every clafs of mankind. The careful, prudent man of the world; the moralift; the calm obferver; the pious inftructor, are all here provided with useful topics of addrefs to their feveral pupils, according to their feveral views. The mafter and the fervant, 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 ftriking example, of their mutual relation and dependence, and of the duties which arife out of them, and of the comforts which flow from them. Happiness is here represented as built on the fure foundation of kind affections, of useful industry, of reciprocal good offices, and of the fear of the Lord. Where all these unite, that house muft ftand, that family muft profper. In proportion as all or any of them are wanting, a partial or total ruin muft enfue. Let the apoftolic injunctions ferve practically to enforce the fubject. "Servants, be obedient to them that are your mafters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in fingleness of your heart, as unto Chrift; not with eye-fervice, as men-pleafers, but as the fervants of Chrift, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing fervice, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the fame fhall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And ye mafters, do the fame things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your mafter alfo is in heaven; neither is there refpect of perfons with him."* "Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor truft in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to diftribute, willing to communicate; laying up in ftore for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold. on eternal life." "Hearken, my "Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chofen the poor of this world, rich in faith, * Ephef. vi. 5-9• +1 Tim. vi. 17—19. . faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath prom ifed to them that love him?"*" You yourfelves know that these hands have miniftered unto my neceffities, and to them that were with me. I have fhewed you all things, how that fo labouring ye ought to fupport the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jefus, how he faid, It is more bleffed to give than to receive."t "Let him that ftole fteal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." * James ii. 5. + Acts xx. 34, 35. Ephef. iv. 28. K 2 History History of Ruth. LECTURE XII. RUTH ii. 5-17. Then faid Boaz unto his fervant that was fet over the reapers, Whofe damfel is this? And the fervant that was fet over the reapers anfwered and faid, It is the Moabitifh damfel 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 fheaves: fo she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. Then faid Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here faft 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 athirft, go unto the veffels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then he fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou fhouldeft take knowledge of me, feeing I am a ftranger? And Boaz anfwered and faid unto her, It hath fully been fhewed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law fince the death of thine husband: and how thou haft left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knoweft not heretofore. The Lord recompenfe thy work, and and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of If rael, under whofe wings thou art come to trust. Then fhe faid, Let me find favour in thy fight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou haft spoken friendly unto thine hand-maid, though I be not like unto one of thine hand-maidens. And Boaz faid unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morfel in the vinegar. And fhe fat befide the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and fhe did eat, and was fufficed, and left. And when fhe was rifen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the fheaves, and reproach her And let fall alfo fome of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that he may glean them, and rebuke her not. So fhe gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that he had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley. not. THE life of the husbandman is full of labour and anxiety, but it is alfo fweetened and relieved by many peculiar delights. He must rise early, and often retire late to reft; he is expofed now to the fcorching heat of the meridian fun, and now to the unwholefome damps of the night. He has to watch every afpect of the fky, and to guard against the ftrife of contend-. ing elements and after all his vigilance and forefight, he has frequently the mortification to fee the exertions, and the hopes of a whole year, deftroyed in an hour. But on the other hand, the very variety which his profeffion admits of, deceives the toils of it; his life is conftantly a life of hope; his health and profperity flow from the fame fource; he spends not his ftrength for nought and in vain; the bountiful parent earth reftores the precious feed caft into it with large increase, thirty, fixty, an hundred fold. He has the pleasure of obferving the hourly progrefs of vegetation; of feeing his fupplies coming immediately from the hand of Providence. Piety and profit are promoted by the fame employments and purfuits, and the fublim eft eft truths of religion prefs upon him in the plainest and most common appearances of nature. Add to all this, the labours of the hufbandman are of all others the most effential, the most important to fociety. Other arts may minister to wealth, to pleasure, to conveniency and comfort, but on this depends the very fubfiftence of human life; and to the plough and the fickle, the ingenious manufacturer, the pampered citizen and the haughty peer muft, of neceffity, look for the main ingredient of their daily fupport. It was, then, in that happy state of civil fociety, the fcene is laid which is to be the fubject of this evening's meditation. It was that joyful feafon of the year when the ardour of fummer was giving place to the milder glory of autumn; when industry was gathering in the produce of hope, when the common occupations of the fun-burnt plain had levelled the diftinctions of master and fervant; when all was emulation, cheerfulness and joy, that Boaz iffued forth betimes to superintend his harvest, and Ruth to glean after the reapers, Her fex, her demeanor, her employment, which befpoke her poverty, attract his notice, and excite his compaffion. There are perfons, there are countenances, there is a deportment, which strike at first fight, and create an intereft which it is impoffible to account for. The great hand of nature has in many, perhaps in moft inftances, engraven on the external appearance, no doubtful or equivocal figns of the internal fpirit and character. Ruth prefented to the eye of Boaz an undefcribeable fomewhat which fpoke her immediately to be above the level of thofe common drudges, whofe minds their fervile condition has degraded; her native greatness fhone through the veil that covered it, and naturally led to an inquiry into her fituation and connexions. The attention which her figure and occupation at first roufed, her hiftory powerfully fixes and confirms. The mournful ftory of Naomi, and of the Moabitish damfel her daughter-in-law, all Bethle hem-Judah had heard, but not one had ftepped forth to |