7. Sometimes useful as hedges, so the earth helped the woman, Rev. 12. 16.

8. Hard and knotty, 2 Sam. 23. 6.

9. Thorns thrown into the fire, Is. 10. 17; Ps. 9. 17;. Is. 30. 33; so Saul and his family, the Jews.

Telugu.-A jackal's rage-i.e., a contemptible thing. Italian.-A thorn is small, but he who has felt it does not forget it.

Treasures laid up in Heaven.-MAT. 6. 20.

Veman observes: "If you consider your possessions. as your own fools alone will agree with you; that alone is yours which you have bestowed on others."

Earthly treasures can be destroyed by fire, floods, the Hindus could be secured against Mahrattas and thieves, white ants, rust, Job 20. 5-29. No treasures of Moguls. The earth itself, with its treasures, is kept in store reserved unto fire, 2 Pet. 3. 7; Solomon calls ill-got riches treasures of wickedness, Prov. 10. 2, as Rehoboam found, so did Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 4. 31.

See the parable of the hid treasure, Mat. 13. 44, and of the rich fool.

Telugu.-Worldly possessions are like a drop of water on a lotus leaf.

Death's Shadowy Valley.-Ps. 23. 4.

Life is a journey through a waste howling wilderness, the dark valley of the mountain of death forms its close, bounded by the river of death.

Death is like some valleys in seven points :

I. Dark; the sunbeams enter not, so no natural light illumines the grave's path; it is like a dark tunnel. The apostles feared when they entered the cloud, Mat. 17. 5. Satan wraps the valley often in clouds of doubt and dark

ness—a darkness that may be felt; so the Jews, when entering the dark cleft of the Red Sea, found it “a land of darkness," Job 18. 5-21; the righteous in death, however, have no sting, I Cor. 15. 57; the Sun of Righteousness illumines the gloom.

2. Lonely; mountain passes are solitary-all pass through this, but none meet even though they die together. Angels, however, are present, but as a matter of faith more than of consciousness. Jacob said of the desert, "How dreadful is this place?" Gen. 28. 17. Moses, entering the cloud, exclaimed, "I exceedingly quake," Heb. 12. 21. The Jews crossed the Red Sea at night when quite dark.

3. Sometimes Painful; thorns, stones, and briers abound; so death is the wrenching of soul and body; even Christ prayed that the cup might pass from him, Mat. 26. 39.

4. Dangerous; robbers, wild beasts in the dark possess the valley; the domain of death, the king of terrors. Some have passed through this valley amid showers of stones, others wrapped in flames, others knee-deep in blood.

5. Leads to a strange land. Separates temporal and seen from eternal things; no correspondence with friends; in a moment, millions of miles distant from earth.

6. A route never retraced; the great gulf between ; this tree sprouts not again, Job 14. 7; no work, no device in the grave, Ecc. 9. 10.

7. Has two terminations; the gate of life, the gate of death, the land of rest, and that where the worm never dies, like Pharaoh's butler and baker, who looked forward to the third day, but with very different feelings, Gen. 40.

All have to pass this valley; it is the house appointed for all living, Job 30. 23; the righteous walk in the valley implying calmness, Prov. 14. 32; as to them the shadow of death is like the shadow of a sword harmless. Death is even counted a treasure, Phil. I. 21.

Tamul.-Is it kind to abandon one in the middle of a river?

Tamul.-I rest my foot on a branch breaking, and my hand on one about to break.

The Spiritual Warfare.-2 COR. 10. 3.

Life is compared in the Bible to a dream, an eagle hastening to its prey, a hand-breadth, a swift ship, a tale told; in the text to a war. The Niti Shatak states "time no more conquers the wise than a straw the elephant; he, whose cheeks are streaked with the marks of passion, is not fastened by the filaments of the lotus."

What a strange thing is war, yet it is everywhere, and vile as it is and very destructive to life and comfort, we ourselves are engaged in it, whether we will or not; there is war in the natural creation; the hawk is always in arms for the seizing of his prey; the tiger and the wolf are at war with cattle; birds and beasts are persecuting one another; and the innocent birds are destroyed by the cruel and rapacious. Even in seas and rivers, there are sharks, alligators, and pike which devour other kinds. Among mankind, nation rises in arms against nation, and kingdoms are divided against themselves.. The invisible world is also at war; there was war in heaven, Rev. 12. 7, when Satan and millions of Angels rose in rebellion against God, prompted by pride and jealousy. God himself has his enemies among Angels that excel in strength; principalities and powers are confederate against all the great and merciful designs of heaven; and the war, which they began there, is carried on upon earth against us (men) and our salvation. We are, therefore, born to a state of war, and are accordingly enlisted as soldiers at our baptism under Jesus Christ the captain of our salvation, under whose banner we are to fight against His and our enemies. Our Christian profession is called a fight of faith, 1 Tim. 6. 12, because it is subject to all the dangers, losses, fears, and miscarriages of war; and the same rules are to be observed,

the same measures followed, in the one case as in the other; with this difference, that spiritual dangers are a thousand times worse than bodily, and call for more valour and more vigilance.

Being, therefore, soldiers, we are to do as soldiers do. To put on the whole armour of God; the helmet to save the head in natural war; and there is the protection of God, the helmet of salvation in spiritual war. The shield of faith, which we are to hold up against the fiery darts of the enemy. The sword of the spirit, the word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, which, when skilfully used, will give mortal wounds to the adversaries of our faith. We must practise the prudence which is necessary in earthly war, considering that we are here in an enemy's country, in continual danger of being surprised by evil spirits, who are always upon the watch, and, therefore, we must be sober and vigilant. A drunken soldier, in a time of war, is in danger of death-a drunken Christian is in danger of damnation. All levity, dissipation, and foolish jesting are to be avoided, as tending to make the mind effeminate and careless, and insensible of its dangerous situation in this life; in consideration of which we are to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, as they do who are encompassed with enemies. We are to study the interests of the two parties at war. The last enemy is death, our worst the enemy within. The grand enemy of man, which is the devil, has his allies who assist him in his warfare against us; these are the world and the flesh. The world receives his principles, and works with him by the great force of custom, fashion, and example; the flesh wars against the spirit, and is to be denied and mortified as we stop and seize the supplies of provision when they are upon the road to the camp of an enemy. As the mind of a soldier is intent upon victory, and he runs at all hazards to obtain it, so has the Christian the same object in view; sin and death are to fall before him, and the kingdom of heaven is to be the prize.

In war soldiers must submit to hardships from want of clothes, houses, food, sleep; but they look forward with joy to the expiry of their time of enlistment, Job 7. 2. So believers wish like the dove to flee away and be at peace, Ps. 55. 6.

Malabar. We lie straight only in our coffin, Rom. I. 24. Urdu.--A snake in the sleeve.

Arab.-The best fighting is against yourself.

Bhagavatgita.-The soul floats like the lotus on the lake, unmoved, unruffled by the tide, Acts 20.24; 16.25. Bengal. The crocodile in the water and the tiger on shore, both strive to break my neck.

Telugu.-Like fish going against the stream.

Basque. The wolf and the dog agree at the expense of the goat which they eat together.

Turk.-The world is a mill: sometimes it grinds flour; one day it will grind us.

The Righteous are Watchmen.—MAT. 26. 42, 43.

The Shanti Shatak compares man to one in a ferryboat crossing the whirling gulf of this world, which he must do with watchfulness so as not to be drowned in the abyss." David says, his soul watched for the Lord more than they that wait for the dawn, Ps. 130. 6; an allusion to the watchmen on the city wall or the watchers of the temple who passed the night there in devotional exercises, anxious to catch the first beams of the morning sun on the hallowed day of atonement.

Watchmen were set on high towers to give notice of fire, or the invasion of an enemy's approach, hence called seers, 1 Sam. 9. 9; Is. 21. II; watchman, what of the night, Is. 21. II; the night is far spent, Rom. 13. 12.

The righteous are watchmen in seven points :

1. Must have sharp eyes to be overseers, see to a distance, Ez. 33. 6; if the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch, Mat. 15. 14.