augmentation of their owne Estatâ—s from the diminution of their Masters Bountie Question But some may say Why did not Boaz bestow a quantitie of Corne upon Ruth 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 learne that is the best Charitie which so relieves peoples wants as that they are still continued in their Calling For as he who teacheth one to swimme though happily he will take him by the Chinne yet he expecteth that the learner shall nimbly ply the Oares of his hands and â—eet and strive and struggle with all his strength to keepe himselfe above water so those who are beneficiall to poore people may justly require of them that they use both their hands to worke and feet to goe in their Calling and themselves take all due labour that they may not sinke in the Gulfe of Penurie Relieve an Husbandman yet so as that he may still continue in his Husbandry a Trades-man yet so as he may still goe on in his Trade a poore Scholar yet so as he may still proceed in his Studies Hereby the Common-wealth shall be a gainer Drones bring no Honey to the Hive but the painfull hand of each privat man contributes some profit to the publike good Hereby the able poore the more diligent they be the more bountifull men will be to them while their bodies are freed from many diseases their soules from many sinnes whereof Idlenesse is the Mother Lazinesse makes a breach in our Soule where the Devill doth assault us with greatest advantage and when we are most idle in our Vocations then he is most busie in his Temptations A reverend Minister was wont to say that the Devill never tempted him more then on Mondayes when because his former Weekes Taske was newly done and that for the Weeke to come six dayes distant he tooke most libertie to refresh himselfe Since therefore so much good commeth from Industrie I could wish there were a publike Vineyard into which all they should be sent who stand lazing in the Market-place till the eleventh houre of the day Would all poore and impotent were well placed in an Hospitall all poore and able well disposed in a Work-house and the common Stocks of Townes so layd out as they thereby might be imployed So she gleaned in the field untill evening The Night is onely that which must end our labours onely the Evening must beg us a Play to depart out of the School of our Vocation with promise next Morning to returne againe Man goeth out to his labour untill Evening Let such then be blamed who in their working make their Night to come before the Noone each day of their labour being shorter then that of S. Lucy and after a spurt in their Calling for some few houres they relapse againe to lazinesse And she threshed what she had gathered The Materialls of the Temple were so hewed and carved both Stone and Wood before that they were brought unto Hierusalem that there was not so much as thâ— noyse of an Hammer heard in the Temple So Ruth fits all things in a readinesse before the goes home What formerly she gleaned now she threshed that so no noyse might be made at home to disturbe her aged Mother Here we see Gods servants though well descended disdaine not any homely if honest worke for their owne living Sarah kneaded Cakes Reâ—eccab drew Water Rachel fed Sheepe Thamar baked Cakes Suetonius reporteth of Augustus Caesar that he made his Daughters to learne to spinne and Pantaleon relates the same of Charles the Great Yet now-adayes such is the pride of the World people of farre meaner qualitie scorne so base imployments And it was about an Ephah of Barley An Ephah contained ten Omers Exod. 16. 36. An Omer of Mannah was the proportion allowed for a mans one day meat Thus Ruth had gleaned upon the quantitie of a Bushell such was her Industry in diligent bestirring hâ—r selfe Boaz his Bountie in scattering for her to gather and above all God his Blessing who gave so good successe unto her Ruth having now done gleaning did not stay behind in the field as many now-adayes begin their worke when others end if that may be termed worke to filch and steale as if the darke Night would be a Veyle to cover their deedes of Darknesse but home she hasteneth to her Mother as followeth Vers. 18 19. And she tooke it up and went into the Citie and her Mother in law saw what she had gathered also she tooke forth and gave to her that which shâ— had reserved when she was sufficed Then her Mother in law said unto her Where hast thou gleaned to day And where wroughtest thou Blessed be he that knew thee And she shewed her Mother in law with whom she had wrought and said The mans name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. And she tooke it up SEe here the shoulders of Gods Saints are wonted to the bearing of Burthens Little Isaac carryed the Faggot wherewith himselfe was to be sacrificed our Saviour his owne Crosse till his faintnesse craved Simon of Cyrene to be his successor Yet let not Gods Saints be dis-heartened if their Father hath a Bottle wherein he puts the teares which they spend sure he hath a Ballance wherein he weighs the Burthens which they beare he keepes a Note to what weight their Burthens amount and no doubt will accordingly comfort them Those are to be confuted who with the Scribes Math. 23. 4. binde heaviâ— burthens and grievous to be borne and lay them on the backs of others but for their owne 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 owne Provender things for their owne sustenance had they been under Ruths Ephah of Barley with David in Sauls 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 Ruth shewed it unto her and then Naomi saw it Children are to present to their Parents view all which they get by their owne labour otherwise doe many Children now-adayes As Ananias and Saphira brought part of the Money and deposed it at the Apostles feet but reserved the rest for themselves so they can be content to shew to their Parents some parcell of their gaines whilest they keepe the remnant secretly to themselves Also she tooke forth and gave to her Learne we from hence Children if able are to cherish and feed their Parents if poore and aged Have our Parents performed the parts of Pelicans to us let us doe the dutie of Storkes to them Would all Children would pay as well for the partie-coloured Coats which their Parents doe give them as Ioseph did for his who maintained his Father and his Brethren in the Famine in Egypt Thinke on thy Mothers sicknesse when thou wast conceived sorrow when
to the making in all probabilitie it is something the farther from the undoing thereof How-ever grant Religion were in never so peaceable and prosperous an estate yet the sad Sâ—bject we now inâ—ist on could not be unseasonable All Spirituall Meâ—t is not to be bought up and brought in for our present spending and feeding thereon but as good Husbands we are to powder up some for the time to come And seeing none of us know what is to come and all of us deservâ— the worst that may be it will not be amisse to arme our selves with Counsels and Cautions in case God should give us to live in an Age wherein the Foundations are destroyed First Enter a Silent Protestation in the Court of Heaven of thine owne Integritie as to this particular That thou hast not willingly consented to the destroying of the Foundations of Religion I say Silent IT is Davids counsell Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your heart upon your Bed and be still There may be danger in making a loud Protestation it may be interpreted to be the Trumpet to Sedition Secondly it may be quarrelled at as tasting of the Leven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie for men to make a publique confession of what may seeme to tend to the sinfull praysing though indeed it be but the needfull purging of themselves A Silent Protestation Nothing more difficult then in dangerous Times for Innocence it selfe to draw up a Protestation with all due Caution so as to give her Adversaries no advantage against her If it be layd too low the Protestor destroyes his owne innocence and may be accessarie to the robbing himselâ—e of his due and so may die Felo de se of his owne integritie If it be drawnâ— up too high with swelling expressions the Protestor may expose himselfe to just Censure as a Libeller against that Authoritie before which he entreth his Protestation We cannot therefore be too warie and too cautious in the making thereof to observe the Golden Meane betwixt both extreames For the better effecting whereof we will weigh every word in the Counsell propounded In the Court of Heaven And that for a double Reason First because it is a standing Court no danger that it will ever be put downe secondly because it is a just Court no suspition that any Corruption can ever prevaile therein Of thine owne Integritie He that hateth Suretiship is sure saith Solomon Prov. 11. 15. Breake not thy selfe by undertaking more then what thou art able to performe Man may have not onely a charitable opinion due from us to all of whom the contraâ—ie doth not appeare but also a confident presumption of the goodnesse of such with whom they have had a long and intimate familiaritie Yet all this amounts not to that certaintie to embolden one to undertake a Protestation in their behalfe which he ought to confine to himselfe of whom alone and that scarcely too by reason of the deceitfulnesse of mans heart above measure he can have any competent assurance Thine owne Integritie As to this particular Confesse thy selfe in other things a notorious sinner guiltie of sinnes of Omission Commission Ignorance Knowledge Presumption Despaire against God thy Neighbours thy selfe in thought in word in deed We reade of the Daughters of Zelopheâ—ad that they pleaded before Moses and gave this Character of their dead Father Numbers 27. 3. Our Father died in the Wildernesse and he was not amongst the assembly of them that were assembled against the Lord in the companie of Korah but died in his sinne Meaning that he was none of those Mutineer not eminently notorious for Rebellion onely being a sinfull man as all are he was mortall with the rest of his kinde What a comfort will it be if one can truly avouch it in his Conscience to the searcher of hearts Lord I acknowledge my selfe a grievous sinner yet I appeale to thee that I have not been active in the destroying of the Foundations of Religion but opposed it as much as I might and when I could doe no more was a Moâ—rner in Sion for the same That thou hast not willingly consented Where know to thy comfort that God keepes a Register in Heaven of all such who doe or doe not consent to any wicked action And if we may prosecute the Metaphor after the manner of men we may say On the one side of the Booke are set downe the Names of such who concurred and consented to Wickednesse On the other side such are recorded who were on the Negative and by their suffrages did dissent from the same Thus we finde it written to the eternall commendation of Ioseph of Arimathea Luke 23. 51. He did not consent to the counsell and deed of them who betrayed our Saviour Not willingly Be it here observed that mens Bodieâ— may be forced to countenance that with their corporall presence which their Soules doth both reluctate at and remonstrate against One eminent instance whereof we have Ierem. 43. 5. For in the fore-going Chapter Iohanan the sonne of Kareah came to Ieremiah pretending desire of advice from him and promising to conforme himselfe to his Counsell in that great Question of importance Whether he with the Remnant of Israel should goe downe into AEgypt Ieremiah disswades them from that Journey as contrarie to the will of God and threateneth them in case they undertooke the same How-ever we reade in the next Chapter verse 4. That this Iohanan the sonne of Kareah and all the Captaines of the Forces were not content to carry downe the Remainder of the Captivitie into AEgypt but also they tooke Ieremiah the Prophet and Baruch the sonne of Neriah along with them for the more credit of the matter to weare them for a countenance of their wicked Designe Captaines of the Forces indeed they were and here they shewed a Cast of their Office violently to force two aged perâ—ons contrarie to their owne intentions and resolutions Egregiam verò laudem spolia amplae refertis Goe Cowardly Tyrants erect Trophies to your owne Victories make Triumphs of your owne Valour A great matter of Manhood a Noble Conquest to compell poore Ieremâ—ah the Prophet and painfull Baruch his Scribe each of them by proportionable computation above sixtie yeares of age to returne into AEgypt whilest their Mindes with a contrarie motion to their Bodies went back to or rather never removed from the Land of Israel An eminent Instance that mens Bodies may sometimes be forced to doe that which their Soules doe detest Secondly we except such from willing consenting as have been fraudulently circumvented instrumentally to concurre to the destroying of Foundations cleane contrarie to their owne desires and intents as erroneously conceiving they supported the Foundations when really they destroyed them This commonly commeth to passe by having mens persons in admiration Jude 16. So that possessed with the opinion of their Pietie they deliver up their Judgements as their Act and Deed signed and sealed â—o them to beleeve
the Country of Moab THese words containe a Journey or Removall wherein observe Who went a certaiâ— Man Whence from Bethlehem-Iudah Whether to sojournâ— in Moab We shall have a fitter occasion to speak of the party removing hereafter I begin with the place from whence he went Bethlehem-Iudah This wâ—â— the place nigh to which â—â—chel 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 Zâ—bulo◠〈◊〉 19. 15. and therefore Iuâ—â—h is added for difference and distinction Observ. The Holy spirit descends to our capacity and in Sâ—ripture doth multiply words to make thâ— matter the plainer let thiâ— teach the Sons of Levi when they deliver one doubtfull and ambiguous Doctrine which may admit of severall constructions so that there is danger 〈◊〉 that peoplâ— may mistake their meaning to deâ—ur a while on such a point and not to be niggardly of their words till they havâ— blotted all doubt and difficulty out of it Herein they shall follow God for their pattern who least Betâ—lehem iâ— my Tâ—â—â— should be confounded with Bethlehem in Zabâ—lon addeth for distinction BethlehemIâ—dah Went to Sojourne in Moab The Prodigâ—ll Child complained Luâ— 15. How many hired Servants of my Father have bread enough and I die for hunger So here we see that the uncircumcised Moabites Gods slaves and vassalls had store of plenty whilest Israel Gods Children but his prodigal Children which by their sinnes had displeased their heavenly Father were pinched with penurie Observ. Hence we gather God oftentimes denyes outward blessings to his Children when as he vouchsafeth them to the wicked the wicked mans eyes start out with fatnesse Davids bones scarce cleave to his flesh Ahab hath an Ivory House thâ— Godly wander in Dens and Caves of the Earth the Rich Glutton fareth deliciously every day whilest the Godly Psal. 107 â—ere hungry and thirsty their sâ—ul fainted in them Hâ— was clothed in purple and fine linnen whilest 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 judgement begins at the house of the Lord whilst the wicked have their portion in this world Vse Let us not judge according to outward appeâ—rance but judge righteous judgement least otherwise we condemn the Generation of Gods Children if we account outward blessings the signs of Gods favour or calamities the arguments of his displeasure neither let the afflicted Christian faint under Gods heavy hand but let him know to his comfort God therefore is angry in this world that he may not be angry in the world to come and mercifully inflicteth temporall punishment that he may not justly confound with eternall torment But here ariseth a question Whether Elimelech did well to go from Bethlehem-Judah into the Land of Moab for the better satisfaction whereof we will suppose a plain and honest Neighbour thus disswading him from his departure Disswâ—sion Give me leave Neighbour Elimelech to say unto thee as the Angel did to Hagar whence commest thou and whether goest thou wilt thou leave that place wherâ— Gods worship is truly professed and goâ— into an Idolâ—trous Country Woe is theâ— that must dwell in Moab and be an inhabitant amongst the wâ—rshippers of Melchom Indeed our Father Abraham came out of Vr of the Chaldees an idolatrous Country to come into the Land of Câ—nâ—an but why shouldst thou go out of the Land of Canaan into an idolatrous Country where thou shalt have neither Priest nor Prâ—phet nor Passeover 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 Gods anger against you wherefore reverse your intent of removing least while thou seek ' st to store thy Body thou starveâ—t thy Soul rather venter the breaking of the Casket then the loosing of the Iewel and go not from Bethlehem-Iudah unto the Land of Moab Answer To this Elimelech might answer your disswasion doth somewhat move me but not remove my resolution I do not forsake my Country but am forced from it God hath with-holden the Wine and the Winepresse 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 following the examples of Isaac's going into Gerah and Iacobs going down into Egypt in the time of Famine 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 Gods true Church For first I intend to carry with me the â—ive books of Moses they will be no great burthen being comprised in so small a Volum and according to my poor ability out of them will I instruct my Family whilst my deare wife Naomi and dutifull children Maclon and Chilion will be diligent to heare and practise what I propound unto them I confesse 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 Hornes and Hoofes thus hope I to have a little Church in mine own House and I know where two or three are met together in thâ— name of God there he will be in the midst of them Whereas you object I should be in danger of being defiled with their Idolatry I will be by Gods grace so much the more warie watchfull and vigilant over my wayes we see the flesh of fishes remaineth fresh though they alwaies swim in the brackish waters and I hope that the same God who preserved righteous Lot in the wicked City of Sodome who protected faithfull Ioseph in the vicious Court of Pharaoh will also keep me unspotted in the midst of Moab whether I intend speedily to go not to live but to lodge not to dwell but to sojâ—urne 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 conveâ—iency Thus we see Elimelech putting the dangers of his removall in one scale the benefits thereof in another the beam of his judgement is juâ—â—ly weighed down to go from Bethlehem-Iudah into the Land of Moab Observ. It is lawfull for Men to leave their Native Soyle and to travell into a forraign Country as for Merchants provided alwaies that while they seek to make gainfull Adventures for their Estates they make not sheepwrack of a good Coâ—science 2ly For Embassadors that are sent to see the Practises and Negociâ—tions in forraigne Courts 3ly For private persons that travell with an intent to accomplish themselveâ— with a better sufficiency to serve their King and Country but unlawfull it is for such to travell
the word water seeing no Papists ever fancied a watered Purgatorie They urge the place Matth. 5. 26. Thou shalt by no meanes come out from thence till thou hast payd the uttermost farthing importing say they a possibilitie on satisfaction to be freed thence that is from hell fire Answer Vntil there is not taken terminatively but extensively equivalent to never or not at all paralleled to that place Psalme 57. 1. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge untill 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 storme and leave it in fair weather No surely David would trust in God untill 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 1. 25. And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-borne Sonne it being the constant Tradition of Antiquitie according to the Proportion of Faith and embraced by the Papists themselves that Christs Mother lived and died a spotlesse Virgin Much stresse he layeth on that passage of the Apostle 2 Corinth 3. 15. He himselfe shall be saved yet so as by fire This place saith Bellarmine is locus utilissimus difficillimus most profitable and most hard We answer first in general seeing by the Iesuit's confession it is so hard a place it is utterly improbable that Purgatorie being of so high concernment to every soule as Papists would perswade us can be therein intended For all matters necessarie for men to know and beleeve wherein the safetie of every single soule is interessed such as Purgatorie is pretended to be is by the confession of all Divines expressed in plaine and pregnant Texts of Scripture for want whereof Bellarmine is faine to shrowd and shelter himselfe under the most obscure places alledging a Text most dark and difficult by his owne confession Secondly that fire there meant by Saint Paul is affliction in this life As for such Fathers who 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 Purgatorie in the Popish notion thereof Come we now to finde an Office and make an enquirie how many things a dying godly man leaves behind him in this world His Soule is sent before him and Revel 14. 13. From henceforth blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. He leaveth behind him First his Body to which we must be kinde by Buriall and â—amentation Secondly his Estate to which we must be kinde by carefull and faithfull Administration Thirdly his Children Friends or Kindred to whom we must be kinde by Love and Affection Fourthly his Faults and Failings to which we must be kinde by Silence and Suppression Fifthly his Memorie and Vertues to which we must be kinde by Congratulation â—ommemoration and Imitation Of these in order For although these words Ye have beene kinde to the dead are capable of this â—ound sense You have been kinde to your Husbands who now are dead whilest they were living yet because more seemeth imported therein we will prosecute the aforesaid Particulars I say first his Body to which there is due Buriall and Lamentation Buriall and that according to the qualitie and condition wherein he lived We reade of King Hezekiah 2 Chron. 32. 33. They buried him in the chiefest in the Hebrew in the highest Sepulchers of the sonnes of David It must be allowed that the Sepulcher of David his Father was higher then his and next David Hezekiaâ—s O that heighth might be but measured by true holinesse There was an Officer amongst the Greekes whose place it was to measure Monuments according to the Standard of the mens merits therein interred Such Officers if used in England would pare off great parcels from some Tombes more proportioned to the parties Wealth then Vertues But nothing could be abated of Hezekiâ—h his Monument all the Dimensions whereof were due to his Devotion And Lamentation Surely of all the godly that ever departed this Life Gods servants had the least cause to bewayl the death of S. Steven For first whereas there is a three-fold degree of certaintie of salvation first that of Hope which as the least and lowest scarce deserveth to be styled Certaintie secondly that of Evidence whereby the person clearely in his soule apprehendeth Gods favour thirdly that of Vision peculiar to this Steven alone antedating his happinesse 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 soule he beheld alive the Heavens opened to receive it And yet we reade Acts. 8. 2. And devout men carryed Steven to his Buriall and made great Iamentation over him Observe it was not said they made great Iamentation for him but over him they knew him in a happy condition It was themselves they bemoaned in his death the sight of his Corps sharpening their sorrow that the Infant-Church had lost one of her best swadlinâ—g-clothes Secondly his Estate to which we must be kinde by carefull and faithfull Administration Heb. 9. 17. For a Testament is of force after men are dead Gal. 3. 15. Though it be but a mans Covenant or Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto NO MAN He must either be lesse then man in knowledge a meere Beast or more then man in malice a meere Devill By Testament I understand not onely the very words thereof but also what appeareth to be the Testator his Will to the Conscience of the Executor How many in this kinde are cruell to the dead So that some of the Legacies bequeathed by them have had a Thumbe or a Toe yea some an Arme or a Legge cut off from them Many Legacies which came sound forth from the Testator before they could get through the Executors have beene more lame and maimed then the Criples in the Hospitall to whom they have beene bequeathed Thirdly his Children or because Mahlon and Chilion had none of them his Kindred or Friends to whom the living must be kinde with Love and Affection Remember the Character of the good Wife Proverbs 31. 12. She will doe her Husband good and not evill all the dayes of her life We have many Wives onely negatively good pleasing and praysing themselves in this that they doe their Husbands no hurt This will not doe the deed they must be positively profitable Nor is it said all the dayes of his life but all the dayes of her life What if he dieth her obligation to him is not cassated or nulled as many Wives generally conceive but still continueth all the dayes of her life True it is she is set free so farre as she may marry againe in a competent time without the least shadow of sinne yet so as still obliged to doe good all her life time to the Friends
which Dinah like go only to see the Customes of severall Countries and make themselves the Lâ—ckieâ— to their own humorouâ— curiosity hencâ— commeth it to pâ—sse when they returne 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 notorious vices having learned Jealousie from the Italian Pride from the Spaniard Lasciviousnessâ— from the â—rench Drunkennesse from the Dâ—tch and yet what need they go so farre to learn so bad a lesson when God knows wâ— have too many Schooles where it is taught here at home Now if any do demand of me my opinion concerning our Brethren which of late left this Kingdome to advance a Plantation in New England surely I thinâ— as St. Paul said concerning Virgins He had received no commaâ—dment from the Lord so I cannot find any just warrant to incourage men to undertake this removall but think rather the counsel best that King Ioash prescribed to Amaziah tarry at home yet as for those that are already gone farre be it from us to conceive them to be such to whom we may not say God speed as it is in 2 Ioh. vers 10. but let us pitty them and pray for them for sure they have no need of our mocks which I am affraid have too much of their own miseries I conclude therefore of the two Englands what our Saviour saith of the two wines Luk. 5. 39. No man having tastâ—d of the old presently desireth the new for he saith the old is better He and his wife and his two sons Vers. 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 Bethlehem-Judah and they came into the Country of Moab and continued there THese words contain first The principall party that undertook the journey 2ly His company described by their relations his Wife and Children and by their names Naomi Mahlon and Chilion 3ly The successe of his journey When he came into the Land of Moab he continued there Now whereas Elimelech took his Wife and Children along with him from his practise we gather this Observation Observ. It is the part of a kind Husband and of a carefull Father not onely to provide for himselfe but also for his whole Family Gen. 2. 24. A man shall cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Ephe. 5. 25. Husbands love your wives for no man as yet hated his own flesh 1 Tim. 5. 8. If any one provideth not for his own Family he denyeth the faith and is worse than an Infidell this made Abraham to take with him at his removal his meek Sarah Isaac his wife Rebecca Iacob his fair Rachel and fruitfull Leah and Ioseph Mat. 2. took with him Mary his espoused wife and our Saviour his supposed Sonne And when Pharoah Exod. 10. 9. offered Moses with all the men of Israel to go out of Egypt but on condition 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 Vse It confuteth such cruell Husbands and carelesse parents who if so be with Iobs Messengers they onely can escape alone they care not though they leave their wives children to shift for themselves like the Ostridge Job 39. 14. who leaveth her Eggs in the sand and so forsakes them Surely the two Kine which drew the Arke of God out of the Land of the Philistines to Bethshemesh 1 Sam. 6. 12. shall rise up at the day of Iudement and condemn such cruell Parents for it is said of them That as they went along the high way they did pittifully low by that querulous ditty as nature afforded them utterance with witnessing and expressing their affection to their Calves shut up at home O that there should be such humanity as I may terme it in Beasts and such beastlinesse in many men Remember this you that fit drinking and bezzling wine abroad whilst your Family are glad of water at home and think thus with your selves To what end is this needlesse wast might it not have been sold for many a penny and have been bestowed on my poor Wife and Children Observ. Secondly Whereas we find Naomi and her Sons going with Elimelech we gather It is the duty of a dear Wife and of dutifull Children to go along with their Husband and Parents when on just cause they remove into a forraign Country It was an unmanly and cowardly speech of Barak to Deborab Judg. 4. 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 staâ— I will not stir from the pâ—ace where you abide otherwise if â—he wife refusâ—th to go along with her Husband what Abraham Gen. 24. 8. said to the Servanâ— in another case is true in this respect but iâ— 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 thâ—t she will not go along with her Husband who propoundeth lawfull 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 sicknesse and in health to maintain her Question But methinks I hear the Widows and Orphants crying unto me as the Souldiers to Iohn Baptiâ—â— But what shall we do Luk. 3. It is true saith the Widow that kind Husbands aâ—e to provide for their Wives but alas we have no Elimelech's to carry us into a forraign Country in the time of Famine indeed saith the Orphant it is the Fathers duty to provide for his Children but my Parents are dead long ago I have not as Samuel had a Mother Hannah every year to bring me a new Coate what shall we do in this our distresse Answer Answer Use the best means you can and for the rest relie on Gods providence who is said Psal. 10. 20. To help the fatherlesse and poor to their Right Psal. 68. 5. To be a father to the fatherlesse and to defend the cause of the Widow even God in his holy habitation who will deale with thee as he did with David When my Mother and Father forsooke 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 successe of Elimelech's journey
And they came into the Couâ—try of Moab and they continued there The meaning is That the Moabites afforded them harbour without any molestation Observ. From whence the Observation is this We ought to be Hospitall and courteous to receive strangers First Because God in severall places of Scripture enjoyneth it Exod. 23. 9. Levit. 19. 33. 2ly Because God apprehendeth all courtesie done to a stranger as bestowed on himselfe He that receiveth you receiveth me c. I was a stranger and ye harboured me Mat. 25. And then if we entertain strangers it may be said of us not onely as it is of Lot and Abraham Heb. 13. 2. That we entertained Angels bâ—t that we entertained God himselfe unawares 3ly Because it spiritually considered we our selves are strangers with the Patriarks Heb. 11. We have here no abiding City but seeke one from above whose bâ—ilder and maker is God I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims 1 Pet. 2. 11. Lastly Because of the uncertainty of our own estates for thou knowest not what evill shall be upon the earth it may be we that now relieve strangers hereafter our selves being strangers may be relieved by others Vse Let us not therefore abuse strangers and make a prey of them making an advantage of their unskilfulnesse in the language and being unacquainted with the fashions of the Land like Laban that deceived his Nephew Iacob in placing Leah for Rachel and to cloak his cheating pleaded it was the custome of the Country wherefore rather let us be courteous unto them least the Barbarians condemne us who so courteously intreated S. Paul with his shipwrackt companions and the Moabites in my Text who suffered Elimelech when he came into the Land to continue there Vers. 3. 4. 5. And Elimelech Naomies Husband dyed and she was left and her two Sonnes c. IN these words we have two Marriages ushered and followed by Funeralls I will begin there where one day all must make an end at Death And Elimelech Naomies Husband dyed 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 forraign Aire 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 condemne Elimelech's removal as unlawful because of his suddain deaâ—h for those actions are not uâ— godly which are unsuccessfull nor those pious which are prosperous seeing the lawfulnesse of an action is not to be gathered from the joyfulnesse of the event but from the justnesse of the cause for which it is undertaken Observ. 1. Hence we observe that God can easily frustrate our fairest hopes and defeat our most probable projects in mâ—king those places most dangerous which we account most safe and secure causing death to meet us there where we think furthest to flie from it Observ. 2. 2. We see that no outward plenty can priviledge us from death the sand of our liâ—e 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 deprived her as it were of the â—se of her own leggs by taking away her Husband yet he left her a staffe 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 powreth not all his afflictions at once but ever leaveth a little comfort otherwise we should not onely be pressed down but crush't to powder under the weight of his heavy hand And they tooke them wives of the women of Moab c. Here we see the fashion of the world mankind had long ago decaied if those breaches which are daily made by Death were not daily made up by Marriage But here ariseth a question Whether these matches were lawfull for answer whereof we will suppose Naomi disswading her Sonnes on this manner Disswasion What my Sonnes and what persons of my wombe and what the Sonnes of my desire give not your strength to strange women and your wayes 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 Sonnes of an Israâ—lite tâ— marry the Daughters of the uncircumcised Remember my Sonnes what God saith by the mouth of Moses Deut. 7. 3. Thou shalt not make Marriages with them thy Daughter shalt thou not give to his Sonne nor take his daughter to thy Sonne for they will turn away thy Son from following me to serve strange Gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against thee to destroy thee suddenly Take heâ—d therefore least long looking on these women you at length be made blind least they suck out your souls with kisses and Snake-like sting you with embraces curb your affections untill you come into Canaan where you shall find varietie of wives who as they come not short of these for the beauties of their bodies so they farre go beyond them for the sanctitie of their souls Answer To this disswasion thus might her Childeren answer We thank you deare Mother for your carefulnesse over our good but we must intreat you not to interpret it undutifulnesse if upon good reason we dissent from your judgement herein In the place by you cited Marriages are forbidden with such strange women as are of a stubborn obstinate and refractory nature such as are likely to seduce their Husbands whereas you see the mild towardly and tractable disposition of these women we meane to make our wives we hope to plant these wild branches in Gods Vineyard to bring these straggling sheep to his fold to make them Proselytes to our Religion Besides this Marriage will be advantagious for us thereby we shall endeare our selves into the Moabites affections they will use us the more courteously when we have married one of their own kindred â—ut methinks my tongue refuseth to be any longer the advocate of an unlawfull deed and my mouth denyeth to be the Orator of an unjust action when I have said what I can for the defence of their Marriage I shall but make a plaster too narrow for the sore the breach is so broad I cannot stop it though I may dam it up with untempered morter Nothing can be brought for the defence of these matches something may be said for the excuse of them but that fetcht not from pietie but from poliey not certain but conjecturall yet here may we see thâ— power and providence of God who made so good use of these Mens defaults as hereby to bring Ruth first to be a retainer to the family
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 â—t is a divine work to perswade mens souls to believe But as for the using of tortures and of torments thereby to force them we have no such custome nor as yet the Churches of God for though none come to Christ but such as his Father draws by the violence of his effectuall grace yet ought not men to drive or drag any to the proâ—ession of the Faith yet notwithstanding if after long patience and forbearing with them and long instructing them in the points of Religion if still these Pagans continue refractary and obstinate then surely the civill Magistrate who hath the lawfull dominion over them may severely though not cruelly with Iosiah compell them to come to Church and to perform the outward formalities of Gods worship Go then ye bloody Jesuites boast of those many millions of Americanes whom you have converted who were not converted by the sword of the mouth gained by hearing the Gospell but compelled by the mouth of the sword forced by feeling your cruelty witnesse those 70000 which without any catechising in the points of Religion were at once driven to the Font like so many Horses to a watring Trough Indeed I find my Saviour Iohn â— driving the Merchants out of the Temple with a whip of cords but never before did 〈…〉 of any which against their wills drave or instructed Pagans to the â—ont to be baptized Each to her Mothers house Here we see Widows if poor are to be maintained by their Parents if they be able These widows 1 Tim. 5. 16. were not to be burthensome to the Church but â—o be relieved by their own Countrie 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 bitternesse in the end the burthen will fall heavie 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. 7. 12. alwaies in the streets but like meek Sarah in the Tent whereby they shal sooner gain the love and esteem of others for let base and beggerly fellows buy that rascal ware which is hung out at the doors and windows of Shops and Stalls whilest men of qualitie and fashion will go into the Shop to cheapen the worth of those merchandise as are therein kept secret and conceal'd And so surely all discreet and grave men will have the highest esteem and bear the best affection to such Women which do not gad abroad to be seen but with Ruth and Orpah being Widows keep themselves in their Mothers house Vers. 8 9. â— The Lord shew favouâ— unto you as ye have done with the dead and with me The Lord grant you that you may finde rest either of you in the house of her Husband NAomi being readie to take her leave of her daughters faine 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 heartie prayers Whence we learne It is the best expression of a gratefull minde to pray to God for the welfare of those at whose hands we have received greater courtesies then we can requite As ye have done Hence we learne God in the rewarding of the good deeds of his servants dealeth with them accordingly as they have done with others Yet farre be it from us to suppose that in our stained and imperfect works there is any meritorious vertue which deserveth that God should proportion a Reward unto them but this freely proceedeth from Gods favour who to encourage us in well-doing will not suffer a Cup of cold water to passe without its reward Doe we desire then to have dutifull Children and faithfull Servants hereafter let us be dutifull to our Pâ—rents faithfull to our Masters On the other side hath God afflicted us with Zibahs to our Servants and with Absalons to our Sonnes let us reflect our eyes on that which is past and call our selves to account whether we formerly have not been unfaithfull to our Masters undutifull 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 shew favour to the dead who being past sense are not capable of kindnesse or crueltie Answer The Papists who leave the soules of most men departing from hence like Absalon's body hanging betwixt Heaven and Hell expound it that these Women did fast and pray for â—he soules of their deceased Husbands that they might be delivered from torments and in due time brought to happinesse in Heaven For the confutation of which erroneous exposition I need say no more then that the Scripture makes no mention of any such middle place wherein the soules of the godly should be detained before they goe into Heaven and in matters 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 undenyable consequence I will not believe it It is strange to see what impertinent places are produced by Bellarmine to prove praying for the dead as Iames 5. 16. Confesse your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Then he endevoureth to prove that the dead pray for the living from the Parable of Dives Luke 16. 27. I pray thee therefore Father c. where Dives was charitably sollicitous for the good of his surviving Brethren But let the first place in S. Iames be perused by impartiall Judgements and it obligeth mutually the dead Saints to confesâ—e to us as well as we to them which being impossible directeth us to confine the words onely to reciprocall confessing and praying to and for the living Some will say Bellarmine having sufficiently proved Purgatorie before which necessarily inferreth prayers for the dead he might be the briefer in that subject It is confessed many arguments are alledged by him to that intent though to small purpose as Psalme 66. 22. We went through fire and through water but thou broughtest us out into a wealthie place We answer first the living there speake de praeterito we went not de futuro we shall goe Secondly it was literally meant of the Children of Israel they went through the fire when envassalled to worke in the Egyptian Brick-kills and through water when miraculously they passed through the Red Sea Again they went through fire when preserved from the stinging of the fierie they beheld the Brazen Serpent Thirdly if from fire in this Text any can kindle a Purgatorie others will quench it from
learne that it is a part of good Husbandry in a numerous Family to have one servant as Steward to over-see the rest Thus Abraham had his Eliezer of Dâ—mascus Potiphar his Ioseph Ioseph his man which put the Cup into Benjamin's Sack Ahab his Obadiah Hezekiah his Eliâ—kim the sonne of Hilkiah Observation Let Masters therefore in chusing these Stewards to be set above the rest take such as are qualified like Iethro's description of inferiour Judges Exod. 18. men of courage fearing God dealing truly hating covetousnesse And how-ever they priviledge them to be above the rest of their servants yet let them make them to know their dutie and their distance to their Masters lest that come to passe which Solomon fore-telleth Prov. 29. He that bringeth up his servant delicately in his youth will make him like his sonne at the last Let Stewards not be like that unjust one in the Gospel who made his Masters Debtâ—rs write down fiftie measures of Wheat and fourescore measures of Oyle when both severally should have been an hundred but let them carefully discharge their Conscience in that Office wherein they are placed whilest inferiour servants that are under their command must neither grieve nor grudge to obey them nor envie at their honour But let this comfort those underlings that if they be wronged by these Stewards their Appeale lyes open from them to their Master who if good will no doubt redresse their griâ—vances Now if Stewards be necessarie in ordering of Families surely men in authoâ—itie are more necessarie in governing the Church and managing the Common-wealth If a little Cock-Boat cannot be brought up a Tributarie Rivulet without one to guide it how shall a Carâ—van a Gallioun or Argosie sayling in the vast Ocean be brought into a Harbor without a Pilot to conduct it Let us therefore with all willingnesse and humilitie submit our selves to our Superiours that so under them we may live a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie Whose is this Maid Boaz would know what those persons were that gleaned upon his Land and good reason for we ought not to prosâ—tute our liberalitie to all though unknowne but first we must examine who and whence they be otherwise that which is given to worthlesse persons is not given but throwne away I speake not this to blunt the Charitie of any who have often bestowed their benevolence upon Beggars unknowne and unseene before but if easily and with conveniencie as Boaz could they may attaine to know the qualities and conditions of such persons before they dispose their liberalitie unto them And the servant which was appointed He herein performed the part of a carefull servant namely fully to informe 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 plenarie 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 commendation we gather Servants when asked ought to give the pure character of poore people to their Masters and no way to wrong or traduce them Which came and said Let me gather I pray See here Ruths honestie she would not presume to gleane before she had leave Cleane contrarie is the practice of poore people now-adayes which oft times take away things not onely without the knowledge but even against the will of the owners The Boy of the Priest I Sam. 2. 16. when the Sacrifice was in offering used to come with a flesh-hooke of three teeth and used to cast it into the fat of the Sacrifice making that his Fee which so he fetcht out if any gain-say'd him he answered Thou shalt give it me now or if thou wilt not I will take it by force Thus poore people now-adayes they cast their hooke their violent hands gleaning the leane will not content them into the fat the best and principall of rich mens Estates and breaking all Lawes of God and the King they by maine force draw it unto themselves Not so Ruth she would not gleane without leave And stayed here from morning untill now See here her constancie in Industrie Many are very diligent at the first setting forth for a fit and a gird for a snatch and away but nothing violent is long permanent They are soone tyred quickly wearie and then turne from labour to lazinesse But Ruth continued in her labour from the morning till now till Night till the end of the Harvest O that we would imitate the constancie of Ruth in the working out of our salvation with feare and trembling Not onely to be industrious in the Morning when we first enter into Christianitie but to hold out and to persevere even to the end of our lives Onely she â—arried a little in the house No doubt some indispensable businesse detained her there and probable it is that a principall one was to say her Mattins to doe her Devotions commend her selfe with fervent prayer unto the Lord to blesse 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 Sythes our prayer to God in the Morning before we enter on any businesse doth not hinder us in our dayes worke but rather whets it sharpens it sets an edge on our dull soules and makes our mindes to undertake our labours with the greater alacritie And here may I take just occasion to speake concerning Gleaning Consider first the antiquitie thereof as being commanded by God Levit. 19. 9. and 23. 22. Secondly consider the equitie thereof it doth the Rich no whit of harme it doth the Poore a great deale of good One may say of it as Lot of Zoar Is it not a little one and my soule shall live Is it not a pettie a small exile courtesie and the hearts of poore people shall be comforted thereby Reliquiae Danaum atque immitis Achillis the Remnant which hath escaped the edge of the Sythes and avoided the hands of the Reapers Had our Reapers the Eyes of Eagles and the Clawes of Harpeyes they could not see and I snatch each scattered Eare which may well be allowed for the Reliefe of the Poore When our Saviour said to the woman of Syrophaenicia It is not good to take the Childrens Bread and cast it to the Dogs She answered Yeâ— Lord but the Dogs eat of the Childrens Crummes that 〈◊〉 from their Table So if any Misers 〈◊〉 It is not meet that my Bread should 〈…〉 unto poore people to gleane Corne upon my Lands yea but let them know that poore people which are no Dogs but setting a little thick Clay aside as good as themselves may eat the falling Crummes the scattered Eares which they gather on the ground Vse It may confute the Covetousnesse of many which repine that the Poore should