shall be the promotion of fools. How subtle the satire! How humbling the taunting irony! When the fool goes up for his crown he will be covered with shame as with fire, and will drop down his head towards the dust. Judge nothing before the time. On the morrow we shall see how it fares with those whose hearts are gross and whose feet kick against the pricks. Oh that revealing morrow! Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. PRAYER. ALMIGHTY GOD, Father of all, and the Saviour of all, we bow before thy throne; we bless thee for the holy privilege; it touches our inmost heart, and leads us to new song and new prayer and new hope. Thou dost lead us along the line of life day by day. We are always beginning. There is no end to immortality; because we are immortal we can but begin, see new lights, further distances, brighter glories, and catch from afar some new tone of music; and thus we proceed, knowing that we are nearing a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. These thoughts give us uplifting of soul; uplifting of soul makes us stretch out the hand in noble deed, in expressive sacrifice, in a thousand attestations of love to the Cross of Christ. We bless thee that this Cross makes us beneficent; being crucified with Christ we must indulge a larger love, a nobler brotherhood; our soul goes out to the uttermost ends of the earth, seeking in Christ's own spirit that which is lost. We bless thee for this holy religion. It is unlike all other; it makes us work; we cannot wait and tarry and linger and indulge ourselves by the road: this is the religion of inspiration, urging us to new effort, to wider and bolder enterprise, that we may tell every man in the hearing of his heart there is born unto him a Saviour. Thus we feed on the Son of God. His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, and except we eat his flesh and drink his blood we have no life in us. Give us the higher meaning of these words; may we enter into all their spiritual significance; may our souls feed on the very heart of the Son of God. We bless thee for all noble thoughts, lofty aspirations, outgoings of soul marked by unselfishness: these are the miracles of God the Holy Ghost; these are the later wonders of the Cross. God forbid that we should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It glorifies everything; it explains everything; it turns agony into joy; it makes earth bud with the blossoms and flowers of heaven: it is the power of God unto salvation. Teach us that Christ's burial was his crucifixion, and that his crucifixion was his birth, and that in one and the same act he includes the whole mystery of godliness. Lamb, from earth's foundation slain, Only Victim we can plead, Hear us, Holy Jesu. Amen. Chapter iv. A PARENTAL EXHORTATION. "Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law" (vers. 1, 2). STILL TILL the paternal exhortation proceeds with more and more rhetorical dignity. Doctrine and law form the staple of this appeal. By "law" understand "direction," for life is an everbisecting course, and full of points that must bewilder inexperienced travellers. Do not venture upon great sea voyages without proper instruments and without being taught how to use them. So in life. Be enriched with doctrine or wisdom, and cultivate that tender filial spirit which gratefully yields itself to direction. It is at once wise and lovely for youth to consult the aged, and to avail themselves of accumulated experience. Any other spirit is vain, self-conceited, frivolous, and unworthy. Why should the father be anxious to instruct and direct the son? Because he has seen more of life,-more of its mystery, its peril, its tragedy; therefore his heart yearns to preserve the young from danger. The father's position is one of moral dignity and supreme benevolence. Having suffered himself, he would save his children from pain. "For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live" (vers. 3, 4). Solomon knew youth because he had himself been young. He knew also the advantage of instruction, for he himself had enjoyed it. Thus one generation may benefit another, and increase its years by preventing a repetition of its errors. We save a man's time by saving him from mistakes, and thus we actually add to the length of his life. It is to-day that men may compress centuries within the span of the allotted term: if we were wise we, though so modern, would be the true patriarchs of history. What VOL. XIII. 4 wisdom is stored for us! How easy now is the ascent to the temple of understanding! Every father can leave his son the fortune of a noble example. That is more than gold, more than acres, more than fame. Here it is that virtue has its splendid opportunity! Men may have been looking in the wrong direction for a heritage for their children. Let that heritage be a vivid recollection of a home sanctified by prayer, a life devoted to good doing, an example of industry and justice, a spirit of hopefulness and charity, and that memory will be an inheritance and a refuge in life's most painful hours. The man in the text was an only son, and therefore was in a trying position; yet his father and his mother were wise, so they enriched him with wisdom, and kept not from him the advantages of discipline. Fools are they who ruin their children under the hypocrisy of being kind to them. In after years the victims of such kindness will be the justest and bitterest of its critics. "Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not: neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life" (vers. 5-13). The figure of merchandise is still maintained. Work, plan, seek, toil, are the watchwords of true' zeal in this matter. It is as if the youth were face to face with many attractions—say, beauty, wealth, ease, pleasure, and the like, and whilst he is estimating their claims the father exhorts him, saying, Get wisdom, get understanding; do not be deceived; insist upon having the brightest treasure, and on no account be victimised by men who would urge you to sacrifice future satisfaction to immediate gratification. How full of wisdom is the exhortation-"Love her, and she shall keep thee:" that is a law of the widest application: it is true in every department of life; true of art, of learning, of friendship, of service; to love is to be loved. If any man love me, I will manifest myself to him. The tenacious memory is lodged in the heart, and not in the intellect. Fall in love with wisdom; make a heart-idol of her; dream of her charms, invite her to yield her treasures, seek her daily companionship, long for her, hail her with delight, yea, in every way devote to her the undivided passion of the heart. "Exalt her, and she shall promote thee she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her." The wise man will come to honour amongst his fellow-men as soon as he has had time to show how truly wise he is. He can wait. He will not contend with clamour and madness; he will not compete with selfishness as if the rivalry were honourable: he will teach, observe, pray, and wait, knowing that his time will come, and that his influence will be recognised. With no mean reward will he be burdened. Great and lustrous are his honours: "She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." God withholds not heaven from those who make good use of earth. A crown of righteousness is laid up for the faithful. Crown and throne are familiar objects in the outlook of the godly. Nothing less will satisfy their holy ambition. Even on earth true wisdom always comes to the throne at last. "A drachm of this wisdom is worth a pound of wit." The Greeks expressed "learned" and "good" by one word (ỏπovdaîos), so true honour even amongst men is synonymous with true wisdom and true virtue. "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away" (vers. 14, 15). The exhortation continues to reveal the depth and reality of the personal experience of the speaker: he will not have his son so much as enter into the path of the wicked; the young man is not to come even inside the gate; on no account is he to make an experimental visit merely for the sake of forming an opinion as to the danger and loathsomeness of sin. The only safety is by keeping strictly outside, and running away from it with the eagerest haste. In every variety of manner the wise man cautions his son. The young man has to avoid the evil way, to pass not by it; but to turn from it, and pass away. Both the active and the passive courses are thus enjoined; not only is the evil way to be avoided, but it has to be turned away from, the back and not the face has to be turned towards it, nor is there to be any loitering, but the feet are instantly to move in a precisely opposite direction, so that, when the tempter comes from his hidden place to seduce the wayfarer, he may find that the young traveller is no longer on the scene. We are not to halt between two opinions, nor to dally or compromise, or to adopt any middle course whatever, when the question is a moral one; but with definiteness, simplicity, and courage we are to elect the right and to persevere, even though the way lie up difficult mountains or across dreary sands. The moment we set a door ajar the enemy will enter. If the voice loses one tone of emphasis in repelling his approaches the enemy will note the change and immediately take advantage of it. "For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence" (vers. 16, 17). The counsellor knows the nature of those with whom he has to deal, for he has seen into their very motive, and understood their evil passion in all its sweep and fury. He says that bad men sleep not except they have done mischief. The expression is very forcible, meaning that evil-doing has become second nature to them, and until they have done some evil it is impossible for them to lie down with any sense of comfort. By "the bread of wickedness," referred to in the seventeenth verse, we are to understand the bread which has been acquired wickedly. There is no sweetness in all the house of the bad man; upon his head is written "wickedness," and upon his wine is written "violence." When wicked people cannot accomplish their evil purposes, it is as if they had deprived the body of bread and wine, so that a kind of illness takes place in the mind, and they go to bed, not to sleep, but to spend a weary night of selfaccusation and poignant regret. We know what it is for a man of business to spend an industrious yet unprofitable day, and how unsettling it is to the mind to return from such fruitless occupation to seek rest. It is precisely so with the wicked-they are described as going about their business with great eagerness, they are determined to bring some people into mischief and misery; but at the end of the day, when they find that their |