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bad as thy heart is; and this care will end in life and hap24 pines. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and per

verfe lips put far from thee; every thing contrary to 25 fobriety, charity, decency, and religion. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look ftraight before thee; let not thine attention ramble to every object, but keep one great end in view; and then go on fteadily and refolutely, 26 without being diverted from it. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be eftablished, or, all thy ways 27 Shall be ordered aright. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, fbun all extremes, (Eccl. vii. 16, 17.) remove thy foot from evil.

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REFLECTION S.

E here fee the wisdom and advantage of giving good inftructions to children. Solomon was tenderly beloved by his father and mother; and observe how they fhowed their affection, not by neglecting and humouring him, but by catechizing and inftructing him. The true way in which parents ought to fhow their love to their children, is to teach them the excellency of wisdom and piety; to inculcate it upon them again and again, with warmth and importunity. The happy confequence of this will be, that they will be likely to remember their instructions, as Solomon did, and take care to impress them on their own children. It is an important argument for giving children a good education, that they will teach their children. Thus will religion be kept up in families, and in the world.

2. Let all, and especially young men, avoid evil company. How ftrongly does Solomon caution against this. If we knew that the plague was in a house, we should avoid it; not only not stay in it, but not go into it; we should not ftand near it, nor pafs by it, but go fome other way. Thefe expreffions fhow the great danger there is of being entangled before we are aware; and what great caution is neceffary. Let us fhun then the fociety of the wicked, for a companion of fools fhall be destroyed.

3. If we defire to be holy and happy, we must keep our hearts

hearts with all diligence; to begin with the government of the thoughts and affections, watch over the workings of the mind, and keep it with more care than any thing else. There is a very important reafon given for this, for out of it are the iffues of life. Our living well or ill depends upon this very thing, and our lives will either be good or bad, as this watchfulness over the heart is kept up or neglected. 4. We fee wherein true wisdom confifts. What excellent rules for our conduct in this life and preparation for a better, are contained in the close of this chapter! In choofing the right end, we should act with caution and deliberation; before we refolve on any action or scheme, let us view it narrowly, be exact and critical in confidering its nature and confequences, then purfue it fteadily, without wavering, or fuffering other objects to interrupt us. By these methods we fee men profper in this world; and the like prudence, forethought, and steadiness is neceffary in the care of the foul; and it is peculiarly neceffary for young people to acquire a habit of this. Let us then be careful that we walk circumfpe&tly; not as fools, but as wife men.

CHAP. V.

Solomon here repeats his cautions to young people, and particularly warns them against uncleanness.

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Y fon, attend unto my wifdom, [and] bow thine ear to my understanding: 1hat thou mayeft regard discretion thyself, [and that] thy lips may 3 keep knowledge, and be able to inftruct others. For the lips of a ftrange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] fmoother than oil; fhe has many arts of 4 address: But her end is bitter as wormwood, fharp as a 5 two-edged fword, wounding both body and foul. Her feet go down to death; her fteps take hold on hell, lead 6 to ruin in both worlds. Left thou shouldft ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, [that] thou canst not know [them;] her chief design is to keep thee from confidering; he knows how to vary the method of addrefs, according to the temper of the perfon fhe has to do with; fometimes

7 fometimes Joothing, and fometimes frowning. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the 8 words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and 9 come not nigh the door of her house: Left thou give thine honour unto others, bring difeafe and untimely death on thyself, and thy years unto the cruel; thy strength and the flower of thy age to harlots, who are cruel both in prin10 ciples and practices: Left ftrangers be filled with thy

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wealth; and thy labours [be] in the house of a 11 ftranger; And thou mourn at the laft, when thy flesh 12 and thy body are confumed, And fay, How have I 13 hated inftruction, and my heart defpifed reproof; And

have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor in14 clined mine ear to them that inftructed me! I was almoft in all evil in the midst of the congregation and affembly; I arrived to fuch a pitch of wickedness, that I had loft common fhame, fo that I could fay and do many lafcivious and indecent things before large companies; which a man of common fenfe and decency, tho' he had no religion, would be afbamed of. Solomon then recommends marriage, as one remedy against fleshly lufts; which he defcribes in a beautiful figure, alluding to the fcarcity of water in thofe hot coun tries, which made the property of a well very valuable.

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Drink waters out of thine own ciftern, and running waters out of thine own well; intimating that there was as much greater pleafure in an agreeable wife than in those forbidden lufts, as there was in drinking pure water out of 16 a clean well, than dirty water out of a kennel. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the streets; the children which flow from this fountain thou mayeft bring abroad in publick, without reproach; place them in families of their own, and fee a progeny defcending 17 from them, like pure ftreams from a fountain. Let them be only thine own, and not ftrangers' with thee; as if he had faid, If thou wilt indulge thyself in unlawful freedoms, thou wilt fet thy own wife a bad example, by following 18 which he may destroy the certainty of thy offspring. Let thy fountain be bleffed, or a bleffing to thee: and rejoice VOL. V. with

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This phrafe may be understood of the revenge of the hufband, who in thofe countries might put the adulterer to death,

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with the wife of thy youth, take delight in her company 19 and converfe. [Let her be as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; alluding to a custom, which ftill prevails in the east, of having young fawns kept in their houses for their children to play with; let her breafts fatisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravifhed always with her love, that is, let her be the fubject of thy thoughts and the object of thy 20 wishes. And why wilt thou, my fon, be ravifhed with a

ftrange woman, and embrace the bofom of a stranger? 21 For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings; he fees, and will feverely punish flagrant lufts. Confcience will likewise punish him if he thus go aftray, for

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His own iniquities fhall take the wicked himself, and he fhall be holden with the cords of his fins, so that he cannot difentangle himself, when he defires and attempts 23 it. He fhall die without inftruction; and in the greatnefs of his folly he shall go aftray; this fin hath an unhappy tendency to make men incorrigible, and (like travellers wandering from the right way) to precipitate themfelves into unexpected ruin.

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REFLECTIONS.

E here fee what a friend to fobriety and religion confideration is. Solomon reprefents it as the defign of artful finners to keep those whom they feduce, or would feduce, from pondering the path of life, and endeavours to ftupify their understandings. Religion would be minded, and fin avoided, if men would but look about them, and confider the nature and confequences of their conduct. It is therefore the artifice of fatan and his agents to hurry young men on in a round of gaiety and diffipation; and thus to keep them from serious thought. And this is the great mischief that modern diverfions do; they banish confideration; and when that is effected, men become an eafy prey to every deceiver.

2. The time will come when thoughtless finners will mourn and lament. They are now jovial and merry; think religion too ftrict; minifters too precife; and their ad

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monitions mere bugbears, intended only to frighten them from pleasure. But the period is haftening on when they will moft certainly be of another mind; efpecially when the flesh and body are confumed, and they fick and dying. Then they will mourn; and none will mourn more bitterly than the children of good parents, who have been both instructed. and reproved. They will then remember the inftructions they before neglected, and the reproofs they before defpifed; and will with that they had acted otherwise. If therefore it is our defire to remove evil from our flesh, and forrow from our heart, let us ponder the path of our feet, and choofe the way of life.

3. Let this chapter be a warning to all, and especially to young people, against the lufts of the flesh. Many are watching for your deftruction, both artful women, and wicked men, who would tempt you to impurity, by smooth fpeeches and fair promises. Their lips drop as the honeycomb, but there is poifon in them: and if you are feduced, you are likely to lofe your health, your fubftance, your credit, your peace, and your fouls. fouls. As the best antidote against their artifices, remember v. 21. the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings; no darkness can hide them; and however light men may make of fuch crimes, (which it seems to be the defign of moft modern plays and romances, at least to palliate) the eternal and almighty God hath declared, that whoremongers and adulterers he will judge; and that they fhall all have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Therefore, dearly beloved, I beseech you as pilgrims and ftrangers, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the foul.

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СНАР. VI.

Y fon, if thou be furety for thy friend, [if] thou haft ftricken thy hand with a stranger, art 2 bound for him to his creditors, Thou art fnared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth; haft brought thyself into trouble, and art wretchedly

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