in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom ; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

No

Theft is a sin deservedly abhorred, and they who are guilty of it expose themselves to contempt and indignation. Yet when necessity tempts a man to steal, he is the object of pity rather than of scorn. necessity can excuse any sin, but apparent necessity may extenuate it. This plea, however, cannot be urged to palliate the crime of adultery, which is always the effect of a wicked disposition, and an impure ima gination.

When a man steals, it is perhaps to satisfy his soul, and to appease the cravings of hunger, which is an appetite too fierce for human nature to oppose. But unclean actions are the gratifications of brutal lust, and tend not to the preservation, but to the destruction of the life.

Yet a thief must suffer, although he is pitied when hunger urges him on to steal. He shall restore manifold, according to the law; and if he cannot make the ample restitution required, he must give all the substance of his house. How then does the adulterer hope to escape a much more grievous punishment, for a crime which can admit of no reparation? A thief may steal for want of bread, but the adulterer sins because he has no understanding. He exposes himself to a deadly wound from a jealous husband, or an avenging magistrate. He contracts a blot upon his name which adheres to it indelibly, and spreads itself even to his children *. He may give all the substance of his house to the man whom he has injured, but it will not be accepted as an atonement for his life; for a fire of jealousy is kindled, which can be quenched only in his blood.

* Deut. xxiii. 2.

This argument may be supposed to have little weight among us, who punish theft more severely than adultery. But when crimes that deserve death escape punishment from men, God, the King of all nations, punishes them by his providence, and sometimes with greater severity, because his earthly ministers neglect to shew his resentment of them. Hophni and Phineas, Amnon and Absalom, gained nothing by the indulgence of their fond parents. David himself smarted severely under the rod for this sin, though divine mercy exempted him from death. Earthly magistrates often punish thieves and highwaymen more severely than adulterers, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. We may without presumption suppose, that even in this world he often brings them to a gibbet, by suffering them to imbrue their hands in blood, or to commit other capital crimes. The Bible assures us, that God often punishes one sin, by permitting the transgressor to fall into another; and particularly, that God has given up men to uncleanness, for the indignities they have done to his own name *, and along with it, to other iniquities that bring vengeance in their train †.

If these sinners escape outward punishment, let them remember how terrible that destruction is, which God has designed for them, and how impossible it will be to escape from the Judge of all. They complain that they cannot extinguish their burning lusts, but it shall be more impossible to extinguish the fire that shall never be quenched ‡.

Rom. i. 23.

Job xxxi. 3. Matt. v. 28.

+ Rom. i. 29. &c.

CHAPTER VII.

SOLOMON was deeply impressed with a sense of the evil of profligate courses. Nor was he less fully convinced of that danger to which young men are exposed, from the temptations presented by those factors for hell, who, lost to all sense of shame and interest, precipitate themselves, and as many along with them as they can, into an everlasting hell, and all for the momentary gratification of a base and brutal passion. On this subject he had already said as much as might have served to guard any man against this danger, who was not under the influence of a very dark mind, and a very depraved heart. But he wishes to penetrate the heart of the most hardened, to rouse to thought the most inconsiderate of the sons of men. He thinks that too much cannot be said on a matter of such concernment to us.

affecting illustration of The mode of instruction

We have in this chapter an the danger of youthful lusts. to which our teacher in the present instance has recourse, is the narration of a piece of history or parable, (for it matters not which), of the most instructive kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively a manner, the danger of so much as going near the harlot's house? Then is he as inexcuseable as the man who dances on the brink of a precipice, when he has just seen another, who ventured to display his courage in the same manner, fall

headlong from his place, and dashed to pieces on the rocks below, perish the sad victim of his own rashness and folly.

The danger of vicious courses should mightily recommend to us the word of God, which is able to keep us from falling*, and to which self-ruined sinners give testimony, when they must acknowledge too late, that their misery began in their disregard to that blessed book. What would not men give for an antidote that could preserve them from every bodily disease? If any person, possessed of such a medicine, were to perish by some fatal distemper, in consequence of neglecting to have recourse to it, surely his fate would excite no commiseration.

Ver. 1.-5. My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, and write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

When a man has got possession of some precious jewel, he will deposit it in some place secured from the depredations of thieves. The words of God are infinitely more precious than diamonds, and ought to be laid up in our hearts, and kept with constant diligence and caution. They are to be kept as our life, for we are but dead men if we lose them, and they are the effectual instruments by which God is pleased to quicken men to newness of life, and to nourish, and strengthen, and preserve their souls. Without them,

* Acts xx. 32.

the life of the body is no better than a dream. It is our advantage that God has in view, in furnishing us with a rule of conduct. "Be holy," is the sum of

the whole law; and its excellency is, that it is as good as it is holy and just. Those, therefore, who neglect it, regard lying vanities, and despise their own mercy.

God expresses that regard which he has for his people, and that compassionate care which he exercises over them, by affirming that he who touches them touches the apple of his eye. No less regard is certainly due on our part to that divine word of his, without which our souls must remain in darkness. The eye is a most precious member, and the apple of the eye is its most precious part. The Author of the body has guarded that part of it with a natural fence, and no less vigilance is exercised by us in its protection. We will not, if possible, permit the smallest mote to fall into it. With equal care ought we to observe the law of God, and to avoid every temptation which might induce us in the smallest degree to transgress its command

ments

The law is to be fixed as a ring upon our fingers, that it may constantly present itself to our view, and deeply impress our hearts. These are the living tables, on which the statutes of the Lord are to be inscribed, that every inward power may be wrought into a suitableness unto them †.

We take great pleasure in the society of amiable friends. Wisdom ought to be our most beloved friend, and our constant companion. With this best of friends let us daily converse, and thus shall we be preserved from the danger of infectious company,