CHAPTER X.

We here enter upon the second main division of the Book of Proverbs,

which is composed of a number of distinct propositions or maxims,

having but little connection with each other and answering to the

modern signification of the word proverb. Wordsworth here remarks

that "the Proverbs of the present chapter are exemplifications in

detail of the principles, practices, and results of the two ways of

life displayed in the foregoing chapters which constitute the

prologue."

CRITICAL NOTES.--+1. Heaviness,+ "grief." +3. The soul of the

righteous,+ literally, "the spirit of the righteous." +But He casteth

away, etc.+ Zöckler and Delitzsch have read, "but the craving of the

wicked He disappointeth." Miller thus translates the whole verse:

"Jehovah will not starve the righteous appetite, but the craving of

the wicked He will thrust away." +4. Dealeth,+ rather, "worketh."

+6.+ Zöckler and most commentators translate the second clause of

this verse, "the mouth of the wicked hideth or covereth violence or

iniquity." Stuart reads, "the mouth of the wicked concealeth injury."

Miller adheres nearly to the Authorised Version, and understands it

to mean that "wrong shuts up all chance of feast and comfort." It

will be observed, that this latter reading renders the clause

antithetical to the former part of the verse, which is not the case

with the other renderings. +9. Be known,+ _i.e.,_ "be made known," or

discovered. +11.+ For second clause, see on verse 6. +14. Lay up,+

literally, "conceal," _i.e.,_ "husband the knowledge and

understanding which they possess for the right time and place, do not

squander it in unreasonable talk or babbling" (_Zöckler_). +Near

destruction,+ rather, _is a_ near destruction, _i.e.,_ "is a quickly

destroying agency" (_Lange's Commentary_). +16. Labour,+ _i.e.,_ "the

gain," "the reward of labour." +Fruit,+ "gain," antithetical to the

subject of the first clause. +17.+ Not, +He is in the way,+ but "He

_is_ the way." +Erreth,+ causeth others to err. +18.+ Not, +with

lying lips,+ but "is of lying lips." "The meaning of this second

clause does not stand in the relation of an antithesis to the

preceding, but in that of a climax, adding a worse case to one not so

bad. If one conceals his hatred within himself, he becomes a

malignant flatterer; but if he gives expression to it in slander,

abuse, and base detraction, then, as a genuine fool, he brings upon

himself the greatest injury" (_Zöckler_). +22.+ Delitzsch and

Zöckler read the second clause, "and labour addeth nothing thereto,"

_i.e.,_ "God's blessing is in itself all in all, and makes right

without any effort." Stuart and Miller translate as the Authorised

Version, and the former understands it to signify that "sorrow shall

not necessarily increase by riches when it is Jehovah Himself who

bestows them." +25.+ "_When_ the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is no

more." +29.+ "Jehovah's way is a fortress to the upright, but _it is

destruction_ to the workers of iniquity." +31. Cut out,+ "rooted out."

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 1.

PARENTAL GRIEF AND GLADNESS.

The generalisation of the first nine chapters here descends into

particular applications. The chemist dilates upon the power and

excellence of certain elements, and then illustrates what he has

affirmed by showing their action in particular cases. Solomon has

dwelt long upon the general blessings which will flow from listening

to the counsels of Divine Wisdom, and he now shows some particular

instances of it. He begins with its effect in the family. Consider--

+I. How the author here speaks from personal experience.+ 1. _In his

relation to his father._ Men in positions of far less importance than

that which David held are solicitous that their sons should possess

such a character and such mental qualifications as will enable them

to fulfil the duties which they will bequeath to them at their own

departure from the world. The owner of a large estate, if he has a

right sense of his own responsibilities, desires that his heir should

be one who will exercise his stewardship wisely and generously. The

head of a mercantile firm hopes that the son who is to succeed to his

position will be prudent and far-seeing, and possess an aptitude for

business. If a monarch is what he ought to be, and feels how very

great is his power for good or evil, it will be a matter of the

deepest anxiety to him that the son who is one day to sit upon the

throne should be one who will discharge his weighty duties wisely and

well. David was such a monarch, and we can well imagine how great was

his solicitude that his well-beloved son Solomon should possess such

gifts and graces as would enable him worthily to fulfil the high

position he would one day be called to occupy. And, from what we know

of Solomon's youth and early manhood, we have every reason to believe

that he was such a son as gladdened his father's heart. In the

wonderful seventy-second Psalm--which, although it has its entire

fulfilment only in the "greater than Solomon," refers, doubtless, in

the first instance, to the great king--we have a glimpse of David's

desires and hopes concerning him. He begins with a prayer for him:

"Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the

king's son" (verse 1). And then he gives utterance to the hopes which

he cherished concerning his prosperous and beneficent reign--hopes

which, alas! would have been sadly dimmed could he have foreseen the

cloud which overshadowed Solomon's later days, but which were founded

in the evidences which he gave of youthful piety and devotion.

Solomon knew that he had been the gladness of his father's heart,

because he had been a "wise son," and therefore he spoke from

experience when he uttered the first clause of this proverb. But he

spoke no less from experience when he gave utterance to the opposite

truth. Solomon was a father as well as a son, and he speaks 2. _In

his relation to his son._ Rehoboam's youth and manhood--for he was a

man long before his father's death--were not, we may fairly conclude,

of such a character as to give his father much joy, but was such as

to awaken the gravest fears concerning his conduct when he should

become absolute master of the kingdom. We well know how these fears

were justified by his conduct on his accession to the throne. The

great crime of David's life had been committed before Solomon's

birth, and had, therefore, had no bad influence upon him, but the

sins of his own old age were a bad example to set before his son, and

could not have been without their evil influence. From what we read

of Rehoboam, we can but conclude that he had been a "foolish" son,

and that Solomon's heart was heavy with sadness concerning him when

he penned these words. These thoughts suggest a lesson which parents

should deeply ponder, viz., _that whether parents shall have gladness

or grief in their children depends not so much upon the excellence of

their words as upon the godliness of their lives._ Solomon uttered

thousands of moral precepts, but had he uttered as many more, they

would not have had much effect upon Rehoboam. What his son needed

more than wise sayings was the power of a godly life. This must ever

accompany moral teaching: nay, it must go before it, for a child can

receive impressions from a holy example before it is old enough to

appreciate abstract teaching. A parent's wise _sayings_ will never do

a child any good unless there are correspondent _doings_. A good

example is the best education. Consider--

+II. How very much our joy and sorrow in this world depend upon our

relationships.+ In proportion as the wise are related to the foolish

or to the wise, will be their grief or their gladness. Distant

relationships are not very effective in this way, but near

relationships are powerful in proportion to their nearness. And the

relation of parent to child is in some respects nearer than any

other--nearer, perhaps, even than that of husband and wife. Our

children are a part of ourselves, and what they are makes or mars our

lives. How much does that little pronoun "my" carry with it! To hear

that _any_ young man has disgraced his manhood and thrown away his

opportunities is an occasion of sadness to us. This is increased if

he is the son of anyone we have known and loved. But if good parents

have to reflect that "my" son has become a reprobate, how bitter is

their sorrow. But when the folly is not so great as this there may

still be much "heaviness" in a parent's heart. "Wise" and "foolish"

are relative terms. A good father's joy is proportionate to his son's

goodness, for we understand wisdom and folly here to stand for the

wisdom of goodness and the folly of sin, and a very little amount of

wickedness will make a good mother's heart heavy. _Let children then

learn from this text to reflect how much power to give joy or sorrow

rests with them, and to act accordingly;_ and _let parents,

considering how entirely their future happiness or misery will depend

upon the character of their children, begin to train them, both by

example and precept, from their tenderest years._ (On this subject

see also Homiletics on chap. iv. 1-4.)

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

The future may be imperative. We prefer this view. "_Let_ a wise son

make a glad father." If a man has a good son, let it be his one

all-sufficient gratification. . . . Men toil for their children, and

give themselves pain in their behalf to an extent absolutely heroic,

considering how they abnegate self, but to an extent altogether

disproportioned, as between their temporal and eternal warfare. This

is one way we destroy our children. If their temporal inheritance is

threatened, we are all on thorns; but if they are doing well or ill

in piety, we give it but little notice. The verb, therefore, as an

imperative, means most. "_Let_ a foolish son be the grief of his

mother," that is, an unconverted son. He may be all smiles and

amiableness, and the father's business may be doing well, but if he

is a fool, spiritually, it should be his mother's grief. And then

follow the reasons--(For) "treasures of wickedness profit nothing,"

etc.--_Miller._

Perhaps this first sentence may have been placed in the front to

point to the value of a godly education in the personal, social,

national influence, connected both with time and eternity.--_Bridges._

The father is specially said to be gladdened by a wise son as he is

of a more severe nature, and not so likely to form a partial

estimate, and therefore not so easily gladdened as the mother; so

that it is the stronger praise of the wise son to say that not only

the mother, but also the father, is gladdened by him. On the other

hand, the mother is apt, through fondness, to ignore the errors of

her son, and even to encourage them by indulgent connivance. The wise

man admonishes here that she is laying up "heaviness" in store for

herself.--_Fausset._

After the previous general description of Wisdom, Solomon begins with

what is uppermost in his own mind, What would be the character of his

successor? What would become of his throne, his wealth, his people,

after himself? See his melancholy forebodings in Proverbs xvii. 2-21,

25; xix. 13; Eccles. ii. 18, etc. Solomon has one son, and he is

Rehoboam. This thought lies underneath many of the sayings in the

Proverbs.--_Wordsworth._

Every son should be an Abner, that is, his father's light, and every

daughter an Abigail, her father's joy. Eve promised herself much in

her Cain, and David did the like in his Absalom. But they were both

deceived. Samuel succeeds Eli in his cross, though not in his sin.

Virtue is not, as lands, inheritable. Let parents labour to mend by

education what they have marred by propagation.--_Trapp._

Do you hear this, young man? It is in your power to make your father

glad, and God expects you to do it. Here is an object for your

ambition, here is an investment that will ensure an immediate return.

Come now, make your choice. Whether you will try to please these

fools who banter you here, or to gladden your father's heart that is

yearning for you there? . . . These companions that come between you

and him--what have they done for you, and what would they do for you

to-morrow, if you were in distress? They have never lost a night's

rest by watching at your sick bed, and never will. But your father

what has he done, and yet will do? The command of God is that you

gladden your father and not grieve him. Your conscience countersigns

that command now. Obey.--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 2.

THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND RICHES.

+I. Wealth when lawfully gotten is profitless for many very important

things.+ Death is mentioned in the text, it has no power over that in

any form. 1. _Wealth will not deliver you from the daily dying, which

is the lot of all men._ It has been said that as soon as we are born

we begin to die, and we know that it is certain that as soon as men

have attained their prime, their outward man perisheth day by day

(2 Cor. iv. 16). The richest man cannot purchase exception from this

law with all his wealth. 2. _Neither can wealth prevent the death

which we call premature._ Man of vast fortunes are often brought down

to an early grave; the seeds of disease within them hasten the

operation of the law of death which has passed upon the whole human

race. A galloping consumption cannot be held in check even with

_golden_ reins. 3. _Treasures of wealth will not insure a man against

sudden death._ The morning finds the rich man looking over his vast

acres, or counting up his dividends, and saying "I have much good

laid up for many years;" and before the sun sets another has entered

into possession of all his riches. 4. _Lawfully-gotten wealth will

not only not deliver from premature death, but may sometimes bring it

on._ Wealth is very apt to produce very mistaken views in a man's

mind. When he has amassed a large portion of this world's goods, and

is in a condition of moral bankruptcy, he is very prone to imagine

that he is secure in the enjoyment of all that he has acquired, and

that nothing can come between his riches and himself. Then God may

read him a lesson by saying, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be

required of thee" (Luke xii. 20). Had the man in the parable been a

poor man he would not have died so soon; his wealth not only could

not deliver him from death, but it hastened his end. And many men

walking in his footsteps have been brought to their graves in a

similar manner and for a similar reason even when the wealth has been

honestly gained. We have no reason to think that the rich fool

amassed his riches dishonestly; his sin consisted, not in his

_having_ riches, but in his _trusting_ in them.

+II. If treasure gotten by honest toil is profitless to deliver from

death and other evils, how much less will the "treasures of

wickedness," i.e., ill-gotten wealth, be profitable to work such a

deliverance.+ The means used to obtain it were opposed to the law of

righteousness, which does rule in the universe notwithstanding all

the apparent exceptions, and it is as foolish for a man to expect to

derive real profit from it as it would be for a man to expect to

construct a pyramid which would stand upon its apex. The latter would

not be more contrary to natural law than the former is to spiritual

law. And treasures of wickedness are not simply _profitless,_ they

bring the man who has them under the curse of the Righteous Ruler of

the world. They not only bring no _profit_ but they bring great

_loss._ No man can make an unlawful bargain or commit any other

dishonest act to gain money without bringing a blight upon his

spiritual nature, without entailing upon himself moral death. And if

the acquirement of "the treasures of wickedness" must subject a man

to this greatest calamity, how impossible is it that they can be

profitable to deliver from any lesser evil.

+III. Righteousness, on the other hand--+1. _Has often delivered from

bodily death._ All the extraordinary deliverances from death recorded

in the Bible took place in connection with righteousness, thereby

showing us that righteousness is stronger than death. Enoch did not

see death because he was a righteous man. Noah and his family were

exempted from the premature death which overtook the rest of the

world for the same reason. All the resurrections from the dead were

wrought either through the instrumentality of righteous men or by the

immediate action of the righteous Son of God. 2. _Does deliver always

from the curse of bodily death._ Death is the penalty of sin; it is

therefore a curse. We read that "The sting of death is sin; and the

strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor. xv. 56). But "Christ hath

redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us"

(Gal. iii. 13). We are justified by His righteousness if we

appropriate it by faith (Rom. iii. 21-26), and thus obtain the

"victory" over death "through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. xv. 57).

Here a _relative_ righteousness delivers from the _condemnation_ of

death. But this is the foundation of a _personal_ and _actual_

righteousness of character which delivers from _spiritual death now_,

and will one day deliver the _body_ from the grave. "If Christ be in

you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because

of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from

the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall

also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you"

(Rom. viii. 10, 11). Here Paul argues from the greater spiritual

deliverance to the lesser bodily one, and shows how, in all senses,

"righteousness delivers from death."

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

The proverb means the treasures of an unsaved man. . . . The highest

opulence of the dead sinner is of no possible profit: but the

righteousness of the saved sinner, even without any opulence at all,

is a fortune; for, like the "charm of the lamp," it makes for him

everlasting blessedness.--_Miller._

A man may seem to _profit_ by them, and to come up wonderfully for a

time. But what was the profit of Naboth's vineyard to Ahab, when in

his ivory palace he was withering under the curse of God? (1 Kings

xxi. 4-24 with xxii. 39). What was the profit of the thirty pieces of

silver to Judas? Instead of _delivering from death,_ their

intolerable sting plunged him into death eternal (Matt.

xxvii. 5).--_Bridges._

Righteousness delivereth from death, to wit, in the time of

vengeance; for uprightness is that mark of election and life which

the Lord, spying in any when He plagueth the wicked for their

transgressions, spareth them, and preserveth them from destruction.

Thus, although the righteousness of the just person deserveth nothing

at God's hands, neither is any cause of man's preservation or

salvation, yet it serveth as a sovereign treacle to preserve the

evil-doer from that deadly plague, which is sent from the Lord to

destroy the disobedient, and as a letter of passport to safe-conduct

the faithful person in perilous times, and to protect him from all

dangers.--_Muffet._

Observe--+I. The excellency of these comforts in themselves.+ They

are _treasures_--that is, heaps of outward good things. The word

includeth a _multitude,_ for one or two will not make a treasure; and

a _multitude of precious things,_ for a heap of sand, or coals, or

dust, is not a treasure: but of silver or gold, or some excellent

earthly things. It is here in the plural, treasures, noting the

greatest confluence of worldly comforts. +II. The impiety of the

owners.+ They are treasures of wickedness. The purchaser got them by

sinful practices. They were brought into his house slyly at some back

door. He was both the receiver and the thief. Treasures of

wickedness, because gotten by wicked ways, and employed to wicked

ends. There is an English proverb which too many Englishmen have made

good, "That which is got over the devil's back is usually spent under

the devil's belly." When sin is the parent that begets riches it many

times hath this recompense, that they are wholly at its service and

command. +III. The vanity of those treasures:+ they profit nothing.

They are unable to cheer the mind, to cure the diseases of the body,

much less to heal the wounds of the soul, or to bribe the flames of

hell. Alas! they are so far from profiting, that they are infinitely

prejudicial. Such powder-masters are blown up with their own ware.

These loads sink the bearer into the unquenchable lake. Aristotle

tells us of the sea-mew, or sea-eagle, that she will often seize on

her prey, though it be more than she can bear, and falleth down

headlong with it into the deep, and so perisheth. This fowl is a fit

emblem of the unrighteous person, for he graspeth those heavy

possessions which press him down into the pit of perdition. "They

that will be rich (that resolve on it, whether God will or no, and by

any means, whether right or wrong), fall into temptations, and a

snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in

destruction and perdition" (1 Tim. vi. 9). Men that scrape an estate

together unjustly are frequently said in the Word of God to get it in

haste, because such will not stay God's time, nor wait in His way

till He send them wealth, but must have it presently, and care not

though it be unrighteously. Fair and softly goes far. None thrive so

well as those that stay God's leisure, and expect wealth in His

way. . . . 1. _Be righteous in thy works or actions._ Deal with men

as one that in all hath to do with God. If thou art a Christian, thou

art a law to thyself; thou hast not only a law without thee (the Word

of God), but a law within thee, and so darest not transgress. Thy

double hedge may well prevent thy wandering. . . . Be righteous in

buying. . . . Take heed lest thou layest out thy money to purchase

endless misery. Some have bought places to bury their bodies in, but

more have bought those commodities which have swallowed up their

souls. Injustice in buying is a canker which will eat up and waste

the most durable wares. In buying, do not work either upon the

ignorance or the poverty of the seller. Be righteous in selling. Be

careful, while thou sellest thy wares to men, that thou dost not sell

thy soul to Satan. Be righteous in the _substance_ of what thou

sellest, and that in regard of its quality and quantity. God can see

the rottenness of thy stuffs, and heart too, under thy false glosses,

and for all thy false lights. Be righteous in regard to the quantity.

They wrong themselves most who wrong others of their right. The

jealous God is very punctual in this particular (Lev. xix. 35, 36).

2. _Be righteous in thy words and expressions, as well as in thy

works._ The Christian's tongue should be his heart's interpreter, and

reveal its mind and meaning; and the Christian's hand should justify

his tongue, by turning his words into deeds. The burgess of the New

Jerusalem is known by this livery: "He walketh uprightly, worketh

righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart; he sweareth to

his own hurt, and changeth not" (Psa. xv. 2, 4). His speech is the

natural and genuine offspring of his heart; there is a great

resemblance between the child and the parent. There is a symmetry

between his hand and his tongue; he is slow to promise, not hasty to

enter into bonds, but being once engaged, he will be sure to

perform.--_Swinnock._

Wickedness is in itself a treasure laid up against the day of wrath;

and as that profiteth nothing, so neither do the treasures of

wickedness. For as he that setteth himself to any employment, perhaps

may lose one way and get another, but if, in the general upshot and

confusion, he finds his estate to be bettered, then is his employment

said to be profitable; so in the treasures of wickedness, there may

be gain of wealth, honour, pleasure, and loss of credit, quiet,

comfort, but in the conclusion the loss will be most grievous, and

therefore profitable they cannot be.--_Jermin._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 3, 4.

DIVINE AND HUMAN PROVIDENCE.

+I. A general rule. God supplies all the needs of His children+

(verse 3). We take the word soul here to mean what it often does in

the Old Testament, viz., the _bodily life,_ and, therefore,

understand the promise to be similar to that in Psalm xxxiii. 19,

etc. God's special providential care is over the righteous. This we

should have expected if this and like promises did not exist. The

animal creation, as a rule, care and provide for their own offspring.

There are men and women who have fallen so low as not to care for the

well-being of those dependent on them, but wherever there is any

virtue left in human beings it will certainly manifest itself in

making some efforts to secure from want those who are nearly related

to them and dependent upon them. God has laid it as a charge upon His

creatures to care for the bodily wants of their children, and He has

implanted within men and women an instinct which is generally strong

enough to lead them to do it. It is an apostolic sentence--"If any

provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he

hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel" (1 Tim. v. 8).

God has taught us that the righteous are bound to Him by a closer tie

than we are bound to each other by flesh and blood relationships.

"For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,"

said Christ, "the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Matt.

xii. 50). He was more nearly related to His disciples than to those

of His brethren who did not believe on Him. They were Christ's "own"

(John xiii. 1) in a sense in which other men were not, and He

provided for their necessities because they held this special

relation to Him. God has a general care for all that He has made. He

cares for the life of the tiniest wild flower, and feeds it with

light and moisture according to its need. "He giveth to the beast his

food, and to the young ravens which cry" (Psalm cxlvii. 9). He maketh

His sun to shine and His rain to fall upon the fields of the unjust,

and is kind to the unthankful and the evil (Luke vi. 35). Then it

follows from necessity that He, the _Righteous Father,_ will not

suffer the souls of the "righteous" to famish. When ordinary means

will not meet their need, He will employ special means to do so.

There are many instances upon record in the history of God's Church

in which, the supply not being obtainable within the ordinary working

of His providence, He has gone into the region of the supernatural

for sustenance for His children.

+II. Special exceptions to this rule.+ If we understand these words

as referring to the bodily life, we must admit that there have been

exceptions to it. Some of God's children have suffered from want,

some have starved to death in dungeons _because_ they have been

righteous. But these special exceptions have been for special ends.

Solomon's father, when he was haunted by Saul, was doubtless often in

want of food, but this severe discipline fitted him for the position

he was afterwards to occupy as the King of Israel. Paul tells us that

he was often "in hunger and thirst, in fastings, in cold and

nakedness" (2 Cor. xi. 27), but he likewise tells us that he "gloried

in tribulation," because it "worketh patience, and patience

experience, and experience hope," etc. (Rom. v. 3, 4). Whenever there

are partial or entire exceptions to this rule, we may rest assured

that those who are the subjects of the exceptions have their material

loss more than made up to them.

+III. Special relationship to God will not secure exception from want

unless the necessary conditions are fulfilled.+ "He," whether saint

or sinner, "becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand" (ver. 4).

If a godly man is not diligent in business, he will come to want as

certainly as an ungodly one. God's children are not exempt from the

working of the natural and providential laws of the world in which

they live. If they transgress any physical law, they must pay the

penalty. The disregard of such law is a "tempting of the Lord their

God" (Matt. iv. 5-7). And what is true of physical laws is true of

providential laws. If a husbandman is ever so prayerful and trustful,

he will not have a crop in harvest unless he works hard in the days

of ploughing and sowing. And the most spiritually-minded tradesman

will not earn a living unless he gives due attention to his business.

"God's promises were never made to ferry our laziness" (_Beecher_).

It is sheer presumption to expect God to give us our daily bread if

we neglect to do all within our power to earn it. Even in Paradise

nature would not yield her treasure without diligence on the part of

man. Adam was to "till the ground," to "dress and keep" the Garden of

Eden (Gen. ii. 5-15). And this dependence of success upon diligence

is--1. Good for the man himself. He has bodily and mental powers

which cannot be developed without constant exercise. 2. Good for

others. A man who does not bring all his powers into play defrauds

society of the benefit it might receive from his latent abilities.

+IV. When the conditions of growing rich are fulfilled by unrighteous

men, the wealth attained by diligence shall be taken away by

justice.+ Riches and poverty are comparative terms; it is certainly

not true that every diligent man makes a fortune; probably Solomon

means no more than that diligence always brings some amount of

reward. However that may be, we must put the declaration "The hand of

the diligent maketh rich" side by side with that in the preceding

verse, "He casteth away the substance of the wicked." The

professional thief exercises a diligence which is not surpassed by

many honest men, if by any. He deals with no slack hand, and he

generally succeeds in getting rich for a time. But if he is

_diligent,_ the detective officer is _vigilant,_ and the substance he

has gathered will one day be scattered by the hand of justice. And

there are many unprofessional thieves in the world who gain their

riches by means quite as unlawful as their professional brethren,

although they sail under other colours. Substance thus obtained is as

surely marked by God for scattering as that of the housebreaker or

highwayman, although He sometimes delays long the apprehension of the

culprit. Against all such the sentence has gone forth, "Yea, they

shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock

shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them

and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as

stubble" (Isa. xl. 24). There are three reasons why wealth, which has

been gathered by unrighteous diligence, should be scattered. 1. _Such

unrighteous dealing is a sin against God._ It is a defiance of the

eighth and tenth commandments, for all men who get rich unlawfully

must both covet and steal. When God's "thou shalt not" is thus

disregarded, we may be certain that He will vindicate His right to

give laws to His creatures. 2. _It is a sin against man._ Such a

man's diligence must have caused much misery to many of his

fellow-creatures. Men cannot satisfy lawless desires without bringing

unhappiness to others. 3. _Wealth unlawfully gained is sure to be

made an instrument of oppression._ Wealth always gives some amount of

power, and he who has trampled on the rights of others to get riches

will be sure to use them for their oppression when he has obtained

them. Verse 4 may be applied spiritually. If material good cannot be

obtained without diligence, most assuredly spiritual blessings cannot

(2 Pet. i. 5, 10, etc.). It is as necessary for the spiritual powers

to be kept in constant exercise, if they are to be healthy and

strong, as it is for the body or the mind. The needs of others as

well as our own demand diligence in spiritual things. And whatever

exceptions there may be in the rule in relation to material good,

this higher wealth will always be in proportion to the diligent use

of means.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 3. Should the wicked by permitted to hold their substance all

their days, Death, that terrible messenger, shall at last drag them

from it; nor shall their glory descend after them to the grave, but

that wickedness by which they acquired it shall lie down with them in

the dust and torture their souls in hell.--_Lawson._

The substance of the wicked is "of the earth, earthy." It pertains

not to the soul, and partakes not of its imperishable vitality. O the

miserable but sadly common mistake of the rich man in the parable,

when he addressed his _soul_ in terms of congratulation, as if, in

the abundance of worldly good, it had got what would give it real and

permanent satisfaction (Luke xii. 16-21). "_Casting it away_" is an

act indicative of regarding it as _worthless._ The substance of this

world is that on which the hearts of the sons of men are set. But

"God will cast it away." He will not only bereave them of it--and

that, it may be, suddenly--but what is there in all this substance

that can avail as purchase money for the soul and for heaven? Had a

man "the world" to offer, God would "cast it away." He would say,

"Thy money perish with thee!" "Riches profit not in the day of

wrath." The famished soul must then die, and die for ever.--_Wardlaw._

As the end of the former verse must chiefly be understood of

spiritual death, because temporarily the righteous die as well as the

wicked, so, with St. Jerome, I understand this of a spiritual famine.

Now, as the course that is needful to preserve the body is so to

nourish it that it may neither be glutted with fulness nor pined with

emptiness, but in such sort to feed it that it may still have

appetite for food, the same is the care which Almighty God taketh of

the soul's health; for He so feedeth the righteous that He will not

suffer them to famish, and yet He doth not so fill them as that they

do not hunger and thirst after righteousness. The time of fulness is

heaven, where, as there will be no danger of sickness to the soul, so

no lack of plenty.--_Jermin._

It might be objected, If I strain not my conscience, I may starve for

it. Fear not that, saith the wise man. Faith fears not famine.

Necessaries thou shalt be sure of (Psalm xxxvii. 25, 26; xxxiv. 15);

superfluities thou art not to stand upon (1 Tim. vi. 8).--_Trapp._

Verse 4. "The diligent" (Hebrew, _charutzim,_ from _charatz,_ to _cut

short,_ or _settle_); those who are _decisive_ in all things, who

economise their time and means--prompt in movement.--_Fausset._

Riches were first bestowed upon the world as they are still continued

in it, by the blessing of God upon the industry of men, in the use of

their understanding and strength.--_Bishop Butler._

The Lord's visits of favour were never given to loiterers. Moses and

the shepherds of Bethlehem were keeping their flocks (Exod. iii. 1,

2; Luke ii. 8, 9). Gideon was at the threshing-floor (Judg. vi. 11).

"Our idle days," as Bishop Hall observes, "are Satan's busy days."

Active employment gives us a ready answer to his present temptation.

"I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down" (Neh.

vi. 3).--_Bridges._

Not only will God provide for the wise, but wisdom itself is a

provision. "The hand of the diligent makes riches," even if it earn

little; the meaning being that active work is itself a treasure; or,

passing into the realm of piety, which is the one intended, he is a

poor man who is a sluggard in his soul's work, and a rich man who is

awake and active. Our treasure is within. "My meat is," said our

Great Exemplar, "to do the will of Him that sent me." And on our

dying bed our money will be of small account, but our work will be

the splendid fortune that will follow the believer (Rev.

xiv. 13).--_Miller._

_The advantages of virtuous industry._ 1. The industrious man

performs and accomplishes many things which are profitable to himself

and others in numberless respects. Let his station be never so

humble, yet that which he does in it has influence more or less upon

all other stations. If he completely fulfil his duty, every other can

more completely fulfil his. Let the faculties, the endowments of a

man be never so confined, yet by continued uninterrupted application

he can perform much, often far more than he who with eminent powers

of intellect is slothful or indolent. 2. He executes them with far

more ease and dexterity than if he were not industrious. He has no

need of any long previous contest with himself, of long previous

consideration how he shall begin the work, or whether he shall begin

it at all. But he attacks the business with alacrity and spirit and

pursues it with good-will. 3. He unfolds, exercises, perfects his

mental powers. And this he does alike in every vocation; because it

is not of so much consequence to what we apply our intellectual

faculties, as how we employ them. Whether we apply them to the

government of a nation or to the learning and exercise of some useful

trade makes no material difference. But to learn to think

methodically and justly, to act as rational beings, with

consideration and fixed principles, to do what we have to do

deliberately, carefully, punctiliously, conscientiously, that is the

main concern. Virtuous diligence is a continual exercise of the

understanding, of reason, of reflection, of self-command. 4. The

industrious man lives in the entire true intimate consciousness of

himself. He rejoices in his life, his faculties, his endowments, his

time. He can give an account of the use and application of them and

can therefore look back upon the past with satisfaction and into the

future without disquietude. 5. He experiences neither languor nor

irksomeness. He who really loves work can never be wanting in means

and opportunities for it. To him every occupation is agreeable, even

though it procure him no visible profit. 6. He alone knows the

pleasure of rest for he alone really wants it, he alone has deserved

it, he alone can enjoy it without reproach. 7. The industrious man

alone fulfils the design for which he is placed on earth, and can

boldly give an account to God, to his fellow-creatures, and to

himself how he has spent his life.--_Zollikofer._

This rule applies alike to the business of life and the concerns of

the soul. Diligence is necessary to the laying-up of treasures,

either within or beyond the reach of rust. . . . A world bringing

forth fruit spontaneously might have suited a sinless race, but it

would be unsuitable for mankind as they now are. If all men had

plenty without labour, the world would not be fit for living in. In

every country and under every kind of government, the unemployed are

the most dangerous classes. Thus the necessity of labour has become a

blessing to man. . . . It would be a libel upon the Divine economy to

imagine that the tender plant of grace would thrive in a sluggard's

garden. The work is difficult. The times are bad. He who would gain

in godliness must put his soul into the business. But he who puts his

soul into the business will grow rich. Labour laid out here is not

lost. Those who strive lawfully will win a kingdom. When all counts

are closed, he who is rich in faith is the richest man.--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 5.

THE USE AND THE NEGLECT OF OPPORTUNITIES.

+I. Man has opportunities given to him which it is a mark of wisdom

to embrace.+ 1. _He has the literal and temporal summer._ When the

harvest is ripe the reaper must take down his sickle and toil at the

ingathering of the grain if he would have bread to eat in the days of

winter. The fisherman must spread his net in the season when the fish

are abundant and watch his opportunity to catch the passing shoal.

The merchant must take advantage of the flood-tide of commercial

prosperity to make money so that he may not be brought to bankruptcy

in times of depression. These things cannot be done at _any_ time,

but the _opportune_ time must be laid hold of and improved. 2. _He

has a mental summer._ Youth is the season usually given to man to

develop his mental faculties and lay up stores of knowledge for use

in after life. Those who embrace this season and industriously

improve it, that "gather" in this "summer," are "wise sons," and reap

an abundant reward in the time of manhood and old age. 3. _He has an

opportunity given to lay the foundation of a godly character._ The

season of youth is most favourable for this work. The youthful mind

is more susceptible of moral impressions than those of a man who has

grown to manhood without yielding to their influence. The young tree

can be easily trained to grow in the desired direction, but it is

impossible to bend the trunk when it has acquired any degree of

strength. So it is comparatively easy to form habits of godly thought

and action when we are young, although by the power of God's grace it

is not impossible at any time. He who subjects his will to the Great

Teacher in his early days will enjoy an abundant blessing in old age

from this "gathering in summer."

+II. He who neglects thus to improve his opportunities

is--+1. _Likened to a man who sleeps through the season of harvest._

He sets one blessing of God in opposition to the other. Toil and rest

are both Divine ordinances, and both are good and blessed in their

season. Sleep is felt to be an incalculable boon at the end of each

day of toil. The rest of the Sabbath is a priceless gift of God, and

is needed to renew both body and mind after the six days' labour.

Longer seasons of rest are good and needful at certain periods of

life, and it is a sin against God not to use the ordinary

opportunities of rest which are given to all, or ought to be, or to

refuse to make use of extraordinary opportunities when they are given

to us by the providence of God. But this is quite a different thing

from making life a time of indolence--from neglecting to do work

either belonging to the body, mind, or spirit; which, if done at all,

can only be done in the given opportunity, or cannot be done so well

at any other time. 2. _Such a sleeping in harvest brings

shame_--(1) _To the man himself._ He is accused by his own

conscience. Conscience will recognise the authority of God's

institutions, and the lazy man will be brought to feel that he is out

of harmony with the Divine ordinations which govern the world. A time

will come in his experience when he will feel the want of the

material good, or of the knowledge, or of the favour of God, which he

would have possessed if he had used his opportunities, and his

poverty in one or all of these respects will make him ashamed when he

compares himself with those who "gathered in summer." (2) _It brings

shame upon others._ No man can suffer alone for his own sin. Those

related to him suffer also in proportion to the nearness of their

relationship and to the affection which they bear to him. The son who

fritters away the season of youthful opportunity disgraces his

parents. By-and-by he becomes a father, and his children partake of

his shame. The whole subject reminds us that bare admission into the

Divine family is not the end, but the beginning of a Divine life.

There must be a "gathering" ever going on. "And _beside this_" (see

verses 1-4), "giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to

virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance,

patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly

kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity" (2 Peter i. 5-7).

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Look at the _large harvest of opportunity in labouring for God._ The

great and diversified machinery of religious societies, needing

direction and energy; the mass of fellow sinners around us, claiming

our sympathy and helpfulness. "While we have time, let us do good"

(Gal. iv. 10). How high is the privilege of gathering with Christ _in

such a harvest!_ (Matt. xii. 30). How great the _shame_ of doing

nothing, where there is so much to be done! What a _harvest_ also is

the present "accepted time" (2 Cor. vi. 2). Mark the abundance of the

means of grace, the living verdure of the gospel. Can I bear the

thought of that desponding cry of eternal remorse--"The _harvest_ is

past, the _summer_ is ended, and I am not saved?" (Jer.

viii. 20).--_Bridges._

The opportunity is in all matters carefully to be observed. He

gathereth in summer who, redeeming the time, maketh his best

advantage of the season; for the summer is that fit season wherein

the fruits are got into the barn for the whole year following. He

that thus in due season provideth for his body or soul, is worthily

called a son of understanding, or a wise man; for he hath not only

prudently foreseen what is best to be done, but wisely took the

occasion offered unto his best advantages. On the contrary side, he

sleepeth in harvest who fondly letteth slip the most convenient means

or opportunity of doing or receiving good. Such a one is a son of

confusion, that is to say, one that shall be ashamed or confounded,

by reason of the want or misery whereunto he shall fall through his

own folly.--_Muffett._

The use of the word "son" in both clauses implies that the work of

the vine-dresser and the plough had been done by the father. All that

the son is called to do is to enter into the labours of others, and

reap where they have sown.--_Plumptre._

As the former verse commendeth labour and pains and therein

diligence, so this commendeth the diligence of watchfulness, in

taking opportunity and not omitting it. For there may be much

labouring, but there will be little benefit, unless there be a

gathering in summer. The taking of pains may show a mind to gather,

but the unseasonableness of the pains will not show the wisdom of the

mind.--_Jermin._

+I. God affords opportunities for good.+ In this view we may regard

the _whole period of life._ 1. You are blessed with a season of

Gospel grace while many are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of

death, upon you _hath the light shined_. 2. You have a season of

civil and religious liberty. What advantage do we possess above many

of our ancestors who suffered for conscience sake! They laboured, and

we have entered into their labours. 3. Who has not experienced a day

of trouble? 4. Where is the person who does not know what we mean by

a season of conviction? +II. I would enforce upon you the necessity

of diligence to improve your reaping season.+ 1. Consider how much

you have to accomplish. The salvation of the soul is a great--an

arduous concern. Religion is a race, and you must run; it is a

warfare, and you must fight. The blessings of the Gospel are free,

but they are to be sought, and gained. 2. Consider the worth of the

blessings which demand your attention. . . . Is it not desirable to

be redeemed from the curse of the law; to be justified freely from

every charge brought against us at the bar of God; to be delivered

from the tyranny and rage of vicious appetites and passions? Great is

the happiness of the good here; but who can describe the exalted

glory and joy that await them hereafter? 3. Remember that your labour

will not be in vain in the Lord. The husbandman has many

uncertainties to contend with, but _probability_ stimulates _him_;

how much more should actual _certainty_ encourage _you_. 4. Remember

that your season for action is limited and short. Harvest does not

last long. Your time is _uncertain_ as well as short. 5. Reflect upon

the consequences of negligence. Is a man blamed for sleeping in

harvest? Does every one reproach him as a fool? You act a part more

absurd and fatal, who _neglect this great salvation._ Having made no

provision for eternity, your ruin is unavoidable. It will also be

insupportable.--_Jay._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6, 7, _and_ 11.

THE WAY TO PRESENT BLESSEDNESS AND FUTURE FAME.

We connect the first and last of these verses, because the latter

clause in both is the same. +I. Opposite characters revealed by a

great contrast in speech+ (verse 11). When a righteous man opens his

mouth, it is as if the cover was removed from a pure, clear well of

water. He has no evil intentions to conceal; his words are an index

to his heart. By them men may read his thoughts with the same ease as

they can see what is at the bottom of a clear spring of water. There

is medicinal virtue in them--they _heal_ as well as _refresh_ the

spirits of men. What a well of life have the words of Christ been for

centuries to millions of the human race. But a wicked man cannot let

all the thoughts of his heart be laid open to the light of day. His

"mouth conceals injury" (see Critical Notes). He has plans which are

not devised for the good of his fellow-creatures, and he must use his

words not to reveal, but to hide what is in his mind. And if he lets

his tongue loose, and permits his thoughts to flow out into words,

they do not bless his hearers, but are like a poisonous stream,

carrying moral death wherever they flow.

+II. Character yields a present blessing or a present curse.+

"Blessings _are_ upon the head of the righteous," etc. A man's

present comfort within himself, and the inheritance of good-will he

now receives from his fellow-men, as well as the favour of God, are

all dependent upon what he is in his character. The kingdom of heaven

is _now_ inherited by him. All the beatitudes uttered by our Lord

speak of a present blessedness. "Blessed _are_ the poor in spirit,"

etc. The opposite truth is not expressed, but it is implied. Curses,

not blessings, are the present inheritance of the man whose "mouth is

covered by violence."

+III. Character determines the nature of our future fame+ (verse 7).

1. _The memory of the righteous is blessed, because what they did

upon the earth is the means of bringing blessings upon others after

they are gone._ Many a son has received kindness for the sake of the

righteousness of his father. God blesses the children for the

father's sake. "I will make him prince all the days of his life _for

David my servant's sake,_ whom I chose, because he kept my

commandments and my statutes" (1 Kings xi. 34). "Fear not," said God

to Isaac, "for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy

seed for _my servant Abraham's sake_" (Gen. xxvi. 24). Cyrus was

raised up to deliver Israel _for Jacob's sake_ (Isa. xlv. 4). Men can

but bless the memory of those whose past godliness is the means of

bringing blessings upon them in the present. 2. _The just man's

memory is blessed because he leaves behind him reproductions of his

own character._ All life will reproduce itself. After a tree has

decayed and gone to dust, others will be in full life and vigour that

were seedlings of the old tree. Intellectual life is reproductive.

The man of mighty genius leaves disciples to carry out his ideas

after he is gone. Good men are the parents of good children, or make

other men good by their words and lives. "They that dwell under his

shadow shall return," and "_they_ shall grow as the vine" (Hosea

xiv. 7). The good must be held in blessed remembrance so long as

there are those upon earth who are the reproductions of their

character. 3. _The memory of some is blessed because they did deeds

which never can be reproduced by others--which have left a fragrance

behind them which can never be repeated._ The one act of Abraham,

when he prepared to offer up Isaac at God's command, can never be

repeated; but it is the one which, above all his other acts of faith,

causes him to be held in everlasting remembrance. And so it has been

with many of the leaders of the Church in all ages. They have

performed acts of godly heroism which we cannot imitate, but of which

we reap the reward, and for which we bless their memory. Especially

is this true of Him who is pre-eminently the Holy One and the Just,

whose glorious "name is blessed for ever" (Psa. lxxii. 19), because

"He endured the cross and despised the shame." But the converse of

all this is the lot of the wicked. We can but remember them when we

are brought face to face with the evil they have left behind them;

but we turn from the remembrance as we turn from some offensive

putrid object, while the memory of the just is as a sweet savour.

Contrast the feelings with which Christendom now regards the emperors

of Rome and the fishermen of Galilee.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 6. Not one, but many blessings are on the head of the

righteous: the blessing of peace, the blessing of plenty, the

blessing of health, and the blessing of grace, shall be upon them.

The precious ointment of the Lord's favour and blessing shall be so

poured upon their heads as that it shall not here stay, but run down

to the rest of the members of their bodies, and enter into their very

hearts.--_Muffet._

"_Blessings:_" not simply good things, but good things bestowed by

another; not simply good things bestowed by another, but divinely

bestowed as sacred _benedictions._ "_Blessings_" are for the

righteous exclusively, that is, for no one else. "_For the head;_"

not the mouth, not the hand; because often without either's agency.

"_On his head;_" because unconsciously, and sometimes even when

asleep.--_Miller._

Verse 7. The memory of the just is blessed (1) because of his winning

friendship; (2) because of his unfeigned piety; (3) because of his

steadfast patience; (4) because of his noble, public-minded

activity.--_Ziegler, from Lange's Commentary._

And what signifies an empty name? It brings honour to God, and

prolongs the influence of his good example who has left it. His good

works not only follow him, but live behind him. As Jeroboam made

Israel to sin after he was dead, so the good man helps to make others

holy whilst he is lying in the grave. Should it so happen that his

character is mistaken in the world, or should his name die out among

men, it shall yet be had in everlasting remembrance before God; for

never shall those names be erased from the Lamb's book of life, which

were written in it from the foundation of the world.--_Lawson._

Not what he remembers, but what is remembered of him. He blesses

after he is dead. So does the wicked, but, like most other growths in

nature, by his decay. "_Name;_" that which is known of a man. The

"name of God" is that which may be known of God. "The memory of the

righteous," viz., of the Church of God, is that which propagates her,

and causes her to hand down her strength. Our walk about Zion, our

telling her towers, our marking her bulwarks, is for this grand aim,

among the rest, that we may tell to the generation following (Psa.

xlviii. 12, 13).--_Miller._

I. The memory of the just is blessed, self-evidently so, for the mind

blesses it and reverts to it with complacency, mingled with

solemnity,--returns to it with delight from the sight of the living

evil in the world, sometimes even prefers this silent society to the

living good. They show in a most evident and pleasing manner the

gracious connection which God has constantly maintained with a sinful

world. His uninterrupted connection with it by justice and sovereign

power has been manifest in mighty evidence: but His saints have been

the peculiar illustration of His grace, His mercy, acting on this

world. II. It is so, when we consider them as practical

illustrations, verifying examples of the excellence of genuine

religion; that it is a noble thing in human nature, and makes, and

alone makes, that nature noble;--that, whatever scoffers may say, or

this vain world would pretend to disbelieve, here is what has made

such men as nothing else, under heaven, could or can. III. Their

memory is blessed while we regard them as diminishing to our view the

repulsiveness and horror of death. Our Lord's dying was the fact that

threw out the mightiest agency to this effect. But, in their measure,

His faithful disciples have done the same. When we contemplate them

as having prepared for it with a calm resolution--as having

approached it--multitudes with a calm resignation and fortitude, and

very many with an animated exultation;--as having passed it, and

emerged in brightness beyond its gloom--they seem to shine back

through the gloom, and make the shade less thick. IV. It is blessed,

also, as combined with the whole progress of God upon the earth--with

its living agency throughout every stage. He has never, and nowhere,

had a visible cause in the world, without putting _men_ in trust with

it. . . . Think of what men have been employed and empowered to do in

the propagation of truth, in the incessant warfare against evil, in

the exemplification of all the virtues by which he could be

honoured.--_John Foster._

Verse 11. A Church is but a body of righteous men. What would the

world do without the Church? The influences of a Church, and that a

land is ruined without a Church, and that one generation hands on the

worship of God to another, are all illustrations on a grand scale of

how _the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life._ A good man

will constantly be doing good to others. But "wrong covers the mouth

of the wicked," so that he can give no blessing; so keeps him from

any possible usefulness, that he cannot utter good, or make his

mouth, as the righteous can, "a fountain of life" to all about

him.--_Miller._

In a hot summer's day I was sailing with a friend in a tiny boat on a

miniature lake, enclosed like a cup within a circle of steep, bare

Scottish hills. On the shoulders of the brown, sun-burnt mountain,

and full in sight, was a well, with a crystal stream trickling over

its lip, and making its way down towards the lake. Around the well's

mouth, and along the course of the rivulet, a belt of green stood out

in strong contrast with the iron surface of the rock all around.

"What do you make of that?" said my friend, who had both an open eye

to read the book of Nature and a heart all aglow with the lessons of

love. We soon agreed as to what should be made of it. It did not need

us to make it into anything. There it was, a legend clearly printed

by the finger of God on the side of these silent hills, teaching the

passer-by how needful a good man is, and how useful he may be in a

desert world. . . . The Lord looks down, and men look up, expecting

to see a fringe of living green around the lip of a Christian's

life-course.--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 8.

THE DOER AND THE TALKER.

+I. A definition of a wise man.+ He is one that "will receive

commandments." The reception of commandments implies a commander, and

a willingness to obey his laws. The wise man is willing to obey good

laws even at the expense of some self-sacrifice, because he has a

strong conviction of the benefits that will arise from submission.

The laws which govern a well-ordered State will not be irksome to a

right-minded citizen. He feels that submission to them will bring

only comfort to him. The yoke will bring ease, and he proves that he

is a wise man by accepting it. The commandments here are the

commandments of Jehovah. He only is a truly wise man who is willing

to submit his will to the Divine will, to take upon himself the yoke

of Him whose "yoke is easy" (Matt. xi. 30), who is the Lawgiver who

"makes free indeed" (John viii. 36). He obeys His commandments from

the full conviction of the benefits and blessings which flow from

keeping them. He knows that the obedience must come before the

comfort, that Incarnate Wisdom has placed the commandment first, and

then the reward "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command

you" (John xv. 14). He can say, from past experience concerning the

Divine commands, "In keeping of them there is great reward" (Psa.

xix. 11), and the blessedness that he has tasted he knows to be but

the earnest of what is to be in the future, and therefore he is

willing to sacrifice present advantage and worldly ease to obedience

to them. He is like the trader who has received a sample of a rich

cargo from a distant land, and who is so convinced of the value of

the whole from that which has come to hand, that he is willing to

undergo any present privation in order to become its possessor. The

Son of God likened such an one to "a wise man, which built his house

upon a rock," for it is evident that to "receive" commandments is

here equivalent to "doing" them (Matt. vii. 24).

+II. A distinguishing mark of a fool.+ He is a _prater._ He is one

who is willing to talk, but not to act; willing to give out words,

but not to receive instruction; and therefore he is one who can give

out nothing by speech that is worth giving. Unless the earth receives

good seed into its bosom, it cannot give out "seed to the sower and

bread to the eater." Unless a man receives into his heart the good

seed of the kingdom, he can never bring forth moral fruit (Matt.

xiii. 23), and he can never do more than _prate_ about spiritual

truths. There are many words but no meat. There is only one Being in

the universe who can be a giver without first being a receiver, and

that is God. Outside of Him, all must receive of His fulness if they

would be anything more than mere _talkers_ on eternal realities. All

such men are fools. "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is

the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of

this world?" (1 Cor. i. 20).

+III. The end of such a mere talker.+ He shall fall. 1. _In the

estimation of those who he pretends to instruct._ No men are so prone

to assume the office of instruction as men who are ignorant, but such

men cannot long hold a place in the estimation of others. 2. _He

shall fall into deeper folly._ Those who refuse to receive that

Divine commandment which will make them truly wise, must sink lower

and lower into sinful folly. The longer he refuses the offered

wisdom, and refuses to put his neck under the yoke of God's

commandments, the heavier will grow the chains of sinful habit, and

the more firmly will they be riveted. 3. _He shall fall into

righteous retribution._ This will be proportionate to the

opportunities he has had of receiving wisdom. "And thou, Capernaum,

which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell" (Matt.

xi. 23).

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

A fool is in nothing sooner and better recognised than in his

conversation.--_Geier._

It is striking how often Solomon dwells upon sins of the tongue; no

member is so hard to control; none more surely indicates the

man.--_Fausset._

The heart is the seat of true wisdom, and a teachable spirit is the

best proof of its influence. For who that knows himself would not be

thankful for further light. No sooner, therefore, do the commandments

come down from heaven, than the well-instructed Christian _receives

them_, like his father Abraham (Heb. xi. 8; Gen. xxii. 1-3), with

undisputing simplicity; welcomes the voice of his heavenly teacher

(1 Sam. iii. 10, Acts x. 33, Psa. xxvii. 8, cxliii. 10), and when he

knows that "it is the Lord, girds himself" with all the ardour of the

disciple to be found at His feet (John xxi. 2-7). But look at the

professor of religion destitute of this _heart-seated wisdom._ We

find him a man of creeds and doctrines, not of prayer; asking curious

questions rather than listening to plain truths; wanting to know

events rather than duties; occupied with other men's business to the

neglect of his own (Luke xiii. 23, 24; 1 Tim. v. 13).--_Bridges._

It is one of the marks of true wisdom, and none of the least, that it

is not self-sufficient and self-willed. This is the evident import of

the former part of this verse. We might consider the disposition in

reference both to _God_ and to _men_--to the Supreme Ruler and Lord

of the conscience,--and to existing human authorities. The "wise in

heart will receive" _God's_ "commandments." _This,_ true wisdom will

do _implicitly._ It will never presume on dictating to God, or on

altering and amending His prescriptions; but, proceeding on the

self-evident principle that the dictates of Divine Wisdom must in all

cases be perfect, will bow in instant acquiescence. With regard also

to _earthly superiors,_ a humble submission to legitimate authority,

both in the family and in the State, is the province of wisdom. There

is a self-conceit that spurns at all such authority. It talks as if

it would legislate for all nations. It would _give_ commandments

rather than _receive_ them. It likes not being dictated to. It plumes

itself on its skill in finding fault. There is no rule prescribed at

which it does not carp, no proposal in which it does not see

something not to its mind, no order in which it does not find

something to which it cannot submit. This is folly, for, were this

temper of mind prevalent, there would be an end to all subordination

and control. The prating fool, or the _fool of lips,_ may be

understood in two ways. First, the self-conceited are generally

superficial. There is much talk and little substance: words without

sense: plenty of tongue, but a lack of wit. Light matter floats on

the surface, and appears to all; what is solid and precious lies at

the bottom. The foam is on the face of the waters; the pearl is

below. Or, secondly, the reference may be to the bluster of

insubordination; the loud protestations and boasting of his

independence on the part of a man who resists authority, and

determines to be "a law to himself."--_Wardlaw._

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

shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one

walking in his uprightness" (Isa. lvii. 2). Heaven has no better way

of walking than the way of uprightness, and death will not make any

change in the moral characteristics of the godly man, except to

intensify and strengthen them. The death of the seed-corn will not be

the means of giving birth to a different _kind_ of seed, but only of

making an _increase_ of the same kind. Death is needful, not to

change one thing for another, but to make much out of little. Death

will bring heaven to the godly and upright, but it can give nothing

to an upright man better than his uprightness, but this it can do, it

can render him more entirely and completely upright. Hence the path

of the upright is a path which death cannot end--a path which, begun

to be trodden in time, will be continued in throughout eternity. The

happiness of the human creatures who make up a family, or a larger

community, will depend very much upon the uprightness of each member.

Heaven's blessedness springs from the perfectly upright character of

each citizen of that perfect city. 4. _His upright walk is sure, or

safe, because it is preservative of character._ Uprightness is to

character what salt is to food. He who walks uprightly can never

become _less_ godly and righteous, but must of necessity become more

and more so; hence the Psalmist's prayer, "Let integrity and

uprightness _preserve_ me" (Psalm xxv. 21).

+II. The two phases of character are placed in contrast to that of

the upright man.+ 1. _That of the man whose evil nature does not lie

entirely upon the surface._ "He that perverteth his ways" and yet

endeavours to cloak his perversion, to hide his wrong-doing. The

"winking of the eye" mentioned in verse 10 indicates an effort after

concealment. Those who "pervert" their ways pervert nature in order

to attain their ends. The eye is intended by God to be a revelation

of the soul, and where integrity and sincerity dwells, it is so. But

he who walks crookedly or perversely makes an unnatural use of his

eye, and by means of it endeavours to work ill to his neighbour. But

all his efforts at concealment will at some time or other be

ineffectual; the very means he uses to conceal his evil plans may be

the means of awakening suspicion. And if he succeeds in blinding the

eyes of his fellow men, "the Lord will bring to light the hidden

things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the

hearts" (1 Cor. iv. 5). The day of judgment will reveal the guilty

secrets of many who have never yet--nor ever will be until that

day--fully "_known._" 2. _That of him whose perversity is manifest to

all._ The "prating fool" cannot conceal what he is. Upon him and upon

his destiny, see Homiletics and Suggestive Comments on verse 8.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 9. An _upright walk_ is Christian, not sinless, perfection (Job

i. 8); "walking before God," not before men (Gen. xvii. 1). Impurity,

indeed, defiles the holiest exercise. But if the will be rightly

bent, the integrity will be maintained. "Show me an easier path," is

Nature's cry. "Show me," cries the child of God, "a _sure_

path."--_Bridges._

To walk uprightly, or to walk in integrity, means to act according to

one complete scheme: not as the fool does (verse 8), behaving one way

and believing another. It means to aim for "something stable" (chap.

ii. 7); and hence, of course, not to lay our plans so that we

ourselves know they must ultimately fail. He walks surely or

_securely, i.e.,_ must certainly succeed.--_Miller._

The dissembler walks in crooked paths. Like Judas, who put on a cloak

of charity to hide his covetousness (John xii. 6), he conceals the

selfish principles which regulate his behaviour under the appearances

of purity, prudence, and other good qualities. But he cannot hold the

mantle so tight about him as to conceal from the wise observer his

inward baseness. It will occasionally be shuffled aside, it will at

length drop off, and he shall be known for what he is, abhorred by

all men, and punished with other hypocrites.--_Lawson._

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: While Dr. Wardlaw may think Proverbs an

exception, II Tim. iii. 16 tells us that "All scripture is given

by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for

reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

_Walking uprightly_ stands opposed to all duplicity, all tortuous

policy, all the crooked arts of _manœuvering,_ for the purpose of

promoting reputation, interest, comfort, or any other end whatsoever.

He who walketh thus, _walketh surely._ He walks with a comfortable

_feeling of security,_ a calm, unagitated serenity of mind. This

springs from the confidence in that God whose will he makes his only

rule. In the path of implicit obedience he feels that he can _trust._

And further, the way in which he walks is the _surest_ for the

attainment of his ends. Proverbs are generally founded in observation

and experience, and express their ascertained results. Hence, even

though not inspired, they have generally truth in them. It has become

proverbial that "honesty is the best policy." The meaning is, that

acts of deceit very frequently frustrate the object of him by whom

they are employed, and land him in evils greater than the one he

meant, by the use of them, to shun.--_Wardlaw._

_First_--the heart of the upright man hath God's own eye to behold

it, and His Spirit to testify the faithfulness of it, and so

receiveth comfort from Him, as Job did, when in the confidence of his

cause and conscience he saith, "O that some would hear me, behold my

desire is that the Almighty would answer me" (Job xxxi. 35).

_Secondly,_ the course of their actions is such as will endure light,

and the more they are examined the better they will prove, and

therefore they need not fear any might or malice, or cunning

adversaries that shall seek their disgrace. And upon the assurance of

this the prophet professeth his undaunted courage and magnanimity,

with challenge also to his calumniant enemy, whosoever he were, "I

have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be

ashamed. He is near that justifieth me," etc. (Isa. l. 7, 8).

_Thirdly,_ their bodies and state are in God's custody, and He hath

undertaken the defence and preservation of them, whereas the wicked

are out of God's protection and perpetually go into peril.

_Fourthly,_ their souls are prepared for death and for judgment, and

therefore more desire to be dissolved than are afraid to hear of the

nearness of their dissolution.--_Dod._

I. An upright walker is sure of easily finding his way: it requires

no laborious dealing to find out what is _just_. II. He treads upon

firm ground; upon solid, safe, and well-tried principles. . . . The

practice built on such foundations must be very secure. III. He walks

steadily. A good conscience steers by fixed stars, and aims at fixed

marks. An upright man is always the same man, and goes the same way;

the external state of things does not alter the moral reason of

things with him, or change the law of God.--_Sydney Smith._

I. The way of uprightness is the _surest for despatch_, and the

shortest cut towards the execution or attainment of any good purpose,

securing a man from irksome expectations and tedious delays. II. It

is _fair and pleasant_. He that walketh in it hath good weather and a

clear sky about him; a hopeful confidence and a cheerful satisfaction

do ever wait upon him. Being conscious to himself of an honest

meaning, and a due course in prosecuting it, he feeleth no check or

struggling of mind: no regret or sting of heart. III. He is secure of

his _honour and credit_. He hath no fear of being detected, or care

to smother his intents. IV. _He hath perfect security as to the final

result of his affairs_, that he shall not be quite baffled in his

expectations and desires. He shall prosper in the true notion of

prosperity, explained by that Divine saying, "Mark the perfect man,

and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."--_Barrow._

Verse 10. The connection of the clauses is--to speak feignedly and to

speak rashly are both alike dangerous: to do the former hurts others,

to do the latter hurts oneself. When we avoid _cunning_ and _feigned

speaking,_ we are not to run into the opposite extremes of _prating

folly._--_Fausset._

The one shuts his eye to conceal his subtlety, the other opens his

mouth to declare his folly. The one winketh, but sayeth nothing; the

other says too much, but thinketh not what he says. The one giveth

sorrow to the deceived in his malicious bounty; the other taketh a

fall from the superfluous bounty of his own words.--_Jermin._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 12.

LOVE AND HATRED.

The lawfulness or unlawfulness of hatred and strife depends upon the

subject or occasion of such feeling. God hates sin, and we know that

this hatred is the fruit of one of His highest attributes. The Divine

and Incarnate Son of God foretold that He had not "come to send peace

on earth, but a sword" (Matt. x. 34), and therefore even He was an

occasion of strife because He was a hater of sin. There is then a

holy as well as a wicked hatred, a lawful as well as an unlawful

strife. But the hatred of the text being placed in contrast with love

is evidently the malicious hatred of a wicked man.

+I. The hatred of the wicked is+--1. _Insatiable._ It has been said

that those who hate have first injured. This is doubtless true, but

there must have been some amount of hatred to prompt the injury. But

after the injury has been inflicted, the hatred is not diminished,

but is generally increased. Herodias prevailed upon Herod to put John

the Baptist into prison, but this did not lessen her malice. It was

such a devouring flame as could be quenched by nothing but his blood.

The pain which conscience inflicts upon him who has injured another

is put to the account of the injured person, and goes to increase the

bitterness of the anger against him. 2. _It is generally impartial._

Wicked men generally begin by hating good men, but they come in time

to a habit of hating bad men too. The blind man will be as likely to

strike his friend as his foe. Hatred is blind, and those who begin by

hating those whom they consider their enemies, generally end by

hating their so-called friends.

+II. The effect of hatred.+ It stirs up strife. This implies that the

materials for strife are already in existence. There are no signs of

mud upon the surface of a peaceful lake, but it only requires some

disturbing element to be thrown in to show that it is lying at the

bottom. The spirit of the most sanctified man has some evil

tendencies within it, which may be stirred up by undeserved hatred.

Only One who ever wore our human nature had with Him no germ of

strife which might be stirred up by hatred. Only One could say that

temptation found "nothing" in him (John xiv. 13). The elements which

may be stirred up by strife have a lodging place in the most

sanctified human spirit, and when strife is thus stirred up by hatred

the whole soul or the whole society is influenced for evil. When the

lake is stirred up from the bottom all the waters are more or less

troubled, and when the elements of contention are at work even in a

good man or in a Christian community the whole man or the entire

community is ruffled and disturbed. In contrast with this hatred,

which is not only sin in itself but, by stirring up strife, is an

occasion of sin in others, is placed the love which "covereth" or

does away with sin.

+I. Love covers sin by forgiving it.+ Malicious hatred, even when it

is directed against sin, will but incite to more sin. But forgiveness

of the sin may lead to its being forsaken, and the mere fact of being

forgiven may give the sinner an impulse after a better life in the

future, and thus enable him to efface the remembrance of the past. If

a man is deeply in debt to another, and that other gives him a

discharge of his debt, the very fact of his being legally free may

give him such new energy to work as may enable to pay that which he

owed. And a sense of being forgiven a moral debt will sometimes have

this effect upon the soul. God's covering up of sin by forgiveness is

the beginning of a new life to those who are willing to accept His

pardon (Psa. xxxii. 1, 1 John i. 7).

+II. Love covers sin by forgetting it.+ It is in the nature of love

not only to forgive an injury, but to forget that the injury has ever

been done. And a consciousness that our sin is covered by being

forgotten is very healing to the spirit. For a soul that has lived a

sinful life is like a man that has passed through a campaign and

received many wounds. He requires skilful treatment and gentle

nursing; and when the wounds have been bound up, and have perhaps,

begun to heal, care must be taken that no rough hand re-opens them,

and causes them to bleed afresh. A work spoken which shows that the

sinful past is still remembered by those who have professed to

forgive, may re-open the wounds with a fatal effect. Love covers sin

as God declares that He covers it. His promise is not only "I will

forgive their iniquity," but, "I will _remember their sins no more_"

(Jer. xxxi. 34).

+III. Love covers sin by making active efforts to recover the

sinner.+ Love will not be content with forgiving when forgiveness is

sought, but it will go out of its way to recover the erring. The

godly man will walk in the footsteps of Him who came to _seek_ that

which was lost. God did not wait until man returned to Him before He

held out hope of forgiveness. As soon as Satan's hatred had led man

into sin, He held out hope of return to holiness by the promise of

Him who "should bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. iii. 15). And in the

fulness of time, by the gift of His Son, He showed the depth of His

love and His desire to cover the "sin of the world." And as in many

human homes there are those who owe their present moral standing, the

recovery of all that makes existence worth having, to the love that

followed and sought them when they were outcasts, so those who people

the heavenly home--that multitude which God alone can number--are the

fruit of that Divine love which not only covered a multitude of sins

by forgiving and forgetting the sin, but sought out the sinner in

order to forgive him.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

"Love covereth all sins," saith Solomon, covers them partly from the

eyes of God, in praying for the offenders; partly from the eyes of

the world, in throwing a cloak over our brother's nakedness;

especially from its own eyes, by winking at many wrongs offered

it.--_T. Adams._

Hatred disturbs the existing quiet by railings; stirs up dormant

quarrels on mere suspicions and trifles, and by unfavourable

constructions put upon everything, even upon acts of kindness. As

hatred by quarrels exposes the faults of others, so "love covers"

them, except in so far as brotherly correction requires their

exposure. Love condones, yea, takes no notice of a friend's errors.

The disagreements which hatred stirs up, love allays; and the

offences which are usually the causes of quarrel, it sees as though

it saw them not, and excuses them (1 Cor. xiii. 4-7). It gives to men

the forgiveness which it daily craves from God.--_Fausset._

To abuse the precept in 1 Peter iv. 8 (where this text is quoted)

into a warrant for silencing all faithful reproofs of sin in others,

would be to ascribe to charity the office of a

procuress.--_Cartwright._

_First,_ it makes us to cover and pardon the wrongs that others do

us. _Secondly,_ a loving carriage maketh others pardon the wrongs

that we do them. _Thirdly,_ it maketh God to pardon the offences

which we commit against Him.--_Jermin._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 13, 14.

LAYING UP TO GIVE OUT.

+I. The practice of the morally wise man.+ He "lays up knowledge"

(verse 14). The present position of a man in social life is often the

result of a "laying up" in the past. The man who has made it the

business of his past life to lay up money is now a rich man. His

present wealth arises from his past storing. An artificer or

professional man who laid up knowledge in his youthful days is able

to command a good position in his mature life. But there are

differences between those who lay up riches, or mere intellectual

wisdom, and him who stores moral wisdom--the only real and lasting

wealth. _The man spoken of in the text lays up that which is truly

his own now, and will be throughout eternity._ The riches of godly

wisdom are not transferable either before or at the time of death.

Material wealth may go at any time in our life, and must be left

behind when we leave the world. And while we call it ours it is but

lent us by God. He takes a wider range, and lays up for a life beyond

time, and what he lays up now will make him what he will be in the

ages beyond death. He is determined to be crowned rich towards God in

the day when he shall be summoned to appear and give an account of

his stewardship. Most men are layers up of riches and knowledge in a

greater or less degree. The truly wise man banks for moral character,

and intends to be considered rich in the city of God.

+II. It is because spiritual knowledge is laid up that "wisdom is

found in the lips"+ (verse 13). The possession of wealth or of

intellectual knowledge is no guarantee that wisdom will be found with

it. A rich man may not know how to use his riches to the best

advantage. He might know how to gather it, but may not know how to

spend it for his own good. A man may gather much intellectual

knowledge without being able to make it profitable, or a source of

enjoyment either to himself or others. A man may be able to gather

timber and stones together and yet not know how to build a house out

of them after he has gathered them. A housewife may collect a store

of wool and stuffs, but not be skilful enough to fashion the

materials into garments for herself and her household. So knowledge,

in its general sense, is not necessarily accompanied by wisdom; but

_spiritual_ knowledge and _spiritual_ wisdom are never separated. The

one is always joined to the other. When there is a laying up of the

knowledge of God, there wisdom will be found. No man can truly know

God and not have wisdom enough to reduce his knowledge to practice in

the building up of a godly character. Where knowledge is in the heart

there will be wisdom in the lips and life.

+III. This knowledge and wisdom will be used for the benefit of

others.+ It will be found in the lips. The man who is "instructed

unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder,

which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old" (Matt.

xiii. 52). He has a store from which he draws according to the need

of those whom his words can benefit. His instructions are like the

viands of the thrifty housewife, stored up in abundance against the

time of need, and suited, both as to quantity and quality, to the

wants of the needy soul (verse 21).

+IV. The influence and the fate of him who refuses to lay up

knowledge.+ His mouth is a near destruction (see rendering in

Critical Notes). The man who refuses to lay up the knowledge of some

calling or profession is both a fool and a knave, because by such

neglect he makes himself dependent when he might be independent, and

because he eats the bread earned by industrious men. How much more

foolish is he who will not lay up that by which he may acquire a

character which would make him an equal with the angels of God. But

his neglect injures others beside himself. He wrongs his fellow-men

by withholding his influence from the side of that which is

righteous, and consequently defrauds the world of that which it is

the duty of every man to give it. But he does not stop here. (1) He

adds the positive evil influence of sinful words. The Bible speaks

often of the evil influence of sinful speech. It likens it to the

poison of venomous reptiles (see Psalm lviii. 4; cxl. 3; Jas.

iii. 8). But these creatures can only destroy the body, whereas the

fool's mouth is often a destruction to both body and soul. (On this

subject see homiletical remarks on chapter i. 10-19). (2) But he is a

curse to his own existence as well as to that of others. That which

is a destruction to them makes a rod for his own back (verse 13).

Such a man's mouth utters falsehood and slander by which he creates

enemies _without._ That which he speaks brings guilt upon his

conscience, which becomes an instrument of chastisement _within._ And

a guilty conscience creates imaginary enemies as well as keeps us in

remembrance of real ones. An old writer says, "The guilty conscience

conceives every thistle to be a tree, every tree a man, every man, a

devil,--afraid of every man that it sees, nay, many times of those

that it sees not. Not much unlike to one that was very deep in debt

and had many creditors, who, as he walked London streets in the

evening, a tenter-hook caught his cloak. 'At whose suit?' said he,

conceiving some sergeant had arrested him. Thus the ill-conscienced

man counts every creature he meets with a bailiff sent from God to

punish him." Such a conscience is indeed a "rod for the fool's back"

(chap. xxvi. 3).

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 13. Through the lips of the Christian other men get wisdom. If

we will think of it, men get it in no other way. "Faith cometh by

hearing" (Rom. x. 17). The Church hands itself down, by the blessing

of heaven, from lip to lip. But then from the same lips comes a

_rod._ The good man, not listened to, becomes a scourge. Christ

Himself becomes an instrument of death.--_Miller._

Solomon and his son admirably illustrate this contrast. Such wisdom

was found in his lips, but fruit of an understanding heart, that "all

the world came to hear of it" (1 Kings iv. 31). Rehoboam was as

_void,_ as his father was _full,_ of understanding. His folly

prepared a rod for his back (1 Kings xii. 13-24). Learn then to seek

for wisdom at the lips of the wise. The want of this wisdom, or

rather the want of a heart to seek it, will surely bring us under

_the rod._ In many a chastisement we shall feel its smart; for the

loose education of our children (chap. xxix. 15); for carnal

indulgence (2 Sam. xii. 9-11). And how different is this _rod_ from

our Father's loving adoption (chap. iii. 11, 12); this, the mark of

disgrace. Will not the children of God cry, "Turn away the reproach

that I fear, for Thy judgments are good" (Psa. cxix. 39).--_Bridges._

The wise man carries the ornament of his wisdom in his _lips;_ the

fool shall bear the disgrace of his folly on his back.--_Fausset._

He who trembleth not in hearing shall be broken to pieces in

feeling.--_Bradford._

The dwelling of wisdom is in the heart, but there it is _hid;_ in the

lips it is _found._ There it sitteth, like an ancient Israelite, at

the gates of the city, marking what goes out, and weighs it before it

passeth, that nothing issue forth which may disparage the honour or

wrong the estate of the city. There shall _folly find it,_ as smart

and heavy in the reproof of it as a rod is to the back, and which is

fit for him whose tongue is void of understanding. For it is reason

that his back should bear, whose tongue will not forbear.--_Jermin._

Verse 14. To "lay up" knowledge very obviously implies that value is

set upon it. Men never think of seeking and accumulating what they

regard as worthless; and in proportion as an object is prized will be

the degree of eagerness with which it is pursued, and of jealous

vigilance, with which it is "laid up" and guarded. Thus the _miser._

With what an eye of restlessness and eager covetousness does he look

after the acquisition of his heart's desires! with what delight does

he hug himself upon his success!--with what avidity does he add the

increase to his treasures, carefully secreting them from all access

but his own! With a care incomparably more dignified and useful how

does the man of science mark and record every fact and observation,

whether of his own discovery and suggestion or of those of others!

How he exults in every new acquisition to _his_ stores! He lays all

up in his mind, or, fearful of a treacherous memory, in surer modes

of record and preservation. Hints that lead to nothing at the time

may lead to much afterwards. Some one in another generation may carry

out into practical application, or into the formation of valuable

theories, the facts and conjectures that are now, in apparent

isolation, "laid up" for such possible future use. The true

philosopher, to use a colloquial phrase, "has all his eyes about

him." He allows nothing to escape notice, and nothing, if he can help

it, to pass into oblivion. But, alas! in this respect, as in others,

"the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the

children of light."--_Wardlaw._

Who would not heedfully foresee where his arrow shall hit, before he

shoot it out of his bow; lest it should destroy any person or other

creature through negligence? Who would not be very circumspect and

wary in discharging a piece, lest he should do mischief by it? And

yet, by these, a man may affright, and not hurt; and hurt, and not

kill; and kill, and not die himself; but what arrow, what shot, what

artillery, what murdering piece is to be compared to the mouth of a

man that is not guided by a wise and watchful forethought? Great woe

is worketh unto other men, but it surely bringeth death unto himself;

every word that breaketh another man's skin doth certainly break the

caul of his own heart; and he that doth aim at another to give him a

wound, surely cannot miss himself to violate his own life.--_Dod._

The part of wisdom is to treasure up experience, and hold it ready

for use in the time and place of need. Everything may be turned to

account. In the process of accumulating this species of wealth, the

wonders of the philosopher's stone may be more than realised. Even

losses can be converted into gains. Every mistake or disappointment

is a new lesson. Every fault you commit, and every glow of shame

which suffuses your face because of it, may be changed into a most

valuable piece of wisdom. Let nothing trickle out, and flow away

useless. After one has bought wit at a heavy price, it is a double

misfortune to throw it away. As a general rule, the dearer it is the

more useful it will be.--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 15, 16.

A FALSE AND A TRUE ESTIMATE OF LIFE.

+I. A false estimate of life in its relation to riches.+ It is a

mistake to look on wealth as a "strong city" in which we can be

secure from the evils of life. A commander, who knows that there is

behind him a fortress into which he can retire in case of need, may

be brought to ruin by forming an over-estimate of its security. He

may underrate the ability of the enemy to follow him thither.

Strongholds have been undermined, and those who had trusted in their

strength have been destroyed by that very confidence; or pestilence

has broken out on account of the number who have taken refuge in the

fortress, and so that which they deemed their strength has been their

weakness. These events have proved that the estimate taken of their

safety was a wrong one--that even the refuge itself might be the

cause of destruction. So with a "rich man's wealth." If he looks upon

it as a resource under all emergencies--if he thinks it can purchase

him immunity from all ills--he is a terrible self-deceiver. Wealth

cannot drive back disease; nothing can keep death from storming his

stronghold; and sometimes a single day brings together such an army

of adverse circumstances that the strong city goes down before it,

and is never rebuilt, or the very refuge itself is the cause of moral

ruin. Therefore "Let not the rich man glory in his riches" (Jer.

ix. 23).

+II. A false estimate of life in relation to poverty.+ It is a

mistake also to look on poverty as a "destruction." If the rich man

errs on the side of excessive confidence, the poor man errs on that

of fearfulness. He should remember--1. _That the blessedness of life

here does not consist in what a man has, but in what he is._ Wealth

may be a curse to existence, and so may poverty, but a good

conscience, a godly character, is a continual feast. And it is quite

_as_ easy, perhaps more so, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk

humbly with God in poverty as in wealth. "A man's life consisteth not

in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke xii. 15).

This is the declaration of Him who created man, and who, therefore,

knows his needs. The poor are the objects of His special regard.

"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and

heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?"

(Jas. ii. 5). 2. _He should keep in mind the day of levelling and

compensation._ "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst

thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is

comforted, and thou art tormented" (Luke xvi. 25).

+III. A right estimate of that which constitutes life, viz.,

righteous labour+ (verse 16). The first clause of this verse suggests

(1) that there can be no true life without righteousness; (2) that

righteousness must show that it exists by honest labour; (3) that the

honest labour of a righteous man, whether of hand or brain, shall

bless his existence. From the second clause we learn (1) _that

godless men likewise labour for a harvest._ There are as hard workers

among the godless as among the good. They toil for earthly gain all

the more earnestly because they have no other to possess: that which

belongs to the present life is their all. (2) _That there is no

blessing in the gain of the ungodly._ The gain of a sinner only tends

to confirm him in his ungodliness--it "tendeth to sin." If a tree is

bad at the root the larger it grows the more bad fruit it will bear.

The richer a bad man grows the worse he becomes, the greater are his

facilities for sinning himself, and the more evil is his influence

upon others. Sin being at the root of his actions, sin will be in the

fruit. The whole subject teaches us not to make poverty and riches

the standard by which to measure a man's blessedness or misfortune.

Beecher says, "We say a man is 'made.' What do we mean? That he has

got the control of his lower instincts, so that they are only fuel to

his higher feelings, giving force to his nature? That his affections

are like vines, sending out on all sides blossoms and clustering

fruits? That his tastes are so cultivated that all beautiful things

speak to him, and bring him their delights? That his understanding is

opened, so that he walks through every hall of knowledge and gathers

its treasures? That his moral feelings are so developed and quickened

that he holds sweet communion with Heaven? O, no, none of these

things. He is cold and dead in heart, and mind, and soul. Only his

passions are alive; but--he is worth five hundred thousand

dollars! . . . And we say a man is 'ruined.' Are his wife and

children dead? O, no. Has he lost his reputation through crime? No.

Is his reason gone? O, no; it is as sound as ever. Is he struck

through with disease? No. He has lost his property, and he is ruined.

The _man_ ruined! When shall we learn that 'a man's life consisteth

not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth'?"

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 15. It is not _a_ strong city, but _his_ strong city. You see

how justly the worldling is called an idolater, for he makes not God

his confidence, but trusts to a thing of nought; for his riches, if

they are a city, are not a strong city, but a city broken down, and

without walls. How hard is it for rich men to obtain an entrance into

that city that hath foundations, when it is a miracle for a man that

hath riches not to trust in them.--_Muffet._

The rich man stands independent, changes and adversities cannot so

easily overthrow him; he is also raised above many hazards and

temptations; on the contrary, the poor man is overthrown by little

misfortunes, and his despairing endeavours to save himself, when they

fall, ruin him completely, and perhaps make him at the same time a

moral outlaw. It is quite an experienced fact which this proverb

expresses, but one from which the double doctrine is easily derived:

(1) That it is not only advised, but commanded, that man make the

firm establishing of his external life-position the aim of his

endeavour. (2) That one ought to treat with forbearance the humble

man; and if he always sinks deeper and deeper, one ought not to judge

him with unmerciful harshness, and in proud

self-exaltation.--_Delitzsch._

As soldiers look upon a strong city as a good place which they may

retire to for safety in times of flight, so worldly men, in their

distress and danger, esteem their wealth the only means of relief and

succour: or, as a marching army expects supply, if need be, from a

well-mannered and well-victualled city, so men in their fainting

fits, and under dreadful crosses, expect to be revived by their

earthly cordials.--_Swinnock._

The word "destruction" is capable of two meanings. First, there are

temptations peculiar to poverty as well as to riches. Agur was aware

of these when he prayed, "Give me not poverty, lest I steal and take

the name of my God in vain" (chap. xxx. 7-9). He who gives way to

such influences of poverty ensures "destruction" as much as he who is

"full and denies God, and says, Who is the Lord?" Secondly, as we

found in the preceding clause to refer to the state of mind--the

_confidence of safety_ inspired by his wealth in the bosom of the

rich, it seems fair and natural to understand the latter clause on a

similar principle. "The destruction of the poor" will then mean, that

which, _in their own eyes,_ is their destruction; that which

engenders their fears and apprehensions--their constant dread of

destruction. They are ever apt to contrast their circumstances with

those of their wealthy neighbours, and to deplore their poverty, and

fret at it as that which keeps them down, depriving them of all good,

and exposing them to all evil. And, without doubt, it is the source

of many and heavy sufferings, both in the way of privation and

endurance. But the poor may indulge their fears, and make themselves

unhappy without cause. Their forebodings may be more than groundless.

If by their poverty they are exposed to some evils, they are exempted

by it from others. . . . Let the poor seek the peace, and comfort,

and safety which are imparted by the Gospel; and thus, possessing the

"true riches," they will not need to "fear what man can do unto

them." The worst of all destructions will be far from

them.--_Wardlaw._