(No. CXXIV.)

LABOUR, TALK, WEALTH.

"In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. The crown of the wise is their riches; but the foolishness of fools is folly."-Prov. xiv. 23, 24. HERE we have

I. PROFITABLE LABOUR. "In all labour there is profit." The word "all" here of course must be taken with limitation. Ill-directed labour is not profitable. First: Labour is profitable to our physical health; exercise, one of the fundamental conditions of corporeal health and strength. Secondly: Labour is profitable to

our

character. It conduces to force of thought, energy of will, power of endurance, capacity of application. Thirdly: Labour is profitable to our social comforts. By labour, honest, well-directed labour, man gets not only the necessities, but the comforts, the luxuries, the elegances, and the elevated positions of life. In all labour, then-well directed labour -there is profit. Every honest effort has its reward. There is no true labour that is vain.

II. IMPOVERISHING TALK. "The talk of the lips tendeth only to penury." All talk does not tend to penury. There is a talk that is profitable. The talk of the preacher, the lecturer, the statesman, the barrister, more often tend to affluence than to penury. The talk here is the talk of useless gossip. The desire for talk in some people is a ruling passion. Their tongues are in perpetual motion; they are ever in search of listeners. Their highest pleasure is in prosy,

frothy, useless tattle. As a rule, in proportion to the strength of this desire to talk, is the disinclination to work, and hence penury comes. Sir Walter Raleigh says, "He that is lavish in words, is a niggard indeed. The shuttle, the needle, the spade, the brush, the chisel, all are still but the tongue."

III. DIGNIFYING WEALTH. "The crown of the wise is their riches." The idea is, that a wise man would so use his wealth that it will become a crown to him. By using it to promote his own mental and spiritual cultivation, and to ameliorate the woes and to ang ment the happiness of the world, his wealth gives him a diadem more lustrous far than all the diamond crowns of kings. But the foolishness of fools is folly. This looked at antithetically means that the wealth of a fool adds no dignity to his character.

(No. CXXV.)

THE TRUE WITNESS.

"A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies."Prov. xiv. 25.

We make three remarks on this sentence:

I. IN JUDICIARY MATTERS THE THING ASSERTED IS NOT ALWAYS TRUE. A true witness in a court of justice, where the facts are criminatory, must go to the condemnation and ruin of the crimi nal. The true witness may be such a merciful man as to desire intensely to save the prisoner, but still because he is true, he must. state the facts, even though the facts lead to ruin. It is only

when the facts are vindicatory, the true witness can deliver.

II. IN THE DISPOSITION OF THE MIND THE THING ASSERTED IS

GENERALLY TRUE. "It is probable," says an able expositor, that the intended antithesis relates, not so much to the actual fact of truth saving and falsehood condemning, as to the dispositions and intentions of the faithful witness on the one hand, and the lying witness on the other. The faithful witness delights in giving testimony that will save life, that will be salutary, beneficial to his fellow-creatures. The lying witness will, in general, be found actuated by a malevolent and wicked purpose, having pleasure in giving testimony that will go to condemn the object of his malice. The sentiment will thus be, that truth is most generally found in union with kindness of heart, and falsehood with malevolence. And this is natural; the former being both good, the latter both evil; falsehood more naturally akin to malice, and truth to love."

III. IN THE EVANGELICAL MINISTRY THE THING ASSERTED. IS ALWAYS TRUE, A true witness to Gospel facts delivereth souls. The true work of a Gospel minister is that of a witness. "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me," &c. (Acts i. 8.) A true witness in the evangelical sense must be one, First: Who is thoroughly conversant with the facts. Secondly: Who honestly propounds the facts. Thirdly: Who lives in accordance with the facts. Such a witness delivereth souls. "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee." (1 Tim. iv. 16.)

(No. CXXVI.)

GODLINESS, SAFETY, AND LIFE. "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence; and his children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death."-Prov. xiv. 26, 27. WE learn from these words

I. THAT GODLINESS IS SAFETY. "The fear of the Lord is strong confidence." By the fear of the Lord is meant, of course, no slavish fear, associated with terror, suspicion, and apprehension, but filial fear, implying love and confidence. It is a fear that is strong confidence. Perfeot love casteth out all that is servile and cowardly in fear. The godly are "his children" the children of God, and they have "a place of refuge." The godly are safe. God is thoir refuge and strength. They will not fear though the earth be removed. We make three remarks about this refuge. First: It is a provision against immense dangers. The sinner is exposed to evils and enemies which God alone can truly estimate. The principalities and powers of darkness are against him. Secondly: It admits of the greatest freedom of action. A prison is a refuge as well as a fortress. The inmate is well guarded by massive bars and granite walls from all without, but he has no liberty. But all in this refuge have ample scope for action. The sphere is as infinite as God. Thirdly: It is accessible at all times and for all persons. Its gates are open day and night. It extends to men on every zone of the globe. Yet men will not enter. They stand shivering without while the storm is gathering. David was in this refuge, and he said, "God is my refuge and my strength," &c. Paul was in this refuge, and he said, "I am persuaded that neither death nor life," &c.

II. THAT GODLINESS IS LIFE. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. What is said here of the fear of the Lord is said in Prov. xiii. 14, of the "law of the wise." And what is the law of the wise but the fear of the Lordgodliness. Godliness is a fountain of happiness. Salubrious, abundant, perennial.

No. CXXVII.

THE POPULATION OF AN EMPIRE AND THE HONOUR OF ITS RULER.

"In the multitude of people is the king's honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince." -Prov. xiv. 28.

I. AN INCREASING POPULATION REFLECTS HONOUR ON THE GOVERN

MENT. Where the population of a country thrives, three good things are implied. First: Peace. Murders, insurrections, wars, and violence in all its forms, go to thin the population. Hence, where a population multiplies rapidly, the government is more or less a reign of peace. Another good thing implied when the population increases is,-Secondly: Sufficiency. Scarcity of provisions, destitution, tend to starvation, and often drive the people to emigrate to distant shores. A country where there is sufficiency of food for the people reflects honour on the government. It shows scope for enterprise, free labour, and free trade. Another good implied when the population increases, is,-Thirdly: Salutariness. Pestilence thins a population. Pestilences spring from a neglect of sanitary laws. Where a population grows, therefore, it shows that sanitary ordinances are more or less attended to. Thus the increase of a population

• See HOMILIST, vol ix., third series, Pp. 293.

in any country reflects honour on the ruler. "In the multitude of the people is the king's honour."

THE

II. AN INCREASING POPULATION SUSTAINS HONOUR OF A GOVERNMENT. First: The more people the more power of defence. The king whose subjects are few and decreasing has but little power of defence. He is exposed to invasions. Small states are powerless before mighty empires. Secondly: The mort people the more power of revenue. Money, which is the sinew of war, is also the architect of noble institutions and the caterer to royal needs, and tastes, and pageantries. Thus it is true, that

in the multitude of people is the king's honour; but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince."

(No. ĈXXVIII.)

TEMPER.

"He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly."-Prov. xiv. 29. EVERY man has what is called Temper a kind of inner atmosphere, in which he lives, breathes, and works. This atmosphere has great varieties of temperature, from zero to blood heat, and great changes of weather too, severe and stormy, cloudy and sunny. This temper, however, unlike the outward atmosphere, is controllable by man. He can regulate his temperatures and weathers The passage leads us to look at temper in two aspects

I. AS CONTROLLED. "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding." First: It TE

quires the efforts of a great understanding rightly to control temper. There are some whose tempers are naturally choleric and stormy. They are so combustible that the tiniest spark of offence will set

them in flames. Can such tempers be controlled ? Some are constantly pleading their natural tempers as a palliation of their imperfections and their crimes. It is vain to do this. Our Creator has given us an understanding to control our passions. It seems to me that, as a rule, the force of intellect in a man is always equal to his impulses. Where there

are mighty impulses, there is a mighty understanding equal to their impulses. A sublimer sight one can scarcely have, than that of a man with powerful passions majestically calm in irritating circumstances. Such a man shows a great understanding, an understanding that bids the heaving billows within be calm, and they are at peace. Secondly: It repays the efforts of a great understanding rightly to control temper. The highest victories are the victories over temper. To raise our nature above those vexatious feelings which the annoyances and contrarities of life are calculated to excite, is the most remunerative of labours. It gives a royalty to a man's life, before which meaner spirits bow. Moses at the Red Sea, is an example of disciplined temper. Christ also the sublime example. (1 Peter ii. 21-23.) We are exhorted to this. (Eph. iv. 26.) The passage leads us to look at temper

II. AS UNCONTROLLED. "He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." He exalts folly by giving passion the throne, and the sceptre, and placing the soul under her capricious and violent dominion. What crimes are committed, what woes created every day, by giving the reins to passion. Cowper has very graphically described an ungoverned, fretful temper,

"Some fretful tempers wince at every touch,

You always do too little or too much;

endure a great deal of "oppression." Superior force is exerted to exact their labours for the most inadequate renumeration, and thus to "grind their faces." All this oppression of the poor is a reproach of God; he who does it "reproacheth his Maker." He reproaches his Maker, First: By disregarding that identity of nature with which our Maker has endowed all classes. There is no distinction of nature in rich and poor; God hath made of one flesh and blood all nations. The same blood flows through all, the same attributes, belong to all; the same relations, are sustained by all, the same destiny awaits all. Secondly: By disregarding those laws which our Maker has enjoined concerning the poor. Everywhere we are exhorted to remember the poor, to compassionate the poor, to help the poor. "And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then shalt thou relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee." (Lev. xxv. 35, 36.) "The poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." (Deut. xv. 11.) Inhumanity, then, is ungodliness. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness until

now."

II. TRUE HUMANITY IS GODLINESS. "He that honoureth

him, hath mercy on the poor." He that honoureth God, by loving Him supremely, and serving Him, will have mercy on the poor. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. The way to glorify God, to show our love for Him, is to serve our race. There is, it is true, a fickle, sentimental, natural mercifulness for the poor, which has no connection with godliness, but this is not true humanity. True humanity is that which sympathizes with man, as the offspring of God, the victim of moral evil, the child of immortality, and which consecrates itself in the Spirit of Christ to ameliorate his woes and redeem his soul, and this is godliness in its practical development. not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh." (Isa. Iviii 6, 7.)

"I

A poet has thus described the spirit of true humanity :

"A sense of an earnest will

To help the lowly living, And a terrible heart-thrill,

If you had no power of giving; An arm of aid to the weak,

A friendly hand to the friendless, Kind words so short to speak, But whose echo is endless: The world is wide, these things are small,

They may be nothing, but they are all.”