spiritu:il qualification; and (2) let us all beware of attaching too much wei 6ht to tl,o religious motives of people who may be able business men, clever literary critics and even profound students of science, and yet in moral regions "blind leaders of th~ blind." III. MISDIRECTED WISDOM 18 THE HEIGHT 011' FOLLY. The very ability, misappliec!, witnesses for the foolishness which permitted so gross a mistake. These people who are "wise to do evil" arc ou the whole" foolish,"" sottish," and" have 110 und,-rstanding." 'l'be man who is prudent enough to exerciso forethought for this life only enhances his folly in having none for the future life (Luke xii. 16-21). He who knows much of worldly things is convicted of grossest clarkness in not knowing God. 'l'he born fool is excused by his misfortune of nature. Dut how foolish for the man who shows him- self capable of wisdom to neglect the highest wisdom I Note, in conclusion, (1) the common mistake of honouring men for their intellectual ability rather than for their moral character; (2) the error of those who pride themselves in "knowing the world," while they are ignorant of God (Rom. xvi. 19); and (3) the need to Lurn from intellectual pride to childlike trust for the source of true wisdom (Matt. xi. 25). Vers. 23-26.-07,aos the result of sin. I. SIN HAS A RETROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT. In his vision of the earth desolated by a Divine judgment on sin, Jeremiah sees a relapse to the primeval condition before the dawn of creation, and in his graphic descrip- tion uses the very words of the narrative in Genesis. He describes the earth as "waste and wild." Every step in sin is a step downward, backward. It is backsliding. How rapid this is! One generation sees the fall back to the condition from which it bad taken ages to build up the order of the world. One day's sin may undo the work of years in a soul's progress. One age of misrule may throw a nation back for centuries. II. Sm HAS A DISINTEORATING INFLUENCE. It breaks up the fair order or the wor!.l a.ud tends to reduce it to chaos. Religion and morality are the chief securities for order, the strongest bands of social unity. Vice is a social solvent, destroying ties of trust and affection, undermining the foundations of industrial co-operation. It is corruption, an<l corrnption means decomposition. '!'his may be applied (1) politically, (2) socially, (8) personally. III. SIN HAS A DESOLATING EFFECT. The earth is seen as not only wild; it is "waste," i.e. fruitless, solitary, desolate. The fruitful place becomes a wilderness, and the whole land desolate. 'l'he result of the retrogressil'e and disintegrating influences of sin is not to reduce the world to a state of elementary simplicity. It introduces confusion, turmoil, disaster, death. The loss of goodness involves the admission of evil passions, nnd the advent of these is followed by the irruption of misery with no prospect of peaco but in death and destruction (Jas. i. 15), I'er. 30.-The abject helplessness which resorts to false pretensions and its failure. J. ADJEcT HELPLESSNESS. 'l'his follows the discovery or punishment of sin. It is when Israel" is spoiled." faruel is boastful and self-confident before the disaster comes; thu prophet advises him to consider what be will do after it has fallen on him. What can be done in such a case? 'l'he sin cannot be undone; once revealed it cannot bu hidden again; punishment from God cannot be successfully resisted by man. It is vain, then, to call on the mountains to fall ond cover us (Luke xxiii. 30). How dread- ful to be thus confounded I left without excuse, without refuge, without remedy I How much better to anticipate this conclusion and prevent it I II. FALSE PRETF:NSIONS, '!'here are the refuges now resorted to and trusted in for the future, but in vain. 1. Outward glory is a mockery when once internal wretchedness is discovered. What use are purple and fine linen to tho leper? 2. When character is revealed, profession counts for nothing. 3. When true worth is de~troyed, the most frantic attempts to recover it at the last moment will prove fruitleRI. The character onco lost is hard to retrieve. Cousider, then, the common mistake of living for appearances, mnking the outsido of life respcctnble while the heart is corrupt, and, in the eveut of discovery, not rt>penting and aml)nding, but simply excusing one's self, "makinu the best of the matter," trying still to put on a fair show. This is common at all ti~ea. So m1my peoplo are more nnxions to seem good than to be goo<l. All the petty contrivances and miserable deceptions of such lives will be one day <lisclo~ell, THE BOOlt OF THE PUOPHRT J1mmtrAlI. [en. Iv. 1-31.
III. ULTIMATE FAil.URE. "Thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life." 1. Once discovered, the attempt to win favour by false appearances will not only defeat its own object; it will aggravate the evil it is intended to avoid. H aims at securing honour; but when detected it is the butt of ridicule, the deserved occasion of con- tempt.. 2. The friends of sinful days become foes in the time of trouble. 'l'he lovers of the daughter of Zion are the first to despise her and seek her life. 'l'he ties of friend- ship in wickedness are brittle. This is based on selfishness. No high constancy can be expected from people of bad character. 'l'he only friend who will be a refuge in the shame and ruin which follow sin, is not_ the partner in guilt, but the very God against whom the sin is committed.