and is not t,o be confined t,o one categOTy, os os teaching a lesson concerning the soul and the Syriac and Septuagint render, "Be not the life of ma.n, how that spiritual sloth n folae witness ago.inst thy fellow-citizen." allows the growth of evil habits, and the And deoeive not with thy lip&. The Hebrew careleeaness which maintains not the defence is reo.lly interrogative, "And wouldeat thou of law and prayer, but admits the enemy, deceiv"! with thy lips?" (Pa. lxxviiL 86). and tbe result is the lose of the true riches The deceit is not so mnoh intentional false- and the perishing of the heavenly life. Ti::te hood as misrepresentation arising from baste two Terees are thus rendered, or morally and inconsiderateness consequent on this un- appliecl, in the Septuagint: "A foolish man necessary eagerness t,o push forward testimony is as a farm, and a man wanting in sense ie unsought. Septuagint," Neither exaggerate as a vineyard; if yon leave him, he will be (,r,\a:-r6vov) with thy lips." barren, and will bo altogether covered with Ver. 29.-The subject is still continued, weeds, ancl he will become deserted, and his as if the moralist would say, "Though a fences of stone are broken down." man has done you an injury by gratuitously Ver. 32.-Then I sa.w, and considered it testifying against you, do not you retaliate well (eh. xxii. 17). I looked on this sight. in the same way." Say not, I will do so to and let it sink into my mind. I looked him as he hath done to me (see eh. xx. 2:.::, upon it, and received instruction ( eh. viii. and note there). The lez talionis should 10). I learned a lesson from what I saw. not be applied to private wrongs. The Vera. 33, 34.-These verses are a repetition, high morality of the Chridtian code is here with very slight variations, of eh. vi. 10. 11 anticipated, the Holy Spirit guiding both. (where see notes), and possibly ham been introduced here by a later editor. Ver. 33 Vera. 80-84.-A mashal ode concerning seems to be the sluggard's own wortls; ver. the sluggard (for similar odes, comp. eh. vii. 34 allows the result of his sloth. There are 6-23; Job v. 3-5; Pa. xxxvii. 85, etc.; numberless proverbs dedicated to this subject Isa. v. 1-6). in all languages; e.g." No sweat, no sweet;" "No pains, no gains;" "He that wad eat Ver. C0.-The :field; .. the vineyard; the the kernel maun crack the nut;" "A two chief objects of the farmer's care, which pui'iadsa entran !as buenus hadas," "Good neecl constant labour if tbey are to provo luck enters by dint of cuffs" (Spanish); productive. Moralizing on this passage, St. "Nihil agendo male agere cliscirnus;" "The Gregory (' Moral.,' xx. 54) says, "To :pass dog in the kennel," say the Chinese, "harks by the field of the slothful, and by the vme- at his fleas ; the dog that hunts docs not ynrd of the man void of understanding, is feel them" (Kelly). "Sloth and much to look into the life of e.ny careless liver, sleep," say the Arabs, "remove from God and to take a view of his deeds." and bring on poverty." The LXX. is Ver. 31.-Thorne. Kimmashon is the word somewhat dramatic in its rondering: "After- here used, but the plant hue not been certainly wards I reponted (i,<nv&wra:), I looked that identified (comp. Isa. xxxiv. 13). Nettles I might receive instruction. 'I slumber a. (charnl). The stinging-nettle is quite com- little, I sleep n little, for n littlEI I clasp mon in Palestine, but the plant hero meant is (lva:')',ca:,\((oi,a:,) my hnnda a.cross my breast.' probably the prioklv ocanthue, which quickly Hut if thou do this, thy poverty will come covers any spot left uncultivated (Job xxx. advancing, und thy want like n good runner 7). Revised Version margin suggests wild (a.')'a:Bor opoi,,6r)." The word EV<l")IICa:Ai(oi,a, vetches. Ovid,' Trist.,' v. 12. 21- occurs in eh. vi. 10, but nowhere else in the " Adele, quod iagenium longa rubigine lresum Septuagint. It is used by St. Mark (i.'l. 36; Torpet,etestmulto,quamfuit11nte,minus. x. 16). It has been thought tho.t the Fertilis, aseidno si non renovetur urotro, origiual mashal ended with ver. 32, ~he Nil, niaicnm epinisgramen, habebit11ger." following puaijago beiug 11clded by a scr~be as illustrative in a marginal note, which Bo spiritual writers have used this apologue afterwards crept into the text.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 9.-Sin and folly. However these words ar~ read, th~y point to_ n.n association of sin and folly. This may be regarded from two pomts of view, accordmg as we start with the thought of the sin or with that of the folly. . I. Sm rnPLIEB FOLLY. 1. lt chooses the worse qf two courses. Thus it blunders into ijelf-injury. Evil is not only culpa~le in ~h~ sight of God; it is hurtful to the evil-doer. Its 11aib is dark, deg~aded_, d1se.ppomtmg. It 1s foohs~ to tur~ from the way of light and honour and satisfaction to such a course. 2. It is short-sighted. In '64 TIIE PROVERBS. [on. XXIV, 1-34-,