witnesses" may serve equally well to convict of the authorship of a malicio1rn speech. It is for more easy for men to forgive abusive things said to their faces than thin"s reported t~ have been.sai_d behind their backs. And even injurious acts can be got ov·;r more readily than stmgmg words of sarcasm. Words have a more definite shape in thought than deeds; they reveal a certain view of you which has some truth in it. You cannot forget it, which means with most you cannot forgive it. A clean-cut sarcasm, a slander which bas just that vraisemblance about it which gives currency 1K> gossip, stamps a certain image of the victim in the public mind. The gentler motive to prudence is the hurt we may do others; the motive consistently here is the treat- ment we may experience ourselves. If a person, on grounds like these, were to take a pledge of total abstinence from" personal talk" of the critical kind, bis prudence must be respected. An approach to this is found in well-bred society. And how lamentable the condition of some so-called religious circles, when there is so little culture that con- versation gravitates as if by necessity to the discussion of the character and doings of popular preachers, etc. I VI. 'THE TONGUE AND THE HEART ARE IN IMMEDIATE co=ECTION. (Ver. 20.) Just as Napoleon said his brain and hand were in immediate connection. The analogy will serve. The" silver tongue" (no accents are silvery but those of troth) bespeaks the fine disposition, the noble heart. And what can the produce of the "worthless" heart be but "rot" upon the tongue? VII. Goon BREEDS GOOD, WHILE EVIL 0ANNOT KEEP ITSELF ALIVE. (Ver. 21.) The lips of the just pasture many. Good words, good preachers, good books,-these are the food of the world, and there cannot be an over-supply. Bad books and teachers may be let alone. As Dr. Johnson said of a poem, it had not enough life in it to keep it sweet (or, "not enough vitality to preserve it from corruptio:i ").-J. Vers, 22-25.-Life-secrets. Lessing says of the Old Testament, as an elementary book of childlike wisdom, that "its style is now plain and simple, now poetic, full of tautologies, but such as exercise the penetration of the mind, while they seem now to say something fresh, yet say the same; now seem to say the same, and at bottom signify, or may signify, something different." The Proverbs are the constant illustra- tion of the Law. !. THE nLESSING OF J EHOVAR INDISPENSABLE; ALL TROUBLE VAIN WITHOUT IT, (Ver. 22.) We adopt the rendering, "'l'rou ble is of no avail without it." His blessing is all in all. The thought thus yielded is a beautiful one, identical with that in Ps. cxxvii. Jehovah gives bread to his beloved while they sleep and take no "anxious thought" about it. The thought was familiar to the ancient mind, and has been wrought up in parable and fable. The counterpart is that the blessing of God is noi; given to the idle; that "God loves to be helped;" that "Heaven helps those who helF themselves." The opposite faults are indolence and over-anxiety. II. 'l'HE TRUE AND THE FALSE SOURCE OF CHEERFUL)';ESS. (Ver. 23.) The fool makes mirth out of mischief. He takes delight in seeing the image of his restless and mischievous activity everywhere. The man of principle, on the contrary, draws his serene cheerfulness from faith in the Divine law of things-the sense that he is recon- ciled to it, and that good must ever flow from it. Ill. 'l'HE FEAUFUL AND THE HOPEFUL TEMPERS TRACED TO THEIR SIGNIFICA:,:cE. (Ver. 24.) '!'here is a timidity bred of an evil conscieuce-a buoyant expectation of the future bred of a good conscience. Both are creative in their effect on the imagina- tion, and thus men dwell with shapes of gloom or radiant forms of fancy. Both are 11rophetic, and tend to realize themselves. '!'his is a profound truth. For imagination in turn influences the will, and we reap the guilty fears or the pure hopes our habits sowed. IV. THE RESULTS OF TRIAL AND TROUBLE, (Ver, 25.) The storm sweeps by and overturns the hollow and untrue; while they wbo are based on the righteousness of God remain unmoved (comp. Matt. vii. 24, seqq.). We do not know a man's principles, nor whether be has any, until the time of suffering. Theory is ono thinz, fact another; it is not the statement of the en:i;ineer, but the trial of winter's floods that must prove the soundness of the bridge. We have to learn the truth of life in theory first; but we do not make it our own until it is put to the test of experience. Exvcriencc throw, PII0Ylm □s. :r 21G THE PROVERBS. [ OH, x. l -32.
us back upon the truth of the theory, enriches our conception of it, and should enable us to teach it with the greater confidence to others.--J.
"Ver. 26.-The lazy man a nuisance. I. HE IRRITATES ms EMPLOYERS. The images of tbe teeth set on edge, the blinded, smarting eyes, give the thought with great force· and great na1-vete. II. HE 'is -''ORSE THAN USELESS. The Bible shows a great aversion from idleness sluggishness (eh. vi. 6, seqq.; xii. 27; xix. 24; xxii. 13). 1. Laziness is a vice and th~ parent of worse. 2. The swift discharge of duty is acceptable to God and man,--J.