Ver. 12.-The way that seemeth right. I. ITS ATTRACTIVE APPEARANCE. This way does not only seem pleasant; it seems to be right. This is a course of life which a man is tempted to follow because it flatters him with fair promises. I. It promises good. We are greatly tempted to judge of the means by the end, and, if we think that the thing to be attained is good, to condone the questionable conduct that secures it. Thus men have justified (I) war, (2) persecution, (3) the deceit of "pious fraud," (4) business irregula.rities. 2. It flatters self-will. Men believe in their own way,_ just because it is the way they I.Jave chosen. The statesman makes the best .of the, politics of his party. In private life what accords with our desire is warped into the semblance of right. 3. It is followed by others. Fashion condones. folly. 'l'he conduct of the multitude creates a social conscience. Men measure by the standard of the average rather than by the gauge of absolute rectitude. , 4. No-evil is apparent. At present the path is easy, pleasant, flowery, and to all appearances quite safe. Short- sighted men judge of it by so much as is in view, as though the end of a road could be known by the character of its beginning. II. lTs DELUSIVE CHARACTER, I. It is only right in appearance. It "seemeth right." But "things a.re not what they seem." A flame seems good to a moth; thin ice, safe to a. heed.less child; the undermined road, sound to the hoodwinked general; the ,parkling water, refreshing to one who knows not that the well from which it is drawn has been poisoned. 'l'he bad social custom appears to be innocent to the slnve of fashion. 'l'he way of sin "seemeth right" to the blunt conscience. 2. It is only right in the eye of man. lt is "to man" that this doubtful way" seemeth right." But man is not the. highest surveyor of life, and the map that be draws is not the supreme authority. Man is prejudiced, confused, ignorant, self-deceiving. There Is a. higher Judge than me.n, and it may be that the way which "seemeth right to man" is seen to be wrong bJ: God. Ill. !Ts FATAL END. '!'bis pleasant, inviting path is a tributary to a high-road. Innocent as it looks in itself, it leads into other ways, and those the ways of death. It is like a. winding lane between green hedgerows and flower-sti-ewn banks, that brings the traveller out at length into a very different road from that he supposed he was nearing. There are questionable courses that do not seem to _be evil in themselves, but they lead to eviL '!'here are amusements that seem to be mnocent enough, yet they a.re paths towards more dangerous things, and in the end they bring th? unwa~y to the very gates of hell. Now, the chief question to ask about any road 1s-Wh1ther does it lead ? If it will bring us to a treacherous bog, a homeless waste, a. dark and dano-erous forest or a perilous precipice it matters little that its early course is harm- less~ Whither docs the way tend 1 If it is the path of sin, it must lead to death (Rom. vi. 23). CII, XIV. 1-35.] THE PRO VEltnS, 279
IV. THE NEED OF WARNING, 1. The preacher must warn the heedless. There is danger of self-decept.ion, and the end may be ruin. Then men should not be iodigna.nt if they are invited to examine their ways. 2. Each man should consider his own ways. We live too much by Bppea.rances. But "life is real." Let us turn from the picture that "seemeth" to the fact that is. 3. We need Divine guidance. He who knows all ways, and can see the end from the beginning, is the only safe Guide into the way of life. Ver. 13.-The sadness that lies behind laughter. This verse reads like one of the melancholy reflections of the pessimist preacher in Ecclesiastes. Yet there is a pro- found truth in it, as all thoughtful minds must recognize. Physically, intense laughter produces acute pangs. Laughter "holds his sides" with pain. Shelley sang truly- .. Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught." A long laugh naturally fills the eyes with tears and dies away in a. sigh of wearineas. Further, a season of undue elation is usually followed by one of depression. The mind rebounds from glee to gloom by natural reaction. But there is a deeper experience than all this. Without to.king a dark view of life, we must acknowledge the existence of a very common background of sorrow behind many of the sunniest scenes of life. We may trace the ea.uses of this experience both to the facts and nature of sorrow, and to the quality and limitation of laughter. I. THE FACTS AND NATUBE OF BORROW. 1. &rrow is common. Man is bom to trouble. There may not be a skeleton in the cupboard of every house, but there are few homes in which there is no chamber of sad memories. We mistake the common nature of mankind if we suppose 'that the merry soul has not its griefs. Tha roaring clown may be acting with a broken heart. Wit that spreads a ripple of laughter in all directions may even be inspired by a very bitterness of soul. 2. Sorrow is enduring. We cannot divide our lives mechanically into days of pain and days of pleasure. The great sorrow that once visits us never utterly forsakes us. It makes a home in the soul. It may be toned and softened by time, and driven from the front windows to dark back chambers. Still, there it lurks, and sometimes it makes its presence sorely felt even when we would fain forget it. 'l'he very contrast of present delight may rouse its restless pains. Even when it is not thought of it lingers as a sad undertone in our songs of gladness. II. THE QUALITY AND LIMITATIONS OF LAUGHTER. 1. Laughter is superji.r:ial. Even while it fa ripping over the surface of life, grief may lie beneath in sullen darkness, unmoved by the feeble gaiety. 'fhis does not condemn laughter as an evil thing, for while "the laughter of fools" is contemptible, and that of scorners sinful, the mirth of the innocent is harmless and even healthful. Cmse.r rightly suspected the sour visage of Cinna. The monkish notion that Christ never laughed finds no countenance in the Bible. But while sinless laughter is good and wholesome, it is never able to reach the deepest troubles. Some foolish fears and fancies may best be laughed away, but not tho great soul-agonies. 2. Laughter is temporary. Inordinate laughter is not good ; too much laughter is a sign of frivolity; and no man can bugh eternally. If a man drown care in laughter, this can be but for a season, and afterwards the dreary trouble will rise again in pitiless persistence. The remedy for trouble must be found in the peace of God. When that is in the soul, a man is happier than if he were only hiding an unhealed sore behind the hollow mask of laughter. When Christ has cured the soul's greatest trouble, there is a possibility of the laughter of a new joy, with no tears to follow·.