--Here reapers do reap, gleaners do glean, and Bartholomews do draw water.

'Go thou after them,'---So long as they reap in the field of Boaz, for the sustenance of his household.----But should they go into another field, go not after them.----Even Paul wished not to be followed farther than he followed Christ, 1 Cor. iv. 16, Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me.'---How far? Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ,' 1 Cor. xi. I. 'Have I not charged the young men that they should not touch thee.'----Either wantonly to defile her, or cruelly to rob her of the fruits of her gleaning.----Some will, at the close of a day, rob a poor gleaner of all she had picked up through the whole, wantonly ruining her comforts.----But God thus chargeth, 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,' Psal. ev. 15.----On the contrary, God chargeth to comfort his people, Isa. xl. 1, 2. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.' Have I not charged the young men?' &c.---An excellent example for masters of families, to charge their household, that no wickedness should dwell with them, Psal. ci. throughout.---Nebuchadnezzar's law, Dan. iii. 29, was good.

'When thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that 'which the young men have drawn.'---With hard labour in that hot country. But mercy is never stingy, nor churlishness to be found with charity.----Faint type of the liberality of our Jesus, who gives the water of life to his people, John iv. 10. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, 'Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he ⚫ would have given thee living water.'----This revives the drooping soul, as a well of living water springing up unto eternal life. He gives it freely,' Rev. xxii. 17.--- To every one that thirsts,' Isa. lv. 1.--- To every comer, even the unworthy,' Ezek. xvi. 6. --- The water which Christ gives quencheth our thirst for worldly vanities,' John iv. 14. Such as thirst for these never drank heartily of that.--- Not water only, but blood, the blood of God,' Acts xx.--- This blood is drink indeed, John' vi. 55. God hath his Beer-Elims or wells of the mighty ones. Prophecies, declarations, promises. All wells of salvation. He hath his Bartholomews or water drawers, who draw forth the words of eternal life. These young men draw for the gleaners, those thirsty souls who bear the heat of the day. It costs them much sweat of both brow and brain. Yet they do it with singing, because the work is pleasant. Numb. xxi. 17. Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it.'---' They draw it with joy, because they 'drink of the water themselves,' Isa. xii. 3.

A Puritan observes, that the day consecrated to Bartholomew,

was the very day on which the Bartholomews were bound by an act of uniformity ;----and black day of the Parisian massacre.

Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground.' ----Overcome with his condescension and benevolence.

O how low bows the soul when God speaks words of peace! The lowly shall be exalted, 1 Pet. v. 6.----Humble Lazarus tc Abraham's bosom.----When Job abhorred himself, and repented in dust and ashes, God turned again his captivity, Job. xlii. 6, 10. David was little in his own eyes when made king over Judah. Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?'

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Nothing but necessity on her part.----He could not profit by her gleaning. This was all her own.----Our goodness extendeth not to God, Psal. xvi. 2. My goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is 'all my delight.'----What saith the sinner when divine love is manifested? Why have I found grace in thine eyes? Lord, what is man? What am I or my father's house?----I am but a stranger---to God, to godliness----to thy ways and people---possessed of an estranged and a straying heart.

'And Boaz said to her, it hath been fully shewed me all that ⚫ thou hast done to thy mother-in-law,' &c.

Her faith in God, and love to Naomi, were noted by all; as when a poor sinner sets his face Zion-ward, how the godly take notice of him. Her obedience to her mother-in-law, parting with all, joining herself to a strange people, could not be hid.---True religion cannot be concealed, hence the church is a city set upon an hill, Matt. v. 14.----True religion is connected with due praise which follows it, even as the shadow the body, Heb. xi. 2. By faith the elders obtained a good report.'----The religion of the Thessalonians sounded through the world, 1 Thess. i. 8. 'Ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith Godward is spread abroad.'----It is an evidence of grace to prize its work upon others. Hereby we know that we are passed,' &c. 1 John iii. 14.----Ruth valued that she saw in Naomi---Boaz that he saw in Ruth.

The Lord recompense thy work,' &c.

He could not recompense her pious work of faith and love himself, therefore appeals to God in her behalf. Every work of love is sure to meet with its proper reward; a disciple's reward, a prophet's reward, Mat. x. 41.---43.

Such as shew the kindness of God to distressed saints particu larly, shall receive the same kindness in their own distress, Mat. vii. 2. With what measure,' &c.----David was greatly distressed, and Jonathan shewed him kindness, 1 Sam. xix. xx. chap.---

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David shewed the kindness of God to his seed, 2 Sam. ix. 3.---So Ruth to Naomi, Boaz to Ruth.

• Under whose wings thou art come to trust.'

A metaphor taken from the hen and chickens.----Or the ark which covered a cursing law.----The mercy seat covered the ark. ----The cherubim covered the mercy seat.----This typified Christ in whom the law has its end.

'Ruth left all to come and trust,' &c.

Certain refuge here, every perfection, purpose, &c. being a safeguard. Ye are dead,' &c.

DISCOURSE VII.

RUTH ii. 14.

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.

IN In some preceding discourses, we have followed Naomi and Ruth in their journey towards the land of Canaan. In this we find them amongst the Lord's inheritance, seeking for rest after the long series of affliction which had passed over them. When they came to Bethlehem, the native city of Elimelech, from whence they departed in the beginning of the famine, the whole city was moved with tender affection to this venerable matron and her pious daughter, and to welcome her return to the land of her fathers. Their kind congratulations, far from yielding her the intended consolation, only served to rip open her wounds, and make her sorrows to bleed afresh, by bringing past endearments to her remembrance, and presenting the images of her lost husband and sons to her disturbed imagination. Wherefore she thus answers their welcome with apparent anguish : Call ' me not Naomi; call me Marah: for the Lord hath dealt very 'bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought 'me home again empty: why call ye me Naomi, seeing the 'Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted 'me?' From which pathetic exclamation we may note,

Those whom the Most High intends in a peculiar manner to honour amongst his people, frequently have the bitterest cup of

afflictions put into their hands prior to their exaltation. So it was with Abraham, as well as with his daughter Naomi. First he is called upon to cast out Ishmael his son, for whose life he had so earnestly entreated the Almighty in this ardent petition, 'O that Ishmael might live before thee!' Even the father of the faithful entreated in vain, when his desires corresponded not with the will of his God, whose pleasure it was that in Isaac 'should Abraham's seed be called.' Ishmael cast out and rejected, a cup more bitter still is prepared for him. His Isaac, upon whom the hopes of his family depended; his Isaac, with whom was the promise of life, and from whose loins the seed of the woman, the Saviour of mankind was to descend; even Isaac, who was by a miracle brought into the world, was demanded; demanded a burnt offering; and, strange to speak it! demanded by that God who says, Thou shalt not kill:' that God who had promised, That in Isaac should all the families of the earth be blessed :' yea, demanded to fall by the hands of his own father, at his command whose characteristic is MERCIFUL. Thus was his holy soul tried to the uttermost. But had he not been thus tried as by fire, he had never borne the honourable name of Father of the Faithful, by which he is known in the church through all generations. In like manner, if this mother in Israel had not drank so deep of the cup of sorrow, she had not been so honourably mentioned as she is, in every nation blessed with the light of revealed truth.

She is now emerging out of her former distress, and the day of consolation begins to arise upon her, and continues to advance, though indeed by slow degrees, till it arrives at its meridian splendour. To the tracing of which advances, I hope a discussion of our text may in some degree contribute. In attempting of this, I shall not at all enter into the controversy, whether this book is to be considered as typical and mysterious, or merely historical. My hearers are at liberty to judge for themselves. It is sufficient for me to know assuredly, that whatever was written aforetime was written for our instruction, that we through comfort of the Scriptures might have hope; and to find the history of Ruth capable of being accommodated to gospel purposes. Apprehending therefore from these premises. that we have a right to improve all, or any part of the Old Testament history to the illustration of the blessed gospel, without exposing ourselves to the charge of enthusiasm, I shall proceed to prosecute the subject in the following manner.

I. Speak concerning Boaz the husbandman and master of the field, who invites to come hither at meal time.

II. Of the damsel invited to come hither, &c. Ruth the 'Moabitess.'

III. Consider the invitation itself, Come thou hither at mea. 'time, eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.'

IV. Enlarge upon the conduct of Ruth on this occasion, 'She sat beside the reapers, she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.' In which conduct she is an eminent example of holy industry, an example worthy of the imitation of every professor of Christianity.

According to this plan, I am

I. To speak of Boaz the husbandman and master of the field, who invites to come hither at meal time; concerning whom we may note,

(1.) His name, Boaz. (2.) His profession, an husbandman. (3.) His circumstances, a mighty man of wealth. (4.) His disposition, generous, hospitable, and benevolent. (5.) His pedigree, a kinsman of the family of Elimelech. On each of these, I would offer a few remarks.

(1.) His name, Boaz. The father of Obed, and David's great-grand-father, Boaz, who makes a principal figure in this history, and whose name signifies, 'In strength,' which is more applicable to Jesus the Husband of the church. Jesus is the arm and power of the Lord, who is revealed in the heart of every believer as the sole ground of his hope, and spring of true enjoyment. He is strength to the weak, and power to those who are ready to faint. He only is the dwelling place and fortress of his people, where the fearful hide themselves in the day of indignation; where they are everlastingly secure from every future evil. He only is that munition of rocks, and rock of defence, in which the righteous dwell on high, eat their promised bread, and drink the vital streams.

His works sufficiently evince the greatness of his power, and prove him to be the mighty God, as well as the loving, the compassionate friend of sinners. He left no work unperformed which was requisite to fulfil the purposes of infinite love, and illustrate the transcendent excellence of the divine perfections. Did the Eternal Father before all worlds choose a people for himself; a people appointed to salvation for the praise and glory of his grace? and did this people, this elect church, fall in the common ruin of the lapsed race? had guilt, interposing between God and them, made their access to his presence impracticable? Behold Jesus appears as the sealed and sent of God; appears as the sinner's friend, and legal substitute. The mighty God appears a son in our nature; the Everlasting Father is born into our world; the Prince of peace makes war upon the powers of darkness, and the holy child Jesus sustains the wrath of avenging Omnipotence.

Great is this mystery of godliness! God manifested in the flesh to take away the sins of his offending creatures. O be liever, thy strong, thy loving Redeemer stood in the breach between thy God and thee, to reconcile thee to him; to bring thee to the divine embrace, willingly yielded up himself as thy