My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
The sacred writer of this book having given the preface of his book, here enters upon the subject of it; and that he might enforce what he bad to say still more, he begins it with an exhortation. Under the character of an Instructor, as a father of his children, he endeavours to gain their affection by such a tender appellation, as that of a father ad dressing his son. And if the Reader observes, the opening of his discourse is altogether upon the plan and principles of the gospel. For it points to the corruption of the heart in the enticement of sinners, and the propensity of our nature to listen to the temptation. Among the first offices of the Holy Ghost, the convincing of sin stands pointed out by him, whose office character' is that of wisdom. And I hope the Reader hath not now to learn that the very apprehension of Christ as a Saviour, pre-supposes that we have a thorough sense of our need of Christ in the consciousness of our being sinners. John 14:7-8.