THE DAILY HERALD, -PLATTSMOU ret, rtrfiSICASK A. MOXDAY, MAY 21. 1SS8.
LOVK AT FIRST SIGHT.
REV. DR. TALMAGE'S DISCOURSE AT
THE BROOKLYN TACEKNACLE.
' Trouble Develop ami i:nmtla (littrao-
ter T"i Hrauty of riifalterlitg I rlcnd
lilp A 1'uth Whlili Marin Iarkljr
Often i.flm Itrlglitly.
liROOKi.YN, May 20. Tho owning
hymn iit the. Tabernacle service today
liegina witli tho wordsr
MorelDvetotlii-o, O Christ, "
3!ro lovn to liw.
After making a running commentary
on some p:is.sagesof Scripture tlio Ilev. T.
lh: Witt Talmagf, I. !., took the text:
"And he went, ami came, and uleaiie-d
in the field aftT the r'aTs: ami her
bapi was to Iiht on u Kirt of the fild
lifiging unto ISoaz, who was of the
l.indn-d .f Kiim.lcch." Ihith ii, He
breach! from these words the following
sermon:
The time that Kuth :md Naomi arrived
at IVthh-hi-iii i: harvest time. It wa.s the
custom when :i sheaf fell from a load in
harvest field for the rcacrs to refuse to
gather it up: that was to l left for the
mki wlio niiht hap-ii to eome along
that way. If there were handful of
raiii scattered across the field after I lie
l.iain harvest had lieen r-a"d, instead of
raking it, as farmers do now, it was. hy
t he en-loin of the land, left in its place,
ij that the MHr, coming along that way,
might L-loan it and get their bread. Hut,
votisity: "What is the uss of all these
- harvest fields to Until and Naomi?
. Naomi a too old and feeble to go out
and toil in tho sun; and can you expect
that Kuth. the young and the beautiful,
tdioiild tan her checks and blister her
hands in the harvest held?''
Jioaz owns a large farm, and lie goes
out t see the reajx-rs gather in the grain.
Coining there, right behind the swarthy,
n:n browned . reajiers, he beholds a
lo-aiitiful woman gleaning a woman
i ". lit to lx-ud to a harp or bit upon a
throne than to htoop among the bheaves.
Ah, that was an eventful day !
It w:w love at first sight, Hoaz forms
an atlachiiit nt for the womanly gleaner
a:i attachment full of undying interest
to the Church of tJod in all ages; while
"Ruth, with an ephah, or nearly a b.i-hcl
f b.ii'Iey, gM-s home to Naomi totell her
the miciwh and adventures of the day.
Tint Kulli. who left her native land of
M .ih in darkness, and traveled through
an undying atfeciion for h. r mother-in-law,
iti the harvest field of Jloaz, is aJli
anmd t' one of the Ut families in Ju
d.ih, and Iwcomes in after lime the aii-ccstn-ssof
Ji-mis Christ, t he Lord of glory.
Out of so dark a night did there ever
dawn so bright a morning?
I learn in the first place from this sub
ject how trouble develops character. It
was bereavement, jKiyerty and exile that
lnveltNil, illustrated ami announced to
all urs the sublimity of Ruth's charac
ter. TiiUt is a very unfortunate man
vho has no trouble. It was sorrow that
made John lUinyan the better dreamer,
and Dr. Young the better ioer, and
)"l.nnel! the belter orator, and Jiishop
Hall the better preacher, and llayelock
tl;j-, U-tter soldier, and Kitto the Ix-tter
'iieroiOKeiliot. and Ruth the better
daiightV-.:ndaw.
I once asLed an aged man in regard to
hi pastor, who was a very brilliant man:
-Why is it that your pnstor, so very bril
liant." seems to have so littla heart and
tenderness in bis seraions?" "Weii," he
replied, "the reason is our pastor has
never had any trouble. When misfortune
comes Uxn hini his style will be differ
ent. " After a while the Lord took a
child out of that pastor's house; and
though the preacher was just as brilliant
as be was before, oh the warmth, tha
tenderness of his discourses. The fact is
that J rouble is a great educator. You
see soinctlies a musician sit down at an
instrument, au J his execution is cold and
ioi mal and unfiling. The reason is that
nil hi life lie has leen prospered. But
let misfortune or lereaveinent come to
that man. and lie sits down at an instru
ment, and you discover the pathos in the
Jlr.-t sweep of the keys.
Jlisfortune and trials are great educator-;.
A young doctor comes into a sick
loom v?lx-re there is a dying child. Per
Iiaps he is ety rough in his prescription,
end very rough in J;is manner, and rough
i:i the feeling of the pulse, and rough in
Iiisansver to th? mother's anxious ques
tion; but years roll on. and there" liad
tavn one dead in bis own house; and now
lie comes into the sick room, and with
tearful eye he looks at the dying child,
.and ho savs: Oh, how this reminds
jueof my Charlie!" Trouble, the great
educator. Sorrow, I see its touch in tho
grandest painting; I luir its tremor in
the sweetest ong; I feel it lv?r in the
.mightiest argument.
cjrecian mythology said that the foun
tain ot Ilippocrene was struck out by the
foot of the winged horse Pegasus. I have
often notic-fed in life that the brightest
and must beautiful fountains of Christian
oir.f'.Mt and spiritual Jifo have been
t-trnck out by the iron shod hoot disas
ter an I calamity. I ee Daniel's courage
best by the flash of Nebuchadnezzar 3
furn.:ce. I see Paul's prowess best when
I find l.L:i on the foundering ship under
ihf glare of the lightning in tlie breakers
Jh-Iita. C'Wi crowns his children amid
the bowling of wild beasts and the chop
ping of blood spLi&hed guillotine and tho
ruckling fires of martyrdom. It took
the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius to
develop Poh carp and Justin Martyr. It
took the w'orld'6 anathema to develop
Martin Luther. It took all the hostilities
against the Scotch Covenanters and the
furv of Imi1 Claverhouse to develop
James Kenwick, and Andrew Melville,
and Hugh McKail, the glorious martyrs
of Scotch history. It took the stormy
pea, and the IXeccmber blast, and tlie
desolate New England coast, and tho
var whoop of savages to show forth tho
prowess of the Pilgrim. Fathers.
Whoa euiiil the storms they sang.
An J the star heard, and the sea;
An-1 the sounding aisles of the dim wood
llactf to the autbems of the free.
Jt took till our past national distresses
to lift u; our nation on that liigh career
where it will march along after tho
foreign aristocracies that have aiocked
and the tyrannies tbat have jeered, shall
1 swept down under the omnipotent
wrath of G1. who hates despotism, and
v.hn. by tlie ftrength cf bis own red
i i-'it arm, will make all men free. And
0o it is individually, and in the family.
and in tlie church, and in the world, that
through darkness and storm and trouble
men, women, churches, nations are de
Ttloved. II. Again, I mm? in my text the beauty
of unfaltering friendship. I 6Uppos
there were plenty of friends for Naomi
while sho was in prerity, but of all
her atcjuaintances, how many were will
ing to trudge off with her toward Judali,
when sho had to make that lonely jour
ney? One the heroine of my text. One
absolutely one. I suppose when
Naomi's husband was living, and they
had plenty of money, and all things went
well, they lad a great many callers; but
I Hipposo that after her husband died,
and her projerty went, and she got old
und jxxr, she was not troubled very
much with callers. All the birds that
Kung in the bower while the sun shone
have gone to their nesta, now tho night
has fallen.
Oh, these beautiful Bunflowers that
spread out their color in the morning
hour! but are always asleep when the
sun is going down! Job had plenty of
friends when hew:isthe richest man in
Uz; but when his projerty went and tho
trials came, then there were none so
much that estered as Eliphaz theTeina
nite, and Rildad the Shuhite, and Zophar
the Naamathite.
Life often seems to be a mere game,
where tho successful player pulls down
all the olher men into his own lap. Let
suspicions arise aljout a man's character
and he Itecomes like a bank in a panic,
and all the imputations rush on him and
break down in a day that character
which in due time would have had
strength to defend itself. There are rep
utations that have been half a century
in building, which go down under some
moral exposure, as a vast temple is con
sumed by the touch of a sulphurous
match. A hog can unroot a century
plant. '
In this world, bo full of heartlessness
and hyjocrisy, Itow thrilling it is to find
some friend as faithful in days of adver
sity as in the days of prosperity. David
had such a friend in Ilushai; the Jews
had such a friend in Mordecal, who never
forgot their cause; Paul had such a friend
in Onesiphorus, who visited him in jail;
Christ had such in the Marys, who ad
hered to him on the cross; Naomi had
such a one in Ruth, who cried out: "En
treat me not to leave thee, or to return
from following after theejfor whither thou
goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest,
I will lodge; thy people shall le my jeo
ple, and thy God, my God; where thou
diest will I die, and there will I be buried
the Lord do so to me, and more also, if
aught but death part thee and me."
III. Again: I learn from this subject
that paths which ojxmi in hardship and
darkness often come out in places of joy.
When Kuth started from Moab toward
Jeruralem, to go along with her mother-in-law,
I suppose the people said: "Oh,
what a foolish creature to go away from
her father's house, to go of? with a poor
old woman toward the land of Judali 1
They won't live to get across the desert.
They will be drowned in the sea, or the
jackals of the wilderness will destroy
them." It was a very dark morning
when Ruth started oil with Naomi; but
behold her in my text in the harvest
field of Boaz, to 1 affianced to one of
the lords of tho land, and become one of
the grandmothers of Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory. And so it often js that a
path which starts very darkly ends very
brightly.
When you started out for heaven, "oh,
how dark was the hour of conviction
hov Sinai thundered, and devils tor
mented, and the darkness thickened 1
All the sins ot yftiir life pounced upon
you, and it was the darkest hur you
ever saw when you first found out your
sins. After a while you went into the
harvest fieul pf God s mercy; you began
to glean in the fields of divino promise,
ami you had more sheaves than you could
carry, as the voice of God addressed you,
saying: "Blessed is the man whose
transgressions are forgiven, and whose
6insarc covered." A very dark start
ing in conviction, a very bright ending
in the pardon and the hope and the
triumiH, pf tlie Gospel!
So, very often jn our jyprldly business
or in our spiritual career, we start pit on
a very dark path. Wo niust'go. The
flesh may etn ink back, but there is a
voice within, or a voice from above, pay
ing: "You must go;' nnd wo have to
drink the gall, and we have to carry the
cross, and we have to traverse the desert,
and we are pounded and flailed of tuis
represeidation and abuse, and we have to
urge our way through ten thousand ol
stacles that must be slain by pur own
right arm. We have to ford the river,
we have to climb the mountain, we havo
to storm the castle, but, bUst bs God, t,he
day of rest and reward will come. Ou
the tip top of the captured battlements
we shall shout the victory; if not in this
woild, hen in that world where there is
no gall to drink, no burdens to carry, no
battles to fighr. Hoy dp I know it?.
Know it ! I know it because God say Q :
"They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst nny more, neither 6ha!l the sun
light on them, nor any heat, for tlie
I-aoib which is in the midst of tlie throne
shall lead then to living fountains of
water, and God shall wip all f5.ars from
their eyes."
It was very lard for Noah to endure
the scoffing of fhe people in his day
while he was trying tq build he ark, and
was every morning quizzed about iis old
boat that would never be of any practi
cal use; but when the deluge came, and
the tops of the mountains disappeared
like the backs of sea monsters, and the
elements, lashed up in fury, clapped
their hands over a drowned world, then
Noah in the ark rejoiced in his own
safety and in the safety of his family,
and looked out on the wreck of a ruined
earth.
Christ, hounded of persecutors, denied
a pillow, worse maltreated than the
thieves on either side of the cross, human
hate sniackiug its lips in satisfaction
after it had been draining his last drop
of blood, the sheeted dead bursting Irom
tho sepulchers at his crucifixion.
Tell me, O Gethsemane and Golgo- !
tlia! were there ever darker times ;
than those? Like the booming of the i
midnight sea against the rock, the surges
of Christ s ane-uish beat acamst the crates
of eternity, to be echoed back by all the
thrones of heaven and all toe dungeons
tit hell. Dut the day of reward comes
for Christ: all the poinp and dominion of
Ihli world are to be hung on his throne,
uncrowned heads are to bow before him
on whoso head are nuuiy crowns, and all
the celestial worship is to come up at his
feet, like the humming of tho forest, like
the rushing of the waters, like the thun
dering of tlie Beas, while all heaven, ris
ing on their thrones, liet time with their
scepters: "Hallelujah, for the Inrd Gm1
oninijKjtent reigneth! Hallelujah, the
kingdoms of this world have ljccome the
kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ!"
That song of love, now low and far,
F.rf lung shall swell from star to star;
That light, the breaking day which tipa
Tl gulden spired Alocalypi4e.
IV. Again: I learn from my subject
that events which seem to le most insig
nificant may le momentous. Can you
imagine anything more unimfiortarit than
the coming of a poor woman from Moab
to Judali? Can you imagine anything
more trivial than the fact that this Ruth
just happened to alight as they say
just hapcued to alight on that field of
IJoaz? Yet all ages, all generations have
an interest in the fact that she was to ie
come an ancestor of the Iord Jesus
Christ, and all nations and kingdoms
must look at that one little incident with
a thrill of unsfieakable and eternal satis
faction. So it is in your history and in
mine: events that you thought of no im
jMjrtance at all have Ieen of very great
moment. That casual conversation, that
accidental Meeting you did not think of
it again for a long while; but how it
changed all the phase of your life I
It seemed to be of no imtortance that
Jubal invented rude instruments of
music, calling them harp and organ; but
they were the introduction of all th
world's minstrelsy; and as you hear the
vibration of a stringed instrument, given
after tho fingers have been taken away
from it, so all music now of lute and
drum and cornet is only the long con
tinued strains of Juhal's harp and Jubal's
organ. It seemed to be a matter of very
little importance that Tubal Cain learned
the uses of copper and iron; but that
rude foundry of ancient days has its
echo in the rattle of Birmingham ma
chinery, and the roar and bang of fac
tories on the Merrimac.
It seemed to be a matter of no import
ance that Luther found a Bible in a
monastery; but as he opened that Bible,
and the brass bound lids fell back, they
jarred everything, from the Vatican to
tho furthest convent in Germany, and
the rustling of the wormed leaves was
the sound of the wings of the angel of
tho Information. It seemed to be a mat
ter of no importance that a woman,
whose name has been forgotten, dropped
a tract in the way of a 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 a book
called "The CaE to the Unconverted,"
that was the means of bringing a multi
tude to God, among others Philip Dod
dridge. Philip Doddridge wrote a book
called "The Rise and Progress of Re
ligion," which has -brought thousands
and tens of thousands into the kingdom
of God, and among others the great
YY ilberforce. llberforce wrote a bonk
called "A Practical View of Christian
ity," which was the mean3 of bringing a
great multitude to Christ, among others
Legh Richmond. Legh Richmond wrote
a tract called "The Dairyman's Daugh
ter, ' which has been the means of the
salvation of unconverted multitudes. Ami
that tide of influence started from the
fact that one Christian woman dropped
a Christian, fract in the way of
Richard Baxter the tide of influence.
rolling on through Richard Baxter,
through Philip Doddridge, through tho
great Wilberforce, through Legh Rich
mond, on, on, on, forever. So the in
significant events of this world seem,
after all, to be most momentous. The
fact that j'pu came up that street
or tins street seemed to be or
no importance to you, and the fart
that you went inside of some church
may seem to le a matter of very great
insignificance to you, but you will 1lnd
it the turning point of your history.
V. Again : I see in my subject an il
lustration of the beauty of female in
dustry. Behold Ruth toiling in the harvest
field under the hot sun, or at noon tak
ing plain bread with the reapers, or eat
ing tlfe parched corn which Boaz handed
to her. The cusf oins pf society, of course,
have' plianged, and without thq hard
ships and exposure to which Ruth was
subjected every intelligent woman will
find something to do.
I know there is a 6ickly sentimentality
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 a new pattern, or burst
ing into tears at midnight over the story
of some lover who shot himself! They
would not deign to look at Ruth carrj ing
back the barley on her way home to her
mother-in-law Naomi. All this fastidi
ousness may seem to do very well while
they are under the shelter of their father's
house; but whei the sharp winter of
misfortune comes, what of these butter
flies? Persons under indulgent parentage
may get upon themselves habits of indo
lence; but when they come out into prac
tical life their soul will recoil with dis
gust and chagrin. They will feel in
tiieir hearts what the poet sq geverely
satirized when he said: '
Tolks are so awkward, things so impolite,
They're elegantly pained from morning until
night,
Through that gate of indolence how
many men and women have marched,
useless on earth, to a destroyed eternity!
Spinola said to Sir Horace Vere: 'Of
what did your brother die?" "Of hav
ing nothing to do," was the answer.
"Ah," said Spinola, "that's enough to
kill any general of us." Oh! can it bo
possible in this world, where there is 60
much suffering to be alleviated, so much
darkness to be enlightened, and so many
burdens to be carried, that there is any
person who cannot find anything to do?
Mme. de Stael did a world of work in
her time; and oue day while she was
seated amid instruments of music, all of
which she had mastered, and amid man
uscript book which she had written,
some one said. to her: "Hdw do you find
time to attend to all hese tlungs?"
"Oh,- she replied, 'these are not the
things I am proud of. My chief boast is
in the fact that I have seventeen trades,
by any one of which I could make a
livelihood if necessary." And if in sec
ular spheres there is so much to be done,
in spiritual work liow vast the fieldt e
want more Abigails, more UannahSj
more Rebeccas, more Marys, more De
borahs consecrated liody, mind, soul
to tho wrd who bought them.
VI. Once more: 1 learn from my sub
ject the value of gleaning.
Ruth, going into that harvest field,
might havo said: "There is a straw, :ftid
there is a straw, but what is a straw? I
can't get any barley for myself or my
mother-in-law out of these separate
straws." Not so,-beautiful Ruth. Sho
gathered two straws, and sho put them
together, and more straws, until she got
enough to make a sheaf. Putting that
down, she went and gathered more
straws until sho had another sheaf, and
another, and another, and another, anil
then sho brought them all together, and
she threshed them out, and she had an
epliali of barley, nigh a bushel. Oh,
that we might all Ik? gleaners!
Elihu liurrilt learned many things
while toiling in a blacksmith's shop.
Ahcrcroiubic, tho world renowned phi
losopher, wa.s a philosopher in Scotland,
and he got his philosophy, or the chief
art of it, while, as a physician, he was
waiting for the door of the sick room to
ojH-n. Yet how many there are in this
day who s:iy they are sr busy they have
no time for mental or spiritual improve
ment; the great duties of life cross the
field like strong reajiers, and carry oil all
tho hour?, and there is only her1.' and
there a fragment left that is not worth
gleaning. Ah, my friends, you could go
into the busiest day and busiest week of
your life and find golden op ort unities,
which, gathered, might at least make a
whole sheaf for the lrd's gr.rm-r. Ii i-
the stray oppcrumuios and the tiray
privileges which, taken up and bound to
gether and U-aten out, will at last fill
you with abounding joy.
There are a few moments left worth
the gleaning. Now, Ruth, to the field!
May each one have a measure full and
running over! Oh, you gleaners, to tho
field! And if there Ins in your household
an aged one or a sick relative that is not
strong enough to come forth and toil in
this field, then let Ruth take home to
feeble Naomi this sheaf of gleaning: lie
that gocth forth and weeeth, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come :gain
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
hiin." May the Lord God of Ruth and
Naomi be our portion forever!
BITS OF GOOD READING.
Damascus is to have street cars just
like any modern city.
One of the young Indians in the school
at Carlisle, Pa., has sent home a descrip
tion of tlie "ear gloves" he has seen pale
faces wearing.
The Tall Mall Gazette says that '"it be
comes more and more palpable every
day to the careful observer that the posi
tion of the czar in European j lit ics is
becoming more and more dominant."
An Indian elephant lately acquired fit
Central Park, New York, is nine feet
liigh, though quite young, and bids fair
to outgrow Jumbo. It daily consumes
aliout two ami one-half trusses of hay and
200 pounds of vegetables, washed down
with eighty gallons of water.
The proposed schedule for taxing
British horses and carriages is this: For
every horse, CI; every race horse, '.;
every horse dealer, 15; two wheel carts,
5 shillings; four wheel carts, 10 shillings,
and for carts weighing more than half, a
ton, 1 5s.
It was fortunate in the case of triplets,
Ixirn lately in Pekin, that they were girls.
Had they lteen all boys, under the laws
tf the empire they would have been be
headed, as there is a tradition that one of
three such children will invade ?nd at
tempt to overthrow tho government.
The United State-j supreme cou; t ha;j
sustained the validity of the Kansas law
making railroad companies responsible ii?
damages for isijuries to their employe
growing out of the negligence or care
lessness of fellow employes. This is con
trary to the common law rule, and tho
ruling wiil in good time have most salu
tary results.
. Just now the ruling "fad" in Parisian
society is a mania for medical and sur
gical curiosities. The scenes of the dead
house, tho dissecting room and tho sur
gical theatre, all matters of pureh' pro.
fessional jntei.c-rt, havo become, the spet-.:
taole of the hour and the twin diversion
with social small talk. This is eluc, no
doubt, to the diseased realism in tho
world of fiction where Zola and his imi
tators rule.
The Rev. WT. Norton, at a hunting din
ner in Hertforshire, said that the clergy
lately had rather abandoned the bunt'
ing field, because they wero thy f
tlie public. He thought that struio;:s
would be improved ii preachers could
have a gallop with the hound: twice a
week, and if the late bishop of Winches
ter had not hesitated to attend the hunt
ing field he would not have been killed i
by galloping on tho highway. It was
not only tho school for good ridkiy, but
the r-chbol for good manners.
Fashion has declared in favor of low
ceilings at home. It has been decided
that it is very difficult to furnish a high
ceiled room so that it shall look cozy and
inviting. In fact, fashion doesri't
lieve that a room with a high ceiling can
be properly banditti at all.' In view of
these discoveries, it is growing customary
to put in false ceilings of canvas tit u
height of about nine feet from the floor.
Then the canvas is treated with fresco
ing, or minting, or paneling, with light
gilt work, as the decorator pleases.
Tlie Veterinary Surjeon's Work.
Great improvement has been made ii
the medical and surgical treatment of
the hprse in the past few years. TLo
treatment is more scientific in every re
spect. The veterinary surgeon nuwa.
tlays must possess a thorough education
and bo posted in as many branches as a
physician. His calling requires him t i
be particularly sensitive and alert, for he
is treating a dumb animal whose mani
festations of pain are difficult to make
out. The result of all tliis is that the
Eick or injured horse gets nearly as care
ful and minute treatment as the sick cr
injured man. Fractured bones are often
reset, and even amputation has l?en per
formed for special purprses. Let the
horse injure its leg or foot and the mem
ber is done up in a sling as tenderly and
carefully as though it belonged to a hu
man being. New York Mail and Ex
press. " -'.. .
The Plattsmo uth
Xs enjoying a
EDITIONS.
7
& ear
Will be one during winch the stihjocts et"
national interest ami import-moi; will le
strongly nitateil ant tin; election of :i
President will take: place, 'ihe people of
Cass County who would like to learn of
Political, Commercial
and Social Transact;ons
of this year and would keep apace with
the times thould
ii: kjtmki: Tin-:
Daily or Weekly Herald.
Now while we have the sulje:et before the
people we will venture to fj.eak ot our
? 0)
"Which is iirst-chiss in all resprcts and
from which our job printers are turning
out much satisfactory work.
PLATTSMOUTH,
Hera Id
So om in "both, its
NEBRASKA.
1888
