the greatest, to bring it into exercise. Hence he appointed, that, when they gathered in the fruits of the earth, they should guard against selfishness, and manifest a spirit of love towards their more indigent and afflicted brethren. In the very words which I have just read, the threefold repetition of them shews what tenderness there is in the bosom of Almighty God towards the poor and afflicted, and how desirous he is that all his people should resemble him: and for this end he commands, that, in the season of their own prosperity, they should be especially mindful of " the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." The manner in which he enforces this command respecting gleaning, will lead me to consider,
I. The privilege of gleaning, as accorded to the Jews —
The Jews had been brought out from Egypt from the sorest bondage —
[By mighty signs and wonders had God brought them out : and had throughout all their generations caused them to enjoy blessings for which they had not laboured, and to reap an harvest which they had never sown. For the space of forty years in the wilderness they had no occasion for agricultural labours ; but from day to day did they glean around their tents the food which the Great Proprietor of all caused to be scat- tered for their use. And when they came into the promised land, " they found there great and goodly cities which they had never built, and houses filled with all manner of good things which they had never filled, and wells which they had never digged V Like gleaners, they had only to enter on the field, and to appropriate every thing which they found to their own use ]
From this consideration they were enjoined to give somewhat of a like advantage to their poorer brethren —
[" Freely they had received ; and freely they were to give." They were to bear in mind the misery from which their forefathers had been delivered ; and from a sense of gra- titude to their Heavenly Benefactor, they were to shew love to their brethren, and liberality to the poor. They were not to be exact even in the reaping of their crops, but to leave the corners of their fields standing c for the benefit of " the stranger,
b Deut. vi. 10, 11. cLev. xix. 9.