I. OUR FIRST DUTY AND ITS NATURAL REWARD. Our first duty, natural to the young and the unsophisticated, is to be frank, open-minded, sincere, trustful; to say all that is in our heart, and to expect others to do the same; to believe that men mean what they say and say what they mean. And the reward of this simplicity and truthfulness on our part is an ingenuous, an unsuspicious spirit, a spirit as far removed as possible from that of cunning, of artifice, of worldliness.

II. THE CORRECTION OF EXPERIENCE. All too soon we discover that we cannot act on this theory without being wounded and hurt. We find that what looks like pure silver may be nothing better than "earthenware of the coarsest kind lacquered over with silver dross." Behind the lips that burn and breathe affection for us and interest in us is a wicked heart in which are "seven abominations," in which dwells every evil imagination. We find that those who affect to be our friends when they stand in our presence are in fact our bitterest and most active enemies. We discover that our words, spoken in good faith and purity of heart, are misrepresented, and are made a sword to smite us. Experience compels caution, reticence, sometimes absolute silence.

III. THE TWO MAIN EVILS AGAINST WHICH TO GUARD. These are:

1. Fair speaking which is false. The false words that are ostensibly spoken in our interest, by one that means us harm; words which would lead to trust and expectation when we should be alive with solicitude and alert to avoid the danger which impends. By these our treasure, our position, our friendship, our reputation, our happiness, may he seriously endangered.

2. Flattery. The invention and utterance of that which is not felt at all, or the careless and perhaps well-meant exaggeration of a feeling which is entertained in, the heart. Few things are more potent for harm than flattery.

(1) It is readily received.

(2) It is carefully treasured; men's self-love prompts them to accept and to retain that which, if it were of an opposite character, they would reject.

(3) It is harmful in three different directions:

(a) It gives a wrong impression of our estate, and may lead to financial "ruin" (ver. 28).

(b) It encourages an over-estimate of our capacity, and may lead to our undertaking that for which we are incompetent, and thus to an humiliating and distressing failure.

(c) It engenders a false idea of our persona! worth, and may lead to spiritual infatuation, and thus to the ruin of ourselves.

IV. THE DUTY AND THE WISDOM OF WARINESS. As these things are so, as human society does hold a large number of dissemblers (ver. 24), as it is possible that the next acquaintance we make may be an illustration of this sad fact, it follows that absolute trustfulness is a serious mistake. We must be on our guard. We must not open our hearts too freely. We must know men before we trust them. We must cultivate the art of penetration, of reading character. To be able to distinguish between the true and the false in this great sphere is a very large part of wisdom. Next to knowing God, and to acquainting ourselves with our own hearts, is the duty of studying men and discerning between the lacquered potsherd and the pure silver.

V. THE DOOM OF DECEIT. To be rigorously exposed, to be unsparingly denounced, to be utterly ashamed (vers. 26, 27). - C.

II. It is EXCESSIVELY CORRUPT. "When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart." The word number "seven," in Scripture, denotes "fulness" or "completeness." The idea here is, that such a man's heart is full of abominations.

III. It is LIABLE TO EXPOSURE. "Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation." Dissembling never answers in the end. The Providence of God brings dark deeds to light. All sin will one day be stripped of its mask, and laid bare in all its putrescent hideousness to the open eye of the universe.

IV. It is SELF-RUINOUS. "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein." Evil is a hard worker. It digs pits and rolls stones. And what is worse, all its hard work is self-ruinous. Into the pit which they have dug they shall tumble. Those who plot mischief for others will be overwhelmed with it themselves. Moab, in attempting to curse Israel, fell himself under the curse of God. Haman's gallows for Mordecai was his own "promotion of shame." The enemies of Daniel were devoured in the ruin which they plotted against him. Thus does God "take the wise in his craftiness, the wicked in his wickedness." The malice that meditates the evil is often the cause of its own overthrow.

V. It is SOCIALLY PERNICIOUS. "A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin."

1. It injures by its slanders. "A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it."

2. It injures by its flatteries. Flattery is a social curse.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)