(No. CXXXVI.)

THE MAN-WARD FEELING, AND THE INFINITE INTELLIGENCE OF GOD. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die. Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more then the hearts of the children of men," -Prov. xv. 8-11.

I. GOD'S MAN-WARD FEeling. The text speaks of " abomination" and "delight" in God. God is not a being of sheer intellect, one that sees all and feels nothing; indifferent alike to the good and the bad, the happy and the miserable. He has a heart. Within his Being there is an infinite ocean of the tenderest sensibilities. But the text teaches us that He has man-ward feelingsfeelings that have relation to sinful men on this little planet. This is wonderful, wonderful that man can affect the heart of the Infinite. The text suggests three things concerning this man-ward feeling. First: It is mingled. There is "abomination" and "delight." His feelings in relation to man partake of the agreeable and the disagreeable. How the Infinite can feel anything like sadness we know not, but the Bible speaks of Him as being "grieved," "troubled," as "repenting," &c. There is an awful wail of sadness in some of the divine utterances. His man-ward feeling, Secondly: Has respect to character. His abomination is toward the "wicked," and his delight is toward the "upright." "The sac

rifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." The wicked make sacrifices sometimes from custom, sometimes from fear, but their sacrifices, however costly in their nature, and scriptural in their mode and form of presentation, are an "abomination." Their sacrifice is an acted lie, and is an offence to the Omniscient. Cain is an example. (Gen. iv. 3-5.) The Scribes and Pharisees are examples. (Matt. xv. 8-9.) On the contrary, the "prayer of the upright is his delight, and he loveth him that followeth after righteousness." To Daniel the

angel said, "At the beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth and I am come to show thee that thou art greatly beloved." (Dan. v. 22.) Of Cornelius it was said, "Thy prayer and thy alms are come as a memorial before the Lord." (Acts x.) So pleasing is the prayer of the good to the Father, that "He seeketh such to worship Him." That the Infinite cannot look at the good and the bad with the same feeling is clear (1) from the testimony of universal conscience (2), from the history of providential judgments (3), from the declarations of holy Scripture. Another remark which the text suggests concerning God's man-ward feeling, is, Thirdly: It expresses itself in human experience. "Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die." There are wrapt in these words three great principles. (1.) Wrong must meet with suffering. The man that forsaketh the way must have correction. (2.) Suffering

must develop character. To the wicked it is "grievous," and, he hateth reproof. He murmurs, rebels, and is full of resentment to God. On the contrary it is implied that the righteous accepts it in the proper spirit of resignation, acquiescence, &e. (8.) That character must determine destiny. "He that hateth reproof shall die? But the point to be here, observed is that all this experience in man in relation to the right and the wrong, expresses God's feeling. There must be punishment for sin. That is God's feeling in law.

II. GOD'S INFINITE, INTELLI GENCE. "Hell and destruction are. before the Lord: how much more, then the hearts of the children of men?" Three things are implied in this wonderful passage. First: That the human heart hus secret abysses within it. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. xvii. 9.) So profound are some of the secret things of the soul that man does not know his own heart. Circumstances often bring up to life and power things of which he was utterly "Who can unconscious before. understand his errors," &c. Secondly: That the secret abysses of the human heart are not so great as hell and destruction. Hell is the Sheol in Hebrew, and the Hades in Greek; and it signifies the unseen world, the great universe of spirits. And perhaps especial reference is here had to that section which is under the damnation of eternal justics, fallen angels, and ruined men. What secret abysses there are in each of these souls! We read of the depths of Satan. What depths are those? Thirdly God thoroughly knows the abysses of hell and destruction and therefore He must be thoroughly conversant with the human heart. "Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering be

'X'scorner av th not one that reproveth him; neither will he go unto the wise."-Próv. xv. 12.

THE general definition of scorn is, "that disdainful feeling or treatment which springs from a person's opinion of the meanness of an object, and a consciousness or béliet of his own superiority or worth.' It is not necessarily bad: Scorn for the mean and the immoral, is a state of mind both virtuous and praiseworthy, but scorn for the true and the right, the noble and the divine is a state of mind akin to the worse spirit in hell itself. It is to such the text refers. The scorner here is one who scoffs at religion and God.

As this character has frequently come under our attention in passing through this book," we shall very briefly state three things that are here implied concerning him.

I. HE REQUIRES REPROOF, This? is implied in the passage. And truly if the scorner requires not reproof, who does? He should be reproved, First: For his selfignorance. He who arrogates to himself a superiority to divine teaching, is utterly unacquainted with his own limited faculties, moral relations, and spiritual needs. Of all ignorance, s ifignorance is the most inexcusable, criminal, and ruinous. He

should be reproved, Secondly: For his impious presumption. The scorner sets his mouth against the heavens. He dares not only to adjudicate on the doing of God, but to ridicule the utterances of infinite wisdom. Surely such a man requires reproof.

II. HE SHUNS REPROOF. "He will not go unto the wise." Why? Because the wise would reprove him. The very instinct of a truly wise man leads to the moral castigation of such characters as scorners. The wise man cannot tolerate such iniquity. The scoffer knows it, and he shuns the society of the good. First: He will not read books that will deal seriously and honestly with his character. Secondly: He will not attend a ministry that will expose his character in the broad light of eternal law. Thirdly: He will not join the society that will deal truthfully with its members. The scorner "will not go unto the wise." Not he. He shrinks from the light. He has a horror of having his own proud conceit and haughty imaginations denounced and brought to contempt.

III. HE HATES REPROOF. "The scorner loveth not one that reproveth him." He deems the man his enemy who tells him the truth; hence, he hates the honest Christian, the faithful minister. Scorner, thou needest reproof! The man who will "ring thee such a piece of chiding," as will make thee feel the moral turpitude of thy character, is thy friend. He to whom thou canst say, "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots, as will not leave their tint," thou shalt feel one day to be the truest friend thou hast ever met.

VOL. XXI.

THE Bible speaks much about human hearts, and much to human hearts. It is a book pre-eminently for the heart, because the heart is the spring of man's activities, and the fountain of his history. In the text there is a reference to different kinds of heart. Here is the merry and the mournful heart, the understanding and the foolish heart.

I. HERE IS THE MERRY AND THE MOURNFUL HEART. First: Notice the merry heart. By the merry heart we shall understand the Christianly cheerful heart: not the light, frivolous heart of the thoughtless and the gay. Godliness is an element that fills the whole soul with cheerfulness. Two things are said in the text of this "merry heart." (1.) It is a radiance to the countenance. It maketh "a cheerful countenance." A man's countenance is a mirror, in which you can see his soul. Emotions chisel their features on the brow. Man has an instinct to We are recognise this fact.

physiognomists from childhood, judging evermore character from the face. This fact is (a) a great advantage in our social life. Did men show no soul in their faces, their presence would be as uninHuman teresting as statues.

society, if it could exist, would be oppressively monotonous. This fact suggests (6) the true method of beautifying the face. Beauty of countenance consisteth not in features, nor complexion, so much as in expression. A genial, frank, sunny look is that which fasci

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nates and pleases the beholder. Hence, make hearts cheerful by promoting Christianity, and you will make the presence of men and women mutually more attractive and pleasing. Stephen's Christianity made his face beam like that of an angel. Another thing said of this merry heart is, (2), it is a feast to the soul. "A merry heart hath a continual feast." The gratitude, reliance, the hope, the love of Christian cheerfulness, constitute the soul's best banquet. The banquet continues amidst material pauperism. "Although the fig-tree," &c. It is a "continual feast." Secondly: Notice the mournful heart. Two things are here said of the mournful heart." (1.) It breaks the spirit. "By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken." There are hearts over which there hangs a leaden cloud of gloom, All is discontent, foreboding sadness. This breaks the spirit. It steals away all vigour and elasticity from the soul.

The faculty-rallying force of the soul-is gone; and the machine falls to pieces. The mournful heart (2) curses the whole life. "All the days of the afflicted are evil." The afflicted here are those whose sorrow of heart have broken their spirit. Truly this gloom of soul turns the whole of a man's life into a night with scarcely a star to relieve the darkness.

II. HERE 18 THE UNDERSTANDING AND THE FOOLISH HEART.

First: The one "seeketh knowledge." "The heart of him that hath understanding, seeketh knowledge." The man who hath a true, understanding, unsophisticated, unbiassed heart, seeketh knowledge, the highest knowledge, the knowledge of God, which is the centre and soul of all science. Such was the heart of Nicodemus, who came at night to Jesus in quest of knowledge. Such was the

heart of Mary, who sat at the feet of the great Teacher; of the. Bereans, who searched the Scriptures for themselves. Secondly: The other "feedeth on foolishness.” Souls, like bodies, have different tastes. Some souls have a taste -not a natural, but an acquired one-for foolishness. They have a relish for things which in the sight of reason and God are foolish. They seize those things with voracity, and with a zest ruminate on them afterwards.

CONCLUSION. Which of these hearts throb in thee, my brother? Men have different moral hearts. Hast thou the cheerful or the mourning heart, the understanding or foolish? Remember that as thy heart, so art thou-so art thou in thy character, in the universe, and before God.

No. CXXXIX.

THE DINNER OF HERBS, AND THE STALLED OX.

"Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herts where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."-Prov. xv. 16, 17. THESE words present to us three subjects of thought. The secularly little with the spiritually good, the secularly much with the spiritually bad, and the better conjunction for man of the two.

I. THE SECULARLY LITTLE WITH THE SPIRITUALLY GOOD. Solomon gives a specimen here of the secalarly little-"a dinner of herbs." A meaner repast one could scarcely have-the mere food that nature gives the unreasoning cattle that feed in the mesdow. The spiritually good he describes as "the fear of the Lord"-a loving reverence for the Great One. This is religion, this is moral goodness. The picture he brings before us, therefore, is that of a good

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man in great poverty. has ever been, and still is, a common sight. Some of the truest and the holiest men that ever trod this earth, have had to feed on such humble fare "as a dinner of herbs." Lazarus, who found his home in Abraham's bosom, was a beggar. The Son of God had nowhere to lay his head. This shows two things, First: That poverty is not always disgrace. It is sometimes so. When it can be traced to indolence, extravagance, intemperance, &c., it is a disgrace; but where you find it in connection with the "fear of the Lord," it has nothing disreputable about it. The very rags of the good are far more honourable than the purple of the wicked. This shows, Secondly: That there are higher rewards for virtue than material wealth. If riches were the divine rewards for goodness, men would always be wealthy in proportion to their spiritual wealth. But it is not so; there are higher rewards for virtue than money. Spiritual freedom, a commending conscience, uplifting hopes, inspiring purposes, fellowship with the divine, these are the rewards of goodness.

IL. THE SECULARLY MUCH WITH THE SPIRITUALLY BAD. Here is a specimen of the secularly much, "a stalled ox." "A stalled ox,' not a single joint. This brings up to us the picture of a man with his family and friends sitting around the table enjoying a splendid banquet, a well-fed, well-cooked, well-served ox, with all its attendant luxuries before them, but he has no spiritual goodness, he does not "fear the Lord." He has no love in him; spiritually he is "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iaiquity." This is a social scene as prevalent as the former. Wickedness and wealth we see

everywhere associated; and this has been felt in all ages, by the thoughtful, as one of the most painful and perplexing enigmas in the government of God. "I was envious," said Asaph, "at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."

III. THE BETTER CONJUNCTION FOR MAN OF THE TWO. "Better

is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." Mark, he does not say a dinner of herbs is better than a feast off the stalled ox, this would be absurd, contrary to the common sense and common experience of mankind. Poverty is not better than riches, but the reverse; poverty is a serious disadvantage, and wealth in itself is a great blessing; but what he says is this, it is better to be poor with religion, than to be rich without it. Take two men, one shall be an averagely rich ungodly man, the other an averagely poor and pious man. Solomon would say that the condition of the latter is better than that of the former, and truly so for two reasons. First: His condition would be a more enjoyable one." He would have a higher happiness. His happiness would spring from within, that of the other from without. The happiness of (1) the one, therefore, would be sensational, the other spiritual. (2.) The one selfish, the other generous. (3.) Decreasing, the other heightening. The ungodly rich have their "portion in this life," and in this life only. Secondly: His condition would be a more honourable one. (1.) The one is honoured for what he has, the other for what he is. (2.) The one is honoured less and less as people get morally enlightened, the other more and more.