III. PENALTY IB PURSUING BIN AND WlLT. OVERTAKE IT. "Evil pursueth sinners." Justice is on the trnck, a.nd sooner or later will la.y its hand upon its victim. 1. It will most lilcely do so here. Very frequently, indeed almost always, some penalty immediately overtakes guilt; if uot in bodily loss or suffering, yet in spiritual injury. And if not at once, penalty soon follows crime, vice, wrong-doing. Or if not soon, yet ~fter many years, the "evil" comes and lays its stern hand upon the shoulder. 'l'he IDan may not, probably does.not, see.or even believe in its approach. Its step is silent, a.ad it may be slow, but it is constant and certain. The "evil" may be physical, and very often it is so; or it may be mental, intellectual; or it may be circumstantial; or it may be in reputation; or it may be in character, and this last, though least seen and often least regarded, is in truth the saddest and the most serious of all, for it affects the man himself-he "loses his own soul." 'l'hus, "though leaden-footed," peaalty is "iron-banded." 2. It will surely do so hereafter. (See Matt. xxv. 31, 32; 2 Cor. v. 10, etc.) Yet not inconsistent with aH this- IV. 'l'RERE IS ONE MERCIFUL INTERCEPTION. If we truly repent of our sin, we shall be freely and abundantly forgiven. 1. God will change his condemnation into accept- ance and parental favour, so that we sball walk thenceforward in the light of his countenance. 2. He will avert the heavier consequences of our sin by introducing into o\1r heart and lifo all the remedial and restorative influences of righteousness. And there· must be considered-· V. THE CONVERSE BENEFICENT LAW AFFECTING THE RIGHTEOUS. "To the righteous good shall be repaid." I. All right acts are immediately followed by an inner and spiritual blessing; we must be something the better in soul for every really right thing: we do. 2. All right actions, done in a reverent and filial spirit, will bring God's bless- ing down further on. He is "not unrighteous to forget our work of faith and our labour of love." Such blessings come in many forms, and at various intervals; but they do come; they are following tho upright, and they will overtake them and crown them. 3. The reward of integrity and faithfulness only comes in part below; God holds great tbings in reserve for us (Matt. xx:v. 21; 1 Cor. iv. 5).-C. Ver. 24.-Parental ·correction. Few proverbs "come home" to us like those which iiffect the daily government of our household. They make their appeal to the human heart, to universal experience. I. 'l'1m PARENTAL INSTINCT. 1.. This is, to let the child have bis way; to give him the gratification he desires, to find a preseut pleasure in his momentary happiness. 2. 'l'his is, to spare him suffering. No parent can hear his child cry without suffering himself (herself). Our instinct is to save our children from every trouble, small and great, from which we can exempt them. And it "goes against the grain" to inflict punishment, to cause pain, to deprive of some' known enjoyment. But we dare not be bliud to- H. THE LESSON OF EXPERIENCE. Universal experience proves that to act on mere parental instinct is nothing less than selfish cruelty. It is to act M if we positively bated our children. For it is the one sure way to spoil them for life, to ruin their character. 'fhe undisciplined child becomes the wayward boy, the dissipated young man, the wreck of manhood. He becomes self-centred, incapable of controlliug his spirit, exacting in all his relations, disregardful of all law and of e.11 claims. It is to withhold the one condition under which alone we can expect any one to attain to an admirable and honourable manhood. It is to deny to our own children tbe most essential element of education. Experionco proves the.t he who spares the rod acts as if he positively hated his son. III. •raE PRACTICE OF WISDOM. This is the well-moderated correction of love. This correction should be: I. Carefully proportioneii to the offence; the lighter ones, such as carelessness or inaptitnde, being followed by the lighter rebuke, a.nd the graver ones, such as falsehood or cruelty, being visited with severer measures. 2. Administered, not in the heat of temper, but in the calmness of conviction, and with the manifest sorrow of true affection. 3. As free as possible from physical violence. The " rod" need not be ma.de of wood or iron. A look of re;:iroach (Luke xxii. 61), a. just rebuke or remonstrance, a wisely chosen exclusion from rnme appreciated privilege, may do much more good than a.ny blows upon the body. 4. Strictly jost, with a. leaning to charitable 268 THE PROVERBS. [on. XIV. 1-36.
construction. For one unjnst infliction will do more harm than many just ones will do good. 5. Ocoasional and of brief duration. Nothing defeats its own purpose more certainly than perpetual fault-finding, or constantly repeated punishment, or penalty that is unrighteously severe. It behoves us always to remember that as our heavenly Father does not "deal with us after our sins " with rigorous penalties, and is not "strict to mark iniquity" with unfailing chastisement, so it becomes us, as parents, in the treatment of our children, to let pity and charity have a very large, modifying influence on our correction. He that loveth chastens "betimes;" he is not always chastening. He takes oare to let his children know and feel that beneath and above and throughout his fatherly righteousness is his parental love.-C.