"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.”—Prov. xxiv. 1.

THESE words lead us to make a remark on two points

I. THE VILLAINY OF SIN. Here is a description of sinners: Their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief." Malignity is the very essence of sin. All sinners are of their father, the devil.

First: Their "study" is destruction. Destroy what? chastity, truth, moral sensibility, spiritual goodness, &c. Every wicked man in his measure is an Apollyon; like his great leader he goes about seeking whom he may devour.

Secondly: Their speech is mischief.

tends to destroy social order, to create social brawls, to set man against man, family against family, nation against nation. Sin is a destroyer. This is its instinct. This is its influence. Holy Scripture describes the genius and history of sinners.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips." It is said that when Nicephorus Phocas had built a strong wall about his palace for his own security, in the night-time he heard a voice crying to him, "O Emperor! though thou build thy wall as high as the clouds, yet if sin be within, it will overthrow all."

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II. THE ABSURDITY OF SIN. "Be thou not envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them." Two things are here implied, showing the absurdity of sin.

First: That sin envies the most unenviable things. Envy is essentially a bad passion. The poets imagine that envy dwelt in a dark cave, being pale and lean, looking a-squint, abounding with gall, her teeth black, never rejoicing but in the misfortune of others, ever unquiet, and continually tormenting herself. But this feeling is garbed with absurdity when it is directed to evil men. To envy evil men is to envy those whose natures are charged with the elements of misery, over whom the clouds of God's disfavour rest, and for whom a terrible retribution waits.

Secondly: That sin desires

For Illustration, see "Pulpit and its Handmaids," page 59.

most undesirable things. "Neither desire to be with them." To be in the fellowship of wicked men, to breathe their

though true faith (which cries, like Rachel, “Give me children, or else I die,") be ever the pregnant mother of good works, yet are not those works the cause, but the effects and signs of God's first love to him (however afterward the children may nurse their parents).

As, though the needles pointing at the poles be, by being an effect, an argument of its having been invigorated by the loadstone, or received the influence from some other magnetic body, yet it is not that respect unto the worth the cause, but the operation, the irons being drawn by the attractive mineral.BOYLE.

STRIFE FOR THE HEART (vide p. 54).-There is such strife for the heart as there was for Moses' body. "Give it me," saith the Lord. "Give it me," saith the tempter. "Give it me," saith the Pope. "Give it me," saith riches. "Give it me,'

saith

pleasure: as though thou must needst give it. Now, here is the choice-whether thou wilt give it to God or the devil. God's heart, or the devil's heart -whose wilt thou be?

Thus

doth man hang in a balance, like a young virgin which hath many suitors. Some she fancieth for their parentage, some for personage, some for friends, some for wealth, some for wit, some for virtue; and after all, chooseth the worst of all. So the heart hath many suitors besides God; that sometimes she marrieth with one, sometimes with another. The world keeps her, the flesh keeps her, the devil keeps her, which have no more interest in her than Herod to his sister, but seek her spoil; like them that marry for riches,

are glad when one dies, that another may come. His suitors are like Absalom, who did not seek the hearts of the people, like David, but stole them with flattery and lies.-HENRY SMITH.

DRINKING (vide p. 57).-At an Episcopal Convention, a discussion on temperance brought up the "wine question." An influential clergyman arose, and made a vehement argument in favour of wine. When he had resumed his seat, a layman said, "Mr. Moderator, it is not my purpose in rising, to answer the learned argument you have just listened to. My object is more humble, and, I hope, more practical. I once knew a father, in moderate circumstances, who was at much inconvenience to educate a beloved son at college. Here this son became dissipated; but after he had graduated and returned to his father, the influence acting upon a generous nature actually reformed him. The father was overjoyed at the prospect that his cherished hopes were still to be realized. Several years passed, when the young man, having completed his professional study, and being about to leave his father to establish in business, he was invited to dine with a neighbouring clergyman, distinguished for his hospitality and social qualities. At this dinner wine was introduced and offered to this young man, who refused; pressed upon him, and again refused. This was repeated, and the young man ridiculed; peculiar abstinence. The young man was strong enough to overcome appetite, but he could not resist ridicule. He drank, and fell, and from that moment be

came a confirmed drunkard, and long since has found a drunkard's grave. Mr. Moderator," continued the old man, with streaming eyes, "I am that father, and it was at the table of the clergyman who has just taken his seat, and my son, I shall never cease to mourn."

CLOYING PLEASURE (vide p. 58). A philosopher in an epistle which he writes to a man from the court of Dionysius, where he was forcibly detained, thus bemoans himself. "We are unhappy, O Antisthenes, beyond measure! and how can we but be unhappy, that are burdened by the tyrant every day with sumptuous feasts, plentiful compotations, precious ornaments, gorgeous apparel? and I knew as soon as I came into this island and city, how unhappy my life would be." This is the nature and common condition of even the most pleasing sensible objects. They first tempt, then please a little, then disappoint, and lastly, vex. The eye that beholds them blasts them quickly, rifles and deflowers their glory, and views them with no more delight at first, than disdain afterwards. Creature enjoyments have a bottom; are soon drained and drawn dry. Hence, there must be frequent diversions and their pleasures must be sought out, and are chosen, not because they are

better, but because they are new. -JOHN Howe.

IMPULSIVE SPIRITUAL LIFE (vide p. 26).-You may galvanize a paralysed limb, and, by galvanism, may restore the circulation, and so restore life to it; but the galvanism is not the life-it only rouses the dormant powers of life. Galvanism 18 a certain development of electricity - the same mysterious agent which, in another form, darts to and fro among the clouds of heaven. The life of the limb, on the other hand, consists in its answering the purposes for which it was made-in its habitual subservience to the will, in the power of contracting and relaxing its muscles when the will gives its notice to do so. Now, the professing Christian who is not spiritually alive is a paralysed member of the body of Christ. Impulses from a heavenly agent, the Holy Ghost, are ever and anon sent through the medium of God's ordinances in the body of Christ, and impart a convulsive, fitful motion even to those limbs which are paralysed. It does not, however, follow that the paralysed limbs are restored. In some cases they may be-in some they may not. At all events, the fitful movement of the limb is one thing, its permanent vitality another.-DR. GOULBURN.