similar evils been entailed ?-How many good men whose thoughts are at present unknown, would, like emancipated slaves, testify their joy at the abolition of idolatrous oaths! Yes, we believe there is in India a goodly number of such men, who would rejoice more in such emancipation than in the addition of thousands a month to their income.

5. But the last great evil which we see involved in this system of idolatrous compromise is, a breach of that solemn trust reposed in us by the "King of kings" in making us masters of this vast empire. What is the object of such undeniable trust? Certainly that we may diffuse over it the glory of our God, and impart to it the knowledge of Christ. This no sincere believer in the Bible will deny ;-now, is it by political identification with idolatry, or judicial identification with idolatrous swearing, that we promote those ends? If we will not act positively, can we not act negatively, and not strengthen that which we have been sent here to undermine and overturn? Oh, would not a stranger suppose that our object as a government, or as its servants, was to render a sinful and abominable superstition as comfortable, agreeable and secure as possible? and to make it as little desirable as may be, for the inhabitants of British India to exchange their delusive and ruinous hopes of salvation by the worship of the Ganges and the honour of the Koran, for the sure prospect of eternal life by the knowledge of the living and true God and of Jesus Christ His Son ? "Ah sinful nation, laden with iniquity," what account will thy rulers and thy judges give to the Lord God in the great day of their judgment! Oh, how will all the conventional iniquities of men, flee before the presence of God! and how will men be astonished, to find some of their highest specimens of political wisdom eternally condemned, as ruinous and murderous policy! Shall the subject of idolatrous oaths be amongst these? Search and see for the Bible is the Judgment anticipated !

VI.-Naomi, or Reverses in Providence.

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

GENTLEMEN,

If the following address, delivered at the close of the last year, be of any practical use in this changing clime it is at your disposal.

Yours sincerely,
WILLIAM SPRING.

Is this Naomi?-Ruth i. 19.

The story with which these words is connected, is without exception one of the most pathetic, affecting, and instructive, in the whole of the Scriptures, and conveys a lesson to us, which, if properly received and acted upon, will enable us to observe the operations of Divine providence, and in that observation to understand the loving kindness of the Lord. May we be wise to "mark, learn and inwardly digest" the sacred truths contained

in the narrative, as it respects the fluctuations of providence in reference to individuals, families, or even a people. It is scarcely necessary that we should repeat the story; and yet, for refreshment's sake, it may be recapitulated with advantage.

It would appear that owing to certain painful occurrences in the providence of God, Elimelech, a devout citizen of Bethlehem-judah, with his truly pious wife Naomi, and their two sons, were obliged to emigrate to the land of Moab for the purpose of sustaining life. It is evident from the narrative that at the time of their emigration they were persons in affluent circumstances, and that they had obtained a high character for probity and uprightness is equally clear. This was specially the case with Naomi, who in all probability added to her other recommendations personal attractions and mental acquirements of no mean order; but whatever these might be it is evident that her name was as precious ointment for many years after her removal from her native city. Such was her reputation, that it is not improbable mothers had spoken of her as an example in all things to their daughters, fathers had held her up to their sons as a model of domestic and religious virtue, and had often referred to the happiness of Elimelech in the possession of such a wife. The poor doubtless, in remembrance of her benevolence, had transmitted her fair name from year to year to their posterity, whilst the pious of both sexes and of all grades would be wont to rehearse her sayings and endeavour to excite each other to love and good works by the recital of her deeds. One can easily suppose that when famine was raging in the city and misery casting its mantle around, that the departure of such a woman and such a family would not be an event which could pass unnoticed or unfelt; the pious and the poor would mourn over the lack of her example and beneficence, and even the wicked would pause and think that a prophet, or what was equal to a prophet, had been amongst them.

We may readily imagine that as Elimelech with his wife and sons, with his asses and property, passed through the gates of the city for a foreign country, many were the tears which fell, and many and bitter the lamenta tion which ascended up to heaven, saying "Alas! alas! for our city, for Elimelech and Naomi are gone.' We may suppose the crowd which attended their exit gradually diminishing until the remnant consisted only of their most intimate friends, and then it is easy to imagine the last halting, the last farewell, the last embrace, the last waive of the hand as this endeared band separated for ever; and ah! if these emigrants had an aged father or mother, or brothers and sisters, in that same city, what a scene of weeping and lamentation, of blessing and reblessing must there have been. For who the language of a tear, or sigh, or groan Can well interpret, when kindred spirits sever Even for a while-much more for ever.

Naomi wept doubtless and much, but yet she was happy, for she possessed a husband-and not only a husband whom she loved, but one in whom she could confide as her protector and guide under God in a wicked world. She had sons too growing up into all the vigour of manhood, the hope of her declining years, and she was full of every thing which could render her life under such circumstances happy and useful; but above all she trusted in God and believed that in the step she was taking she was following the direction of his divine Providence. She acknowledged him in all her ways and he did direct her steps. Happy those women who are in such a case; who are so blessed in all their earthly relations and so blessed in the highest and best of all relations, their relations with eternity and God.

After arriving in the land of Moab, a land of idolators, the family of Elimelech settled there and shed around it the light and blessedness of true

religion. The members of their household lived respected and beloved amongst the Moabites. In the course of time the sons married with the daughters of the land, and for many years Naomi lived, though in a foreign country, in the possession of every social, domestic and religious enjoyment. Then it was that the sunshine of Divine favor rested upon her, and shed its clearest and most cheerful beams upon her path; but soon was its shining dimmed. "Clouds overcast her wintry sky;" she had to follow her endeared husband to the grave, for it came to pass that Elimelech died. Scarcely had the grave closed on the father than it was opened to receive the sons, for "Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband." Then she began to feel the desolateness of her situation, a stranger in a strange land, and she bethought herself of returning unto the land of her fathers, that she might spend the remnant of her days in peace. Naomi had not lived in Moab for nought; she had made her piety to be both felt and respected; she was as an emigrant, and missionary for God, and she had been successful both by her precept and example, for such had been the influence of her piety over her daughters-in-law that they for religion's sake would accompany her to the land of Israel. Previously to entering on the sacred land, the land consecrated unto God, we are furnished with a most affecting and trying scene between Naomi and her daughters-in-law. Although she was aware that they had seen in her the many peculiarities and marked differences which pertained to the Jewish faith over their own idolatrous practices, she yet like a wise as well as pious woman, thought it her duty to lay the real state of things in a religious point of view before them and to tell them fully the sacrifices they must be prepared to make if they would dwell in Israel with pious Jews. She probably pointed out to them many little matters in their heathen dress which would be offensive to the weaker Jews-many habits and expressions, manners and customs which had grown up with their growth, which they could not easily cast off, but which must be put away if they would live in peace, as they might either become the subjects of satirical pleasantry or religious persecution. She evidently pointed out to them the improbability of their being able to enter into connubial life with Jews except in her own family, she probably hinted at their being only permitted to worship in the outer pale of the Gentiles, that they never could receive the full adoption of church members, and that they would be even separated in death. She stated to them with faithfulness and love, all the difficulties which would accompany a religious life and what was the result: they lifted up their voice and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and returned into her own country, but Ruth clave unto her. Orpah was a specimen of too many of our race who in early life manifest all that is hopeful and interesting, who for awhile do run well, but who, when they are about to contend with the trials of a religious life, draw back, perhaps not to perdition, but to an awful and distressing state of misery; they love the Saviour, they embrace him and go back into the world. But Ruth clave unto her, and when Naomi pointed out to her the example of Orpah it only elicited from her this noble disclosure of her feelings-" Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." Ruth i. 16, 17. A noble example this, worthy of universal imitation. is conduct worthy the disciples of Him who hath said, "If any man will follow me, let him take up his cross."

It

Having proceeded on their journey, the two women approached the city, and when the report of Naomi's return had spread through Bethlehem it is said that all the city was moved, and they said, Is this Naomi? Such

were the reverses which she had experienced in the providence of God, that those who had known her, and those who had heard of her previous happiness and fulness, were moved with compassion. If the concourse of spectators was great at her departure, so would it be on her return; for many who had known her in affluence might have supposed that her residence in a foreign country would have added unto her wealth, retinue and importance. How great must have been their astonishment to see her accompanied but by a heathen widow, a few domestics, and but little property, instead of her husband and her sons, who had left the city with her in health and strength, her retinue of servants and her property. How must the poor have mourned whose expectations had been raised by the hope of her diffusive benevolence when they saw her poor herself; and how must the young have felt sad when they saw her on whom they had been accustomed to think as a healthy and beautiful woman withered with age and wrinkled with many sorrows. How must the multitude, who from motives of curiosity had been led out of the city to see the returning wife of Elimelech and her friends, have felt to see nought save a youthful Moabitish widow in kindness supporting the feeble steps of an aged mother to the city of her fathers' sepulchres, that she might sleep in peace-young and old, rich and poor-all-the whole city wept at the reverses in her fortune, and said, Is this Naomi? But what a change to herself! and she felt it keenly, for she said "Call me not Naomi, but call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." For a moment she seemed to lose that noble character which she had hitherto sustained, and under the influence of bitter anguish she said, "Seeing that the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me." She went out accompanied by every thing she held dear, and she had returned having buried her living treasures in a strange land; she went out rich, she had returned poor; she went forth in the prime of life, she had returned withered with age; she went out confident and joyous, she had returned broken in spirit and overwhelmed with grief. Many of the people of her own city recognized her not; she looked in vain for the faces once familiar, and listened in vain for these voices which had blessed her at every turn; she did perhaps, as many others have done after a long sojourn in a foreign country, haste from house to house, but they were no longer inhabitated by those who once welcomed Naomi. She might have relations, but her father was not; friends, but her mother slept in the grave. Though herself aged and likely soon to depart she must have felt the change not only in her circumstances, but in all the associations which had endeared Bethlehem to her heart, and under all the reverses which she had undergone in the providence of God she wept and said, "I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty, why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me.” Though for a moment she was overwhelmed, yet still she recognized the hand of God in all, the Lord had afflicted and not man, and she seemed to say

"Ye fearful saints fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and will burst
In blessings on your head."

This part of the narrative teaches us the importance of not depending for our comfort or support, or for our permanent happiness on human creatures however good, or on earthly objects however excellent or esteemed they may be, and that legitimately by us. Husbands perish, children die: riches take to themselves wings and fly away, and the most religious and happy circles are broken up in an instant. We are also taught by it that

though by removal in the providence of God we escape the calamities incident to one place, we are not free from the same or equally heavy ones in another; and though God exempts us from extraordinary sorrows, we have no ground to believe that he will shield us from ordinary ills, from those which are common to all. Naomi escaped the famine, but she lost her husband and her sons; she escaped death but poverty overtook her. We learn moreover from it that it is consistent with female prudence and retirement to display the most heroic conduct, and that such conduct will be displayed under the most trying circumstances where affection and religion combine to support and animate. Naomi was but a desolate and widowed woman, and yet in religion's ways she acted a noble and heroic part. It is also evident from this narrative, that God will overrule the emigration of his people for the spread of truth and the conversion of the people amongst whom they dwell. The Elimelechs were evidently a decidedly missionary family amongst the Moabites, and in one instance at least, if not in more, successful in their efforts. We may see in it too that God will overrule calamity for the advancement of piety; and the difference between superficial and genuine affection is exemplified in the conduct of Orpah and Ruth. Orpah merely kissed Naomi and wept, but Ruth clave unto her, and the whole narrative shews us how religion can support even the weaker vessels under the heaviest calamities and sorrows of life

A faithful and unchanging God
Lays the foundations of their hopes
In oaths and promises and blood.

May these lessons rest upon our minds and influence our lives in all the different relations and circumstances of our future lot. Let us now pass from these lessons to that great lesson which appears specially bound up with the language of the text, viz.

That individuals and families may expect great reverses in divine providence under which they can alone be supported by the comforts and hopes of true religion and in a wise observance of the Providence of God.

Let us on this solemn occasion seriously reflect on what hath happened to us, that we may be wise to observe and understand the lessons which they are designed to convey. Of how many persons in this limited community may it be said, when we look at the dangers that have passed over them, "and is this Naomi?" We are in many respects like the pious family of Elimelech we are a Christian people in a foreign land-in the midst of idolators-some of us far from our native country, brought here in the inscrutable providence of God for wise purposes; all of us claim that favoured land as the land of our fathers' sepulchres and turn to it with hope as our refuge in earthly conflict.

We are in a country distinguished for change in society equally from its being a foreign country and a reputedly unhealthy climate, and often from the many changes in our city and circle do those more permanently resident in it feel the greatest anguish, and they are ready to say as they see one removed to the grave and another to this or that district of our world, is this the circle in which we once moved? Are these the friends with whom we once associated and from whom we obtained sympathy and aid? and the preacher of the gospel may, after looking over his congregation, say, Alas! alas! how changed! for it cannot be said so truly here as in many lands—that instead of the fathers came up the children-nay it can be rather said that others arise who knew not Joseph, and they may under the influence of the change say as did the citizens of Bethlehem"Is this Naomi ?"