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is the work of his providence. "It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of thele little ones fhould perifh :" and if deftined to falvation, to what, worldly diftinction may they not afpire, may they not arrive? Carefully mark the progrefs of children: study the bent of their difpofitions, of their talents : endeavour to put them in the train which nature and Providence feem to have pointed out: attend to what conftitutes their real confequence in life, and leave the iffue to Him who governs all events.

3dly. Obferve how the great Ruler of the universe contrafts and connects great things with fmall, that he may humble the pride of man, and expose the nothingnefs of the glory of this world. That forlorn gleaner, and Boaz the wealthy; the exile from Moab, and the refident poffeffor of the fertile plains of Bethlehem-Judah, seem wonderfully remote from each oth

er.

Their condition is as oppofite as human life can well present but in the eye of Heaven they are already one. She is but a single ftep from being lady of the harvest which fhe gleans, "an help meet" for its lord, and the fovereign miftrefs of thofe fervants at whofe afpect fhe now trembles, the meanest of whom he now looks up to as her fuperior. Childlefs and a widow, her family, her own children are but three fteps from a throne-the throne of Judah and Ifrael; and in the purpose of the Eternal, "the fulness of time" is haftening to exhibit to an astonished world, in the person of this woman's feed, "that Prince of peace, of the increafe of whofe government and peace there fhall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to eftablish it with judgment and with juftice, from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of Hofts will perform this." The period is approaching, men and brethren, when Bethlehem-Judah fhall difplay greater wonders, contrafts more confounding than

thefe.

these. The time is at hand, when another forlorn damfel of the fame race, and her outcast babe shall appear in contrast with all that is ftupendous, striking, formidable, venerable in heaven and earth, fhall rife above all, give laws to all, eclipfe all. Behold that "babe lying in a manger, in a ftable, because there is no room for him in the inn," controlling the counsels of Auguftus, the mighty mafter of the world; behold him drawing princes and wife men from the east, with treasures of gold, and frankincense and myrrh, to his feet. Behold the face of heaven irradiated, enriched with a new star, to mark the way which led to his cradle while a multitude of the heavenly hoft announce in rapturous ftrains the birth of the lowly infant. Behold "a man of forrows and acquainted with grief," "of no reputation ;"" in the form of a fervant;""numbered with tranfgreffors ;" "obedient to death, even the death of the crofs." Behold him "highly exalted;" "leading captivity captive;' "all the angels of God worfhipping him;" invefted with 66 a name that is above every name ;" 66 crowned with glory and honour;" "coming in the clouds of heaven!" To him let my knee bow, and my tongue "confefs." His name fhall endure forever: his name fhall be continued as long as the fun: and men fhall be bleffed in him: all nations fhall call him bleffed. Bleffed be the Lord God, the God of Ifrael, who only doth wondrous things. And bleffed be his glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen."*

4thly. In the adoption of Ruth into the church of God, and "the commonwealth of Ifrael," we have another dawning ray of hope arifing upon the Gentile nations. The tide is beginning imperceptibly to ife and fwell, which fhall at length become an overflowing ocean. "In that feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed." That ftranger fhall be employ

* Pl. Ixxii. 17-19.

ed

ed in bringing forward the mighty plan to maturity. "Ethiopia fhall ftretch out her hands to God."

They shall come from the eaft and from the weft, and fhall fit down with Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." Verily God is no refpecter of perfons.

History

History of Ruth.

LECTURE X.

RUTH ii. 1-3•

And Naomi had a kinfman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name. was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabites faid unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whofe fight I fhall find grace. And fhe faid unto her, Go, my daughter. And he went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

PROVIDENCE has gracioufly annexed to honeft induftry, both refpectability and happiness. The pureft and moft delicious enjoyment that human life admits of, perhaps, is, when a man fits down with thofe whom he loves, to the temperate indulgence of that refreshment and repofe which he has just earned and fweetened with his labour. The greatest, and wifeft, and beft of men, are ever prefented to us, as engaged in virtuous employment and exertion; as deriving health, fubfiftence, reputation and comfort from the exercise, not the inactivity of their bodily and mental powers: and happily, the fcenes in which every man is converfant, feem to him the moft interefting of all, his own ftation the most eminent or ufe

ful,

ful, his own pursuits the most important. Hence a certain degree of felf-complacency, of felf-fatisfaction pervades the whole; every one is acting in his own fphere; while infinite wifdom binds all together by invifible or unnoticed bands, and the various members, without knowledge or defign, co-operate for the common benefit, and fulfil the great defign of

Heaven.

Idleness is not more difhonourable, than it is inimical to real felicity. The fluggard at once defeats the purpose of his Maker, and destroys his own peace : and what was denounced against man as a punishment, "In the fweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread," like every other punishment that comes from above, is converted into a bleffing; and, as in every other cafe, the great God is juft and merciful at once; just, in impofing on the fallen creature the neceflity of labouring; merciful, in rendering the fruit of it fo fweet.

But can the inhabitants of a great, commercial, polifhed city, find either amufement or inftruction in contemplating the rude and fimple manners of ancient times; in liftening to the hiftory of the inglorious toils of the hufbandman; in tracing the operations of an art, the very terms of which they do not underftand; in obferving the mean employments of poverty and wretchednefs which they only pity or defpife? Whether they can derive amufement, or inftruction, from fuch things as thefe, or not, may not courtly pride be admonished in behalf of the lowly, ruftic fons of want and industry, in the words of two fweet finging bards of our own country.

"Let not ambition mock their ufeful toil,
Their homely joys, and deftiny obfcure:
Nor grandeur hear with a difdainful fmile,
The fhort and fimple annals of the poor."

GRAY'S Church-yard.

"Nor

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