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each other in the ways of godliness; as also from true zeal for God's glory. It proceeds from the overflow of gall and choler, that root of bitterness that is in the heart; it is bitter to ourselves and others, it makes us unpleasant to those with whom we converse; and though it be sweet for the present, yet, when conscience is opened, and we taste the fruits of it, it proves bitterness in the issue. Envy is but a cockatrice egg, that soon brings. forth strife. The world had an early experience of it. Satan envied Adam and Eve.

Pride the first sin in

There was envy between

Adam ; envy the second in Cain. Abraham and Lot's herdsmen, Gen. 13. 7, then Joseph's brethren envied him, and conspired to slay him, Gen. 37.4. So in Saul and David's case, I Sam. 18. 9.

Bengal.-In seeing another's wealth, it is not good to have the eyes smart.

Gulistan.—I can avoid injuring the mind of any one, but what shall I do to the envious man who carrieth the injury in his own breast? Die, thou envious wretch, since thou canst not be cured of the disease under which thou labourest, but by death. Arab.-Envy is a raging fever; envy has no rest; the wise no poverty.

Turk.-No mountain without mist; no man of merit without detractors.

Oriental.-Virtue is always exposed to envy; we cast not stones at a barren tree.

Afghan. The horses were shoeing themselves, the frogs
held up their feet-i.e., to be shoed also.
Tamul.-An enemy's envy is his own punishment.
Tamul.-Envy thou not the glory of a sinner.

Tamul.-Thou knowest not what shall be his end, Prov. 24. 20.

Japan.-Lepers envious of those with sores.
Hebrew. The ear of jealousy heareth all things.
Hebrew.-Envy and wrath shorten the life.

Hebrew. Carefulness brings age before the time.
Hebrew.-The envious man has a wicked eye.

F

Hypocrites' Hope a Rush in the Mire.-Job 8. 11–15.

The Telugus compare visionary hopes to a bag of money seen in a looking-glass. The rush springs out of the mire, and its growth is as rapid as its greenness is bright before the sun;" while the bed in which it grows is filled with the season rains, it flaunts itself as if in scorn of the more valuable blade in the neighbouring furrow, and gains more notice from the uninstructed eye, yet it is always a worthless plant, and as soon as the torrent is dried up by the heat of summer, it withers in a day; so the rich fool's hopes of long life, Luke 12. 16-20. So Goliath's head was cut off with the very sword he hoped to kill David with, 1 Sam. 17. 44-51.

Hypocrites are Whited Sepulchres.-MAT. 23. 27.

Sepulchres were beautiful without, loathsome within; hence they were away from cities, as those who touched the dead were accounted polluted.

Hypocrites likened, Luke II. 44, to graves that appear not, because covered with grass and weeds-their throat an open sepulchre, Ps. 5. 9.

Paul called Ananias a whited wall, Acts 23. 3.

These hypocrites worshipped God with their lips, while their hearts were far from him, Mat. 15. 8, and by their extortions they devoured widows' houses, Mat. 23. 14.

Cain was a hypocrite in worshipping God without sacrifice and pretending not to know where his brother was when he had killed him, Gen. 4. 9; so Judas when he kissed Christ after he had betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver, Mat. 26. 49.

Chanak.-A friend who injures your business in your absence, but speaks smoothly when you are present, should be shamed as a bowl of poison with milk on its surface.

Bengal. The heron is (in appearance) a saint as long as the fish is not in sight.

Bengal.-The female devotee pretends not to eat fish, but there are three on her leaf.

The Righteous the Salt of the Earth.-MAT. 5. 13.

The righteous like salt in three points:

Salt is remarkable for its own peculiar savour, by which its presence in any substance with which it can unite itself is at once detected; spreading itself through any thing with which it is thus mixed, it imparts its own quality of saltness to the previous taste or savour. It has also the quality of preserving from corruption, even for a number of years, many substances that would otherwise perish; hence it is an emblem of what is enduring or perpetual.

God appointed that salt should be used in all the sacrifices offered to him: salt was the opposite to leaven, for it preserved from putrefaction and corruption, and signified the purity and persevering fidelity that are necessary in the worship of God. Every thing was seasoned with it to signify the purity and perfection that should be extended through every part of the divine service, and through the hearts and lives of God's worshippers. It was called "the salt of the covenant of God," because, as salt is incorruptible, so were the covenant and promise of Jehovah. Among the heathens salt was a common ingredient in all their sacrificial offerings; and as it was considered essential to the comfort and preservation of life, and an emblem of the most perfect corporeal and mental endowments, so it was supposed to be one of the most acceptable presents they could make unto their gods, from whose sacrifices it was never absent.

Salt is the symbol of wisdom, Col. 4. 6; of perpetuity

and incorruption, Numb. 18. 19; 2 Chron. 13. 5, 4; of hospitality, and of that fidelity which is due from servants, friends, guests, and domestics, to those that entertain them, and receive them at their tables: it is used in this sense, Ezra 4. 14, where maintenance from the king's table means salted with the salt of the palace. In Russia at the present day when the Emperor visits any of his subjects, bread and salt are presented to him as an emblem of hospitality.

A little salt seasons much meat, and prevents its perishing; so Lot was the salt of Sodom, and had there been ten righteous persons in it, the city would have been preserved, Gen. 18. 32. Salt preserves the human body from worms, so the righteous save society from corruption.

Hebrew.-Alms are the salt of riches.

Badaga.—If the curry is without savour, you can put salt into it; but if the salt has lost its savour, with what can it be seasoned? Mat. 5. 13.

Our Days on Earth a Shadow.—Joв 8. 9.

Gotthold compares time to an image in the water easily broken; yet the shadow gives shelter for a time, as Jonah found at Nineveh under the gourd, 4. 6. Life like a shadow has little substance, is fleeting; it is compared in Job 8. II, to a rush springing up in the mud, and drying up before the influence of the sun.

Afghan.-As the sun's shadow shifts, so there is no permanence on earth.

Bengal.-A service fleeting as the palm tree's shade or the cloud's shadow.

Bengal. There is no hand to catch time.

Sanskrit.-Time is stronger than all things else.

God a Shepherd.—Ps. 23. 1.

God a shepherd in seven points:

The shepherd knows his sheep, so as to be able to dis

Their number, "I am the good

causes

tinguish them individually, John 10. 14. names, place, character, and condition. shepherd, and know my sheep." He provides for them. The shepherd protects them, and for this purpose he is usually provided with a staff or rod, a sling, and if need be with a sword or spear; so David, 1 Sam. 17. 40. He leads them often in a barren wilderness with no paths or water, surrounded by wild beasts; so God guides his people by his Providence, Word, and Spirit. "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight." "He leadeth me," says the Psalmist, "in the paths of righteousness” in an even and quiet path, in opposition to a path among thorns and stones and cliffs. When exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, or when weary and exhausted, he conducts them to some shady place where he “ them to rest at noon." By "noon is meant " " fiery trial," whether arising from temptation, affliction, or persecution, or all together. The lambs are the objects of his special care and affection, when they become tired, or come to some difficult part in the track, which they cannot get over, the shepherd may be seen "gathering them in his arms," and even "carrying them in his bosom." Christ said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them," Mark 10. 14-16. Hence also his charge to Peter, "Feed my lambs," John 21. 15. He numbers them when they return to the fold to see that none be missing, and if there be an under-shepherd, that he may account to the owner for the sheep committed to his trust and care. When the flocks are large and numerous, and several shepherds are required, one is appointed over the rest as the chief shepherd. He restores the sheep that has strayed, and goes after that which is lost until he finds it. God, as a shepherd, has an immense flock all over the world; gives them peculiar food; always abides. Believers are sheep, easily scattered when

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