n of her
mother-in-law, poor and desolate as she was, than to enjoy for a
season what in Moab might have been hers.

This sacrifice was so real that Naomi, much as she loved her
daughter-in-law, and desolate as she would be without her, felt she
could not wish it for her own sake merely; but when Ruth said, "Thy
people shall by my people, and thy GOD my GOD," she had no further
doubt to suggest, and no further obstacle to put in her way. If
companionship with one of GOD'S poor servants is so precious, what
shall we say to Him who exhorts us, "Go! ... and, lo, I am with you"?
Is He not saying: The good SHEPHERD must seek the wandering sheep
until He find them. Go ye, too, and seek them, and in so doing you
shall find My companionship ensured? Shall we decline this fellowship
with Him, and leave Him, so far as we are concerned, to seek them
alone?

We next find Ruth toiling in the burning sun as a gleaner, and there
she meets for the first time the lord of the harvest. The beauty of
the narrative of Boaz saluting his reapers with, "Thy LORD be with
you," and their reply, "The LORD bless thee," must delight every
reader. And poor Ruth, too though not a reaper--only a gleaner--is
made most welcome, and encouraged to remain in the fields of Boaz
until all the reaping is done. With touching simplicity and humility
the grateful gleaner replies, "Why have I found grace in thine eyes,
that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?"
Then the lord of the harvest responds in the words we have quoted at
the head of the paper, "It hath fully been showed me, all that thou
hast done," etc.

Let us then turn from Boaz to the true LORD of the Harvest. Does He
meet us there, toiling in the heat of the summer's sun? Knowing fully
all we have done, does that knowledge bring joy to His heart? and is
it a joy to us to know that He knows all? Our risen and glorious
LORD, so wonderfully described in Rev. i, still walks in the midst of
the golden candlesticks. Can He say to us, "I know thy works," with
no word of rebuke? or do we feel the blush of shame as the eye as "a
flame of fire" rests upon us? "And now, little children, abide in
Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be
ashamed before Him at His coming."

Let us all leave the fatherland of the world, and at least become
strangers and pilgrims in it. Let us all toil in some way or other in
the great harvest-field, and if we may lawfully do