be helpful both to ourselves and to others. We may often turn off their minds from evil, or turn them towards good, in one thing or another, by the exercise of a little skill such as can only be learned by applying the mind to seek for means of drawing towards good, and from evil, even at some little distance.

This kind of knowledge is of very great use in the conduct of our thoughts, as well as of our words and actions, and many traces of such skill are to be found throughout the Holy Scriptures, where even what seems indifferent leads in one way or another towards good. And such ought to be our life, as a book written by the finger of God: the very lines of nature should be parables of grace.

Again, if we give somewhat the more time to meditation for that purpose, we may sometimes think of the mysteries of Heaven, not only in themselves, but as they are shadowed out upon earth. S. Paul gives us an example of this where he compares marriage to the union of our Lord with His Church, and shews, from the comparison, what must be the duties of husband and wife. Holy Scripture will furnish us with many lines of thought of this kind, some

m

simple and easy, others deep and mysterious. All these, if they are followed out, lead to real practical wisdom of the highest kind.

And as it has pleased God to spread the seeds of wisdom through His word, as He has spread the opportunities through our life, so that while we have system enough to guide us in common life in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, we still have to look up and down for many things that may be of the greatest value to us, both in carrying out these rules, and in advancing farther, so must we be always looking out for some spiritual gain. And especially now, in reading the Book of Proverbs, it is well to mark whatever seems to bear most upon our own life, and the correction of our own faults, and to take that to ourselves, and remember it, and keep it by us against the next occasion for applying it.

The Proverbs are full of warnings against the beginnings of sin, which most of us would do well to look to more than we do. The world is full of the beginnings of sin, and the truly wise man searches them out, and puts them away from him. The heedless takes the bait, and there is little doubt but he will be drawn within the snare.

And besides this constant looking out for increase in wisdom, we may also, at fitting times, examine ourselves in the matter of wisdom, as well as in the matter of obedience. In every act of self-examination, indeed, the first principle of wisdom must come in. "Am I acting on the fear of God? Am I doing what I was made and put in the world for? Am I learning to see all things in this light?" But one may very well add sometimes questions that more directly concern our increase in wisdom, such as whether we are become better skilled in the various duties of a Christian life? Whether we are more ready at making room for them than we have been? Whether we are more inclined to see good in the appointments of God's Providence? Whether we find it easier to avoid doing harm to others, and rather to lead them towards good, or, at least, whether we see more than we did of the means of doing so, (for perchance the more we know, and the more we do, the more may the difficulty become known to us). Do we know more of the meanings and uses of the various parts of Holy Scripture? Have we learned to think more highly of our calling, more humbly of ourselves?

Such and many other questions may be asked with this especial purpose, and from such a review of our progress we shall not fail to find something that is wanting. It is a field where there will always be room for profitable labour, only let us not be slack.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, That giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him."a

" S. James i. 5.

SERMON XXVIII.

Psalm Cv. 5.

"Remember the marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth."

Holy Scripture often bids us remember God, and what He has done for His people, and the laws He has given them. It tells us too of the danger of forgetting, and of the punishment that has come upon those that were forgetful. "They thought not of His hand: and of the day when He delivered them from the hand of the enemy; How He had wrought His miracles in Egypt: and His wonders in the field of Zoan," and then, after reciting some of His works, the Psalmist proceeds, "So they tempted and displeased the Most High God and kept not His testimonies;"—and presently, "When God heard this He was wroth: and took sore displeasure at Israel. So that He forsook the tabernacle in Shiloh: even the tent that He had pitched among men. He delivered their power into captivity their beauty into the enemy's hand.

and

He