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fountain filled with blood, which can wash all thy guilt away. Then shall thy peace flow as a river, then shall its heavenly influences fill thy heart and mind, in anticipation of that state of sinless perfection, from which all guilty apprehension shall be excluded.

FALSE CONFIDENCE.

A WISE man feareth, and departeth from evil; but the fool rageth, and is confident.

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble, is like

a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

THE circumstances under which false confidence may be indulged are various, and the dangerous tendencies of it, both as it respects present and future interests, should excite caution. In avoiding it we should not fall into the opposite extreme of general distrust. It is no reason that we should confide in nothing because we cannot confide in everything. Although David could not rely upon the professions of Saul, yet he could safely confide in the friendship of Jonathan; and so, while there are many cases in which a false confidence would betray us, there are many others in which a true one would avail us. One who trusts in earthly riches, as possessing the power to impart happiness, will certainly be disappointed, as in no one instance has such expectation been realized; but there are "true riches" on which the soul may securely repose. Another, who trusts to the promises of earthly friends, may find them deserting him in adversity; but there is a Christian friendship which should inspire confidence, and there is a Friend in heaven who "sticketh closer than a brother." Calculations founded on the permanency of health, and present outward condition, may prove deceitful; but there are other things which form a safe basis of calculation.

The false confidence which involves the interests of the soul, is much more to be dreaded than that which merely exposes to temporal disappointments and losses. Religion is man's first and great concern, and yet how few comparatively seriously regard it, and rightly understand it! Instead of diligently seeking from authentic sources a knowledge of its demands and prohibitions, its promises and threatenings, the multitude content themselves with vague and loose notions, by which they are fatally led astray. One maintains a decent exterior, and relies upon his freedom from gross vice as a sufficient guaranty of his final acceptance; another, although regardless of every obligation, imagines that at the close of life he may escape the consequences of his sin by a hurried repentance; and still a third, by a perversion of divine truth, expunges hell from his creed, and trusts his soul to the fiction of universal salvation. Where these and similar errors are entertained, men become reconciled to their spiritual alienation from God, and heap up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Few are so desperate as to have abandoned their hope of final salvation, and yet few put themselves to the trouble of ascertaining the soundness of their hope, and, by fervent piety, affording the evidence that they are pressing towards the mark for the prize, which is promised only to the self-denied and humble, the holy and devout followers of Jesus. False confidence is indeed the master device of Satan, and his chief triumph is in seeing it swept away at a moment when man most needs a steadfast faith. There are many ways which seem right to men, while the end of them turns out to be the way of death. They are selfconfident, they disregard timely warning, are willing

to be deceived, and thus they pass the brief season of their earthly sojourn, hugging their errors, until the truth, too late, bursts upon their astonished view, and their ruin becomes inevitable.

Happy art thou, O my soul, if thy confidence reposes in the unerring promises of thy covenant God. The heavens may depart and the earth be removed, but the word of thy God endureth for ever. Hast thou built thy hope on the Rock of Ages? Hast thou made Christ all thy salvation and desire? Through his Spirit hast thou been sanctified? Then thy confidence shall not disappoint thee. Thou knowest in whom thou hast believed, and thou mayest well be persuaded of his ability to keep that which thou hast entrusted to him. What a blessed condition, which cannot be affected by the vicissitudes of time, and which shall be rendered permanent in eternity! Hear thou the word of the Lord: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."

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WARNINGS AGAINST LICENTIOUSNESS.

THE mouth of strange women is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.

For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

Hear me now, therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel :

Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

For the commandment is a lamp: and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

To keep thee from the evil

woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

For by means of a whorish wo man a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

IN eastern countries, where custom, instead of elevating woman to an equality with man, and regarding her as his endeared companion and adviser, in whose

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