WISE COUNSEL. PROVERBS XV. 22.—“Without counsel purposes are disappointed.” “COUNSEL is of two sorts, the one concerning manners, and the other business. Heraclitus saith well in one of his enigmas, “ Dry light is ever the best.” And certain it is, the light that a man receiveth by counsel from another is drier and purer than that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment, which is warped by his affections and habits. So that there is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer.”_LORD Bacoy.

THINGS WHICH BEFIT THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.

PIILIPPIANS iv. 8.-" Whatsoever things are honest.” ALFORD (Revised Testament) renders this “scemly.” Eadie, in his commentary on the epistle, gives it,“Whatsoever things are grave,” or “decorous," and remarks," The adjective characterizes persons in 1 Tim. iii. 8,11, and Tit. ii. 2; * in which places it stands cpposed to a double tougue, to intemperance and avarice, to slander and unfaithfulness, and may denote becomingness or gravity of conduct. In classic Greek it has the sense of revered or venerated. As applied to things, it may denote what in itself commands respect--what is noble or honourable.... Our translators have used the epithet “honest” in its Latin or old English sense, signifying, but in fuller form, what is now termed 'honourable.' Thus in the Bible of 1551—'And upon those members of the body which we thynke lest honest, put we most honestie on.' 'Goodness,' says Sir William Temple in his essay on Government, 'in our language goes rather by the name of honesty ;'or in Ben Jonson— You have honested my lodgings with your presence.' To illustrate this restricted sense of the term, one may recall the lines of Burns about the Scottish Muse,

'Her eye even turned on empty space,

Beamed keen with honour.' But in the passage it has a wider reach of meaning, ... and may point out the things which in dignity and honour, in gravity and nobleness, befit the position, character, and destiny of a believer. It is opposed to what is mem, frivolous, indecorous, and unworthy."

* The word rendered “grave," and in the Epistle to the Philippians “honest,” are one in the original, “semnos.”—Pide “Gale's Interpreting Con. cordance.”

Oriental Yllustrations.

GENB818 ii. 8.—“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and

there He put the man whom He had formed.” Traditions of Paradise.-The first great fact in the history of mankind, as placed before us in Genesis, is the primitive innocence of our race, and its existence in a delightful region, the abode of purity and happiness, for a certain space after its creation. A remembrance of this blissful condition seems to have been retained among a large number of peoples. The Greeks told of a “golden age," when men lived the life of the gods, a life free from care, and withont labour or sorrow. Old age was unknown; the body never lost its vigour; existence was a perpetual feast, without a taint of evil. The earth brought forth spontaneously all things that were good in profuse abundance; peace reigned, and men pursued their several employments without quarrel. Their happy life was ended by a death which had no pain, but fell upon them like a gentle sleep. In the Zendavesta, Yima, the first Iranic king, lives in a secluded spot, where he and his people enjoyed uninterrupted happiness. Neither sin, nor folly, nor violence, nor poverty, nor deformity has entrance into the region; nor does the Evil Spirit for a while set foot there. Amid odoriferous trees and golden pillars dwells the beautiful race, pasturing on the fertile earth, and feeding on an ambrosial food which never fails them. In the Chinese books we read that “during the period of the first heaven the whole creation enjoyed a state of happiness; everything was beautiful; everything was good; all beings were perfect in their kind. In this happy age heaven and earth employed their virtues jointly to embellish nature. There was no jarring in the elements, no inclemency in the air; all things grew without labour, and universal fertility prevailed. The active and passive virtues conspired together, without any effect or oppo.. sition, to produce and perfect the universe.” The literature of the Hindoos tells of a “first age of the world, when justice, in the form of a bull, kept herself firm on her four feet; virtue reigned ; no good which mortals possessed was mixed with baseness; and man. free from diseases, saw all his wishes accomplisbed, and attained an age of four hundred years.” Traces of a similar belief

are found among the Thibetans, the Mongolians, the Cingalese, and others. Even our own Teutonic ancestors had a glimpse of the truth; though they substituted for the “ garden” of Genesis a magnificent drinking hall, glittering with burnished gold, where the primeval race enjoyed a life of perpetual festivity, quaffing a delicious beverage from golden bowls, and interchanging with one another glad converse and loyal friendship.-" Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament,” by Rev. G. Rawlinson, M.A.

moorcorrer

GENESIS iii. 6.-"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,

and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

Traditions of the Fall.-The races which describe the primitive state of man have all of them a tradition of a Fall. With some the Fall is more gradual than with others. The Greeks pass by gentle degrees from the golden age of primeval man to the iron one, which is the actual condition of human mind when the first writers lived. The Hindoos, similarly, bring man, through a second and third age, into that fourth one which they recognise as existing in their day. But with some races the Fall is sudden. In the Edda, corruption is suddenly produced by the blandishments of strange women, who deprive men of their pristine integrity and purity. In the Thibetan, Mongolian, and Cingalese traditions, a similar result is brought about by the spontaneous development of a covetous temper. In the earliest of the Persian books the Fall would seem to be gradual; but in the later writings, which are of an uncertain date, a narrative appears which is most strikingly in accordance with that of Genesis. The first man and the first woman live originally in purity and innocence. Perpetual happiness is promised to them by Ormazd if they persevere in their virtue. They dwell in a garden, wherein there is a tree, on whose fruit they feed, which gives them life and immortality, But Ahriman, the Evil Principle, envying their felicity, causes another tree to spring up in the garden, and sends a wicked spirit, who, assuming the form of a serpent, persuades them to eat its fruit, and this fruit corrupts them. Evil feelings stir in their hearts; Ahriman becomes the object of their worship instead of Ormazd; they fall under the power of demons, and become a prey to sin and misery. If we could certainly assign this narrative to a time anterior to the contact of Zoroastrianism with Judaism, it would constitute a most remarkable testimony, and as such it has been usual to adduce it. But the fact that it appears only in the later books, and the very close resemblance which it bears to the account given in Genesis, render it probable that we have here, not a primitive tradition, but an infiltration into the Persian system of religious ideas belonging properly to the Hebrews.

The part taken by the serpent, as Satan's instrument in effecting the fall of man, bas been regarded by many as the origin of that wide-spread dread and abhorrence in which the serpent was held, especially in the East, and of that very common symbolism by which the same noxious creature was made the special Emblem of the Evil Principle. But it may with plausibility be argued that the instinctive antipathy of man to the animal, and its power of doing him deadly injury, sufficiently account both for the feeling and for the symbolism.--" Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament,” by Rev. G. Rawlinson, M.A.

Exodus IV. 27.-" And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water

and threescore and ten palm trees.” Elim. It would of course be idle to expect to find the twelve wells and seventy palm trees still existing, after an interval of some 3,000 years, but there is an oasis of this description containing palms and springs exactly four days' journey from the neighbourhood of Suez, which has been identified as the Elim of Scripture.-CAPTAIN PALMER, R.E.

morercorrere ACTS X. 6.-"He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea

side.”

House of Simon,-By far the most interesting spot in Jaffa is the traditionary house of Simon the tanner. In order to reach it from the house where we were staying, which was midway up the hill, we descended through a labyrinth of steep alleys and stairs, all loathsome with filth, and finally were led into the court of a house, the outer basement wall of which was literally washed by the waves. In this court there is a well, and beside it the stone on which the tanner's leather is said to have been beaten. Even in the eyes of the Moslems the house is held sacred; and the tradition that connects the spot with the Scripture history is so ancient, and at the same time so likely in itself, that there seems no good ground for rejecting it.Buchanan's “ Clerical Furlough."

JOB Xxxvii. 38.-“When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleare

fast together.” Breaking up the Fallow Ground.-As we moved northwards, says Dr. Bonar, we came upon some ploughed fields, where there was a man with an axe cleaving the baked soil," breaking up the fallow ground,” or rather, cutting up the ground when brought by rain and sun into that state described in the Book of Job.—“ Days and Nights in the East."

Song of Solomon ii. 16.—"He feedeth among the lilies.” The Lily in the East.—“Our camels were scattered on the numerous slopes in search of food. On these heights the lilies abounded, with grass and low shrubs between. I noticed that the camels did not touch the lilies at all, but cropped what lay be. tween. It reminded me of the words, 'He feedeth among the lilies,'-among, but not on the lilies; for while the lily fur. nishes no acceptable food for flocks and herds, it seems, by the shade of its high broad leaves, to retain the moisture, and so to nourish herbage, wherever it grows. The place of lilies would thus be the place of the richest pasture, as Solomon evi. dently indicates when, again using the figure, he speaks of the 'young roes which feed among the lilies' (Cant. iv. 5, and again vi. 3).”

Hosea xiv. 6.-"He shall grow as the lily.”

Song Or Solomon ii. 2.-"As the lily among thorns." In the course of his travels in the East, Dr. Bonar informs us that he came to immense beds of lilies and hyacinths of various kinds. They grew thickly together, and covered miles of sand. "They grow," he tells us, “in almost incredible numbers and luxuriance, often where nothing else flourishes, corroborating the prophet's allusion, 'He shall grow as the lily.' Close by these Jilies there grew several of the thorn-shrubs of the desert; but above them rose the lily, spreading out its fresh leaf of green as a contrast to the dingy verdure of these prickly shrubs. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.' Whether this be the lily of the valley I do not know. It grows on hill and valley all over this region. Nor is it of one species only, but of several, as we could easily see, though only one species was in flower. That which was in flower the Arabs called usweih. It was larger than the others, and shot up its lilac, hyacinth-looking flowers from a tapering stalk, sometimes two feet long."