Telugu.-What can a pig do with a rose-bottle? Sanskrit.-Beneficence shown to the mean is writing on the sand.

Perfection.-Ps. 119. 96.

The more holy a man is, the more sensible he is of his unholiness.

China.-There are two good men: one dead, the other

unborn.

Arab. Only the grave-clothes change the physical nature. Persian.-Sweetmeats without smoke.

Telugu. The fire-place takes the crookedness out of the stick-i.e., the funeral pyre alone takes away men's evil qualities.

Tamul.—Even an elephant may slip.

Persian.-Where is the person who has not soiled his garments?

Breton.-Who wishes a horse without defects ought to go on foot.

Turk.-Who seeks a friend without a fault remains with

out one.

Arab. A good horse will stumble, a good knife will be blunted.

Bengal.-Ink spots may be removed by washing; natural disposition only by death.

Japan. The teeth sometimes bite the tongue-i.e., the best friends will sometimes fall out.

China. There are straight trees on the mountains straight men in the world.

Sin as a Poisonous Serpent.-Ps. 58. 4, 5. The poison of serpents is like sin in five points:

1. Inflames; so the fire of passion.

; no

2. Spreads very quickly; there are Indian cobras whose poison kills in twenty minutes-like lightning the poison goes through the body. Adam's sin has spread through the world.

3. Small in the beginning, the wound of the cobra scarcely visible, as the Bengali proverb-" It goes in a

needle, comes out a ploughshare." Eve ate an apple, but it poisoned the whole human race.

4. Bite not painful, but the effect deadly, Deut. 32. 33; Job 20. 12; so the pleasures of sin for a season.

was

5. The serpent has a beautiful skin-such Absalom, beautiful but disobedient to his father David; he raised a rebellion against him. 2 Sam. 15. 6.

Telugu.-A year to a potter and a day to a cudgel, Rom. 5. 13.

Man as Clay; God as the Potter.-Isa. 64. 8.

The nations before God compared to the drop of a bucket, Isa. 40. 15; to the small dust of the balance, Isa. 40. 15. All things made on earth are frail, and easily broken: and though they are finely figured, painted, and gilded like porcelain, they are but earth still, and a fall destroys them.

Man comes from the hands of the Maker, as clay from the hand of the potter; and is called a vessel, because he has capacity to hold either good or evil, a vessel of wrath or a vessel of destruction. Paul is called a chosen vessel, and the wife the weaker vessel.

We are as clay in God's hands, and formed of the dust; He had the most absolute right to form us as vessels to honour or to dishonour, and to endue us with powers of mind and body of such extent, capacity, and efficiency, as might seem good unto Him. He had a right to determine the duration and conditions of our being, to appoint the bounds of our habitations, and all the circumstances on which our happiness and welfare in any degree depend. He was pleased to create man in his own image as a vessel unto honour; a little lower indeed than the angels, but still endued with noble faculties, and crowned with dominion over the beasts of the field; when man marred" this Divine image and beauty by his own sinful folly. God had the most absolute right either at once to " dash

him in pieces as a potter's vessel," or to continue his existence, and appoint him a new probation, on such conditions as he might see fit to enjoin, with whatever advantages or disadvantages he might be pleased to assign; man is like the moth which, flying at the candle, only gets burnt.

Persian.—The titmouse holds up its feet that the sky might not fall upon it.

Telugu.-Like a grasshopper jumping into the fire—i.e., to try to extinguish it.

Russian.—The earthen pot cannot contend with the brass

one.

China. On the egg combating with the stone, the yolk

came out.

Persian. The breath of the gnat will not put out the sun. Gujerat.-Biting a stone breaks the teeth.

Bengal.-Who has made the thorn so sharp ?-i.e., a man's abilities are from God.

Bengal. When one spits at the moon it falls back on

one's self.

China. To run against a nail, Acts 9. 5.

Bengal. The tailless ox pushing at the elephant.

Prudence.-MATT. 10. 16.

Noah showed foresight in building the ark, Heb. 4. 7; Pharaoh's servants, Exod. 9. 20, 21; so do the stork and ant, Jer. 8. 7.

Arab. The chameleon does not leave one tree until he has secured the other.

Russian. Measure your cloth ten times, you can cut but

once.

Chanak. A wise man moves with one foot, stands fast with the other, and does not quit the station he occupies without well considering that which he intends to go.

Arab.—If thou canst not take things by the head, then take them by the tail.

Russian.-A good fox has three holes.

Malabar.-Before you leap, look at the ground, Prov. 22. 3.

African.-No one measures the river with both his feet. Arab.-The servant, deceived by the cold of the morning, provided no water for the heat of the day.

Sanskrit. A king perceives by his ears; the learned by their intellect; a beast by scent; and fools by the past. Afghan.-Though your enemy be a rope of sand, call him a serpent-i.e., do not despise an enemy.

Bengal.-Who sets the weir betimes, eats plenty of fish. Gujerat. A straight finger scoops not out clarified butter. Turk.-Speak not of stones to a fool lest he cast them at

thy head.

Tamul.-Ants before rain carry their eggs to a higher place. Turk.-Approach not bees without having thy head covered. Sanskrit.-Fools learn only by the past-i.e., experience is a dear school.

Punctuality, or Work while it is Day.-Joиn 9. 4.

See the parable of the Foolish Virgins, who found the door shut. The coming of the Bridegroom surprised the wise virgins or bridesmaids with joy, the foolish with terror.

Jeremiah (8. 7) reproves the people for not using their opportunities; he recommends them to be like the swallow and stork, who prepare at a suitable moment to leave a wintry climate for sunlit lands; not like the ostrich, who when pursued hides its head between its legs, fancying because he does not see the danger there will be none. Time and tide wait for no man. Mat. 25. 10.

Persian.-A poor man waited 1,000 years before the gate of Paradise; then, while he snatched one little nap, it opened and shut.

Persian.-The stream which has passed down does not. come back to its former channel.

Arab.-Four things cannot he brought back-a word spoken, an arrow discharged, the Divine decree, and past time.

Arab. Occasions, like clouds, pass away.

Arab. It is little use to hammer cold iron.

Bengal.--Having drunk the water, he asks the caste of the giver.

China. It is little use to light a fire when the breeze is

blowing. Talmud. The owl and the hen waited together for the morning: "The light is of use to me," said the hen; "but of what use is it to you ?" I Thess. 5. 5.

God's Influence as Rain on the Mown Grass.-Ps. 72. 6. The heart of man is often compared to the hard ground, which must be ploughed or softened before it can either receive the good seed, or can bring forth such crops as the sower looks for in their season; it is sometimes called a "stony heart;" and the doctrine is then spoken of as "a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces;" or "a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow." God's gentler influence is alluded to when it is likened to rain or dew; more gentle, but not less powerful, than when it acts as a sword, or as a fire," or as a hammer, or as the rain of God's fury on the wicked, Job, 20. 23.

The ground is sometimes so hard and parched in summer in tropical countries that it might almost be taken for rock, and can be broken only by the most violent. effort; yet, when "a gracious rain" is sent upon it, by degrees the hardness gives way, and it is again such as to receive into its bosom the seeds which shall bear fruit in due season. And thus has many and many a heart, which seemed "as hard as a piece of the nether millstone,” been softened and penetrated by the heavenly doctrine in due time. Job 23. 16.

As

Rain deserves to be called a present from heaven. the consequences of a continued drought would be fatal to us, as seen in India, so the advantages which the refreshing showers afford are equally precious. The heat of the sun acts without interruption on the different bodies on earth, and continually draws thin particles from them, which fill the atmosphere in the form of vapours.. We should breathe those dangerous exhalations with the