Ver. 2.-The evil of i_qnorance. Manifold are the evils of ignorance. All evil of all kinds has been resolved into error; but, if we do not go so far as this, we may truly say- L THAT IG:!\'ORANCE OF Gon IS FATAL. « This is life eternal, to lcnow God;" and if the knowledge of God is life, what must the ignorance of1bim .be? History and observa- tion only too fully assure us what it is: it is spiritual and moral death j the departure of the soul from all that enlightens and elevates, and its sinking down into. grovelling and debasing superstitions. 'l'o be without the knowledge of God is simply fatal to the soul of man. IL TB.AT IGNORANCE OF OUR BUMAN NATURE IS PERILOUS. 1. Not to know its nobler lJOSsibilities is to be without the needful incentive to lofty aspiration and strenuous endeavour. 2. Not to know its weaknesses and its possibilities of evil is to go forward into the midst of bristling dangers, unarmed and undefended. Ill. THAT IGNORANCE OF THE WORLD (OF MEN AND THINGS) IS HIGHLY UNDESIRABLE, 1. 'l'o study, and thus to he acquainted with nature as God has fashioned it, to be Jamilia.r with the ways and with the arts and sciences of man,-is to be braced anrl strengthened in mind, is to be far better able to understand and to apply the truth of God as re~ealed in his Word. 2. 'l'o be i~orant of all this js to.be correspondingly weak and incapable. Knowledge is power, and ignorance is weakness, in ev:ery direc-· tion. To go on our way through the worl<l, failing to acquire the grasp of fact and truth which iatelligent observation and patient study would secure,-this is to leave untouched one large part of the heritage which our heavenly Father is offering to us. There is one particular consequence of ignorance whicli the wise man specifies; for he reminds us- . IV. THAT PRECIPITANCY IN WORD AND DEED IS POSITIVELY GUILTY. "He that hasteth with his feet sinneth." An unwise and hurtful precipitancy is the natural accompaniment of ignorance. 'l'he man who knows only a very little, does not know when be has beard only one-half of all that can be learnt; hence he decides-and speaks and acts off-band, without waiting for additional, complementary, or qualifying particulars. And hence he judges falsely and unjustly; henoe.he acts unrighteously and foolishly, and often cruelly; he takes steps which he has laboriously and ignominiously to retrace; he docs harm to the very ea.use which he is most anxious to help. It is tile man of wide knowledge and expanded view, it is .the large-minded and well-informed soul, that beard the best testimony, that does the worthiest and most enduring work, that lives the largest and most enviable life.-0.
Ver. 3.-Diaquietude and complaint. We have- I. GoD's RIGHTEOUS WAY. The way in which God intended man to walk was that way of wisdom, a.II of whose paths are peace. Thie divinely appointed way is thn.t of holy service. Man, li)!:e every other being above him, and every other creature below hill in tile universe, was created to serve. We were created to serve our God and our crt. xrx.1-29.] THE PROVERBS. 37!)
kind; nnd in this double service we ehonld find our rest and our heritage. This, which is God'B way, should have been our way also. II. MAN'S PERVERTED WAY. Man, in bis sin and his folly, has "perverted his way;" he has attempted another path, a short cut to happiness and success. He bas turned out of the b'gh-road of holy service into the by-path of selfishness; he has sought his satisfaction and his portion in following bis own will, in giving himself up to worldly ambitions, in indulging in unholy pleasure, in living for mere enjoyment, in making himself the master, and his own good the end and aim of his life. III. His OONSEQUENT DISQUIETUDE, When anything is in its wrong pla,ce, there is certain to be unrest. If in the mechanism of the human body, or in the machinery of an engine, or in the working of some organization, anything (or any one) is misplaced, disorder and disquietude invariably ensue. And when man puts bis will above or against that of bis Divine Creator, that of his heavenly Father, there is a displacement and reversal such as may well bring about disturbance. And it does. It is hardly saying too much to say that all the violence, disease, strife, misery, poverty, death, we see around us arise from this disastrous perversion-from man trying to tum God's way of blessedness into bis own way. Man's method bas been utterly wrong and mistaken, and the penalty of bis folly is heart-ache, wretchedness, ruin. IV. BIS VAIN AND GUILTY COMPLAINT. He" fretteth against the Lord." Instead of smiting himself, be complains of God. He fails to see that the source of bis unrest is in bis own heart; be ascribes it to his circumstances, and be imputes these to his Creator. So, either secretly or openly, he complains of God; he thinks, and perhaps says, that God has dealt hardly with him, bas denied to him what be bas given to others ; in the dark depths of his soul is a guilty rebelliousness. V. Tm: ONE WAY OF REST. This is to return unto the Lord in free and full submission. 1. To recognize God'ij righteous claim upon us, as our Creator, Preserver, Redeemer. 2. To acknowledge to ourselves and to confess to him that we have guiltily withheld ourselves from him, and sinfully complained of his holy will. 3. To ask hi3 mercy in Jesus Christ our Saviour, and offer our hearts to himself and our lives to his service. This is the one way of rest and joy; it is "the path of life."-C.