Two sermons the first, Comfort in calamitie, teaching to live well, the other, The grand assizes, minding to dye well / by Thomas Fuller ...

Vers. 16, 17.

And Ruth answered, Intreat me not to leave thee, nor to depart from thee; for whither thou goest, I will goe; and where thou dwel∣lest, I will dwell: 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 doe so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

HEre we have the resolution of Ruth portrayed in lively Colours: so that if we consider her Sex, a Woman; her Nation, a Moabite; one may boldly pronounce of her what our Saviour did of the Centurion; Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Intreat me not to leave thee.

Some reade it, Be not thou against me, as it is in the Margent of the New Translati∣on. Where we see, that those are to be accounted our Adversaries, and against us, who disswade us from our Voyage to Ca∣naan, from going to Gods true Religion. They may be our Fathers, they cannot be our Friends; though they promise us all outward profits and pleasures, yet in very deed they are not with us, but against us, and so must be accounted of.

Where thou lodgest, I will lodge.

A good Companion, saith the Latin•• Proverb, is pro viatico, I may adde also, pro diversorio: Ruth▪ so be it she may en∣joy Naomies gracious companie, will be content with any Lodging, though hap∣pily it may be no better then Ia••ob had, Gen. 28. And yet we see how some have been discouraged even from the company of our Saviour, for feare of hard lodging▪ witnesse the Scribe, to whom when our Saviour said, The Foxes have their holes, and the Fowles of the ayre have nests, bu•• the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head: This cold comfort presently quencht his forward zeale, and he never appeared af∣terward; whereas he ought to have said to our Saviour as Ruth to Naomi, Where thou lodgest will I lodge.

Thy people shall be my people.

Haman being offended with Mordecai, as if it had been but leane and weak revenge to spit his spight upon one person, hated all the Iewes for Mordecai's sake; the mad Beare stung with one Bee, would needs

throw downe the whole Hive. But cleane contrarie, Niomi had so graciously demea∣ned her selfe, that Ruth for her sake is fallen in love with all the Iewes. Farewell Melchom, farewell Chemosh, farewell Moab; welcome Israel▪ welcome Canaan, wel∣come Bethlehem: all of a sudden she will tur••e Convert, she will turne Proselyte.

Observation.

The godly carriage of one particular person may beget a love of that Countrey and People whereof he is, even in a stran∣ger and forreiner. Doe we then desire to gaine credit to our Countrey, prayse to our People, honour to our Nation, reput•• to our Religion? Let us dep••rt and be∣have our selves graciously, if we live ••mongst strangers. On the other side, the base and debauched manners of some one man is able to make his Countrey stink in the nostrils of those forreiners amongst whom he lives: Ex uno discite omnes; in one faithlesse Sinon one may reade the Trecherie of all the Grecians.

Thy God shall be my God.

Iehosaphat when he joyned with Ahab, 1 Kings 22. said unto him, My people is as thy people, and my horses are as thy horses; that is, he would comply with him in a Politike League: but Ruth goes further to an unitie in Religion, Thy God shall be my God. Yea, but one may say, How came Ruth to know who was the God of Nao∣mi? I answer: As God said of Abraham, I know that Abraham will instruct his chil∣dren; so may one confidently say of Nao∣mi: I know that Naomi had catechised and instructed her daughter in law, and often taught her, that the God of the Is∣raelites was the onely true God, who made Heaven and Earth, and that all o∣thers were but Idols, the workes of mens hands▪ Yet as the Samaritans beleeved our Saviour first upon the relation of the woman that came from the Well, Iohn 4. 42. but afterwards said unto her, Now we beleeve, not because of thy saying; for we have heard him our selves, and know th••t this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. So happily Ruth was induced first

to the liking of the God of Israel, upo•• the credit of Naomies words; but after∣wards her love of him proceeded from a more certaine ground, the motions of Gods holy Spirit in her heart.

Where thou diest will I die.

Here Ruth supposeth two things: first▪ that she and her mother in law should both die; It is appointed for all once to die: secondly, that Naomi, as the eldest, should die first; for according to the ordinarie custome of Nature, it is most probable and likely, that those that are most stricken in yeares should first depart this Life: Yet I know not whether the Rule or the Ex∣ceptions be more generall, and therefore let both young and old prepare for death; the first may die soone, but the second cannot live long.

And there will I be buried.

Where she supposeth two things more: First, that those that survived her, would doe her the favour to burie her; which is a common courtesie, not to be denyed to any: It was an Epitaph written upon the

Grave of a Begger, Nudus 〈◊〉〈◊〉 vivus, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ecce tegor. Secondly, she supposeth that they would burie her, according to her instructions, neere to her mother Naomi.

Observation.

As it is good to enjoy the companie of the godly while they are living, so it is not amisse, if it will stand with conveni∣encie, to be buried with them after death. The old Prophets bones escapt a burning, by being buried with the other Prophets; and the man who was tumbled into the Grave of E••isha, was revived by the vertue of his bones. And we reade in the Acts and Monuments, that the body of Peter Martyr's Wi••e was buried in a Dunghill; but afterward being taken up in the Reigne of Queene Elizabeth, it was ho∣••ourably buried in Oxford, in the Grave of one Frideswick, a Popish shee-Saint; to this end▪ that if Poperie, which God for∣bid, should over-spread our Kingdome a∣gaine, and if the Papists should goe about to un••ombe Peter Martyr's Wives bone••, they should be puzzled to distinguish be∣twi•••• this womans body and the Reliqu••s

of their Saint. So, good it is sometimes to be buried with those who some doe ac∣count pious, though perchance in very deed they be not so.

The Lord doe so to me, and more also.

To ascertaine Naomi of the seriousness•• of her intentions herein, Ruth backs what formerly she had said with an Oath, lined with an execration.

Observation.

Whence we may gather, it is lawfull for us to sweare upon a just cause: but then these three Rules must be warily observed.

First, that we know that the thing whereto we sweare be true, if the Oath be assertorie; and if it be promissorie, that we be sure that it is in our intent, and in our power, God blessing us, to performe that which we promise.

Secondly, that the occasion whereupon we use it, be of moment and consequence, not trifling and trivial.

Thirdly, that we sweare by God alone, and not by any Creature. Sweare then

neither by the Heaven, nor by the Earth, nor by Ierusal••m, nor by the Temple, nor by the Gold of the Temple, nor by the Altar, nor by the Sacrifice on the Altar, but by God alone; for he onely is able to reward thee, if that thou affirmest be true; he onely is able to punish thee, if that thou avouchest be false. Yet this doth no wayes favour the practice of many now adayes, who make Oathes their language. Our Saviour said to the I••mes; Many good workes have I shewed you from the Father; for which of them goe you about to stone me? So may the Lord say to many riotous Gallants now adayes; Many good deeds have I done to thee, I created thee of no∣thing, I sent my Sonne to die for thee, by my providence I continually protect and preserve thee; for which of these deeds doest thou g••e about by Oathes to blas∣pheme me?

Now whereas Ruth doth not say, God damne me, God confound me, I would I might never stirre; but shrowds the exe∣cration under generall te••mes, God ••oe so to me, and more also: we learne, it is not good to particularize in any kinde of

punishment when we sweare, but onely to expresse the Curse in generall termes, leaving it to the discretion of God Al∣mightie, to chuse that Arrow out of his Quiver which he shall thinke most ••it to s••oot at us.

If ought but death.

See here the large extent of a Saints love, it lasts till death; and no wonder; for it is not founded upon Honour, Beau∣tie, or Wealth, or any other sinister respect in the partie beloved, which is subject to Age, or Mutabilitie, but onely on the Grace and Pietie in him; which founda∣tion because it alwayes lasteth, that Love which is built upon it, is also perpe∣tuall.

Part thee and me.

Death is that which parteth one friend from another: Then the deare Father must part with his dutifull Child, then the dutifull Child must forgoe his deare Fa∣ther; then the kinde Husband must leave his constant Wife, then the constant Wife must lose her kinde Husband; then the carefull Master must be sundred from his i••dustrious Servant, then the industrious

Servant must be severed from his carefull Master. Yet this may be some comfort to those whose friends Death hath taken a∣way, that as our Saviour said to the Dis∣ciples, Yet a little while and you shall not see me, and yet a little while and you shall see me againe: so yet a little while, and we shall not see our friends; and yet a little while, and we shall see them againe in the Kingdome of Heaven; for, non mittuntur, sed praemittuntur, we doe not forgoe them, but they goe before us.

To conclude: we see many women so strangely disguised with phantastick fashi∣ons, as if they desired to verifie the nick∣name of the Philosopher, and to prove themselves in very deed to be very Mon∣sters; yea, many of them so affect Man-like Clothes and shorne Haire, it is hard to dis∣cover the Sex of a Woman through the Attire of a Man. But we see in my Text, worthy Ruth taking upon her, not the Clothes, but the Courage; not the Haire, but the Heart; not the Attire, but the Re∣solution of a Man, yea, and more then of a Man, wi••n••sse her worthy speech, Intreat me not to depart &c.