IV. THE PABBAGE OF YOUTH. The prudent recognize the fact that, unless youth yields its own particular fruit of knowledge, of acquisition, of capacity for work in one field or other, the prizes of life must be foregone; and, recognizing this, they do not waste the golden hours of study in idleness or dissipation. But the simple take no heed, trust to the chapter of accidents, wait upon fortune, fling away their precious chances, and are" punished" by having to take the lower path all the rest of their days. V. THE BIBK OF LOSING HEALTH, The prudent man sees that, if he urges his powers beyond the mark which kind and wise nature draws for him, he will gain a present advantage at the cost of future good, and he holds himself in check. The simple pass on-over-work, over-study, strain their faculties, and break down long before their time. VI. THE LOBB OF LIFE. The wise man will count on this; he will reckon that any day he may be called to pass from his business and his family and his pleasure to the great acconnt and the long future; and he livf's accordingly, ready for life or for death, prepared to enconnter the hour when he will look his last on time and confront eternity. The simple leave this stem fact out of their account; they pass on their way without making preparation either for those whom they must leave behind or tor themselves when they enter the world where material treasures are of no account whatever; they pass on, and they "are punished," for they, too, reach the l10ur of departure, but they awake to the sad fact that that has been left undone for which a long life is not too long a preparation.-C.
Ver. 5.-.77ie path of the perverse. By "the froward" we understand the spiritually perverse-those that will go on their own way, deaf to the commandments aml the entreaties of their heavenly Father. I. THE PATH OF THE PERVERSE, This is: 1. One of guilt. These froward souls who choose their own way, declining that to which God calls them, are most seriously guilty. Whether their disobedience be due to careless inattention or whether to deliberate recusancy, it is disloyal, ungrateful, presumptuous, offensive in a high 1legree. It is no wonder that it proves to be: 2. One of suffering. No wonder that "thorns" are in that way, thorns that pierce and pain.-grievous troubles, poverty, ~ickness, loneliness, fear, remorse, forsakenness of God. Departure from God leads down to tangled places, causes men to be lost in thorny wildernesses where suffering abounds. It is also: 3. One of danger. It is a place of "snares." Without the "lamp unto the feet and the light unto the path," how should the traveller in "this dark world of sin" do otherwise the.n fall? Outside the service of Christ, and apart from his guide.nee, when the heart is uncontrolled from above, there is the greatest danger of the spirit giving way to one evil after another, of yielding to that multitude of strong temptatious which attend the traveller's steps. II. 'l'HE WAY OF THE WISE. There is no necessity for man finding the path of his life a pa.th full of thorns and snares. It is true that no prudence or wisdom will prove an absolute gua.rd therefrom; but if a man will" keep his soul" as he may keep it, he will be preserved in his integrity, he will even" be far" from the worst evils which overtake the froward and perverse. To "keep our soul" is to: 1. Understand its inestimable worth; to understand that it far transcends in value any property we may hold, or any position we may reach, or any prizes or pleasures we may snatch. 2. Realize that God claims it as his own; that to the Father of spirits, to the Saviour of souls, our hearts and lives belong; that to him they should be willingly and heartily surrendered, that they may be placed in his strong and holy keeping. 3. Guard it by the help of Divine wisdom; apply those precious truths which are in the pages of God's Word to its necessity; study the life and form the friend8hip of that One who himself is the Wisdom of God, walking with whom along the path of life we shall be safe Croll¼. the wiles of the wicked one.-C. Ver. 6.-Pcirental training. Very many parental hearts have leaned their weight of hope on these cheering words-many to be sustained and gladtlened, some to ho disappointed. We look at- L 'l'HE BB(IAD Sl'BERE OF P.\BENTAL TRAINll!<I, What is the way in which e. child THE PROVERBS. [OH, X:tu; 1-29!