If we apply this blessing to Jesus, it will be replied, "He hath done worthily in Ephratah, and is famous in Bethlehem.”

He hath done worthily in Ephratah, in the abundance of his goodness, fulfilling the legal covenant as the substitute of perishing and undone man; restoring its lost honour, magnifying the holiness of the precept, and submitting to the severity of the penalty, as deeming it just and righteous. It was worthily done to place himself betwixt the burning mount and his chosen people; to lay his own neck beneath that sword of justice, brandished to cut them down as cumber-ground sinners.---He hath done worthily, in spending his whole life going about doing good to the bodies as well as the souls of men. He thought no fatigue too great; no suffering too intense to pass through, that he might minister relief to his distressed contemporaries: wherever he went, he pointed out the way of life, and diffused blessings all around. It may well be said of him, that no needy sinner ever perished at his gate; for he was eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and limbs to the maimed: he was all to every suppliant that the most extreme misery could possibly want. He did worthily in Ephratah, in dying in the room and stead of his avowed enemies; and, with his dying breath, to pray for his bloody murderers. This is an instance of unparalleled love, and unbounded beneficence, for which his character will be extolled on the harps of saints and angels to eternity. He hath done worthily in Ephratah.

Be thou famous in Bethlehem.' He is famous in Bethle hem. That famous, that only infant, who being the Heir of all things, having heaven and earth at his command, was content to put up with a manger for his cradle, and with a stable for the place of his nativity; that only babe, whose praises the highest order of heavenly choirists delight to sing, who, notwithstanding, condescended to be brought into the world amongst beasts of drudgery, as oxen and asses. This amazing stoop in Deity, this astonishing condescension of the blessed Immanuel, will render the name Jesus, in the highest degree, famous for infinite ages still to come.

He is that famous infant, who struck terror to the heart of Herod the tyrant, whose dignity tottered at the account, even of the history of his birth. This dread it was which instigated him to send forth his murderous ruffians to massacre the hope of Bethlehem. But he is that famous, that awful Judge, whose lips shall at last denounce the definitive and irrevocable sentence against all the persecutors of his person and people: that awful Judge from whose presence the heavens and earth shall pass away! and to shun whose wrath, the wicked shall seek to hide themselves, were it even in the very depths of hell!

He is that only famous sacrifice appointed by the Almighty to take away the sins of guilty man; that only sacrifice whose

virtue and efficacy is for ever; for of none other it is said, 'that by once offering up of himself, he hath for ever perfected all that believe.' None was ever known upon earth, none in heaven, who was in himself priest, altar, and sacrifice, besides the Son of God. His divine person is the altar; his human nature the sacrifice; and in the union of his two natures, as the adorable God-man, he is our priest, the high-priest of our mystical Israel.---He is that famous Prophet who spoke as never man spake, his very enemies being judges; whose words penetrate the dullest, and enlighten the most ignorant understanding: that famous King, who lives to be a father and fountain of blessing to his people, who levieth no tax upon his subjects, and who is the everlasting terror of all who would make inroads upon their peace and felicity; a famous sanctuary in this house of war, whose precious name is the only refuge known in the palaces of Zion.

In his blood poured forth, is opened that fountain so famous for its transforming quality, its cleansing efficacy, as instantly to wash the scarlet or crimson sinner as white as the fleecy snow; to restore the flesh of the most confirmed leper like that of a tender infant. What numbers of defiled Syrians have here washed and been cleansed! what numbers of blind beggars do daily wash in this pool, and as they wash have their sight restored to them! this famous fountain stands open night and day; it is free to all comers; a sense of pollution makes its virtue necessary to you, and assures you of a welcome; and without a sense of pollution, none could be welcome to come to it, could they even come. No pollution is of too deep a dye, no stains are of too deep a tinct for its power to cleanse, for the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth from all sin.

Who, like unto our famous Jesus, delights to give power to the faint, and increaseth strength to them who have no might? who, like him, binds up the broken in heart, and becomes the famous rest of the weary? who delights to visit the dungeons where prisoners dwell, or to enter the domains of slavery for the redemption of captives? of whom can it be said, In him dwelleth all the riches of wisdom and knowledge?' who so extolled for wisdom as this servant of the Lord? what power in heaven, on earth, or in hell, can match with that which bores the jaw of leviathan through with a thorn, and plays with the prince of monsters as with a bird? and oh! his benevolence surpasseth all description, exceeds the utmost limits of human thought! Gabriel's pencil, or the eloquence of the brightest seraph, would here faulter and egregiously blunder. Those lofty tribes who surround the heavenly throne, the happy recipients of his favour, could say much, but when they have said what they can, must still leave the description scarcely begun! heaven, with its thousands of tongues, and eternity, with its innumerable ages,

will not be adequate to the stupendous, the wonderful task! May it be thy employment, O my soul, to dwell for ever on thy Redeemer's beneficence! this will be heaven for thee sufficiently sublime! Such are his riches never to be counted over! unsearchable in the most proper sense! Exert all thine own powers; call in the asssistance of elect angels and men; claim an everduring existence; let every moment of that existence be employed in counting the Redeemer's riches, and still shall they be left unsearchable! Delightful work for an eternity yet to come, even after numberless ages are rolled away. How inexpressible the bliss of the glorified! how delightful the work of the inhabitants of heaven! through all whose regions the name Jesus shall be famous for ever!

Let thy house be like the house of Pharez.' Why like the house of Pharez, rather than that of Shelah? &c. Because that of Pharez was the first family of the house of Judah, as appears from the chronology of Israel. Pharez was one of the line of Christ's ancestry, and recorded as such by Matthew and Luke, the genealographers of Jesus. But who is this Pharez, thus honoured, thus preferred to his brethren? He is the son of incest, born to Judah by his daughter Tamar, widow of his sons Er and Onan. Surely nothing meritorious or alluring seems to appear in the descent of this Jewish chief, which should induce the great Governor to give him precedence. O how brightly does divine Sovereignty here shine in its radiant beams! how emphatically does it here assert its right! Shall Shelah, lineally descended from lawful embrace, be neglected in the chronology of the Jews; and Pharez, the fruit of a stolen, an incestuous amour, be recorded with honour? What less can we say than that the conduct of God, in a way of grace, is altogether independant on human virtue. It is not to be wondered at, that men of mere natural principles should stumble at conduct so mysterious, and contrary to human maxims.

Let thy house be like the house of Pharez.' Pharez, division, or a breaking forth. There was a time when the house of Jesus was like the birth of Pharez, a breaking forth; it broke forth upon the right hand, and on the left. The light of the gospel broke forth from Judea, and darted to the ends of the world; and how low soever the work of God in our day may seem to be, there shall be a season when the house of Jesus shall again be as Pharez, and break forth upon every quarter of infidelity.

Haste, haste, old time! the tardy moments draw
Which intervenes between me and that day!

Pharez, division, which figures forth the division of Christ's house from the synagogue of Satan, the houses of the world, and dwellings of the wicked. This division began in the family of Adam, and hath continued ever since; and still I may say, ye

are not, ye who have known the grace of God, I say ye are not of the world, that world which lies in the wicked one. The same division shall continue to the end, and indeed when time shall be no more, even to all eternity. But though foreign to this benediction, the house of Christ is divided in a regular, and in an irregular manner; in a regular manner, by divine appointment into fathers, young men, and children, which division is profitable to the whole in an irregular manner, into various opinions, persuasions, and sects, who unbecomingly militate against one another, and who might be of the greatest mutual disservice, according to the natural tendency of those divisions. But such is the wisdom of the great Governor, that those things which in themselves tend to the ruin of the interest, are made subservient to the best purposes, by making them all expert in the knowledge and defence of sacred truth; as the friction of iron upon iron will infallibly brighten both, and in some cases will endure with a magnetic and attractive quality. Thus out of the greatest seeming evil the Lord can, the Lord doth bring forth good to his church and people, to his cause and interest in general.

2d. Another subsequent of the ancient Jewish marriages was, the bridegroom brought the bride into the marriage chamber, which was called Beth-hillel, the house of praise; the time of marriage being in ancient times, as well as modern, a season of festivity and mirth, whatever the consequences of marriage may be in these latter times of voluptuous licentiousness. When Isaac married Rebekah, he brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he loved her, and she became his wife. Here the mate of the son's choice became successor to the venerable mother. In the case before us, Boaz took Ruth into his house, as appears from the 11th and 13th verses compared.

The heavenly Lover also brought his spouse into his banqueting house, displayed over her the banner of his love, and made her partake of his richest blessings. His Gentile church was brought into the tent of her Jewish mother, notwithstanding she is of the old olive by nature; yet being now ingrafted into the living vine, her privileges and beauty far exceed those of the other. But shall we from hence have one elated thought? God forbid! by the grace of God we are what we are: far from being high minded, let us fear offending against that goodness and love from which spring all our advantages; and being brought into Sarah's tent, may we by grace walk becoming our dwelling. Jesus has a marriage chamber, a Beth-hillel into which he brings the soul on the day of espousals, and which upon those occasions is generally an house of praise. It is indeed said that there is joy in heaven amongst the holy angels when a sinner repenteth, forsaketh all, and cleaves to Jesus; and much more may there be in the believing church which is so nearly concerned.

In a particular manner, it makes the hearts of gospel ministers rejoice, because therein they behold the travail of the Redeemer's soul, and are satisfied that the pleasure of the Lord prospers in their hands. Every lively experimental member must rejoice to behold poor sinners plucked as brands from the burning; brought out of darkness into marvellous light. Being really a spiritual member of the gracious church below, introduceth the soul into such an affinity and alliance with the triumphant in heaven, as would surpass all human credibility, were it not so plainly testified in Scripture. It would be well if believers could consider themselves as minor heirs of heaven, training up to a meetness to join the enthroned church in glory.

3d. A third subsequent of marriage was, the next day after the celebration of the nuptials, the bridegroom brought forth his bride and presented her unveiled to the guests, which might not be done before; the custom being for her to wear her veil till after the marriage was consummated. This veiling of the damsel prior to her marriage, however it might be designed in providence, is certainly very expressive and picturesque of the state of Christ's people before their conversion. They are veiled; their relation to Jesus lies concealed from every eye beside that of Omniscience they lie in the common ruin of the human nature, and cannot be distinguished from the children of the Devil, till grace brings them forth to the light, and makes their adoption manifest by faith and repentance.

But on the day of calling grace, when the trembling soul gives her heart and hand to Jesus, the husband of its choice, the veil that formerly disguised the heir of promise is taken away, and the Bridegroom presents the believer to his church, as the choice of his affection, and purchase of his blood. All glorious within, in virtue of grace infused, or the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and clothed with wrought gold. Now, without a veil, the queen stands at the right hand of the King himself, clothed with the gold of Ophir, and she and the blessed Bridegroom can talk with delight of their reciprocal affection, and rehearse the transactions of their mutual loves: now the Redeemer says, 'Thou art all fair my love, there is no spot in thee.' And now says the bride,' His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely; this is my beloved, and this is my friend, O ye daughters ' of Jerusalem.'

If ye, my brethren, are the children of light and of the day, ye are in some manner made manifest. The child of grace is born alive, and will discover itself by its crying; so the bride of Jesus will be known by the ornaments he hath put upon her, and clothed in his own attire he will present her to his friends now, and to his Father blameless in the day of his appearance. 4th. Fruitfulness was the issue of this marriage between Boar and Ruth. The Lord gave her conception,' says the text. By