the beasts of the field by night."-[2 Sam. xxi. 10.] Or let us, for a moment, contemplate one or two of those bright touches of simple nature, with which the history of Joseph every where abounds: -where, forgiving and forgetting all the wrongs and injuries which he had received, he makes himself known to his brethren. "I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you, to preserve life." "And behold your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste, and bring down my father hither."— [Gen. xlv. 4, 5, 12, 13.] Or let us turn from this, to the no less tender and affecting scene, which the venerable patriarch presents, [v. 26-28.] "And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto them: and when he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived; and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him, before I die."

Passages like these could be quoted without number. Enough, however, for our present purpose, have been adduced. Let us, then, observe how such instances of warm and generous affection touch the springs of sympathy within us; how, at such exhibitions, the mind will catch the infection, and kindle into a congenial flame; how love begets love, and proofs of strong attachment between two souls, however distant from us in time and place, will, insensibly and irresistibly, draw us to love them both. What means the gentle fire which, under such excitement, warms the heart? the joy which fills the breast-the heaven which sheds its beams throughout the soul? I scruple not to say, to the man of genuine piety; "Be still, and know that this is God." God is love; and love, when sanctified and pure, in a certain sense, is God. It is an effluence and emanation from him. Only suppose the drop to swell into a boundless ocean-the spark to spread into an infinite sun of glory;and such, as far as our faculties can reach, is the God with whom we have to do. Happy those who can say; "This God will be our God for ever!"

404

LECTURE II.

RUTH i. 14, 15.

“AND THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE, AND WEPT AGAIN: AND ORPAH KISSED HER MOTHER-In-Law, but RUTH CLAVE UNTO HER. AND SHE SAID, BEHOLD, THY SISTER-IN-LAW

IS GONE BACK UNTO HER PEOPLE, AND UNTO HER GODS: RETURN THOU AFTER THY SISTER-IN-LAW."

THE kind and generous expostulations of Naomi, which I noticed in my former Lecture, are interrupted by the sobs and lamentations, both of herself and her two daughters. "And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her."

Orpah was like the stony-ground hearer, in the Gospel; susceptible of strong and lively impressions for the moment. But hers was not the attachment of principle, nor the deep engagement of a constant heart. She loved her motherin-law; but she had other ties. The world, its ways, its people, and its idols, had still their attractions; and to these she yielded. Now

was, perhaps, the grand turning point and crisis of her everlasting destiny. She chose, that day, whom she would serve. And from the moment she made the wrong decision, we hear of her no more. The Scriptures are silent: but it is as if that silence had a voice that spoke;-as if it said, "she is joined to idols, let her alone;"—as if it signified the erasure of her name and memorial from the book of life. For Orpah was not like the Moabites who knew not God. She, we may be well assured, had been instructed in the true religion. She had seen its blessed fruits in Naomi, and (can we doubt?) in her own husband, the son of such a mother. She had, for ten years, lived in a Goshen, in the midst of surrounding darkness; had learned to call God's sabbaths a delight; and had heard of all his mercies, and all his truth. Nor were these motives without influence. She had resolved to forsake her country, her kindred, and her father's house. She had actually set out on her journey to the land of Judah. She had put her hand to the plough:but she looked back, and was not fit for the kingdom of heaven. Oh! how dark and cheerless are the paths that lead from God! Surely, those tears of parting which Orpah shed were but the beginnings of her sorrows. With bleeding heart, and troubled spirit, and wounded conscience, she

measured back her steps to those who knew not how, even if they were willing, to speak comfort to her soul. For though she had forfeited her blessing, she carried the reproach of him whom the nations abhorred. She returned "to her mother's house," and "unto her people;" but alas! no fatted calf was killed, no festive sounds of joy were heard, no glad welcomes greeted her approach. Former sympathies were gone: mutual confidence had fled. The scenes of childhood were no longer the home they had once been to her. She was a stranger in the land that gave her birth. She returned "unto her gods;" but she could not unlearn the lessons, nor fly from the light, which taught her that the gods of the heathen were but vanity. She knew that the true God alone could help in the time of need : but she had renounced his service, and dared not now to pray; neither could she call upon him, in her trouble, to deliver her out of her distress. Like the rich man, who in hell lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, how might she, in the musings of her solitary days, or in the visions of her sleepless nights, have pictured to her mind, the happier condition of her sister Ruth, now in the bosom of Abraham's covenant, in the favour of Abraham's God, an heir of glory, and fellow-citizen with the