A whale meets the vessel in which Jonah sails at the moment he is thrown into the sea. God disposed of that incident. Examples of this are countless. Every man's life supplies him with many such. The most trivial incidents have often led in our history to the most important issues. Whatever will thou makest, says an old divine, God is sure to be the executor.

"There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will." SHAKESPEARE.

(No. CLXXI.)

FAMILY SCENES.

"Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren."-Prov. xvii. 1, 2.

A PROVERB like that in the first verse has already come under our notice. "Better is a bunch of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred therewith.* We may take the two verses together because they alike point to domestic life. And they give us three things which are often found in household life.

not

I. A DISCONTENTED TEMPER. "Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife." The word 66 sacrifices" refers to the practice of feasting on the flesh of slain victims when they were holocaust to be entirely consumed on the altar. 1 Sam. ix. 12, 13, 22, 24. The margin gives the true idea. A house full of good cheer with strife-plenty with discontent. The idea of Solomon is that domestic poverty with content is better than plenty with discontent. These things are often found in association. There is many a pauper home where the spirit of contentment reigns supreme. And there is many a wealthy mansion where there is nothing but brawls

* See HOMILIST, vol. x., third series, p. 350.

VOL. XXII.

and contention. And who that knows life will not say, that the former is the preferable condition? A contented mind is a continual feast. "It produces," says Addison, in some measure all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribed to what he calls the the philosopher's stone, and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing by banishing the desire of them." If it cannot remove the disquietudes arising from a man's mind, body, or fortune, it makes him easy under them.

"Lord, who would live turmoil'd in the court,

And may enjoy such quiet walks as these? This small inheritance my father left me Contenteth me, and 's worth a monarchy. I seek not to wax great by others' waning, Or gather wealth, I care not with what envy;

Sufficeth that I have maintains my state, And sends the poor well pleased from my gate." SHAKESPEARE.

We have here II.

A WORTHLESS SON. "A son that causeth shame." Who is the son that causeth shame? He who with the means of knowledge is destitute of information and culture, he who degrades his position by indolence, intemperance, and profligacy, he who for his own gratification and indulgence, violates the rights, and does outrage to the feelings of those whom he is bound to love and obey. The gross voluptuary, the empty sot, the jewelled dandy causeth shameshame to his parents, to his brothers, his sisters. He is a disgrace to an intelligent and highminded family. Many such sons, alas, there are in English homes, and they "cause shame."

Here we have

III. A VALUABLE SERVANT. "The wise servant shall rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren." (1.) A well tried servant gets moral influence in a house. He rules over a son. A servant, who for many years has industriously and honestly administered to

BB

the comfort of a family, seldom fails to gain power. In olden times, as in the case of Abraham, servants were born in a family, and when they conducted themselves well, their influence became great. Example: Eleazer, of Damascus, to Abraham, the patriarch. (2) A well tried servant sometimes shares the fortunes of the house. "Shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren."

Instances sometimes

occur even in modern times of such servants becoming the legatees of their masters. Jacob, by marrying Laban's daughter was portioned with an inheritance.

From the whole we may infer, First: That the temper of a man's soul is more important to him than his temporal condition. A cot with contentment is a far better home than a castle with an illsatisfied soul. The quiet mind is richer than a crown. Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires, makes a wise and happy purchase.

Secondly: That the power of

character is superior to the power of station. A man may have the station of being "the son" and heir of a wealthy house, and yet be disgraced. Another may occupy a menial position, yet by force of noble character, get a sovereignty in his circle. Such is the servant.

"It

is the man who adorns the station, not the station the man."

(No. CLXXII.)

DIVINE DISCIPLINE.

"The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts."-Prov. xvii. 3.

It is obvious, says Wardlaw, that a comparison is intended. "As the

fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, so the Lord trieth the hearts." Taking this view of the passage there are two things to be noticed,

I. THE VALUABLE AND WORTH

LESS IN CONNECTION WITH MAN.

The ore which the refiner puts into the crucible or furnace has the precious metal in connection with extraneous and worthless matter, mere dross.

First: In man there is the valuable in essence in connection with the comparatively worthless in surroundings. The soul is man's essence, man's self, the offspring, the image, the servant of God, and how valuable this! "What shall it profit a man," &c. The material organisation in which that soul lives is but "dust," and the secular conditions that surround it are of little worth. The soul is the "gold," all else is dross.

Secondly: In man's character there is the valuable in principle in connection with the most worthless. There are some good things in all men, even the most corrupt, some true ideas, some generous impulses, some virtuous feelings. But these are found combined with and overlaid by selfishness, pride, carnality, and practical infidelity. With impure loves, and false hopes, and erroneous ideas, and wicked purposes, man appears here as the ore in the refiner's hand just before it has dropped into the furnace. Gold

combined with dross, the valuable with the worthless. As in some lumps of ore there is more gold in connection with less worthless matter than with others, so with men. There are some with far less gold in connection with less worthless matter than others, both constitutionally and morally.

II. THE PURIFYING PROCESS IN RELATION TO GOD. "The Lord trieth the hearts." He tries not as the refiner the ore to ascertain how much good metal there really is, for he knows all that, but in order to separate it from the dross.

First: The purifying process is painful. It is by "fire." The fire to purify must be raised to the utmost intensity. "The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (1 Cor. iii. 13.) Physical

suffering, secular disappointments, social bereavements, moral convictions, constitute that furnace in which God tries men. 'He knoweth, says Job, the way I take; when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold." (Job. xxiii. 10.)

Secondly: The purifying process is constant. The dispensation under which we live is disciplinary. "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifyer of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." A correspondent of the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine relates that a lady apprehending there was something remarkable in the expressions of the text determined to call on a silversmith and make inquiries of him, without naming her object. In answer to her enquiries, the process of silver refining was fully explained to her. "But sir, said she," "do you sit, while the work of refining is going on?" "O yes, madam,' replied the silversmith, "I must sit with my eyes steadily fixed on the furnace: for, if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree the silver is sure to be injured." At once we are told she saw the beauty and comfort too of the expression. As she was going the silversmith called her back, to mention the further fact, that he only knew when the process of purifying was complete by seeing his own image reflected in the silver. "Beautiful figure." When Christ sees his own image in his people, his work of purifying is accomplished.* Heaven grant that the trial of Four faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

See Pictorial Bible.

THE

(No. CLXXIII.)

CONVERSATIONAL LIKINGS OF
BAD MEN.

"A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue."-Prov. xvii. 4.

MEN's characters may be known by the conversations they most relish. The conversation of the holy and the devout is always most distasteful to those whose hearts are in sympathy only with the vanities of the world, the pursuits of wealth, the gratification of the senses. The text enables us to see the kind of conversation that bad men like.

"A

I. THEY LIKE FLATTERY. wicked doer giveth heed to false lips." The flatterer is a man of false lips. The more corrupt men are, the more blindly credulous to everything that makes them appear better than they are. The truth concerning them would disturb perhaps their sleeping consciences, and fill them with distressing feelings, and this they shun. He who compliments them palliates their offences, gives them credit for virtues they possess not, is their favourite companion, and they ever "give heed" to his lips. The more corrupt a circle, the more popular a flattering member. The more corrupt a congregation, the more acceptable a flattering preacher. "A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by that means; and my people have it so." The worse men are, the more anxious they are to be thought good. Hence the ready heed they give to flattering lips. One of the best things recorded of George III. is, that one of his first acts after his ascension to the throne was to issue an order prohibiting any of the clergy who should be called to preach before him from paying him any compliment in their discourses. His Majesty was led to this from the fulsome adulation which Dr. Thomas Wilson, Prebendary of Westmin

ster, thought proper to deliver in the Chapel Royal, and for which, instead of thanks, he received from his royal auditor a pointed reprimand, his Majesty observing, "that he came to chapel to hear the praises of God, and not his own." "A man I knew who lived upon a smile, And well it fed him; he look'd plump and fair,

While rankest venom foamed through every vein;

Living, he fawn'd on every fool alive; And, dying, cursed the friend on whom he lived." YOUNG.

II. THEY LIKE CALUMNY. "A liar giveth ear to anaughty tongue." The liar is also the "wicked doer.' The "naughty tongue," whilst it speaks flatteries and falsehoods of all kinds, speaks calumnies also. And the worse the man is the more welcome to his depraved heart are the reports of bad things concerning others. First: Calumny gratifies the pride of evil men. It helps them to cherish the thought that they are not worse than others, but perhaps better. Secondly: Calumny gratifies the malignity of evil men.

The worse a man is the more malevolence he has in him, and the more malevolent he is, the more gratified he is at hearing bad things concerning other men. "If," said Bishop Hall, "I cannot stop other men's mouths from speaking ill, I will either open my mouth to reprove it, or else I will stop mine ears from hearing it, and let him see in my face that he hath no room in my heart."

Bad men constitute the audience to which both flattery and calumny address itself. Convert this audience into vital sympathy with truth and goodness, and these lying spirits will quit the world.

(No. CLXXIV.)

THE UNFORTUNATE POOR. "Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker; and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished." - Prov. xvii. 5.

A SIMILAR Sentence to this we have in Prov. xiv. 31. "He that op

presseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor." On this

text we have already offered some remarks.* There is a poverty that is a crime. It arises from indolence, intemperance, extravagance, stupidity, &c., and there is a poverty that is a calamity. It has come on men irrespective of their choice, and against their honest and resolute efforts. These may be considered as planted by God in the earth, and they serve most useful purposes in the discipline of the world. These are the poor referred to here, and two facts are stated

I. THAT CONTEMPT FOR SUCH IS IMPIOUS. "Mocketh." Mocking is more than disrespect, more than neglect; it is disdain. This feeling to the poor is impious. He who has it "reproaches his Maker." First: It implies a disregard to God's ordinance. The existence of the poor in the world is not a casualty; it is a divine purpose. "The poor shall never cease out of the land." Were there no poor, there would be no opportunity for the development of social compassion and beneficence. Secondly: It implies a disregard to the relationships that He has established. The poor are our brethren, offspring of the same parent, partakers of the same nature, subject to the same conditions of being. To feel disdain towards them is to disregard relationships that our Maker has established. Thirdly: It implies a disregard to the earthly condition of his Son and his disciples. Christ was poor; he had nowhere to lay his head. His disciples also were men devoid of wealth and power. "God hath chosen the poor," &c. Fourthly: It implies a disregard to the divine grounds of social respect. God's will is that man's respect to man should not be ruled by physical condition, but by moral character. The good man, though a pauper, should be honoured; the wicked man, though a prince,

*See vol. x., third series, p. 235.

should be despised. To pour contempt on the current coin with the king's image upon, is treason against the sovereign. Man, however poor, has the stamp of God's image on him, and to despise that image is a contempt for the Divine Majesty.

6.

II. CONTEMPT FOR SUCH IS PUNISHABLE. "He that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished." Margin, shall not be held innocent." To be glad at the calamities of others indicates a fiendish malignity. "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take from the poor of my children. The Lord will plead their cause and spoil the souls of those that spoil them." In the day of judgment He will take our conduct towards the poor into account.

"Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these," &c. Cruelty to the poor is certain of punishment. "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you keep back by fraud, crieth and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter."

THE GREAT PROPITIATION.

Replicant.-In answer to Querist No. 16. p. 352, vol. xvii., and continued from p. 186, vol. xxii.

On Sacrifices.

"To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacritice."Prov. xxi. 3.

Aristotle, the father of science, sent one of his pupils to the summit of a lofty rock while he and the rest stood at the base. A stone and a feather were to be let to fall for the purpose of ascertaining by actual experiment whether a heavy body falls more quickly than a light one. The stone came down with great velocity, and struck the ground with

mighty force; but the feather lingered in the air, and after a long interval it reached the ground. Having performed this experiment, the philosopher said, that "bodies in falling to the ground vary in their velocity according to their weight." This statement was believed by all the philosophers of Europe, without any further proof, and taught in all its colleges and universities for two thousand years -until the error was exposed by Galileo at the tower of Pisa.

Here we see an example of two features of human character, which have been most ruinous in their influence, especially in the religious world. These are, (a)--that men have a prone