they are, with us, the offspring of God, and may be his children in the highest and deepest sense (1 Pet. ii. 17). Yet is it our clear duty to see that folly is dishonoured, .that it is me.de to take the lowest place, that the man who does shameful things is put to shame before his fellows. Let those who dishonour God, disregard their fellows, and disgrace themselves, feel the edge of holy indignation; they should be smitten in faith- fulness that they may be healed in mercy. III. ITs INJURIOUSNESS. 'l'o honour the fool by giving him rank, or responsibility, or the opportunity of speecb, is: 1. To infure him. For it is to make him "think him- self to be something [or,' somebody'] when he i.; nothing [or,' nobody']." It is to fasten him in bis present position of unworthiness, and thus to do him the most serious harm we can inflict upon him. The flatterer of the fool is his deadliest enemy. 2. To inJure the community. It is " to drink damage," to bind a stone in a sling that is most likely to hit and hurt our neighbour, to smart with a wound from some sharp thorn. The foolish, the guilty, the wrong in heart and mind, do serious harm when they hold the Jeins of office or sit in the seat of honour. Their very elevation is itself an encourage- ment to folly and vice, and a discouragement to wisdom and virtue. They administer injustice instead of justice. They let all things down instead of raising them up. They advance those who are like-minded with themselves, and neglect those who deserve honour and promotion. Speaking from "the chair," they make falsity and foolishness to appear to be truth and wisdom, and so they mislead the minds and darken the lives and betray the souls of men.-C. Vers. 2, 3.-Wnat to fear. Fear enters largely into human experience. It is an emotion which is sometimes stamped upon the countenance so that it is legible to all who look upon it. Under its baleful shadow some men have spent a large part of their life. We may well ask wha.t to fear and how to be delivered lrom its evil. There are some- I. TmNGB THAT HAVE DEEN, BUT NEED NOT HAVE DEF.N, FEARED. 1. Men and women have dreaded "the evil eye" of their fellow-men. They have been alnrmed by evil omens, by signs and portents that have boded misfortune or calamity, by presenti- ments of approaching death, etc. .All theso things ha.ve been purely imn~inary, and they hnve added largely and lamentably to the burdens and sorrows of existence. It i3 painful to think how many thousands, how many millions of mankind have had their hearts troubled and their lives darkened, or even blighted, by fears that have been wholly needless-fears of some evil which hns never been more or nearer to them in fact than the shadow of the bird's wing as it circles in the air or flies away into the forest. 2. Of these imaginary evils that which is conspicuous among others is the curse of the wiclced-" the curse that is causeless." The bitter imprecation of the.heart thnt is full of unholy hatred may make the spirit quiver at the moment, but its effect should be momentary. Let reason do its rightful work and the anxiety will disappear. What possiblo harm ca.n come of the bad man's curse? He has no power to bring about its fulfilment. Not in his hand aro the laws of nature, the issues of events, the future of tho holy. Let the feeling of apprehension pass away with n reflection that nil these things nre in the hu.nd of the Supreme. Lot it be as the wing of the f!ittiug bird, out of sight in a moment. Let it be "as the idle wind which wo re~ard not." II. THINGS THAT llfUST SOMETIMES DE BRAVED. Although w11 ma.y entirely disre- gard the malediction of the guilty and tho godless, wo aro obliged to attach some importance to their active opposition. When imprecation passes into determined hostility, we have then to lay our account with it. We havo then to consider what we ruust do to meet it. But if we are obviously and consciously in the right, we can a.lford to bravo and breast it. We are not alone. Goel is with us. Almighty power, irresistible wisdom, Divine sympa.thy, are with us; 1we may go on our way, doing our duty and bearing our testimony, fearless of our foes and of all their mnchinntions. '!'here is, however- III. ONE TBmG FROM WHICH IT IS NATURAL TO SHRL'fK; the enmity of a human heart. We may make light of the weapons of our adversaries; we may bo fearless of their designs and their dorngs; but from the feeling of hatred in their hearts we do well to shrink. It is far from being nothing that human hearts aro actually hating u~, rualeNlently wishing us evil, prepared to rejoice in our sorrow, in our downfail. We 512 THE PROVERBS. [err. XXVI, 1-28.
Ehould not surely be entirely un11.ffected by the thought. It is n consideration thnt ?hould move us to pi:ty and to pra'!/er. We should have a sorrowful feeling that ends m ~myer tl:at _God would tum their ~CA.rt, th11.t leads also to the first avnil11.ble oppor- tunity of wmmng them to a bettrr mmd. And there are those who should cherish- IV. ONE SALUTARY FEAR. (Ver. 3.) Thoso who are wrong in heart and life may dread tl1e coming down upon them of that rod of correction which is found to be the only weapon that will avail.-C.