being carried away with such preaching as this, is humiliating and distressing to a reflecting mind. Alas, how easily men are imposed upon in their eternal concerns! It is not so with them in other things: but here the grossest imposture will go down with applause. Yet why do I thus speak? There must needs be heresies, that they who are approved may be made manifest.'

OCCASIONAL REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

CHAP. xii. 1. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge ; but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

He and he only that loves the means, loves the end. The means of knowledge are 'instruction' in what is right, and 'reproof' for what is wrong. He who is an enemy to either of these means, is an enemy to the end : and whatever he may pretend to, he deserves not the name of a man, but of a brute.'

Ver. 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness; but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

Men are apt to think of gaining their ends by wicked means, but they shall not succeed. In the end their building shall fall; but righteousness will stand at last, when all is said and done.

Ver. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right; but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

A righteous man in taking counsel, does not merely consult what will be for his worldly interest, but whether the thing itself be right in the sight of God and man: and as to those who never take this into consideration, though they think they have advantage of an upright man, in that they are not scrupulously confined to rule as he is, yet it is all self-deception. They shall either be disap-*

pointed of their ends, or disappointed in them. 'Do they not err that devise evil? But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.' Chap. xiv. 22.

Chap. xiii. 11. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished ; but he that gathereth by labour shall encrease.

Lightly come, say we, lightly go. What is ill gotten is commonly ill spent. Yea, and not only wealth obtained by injustice, but that also which is obtained by mean and niggardly actions.

Ver. 14. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Place a wise man in the seat of government, and the 'law' he enacts will not be such as shall be grievous to the people, but rather such as shall be a blessing to them, and like a fence to guard the traveller from falling into a pit.

Ver. 19. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul; but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.

The accomplishment of desire is essential to happiness": this is only to be expected in the way of righteousness: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.

Chap. xiv. 2. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. All our actions, in some respects, have God for their object. Real uprightness is fearing God; and perverseness, by disregarding his authority, is a contempt of God.

Ver. 6. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.

The state and disposition of the heart determine our success in the pursuit of truth. If our enquiries be influenced by a spirit of pride and self-sufficiency, we shall stumble at every thing we meet with: but he who knows his own weakness, and conducts his enquiries with humility, shall find knowledge easy of attainment. The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.' Psal. xxv. 9.

Ver. 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.

Silence is the best answer to some persons: disputing with them will be of no use.

Ver. 23. In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

Tell me not of those who talk most, but of those who do most.

Chap. xxx. 24-28. There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. The Ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer: the Conies are a feeble flock, yet make they their houses in the rocks: the Locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands: the Spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

Man is here sent to four of the most diminutive parts of the creation, to learn wisdom from their instinctive sagacity. Each of them is 'little, but exceeding wise.' Vain man would be wise, but it cannot be. Ere he can be wise, he must become a fool. Man is naturally more diminutive in the sight of God, than the smallest insect can be in our sight; and by sin has rendered himself of little account indeed in a moral view. Child of man! Know thine insignificance, and follow the example of these little creatures, who are placed before thee to furnish thee with instruction.

Go to the ants, and know in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace, ere they be for ever hid from thine eyes.

Go to the rabbits, and learn to trust not in thine own strength, but in the power of omnipotent grace.

Go to the locusts, which, without king or commander, preserve the strictest order; and be ashamed, that the best laws, human or divine, are insufficient to prevent thy discords, or preserve moral order in the world.

* The word by some is rendered mountain mice.

Go to the spider, and observe the slender curtains by which she is surrounded. Hail, rain, or wind, would sweep them all away; beasts of the field would tread them underfoot; birds of the air would seize the inhabitant for their prey. But she avails herself of the abodes of the lord of the creation for a shelter, and even of the sumptuous buildings of the most exalted characters. Learn hence, feeble and despicable as thou art, to trust for safety where alone it can be found; aspire to the heaven of heavens, and lay hold of eternal life.

OLD AGE.

DURING a long life, David had enjoyed many mercies from God, but there was one more which he earnestly desired. 'Cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth.' Psal. lxxi. 9.

This psalm is supposed to have been written about the time of Absalom's conspiracy. God had cast off his predecessor Saul, and things looked as if he now meant to cast him off. His people also seemed disposed, by their joining with Absalom, to cast him off: hence the force of the petition.

Old men do not always put up this petition. If the desires of many of them were put into words, their request would be, that they might save money, retain power, and many other things. Covetousness is particularly the sin of old age. The reason may be, that in early Me corruption has a number of channels in which it flows; but in old age these are stopped up, or nearly so, by the decay of natural powers and passions; and hence the whole flows in one or two channels. But these things will soon forsake us, or we must forsake them. The favour and

X

presence of God should be the object, the supreme object of our desire.

Now there are some peculiar circumstances of old age, which render this blessing necessary.

1. Old age is a time of but little natural enjoyment, as Barzillai acknowledged. 2 Sam. xix. 35. There is the more need therefore for other enjoyments. It is a soil on which that kind of pleasure will not grow, but the joys of religion will, and there may be fruit in old age. Be this therefore our object. Psal. xcii. 14. Isai. xl. 30, 31.

2. It is a time in which the troubles of life are often known to encrease. Many are poor, and can struggle no longer, and so sink under their hardships. Others have families, and live to see their children's miseries; or what, if we fear God, will grieve us more, their evil courses. How fit then is the prayer of David to the lips of those, whose grey hairs are going down with sorrow to the grave. -Others lose their friends by death. Youth is the time for forming connections, which is a source of pleasure; and age, of those connections being dissolved, which is a source of pain. How many poor widows may read this address, who are left in a world of care and sorrow, to serve alone. Does not this prayer fit your lips?—At this period we often have to reap the bitter fruits of the sins of earlier years. Disobedience to parents is often followed by disobedience in children; neglect of family government by family ruin, as in the case of Eli; and criminal indulgences in youth by similar practices among our children. David had his troubles in his younger days, but they were light compared with those which respected Ammon, Tamar, and Absalom. Here impurity and blood re-appeared, and wounded his heart.

3. Old age is a time in which the troubles of life not only encrease, but become less tolerable. Young people will weather the storm, but it is not so with the aged. Pains of mind resemble pains of body; young people will