Yers. 8-10.-Tlie senselessness of scorn, etc. Here is a triplet of truths wo may gather from these three texts. I. THE SENSELESSNESS OF scORN. (Ver. 8.) To be of o. scornful spirit to bestow scor?ful looks, to use s?ornful language,-th!s is gross folly. 1. It is utterly unbe- coming. Not one of us 1s so removed above !us fellows as to be entitled to treat with entire disregard what they may have to say or what they propose to do. 2. Tl1e wisest men, and even the Wise One himself, think well to listen to what the humblest can 1mggest. 3. It leads to a blind opposition to true wisdom; for often wisdom is found with those in whom no one expects to discover it; even as the scornful Greek and the 11roud Roman found it in the despised teachers from Judrea. 4. It ends disastrously. It " brings a city into a snare," "sets a city in a flame." It refuses to consider the serious danger that is threatened, or it provokes to uncontrollable anger by its disdain- fulness ; and the end is discord, confusion, strife. 5. It deliberately neglects the one way of peace. A wise man who does not refuse to listen and to learn, who prefers to treat neighbours and even enemies with the respect that is their due, "turns away wrath," and saves the city from the flame. Scorn is thus a senseless thing in every light. II. THE USELESS1''ESS OF CONTENTION. (Ver. 9.) We are not to understand that it is a vain or foolish thing to endeavour (1) to enlighten the ignorant, or (2) to con- vince the mistaken. Where there is an honest and loyal spirit, it may be of great service to do this. What is useless is (3) to debate with the contentious. Nothing comes of it but the clatter of the tongue and the triumph of the complacent" fool." He may " rage" or he may "laugh ; " he may passionately declaim or he may indulge in banter and in badinage, but he does not seek, and he wm not find, the truth. He is no nearer to wisdom at the end than he was at the beginning. Time is wasted; the heart of the wise is disappointed; the wayward man is confirmed in his folly ;-let him alone. III. THE AIM OF THE UPRIGHT. This is twofold. 1. Peace. The wise man, who is the upright man, "turns away wrath;" and he objects to a contest with the con- tentious, because" there is no rest." Those in whom is the Spirit of Christ are always setting this before them as a goal to be reached; they speak and a.et as those that "make for peace." They feel that everything which can be should be avoided that makes for dissension and strife; they are the "peacemakers," and theirs is the blessing of the children of God (Matt. v. 9). 2. Life. They (the upright) "seek the soul," or the life, of tbe man whom the bloodthirsty hate (ver. 10). To "seek the soul" or the life of men is the characteristic of the good. (1) They care, in thought and deed, for the preservation and the protection of human life ; they seek the remove.I of all that threatens it. (2) They care much for all that enlarges and ennobles human life- education, morality, sound discipline. (3) They care most of all for tbat one thing which crowns human life, and may be said to constitute it---the return of the soul to God and its life in him. In this deepest and truest sense they "seek his soul;" for they are regarding and pursuing its spiritual and eternal welfare.-C.
Ver. 11 (and see eh. xii. 16; xiv. 33).-The time to be silent. Tbere is a time to keep silence as well as a time to speak (see Eccles. iii. 7). According to our individual temperament we need the oni, injunction or the other. There are few, however, of either sex or of any disposition who do not need to be urged to guard the door of the lip. This is one of those things in which we all offend in our time and in our way. Impatience most frequently leads to transgression; but there are other provocations- there are other occasions when the warning word is wanted. We should carefully command our tongue when there is in our mind- I. THE IDEA oF ACHIEVEMENT. It is unwise to talk of what we are going to do as soon as it occurs to us to act. \Ve may tbink ourselves capable or our circumstances favourable when, on further consideration or inquiry, we find that we o.re not equal to the task or that our position makes it impossible to us. We should think before we undertake. II. 'l'HE THOUGHT OF IGNORANCE. Nothing but he,rm can come of counsel given in ignorance of any case before us. Either we persuade our friends and colleagues to take action wLich i~ unwise and will prove to be injuriou~ a.nd possibly disastrous; or we OH, XXIX. 1-27.] TBE PROVERBS. 567