A comment on Ruth ; and, Notes upon Jonah

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A COMMENT ON RUTH

NOTES UPON JONAH.

THOMAS FULLER, D.D.,

AUTHOR OF THE CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, ETC., ETC.

EDITED BY

WILLIAM NICHOLS.

LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG,

1868.

G

V

^j^.^.V-^

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

This volume contains Dr. Thomas Fuller's
Comment on Ruth, and Notes upon Jonah. The
former, though not published by the author till
1654, was in reality one of his earliest composi-
tions ; having been delivered by him in the shape
of Lectures, at St. Bemet's, Cambridge, as far back
as 1630-1, when he was but a stripling, of two
or three and twenty. In issuing it in a printed
form, Fuller does not seem to have altered its
style, or rooted out the frequent allusions to the
current topics of twenty years previously. Be-
tween the delivery of the Lectures, and their
publication as a Comment, the government of
England had undergone a radical change ; and it
is one amongst many proofs of CromwelPs wise
moderation, that Fuller could thus openly retain
the fervent expressions of his youthful loyalty ; as
where he recounts amongst special mercies the
preservation of Charles on his trip to Spain, &c.
There was a certain amount of courage in printing
such a passage as the following, which, however
palatable to the heads of chureh and state when
originally delivered, might easily have given
offence to a powerful party under the Protector-
ate : — With regard to " some who leap from the
a 2

IV

loom to the pulpit, — I must confess, an ass's head
was good food in a famine ; coarse meat is dainty
when no better can be had. But now," &c.
That there was in Fuller's day the same difficulty
as in ours in dealing with the poor so as to
damage neither justice nor charity, is evident
from the following aspiration, in which we, of two
centuries later, can heartily join : " Would all
poor and impotent were well placed in a hospital ;
all poor and able well disposed in a workhouse ;
and the common stocks of towns so laid out as
they thereby might be employed ! " Just below
this quotation occurs proof of the antiquity and
respectability of a word which is now regarded as
close upon the confines of " slang," and as suited
chiefly for records of foot and boat races, &c. : —
"After a spurt in their calling for some few hours,
they relapse again to laziness."

Though the Comment on Ruth is written with
ease, and is full of ingenious thought, we can well
suppose that the young clergyman, just entering
on his preferment, would, in delivering Lectures
in a University town, carefully avoid any approach
to punning, and repress that fondness for allite-
ration which soon afterwards became a special
characteristic of his style. Bat the Notes upon
Jonah, though published only three years after
the Ruth, carry on their very face marks of the
five and twenty years which had intervened be-
tween the composition of the two works. They
extend no farther than to verse 7 of the first chapter
of Jonah, and have the appearance, here and there,

EDITOR S PREFACE. V

of being jottings for pulpit use, which (like
the Comment) Fuller published simply in defence
against the pirates who preyed on the renown of
the popular divine. But, fragments as these
Notes are, we can trace everywhere in them the
original engraving, the inimitably inwoven
water-marks, of the genuine paper of the
Fullerian bank of ready wit and sterling piety.
How thoroughly autographic is the following ! —
" Away then with the Anabaptist, who would set
all men at odds by making them even ! " And the
very next sentence is like unto it : — " For a com-
monwealth to want a chief, it is the chief of all
wants"

But it is not so much for its wit and humour,
or its apt illustrations from every day life, that
we commend this volume to the reader : it is chiefly
valuable for its even tenor of genuine devotion
and of common-sense exposition of Scripture. It
will, we feel sure, be hailed by every lover of
Fuller, as a fit addition to the series of reprints
which are now bringing his scarce and valuable
works within the reach of all, and so refurbishing
the lustre of his great name. As in former
volumes of this series, I have modernized the
spelling, and added a few short notes where
explanation seemed needful.

William Nichols.

6, Stratheden Villas, Hackney,

1868.

CONTENTS.

A COMMENT ON RUTH.

PAOK

Chapter 1 5

Chapter II 105

NOTES UPON JONAH 179

A

COMMENT ON RUTH

T. R, B.D.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOE G. AND H. ETERSDEN,

AND ARE TO BE SOLD AT THE SIGN OF THE GREYHOUND IN PACL's
CHURCH-YARD.

1654.

TO

THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL THE LADY
ANNE ARCHER,

IN THE COUNTY OP WARWICK.

The apostle to the Philippians, chap. iv.,
verse 15, giveth them this high commendation,
" None communicated with me concerning giving
and receiving, but ye only." Should I apply the
same in relation of myself to your Ladyship, I
should be injurious to the bounty of many my
worthy benefactors. However, (not exclusively of
others, but) eminently I must acknowledge you a
grand encourager of my studies. In public testi-
mony whereof, I present these my endeavours to
your Ladyship's patronage.

Indeed, they were preached in an eminent
place, when I first entered into the ministry,
above" twenty years since ; and therefore you will
pardon the many faults that may be found
therein. Nor were they intended for public view,
till, understanding the resolution of some of my
auditors to print them (to their profit, but my
b 2

4 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

prejudice) by their imperfect notes, I adventured
on this seasonable prevention.

The Lord make His graces flow plentifully from
the head of your family, your religious husband,
to the lowest skirts thereof, the last and least of
your relations,

Your Ladyship's in all Christian offices,

Thomas Fuller.

A COMMENT ON EUTH.

CHAPTER I. VERSE 1.

Kow it came to pass in the days when the judges
ruled, that there was a famine in the land.

Before we enter into these words, something
must be premised, concerning the name, matter,
end, author of this book.

It hath the name from Euth, the most remark-
able person in it, to whom God vouchsafed His
grace, not only to write her name in the Book of
Life in heaven, but also to prefix her name before
a Book of Life in earth.

The matter may be divided into these two
parts : the first chapter showeth, that " many are
the troubles of the righteous ; " and the three
last do show, that " God delivereth them out of
all." One of the ends is, to show the pedigree of
our Saviour ; otherwise genealogers had been at
a loss, for four or five descents, in the deducing
thereof. Another end is, under the conversion

Qt: ;'< « « cj. fO$MJMENT ON ETJTH.

Of J? u^the $f oabi£ess,vfco typify the calling of the
Gentiles',' that, as He took of the blood of a Gentile
into His body, so He should shed the blood out of
His body for the Gentiles ; that there might be
one Shepherd, and one sheepfold.

The author's name (probably Samuel) is con-
cealed, neither is it needful it should be known :
for, even as a man that hath a piece of gold that
he knows to be weight, and sees it stamped with
the king's image, careth not to know the name
of that man who minted or coined it ; so we,
seeing this book to have the superscription of
'Ca3sar, the stamp of the Holy Spirit, need not to
be curious to know who was the penman thereof.

And now to the words.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges
ruled, that there was a famine in the land.

Observe in the words, — what ? A famine : —
where ? In the land : — when ? " In the time that
the judges judged ; " the time being set down for
the better certainty of the history.

QUESTION.

Is this the land whereof it is said, Gen. xlix. 20,
" Asher his bread shall be fat, and afford dainties
for a king ; " which is called, Deut. viii. 7, " &
good land of wheat and barley, vineyards and
fig-trees, oil, olive, and honey ; " which is com-
mended, Ezek. xx. 6, to be " a land flowing with

CHAPTER I. 7

milk and honey, the glory of all lands ? " How
cometh it to pass, that thy rivers of oil are now
dammed up ? thy streams of wine drained dry ?
that there is no bread found in Bethlehem, " the
house of bread ? "

ANSWER.

Israel hath sinned. u A fruitful land maketh
He barren, for the sin of the people that dwell
therein." The people's hard hearts were rebellions
to God, and the hard earth proved unprofitable to
them : their flinty eyes would afford no tears to
bemoan their sins, and the churlish heavens would
afford no moisture to water their earth : man
proved unfaithful to God his Maker; the earth
proved unfruitful to man her manurer.

OBSERVATION.

Famine is a heavy punishment, wherewith God
afflicteth His people for their sins. That it is a
heavy punishment appeareth, because David
(2 Sam. xxiv. 14) chose the pestilence before it:
for even as Zebah and Zalmunna (Judges viii. 21)
chose rather to fall by the hand of Gideon than
by the hand of Jether his son, because the child's
want of strength would cause their abundance of
pain ; so better it is to be speedily dispatched by
a violent disease, than to have one's life in a
famine prolonged by a lingering torture. That it
is inflicted for their sins is showed, Lev. xxvi. 19 ;
Deut. xxviii. 23 ; 1 Kings viii. 37 : and these sins

8 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

most especially procure famine : — First. Idolatry.
(1 Kings xvii. 1 ; 2 Kings iv. 38.) Secondly.
Abuse of plenty. The prodigal child, (Luke xv.,)
from the keeping of harlots, was brought to the
keeping of hogs. It is just with God to make
men want that to supply their necessity, which
they have misspended in their nicety. Thirdly.
Shedding of innocent blood. (2 Sam. xxi. 1.)
Fourthly. Oppression of the poor. (Amos iv. 6.)
And no wonder, if men, to grind the faces of poor
people, make money, to which God gave no
natural fruit, to bring forth a monstrous increase,
— if God cause the earth, which naturally should
be fruitful, to become barren and afford no profit.

USE I.

It may serve to confute such, that when God
doth scourge them with famine, (as blind Balaam
fell a beating of his dumb beast, when he himself
was in fault,) they vent their spite in cursing and
railing on the poor creatures ; whereas, indeed,
were the matter well weighed, they might say of
all creatures as Judah did of Tamar his daughter-
in-law, u They are ' more righteous than ' we:"
for locusts, mildew, blasting, immoderate drought
and moisture, are the means by which — man's sin
is the cause, for which — famine is inflicted. And
vet in prosperity we are commonly like hogs
feeding on the mast, not minding his hand that
shaketh it down ; in adversity, like dogs

CHAPTER I. 9

biting the stone, not marking the hand that
threw it.

USE II.

If any desire to prevent or remove a famine,
let us prevent and remove the causes thereof.

First. Let us practise that precept, 1 John v.
21 : " Babes, keep yourselves from idols."

Secondly. Let us be heartily thankful to God
for our plenty, who, by the seasonable weeping of
the heavens, hath caused the plentiful laughter of
the earth, and hath sent the former rain to per-
form the part of a midwife, to deliver the infant
corn out of the womb of the parched earth ; and
the latter rain to do the duty of a nurse, to swell
and battle * the grain. Let us not seethe the kid in
the mother's milk : let not our wanton palates spoil
wholesome meat, before it cometh to the just matu-
rity : neither let us cast away any good food, but,
after our Saviour's example, let us cause the frag-
ments to be basketted up, that nothing may be lost.
Thirdly. Let us pray with David, (Psalm
li. 14,) u Deliver us from bloodguiltiness, O
Lord : " and let us seek that the hoary hairs
may not go down to the grave in peace of such as
have shed innocent blood ; (lest the personal offence
of a private man, remaining unpunished, become
the national sin of a kingdom ;) but upon the king,
and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon
his throne shall be peace for ever from the Lord.

* I" Fatten," or " fill out."— Ed.]

10 A COMMENT ON EUTH.

Lastly. Let us be pitiful, and liberal to relieve
the distresses of the poor ; for why should our
dead tables groan under the weight of needless
feast upon them, whilst God's living temples groan
under the want of necessary food within them ?
The Athenian women had a custom to make a
picture of Famine every year, and to drive it out
of their city with these words : <e Out, Famine ; in,
Food ! Out, Penury ; in, Plenty ! " But let us say
in word, and second it in deed, "Out, Sin; in,
Sanctity ! Out, Profaneness ; in, Piety : " and
then we shall see, that as long as our King
reigneth, there shall be no famine in our land.

But however God shall dispose of us for out-
ward blessings, T pray God "keep us from that soul
famine, mentioned Amos viii. 12, that we living
under the northern heavens should wander to the
east, and " run to and fro to seek the word of the
Lord," and should " not find it ; " but may the
light of the Gospel remain with us on earth as
long as the faithful witness endureth in heaven.

And a certain man of Bethlehem- Judah went to
sojourn in the country of Moab.

These words contain a journey or removal ;
wherein observe : Who went ? "A certain man."
Whence? From Bethlehem- Judah. Whither?
" To sojourn in Moab." We shall have a fitter
occasion to speak of the party removing hereafter.

CHAPTER I. 11

I begin with the place from whence he went,
Bethlehem- Judah.

This was the place nigh to which Rachel, as
she was travelling, fell into travail, and ended her
journey to heaven in the midst of her journey on
earth. There was another of the same name in
Zebulun ; (Josh. xix. 15 ;) and therefore " Judah "
is added for difference and distinction.

OBSERVATION.

The Holy Spirit descends to our capacity, and
in Scripture doth multiply words to make the
matter the plainer. Let this teach the sons of
Levi, when they deliver one doubtful and am-
biguous doctrine, which may admit of several
constructions, so that there is danger lest that
people may mistake their meaning, to demur a
while on such a point, and not to be niggardly of
their words, till they have blotted all doubt
and difficulty out of it. Herein they shall follow
God for their pattern, who, lest Bethlehem in my
text should be confounded with Bethlehem in Zebu-
lun, addeth for distinction " Bethlehem-Judah."
Went to sojourn in Moab.

The prodigal child complained, u How many
hired servants of my father have bread enough,
and I die for hunger ! " (Luke xv. 17.) So here
we see that the uncircumcised Moabites, God's
slaves and vassals, had store of plenty, whilst
Israel, God's children, (but His prodigal children,

12 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

which by their sins had displeased their Heavenly
Father,) were pinched with penury.

OBSERVATION.

Hence we gather, God oftentimes denies out-
ward blessings to His children, when as He vouch-
safed them to the wicked. The wicked man's
eyes start out with fatness ; David's bones scarce
cleave to his flesh : Ahab hath an ivory house ;
the godly wander in "dens and caves of the
earth : " the rich glutton fareth deliriously every
day ; whilst the godly (Psalm cvii. 5) were "hungry
and thirsty, their soul fainted in them : " he was
clothed in purple and fine linen ; whilst the
godly wander up and down "in sheep-skins;"
and well may they wear their skins without them,
that carry their innocency within them. And the
reason thereof is, because judgment begins at the
house of the Lord, whilst the wicked have their
portion in this world.

USE.

Let us " not judge according to outward appear-
ance, but judge righteous judgment," lest other-
wise we condemn the generation of God's children,
if we account outward blessings the signs of God's
favour, or calamities the arguments of His displea-
sure. Neither let the afflicted Christian faint under
God's heavy hand ; but let him know to his com-
fort, God therefore is angry in this world, that He
may not be angry in the world to come; and

CHAPTER I. 13

mercifully inflicteth temporal punishment, that He
may not justly confound with eternal torment.

But here ariseth a question, Whether Elimelech
did well to go from Bethlehem- Judah into the land
of Moab? For the better satfsfaction whereof,
we will suppose a plain and honest neighbour thus
dissuading him from his departure.

DISSUASION.

C( Give me leave, neighbour Elimelech, to say un-
to thee, as the angel did to Hagar, 'Whence comest
thou ? and whither goest thou ? ' Wilt thou leave
that place where God's worship is truly professed,
and go into an idolatrous country ? Woe is thee,
that must dwell in Moab, and be an inhabitant
amongst the worshippers of Melchom ! Indeed, our
father Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldees, an
idolatrous country, to come into the land of Canaan;
but why shouldst thou go out of the land of Canaan
into an idolatrous country, where thou shalt have
neither priest, nor prophet, nor passover ? Yea,
what most is to be feared, your frequent conversing
with the people of the country will at length bring
you into a love and liking of their superstitions,
and so draw God's anger against you. Where-
fore, reverse your intent of removing, lest, while
thou seekest to store thy body, thou starvest thy
soul : rather venture the breaking of the casket
than the losing of the jewel ; and go not from
Bethlehem-Judah unto the land of Moab."

14 A COMMENT ON KTTTH.

ANSWER.

To this Elimelech might answer : " Your dissua-
sion doth somewhat move me, but not remove my
resolution. I do not forsake my country, but am
forced from it. God hath withholden the wine and
the winepress ; and if I stay, I am likely to starve.
I conceive it therefore to be my bounden duty to
provide the best means for my family ; and follow-
ing the examples of Isaac's going into Gerah, and
Jacob's going down into Egypt in the time of fa-
mine, I intend to remove to Moab. And though
I shall be divided from the visible congregation of
Israel, yet shall I with my family still remain the
lively members of God's true church. For, first, I
intend to carry with me the five books of Moses,
(they will be no great burden, being comprised in
so small a volume,) and, according to my poor abi-
lity, out of them will I instruct my family ; whilst
my dear wife Naomi, and dutiful children, Mahlon
and Chilion, will be diligent to hear and practise
what I propound unto them. I confess, we shall
have no outward sacrifices, (because I am not of
the tribe of Levi,) yet may we offer unto God
prayers and praises, which God no doubt will as
graciously accept as of a bullock that hath horns
and hoofs. Thus hope I to have a little church in
mine own house ; and I know, where two or three
are met together in the name of God, there He
'will be in the midst of them.' Whereas you

CHAPTER r. 15

object I should be in danger of being defiled with
their idolatry, I will be by God's grace so much
the more wary, watchful, and vigilant over my ways.
We see the flesh of fishes remain eth fresh, though
they always swim in the brackish waters ; and
I hope that the same God who preserved righteous
Lot in the wicked city of Sodom, who protected
faithful Joseph in the vicious court of Pharaoh, will
also keep me unspotted in the midst of Moab,
whither I intend speedily to go, not to live, but to
lodge ; not to dwell, but to sojourn ; not to make it
my habitation for ever, but my harbour for a season,
till God shall visit His people with plenty, when I
purpose to return with the speediest conveniency."
Thus we see Elimelech putting the dangers
of his removal in one scale, the benefits thereof
in another: the beam of his judgment is justly
weighed down to go from Bethlehem-Judah
into the land of Moab.

OBSERVATION.

It is lawful for men to leave their native soil,
and to travel into a foreign country ; as,

1. For merchants ; provided always that, while
they seek to make gainful adventures for their
estates, they make not " shipwreck of a good con-
science."

2. For ambassadors, that are sent to see the
practices and negociations in foreign courts.

3. For private persons, that travel with an in-

16 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

tent to accomplish themselves with a better suffi-
ciency to serve their king and country.

But unlawful it is for such to travel, which,
Dinah like, go only to see the customs of several
countries, and make themselves the lackeys to
their own humorous curiosity. Hence cometh it
to pass, when they return, it is justly questionable,
whether their clothes be disguised with more
foolish fashions, or bodies disabled with more
loathsome diseases, or souls defiled with more no-
torious vices ; having learned jealousy from the
Italian, pride from the Spaniard, lasciviousness
from the French, drunkenness from the Dutch.
And yet what need they go so far to learn so bad a
lesson, when (God knows) we have too many
schools where it is taught here at home ?

Now if any do demand of me my opinion con-
cerning our brethren which of late left this king-
dom to advance a plantation in New England;
surely I think, as St. Paul said concerning vir-
gins, he had "received no commandment from
the Lord ;" so I cannot find any just warrant to
encourage men to undertake this removal ; but
think rather the counsel best that king Joash pre-
scribed to Amaziah, " Tarry at home." Yet as for
those that are already gone, far be it from us to
conceive them to be such to whom we may not say,
sc God speed," as it is in 2 John verse 10 : but let
us pity them, and pray for them ; for sure they

CHAPTER I. 17

have no need of onr mocks, which I am afraid
have too much of their own miseries. I conclude
therefore of the two En glands, what our Saviour
saith of the two wines, Luke v. 39 : " No man
having tasted of the old presently desireth the
new : for he saith, The old is better."

He, and his wife, and his two sons.

VERSE 2.
And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name
of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two
sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethle-
hem-Judah. And they came into the country of
Moah, and continued there.

These words contain, First, The principal party
that undertook the journey. Secondly, His com-
pany, described by their relations, — his wife and
children ; and by their names, — Naomi, Mahlon,
and Chilion. Thirdly, The success of his journey.
When he came into the land of Moab, he " con-
tinued there."

Now whereas Elimelech took his wife and chil-
dren along with him, from his practice we gather
this observation.

OBSERVATION.

It is the part of a kind husband, and of a care-
ful father, not only to provide for himself, but also
for his whole family. Gen. ii. 24 : "A man shall
cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."

c

18 A COMMENT ON KTJTH.

Eph. v. 25 : " Husbands, love your wives ;. . .for no
man as yet hated his own flesh." 1 Tim. v. 8 : " If
any one provideth not for his own family, he deni-
eth the faith, and is worse than an infidel." This
made Abraham to take with him at his removal
his meek Sarah ; Isaac, his wise Eebecca ; Jacob,
his fair Rachel and fruitful Leah ; and Joseph
(Matt, ii.) took with him Mary, his espoused wife,
and our Saviour, his supposed son. And when
Pharaoh (Exod. x. 10, 1 1 ) offered Moses with all
the men of Israel to go out of Egypt, but on con-
dition they should leave their wives and children
behind them, Moses refused the proffer : he would
either have them all go out, or else he would not
go out at all.

USE.

It oonfuteth such cruel husbands and careless
parents, who, if so be, with Job's messengers, they
only can escape alone, they care not though they
leave their wives and children to shift for them-
selves ; like the ostrich, (Job xxxix. 14,) " who leav-
eth her eggs in the sand," and so forsakes them.
Surely the two kine which drew the ark of God
out of the land of the Philistines to Beth-shemesh,
(1 Sam. vi. 12,) shall rise up at the day of judg-
ment and condemn such cruel parents : for it is
said of them, that, as they " went along the high-
way," they did pitifully " low," by that querulous

CHAPTER I. 19

ditt}^ as nature afforded them utterance, witness-
ing and expressing their affection to their calves
shut up at home. O, that there should be such
humanity (as I may term it) in beasts, and such
beastliness in many men ! Remember this, you
that sit drinking and bezzling* wine abroad,
whilst your family are glad of water at home ;
and think thus with yourselves : u To what end is
this needless waste ? Might it not have been sold
for many a penny, and have been bestowed on
my poor wife and children ? "

OBSERVATION.

Secondly. Whereas we find Naomi and her sons
going with Elimelech, we gather it is the duty of
a dear wife, and of dutiful children, to go along
with their husbands and parents, when on just
cause they remove into a foreign country. It was
an unmanly and cowardly speech of Barak to De-
borah, (Judges iv. 8,) " If thou wilt go with me,
then will I go : but if thou wilt not go with me,
then will I not go :" but it would be a gracious
resolution of a grave matron and her children,
" Husband, if you be pleased to depart, I will be
ready to accompany you. Father, if you be minded
to remove, I will attend upon you. But if you
be disposed to stay, I will not stir from the place

* [" Drinking wastefully and riotously." A twin word to guzdiig*
—Ed.]

c 2

20 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

where you abide." Otherwise, if the wife refuseth
to ge along with her husband, what Abraham said
to the servant in another case, (Gen. xxiv.8,) is
true in this respect : " But if the woman will not
be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear
from thine oath." If the wife be so peevish and
perverse that she will not go along with her hus-
band, who propoundeth lawful means unto her to
relieve her wants ; then is he acquitted from the
oath he made her in marriage, when he plighted
his troth unto her, in sickness and in health, to
maintain her.

QUESTION.

But methinks I hear the widows and orphans
crying unto me, as the soldiers to John Baptist,
"But what shall we do?" (Luke iii. 14.) "It is
true," saith the widow, " that kind husbands are
to provide for their wives ; but, alas ! we have no
Elimelechs to carry us into a foreign country in
the time of famine." u Indeed," saith the orphan,
"it is the father's duty to provide for his chil-
dren ; but my parents are dead long ago ; I have
not, as Samuel had, a mother Hannah every year
to bring me a new coat. What shall we do in
this our distress ? "

ANSWER.

Use the best means you can ; and, for the rest,
rely on God's providence, who is said, Psalm x. 20,
to " help the fatherless and poor to their right ; "

CHAPTER I. 21

Psalm lxviii. 5, to be " a Father to the fatherless,
and to defend the cause of the widow ; even God
in His holy habitation ;" who will deal with thee
as he did with David : " When my mother and
father forsook me, the Lord cared for me."

So much for Elimelech's company described by
their relations. We should come now to speak of
their names; where we might take occasion to
speak of the antiquity and use of names, but that
hereafter we shall have better conveniency to treat
thereof, in those words, " Call me not Naomi, but
call me Marah." We come therefore to the
success of Elimelech's journey.

And they came into the country of Moab, and they
continued there.

The meaning is, that the Moabites afforded them
harbour without any molestation.

OBSERVATION.

From whence the observation is this : We ought
to be hospital [hospitable] and courteous to receive
strangers. First. Because Ged in several places
of Scripture enjoineth it. (Exod. xxiii. 9 ; Levit.
xix. 33.) Secondly. Because God apprehendeth all
courtesy done to a stranger as bestowed on Himself:
"He that receiveth you receiveth Me," &c. "I
was a stranger, and ye harboured Me." (Matt, xxv.)
And then if we entertain strangers, it may be said ox

22 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

us, not only as it is of Lot and Abraham, Heb.
xiii. 2, that we u entertained angels," but that we
entertained God Himself " unawares." Thirdly.
Because, if spiritually considered, we ourselves are
s hangers : with the patriarchs, (Heb. xi.) we have
here no abiding city, but seek one from above,
" whose Builder and Maker is God." " I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims." (1 Peter ii. 11.)
Lastly. Because of the uncertainty of our own
estates ; for thou knowest not what evil shall be
upon the earth : it may be, we that now relieve
strangers, hereafter ourselves, being strangers,
may be relieved by others.

USE.

Let us not therefore abuse strangers, and make
a prey of them, making an advantage of their
unskilfulness in the language, and being unac-
quainted with the fashions of the land ; like Laban,
that deceived his nephew Jacob in placing Leah
for Eachel, and, to cloak his cheating, pleaded it
was the custom of the country. Wherefore rather
let us be courteous unto them, lest the barbarians
condemn us, who so courteously entreated St.
Paul, with his shipwrecked companions ; and the
Moabites in my text, who suffered Elimelech,
when he came into the land, to continue there.

CHAPTEE I. 23

VERSES 3, 4, 5.

And Elimelech Naomi's husband died ; and she
was left, and her two sons, &c.

In these words we have two marriages ushered
and followed by funerals. I will begin there,
where one day all must make an end, — at death.

And Elimelech Naomi's husband died.

I have seldom seen a tree thrive that hath been
transplanted when it was old. The same may be
seen in Elimelech : his aged body brooks not the
foreign air ; though he could avoid the arrows of
Famine in Israel, yet he could not shun the darts of
Death in Moab : he that lived in a place of penury,
must die in a land of plenty. Let none condemn Eli-
melech's removal as unlawful, because of his sud-
den death ; for those actions are not ungodly which
are unsuccessful, nor those pious which are pros-
perous ; seeing the lawfulness of an action is not
to be gathered from the joyfulness of the event,
but from the justness of the cause, for which it is
undertaken.

OBSERVATION I.

Hence we observe, that God can easily frustrate
our fairest hopes, and defeat our most probable
projects, in making those places most dangerous
which we account most safe and secure ; causing

24 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

death to meet us there, where we think furthest
to fly from it.

OBSERVATION IT.

We see that no outward plenty can privilege
us from death : the sand of our life runneth as
fast, though the hour-glass be set in the sunshine
of prosperity, as in the gloomy shade of affliction.

And she was left, and her two sons.

Here we see how mercifully God dealt with
Naomi, in that He quenched not all the sparks of
her comfort at once ; but though He took away
the stock, He left her the stems ; though He de-
prived her as it were of the use of her own legs,
by taking away her husband, yet He left her a
staff in each of her hands, her two sons to support
her. Indeed, afterwards He took them away ; but
first He provided her a gracious daughter-in-law.
Whence we learn, God poureth not all His afflic-
tions at once, but ever leaveth a little comfort ;
otherwise we should not only be pressed down, but
crushed to powder, under the weight of His heavy
hand.

And they tooh them wives of the women of Moab, <&c.

Here we see the fashion of the world. Man-
kind had long ago decayed, if those breaches
which are daily made by death, were not daily

CHAPTER I. 25

made up by marriage. But here ariseth a ques-
tion,— Whether these matches were lawful ? for
answer whereof, we will suppose Naomi dissuading
her sons on this manner.

DISSUASION.

" What, my sons ? and what, the sons of my
womb ? and what, the sons of my desire ? Give
not your strength to strange women, and your
ways to that that destroyed men. It is not for
you, O Mahlon and Chilion, it is not for you to
marry Moabites ; nor for the sons of an Israelite
to marry the daughters of the uncircumcised.
Remember, my sons, what God saithby the mouth
of Moses : (Deut. vii. 3 :) ' Thou shalt not make
marriages with them; thy daughter shalt thou
not give to his son, nor take his daughter to thy
son. For they will turn away thy son from fol-
lowing Me, to serve strange gods : so will the
anger of the Lord be kindled against thee, to de-
stroy thee suddenly.' Take heed therefore lest,
long looking on these women, you at length be
made blind ; lest they suck out your souls with
kisses, and, snake-like, sting you with embraces.
Curb your affections until you come into Canaan,
where you shall find a variety of wives, who, as
they come not short of these for the beauties of
their bodies, so they far go beyond them for the
sanctity of their souls."

26 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

ANSWER.

To this dissuasion thus might her children an-
swer : " We thank yon, dear mother, for your
carefulness over our good ; but we must entreat
you not to interpret it undutifulness, if upon good
reason we dissent from your judgment herein. In
the place by you cited, marriages are forbidden
with such strange women as are of a stubborn, ob-
stinate, and refractory nature, such as are likely
to seduce their husbands ; whereas yoii see the
mild, towardly, and tractable disposition of these
women we mean to make our wives. We hope to
plant these wild branches in God's vineyard, to
bring these straggling sheep to His fold, to make
them proselytes to our religion. Besides, this
marriage will be advantageous for us : thereby we
shall endear ourselves into the Moabites' affections ;
they will use us the more courteously, when we
have married one of their own kindred."

But methinks my tongue refuseth to be any
longer the advocate of an unlawful deed, and my
mouth denieth to be the orator of an unjust ac-
tion. When I have said what I can for the de-
fence of their marriage, I shall makp but a plaster
too narrow for the sore : the breach is so broad, I
cannot stop it, though I may dam it up with
untempered mortar. Nothing can be brought
for the defence of these matches ; something may
be said for the excuse of them, but that fetched

CHAPTER I. 27

not from piety, but from policy ; not certain, bnt
conjectural. Yet here may we see the power and
providence of God, who made so good nse of
these men's defaults, as hereby to bring Ruth,
first to be a retainer to the family of Faith, and
afterwards a joyful mother in Israel. This is
that good Chymic that can distil good out of evil,
light out of darkness, order out of confusion, and
make the crooked actions of men tend to His
own glory in a straight line, and His children's
good.

I speak not this to defend any man's folly in
doing of evil, but to admire God's wisdom, who
can bring good out of evil : and surely He that will
turn evil to good, will turn good to the best.

And they dwelled there about ten years.

Here we have the term of Naomi's living in
Moab, and .the family's lasting in Israel, — " ten
years." We read of a famine for three years,
2 Sam. xxi. ; of three years and a half, 1 Kings
xvii. ; of seven years, Gen. xlii., as also 2 Kings
viii. : but this ten years' famine longer than any.
Seven years which Jacob served for Rachel,
seemed to him but a short time ; but surely those
ten years seemed to the afflicted Israelites, and
to the banished Naomi, as so many millions of
vears.

28 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

OBSERVATION.

God doth not presently remove His rod from
the back of His children, bnt sometimes scourgeth
them with long-lasting afflictions. The reason
is, because we go on and persist so long in our
sins. And yet herein even Mercy exalteth her-
self against judgment : for if God should suffer
the fire of His fury to burn so long as the fuel of
our sins doth last, " Lord, who were able to
abide ? " Were the days of our suffering appor-
tioned to the days of our living, no flesh would be
saved ; but " for the elect's sake those days " are
rt shortened."

USE.

Bear with patience light afflictions, when God
afflicteth His children with long-lasting punish-
ments. Mutter not for a burning fever of a fort-
night. What is this to the woman that had a
running issue for twelve years ? Murmur not for
a twelvemonth's quartan ague : 'tis nothing to
the woman that was bowed for eighteen years ;
nor seven years' consumption, to the man that
lay thirty-eight years lame at the pool of
Bethesda.

And Mahlon and Chilton died also both of them.

It was but even now that old Elimelech was gone
to bed : see, his sons would not sit long up after

CHAPTER I. 29

the father. Only here is the difference : he, like
ripe fruit, fell down of his own accord ; they, like
green apples, were cudgelled off the tree.

OBSERVATION.

Even young men in the prime of their age are
subject to death. The sons of Jacob, when they
came to the table of Joseph, sat down, the eldest
according to his age, and the youngest according
to his youth : but Death observes not this method ;
she takes not men in seniority, but sometimes
sends them first to the burial that came last from
the birth, and those that came last from the
womb, first to their winding-sheet. There were
as many lambs and kids sacrificed in the Old
Testament, as goats and old sheep ; but surely
more there be that die in infancy and in youth,
than of those that attain to old age.

USE.

"Kemember thy Creator in the days of thy
youth." You whose joints are knit with sturdy
sinews, whose veins are full of blood, whose
arteries are flushed with spirits, whose bones are
fraught with marrow; Obadiah-like, serve God
from your youth; put not the day of death far
from you ; think not your strength to be armour
of proof against the darts of Death, when you see
the corslet of Mahlon and Chilion shot through in
the left. So " Mahlon and Chilion died both of
them."

30 A COMMENT ON RtJTn.

And the woman was left of her two sons and of
her husband.

Before, we "had the particular losses of Naomi ;
now, we have them all reckoned up in the total
sum. "A threefold cable/' saith Solomon, " is
not easily broken ; " and yet we see Naomi's three-
fold cable of comfort, twisted of her husband and
her two sons, broken by death. Of the two sexes
the woman is the weaker ; of women, old women
are most feeble; of old women, widows most
woful ; of widows, those that are poor, their
plight most pitiful; of poor widows, those that
want children, their case most doleful ; of widows
that want children, those that once had them
and after lost them, their estate most desolate ;
of widows that have had children, those that are
strangers in a foreign country, their condition
most comfortless. Yet all these met together in
Naomi, as in the centre of sorrow, to make the
measure of her misery " pressed down, shaken to-
gether, running over." I conclude therefore, many
men have had affliction, — none like Job ; many
women have had tribulation,— none like Naomi.

VERSE 6.

Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she
might return from the country of Moab : for she

CHAPTER I. 31

had heard in the country of Moab how that the
Lord had visited His people in giving them
bread.

These words contain two general parts.

1. God's visiting His people with plenty.

2. Naomi's visiting of her people with her
person.

I begin with the first in the order of the words.

a

Then she arose with her daughters in law> &c.

OBSERVATION.

We must tarry no longer in an idolatrous land,
when God offereth us an occasion to return into
our own country : for so long as we tarry in an
idolatrous land on a just cause, so long we are in
our vocation and in God's protection : but when
God openeth us a gap to return, and we will not
through it, we are neither in our calling nor God's
keeping, but must stand on our own adventures ;
and who knows not how slenderly we shall be
kept, when we are left to our own custody ? Let
not therefore Joseph, with his wife and son, tarry
any longer in the land of Egypt, when he is dead
that sought the life of the child.

Examples we have of those which, in the days
of Queen Mary, fled beyond the seas ; though
they were not in a paganish, only in a foreign

32 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

country : Mr. Scorey, Cox, Whitehead, Grindal,
Home, Sandys, Elmore, Gwest, Jewel. If fear
lent them feet to run when they went away, joy
gave them wings to fly when they came home
again. Let none therefore pretend in needless
excuses to linger in the land of Egypt, when they
may return into the honey-flowing land of
Canaan.

For she had heard in the country of Moab.

I suppose when any messenger arrived in Moab
out of the land of Canaan, Naomi did presently
repair unto him, and load him with questions
concerning the estate of her country : " How do
the Jews my countrymen ? How fareth it with
the Bethlehemites my neighbours? with Boaz
my kinsman ? What is the rate of corn ? What
the price of oil ? What the value of wine ? If
there be no performance for the present, what
promise is there for the future ? Though things
be bad now, what hope is there but they will be
better hereafter ? " Alas ! he answers little ; and
from his silence and sorrowful looks Naomi ga-
thers a denial. But as Elijah sending his ser-
vant towards the sea, to see what signs there
were of rain ; for six several times together he
returned this answer, " There is nothing ; "
(1 Kings xviii. 43 ;) but at the seventh time he

CHAPTER I. 33

brought him the tidings of a cloud rising out of
the sea : so. though for nine years Naomi had no
news but of want and scarcity, yet the tenth year
there came a man (probably he was a good man
that brought these good tidings) who brought
her word that the valleys began to laugh and
sing with plenty. And so, though the hope that
was deferred was the fainting of the heart, yet
when it came, it was the " tree of life." Per-
chance because the covetous Jews had made nine
parts great for their own profit, and the tenth
small to cozen God of His portion, God, quite
contrary, gave them nine years of scarcity and
want, and at length made the tenth of store and
plenty.

OBSERVATION.

The fame of remarkable accidents will fly into
foreign countries : for, if it be bad news, the
wicked will be sure to tell it in the gates of Gath,
and publish it in the streets of Askelon : if it be
good, the godly will proclaim it in the courts of
Zion, and disperse it within the walls of Jerusa-
lem. Whether good or bad, if it be of moment
and importance, it will not be covered nor con-
cealed.

QUESTION.

Is it lawful for us to listen, hearken, and in-
quire after matters of foreign countries ?

34 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

ANSWER.

Though I would not have men to be like the
Athenians, " to hear or tell some new thing-;" yet
it is both lawful and laudable for them to inquire
after foreign affairs, whereby they express the de-
sire that they have of the welfare of their distant
brethren, the members of the same mystical body.
Example, Nehemiah i. 2. And yet would I have
men, though they lend their ears, not to bestow
their belief on every groundless report which is
blazed abroad.

1. Because fame is often untrue, relating (2
Sam. xiii. 30) that " all the king's sons" are killed,
when only Amnon is slain.

2. Because many there be which, with the
soldiers, Matt, xxviii., do nothing but invent and
disperse lies to gull over-credulous people : and as
many a benighted traveller hath wandered out of
his way, whilst he followed for his lanthorn the
meteor of foolish fire ; so many a man hath been
deceived by embracing of lying relations, instead
of true news. Yet in case that Cushi and Ahimaaz
confirm the same thing, that variety of messen-
gers from divers places, of sundry sides and
several factions, all agree in material and sub-
stantial points ; we ought not to be like unbelieving
Thomas, to trust no more than our eyes have
seen, but may rely on the truth of such relations ;

CHAPTER I. 35

and ought accordingly to be affected with sorrow
if the news be bad, or joy if the tidings tend to
the church's good and God's glory.

That God had visited His people.

This was the privilege of the people of the
Jews, that they were styled " God's people ;" but
now A.mmi is made Lo-Ammi, and Ruhamah, Lo-
Ruhamah; and we, the Gentiles, are placed in
their room. Let us therefore remember the words
of St. Paul, Eom. i. 20, 21 : " Be not high-minded,
but fear : for if God spared not the natural
branches of the olive, fear that He will not spare
thee also."

O that He would be pleased to cast His eye of
pity upon the poor Jews, which for fifteen hundred
years and upwards have wandered without law,
without lord, without land ; and, as once they
were, so once again to make them His people !

In giving them bread.

By " bread" is meant all sustenance necessary
for the maintaining of our lives, whereof bread is
the chiefest. As the temple of Dagon principally
leaned on two pillars, and fell to the ground when
Samson took them away ; so the buildings of our
bodies chiefly rely on bread and water for outward
sustenance, which being taken away, [they]
d 2

36 A COMMENT ON EUTH.

cannot but presently decay. Let others therefore
wish those dishes which curiosity hath invented,
rather to increase than satisfy hunger, which are
more delightsome to the eye than pleasing to the
palate, yet more pleasing to the palate than
wholesome to the stomach ; let us pray, " Give us
this day our daily bread."

Bread is a dish in every course : without this
can be no feast, with this can be no famine.

OBSERVATION.

God's punishments, though they last sometimes
long, yet always they end at last : and yet some-
times, for the manifestation of His power, and
trial of His children's patience, He suffers them
to be brought into great extremities. Abraham's
hand shall be heaved up to slay Isaac, before the
angel shall catch hold of it : Lazarus shall be
three days dead, before Christ will raise him ; the
ship ready to sink, before our Saviour will awake :
Peter must be drenched in the water, before our
Saviour will keep him from drowning : St. Paul
must be in the lion's mouth, before he shall be
delivered out of it : the famine must last ten years,
before God will give them bread.

An example hereof we have in our neighbouring
churches of Germany, which long have been
afflicted under the tyranny of their oppressors ;
and now at length a sun is risen out of the north,
and after a long night the morning beginneth the

CHAPTER I. 37

day. And thou, Swethland,"* shalt not be counted
the meanest amongst the kingdoms of Europe ;
for out of thee did a prince arise, who hath
delivered the distressed Protestants ; who at his
first landing seemed to his enemies an object
fitter of their scorn than opposition. f They
thought our youthful David too unequal a match
to cope with their general, who had been a man of
war from his youth. But as verity consisteth not
in the plurality of voices, so victory standeth not
in the multitude of soldiers ; but God so ordered
it, that he that had the best cause had the
best success. I dare boldly say, that all the Pro-
testant princes and states of Germany will be
ready truly to say of him what Tertullus spake
flatteringly of Felix, Acts xxiv. 2 : " Seeing that
by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very
worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy
providence, we always accept it, and in all places,
most noble prince, with all thankfulness." But
let us turn our praises of him into prayers for
him, that he who hath conquered his foes may
subdue himself, not to be puffed up with his good
success. So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord ;
but let all them that love Thee be as the sun when
he goeth forth in his might. And as ever I have

* [Sweden. — Ed.] t [The reference is to Gustavu? Adolphus, who,
after lauding in Pomerania (in UVi'v) with only 8/00 soldiers, was
gaining a series of brilliant victories over the Imperial troops at the
very time when t ese Lectures on Ruth were probably delivered. — Ed.]

38 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

earnestly desired, so now do I steadfastly hope to
see the day, when our Naomi (our worthy Naomi,
more fruitful in miseries than in children, and in
virtue than in both) shall arise, to return out of
the land of Holland, with her prince and progeny,
when she shall hear in the land of Holland that
God hath visited the Palatinate, and given them
rest.*

VERSES 7, S.

And she went out of the place where she tvas, and
her two daughters-in-law with her ; and they
went on the way to return into the land of Judah.

And Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, Go, re-
turn each of you to her mother.

These words contain the continuation of
Naomi's return ; wherein we may observe, —

First. The company that went with her, —
" her two daughters-in-law."

Secondly. The discourse she had with this com-
pany ; consisting of a precept, in the text, " Go,
return each of you to her mother;" and of a
prayer, in the words following.

Now, whereas her daughters-in-law did not take
their farewell of Naomi at the threshold of their
house, but went part of the way with her, we
gather, —

* [By "our Naomi" was intended Elizabeth, daughter of James I.,
Princess Palatine, and Queen of Bohemia, who, at the date of these
Lectures, and for many years subsequently, enjoyed a comfortable asylum
at the Hague.— Ed.]

CHAPTER I. 39

OBSERVATION.

That all offices of kindnesses and conrtesies
ought to be betwixt the mother-in-law and the
daughter-in-law ; I mean, her son's wife. And yet
look into the world, and ye shall commonly find
enmity betwixt them ; as saith Terence in Hecyrd,
" Neque declinatam mulierem reperias ab aliarum
ingenio ; ita adeb uno omnes animo socrus oderunt
nurus." And their fallings out chiefly proceed
from these two causes : —

First. They contend which should have the
greatest right and interest in the man, who is son
to the one, husband to the other. Judah and
Israel contested (2 Sam. xix. 43) which should
have most part in king David ; the former claim-
ing it because he was bone of their bone ; the
latter pleaded they had eleven [ten] parts in him,
to Judah's single share. Thus mother-in-laws and
daughter-in-laws use to fall out. The mother,
because her son is flesh of her flesh, and bone of
her bone, pleads it is right that he should side and
second with her : the daughter-in-law, because he
is her husband, and therefore one flesh, chal-
lengeth that he should rather take her part : so
betwixt them they fill the family with all discord.

Secondly. They fall out about the managing
of the matters in the household, after whose mind
they should be ordered.

40 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

But as St. James said in another case, " Beloved,
these things ought not to be so; " both these brawls
may be easily ended. The first may be taken up
by the wisdom and discretion of the son-in-law,
who ought so indifferently to poise his affections
betwixt them both, with such dutifulness and
respect to the one, such love and kindness to the
other, that neither may have just cause to com-
plain. And the second controversy may thus be
decided : if the mother hath the state [estate]
still in her hands, good reason it is she should rule
the affairs, and that the daughter-in-law should
wait till her mother-in-law's natural death hath
paved the succession to the governing of the
family. But if the old woman hath resigned her
estate, and confined herself to a yearly pension,
then ought she not to intermeddle with those
matters from which she had willingly sequestered
herself. Were this observed, there would not so
many daughters-in-law rejoice, when the day of
mourning for their mother-in-law is come ; some
whereof say, as the wicked said of David, "0,
when will she die, and her name perish ?"

Now to come to the discourse she had with them:
Go, return, &c.

Where ariseth a question, Whether Naomi did
well, in persuading her daughters to go back unto
Moab ? For the satisfaction whereof, I will set
down, First, What may be said against ; Secondly,
What may be brought for her defence.

CHAPTER J. 41

ACCUSATION,

" Why, Naomi, why didst thou quench the zeal
of thy daughters, which proffered themselves so
willingly to go with thee ? 0, rein them not
backward with dissuasions, but rather spur them
forward with exhortations ; and strive to bring
them out of an idolatrous land, to a place where
God's worship is purely professed. Say unto them,
e Hearken, 0 daughters, and consider; incline
your ears ; forget also your country, and your own
mother's house : so shall the Lord yoar God have
pleasure in you. True it is, ye have a mother in
Moab ; but what of that ? Care not for your mo-
ther, but care for your Maker : care not for her that
conceived you, but care for Him that created you.
Tarry not with them, no, not so much as to ex-
press your last love in performing their funerals ;
rather let the dead bury their dead : those that are
dead spiritually, let them bury such as die natu-
rally ; and come, go ye along with me to the land of
Canaan.' Thus, Naomi, oughtest thou to have
said, and then hadst performed the part, done the
duty, of a mother. If, whilst thou hadst tra-
velled with them on the way, thou hadst travailed
with them till God had been formed in them ; then
shouldst thou shine as a double sun in heaven for
saving of two souls : whereas now thou art in a
manner accessory to their ghostly murder, in
sending them back to an idolatrous country."

42 A COMMENT ON ETJTH.

DEFENCE.

To this accusation Naomi might justly answer,
" It is my heart's desire and prayer to God, that I
may be an instrument of my daughter-in-laws'
conversion ; but the wisdom of the serpent, as
well as the innocency of the dove, is to be
used in all our actions, lest we draw needless
danger upon ourselves. True it is, my daughters-
in-law proffer to go with me ; but here is the ques-
tion, whether this is done out of courtesy and
compliment, or out of singleness and sincerity.
Now, should they through my persuasions go into
the land of Canaan, and there live in want and
penury, they will be ready to rail on me another
day : ( We may thank Naomi for all this ; we had
plentiful provisions in our own country, but she
must have us hither ; she by her restless impor-
tunity must wring a constrained consent from us
to come into Canaan ; all these miseries are
befallen upon us through her default.' Yea, I am
afraid that, finding want, they again will return
into their own country, to my shame, the scandal
of our religion, and the deeper punishment of
their own souls. Wherefore without their minds
would I do nothing, that their going might not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly. To which
end I will put them to the touchstone, to see
whether their forwardness be faithful or feigned,

CHAPTER I. 43

sound or seeming, cordial or counterfeit : I will
weigh them both in the balance, hoping that
neither shall be found too light."

Upon these grounds learned men Lave acquitted
Naomi from any fault in managing this matter,
she doing it only with an intent to try them.

Whence we may observe, that Pagans that prof-
fer themselves to become converts, are not without
proof presently to be received into the church.

And here we may take occasion to digress a
little, to show how Christians ought to behave
themselves in the converting of infidels.

First. They must strive, in their mutual con-
versing with them, to season them with a good
opinion of their honesty and upright dealing:
otherwise their doctrine will never be embraced,
whose manners are justly misliked.

Secondly. Having possessed them with his good
esteem, they ought, as occasion is offered, to in-
struct them in the rudiments of Christian religion ;
and to begin with such as are plain and evident by
the light of nature, and so in due time to proceed
to matters of greater difficulty.

Lastly. They are to pray to God to give His
increase to their planting and watering : for, as
Athanasius saith, " It is a Divine work to persuade
men's souls to believe."

But as for the using of tortures and of tor-
ments, thereby to force them, we have no such

4-4 A COMMENT ON KlrTH.

custom, nor as yet tlie churches of God : for,
though none come to Christ but such as His Father
draws by the violence of His effectual grace, yet
ought not men to drive or drag any to the profes-
sion o:' the faith. Yet notwithstanding, if after
long patience and .'brbearing with them, and long
instructing them in the points of religion ; if still
these Pagans continue refractory and obstinate,
then surely the civil magistrate, who hath the law-
ful dominion over them, may severely, though not
cruelly, with Josiah, compel them to come to
church, and to perform the outward formalities of
God's worship.

Go then, ye bloody Jesuits, boast of those many
millions of Americans whom you have converted,
who were not converted by the sword of the
mouth, gained by hearing the Gospel, but com-
pelled by the mouth of the sword, forced by feeling
your cruelty. Witness those seventy thousand,
which, without any catechizing in the points of
religion, were at once driven to the font, like so
many horses to a watering trough. Indeed, I
find my Saviour (John ii. 15) driving the mer-
chants out of the temple with a whip of cords ;
but never before did I read of any which against
their wills drave or instructed * Pagans to the
font to be baptized.

* [Evidently a misprint, — perhaps instead of dragged — Ed.]

CHAPTER r. 45

Bach to her mother' 's house.

Here we see, widows, if poor, are to be maintained
by their parent's, if they be able. These widows
(1 Tim. v. 16) were not to be burdensome to the
church, but to be relieved by their own countiy.*
Let parents therefore take heed how they bestow
their daughters in marriage : for if they match
them to unthrifts and prodigals, will it not be
bitterness in the end ? The burden will fall heavy
on their backs, when their poor daughters with
their children must be sent again to their fathers
to maintain them.

House.

Widows are to contain themselves within the
" house" ; not like the harlot, Prov. vii. 12, always
"in the streets;" but like meek Sarah in the
tent : whereby they shall sooner gain the love and
esteem of others. For let base and beggarly fel-
lows buy that rascal ware which is hung out at the
doors and windows of shops and stalls, whilst men
of quality and fashion will go into the shop, to
cheapen the worth of those merchandise as are
therein kept secret and concealed. And so surely
all discreet and grave men will have the highest
esteem, and bear the best affection to such women

* [Probably a slip of the pen fur kindred. — Ed.J

46 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

which do not gad abroad to be seen, but, with
Ruth and Orpah, being widows, keep themselves
in their mother's house.

VERSES 8, 9.

The Lord show favour unto you, as ye have done

with the dead, and with me.
The Lord grant you that you may find rest, either

of you in the house of her husband.

Naomi being ready to take her leave of her
daughters, fain she would leave them something,
for which they might be the better after her
departure. But gold and silver she had none, yet
such as she had she freely gave unto them, — hearty
prayers. Whence we learn, it is the best expres-
sion of a grateful mind, to pray to God for the
welfare of those at whose hands we have received
greater courtesies than we can requite.

As ye have done.

Hence we learn, God, in the rewarding of the
good deeds of His servants, dealeth with them
accordingly as they have done with others. Yet
far be it from us to suppose, that in our stained
and imperfect works there is any meritorious
virtue, which deserveth that God should propor-
tion a reward unto them : but this freely proceed-

CHAPTER I. 47

eth from God's favour ; who, to encourage us in
well-doing, will not suffer a cup of cold water to
pass without its reward. Do we desire, then, to
have dutiful children and faithful servants
hereafter? Let us be dutiful to our parents,
faithful to our masters. On the other side, hath
God afflicted us with Zibahs to our servants, and
with Absaloms to our sons ? Let us reflect our
eyes on that which is past, and call ourselves to
account, whether we formerly have not been un-
faithful to our masters, undutiful to our parents :
no doubt, we may then take up the confession of
Adoni-bezek : " As I have dealt with others, so the
Lord hath done to me."

With the dead.

QUESTION.

Here ariseth a question, How can one show
favour to the dead, who, being past sense, are not
capable of kindness or cruelty ?

ANSWER.

The Papists (who leave the souls of most men
departing from hence, like Absalom's body, hang-
ing betwixt heaven and hell) expound it, that
these women did fast and pray for the souls of
their deceased husbands, that they might be de-
livered from torments, and in due time brought to

48 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

happiness in heaven. For the confutation of which
erroneous exposition, I need say no more than that
the Scripture makes no mention of any such middle
place, wherein the souls of the godly should be
detained before they go into heaven ; and in mat-
ters of faith every Christian may safely say,
" Except I see in the Bible the print thereof, or
can feel it deduced out of it by undeniable conse- '
quence, I will not believe it."

It is strange to see what impertinent places are
produced by Bellarmine, to prove praying for the
dead; as James v. 16: "Confess your faults
one to another, and pray one for another, that ye
may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much." Then he endea-
voureth to prove, that the dead pray for the living,
from the parable of Dives, Luke xvi. 27 : "I pray
thee therefore, father," &c. : where Dives was
charitably solicitous for the good of his surviving
brethren. But let the first place in St. James be
perused by impartial judgments, and it obligeth
mutually the dead saints to confess to us, as well
as we to them ; which being impossible, directeth
us to confine the words only to reciprocal confess-
ing and praying to and for the living.

Some will say, Bellarmine having sufiiciently
proved purgatory before, (which necessarily infer-
eth prayers for the dead,) he might be the briefer
in that subject. It is confessed, many arguments

CHAPTER I. 49

are alleged by him to that intent, though to small
purpose ; as Psalm lxvi. 12 : u We went through fire
and through water : but Thou broughtest us out
into a wealthy place." We answer: First. The
living there speak de prceterito, " We went ;" not de
futuro, " We shall go." Secondly. It was lite-
rally meant of the children of Israel : they went
" through the fire/' when envassalled to work in
the Egyptian brick-kilns ; and " through water,"
when miraculously they passed through the Red
Sea. Again, they went through fire, when,
preserved from the stinging of the fiery, they
beheld the brazen, serpent. Thirdly. If from
"fire" in this text any can kindle a purgatory,
others will quench it from the word u water," see-
ing no Papists ever fancied a watered purgatory.

They urge the place, Matth. v. 26 : "Thou shalt
by no means come out from thence, till thou hast
paid the uttermost farthing;" importing, say
they, a possibility on satisfaction to be freed
thence, that is, from hell fire.

Answer : " Until " there is not taken termina-
tively, but extensively; equivalent to " never" or
" not at all;" paralleled to that place, Psalm lvii.
1 : " In the shadow of Thy wings will I make
my refuge, until these calamities be over-past."
What, would David depart from God, after his
deliverance ? Would he use Him as travellers a
bush, — come under it in a storm, and leave it in

50 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

fair weather ? No, surely ; David would trust in
God until that time, and at that time, and in
that time, and after that time, and at all times.
Parallel also to that place of Matthew i. 25 :
" And knew her not till she had brought forth her
firstborn son :" it being the constant tradition
of antiquity, according to the proportion of faith,
and embraced by the Papists themselves, that
Christ's mother lived and died a spotless virgin.

Much stress he layeth on that passage of the
apostle, 1 Corinth, iii. 15 : " He himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire." This place, saith
Bellarmine, is locus utilissimus et difficillimus,
"most profitable and most hard."

We answer, First, in general. Seeing by the
Jesuit's confession it is so hard a place, it is utterly
improbable that purgatory (being of so high
concernment to every soul as Papists would per-
suade us) can be therein intended : for all matters
necessary for men to know and believe, wherein
the safety of every single soul is interested, (such
as purgatory is pretended to be,) is by the confes-
sion of all divines expressed in plain and pregnant
texts of Scripture ; for want whereof, Bellarmine
is fain to shroud and shelter himself under the
most obscure places, alleging a text most dark
and difficult, by his own confession.

Secondly. That "fire" there meant by St. Paul,
is affliction in this life. As for such fathers wh

'

CHAPTER I. 51

expounded it de igne conflagrationis, of that " fire "
which should burn up all things at the end of the
world ; it makes nothing for the patronizing of
purgatory, in the Popish notion thereof.

Come we now to find an office, and make an
inquiry, how many things a dying godly man
leaves behind him in this world. His soul is
sent before him; and "from henceforth blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord." (Eev. xiv.
13.) He leaveth behind him,

First, his body ; to which we must be kind, by
burial and lamentation.

Secondly, his estate; to which we must be
kind, by careful and faithful administration.

Thirdly, his children, friends, or kindred; to
to whom we must be kind, by love and affection.

Fourthly, his faults and failings ; to which we
must be kind, by silence and suppression.*

Fifthly, his memory and virtues; to which we
must be kind, by congratulation, commemoration,
and imitation.*

Of these in order : for, although these words,
u Ye have been kind to the dead," are capable of
this sound sense, "You have been kind to your hus-
bands, who now are dead, whilst they were living ;"

* [Prior might almost have had these passages in his eye when he

wrote :

" Be to her virtues very kind ;

Be to her faults a little bliud." — Ed.]
E 2

52 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

yet, because more seemeth imported therein, we
will prosecute the aforesaid particulars.

I say, First, his body ; to which there is due
burial and lamentation.

Burial; and that according to the quality and
condition wherein he lived. We read of king
Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxxii. 33, " They buried him in
the chiefest " (in the Hebrew, " in the highest")
["of the] sepulchres of the sons of David." It must
be allowed, that the sepulchre of David his father
was higher than his ; and next David, Hezekiah's.
0 that height might be but measured by true
holiness ! There was an officer amongst the
Greeks, whose place it was to measure monuments
according to the standard of the men's merits
therein interred. Such officers, if used in Eng-
land, would pare off great parcels from some
tombs, more proportioned to the party's wealth
than virtues. But nothing could be abated of
Hezekiah's monument, all the dimensions whereof
were due to his devotion.

And lamentation. Surely, of all the godly that
ever departed this life, God's servants had the
least cause to bewail the death of St. Stephen.
For, first, whereas there is a threefold degree of
certainty of salvation ; first, that of hope, which,
as the least and lowest, scarce deserveth to be
styled certainty; secondly, that of evidence, where-
by the person clearly in his soul apprehendeth

CHAPTER I. 53

God's favour ; thirdly, that of vision, peculiar to
this Stephen alone, antedating his happiness with
his bodily eyes, being in heaven before he was in
heaven ; so that, as many gates in his wounded
body stood open to let out his soul, he beheld
alive the heavens opened to receive it.

And yet we read, Acts viii. 2, "And devout
men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great
lamentation over him." Observe, it was not said they
made great lamentation for him, but " over him."
They knew him [to be] in a happy condition : it was
themselves they bemoaned in his death, the sight of
his corpse sharpening their sorrow, that the infant
church had lost one of her best swaddling-clothes.

Secondly, his estate ; to which we must be kind,
by careful and faithful administration. Heb. ix.
17: "For a testament is of force after men are
dead." Gal. iii. 15 : " Though it be but a man's
covenant," or "testament," "yet if it be confirm-
ed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto."
No man : he must either be less than man in
knowledge, — a mere beast ; or more than man
in malice, — a mere devil. By " testament" I under-
stand not only the very words thereof, but also
what appeareth to be the testator's will to the
conscience of the executor. How many in this
kind are cruel to the dead ! so that some of the
legacies bequeathed by them have had a thumb or
a toe, yea, some an arm or a leg, cut off from

54 A COMMENT ON KTJTH.

them. Many legacies which, came sound forth
from the testator, before they could get through
the executors,* have been more lame and maimed
than the cripples in the hospital to whom they
have been bequeathed.

Thirdly, his children, or (because Mahlon and
Chilion had none of them) his kindred or friends ;
to whom the living must be kind, with love and
affection. Eemember the character of the good
wife, Proverbs xxxi. 12 : " She will do her husband
good, and not evil, all the days of her life." We
have many wives only negatively good, pleasing
and praising themselves in this, that they do
their husbands no hurt. This will not do the
deed ; they must be positively profitable. Nor is
it said, " all the days of his life," but, u all the
days of her life. " What if he dieth ? her obliga-
tion to him is not cassated or nulled, (as many
wives generally conceive,) but still continueth " all
the days of her life." True it is, she is set free so
far, as she may marry again in a competent time,
without the least shadow of sin ; yet so as still
obliged to do good all her lifetime to the friends,
to the children (if any) of her dead husband ;
and he, if surviving her, reciprocally engaged to
do the like.

Fourthly, the best men leave faults and failings
behind them ; to these the living must be kind,
by silence and suppression.

CHAPTER I. 55

First : of those of whom thou canst say no
good, say nothing.

Secondly : of those of whom thou canst say
some good, say no bad.

David is a most excellent instance hereof, 2
Sam. i. 24. Who could more, or more justly,
have inveighed against Saul than David ? " 0 ye
daughters of Israel, rejoice for the death of so
great a t}~rant, who killed Ahimelech the high
priest, and fourscore more of God's priests, whose
souls were as clear from treason as the white
linen ephods they wore were from spots. Twice I
had him at my mercy, once in the cave, once when
asleep ; yet he (notwithstanding all his fair pro-
mises to the contrary) was the more cruel to me
for my kindness to him." No such matter ; David
conceals what was bad, remembereth what was
good in Saul, at leastwise what would make his
memory acceptahle with the weaker sex ; namely,
his making of gallantry fashionable amongst
them : " Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who
put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel."

Fifthly, memory of his virtues : to which three
things are due, to make thee kind thereunto.

First, congratulation. I will touch this string
but tenderly ; not so much because fearing mine
own fingers, (as if the lesson should be false I
play theraon,) but expecting other men's ears as

56 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

ill-disposed with prejudice. It is no Popery, nor
superstition, to praise God for the happy condition
of His servants departed ; the ancient patriarchs,
the inspired prophets, the holy apostles, the
patient martyrs, the religious confessors. When
the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasses,
erected the altar Ed at the passage over
Jordan, it startled all the rest of the tribes, as if
under it they had hatched some superstitious
design; whereas indeed the altar was not in-
tended for sacrifice, but was merely an altar of
memorial, to evidence to posterity that these two
tribes and a half, though divided from the rest by
the river of Jordan, were conjoined with them in
the worship of the same God. In like manner,
when some ministers thank God for the departure
of His servants, some people are so weak, and
some so wilful, to condemn such for passages of
Popery, as if superstitious prayers were made for
their departure : whereas, indeed, such congratu-
lation, on the contrary, speaks our confidence on
their present bliss and happiness, and continueth
the church militant with the church triumphant,
as the completing one entire catholic church of
Jesus Christ.

Secondly, commemoration is due to the memories
of the deceased. Hence the ancient custom of fune-
ral orations, continued in our modern practice, both
to the honour of the dead, and profit of the living.

CHAPTER I. 57

Thirdly, imitation of their virtues. It hath,
been a great question amongst such who desire to
express themselves thankful to their dead ances-
tors, of what metal or matter to make their
monuments, so as they may be most lasting and
permanent. Wise men have generally decried
silver and brass ; not so much because too costly,
(such may be the worth and wealth of the
executors and party deceased,) but too tempting to
sacrilege to demolish them. Brass is generally
subject to the same mischief, and marble touch *
and alabaster are generally used for that purpose ;
but the monument less subject to casualty is, to
imitate the virtues of our dead friends : in other
tombs the dead are preserved ; in these they may
be said to remain alive.

When we see a child very like to the father and
mother thereof, we use to say, " Thy father will
never be dead as long as thou livest." Thus it is
the best remembrance of our dead progenitors to
follow their virtues. St. Paul cannot look upon
Timothy, but presently calls to mind his mother
Eunice, and his grandmother Lois, though the
latter no doubt [was] long since departed.

The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you
in the house of her husband.

Here we may observe, first, that it is the part of

* [An inferior kind of black marble. — Eu.]

58 A COMMENT ON RUTTi.

pious parents to pray to God for the good success of
their children, especially in the matter of their
marriage: example in Abraham, Gen. xxiv. 7.
Secondly, hence we may gather, that the life of
married persons meeting together in the fear of
God, is " rest."

OBJECTION.

How then cometh it to pass that many men and
women may take up the words of Eebecca, " See-
ing it is so, why am I thus ? " (Gen. xxv. 22.)
If the married life be " rest," how cometh it to
prove my purgatory, my hell, my cause of restless
torment ? Men and women were joined in mar-
riage (Gen. ii.) to the end to be a mutual help one
to the other ; but many prove such helpers as the
king of Ashur [Assyria] did to Ahaz, of whom
it is said, He " distressed him, but helped him
not." (2 Chron. xxviii. 20.)

ANSWER.

Who can hinder it, if men of their girdles and
garters make halters to hang themselves ? If those
things which should be for their strength and or-
nament, be through their own default turned to
their utter undoing ; the estate of marriage is not
herein to be blamed, but the folry of such who
out of some sinister ends undertake it. Happily
[haply] some choose their wives like as our grand-

CHAPTER I. 59

mother Eve did the apple, because they are plea-
sant to the eyes to be looked upon : others, out of a
love of their wealth, saying of their wives what the
Shechemites did of the sons of Jacob, " Shall not
all their herds and cattle be ours ? " Whereas,
if grace and piety were principally respected in
their choice, (other outward accommodations in
their due distance not neglected,) they would find
the truth of our observation, that a married life
is " rest." For, though some petty brawls may
happen amongst the most sanctified couple, which
may move their anger, yet shall it not remove their
love, if one with Christian discretion beareth with
the infirmities of the other. Joab made this com-
pact with his brother Abishai, 2 Sam. x. 11 : "If the
Aramite be stronger than I, thou shalt help me :
but if the Ammonites be too strong for thee, I will
come and succour thee." Thus ought man and
wife to make a bargain, with their best counsel
to, and prayers for, each other, to assist them-
selves mutually against their sundry weaknesses
and infirmities, which otherwise would turn their
" rest " of their life into unquietness.

VERSES 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
And when she hissed them, they lifted up their voices,

and wept.
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with

thee unto thy people.

60 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

But Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: for
what cause will you go with me ? Are there any
more sons in my womb, that they may be your
husbands ?

Turn again, my daughters, go your way ; for I am
too old to have a husband. If I should
say, I have hope ; and if I had a husband this
night ; yea, if I had born sons ;

Would you tarry for them while they were of age ?
Would you be deferred for them from taking
of husbands ? Nay, my daughters ; for it griev-
eth me much for your sokes that the hand of the
Lord is gone out against me.

And when she kissed them.

Kisses was the ordinary salutation of the Jews
at the meeting of acquaintance, men with men,
women with women, men with women ; provided
that then they were of near kindred, to avoid all
suspicion of unchastity.

And they lifted up their voices, and wept.

The observation here may be the same which
the Jews collected ; (John xi. ;) which, when they
saw our Saviour weep for Lazarus, they said,
" Behold how He loved him ! " So these tears in
this place were the expression of their aifection.
Sorrow, like the river of Jordan, (1 Chron. xii. 15,)

CHAPTER I.

61

in the first month did overflow the banks, and
streamed water down their cheeks.

But Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters, &c.

In these words, she dissuadeth her daughters-
in-law from returning with her. The strength of
her reason, contained in three verses, may thus be
set down, as if she had said : " Happily, [haply,]
daughters, you have heard that it is the custom
in the land of Canaan for childless widows to
marry their deceased husbands' brothers. But if
your return be grounded hereon, know that you
build your hopes on a false foundation, it being
impossible for me, by the course of nature, to have
any more sons. Who will look that water should
flow from a dry fountain, grapes grow on a with-
ered vine, fruit flourish on a dead fig-tree ? Though
Sarah at ninety was made a mother; though
Aaron's rod did bud and blossom when it was dry ;
I myself should be a miracle, if I should expect
such a miracle : and therefore know, that there
are no more sons in my womb."

DOCTRINE.

Now whereas Naomi dealeth thus plainly with
her daughters, not feeding them with false hopes,
it teacheth us this : We ought not to gull our
friends with the promises of those things that
neither will nor can come to pass. Otherwise we

62 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

shall both wrong our friends, who, the higher
they are mounted upon the hill of seeming hopes,
at length the deeper they will be cast into the dale
of real despair : and also we shall wrong our-
selves; when Time, the mother of Truth, shall
unmask us, we shall prove ourselves to be no
better than liars and cheaters.

USE.

Let us labour to be Nathanaels, true Israelites,
" in whom there is no guile : " and as John Baptist,
when as the Pharisees asked him whether he was
the Christ or no, he " confessed, and denied not,"
and said plainly, "I am not the Christ; " (John
i. 20 ;) so if we neither mean to do, nor know
that such things can be done which our friends
request of us, let us confess, deny not, and say
plainly, that their suits cannot, shall not be
granted ; and by such downright dealing we shall
at last get more favour from them than they who
flatter them with their tongue. Let not the
physician, when he reads in the urinal those dis-
mal symptoms which are the ushers of death, still
promise life and health unto his patient ; but
plainly tell him that there is mors in olid ; that so
he may fly unto the Physician of the Soul, for a
better life, when this shall fade. Let not the law-
yer, when he knows the case is desperate, feed his

CHAPTER I. 63

client with false hopes to recover it, that so from
him he may be fed with money ; but rather let
him advise him to " agree with his adversary, while
he is in the way ; " that, though he cannot get the
conquest, yet he may have the easier composition.

For I am too old to have a husband.
Here ariseth a question.

QUESTION.

Is there any age so old, wherein a man or
woman may not marry ?

ANSWER.

Naomi's meaning was not simply and absolutely
that she was too old to marry, but she was too
old to have a husband, and by a husband to have
children, and that those children should grow up,
and make fit husbands for Orpah and Ruth. Yet,
by the way, I would advise such who are stricken
in years, especially if impotency be added unto
age, and that it may stand with their conveni-
ency, to refrain from all thoughts of a second
marriage, and to expect that happy day when
death shall solemnize the nuptial betwixt their
soul and their Saviour. For when Barzillai hath
counted eighty years, he hath even had enough
of the pleasure and vanity of the world ; let him
retire himself to a private life, and not envv hi3

64 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

son Chimham to succeed to those delights, of
which his age hath made his father micapable.
Yet if any ancient persons, for their mutual
comfort and society, (which is not the least end
for which marriage was ordained,) are disposed to
match themselves herein, they are blameless ;
especially if they have a care to observe a corre-
spondency of age with those to whom they link
themselves. Otherwise, as our Saviour noteth,
when the old cloth was joined to the new, it made
no good medley, but the rent was made the worse ;
so when the spring of youth is wedded to the
winter of age, no true comfort can arise from
such unequal yokes, but much jealousy and sus-
picion are caused from the same.

Would ye tarry for them ?

That is, " You would not tarry for them ; or if
you should tarry for them, you should wrong
yourselves, and do unadvisedly ; because in the
mean time, refraining from the using of God's
ordinance, you expose yourselves to the devil, to
tempt you to incontinency." Therefore St. Paul's
counsel is good which he prescribes in 1 Tim. v. 14 :
u I will therefore that the younger women," &c.

While they were of age.

Note from hence, that children are not to be
married in their non-age, before they are arrived

CHAPTER I. 65

at years of discretion : Tamar (Gen. xxxviii.) is to
wait till Shelah be grown up. Those persons are
therefore to be blamed, who out of by-respects
match their children in their infancy. Whence
it cometh to pass that as their age doth increase,
their mind doth alter : so what formerly they did
like, afterwards they do loathe, such marriages
proving commonly most insuccessful.

Nay, my daughters ; for it grieveth me much for
your sokes.

As if she had said, " It grieveth me much that
you are already plunged into poverty ; but it
would add more to my sorrow, if you should
increase your calamities by returning home with
me. For mine own part, my misery troubleth me
not so much, because the sun of my life is ready
to set, and it mattereth not though the ship be
scanted of victuals, when it is hard by the
harbour. All my care is for you, who are young
women, and stand upon your own preferment :
it grieveth me much for your sakes."

DOCTRINE.

See here, such is the ingenuous nature of God's
children, that they sorrow more for others that
are inwrapped with them in a common calamity,
than for themselves. Example in Elias, 1 Kings
xvii. 20. Bat then it goeth nearest to their heart,

DO A COMMENT ON RUTH.

when others are not only afflicted with them, but
also for them; when they themselves are the
principal malefactors, for whose defaults others
are punished, as in David. (2 Sam. xxiv. 17.)

USES.

It may confute the devilish nature of such who,
being in trouble, care not though they pawn their
dearest friends in their stead, so be it they them-
selves may escape. And it may also serve to
comfort those that are in distress, when God only
layeth His punishments on them alone, and doth
not involve others together with them. Art thou
afflicted with poverty ? Comfort thyself, that
though thou beest poor, yet thou hast undone
none by suretiship for thee. Art thou in sickness ?
Be glad that thy disease is not infectious, and
that thou hast not derived the contagion to
others. Doth God punish thee for thy sin with
a personal punishment ? Be glad that thou bear-
est the weight of thine own offence, and that thou
art not the Jonah, for whose private sin a whole
ship of passengers is endangered to be cast away ;
for then their case would grieve thee more than
thine own calamity.

That the hand of the Lord,

.Naomi here taketh especial notice, that her
losses proceeded from no other by-causes, but

CHAPTER I. 67

from the hand of God. As David therefore asked
the widow of Tekoah, (2 Sam. xiv. 19,) "Is not
the hand of Joab with thee in all this ? " so, when
any affliction befalleth ns, let us presently have
recourse unto God, and say, " Is not the hand of
the Lord the principal cause hereof?" — and not
with the priests of the Philistines say, " It was a
chance that happened us."

Is gone out against me.

OBSERVATION.

Hence we may observe, every saint of God, in a
common calamity, is to think that God aimed at
his punishment, and intended his reformation in
particular. " The hand of the Lord " was gone
out also against Orpah and Ruth, in taking away
their husbands; yet Naomi appropriateth the
stroke to herself, — " is gone out against me."

How contrary is this to the practice of the
world ! Men in a public and a general affliction,
each shifteth it off from themselves; and no o^e
man will be brought to confess that his sins are
punished or his amendment intended in particular,
if the scourge be universal. As the Philistines
(1 Sam. v.) posted the ark of God from Ashdcd to
Ekron, from one place to another, and none would
receive it ; so, in a common calamity, none will
acknowledge that he himself is especially inter-
F 2

68 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

ested m it, but plead, " What is tliat to us ? Let
others look unto it." "0," saith the people,
" God hath justly sent this plague for the corrup-
tion of the magistrates." " It is justly inflicted,"
saith the magistrate, " for the disobedience of the
people." " Herein," saith the poor man, " God
hath met with the oppression and extortion of the
rich." "Herein," saith the rich man, " God hath
paid home the muttering and the repining of the
poor." "Now," saith the prodigal, "God pun-
isheth the covetousness of old men." "Now,"
saith the old man, " He scourgeth the prodigality
of such as be young." Far otherwise Naomi,
who, though the arrows of God did glance and
rebound, to the wounding of Orpah and Ruth, yet
she thought she herself was the mark at whom
God did level His shafts : " The hand of the Lord
is gone out against me."

VERSE 14.

And Orpah hissed her mother-in-law ; but Ruth
clave unto her.

These words contain two general parts.

First. A blazing meteor falling down out of
the air : " And Orpah," &c.

Secondly. A fixed star fairly shining in the
heaven ; " But Ruth," &c.

CHAPTER I. 69

And Orpah hissed her mother.

Is this she which, even now was so promising
in her words, and so passionate in her weeping ?
See how soon a forward professor may turn to a
fearful apostate. Though she standeth or fall-
eth to her own Master, yet, as the Psalmist saith,
" I am horribly afraid for those that forsake Thy
law," so have we just cause to suspect the fear-
ful final estate of Orpah.

Kissed her mother.

That is, gave her this last salutation of her de-
parture. Here we see, that those who want
grace and true sanctity may notwithstanding
have manners and good civility. Now, had
Orpah changed the corporal kiss she gave to her
mother, into a spiritual kiss to her Saviour, —
u Kiss the Son, lest He be angry," (Psalm ii. 12,)
— her case had been as happy as now it may
seem to be hopeless. But, leaving her, we come
to ourselves, and gather this doctrine.

DOCTRINE.

Those who at the first were forward in religion,
may afterward altogether fall away. (1 Tim. i. 20 ;
Heb. vi. 4 ; Matth. xiii. 20.) It may therefore
serve to abate the proud carriage of such, who, as
if it were not enough to be sure, will also be pre-
sumptuous of their salvation, and thereby take

70 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

leave and liberty to themselves to live more
licentiously.

OBJECTION.

But as once one of the children of the prophets
cried out to Elisha, " 0 man of G-od, there is
death in the pot ; " so may the weak Christian
complain against this doctrine : u O, it is a
deadly and dangerous one, containing much mat-
ter of despair, too bitter for the palate of a poor
Christian to taste, or his stomach to digest. It
quencheth all the sparks of my comfort, and
hacketh asunder all the sinews of my hope. I
fear lest, Orpah-like, I also should fall away.
What shall I do, that I may be saved ? "

ANSWER.

Let not the " smoking flax " be dismayed,
which in time may be a blazing flame ; nor the
" bruised reed " be discouraged, which may prove
a brazen pillar in the temple of God. That
therefore thou mayest finally persevere, observe
these four rules.

RULE I.

First : Utterly renounce all sufficiency in thy-
self. Who but a madman will now-a-days
warrant the paper shields of his own strength,
that knows that Adam's complete armoi^ ~f

CUAPTER I. 71

original integrity was shot through in Para-
dise?

RULE II.

Secondly: Place all thy 3 3 nfidence on the
undeserved mercy of God. Perseverance cometh
neither from the east, nor from the west, nor as
yet from the south ; but God suffereth one to fall,
and holdeth up another. The temple of Solomon
had two pillars; one called Jachin, sounding in
Hebrew, " The Lord will stablish ; " the other,
Boaz, signified, " In Him is strength." So every
Christian (" the temple of the Holy Ghost ") is
principally holden up by these two pillars, — God's
power, and will, to support nim. Wherefore in
every distress let us cry out to God, as the dis-
ciples did to our Saviour in the midst of a tem-
pest, " Help, Master, or else we perish."

BULE III.

Thirdly : Use all those means which God hath
chalked out for the increase of grace in thee ; as
prayer, meditation, reverent receiving the sacra-
ments, accompanying with God's children, read-
ing, hearing the word, &c.

KULE IV.

Fourthly : Always preserve in thyself an awful
fear, lest thou shouldst fall away from God.

72 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

Fear to fall, and Assurance to stand, are two
sisters ; and though Cain said he was not his
"brother's keeper/' sure I am that this Fear
doth watch and guard her sister Assurance.
Tantus est gradus certitudinis, quantus sollicitu-
dinis : they that have much of this fear, have
much certainty ; they that have little, little cer-
tainty; they that have none, have none at all.
It is said in building, that those chimneys which
shake most, and give way to the wind, will stand
the longest : the moral in divinity- is true : those
Christians that shiver for fear by sins to fall away,
may be observed most courageous to persist in
piety.

COMFORT.

To those that diligently practise these rules, I
will add this comfort : Encourage thyself, that
God will keep thee from apostasy unto the end,
because already hitherto He hath preserved thee.
For God's former favours are pawns and pledges
of His future love. David's killing of a lion and
a bear were the earnests of his victory over
Goliath. Thus St. Paul reasoneth, 2 Cor. i. 10 :
"Who delivered us from so great a death, and
doth deliver : in whom we trust that He will yet
deliver us." When Rachel bare her first son,
(Gen. xxx.,) she called him Joseph, and said,
"The Lord shall add to me another son." So,

CHAPTER I. 73

when God hath already blessed us and supported
us for the time past, let us say with Rachel,
" ' Joseph, — the Lord will add : ■ He will not
stay, or stint, or stop here ; but as He hath kept
ine from my mother's womb, and ever since I was
born, so I trust He will not forsake me when I am
aged, and full of grey hairs."

But, to return to her which returned again to
Moab. We read in 2 Sam. xx. that the people
which passed by the corpse of murdered Amasa,
being moved with such a hideous and uncouth
spectacle, they " stood still : " but when we read
this Book of Ruth, and come to Orpah's apostasy,
there let us a while pause and demur, to read in
her fall a lecture of our own infirmity. For if we
stand, it is not because we have more might in
ourselves, but because God hath more mercy on
us. Let us therefore K work out our salvation
with fear and trembling : " ever trembling, lest
we should be cast to hell ; ever triumphing, that
we shall come to heaven : ever fearful, lest we
should fall ; ever certain, that we shall stand :
ever careful, lest we should be damned; ever
cheerful, that we shall be saved. Concerning
Ruth's perseverance we intend to treat hereafter.

74 A COMMENT ON EUTH.

VERSE 15.

And Naomi said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone
back unto her people, and unto her gods : return
thou after thy sister-in-law.

In these words Naomi seeks to persuade Ruth
to return ; alleging the example of Orpah, who,
she saith, was ° gone back to her people, and to
her gods."

OBSERVATION.

Where, first, we find that all the heathen, and
the Moabites amongst the rest, did not acknow-
ledge one true God, but were the worshippers of
many gods ; for they made every attribute of God
to be a distinct deity. Thus, instead of that at-
tribute, the wisdom of God, they feigned Apollo
the god of wisdom ; instead of the power of God,
they made Mars the god of power; instead of
that admirable beauty of God, they had Venus
the goddess of beauty. But no one attribute was
so much abused as God's providence : for the
heathen supposing that the whole world, and all
the creatures therein, was too great a diocese to be
daily visited by one and the same Deity, they
therefore assigned sundry gods to several crea-
tures. Thus God's providence in ruling the
raging of the seas was counted Neptune; in

CHAPTER 1. 7o

stilling the roaring winds, iEolus ; in command-
ing the powers of hell, Pinto : yea, sheep had
their Pan, and gardens their Pomona; the
heathens then being as fruitful in feigning of
gods, as the Papists since in making of saints.

DOCTRINE.

Now, because Naomi used the example of Orpah
as a motive to work upon Ruth to return, we gather
from thence, examples of others set before our eyes
are very potent and prevalent arguments to make
us follow and imitate them : whether they be good
examples, — so the forwardness of the Corinthians
to relieve the Jews provoked many, — or whether
they be bad, — so the dissembling of Peter at
Antioch drew Barnabas and others into the same
fault. But those examples, of all others, are most
forcible with us, which are set by such who are
near to us by kindred, or gracious with us in friend-
ship, or great over us in power.

USE J.

Let men in eminent places, as magistrates, min-
isters, fathers, masters, and the like, (seeing that
others love to dance after their pipe, to sing after
their tune, to tread after their track,) endeavour
to propound themselves patterns of pity and
religion to those that be under them.

76 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

USE II.

When we see any good example propounded
unto us, let us strive with all possible speed to
imitate it. What a deal of stir is there in the
world for civil precedency and priority ! Every
one desires to march in the forefront, and thinks
it a shame to come lagging in the rearward. 0
that there were such a holy ambition and heavenly
emulation in our hearts, that, as Peter and
John ran a race, which should come first to the
grave of our Saviour, so men would contend, who
should first attain to true mortification ! And
when we see a good example set before us, let us
imitate it, though it be in one who in outward
respects is far our inferior. Shall not the master
be ashamed to see that his man, whose place on
earth is to come behind him, in piety towards
heaven goes before him ? Shall not the husband
blush to see his wife, which is the weaker vessel
in nature, to be the stronger vessel in grace ?
Shall not the elder brother dye his cheeks with
the colour of virtue, to see his younger brother,
who was last born, first re-born by faith and the
Holy Ghost ? Yet let him not therefore envy his
brother, as Cain did Abel ; let him not be angry
with his brother, because he is better than him-
self ; but let him be angry with himself, because
he is worse than his brother ; let him turn all his

CHArTEE I. 77

malice into imitation, all his fretting at him into
following of him. Say nnto him, as Gehazidid of
Naaman, " As the Lord liveth, I will run after
him : " and though thou canst not over-run him,
nor as yet over-take him, yet give not over to run
with him ; follow him, though not as Asahel did
Abner, hard at the heels ; yet as Peter did our
Saviour, " afar off; " that, though the more
slowly, yet as surely thou mayest come to heaven ;
and though thou wert short of him whilst he
lived, in the race, yet thou shalt be even with him
when thou art dead, at the mark.

USE III.

When any bad example is presented unto us,
let us decline and detest it, though the men be
never so many, or so dear unto us. Imitate
Micaiah, (1 Kings xxii.,) to whom when the mes-
sengers sent to fetch him said, " Behold now, the
words of the prophets declare good to the king
with one mouth : let thy word therefore, I pray
thee, be like to one of them ; " Micaiah answered,
" As the Lord liveth, whatsoever the Lord saith
unto me, that will I speak." If they be never so
dear unto us, we must not follow their bad prac-
tice. So must the son please him that begat him,
that he do not displease Him that created him : so
must the wife follow him that married her, that she
doth not offend Him that made her. Wherefore,

78 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

as Samson, though bound with new cords, snapped
them asunder as tow when it feeleth the fire ; so,
rather than we should be led by the lewd examples
of those which be near and dear unto us, let us
break in pieces all ties, engagements, relations
whatsoever.

QUESTION.

Yea, but one may say, " What if I find in the
Scripture an action recorded, whose doer is known
to have been a godly and gracious man ? may I
not, without any further doubt or scruple, follow
the same ? "

ANSWER.

For the better satisfying hereof, I will rank the
actions of godly men, registered in the Scriptures,
into nine several ranks, and will show how far forth
we may safely proceed in the imitation of them.

1. We find some actions set down which are
extraordinary, the doers whereof had peculiar
strength and dispensation from God to do them.
Thus Samson slew himself and the Philistines in
the temple of Dagon; Elias caused fire to
descend on .the two captains and their fifties ;
Elisha cursed the children of Bethel. Now these
are recorded rather for our instruction than imi-
tation : for when the " sons of thunder " would
have been the sons of lightning, and have had

CHAPTER I. 79

fire from heaven to burn the Samaritans, which
refused to receive onr Saviour, after the example
of Elias, Christ checked their ill-tempered zeal,
and told them, " You know not what spirit you
are of."

2. Some examples are set down which are
founded in the ceremonial law ; as, the eating of
the paschal lamb ; the circumcising of their
children the eighth day. Now the date of these
did expire at the death of Christ : the substance
being come, the shadows are fled ; and therefore
they may in no wise still be observed.

3. Such examples as are founded in the judicial
law, which was only calculated for the elevation of
the Jewish commonwealth ; as, to put men to
death for adultery. Now these examples tie us no
farther to imitate them, than they agree with the
moral law, or with those statutes by which every
particular country is governed.

4. Some there be founded in no law at all, but
only in an ancient custom by God tolerated and
connived at; as, polygamy in the patriarchs,
divorces in the Jews upon every slight occasion.
From these also we must in these days abstain,
as which were never liked or allowed by God,
though permitted in some persons and ages, for
some special reasons.

5. Doubtful examples ; which may so be termed,
because it is difficult to decide whether the actors

80 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

of them therein did offend or no ; so that, should
a jury of learned writers be empanneled to pass
their verdict upon them, they would be puzzled
whether to condemn or acquit them, and at length
be forced to find it an Ignoramus; as, whether
David did well to dissemble himself frantic,
thereby to escape the cruelty of Achish, king of
Gath. Now our most advised way herein is alto-
gether to abstain from the imitation of them, be-
cause there is a deal of difficulty and danger, and
our judgments may easily be deceived.

6. Mixed examples ; which contain in them a
double action, the one good, the other bad, both
so closely couched together that it is a very hard
thing to sever them. Thus, in the unjust steward,
there was his wisdom to provide for himself, and
his wickedness to purloin from his master: the
first God did commend, we may imitate ; the latter
He could not but loathe, we may not but shun.
In the Israelitish midwives, Exod. i., there was
fides mentis, et fallacia rnenticntis, " the faith of
their" love, " and the falseness of their lying : "
the first God rewarded, and we may follow ; the
latter He could not but dislike, and we must de-
test. Behold, here is wisdom, and let the man
that hath understanding discreetly divide betwixt
the dross and the gold, the chaff and the wheat,
in these mixed examples ; that so he may practise
the one, eschew and avoid the other.

CHAPTER I. 81

7. Those which be absolutely bad, that no cha-
ritable comment can be fastened upon them ; as,
the drunkenness of Noah, the incest of Lot, the
lying of Abraham, the swearing of Joseph, the
adultery of David, the denial of Peter. Now God
forbid we should imitate these : far be it from us,
with king Ahaz, to take a pattern from the idola-
trous altar of Damascus. The Holy Spirit hath
not set these sins down with an intent they should
be followed ; but first to show the frailty of His
dearest saints, when He leaves them to themselves ;
as also to comfort us when we fall into grievous
sins, when we see that as heinous offences of God's
servants stand upon the record in the Scripture.

8. Actions which are only good as they are
qualified with such a circumstance, as David's
eating of the show-bread, provided for the priests,
in a case of absolute necessity. These we may
follow ; but then we must have a special eye and
care that the same qualifying circumstance be in
us ; for otherwise the deed will be impious and
damnable.

9. Examples absolutely good; as, the faithful-
ness of Abraham, the peaceableness of Isaac, the
painfulness of Jacob, the chastity of Joseph, the
patience of Moses, the valour of Joshua, the
sincerity of David. These it is lawful and laudable
with our best endeavours to imitate. Follow not
the adultery of David, but follow the chastity of

G

82 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

Joseph ; follow not the dissembling of Peter, but
follow the sincerity of Nathanael ; follow not the
testiness of Jonah, but follow the meekness [of]
Moses ; follow not the apostasy of Orpah, but
follow the perseverance of Ruth, which comes in
the next text to be treated of.

VERSES 16, 17.

And Ruth answered, Entreat me not to leave tlieey
nor to depart from thee ; for whither thou goest,
I will go ; and where thou dwellest, I will dwell :
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
God:

Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be
buried : the Lord do so to me, and more also, if
aught but death part thee and me.

Here we have the resolution of Ruth portrayed
in lively colours : so that if we consider her sex, —
a woman ; her nation, — a Moabite ; one may
boldly prcnounce of her what our Saviour did of
the centurion, " Yerily I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

Entreat me not to leave thee.

Some read it, " Be not thou against me," as it
is in the margin of the new translation. Where
we see, that those are to be accounted our adver-
saries, and against us, who dissuade us from our

CHAPTER I. 83

voyage to Canaan, from going to God's true reli-
gion. They may be our fathers, they cannot be
our friends. Though they promise us all out-
ward profits and pleasures, yet in very deed they
are not with us, but against us, and so must be
accounted of.

Where thou lodgest, I will lodge,

A good companion, saith the Latin proverb, is pro
viatico* — I may add also, pro diversorio.f Ruth,
so be it she may enjoy Naomi's gracious company,
will be content with any lodging, though happily
it may be no better than Jacob had. (Gen. xxviii.)
And yet we see how some have been discouraged
even from the company of our Saviour, for fear
of hard lodging. Witness the scribe, to whom
when our Saviour said, " The foxes have their holes,
and the fowls of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man hath not where to lay His head ; " this
cold comfort presently quenched his forward zeal,
and he never appeared afterward ; whereas he
ought to have said to our Saviour, as Ruth to
Naomi, " Where Thou lodgest, will I lodge."

Thy people shall be my people.
Haman, being offended with Mordecai, as if it

* [Serves " instead of baggage, provender, and all the necessaries of
travelling." — Ed.]

f [" Instead of an inn or lodging." — Ed.]
G 2

84 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

had been but lean and weak revenge to spit his
spite upon one person, hated all the Jews for
Mordecai's sake. The mad bear, stung with one
bee/ would needs throw down the whole hive.
But clean contrary, Naomi had so graciously de-
meaned herself that Ruth for her sake is fallen in
love with all the Jews. Farewell, Melchom;
farewell, Chemosh ; farewell, Moab ! Welcome,
Israel ; welcome, Canaan ; welcome, Bethlehem !
All of a sudden she will turn convert, she will
turn proselyte.

OBSERVATION.

The godly carriage of one particular person
may beget a love of that country and people where-
of he is, even in a stranger and foreigner. Do we
then desire to gain credit to our country, praise to
our people, honour to our nation, repute to our
religion? Let us deport and behave ourselves
graciously, if we live amongst strangers. On the
other side, the base and debauched manners of
some one man are able to make his country stink
in the nostrils of those foreigners amongst whom
he lives. Ex uno discite omnes : in one faithless
Sinon one may read the treachery of all the
Grecians.

Thy God shall he my God,

Jehoshaphat, when he joined with Ahab, (1

CHAPTER I. 85

Kings xxii.,) said unto him, " My people is as thy
people, and my horses are as thy horses ; " that is, he
would comply with him in a politic league : but
Ruth goes further, to an unity in religion, " Thy
God shall be my God." Yea, but one may say,
" How came Ruth to know who was the God of
Naomi ?" I answer, As God said of Abraham, " I
know that Abraham will instruct his children ; "
so may one confidently say of Naomi, — I know
that Naomi had catechized and instructed her
daughter-in-law, and often taught her that the
God of the Israelites was the only true God, who
made heaven and earth, and that all others were
but idols, the works of men's hands. Yet, as the
Samaritans believed our Saviour first upon the
relation of the woman that came from the well,
but afterwards said unto her, " Now we believe, not
because of thy saying : for we have heard Him our-
selves, and know that this is indeed the Christ,
the Saviour of the world;" (John iv. 42;) so
happily Ruth was induced first to the liking of the
God of Israel upon the credit of Naomi's words ;
but afterwards her love of Him proceeded from a
more certain ground, the motions of God's Holy
Spirit in her heart.

Where thou diest, will I die.

Here Ruth supposeth two things. First, that
she and her mother-in-law should both die : " It

86 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

is appointed for all once to die." Secondly, that
Naomi, as the eldest, shonld die first; for, accord-
ing to the ordinary custom of nature, it is most
probable and likely that those that are most
stricken in years should first depart this life.
Yet I know not whether the rule or the exceptions
be more general; and therefore let both young
and old prepare for death : the first may die soon,
but the second cannot live long.

And there will I be buried.

Where she supposeth two things more. First,
that those that survived her would do her the
favour to bury her ; which is a common courtesy,
not to be denied to any. It was an epitaph
written upon the grave of a beggar, —

Nudus eram vivus ; mortuus, ecce, tegor.*

Secondly, she supposeth that they would bury
her, according to her instructions, near to her
mother Naomi.

OBSERVATION.

As it is good to enjoy the company of the godly
while they are living, so it is not amiss, if it will
stand with conveniency, to be buried with them

* [" Naked on the earth I hover'd:

Now, stone dead, behold, I 'm cover'd." — Ed.]

CHAPTER I. 87

after death. The old prophet's bones escaped a
burning by being buried with the other prophets ;
and the man who was tumbled into the grave of
Elisha was revived by the virtue of his bones.
And we read in the " Acts and Monuments/' that
the body of Peter Martyr's wife was buried in a
dunghill ; but afterward, being taken up in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was honourably
buried in Oxford, in the grave of one Frideswick,
a Popish she-saint ; to this end, that if Popery —
which God forbid ! — should overspread our king-
dom again, and if the Papists should go about to
untomb Peter Martyr's wife's bones, they should
be puzzled to distinguish betwixt this woman's
body and the relics of their saint. So, good it is
sometimes to be buried with those whom some
do account pious, though perchance in very deed
they be not so.

The Lord do so to me, and more also.

To ascertain Naomi of the seriousness of her
intentions herein, Ruth backs what formerly she
had said with an oath, lined with an execration.

OBSERVATION.

Whence we may gather, it is lawful for us to
swear upon a just cause : bat then these three
rules must be warily observed.

First: That we know that the thing whereto

88 A COMMENT ON BITTH.

we swear be true, if the oatli be assertory ; and if
it be promissory, that we be sure that it is in onr
intent, and in our power, God blessing us, to
perform that which we promise.

Secondly : That the occasion whereupon we use
it be of moment and consequence, not trifling and
trivial.

Thirdly : That we swear by God alone, and not
by any creature. Swear then neither by the
heaven, nor by the earth, nor by Jerusalem, nor
by the temple, nor by the gold of the temple, nor
by the altar, nor by the sacrifice on the altar, but
by God alone : for He only is able to reward thee,
if that thou afnrmest be true ; He only is able to
punish thee, if that thou avouchest be false.
Yet this doth noways favour the practice of many
now-a-days, who make oaths their language.
Our Saviour said to the Jews, " Many good works
have I showed you from the Father : for which of
them go you about to stone Me ? " So may the
Lord say to many riotous gallants now-a-days,
" Many good deeds have I done to thee : I created
thee of nothing ; I sent My Son to die for thee ;
by My providence I continually protect and pre-
serve thee : for which of these deeds dost thou
go about by oaths to blaspheme Me ? "

Now whereas Euth doth not say, " God damn
me," " God confound me," " I would I might
never stir ; " but shrouds the execration under

CHAPTER 1. 89

general terms, " God do so to me, and more also ; "
we learn, it is not good to particularize in any
kind of punishment when we swear, but only to
express the curse in general terms, leaving it to
the discretion of God Almighty, to choose that
arrow out of His quiver which He shall think
most fit to shoot at us.

If aught hut death.

See here the large extent of a saint's love ; it
lasts till death : and no wonder ; for it is not
founded upon honour, beauty, or wealth, or any
other sinister respect in the party beloved, which
is subject to age or mutability, but only on the
grace and piety in him ; which foundation because
it always lasteth, that love which is built upon it
is also perpetual.

Part thee and me.

Death is that which parteth one friend from
another. Then the dear father must part with
his dutiful child ; then the dutiful child must
forgo his dear father : then the kind husband
must leave his constant wife ; then the constant
wife must lose her kind husband : then the careful
master must be sundered from his industrious
servant; then the industrious servant must be
severed from his careful master. Yet this may be
some comfort to those whose friends death hath

90 A COMMENT ON ItUTH.

taken away, that as our Saviour said to the
disciples, " Yet a little while, and you shall not
see Me ; and yet a little while, and you shall see
Me again : " so yet a little while, and we shall not
see our friends ; and yet a little while, and we
shall see them again in the kingdom of heaven ;
for, non mittuntur, sed prcemittuntur, — we do not
forgo them, but they go before us.

To conclude : we see many women so strangely
disguised with fantastic fashions, as if they desired
to verify the nickname of the philosopher, and
to prove themselves in very deed to be very
monsters. Yea, many of them so affect man-like
clothes and shorn hair, it is hard to discover the
sex of a woman through the attire of a man.
But we see in my text worthy Ruth taking upon
her, not the clothes, but the courage ; not the
hair, but the heart ; not the attire, but the reso-
lution of a man, yea, and more than of a man.
Witness her worthy speech, " Entreat me not to
depart," &c.

VERSE 18.

And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded
to go with her, she left off speaking unto her.

Orpah and Ruth may be compared to two strong
forts ; Naomi, to one that besieged them ; who

CHAPTER r. 91

made three sore assaults upon them. : — the first, in
the eighth verse ; which assault both of them
resisted with equal constancy : — the second, in the
eleventh verse ; to which Orpah basely yieldeth,
and accepteth terms of composition : — the last, in
the fifteenth verse ; which Ruth most valiantly
defeated, and stood upon terms of defiance to the
mention of any return. Now as soldiers, when
they have long besieged a city with the loss of
time, money, and men, being hopeless to take it,
they even sound a retreat, and retire home,
without accomplishing their desire; so Naomi,
perceiving that all her arguments which she used
to conquer Ruth, like water in the smith's forge
cast on coals, did more intend * the heat of her
constancy, gives over in my text : u And when
she saw," &c.

Which words do probably persuade what for-
merly we affirmed, namely, that Naomi dissuaded
her daughter, only to search and sound her since-
rity, not with any true desire she should go back
to Moab. For even as it is plain that the replier
in his disputation aimeth not at the suppressing,
but at the advancing, of a truth, who surceaseth
and cavils no longer, when he sees the neck of his
argument broken with a sufficient answer ; so it
appeareth that Naomi, what she had said formerly,

* ["Intensify."— Ed.]

92 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

spake it only to try her daughter ; because, having
now had sufficient experience of her constancy,
she so willingly desisted. God wrestled with
Jocob, with a desire to be conquered ; so Naomi
no doubt opposed Ruth, hoping and wishing that
she herself might be foiled.

'And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded.

The Hebrew reads it, " that she strengthened
herself; " that being their phrase to express an
oath.

OBSERVATION.

Where we observe, oaths taken upon just occa-
sion are excellent ties and bands to strengthen
men in the performance of those things to
which they swear. The greater pity it is, then,
that a thing in itself so sovereign should be so
daily and dangerously abused. Witness Herod,
who by reason of a rash oath cast himself into a
worse prison than that wherein he had put the
Baptist, making that which, being well used,
might have confirmed in piety, to be a means to
enforce him to murder.

USE.

Let this teach us, when we find ourselves to
lag and falter in Christianity, to call to mind

CHAPTER r. 93

that solemn vow, promise, and profession, which
onr godfathers in our name made for us at our
baptism, — to " forsake the devil and all his works,
the vain pomps and vanities of this wicked world ;
and to fight valiantly under Christ's standard."
Let us remember from whence we are fallen, and
do our first work. We need not make a new vow,
but only renew the old ; and so settle and estab-
lish ourselves in the practice of piety, as Ruth in
my text by an oath strengthened herself.

She left off speaking unto her.

She saw she had now enough expressed and
declared her integrity, and therefore she would
not put her to the trouble of any farther trial.

OBSERVATION.

Hence the doctrine is this : After proof
and trial made of their fidelity, we are to trust
our brethren, without any farther suspicion.
Not to try before we trust, is want of wisdom ;
not to trust after we have tried, is want of charity.
The goldsmith must purify the dross and ore from
the gold ; but he must be wary lest he makes
waste of good metal, if over-curious in too often
refining. We may search and sound the sincerity
of our brethren ; but, after good experience made
of their uprightness, we must take heed lest by

94 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

continual sifting and proving them we offend a
weak Christian. Christ tried the woman of
Syrophcenicia first with silence, then with two
sharp answers ; at last, finding her to be sound,
He dismissed her with granting her request, and
commending of her faith. When He had said to
Peter the third time, "Lovest thou Me?" He
rested satisfied with Peter's answer, and troubled
him with no more questions.

USE.

It may confute the jealous and suspicious
minds of such who still think that their brethren
are rotten at the heart, hypocritical, dissemblers,
though they have made never so manifest proof
of their uprightness. Thomas would not take
his Master's resurrection on the credit of his
fellow apostles' relation : his faith would not
follow, except his own sense was the usher to lead
it the way. So these men are altogether incre-
dulous and very infidels in the point of their
brethren's sincerity, though it be never so surely
warranted unto them on the words of those whom
they ought to believe. Hence oftentimes it comes
to pass, that they scandalize and offend many
weak Christians, whose graces are true, though
weak; faith unfeigned, though feeble. Yea, it
maketh weak saints to be jealous of themselves, to
see others so jealous of them. But we must be

CHAPTER I. 95

wonderful careful how we give offence to any of
God's "little ones." When Esau (Gen. xxxiii.
13) would have persuaded Jacob to drive on
faster, Jacob excused himself, saying, that the
children were "tender," and the ewes big with
young ; and if they should be overdriven one day,
they would die. Thus, if any would persuade us
to sift and winnow, and try the integrity of our
brethren, after long experience of them, we may
answer, This is dangerous to be done, because
"smoking flax" and"bruised reeds," tender profes-
sors, may utterly be discouraged and disheartened
by our restless pressing and disquieting of them.
Wherefore Naomi, having now seen the reality of
Ruth's resolutions, left off from any further mo-
lesting of her.

VERSES 19, 20, 21, 22.

So they went both until they came to Bethlehem.
And when they came to Bethlehem, all the city
was moved at them, and they said, Is not this
Naomi ?

And she said, Call me not Naomi, but call me Marah :
for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me.

I went out full, and the Lord hath caused me to re-
turn emyty : why call you me Naomi, sithence *

* [" Since," or " seeing."— Ed.]

yt> A COMMENT ON RUTH.

the Lord hath testified against me, and the
Almighty hath afflicted me ?
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her
daughter-in-law, with her, when she came out of
the country of Moab : and they came to Bethle-
hem in the beginning of barley harvest.

The Holy Spirit mentioneth not what discourse
they exchanged by the way ; yet no doubt they
were neither silent, nor busied in unprofitable
talk.

And all the city was moved, &c.

See here, Naomi was formerly a woman of good
quality and fashion, of good rank and repute :
otherwise her return in poverty had not been so
generally taken notice of. Shrubs may be grub-
bed to the ground, and none miss them ; but
every one marks the felling of a cedar. Grovel-
ling cottages may be evened to the earth, and
none observe them ; but every traveller takes
notice of the fall of a steeple. Let this comfort
those to whom God hath given small possessions.
Should He visit them with poverty, and take from
them that little they have, yet their grief and
shame would be the less : they should not have so
many fingers pointed at them, so many eyes star-
ing on them, so many words spoken of them ;
they might lurk in obscurity : it must be a Naomi,

CHAPTER I. 97

a person of eminencj and estate, whose poverty
must move a whole city.

And they said, Is not this Naomi ?

Eemarkable it is, that so many people should
jump in the same expression; but as Abraham
laughed, and Sarah laughed, — both used the
same outward gesture, yet arising from different
causes ; his laughter from joy, hers from distrust,
— so all these people might meet in the same
form of words, yet far dissent in their minds
wherewith they spake them. Some might speak
out of admiration : " Strange ! wonderful ! is this
she who once was so wealthy ? How quickly is a
river of riches drained dry ! She that formerly
was so fair, now one can scarce read the ruins of
beauty in her face. c Is not this Naomi ? ' "
Some out of exprobration : " See, see, this is she
that could not be content to tarry at home to
take part of the famine with the rest of her
fellows, but needs with her husband and sons
must be gadding to Moab. See what good she
hath got by removing : by changing her country,
she hath changed her condition. fIs not this
Naomi ? ' " Some might speak it out of commise-
ration : C( Alas, alas ! is not this that gracious
woman, that godly saint, which formerly by her
charity relieved many in distress ? How soon is
a full clod turned into parched earth ! one that

H

98 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

supplied others, into one that needeth to be
supplied by others ! * Is not this Naomi ? ' "

And she said, Call me not Naomi, hut call me
Marah.

Naomi signifieth " Beautiful ; " Marah, " Bit-
ter: " (Exod. xv. 23 :) where we see, that the
godly in poverty are unwilling to have names and
titles disagreeing and disproportioned to their
present estates ; which may confute the folly of
many, which, being in distress, and living little
better than upon the alms of others, will still stand
upon their points, bear themselves bravely on
their birth, not lose an inch of their place, not
abate an ace of their gentry. Far otherwise was
Naomi affected : being poor, she would not be
over-named or title-heavy : " Call me not Naomi,
but call me Marah."

OBSERVATION.

Here also we may see, that it was a custom of
great antiquity in the world, that men and
women should have several names whereby they
were called ; and that for these three reasons.

1. That they might be differenced and distin-
guished from others.

2. That they might be stirred up to verify the
meanings and significations of their names.

CHAPTER I. 99

Wherefore let every Obadiah strive to be " a
servant of God," each Nathanael to be " a gift of
God," Onesimus to be " profitable," every Roger
" quiet and peaceable," Robert " famous for coun-
sel," and William " a help and defence " to
many : not like Absalom, who was not a u father
of peace," as his name doth import, but a son of
sedition ; and Diotrephes, not u nursed by God,"
as his name sounds, but puffed up by the devil, as
it is 3 John 9.

3. That they might be incited to imitate the
virtues of those worthy persons who formerly
have been bearers and owners of their names.
Let all Abrahams be faithful, Isaacs quiet,
Jacobs painful, Josephs chaste ; every Lewis
pious, Edward confessor of the true faith, William
conqueror over his own corruptions. Let them
also carefully avoid those sins for which the
bearers of the names stand branded to pos-
terity. Let every Jonah beware of frowardness,
Thomas of distrustfulness, Martha of worldliness,
Mary of wantonness. If there be two of our
names, one exceedingly good, the other noto-
riously evil, let us decline the vices of the one, and
practise the virtues of the other. Let every
Judas not follow Judas Iscariot, who betrayed
our Saviour, but Judas the brother of James, the
writer of the General Epistle : — each Demetrius
not follow him in the Acts who made silver
h 2

100

A COMMENT ON RUTH.

shrines for Diana, but Demetrius, 3 John 12, who
had a " good report of all men : " — every Ignatius
not imitate Ignatius Loyola the lame father of
blind obedience, but Ignatius the worthy martyr
in the primitive church. And if it should chance,
through the indiscretion of parents and god-
fathers, that a bad name should be imposed on
any, 0 let not "folly" be "with" them, because
Nabal is their name ; but in such a case let them
strive to falsify, disprove, and confute their names.
Otherwise, if they be good, they must answer
them.

In the days of Queen Elizabeth, there was a
royal ship called " The Revenge," which, having
maintained a long fight against a fleet of Spa-
niards, (wherein eight hundred great shot were dis-
charged against her,) was at last fain to yield : but
no sooner were her men gone out of her, and two
hundred fresh Spaniards come into her, but she
suddenly sunk them and herself; and so "The
Revenge " was revenged. Shall lifeless pieces of
wood answer the names which men impose upon
them, and shall not reasonable souls do the same ?
But, of all names, I pray God that never just
occasion be given that we be christened " Icha-
bod," but that the glory may remain in our Israel
so long as the faithful Witness endur h in
heaven. And so much of those words, " Call me
not Naomi, but," &c.

CHAPTER. 1% '

ioi

For the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me.

Afflictions relish sour and bitter even to the
palates of the best saints.

OBSERVATION.

Now bitter things are observed in physic to
have a double operation : first, to strengthen and
corroborate the liver ; and secondly, to cleanse
and wipe away choler, which cloggeth the
stomach. Both these effects afflictions by their
bitterness produce: they strengthen the inward
vitals of a Christian, his faith and patience ; and
cleanse God's saints from those superfluous excre-
ments which the surfeit of prosperity hath caused
in them. It may therefore serve to comfort such
as groan under God's afflicting hand. (Hebrews
xii. 11.) The book which St. John ate, (Rev. x.
10,) was " sweet " in his mouth, but " bitter " in
his belly : clean contrary, afflictions are bitter in
the mouth, but sweet in the belly ; God, by
sanctifying them, extracting honey out of gall,
and sugar out of wormwood. And let it teach us
also not to wonder if the children of God winch
[wince], and shrug, and make sour faces, when
afflicted. Wonder not at David, if he crieth out
in the anguish of his heart; at Job, if he com-
plaineth in the bitterness of his soul; at Jere-
miah, if he lamenteth in the extremity of his

,v

402 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

grief: for even then they are swallowing of a
potion which is bitter unto flesh and blood.

I went out full, and the Lord hath caused me to
return empty.

Here may we see the uncertainty of all outward
wealth.

OBSERVATION.

How quickly may a Crassus, or Croesus, be
turned into a Codrus ; the richest, into the poor-
est of men ! Whom the sun-rising seeth in
wealth, him the sun-setting may see in want.
Set not up then your horns so high, neither speak
presumptuous words, ye wealthy men ; for God, if
it pleaseth Him, can in a moment dispossess you
of all your riches. And let us all " not lay up
treasures here on earth, where rust and moths do
corrupt, and thieves break through and steal : but
lay up your treasure in heaven, where rust and
moth do not corrupt, and thieves do not break
through and steal."

Why call you me Naomi, sithence the Lord, &c.

The mention of their former wealth is grievous
to the godly, when they are in present poverty.

OBSERVATION.

When the children of Israel are captives in

CHAPTER /. I OS

Babylon, it cuts them to the heart to be twitted
with the songs of Sion. And it may teach this
point of wisdom to such as repair to give comfort
to men in affliction, not to mention that tedious
and ingrateful subject, what happiness that party
formerly enjoyed. Sum not up to Job in distress
the number of his camels ; tell not his sheep,
reckon not his oxen ; read not unto him an in-
ventory of those goods whereof he before was
possessed : for this will but add to his vexation.
Rather descend to apply solid and substantial
comfort unto him.

Sithence [Seeing] the Lord hath testified against me,
and the Almighty hath afflicted me ?

Every affliction is a witness that God is angry
with us for our sins.

OBSERVATION.

Who then is able to hold out suit with God in
the court of heaven ? For God Himself is both
Judge and Witness, and also the executor and in-
flicter of punishments. It is therefore impossible
for sinful man to plead with Him ; and it is our
most advised course, as soon as may be, to come
to terms of composition with Him, and to make
means unto Him through the mediation of our

104

A -COMMENT ON BUTH.

Saviour. Now, that all afflictions are immediately
inflicted by God, we have showed formerly.

And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of
barley harvest.

The Jews had two distinct harvests, of wheat
and barley ; and barley was the first. (2 Sam. xxi.
9.) So here we see the providence of God, in or-
dering and disposing the journey of Naomi, to end
it in the most convenient time. Had she come
before harvest, she would have been straitened for
means to maintain herself ; if after harvest, Ruth
had lost all those occasions which paved the way
to her future advancement. God therefore, who
ordered her going, concludes her journey in the
beginning of harvest.

And thus have we gone over this chapter. Now,
as Samuel, in the First Book, chap, vii., verse 12,
erected an altar, and called it Eben-ezer ; for, said
he, " Hitherto the Lord hath helped us : " so here
may I raise an altar of gratitude unto God, with
the same inscription : "Eben-ezer : Hitherto the
Lord of His goodness hath assisted us.53

CHAPTER II.

VERSES 1, 2.

And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a
mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elime-
lech ; and his name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, I pray
thee, let me go into the field, and gather ears of
corn after him in whose sight I find favour.
And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

This first verse presents us with two remark-
able things.

1. Poor Naomi was allied to powerful Boaz.

2. Boaz was both a powerful man, and a godly
man.

Of the first. Poor people may be allied and of
great kindred to those that are wealthy ; and
those that be wealthy, to such as are poor. Jo-
seph, though governor of Egypt, had poor Jacob
to his father, and plain shepherds to his brethren.
Esther, though queen to Ahasuerus, hath poor
Mordecai for her uncle.

USE I.

Let this confute such as having gotten a little

106 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

more thick clay than the rest of their family, the
getting of new wealth and honour makes them to
lose their old eyes, so that they cannot see and
discern their poor kindred afterwards. When
Joseph was governor of Egypt, it is said that he
knew his brethren, but his brethren knew not
him ; but now-a-days it happeneth clean contrary.
If one of a family be advanced to great honour, it
is likely that his kindred will know him, but he
oftentimes comes to forget them. Few there be
of the noble nature of the Lord Cromwell, who,
sitting at dinner with the lords of the council, and
chancing to see a poor man afar off which used to
sweep the cells and the cloisters, called for the
man, and told the lords, " This man's father hath
given me many a good meal ; and he shall not
lack so long as I live." *

USE II.

Let it teach those who are the top of their
kindred, the best of their house, to be thankful
to God's gracious goodness, who hath raised them
to such a height. He hath not dealt thus with
every one, neither are all of their kindred so well
provided for outward maintenance. And also let
them learn to be bountiful and beneficial to their
kindred in distress. Mordecai said to Esther,
(Esth. iv. 14,) u Who knoweth whether thou art

* Foxe, page 11S8.

CHAPTER II. 107

come to tlie kingdom for such a time ? " namely,
to deliver her countrymen the Jews from that
imminent danger.

So, who knoweth whether God hath raised thee
up, who art the best of thy kindred, to this very
intent, that thou mightest be the treasure and
the storehouse to supply the want of others which
are allied unto thee ? But if one should chance
to be of so wealthy a stock as that none of his
alliance stood in need of his charity, let such a
one cast his eye upon such as are of kindred unto
him by his second birth, and so he shall find
enough widows, orphans, and poor Christians, to
receive his liberality.

Notwithstanding, let poor people be wary and
discreet, that through their idleness they be not a
burden to wealthy men of their alliance. When a
husbandman claimed kindred in Grosted,* bishop
of Lincoln, and would fain on the instant turn a
gentleman, and to this end requested his lordship
to bestow an office upon him ; the bishop told him,
that if his plough were broken, he would mend it ;
if he wanted a plough, he would make him a new
one ; telling him withal, that he should by no
means leave that calling and vocation wherein
God had set him. So ought all poor people in-

* [Spelt variously by old writers, according as they inclined to an
English or French form of the name, — Grosthead, Grouthead, Grote-
head, and Grosseteste. — Ed ]

108 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

dustriously to take pains for themselves, and not
to give themselves over to ease, relying and de-
pending for their maintenance on their reference
and relation to a rich kinsman.

Come we now to the second observation, — that
the same man may be godly, and also mighty in
wealth, like Boaz. Behold your calling: " not many
wise," yet some wise, as Solomon, and Sergins
deputy of Cyprus; "not many rich," yet some
rich, as Abraham, Job ; " not many noble," yet
some noble, as Theophilus. For it is not the
having of wealth, but the having confidence in
wealth ; not the possessing ifc, but the relying on
it, which makes rich men incapable of the king-
dom of heaven : otherwise wealth well used is a
great blessing, enabling the owner to do God
more glory, the church and commonwealth more
good.

TJSE.

Let all wealthy men strive to add inward grace
unto their outward greatness. 0 'tis excellent
when Joash and Jehoiada meet together ; when
prince and priest, power and piety, are united in
the same person ; that so greatness may be sea-
soned and sanctified by grace, and grace credited
and countenanced by greatness ; that so kings
may be nursing-fathers, and queens nursing-
mothers, to Gad's church. Contrary to which,

CHAPTEE II. 109

how many be there, that think themselves pri-
vileged from being good, because they are great !
Confining Piety to hospitals, for their own parts
they disdain so base a companion. Hence, as
hills, the higher, the barrener ; so men commonly,
the wealthier, the worse ; the more honour, the
less holiness. And as rivers, when content with
a small channel, run sweet and clear ; when
swelling to a navigable channel, by the conflu-
ence of several tributary rivulets, gather mud and
mire, and grow salt and brackish, and violently
bear down all before them : so many men, who in
mean estates have been pious and religious, being
advanced in honour, and enlarged in wealth, have
grown both impious and profane towards God^
cruel and tyrannical over their brethren.

And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, I pray
thee, let me go into the field, and gather ears of
corn, See.

Herein two excellent graces appear in Ruth.

First, obedience : she would not go to glean,
without the leave of her mother-in-law. Verily,
I say unto you, I have not found so much duty,
no, not in natural daughters to their own mothers.
How many of them now-a-days, in matters of
more moment, will betroth and contract them-
selves, not only without the knowledge and con-

110 A COMMENT OX EUTH.

sent, but even against the express commands, of
their parents !

Secondly, see her industry, that she would con-
descend to glean. Though I think not, with the
Jewish Rabbins, that Ruth was the daughter to
Eglon, king of Moab ; yet no doubt she was de-
scended of good parentage, and now, see, fain to
glean. Whence we may gather, that those that
formerly have had good birth and breeding, may
afterward be forced to make hard shifts to main-
tain themselves. Musculus was forced to work
with a weaver, and afterwards was fain to delve
in the ditch about the city of Strasburg; as
Pantaleon in his Life. Let this teach even those
whose veins are washed with generous blood, and
arteries quickened with noble spirits, in their
prosperity to furnish, qualify, and accommodate
themselves with such gentile [gentle] arts and
liberal mysteries as will be neither blemish nor
burthen t<J> their birth ; that so, if hereafter God
shall cast them into poverty, these arts may
stand them in some stead towards their main-
tenance and relief.

And Naomi said. Go, my daughter.

See here how meekly and mildly she answers
her. The discourse of God's children, in their
ordinary talk, ought to be kind and courteous :

CHAPTER II. Ill

so betwixt Abraham and I?aac, Gen. xxii. 7 ;
betwixt Elkanah and Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 23. In-
deed, it is lawful and necessary for Jacob to chide
Rachel speaking unadvisedly ; (Gen. xxx. 2 ;) for
Job to say to his wife, " Thou speakest like a fool-
ish wife." But otherwise, when no just occasion
of anger is given, their words ought to be meek
and kind, like Naomi's, " Go, my daughter."

VERSES 3, 4.

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field
after the reapers : and it happened that she met
with the portion of the field of Boaz, who ivas
of the family of Elimelech.

And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said
unto the reapers, The Lord be with you ; and
they answered him, The Lord bless thee.

Formerly we have seen the dutifulness of Ruth,
which would not leave her mother until she had
leave from her mother. Proceed we now to her
industry, and God's providence over her. As the
star (Matt, ii.) guided the wise men to Judea, to
Bethlehem, to the inn, to the stable, to the manger ;
so the rays and beams of God's providence con-
ducted Ruth, that, of all grounds within the com-
pass and confines, within the bounds and borders
of Bethlehem, she lighted on the field of Boaz.

112 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

And it happened.

OBJECTION.

How comes the Holy Spirit to use this word ;
a profane term, which deserves to be banished out
of the months of all Christians? Are not all
things ordered by God's immediate providence,
without which "a sparrow lighteth not on the
ground ? " Is not that sentence most true ? —
" God stretcheth from end to end strongly, and
disposeth all things sweetly. Strongly, Lord, for
Thee ; sweetly, Lord, for me." So St. Bernard.
Or was the providence of God solely confined to
His people of Israel, that so Ruth, being a
stranger of Moab, must be left to the adventure
of hazard? How comes the Holy Spirit to use
this word, " hap ? "

ANSWER.

Things are said to " happen," not in respect of
God, but in respect of us ; because oftentimes they
come to pass, not only without our purpose and
forecast, but even against our intentions and de-
terminations. It is lawful therefore in a sober
sense to use these expressions, " It chanced," or,
" It fortuned." (Luke x. 31.) Nor can any just
exception be taken against those words in the
Collect, " Through all changes and chances of this

CHAPTER II. 113

mortal life : " provided always that in our forms
of speech we dream not of any heathen chance.
It is observed, that rvxn is not used in all the
works of Homer : but sure St. Austin, in the first
of his " Retractations/' complaineth, that he had
too often used the word fortuna ; and therefore,
in the pagans' sense thereof we ought to abstain
from it.

OBSERVATION.

Now whereas Ruth by chance lighteth on Boaz
his field, we may observe, Admirable is the pro-
vidence of God, in the ordering of contingent
events to His glory and His children's' good. The
Scripture swarmeth with precedents in this behalf,
which at this time I surcease to recite, and con-
clude with the Psalmist : " 0 Lord, how wonder-
ful are Thy works ! In wisdom hast Thou made
them all. The earth is full of Thy riches." To
which I may add : " O that men would therefore
praise the name of the Lord, and show forth the
wonderful works that He doth for the children of
men ! "

And, behold, Boaz came unto his reapers.

He had a man over them, yet himself came to
oversee them.

114 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

r

OBSERVATION.

Where note, it is the part of a thriving1 hus-
band, not to trust the care of his affairs to his
servants, bnt to oversee them himself. iC The
master's eye maketh a fat horse : " and one ask-
ing, what was the best compost to manure land,
it was answered, u The dust of the master's feet ;"
meaning, his presence to behold his own business.
Hushai would not counsel Absalom to let Ahitho-
phel go with his army, but advised him, " Thou
shalt go to battle in thine own person." However
he herein had a secret intent, yet thus far the
proportion Isolds: things thrive best, not when
they are committed to surrogates, deputies, dele-
gates, and substitutes ; but when men themselves
oversee them. Let masters therefore of families
carefully attend on their own business ; arid let
the daughters of Sarah, whom the meekness of
their sex hath privileged from following without-
doors affairs, imitate the wise woman, Proverbs
xxxi. 15, 27 : " She rises whiles as yet it is night,
and giveth her meat to her household, and their
portions to her maids. She looks well to all the
ways of her household, and eateth not the bread
of idleness." And such servants which have
careless masters, let them look better to their
masters' estate, than their masters do to their
own : let them be neither idle nor unfaithful in

CHAPTER II. 115

their place, knowing that though their earthly
master be negligent to eye them, yet they have a
Master in heaven who both beholds and will pu-
nish or reward them according to their deserts.
And as for the sons of the prophets, let them feed
the flock over which they are placed, and not
think to shuffle and shift off their care to their
curates and readers in their own unnecessary
absence. And yet how many are there, that
preach as seldom as Apollo laughs, — once in the
year ! Indeed, Elijah fasted forty days and forty
nights in the strength of one meal ; but surely
these think that their people can hold out fasting
a twelvemonth. Well, let them practise Boaz'
example : as they have curates, so had he one to
care for his affairs ; and yet, behold, in person he
comes forth unto his reapers.

And said unto them, The Lord he with you.

Observe, courteous and loving salutations be-
seem Christians. Indeed, our Saviour (Matt, x.)
forbade His disciples to salute any in the way :
but His meaning was, that they should not lag or
delay, whereby to be hindered from the service
wherein they were employed. And St. John, in
his Second Epistle, saith, that to some we must
not say, " God speed," lest we be made " par-
takers of their evil deeds : " but that is meant of
i 2

116 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

notorious sinners, which have discovered their
impious intents. It is commonly said, that the
small-pox is not infectious until it be broken out,
so that before the time one may safely converse,
eat, drink, lie with them ; but after the pox is
broken out, it is very dangerous : so we may
safely salute and exchange discourse with the
most wicked sinners, whiles yet they smother and
conceal their bad designs ; but when once they
declare and express them, then it is dangerous
to have any further familiarity with them; for
such Marcions (< the first-born of the devil," and
"the eldest son of Satan," are salutations good
enough.

USE.

Those are justly to be reproved, which lately
have changed all hearty expressions of love into
verbal compliments ; which etymology is not to
be deduced a completions mentis, but a complete
mentiri. And yet I cannot say, that these men
lie in their throat ; for I persuade myself, their
words never came so near their heart, but merely
they lie in their mouths, where all their pro-
mises—

" Both birth and burial in a breath they have ;
That mouth which is their womb, it is their
grave."

CHAPTER II. 117

Yea, those words which St. Paul to the
Corinthians thought to be the most affectionate
expression of love, is now made the word of
course, commonly bandied betwixt superficial
friends at the first encounter, — " Your Servant."
Worse than these are the ambitious saluters, like
Absalom, (2 Sam. xv. 4,) who at the same time, by
taking his father's subjects by their hands, stole
away their hearts ; and the lower his body did
couch, the higher his mind did aspire. Worst of
all is the treacherous salutation of Judas and
Joab, who at one instant pretend lip love, and
intend heart hatred ; who both kiss and kill, —
embrace another with their hands, and imbrue
their hands in his blood whom they embrace.

And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.

When one offers us a courtesy, especially being
our superior, it is fitting we should requite him.
It is a noble conquest for to be overcome with
wrongs ; but it is a sign of a degenerous nature
to be outvied with courtesies ; and therefore, if
one begin a kindness to us, let us (if it lie in our
power) pledge him in the same nature.

VERSES 5, 6, 7.

And Boaz said unto the servant which was appointed
over the reapers, WJwse is this maid ?

118 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

And the servant which was appointed over the
reapers answered and said, This is the Moab-
itish maid which came with Naomi from the
country of Moab ;

Which came and said, Let Trie gather, I pray, among
the sheaves after the reapers : and so she came,
and stayed here from morning until now ; only
she tarried a little in the house.

And Boaz sadd unto the servant which was appointed
over the reapers.

Here we learn, that it is a part of good hus-
bandry in a numerous family, to have one servant
as steward, to oversee the rest. Thus Abraham
had his Eliezer of Damascus ; Potiphar, his
Joseph ; Joseph, his man which put the cup into
Benjamin's sack ; Ahab, his Obadiah ; Hezekiah,
his Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.

OBSERVATION.

Let masters therefore, in choosing these
stewards to be set above the rest, take such as
are qualified like Jethro's description of inferior
judges, (Exod. xviii. 21,) " men of courage, fear-
ing God, dealing truly, hating covetousness."
And however they privilege them to be above the
rest of their servants, yet let them make them to
know their duty and their distance to their

CHAPTER II. 119

masters, lest that come to pass which Solomon
foretelleth, Prov. xxix. 21 : "He that bringeth
up his servant delicately in his youth, will make
him like his son at the last." Let stewards not
be like that unjust one in the Gospel, who made
his master's debtors write down fifty measures of
wheat, and fourscore measures of oil, when both
severally should have been a hundred; but let
them carefully discharge their conscience in that
office wherein they are placed : whilst inferior ser-
vants, that are under their command, must
neither grieve nor grudge to obey them, nor envy
at their honour. But let this comfort those
underlings, that if they be wronged by these
stewards, their appeal lies open from them to
their master, who, if good, will no doubt redress
their grievances.

Now if stewards be necessary in ordering of
families, surely men in authority are more neces-
sary in governing the church, and managing the
commonwealth. If a little cock-boat cannot be
brought up a tributary rivulet without one to
guide it, how shall a caravan,* a galleon, or
argosy, sailing in the vast ocean, be brought into
a harbour without a pilot to conduct it ? Let us
therefore with all willingness and humility submit
ourselves to our superiors, that so under them we

* [Sometimes used to denote a naval expedition. — Ed.]

120 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

" may live a peaceable life, in all godliness and
honesty."

Whose is this maid ?

Boaz would know what those persons were that
gleaned upon his land ; and good reason : for we
ought not to prostitute our liberality to all, though
unknown ; but first we must examine who, and
whence, they be ; otherwise, that which is given
to worthless persons, is not given, but thrown
away. I speak not this to blunt the charity of
any who have often bestowed their benevolence
upon beggars unknown and unseen before; bub
if easily and with conveniency (as Boaz could)
they may attain to know the qualities and con-
ditions of such persons, before they dispose their
liberality unto them.

And the servant which was appointed.

He herein performed the part of a careful
servant ; namely, fully to inform his master.
Servants ought so to instruct themselves as
thereby to be able to give an account to their
lords, when they shall be called thereunto, and
give them plenary satisfaction and contentment
in any thing belonging to their office, wherein
they shall be questioned. Now, whereas he doth
not derogate or detract from Ruth, though a
stranger, but sets her forth with her due commen-

CHAPTER II. 121

dation ; we gather, servants, when asked, ought
to give the pure character of poor people to their
masters, and no way to wrong or traduce them.

Which came and said, Let me gather, I pray.

See here Ruth's honesty; she would not pre-
sume to glean before she had leave. Clean
contrary is the practice of poor people now-a-days,
winch oft-times take away things not only
without the knowledge, but even against the will,
of the owners. The boy of the priest, (1 Sam. ii.
13-16,) when the sacrifice was in offering, used to
come with a flesh-hook of three teeth, and used
to cast it into the fat of the sacrifice, making that
his fee, which so he fetched out. If any gainsaid
him, he answered, " Thou shalt give it me now ;
or if thou wilt not, I will take it by force." Thus
poor people now-a-days, they cast their hook,
their violent hands, (gleaning the lean will not
content them,) into the fat, the best and principal
of rich men's estates ; and breaking all laws of
God and the king, they by main force draw it
unto themselves. Not so Ruth ; she would not
glean without leave.

And stayed herefrom morning until now.

See here her constancy in industry. Many are
very diligent at the first setting forth, for a fit and
a gird, for a snatch and away : but nothing-violent

122 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

is long permanent; they are soon tired, quickly
weary, and then turn from labour to laziness.
But Buth continued in her labour "from the
morning till now ; " till night, till the end of the
harvest. 0 that we would imitate the constancy
of Euth, in the "working out of our salvation
with fear and trembling ! " — not only to be in-
dustrious in the morning, when we first enter into
Christianity, but to hold out and to persevere even
to the end of our lives.

Only she tarried a little in the Jwuse.

No doubt some indispensable business detained
her there ; and probable it is that a principal
one was, to say her matins, to do her devotions,
commend herself with fervent pra}rer unto the
Lord, to bless her and her endeavours the day
following. " A whet is no let," saith the proverb :
mowers lose not any time which they spend in
whetting or grinding of their scythes. Our prayer
to God in the morning, before we enter on any
business, doth not hinder us in our day's work,
but rather whets it, sharpens it, sets an edge on
our dull souls, and makes our minds to undertake
our labours with the greater alacrity.

And here may I take just occasion to speak
concerning gleaning. Consider, First, the anti-
quity therefore, as being commanded by God,
Levit. xix. 9, and xxiii. 22. Secondly, consider

CHAPTER II. 123

the equity thereof: it doth the rich no whit of
harm; it doth the poor a great deal of good.
One may say of it, as Lot of Zoar, " Is it not a
little one, and my soul shall live ? " Is it not a
petty, a small, exile * courtesy, and the hearts of
poor people shall be comforted thereby ? Reliqmce
Danailm atqne immitis Achillis,f — the remnant
which hath escaped the edge of the scythes, and
avoided the hands of the reapers. Had our
reapers the eyes of eagles, and the claws of har-
pies, they could not see and snatch each scattered
ear, which may well be allowed for the relief of
the poor. When our Saviour said to the woman
of Syrophoenicia, M It is not good to take the
children's bread, and cast it to the dogs ; " she
answered, " Yea, Lord, but the dogs eat of the
children's crumbs that fall from their table." So,
if any misers mutter, " It is not meet that my
bread should be cast unto poor people, to glean
corn upon my lands ; " yea, but let them know
that poor people (which are no "dogs," but,
setting a little thick clay aside, as good as them-
selves) may eat the falling " crumbs," the scat-
tered ears, which they gather on the ground.

USE.

It may confute the covetousness of many, which

t

* [" Slender," " trifling ; " from the Latin ex'tlis. — Ed.]
t [Virgilii JSneid. i., 30 j in., 87 — Ed.j

124 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

repine that the poor should have any benefit by
them ; and are so far from suffering the poor to
glean, that even they themselves glean from the
poor, and speak much like to churlish Nabal : (1
Sam. xxv. 11 :) "Shall I take my wheat, my rye,
and my barley, which I have prepared for my
family, and give it to the poor, which I know not
whence they be ? " Yea, some have so hard
hearts that they would leave their grain to be
destroyed by beasts and vermin, rather than that
the poor should receive any benefit thereby.
Cruel people, which prefer their hogs before
Christ's sheep, mice before men, crows before
Christians !

But withal, poor people must learn this lesson,
to know the meaning of these two pronouns,
u mine " and " thine ; " what belongs to their rich
masters, and what pertains to themselves. The
sheep which had little spots, those were Jacob's
fee ; so the little spots, the loose, straggling, and
scattered ears, those are the poor's : but as for
the great ones, the handfuls, the armfuls, the
sheaves, the shocks, the cocks, these are none of
theirs, but the rich owner's ; and therefore let the
poor take heed how they put forth their hands to
their neighbours' goods.

MOTIVE.

One forcible motive to persuade the rich to

CHAPTER II. 125

suffer the poor to glean, may be this : Even the
greatest, in respect of God, is but a gleaner.
God, He is the Master of the harvest ; all gifts
and graces, they are His, in an infinite measure ;
and every godly man, more or less, gleans from
Him. Abraham gleaned a great glean of faith ;
Moses, of meekness ; Joshua, of valour ; Samson,
of strength ; Solomon, of wealth and wisdom ; St.
Paul, of knowledge, and the like. Now, if we
would be glad at our hearts that the Lord would
give us free leave and liberty for to glean graces
out of His harvest, let us not grudge and repine
that poor people glean a little gain from our
plenty. To conclude : when God hath multiplied
our " five loaves," that is, when of our little seed
He hath given us a great deal of increase, let poor
people, like Euth in the text, be the "twelve
baskets " which may take up the fragments of
gleanings which are left.

VERSES 8, 9, 10.

Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou, my daugh-
ter ? Go to no other field to gather, neither go
from hence, but abide here by my maidens :

Let thy eyes be on the field which they do reap, and
go after the maidens. Have I not charged the
servants that they touch thee not? Moreover,

126 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

when thou art thirsty, go unto the vessels, and
drink of that which the servants have drawn.
Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the
ground, and said unto him, Why have I found
favour in thy eyes, that thou shouldest know me,
since I am a stranger ?

Mothers and nurses are very careful tenderly to
handle infants when they are but newly born.
So Ruth: Christ was newly formed in her, a
young convert, a fresh proselyte; and therefore
Boaz useth her with all kindness, both in works
and words : " Hearest thou, my daughter ? "

OBSERVATION.

Aged persons may term younger people their
sons and daughters. (1 Sam. iii. 6.) And if they
were persons in authority, though they were well-
nigh equal in age, they used the same expression.
Thus Joseph to his brother Benjamin, Gen. xliii.
29 : " God be merciful to thee, my son." Let
young people therefore reverently observe their
duty and distance to their seniors in age, and
superiors in authority. Yet, I am afraid, men
keep not the method of Jacob's children, the eld-
est sitting down according to his age, and the
youngest according to his youth; but fulfil the
complaint of the prophet, " The young presume
against the aged, and the base against the

CHAPTER II. 127

honourable." Let aged persons strive to deserve
their respect, by demeaning themselves gravely,
and striving to add gracious hearts to grey hairs :
otherwise, if they discover any lightness, loose-
ness, wantonness in their carriage, young men
will hereupon take occasion, not only to slight
and neglect, but also to contemn and despise their
paternal distance and father-like authority.
Now, as for young ministers, they have not this
advantage, to speak unto young people in the
phrase of Boaz, w Hearest thou, my daughter ? "
but must practise St. Paul's precept, 1 Tim. v. 1 :
"Rebuke not an elder, but exhort him as a
father; and the younger men as brethren; the
elder women as mothers ; the younger as sisters,
in all pureness."

But abide here by my maidens.

OBSERVATION.

Hence we gather, 't is most decent for women to
associate and accompany themselves with those of
their own sex. Miriam, (Exod. xv. 20,) with a
feminine choir, u with timbrels and dances," an-
swered the men; and the disciples wondered
(John iv. 27) that Christ talked with a woman ;
showing hereby that it was not His ordinary
course to converse alone with one of another sex :
for herein the apostle's precept deserves to take

128 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

place, namely, to " avoid from all appearance of
evil."

Have I not commanded the servants that they should
not touch thee ?

Boaz liad just cause to fear lest some of his
servants might wrong her : to prevent which, he
gave them strict charge to the contrary.

OBSERVATION.

Here we see, that servile natures are most
prone and proclive to wrong poor strangers.
Indeed, generous spirits disdain to make those
the subjects of their cruelty, which rather should
be the objects of their pity : but it complies with
a servile disposition to tyrannize and domineer
over such poor people as cannot resist them.
Like petty brooks pent within a narrow channel,
on every dash of rain they are ready to overflow,
and wax angry at the apprehension of the small-
est distaste. The locusts, Rev. ix. 10, had " tails
like scorpions, and stings in their tails; " which
by some is expounded, that of those people which
are meant by the scorpions, the poorest were the
proudest; the meanest, the most mischievous;
the basest, the bloodiest. And surely he that
readeth the story of our English martyrs shall
find, that one Alexander, a jailor, and one
drunken Warwick, an executioner, were most

CHAPTER II. 129

basely and .barbarously cruel to God's poor
saints.

Secondly, from these words observe, that it is
the part of a good master not only to do no harm
himself, but also to take order that his servants
do none. (Gen. xii. 20; and xxvi. 11.) When
Elisha would take nothing of Naaman, (2 Kings
v. 20,) Gehazi said, " As the Lord liveth, I will run
after him, and take something of him." Thus
may base servants (if not prevented with a com-
mand to the contrary) wrong their most right and
upright masters, by taking gifts and bribes
privately. The water (though it ariseth out of a
most pure fountain) which runneth through mine-
rals of lead, copper, brimstone, or the like, hath
with it a strange taste and relish in the mouth. So
justice, which should run down like a stream,
though it ariseth out of a pure fountain, out of
the breast of a sincere and incorrupted judge ;
yet, if formerly it hath passed through the mines
of gold and silver, I mean, through bad servants,
who have taken bribes to prepossess the judge
their master with the prejudice of false informa-
tions, justice hereby may be strangely perverted
and corrupted. Many masters themselves have
been honest and upright, yet much wrong hath
been done under them by their wicked servants.
It is said of Queen Mary, that, for her own part,
she did not so much as bark ; but she had them

130 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

under her which did more than bite ; such were
Gardiner, Bonner, Story, Woodroffe, Tyrrell.
Now she should have tied up these ban-dogs, and
chained and fettered up these bloodhounds from
doing any mischief. Camden, in his Elizabetha,
in the year 1595, writeth thus of the then Lord
Chancellor of England : Ob sordes et corruptelas
famulorum in beneficiis ecclesiasticis nundinandis,
ipse vir integer ah ecclesiasticis hand bene audivit.
He ought to have imitated the example of Boaz,
not only to have done no harm himself, but also
to have enjoined the same to his servants:
u Have I not commanded my servants that they
should not touch thee ? "

Thirdly, in these words Boaz doth intimate, that
if he gave a charge to the contrary, none of his
servants durst presume once to molest her.

OBSERVATION.

Where we see, masters' commands ought to
sound [as] laws in the ears of their servants, if
they be lawful. Indeed, if Absalom (2 Sam. xiii.
28) saith to his servants, " Kill Amnon, fear not ;
for have I not commanded you ? " this command
did not oblige, because the thing enjoined was
altogether ungodly. Otherwise, men must imi-
tate the obedience of the centurion's servants ;
who said to the one, " Go," and he goeth ; and to
another, " Come," and he cometh ; and to his
servant, " Do this," and he doth it.

CHAPTER II. 131

COROLLARY.

Now, if we ought to be thus dutiful to our
earthly masters, surely, if the Lord of Heaven
enjoineth us any thing, we ought to do it without
any doubt or delay. Were there no hell to pun-
ish, no heaven to reward, no promises pronounced
to the godly, no threatenings denounced to the
wicked ; yet this is a sufficient reason to make us
do a thing, — because God hath enjoined it ; this a
convincing argument to make us refrain from it,
— because He hath forbidden it.

Then she fell on her face, and bowed.

QUESTION.

Was not this too much honour to give to any
mortal creature ? And doth it not come within
the compass of the breach of the second com-
mandment, " Thou shalt not bow down and wor-
ship them?" Especially seeing godly Mordecai
refused to bend his knee to Haman.

ANSWER.

Civil honour may and must be given to all in
authority, according to the usual gestures of the
country. Now such bowing was the custom of
the Eastern people. (Gen. xxxiii. 3.) As for
Mordecai' s instance, it makes not against this ;
he being therein either immediately warranted by
k 2

132 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

God ; or else he refused to bow to Ham an as
being an Am alekite, betwixt which cursed brood
and the Israelites the Lord commanded an eternal
enmity.

COROLLARY.

Now, if Ruth demeaned herself with such reve-
rent gesture to Boaz, how reverent ought our ges-
ture to be, when we approach into the presence of
God ! Indeed, » God is a Spirit," and He will be
worshipped " in spirit and truth ; " yet so that
He will have the outward decent posture of the
body to accompany the inward sincerity of the
soul.

And said, Why have I found favour ?

As if she had said, " When I reflect my eyes
upon myself, I cannot read in myself the smallest
worth, to deserve so great a favour from thy
hands ; and therefore I must acknowledge myself
exceedingly beholden to you. But principally I
lift up my eyes to the providence of the Lord of
Heaven : men's hearts are in His hand as ' the
rivers of water ; ' He * turneth them whither He
pleaseth.' He it is that hath mollified thy heart,
to show this undeserved kindness unto me."
Here we see Ruth's humility. Many now-a-days
would have made a contrary construction of Boaz
his charity, and reasoned thus : " Surely he seeth

CHAPTER II. 133

in me some extraordinary worth, whereof as yet I
have not taken notice in myself; and therefore
hereafter I will maintain a better opinion of my
own deserts." But Euth confesseth her own
nnworthiness : and from her example let us learn
to be humbly and heartily thankful to those which
bestow any courtesy or kindness upon us.

Since I am a stranger.

She amplifies his favour, from the indignity of
her own person, being a stranger.

COROLLARY.

0, then, if Ruth interpreted it such a kindness
that Boaz took notice of her, being a stranger ;
how great is the love of God to us, who loved us
in Christ when we were " strangers, and aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel ! " As the
never-failing foundation of the earth is firmly
fastened for ever fleeting, yet settled on no other
substance than its own ballasted weight ; so God's
love was founded on neither cause nor condition
in the creature, but issued only out of His own
free favour. So that in this respect we may all
say unto God what Euth doth unto Boaz in the
text, " Why have we found favour in Thine eyes,
that Thou shouldest take knowledge of us, seeing
we were but strangers ? "

134 A COMMENT ON KUTH,

VERSES 11, 12.

And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully
heen showed me, all that thou hast done unto
thy mother -in-law since the death of thine hus-
band; and how thou hast left thy father and
thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and
art come unto a people which thou knewest not
heretofore.

The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be
given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come to trust.

It hath been fully showed me, all.

More than probable it is, that Boaz had re-
ceived his intelligence immediately from Naomi.

OBSERVATION.

However, here we may see, the virtues of worthy
persons will never want trumpets to sound them
to the world. The Jews were the centurion's
trumpet to our Saviour ; (Luke vii. 5 ;) and the
widows, Dorcas her trumpet to St. Peter. (Acts ix.
39.) Let this encourage men in their virtuous
proceedings, knowing that their worthy deeds
shall not be buried in obscurity, but shall find
tongues in their lively colours to express them,
Absalom, having no children, and desirous to per-

CHAPTER II. 135

petuate his name, erected a a pillar in tlie king's
dale ; " and the same ee is called Absalom's pillar
unto this day." But the most compendious way
for men to consecrate their memories to eternity,
is to erect a pillar of virtuous deeds ; which shall
ever remain, even when the most lasting monu-
ments in the world shall be consumed, as not able
to satisfy the boulimee * of all-consuming Time.
And to put the worst, grant the envious men with
a cloud of calumnies should eclipse the beams of
virtuous memories from shining in the world, yet
this may be their comfort, that God, that " sees in
secret," will " reward them openly." Moreover,
it is the duty of such who have received courtesies
from others, to profess and express the same as
occasion shall serve ; that so their benefactors
may publicly receive their deserved commendation.
Thus surely Naomi had done by Euth ; from
whose mouth, no doubt, though not immediately,
her virtues were sounded in the ears of Boaz : " It
hath been fully showed me, all."

Here now followeth a summary, reckoning up of
the worthy deeds of Ruth ; which, because they
have been fully discoursed of in the former chap-
ter, it would be needless again to insist upon
them. Proceed we therefore to Boaz his prayer.

* [Boulimy, or bulimy, " ravenous appetite." — Ed.]

136 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

The Lord recompense thee.

As if he had said : " Indeed, Buth, that cour-
tesy which I afforded thee, to glean upon my land
without any disturbance, comes far short both of
thy deserts and my desires. All that I wish is
this, that what I am unable to requite, the Lord
Himself would ' recompense.' May He give thee
'a full reward' of graces internal, external,
eternal ; here, hereafter ; on earth, in heaven ;
while thou livest, when thou diest ; in grace, in
glory, ' a full reward.' "

Where first we may learn, that when we are
unable to requite people's deserts of ourselves, we
must make up our want of works with good
wishes to God for them. Indeed, we must not do
like those in the second of St. James, verse 16,
who only said to the poor, "Depart in peace;
warm yourselves, and fill your bellies," and yet
bestowed nothing upon them. We must not both
begin and conclude with good wishes, and do
nothing else ; but we must observe Boaz his
method : first, to begin to do good to those that,
being virtuous, are in distress ; and then, where
we fall short in requiting them, to make the rest
up with hearty wishes to God for them.

observation.

But the main observation is this : There is a

CHAPTER II.

137

recompence of a full reward upon the good works
of His servants. (Gen. xv. 1.) " Moreover by
them is Thy servant taught ; and in keeping them
there is great reward." (Psalm xix. 11.) Verily,
there is a reward for the righteous ; doubtless,
there is a God that judgeth the earth. Godliness
hath the promises of this life, and of the life to
come.

USE I.

It may serve to confute such false spies as raise
wrong reports of the land of Canaan, — of the
Christian profession ; saying with the wicked,
Mai. iii. 14, " It is in vain to serve God : and
what profit is it that we have kept His command-
ments, and that we have walked mournfully be-
fore the Lord of Hosts ? " Slanderous tongues !
which one day shall be justly fined in the Star-
Chamber of Heaven, ob scandala magnatum, for
slandering of God's noble servants, and their pro-
fession. For, indeed, the Christian life is most
comfortable : for we may both take a liberal por-
tion, and have a sanctified use of God's creatures :
besides, within we have peace of conscience, and
joy in the Holy Ghost, in some measure; one
dram whereof is able to sugar the most wormwood
affliction.

USE II.

When we beinn to feel ourselves to lag in
Christianity, let us spur on our affections with the

138 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

meditation of that " full reward " which we shall
in due time receive; with our Saviour, let us
" look to the joys which are set before " us ; and,
with Moses, let us have " an eye to the recom-
pence of reward ; " yet so that, though we look
at this reward, yet also we must look through it
and beyond it. This meditation of the reward is
a good place for our souls to bait at, but a bad
place for our souls to lodge in. We must mount
our minds higher, namely, to aim at the glory of
God ; at which all our actions must be directed,
though there were no reward propounded unto
them. Yet, since it is God's goodness to pro-
pound unto us a reward, over and besides His
own glory, this ought so much the more to incite
us to diligence in our Christian calling. For, if
Othniel (Judges i.) behaved himself so valiantly
against the enemies of Israel, in hope to obtain
Achsah, Caleb's daughter, to wife ; how valiantly
ought we to demean ourselves against our spirit-
ual enemies, knowing that we shall one day be
married unto our Saviour in eternal happiness !
And this is " a full reward."

OBJECTION.

But some may say, " These terms of e recom-
pence ' and ' reward ' may seem to favour the
Popish tenet, that our good works merit at God's
hand."

CHAPTER II. 139

ANSWEE.

Reward and recompence unto our good works
are not due unto us for any worth of our own, but
merely from God's free favour and gracious pro-
mise. For, to make a thing truly meritorious of
a reward, it is required, First, that the thing
meriting be our own, and not another's. Now
our best works are none of ours, but God's Spirit
in us. Secondly, it is requisite that we be not
bound of duty to do it. Now we are bound to do
all the good deeds which we do, and still remain
but " unprofitable servants." Thirdly, there
must be a proportion between the thing meriting,
and the reward merited. Now there is no pro-
portion between our stained and imperfect works,
(for such are our best,) and that infinite weight
of glory wherewith God will reward us. It re-
mains, therefore, that no reward is given us for
our own inherent worth, but merely for God's
free favour, who crowns His own works in us.

Under whose wings tlwu art come to trust

A metaphor : it is borrowed from a hen,
which with her clocking summons together her
straggling chickens, and then outstretcheth the
fan of her wings to cover them. Familiarly it is
used in Scripture ; and amongst other places, by
our Saviour, Matth. xxiii. 37 : " How oft would I

140 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

have gathered thee together, as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! "
And just it was with God, — because the foolish
chickens of the Jews would not come to Christ,
the hen, calling them, — to suffer them to be de-
voured by the eagle, the imperial army of the
Romans.

OBSERVATION.

God's love and care over His children is as
great as a hen's over her chickens. Now the
hen's wings do the chickens a double good.

First. They keep them from the kite. So God's
providence protecteth His servants from that kite,
the devil. For as the kite useth to fetch many
circuits and circles, and long hovers and nutters
round about, and at length, spying her advantage,
pops down on the poor chicken for a prey ; so the
devil, who, as it is Job i. 7, " compasseth the
earth to and fro, and walketh through it," and
at length, spying an opportunity, pitcheth and
settle th himself upon some poor soul, to devour it,
if the wings of God's providence (as the city of
refuge) do not rescue him from his clutches.

Secondly. The hen with her chickens broods
her chickens, and makes them thereby to thrive
and grow. In summer her wings are a canopy, to
keep her chickens from the heat of the scorching
sun ; and in winter they are a mantle, to defend

CHAPTER II. 141

them from the injury of the pinching cold. So
God's providence and protection makes His child-
ren to sprout, thrive, and prosper under it. In
prosperity God's providence keepeth them from
the heat of pride : in adversity, it preserveth
them from being benumbed with frozen despair.

USE.

Let us all then strive to run to hide ourselves
under the wings of the God of heaven. Hark
how the hen clocks in the Psalms : " Call upon
Me in the time of trouble, and I will hear thee,
and thou shalt praise Me." How she clocks in
the Canticles : " Eeturn, 0 Shulamite ; return,
return, that we may behold thee." How she
clocketh, Matth. vii. 7 : " Ask, and ye shall
have ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you." How she clocks, Matth. xi.
28 : " Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and
heavy laden, and I will ease you." Let not us
now be like sullen chickens, which sit moping
under a rotten hedge, or proating under an old
wood-pile, when the hen calleth them. Let not
us trust to the broken wall of our own strength,
or think to lurk under the tottering hedge of our
own wealth, or wind-shaken reeds of our uncon-
stant friends ; but fly to God, that He may
stretch His wings over us, as the cherubim did
over the mercy-seat. And as always in day-time,

142 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

so especially at night, when we go to bed, (for
chickens, when going to roost, always run to the
hen,) let us commend ourselves with prayer to
His providence, that He would be* pleased to pre-
serve us from the dangers of the night ensuing ;
" trusting," with Ruth in the text, " under the
wings of the Lord God of Israel.

VERSES 13, 14.

Then she said, Let me find favour in the sight of my
lord ; for thou hast comforted me, and spoken
comfortably unto thy maid, though I be not like
to one of thy maids.

And Boaz said unto her, At the meal-time come thou
hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel
in the vinegar. And she sate beside the
reapers : and he reached her parched corn ; and
she did eat, and was sufficed, and left thereof.

Boaz had formerly called Ruth " daughter ; "
now Ruth styleth him " lord." When great ones
carry themselves familiarly to meaner persons,
meaner persons must demean themselves respect-
ively [respectfully] to great ones. Indeed, with
base and sordid natures familiarity breeds con-
tempt ; but ingenuous natures will more awfully
observe their distance towards their superiors, of
whom they are most courteously entreated. And
if great personages should cast up their accounts,

CHAPTER II. 143 •

they should find themselves, not losers, but gainers
of honour, by their kind usage of their inferiors.
Those stars seem to us the greatest, and shine the
brightest, which are set the lowest. Great men,
which sometimes stoop, and stoop low, in their
humble carriage to others, commonly get the
greatest lustre of credit and esteem in the hearts
of those that be virtuous.

And spoken comfortably unto thy maid.

In Hebrew, u hast spoken unto the heart." A.
comfortable speech is a word spoken to the heart.

MEDITATION.

0 that ministers had this faculty of Boaz his
speech ! not to tickle the ears, teach the heads, or
please the brains of the people, but that their
sermons might soak and sink to the root of their
hearts. Bat though this may be endeavoured by
them, it cannot be performed of them without
God's special assistance. We may leave our
words at the outward porch of men's ears ; but
His Spirit must conduct and lodge them in the
closet of their hearts.

Though I be not like to one of thy maids. ^s.

Meaning, because she was a Moabitess, a )
stranger and alien, they natives of the common-
wealth of Israel. In this respect she was far
their inferior.

144 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

OBSERVATION.

The godly ever conceive very humbly and
meanly of themselves : Moses, Exod. iv. 10 ;
Gideon, Judg. vi. 15 ; Abigail, 1 Sam. xxv. 41 ;
Isaiah, vi. 5 ; Jeremiah, i. 6 ; John Baptist,
Matth. iii. 11 ; [Paul], 1 Tim. i. 15. And the
reason hereof is, because they are most privy
to and sensible of their own infirmities ; their
corruptions, which cleave unto them, are ever be-
fore their eyes. These black feet abate their
thoughts, when puffed up with pride for their
painted train of other graces. On the other side,
the wicked set ever the greatest price on their
own worth : they behold their own supposed vir-
tues through magnifying glasses, and think with
Haman, that none deserves better to be honoured
by the king but themselves.

USE.

Let us endeavour to obtain humility with Euth ;
a virtue of most worth, and yet which costeth
least to keep. Yet notwithstanding, it is both
lawful and needful for us to know our own worth,
and to take an exact survey of those graces which
God hath bestowed upon us. First, that we may
know thereby the better to proportion our thanks
to God. Secondly, that we may know how much
good the church and commonwealth expecteth to

CHAPTER II. 145

be performed by us. And lastly, that if any
should basely insult and domineer over us, we may
in humility stand upon the lawful justification of
ourselves, and our own sufficiency, as St. Paul did
against the false apostles at Corinth ; always pro-
vided that we give God the glory, and profess
ourselves to be but " unprofitable servants."

And Boaz said unto her, At the meal time come thou
hither, and eat of the bread.

Two things herein are commendable in Boaz,
and to be imitated by masters of families.

First : That he had provided wholesome and
competent food for his own servants. So ought
all householders to do. And herein let them pro-
pound God for their president [precedent] ; for
He maintaineth the greatest family ; all creatures
are His servants, and t€ He giveth them meat in
due season; He openeth His hand, and filleth
with His blessing every living thing."

Secondly: As Boaz provided meat for his
servants, so he allowed them certain set conveni-
ent times wherein they might quietly eat their
meat. But as the people of the Jews pressed so
fast upon our Saviour (Mark iii. 20) that He had
not so much leisure as to " eat bread," and take
necessary sustenance ; so, such is the gripple *
nature of many covetous masters, that they will

* ["Griping," "grasping," "stingy." — Ed.]
L

146 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

so task and tie their servants to their work, as not
to afford them seasonable respite to feed them-
selves.

And dip thy morsel in the vinegar.

OBSERVATION.

The fare of God's servants in ancient time,
though wholesome, was very homely. Here they
had only bread and vinegar, and parched corn.
For a thousand five hundred and sixty years the
world fed upon herbs ; and the Scripture maketh
mention since of mean and sparing fare of many
godly men. It may therefore confute the gluttony
and epicurism of our age, consisting both in the
superfluous number of dishes, and in the unlaw-
ful nature of them. We rifle the air for dainty
fowl ; we ransack the sea for delicious fish ; we
rob the earth for delicate flesh, to suspend the
doubtful appetite betwixt variety of dainties.
As for the nature of them, many are mere
needless whetstones of hunger, which, instead of
satisfying, do increase it. And as in the Spanish
Inquisition such is their exquisite cruelty, that,
having brought one to the door of death by their
tortures, they then revive him by cordials ; and
then again, re-killing him with their torments,
fetch him again with comfortable things ; thus
often re-iterating their cruelty : so men, having

CHAPTER II. 147

killed their appetite with good cheer, seek with
dishes made for the nonce to enliven it again, to
the superfluous wasting of God's good creatures,
and much endamaging the health of their own
bodies. Bat, leaving them, let us be content with
that competent food which God hath allotted us,
knowing that " better is a dinner of herbs with
peace, than a stalled ox with strife ; " and God,
if it pleaseth Him, can so bless Daniel's pulse unto
us, that by mean fare we shall be made more
strong and healthful than those who surfeit on
excess of dainties.

And she did eat, and was sufficed.

It is a great blessing of God, when He gives
such strength and virtue to His creatures as to
satisfy our hunger; and the contrary is a great
punishment : for as, (1 Kings i. 1,) when they
heaped abundance of clothes on aged King
David, yet his decayed body felt no warmth
at all ; so God so curseth the meat to
some, that though they cram down never so
much into their bellies, yet still their hunger
increaseth with their meat, and they find that
nature is not truly contented and satisfied
therewith.

And left thereof.

Hence we learn, the overplus which remaineth
l 2

148 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

after we have fed ourselves, must neither be
scornfully cast away, nor carelessly left alone, but
it must be thriftily kept ; imitating herein the
example of our Saviour ; who, though He could
make five loaves swell to sufficient food for five
thousand men, yet gave He command, that a the
fragments " should be carefully basketed up.

VERSES 15, 16, 17.

And when she arose to glean, Boaz commanded his

servants, saying, Let her gather among the

sheaves, and do not rebuke her :
Also let fall some of the sheaves for her, and let it

lie, that she may gather it up, and rebuke her

not.
So she gleaned in the field until evening, and she

threshed that she had gathered: and it was

about an ephah of barley.

Before I enter into these words, behold, an
objection stands at the door of them, which must
first be removed.

OBJECTION.

One may say to Euth, as our Saviour to the
young man in the Gospel, " One thing is want-
ing." Here is no mention of any grace she said
to God either before or after meat.

CHAPTER II. 149

ANSWER.

Charity will not suffer me to condemn Euth of
forgetfulness herein. She who formerly had been
so thankful to Boaz, the conduit pipe, how can
she be thought to be ungrateful to God, the
Fountain of all favours? Rather I think it is
omitted of the Holy Spirit to be written down ;
who, had He registered each particular action of
God's saints, (as it is John xxi. 25,) u the world
would not have been able to contain the books
which should be written."

Let none therefore take occasion to omit this
duty, because here not specified ; rather let them
be exhorted to perform it, because in other places
it is both commanded by precept, and commended
by practice. (Deut. viii. 10; 1 Cor. x. 31.) Yea,
in the twenty-seventh of the Acts, the mariners
and soldiers, (people ordinarily not very reli-
gious,) though they had fasted fourteen days
together, yet none of them were so unmannerly,
or rather so profane, as to snatch any meat,
before St. Paul had given " thanks." Let us not,
therefore, be like Esau, who, instead of giving a
blessing to God for his pottage, sold his blessing
to his brother for his pottage ; but, though our
haste or hunger be never so great, let us dispense
with so much time as therein to crave a blessing
from God, wherein His creatures are sanctified ;
as no doubt Euth did, though not recorded.

150 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

And when she arose to glean.

The end of feeding is to fall to onr calling.
Let us not, therefore, with Israel, sit down to eat
and to drink, and so rise up again to play ; but
let us eat to live, not live to eat. 'T is not matter,
we need not make the clay cottage of our body
much larger than it is by immoderate feasting :
it is enough if we maintain it so with competent
food, that God, our Landlord, may not have just
cause to sue us for want of reparations.

Boaz commanded his servants, saying, Let her gather
among the sheaves, and do not rebuke her.

OBSERVATION.

It is lawful for us, according to our pleasure, to
extend our favours more to one than to another.
Ruth alone, not all the gleaners, was privileged to
gather among the sheaves uncontrolled. Give
leave to Jacob to bequeath a double portion to
Joseph, his best beloved son ; for Joseph to make
the mess of Benjamin five times greater than any
other of his brethren ; for Elkanah to leave a
worthier portion to Hannah than to Peninnah.
The reason is, because there can be no wrong
done in those things which are free favours. I
am not less just to him, to whom I give less ; but
I am more merciful to him, to whom I give more.
Yet, in the dealing and distributing of liberality,

CHAPTER II. 151

let those of the family of faith be especially re-
spected ; and of these, those chiefly which, as the
apostle saith, are worthy of a " double honour."

COROLLARY.

Shall it not therefore be lawful for the Lord of
Heaven to bestow wealthy honour, wisdom,
effectual grace, blessings outward and inward, on
one, and deny them to another ? You, therefore,
whom God hath suffered to glean among the
sheaves, and hath scattered whole handfuls for
you to gather; you that abound and flow with
His favours, be heartily thankful unto Him. He
hath not dealt so with every one, neither have all
such a large measure of His blessings. And ye
common gleaners, who are fain to follow far after,
and glad to take up the scattered ears, who have
a smaller proportion of His favour, be neither
angry with God, nor grieved at yourselves, nor
envious at your brethren; but be content with
your condition. It is the Lord, and let Him do
what is good in His eyes. Shall not He have
absolute power to do with His own what He
thinketh good, when Boaz can command that
Ruth, and no other, may glean among the sheaves
without " rebuke ? "

Had the servants of Boaz, without express war-
rant and command from their master, scattered
handfuls for her to glean, their action had not

152 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

been charit y, but flat theft and robbery ; for they
were to improve their master's goods to his great-
est profit. On the other side, it had been a great
fault to withhold and withdraw anything from
her, which their master commanded them to give.
Yet, as the unjust steward in Luke made his
master's debts to be less than they were, so many
servants now-a-days make their master's gifts to
be less than they are, giving less than he hath
granted, and disposing less than he hath directed.
Men commonly pay toll for passing through great
gates, or over common bridges : so, when the
liberality of masters goeth through the gate of
their servants' hands, and bridges of their fingers,
it is constrained to pay tribute and custom to
their servants, before it cometh to those poor to
whom it was intended. Thus many men make
the augmentation of their own estates from the
diminution of their master's bounty.

QUESTION.

But some may say, " Why did not Boaz bestow
a quantity of corn upon Euth, and so send her
home unto her mother ? "

ANSWER.

He might have done so, but he chose rather to
keep her still a working. Where we learn, that
is the best charity which so relieves people's

CHAPTER II. 153

wants as that they are still continued in their
calling. For, as he who teacheth one to swim,
though happily [haply] he will take him by the
chin, yet he expecteth that the learner shall
nimbly ply the oars of his hands and feet, and
strive and struggle with all his strength to keep
himself above water : so those who are beneficial
to poor people, may justly require of them that
they use both their hands to work and feet to go
in their calling, and themselves take all due
labour, that they may not sink in the gulf of
penury. Relieve a husbandman, yet so as that he
may still continue in his husbandry ; a tradesman,
yet so as he may still go on in his trade ; a poor
scholar, yet so as he may still proceed in his
studies. Hereby the commonwealth shall be a
gainer. Drones bring no honey to the hive ; but
the painful hand of each private man contributes
some profit to the public good. Hereby the able
poor, the more diligent they be, the more bounti-
ful men will be to them ; while their bodies are
freed from many diseases, their souls from many
sins, whereof idleness is the mother. Laziness
makes a breach in our soul, where the devil doth
assault us with greatest advantage ; and when we
are most idle in our vocations, then he is most
busy in his temptations. A reverend minister
was wont to say, that the devil never tempted
him more than on Mondays, when (because his

154 A COMMENT ON EUTH.

former week's task was newly done, and that for
the week to come six days distant) he took most
liberty to refresh himself.

Since, therefore, so much good cometh from
industry, I could wish there were a public vine-
yard, into which all they should be sent, who
stand lazing in the market place till the eleventh
hour of the day. Would all poor and impotent
were well placed in a hospital ; all poor and able
well disposed in a workhouse ; and the common
stocks of towns so laid out as they thereby might
be employed !

So she gleaned in the field until evening.

The night is only that which must end our
labours : only the evening must beg us a play, to
depart out of the school of our vocation, with pro-
mise next morning to return again : ce Man goeth
out to his labour until evening." Let such then
be blamed, who in their working make their night
to come before the noon, each day of their labour
being shorter than that of St. Lucy [Luke] ; and
after a spurt in their calling for some few hours,
they relapse again to laziness.

And she threshed what she had gathered.

The materials of the temple were so hewed and
carved, both stone and wood, before that they
were brought unto Jerusalem, that there was not

CHAPTER IT. 155

so much as the noise of a hammer heard in the
temple. So Ruth fits all things in a readiness,
before she goes home : what formerly she gleaned,
now she threshed ; that so no noise might be
made at home, to disturb her aged mother. Here
we see God's servants, though well descended,
disdain not any homely, if honest, work for their
own living. Sarah kneaded cakes ; Rebekah
drew water ; Rachel fed sheep, Tamar baked
cakes. Suetonius reporteth of Augustus Csesar,
that he made his daughters to learn to spin ; and
Pantaleon relates the same of Charles the Great.
Yet now-a-days (such is the pride of the world)
people of far meaner quality scorn so base
employments.

And it was about an ephah of barley.

An"ephah" contained ten " omers." (Exod.
xvi. 36.) An " omer " of manna was the propor-
tion allowed for a man's one day meat. Thus
Ruth had gleaned upon the quantity of a bushel :
such was her industry, in diligent bestirring her-
self; Boaz his bounty, in scattering for her to
gather ; and, above all, God His blessing, who
gave so good success unto her. Ruth, having
now done gleaning, did not stay behind in the
field, as many now-a-days begin their work when
others end ; if that may be termed work, to filch
and steal ; as if the dark night would be a veil to

156 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

cover their deeds of darkness : but home she
hasteneth to her mother, as followeth.

VERSES 18, 19.

And she took it up, and went into the city : and her
mother-in-law saw what she had gathered : also
she took forth, and gave to her that which she
had reserved when she was sufficed.

Then her mother-in-law said unto her, Wliere hast
thou gleaned to-day ? and where wroughtest
thou ? Blessed be he that knew thee. And she
showed her mother-in-law with whom she had
wrought, and said, The man's name with whom
I wrought to-day is Boaz.

And she took it up.

See here, the shoulders of God's saints are
wonted to the bearing of burthens. Little Isaac
carried the faggot wherewith himself was to be
sacrificed ; our Saviour, His own cross, till His
faintness craved Simon of Cyrene to be His suc-
cessor. Yet, let not God's saints be disheart-
ened : if their Father hath a " bottle," wherein
He puts the tears which they spend, sure He
hath a balance, wherein He weighs the burthens
which they bear ; He keeps a note, to what weight
their burthens amount, and, no doubt, will accord-
ingly comfort them.

CHAPTER II. 157

Those are to be confuted who, with the scribes,
(Matt, xxiii. 4,) " bind heavy burthens and grievous
to be borne, and lay them on the backs of others ;
but for their own part they will not so much as
touch them with one of their fingers." Yea,
some are so proud that they will not carry their
own provender, things for their own sustenance.
Had they been under Euth's ephah of barley,
with David in Saul's armour, they could not
have gone under the weight of it, because never
used unto it.

And her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered.

Namely, Euth showed it unto her, and then
Naomi saw it. Children are to present to their
parents' view all which they get by their own
labour. Otherwise do many children now-a-days.
As Ananias and Sapphira brought "part of the
money, and deposed it at the apostles' feet," but
reserved the rest for themselves ; so they can be
be content to show to their parents some parcel
of their gains, whilst they keep the remnant
secretly to themselves.

Also she took forth, and gave to her.

Learn we from hence, children, if able, are to
cherish and feed their parents, if poor and aged.
Have our parents performed the parts of pelicans

158 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

to us ? lei us do the duty of storks to them.
Would all children would pay as well for the
party-coloured coats which their parents do give
them, as Joseph did for his, who maintained his
father and his brethren in the famine in Egypt !
Think on thy mother's sickness, when thou wast
conceived ; sorrow, when thou wast born ;
trouble, when thou wast nursed. She was cold,
whilst thou wast warm ; went, whilst thou layest
still ; waked, whilst thou sleptest ; fasted, whilst
thou feddest. These are easier to be conceived
than expressed, easier deserved than requited.
Say not, therefore, to thy father according to
the doctriiie of the Pharisees, Corban, "It is a
gift, if thou profitest by me ; " but confess that
it is a true debt, and thy bounden duty, if thou
beest able, to relieve them. So did Ruth to
Naomi, who was but her mother-in-law.

Which she had reserved when she was sufficed.

OBSERVATION.

We must not spend all at once, but providently
reserve some for afterwards : we must not speak
all at once, without Jesuitical reservation of some
things still in our hearts ; not spend all at once,
without thrifty reservation of something still in
our hands. Indeed, our Saviour saith, " Care
not for to-morrow ; for to-morrow shall care for

CHAPTER II. 159

itself:" but that is not meant of the care of
providence, which is lawful and necessary ; but of
the care of diffidence, which is wicked and
ungodly. Those are to be blamed which, as
Abishai said to David concerning Saul, "I will
strike him but once, and I will strike him no
more ; " so many men, with one act of prodigality,
give the bane and mortal wound to their estates ;
with one excessive feast, one costly suit of clothes,
one wasteful night of gaming, they smite their
estates under the fifth rib, which always is mortal
in Scripture, so that it never reviveth again.
But let us spare where we may, that so we may
spend where we should : in the seven years of
plenty let us provide for the seven years of famine ;
and to make good construction of our estates, let
us as well observe the future as the present
tense.

Then her mother-in-law said unto her. Where hast
thou gleaned to-day ? <

These words were not uttered out of jealousy,
as if Naomi suspected that Ruth had dishonestly
come by her corn ; (for charity is not suspicious,
but ever fastens the most favourable comments
upon the actions of those whom it affects ;) but
she did it out of a desire to know who had been
so bountiful unto her. Yet hence may we learn,
that parents, after the example of Naomi, may

160 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

and ought to examine their children, how and
where they spend their time: for hereby they
shall prevent a deal of mischief, whilst their
children shall be more watchful what company
they keep, as expecting with fear at night to be
examined. Neither can such fathers be excused,
who never say to their children, as David to
Adonijah, " Why doest thou so ? " but suffer
them to rove and range at their own pleasure.
" Am I," say they, " my son's keeper ? He is old
enough, let him look after himself."

Now, as for those Joashes, whose Jehoiadas are
dead, — those young men whose friends and fathers
are deceased, — who now must have reason for
their ruler, or rather grace for their guide and
governor ; let such know, that indeed they have
none to ask them, as the angel did Hagar,
u Whence comest thou, and whither goest thou ? "
— none to examine them, as Eliab did David,
" Wherefore art thou come down hither ? " — none
to question them, as Naomi did Euth, " Where
wroughtest thou to-day ? " But now, as St. Paul
said of the Gentiles, that, "having no law," they
were " a law unto themselves ; " so must such
young persons endeavour that, having no ex-
aminers, they may be examiners to themselves,
and at night, accordingly as they have spent their
time, either to condemn or acquit their own
actions.

CHAPTER II. 161

Blessed be he that knew thee.

1 Kings xxii., the man shot an arrow at un-
awares, yet God directed it to the chink of the
armour of guilty Ahab. But Naomi doth here
dart and ejaculate out a prayer, and that at
rovers, aiming at one particular mark : " Blessed
be he that knew thee : " yet, no doubt, was it not
in vain ; but God made it light on the head of
bountiful Boaz, who deserved it.

Learn we from hence, upon the sight of a good
deed, to bless the doer thereof, though by name
unknown unto us. And let us take heed that we do
not recant and recall our prayers, after that we
come to the knowledge of his name ; as some do,
who, when they see a laudable work, willingly
commend the doer of it ; but after they come to
know the author's name, (especially if they be
prepossessed with a private spleen against him,)
they fall then to derogate and detract from the
action, quarrelling with it as done out of ostenta-
tion, or some other sinister end.

And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she
had wrought.

Children, when demanded, are truly to tell their
parents where they have been. Rather let them
hazard the wrath of their earthly father by tell-

162 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

ing the truth, than adventure the displeasure of
their heavenly Father by feigning a lie. Yet, as
David, when Achish asked him where he had been,
(1 Sam. xxvii. 10,) told him that he had been
" against the south of Judah, and against the
south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the
south of the Kenites ; " when indeed he had been
the clean contrary way, " invading the Geshurites,
and Gezrites, and the Amalekites : " so many child-
ren flap their parents in the mouth with a lie, that
they have been in their study, in their calling, in
good company, or in lawful recreations ; when the
truth is, they have been in some drinking school,
tavern, or alehouse, misspending of their precious
time. And many serve their masters as Gehazi
did the prophet ; who, being demanded, answered,
u Thy servant went no whither," when he had
been taking a bribe of Naaxnan,

The man's name with whom I wrought to-day is Boaz.

We ought to know the names of such who are
our benefactors. Those are counted to be but
basely born, who cannot tell the names of their
parents ; and surely those are but of a base nature,
who do not know the names of their patrons and
benefactors. To blame therefore was that lame
man cured by our Saviour, (John v. 13,) of whom
it is said, " And he that was healed knew not the

CHAPTER II. 163

name of Him that said unto him, Take up thy
bed, and walk." Yet let not this discourage the
charity of any benefactors, because those that
receive their courtesies oftentimes do not remem-
ber their names. Let this comfort them, — though
they are forgotten by the living, they are remem-
bered in the Book of Life. The Athenians out ot
superstition erected an altar with this inscription,
" Unto the unknown God : " but we out of true
devotion must erect an altar of gratitude to the
memory, not of our once unknown, but now for-
gotten benefactors, whose names we have not been
so careful to preserve as Ruth was the name of
Boaz : " And the man's name was Boaz."

VERSE 20.

And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be
he of the Lord ; for he ceaseth not to do good to
the living and to the dead. Again Naomi said
unto her, The man is near unto us, and of our
affinity.

These words consist of three parts. 1. Naomi's
praying for Boaz. 2. Her praising of Boaz. 3.
Her reference and relation unto Boaz. Of the
first: —

164 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

Blessed be he of the Lord.

The Lord is the Fountain from whom all bless-
edness flows. Indeed, Jacob blessed his sons ;
Moses, the twelve tribes ; the priests, in the law,
the people : but these were but the instruments,
God the Principal ; these the pipe, God the Foun-
tain ; these the ministers to pronounce it, God the
Author who bestowed it.

For he ceaseth not.

OBSERVATION.

Naomi never before made any mention of Boaz,
nor of his good deeds ; but now, being informed
of his bounty to Ruth, it puts her in mind of his
former courtesies. Learn from hence, new favours
cause a fresh remembrance of former courtesies.
Wherefore, if men begin to be forgetful of those
favours which formerly we have bestowed upon
them, let us flourish and varnish over our old
courtesies with fresh colours of new kindnesses ;
so shall we recall our past favours to their memories.

USE.

When we call to mind God's staying of His kill-
ing angel, anno 1625,"* let that mercy make us to

* [This " killing angel " was the plague, which in London swept off
35,417 persons in the summer of 1625. — Ed.]

CHAPTER II. 165

be mindful of a former, — His safe bringing back
of our (then prince, now) king from Spain ; * when
the pledge of our ensuing happiness was pawned
in a foreign country. Let this blessing put us in
mind of a former, — the peaceable coming in of our
gracious sovereign, of happy memory, f when the
bounds of two kingdoms were made the middle of
a monarchy. Stay not here, let thy thankfulness
travel further. Call to mind the miraculous pro-
vidence of God in defending this land from inva-
sion in '88. On still : be thankful for God's good-
ness in bringing Queen Elizabeth to the crown,
when our kingdom was like the woman in the
Gospel, " troubled with an issue of blood," (which
glorious martyrs shed,) but stanched at her
arriving at the sceptre. We might be infinite in
prosecution of this point : let present favours of
God renew the memories of old ones, as the
present bounty of Boaz to Ruth made Naomi
remember his former courtesies : " For he ceaseth
not to do good to the living and the dead."

He ceaseth not.

Our deeds of piety ought to be continued with-

* [Charles I. is the king here alluded to ; our author retaining the
language of his Lectures, delivered at Camhridge in 1630-1, although
Charles had long been dead when the Lectures were printed and pub-
lished as a "Comment." — Ed.]

f [James I. of England and VI. of Scotland.— Ed.]

166 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

out interruption or ceasing. Some men there be,
whose charitable deeds are as rare as an eclipse or
a blazing star. These men deserve to be par-
doned for their pious deeds, they are so seldom
guilty of them. With Nabal, they prove them-
selves by excessive prodigality at one feast : but
he deserves the commendation of a good house-
keeper, who keeps a constant table, who, with
Boaz, " ceaseth not to do good."

To the dead.

The meaning is, to those who now are dead,
but once were living; or to their friends and
kindred. Whence we learn, mercy done to the
kindred of the dead is done to the dead them-
selves. Art thou, then, a widower, who desirest
to do mercy to thy dead wife ; or a widow, to thy
dead husband; or a child, to thy deceased pa-
rent ? I will tell thee how thou mayest express
thyself courteous. Hath thy wife, thy husband,
or thy parent, any brother, or kinsman, or friends
surviving ? be courteous to them ; and, in so
doing, thy favours shall redound to the dead.
Though old Barzillai be uncapable of thy favours,
let young Chimham taste of thy kindness.
Though the dead cannot, need not have thy
mercy, yet may they receive thy kindness by a
proxy, — by their friends that still are living.

Mercy, then, to the dead makes nothing for the

CHAPTER II. 167

Popish piirgator}r ; and yet no wonder if the
Papists fight for it. 'T is said of Sicily and
Egypt, that they were anciently the barns and
granaries of the city of Eome : but now-a-days
purgatory is the barn of the Romish court, yea,
the kitchen, hall, parlour, larder, cellar, chamber,
every room of Rome. David said, (2 Sam. i. 24,)
" Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, which
clothed you in scarlet with pleasure, and hanged
ornaments of gold upon your apparel : " but
should purgatory once be removed, weep, pope,
cardinals, abbots, bishops, friars ; for that is gone
which maintained your excessive pride. When
Adonijah sued for Abishag the Shunammite,
Solomon said to his mother, " Ask for him the
kingdom also." But if once the Protestants
could wring from the Papists their purgatory,
nay, then would they say, " Ask the triple crown,
cross keys, St. Angelo, Peter's Patrimony, and
all." In a word, were purgatory taken away, the
pope himself would be in purgatory, as not know-
ing which way to maintain his expensiveness.

The man is near unto us, and of our affinity.

Naomi never before made any mention of Boaz.
Some, had they had so rich a kinsman, all their
discourse should have been a survey and inventory
of their kinsman's goods ; they would have made
an occasion at every turn to be talking of them.

168 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

Well, though ^Naomi did not commonly brag of
her kinsman, yet, when occasion is offered, she is
bold to challenge her interest in him.

OBSERVATION.

Poor folks may with modesty claim their
indred in their rich alliance. Let not therefore
great personages scorn and contemn their poor
kindred. Camden reports of the citizens of Cork,
that all of them in some degrees are of kindred
one to the other : but I think that all wealthy
men will hook in the consin, and draw in some
alliance one to other. But as they will challenge
kindred where there is none, in rich folks ; so they
will deny kindred where it is, in poor. Yet is
there no just reason they should do so. All man-
kind knit together in the same father in the
creation, and at the deluge ; I know not who lay
higher in Adam's loins, or who took the wall in
Eve's belly. I speak not this to pave the way to
an Anabaptistical parity, but only to humble and
abate the conceits of proud men, who look so
scornful and contemptuous o\er their poor
kindred.

USE.

Let such as are allied to rich kindred be heart-
ily thankful to God for them ; yet so as they
under God depend principally on their own labour,
and not on their reference to their friends. And

CHAPTER II. 169

let them not too earnestly expect help from their
kindred, for fear they miscarry. A scholar being
maintained in the university by his uncle, who
gave a basilisk for his arms, and expecting that he
should make him his heir, wrote these verses over
his chimney : —

Falleris aspectu basiliscum occidere, Plini ;
Nam vitce nostrce spem basiliscus alit.

Soon after it happened that his uncle died, and
gave him nothing at all ; whereupon the scholar
wrote these verses under the former : —

Certe aluit, sed spe vand ; spes vana venerium ;
Ignoscas, Plini, verus es historicus.

So soon may men's expectations be frustrated,
who depend on rich kindred. Yea, I have seen
the twine-thread of a cordial friend hold, when
the cable-rope of a rich kinsman hath broken.

Let those therefore be thankful to God, to
whom God hath given means to be maintained of
themselves, without dependance on their kindred.
Better it is to be the weakest of substances, to
subsist of themselves, than to be the bravest
accidents, to be maintained by another.

VERSE 21.

And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also,
Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until
they have ended all my harvest, J

170 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

He said unto me also.

"Ruth, perceiving that Naomi kindly resented
Boaz his favour, and that the discourse of his
kindness was acceptable unto her, proceeds in her
relation.

DOCTRINE.

People love to enlarge such discourses which
they see to be welcome to their audience.

What maketh talebearers so many, and their
tales so long, but that such persons are sensible
that others are pleasingly affected with their
talk ? Otherwise, (c a frowning look " (Prov. xxv.
23) will soon put such to silence. When Herod
saw (Acts xii. 3) that the killing of James
" pleased the Jews, he proceeded farther, to take
Peter also." Detractors, perceiving that killing
of their neighbours' credits is acceptable to
others, are encouraged thereby to imbrue their
tongues in the murdering of more reputations.

Secondly. Whereas Euth candidly confesseth
what favour she found from Boaz, we learn, we
ought not sullenly to conceal the bounty of our
benefactors, but express it to their honour, as
occasion is offered. The giver of alms may not,
but the receiver of them may, 6l blow a trumpet."

This confuteth the ingratitude of many in our
age ; clamorous to beg, but tongue-tied to confess

CHAPTER II. 171

what is bestowed upon them. What the "sin
against the Holy Ghost" is in divinity, that ingrati-
tude is in morality, — an offence unpardonable.
Pity it is but that moon should ever be in an
eclipse, that will not confess the beams thereof to
be borrowed from the sun. He that hath a hand
to take, and no tongue to thank, deserves neither
hand nor tongue, but to be lame and dumb here"
after.

Observe by the way, that Euth expresseth what
tends to the praise of Boaz, but conceals what
Boaz said in the praise of herself. He had com-
mended her (verse 11) for a dutiful daughter-in-
law, and for leaving an idolatrous land. But Euth
is so far from commending herself in a direct line,
that she will not do it by reflection, and at the
second hand, by reporting the commendations
which others gave her.

DOCTRINE.

" Let another praise thee, and not thine own
mouth."

How large are the penmen of the Scripture, in
relating their own faults ! How concise (if at all)
in penning their own praises !

It is generally conceived that the Gospel of St.
Mark was indited by the apostle Peter ; and that
from his mouth it was written by the hand of John
Mark, whose name now it beareth. If so, then

172 A. COMMENT ON RUTH.

we may observe, that Peter's denying of his Master,
with all the circumstances thereof, his cursing and
swearing, is more largely related in the Gospel of
St. Mark than in any other : but as for his repent-
ance, it is set down more shortly there than in
other Gospels.

Matthew xxvi. 75 : " And he went out, and
wept bitterly."

Luke xxii. 62 : " And Peter went out, and wept
bitterly."

But Mark xiv. 72, it is only said, " When he
thought thereon, he wept."

So short are God's servants in giving an account
of their own commendations, which they leave to
be related by the mouths of others.

Thou shalt keep fast by my young men,

OBJECTION.

a Here either Ruth's memory failed her, or else
she wilfully committed a foul mistake. For Boaz
never bad her to ( keep fast by his young men,'
but, (verse 8,) ' Abide here fast by my maidens.'
It seems she had a better mind to male company,
who had altered the gender in the relating of his
words."

ANSWER.

Condemn not the " generation of the righteous,"
especially on doubtful evidence. Boaz gave a

CHAPTER II. 173

command (verse 15) to his young men to permit
her to glean : she mentioneth them therefore in
whom the authority did reside, who had a com-
mission from their master to countenance and
encourage her in her extraordinary gleaning,
which privilege his maidens could not bestow upon
her.

VERSE 22.

And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, Ii\ ^-^
is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his
maidens, that they meet thee not in any other ,
field. /

And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law.

DOCTRINE.

It is the bounden duty of parents to give the
best counsel they can to their children ; as
Naomi here prescribes wholesome advice unto her
daughter-in-law.

It is good.

That is, it is better. It is usual, both in the
Old and New Testament, to put the positive for
the comparative in this kind. Luke x. 42 :
;cMary hath chosen that good part," that is, the

174 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

better part. " It is profitable for thee that one
of thy members perish, and not thy whole body ; "
(Matt. v. 29 ;) " profitable/' that is, more profitable ;
and, as it is expounded, Matt, xviii. 8, (i better."
" It is good for a man not to touch a woman ; M (1
Cor. vii. 1 ;) that is, it is better ; it is more con-
venient, and freer from trouble, in time of perse-
cution. "It is good for thee that thou go out
with his maidens ; " that is, it is better.

DOCTRINE.

Maids are the fittest company for maids ;
amongst whom a chaste widow, such as Euth was,
may well be recounted. Modesty is the life-guard
of chastity.

That they meet thee not in any other field.

Here she rendereth a reason of her counsel,
because Ruth thereby should escape suspicion, or
appearance of evil.

OBJECTION.

" What hurt or harm had it been, if they had
met her in another field ? She might have been
met there, and yet have departed thence as pure
and spotless as she came thither."

CHAPTER II. 175

ANSWER.

It is granted. Yet, being a single woman, slan-
derous tongues and credulous ears meeting
together had some colour to raise an ill report
on her reputation. Besides, being a Moabite, she
ought to be more cautious of her credit ; lest, as she
was a stranger, she might be taken for a " strange
woman," in Solomon's sense. And therefore nimia
cautela non nocet. In some ears it is not enough
to be honest, but also to have testes honestatis ;
many a credit having suffered, not for want of
clearness, but clearing of itself, surprised on such
disadvantages.

VERSE 23.

80 she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto
the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest ;
and dwelt with her mother-in-law.

So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz.

Here was good counsel well given, because
thankfully accepted and carefully practised.

DOCTRINE.

It is the duty of children to follow the advice
of their parents.

176 A COMMENT ON RUTH.

We meet with, two examples in wicked persons,
which in this respect may condemn many unduti-
ful children of our days. The one, Ishmael ; who,
though he be charactered to be " a wild man,"
(Gen. xvi. 12,) "his hand against every man, and
every man's hand against him ; " yet it seems his
band was never against his mother Hagar, whom
he obeyed in matters of most moment; — in his
marriage, Gen. xxi. 21 : " His mother took him a
wife out of the land of Egypt."

The second is Herodias ; of whom no good at
all is recorded, save this alone, that she would not
beg a boon of her father Herod, until first she
went in to her mother Herodias, to know what she
should ask. How many now-a-days make deeds
of gift of themselves, without the knowledge and
consent of their parents !

Unto the end of barley harvest.

Commendable is the constancy and the continu-
ance of Euth in labour. Many there are who at the
first have a ravenous appetite to work, but quickly
they surfeit thereof. Euth gleans one day so as
she may glean another. It is the constant pace
that goeth farthest, and freest from being tired.
Matt. xxiv. 13 : "But he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved."

CHAPTER II. 177

And dwelt with her mother-in-law.

It was Christ's counsel unto His disciples,
(Matt. x. 11,) to "abide" in the place wherein
the j did enter, and not to go from house to house.
Such the settledness of Ruth, — where she first
fastened, there she fixed: she "dwelt with her
mother." Naomi affords Ruth house-room, Ruth
gains Naomi food ; Naomi provides a mansion,
Ruth purveys for meat ; and so [they] mutually
serve to supply the wants of each other.

If envy, and covetousness, and idleness were
not the hinderances, how might one Christian
reciprocally be a help unto another ! All have
something, none have all things ; yet all might
have all things in a comfortable and competent
proportion, if seriously suiting themselves as Ruth
and Naomi did, that what is defective in one
might be supplied in the other.

FINIS.

[Here ends this beautiful Comment, to the regret of all its readers.
Why Fuller did not proceed to draw quaint lessons of wisdom and piety
from each line of the last two chapters of Ruth, we are not informed.
It may be that his course of Lectures was broken off by fresh pie-
f jrment in the Church, with a corresponding increase of duties. That
he was not deterred by any difficulties in the third chapter, is obvious

N

178 A COMMENT ON KUTH.

from the skill with which he handled the previous two; not forcing the
meaning, as was the wont of many of his contemporaries, but with
ready ease pressing choice wine from the ripe fruit of each phrase of the
text.

"While perusing this Comment, some readers will be reminded, as we
have been, of the lines written on "Ruth" by a man of kindred
genius, who, cast in a more mirth-loving age than Fuller's, fed the
public with lighter food than he did, but whose powers were really as
great in serious as in comic prose and verse. — Ed.

" She stood breast high among the corn,
Clasp'd by the golden light of morn ;
Like the sweetheart of the sun,
"Who many a glowing kiss had won.
* * * *

Thus she stood among the stooks,
Praising God with sweetest looks.
1 Sure,' I said, ' Heaven did not mean
Where I reap thou shouldst but glean :
Lay thy sheaf adown and come,
Share my harvest and my home.' "

Works of Thomas Hood, 1862, vol. i., p. 336.1

NOTES UPON JONAH.

THOMAS FULLER.

LONDON :

PBINTED FOE JOHN STAFFORD

IN GEORGE YARD NEAR FLEET BRIDGE.
1657.

N 2

NOTES UPON JONAH.

CHAPTER I. VERSE 1.

The word of the Lord came also unto Jonah the son
of Amittai, saying.

Something must be premised of the name,
parentage, time, and place of this prophet.

His name : Jonah, signifying a " dove " in
Hebrew : but he answered his name rather in
flying so fast away, than in want of gall, where-
with he abounded.

Parentage : " son of Amittai." Men are differ-
enced in the Bible, 1. By their fathers : as a Ben-
aiah son of Jehoiada." 2. Mothers : as " Joab
son of Zeruiah." 3. Husbands : as u Mary the
wife of Cleophas." 4. Brothers : as M Judas the
brother of James." 5. Sons : as " Simon of
Gyrene, the father of Alexander and Kufus."
But that this prophet was son to the widow
of Sarepta, I believe no more than that Dinah,
Jacob's daughter, was wife to Job ; or that Ruth

182 NOTES UPON JONAH.

was daughter to Eglon king of Moab : both which
are as fondly fabled by the Jews as justly rejected
by Christians.

As for the time and place of this prophet, when
and where he lived, though here omitted, is sup-
plied, 2 Kings xiv. 25. He was of Gath-hepher,
a city of the tribe of Zebulon, and lived in the
time of Joash king of Israel.

The word of the Lord came.

All prophets and preachers ought to have their
patent and commission from God. "How can
they preach, except they be sent ? " (Rom. x. 15.)
That is, How can they preach lawfully and profit-
ably ? though de facto they preach, to their own
great harm and others' little good. But as long
as there is current coin, there will be counterfeit :
Jeroboam's priests under the Law, and Sheva's
sons in the Gospel, and at this day some who leap
from the loom to the pulpit. I must confess, an
ass's head was good food in a famine; coarse
meat is dainty when no other can be had. But
now (thanks be to God) great is the company of
preachers, able and learned ; and, for aught I see,
the universities afford more vine-dressers than
the country can yield them vineyards. No ne-
cessity, therefore, that such blind guides should
be admitted.

CHAPTER I. 183

VERSE 2.

Arise, and go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry
against it ; for their wickedness is come up before

Me.

The words contain Jonah's commission ; — the
place whither he was sent ; — what he should do
there.

The commission : " Arise." As if He had said,
" Thou hast long preached in Israel to little
purpose : great the pains, small the profit, of
thy ministry. I will therefore transplant thy
preaching, to see if it will bring more fruit in
another soil." It is a sign of a ruin of a church,
when their pastors are called from their flocks to
go to foreigners : as Jonah, who was here made
non-resident against his will. When the eye-
strings are broken, the heart-strings hold out not
long after. The prophets are called " seers : " their
departure presageth that their parishes soon after
will die and decay. For sure the children of Israel
prospered not long after that Jonah, a star of the
first bigness, was fallen from that firmament, to
arise into the horizon of Nineveh.

Go to Nineveh, that great city.
It is more than probable that this city, being

184 NOTES UPON JONAH.

the metropolis of Assyria, was not a little proud
of the greatness of it, as able thereby to outface
the judgments of God, and to blunt the edge of
His revenging sword with the populousness of her
nhabitants, before it could cut clean through them.
But let no city, though never so great, thus pre-
sume upon her multitudes. The greater, the
fairer mark she is for the arrows of God's judg-
ments ; (though indeed nothing seems great in
His eyes, save that man that seems little in his
own ;) and God can quickly subtract in a day, by
sword, plague, and famine, what health, peace,
and plenty hath multiplied in seven years. This
island, since the ends of two kingdoms were made
the middle of one monarchy, hath got the addition
of *' Great Britain ; " yet, if compared to the con-
tinent, we may say of it, as Lot of Zoar, "Is it
not a little one ? " Isaiah xl. 15 : " Behold, the
nations are as the drop of a bucket, and are
counted as the small dust in the balance : He
taketh up the isles as a very little thing/"' Let
us, the inhabitants thereof, not be proud of the
greatness of it, which probably puffed up Nineveh,
the u great city."

And cry against it.

Ministers must not mutter, but publicly and
strongly cry, against sinners. First, because

CHAPTER I. 185

sinners are afar off. Isaiah lix. 2 : "But your
iniquities have separated betwixt you and your
God/' Matt. xv. 8: "Their heart is far from
Me." Ephes. ii. 13: " You who sometimes were
afar off." Secondly, because they are deaf.
Thirdly, asleep. Fourthly, dead. If any object,
« Why, then, it is lost labour to cry against
sinners : preaching to the dead is as unprofitable
as praying for them ; " I answer, Not so. For it
is said, John v. 25, " The hour is coming, and now
is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God : and they that hear shall live." To blame,
then, are those that are cruelly kind unto their
people in sewing pillows under their elbows.
Honey-dews, though they be sweet in taste, do
blast and black the corn : and smoothing of
people in their sins, though pleasant to the palate
of flesh, damneth and destroy eth the soul. And
yet this command to " cry " no whit favours their
practice, who change the strength of matter into
stentoriousness of voice. Such pieces make a great
report with powder, but are charged with no shot,
and are useless to the beating down of sin. And
it may be said of their u crying," that they do
but whisper whilst they holloa.

For their wickedness is come up before Me.
What the particular sin of Nineveh was, is not

186 NOTES UPON J03AH.

expressed. Some think, had that city been ar-
raigned for the sins of Sodom, it would have been
found guilty. And no doubt sorcery, the sin of
the East, was no stranger in her own country ;
and therefore the Mnevites thereto much ad-
dicted. But that oppression was certainly their
predominant sin, may be gathered out of the
third of Nahum, verse 1 : " 0 bloody city ! it is
full of lies and robbery ; the prey departeth not."
Not content to be a queen of those countries
she had subdued, she was a tyrant. So then we
see, all sins, but oppression especially, though
naturally they tend downwards to their centre,
and with their weight press sinners to hell, yet
they do mount upwards by their cry and clamour.
(Gen. iv. 10 ; and xviii. 20.) It were then an
advised way for us to make some counter-sounds
to drown the noise of our sins, that God may not
hear them. First, by sending up sighs from a
penitent heart. Secondly, prayers and alms. Acts
x. 31 : " Cornelius, thj' prayer is heard, and thine
alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God."
Thirdly, by pleading Christ His merits ; that the
loud language of His blood may out-noise and
silence the cry of our sins. (Heb. xii. 24.) Yet let
oppressors take notice, that theirs being the sin of
Nineveh, as it is of a higher nature, so is it of a
higher cry than other sins. And let the remorse-
less extortioner take this into his consideration : —

CHAPTER I. 187

hand-mills, though thej grind not so much, yet
they grind as much to powder as either wind-
mills or water-mills, which are far greater : —
though these oppressors do not mischief to so many
as Mneveh did, yet to so many as come within
their clutches they show as merciless cruelty ;
and this is a sin [which] will come up before God.

VERSE 3.

But Jonah rose up to flee into Tars/iish from the
presence of the Lord, and went down to Japho
[Joppa~]; for he found a ship going to Tarshish ;
so he paid the fare thereof, and went down
into it, that he might go with them into Tar-
shish from the presence of the Lord.

But Jonah rose up.

Whose superscription doth this book bear?
Jonah's. Why did he not, like Alexander, when
he was painted, lay his finger on his wart ? Why
did he not conceal in silence his own faults and
infirmities? Why did he paint his own
deformity with his own pencil ? Because the
penmen of the Holy Word are unpartial relators
of their own faults, and [those] of them who are
dearest and nearest unto them. Who speaks
more against David than David ? t( So ignorant
was I and foolish, even as a beast before Thee."

188

NOTES UPON JONAH.

Who accuseth St. Paul more than St. Paul?
1 Tim. i. 13 : "I was a blasphemer, and a perse-
cutor, and an oppressor." We learn from St.
Stephen, (Acts vii. 22,) that Moses " was learned
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians ; " but in
Moses, in his own writings, we find no mention or
commendation of this his learning. He spared
not himself in registering his passion in smit-
ing of the rock ; neither spared he to record the
cruelty of Levi his grandfather, the shrewishness
of Zipporah his wife, the idolatry-promoting of
Aaron his brother, the murmuring of Miriam his
sister, the profaneness of Nadab and Abihu his
nephews. This, amongst other reasons, may be
one to prove, that no " Scripture is of private inter-
pretation ; but that holy men of God wrote it, as
as they were inspired by God's Holy Spirit."
Whereas the books of heathen writers are
nothing else but the inventories of their own
virtues. What are Caesar's Commentaries, but
commentaries on the text of his own valour ?
But, for a man thus far to be unmanned as to
banish self-love from himself, and, with Jonah, to
put his own flight and fault into the calendar of
eternity ; — who sees not the finger of God in
Jonah's hand writing this prophecy ?

Sundry carnal reasons may be alleged for
Jonah's flight. First, fear of extreme and cruel
usage from the wicked Ninevites. Secondly,

CHAPTER I. 189

despair that his preaching, barren in Israel, should
be fruitful in Asshur. Thirdly, the strange-
ness of the message ; distasteful to a Jewish
palate, to be sent to the Gentiles. Fourthly, a
zeal to his country : he might perceive that the
conversion of the Gentiles would be the eversion
of the Jews ; and therefore he was loth to be
accessory to the destruction of his own nation.
Fifthly, the reason alleged by himself in the
fourth chapter and verse 2 : he feared to be dis-
proved, because God was so merciful. But let his
reasons, though never so many and weighty, be
put into one scale, and God's absolute command
weighed against them in the other, TEKEL ;
They are "weighed in the balance, and found
too light." Prosper : Obedientia non discutit Dei
wiandata, sed facit. The Popish tenet of blind
obedience is true doctrine in this case : what God
commands let us put in speedy execution, without
denying, or delaying, or disputing the difficulties
that attend it.

To flee.

God bids Jonah go, and he flies ; he superero-
gates, but in a wrong work. In him the proverb
finds truth, " The more haste, the worse speed."
We see, then, those that want legs to go in good-
ness, can find wings to fly in wickedness. The
elders of the Jews, (probably aged grandsires,)

190 NOTES UPON JONAH.

how late were they up that night our Saviour was
betrayed ! How early did they rise that morning
He was condemned ! How duly did they attend
the whole day He was crucified ! — who otherwise,
no doubt, would have been in their beds as drowsy
as dormice. It is not therefore the greatness of
the strides, nor the swiftness of the pace, but the
rightness of the way, which maketh our going
pleasing unto God. 1 Cor. ix. 24 : " So run, that
ye may obtain." And if, with David, we cannot
run the way of God's commandments, let us go
them ; if not go, let us creep. And this may com-
fort us, that though we go not so swift in our
calling as we could desire, yet we go in our call-
ing : our pace, though not fast, is firm ; and still
by degrees we draw nearer and nearer to that
Mneveh to which God hath sent us.

To Tarshish.

What and where this Tarshish was, authors only
agree in disagreeing. Let this suffice : be this
Tarshish in Asia, be it in Africa ; be it city, be it
country ; be it sea, be it continent ; this sure I am,
it was not that Nineveh to which Jonah was sent.

From the presence of the Lord.

It were great ignorance in us to charge Jonah

CHAPTER I. 191

with, such ignorance, as if he thought it absolutely
possible to fly from God's presence. And if he
had been so erroneous, he made the most unad-
vised choice, — to fly to the sea, where there
appears the most evident demonstration of God's
powerful presence. Psalm cvii. 23 : " They that
go down to the sea in ships," &c. The sight of
the sea might have been a remembrancer to an
atheist, and put him in mind of a God. Esau went
to kill his brother Jacob ; but when he met him, his
mind was altered, he fell a kissing him, and so de-
parted. Thus the waves of the sea march against
the shore, as if they would eat it up : but when they
have kissed the utmost brink of the sand, they melt
themselves away to nothing. And this spectacle
must needs make a man acknowledge a Deity. So,
then, these words, ee to fly away from the presence
of the Lord,5' are not simply to be understood ;
there being no flying from God but thus : — from
God, an angry Judge for our sins ; to God, a
merciful Father in our Saviour. By this phrase,
then, is meant, he deserted the office of a pro-
phet ; he forsook and relinquished the ministerial
function, whereabout God had employed him.
Thus to be in God' s presence is used in Holy Writ :
Deut. x. 8 : " The Lord separated the tribe of
Levi to stand before the Lord." 1 Kings xvii. 1 :
" As the Lordliveth," saith Elias [Elijah], " before
whom I stand." What kind of men, then, ought

192 NOTES TJPON JONAH.

we ministers to be ? How decently ought we to
demean and behave ourselves, who are chaplains
in ordinary to the King of Heaven ! Every month
is onr waiting month : we are bound to constant
and continual attendance. It was the title of the
angel Gabriel, (Luke i. 19,) "I am Gabriel that
stands in the presence of God," i. e., ever ready to
be sent of Him in any employment. Now, as
angels are God's ministers in heaven, so ministers
are God's angels on earth, and stand in His pre-
sence, from which Jonah did fly.

And he went dowv, to Japho ; for he found a ship

going to Tarshish.
Japho was the port of Jerusalem, distant from
thence some thirty miles, in the tribe of Dan ;
afterwards called Joppa. Here Jonah finds a ship
for his purpose. How all things seem to favour
and flatter his flight ! He lights on a ship, the
ship sets sail, and at the first the tide serves, the
wind seconds them. Let us suspect ourselves, and
search our actions, whether they be not wrong,
when we run without rub, and sail without re-
mora : * for the first entrance into sin is easy and
pleasant ; whereas in good actions, when we begin
them, it is a thousand to one but that the devil or
our corruptions start some enemies or obstacles to
hinder us.

* [" Hindrance," " obstacle,*' M delay." A Latin word of frequent
occurrence in the writings of Fuller and his contemporaries. — Ed.]

CHAPTER I. 193

So he paid the fare thereof.

Jonah herein seems to be a man of a good con-
science. Hearken, ye detainers of the wages of
the hirelings : know that Oppression, the master
whom you serve, will deal otherwise with you than
you deal with your servants : for u the wages of
sin is death," and that shall duly be paid you.
And you servants who have received your hire
aforehand, deal not worse with your masters for
dealing the better with you, but conscionably do
your work, that the outlandish proverb may not be
verified in you, " He that pays his servant's wages
aforehand, cuts off his right arm ; " that is, occa-
sions him to be lazy and slothful.

That he might go with them to Tarshish from the
presence of the Lord.

Pharaoh's dreams were doubled, because it was
a thing determined by God. (Gen. xli. 32.) So
these words were doubled in the text, to show that
it was no sudden motion or project whereon Jonah
stumbled unawares, but it was a purpose consulted,
concluded, debated, determined. He would, that
he would, fly from the presence of the Lord. Now,
it is the opinion of some, that Jonah altered his
calling, and turned merchant ; but this is more

194 NOTES UPON JONAH.

than can be proved out of the words. Traffic in
itself is lawful, making those wooden bridges
over the sea, which join the islands to the conti-
nent; adopting those commodities to countries,
whereof they are barren themselves by nature. But
it is not fitting that the tribe of Levi should change
lots with the tribe of Asshur ; or that those who
have curam animarum, should take upon them
cur am animalium ; apply themselves to husbandry,
grazing, or any mechanical trade.

VERSE 4.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and
there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the
ship was like to he broken.

But the Lord.

Though the man did thus leave his Master, yet
the Master will not leave His man ; but sends a
pursuivant after him. Learn from hence, God is
careful for His servants, though they be careless
for themselves. (Gen. xix. 16.) Thus also was God
merciful to Thomas, (who, for his temper, may be
called the Jonah of the apostles,) making a new
apparition for the confirming of his faith. (John
xx. 26.) Let us pray to God, that He would love
us to the end ; that, though we forsake Him, He
would not forsake us ; that, though we forget the

CHAPTER I. 195

duty of children to Him, He would be pleased to
remember the love of a Father to us. And here
we may admire God's goodness to take such pains
about the recalling of a froward sinner. Lord !
what was Jonah, that Thou shouldst regard him ?
or the son of Amittai, that Thou shouldst visit
him ?

Sent out a great wind into the sea.

God is the Commander of the winds, and hatb
them at His beck, as the centurion had his ser-
vants. He saith to the east wind, " Go ; " and
he goeth ; (Exod. x. 13 ;) and the west wind,
" Come ; " and he cometh ; (Exod. x. 19 ;) and
to the south wind, " Do this ; " and he doth it.
(Psal. lxxviii. 26.) If it be objected, that the devil
is styled, (Ephes. ii. 2,) 6S the prince of the power
of the air ; " and therefore, (to give the devil his
due,) sithence [since] wind is nothing else but air
moved by vapours, it may seem to be a subject of
the devil's dominions : I answer, The devil is no
absolute prince of the air5 no monarch, but only
he hath a deputed command therein under the
God of Heaven. And Satan dares not, for the fear
of a praemunire, exceed his commission, and endea-
vour anything in the air, without God's express
command or permission. Much less can witches
and conjurers (lieutenants under the devil) per-
o 2

196 NOTES UPON JONAH.

form anything therein. And as for the heathen's
fancy, which make iEolus god of the wind, it is
lighter than the wind itself.

80 that the ship was like to he broken.

Here a difficult objection may be started.
"How could it stand with God's justice to put so
many innocent mariners in hazard and jeopardy
of their lives for the sin of Jonah alone ? * But
these sheep, what have they done ? ' ' Will God
destroy the righteous with the wicked?' 'Shall not
the Judge of all the earth do righteously ? ' " I
answer, first, at large : In God's proceedings what
we cannot conceive to be good, we must not con-
demn to be bad ; but suspect ourselves, suspend
our censures, admire His works, which are never
against right, though often above reason. To
come nearer: God need not pick a quarrel with
man ; He hath just matter enough at any time to
have a controversy with him, and to commence
actions against him. These mariners, though not
guilty with Jonah in this particular act, yet had
deserved this punishment of God for their mani-
fold transgressions, from which no man is free.

Yet God hastened this punishment upon them
for Jonah's presence with them. Wash not in
the same bath with Cerinthus ; decline the so-
ciety of notorious sinners. (Rev. xviii. 4.) Gold

CHAPTER I. 197

though, the noblest metal, loseth of his lustre by
being continually worn in the same purse with
silver : and the best men, by associating them-
selves with the wicked, are often corrupted with
their sins, yea, and partake of their plagues.
Yet when men are implunged in misery through
the faults of others, and suffer for company for
the sins of others, (as men in suretiship, undone
by the prodigality of their friends for whom they
were bound,) let them reflect their eyes on their
own faults, and know that, though they be inno-
cent in this particular, yet they have deserved
this punishment of God for some other sin ; and
God may justly take advantage at His own plea-
sure to inflict the punishment. However, let
them know themselves for sinners in a high
degree, who involve others within the very lati-
tude of their own punishments ; as drunken
husbands, who by their prodigality drowned their
whole family in a sea of want, making their
wives, children, servants, cattle, pinch and pine
through their riot and excess. For our parts, let
us labour to attain to true piety ; that so we may
rather be a Joseph, whose goodness may make a
whole family to prosper ; rather one of those ten
righteous, for whose righteousness a whole Sodom
might be saved ; than an Achan, for whose sins an
army may be routed ; or a Jonah, for whose fault
a whole ship full of men was like to be broken.

198 NOTES UPON JONAH.

VERSE 5.

Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man
unto his god, and cast the wares that were in
the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But
Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship ;
and he lay down, and was fast asleep.

Then the mariners were afraid.

These words afford a harder than Samson's
riddle. Out of the bold came fear ; ont of the
profane, piety ; out of the covetous came casting
away of goods. Mariners, they are the hardiest
of all people, so always in danger that they are
never in danger, as if their hearts were made of
those rocks amongst which they use to sail.
Yet see, they feared. They are accounted a pro-
fane kind of people, a-kin'd unto the unjust
judge. (Luke xviii. 2.) They are esteemed the
Nazareth of the world, out of which cometh no
good. Yet see, they pray. They are generally
covetous, venturing their lives for lucre. Yet see,
they cast away their goods. Whence we may
learn, that afflictions are able to affright most
profane men into piety : whether really inflicted,
as unto Pharaoh ; or certainly denounced, as
unto Ahab. Wherefore, let us labour that we be
as good when afflictions are removed, as when

CHAPTER I. 190

they are inflicted ; as pious in wealth as in want ;
as well affected in health as in sickness ; that in
prosperity we prove not apostates from those
pious resolutions which we made in adversity.
When David had appointed Solomon king, (1
Kings i. 36,) '- Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
answered, Amen. And the Lord God of my lord
the king say, Amen." So, when in afflictions we
have made any vows of future piety, if we have
deliverance, let us pray to God to ratify and con-
firm our resolutions, and to give us strength to
fulfil and perform them ; lest otherwise we take
but a lease of piety, during the term that the
tempest doth last, and relapse to our former
wickedness when the calm begins.

And cried every man unto his god.

General punishments must have general prayer
and humiliation ; otherwise the plaster will be
too narrow for the sore.

To his god.

The ship was fraught with a miscellany of all
nations: it was a Babel, and contained a con-
fusion of as many religions as that of languages :
none were at a loss for a deity to pray to. (So
an unnatural sin was atheism.) Yet woful then
was the estate of the world, when one could not

200 NOTES UPON JONAH.

see God for gods. But let us now be thankful,
that as the true serpent of Moses ate up and
devoured the seeming serpents which Jaunes and
Jambres, the Egyptian enchanters, did make ; so
now in the civilized world the knowledge of the
true God hath devoured and done away all fancies
and fables of feigned gods. Nevertheless, as the
heathens in this ship, so every Christian may still
pray to his proper God. "My Lord and my
God," saith Thomas. "I thank my God." (1
Cor. i. 4.) The same is God to all in general,
and to each in particular.

And cast the wares that were in the ship into the sea.

" Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he
give for his life." * (Acts xxvii.) Now, if life be so
dear, how dear is the life of our life, the eternal
happiness of our souls ! fcC What shall a man
gain, if," &c. ? Therefore, when it cometh in
competition whether we shall lose our souls or
our goods, let us drown our outward pelf, lest it
drown us ; let us cast it away, lest we be cast
away by it. " Woe be to him that loadeth him-
self of thick clay ! " (Hab. ii. 6.) Eather, as
Joseph saved himself from his mistress, though

* [Job ii. 4. Fuller gives the reference, " Acts xxvii.," simply to
draw the reader's attention to the illustration of this dictum afforded
by the account of St. Paul's shipwreck, when " they lightened the ship,
and cast the wheat into the sea," &c. — Ed.]

CHAPTER I. 201

he left his garment behind him ; so it matters
not though we lose (the clothes of our souls) our
earthly possessions, so be it our souls themselves
still remain safe and entire. And if in such a
case we must forgo our goods, much more must
we forsake our sins,, which are good for nothing,
but to sink us down to destruction. (Heb. xii. 1.)
" Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that
doth so easily beset us -y n and not only pray to
God to assist us, but, with the mariners in the
text, back and second our prayers by using all
lawful means for our own safety.

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the
ship.

I here read a contradiction in Jonah's actions.
He went " down into the sides of the ship : " this
savours of flight and of fear. And there he
" slept : " this, of confidence and security. Yet
wonder I not that I cannot make sense of Jonah's
actions,, who surely at this time could scarce
make sense of his own. Sin distracts men, and
makes- them at the same time embrace contra-
dicting purposes ; so that their resolutions fight
as the twins in Eebekah's womb, and are as con-
trary to themselves as to God's laws. See, Jonah
at one instant formidat et audei.

202 NOTES UPON JONAH.

And lay down, and was fast asleep.

An emperor, hearing of the death of one of his
subjects, who was deeply indebted, sent to buy
his bed, supposing there was some opium or
soporiferous virtue therein, that he could sleep so
soundly thereon and be so much engaged. Surely
this emperor would have proved a frank chapman
to have purchased Jonah's ship ; who, notwith-
standing he had so many things within, without,
about, above, beneath, to disturb him, yet, as if the
tossing of the waves had been the rocking of this
cradle, and the roaring of the winds lullabies in
his ear, a was fast asleep."

Learn, First : It is a great sin, with Jonah, to
be drowsy, when the rest are at their devotion ;
and yet many such separatists and non-con-
formists we have, who by their sluggishness
divide themselves from the whole congregation.
Indeed,, Eutychus had some plea for his sleeping,
because St. Paul's sermon was continued until
midnight. But we may say to our people, as our
Saviour to His disciples, a What ! can ye not
watch with me one hour ? "

Secondly: It is a great sin with us (with
Jonah) to be secure, whilst we, with others, are
in a Qommon danger and calamity. Consider the
present estate of the Christian church. Is it not

CHAPTER I.

203

tossed with the tempest of war, as bad as Jonah's
ship ? It lost an anchor, when the Palatinate
was lost. It sprung a leak, when Rochelle was
taken. One of the main-masts thereof was split,
when the king of Sweden was killed.* Though
we in this island be safe in the sides of the ship,
yet let us not be sleepy as Jonah ; but with our
prayers commend to God the distresses of our
beyond-sea brethren ; and thank God that we,
like Gideon's fleece, are dry, when the ground
round about is wet with weeping, steeped in
tears, bedewed with mourning.

Thirdly: Persevering in sin besots men, and
makes them insensible of the greatest dangers.
It makes men like Nabal ; their u heart dies
within " them, and they " become like a stone ; "
so frozen in their sins that no fear of hell fire can
thaw them. Thns David, when he killed Uriah,
seemed to kill his own conscience. How was he
bereft of sense of sin and punishment for nine
months together ! Yea, the time of Bathsheba's
deliverance was come, but the time of David's
repentance was not come. Who ever saw the
sun so long in an eclipse ? Let ns, therefore, stop
sin in the beginning : for profaneness, as well as
piety, is advanced by degrees, and in the progress
thereof hath certain stages before it comes to the

* [Gustavus Adolphus, at the battle of Lutzen, November 6th,
1632.— Ed.]

204 NOTES UPON JONAH.

journey's end. Crush it, therefore, in the first
motion, before it comes to be a settled thought ;
in the thought, before it break forth into action ;
in the action, ere it become a disposition ; in the
disposition, ere it be a habit ; in the infant habit,
before it become inveterate and another nature.

And here also we may see how desperate
security in wicked men hath by usurpation enti-
tuled itself to be true valour. Men count wicked
men full of fortitude, which run on God's drawn
sword without any fear ;, when, alas ! it is nothing
but a sottish security, arising from a seared con-
science. Will any say, that it is true valour in a
Bedlam that he feels no pain, whose limbs are
benumbed and past sense ?

VERSE 6.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him,
Wliat meanest thou, 0 sleeper ? Arise, call upon
thy God, if so be that God will think upon us,
that we perish not.

So the shipmaster.

The shipmaster that was, — but now no master
of it, the tyranny of the tempest commanding
both it and him, — begins to bestir him. Great
men must not think to be privileged from danger
by the eminency of their place. Mordecai to

CHAPTER I.

205

Esther : " Think not thou shalt escape in the
king's house, more than all the Jews." Yea,
sometimes great men are in the greatest dan-
gers ; they are most aimed at. " Fight neither
against small nor against great, save only against
the king of Israel." (1 Kings xxii. 31.) Now
sithence [seeing] there was a governor in a ship,
it teacheth us that no company can long subsist
without order and superiority one above another.
From the courtiers to the prisoners, (Gen. xxxix.
22 J Joseph had all the prisoners in the prison com-
mitted to his hand. Ten is but a small number, yet
Moses made governors over ten. (ilJxod. xviii. 21.)
Yea, as there is Michael the archangel in heaven, so
is there Beelzebub the prince of devils in hell : so
much order there is in the very place of confusion.
Away then with the Anabaptist, who would set all
men at odds by making all men even ! For a com-
monwealth to want [a] chief, it is the chief of all
wants ; every man will do what he list, few what
they should. Too much liberty would make men
slaves to their own self-will. Let us therefore be
" subject to the higher powers," knowing that
" there are no powers but of God."

Came unto him, and said.

Every one in authority ought to look unto
those which are under their command : otherwise
they shall answer to God for such faults as those

206 NOTES UPON JONAH.

commit which are under their charge, through
their oversight and neglect. Christ is said to
have baptized, John iii. 22; and yet it is said,
John iv. 2, that He " Himself baptized not, but
His disciples." We see that the deed of the ser-
vants, being done by the countenance and com-
mand of, the Master, is attributed and ascribed to
the Master as His own proper work. If the
master hears of his servant's drunkenness, and
punisheth it not, it is the master's drunkenness.
If the master hears of his servant's profaneness,
and reproves him not for it, it is his profaneness.
Blameworthy, .then, are those magistrates who
would have the profit, not the pain ; the credit,
not the care, of their place and charge : so that
they deal with those that are under them as
David did with Adonijah ; they will not so much
as trouble themselves to say to offenders, " Why
doest thou so ? "

What meanest thou, 0 sleeper ?

See here, the Gentile teacheth the Jew, the
Pagan preacheth to the Prophet, and he is con-
tent to hear him. How faulty is their pride, who
count it an imbasing of their knowledge to listen
to the advice of others who in any respect are
their inferiors ! (John ix. 34.) Yet David
hearkened to the advice of Abigail ; Abraham, to
the counsel of Sarah j Apollos, to the instruction

CHAPTER I. 207

of Aquila and Priscilla ; yea, Solomon, the wisest
of earthly kings, had a council of aged men
which stood before him. Neither need any man
think much to learn of the meanest of men, who
may be taught by pismires and lilies. Yet, when
inferiors on just occasion adventure to counsel
those that are above them, that their counsel may
better relish, let it be seasoned with these three
ingredients. First : secrecy. This alone was good
in Peter's reproving of our Saviour, (Matt. xvi. 22,)
Trpo&XaftofjLevos, he "took him aside." Secondly:
seasonableness. Abigail (1 Sam. xxv. 36) told
drunken Nabal neither more nor less, till the next
morning: she thought her physic would work
the better, if she gave it him fasting. Thirdly :
humility. Naaman's servants : is Father, if the
prophet had bid thee some great thing, wouldst
not thou have done it ? " (2 Kings v. 13.) They
brought not only good logic, reasoning from the
greater to the less; but also good ethics,
" Father." These cautions observed, meaner
persons, by God's assistance, with hope of success
may take upon them to advise their betters.

Arise, and call upon thy God.

He doth not only reprove him for what he hath
done amiss, but also directeth him in what he
should do well. They are miserable guides, that

203 NOTES UPON JONAH.

tell the wandering traveller that he hath lost the
way, but tell him not how to find it.

Arise.

Men must put away all laziness, when they pre-
pare themselves to prayer. Indeed, when in sick-
ness we are God's prisoners, then we can only
rouse up our souls, and not arise in our bodies.
Then, with Hezekiah, we may lie on our bed and
pray, pleading to God, as Mephibosheth to David,
that His " servant is lame." But otherwise,
" Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord
negligently." The first fruits of the ass was not
to be dedicated to God in the Levitical law, but
the neck thereof was to be broken. Let us break
the ass's neck ; let us banish all sloth and laziness,
when we go about to perform any service of God.

Call upon thy God.

Because perchance the shipmaster had a great
opinion of the sufficiency of Jonah's God ; or be-
cause he might have a conceit that Jonah's
prayers might be more prevalent than his own.
iEschinus said unto his uncle Micio, in the
comedy : —

Tu potius deos comprecare ; nam tibi eos certo scio,
Quo vir melior es, quam ego sum, obtemperaturos
magis* .

* [Tereistii Adelphi, iv., y., 70, 71.— Ed.]

CHAPTER I. 209

Or else lie only aimed at a general collection of
prayers, hoping that that cable-rope would be
strongest that was twisted of most several cords.

If sole that God will think upon us, that we perish
not.

It is worth our search to know when these
words, " If so be God will," are to be inserted into
our prayers, and when they must be omitted.
When we pray for pardon of our sins, then we
must omit them : for God hath said, " At what
time," &c, " I will put all his wickedness out of
My remembrance." Now let us not dispute of
what is determined, suspect what is sure. God
saith, He will : let us not say, " If so be God
will." If our repentance be unfeigned, our pardon
may be undoubted. In such a case, let us come
to the throne of grace with boldness in the as-
surance of faith, with reasoning, trust perfectly in
grace. But when we pray for the removal of
punishment, then these words are no parenthesis,
but an essential part of our prayers. Then we
must submit ourselves : not our wills, but u Thy
will be done." Then, with children, we must not
cry to carve our own meat, but eat that which
God our Father cuts for us : though it be un-
toothsome for our palates to taste, it is never un-
wholesome for our stomachs to digest.

210 NOTES UPON JONAH.

VERSE 7.

And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let
us cast lots, that we [may] know for whose
cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots,
and the lot fell upon Jonah.

And they said every one to his fellow.

The apprehension of the present danger was
the cement that did glue and unite their different
judgments and affections to resolve on that which
the j conceived was for their general good. It is
likely that the beasts in the ark, when they were
in a common danger of drowning, did agree
together, and for that time dispense with their
mutual antipathies. Grant, then, that we have
several tempers, humours, opinions ; yet the ap-
prehension that we have one grand unpartial
enemy, the devil, who like a roaring lion seeks to
devour us, — this should make us centre our votes
in such resolutions which are behoof-M for all
our goods.

Come, let us cast lots.

The use of lots was very ancient amongst both
Jews and Gentiles. They were of three natures.
First, the lot divinatory, used by Haman.
(Esther iii. 7.) And as for this kind of lot, it
is utterly unlawful : " We have no such custom,
nor yet the churches of God." Secondly,

CHAPTER I. 211

divisory. (Obad. 11 ; Matt, xxvii. 35.) Thirdly,
consultary. (Lev. xvi. 21; Josh. vii. 18; 1 Sam.
xiv. 42.) These are lawful, if used lawfully, with
these cautions : — First : in matters of difficulty ;
as quicksilver in the iliaca passio, when nothing
else can untwine the guts ; in perplexed and in-
tricate causes. Secondly : in matters of conse-
quence : otherwise there may [be] difficiles nugce,
riddles not worth the reading ; hard shells with-
out a kernel, not worth the cracking ; difficulties
which deserve not the resolving, Thirdly : they
are to be ushered with prayer, as in the choice
of Matthias. (Acts i.) Fourthly: that nothing
therein be attributed to chance. Prov. xvi. 33 :
" The lot is cast into the lap ; but the whole dis-
position thereof is from the Lord ; " — u whole."
Fortune, that god of man's making, is a mere
idol of Dagon, and falls down at the approach of
the ark of God's providence ; losing both head
and hands, power both to plot and perform. It
is not Fortune, blind through ignorance, that can-
not see ; but Divine Justice, blind through impar-
tiality, that will not see, which ordereth the
matter. Lastly : no cozenage or deceit is to be
used in them. Lots are God's scales, wherein He
weigheth matters of seeming equality, and shows
which preponderates : they therefore that falsify
this balance of the sanctuary must needs be
abomination in the sight of God.
p 2

212 NOTES UPON JONAH.

Now, because lots may say to cards what Naomi
said to [of] Boaz, " They are near unto us, and of
our affinity," something also of the use of them.
It were no great harm if there were no other
cards used than those of clothiers about wool,
and of mariners in the ship. But as for cards
to play with, let us not wholly condemn them,
lest, lacing our consciences too strait, we make
them to grow awry on the wrong side.

Such recreations are lawful, if we use them as
Jonathan tasted the honey : putting forth the
end of his rod, he touched a little of it, and his
eyes were cleared. But let us take heed of a
surfeit, into which those do fall who either play
out of covetousness, or for more than their estates
can bear, or constantly and continually. All their
meat is sauce ; all the days in their almanack
play-days, though few holy-days. The creation
lasted but a week, but these men's recreations all
the days of their lives. Such using of lawful
exercises is altogether unlawful.

That we may know for whose cause this evil is
upon us.

The best man in the ship carried sin enough
about him to drown himself, ship, and passengers.
But this milk we suck from the breasts of our
mother Eve, to shift and post off the fault from
ourselves, how guilty soever we are. 1 Sam. xv.

CHAPTER I. 213

9 : " But Saul and the people spared Agag, and
the best sheep." Now, verse 15, it is said, " They
have brought them from the Amalekites : for the
people spared the best of the sheep." He that
was the greatest in the sin, would not be at all in
the shame. Should God scourge this land with
famine, or any other general punishment, the
courtiers would impute the cause thereof to the
covetousness of the citizens ; the citizens to the
prodigality of the courtiers : the rich to the un-
thankfulness, discontented murmuring of the
poor; the poor to the hard-heartedness of the
rich : the laity to the clergy's want of preaching ;
the clergy to the laity's want of practising.
Erery one would post the fault from himself, and
be inquisitive, with these mariners, u for whose
fault this evil was upon " them.

finis..

LONDON :

PRINTED BY WILLrAM NICHOLS,

46, HOXTON SQUARE.

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