Ver. 8.-Benedictions. The Hebrews were fond of beuodictions. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee." " And Jacob blessed Joseph, and said, The God whirh fed me all 16 THE BOOK OF RUTH. [en. 1. G-14.
my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lnde. ' 1 "'l'he Lord bless thee out of Zion." These Scriptures of olden ti~e touch us so tenderly, because they recognise the living hand, the loving heart of God. It is this ~h_ic-h ,viii make the~ never. grow old. It_ is this w~1ich makes their inspiration linng. n~d k~eps the_ir fountams of cons?lation open still. We are always meeting and partmg, Jonrneymg forth and returnmg home. Our families are broken up, our churches have gates of entrance and departure, and the picture of life is always one of a tent-life. We are pilgrims and strangers, as all our fathers were. The key- note of all that I have to say to you from this text is in that word "kindly." The argument is this. \Ve can understand kindness in the sphere of the human and rise from that to a prayer for the Divine ~indness.. No soci_ety in any age c~n be CC"mented together by force alone. Feudalism, for mstance, m olden times was not all terror. The baron could command his dependents in time of war as h~ fed and housed and clothed t~em_ in times of peacF>; but, as the old chronicle;s tell us, there ,vas often a rare hosp1tahty, a hearty cheerfulness, a chivalrous affection in the some- what stern relationship; nor will any political economy of government ever be able to preserre nations in allt,giance to each other, or at peace amongst themselves without the cultivation of Christian brotherhood. ' I. THE LORD KNOWS BEST WHAT KINDNESS IS. The Lord deal kindly with you. Has he been kin~? that is t~e q~es~on for us all. At ti1!1es we should have been tempted to unswer, No I The vme 1s blighted, the fig tree withered, the locusts have spoiled the green of spring, the little lambs have died. Kindly? Yes, we shall answer one time when we stand in our lot at the end of days. For kindness is not indulg- ence. I am thankful that this once common word bus dropped out of our prayers- Indulgent Father. No word in the English language describes a feebler state of being than the woro. indulgence ; it refers always to the weaker side of our nature ; that which is pleasant to us, that which eases us of pain and of discipline and effort. Prayer like this goes to the heart; more especially from the Naomis of the universe who have bad so hard a time of it, to whom life has been so full of bereave- ment and battle. But if you study life, you will see it is the indulged who complain ; it is those nursed in the lap of luxury who whine and whimper if the sun does not shine, if the pomegranate, and the fig, and the grape do not supplement the bread. Indulgence breeds supercilious mannerism and contempt for common things in them; and all seems so very strange if men, and women, and things are not ready for their comfort. God's kindness to us may take forms which surprise us. At the heart of bis severest judgments there is mercy, in the bitter spring there is healing water, in the desolated altar there is the downfall of idolatry. Abba, Father, we cry, and he seems not to hear us. The wild winds seem to waft away into empty space our cries for help and pity, but he who sittetb in the heavens hears and answers accord- ing to the wisdom of bis own will. The kindest things God has ever done for us baYe been, perhaps, the strangest and severest. So it was with Daniel, and Jacob, e.nd Joseph, and Abraham our father. All God's ways are done in truth, and trut__h is always kindness, for the music of the universe is set in that key. The throne of the Almighty himself has it.a firm pillars planted on that. Away we go to business and duty. Farewell to son and daughter. Go thy way, pilgrim of life, with knap- sack and staff; henceforth our paths are separate, and for you there will come battles when we cannot fight beside you, burdens we cannot help you to bear. To ane>ther hearth you will come at evening, when the day's work is done, and the anodynes of sympathy are needed for the worker's heart. "Go thy way. The Lord deal kindly with thee." !I. THE LORD ALONE WILL BE WITH US ALL THROUGH OUR FUTURE PILGRIMAGE, Apart from Divine power, which we have not to bless with, there is Divine presence which we all need. Christ will be with us to the end. Never will come a buttle, • temptation, a solitude, a sorrow, a needful sacrifice, but the Lord will be at hand. The sceptre will never be laid in front of an empty throne. The Lord reigns. It is touching to see the struggles of modern thought in the minds of men who have drifted away from the incarnation and resurrection of our Lord. " The ocean en- croaches more and more each year "-to use a figure of one who has marked the " ebL" of thouglit-" and he watches hie fields eaten up from year to year." Yes, OH. I, 6-14.] THE BOOK OF RUTH. 17