away from the shepherd, as were the Jews by the Babylonians. Mahratta.-An herdsman, with his staff in his hand, guides and protects his cattle. Will not God, with thestaff of correction, guide and protect man? China. When heaven rears a man, he grows very fat. When men rear one, he is but skin and bone. Telugu.-Will he who plants the tree not water it? Modern Greek.-Appointing the wolf a shepherd. Persian.-The sheep are not designed for the shepherd, but the shepherd for the service of the sheep. Urdu.-Put ants and dogs to guard sweetmeats. Russian. The shepherd shears the sheep but does not flay them. Sowing to the Flesh Reaping Corruption.-GAL. 6. 8. The principles of ruin are in ourselves, like the iron which breeds rust, or like filthy garments which produce moths, or ill-humours in the body causing a fever. The husbandman's labours are often blasted, not so those of the righteous; God will not forget the labour of love, Heb. 6. 10. Husbandmen have to reap every year, the righteous all at once. Adonizebek was paid in his own coin, Judg. 1.7; Ahab's blood was licked up by the dogs; and Haman was hung on his own gallows, Esth. 7. 10. David sowed adultery, reaped the sword, 2 Sam. 12. 9, 11; Joseph's brethren sowed envy, Gen. 42. 21; Judas sowed coveteousness,. reaped a halter, Matt. 27. 5. The Buddhists of Ceylon say-"If any one speak or act from a corrupt mind, suffering will follow the action, as the wheel follows the lifted foot of the ox." An English proverb-"He has made his bed, and he must lie in it," Job 4. 8; they that plough iniquity reap the same, they sowing the wind reap the whirlwind, Hos. 8. 7. The Persians say, "He that plants thorns shall he not gather roses; the field of wrong brings forth death as its fruits, Prov. 5. 22; he is holden with the cords of his own sin so fire in his lips, Prov. 16. 27; Job 5. 2. Burma.-Suffering is the necessary consequence of sin, just as when you eat a sour fruit a stomach complaint ensues. Bengal.-Put your hand in the fire, whether willingly or no, you will get burnt. Shanti Shatak-To wherever you roam in sky or ocean, yet your actions from birth up will follow you before the Judge as the shadow the substance. Telugu.-A man's shadow remains near himself. Telugu. If you expect much fruit from few offerings, will it be obtained? Bengal. From the jack do you get the mango juice? Bengal." The ant's wings produce its own death." Talmud. The crow brought fire into the nest; it warmed him, but it burnt the nest. Turk.-Those who sow thorns can only reap prickles. Persian. He that plants thorns shall not gather roses. China.-Ivory does not come out of the rat's mouth. Russian.-It is not necessary to sow fools, they grow of themselves. God is not in haste, but His aim is sure. The Hypocrites' Hope a Spider's Web.-JOB 8. 14. The Italians, to express the community of goods between true friends, say they tie their purses with a spider's web -i.e., easily broken. The spider weaves its web out of its own bowels, and with wonderful skill prepares a network which far surpasses the most curious product of human workmanship, even the Kashmir shawl in the regularity and fineness of its texture. The spider succeeds in fixing himself even in the mansions of the great, and clings tenaciously to the haunt or home which she has chosen. Prov. 30. 28. Her web is admirably woven for the purpose which she has in view; and such insects, as are incautiously entangled in it, become an easy prey. Yet is it also so frail and slight that a breath might rend it; and at last it is brushed away in a moment by the meanest servant of the house, the sweeper. So the hypocrite's hope is spun out of his own fancies, as the spider's web out of her own bowels; and it consists either in a groundless conceit of his own merits, or in an equally erroneous notion of God's character. The spider when he suspects his web-here called his house-to be frail or unsure, leans upon it in different parts, propping himself on his hinder legs, and pulling with his fore-claws, to see if all be safe. If he find any part of it injured, he immediately adds new cordage to that part, and attaches it strongly to the wall. When he finds all safe and strong, he retires into his hole at one corner, and supposes himself to be in a state of complete security; the web looks very beautiful in sunshine, in a moment, however, any accident, to say nothing of a dirty broom, sweeps away himself and his house. Bengal.-Trust to the cat, and the buttermilk on the shelf. Arab.-More faithful than the earth-i.e., which renders all things deposited in it. Tamul.—Will they let a bug escape because it did not bite ? Welsh. To pawn a piece of flesh with a cat. Talmud.-Be very humble; the hopes of men are worms. worm. The Lord the Stay of the Righteous.-2 SAM. 22. 19. A house or wall is tottering, a beam of wind stays it up, such are the ropes to a ship, so creeping plants, unable to stand upright, cling by their tendrils to some stick which becomes their stay; similarly the soul clings to God by the tendrils of faith. The Nick of Time Taught by the Stork.—JER. 8. 7. In many countries the storks and many birds are not able to stand the winter; on its approach they congregate and depart in a body for the sunlit lands, returning in the spring, so do the crane and swallow. Men know the signs of the weather, and when it is time to start on a journey; but when the shadows of life's evening are coming, people do not see the signs of death's approach, Hos. 7. 9. The Italians say, "time is an inaudible file," which destroys gradually without its being noticed. Christ reproached the people, that though knowing the signs of bad weather, they did not know the drift of spiritual things, Mat. 16. 3; so God in Jeremiah reproaches the people for not, like the birds, looking into the future; the wicked are like the ostrich, which, when pursued, hides its head between its legs, fancying because it does not see the coming danger that it will not ensue. The Sting of Death is Sin.-1 COR. 15. 56. There are various stings-those of an asp, a bee, a nettle, a wasp; all, however, infuse poison quietly and sharply, and give pain. The devil is the old serpent, who injects the poison of his sting into afflictions and death, while Christ is the brazen serpent, by looking to Whom the wounds are healed. No sting of death was felt by David, 2 Sam. 23. 5; by Joseph, Gen. 50; by Jacob, Gen. 49. 18. There is, however, a love stronger than death, and death may buzz about our ears, but it has lost its sting, Is. 25. 8. Bengal.-The commision of sin produces the fear of death. The Sinner's Heart Stony.—EZEK. 36. 26. 1. Hard, yields not to a blow, hence Job 41. 1–34, refers to the heart of the crocodile, hard as the nether millstone; arrows and spears are as stubble to him, they will not enter-such were Stephen's murderers, Acts 7. 57. There are stones in India on which the rains and winds have been beating for.many thousand years, yet they are not worn, while the instruments used to break these stones are often broken themselves, Luke 4. 29. The seed that falls on stony soil springs not up, as there is no moisture in a stone. 2. Senseless, no feeling, Eph. 4. 19; the wicked go as an ox to the slaughter, feeling no danger of their lives; they have no shame, but a brow of brass, Is. 48. 4. 3. Heavy. The thoughts of the wicked are not up to heavenly things, but down to the earthly; their God is their belly; they are of the earth, earthy, I Cor. 15. 47. 3. No motion, therefore no life. 4. Cold, as being without life. But God's hammer, his word, Jer. 23. 29, breaks the rock in pieces, and gives a heart of flesh, such as Paul had, who from a persecutor became a preacher of Christianity; so the hardened jailor when he became softened, he began to cry out, Acts 16. 30. This hammer fastens conviction as a nail in a sure place, Is. 22. 23. It softens and smashes the hardest rock. Persian.-A drop of rain makes no impression on a hard stone. Kurd.-Grass grows not under a stone. China.-The heart of the worthless is as unfixed and changeless as a mountain stream. Persian.-He tries to extract oil from the sand. Tamul. The solemn thoughts of the funeral pyre last till each one returns home. Tamul.-Even stones may be dissolved, the heart of a fool not. |