but for the sake of Christ, they are to be loved with an affection so ardent, that other women, however beautiful, may appear in their presence like painted flowers

It is the duty and the interest of wives, to be adorned with those beauties which will render easy the duties which their husbands owe them. It is indeed the duty of husbands to love their wives, for the sake of God's command, and Christ's example; but it is very difficult to love, where this pleasant affection is not engaged by lovely qualities in the object. Why should husbands and wives tempt one another to sin against God to their own prejudice?

This cordial love in the married state, will produce pleasures far sweeter than were ever found in unlawful love; and what chiefly recommends them is, that they have no sting attending them, and give no offence to God, our Witness and our Judge.

Ver. 20, 21. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger ? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.

Is it a pleasure to men to affront their Judge, and to Will provoke the vengeance of an Almighty arm? they prefer these poor, and spiritless, and unsatisfying pleasures which he forbids, to those pure delights which are licensed by his goodness? Remember, sinners, that God is present in your close retreats of wickedness! You see him not, because you are blind, but your stupidity cannot banish an omnipresent Deity; your bars and bolts cannot exclude him who fills heaDarkness hideth not from him of ven and earth. whom it is said, "The day is thine, the night also is thine." Why should men dare to affront Jehovah,

their Maker and their Judge, by doing that in his presence, which they would be ashamed to do in the presence of a child? God will not be mocked. He will punish the wanton glance, and the lascivious thought. Where, then, shall they appear who indulge themselves in acts of criminality? Will a thief steal in the presence of the judge, and yet hope to escape vengeance? And shall abandoned sinners flatter themselves with the thought of escaping the damnation of hell, from Him who will come to judgment, and will be a swift witness against adulterers * ?

Sinners think that they will repent, after having for a while enjoyed the pleasures of sin,-pitiable delu

sion !

Ver. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sins.

Sinners will find, when too late, if wonderful mercy prevent not, that the sorrow which springs from selflove, is a very different thing from repentance, and that it is not so easy a matter as the devil told them, to venture their salvation in the hands of a Redeemer. They look upon saints as slaves who live an unpleasant life, but time will convince them, since admonition cannot, that themselves are the slaves, bound in the strongest and most ignominious chains. They are fettered by vicious affections, and they have neither power nor will to assert their liberty. The cords of their own sins shall hold them fast, till they are cast into that prison from whence there is no release.

This is a wretched condition, but they may thank themselves. Their own hands forged the chains which are rivetted upon them. They refused that glorious liberty proclaimed to them in the word of Christ.

The sinner flattered himself that he did not refuse redemption, he only delayed the acceptance of it. But

* Mal. iii. 5. Heb. xiii, 4.

such delays are refusals in God's estimation. To the sinner they are for the most part fraught with ruin. Ver. 28. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

He despised instruction during life, and he shall die without it. He expected, that when his mortal career should draw near its close, good ministers should attend him and pray with him. He shall either want that comfort, or it is to be feared that it will not be blessed to him. None but God can awaken a sleeping and stupified conscience; and when it is awakened, its clamours drown the voice of him who says, "Believe in Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

In his amazing folly, he goes astray in his crooked ways, and is led forth in the first rank of the workers of iniquity.

Let the guilty

Let those who are not yet tainted by this vice bless God, and let them watch and pray. tremble and mourn; yet despair not. rescued Solomon is not weakened.

The arm that The blood that

cleansed the Corinthian whoremongers has lost none of its virtue.

CHAPTER VI.

In this chapter we are cautioned by the wise man, against rash suretiship, idleness, mischievousness, and especially against impurity, together with a variety of other sins, exceedingly hateful to God.

2 Pet, ii. 11.

The first five verses contain a warning against suretiship.

Ver. 1, 2. My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

God graciously directs our temporal affairs by his providence, and condescends, in his word, to give us instructions concerning them. If we regard not these, we need not be surprised though his providence convince us, by dear-bought experience, of our folly and sin.

He forbids us to become surety, even for a friend, (except for some weighty reason,) and to strike hands with a stranger, in token of our becoming bound for our friend's debts. Men who think only of the present time, are generally too rash in undertaking; but they ought to remember, that the time to come is before them, and will be present time when the time now present is past. If the money were to be paid just now, they would hesitate and deliberate before acting, lest they should wrong their families; but Solomon tells them, that men may ensnare and entangle themselves with the words of their mouths, as well as with the works of their hands.

This consideration may alarm those who have already implicated themselves by such engagements. This kind teacher, therefore, puts them on a plan to get free.

Ver. 3, Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend: go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

By rash suretiship, you put yourself into the power, not only of the creditor, but of the debtor, for whom you are bound. You lie at his mercy. He has it in his power to make you smart severely for your foolish

kindness to him. The world is full of complaints about ungrateful men, who have basely abused, to the prejudice of their benefactors, the goodness they have experienced. Endeavour, therefore, by the humblest behaviour toward your friend, to induce him to take the proper steps to bring you out of your present embarrassed situation; for if you peevishly reflect on him as the means of bringing you into it, he may be provoked to use his advantage to your loss.

The wise man is very urgent with his scholars to take this step.

Ver. 4, 5. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eye-lids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

A roe and a bird are creatures destitute of reason, yet when entrapped by the arts of the sportsman, they will try every method of escape, and make no delay in using every effort for regaining their freedom. May not equal prudence and attention to their own interests, be expected from reasonable creatures!

But what is the great importance of this precept, that Solomon will not allow his disciple to rest till he is free from these rash engagements? Has this precept any connection with our spiritual interest? It has. It is a part of the eighth commandment, and though men regard it rather as a loss than a sin to endanger their outward estate, it is both a sin and a temptation. Men who once seemed upright in their dealings, have brought reproach upon religion, by living and dying in other men's debt, and by having recourse to unjustifiable methods, suggested by distress, to relieve themselves.

The effect of suretiship, even with the most upright men, has often proved hurtful to their souls, embitter