2. Must be active, not drowsy, look for the morning, Ps. 130. 6, otherwise wolves come in, Acts 20. 29; while men slept the enemy sowed tares, Mat. 13. 25.

3. Must endure hardship, the heat of the day, cold of night; sentinels are out in all weathers, so Paul, 2 Cor. II. 23-30; the Apostles were beat, Acts 16. 22.

4. Consult not their own interest, Paul sought not theirs but them, 2 Cor. 12. 14, Is. 58. 1.

5. Charged with the care of others, Heb. 13. 17; death the punishment of sleeping on their post.

6. Appointed to the duty, Ez. 33. 7.

7. Prevent evils of fire by forewarning, so angels were watchmen to Lot in Sodom, Gen. 19.

Angels called watchers, Dan. 4. 17; hence represented full of eyes, Ez. 1. 18; said to have wings to move about, Zech. I. II; 1 Kings 22. 19; 2 Kings 6. 17; gave warning to Lot, observant. All men have to set a watch on the door of their lips, Ps. 141. 3.

Malay. The crow knows the instant we look at it, and the bison will perceive the approach of the hunter.

Kurd.—Think of the wolf, but keep a rod in readiness for him.

Basques. When you have the wolf in your company, you ought to have the dog at your side.

Modern Greek.-When the fox is hungry he pretends that
he is asleep-i.e., in order to catch the chickens.
Arab." The mouse fell from the roof. Take some
refreshment," said the cat. "Stand thou off,"
was the reply-i.e., trust not an enemy.
Arab. They trusted the key of the pigeon-house to the
cat.

Welsh. The fence of a bad farmer is full of gaps.
Tamul.-Like a cat on a wall watching his position.
Bengal. The fowl knows the serpent's sneezing.
Talmud.-Repent a day before your death.

Afghan.-Though the cock crows not, morning will come. Servian.-When you go as a guest to the wolf, see that you have a hound with you.

Russian.-Thieves are not abroad every night, yet every night make fast.

Turk.-The day dawns late in the house where the cocks

are numerous.

Menu.-Women, if confiued at home by faithful guardians, are not really guarded; but those women, who

guard themselves by their own will, are well guarded.

Turk. He is a fool who falls twice into the same hole. What six proverbs illustrate the need of watchfulness?

The Waterer Watered or Fatness for the Liberal.

PROV. II. 25.

Liberality is called a sowing, 2 Cor. 9. 6; a lending, Prov. 19. 7. Abraham was no loser by his liberality to Lot Gen. 13. 9, 14, 15), nor by his hospitality to the three men Gen. 13. 2). He thereby entertained angels unawares; in the care he took of the religious instruction of his servants, he was rewarded by their fidelity to him, as appears from the conduct of his eldest servant, Gen.. The widow's oil increased not in the vessel, but by pouring it out, 2 Kings 4. 1, 7. The barley bread in the Gospel multiplied by breaking and distributing it ; the grain brings increase not by the lying in a heap in the garner, but by scattering it upon the land, so with the graces of faith, hope, and love; the talent gathereth nothing in the napkin but canker and rust.

24.

China. As the rivers pour their waters back again into the sea, so what a man has lent is returned to him again.

Arab.-The garment in which you clothe another will last longer than that in which you clothe yourself. Bengal. A giver is like a cocoa-nut, hard without, good within ; a miser is like a bambu, hard without, but hollow within.

Persian.-A closed fist (miser) is the lock of heaven; an open hand (liberal) is the key of mercy.

Arab.-A rich miser is a summer cloud without rain. Arab. Spend that which will not remain with you; purchase that which will remain.

Arab.-Purchase the next world with this, so shalt thou gain both.

China. Wealth is but manure-i.e., useful only in being spread.

Telugu.-Doing with this hand, receiving the reward with the other.*

Turk.-You will not carry away with you but those things. which you have given.

Turk.-Who gives alms sows one and reaps one thousand.

The Wedding Garment, or Meetness for Heaven.

MAT. 18. 3.

Urdu.-The deaf man is fit for heaven-i.e., he hears no

evil.

Russian.-The cat wishes for fish, but fears the water. Telugu.-If you put a crow in a cage will it talk like a

parrot ?

Tamul.-Though the little bird soar high, will it become a kite? Talmud. This world is the antechamber of the next, a preparation before entering the palace.

Afghan.-Asses cannot be tethered in heaven-i.e., though there be room, it is only for men.

Telegu. They seated the dog in the palankin, on seeing filth it jumped down and ran after it.

China. The pig who has been fed on dirt nauseates rice boiled in milk.

Veman. A thief, if he goes to a holy place, will only pick the pockets of the comers; he has no leisure to draw near and bow to the God. If a dog enters a house, will he tend the hearth? 2 Peter 2. 22.

Persian. The ass of Jesus does not go to Mecca.

The Wilderness World.-Cant. 8. 5.

The Shanti Shatak states our mortal bodies are liable to decay our earthly friends are like passengers on a

*The Germans say, Many will swallow an egg and give away the shell in alms.

journey whom we meet casually and from whom we soon separate." In the wilderness the sun smites by day and the cold by night, serpents infest the rocks, while sand-storms often overwhelm the traveller, or the simoom destroys thousands of men and camels, sometimes they perish by thirst; like this is the world which Solomon, the wisest and richest of men, called vanity of vanities, Ecc. I. 2, and Paul called dross and dung, Phil. 3. 8. Man is born to trouble as the sparks that fly upwards, Job 5. 6. People hasten through a desert looking for rest at the end, Heb. 4. 1, like Lot, they must not linger in Sodom; all creation is groaning under the curse, Rom 8. 22.

In reading of the journey of the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan by the way of the wilderness, we see a pattern of our own life, and of all the trials we are to undergo in our progress through this world to the kingdom of heaven. The Jews' journey began with baptism in the Red Sea, a deliverance from Pharaoh and his host, so our baptism, with which our Christian life begins, is an escape from the Spiritual Pharaoh. As they were supported by manna, and the waters of the rock, so must we live by bread from heaven, and our thirst must be satisfied by the waters of life. The end of this our pilgrimage upon earth is the possession of the heavenly land, which God hath promised to us, but in the way to it, we must undergo trials and temptations of every sort, and die in this wilderness, as Moses and his people did, before we can obtain it. As they proceeded by encampments, and wandered many years in the wilderness, so is our life a pilgrimage, and their example assures us that we have here no abiding place, no fixed habitation; like them we have the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.

The world a wilderness in fifteen points:

1. A waste wild place, little planting; so the earth in spiritual matters.

2. Abounds in thorns; the wicked are briars destined to be burnt, Heb. 6. 8.

3. Dangerous; wild beasts numerous, the wicked are compared to wolves, bears, lions, dogs, Deut. 8.15; Jer. 2.6; Mat. 12.43; hence is God a wall of fire to keep off beasts, Zech. 2. 5; thieves abound, Acts 21. 38; Job was robbed in Arabia; people travel in caravans composed of persons of different countries, this keeps off robbers, so is the communion of saints necessary.

4. No path, liable to wander, hence a guide necessary through the sands, Is. 35. 8. Lonely.

5. Storms frequent; the simoom buries thousands of men and animals. So passions.

6. The sand is burning; the sky is as brass; water and shade wanting.

7. Though barren, oases are found-i.e., cultivated spots for a short rest, so for the Christian are ordinances.

8. Foggy and misty, so Satan raises heresies to hide sin (misleads travellers).

9. Food little, so the husks of this world, Luke 15. 16; the believer gets manna from heaven.

12. Lightly equipped to travel easier, Heb. 12. I; the covetous man loads himself with thick clay, Hab. 2. 6.

13. A varied route-mud, good roads, desert, green fields, slough of despond, valley of humiliation, mountains of opposition, the rock of ages.

14. A strange country passed through, Heb. II. 13; Ps.. 39. 12; stay only a day or two in each place, Heb. 13. 14.

15. Congenial companions and fellow-travellers divide griefs and double joys, Ps. 119. 74, Ecc. 4. 9-10; relieve the tedium of the way.

Turk.-A traveller amid the discomforts of a bad khan (inn), reflects he has only to pass the night there.