Verse 11. The man who has let knowledge come into his heart does but watch afterwards as he does in common walking: "discretion" or "reflection" will keep him straight.--_Miller._ Men are subject to many dangers till they get wisdom. 1. Their reputation is in danger. 2. The goods and estates are in danger. 3. Their body and life are in danger. 4. The soul is in danger of eternal misery. Therefore sin is called folly, and wicked men that go to hell are chronicled as fools all over this book.--_Francis Taylor._ Though the heart of man by nature be a rebellious fort, so that wisdom at first must enter it by a kind of force, yet, being entered, it makes itself pleasant, and keeps out and preserves the soul which kept her out.--_Jermin._ _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12-20. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE FROM WHOM WISDOM PRESERVES. +I. The evil man.+ 1. _His speech is corrupt_, verse 12. The closed grave contains death and holds within it the seeds of pestilence, but while it remains unopened the corrupt influence remains enclosed in its narrow walls. But should it be opened, and its foulness allowed to fill the air, it begins to set in motion that will strike men down to its own level. The mouth of the wicked man while kept shut is a closed grave, his iniquity is shut up within himself, but when he speaks out the thoughts of his heart his mouth is as an open sepulchre, and he spreads around him moral disease and death. 2. _He is a man of progressive iniquity._ "He walks in the ways of darkness." When a stone is set in motion, the momentum given to it, if no other law comes into operation to prevent it, will carry it to the lowest level in the direction in which it travels. The progress of wickedness is downhill, and walking in the ways of darkness implies a destination which in Scripture is called "outer darkness." 3. _He delights in his downward progress._ Sorry and joy are reveals of human hearts. The saint rejoices in whatever things are pure, lovely, and of good report, and in his increase of power to do the same. That which rejoices him reveals his heart. The sinner that "rejoices to do evil and delights in the frowardness of the wicked," brings to light the hidden things of darkness that are within him.