prophecy,
2) Christ's restirrection in accom:
plishiment,
3. “Behaid, Jesus met them.” (1)!
An anxious company: (2) A glad
surprise; (3) A positive demonstra-
tion,
THE DISCREDITING OF TRIUMPIL, |
An Unwelcome Story:
The guard came... and
the chief priests all (11).
The Pharisees heapd the multitude....
concerning him {John 7 : 32).
The officers answWeped, Never man
spake {John 7 : 46).™
Io the world is gone after him (John
12 : 19).
We cannot deny it {Acts 4: 186).
11. A Transparent Fraud:
Say ve, His disciples came by night,
and stole him away (18).
I cast it into the fire, and there came
out this calf (Exod. 32 : 34),
Tossed. . ..by the sleight of men, in
eraftiness (Eph. 4: 14),
Desig and being deceived (2 Tim,
We aid not follow cunningly devised
fables (2 Pet. 1 : 16).
111, A Mercenary Inducement:
They took the money, and did as they
were tanght (15).
His sous. ©. took bribes, and perverted
ii,
L
told
unto
Their right hand is full of bribes (Psa.
26 : 10).
The proud have forged a lie against me
(Psa. 119 : 69).
The love of money is a root of all kine
of evil {1 Tim. 6: 10),
1. “The gnard came into the city ;
told,” (1) Who they
Whence they came: (3)
they went; (4) What they
Who they told.
HS ye’! (1)
kh
¥
were
Whit
3
Ba W!
pupils;
" ‘
hemes,
. They
as
accepted
Look
they were
Lies propagated
IBLF
THE Kis
ne (Mark 16 :
LESSON B
AVPEAR ZO}
24: 1 (
Atke 24 ; 3
1 Mi: 12
les { Mark
Ti of the Gis
he various account
The place was near Goigotha,
then in the eity (vs. 11-15). The lim
was Sanday, the first
Lord's Day,
nteenth of Nisan, April 9,
confus
1 8
VE
Mark 16
20 : 1-18,
much more
Parallel passages:
Luke 24 : 1-12 ; John
the two latter tell of
oA
torious redemption, }
tt ————
Patience.
Patience is generally regarded as pre-
eminently the teacher's virtue—as
first essential of the teacher's equi
ment, And yet there is, perhaps, no
virtue for which the teacher has, ideal-
ly, less meed; for the moment a teacher
becomes eonscious of the necessity of
moment perceived
the insufficiency of his efforts toaccom-
True, it
scholars
ut
it ought not to be forgotien that there
$0 far as a teacher fails to d scern that
way will be probably need to exercise
his patience, But he must remember
that ke calis this virtue into play only
the function of teacher. The measure
of the teacher's necessity for patience,
his lack of teaching proficiency. The
teacher who desires to do his best work
will not regard his scholars as the ob-
jects of his patience—though they may
himself, at the very time that he isa
m—
The Pope's Triple Orown,
The popes did not always wear the
three crown tiara, At rst they wore
an ordinary miter with one crown
around it, then a second was added to
it, and then a tard, when it took the
name of Seiregno {three kingdoms).
This explains why sometimes the sim-
ple miter is used and sometimes called
the triregno.
Mus, FLurrenny—What has be
come of Jot old cook?
Mrs, Swallowiale—She's gone to a
better place,
Mrs. F, —Had a fortune left her, eh?
Well, it's wonderful how those low
manage to strike oil.
Mrs. 8, (sadly) Yes, she struck it
with a matoh,
An joe-cold cloth laid at the back of
the neck is oftentimes a relief for
judgement (1 Sam, 8: 3h
ravere pain in the top of the bead,