BUT the years passed and changes came.

Naomi laid

her husband in the grave, then opened the same grave for her two sons, till Moab grew such a sad home for her that her heart began to cry again for Bethlehem. Then tidings came that the famine was at an end. Was that not God beckoning her homeward? So she set off, and Orpah and Ruth were with her, by that same path down which, ten years ago, Mahlon and Chilion had come singing. They were dead now; but what a comfort Orpah and Ruth were! And then on the hillside, it flashed in a twinkling on her motherly heart what a sacrifice she was asking them to make. They were leaving their mothers, their homes, their kindred. They were travelling out into a lifelong exile. It was not right. It was a shame to sacrifice these girlish lives for the sake and solace of her ageing heart. So she kissed them amid her tears. She pled with them passionately to return. And we all know how Orpah yielded. And we all know the choice of Ruth.

NOW, there are some features of Ruth's choice we

must not miss. And first, Ruth's choice was the choosing of one who loved her well. How tenderly Naomi loved her daughters is seen in her earnest pleading for their return. Had she loved them less, she would never have hesitated to carry them over Jordan into Bethlehem. It was her love that gave her such a deep concern that her dear children should have a happy future. And Ruth knew this. She trusted Naomi because Naomi loved her so. She chose to go with Naomi over the hills, for she knew that there would be always strength and sunshine, if she were living near the love of Naomi's heart. That is the reason why every true mother prays that the boys and girls may climb the hills with Christ. He loves them with a love so deep and generous that even Naomi's is shallow beside it. He came to earth, He bled, He died

for them. It is because He first loved us that we love Him, and set our faces to the hills with Him, to make for the house-mystical of bread.

AGAIN, Ruth's choice was taken in the teeth of difficulties.

It is a hard thing always to choose well and wisely. There are so many arguments at hand for what we'd like to do. There seem so few sometimes for what we ought to do. But I question if there have been many choices made in the face of such difficulties as met Ruth. Just think of some of them. The past was against her : she had been cradled in a heathen home and trained in the worship of immoral gods. Her sister was against her-Orpah had turned and was travelling home again, and Orpah was the elder woman of the two. Her mother seemed against her-it was hard to resist these tears from Naomi's eyes, these earnest pleadings from Naomi's lips. The future was against her-how cheerless the prospect seemed of living an exile, and never setting eyes on home again! These things were fighting against the choice of Ruth. These whispering voices called her back to Moab. But the girl was a heroine. There was a depth of devotion in her heart to Naomi. And neither height, nor depth, nor length, nor breadth would separate her from the love of Naomi now. Is it difficult for you to choose the right? Is it supremely hard to resolve to follow Jesus? There is something in the past that holds you back; there is the example of a friend or sister. There is the dreary prospect for the future; there is the voice of Jesus bidding you count the cost. Ruth knew that long ago. These pleas kept ringing in her heart upon the hill. But she played the heroine for Naomi, and you may play the heroine for Jesus. Ruth stood and triumphed, and you are her sister and may have her

crown.

ONCE more, Ruth's choice was marked by an entire

surrender. Sometimes, when we are going a journey with a friend, we lay down conditions before we start. We shall only travel by a certain road; we shall only stop so long at certain towns. But when Ruth set out with Naomi that morning she never dreamed of any stipulation. She had taken Mahlon once for better or for worse, and she was taking Naomi the same way now. Let Naomi lead, and Ruth will always follow. Let Naomi halt, Ruth will rest there. Ruth will not dictate; she wants a lowly place. Her choice is marked by an entire surrender. Now once I have started out to follow Christ, let me remember that I must follow Ruth. There is no hope of peace or power or joy, save on the basis of complete surrender. If Ruth had quarrelled with Naomi about the route, how hearts would have ached upon that homeward track! If Ruth had girded because the hills were steep, and the valleys were damp, and the Reubenites were coarse, what a sorry party would have entered Bethlehem! But, 'where thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge,' and they came to Bethlehem with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. You understand that parable? Then live it out. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.'

THEN, lastly, you will note, Ruth's choice was followed by a great reward. She got a place among God's people, that was something. She got her sweet story written in the Bible, that was much. But best of all, she became the ancestress of David, and of Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of the world. All that sprang from the choice in Moab, and all that she would have missed if she had chosen selfishly.

L

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY

Evening

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Passage to be read: John x. 1-18.

no link between the two.

AST Sunday we were speaking of the man born blind; to-day our lesson is the Good Shepherd. And I dare say it seems at first as if there were But if it is hard for us to find a link, it was all plain as daylight to the man born blind. He hid in the crowd, and drank in every word that Jesus said; and as he heard that wonderful talk about the shepherd, he said to himself, 'Every syllable of that is meant for me.' Had not the Pharisees excommunicated him? Had they not slammed the door of blessing in his face? 'I am the door,' says Jesus. Had not the Pharisees been mad with rage that he, a poor lost sheep, should dare to teach them, the shepherds of the people? 'I am the good shepherd,' says Jesus. Christ knew what had happened. He knew the treatment His beggarfriend had got. It stirred His heart into this noble eloquence. And as the sunflower springs from its seed, so all the wealth and beauty of our chapter spring from the healing of the man born blind.

F

Of course, when Jesus calls Himself a shepherd, He

is far from being the first to use that figure. The originality of Jesus does not lie in saying things that were never said before. Old Homer (whom I hope many of my readers love) is fond of calling his heroes shepherds of men. It had been used of Cyrus in Isaiah ; of rulers and prophets in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It is

1;

the name given to the teacher of wisdom in Ecclesiastes. It comes to full bloom in the twenty-third psalm. I wonder, too, if you have ever thought how many of God's great leaders had been shepherds. Abraham and Jacob both had to do with sheep. Moses was keeping Jethro's flock when God spake in the burning bush. When Samuel came to seek a king, the king, a ruddy lad, was shepherding. Amos the prophet was a simple herdsman. And Jeremiah, likest of all the prophets to the Lord, would seem to have been a shepherd too. Did not Christ know all that? Had He not brooded deep upon these shepherds, as He wandered among the hills. of Nazareth? Now, at the touch of need, and under the impulse of a great compassion, He glorifies and crowns that ancient image, by making it the express image of Himself.

NOW you will note that Jesus knows His sheep. That thought was clearly before the mind of Christ. There was not a Pharisee who knew the blind beggar, although they had passed his begging-place for years. But beggar or prince, it is all one to Jesus; as the Father knows Him, He knows His own. Mr. Moody used to tell about a girl who was very ill, and her mother sang to her and spoke to her and shifted her, but the little patient still tossed and fretted. And then her mother stooped down and took her in her arms, and the child whispered, ' Ah, mother, that's what I want!' You see that even a mother, for all her love, can never be sure what her little girl is wanting. But every want and every need, and every trial and every hope, of every separate boy or girl who trusts Him-it is all known to Jesus. The day is coming when Christ shall say to some people, 'Depart from Me, I never knew you!' But that same Jesus is saying to-day, 'I am the Good Shepherd and know My sheep.'