of all sublunary possessions; and to induce him to seek "more abiding and substantial treasures laid up in heaven," where none shall covet or want, but where even hope is swallowed up of joy. SIMILES. . . HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. QUOTATIONS. The covetous always want. Plenty is the father of want, for he who hath much will need more.-Maunder's proverbs. He lacks most that longs most.-Maunder's proverbs. My more-having would be a source To make me hunger more.-Shakspeare. Thou shalt not covet.—Rom. vii. 7. A covetous man's eye is not satisfied with his portion. -Eccles. xiv. 9. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase. This is also vanity.-Ecc. v. 9. Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of man are never satisfied.-Prov. xxvii. 20. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.-Ecc. i. 8. All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.-Ecc. vi. 7. Though fortune our coffers to bursting may stuff, Too much we may have, but can ne'er have enough. After Martial. Much would have more.-Ray's proverbs. Who riches covet, he will scarce conceive God gives enough while he has more to give; Immense the power, immense is the demand; Say, at what goal their greediness will stand? Pope. Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam Desunt multa.-Horace. Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit. Parthi quo plus bibunt, eo plus sitiunt. Fortuna multis dat nimis, satis nulli.-Martial. THEME CIX. Be sure your Sin will find you out. INTRODUCTION. 1ST REASON. The proverb says, "Give a rogue but rope enough, and he will hang himself;" for success will make him careless and venturesome, so that he will rush heedlessly into danger, from which there is no escape. 2ND REASON.-God often discovers foul sins in a most marvellous and unaccountable manner: thus, Solomon saith of treason, "Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; for a bird in the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."-Ecc. x. 20. 3RD REASON. Very often sin is brought to light by an apparent accident: the villain reveals his secret in the vain boasting of intoxication, or in the ramblings of delirium, or in a troubled dream. 4TH REASON. The face is an index of the mind; the voice, the gait, the temper, every action, and every word of a wicked man bear marks of the "serpent's trail," and are "swift witnesses against him." 5TH REASON. Sometimes God lets loose a man's own conscience upon him, and drives him to confess his guilt, in order to quiet the compunctions and agony of remorse. Indeed very few can die till they have disburthened their hearts by a full confession of their sins. 6TH REASON.-Sometimes God takes the case into his own hands, and strikes the sinner dead in the midst of his sin, as He did Ananias and Saphira (Acts, v. 5. 10.); or sends some loathsome disease into his bones, as in the case of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha (2 Kings, v. 27.); or blasts his child, as in the case of David (2 Sam. xii. 14.). 7TH REASON.-If, however, the secret sin be never divulged on earth, there is a judgment to come, when every sin shall be made manifest, and the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed.-Rom. ii. 16. Eccles. xii. 14. SIMILES. HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. QUOTATIONS. If thou doest not well (thy) sin lieth at the door. Gen. iv. 7. What shall we say unto my lord? What shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.-Gen. xliv. 16. Our sins testify against us.-Isa. lix. 12. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.-Prov. xxvi. 26. Though hand join in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished.-Prov. xi. 21. Some commentators think the word "sin" in this verse means "a sinoffering or atonement, but the common "Reference Bibles" very properly conBider the verse to contain a parallelism to the subject-matter of this theme. See Numb. xxxii. 23. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me," even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the night are both alike to Thee.—Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.-Ps. xc. 8. Mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.-Jer. xvi. 17. Psalm civ. 3-11. [The sinner] saith thus in his heart, "Who seeth me? I am compassed about with darkness, the walls cover me and nobody seeth me; what need I to fear?" . . . Such a man only feareth the eyes of men, and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of men, and considering the most secret parts. . . . This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and where he sus pected it not he shall be taken.-Eccles. xxiii. 18-21. The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world; . . . therefore, he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid; neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him: For inquisition shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly, and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord for the manifestation of his wicked deeds.- Wisdom, i. 7-9. It will have blood: They say, blood will have blood : Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augurs, and understood relations, have By maggot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood.-Shakspeare. The transgressor shall be taken in his own wickedness. -Prov. xi. 6. Murder will out. Foul deeds will rise, Though all the world o'erwhelm them to men's eyes. Hamlet. God knoweth your inventions, and what ye think in your hearts, even them that sin, and would hide their sin, . . . and He will put you all to shame. And when your sins are brought forth, ye shall be ashamed before men, and your own sins shall be your accusers in that day.-2 Esdras, xiv. 63–65. The fire of your breath shall devour you.-Isa. xxxiii. 11. Res occultissimas in lucem tempus proferet.-Cicero. Nec latuere doli fratrem.- Virgil. CONCLUSION. THEME CX. Fortune favours the Brave. INTRODUCTION. 1ST REASON. Because they are not dismayed or daunted by difficulties. 2ND REASON.-Being sanguine of success, they persevere with a good courage. 3RD REASON.-Opponents flee from a brave and bold man, unwilling to enter into antagonism with him. 4TH REASON. The brave are very venturesome; and, according to the proverb, "Nothing venture, nothing have." 5TH REASON. They will often carry an enterprise through by a coup de main," or "coup d'état," before opponents have had time to bethink themselves, and organise their plan of opposition. 6TH REASON. Successful bravery is seldom a solitary virtue; it is generally accompanied with originality of thought, vigour of intellect, physical prowess, and other endowments of mind and body favourable to success.* Virgil says "Degeneres animos timor arguit.”—En, iv. 13. The reverse is no less true, "Nobiles animos fortitudo arguit.' |