* J. M, Charlton, * General C. G. Gordon, Letters to His Sister, 23.
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The Two Paths.
PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — 1 5
Literature.
Adams (J. C), The Leisure of God, 35.
Body (G.), The Life of Justificatioriy 175.
Brown (H. S.), Manliness, 83.
Guthrie (T.), Man and the Gospel, 274.
Hamilton (J.), Failh in God, 324.
Jeffrey (J.), The Way of Life, 50.
Kemble (C), Memorials of a Closed Ministry, ii. 199.
Lucas (H.), At the Parting of the Ways, 294.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Esther, etc., 108.
Owen (J. W.), Some Australian Sermons, 158.
Parr (R. H.), The Path of the Just, 294.
Christian World Pulpit, xxv. 286 (W. M. Statham).
Church Family Newspaper, July 15, 1910 (A. F. W. Ingram),
Homiletic Review, lix. 390 (R. L. Swain).
Literary Churchman, xxxv. (1889) 15 (J. E. Vernon).
Preacher's Magazine, vi. 513 (E. J. Ljrndon).
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The Two Paths.
But the path of the righteous is as the shining light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness : They know not at what they stumble.— Prov. iv, i8, 19.
The " path " which a man pursues signifies, according to the most usual meaning of the word, his style and manner of conduct, the principles according to which he acts. Thus is the word used in verse 11 of this chapter: "I have taught thee in the way of wisdom ; I have led thee in right paths." There is another sense in which we find the word "path" sometimes employed; it indicates the condition or destiny of a man ; thus, in Job viii, 11-13, " Can the rush grow up without mire ? can the flag grow without water ? Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God ; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish." In the text " the path of the righteous " cannot properly be taken in either of these senses exclusively ; it includes both. It signifies simply the just man's course through life, comprising the development alike of his own character and conduct and of his destiny as a child of light. The word " light " is used here in a peculiar and limited sense, to mean the dawn, the sunrise. So it is used, as our English Bible expressly indicates, in Nehemiah viii. 3 : " And he [Ezra] read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the light [from the morning] until midday." Only when we consider this do we perceive the full force and beauty of the text. " Perfect (i.e. steadfast, immovable) day " signifies, in the figurative language of the text, noon. And in this we have an example of the incompetency of that which is natural to express the spiritual and eternal. In the day of the soul there is no mere momentary noon, declining into afternoon and night. But what the thing could not properly express, the word translated " perfect " is fitted to suggest.
228 THE TWO PATHS
Inverting the order of the text we shall conBider, first, the way of darkness, and, secondly, the way of light.
Thb Wat of Darkness.
*' The way of the wicked is as darkness : they know not at what they stumble."
These words present a picture of a man out on a dangerous mountain track. He has determined upon going this way. He has despised the advice and entreaties of the guides, although aware that his track is beset with dangers. He was told before he started of the deep ravines and yawning precipices. At times, while trying to find his way, he feels the peril that he has exposed himself to in venturing upon a path so dangerous, a path with which he is totally unacquainted. Now the darkness is coming on; but he still hopes to find his way. Presently the darkness has completely hidden the path, and made it doubly perilous. To stand still is to perish in the night; and yet he cannot hope to find his way now, but wanders on in the darkness. He does not know where he is, or where he is going ; the man is lost in the dark ; he goes stumbling on till suddenly he stumbles upon his fate and is lost in night.
1. The way of sin at the beginning. — Sin makes us do things we should never think of doing in our right senses. It makes us the subject of the cruellest delusion. To close our eyes against the light is to surrender to the devil, who leads us captive at his will into ever-deepening darkness.
^ " There are none so blind as those who will not see," and it is really astonishing to notice how determined many people are not to see what their sinful course must lead to and must end in. I have very seldom known, indeed I do not remember a single case, in which either disease, or pain, or early death, or poverty, or disgrace, or imprisonment, or madness, or any other result of wrong-doing, acted to any great extent as a warning to others pursuing the same way to destruction. The effect, if there be any effect at all, soon passes off. Not a week passes but some one is detected in fraud and embezzlement, but every other thief