oud lamentation over his tomb, but in cleav-lowed. Respect for the dead is best exing to all that remained of him, his mother, pressed by dutifulness to the living. his people, his country, and his God. Her affection to his mother is not expressed in the set phrase of condolence and compliment; but in adhering to her when all had forsaken her, in labouring for her subsistence, in submitting to her counsel: and her reverence for his God is manifested not merely in adopting the language, and observing the rites of Canaan, but in relinquishing for ever, and with abhorrence, the gods beyond the flood, and every thing connected with their

You have before you an useful example of firmness blended with female softness, of resolution heightened and adorned by sensibility. Lately, like Ruth, you had one who thought and acted for you; one who joyfully endured the burden and heat of the day, that your body and mind might enjoy repose. But now necessity is laid upon you. You must awake, and arise to think and act for yourself. And here, as in every case, Nature has annexed the recompense to the duty. The mental powers are enfeebled, and at Every circumstance of the case and cha-length destroyed, by disuse and inaction. racter under review, administers plain and important instruction. And, being a case in ordinary life, Ruth stands forth a pattern and instructer to young persons, in particular, whose situation may resemble her

abominable rites.

own.

Young woman, you may have married into a strange family. You have, of course, adopted the kindred, the pursuits, the friendships, and to a certain degree, the religion of your husband. It is your duty, and you will find it your interest, to let him and his connexions know, from your general deportment, that you are satisfied with the choice which you have made. Learn to give up your own prejudices in favour of country, of parentage, of customs, of opinions. Unless where the sacred rights of conscience are concerned, deem no sacrifice too great for the maintenance or restoration of domestic peace. As far as lieth in you," whither he goeth, go thou; and lodge where he lodgeth; let his people be thy people, and his God thy God." You will thereby preserve and secure his affection; you will harmonize family interests and intimacies, instead of disturbing them if yours be the better religion, this is the way to bring over to it the man of no religion, or of an erroneous one; and if it be the worse, your relinquishing it, on conviction, will be at once a token of conjugal affection, a mark of good understanding, and a reasonable service toward God.

Exertion invigorates the mind, and composes by directing it. The listlessness of indolence undermines health; the activity of useful employment is the simplest and most infallible medicine for bodily complaints. And the most direct road to an honourable and happy second connexion, probably, is, to guard carefully against all vehement expression of either inclination or aversion, on the subject.

All these, however, are merely lessons of prudence, adapted to the life that now is; and, however important in themselves, unless aided and supported by a higher principle, will constitute, at most, the decent kinswoman, or the respectable sufferer. In Ruth we have this higher principle likewise beautifully exemplified-rational, modest, unaffected piety. True religion sits well on persons of either sex, and in all situations; but its aspect is peculiarly amiable in a female form, and in particular situations. Youth, beauty, and sorrow united, present a most interesting object-a daughter weeping at a parent's tomb; a mother mourning over "the babe that milked her," and "refusing to be comforted;" a widow embracing the urn which contains the ashes of the husband of her youth-in all their affliction we are afflicted, we cannot refrain from mingling our tears with theirs. Let religion be infused into these lovely forms, and mark how the interest rises, how the frame is embellished, Have you had, in early life, the calamity how the deportment is ennobled! The eye of becoming a widow? It is a distressing, of that dutiful child is turned upward, her a delicate situation. It calls for every heart is delivered from oppression, her tremmaxim of prudence, every counsel of friend-bling lips pronounce, "When my father and ship, every caution of experience, every support of piety. If you are a mourner indeed, you are already guarded against affectation; you will find rational and certain relief in attending to, and performing the duties of your station. You will neither seek a hasty cure of sorrow by precipitately plunging into the world, nor attempt an unnatural prolongation of it by affected retirement and sequestration. The tongue will utter no rash vows; the pang of separation will dictate no ensnaring resolutions; the will of Providence will be respected, obeyed, fol

my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." "My Father who art in Heaven!" The mother withdraws from the breathless clay, reconciled to the stroke which bereaved her, "goes her way, and eats bread, and her countenance is no more sad,” for her Maker has said to her, "Why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons?" The widowed mourner" gives her mortal interest up; and makes her God her all.”

Young woman, whatever thy condition may be; whether thou art in thy father's

house, or married to an husband; at home, | science, where your duty to your Creator or in a strange land; in society or soli- are concerned, be firm and resolute, "be tude; followed or neglected; be this thy steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding monitor, this thy guide, this thy refuge in the work of the Lord." Thus shall youth "The love of God shed abroad in thy be guarded, and beauty adorned; thus shall heart;""the fear of God which is the be- society be sweetened, and solitude cheered; ginning of wisdom;" "the peace of God thus shall prosperity be sanctified, and adverwhich passeth all understanding." How-sity soothed; thus shall life, even to old age ever easy, gentle, flexible, complying, in other respects, where your religious principles, where the testimony of a good con

and decay, be rendered useful and respectable; and thus shall death and the grave be stripped of all that is terrible in them.

HISTORY OF RUTH.

LECTURE XCIV.

So they went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass when they were come to Beth-lehem. that all the city was moved about them; and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out of the country of Moab. And they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley-harvest.—RUTH i. 19–22.

Or the calamities to which human life is exposed, a few only are to be accounted real evils: the rest are imaginary and fantastical. Want of health is real wo; but what proportion do the hours of pain and sickness bear to the years of ease, and comfort, and joy! Want of bread is real distress, but it is very seldom the work of nature, and therefore ought not, in justice, to be introduced into the list of the unavoidable ills which flesh is heir to. The loss of friends is a sore evil, but even wounds from this sharppointed weapon are closed at length, by the gentle hand of time, and the tender consolations of religion.

ed, friendless, destitute, and cease from thy complaints, and stretch out thy hand to succour the miserable.

In the glorious strife of affection, Ruth has nobly prevailed. Impelled by the fond recollection of endearments past, and now no more-prompted by filial duty and tenderness to the mother of her choice, attracted, animated, upheld by the powers and prospects of religion, she composedly yields up her worldly all, takes up her cross, and bears it patiently along from Moab to Bethlehem-judah. The history is silent on the subject of their journey. It is easy to conceive the anxieties, the terrors, the fatigues, the sufferings of female travellers, on a route of at least a hundred and twenty miles across the Arnon, across the Jordan, over mountains, through solitudes, without a protector, without a guide, without money. But that God who is the friend of the destitute, and the refuge of the miserable, that God who was preparing for them infinitely more than they could ask, wish, or think, guides and guards them by the way, and brings them at length to their desired resting place.

Whence then the unceasing, the universal murmurings of discontent, of desire, of impatience? Men fix their standard of felicity too high; and all they have attained goes for nothing, because one darling object is still out of reach; or they groan and sigh under the weight of some petty disaster, which scarce deserves the name; while ten thousand substantial blessings are daily falling on their heads unnoticed, unacknowledged, unenjoyed. Compare, O man, thy possessions with thy privations, compare thy comforts with thy deserts, compare thy con- These are not the only female pilgrims dition with thy neighbour's, consider how whom the sacred page has presented to our far, how very far thy state is on this side view, advancing by slow and painful stages worst, and learn to give God thanks. Re- to Beth-lehem of Judah. Upwards of thirpine not that some wants are unsupplied, teen hundred years after this period we bethat some griefs are endured, that some de- hold a still more illustrious traveller, and in signs have been frustrated, while so many circumstances still more delicate, on the road unmerited good things are left, while hope from Nazareth of Galilee, to her native city; remains, while there is recourse to Heaven. but not to take possession of the inheritance Behold these two forlorn wanderers, widow-of her fathers, not to repose in the lap of

Base, unfeeling world, that can feast itself on the orphan's tears, and the widow's sorrow! See, there they are, every one from his own business, or rather his own idleness, to stare and talk a wretched woman out of countenance; the whisper goes round, the finger points, the scandal of ten years standing is revived, and a new colouring is given to it. Affected pity and real indifference wound the heart which God himself has just bruised! whose husband and children he has taken to himself. The wretched mourner seems to feel it; she bursts into an agony of grief,

ease and indulgence, not to deposit the anxieties of approaching childbirth in the bosom of a fond and sympathizing parent; but to know the heart of a stranger, to feel the bitterness of unkindness and neglect; so friendless that not a door would open to receive her, so poor that she cannot purchase the accommodations of an inn, overtaken by nature's inevitable hour, "she brings forth her first-born son in a stable, and lays him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." But through such humiliating circumstances of meanness and poverty, what a display of glory and magnifi-and thus vents the bitterness of her soul, cence was the arm of Jehovah preparing! What an important station do the simple annals of these poor women hold in the history of mankind! What celebrity, in the eyes of all nations, have they conferred on Beth-lehem, on their country! How a thousand years shrink into a point, before that God who "sees the end from the beginning!" How the purposes of Heaven are accomplished to an iota, to one tittle! How places and times are determined of Him who saith, as one having authority, "My counsel shall stand, and I will fulfil all my pleasure."

"Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me!"* What simple, but what forcible language the heart speaks! She dwells on the minute circumstances of her case, takes up her own name as a theme of wo, changes the fond appellation of parental affection, of parental hope, Naomi, on which Providence had poured out the wormwood and gall of disappointment, into one better adapted to her One of the advantages, and not the least, tragical history. The past presents nothing of travelling abroad, is the joy which the but happiness passed away as a shadow; rank, thought of returning home inspires; but this and opulence, and importance gone, gone, is a consolation which Naomi's return is not never to return. The future spreads a gloom permitted to enjoy. She brings back no unirradiated by a single gleam of hope. She treasures to purchase attention, to command apprehends no change of things, but the oprespect, to excite envy. She is accompa-pressive change from evil to worse. nied with no husband, no son, to maintain But yet her misery admits of alleviation. her cause, or cheer her solitude. She brings It comes from God, she sees the hand of a back nothing but emptiness, dereliction, and Father in her affliction, she kisses the rod, tears. A great part of her ancient acquaint- and commands the soul to peace. To endure ance and friends are gone, as well as her distress the fruit of our own folly, to suffer own family. Those who remain hardly know from the pride, cruelty, and carelessness of her again, so much are her looks impaired a man like ourselves, is grievous, is unsupand disfigured with grief. A new genera-portable, it drinks up our spirits. But the tion has arisen, to whom she is an utter stranger, and who are utter strangers to her. But in a little city, a trifling event makes a great noise. The curiosity of the whole town is excited by the appearance of these two insignificant fugitives; and various we may suppose were the inquiries set on foot, the conjectures formed, the remarks made, the censures passed, on their account. This is the never-failing inconveniency of inconsiderable places. Where there is abundance of idleness, abundance of ill-nature, every man is a spy upon his neighbour, every one is at leisure to attend to the affairs of another, because he is but half occupied by his own. We have here enough of inquiry, enough of wonder, but not a single word of compassion, of kindness, of hospitality; and Naomi might have gone without a roof to shelter her head, or a morsel of bread to sustain sinking nature, but for the industry and attachment of her amiable daughter-in-law !

evil that comes immediately from God has its own antidote blended into its substance; we drink the poison and the medicine from the same chalice, and at the same instant; the one destroys the effect of the other; their joint operation is salutary, is life-giving, not deadly. Was that the voice of God which I heard! Spake it not in thunder? Said it not, "Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burntoffering?" It is well; it was the voice of God, and that is enough. I will offer up the sacrifice, I will surrender my dearest delight, I cannot tell how the promise is to be accomplished, consistently with my obedience and submission, but the command and the promise proceed from the same lips; I leave all to him.

From all that we see, Naomi had slender motives, and poor encouragement, to return to her own country; we cannot tell what Ruth i. 20, 21.

eyes."

The continuation of this story will carry us on to the contemplation of scenes of rural simplicity, for the enjoyment of which, grandeur might well relinquish its pride and pomp, its vanity and vexation of spirit, and rejoice in the exchange. Let us meanwhile pause and reflect on the history of Naomi as administering useful instruction.

determined her resolution; it might be a lit- | propitious and prophetic; God brings it about tle fit of female impatience, occasioned by in his own way, and it is "wondrous in our some piece of Moabitish insolence or unkindness; it might be the mere restlessness of a mind ill at ease, grasping at the shadow of felicity merely from change of place; it might be the ardent desire of home, of the scenes of childish simplicity, innocence, and joy, which in certain circumstances all men feel, and by which the conduct of all is, to a certain degree, regulated. Whatever it were it came from above, it was overruled of infinite wisdom, it was, unknown to itself, acting in subserviency to a most important event: and it is thus, that little, unnoticed, unknown powers, put the great machine in motion, produce effects that astonish, and delight, and bless mankind.

The same all-ruling Providence is conspicuous in determining the season of Naomi's return. On this hinged all the mighty consequences of Ruth's acquaintance and connexion with Boaz-the birth of kings, the transmission of empire, the accomplishment of ancient prophecy, the hopes of the human race. Had this apparently unconsequential journey been accelerated, been retarded, a month, a week, a single day, the parties might never have met. Contingent to men, it was foreseen, fixt, disposed, and matured by Him, "who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

1st. As an admonition never to despair. God frequently brings his people to that mournful spectacle, hope expiring, that he may have the undivided honour of reviving it again, and may be acknowledged as the one pure and perennial fountain of light, and life, and joy. The condition of Jacob, of Joseph, of Naomi, all preach one and the same doctrine; all proclaim that the time of man's extremity is God's opportunity.

2dly. Let us call, let us reckon nothing mean or contemptible which God employs, or may be pleased to employ, in his service. The notice of the King of kings impresses dignity and importance, confers true nobility on the low-born child, the beggar, the outcast, the slave. On them all he has stamped his own image; and their present and every future condition, is the work of his providence. "It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish;" and if destined to salvation, to what worldly distinction may they not aspire, may they not arrive? Carefully mark the progress of children: study the bent of their dispositions, of their talents; endeavour to put them in the train which nature and Prcvidence seem to have pointed out: attend to what constitutes their real consequence in life, and leave the issue to Him who governs all events.

Every one observes and records the great incidents of his life. But would you, O man, have rational pleasure, blended with useful instruction, attend to little things, trace matters of highest moment up to their source; and behold thy fate stand quivering on a needle's point: and a colour given to thy whole future life, thy eternal state fixed, by a reed shaken with the wind, by an accidental concurrence which thou wert neither seeking nor avoiding; and rejoice to think that 3dly. Observe how the great Ruler of the all things are under the direction of uner-universe contrasts and connects great things ring wisdom, of all-subduing mercy; are working together for good."

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Does this teach a lesson of levity and inconsideration? Darest thou to trifle with thy everlasting concerns because there is a God who ruleth and judgeth in the earth, who doth all things after the counsel of his own will! God forbid. Presumptuously to lead the decrees of Providence, impiously to resist them, or timidly to draw back, are equally offensive to a righteous, a holy, and wise God.

We have seen the unhappy Naomi stripped of almost every earthly good; husband, children, friends, means, country, comfort; it is the dark midnight hour with her. No, there is one little lamp left burning, to dissipate the gloom, to prevent despair-the sacred flame of virtuous friendship. No, the sun of righteousness is hasting to the brightness of his arising. The name after all was

with small, that he may humble the pride of man, and expose the nothingness of the glory of this world. That forlorn gleaner, and Boaz the wealthy; the exile from Moab, and the resident possessor of the fertile plains of Beth-lehem-judah, seem wonderfully remote from each other. Their condition is as opposite as human life can well present: but in the eye of Heaven they are already one. She is but a single step from being lady of the harvest which she gleans, "an help meet" for its lord, and the sovereign mistress of those servants at whose aspect she now trembles, the meanest of whom she now looks up to as her superior. Childless and a widow, her family, her own children are but three steps from a throne-the throne of Judah and Israel; and in the purpose of the Eternal "the fulness of time" is hastening to exhibit to an astonished world, in the person of this woman's seed "that Prince of peace, of the