November 21

how soon, very soon may they be convinced too late! Hobbs said, when dying, "I yield my body to the earth, and my soul to the great perhaps." Thistlewood the traitor said to one of his comrades as he was ascending the drop, "We shall soon know the great secret" -- He meant, whether there was another world; and after death the judgment. What wretched infatuation to leave the decision till the discovery and the remedilessness arrive together! It is hardly necessary to observe that the denial of the thing will not disprove it. Suppose a criminal by some delusion persuades himself that the assize will not be kept—He goes on—but while he is engaged or amused, bark! the trumpets sound, the judge is entering, and to-morrow he must appear. Men may reason, disbelieve, ridicule; but the scene neither slumbers nor lingers—"The end is come; the end is come."

The third respects the character of those who fall under the malediction. And surely they must be persons charged with crimes too shocking for human nature often to commit: surely they can only be Cains, and Pharaohs, and Belshazzars, and Herods, and Robespierres. But no. They are not represented as tyrants, robbers, adulterers, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers. Many of them were free from what is commonly called vice. They had negative virtues, and often boasted that they did no harm. But they led easy and indolent lives. They exercised no self-denial. They made no sacrifices not only for God whom they had not seen, but for their brother whom they had seen. They have judgment without mercy, because they showed no mercy. They had unfeeling hearts, and tearless eyes; their hands never relieved the necessitous; their feet never visited the door of affliction—It is the decision of One too wise to be mistaken, and too faithful to misrepresent—"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

NOVEMBER 21.—"I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty."—Ruth 1:21.

THESE are the words of Naomi, who, from the famine which raged in her own country, had fled to Moab for succour, and had now returned back to her native place. In a village every occurrence, especially the coming back of an inhabitant after years of absence, excites notice, and the news soon spreads through the neighbourhood. So it was here. The arrival of Naomi, accompanied with Ruth, her daughter-in-law, awakens curiosity, and huddles together the rustics in little groups, pointing with the finger, and making remarks and inquiries—"So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were

come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them; and they said, Is this Naomi?" At which she burst into tears, and said, "Call me not Naomi"—that is, pleasant; "call me Mara"—that is, bitter: "for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me—I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." Whence we may observe,

That when persons go from home, they little think what may befall them before their return. This will apply even to life itself. Some, like Efimelech, never come back. An accident demolishes their frame; or a disease arrests them too violently to admit of their removal; their relations arrive just in time to see them die, or they die in the midst of strangers. They little imagined that when they left their own door they were never to enter it again; and that the leave they had taken of their family was a farewell for ever! "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."

It applies also as to character. Some have been converted while from home: they have met with a godly acquaintance whose conversation, or have attended an evangelical minister whose preaching has been useful to their souls; and they have returned with new views and feelings, and have become all anxious to bring their connections into the same state with themselves. Others, alas! have gone out moral and returned vicious, profaning the Sabbath they had once revered as the holy of the Lord and honourable; and ridiculing a book which they once regarded as given by inspiration of God. How many, in travelling, run uncalled for into dangers! And how necessary is it, even in lawful, because necessary journeys, to commit our way unto the Lord, and pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!"

It also applies to our outward circumstances. Some go out empty, and come home again full. This was the case with Jacob. He left Beer-sheba with nothing but the charge and blessing of Isaac: and in his pleading with God in his journey, he only asks for bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and a return to his father's house in peace. But hear him on his return: "with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands." And thus it has been with many since. They set off with no raised expectation, and with no design formed, excepting to gain a humble subsistence: but difficulties vanished before them; the Lord prospered their way; blessed the labour of their hands; and gave them power to get wealth. Others have gone out with confidence flattered by the most pleasing prospects. But every enterprise failed; every dependance gave way; every comfort fled; till they were left like a beacon upon the top of the mountain, or a vessel stranded and wrecked upon the shore—Therefore we observe again,

That it is no unusual thing for the same individual to experience both fulness and privation. "Ah," says Naomi, "once I had a husband, now I am a widow. Once I had children, now I am child-

less. Once I had importance, now I am without influence. Once I had substance, now I am destitute—I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." Not only is there a diversity of conditions among men, so that while one is in splendour another is in obscurity, and while one is rich another is poor—but the very same person may successively be distinguished and neglected, be wealthy and indigent. These transitions are sometimes gradual; and sometimes sudden and wholly unlooked for. But Scripture, and all history and observation, more than remind us of the possibility of these changes: and wisdom admonishes us to improve them—First, by not depending upon our possessions and enjoyments. Shall we set our heart on that which is not? Secondly, by using them liberally while we have them. Riches make to themselves wings, and flee away: but, says an old writer, we may clip their wings by charity. And Solomon says, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." So that not only is the principal safe, but the interest Divine. "Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth." And Thirdly, by being prepared for every vicissitude. "I know," says Paul, "how to be abased, and how to abound; every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." It is one thing to know what it is to possess, and what it is to lose, and another to know how—that is, how to behave in each as becometh the principles of a Christian. It is a great thing to prosper and not be exalted above measure; and to be reduced without being swallowed up of over much sorrow. To be full and not deny him, and say, Who is the Lord? And to be poor, and not steal or take the name of our God in vain. Yet this is possible; and through the grace of the Holy Spirit the soul may be braced up to such a moral strength of constitution, as to brave any climate or change of weather, however great or sudden.

See also how piety will acknowledge the hand of God in every event. An ordinary mind would have said, "I went out full, and am come back empty." But Naomi did not live without God with her in the world—Naomi says, "I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." So Eli said, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." And Job, instead of dwelling on the Sabeans and the elements, said, "the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

God is not the author of sin; but as to suffering—"Is there an evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it?" Does not he make darkness as well as create light? There is nothing like chance, especially in our trials; neither are we to think only or principally of second causes. It is a view of God's agency alone that can preserve us, either from sinning or sinking in the day of adversity. But the cup which my Father giveth me shall I not drink it? I can trust in him—He spared not his own Son—He has always my welfare at heart—

"Good when he gives, supremely good; Nor less when he denies: E'en crosses from his sovereign hand Are blessings in disguise."