uttereth her words." Why is it thus? why does she cry without? Why does she not rather utter her words in the inmost recesses of the heart of every man, and thus make sure that every individual shall hear? For this reason that before you can cry in the heart, you must get access to the heart,and she is not in the heart to cry. Wisdom is not in the heart of man by nature,—only wickedness and folly: wickedness and folly so great that under its teaching man will believe, and thank God that he is neither such a fool as Esau, or such a sinner as Judas, while all the time he is selling his Saviour and his soul for something less than they did, a mess of pottage, or thirty pieces of silver. Man may have wisdom for this world; he may know how to buy and sell and get gain, but he has no spiritual wisdom, not the smallest atom. His exis

tence is everlasting: before him is an eternal life of living death or living glory; and if his wisdom cannot teach him to escape the death and secure the glory, can it be called wisdom, though it teaches him to gain the whole world! If, with an everlasting existence before him, all that his wisdom can get for him will profit him nothing in a hundred years, is his wisdom worthy the name? Ask thyself this question, oh thou who art wise only for this world, and then ask CHRIST, the WISDOM OF GOD to teach you the answer. Once there was no more

true wisdom in the world than there now is in the natural heart; but by the wisdom of God, the Wisdom of God got into the world, and into some hearts in the world: and now "Wisdom crieth without,"-outside the heart in which she is not,-with the desire that folly may be silenced, and wickedness

put to confusion by Her voice, and the heart opened to let her in. In the third verse of the passage we are given the very names of those to whom she cries, and in the following, what she says and promises to do for them, if they will turn and listen.

First, as to who are they that are called. Perhaps your name is amongst them. If so I have a direct message from God to you. Let us see. "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the opening of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?" Now in this cry we have mentioned by name the very persons to whom Christ calls. To the SIMPLE ONES, the SCORNER, the FOOL. Observe, it is not a call to those

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who were once simple, once scornful, once foolish, but are now turned and penitent; but to those who are still going on in their wickedness, listening to no voice but the voice of their own hearts, and leaving as they rush down the broad road to destruction, the Wisdom of God behind them. It is not to the already turned one, struggling with sin, that Wisdom crieth; but to the simple in the midst of his simplicity, to the scorner in the height of his scorning, to the fool who is still going on in his folly, and to every one who answers to one or all of these names, I have a direct message from God. Is your name in the list? Let us

look at it carefully. Does the title "simple" apply to you? Humbling as it is, do you know in your heart of hearts that you have been a simple one all your life, and are but a simple one still? If so I have a message

from God to you. But you say, No: that is not my name. Whatever else people may say of me, they cannot say I am amongst the simple. I have no reason to blame myself for anything in the past. I began life with small beginnings, and am doing very well; or, I was born in a good position, and I have raised myself to a better, and if things go on as I have a right to expect, I shall soon have little left to wish for. If the message is only to the simple, there is no message to me; for let who else may answer to the name, I am not amongst the simple ones."

Not amongst the simple ones! You have raised yourself to a better position than you were once in, and if things go on as you expect, you will soon have little left to wish for. Is this what you say? And is this your reason for thinking you are not a simple one?