ingly do you see in his end the rewards that follow a holy and virtuous life; you see virtue crowned with safety, with peace, with riches, with honour, with usefulness, with heaven.

It is possible that curiosity may lead some of the parents of the youths who may purchase this volume to look through its pages; and should this be the case, let the following remarks arrest their attention.

How momentous a duty it is, on their part, to give sound religious instruction to their children at the earliest period in which they can receive it, and to endeavour by the most judicious, affectionate, and persevering methods, to form their character by religion!

Of what great consequence it is, in order to promote the peace of families, to avoid the manifestation of partiality for any one child, by any unwise marks of distinction!

Parents, you know not how early your children will be removed from you, and this is an additional motive to train them up in the fear of God, that they may leave home fortified by true piety, to encounter the temptations of the world, and to endure the trials of life.

It may be that a child long lost to you may be restored under circumstances of such delight as more than to compensate for his absence, and your suspense concerning him. The pious son, removed from your family at a tender age, and for a long time having no share in your affairs, may prove to be the main pillar of your house, when there is no other person to prevent its fall.

It is possible, and even probable, that the piety of one child may become in following years the means of reformation and conversion to many others in your family, who had neglected pious instructions in their early years, and fallen into the ways of vice and wickedness.

Many a parent whose heart was at one time well-nigh broken by the circumstances of his family, has lived to see the tide of his domestic sorrow turned, and has ended a cloudy and stormy day by a calm and beautiful sunset.

A pious child is a father's best companion, next to God himself, amidst the infirmities of old age, and in the chamber of sickness and death.

But it is you, my young friends, and you especially, Young Men, who should consider this history. Often peruse the history as it is recorded in the book of Genesis. It is of unequalled beauty and pathos. Give yourself time to study it, and seek grace to imitate it, as far as the principles on which it is founded, and the virtues which compose it, shall apply to your own circumstances. And when you have thus studied it for its importance, admired it for its beauty, and copied it for your own advantage, ascend from it to the contemplation of that still more glorious, perfect, and august example which is given us in our Lord Jesus Christ, of whose personal history it furnishes, though not perhaps a type, yet a parallelism, which is most singularly striking. Joseph envied by his brethren, sold into Egypt, degraded to the condition of a servant, exalted from the dungeon to the neighbour. hood of the throne, invested with power, drawing his perishing kindred to him, and bestowing upon them a possession in the best of the land, at any rate reminds us of Him, if it does not actually prefigure Him, who was hated by the Jews, sold by one of his apostles, crucified by the Romans, and having thus been made of no reputation was in the end raised from the cross to a throne above the skies. Behold Him ascending on high; receiving gifts for men, attracting millions to Him for salva. tion, and conferring upon them an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Thus unite the Old and New Testament histories, and combine in yourselves the character of Joseph with the mind of Jesus.

CHAPTER VII.

THE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

RECOMMENDED.

The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel.

To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding.

To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.

To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. PROVERBS i, 1-4.

IN the subject we have now to consider, we have another proof and illustration of the opening sentiment of the last chapter; I mean the variety, beauty, and usefulness of the Holy Scriptures. In that chapter we saw and felt the fascination of sacred narrative; in this we shall see no less prominently, and feel, I hope, no less powerfully, the value of Scripture Proverbs; and if that presented to us a chain of gold, in which each event was a distinct link, yet all were so conjoined as to form a complete ornament, this will present a string of the richest pearls of which each by itself is a separate and valuable jewel.

Proverbs are short sentences containing a maxim of wisdom, or expressing an instructive truth or fact ascertained by experience or observation: shrewd rules for practical life, meaning more than the mere words express. They have ever been favourite vehicles of instruction,

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especially in countries of little civilization, where books are few or unknown, and men depend for their knowledge upon tradition. Among such people this method is more likely to produce effect than any other, for it assumes, as Bishop Lowth remarks, not to argue or persuade, but to dictate. In order to render their precepts more pleasing, as well as more powerful, the instructors of mankind have ever illustrated them by metaphors, comparisons, and other embellishments. Proverbs prevailed much among the Hebrews, and continued to the latest ages of their literature. But they have also been adopted by people far advanced in refinement; indeed, by all nations upon earth. The prevailing characteristics of a good proverb, are brevity, that it may be easily remembered; point, that it may stimulate; and elegance, that it may please. And how all these apply to the Proverbs of Solomon you know full well. Let us then enter on a consideration of this admirable portion of Holy Scripture.

I. We will consider its author. It opens with ascribing this honour to Solomon. The tradition of the Jews represents him as having written the Canticles in youth, and the Book of Proverbs in middle life, and it considers the book of Ecclesiastes to be his confession as a penitent, mourning over his early dark and winding aberrations from the path of truth and holiness. Several of the sages, or wise men, of Greece, were rendered illustrious by a few well-known maxims; but though posterior to Solomon, how limited in this respect was their wisdom to that which blazed forth from the wonderful genius of him, "to whom God gave wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled all the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt; and his fame was in all nations round about: and he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five." Considering the

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early age of the world in which he lived, he was probably the most extraordinary genius that ever appeared on earth. 'Magnificence was his identifying attribute. And alas, alas, for the weakness of humanity, the dangers of knowledge, and the pride of intellect, wealth, and power, even when he sinned as most awfully he did, it was with a high hand, on a large scale, and with a kind of royal gusto; he did not, like common sinners, sip at the cup of corruption, but drank of it 'deep and large,' emptying it to the dregs: and when he suffered, his groans seemed to be those of a demigod in torment. He stood like a pyramid, the shadow he cast in one direction was equal to the light he received in the other. An example his which proves that any great disproportion between gifts and graces, renders the former as fatal as a knife is to the suicide, or the power of writing to the forger. We ardently hope that Solomon became a true penitent. But if he did not, his writings so far from losing their value, would gain new force; the figure of their fallen author would form a striking frontispiece, and those solemn warnings would receive an amen, as from the caves of perdition. A slain Solomon! since fell Lucifer the son of the morning, what more impressive proof of the power of evil."* It is clear, from information contained in the book itself, that Solomon did not publish the whole during his life. The latter part from the twenty-fifth chapter, forming an appendix, was collected after his death, and added to what appears to have been more immediately arranged by himself. What a production of one mind! And when we add to this the book of Ecclesiastes, we stand amazed at the intellect which could have poured forth such a fund of practical wisdom.

Of the Divine authority of this book, as a part of the inspired canon, there can exist no doubt. It is frequently quoted in the New Testament, and was evidently considered by the apostles as a treasure of revealed morality.

* Gilfillan's "Bards of the Bible."