66 True goodness considers, together with wh| poor, the honest, the manly, the virtuous, the is written on tables of stone, what is engra- useful, the important part of the community. ven on the living tables of the heart, and Not they who handle the harp and the organ, from the heart, communicates itself to the but they who put their hands to the plough forehead, the eyes, the lips, the hand; im- and to the sickle. There they toil, there pressing on the whole the law of kindness." they sweat, there they sing; there they beIII. The philosopher will cast his eyes guile the fatigues of the day in innocent along the group scattered over the plains ad- mirth, and untutored, artless, guileless, unjoining to Beth-lehem-judah, and will reflect malignant conversation; and purchase and in a different manner; perhaps thus: "What sweeten the repose of the night, with unopan endless variety do I observe in the ways pressive industry, with friendly communicaand works of the great Creator and Ruler of tion, and pious, unaspiring submission to the the universe; blended with that variety, pains, the privations, the necessities of their what mutual relation and dependence! The lowly estate. head, the hands, the feet; the parts which "These constitute the numerous, the great are more noble, and those which are more and good class of our fellow-creatures: who dishonourable, forming one regular, harmo- shine in the eye of reason, of patriotism, of nious body, where there is nothing redun- philosophy, of religion. They stand not forth dant, nothing deficient. Every thing has its the prominent figures in the piece, but their use, every thing has its end. Shade imper-number, their equality, their want of characceptibly softens into shade; light impercep- teristic distinction, confer upon them the tibly brightens into light. The transitions are greater value. so sweet and gradual, that the eye is never offended, nor overwhelmed. It is the same thing in the body social and politic. Every one stands in need of another. The prince and the peasant meet in a certain point. How many things have they in common! How many things to interest and attract each other! "But ah, there is beneath them, a subordinate rank, which awakens all that is human in us. They have health and strength and will to labour; their reward is sure; they support the heat and toil of the day, with the sweet assurance that the thickening shades, that the twelfth hour will bring with them the payment of their hire, the means of subsistence, of domestic joy, of regulated gratification. But look into the back ground of the piece, and observe that female, that stranger, that orphan, and her a widow; to work unable, to beg ashamed. She has seen better days. Time was, the wind of heaven was not permitted to visit her face too roughly; she was waited upon, and ministered unto; now she is become the scorn of clowns; or lower still, their pity. Where is the lowness of condition, from whence it is not possible still to fall! Be what thou wilt, O man, there are some looking up to thee with envy and desire; be what thou wilt, there is still cause to say, God I thank thee, I am not as other men.' "Look but to that field. The persons are few; and the conditions much fewer. But even there I see the order, the subordination, which Providence has established through the whole extent of the vast universe. There walks the dignified, respectable proprietor of the land, who can trace his title to possession through many generations; exulting in hereditary wealth and honours, without arrogance, vanity, or insensibility. Boaz, a prince in his tribe, but a plain man, who knows that he derives his subsistence from the bosom of the earth, who disdains not to mingle with his menial servants, to sit down to a participation of their homely fare, to dip his morsel in the same vinegar, and to lie down to sleep all night in the threshing-floor. "But observe, my young friend," continues "There the servant who is set over the our philosophical monitor, "all these gradareapers stirs from ridge to ridge, from com- tions, and infinitely more than can be pointed pany to company, the bond of union between out, are links in the great chain of human the master and the labourers. Behold him existence; tear one asunder, and the concus as the trusted humble friend of Boaz, repay-sion is felt through the whole. The gleaner, ing confidence with fidelity; praising the the reaper, the overseer, the master of the industrious, encouraging the faint, chiding the household are so many successive steps in careless, stimulating the slow. As the sym- the same scale; the most distant not very repathizing friend of his less favoured fellow-mote, the near hardly distinguishable; all are servants, recollecting how lately he emerged reduced to the same level before Him, who says from the same obscurity and subjection, ex- to Gabriel, Go, and he goeth, and to the sparrow cusing the frailty of nature, covering the hovering on the wing, Fall to the ground, and faults of thoughtlessness, administering re-instantly he drops. And again, young man void proof and chastisement with lenity and moderation, bestowing commendation with cheerfulness and cordiality. "As we descend, a new station, a new character rises into view, the glory and the strength of every land under heaven, the of understanding, observe, and observe it well, and lay it up in thine heart, how near the extremes of human condition are to one another! the gleaner after the reapers, is but a step or two from the possession of the whole. Wait but a few days, and she who is liable to be insuit. ed, at best pitied, shall be, in her turn caressed, flattered, submitted to; and learn, from the whole, the folly of being insolent, selfconceited, or unkind, unsocial or uncomplying, when the sun of prosperity shineth upon thy tabernacle; or of being discontented, dejected, careless, or mean, when the common ills of humanity overtake thee. The poor inflated creature, who like another Nabuchadnezzar talks in loud swelling words of vanity, of the great Babylon which he has built, I once knew a cringing minion, ready to lick the dust from the feet of the man whom he now struts by as if he were a stranger. That poor boy whom he disdains to set with the dogs of his flock, is evidently rising into consequence, which is one day to eclipse all the tawdry honours of upstart gentility, and self-assumed importance. My son, derive thy greatness from thyself, from wisdom, from virtue. Take care to adorn thy station, thy possessions, by native goodness. Pitiable indeed is thy condition, if rank, or affluence, or even talents, serve only to render thy folly or profligacy more conspicuous." "How happily religion adapts its influence to every relation and condition of life! How it guards the heart alike from foolish pride and impious discontent, at what bounty has bestowed, or wisdom denied! How it humanizes, dignifies, exalts the soul! How it enforces, extends, and refines the maxims of worldly prudence! How it illustrates, binds, and enlivens the precepts of morality! How it amplifies, expands, regulates, brightens the views of philosophy; referring every thing to God, deriving all from him, carrying all back to him again! O man, till thou hast founded thy domestic economy in religion, thou hast not begun to keep house. Let thy possessions be ever so fair, ever so extensive, they want their principal charm, their highest excellence, till the blessing of Heaven be asked and obtained. "Mark yet again, how a good man's footsteps are all ordered of the Lord. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Boaz came forth with no farther view than to see the progress of his harvest, to salute his servants, and to cheer IV. Once more, let me suppose a man of their labour by his presence and approving genuine piety contemplating the interesting smiles; but lo, Providence has been preparscene before us, and entering with wonder and ing for him a more enlarged view, has endelight into the plans of the Eternal Mind. riched his field with a nobler portion than he His meditations will flow in still a different had any apprehension of. Thy ways, my channel, he will view the same object through King and my God, thy ways are in the sea, still a different medium. "Behold," will he and thy path in the deep waters, and thy say, "how sweet is the smell of a field which judgments are unsearchable. The great Jehovah hath blessed! happy Boaz, rich in God is working unseen, unnoticed. He is lands, and in corn, rich in man-servants and preparing his instruments at a distance, armaid-servants, rich in the dutiful and af- ranging his agents in the dark. Unseen to, fectionate attachment of thy people, rich in unknown by one another, without concert or thine own integrity and composure of spirit: design, they come forth at the moment, they but richer far in the favour and approbation perform the part assigned them; they speak of the Almighty: the blessing of the Lord and act in perfect unison, they accomplish it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow the purpose of the Eternal. Boaz and Ruth, therewith. Happy family, thus dwelling to- behold them together in the field, remote as gether in unity; where love is the governing penury and fulness, as obscurity and celebriprinciple, where the fear of God sweetly ex-ty, as dependence and being depended upon. presses itself in unfeigned benevolence to Nevertheless they meet, and Heaven from man! How can that house but prosper, where above, crowns the hallowed union with her religion has established her throne? Look at olive." that happy plain over which the bountiful But might not the pious spirit annex a hand of nature has spread her rich exuberance. caution to his exhortation on this subject. The Lord maketh that wealth. Behold the "Beware of taking the name of the Lord patriarchal master: the meanest slave he thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold treats like a child; hearken, the voice of peace him guiltless who taketh his name in vain. and benediction dwells on his lips, distils like Holy and reverend is his name. Even in the dew. Behold the way to be loved and blessing it is to be used solemnly, piously, respected by inferiors. Be to them an en- sparingly: who then shall dare to employ it sample of piety, of purity, of charity; bind wantonly, needlessly, profanely, impiously, them to you with cords of love; sweet and blasphemously? Who shall presume to abuse faithful, cheerful and efficient is the service it, in swearing falsely by it, or in imprecating of affection. These men will yield obedi-a curse under that dreadful sanction upon ence not for wrath only, but for conscience' the head of his brother? Avert, merciful sake; their heart is in their work; they need no overseer; they will neither be negligent nor dishonest: they know that the eye of God is continually upon them; they know that the interest of the master is their own. Heaven, avert from my guilty, heavy-laden country, the heavy, the bitter curse which this sin deserves! O let not profane swearing, let not wilful deliberate perjury, prove its ruin!" Thus have I endeavoured, by assuming several supposed characters, to give life and energy to the simple rural scene under consideration. It furnishes copious matter of instruction to every teacher, and to every class of mankind. The careful, prudent man of the world; the moralist; the calm observer; the pious instructer; are all here provided with useful topics of address to their several pupils, according to their several views. The master and the servant, the hireling and his employer, the rich and the poor, here meet together and are together informed, by more than a code of laws, by plain but striking example, of their mutual relation and dependence, and of the duties which arise out of them, and of the comforts which flow from them. Happiness is here represented as built on the sure foundation of kind affections, of useful industry, of reciprocal good offices, and of the fear of the Lord. Where all these unite, that house must stand, that family must prosper. In proportion as all or any of them are wanting, a partial or total ruin must ensue. Let the apostolic injunctions serve practically to enforce the subject. "Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good-will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good * Eph. vi. 5-9. 1 Tim. vi. 17-19 James. 5. HISTORY OF RUTH. LECTURE XCVII. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: and she said, I pray you let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me all thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned; and it was about an ephah of barley.—RUTH ii. 5—17. THE life of the husbandman is full of labour | rise early, and often retire ate to rest; he is and anxiety, but it is also sweetened and re-exposed now to the scorching heat of the me lieved by many peculiar delights. He must ridian sun, and now to the unwholesome all Beth-lehem-judah had heard, but not one had stepped forth to acknowledge and relieve them. Boaz himself is faulty here. Had he been informed, as he must, of the return of his nearest relations, and of their wretched plight, he ought to have sought them out, and, unsolicited, to have ministered to their comfort. He is in this respect an instance of what is frequently to be met with in the world; of that calm, unimpassioned goodness which is abundantly disposed to succour dis ficiently zealous and vigorous, and active, to go abroad in quest of objects to relieve. But let us not pretend to look down on moderate and ordinary beneficence, till the pure and sublime come more into use. The former neglect of Boaz, and his future zeal, shall but the more redound to the glory of God. aamps of the night. He has to watch every aspect of the sky, and to guard against the strife of contending elements: and after all his vigilance and foresight, he has frequently the mortification to see the exertions, and the hopes of a whole year destroyed in an hour. But on the other hand, the very variety which his profession admits of, deceives the toils of it; his life is constantly a life of hope; his health and prosperity flow from the same source; he spends not his strength for nought and in vain; the bountiful parent earth re-tress, when it falls in the way, but is not sufstores the precious seed cast into it with large increase, thirty, sixty, an hundred fold. He has the pleasure of observing the hourly progress of vegetation; of seeing his supplies coming immediately from the hand of Providence. Piety and profit are promoted by the same employments and pursuits, and the sublimest truths of religion press upon him in the plainest and most common appearances of nature. Add to all this, the labours of the husbandman are of all others the most essential, the most important to society. Other arts may minister to wealth, to pleasure, to conveniency and comfort, but on this depends the very subsistence of human life; and to the plough and the sickle, the ingenious manufacturer, the pampered citizen and the haughty peer must, of necessity, look for the main ingredient of their daily support. It was, then, in that happy state of civil society, the scene is laid which is to be the subject of this evening's meditation. It was that joyful season of the year when the ardour of summer was giving place to the milder glory of autumn; when industry was gathering in the produce of hope, when the common occupations of the sunburnt plain had levelled the distinctions of master and servant; when all was emulation, cheerfulness, and joy, that Boaz issued forth betimes to superintend his harvest, and Ruth to glean after the reapers. Her sex, her demeanour, her employment, which bespoke her poverty, attract his notice, and excite his compassion. There are persons, there are countenances, there is a deportment, which strike at first sight, and create an interest which it is impossible to account for. The great hand of nature has in many, perhaps in most instances, engraven on the external appearance, no doubtful or equivocal signs of the internal spirit and character. Ruth presented to the eye of Boaz an undescribable somewhat which spoke her immediately to be above the level of those common drudges, whose minds their servile condition has degraded; her native greatness shone through the veil that covered it, and naturally led to an inquiry into her situation and connexions. The attention which her figure and occupation at first roused, her history powerfully fixes and confirms. The mournful story of Naomi, and of the Moabitish damsel her daughter-in-law, The short and simple tale awakens a thonsand tender emotions in the bosom of the good man. He feels the sad reverses to which families, and states, and all sublunary things are exposed. He sees one branch of his own kindred demolished, extinguished A woman, a young woman, a widow, a stranger in a strange land, but one step above begging her bread; with a still more wretched mother to sustain by the meagre fruits of her feeble industry. He sees women of condition, his equals, fallen far below the estate of the meanest of his servants and handmaids. Self-reproach perhaps mingled with compassion and instantly produced a resolution to compensate past carelessness and unkindness, by all that future sympathy and friendship could bestow. The dialogue that ensues is a beautiful exhibition of the honest simplicity of nature. The characters are supported with a happiness of expression, and displayed with a strength and exactness of colouring, worthy of him who knows what is in man. In Boaz which shall we most admire; his prudent attention to his own affairs, his winning condescension to his inferiors, or his pious acknowledgment of God in every thing? In his conduct to the forlorn stranger, we see a heart overflowing with benevolence, attending to minute circumstances, outrunning the expectations, the very wishes of the person whom he means to oblige. Observe his delicacy; he recommends the solitary helpless female to the society and protection of those of her own sex, and by his authority guards her from the incivility and insults of the other. He aims at soothing her soul to peace; he would have her believe herself at home. The law obliged him to permit her to glean, but he makes a free-will offering of much more; the liquor in the vessels, the food provided for the reapers, all is tendered to her with hearty good-will. Ordinary minds feel ashamed at the sight of poor relations, deny them, turn away from them, hide their faces from their own flesh. True mag-| chantingly grateful to the former, as highly nanimity thinks meanly of nothing but vice, honourably to the latter, that the decision of esteems worth, though cloathed in rags, con- the understanding confirmed the judgment siders the revolutions which affect every of the eyes. He had known, admired, and thing under the sun, despises not the wretch approved the conduct, before he had seen of to-day, knowing that he may be obliged to and admired the beauty of the person, and change places with him to-morrow. Such the gracefulness of the behaviour. The an one was the wealthy owner of yonder charms of wisdom, virtue, and piety, superhappy field. The spirit of the master is dif- added to personal accomplishments, what a fused, it is felt over the whole extended do- happy combination; what a foundation of main. No jarring string mars their rural felicity! The latter indeed, will and must harmony, no contention reigns, but the strife, fade, but their effect is immortal; the comthe blessed strife, of mutual affection and pany in which they flourished and brought attachment. forth fruit, bestows on them a permanency not their own. How wretched is that female all whose consequence is fled with her bloom; who depended on rank or fortune to command respect; who has lost the admiration and applause of others, before she has begun to acquire the dignity of self-approbation, the only genuine source of public esteem. The character of Ruth opened upon us with singular grace and beauty: it unfolds itself with equal energy and propriety. She discovers from first to last, a soul susceptible of tender and persevering attachment; ready to yield the sacrifice of ease, of rank, of estimation, of every thing, for the sake of enjoying the testimony of a good conscience, and the society that she loved. She discovers a spirit at once sweetly timid and bashful, and nobly resolute and undaunted. She inspires love by her gentleness, meekness, and complacency; she commands respect by her firmness, magnanimity, and patience. In addressing her mother-in-law, she is all amiable warmth and earnestness: in replying to the friendly tenders of Boaz, she is all amiable reserve and modesty. In speaking to Naomi her heart flows to her lips, her words glow, her speech is copious and redundant; in answering a man, and a stranger, her words are few, she speaks by looks and gestures, and is then most eloquent when she says nothing. The history before us strikingly displays the transition from pity to love on the one hand, from gratitude to love on the other. Compassion in Boaz, sense of obligation in Ruth, excite the same mutual affection in both. It becomes his pride and joy to raise her to that distinction and affluence which she so well merited; it is her pride and joy to repay the tenderness of her benefactor by every kind office of compliance and affection. She had hitherto pleased herself with the consciousness of having done her duty; she had not hunted after praise; she had discovered no anxiety, taken no pains to publish abroad her own merits; but honour will follow virtue, as the shadow does the substance, and the flight of the one but accelerates the I behold the effect which youth, and sim- pursuit of the other. And how grateful plicity, and humbleness of mind, and distress must it have been even to the modest ear of have made upon a generous and sensible Ruth herself, to hear her conduct approved, heart. The artless simplicity of the Moa- and her qualities celebrated, by the wise and bitish damsel has made a deeper impression good man who had taken her under his prothan all that cunning and design could have tection, and admitted her to his friendship. invented to allure affection, and impose on The praise which goodness confers on goodthe understanding. Happily the progress of ness, the praise which a man's own heart and virtuous love advances without the conscious-conscience allow to be merited, praise beness of the parties concerned; it is at first a mere intercourse of civility, an attention to trifles, an interchange of kind words and pleasant looks. It grows unperceived, it gathers strength by neglect, it has arrived at maturity before it was known to exist, it gave no warning of its approach, and thereby became irresistible. And has the great Author of nature vouchsafed in his word to delineate, in more than one instance, the nature, progress, and effects of this important and necessary passion, and shall we turn away from it with affected delicacy, or take it up and pursue it with indecent mirth? No, if we adopt and imitate the candid, guileless simplicity, and the modest reserve of scripture, we cannot greatly err. In the case of Boaz and Ruth, it was en stowed by one we love and esteem is a feast indeed; it does equal honour, it communicates equal delight to the giver and the receiver; it is an anticipation of the glorious rewards of the faithful, from Him whose favour is better than life. But save me, merciful Heaven, from the commendation which my own mind rejects. Save me from the approbation, the ill-informed approbation of ignorant erring man, while I have just cause to tremble under the apprehension of condemnation and punishment from a holy and righteous God. The cordial of cordia's administered by the hand of Boaz to this truly excellent woman, was his recommendation of her to the care, blessing, and protection of the Almighty. It was much to be permitted to |