The book of Ruth expounded in twenty eight sermons, by Levves Lauaterus of Tygurine, and by hym published in Latine, and now translated into Englishe by Ephraim Pagitt, a childe of eleuen yeares of age
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Title
The book of Ruth expounded in twenty eight sermons, by Levves Lauaterus of Tygurine, and by hym published in Latine, and now translated into Englishe by Ephraim Pagitt, a childe of eleuen yeares of age
Author
Lavater, Ludwig, 1527-1586.
Publication
At London :: Printed by Robert Walde-graue, dwelling without Temple-bar,
1586.
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Subject terms
Bible. -- O.T. -- Ruth -- Commentaries -- Early works to 1800.
Sermons, Latin -- 16th century.
Cite this Item
"The book of Ruth expounded in twenty eight sermons, by Levves Lauaterus of Tygurine, and by hym published in Latine, and now translated into Englishe by Ephraim Pagitt, a childe of eleuen yeares of age." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/a05185.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 12, 2024.
Pages
descriptionPage 55
The 10. Sermon.
4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem,
and said vnto the reapers. The Lorde be with
you: and they aunswered him, the Lord blesse
thee.
5 Then said Boaz vnto his seruant that was ap∣pointed
ouer the reapers, whose mayd is this?
6 And the seruaunt that was appointed ouer the
the reapers answered, and sayd, it is the Moa∣bitishe
mayde, that came with Naomi out of
the countrey of Moab.
7 And she said vnto vs, I pray you let me gl••ane
and gather after the reapers, among the
Sheues: so shee came, and hath continued from
that time in the morning vntill now, saue shee
taried a little in the house.
WE haue declared before that
RVTH hauing first gotten
leaue of her mother in lawe
to gather eares after the rea∣pers,
came by fortune, or (that I may
speake more truely) by the prouidence
of God, into the field of BOAZ her kins∣man:
but what befell to her there, the
holy Ghost doth diligently set downe,
in these wordes following. In the first
place here is shewed, howe BOAZ com∣ming
descriptionPage [unnumbered]
from Bethlehem into the field, sa∣luted
his reapers, who aunswered, the
Lord blesse thee. The worde blessing is
vsed in diuers places of the holy scrip∣tures,
and hath diuers significations.
Sometime it signifieth to prayse & giue
thankes, as when DAVID saith to Abi∣gall
in the 1. Booke of SAMVELL the 25.
chap. praysed be the Lorde God of Isra∣ell,
which sent thee to meet me this day.
Sometime it signifieth to pray for good
thinges: as in the 48. chap. of GENE. IA∣COB
the Patriarcke blessed his sonnes,
that is, he did wish wel vnto them. GEN.
the 37. chap. IACOB both at his com∣ming
to the king, and at his going a∣way
blessed him: that is, he saluted him,
& bid him farewell, he gaue him thanks
and wished him well. When it is attri∣buted
to God, it signifieth to doe well,
for God by his worde doth worke. It is
sayd in the 10. chap. of the Prouerbes:
The blessing of god doth make mē rich,
that is, God doth increase and preserue
riches. What the simple vse of this word
is, we must consider by reading the holy
descriptionPage 56
scriptures: as whē they say in this place.
The Lord blesse thee. The meaning is,
the Lord giue thee a fruitfull haruest, &
and all good thinges, as well for the bo∣dy,
as for the soule.
We haue an example in this place of
salutation. The maner of salutation is
not onely olde, but moste profitable to
reconcile and confirme loue: which
our sauiour doth diligently commend
to all godly men. The Aungell saluted
GEDION as hee was threshing corne,
with these wordes. The Lorde be with
thee thou strong man. IVDGES 6. chap.
It is reckoned vp amongst the duetie of
the Priestes, to blesse the children of Is∣rae••l.
There is a solemne blessing set
downe in the 6. chap. of numbers. Some
Anabaptistes, will not haue men salu∣ted,
citing that which Christ in the 10.
chap. of LVKE sayd to his seuenty disci∣ples:
salute no man by the way: but he
doth meane nothing els then vnder the
colour of salutation, to suffer themselues
to be called from their calling or if thou
wilt vnderstand it according to the let∣ter,
descriptionPage [unnumbered]
it was a personall and speciall com∣maundement,
and not a generall. The
Aungell saluting the blessed virgin vsed
this same forme, which BOAZ doth in
this place. Also Christ saluted his Disci∣ples
saying, peace be with you. The A∣postle
PAVLE doth begin and ende hys
epistles with salutations. Hee putteth
downe their names whom he saluteth:
also the names of them which do salute
others. It is incredible to be spokē, how
much that will auaile to the getting of
good will, but we must take heede least
we doe it with an hypocrites minde. It
is a poynt both of curtesie and of huma∣nitie
to salute others, and to pray for
them. If great and mightie men doe sa∣lute
poore men, they are marueilously
affected, seeing that they are not despi∣sed
of them. Neither was it to be doub∣ted
but that this salutation of BOAZ
was moste acceptable to the reapers.
There are some who doe of enuie and
hatred disdaine to salute others, who
shouide remember that commaunde∣ment
of Christ, that wee must pray for
descriptionPage 75
and wish well to our enemies. How oft
commeth it to passe that many who wil
not willingly salute one an other, after
they haue ben absent & asunder, would
desire nothing more, then to liue togi∣ther,
and to vse all dueties of humanitie
to eche other?
Here is an houshold example pro∣pounded
vnto vs, of a good housholder
he goeth to his reapers, he looketh what
is done in the field, for the presence of
the maister helpeth much in any worke.
PLINIE in his 8. booke 6. chap. the
elders haue said that the eye of the mai∣ster
is moste fruitfull for the ground. A∣RISTOTELL
in his 1. book of gouerning
a house doth write of a certaine man,
who being demaunded what dung was
the best: aunswered the steppes of the
maister. Although a man hath good and
trustie seruauntes and bayliffes, yet the
mayster being absent, they do all things
the more negligently and carelesly, TI∣TVS
LIVIVS sayth elegātly, those things
doe not prosper which are ouerseene
by straungers. Read the prouerbes of
descriptionPage [unnumbered]
ERASMVS concerning this matter, the
forhead is better than the hinder part:
negligent housholders doe spoyle both
themselues and their seruauntes. These
sayinges may be applied to greater e∣states,
as to kings and Bishops, that they
doe not al things by other mens hands,
eyes, and eares, while they doe cocker
themselues with pleasures.
BOAZ asked his seruaunt which hee
had set ouer the reapers (IOSEPHVS cal∣leth
him Agronomon) of RVTH, what shee
was, or whose wife, or daughter she was.
This he did not aske as some youthes
doe, that they might offer them some
villanie, but because he saw that she was
a straunger and painful: The Bayliffe an∣swered,
shee is that Moabitesse, which
came of late with NAOMIE, and he gaue
her great prayse: hee little thought that
she should haue bene his wife, but see
how wonderfully GOD bringeth it to
passe.
As touching that BOAZ appointed a ser∣uant
ouer the reapers, who shoulde pre∣scribe
to euery one of thē their taskes, &
descriptionPage 58
see that they did euery thing in order, &
without doubt an honest man, all hous∣holders
ought to followe it. For vnlesse
that in great families, euery one knowe
what to do, or haue theyr ouerseers and
guides, they may haue theyr things very
negligently done: as order is required
in an armie: euen so in a houshold. That
seruaunt did marke RVTH so diligently,
that hee coulde aunswere his maister to
that hee did aske▪ so ought all seruants
to marke diligently euery thing that ap∣pertaineth
to them, that they may giue
an account of euery thing to theyr mai∣sters.
This also must be noted diligently,
that he praysed RVTH. He doth not, as
the enuious, disprayse and lessen those
thinges which are praise worthy in her:
Neyther doth he hate her, because shee
is a stranger, nor reproch her for it. They
are to be praysed for their vertues, who
are worthie of prayse: vertue must not
be hated. Oftentimes the poore men
being commended to the rich by theyr
seruauntes, they receaue great commo∣ditie
descriptionPage [unnumbered]
by them. This kinde of duetie is
required of vs, that if wee cannot helpe
the godly, by our owne riches or coun∣cell:
at least, let vs entreat others to doe
for them, which wee may doo without
our hurt.
But he doth shew two things of RVTH
which are worthie of prayse, and are to
bee followed of vs. The one that shee
did aske leaue of them to gather eares.
The law of MOSES doth graunt straung∣ers
and widdowes by name to gather
eares: yet she would not by that warant
gather eares in the field without the ow∣ners
good will. There are many who a∣gainst
the minde and wil of the owners,
and agaynst the law of God and man,
do go into other mens fieldes, and by
theft and rapine, take awaye their fruite
and destroy their hedges and doe them
great hurt.
The other thing for which she is com∣mended,
is, that she was painfull and di∣ligent
from the morning vntil this time,
namely, she plied her labour to the mid∣day.
By and by: assoone as she had eaten,
descriptionPage 95
she returned to her labour, sauing shee
tarried a litle in the house. MVNSTERVS
enterpreteth it, except she eased her selfe
in the house. The Tigurine translation
sayth, that she sat a while in the house.
Some doe vnderstand it, that she taried
in the house not a moment. The old in∣terpreters
and Septuagintes wer of this
minde: Others doe think that she stood
still, and rested not, but when shee went
home, or taried in the tent, (which per∣haps
they had in the field to take the
shadow, and to recreate them in) Those
Countries are very hote in the time of
haruest, shee was not of the number of
those women which walke idelly in the
streets, and look the whole day through
the windowes: but rather she was such
a one as SALOMON speaketh of in the
Prouerbes, of whome amongest other
thinges he saith, that she laboureth day
and night: this ought to be more ac∣compted
of in women then bewtie.
There are this day fewe children, or hi∣red
seruauntes, which will work so hard
as she did.
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