with sweetest joy, our busy men thoughtful and considerate about the measure of things, lest they mistake distance for insignificance. The Lord hear us in all our psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, in the outpouring of our delight and gratitude, in our supplication for pardon, forgiveness, and sweet communion. The Lord enable us to live the remainder of our days with a steady faith, a longsuffering patience and noble trust, showing a right estimate of the things that are round about us, keeping them under our feet and not above our head, and so interpreting and so using passing time as to make sure of a blissful eternity. Holy Saviour, smile on us; gentle Jesus, touch us with thy healing hands; dying, rising Mediator, take up our poor sentences into thine all-prevailing prayer, and may our answer come, not according to the measure of our desire, but according to the breadth of Thine own intercession. Amen.

"E

Chapter xxiv. 1-9.

MISCHIEVOUS LIPS, ETC.

"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief" (vers. I, 2). VIL men" is a very emphatic and inclusive expression. Men may sometimes be said to be bad in parts, and yet to have excellent qualities; but in the case of this verse the men are evil through and through; the whole head and the whole heart, the entire inner nature, will, conscience, fancy, may be said to be steeped in iniquity, saturated with all the qualities that constitute the very devil himself. They may indeed be prosperous outwardly, and may attract great attention by their ostentatious living, and by their loud promises and vain speeches; but they are as insubstantial as the wind, as worthless as an empty cloud. Young souls may be tempted and fascinated by them, because there is so much glittering surface, and there is such an uproar of pretension; but experience will show that the whole castle is founded on the sand, and that everything that is good fights against it, and will certainly overthrow it. Evil men never construct any building; their aim is destruction, their talk is of mischief; wherever they can tear down or despoil or blight, they find an appropriate sphere for the exercise of their mischievous talents. After spending an hour with a wicked man, what is the impression left upon the mind but that a great cloud has covered the sky, a great blight has darkened the earth, reputations that were held dear have been for the moment thrown down, and altars that were regarded as sacred have been

strewn with ruin?

There is no health in evil-mindedness; no bloom of vigour is upon its cheek; no breath from the high heaven comes with it to refresh those who are round about; no word inspired with gospel music ever drops from the lips of evil. What wonder if we are taught to pray, "lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil"? There is no rest in the course pursued by iniquity; there are no green places in all the wilderness of evil. Jesus Christ came to redeem the world from this infinite night, this ruin of all light and trust and hope, this intolerable bondage and oppression; he came to seek and to save the lost, and to make the chief of sinners chief of saints.

"Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety." (vers. 3-6).

Here evil is contrasted with wisdom: evil throws down, wisdom builds up; evil brings darkness, wisdom brings light. Understanding is represented as a factor continually engaged in the establishment of goodness, establishing, that is, founding upon a rock, consolidating, making strong at every point, so that wind and wave and great tumult of the elements should not prevail against its security. Wisdom is represented as a builder; one who builds with a plan, not merely putting stone upon stone for the sake of building a high tower without purpose or utility, but building a house, signifying arrangement, commodiousness, security, hospitality: a very home that should have in it the elements of a school, the beginning of a sanctuary, and a hint of heaven itself. Wisdom is represented as strength, and knowledge as power. What we account a modern proverb is, therefore, really an ancient saying. We have proved the philosophy of these words. The fool cannot build; when he rears a few courses of stonework he throws down what he has put up, and rejoices with the laughter of madness over the ruin which he has wrought. True building is not to be hurried. Sometimes the builder rests from his labours, that he may give the wall time to settle, lest by overpowering the foundation he brings the work to destruction. True life-building means that a plan and a specification has been provided, whereby the work as to its scope and

purpose is clearly indicated, and the materials with which the work is to be executed are named one by one, as to their quality and their proportions. It is not to be supposed that men go forth into the open field, and begin to build as on the spur of the moment. When an excavator puts his spade into the ground he begins to carry out something that is written in detail, and that has been thought out by the carefulness of experience and practical skill. We do not see all that is behind the building. It is supposed that a man begins to build suddenly; whereas if we could know the whole history of the case we should find quiet observation of the site, silent contemplation of possibilities; then we should see the pen or pencil taken out, and a sketch made, suggesting what can be done under the special circumstances of the case; we should see a ground-plan and an elevation and a section. All this time the building is confined to paper, but it is not therefore a mere theory or fancy or dream. Behind every life-building there is a great writing, yea, a writing that is done by the finger of God; every wise builder hears a voice in the ear of his soul saying, "See that thou build according to the pattern that I showed thee in the cloud." Every building will speak for itself. If the perpendicular has been broken, if the horizontal line is out of course, if doors and windows are out of proportion, even the fool can see how abortive has been the labours of the builder. Where everything expresses thoughtfulness, experience, and skill, the trained eye will approve the figure of the building, and all men will feel that no encroachment has been made upon the propriety of life. Every duly considered and well-built house comes into existence as if by right; it establishes its own claim to abide among the homes of men. So it is with a heart-house, a life-house, a house representing character and action and purpose; there is nothing violent about the building, and when it is set forth in all its proportions it needs no vindication, for its strength is a defence, and its beauty is an explanation.

"Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate. He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men” (vers. 7–9). Fix attention upon the distinction which is here made between wisdom and the devices of evil, between the fool and the wise

man, and, again, between the wise man and the mischievous person. These are not merely intellectual distinctions and contrasts; such distinctions and contrasts we must always look for in a world constituted as ours. What is pointed out in this connection is that there is no mere foolishness, in the sense of error, mistake, or mischance of judgment; on the contrary, the thought of foolishness is sin, that which we laugh at as a mistake, or condone as a momentary error, may really represent moral corruption and moral obliquity; therefore we are not to dismiss many things as merely foolish, we are to brand them as sinful and abominable. It is not uncommon to speak of men as guilty of indiscretion, but not of positive wrong; in making this distinction it may be charity that errs, not criticism that delivers its solemn judgment. On the other hand, we are not called upon to make sins, to force mere aberrations, negligences, omissions, or mistakes into the rank and quality of positive sin; the man himself will always know whether his foolishness indicates momentary mental imbecility, or whether it expresses some deep and abominable purpose of the heart.

PRAYER.

ALMIGHTY GOD, we have tried to count it all joy when we have fallen into divers temptations, but we have failed in the attempt. It is hard to count it joy. The temptations are hot, swift, strong, coming without notice, urging themselves upon us without pity: how can we count it all joy when we are in the midst of the tremendous assault? And other temptations come: our house is thrown down, our children are carried away as by a great storm or by a subtle poison in the air, all our business prospects become one great cold cloud, the plans and purposes of our life are thrown into confusion; how, then, can we count it all joy amid the wreck and utter overthrow? Yet we will try to learn the lesson. This is thy purpose concerning us, that we should hold everything with a light hand, saying, The Lord gave, and the Lord may at any moment take away; we are but trustees and stewards: blessed shall we be if we can give a faithful account. Train us to this highmindedness, this noble reverence, this rational and religious submission. This only can be done at the Cross of Jesus Christ thy Son; there is no other school in which we can learn such wisdom: otherwhere we may become indifferent, callous, hardened, fatalistic; but here only, at the Cross, clinging to the Cross, can we learn to say, Lord, this pain is severe, this loss is great, this burden is heavy; nevertheless, thy will be done; then shall we be thy sons indeed. So we do not ignore the burden, or the difficulty, or the pain, or the distress; we look at each and say, This is hard to bear; nevertheless, even this may be borne by the omnipotence of the grace of God. This is the teaching we have received in the school of Christ-the blessed teaching, so deep, so large, so true, and at the last so tender: help us to receive it gratefully, to realise it obediently; then shall men know that we have been with Jesus, and have learned of him. We are here but for a little while. We are going from the place where we say we are even at the moment when we declare we are present in it: behold, one foot is always lifted up in the air in sign of pilgrimage and progress; if we take off our sandals it is but to prepare ourselves for a longer walk to-morrow; if we lay down the staff, it is that we may presently resume it. We seek a country; here we have no abiding city. We behold the glory of things, and it fades whilst we look at it, and here there is nothing worth gathering for its own account; it is only worth gathering because of the use which may be made of it. May we be wise arithmeticians, men who can count and reckon correctly, and set down figures, and dare look at them, and say, Their value is thus much, and no more; then shall we know that the days of our years are threescore years and ten, and after that all is speculation, uncertainty, conjecture, doubt, fear, hope, mingled in one strange emotion. Then shall we