China. It is only with the eye of others we see our own defects. China. Without a clear mirror a woman cannot know the state of her face; without a true friend a man cannot discern the nature of his actions. Afghan. The ass's friendship is kicking. Telugu. The friendship between fire and water. Japan.-A friend at hand is better than relations at a distance. Kirat Arjun.-The friendship of the bad is like the shade of some precipitous bank with crumbling sides, which, falling, buries him who sits beneath. The Wicked like Goats.-MAT. 25. 31, 33. The devil is worshipped in some countries under the form of a goat. The goats like the wicked in four points :— 1. Feed among sheep; but the Great Shepherd will separate them at the judgment-day; so hypocrites in a church as tares among wheat. 2. Mischievous; destroy trees, plants; hence bad princes so called, Zech. 10. 3. 3. Unclean; so the wicked, 2 Pet. 2. 7. 4. Greedy. A hundred goats will eat as much as a thousand sheep; so Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard, though he was so rich himself, 1 Kings 21. Bengal.-What will not a goat eat or a fool say? Chanak. An uneducated man in society is a crane among swans. All Flesh is Grass.-Isa. 40. 6. What is more frail than grass? In tropical countries it comes up in the spring, flourishes for a short period, and is then cut down; or, if not severed from its root by the scythe, it soon withers away. In India especially the great heat of the sun quickly withers away the grass, which becomes quite brown, or disappears in the hot weather. So weak are we, and so unable to resist the stroke of death. We come up, and are cut down! The spring-time of life is soon gone, the season of harvest comes, and death strikes the fatal blow. Nothing can make man a solid substantial being, but the being born again of the incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which will transform him into an excellent creature, whose glory will not fade like the flower, but shine like an angel's face. Gratitude the Memory of the Heart. Praise, the expression of gratitude, is called the fruit of the lips, Heb. 13. 15; a garment, Isa. 61. 3; see the case of the lame man in the Temple, Acts 3. 8 ; of the chief butler, Gen. 40. 23; and of the parable of the two debtors, Luke 7. 41-43. Tamul.-A benefit conferred on the worthy is engraved in stone; on the unkind, written in water. Malay. The bean forgets its pod, Isa. 51. I. Bengal. Having eaten his salt, he esteems his virtues. Cingalese.-A line inscribed in water-i.e., the ungrateful. Telugu.-Blows with stones to the bearing tree. Talmud.-Do not throw a stone into the well out of which you have drunk. Tamul.-The physician who cured the striped tiger of his sickness became his prey. Tamul.-A benefit conferred on the worthless is an earthen vessel falling on a stone. Telugu.-A dog instinctively recognizes the kindness shown to it; how base is the man who feels not the good that is done to him, Luke 17. 17. Tamul.—The scorpion stings him who helps it out of the fire. Turk.-The dinner ended, we value no more the spoon. Tamul. The rogue feels only when he is punished: the farmer feels grateful when the rain falls. Russian. The sheep does not remember its father; it bears only grass in mind. Idleness makes the House drop through.-ECCLES. IO. 18. The ant makes hay when the sun shines-has no guide: not so the idler, who lets the house leak. The marks of the sluggard or idler are―(1) Loves not difficulties will not plough by reason of cold, Prov. 20. 4; (2) loves not disturbance, though death's handwriting may be on the wall; (3) enjoys not the good in hand; roasts not what was taken in hunting, Prov. 12. 27; (4) his way hedged with thorns, Prov. 15. 19; such were the ten tribes-too lazy to go up to Jerusalem, 1 Kings 12. 28; so with the servant in the parable of the talents; (5) allows weeds on his fields, Prov. 24. 30; (6) desires only, but makes no efforts; so Balaam wished the death of the righteous, but led not the life of the righteous, Num. 23. 10; (7) makes no progress, turns as a door on the hinges, Prov. 26. 14; (8) makes excuses; there is a lion in the way, Prov. 22. 13. Telugu.―The idle man eats like a bullock, and sleeps like a dog. Telugu. In a neglected house devils take up their abode.* Bengal. The date fell on his moustaches; he was too lazy to put it into his mouth. Hebrew.-Idleness is the mother of all vice. Tamul.-Opening the mouth when one says gram (oats), and shutting it when one says bridle. Tamul.-Being without work, the barber is said to have shaved his wife's head. Persian.-Water long stagnant becomes putrid. Finnish. By sleeping we do not gain money; by sitting no fortune is to be had. Arab.—A well is not to be filled with dew; equivalent to the French-"He that will eat the kernel must crack the nut." *Very similar to the Italian proverb, which has found its way into English, "An idle brain is the devil's workshop," Tamul.-Plants of learning must be watered with the rain of tears. The Inner and the Outer Man.-2 Cor. 4. 16. Also called the old and the new man, Eph. 4. 24; the old and new Adam; the flesh and the spirit, Rom. 8. 1. The Hindus write of various koshas or sheaths enveloping the body. Peter calls the inner man the hidden man,. I Pet. 3. 3-4. By the outer man is meant the body and senses; by the inner man the heart and spirit; both very differentthe bodily eye might grow dim while the eye of faith grew brighter. The Arabs say, "Dim eyes do not injure when the mind's eye is bright." His youth is renewed like the eagle's, Ps. 103. 5. St. Paul's setting sun was fine; he was, like the swan, said to sing as sweetly in winter as in summer. Atmabodh.—The wise man during his residence in the body is not affected by its properties, as the firmament is not affected by what floats in it. Telugu. The tamarind may be dried, but it loses not its acidity.. Bengal.-A clever woman is not old, though aged, but has the sweet sap of wit in her. China. The man grows old, not so his heart. Sanskrit.-The form is small, the qualities great. Tamul.―Though broken to pieces, a golden pot will still be gold; of what use is an earthen pot when broken? Cingalese.—A gem is a gem, though found in a dunghill. Veman.-Worked chasings are various, but all gold is the same; these earthly tenements vary, but the soul is one; viands are many, but hunger is always. the same. Telugu. If you look at a grain of pepper, it is externally black; if you bite it you perceive that internally it is pungent. Thus imperceptible is the worth of the excellent. The Lamp of the Wicked put out.-PROV. 13. 9. The wicked are driven away, Prov. 14. 32. Lamps were used by the Jews at weddings and on festive occasions, a man in prosperity is compared to a blazing lamp in adversity, he is ready to slip with his feet, Job 12. 5, or to a lamp extinguished. The lamp of the wicked gradually fails of oil, Mat. 25. 3-8, and in its extinction a stench from the wick arises; so the memory of the wicked. Canara. The fly (the poor man) is eaten by the frog (the rich man), and both are eaten by the serpent death, Prov. 30. 23. Sanskrit.-Time is stronger than all things else. Man Fades as a Leaf.-Isa. 64. 6. Life like a leaf in four points : The change comes on gradually; we scarcely perceive a difference day by day, but after the interval of a week it is distinctly seen; the leaf changes from a green to a pale hue when about to fall, the breeze snaps the link by which the shred was joined to its branch, and wafts it to its resting-place beneath the parent tree, where it rots or serves as fuel or manure. Such is the strength of men : the freshness of youth passes into the maturity of manhood, and thus by gradual steps the feebleness of age comes on grey hairs are on him, yet he knoweth it not, Hos. 7. 9. "The dust returns to the dust." The leaves with which the earth is strewn, and which serve to manure it, will know no second spring; not so the body, which will rise in the morning of the resurrection, Dan. 12. 2. A leaf is light and unsubstantial. A leaf fades in various ways silently. The myriad leaves that glitter in |