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a halo of imperishable glory. David, notwithstanding his imperfections, was the glory of his children's children. He preserved to them the throne of Judah for seventeen generations.

"My boast is not that I derive my birth From mighty kings or nobles of the earth; But higher far my proud pretensions rise, The son of parents passed into the skies." Cowper.

In conclusion, the subject suggests two thoughts. First: The physical succession of the race. Fathers, children, children's children. "One generation cometh and passeth away." Secondly: The moral connection of the race. Men are either an honour or a disgrace to the members of their species, especially to their own lineage. "No man liveth unto himself," &c. Adam's sin has rolled its influence through the souls of all ages, all climes, and pulsates in the spirit of this generation.

(No. CLXXVI.)

INCONGRUOUS SPEECH.

"Excellent speech becometh not a fool; much less do lying lips a prince."-Prov. xvii. 7.

THE subject of these words is Incongruous speech-language which is inconsistent with the speaker's sentiments, spirit, and character. The verse leads us to refer to incongruous speech

I. IN RELATION TO THE CHARACTER OF THE SPEAKER. "Excellent speech"- -or as the margin has it, lips of excellency-" becometh not a fool." How often do we hear corrupt men using excellent speech! They do it to disguise their own character, and to impose upon their fellow-men. There is

First: Benevolent speech from the lips of the selfish. Secondly: Tender speech from the lips of the hardened. Thirdly: Spiritual speech from the lips of the carnal. Fourthly: Sacred speech from the lips of the profane. The verse

leads us to refer to incongruous speech

II. IN RELATION TO THE POSITION "Much less do OF THE SPEAKER.

lying lips a prince." The incongruity here is most flagrant; the prince ought to be the guardian of truth and honesty in the community, and as their guardian he should be their example. Louis

IX. of France said, "If truth be banished from all the rest of the world, it ought to be found in the breast of princes." It is a sad reflection upon Plato that he sanctioned falsehoods in princes on the ground that they governed for the public good. Lying men are bad, but lying princes are worse, they shake public confidence, and by their example they dispose of the nation to falsehood.

"This, above all, to thine own self be true:

And it must follow as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." SHAKESPEARE.

"A lie," says Carlyle, "should be trampled on and extinguished wherever found. I am for fumigating the atmosphere when I suspect that falsehood, like pestilence, breathes around me."

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influence for the good of society, to encourage the arts and the sciences, to raise intellectual and moral merit to its right social position, uses this "precious stone" in a praiseworthy way. Patronage is a great talent, that, rightly used, may render high service both to Church and State. In truth, a man by patronage may win a bloodless conquest over the malignant passions of personal antagonists. Thus Jacob triumphed over Esau. "I will appease him with a present that goeth before me, and afterwards I will see his face." This "precious stone," rightly used, can achieve sublimer triumphs than all the armies of Europe; it can subdue the enmity of the soul. Secondly: There is an unlawful use of this power. It is wrongly used when, for selfish ends and personal aggrandisement, it bribes men to act either without or against their consciences. Thus, alas! it is often used both in ecclesiastical and political matters. This " precious stone held up on the hustings, and sparkling in the eyes of the electors, has cleared the path of many for parliamentary seats. Heathens felt the power of this. Philip of Macedon said that there was no fortress so strong but it might be taken, if an ass laden with gold was brought to the gate. "A golden key," said an old author, 66 can open any prison gate, and cast the watchman into a deep sleep. Gold will break open gates, as well as silence the orator's voice and blind the judge's eyes.

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II. PATRONAGE IS POWER IN THE LIFE OF THE RECEIVER. Some sup

pose the reference is rather to the receiver of the gift than to the bestower. First: It is a power which binds him in gratitude to his patron. He who receives a gift from the generous impulses of another, if he has within him the true heart of a man, comes under the reign of gratitude; he feels bound to serve the giver whenever he can, consistently with his own conscience and duties. Secondly: It is a power which serves

to increase his own social credit. If he has received the "precious stone" from an honourable-minded patron as a recognition of personal excellence, as a reward of merit, the fact will so operate on the social mind around him, that "whithersoever he turneth, it prospereth;" his compeers will think the more of him on account of the favours he has received. Thus patronage, this "precious stone," is a power both to the bestower and the recipient. Let us give and receive in a right spirit; let us neither bribe nor be bribed by this "precious stone."

"Judges and senates have been bought for gold;

Esteem and love were never to be sold." POPE.

(No. CLXXVIII.)

THE RIGHT CONCEALMENT AND THE WRONG REVEALMENT OF OFFENCES.

"He that covereth a transgression seeketh love: but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends."-Prov. xvii. 9.

TWICE at least before, the sentiment of the text has come in somewhat a different aspect under our notice. In chapter x. 12, we have it in these words, "Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins; and in chapter xvi. 28, "A froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends."

I. THE RIGHT CONCEALMENT OF OFFENCES. "He that covereth a transgression seeketh love." The writer is of course speaking of a right covering of a transgression. Our transgression should not (1) be hidden from God; we should frankly confess our sins to Him. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. Our transgressions should not (2) be covered from our fellowmen against whom they have been committed. "We should confess our faults one to another." We should tell the man we have wronged, of the wrong we have done him. The right concealment, or the concealment of him who

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"seeketh love," includes two things. First: Hiding as much as possible the injuries we have received from others. There is a disposition prevalent in most men to recal, exaggerate, and reveal the injuries they have received from others. mother of this is revenge, and it tendeth to social discord, not to friendship. When an injury has been inflicted on us, and the offender has regrettingly confessed the same, the injury should be entombed,-should never rise from its grave or speak again. He who does that, "seeketh love;' " his conduct tends to the growth of social love. Secondly: Hiding as much as possible the offences we discover in others. A generous nature will throw a mantle of charity over the imperfections, irregularities, and offences of men. Charity is not easily provoked. beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. It covereth a multitude of sins." Christ never paraded the injuries He received from others, nor did He ever, only when duty forced Him, expose the crimes of men about Him. The man who treats the offences of his fellowmen with a generous, forbearing, loving spirit, "seeketh love."

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II. THE WRONG REVEALMENT OF OFFENCES. "He that repeateth a matter separateth very friends." There are those in society whose greatest pleasure it is to detail the story of their own grievances, and also that of the mistakes and immoralities of their fellow-men. They, to use language we have elsewhere employed, 66 'open the graves of old disputes and crimes, bring up their ghastly skeletons, and endeavour to put new life in them." Such men "separate very friends." Discord is their music. From this subject we infer-First: That social harmony is a good that all should seek. It is the will of Heaven that men in neighbour

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hoods and nations should live in the loving bonds of brotherhood and peace. This will be the millennium state of the world. The Gospel tends to this. Secondly: That social offences are opposed to social harmony. Every offence that man commits against his brother or against his God is a blow against social order-irritates and disturbs. Thirdly: That the very treatment of social offences has much to do with the weal or woe of social order. The generous concealer of social offences is a blessing, the ill-natured revealer is a social curse.

(No. CLXXVIII.)

MORAL AND CORPOREAL CHASTISE

MENT.

"A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool." --Prov. xvii. 10.

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THERE are two kinds of chastisement referred to in this passage: moral-"reproof," that which has to do with man's reason, conscience, heart; and corporeal-" stripes,' that which deals with man's physical sensibilities. The one afflicts man's soul, the other his body. The text suggests two remarks concerning these two kinds of chastisement.

I. THE ONE IN ITS SPHERE IS AS LEGITIMATE AS THE OTHER. Look at the sphere of each. First: The sphere of the moral. It is for the wise. The "reproof" is for men open to reason and impression-men whose natures are susceptible to moral arguments and appeals. Secondly: The sphere of the corporcal. It is for "fools". men who are either incapable of reasoning, brainless louts, or who are stolidly indisposed to attend to any moral appeal. "Stripes" for them. Now, these two kinds of chastisement are exactly suited to their subjects. "Stripes,' corporeal inflictions, to the wise, would be a flagrant injustice, an egregious folly, and a serious injury. "Reproofs," moral appeals, would be

utterly ineffective to all who either could not or would not reason or feel. Of what service is an argument to an ox, or a whip to a soul? Parents and tutors often make fearful mistakes here, they use "stripes" where there are souls, and sometimes "reproofs " where there are only bodies.

II. THE ONE IN ITS SPHERE IS MORE THOROUGH THAN THE OTHER.

"A reproof entereth more into a wise man, than a hundred stripes into a fool. First: The one is more painful than the other. The one is spiritual, the other mere physical pain. What is pain arising from a few lashes on the body, compared to the pain arising in the soul from a conviction of moral wrong? A wounded spirit who can

bear?

What pain did reproof give David? (Psa. li.) What agony did the reproving look of Christ give Peter? Moral chastisement pains the man himself-gives agony to the central nerves of his being. "Stripes" give pain to the body, and the body is his, not him. Secondly: The one is more corrective than the other. Corporeal chastisement will never do the fool any moral good. You cannot whip the moral devil out of men. "Though thou shouldest bray him in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." (Prov. xxvii. 22.) But moral chastisements correct the wrongs of the soul. The fires of moral conviction separate the gold from the dross.

The Pulpit and its Handmaids.

SOLITUDE.

Against Solitude.-A life of study has always appeared to me an unnatural life. Is it not better to converse with the living than the dead? Some one will yet have to write a book on the excess of literature. The ancient Greek way of studying abroad, in the Porch, or the Academy, on the Ilissus and under the platanus, among the haunts of man, was the better for the health both of body and mind. Recluse habits tend to sadness, moroseness, selfishness, timidity, and inaction. The mind has better play in aprico. Collision produces scintillation of genius, and proximity of friends opens a gush for the affections. The early Christians seem to have been out-of-door people, rehearsing to one another the wisdom which had been given to them orally. Lessons which go

from mouth to mouth take a portable shape, because dense, pithy, and apothegmatic: such are the proverbs of all ages. We are made for action, and life is too short for us to be always preparing. A breath of pure air seems to oxygenate the intellect, and the best thoughts of the scholar are sometimes during the half-hour of twilight, when he has laid aside his books, and taken his walking-stick. Then he is more of a man, feels his fellowship not only with nature, but with his kind. I sometimes wish I had been less a reader of books; that I had exercised my prerogative over the beasts of the field, mastered horses, or traversed countries as a reckless pedestrian. Ever turning the thoughts inward produces corrosion. We should have something, it is true, within, but it should tend outwards. He has not fulfilled

his vocation, who has spent his score of years in solitary delight over ancient authors, and eaten his morsel alone. Gray, with all Greece in his mind, pacing up and down the green alleys of a college walk, was but half the man he should have been. Horace Walpole, revelling in the virtu of Strawberry Hill, degenerated into a mere toyman, and filled the most elegant letters extant with the matching of old chairs and Sèvres china. It is to let the mind run to seed in a corner; transplantation is necessary. To live for others is the dictate of religion. And what to do for others is best done by actual approaches, face to face, eye looking into eye, and hand pressing hand. It is not enough to say, this or that recondite pursuit may turn to somebody's advantage. So it may, if you live to be a Methuselah or a Lamech. But your ever-increasing stock should not be all hoarded. The sum is, go forth among mankind. Lay aside the cowl, and make one of the great company. Every day renew the electric touch with the common mind. Fall into the circle, to give and take good influences. It is not too late if your heart is not ossified to the core. hope it is not so bad as that in Tully's phrase, locus ubi stomachus fuit, concaluit. It is worth an effort. The air of a saloon or a marketplace will do you good, and you will gain something for brushing the crowd in a thoroughfare.

I

Books and Solitude.-Much may be learned without books. To read always is not the way to be wise. The knowledge of those who are not bookworms has a certain air of health and robustness. I never deal with books all day without being the worse for it. Living teachers are better than dead. There is magic in the voice of living wisdom.

Iron sharpeneth iron. Part of every day should be spent in society. Learning is discipline; but the heart must be disciplined as well as the head; and only by intercourse with our fellows can the affections be disciplined. Bookishness implies solitude; and solitude is apt to produce ill weeds: melancholy, selfishness, moroseness, suspicion, and fear. To go abroad is, therefore, a Christian duty. I never went from my books to spend an hour with a friend, however humble, without receiving benefit.

never left the solitary contemplation of a subject in order to compare notes on it with a friend, without finding my ideas clarified. Ennui is not common where men properly mingle the contemplative with the active life. The natural and proper time for going abroad is the evening. Such intercourse should be encouraged in one's own house as well as out of it. Solitary study breeds inhospitality: we do not like to be interrupted. Every one, however wearisome as a guest, should be made welcome, and entertained cordially. Women surpass men in the performance of these household duties, chiefly because they are all given to habits of solitary study. The life which Christ lived among men is a pattern of what intercourse should be for the good of society. I have a notion that the multiplication of books in our day, which threatens to overleap all bounds, will, in the first instance, produce great evils, and will afterwards lead men back to look on oral communication as a method of diffusing knowledge which the press has unduly superseded; and that this will some day break on the world with the freshness of a new discovery.

JOSEPH A. ALEXANDER, D.D.

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