is bound up in the heart of a child." Before he is guilty of conscious sin the tendency to wickedness begins to work within him. II. THE AGE OF THE TRAINING. This is to be in childhood, for various reasons. 1. Its sw;/!£J)tibility. (1) Susceptibility to training. The young mind is plastic; habit is not yet confirmed. It is easier to form a character than to reform it. (2) Sus- ceptibility to religion. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Young children e.re peculiarly open to religious impressions. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon tile growing boy, But ho beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy." (Wordsworth.) Faith is natural to children. They cannot become theologians, but they may be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. 'l'houghts of God and Christ, and the call to the better life, can be well received by them. 2. Its dangers. Children are open to temptation. If not trained in goodness, they will be trained in evil. Some have thought that children should not be biassed in their religious ideas, but left in freedom to choose for them- selves. We do not do this in secular matters, trusting them to choose their own methods of spelling and to manufacture their own multiplication-table. If we believe our religion to be true and good and profitable, it is only a cruel pedantry that will keep it from children for fear of prejudicing their minds. 3. Its duties. Early years should be given to Christ. He seeks the opening bnd, not the withered leaf. Ill. THE LA w OF THE TRAINING. 1. In action. There is a practical end in educa- tion. We are not merely to teach doctrine, but chiefly to train conduct. 2. .Accord- ing to right. This is not a question of taste. There is a way in which a child ought to go. It is his duty to tread it, and ours to lead him in it. 3. .According to future require- ments. While the main principles of education must be the same for all children, the special application of them will vary in different cases. We have to apply them to the specific career expected for each child. The prince should be trained for the throne, the soldier for the field, etc. 4. .According to personal qualities. Each child's nature needs separate consideration and distinctive treatment. The training that would ruin one child might save another. We have not to drill all children into one uniform fashion of behaviour; we have rather to call out the individual gifts and capacitiee, and guard against the individual faults and weaknesses. 'l'hus the training of a child will be the directing of his own specific nature. IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRAINING. "When he is old, he will not depart from it." Age stiffens. It is well that it should grow firm in the right. Here is the reward of teaching the young. The work is slow and discouraging, and at first we see few resnJts; perhaps we imagine that all our efforts are wasted upon thoughtless minds. But if the work is hard to begin, there is this compensation in it-when it has fairly laid hold of a child, it is not likely to be ever effaced. The teachings of the Sunday srJ;ool are remembered after many a long year.
Vers. 20, 21.-Certainty. I. THE TRUTH-SEEKER DESIRES CERTAINTY, With him "the certainty of the words of truth" is the great object sought after. 1. Certainty must be distir,guishedfrom positiveness. Doubt is often violent in assertion, as though to silence the opposition that cannot be answered. We may be very positive without being at all certain. 2. Certainty must be distinguishedfr<Ytn cei·titude. Certitude is the feeling of certainty. Now, we may feel no doubt on a subject, and yet we may be in error. Real certainty is a well-grounded assurance. 3. Certainty is desired because truth is precious. If a person is indifferent to truth, he may be satisfied with doubt, or acquiescent in error. This is the contemptuous condition of the cheerful Sadducee. His scepticism is no pain to him, because he does not feel the loss of truth. Not valuing truth, it is a light matter to him that he misses it. Such a condition of mind is an insult to truth itself. A man who recognizes the royal glory of truth will be in the greatest distress if he thinks it has eluded his grasp. To him the feelin; of doubt will be an agony. 4. Certainty is sought because it is not always present. 1t may be very OJI. :u:in,' 1-29.] THE PROVERBS. 431
difficult to find. We grope in ignorance, error, and confusion of mind. Then the great want is some solid assurance of truth. Without this the world is dark, our voyac,e 0 may end in shipwreck, and we cannot know God, ourselves, or our destiny. II. TBE TBUTil-BEEKEB MAY SECURE CERTAINTY. The Bible denies agnosticism. It offers revelation. 1. Truth is revealed. The written Word contains the record of revelation. God has spoken to us through his prophets, but chiefly in bis Son (Heh. i. 1, 2). Everything that lifts the Bible above common books and impresses its mes- sage upon our hearts as from God, urges us to believe in the truth of what it teaches, for God is the Source of all truth. If the Bible does not teach truth, the Bible must be an earthly book, uninspired by God. 2. Truth must be practised and studied. " Excel- lent things in counsels and knowledge" are written in the Bible. But to find their truth we must do the commandment, follow the counsel, enter thoughtfully into the knowledge. 3. Truth should be taught. "That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee." (1) Inquirers need counsel and guidance. (2) Truth iii no private possession, but 1' public trust. (3) They who teach others especially need to know the truth themselves.