a holy and a happy life, the means of attaining life eternal. Let us lay to heart the blessed assurances here given us of safety and of the sense of security, provided we keep this "sound wisdom and discretion." "Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet." What precious promises are these! How applicable not only to our rest each night, but also to the sweet repose of those who sleep in Jesus, who depart and are with Christ, who are taken from the miseries of this sinful life, and wait, in consciousness of rest, at peace, and in communion with their Saviour, until the consummation of their joy and glory at his second coming! Happy they, who whilst they live could hear without dismay the solemn proclamation, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh," Matt. 6. 6; and who when they are called upon to die, lie down as resignedly, contentedly, and cheerfully, as if it were for their night's sleep!

Among the practices and dispositions required of such as would enjoy this peace of God, are these which follow: not to withhold that which is due to others, when we are able to make it good, not to put off till to morrow any payment or service which we ought to render to our neighbour to day; not to take advantage of the confidence reposed in us; not to strive with another who has done us no harm; not to envy the oppressor, nor to choose his ways; no, not though they seem to lead ever so surely to present gain or pleasure. "For the froward is abomination to the Lord but his secret is with the righteous." And so also on one side is his curse, on the other his blessing, on the one his scorn, on the other his grace, on the one shame, on the other glory. So wide is the difference between the lot of the wicked and that of the just, of scorners and of the lowly, of fools and of the wise! So foolish are they who adopt means for happiness, which according to the settled ordinance of God lead to endless misery! So wise, so truly and so only wise are they, who aiming at eternal happiness, study to learn from God's word the way which leads thereto, and diligently endeavour by help of his all sufficient grace to keep it!

Solomon declareth how his father instructed him.

1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

3 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. 10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. 20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

LECTURE 1018.

The duty of parents to instruct their children.

This chapter contains an interesting account of the method in which Solomon, who wrote this book, had been taught wisdom

by his father. When he calls upon the young to hear him, and promises to give them "the instruction of a father," he states that he had in like manner been instructed in his own youth by David; and he gives us to understand, that the exhortations following were in the main the same as those which he had himself been accustomed to receive. This is one of the most important of all means for transmitting the knowledge of the truth, and for propagating far and wide the love of it, and the practice of a holy life. Let parents use their authority for this object. Let them influence their offspring for good, for the good of the never dying soul, not only by the force of authority, but by the constraining power of love. Let them never be content to delegate to others this portion of parental oversight; but let them make it a point of conscience to teach their children with their own lips the excellency of divine wisdom, the dangers of a wicked course of life, and the happy consequences of sincerely serving God.

It has been thought that in the patriarchal times every father was a priest in his own family. And certainly, under the Gospel, all parents are bound to act as ministers to their children, by doing all that in them lies to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Eph. 6. 4. To have taught them in the way of wisdom, and led them in the right paths, what a delightful thing must this be for parents to reflect upon, in regard to those whom they have been the means of bringing into the world! To set before them the path of the just, how full it is of light and glory, increasing in brightness of hope and joy, even as the progress of the early dawn unto the full sunshine of the day, to set forth the excellency of this course, and the darkness of the way of the wicked, to point out the dangers of evil company, and to impress upon the young the importance of keeping the heart sincere, all this is no small field of usefulness for the more advanced in years. And he who shall do this with zeal and prudence, so as to work effectually, according to his ability, with those who are growing up around him, will have done good service unto God, and will not have lived in vain. May such parents abound! May all parents, as far as in them lies, be such! May all delight in transmitting to their offspring the knowledge and the love of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ!

The end of following after the strange woman.

1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

13 And have not obeyed the

voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

LECTURE 1019.

Matrimony, God's ordinance for man's benefit.

The subject of this chapter is one which is of the utmost importance to the happiness of mankind in general. For whilst the marriage union, as ordained by God, is the foundation and the bond of all other social relations, there are, on the other hand, scarcely any social evils greater than those, which arise from the unlawful and unhallowed intercourse of unmarried men and

women. But the evil consequences here chiefly pointed out, are not so much those which affect society, as those which fall on the individual offenders. And the man who is tempted to give ear to the deceitful words of an abandoned woman may here take warning, that he must expect to suffer the loss of health and strength, of substance and of character, of peace of mind, and of his soul's salvation. How bitter is the compunction awaiting those who fall, after being warned so faithfully and fully by God's own word! With what anguish of remorse must such as they afterwards reflect upon their folly in slighting instruction, on the hatefulness of their sin in the sight of the congregation of God's people, much more before God Himself!

As one chief help to avoid the sin here denounced, Solomon directs attention to the holy state of matrimony. And in like manner St. Paul, who most forcibly points out to the Corinthians the sinfulness of this sin, see 1 Cor. 6, writes thus in the same Epistle, "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." 1 Cor. 7. 2. Strange, that in the face of testimony so plain, both in the Old Testament and in the New, there should have been a disposition amongst many to cast a slur on the wedded state, under the notion that the single life is in itself more excellent and holy! Strange, that the church of Rome, acting on this notion, should require all its ministers to be single, and should strongly urge thousands and millions of young persons, often when far too young to know what they are about, to bind themselves irrevocably never to be wedded! God be praised that we of this church and nation have escaped this deadly error, have been set free from this cruel bondage! Only let us watch so to use the liberty which God has given us, as not to neglect that self restraint and self denial which God commands. And whether we be married or single in this present life, let us labour to attain unto that resurrection, wherein "they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Matt.

22. 30.