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posure of a religious hero, at the age of one hundred and ten years.

Joshua had the distinguished honour of being the first who bore the name which was to be assumed by the Redeemer of the world, and he resembled also that glorious person in his actions. "As Joshua brought the good report, and evangelized concerning the promised land (when false or faint inquirers defamed it, and discouraged the people from entering; as he was educated under Moses, and served him faithfully; as he succeeded in the administration and government of God's people, perfecting what Moses had begun of deliverance and settlement to them ; as he brought the Israelites (not that old disbelieving, mutinous, and repining generation, but a new progeny of better-disposed people) finally out of the wilderness into Canaan, by GoD's miraculous assistance, subduing their enemies, and establishing them in a quiet possession of the promised land, allotting unto each tribe its inheritance; and as he did re-circumcise the children of Israel: so did our heavenly JESUS first make a true and faithful discovery concerning the mystical land of promise (that better country flowing with spiritual milk and honey, abounding with all spiritual comforts and pleasures, for the food, sustenance, and refreshment of our souls.) He was born under the law, and submitted to its injunctions, fulfilling all righteousness. He survived it, that part of it which was purely Mosaical and arbitrary, and did complete it. He doth conduct God's regenerate people, (such as believe, and willingly follow him,) out of the desert state of error, guilt, and sin, into the superior state of happy rest and joy, with miraculous power and efficacy; vanquishing all the spiritual Amorites (the devil, world, and flesh,) which infest, obstruct, and oppose them; settling them in a perpetual, undisturbed, and immoveable, enjoyment of that blissful region; having also by a spiritual circumcision prepared and consecrated them to GOD. Our Saviour therefore

not only when he at last, in fulness of time, did come into the world, but anciently in type and shadow, may be supposed to have received this name Jesus conferred upon him in the person of Joshua, his most illustrious representative."*

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Lived about the Year of the World, 2759.

THE Scripture history furnishes as with several

Our

instances of female excellence, some of which have been already noticed, and others lie before us. attention at present is called to the story of an amiable woman, who may be justly said "to have forsaken all for Christ," in an age when the strongest eye of faith could barely discern him as a glimmering star at a great distance.

But she had the honour for her faithfulness to become the mother of princes, and to have her name immortalized in the genealogy of the King of Righteousness.

The conversion of RUTH, the Moabitess, forms an entire book of the sacred canon, and that of moment, as completing the book of Judges, and making a part of the genealogical history of the Messiah. The author of it is generally allowed to be Samuel: but with regard to the period when the events recorded in it happened, there are different opinions.

Some, with great probability, place the famine, mentioned in the first chapter, in the time of Gideon, but others carry it much farther back. One reason why commentators have perplexed themselves so much upon this point, is, that St. Matthew mentions Boaz as being the son of Rachab, whom they will

Dr. Barrow's Sermons on the Creed, vol. v. p. 378. Edinburgh edition, 1751, 12mo.

have to be the woman of Jericho who hid the Hebrew spies. But for this there does not seem to be any solid ground, since the apostle does not spell the name in the same manner as the Septuagint, St. Paul, and St. James do; therefore I see no reason why Rachab and Rahab may not have been two different persons.

Besides, Boaz was the great-grandfather of David, who was born in 2919: of course, by placing the æra of this book so far back, the immediate progenitors of that monarch must have lived to a far greater age than was usual at that period. It is merely recorded by the sacred writer, that the famine happened when the judges ruled; and if it was that which occurred in the time of Gideon, then the æra will be fixed at about the year of the world, 2759.

The narrative itself is very affecting, and presents us with a beautiful picture of the simple manners of antiquity.

Elimelech was a person of considerable distinction in Bethlehem-Judah; but in a time of great scarcity, he was obliged to dispose of his patrimonial estate, and go with his family into the land of Moab. This was not merely a country of strangers, but of enemies, for the Moabites had a rooted animosity against Israel; but the over-ruling providence of God provides an asylum for his servants even amongst their inveterate foes.

Here the good man ended his days, and left two sons, Mahlon, and Chilion, to be the protectors of their aged mother, Naomi. No sooner were these youths arrived at man's estate, than they took wives from among the daughters of Moab. Whether their conduct was offensive to the Almighty is not hinted at in the Scripture; but as they died childless, and in the prime of life, some Divines have conjectured that their immature deaths proceeded from the Divine displeasure.

NAOMI, on being deprived of her earthly comforts, turned her sorrowful eyes toward the land of her

nativity. She was now set adrift to the mercy of the world, without a husband, without children, and reduced to want. In this condition she heard that the Lord had visited his people with bread; and she resolved to return to her country and her kindred. The journey was long and difficult, not less than one hundred and twenty miles, and part of the way was very mountainous. It was an arduous task, therefore, for an aged female to undertake without a guide, and without the means of procuring the necessaries of life. But NAOMI was bent upon the journey; and the hope of seeing her native spot once more, gave her confidence, and made her fearless of all the dangers that might occur in the way.

While her husband and sons were living, we do not read of any plan of returning to Judah; but when her friends and property were gone, then Naomi felt her isolated condition, and turned her thoughts towards home.

Happy will it be for us also, if the loss of relatives, or any other visitation of Providence, has the effect of weaning our minds and affections from this world, and of fixing them upon the Jerusalem which is above.

Naomi no sooner formed her determination, than she put it into execution. There could be no time. for deliberation in her condition. She had no property to dispose of, no friends to consult, nothing in fact to take with her in this long journey. Yet so amiable and endearing was her character, so truly did her disposition comport with her name of NAOMI, or "my pleasant one," that her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, were ready to forsake their country and their friends to accompany her. When they had proceeded part of the way, the good woman earnestly intreated them to return, expressing her grateful acknowledgments for all the kindness which they had shown to her deceased children, and to herself. After many importunities, Orpah was prevailed upon to go back to her relations; but the attachment of

Ruth to Naomi was indelible, and in the emphatic language of Scripture, "she clave unto her."

Naomi, however, was unwilling to draw an amiable young woman from the fostering care of her own inother, and the comforts of her native country, to endure poverty and distress in a land of strangers. She therefore earnestly urged her to follow the example of Orpah, and mentioned one circumstance which appears plainly to have touched the true string of Ruth's attachment: "She has gone back unto her gods," says Naomi, "therefore return thou after thy sister-in-law." This, however, at once fixed the resolution of Ruth, and with a noble earnestness she replied, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge 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."

Religion, then, we see, was at the root of Ruth's attachment. She loved Naomi, because she loved the God in whom Naomi believed, and whom she worshipped. She was, therefore, determined to cast in her lot with the Lord's inheritance, and with cheerfulness did she renounce "father and mother, and house and lands," or all that she had or could expect in Moab, for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven.

Before her, what appeared but penury and want, and labour, among a people who probably would look upon her with contempt?-behind her were kind and affectionate friends, ease and comfort, and perhaps an honourable alliance. But then the "Gods of Moab" were dumb idols, or destructive demons, and the God of Israel was the fountain of life and happiness.

This consideration decided the choice of Ruth, and she resolved to "cleave unto Naomi," regard

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