Spiritual joy mortifies sin. His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Pleasure there must be in the ways of God because therein men let out all their souls into God, the foundation of all good, hence they so infinitely distaste sin's tasteless fooleries.-Trapp.

It was to open thus thy heart for wisdom that Christ's heart was open upon the cross; it was to make an entrance for wisdom into thy heart that the spear entered into the heart of thy Saviour. And what though wisdom enter thy heart at a breach, a wound? It is this that must heal thee and make thee sound.-Jermin.

Here only has it any life or power. While it is only in the head it is dry, speculative, barren. . . . . Before it was the object of our search; now, having found it, it is our pleasure.Bridges.

It is pleasure that can compete with pleasure. It is joy and peace in believing that can overcome the pleasures A human soul, by its

of sin.

Men are subject to many dangers till they get wisdom. 1. Their reputation is in danger. 2. Their goods and estates are in danger. 3. Their body and life are in danger. 4. The soul is in danger of eternal misery. Therefore sin is called folly, and wicked men that go to hell are chronicled as fools all over this book.-Francis Taylor.

Though the heart of man by nature. be a rebellious fort, so that wisdom at first must enter it by a kind of force, yet, being entered, it makes itself pleasant, and keeps and preserves the soul which kept her out.-Jermin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH-Verses 12-20.

THE CHARACTER OF THOSE FROM WHOM WISDOM PRESERVES.

I. The evil man. 1. His speech is corrupt, verse 12. The closed grave contains death and holds within it the seeds of pestilence, but while it remains unopened the corrupt influence remains enclosed in its narrow walls. But should it be opened, and its foulness allowed to fill the air, it begins to set in motion what will strike men down to its own level. The mouth of the wicked man while kept shut is a closed grave, his iniquity is shut up within himself, but when he speaks out the thoughts of his heart his mouth is as an open sepulchre, and he spreads around him moral disease and death. 2. He is a man of progressive iniquity. "He walks in the ways of darkness." When a stone is set in motion, the momentum given to it, if no other law comes into operation to prevent it, will carry it to the lowest level in the direction in which it travels. The progress of wickedness is downhill, and walking in the ways of darkness implies a destination which in Scripture is called "outer darkness." 3. He delights in his downward progress. Sorrow and joy are revealers of human hearts. The saint rejoices in whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report, and in his increase of power to do the same. That which rejoices him reveals his heart. The sinner that "rejoices to do evil and delights in the forwardness of the wicked," brings to light the hidden things of darkness that are within him.

II. The wicked woman. 1. She is, pre-eminently, a covenant-breaker. The ribs of a vessel hold and keep together the whole structure, and enable it to keep its cargo safe. If the ribs give way, all goes to pieces, and the precious things

which have been stored up within the ship are lost in the ocean. Human society is belted together-kept from going to pieces-by covenants. They are the ribs which keep together the State. The marriage covenant holds the first place. The woman whose character is here depicted has broken the bonds of this most sacred covenant-to which God was a witness (the covenant of an institution of His own ordination)-and has taken to the "strange" way of the devil. Well may she be called a strange woman. That a woman should be guilty of such a crime-should choose such a course of life, so opposed to all that is pure and womanly is indeed a mystery. 2. She is a destroyer, not only of herself, but of others. When the river has broken through its proper boundaries there is a present and continual destruction, of which the bursting of its banks was only the beginning. This woman in the past broke the moral boundaries of her life, and is now not content to go to ruin herself, but tries to take others with her. To this end are her false and flattering words, of which we shall hear more in chapter v. 3. She carries her victims beyond hope of recovery. There are no rules without exceptions. We know that there are those who have for a time been under the influence of such characters, and have returned to the paths of virtue and honour. But these are rare exceptions. In the main, it is, alas! true that "none that go unto her return again." A vessel founders at sea, and we say that the crew is lost, although one survivor may have been rescued. We speak of an army being destroyed if one escapes to tell the tale. Where one who has taken hold on her paths struggles back to life and purity, thousands go down with her to death, bodily, social, and spiritual.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 12. To snatch (see "Critical Notes.") The way of evil." The terms begin gently. It is only the gentle aspects that are dangerous at first. These are so fascinating that it requires us to be snatched to keep us out of the ways of darkness.-Miller.

Verse 13. Among the pests of men, none are such virulent pests of everything that is good as those that once made a profession of religion, but have left the way of uprightness. The stings of conscience which such persons experience, instead of reclaiming them, tend only to irritate their spirits, and inflame them into fierce enmity against religion.-Lawson.

Darkness, as thus set in contrast with uprightness, may be interpreted as descriptive both of the nature of the ways, and of their tendency and end. The man who walks in uprightness walks in light. His eye is "single." There is " none occasion of stumbling in him." He has but one principle; his "eyes look right on, his eyelids look straight before him." He is not always looking this way and

that, for devious paths that may suit a present purpose, but presses on ever in the same course; and thus all is light, all plain, all safe. "The ways of darkness are the ways of concealment, evasion, cunning, tortuous policy and deceit. He who walks in them is ever groping; hiding himself among the subtleties of fleshly wisdom": and being ways of false principle and sin, they are ways of danger, and shame, and ruin.-Wardlaw.

There is a strictly causal and reciprocal relation between unrighteous deeds and moral darkness. The doing of evil produces darkness, and darkness. produces the evil doing. Indulged lusts put out the eye-sight of the conscience; and under the darkened conscience the lusts revel unchecked.Arnot.

The light stands in the way of their wicked ways as the angel did in Balaam's way to his sin.-Trapp.

Verse 14. Though it be wormwood which they drink (Lam. iii. 15), yet being drunk with it, they perceive not the bitterness thereof, but like drunken

the best attributes of humanity have disappeared-the best affections of nature have been drained away from their hearts.-Arnot.`

Her house is not a building reared up, but inclined and bowed down, and she who dwelleth in it will, by her life, bring thee to the dead. . . . Death is here twice mentioned to show that it is a double death, a temporal death, and an eternal death, to which she bringeth men.-Jermin.

Verse 19. Who would cast himself into a deep pit in the hopes of coming out alive, when almost all that fell into it were dashed in pieces.-Lawson.

It is as hard to restore a lustful person to chastity as it is to restore a dead person to life.-Chrysostom.

A sin which, I am verily persuaded,

if there be another that slays her thousands, may with truth be affirmed to slay its ten thousands.-Wardlaw.

Verse 20. Here follows the whole ground of the exhibition: "That," for the very purpose that thou mayest walk in the way of good men." This is a grand, pregnant doctrine. This bad life was abandoned to its worst partly as a lesson.- Miller.

It is not enough to shun the evil way, unless men walk in the good way. -Muffet.

He that walks in the way of good men shall meet with good men, and that shall keep him from the company of evil men and women. The paths of the righteous are too narrow for such: he shall not be troubled with them.Jermin.

MAIN HOMILetics of thE PARAGRAPH.-Verses 21-22.

THE CONTRAST IN THE END FROM THE CONTRAST IN THE WAY.

If men walk in two directly opposite directions they cannot possibly arrive at the same goal. I. The historic illustration of this truth. The first inhabitants of Canaan were allowed to dwell in the land until they defiled it to so great an extent by their sins that they were "rooted out," to be replaced by the Hebrew people. These, in their turn, became "transgressors" of God's law, and consequently forfeited their inheritance. II The reasonableness of this dealing. Uprightness leads to industry, and the land which is industriously cultivated fulfils the end for which God gave it to the children of men. Uprightness leads to the rightful dividing of the land or of its produce among all its inhabitants. It is God's will that none of his creatures should suffer bodily want: if all men were truly upright and godly, the poor and needy, if they did not cease out of the land (Deut. xv. 2) would have a much larger share of its good things than they at present enjoy. The Hebrew civil and social laws show us what God's intentions are in this matter. Therefore none ought to complain if they are deprived of a gift which they have mis-used. III. The typical suggestion of the subject. Dwelling in the land of Canaan was typical of the eternal dwelling in the heavenly country. Some of the first inhabitants of that country have been "rooted out" because of sin (2 Pet. ii. 4), others have dwelt safely there for ages, because they are, literally, perfect. This is the destined home of all just men made perfect (Heb. xii. 23; xi. 13-16. Matt. xxii. 32).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 21. The Israelite was, beyond the power of natural feeling, which makes home dear to every one, more closely bound to his ancestral soil by the whole form of the theocracy: torn from it he was in the inmost roots of his life itself, strained and broken.Elster.

...

As surely a righteous man hath this right unto temporal things which a wicked man hath not, that God doth account him to be worthy of them . . . Wherefore it is observed, that in Scripture, although the wicked are said to possess the things of the earth, they are never said to inherit them; but

the godly are said to inherit the good things of the earth as receiving them from the love of their heavenly Father. -Jermin.

Ver. 22. The very earth casts out the wicked. The whole has a typical meaning. This earth, many conjecture, is to be restored as heaven. In that event, the old Canaan types will be very perfect.-Miller.

Must not the righteous leave the earth too? Yes; but the earth is a very different thing to the righteous and to the wicked. To the latter it is all the heaven they ever have; to the righteous it is a place of preparation for heaven.-Lawson.

The event seemeth to be contrary to the promise here made, for the earth commonly is possessed by those who take evil ways, whilst in the mean season the godly are tossed up and down with many afflictions. But we must consider for our comfort, that

the wicked wrongfully and unlawfully, as usurpers, possess the earth and the goods of this world; and again, that by many troubles, and by death in the end, they are put out of possession at last. As for the godly, they, by right, inherit the earth, so that, as Abraham was the heir to the land of promise even when he had not a foot of ground therein, in like manner all the godly are heirs of this world, according to the saying of the apostle, That all things are theirs (1 Cor. iii. 22); howsoever often here they possess little or nothing. In right they are heirs, and in part possessors, looking for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein the just shall dwell (2 Pet. iii. 13).—Muffet.

Suddenly, when they have feathered their nests and set up their rest, the wicked may die sinuing. The saints shall not die till the best time-not till the time when, if they were rightly informed, they would desire to die.Trapp.

CHAPTER III.

CRITICAL NOTES.-1. Keep. This word, says Miller, primarily means to look hard at, and generally to keep watch over, as over a vineyard. 2. Length of days. properly "extension of days." 3. Good understanding, or "good success," good reputation." Some read " good intelligence," i.e., thou shalt be esteemed before God and man as one of good understanding. 6. Acknowledge, "take notice of," "recognise" Him. Direct, "make level" or "smooth. 8. Navel, "body" or "muscles." Marrow, literally "refreshing," moistening," in contrast to the condition described in Psa. xxxii. 3, 4. 11. Despise not, or "loathe not," "shrink not." The word, according to Miller, means to melt." Chastening,"discipline," correction."

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12. The latter clause of this verse should be read, "and holds him dear, or does him a favour, as a father does his son." 13. Gets. "draws out." 18. Lay hold, "grasp," from a Hebrew root strong. Retaineth, "holds her fast." 20. Depths, &c., "were the floods divided" into rivers and streams for the blessing of man. Dew, or "gentle rain," or else the clouds signify the lower regions of the atmosphere where the dew is formed. 21. Them, i.e. "sound wisdom and discretion;" Sound wisdom, the same word as in chap. ii. 7 (see notes there). Miller translates here, as there, "something stable." 25. Desolation of the wicked. This is interpreted in two ways. 1. The desolation in which the wicked strive to overwhelm the good; or, 2. The destruction which will sweep away the wicked, leaving the godly unharmed. "A positive decision is probably not possible" (Lange's Commentary). Stuart, and most modern commentators, adopt the latter view. 26. Confidence. "Jehovah shall be as loins to thee" (Miller). 27. Withhold not, &c., literally "hold not good back from its master," i.e., from him to whom it belongs. 31. Envy thou not, &c., or "emulate not" (Vulg.) "Do not anxiously covet" (Stuart). 32. Secret. His "secret compact," ," "familiar intimacy." 34. "If," or "Seeing that He scorneth the scorners," &c. 35. The promotion, &c., literally "shame lifts up," i.e., in order to sweep away and destroy them; so Lange translates. Miller reads, "fools are each piling shame." Stuart says on this verse, Glory means here honour or an exalted station. Ziegler and Ewald render the next clause, Shame shall elevate fools,' spoken sarcastically. I prefer the meaning sanctioned by Ezek. xxi. 23; Is. lvii. 14, viz., to take off, to sweep away, as the dust which is elevated by the wind and is swept off, as may be seen in Isa. xvii. 13. Compare Isa. xxix. 5; Psa. xxxv. 5. At least, the image understood in this way is very vivid. It stands thus: 'Fools are elevated like the light dust, and then are swept away in the same manner.'

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