cure and reconcile a person, when turbulency and disquietude will only plunge him into greater odium and danger. Another and worse error is, wilfully to persist in disobedience, and to boil up the former passion into liabitual stubbornness." Stand not in an evil thing." If thou hast been transported with perturbation, and hast gone out of the way, do not harden thyself in thy defection, but labour, by mildness and forbearance, to recover his favour, Prov. xv. 1; xxv. 15; and xxx. 32. To stand in a thing, is to have a fixed and unmoved resolution respecting it, 1 Cor. vii. 37; Ephes. vi. 11, 13, 14.—“ For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him." This is not spoken to confirm or allow any revengeful or cruel actions, as if the power of princes was bestowed to execute their own lusts; but to shew how unsafe and fruitless, as well as sinful it is, to resist those, who being injured and provoked, can easily overwhelm all their opponents.

4. Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, what doest thou?

Think not that thou shalt be able to escape the wrath of a king, for if he only speaks the word, he has sufficient power to reach thee in

any part of his dominions: he never wants instruments to execute his displeasure. When Saul pronounced sentence of death upon the priests, there wanted not a Doeg to be their executioner, 1 Sam. xxii. 18; Dan. v. 19.-" And who may say unto him, What doest thou?" This is elsewhere attributed to God, who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, and doeth whatsoever he pleaseth, both in heaven and earth, Job ix. 12: but it cannot be absolutely affirmed of princes and magistrates; for, being subject to errors and miscarriages, they may with humility and wisdom beadmonished, 1 Sam. xiv. 45, 46; but, as invested with high authority, they ought not with rashness to be resisted, Prov. xxx. 31; Job xxxiv. 18.

5. Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

"Whoso keepeth the commandment." This may be understood of the commands of God; evincing that piety and spiritual wisdom will direct to so circumspect a conduct, as not to provoke the wrath of the king; or of the commandment of the king, as in ver. 2.-" Shall know no evil;" nothing of the danger men. S

tioned, ver. 3; shall live quietly and secure from fear, Rom. xiii. 3, 4; 1 Tim. ii. 2.—“ And a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment." This is a qualification of the precept. A wise man will not, either from fear of danger, or from hope of advantage, yeild a blind and implicit obedience to every thing commanded; but he considers the season in which he should execute injunctions, as well as the manner in which he should perform them: or the sense may be, he knows how to choose the fittest season, as well as the best mode of applying to the prince, in order to prevent his displeasure, to obtain his favour, or to alter his commands, if they are in any respect grievous, 1 Chron. xxi. 3; Judg. vi. 27; Gen. xxxii. 7, 8, 13, 16, 17; and xxxiii. 12, 14; 1 Sam. xxv. 18; 1 Chron. xii. 32; Nehem. ii. 4, 5, 12, 16; Esth. iv. 5; vii. 2, 3; and viii. 5, 6.

6.

Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

Because to every purpose and enterprize there is a proper season and peculiar manner of acting, upon which the happy success of such undertaking depends; and as this cannot be observed without peculiar wisdom, hence, from

the want of this wisdom, the misery of man is great upon him. This general assertion is to be applied to the particular case before us: a man, by incurring the displeasure of his sovereign, brings much misery upon himself, from a deficiency in that wisdom which should suggest a proper opportunity and right way of regaining his favour. When ignorance and folly prevail within, and dangers and snares abound without, it is difficult to walk safely. How important a part of wisdom, therefore, is the prudent observation of times and circumstances, as well as the right manner of transacting concerns of weight and consequence, Jer. viii. 7, 8; Amos v. 13; Luke xix. 44; Prov. XV. 23; Acts xxii. 25-29; and xxiii. 6, 7.

7. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be ?

As it is impossible to foresee future events, or to form an exact judgment of the consequences of particular actions, it must be very difficult to avoid many of those miseries which are occasioned by this ignorance. One season and one manner of acting, if it could have been foreseen, would have been attended with success; but any other time, or any other way of proceeding, would probably miscarry. There

are a thousand ways of missing the mark, to one way of hitting it. We cannot predetermine our own actions, much less foresee their issue and consequences, Prov. xxvii. 1; Jam. iv. 14. It is the prerogative of God to shew the things that are to come hereafter, Isai. xli. 23; xliv. 7; and xlvi. 10; whilst a wise and holy man may be confident, that whatever happens shall promote his welfare, however contrary it may be to his desire and expectation, 1 Cor. iii. 22.

8. There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

By spirit, he means the breath of life, or the soul. So it is often understood, Gen. vi. 19; Job vii. 7; Isai. xlii. 5; Ps. civ. 29; Luke viii. 55; Jam. ii. 26. This may be considered, first, generally, to signify the weakness of man to help himself against the stroke of death, the greatest future evil: no power, industry, or wisdom, can keep the soul when God requires it; since no man has the dominion over his own life, to abide in the flesh as long as it pleases himself, nor over death, to repel and resist it when it comes, Ps. xlix. 7-10; Heb. ix. 27.

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