justified, at the biddings of a false creed, and under its authority. Sweet poet! cease thy most mistaken song! He cant live right, whose creed directs him wrong! The man who wrote the famous line, 'He cant &c.' Was a great poet undoubtedly, but he was a wretched divine.— Canon Ryle. In some few instances, the fault is not in the proverb but in the employer of it; a clean glove is made to cover a dirty hand, a harmless saying is made a hurtful one through the manner of its application. Take for instance the common maxim, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This may sometimes be true of this world, but it is miserably erroneous as regards things of the next. John Bunyan shows this in his portrait of the two boys. Passion 'will have all his good things now,' but wiser Patience is willing to wait.' And, as regards the proverb, there are birds and birds, and bushes and bushes; everything depends on the nature of the handful. In respect of things eternal "We walk by faith not by sight." 2 Cor. v, 7. Again, general Untidyness has sought justification in the reminder that We must eat a peck of dirt before we die. But surely that is no reason for taking it all at once! It is an excellent thing to be fertile in resources. 'Its a mean mouse that has but one hole,' or, as Mr. Pope versifies, The mouse that only boasts of one poor hole, Its good in every case you know To have two strings unto one's bow.-Churnchill. Yet shiftiness and delusive dealing are not any the Pitt's conclusion was a most less objectionable. pitiable one, An independent man is one who cant be depended on. I conclude with Superstitious Sayings, which have yielded, at least in former days, many a plentiful crop of mischief. It is not always agreeable to be sent from the table lest there should be thirteen at dinner; we may smile at the good lady's consternation, Next post some direful news will tell, but, in the days when they burned witches, some of these absurd ideas were very serious matters, and such maxims have been made to excuse horrible cruelties. More superstitions survive among Sailors than among most other people. They are more exposed, perhaps, by the nature of their profession to such influences. Jonah has left an evil legacy to the preacher fraternity; I remember a thick fog, which delayed us in the Sea of Marmora, being entirely attributed, by the Italian sailors, to three Priests whom we had on board with us. Sailors have the greatest objection to starting on a Friday. Friday's sail He A ship owner is said, on one occasion, to have made a resolute endeavour to break down this delusion. began a ship on a Friday, it was launched on a Friday, he called it the Friday, it sailed on a Friday—and it was lost on a Friday! But, then, there are some predictions which tend to fulfil themselves. says the Americans, 'Never prophecy' 'Unless you are sure.' He ought to have been sure of his crew before he flew in the face of all their prejudices. The Italians hold also another day in dread besides Friday, Né di Venerdi, né di Marte, Of Tuesdays and Fridays, I rede thee, beware; On this point Mr. Lowe is worth hearing. The great fault is that people are in too great a hurry to generalize. The ship is to sail on a Friday and it is never heard of again. Persons therefore say, never sail a ship on a Friday. I upset a salt bowl on a Friday, and got pitched off my horse the same day; and they say, never spill salt on a Friday. Thirteen persons dine together on a Friday, and one dies before the end of the year, and persons then says that 13 persons should never dine together on a Friday. Now this is a miserable superstition, and it is just the same with the miserable notice of generalization.'-Rt. Hon. Robert Lowe. Take another well known saying, Vox Populi vox Dei. There is such a thing as a general consent, a universal impression which is pretty sure to be right, but Popular Opinion is quite as likely to be wrong. It is a proverb also capable of most unpleasant personal applications. This the late Lord Lytton very cleverly brings out. 'No pleasure like a Christian roasted slowly, 'You doubt that giving you as food for Freya Gawaine and the Viking. The last Pernicious Proverb I have to mention is a little one. 'It is only a very little one,' 'Once more' has been C once too often' with how many! The 'only one more glass' has made many a drunkard. Obsta principiis. From bad to worse is poor preferment. There may be danger even in the extreme the Yankees speak of, when a thing is 'shaved off finer than the small end of nothing:' or when there is not enough of it to make soup for a sick grasshopper.' At any rate we can hardly accept the excuse of a certain Royal Highness, who having been remonstrated with for going out shooting on the very day after the death of a near relation, replied apologetically, that he had only been shooting very small birds !' M PIOUS PROVERBS. Pious Proverbs will conclude the series. This chapter might happily be enlarged far beyond our limits. I propose but to mention a few of the most approved; referring finally, and more at length than I have yet done, to that treasure house of truest wisdom, the inspired Proverbs of Solomon. Well has it been remarked concerning the book in which we find them, Some books contain silver sayings, Some that are even golden, One Book alone is full of bank notes!-Newton. 'As we have no book so useful for our devotions as David's Psalms, so we have none so serviceable for our sayings as Solomon's Proverbs.'-Matt. Henry. But to begin with words of man's wisdom Bear and forbear. 'Bear and forbear!' Thus preach the ancient sages, With patience bear life's certain ills, and oh! Gather thistles, Expect prickles. Corruptio optimi pessima. This may be paraphrased The finest silks are soonest stained. The sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies, that fester, smell far worse than weeds.—Shakespeare. When a good man errs, he errs with a vengeance. Better be a fool than a knave. Better suffer ill than do ill. |