small favours from Boaz! Perhaps some rich jewel in Moab would not have been so welcome. Even this was a presage of her better estate. Those which shall receive great blessings, are ever thankful for little: and if poor souls be so thankful to us for but an handful, or a sheaf, how should we be affected to our God, for whole fields full, for full barns, full garners! Doubtless Boaz, having taken notice of the good nature, dutiful carriage, and the near affinity of Ruth, could not but purpose some greater beneficence, and higher | respects to her; yet now onwards he fits his kindness to her condition, and gives her that, which to her meanness seemed much, though he thought it little. Thus doth the bounty of our God deal with us. It is not for want of love that he gives us no greater measure of grace, but for want of our fitness and capacity. He hath reserved greater preferments for us when it shall be seasonable for us to receive them. Ruth returns home wealthy with her ephah of barley, and thankfully magnifies the liberality of Boaz, her new benefactor. Naomi repays his beneficence with her blessing: "Blessed be he of the Lord!" If the rich can exchange their alms with the poor for blessings, they have no cause to complain of an ill bargain. Our gifts cannot be worth their faithful prayers: therefore it is better to give than to receive; because he that receives, hath but a worthless alms; he that gives, receives an invaluable blessing. I cannot but admire the modesty and silence of these two women: Naomi had not so much as talked of her kindred in Bethlehem, nor till now had she told Ruth that she had a wealthy kinsman; neither had Ruth inquired of her husband's great alliance; but both sat down meekly with their own wants, and cared not to know any thing else, save that themselves were poor. Humility is ever the way to honour. It is a discourtesy, where we are beholden, to alter our dependency, like as men of trade take it ill, if customers, which are in their books, go for their wares to another shop. Wisely doth Naomi advise Ruth not to be seen in any other field, while the harvest lasted. The very taking of their favours, is a contentment to those that have already well deserved; and it is quarrel enough that their courtesy is not received. How shall the God of heaven take it, that while he gives and proffers large, we run to the world, that can afford us nothing but vanity and vexation? Those that can least act, are ofttimes the best to advise. Good old Naomi sits still at home, and by her counsel pays Ruth all the love she owes her. The face of that action, to which she directs her, is the worst piece of it; the heart was sound. Perhaps the assurance, which long trial had given her, of the good government and firm chastity of her daughter-in-law, together with her persuasion of the religious gravity of Boaz, made her think that design safe, which to others had been perilous, if not desperate. But besides that, holding Boaz next of blood to Elimelech, she made account of him as the lawful husband of Ruth; so as there wanted nothing but a challenge, and consummation. Nothing was abated but some outward solemnities, which, though expedient for the satisfaction of others, yet were not essential to marriage; and if there were not these colours for a project so suspicious, it would not follow that the action was warrantable, because Naomi's. Why should her example be more safe in this, than in matching her sons with infidels, than in sending back Orpah to her father's gods? If every act of an holy person should be our rule, we should have crooked lives. Every action that is reported, is not straightways allowed. Our courses were very uncertain, if God had not given us rules, whereby we may examine the examples of the best saints, and as well censure as follow them. Let them that stumble at the boldness of Ruth, imitate the continence of Boaz. These times were not delicate. This man, though great in Bethlehem, lays him down to rest upon a pallet, in the floor of his barn: when he awakes at midnight, no marvel if he were amazed to find himself accompanied; yet, though his heart were cheered with wine, the place solitary, the night silent, the person comely, the invitation plausible, could he not be drawn to a rash act of lust; his appetite could not get the victory of reason, though it had wine and opportunity to help it. Herein Boaz shewed himself a great master of his affections, that he was able to resist a fit temptation. It is no thank to many, that they are free of some evils; perhaps they wanted not will, but convenience. But if a man, when he is fitted with all helps to his sin, can repel the pleasure of sin out of conscience, this is true fortitude. Instead of touching her as a woman, he blessed her as a father, encourageth her as a friend, promiseth her as a kinsman, rewards her as a patron, and sends her away laden with hopes and gifts; no less chaste, more happy, than she came. O admirable temperance, worthy the progenitor of Him, in whose lips and heart was no guile ! If Boaz had been the next kinsman, the marriage had needed no protraction, but now that his conscience told him that Ruth was the right of another, it had not been more sensuality than injustice to have touched his kinswoman. It was not any bodily impotency, but honesty and conscience, that restrained Boaz; for the very next night she conceived by him: that good man wished his marriage-bed holy, and durst not lie down in the doubt of a sin. Many a man is honest out of necessity, and affects the praise of that which he could not avoid: but that man's mind is still an adulterer, in the forced continence of his body. No action can give us true comfort, but that which we do out of the grounds of obedience. Those which are fearful of sinning, are careful not to be thought to sin: Boaz, though he knew himself to be clear, would not have occasion of suspicion given to others: "Let no man know that a woman came into the floor." A good heart is no less afraid of a scandal, than of a sin; whereas those that are resolved not to make any scruple of sin, despise others' constructions, not caring whom they offend, so that | they may please themselves. That Naomi might see her daughter-in-law was not sent back in dislike, she comes home laden with Ruth had gleaned more this night, than in half the harvest. The care of Boaz was, that she should not return to her mother empty. Love, wheresoever it is, cannot be niggardly. We measure the love of God by his gifts: how shall he abide to send us away empty from those treasures of goodness! corn. Boaz is restless in the prosecution of this suit, and hies him from his threshing-floor to the gate, and there convenes the nearer kinsman before the elders of the city. What was it that made Boaz so ready to entertain, so forward to urge this match? Wealth she had none, not so much as bread, but what she gleaned out of the field; friends she had none, and those she had elsewhere Moabites; beauty she could not have much, after that scorching in her travel, in her gleanings. Himself tells her what drew his heart to her: " All the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.' Virtue, in whomsoever it is found, is a great dowry, and, where it meets with an heart that knows how to value it, is accounted greater riches than all that is hid in the bowels of the earth. The corn-heap of Boaz was but chaff to this, and his money dross. As a man that had learned to square all his actions to the law of God, Boaz pro. ceeds legally with his rival; and tells him of a parcel of Elimelech's land, which, it is like, upon his removal to Moab, he had alienated; which he, as the next kinsman, might have power to redeem; yet so, as he must purchase the wife of the deceased with the land. Every kinsman is not a Boaz: the man could listen to the land, if it had been free from the clog of a necessary marriage; but now he will rather leave the land than take the wife, lest, whilst he should preserve Elimelech's inheritance, he should destroy his own; for the next seed, which he should have by Ruth, should not be his heir, but his deceased kinsman's. How knew he whether God might not, by that wife, send heirs enough for both their estates? Rather had he, therefore, incur a manifest injustice, than hazard the danger of his inheritance. The law of God bound him to raise up seed to the next in blood; the care of his inheritance draws him to a neglect of his duty, though with infamy and reproach; and now he had rather his face should be spit upon, and his name should be called "The house of him whose shoe was pulled off," than to reserve the honour of him that did his brother right, to his own prejudice. How many are there that do so over-love their issue, as that they regard neither sin nor shame in advancing it, and that will rather endanger their soul, than lose their name! It is a woful inheritance that makes men heirs of the vengeance of God. And Boaz is glad to take the advantage of his refusal; and holds that shoe (which was the sign of his tenure) more worth than all the lands of Elimelech. whereas other wives purchase their husbands with a large dowry, this man purchaseth his wife at a dear rate, and thinks his bargain happy. All the substance of the earth is not worth a virtuous and prudent wife; which Boaz doth now so rejoice in, as if he this day only began to be wealthy. Now is Ruth taken into the house of Boaz; she, that before had said she was not like one of his maidens, is now become their mistress. This day she hath gleaned all the fields and barns of a rich husband; and that there might be no want in her happiness, by a gracious husband she hath gained a happy seed, and hath the honour, above all the dames of Israel, to be the great-grandmother of a king, of David, of the Messiah. Now is Marah turned back again to redress; yea rather, that which might seem to lose the love of her husband, wins it, her barrenness. The good nature of Elkanah laboured, by his dear respects, to Naomi; and Orpah, if she hear of this in Moab, cannot but envy at her sister's happiness. O the sure and bountiful payments of the Almighty! Who ever came under his wing in vain? Who ever lost by trust-recompense this affliction; that so she might ing him? Who ever forsook the Moab of this world for the true Israel, and did not at last rejoice in the change? CONTEMPLATION V.-HANNAH AND PENINNAH. ILL customs, where they are once entertained, are not easily discharged: polygamy, besides carnal delight, might now plead age and example, so as even Elkanah, though a Levite, is tainted with the sin of Lamech; like as fashions of attire, which at the first were disliked as uncomely, yet, when they are once grown common, are taken up of the gravest. Yet this sin, as then current with the time, could not make | Elkanah not religious. The house of God in Shiloh was duly frequented of him; oftentimes alone, in his ordinary course of attendance, with all his males thrice a-year, and once a-year with all his family. The continuance of an unknown sin cannot hinder the uprightness of a man's heart with God; as a man may have a mole upon his back, and yet think his skin clear; the least touch of knowledge or wilfulness mars his sincerity. He, that by virtue of his place was employed about the sacrifices of others, would❘ much less neglect his own. It is a shame for him that teaches God's people that they should not appear before the Lord empty, to bring no sacrifice for himself. If Levites be profane, who should be religious? find no less contentment in the fruit of his hearty love, than she had grief from her own fruitlessness. It is the property of true mercy to be most favourable to the weakest; thus doth the gracious spouse of the Christian soul pity the barrenness of his servants. O Saviour, we should not find thee so indulgent to us, if we did not complain of our own unworthiness! Peninnah may have the more children, but barren Hannah hath the most love. How much rather could Elkanah have wished Peninnah barren, and Hannah fruitful! But if she should have had both issue and love, she had been proud, and her rival despised. God knows how to disperse his favours so that every one may have cause both of thankfulness and humiliation: while there is no one that hath all, no one but hath some. If envy and contempt were not thus equally tempered, some would be overhaughty, and others too miserable; but now every man sees that in himself which is worthy of contempt, and matter of emulation in others; and, contrarily, sees what to pity and dislike in the most eminent, and what to applaud in himself; and out of this contrariety arises a sweet mean of contentation. The love of Elkanah is so unable to free Hannah from the wrongs of her rival, that it procures them rather. The unfruitfulness of Hannah had never with so much despite been laid in her dish, if her husband's heart had been as barren of love to her. Envy, though it take advantage of our weaknesses, yet is ever raised upon some grounds of happiness in them whom it emulates; it is ever an ill effect of a good cause. If Abel's sacrifice had not been accepted, and if the acceptation of his sacrifice had not been a blessing, no envy had followed upon it. It was the fashion, when they sacrificed, to feast; so did Elkanah: the day of his devotion is the day of his triumph; he makes great cheer for his whole family, even for that wife which he loved less. There is nothing more comely than cheerfulness in the services of God. What is there in all the world, wherewith the heart There is no evil of another, wherein it of man should be so lift up, as with the is fit to rejoice, but his envy, and this is conscience of his duty done to his Maker! worthy of our joy and thankfulness; beWhile we do so, God doth to us, as our cause it shows us the price of that good glass, smile upon us, while we smile on him. which we had, and valued not. The maLove will be seen by entertainment: lignity of envy is thus well answered, when Peninnah and her children shall not com- it is made the evil cause of a good effect plain of want, but Hannah shall find her to us, when God and our souls may gain husband's affection in her portion; as his by another's sin. I do not find that Hanlove to her was double, so was her part: nah insulted upon Peninnah, for the greater she fared not the worse because she was measure of her husband's love, as Penin. childless. No good husband will dislike nah did upon her for her fruitlessness. his wife for a fault out of the power of her | Those that are truly gracious, know how both pleasure his servant, and honour himself; whereas, if the scope of our desires be carnal, we may be sure either to fail of our suit, or of a blessing. CONTEMPLATION VI.-ELI AND HANNAH. OLD Eli sits on a stool by one of the posts of the tabernacle. Where should the priests of God be, but in the temple? Whether for action or for oversight, their very presence keeps God's house in order, and the presence of God keeps their hearts in order. to receive the blessings of God, without | whom we ask it: by this means shall God contempt of them that want; and have learned to be thankful without overliness. Envy, when it is once conceived in a malicious heart, is like fire in billets of juniper, which, they say, continues more years than one. Every year was Hannah thus vexed with her emulous partner, and troubled both in her prayers and meals. Amidst all their feastings, she fed on nothing but her tears. Some dispositions are less sensible, and more careless of the despite and injuries of others, and can turn over unkind usages with contempt. By how much more tender the heart is, so much more deeply is it ever affected with discourtesies: as wax receives and retains that impression, which in the hard clay cannot be seen; or, as the eye feels that mote, which the skin of the eye-lid could not complain of; yet the husband of Hannah, as one that knew his duty, labours, by his love, to comfort. her against these discontentments: "Why weepest thou? Am I not better to thee than ten sons ?" It is the weakness of good natures to give so much advantage to an enemy. What would malice rather have, than the vexation of them whom it persecutes? We cannot better please an adversary, than by hurting ourselves. This is no other than to humour envy, to serve the turn of those that malign us, and to drawn on that malice whereof we are weary; whereas carelessness puts ill-will out of countenance, and makes it withdraw itself in a rage, as that which doth but shame the author, without the hurt of the patient. In causeless wrongs, the best remedy is contempt. She, that could not find comfort in the loving persuasions of her husband, seeks it in her prayers: she rises up hungry from the feast, and hastens to the temple; there she pours out her tears and supplications. Whatsoever the complaint be, here is the remedy. There is one universal receipt for all evils, prayer; when all helps fail us, this remains, and, while we have an heart, comforts it. Here was not more bitterness in the soul of Hannah, than fervency; she did not only weep and pray, but vow unto God: if God will give her a son, she will give her son to God back again. Even nature itself had consecrated her son to God; for he could not but be born a Levite: but if his birth make him a Levite, her vow shall make him a Nazarite, and dedicate his minority to the tabernacle. The way to obtain any benefit, is to devote it, in our hearts, to the glory of that God of It is oft found, that those which are themselves conscionable, are too forward to the censuring of others. Good Eli, because he marks the lips of Hannah to move without noise, chides her as drunken, and uncharitably misconstrues her devotion. It was a weak ground whereon to build so heavy a sentence. If she had spoken too loud and incomposedly, he might have had some just colour for this conceit; but now, to accuse her silence, notwithstanding all her tears which he saw, of drunkenness, it was a zealous breach of charity. " Some spirits would have been enraged with so rash a censure. When anger meets with grief, both turn into fury. But this good woman had been inured to reproaches, and besides, did well see the reproof arose from misprision, and the misprision from zeal; and therefore answers meekly, as one that had rather satisfy than expostulate, "Nay, my lord, but I am a woman troubled in spirit." Eli may now learn charity of Hannah. If she had been in that distemper whereof he accused her, his just reproof had not been so easily digested. Guiltiness is commonly clamorous and impatient, whereas innocence is silent, and careless of misreports. It is natural unto all men to wipe off from their name all aspersions of evil, but none do it with such violence as they which are faulty. It is a sign the horse is galled, that stirs too much when he is touched. tenuation: what if I should have been merry with wine? yet I might be devout. If I should have overjoyed in my sacrifice to God, one cup of excess had not been so heinous: now her freedom is seen in her severity. Those which have clear hearts from any sin, prosecute it with rigour, whereas the guilty are ever partial: their conscience holds their hands, and tells them that they beat themselves while they punish others. Now Eli sees his error, and recants it; and, to make amends for his rash censure, prays for her. Even the best may err, but not persist in it. When good natures have offended, they are unquiet till they have hastened satisfaction. This was within his office, to pray for the distressed: wherefore serves the priest, but to sacrifice for the people? And the best sacrifices are the prayers of faith. She that began her prayers with fasting and heaviness, rises up from them with cheerfulness and repast. It cannot be spoken how much ease and joy the heart of man finds in having unloaded his cares, and poured out his supplications into the ears of God; since it is well assured, that the suit which is faithfully asked, is already granted in heaven. The conscience may well rest, when it tells us, that we have neglected no means of redressing our affliction; for then it may resolve to look either for amendment, or patience. The sacrifice is ended, and now Elkanah and his family rise up early to return unto Ramah; but they dare not set forward, till they have worshipped before the Lord. That journey cannot hope to prosper, that takes no God with it. The way to receive blessings at home, is to be devout at the temple. She that before conceived faith in her heart, now conceives a son in her womb. God will rather work miracles, than faithful prayers shall return empty. I do not find that Peninnah asked any son of God, yet she had store; Hannah begged hard for this one, and could not till now obtain him. They which are dearest to God, do ofttimes, with great difficulty, work out those blessings, which fall into the mouths of the careless. That wise disposer of all things knows it fit to hold us short of those favours which we sue for; whether for the trial of our patience, or the exercise of our faith, or the increase of our importunity, or the doubling of our obligation. Those children are most like to prove blessings, which the parents have begged of God, and which are no less the fruit of our supplications than of our body. As this child was the son of his mother's prayers, and was consecrated to God ere his possi bility of being; so now himself shall know, both how he came, and whereto he was ordained; and, lest he should forget it, his very name shall teach him both: "She called his name Samuel." He cannot so much as hear himself named, but he must needs remember both the extraordinary mercy of God, in giving him to a barren mother, and the vow of his mother, in restoring him back to God by her zealous dedication; and by both of them earn holiness and obedience. There is no necessity of significant names; but we cannot have too many monitors to put us in mind of our duty. It is wont to be the father's privilege to name his child; but because this was his mother's son, begotten more by her prayers than the seed of Elkanah, it was but reason that she should have the chief hand both in his name and disposing. It had been indeed in the power of Elkanah to have changed both his name and profession, and abrogate the vow of his wife; that wives might know they were not their own, and that the rib might learn to know the head; but husbands shall abuse their authority, if they shall wilfully cross the holy purposes and religious endeavours of their yoke-fellows. How much more fit is it for them to cherish all good desires in the weaker vessels, and, as we use, when we carry a small light in a wind, to hide it with our lap, or hand, that it may not go out. If the wife be a vine, the husband should be an elm, to uphold her in all worthy enterprises, else she falls to the ground, and proves fruitless. The year is now come about; and Elkanah calls his family to their holy journey, to go up to Jerusalem, for the anniversary solemnity of their sacrifice. Hannah's heart is with them, but she hath a good excuse to stay at home-the charge of her Samuel: her success in the temple, keeps her happily from the temple, that her devotion may be doubled, because it was respited. God knows how to dispense with necessities; but if we suffer idle and needless occasions to hold us from the tabernacle of God, our hearts are but hollow to religion. Now, at last, when the child was weaned from her hand, she goes up and pays her vow, and with it pays the interest of her intermission. Never did Hannah go up with so glad a heart to Shiloh, as now that she carries God this reasonable present, which himself gave to her, and she vowed |