pulsions of duty, they will have little power over us. But happily God has joined the highest truth to the purest gladness. Wisdom is a pleasure to those who welcome it to their hearts. The acquisition of all knowledge is pleasurable. The knowledge of God is joined with peculiar spiritual delights. In rejoicing in this and in love to the incarna- tion of this wisdom in Christ, we have the strongest safeguard against temptation. Ver. 14-..-Rejoicing to do evil. We often insist upon the fact that goodness is the secret of true happiness, a.nd invite men to rejoice in the service of God; but we are here reminded of a.n opposite kind of joy which some find in the course of wickedness. I. THIS IB A POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE. It is so unnatural tha.t one who knew nothing of the world might well declare it to be impossible. But experience proves its existence, !lnd the explanation of it is not far to seek. 1. Naturally desirable ends lend a sense of pleasure to the evil means by whi,ch they are sought. The miser loves his money on its own account through previous associations with the ideas of what it might purchase. So the criminal ma.y come to delight in his crimes because the profit he gets out of them has cast a glamour over the ugly deeds themselves. 2. Some pleasures are sinful. Then the whole course, end as well a.s means, is wicked ; yet, as it concerns self- indulgence, a wicked glee accompanies it. 3. There is a sense of freedom in sin. There is more room to range at large over the broad way than in the narrow pa.th of righteous- ness. The sinner has burst the shackles of law, and he revels in the licence of self-will. 4. Sin gives an opportunity for the exercise of power. Much evil is done simply for the sake of effect, in order that the doer of it may find him.self producing results. But it is easier to do harm than to do good. Therefore a man turns to evil for the larger realiza- tion of his power. So wicked children delight in picking flies to pieces. II. THIS IS A SIGN OF ADVANCED WICKEDNESS. 1. At first it is painful to sin. The poor, weak soul gives wa.y to temptation, but the very act of sinning is accompanied with a sense of uneasiness and humiliation. 2. .A further stage is reached when sin is committed with indifference. This is indeed a state of moral degradation, for conscience is now practically dead, a.nd the sinner is as willing to ha.ve his pleasure by lawless means as in an innocent manner. 3. The lowest depth is reached when there is a posi- tive pleasure in doing wrong. Evil is then chosen on its own account, a.nd not as the disagreeable or the indifferent means for reaching some ulterior end. When two courses !I.re open, the bad one is deliberately selected a.s the more pleasant on its own account. A malignant joy lights up the countenance of the abandoned sinner at the mere prospect of some new villainy. This is Satanic wickedness. The abandoned sinner ca.n now exclaim with Milton's Sa.tan- " Evil, be thou my good I " III. Tms IS A DELUSIVE JOY. 1. It is shallow. Though it may be excited into a dia- bolical ecstasy, it has no heart-satisfying qualities. Beneath it there is profound Ullrest. The peace which accompanies the joy of holiness, and which is the sweetest ingredient in the cup of the good ma.n, is quite wanting here. There are shooting pa.ags, dark misgivings, and dread sinkings of heart in the midst of this monstrous delight. 2. It will not endure. The pleasures of sin do but endure for a season. The sweet morsels soon turn to dust and ashes. After the wild orgie there follows deep depression or dread despair, or at best a sense of listless weariness. The appetite is soon exhausted. New and more piquant forms of wickedness must be invented to stimulate the jaded palate. At length the awful consequences must come, and anguish of soul follow the delights of sin when God's judgment takes effect. Ver. 15.-0rooked ways. I. CROOKED WAYS ARE DEVIATIONS FRO]!( THE STRAIClHT PATHS OF :MORAL SIMPLICITY. The man of high character is simple in conduct. Great complexity of motive is generally a sign of moral laxity. The way of right is straight because it makes for its goal without any considerations of expediency, danger, or pleasure. To be turned aside from the steep Hill of Difficulty, or into By-path Meadow, is to forsake the right for selfish ease. When men allow considerations of momentary advantage to guide their actions, they will be perpetually swayed from side to side till their track is marked by an irregular" zigzag." "The expression of truth," says Seneca, "'is simplicity." 46 THE PRO\TERBS; ' [OH, II, 1-22,
II. CROOKED WAYS ARE SIGNS OF LACK OF PRINCIPLE. Principles are like the rails on w_hic;h the train_ runs, keepin,g it in a direct cou:se and ~acilitating its speed. The unprrnc1pled man 1s off the rails, and the result 1s confusion, Like a ship without' compass, rudder, or chart, the unprincipled man drifts with wind and tide and eo leaves behind him a crooked track. The security for straightforward conduct i~ the auidanoe 0 of a deep-seated principle of righteousness. III. CnooKED w A,s RESULT FROM srroRT-SIGHTED AIMS. The -'lane which is made bit by bit, from farm to farm, is likely to wind about; but the old ·Roman hi"h-road that connects two distant cities rur,s ns directly as possible. The ploucrhman who looks no further than his horses' heads will make a crooked furrow; to gobstraight he must fix bis eyes on the end of the field. He who regards only present circumstances will wander aimlessly. To go right we must_ look out of self to Christ; beyond present expediency to the full purpose and end of life; above all earthly pursuits to the goal of the life eternal. IV. CROOKED WAYS ARE DECEITFUL WAYS. Badmen often fear to go strai!tht towards their evil aims lest they shall be discovered. '!'hey beat about the bush. The assassin a,oids the high-roa_d and slin~s along under a hedge, that be may come upon his victim unawares. The thief breaks mto the house by the back door. Honesty is direct• •dis- honesty is circuitous. Crooked ways tend to become deceitful, if they are not so ~f set purpose. A. man may wander in them till he has lost account of the points of the com- pass, and knows not whither he is going. 'l'he most elementary notions. of right and wrong are then confused. This is the common issue of casuistic and disingenuous conduct; it results in self-deception. V. CROOKED WAYS LEAD TO A FATAL END. The way to heaven is· to .. turn, to the right, and keep straight on." The road that leads to destruction is broad, admitting of mucb irregularity of motion from one side to the other. It is the straight and narrow way that leads to life.