Let

and Omega-the beginning and the end of the Bible; and the humblest family from whom he derived that blood which he shed for the sins of the world is thought more worthy of mention in the Book of God than the proudest of the kings on the earth. this fact impress upon our minds these truths. That in the sight of God, the distinctions of rank are as nothing. The rite of confirmation mingles all ranks, from the queen upon her throne to the humblest inhabitant of the cottage. "The brother of low degree is called to rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low." The poor this world are born to no great inheritance, but if they be "born again of the Spirit," they are become "members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." They are adopted into the family of a father whose children are all princes, and who shall "reign on the earth" when the kingdoms of this world have passed away. The rich, on the other hand, may learn that all worldly advantages are but hindrances in the christian race; that when they come to present themselves before God,

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they must strip themselves of all the distinctions of rank and wealth, and put on "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which alone in the sight of God is of great price;" while, at the same time, the privileges which they enjoy in common with the poorest of Christ's flock, far exceed in value those short-lived advantages which they derive from their natural birth.

In the next place, the history before us was, doubtless, inserted in the Word of God to show us THE VALUE OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL RELIGION. He knows by name every

family and every individual that loves and serves Him. "They that fear the Lord speak often one to another, and the Lord hearkens and hears it, and a book of remembrance is written before Him for them that fear the

Lord and think upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that, day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."* He knows the name and the state of every young person, however ob

*Mal. iii. 16, 17.

scure her rank in life, who comes forward as a candidate for confirmation, and while the names of all who make a fair profession are written on the cards that testify the approbation of man, his book of remembrance is opened only for them "that fear the Lord and that think upon his name," that are sincere and earnest in their profession. That book of remembrance will one day be opened in the presence of the assembled universe, "and then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not."

In the story of Ruth we see, what is more or less manifest in the case of every believer, the providence of God concurring with his grace, disposing events and overruling difficulties, and "making all things work together" for the accomplishment of her conversion.

"It came to pass," begins the sacred historian, "in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons." This was in itself a questionable step. It was leaving

the land of Israel, with all its spiritual privileges, for the sake of "the meat that perisheth." And this is a step that never yet prospered. Lot chose the plain of Jordan, because he saw that it was "wellwatered everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord." He considered only the worldly advantages it presented to him, regardless of the wickedness of its inhabitants, and in the end, he was deprived of all his possessions and compelled to close his days in a cave. And how was it with Elimelech ? He found in Moab the death from which he sought to escape. And when he was gone, his children, Mahlon and Chilion, no longer restrained by his authority, united themselves in marriage with the women of Moab, contrary to the express command of God, "that a Moabite should not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever." But at the same time that all these steps were wrong, and brought guilt on those who took them, they were secretly "working for good" to Ruth the Moabitess. The wisdom and power of God are never more conspicuously displayed than when he exerts them in bring

ing good out of evil. It was thus that he overruled the malice of the Jews and the indecision of Pilate for the redemption of the world. Jesus was delivered into their power "by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God," at the same time that he was crucified and slain by wicked hands. The guilt was theirs, the glory was God's. So here, Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon, and Chilion were all guilty of sinful conduct; but the steps they took, unknown to themselves, led to the conversion of Ruth to the faith of God's people, and by the very same means by which he punished them for their sins, he opened the way for her deliverance.

"Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons; and next Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband." They died untimely deaths, and she was left alone in the world to feel their loss, to be so changed by sorrow and misfortune, that when she returned to the city where she had been known in the days of her happiness, she heard the voices of her former friends saying in doubt and astonish