less of all the distress which might be the consequence of it.

In the conduct of Ruth we behold an example which we are expressly called upon to imitate by our blessed Redeemer, if we would enter into his kingdom.

The firm and decided tone of Ruth silenced Naomi; and doubtless it kindled in her heart the most lively admiration and gratitude.

The poor pilgrims then proceeded on together, and the good providence of GOD brought them safely to Bethlehem-Judah. An absence of ten

years must have made some alteration in the person of Naomi; but her sorrows had been of no ordinary magnitude, and the iron hand of affliction had made such deep ravages in her countenance, as to excite the sympathetic astonishment of her old acquaint

ance.

"Is this Naomi ?" exclaimed the inhabitants of Bethlehem, as they crouded around her. The question recalled to the memory of the good woman all her sufferings, and opened afresh the wounds of her heart. When she quitted her native country, she was possessed of property, an affectionate husband, and promising children; but now she was poor and friendless, a widow, and childless. The transition was most affecting; and to be insensible under such an accumulation of woes, so far from arguing reli gious fortitude, would have betrayed sullen indifference, or a callous stubbornness of heart.

The bruised reed will sigh as it bends submissively to the Divine will; and its complainings will excite the tender compassion of GOD, while the intractable and unfeeling can be brought low only by the fierceness of his anger.

Naomi blends with her moaning the sentiments of piety, and acknowledges her afflictions as the visitation of the Almighty: "and she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Marah; 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?"

Though Naomi arrived in safety at her native city, and was recognised by numbers of her former acquaintance, yet we do not find that any acts of benevolence were shown to her by thein. They could express a kind of sympathetic concern for her condition; but when she told them her tale of woe, we read not of any attempt made to pour balm into her wounded heart. None opened their doors to admit the weary travellers; none administered to their wants. Her return excited curiosity and some degree of compassion, and that was all.

It was now the time of barley-harvest, the season of joy and festivity, in which we should expect that grateful man would imitate the beneficence of his Maker, and having himself freely received, be as ready and cheerful to give. But this was not the case. Naomi and her faithful daughter-in-law were suffered, after having satisfied the idle curiosity of the Bethlehemites, to retire to an obscure cottage, without any thing to support them. Providence, however, which has guided the friendless widows home for a wise and gracious purpose, is now about to bring them through the low and painful valley of adversity to ease and honour.

The Almighty "crowns the year with his goodness, and his paths drop fatness; they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks, the vallies also are covered with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing." Psalm lxv. 12, 13.

When he thus pours out his bounties upon the world, and the face of creation wears a glowing and smiling aspect; what does he require of man but cheerfulness and gratitude?

We are to rejoice in his gifts of providence and of grace; and when the heart is thus opened to a due

sense of the Divine goodness, it will be drawn out into the exercise of love and charity to those who are in need. If we are thoroughly impressed with gratitude to God for his benefits showered down upon ourselves, we shall be ready to show in acts of liberality to the children of poverty.

But he has expressly enjoined in his law, that the "joy of harvest" shall be thus manifested by the wealthy in acts of benevolence towards their indigent brethren. He has not left the duty of charity in the season of festivity to the common dictates of conscience, but he has enforced it by an explicit statute: "when thou cutteşt down thine harvest in the field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands."

The man of affluence who has every thing at his command, and every luxury within his reach, may perhaps think it improper to indulge the needy with any thing more than what is barely necessary for their support. But the Lord, who has made "the whole creation to sing," by the smiles of his countenance, and by the bounties of his hand, will have the poor to partake of the general joy, by sharing of the blessings which he has bestowed. As a powerful reason for the discharge of this duty, the Israelites were reminded of the wretched and destitute condition in which their fathers groaned in Egypt. In like manner the man who, by the goodness of God, has been brought from a low estate to the possession of wealth, ought to have his mind possessed with a recollection of his origin, as an incentive to gratitude, humility, and charity.

Methinks I see poor Naomi, and her faithful syınpathizing friend, in their wretched cottage, looking wistfully at each other, yet neither able to suggest any means to procure subsistence. Naomi has rich relations, but they heed her not; and the rest of the Bethlehemites are too intent upon their own concerns

to take any farther notice of her now she is reduced to poverty. "To labour she cannot," for age, and trouble, and fatigue, have enfeebled her limbs, "and to beg she was ashamed.”

Here the benevolent statute, which gave the poor a right to gather up what the wealthy had left, occurred to the mind of Ruth; and with much humility she solicited Naomi's permission to glean a few ears of corn after the reapers. But she would not even undertake to do this lawful act, for their mutual support, without the consent of her mother-in-law. Every incident in the narrative, and this in particular, gives this excellent female an inimitable grace. She was ready to expose herself to the scorching rays of the meridian sun, and, what must have been still more unpleasant, to the churlish insults of unfeeling rustics, to procure an evening's meal for her aged friend, to whose advice and direction she respectfully submitted as to a natural parent.

Naomi readily consented to the proposal of Ruth, who instantly set out in this humiliating but honest employment. That gracious Being who guideth the steps of his faithful servants, conducted Ruth to the field of Boaz, a mighty man of wealth, and a near relation of Elimelech. This was not a preconcerted scheme between her and Naomi; it was one of those incidents to which the careless and sceptical give the name of chance, but which the considerate and pious mind rightly terms the order of Providence.

He who led Ruth to this spot, directed the footsteps of Boaz also the same way. It is true the good man came to superintend his servants; but the whole narrative shows the Divine agency and goodness so remarkably, that even this visit of Boaz to his field, at the time when Ruth was gleaning, is a material link in the chain.

The excellent qualities of this wealthy man may be discerned the first moment he appears in view. Boaz enters his field, not with an imperious look or threatening aspect, uttering profane expressions to

his reapers, but with a sweet and familiar accent he says The Lord be with you!"

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His first language is a devout prayer. The blessing of a good man is grateful, and the pious sentiment falls upon the heart like refreshing dew upon the mown grass. His servants were men of a like spirit with their master. They returned his benediction in the same strain, "The Lord bless thee!"

How powerful is the effect of good example in persons who have numerous dependants! Boaz was a mild and religious master, and it is no wonder that he had industrious and pious servants. They were won by the pleasantness of his demeanour, they were awed by the contemplation of his sanctity, they loved him for his kind attentions, and they pursued their work with cheerfulness and fidelity. His prosperity gave them pleasure, because they knew that he deserved it, by making a proper use of his great wealth. Feeling themselves, therefore, interested in his welfare, these pious rustics returned his devout salutation with this affectionate wish, "The Lord bless thee!"

Too many employers, when the blessings of heaven descend upon their estates, when their pastures are alled with flocks, and their fields are rich in golden grain, instead of feeling a becoming gratitude to the author of every good gift, and being gentle to their servants, and liberal to the poor, are unthankful to God, churlish to all around them, and inhumanly deprive the "stranger, the fatherless, and the widow," of the few straggling ears of corn which are trod beneath the feet of the reapers.

Not so the wealthy farmer of Bethlehem; for he feared God, and therefore he had compassion on the poor and the needy. Observing among the gleaners a female whose countenance and manner plainly showed that she had seen better days, his curiosity was excited to know who she was.

When he was informed by his steward that this was the young woman who had shown such friendship for Naomi, the heart of Boaz was moved and