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Damascus, saw a light brighter than the sun, the effulgence of which blinded him for three days, Acts II.

The righteous will be like the stars in five points :—

(1) A great ornament to the Heavens; (2) they differ in brightness, I Cor. 15. 40; (3) guide mariners on the ocean and travellers at night, so believers on the dark ocean of life; (4) though distant, they exercise an influence, as a cloud of witnesses, Heb. 12. 1; but many do not, as there are stars so far from this world that their light has not reached the earth from the time of Adam's creation, though travelling like the sun's light at the rate of 12,000,000 miles in a minute; many of them are bigger than the earth, though they seem so small, and are so remote that a cannon ball would take 700,000 years to reach the nearest of them; (5) their number is immense; the redeemed in Heaven are a great multitude which no man can number.

Tamul.-Though astrological calculations prove false, the stars will not.

The Rich are only Stewards.-1 COR. 4. 2.

Parable of the Steward.-Luke 19. 11–27.

In this place, as in many others, God compares himself to a master, and we are placed on earth not to do our own will, but the will of him who placed us here; we have nothing which is properly our own, but whatever we seem to have is entrusted to us by another, who has left us in charge for a season, and will call us to account when he shall return, Luke 16. We are not our own, but are bought with a price; and it is therefore our great duty to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are his, 1 Cor. 6. 20.

The various faculties of our soul and body; the opportunities afforded by having our days lengthened; the gifts of station, education, friends, and worldly

substance; the knowledge of religious truth and all the means of grace; the various occasions for doing or receiving good; these and numberless advantages and blessings, which are daily and hourly extended to us, must all be accounted for.

The rich are stewards, having a great master, the King of Heaven; a great charge, their souls; and much entrusted to them; they must improve their property (see parable of the Talents, of the Barren Fig Tree, and of the Rich Fool, who thought he was absolute proprietor; hence Christ said it was easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for those trusting in riches to enter heaven-i.e., an impossibility in human sight as the Bengalis say, "A horse's eggs, or putting an elephant into a narrow dish."

Tamul.-Money is a man-stealer.

Talmud.-Riches without wisdom is food without salt. China. Fortune is the good man's prize, but the bad man's bane.

Tiravellavar.-When the good man gets riches it is like fruit falling in the midst of a village-i.e., all partake of it.

Canara. The riches of the good are like water turned off into a rice field. Prov. 19. 17 and 11.25.

China.-Wealth among men is like dew among plants;

Foam on the waves is the fame which earth grants.

Raghuvansa.-The good, like clouds, receive only to give

away.

Sanskrit.-The rivers themselves drink not their water; nor do the trees eat their own sweet fruit. The

clouds eat not the crops; the riches of the good are employed for the benefit of others. China-Wealth is but dung-i.e., useful only in being spread.

The Stronghold, Faith in God.—Is. 26. 1.

In times of plunder and war in India property and people were insecure, hence they were taken to strong

holds for protection. Oude, in the days of the king, had many of these.

Faith is like a stronghold in three points :

(1) Built on a rock to prevent its being undermined; such were the fortresses of Gwalior, Chunar, Dowlatabad; the believer dwells in the munition of rocks, Is. 33. 16; Christ is the rock of ages, I Cor. 10. 4. (2) Strongly defended; yet Babylon, with its walls 300 feet high and gates of brass, was taken. Tyre like Calcutta, a great trading-place, is now only a rock for fishermen to dry their nets, though it was once a stronghold. Jerusalem had three walls round it, yet it was ploughed up; not so the heavenly Jerusalem, God is to it a wall of fire. (3) Fully supplied with provisions and arms, not like Jerusalem where the women eat their own children, or Carthage where the women cut off their hair to make bow-strings; in the believer's weakness is God's strength made perfect, 2 Cor. 12. 9. Elijah was surrounded by a strong army, but he saw the mountain full of Angels under the form of horses and chariots of fire, 2 Kings 6. 17. Arab. The strength of the heart is from the soundness of the faith. Mat. 17. 20, Heb. II. 33-38.

The Death of the Righteous an unsetting Sun.
Is. 60. 19, 20.

The righteous dying sets like the sun in one part of creation, but it is only to rise amid glowing clouds and a clear blue sky in another region; but even when setting his light lingers, and the western clouds are bright with his beams. The heat of the day has gone, and man ceases from labour. Even the twilight is beautiful-at eventide it shall be light, Zech. 14. 7. The Hindu writings state that old age "is like a dried-up stream, fallen as a tree levelled by thunder, dreaded as a house in ruin; it takes away vigour, as if a man were placed in a marsh." Very different is the English proverb, "Nothing old but shoes

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and hats." Solomon compares the path of the just to the light shining more and more to the perfect day, though the morning might be cloudy and stormy; such as was that of Simeon's, Luke 2. 28-32, Peter's, 2 Pet. I. 3, 11-16; they were not like the wicked, driven away in his wickedness.

As the Aloe is green and well liking, till the last best summer of its age,

And then hangeth out its golden bells to mingle glory with corruption;

As the Meteor travelleth in splendour, but bursteth in dazzling

light;

Such is the end of the righteous; their death is the sun at its setting.

Modern Greek.-The more a good tree grows the more shade does it afford.

Japan. The heart is the same at sixty as at three.
China.-By length of journey he knew the horse's strength.
So length of days shows a man's heart.

Earthen Vessels hold the Soul's Treasures.

2 COR. 4. 7.

The body is compared to an earthen vessel as being brittle, leaky, mean, of little value.

riches of Christ are the soul's treasures.

The unsearchable

Bengal.-In a coarse torn bag to put fine rice.
Arab. Good honey in a dirty vessel.

Arab.-Though the bow be crooked the arrow reaches its mark. Persian. The ignorant is in the midst of riches like an earthen vessel covered with gold; the learned

man in the midst of poverty like a precious stone encased in a vile metal.

Veman.-When one has learned to speak prudently, why should we think of his youth or age? May not a lamp burn bright though held in the hand of an infant ?

Badaga.-So busy in saving a grain of salt he lost the salt vessel.

Tamul.-The vessel may be crooked: what matters it if bakes the bread?

Persian.-The diamond fallen into the dunghill is not the less precious. The dust which the wind raises to the sky is not the less vile.

Christ the Lily among Thorns.-CANT. 2. 2.

The wicked compared to thorns in nine points:

1. Little use or value except for hedges or fuel, Prov. 10. 20; so Antiochus, Dan. II. 21; men gather not grapes from thorns, Mat. 7. 16.

2. Change not their nature, the same in the garden as in the jungle, so Pharaoh was not changed by miracles nor Saul by being made king, so Jeroboam worshipped a calf notwithstanding God's promises.

3. Encumber the earth; draw away its moisture, so the Canaanites, Num. 33. 55; Josh. 23. 13; Abimelech called the bramble was made king, killed his seventy brethren, plagued the Shechemites, Judges 9. I; so the barren fig-tree, Luke 13. 7; when the wicked perish there is shouting, Prov. II. 10.

4. Low things; mount not as the cedar; they overrun fields.

5. Annoy by their pricking; so the Canaanites were thorns in the Jews' sides, Num. 33. 55, Josh. 23. 13; so the Samaritans to the Jews, Neh. 6. 6; scoffing at the Jewish sabbaths and sacrifices, Neh. 4. 2, 3; so the priests threatened the apostles, Acts 4. 17; so Saul breathed out slaughter, Acts 9. I; Christ was called a wine-bibber, a Samaritan or devil; Paul was called a pestilent fellow, Acts 24.5. Ahab said to Elijah, Are thou the troubler of Israel? 1 Kings 18. 17; Lot's righteous soul was vexed in Sodom, 2 Pet. 2. 7, 8; Delilah vexed Samson, Judges 16. 16.

6. Care needful in walking among them, otherwise one gets entangled and scratched; Christ warned us to be wise as serpents, Mat. 10. 16; Paul was scratched by the Jews who were thorns; thorns hindered the growth of good seed, Mat. 13. 7.

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