chapter x

. 24, xiv. 26, and xviii. 10, pages 179 and 542. Verse 24 will be treated in chap. xxvi. 12-16. For the subject of verses 25 and 29 see chap. xvii. 10, page 509.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 26-29.

POSSIBILITIES OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY.

+I. The tenderest admonitions and the most solemn warnings sometimes fail to influence for good.+ Sometimes the most loving parental care seems utterly wasted upon an ungrateful child, and the more constant and tender the words of admonition the farther does he depart from the way in which he ought to go. There is many a man so in love with sin that he may be said to "devour iniquity" (verse 28); and when this fatal appetite has taken possession of the soul all appeals to his better nature, and even to his own self-love, are vain.

+II. When men are so hardened there is no depth of iniquity to which they may not sink.+ He who scoffs at all threats of retribution, both in this life and in that which is to come, has broken through all barriers of restraint, and will be capable of outraging all the tender ties of human relationship, even to the extent of bringing his parents to disgrace and shame. The most hardened sinners in the universe of God are not found in heathen lands, or among the ignorant at home, but they are those who, having heard instruction, have "erred from the words of knowledge." Each day that they resist the good influence brought to bear upon them they increase their moral insensibility, and their final condemnation (verse 29). Hence the admonition of verse 27. (See Critical Notes.)

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 26. This were an admirable text for young men entering upon life and still at the expense of their parents. It is a great enormity either to waste the property of their father while he is alive, or after they have succeeded to expel the widowed mother from the premises.--_Chalmers._

Verse 27. It is so proper and natural for a son to hear instruction, that the hearing instruction maketh to be a son. . . . But if thou hear instruction, hear it not--not to be the better for it. Instruction speaketh to keep thee _from erring:_ do not thou _hear it to err:_ instruction putteth into thee the words of knowledge; do not thou put them out by erring from them, by not following them. . . . Cease thus to hear, but hear still. For by hearing at length thine error may be corrected; whereas, if thou hear not, thou dost not only err, but deprivest thyself of the means that reduce thee from erring.--_Jermin._

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