choose the better part : and never was it taken from thee'," nor ever hadst thou reason to regret thy choice. It was wise as that of Moses, when he " chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season"^." We congratulate thee on the strength of thy principles, or rather, on the grace given thee of the Lord. Unhappy Orpah ! we know not what was thy condition in after life : but, whatever it was, dost thou not now bemoan thine instability ? Dost thou not now wish that thou hadst been faithful to thy convictions, and hadst cast in thy lot with God's chosen people ? As for thee, Ruth, thou favoured saint, even if thou hadst been as miserable in after life as thou wast happy, we should have pronounced thee blessed : but doubly blessed wast thou in the distinctions conferred upon thee in this world, as earnests of the glory which thou inhe- ritest in the realms of bliss, even in the bosom of thy de- scendant, thy Saviour, and thy God.]
Compare it, also, with that of Naomi —
[That Naomi was a pious character, we have no doubt ; and amiable too : for by her conduct she conciliated the regard of both her daughters-in-law, who, though Moabites by birth, were through her convinced of the superior excellence of the Jewish religion, and the superior happiness of those who were imbued with it. And we cannot but earnestly call the atten- tion of Christian parents to this trait of Naomi's character. For there are too many, who, whilst they profess godliness, make it odious to all who come in contact with them, and espe- cially to those who are dependent on them. Their tempers are so hasty, so imperious, so ungoverned, that their very daughters are glad of an occasion to get from under their roof. I must tell all such professors, that they are a disgrace to their profession ; and that if religion do not make us lovely and amiable in all our family relations, it does nothing for us, but deceives us to our ruin.
Yet I cannot think very highly of Naomi's character, when I see the advice which she gave to her daughters. She loved them, it is true : but her love was of too carnal a nature : for she had more respect to their temporal welfare than to the welfare of their souls. Some would offer an apology for her ; that she only intended to try the sincerity of their love. But, supposing she had done this in the first instance, which yet she had no right to do, especially when they had both said, " Surely we will return with thee unto thy people :" (I say again, she had no right to " cast a stumbling-block in their way," and by repeated entreaties to urge their return to their
i Luke X. 12. ^ Heb. xi. 25.