"".ondcr_ful boy is perhaps just a_ little di.sa1!pointe~ as by slow degrees she undergoes d1~1llus1ou, and sees him develop mto an ordmary city clerk; hut she will not confess her disappointment to herself, and it is soon swallowed up in just pride and delight if he is upright and kind and good. But if she is not mistaken about the rrenius of her child, hut only under an error as to the moral direction that genius will t~lte; if her Milton becomes a Byron, then, though the world rings with his fame, she-supposincr her to he a true, wise mother-will be broken-hearted with grief. It is not the dulne~s, nor tho failures, nor the troubles, nor the early death of children that briner a father's "rrrey hairs with sorrow to the grave." It is their sins. If these sins show direct unkind- ness, the grief reaches its saddest height. Then the father may well say, with poor Lear- " How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child I" It is heart-rending for the mother to part with her infant if he dies an early death. But the grief she feels when she looks at the little grave, and thinks of her child quietly sleeping, safe with the God who called the children to himself-this grief is calm ~nd_ endu~able com_pared with the awful,_ crush~ng agony she would have experienced 1f tne child had lived and had fallen mto Bill and brought shame upon his head. Parents are foolish as well as unsubmissive when they pray too positively for their children's lives. Our one great Father knows what is best. Perhaps it is safest for all that the child should be taken from the evil to come. But, of course, if he can be spared to live a life of usefulness and honour, this is most to be desired, and the parents' prayers should chiefly go out for the safe preservation of their children's better life. lf. THE POSSESSION OF THIS INFLUENCE SHOULD BE A STRONG INDUCEMEN'r TO WORTHY LIVING. It furnishes a new element in the obligations of right. The son has it in his power to make his parents happy or miserable. So great a trust involves a serious responsibility. "No man liveth unto himself." Besides his higher obliga- tions, the son has a life in regard to his father and mother. He is not at liberty to run riot as he chooses, because he thinks his own future only is at stake. By all the terrible pain he inflicts, by the deep gladness he might have conferred, the guilt of his sin is 2.ggravate<i Should not such considerations urge strongly against yielding to temptation? If the mad young man cares little for abstract righteousness, if he bas lost the fear of God, still is it nothing that every new folly is a stab in the heart of those who have done most for him and who would even now give their lives to save him? It is not unmanly to say to one's self, "For my mother's sake I will not do this vile thing." It is devilish not to be capable of such a thought. Similar considerations may help us in our highest relations. God is our Father. We may "grieve " his Spirit by sin. When the prodigal returns God rejoices in the presence of his angels. Shall we nut hate the sins that made Christ mourn, and seek to do better for the sake of the love of Gud?
Ver. 4.-Diligenc,e. Of late it has become fashionable to claim a cheap reputation for loftiness of moral aims by sneering at what are called the" smug virtues." There is a great deal about these despised virtues in the Book of Proverbs, nnd consequently a ,ery low estimate is formed of that portion of Scripture. But is there not something hollow about this assumption of ethical elevation? It cannot be denied that the "smug virtues" have a real obligation. No one would venture to say that they can be dispeused with. They are simply of a comparatively inferior value. Bui till they are complied with it is often difficult to rise to more ethereal heights of goodness. Meanwhile that man is little short of a hypocrite who neglects the plain duties that lie at his door for the pursuit of some other more recondite graces. Diligence is one of the first of these duties, and it is requisite for various reasons. Note some of them. I. WEALTH DEPENDS ON WORK. This is a. primary law of providence, God might have fed us as he fed the ravens. But instead of putting food ready for our mouths, he gives us hands with which to work for it. Social arrangements only disguise thie law. 'l'he sun inherits the fruits of his father•~ industry. 'l'ho idle man sucks the honey or utber men's toil. But it remains truth that work makes wealth. Every man's wealth depends largely ou the work of someone-hie own or somebody else's. 11 on. it. 1-32.] Tl:tE PROVERBS. 201