them and nursed by them also for that mothers are more tender-harted towards them and most familiar with them therefore here is their mothers house named though afterward Ruths father Chap. 2. 11. And yet some childreÌ„ we see ready enough to despise their mothers which is contrary to nature contrary to the commandement Exod. 20. Prou. 1. 8. Yea it is great ingratitude to requite so the great paines in conception in bearing in nursing which a child can neuer recompence and therefore a curse is pronounced against such children Deut. 27. 16. Pro. 20. 20. and of this the Prophet Ezekiel complaineth Chap. 22. 7. II. That poore widowes are to be maintained of their able parents when they be left alone and cannot maintaine themselues Leuit. 22. 13. 1 Tim. 5. 16. The law of nature and we see the Law of God leadeth thereto and Naomi knew not whither else to send them And whither should children goe but vnto their parents If this be so then let parents see to the well matching of their children to preuent their pouertie if it may be and a second charge of them Let children be then ruled of their parents in taking marriage vpon them seeing parents are to be troubled againe with them if need require Yea and let husbands haue care when they haue receiued their wiues portions so to husband the same that they may leaue them to liue after them and not to be againe chargeable to their friends The Lord deale kindly with you Her prayer for them which was her best recompence for their loue being now poore and not otherwise able to requite them their kindnesse Note hence I. That it is a duety to pray for those which doe either vs or ours good So doth Naomi here so Boaz for Ruth Chap. 2. 12. Dauid for Abigails good counsell 1. Sam. 25. 33. and Saul for Dauids sparing his life 1. Sam. 24. 19. And this duety let vs performe as Christ in the forme of Prayer hath taught vs Mat. 6. and not pray onely for our selues as worldlings doe nor to thinke a fauour done is requited with I thanke you onely and that prayer for a blessing vpon them is not required especially if they be superiours and yet we see here the practice of superiours to inferiours II. That at parting friends are to pray one for another as we may see the practice of it in Isaac Gen. 28. 1 3. Laban Gen. 31. 55. Iacob Gen. 43. 14. and in Paul Act. 20. 36. It is very Christian like an argument of loue and desire of their owne welfare which cannot be without Gods protection put this therefore into practice True it is that men now doe it but it is not with that reuerence nor expressed with that earnest desire as is meet and befitting in such a case III. That the godly are perswaded that the Lord is a mercifull Rewarder of the dueties of loue which one doth towards another This Naomi her prayer to God for them here teacheth for the godly know that the Lord hath commanded such dueties and what he commandeth to be done that will hee reward in the doer And hereof let vs bee well perswaded this wil make vs do our duties cheerefully though men requite not our paines because God will By this reason Saint Paul encourageth seruants to their duties and to doe what they ought heartily Col. 3. 24. IV. That children should so well deserue of parents yea though but parents in law as they may bee moued heartily to pray for them as Naomi doth in this place A good carriage is a duty towards all then much more to parents and the prayers of parents is a meanes to put a blessing vpon their children But some children are so farre from doing their duties to their parents to procure a blessing as they with Cham deserue a curse such a one was rebellious Absalom bloody Cain such a one was Ruben Simeon and Leui whom the Lord punished V. That God will not onely barely reward but so deale with vs as wee deale with others This Naomi begges for this the Lord in mercy will doe Mat. 7. 2. for our incouragement to well doing he will reward vs according to our works This should stirre vs vp to doe our duties vnto our brethren knowing that as we doe we shall be done vnto As yee haue dealt with the dead and with mee Here Naomi acknowledgeth their louing obedience and good carriage towards their husbands when they were aliue and now to her they being dead and this maketh her to pray thus for them Note here first that daughters of a bad race may prooue good wiues and good children in law sometime as these daughters of Idolaters did when God restraineth nature and giueth grace withall For many times there are trâ—ctable and gentle natures where Religion is not grafted these by good instruction and Gods blessing may proue excellent wiues Children therefore are not euer to bee censured according to their parents though it is dangerous to graft in a bad stocke for an hundred to one but a Michol will make a Dauid know that shee is a Sauls daughter But here women Christians are taught to shew themselues good wiues and children or else these daughters of the Heathen will condemne them whom Naomi commendeth for good wiues Now to bee a good wife a woman must know her duty and be very desirous to doe it which stands in loue vnfeigned in feare to offend Ephe. 5. 22. Col. 3. 18. 1. Pet. 3. in cheerefull obedience in meekenesse of spirit and in sympathizing with her husband in prosperity and aduersity But where is the woman where is this Sarah this Rebeccah Shee will answer perhaps Where there is an Abraham and an Isaac for a good husband will make a good wife a good Iohn a good Ioane the body will obey where the head knoweth how to rule well II. That good and truely louing wiues loue their husbands parents for their husbands sake as these did Naomi For the wife and husband are one and should be of one heart and the one loue vvhere the other liketh and a good vvife striueth to please and content her husband in shevving loue to his friends Shee vvill not bee like such levvd vviues vvomen not vvorthy to bee vviues vvhich hate their husbands kindred and brovv-beate them out of their houses Verse 9. The Lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband Then she kissed them and they lift vp their voice and wept NAomi her continuing in prayer for them as before in generall now in particular for a speciall blessing This verse containeth a petition an act of a valediction and the passion which is wrought The Lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband Shee prayeth here for their second marriage and that the same might be blessed of the Lord the chief Marriage-maker so as it might procure them rest and be
thine heart Doe we not receiue his blessings with one hand shew our vnmindfulnesse of him by the other If the keeping of his commandement be the marke of our loue as it 1. Iohn 5. 2. is then surely our waxing wanton against him by abusing of his blessings openly proclaime rather hatred than loue vnto him This is our vnthankefulnesse of which we must repent Blessed be hee of the Lord. This is her prayer made to the Lord to blesse him From this note many things I. That Prayer in and by euery true member of the Church hath beene onely made vnto God This the examples of all the godly doe confirme and thus are we commanded to doe and therefore the prayers made to Sants Angels yea or to the Virgin Mary are abominable and cursed idolatry II. That it is the Lord that doth blesse and make happy for what is begged of God that is acknowledged to be his gift And what happinesse corporall or spirituall can man attaine vnto but by the Lord Therefore if we want blessings let vs beg them of him if wee haue them acknowledge him the Authour and be thankfull in cheerefull obedience for the same as wee be exhorted in the Word of God For who can Deut. 10. 12. Rom. 12. 1. think himselfe blessed of God not be thankfull and obedient vnto him but such as be void of all grace III. That the Lord will blesse the mercifull For shee prayeth for that which she had warrant to aske and wee find that the Lord hath so promised Psal 41. 1 3. Mat. 5. 7. to doe And therefore let the mercifull looke for a blessing and let vs pray for that blessing vpon their heads which shew mercy vnto the poore and needy that they may be encouraged in such workes of charitie And to moue them hereto let them consider Gods promise to them how they be vnder Gods protection Deut. 24. 13. how others pray for them when they doe little thinke thereof and doe blesse them as Naomi doth Boaz here and if the poore faile of their duety yet the almesdeed ascendeth vp to God and Act. 10. 4. the worke done shall blesse them euen the backe and belly of the poore Let these things moue Iob 31. 20. the rich to doe workes of mercy and to reioyce therein IV. That the poores reward vnto the rich for their workes of charity is onely their prayer to God for them Naomi had no other recompence for Boaz but this and this is a great requitall when it is a feruent prayer from faith for such the Lord doth heare and will himselfe reward their workes he becomes bound for them to make good what on their behalfe is wanting Which may greatly comfort such as be mercifull And seeing the poore haue nothing else to repay backe but their prayers let them not faile in this not onely when and while the benefit is in receiuing but euen when for time the fauour may seeme to bee forgotten so often as their Benefactors come to their remembrance not to faile to lift vp a thought to God for them Who hath not left off his kindnesse to the liuing and to the dead The reason which moued Naomi to pray so feruently for a blessing vpon Boaz was his constant fauour towards them aliue as before to her husband and children then dead and it is as if Naomi had said He continueth still in his former kindnesse to vs that be now aliue to thee and me which he shewed to my husband and children now departed this life The Papists prattle Feuardentius in hunc locum I know not what of benefiting the dead by workes of charity out of this place by wresting the sense thereof to maintaine their errour which I leaue as idle and vnprofitable and come to more sound and profitable instructions for our selues Hence may we obserue That true loue in good men dyes not with the dead but is shewed to those they leaue behind them as Boaz doth here to Ruth and Naomi for their husbands sake so did Dauid to Mephibosheth for Ionathans sake 2 Sam 9. 1. Prou. 17. 17. 1. Sam. 22. 4. for a true friend loueth at all times Dauid receiued kindnesse of the King of Moab and being dead hee sent to comfort his sonne Hanun if it 2. Sam. 10. 2. had beene so taken For a true friend seeth his friend aliue in his children and posterity Let vs then if we loue one truely not bury our loue with him in his graue as the manner of the world is now which is full of counterfeit loue But let vs imitate our heauenly Father who loued Abraham Isaac and Iacob and their seed after them and promiseth mercy vnto thousands of the posterity Exod. 20. of such as loue him and keepe his commandements This reproueth such which let their loue die with their friends also such as loue their friends posterity if they be rich but not if they be poore as Boaz doth here But true friendship maketh no difference of a friend by riches and pouerty for if this make the difference the friendship is certainely counterfeit Thirdly this condemneth such friends as loue such as remaine of their friends departed so as vnder colour of kindnesse they rob their children committed by the will of their dead friend to their custodie such villanie there is in the world and falsehood masked vnder the shadow of loue Besides instruction here is also matter of cōsolation if we consider how God raiseth vp constant friends to poore posterities though this be rare yet wee haue in this place an example that God is the same in power and mercy to doe the like still for his children but be it that men faile to be faithfull in their loue let vs be comforted in this that the Lord is faithfull if he loue Abraham his friend his posterity in Egypt after foure hundred yeeres shall reape benefit thereby if the Lord chose a Dauid he will for a long time for his sake shew kindnesse to his posterity Let this this I say settle the hearts of carefull parents for their posterity for if the Lord loue them hee will not faile them nor forsake their posterity that shall depend vpon him hee is the sure and constant friend and will not leaue off his kindnesse to the liuing and to the dead as Naomi speaketh heere of Boaz. And Naomi said vnto her The man is neere of kin vnto vs one of our next kinsmen It may seeme by this that before now Naomi had not told Ruth of Boaz her rich kinseman but at this present as occasion had now offered it selfe now she telleth her that hee was a very neere kinsman one of her Redeemers which had a right to redeeme the inheritance and so to marry her and to raise vp seed vnto the dead as the Law required and this Deut. 25. Naomi telles her of to shew how naturall affection did in some sort bind him
a seed of the righteous among Gods people for the preseruation of the Church and Religion as Boaz heere had a care to raise vp the name of the dead vpon his inheritance But this cannot the married doe except they themselues be true Louers of goodnesse and haue a speciall care to traine vp their children religiously first in knowledge of God else are they Atheists of the true God else Heathenish Idolaters and of the true worship of this God else but will-worshippers then to enforme them in the Doctrine of faith without Heb. 4. 2. and 11. 6. which grace they can neuer profit by the Word nor euer please God the summe of which beliefe is set downe in the Articles of our Creed Next to teach them how to pray aright which is the meanes to conferre with God to speake to him to obtaine blessings from him and without the practice whereof men are but as beasts and a marke of such as thinke there is no God The Psal 14. summe of our prayer and the perfect rule of direction for matter and manner and end is set downe by our Sauiour Christ Lastly to teach them obedience and to walke in Gods Commandements without which all knowledge and 1. Iohn 2. 4. Iames 2. faith is vaine the fumme of what we are to obey is in the ten Commandements which children must be taught and instructed in Here may bee noted this also from the words that the dead doe liue againe as it were in their posterity which keepe their inheritance for children and the preseruation of their fathers inheritance doe keepe aliue the name of the dead Therefore let children haue a care hereof lest they destroy the name of the dead as many prodigall children doe That the name of the dead bee not cut off from among his brethren This is another end the other being the meanes to preuent this for the raising vp of the name of the dead preuenteth the cutting of it off from among the brethren Concerning the word brethren hereby is meant others than very naturall brethren for the people of God before and vnder the Law as in the Primitiue Church vnder the Gospell were wont to call one another brethren of which I haue spoken before out of the third verse For cutting off this may bee when one will not marry to haue children or marrying are not blessed of God with children or hauing children are cut off by Gods iust iudgement and so the name perisheth 1. King 14. 10. 2. King 9. 8. Ier. 22. 30. and 36. 30. Deu. 29. 18. 19. Deut. 25. 6. as it befell Ieroboam Ahab Iehoiakim and as God doth threaten the obstinate sinner in Deuteronomie Howsoeuer this cutting off be of posterity we may learne hence that the decay of posteritie is a cutting off of a mans name from among his brethren as the words heere and in the Law imply And therefore let people pray for this blessing of marriage and thanke God for their posterity and fruit of the wombe Abraham most highly Gen. 15. 2. Psal 127. 3. and 128. 3. esteemed hereof and the Psalmist maketh it a reward to such as feare God yea children are a crowne to the old men and it was a heauy curse vpon Iehoiakim to be made childlesse and it was Ier. 36. 30. and 22. 30. Leuit. 20. 20. threatned in the Law as a punishment for sinne They be much to blame then which do marry of purpose with such as they thinke are past bearing of children or with others apt for children but yet in heart desire to haue none or perhaps but one or two rather to dally with than to be troubled with but such children often proue a scourge to these parents through their foolish affection and too great indulgencie because they haue no more And from the gate of his place These words shew that Elimelech was a man of authority among them an Elder and Iudge in the Gate which honour Boaz would vphold in marrying with Ruth that his name might not bee cut off from the place of authority heere vnderstood by the Gate Good men seeke to vphold the honour to preserue the dignitie of one another as the fifth Cōmandement teacheth which being our duety wee must care to obserue both to the dead and to the liuing To the dead as Boaz doth heere now their honour we preserue when we speake of them with honour as Dauid did of Abner when 2. Sam. 3. wee maintaine their good name against calumnies and slanderous reports when we imitate their vertues and seeke to vphold their posterity especially when they shall deserue well and follow the steps of the dead in well-doing Thus shall wee truely and with praise preserue their honour though we doe not as the Papists dedicate dayes in honour of them and make them Intercessours to God for vs to the great dishonour of Christ And as we should maintaine the honour of the dead so should wee the honour of the liuing by acknowledging their dignity in age place and gifts by speaking thereof as is meet without enuy or disdaine and by doing reuerence in our outward behauiour according to their dignity Heere may also bee noted that men of place and authority may soone leaue their family in a low estate for Elimelechs wife was poore Naomi and glad of the helpe of her daughter in lawes gleanings How poore was the widdow left for whose reliefe the Prophet Elisha wrought 2. King 4. 1. King 18. 3. a miracle being as is supposed by some the wife of an honourable man Obadiah Ahabs Steward who did feed an hundred Prophets of God in Caues in the time of famine This may fall out sometime by Gods hand in punishing the fathers that they can leaue nothing to children sometime for triall as in Iobs case who was brought to great misery and sometime a mans owne doings may bring him vnder the power of authority which may iustly depriue him of his honor and estate as it befell Abiathar in the daies 1. King 2. 26 27. of Salomon Let not men bee therefore proud of their parents present glory an alteration may soone come as we see in Ieroboam and Baasha in Ahab Iehoram and Iezabel in Haman also Athaliah and others for Gods power Princes authority Psal 75. 6 7. and a mans owne way may soone bring downe his greatnesse and also a ruine vpon his whole house Yee are witnesses That is as if Boaz had said not onely of the sale and purchase of the land but also of this my marriage with this yong woman Ruth which here we see to be publike and in the Gate of the Citie in a ciuill Court and place of iustice Whence uote First that marriages are to be made publikely before sufficient witnesses as was Iacobs this here and that to which our Sauiour Iohn 2. was bidden This is fit for the honour of marriage for the better ratification thereof and
practice Heathen by lawes haue forbidden it Athenian law apud Sâ—obaeum for that it polluteth the mind filleth it with wickednesse and maketh such impudent and also Au. Gell. did punish the same as is reported of the Romanes that so the dignity of the Lawes and Discipline among them might remaine as one saith inuiolable What a shame and impudencie is it then in such as would bee called Christians and yet cannot by Reason nor Religion of Christ be restrained from such petulancie and wantonnesse Note againe here how this is spoken after marriage and not before to teach that such as be marryed may lawfully company together and that Gen. 29. 21. by warrant from God who said after hee had made man and ioyned Adam and Eue in marriage Increase and multiply and the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. 3 5. teacheth that then neither of them hath power ouer their owne body and hereof maketh a double vse to render due beneuolence and not to defraud one another Then they are to be reproued which before marriage company one with another as incontinent and violently lustfull persons doe and such as being married doe defraud one another And heere this condemneth the Church of Rome which alloweth man and wife vpon the vowe of chastitie forsooth to liue asunder one from another contrary to the Apostles Doctrine and exhortation 1. Cor. 7. 5. The Lord gaue her conception Hence it is euident that the gift of conception is from the Lord and this is true not onely in such as be altogether barren as was Sarah Rebecca Hannah the Shunamite and Elizabeth but in such as bee at the Iob 10. 8 10 11. first fruitfull this also is from his gift And therefore is it to be ascribed to him he is to be thanked for it wee are not to thinke as Rachel did that a husband can giue children it is no strength of body nor good complection that can make fruitfull but the blessing of God And wee may further learne here that the Lord alloweth of the honest act of marriage for hee commandeth due 1. Cor 7. Heb. 13. 4. beneuolence he calleth the marriage bed vndefyled hee blesseth it and giueth the gift of conception hee allowed thereof before the fall and Gen. 1. 1. Cor. 7. 2. hath in mercy ordained it as a remedy against sinne This therefore confuteth such as haue iudged the companying together of man and wife to bee a sinnefull act absurdly and prophanely abusing this place for it Those that liue in the flesh cannot please God as if that which God himselfe hath allowed and most holy men of God haue done should bee now that which should debarre them of Gods fauour when yet these popish harlotries can dispence with Gods Law and keepe their whores and yet not liue in the flesh but bee holy men But let them know that whoremongers and adulterers God Heb. 13. will iudge when marriage is honourable and the bed vndefiled and the libertie to be vsed and allowed for procreation of children to auoid fornication with heartie thankes vnto God for his ordinance Heere note farther the difference which the Scripture maketh betweene conception of a woman a wife and of another In copulation out of marriage it is said of a woman that shee conceiued as Thamar by Iudah Hagar by Gen. 38. 18. 16. 4. 2. Sam. 11. 5. Abraham and Bathsheba by Dauid but neuer as heere that the Lord gaue her to conceiue for the other is by his common blessing as among bruit beasts but this by his fauourable approbation and gracious blessing as Iacob said of his children vnto Esau Gen. 33. 5. And she bare a sonne After the gift of conception followeth child-birth not forthwith but in Gen. 18. 10. due time of life which is sometime at the nynth moneth but commonly at the tenth It was not enough that she should conceiue and after haue an abortiue birth but that God in mercy should preserue the child aliue in the mothers wombe to be timely borne for as not to conceiue but to be barren was a punishment so conceiuing and to bring forth an vntimely birth is in the same nature The Lord therefore here sheweth his goodnesse not onely in giuing conception but a happy deliuerance vnto Ruth and a timely birth so the Lord followeth his with his mercies Now in that it is said to be a sonne and not a daughter it is to note the greater blessing For it is a greater blessing to haue a sonne then a daughter And therefore wee doe finde when God would make the barren to beare and such as had begged that blessing at his hands he gaue them sonnes as we may see in Sarah Rebecca Rachel Hannah Elizabeth and in others Because the sonne is the vpholder of the name of the family he is in nature the more worthy for the woman was made for man and not man for the woman as the Apostle teacheth and the man is a more fitter instrument for the good of the Church or Commonweale albeit sometime the Lord hath done wonderously by women Besides these reasons the males among the Israelites were a greater blessing for that the man-child and the continuance of the line in Iudah gaue them hope of the Messias which they looked for and the male child bare vpon him the seale of the couenant of God which was circumcision that God would bee their God and of their seed after them Therefore praise God for this blessing and birth for both but more specially for this as beholding therein the Lords mercy to keepe thy name vpon the earth among thy brethren and Saints of God Lastly note the effectuall power of the prayer which they made vers 11. The Lord heard them for here wee see Ruth before barren is now become fruitfull So as we hereby doe learne That the hearty and faithfull prayer of the godly is neuer in vaine for the people and Elders desired that Ruth should be fruitfull and she was so and also that Boaz posterity might be honorable and renowned so it was as we may see in the 21. and 22. verses of this chapter For an effectuall praier of righteous men auaileth much as Iames saith Iam. 5. 16 17. and prooueth by an instance of the prayer of Eliah and as may be seene in the prayer of Moses 2. Chro. 14. 11. 12 and 20. 6-14 15 and 32. 20. of Asa Iehosaphat Esai and Hezechiah and of many moe which is to encourage vs to the exercise of prayer in faith and feruency of spirit If any thinke that those afore-named were extraordinary men and that therefore wee poore and miserable persons in comparison of them cannot looke to haue our prayers so effectuall with God I answer first that Iames takes away this obiection and feare of acceptance with God for hee saith that Eliah was a man subiect to the like passions as wee are yet hee prayed and was heard