The word "_commandments_" (E.V.), might often be translated "_laws_." One set of passages would just change words with another. The word translated "_commandments_" means primarily "_something fixed_." It answers to the New Testament "_law_" (Rom. viii. 3), and is adapted to the reasonings of the apostles. "_He of the wise heart_" means the truly wise. _He of the fool heart_ might seem good for the rest of the sentence. But a deep philosophy reminds the inspired man that men are not such fools as to believe in sin, as the pardoned Christian does in holiness. They know a great deal more than they either act or utter. A vast deal of the worldliness of men is a mere lip service, like that to the Almighty. And, knowing that the lost man is aware of his perdition, and has been told his folly, the proverb does not account him a fool in his deep sense, so much as superficially, and in the mad actings of his folly. In his _heart_ he knows he is deceived. In his _lips_ he is constantly deceiving himself. In his acts he keeps up a fictitious life.--_Miller._ _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 9-10. OPPOSITE CHARACTERS. +I. He who walketh uprightly.+ 1. _Is a restorer of an ancient path._ The way of uprightness is much older than the human race, and was originally the only way known in the universe to intelligent and moral creatures. Uprightness is as old as God. Crooked walking is of the creature and but of yesterday compared with uprightness. He who walks uprightly is a restorer of the breach made in heaven, and re-establishes the old paths (Jer. vi. 16) of righteousness upon earth. The way of uprightness was the way in which man walked in Eden. In Eden also man lost his way by entering the by-path of transgression and thus ceased to walk with God. He shall "be called a repairer of the breach, a restorer of paths to dwell in" (Isa. lviii. 12). A man who reopened up some ancient and important highway to a great city would be regarded by the citizens as a benefactor; how much more ought he to be held in esteem whose life reveals this ancient highway of holiness, who by his uprightness becomes himself a way to others. 2. _He obeys an ancient command._ "When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou _perfect_"--upright (Gen. xvii. 1). Often the great want of a partially-civilised country is a straight and level road, by which commerce can easily find its way to the central city, and a royal edict is sometimes issued that such a road should be made. The great want of the world in the day when this command was given to Abram was an example of uprightness in human life. The need of the world in this direction is still great, and the ancient command given to the patriarch is still in force. 3. _His walking is not limited to the present life._ He walks in the same way after death as before it. "He