It involves disappointment, shame, sorrow, and often irretrievable ruin. 3. It plunges men into painful perplexities, so that even when they have begun to suspect that the path they are pursuing is erroneous, they know not how to discover the true one; it seems to them to be "destroyed;" they search for it in vain. They are like travellers who, in the darkness following _Will-of-the-Wisp,_ have strayed from the highway into a morass: to stand still is impossible, and yet to step in any direction, may plunge them into worse perils (Matt. xv. 14). How criminal is the conduct of those who betray their fellow-men into misery such as this! In view of these facts, 1. _We should not entrust ourselves to the first guide who offers himself to us._ Let us examine the credentials of those who ask us to trust ourselves to their care (Matt. xxiv. 24; 1 John iv. 1-3; Isa. viii. 20). 2. _In weighing the claims of men to be our leaders, we should have regard supremely to their moral qualifications._ Their intellectual competency is, of course, not to be disregarded, but moral character is infinitely more important. Not all good men are fitted to be leaders; but no bad man can be safely followed by others. He is continually apt to be guided by policy, rather than principle, and policy leads to perdition.[2] Policy is at the best but guess-work--steering by the current; the man who is governed by principle steers by the stars, and neither can be long misled, nor will he wilfully mislead others. _Practical Application._--Never vote for any candidate for a public office, however clever he may be, if his integrity is doubtful. 3. _Every man needs guidance more close and intimate than any of his fellow-men can afford him:_ he needs to be led even in choosing his leaders. Whither shall he look for this guidance? To his reason, his conscience? These guides themselves need instruction:[3] in the absence of it, they have led millions to perdition. We need supernatural and sure guidance, and we have it (1) in God's Word, and (2) in God's Spirit (Prov. iii. 5, 6). The man who follows these guides will be led always in the paths of righteousness and peace. FOOTNOTES: [1] The marginal reading, "they which call thee happy" (Mal. iii. 12, 15), represents vividly the method adopted by the false prophets; who, instead of warning the people against the dangers of prosperity, were ever felicitating them upon it, saying, "Peace, peace, when there was no peace." But the textual rendering appears to be the preferable one.--_Kay._