A COMMENTARY ON

 

PROVERBS

 

 

Charles Bridges

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                 New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREFACE.

 

 

 

 

PROVERBIAL teaching is one of the most ancient forms of instruction.

It was well adapted to the rudeness and simplicity of the first ages,

when books were few, and philosophy little understood. The mind,

unpractised to the slow process of reasoning, would be much more

easily arrested by terse sentences, expressing a striking sentiment in

the fewest words. The wise man himself has given the best definition

of these sententious maxims. Their elegance he describes under the

figure of "apples of gold in pictures (network) of silver."* Their force

and permanent impression are ''as goads and nails fastened by the

Master of assemblies"†--- driven closely home to the heart and con-

science, and fastened in the memories by the appointed instructor of the

people.

     The antiquity of this teaching was recognised in the Church even

before the age of Solomon. (1 Sam. xxiv. 13.) Classic Annals have

recorded Aphorisms similarly constructed from men of wisdom. All

of these however were of a later date. Some possibly might be dim

scintillations from this fountain light; so that the King of Israel was

---as an old expositor has remarked ---'the disciple of none, but the

instructor of them all.'‡  Indeed his mind largely dealt in this intel-

 

  * Chap. xxxv. 11. This image reminds us of Mr. Addison's apt description conceived in

his best style of taste and beauty--'By similitudes, drawn from the visible parts of nature,

a truth in the understanding is, as it were, reflected by the imagination. We are enabled

to see something like colour and shape in a notion, and to discover a scheme of thoughts

traced out upon matter. And here the mind receives a great deal of satisfaction, and has

two of its faculties gratified at the same time, while the fancy is busy in copying after the

understanding, and transcribing ideas out of the intellectual world into the material.'

Concluding paper on 'the Pleasures of the Imagination.' Spectator, No. 421.

   † Eccles. xli. 11. LXX. write paroimiai (para  oimoj—via—sayings spoken in the way.

Comp. Dr. Johnson's definition) a word often used in the New Testament for parables.

(John, x. 6; xvi. 25, 29.) Marg. Both were of the same popular character. A proverb is

often given in the form of a parable.

   ‡ Lavater. Comment. in Prov. Pref. Tigur. 1596.

iv                                                         PREFACE.

 

lectual exercise. "He spake three thousand proverbs." (1 Kings, iv.

32.) And from this valuable mass of thought he was directed, under

Divine inspiration, to "set in order" a collection for the instruction of

the Church to the end of time.*

     Possibly some would rather have desired the preservation of his

discourses on Natural History (lb. iv. 33), than on Practical Wisdom.

But this Sovereign discrimination shews the real intent of the Scrip-

tures--not to teach philosophy, but religion; not to make men of

science, but men of sound godliness.

     All competent judges will admit this Book to be eminently fitted

for this great end. What the Roman Orator pronounced of Thucydides,

applies far more truly to this King of Jerusalem ---'so full of matter,

that he comprised as many sentences as words.'†  This wonderful Book

is indeed a mine of Divine wisdom. The views of God are holy and

reverential. The observation of human nature is minute and accurate.

The rule of life and conduct is closely applied, to make "the man of

God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. iii.

16, 17); so that, as Mr. Scott well remarks--'we shall perceive the

meaning and utility of the Proverbs, in proportion to our experience

in true religion, our acquaintance with our own hearts, and with

human nature, and the extent and accuracy of our observation on the

character and affairs of men.‡  Eusebius mentions the whole consent of

the ancients, considering the Book of Proverbs to be ‘Wisdom fraught

with every kind of virtue.'§  Bishop Hall drew out mainly from it a

complete system of 'Divine Arts.'||  And though the Apostate Julian

 

   * Eccles. xii.9.  Grotius supposes the Book to be a compilation from preceding writers.

This degradation of Solomon is a gratuitous conjecture, unsupported by a title of evidence. 

But such are the irreverent liberties that proud learning dares to take with the Word of

God!

   †  Cicero de Oratore, lib. ii. 14. Elsewhere he gives nearly the same judgment of Euripides. 

Epist. Lib. xvi. 8.

   ‡ Pref. to Comment. On Prov.

   § Hist. lib. iv. c. 25. pana<reton sofi<an. Jerome's direction to one of his friends for

the education of his daughter is--'Let her have first of all the Book of Psalms for holiness

of heart, and be instructed in the Proverbs of Solomon for her godly life. '--Epist. vii. ad

Laetam. Matthew Henry, in his beautiful portrait of his mother, describes her as one,

that was ‘very well versed in Solomon’s Proverbs, and the rules of wisdom, which may be

fetched from thence for the conduct of human life, and knew how to apply them, and to use

knowledge aright.'--Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Katherine Henry.

   || 'Solomon's Divine Arts of Ethics, Politics, Economics --that is --the Government of

Behaviour, Commonwealth, Family --drawn into method out of his Proverbs, and Eccle-

siastes.' Works, viii. 427. Edited by Rev. P. Hall. Oxford, 1837.

                                      PREFACE                                                  v

 

scornfully preferred to it the sayings of Heathen Philosophy;*  yet the

apostrophe of the son of Sirach was justly applied to its author--

'How wise wast thou in thy youth, and as a flood filled with under-

standing! Thy soul covered the whole earth, and thou fillest it with

dark parables.'†

     As to its canonical authority' ---Michaelis well observes, 'that no

Book of the Old Testament is so well ratified by the evidence of quota-

tions.'‡  A few of the Jewish Talmudists appear to have expressed

some doubt of its Divine stamp, but upon grounds so futile, that they

were abandoned upon a more mature consideration.§  Ecclesiastical

History has recorded only one dissentient from the judgment of the

universal Church; and that one condemned by her authoritative

council.||  Witsius has admirably refuted the neological cavils of his

day.¶  Nothing has been said from any quarter to weaken the unhesi-

tating decision of our judgment, that the pen is that of the King of

Israel; but the words are the wisdom of God.

     Some difference exists among expositors as to the exact divisions of

the Book. We have been led to divide it into three parts. In giving a

more succinct account of these several parts, we shall avail ourselves

largely, though necessarily in an abridged form, of the observations of

a Biblical scholar, not more remarkable for his profound learning, than

for his elegant taste.**

     The first Part--all agree--extends from the opening of the Work

to the close of the ninth chapter. It is--as Dr. Good observes--

‘chiefly confined to the conduct of early life. All the most formidable

 

   * Apud Cyrill. Contra Julian. lib. vii.

 † Ecclus. xlvii. 14, 15. The whole passage (verses 12-22) is very beautiful. Eusebius

remarks of Solomon, that while, inspired by Divine wisdom, "he consecrated all his writings

to the profit and salvation of souls; yet he used these dark 'parables' for the exercise of

the mind. Contr. Marcell. lib. i. c. iii p. 17.

   ‡  Introd. to New Test. i. 207. Comp. especially in LXX. Chap. iii. 7. with .Rom. xii. 16;

11, 12, with Heb. xii. 5, 6; 34, with James, iv. 6. 1 Pet. v. 5; x. 12, with 1 Pet. iv.  8;  xi.

31, with 1 Pet. iv.18;  xxv. 6, 7, with Luke, xiv. 8-10; 21, 22, with Rom. xii 20; xxvi. 11,

with 2 Pet. ii. 22;  xxvii. 1, with James, iv. 13, 14. It is a marked distinction drawn

between this Book and the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, so similar in character; that from

the latter no quotation can be adduced in the New Testament.

   § Hottinger, Thesaur. Philol. lib. ii. c. 1. sect. 14. Comp. Carpzov. Introd. ad Lib.

Canon. Part. ii. C. iv. § 7.

   || Theodore Mopsuest. condemned by 5th Council of Constaninople, A.D. 551.

    ¶ Miscell. Sacra, lib. i c. xviii. 30-34.

   ** Extracts from an unpublished Translation of the Book of Proverbs, by the late Dr.

Good, in his Life by Dr. Gregory, pp. 286-306.

vi                                    PREFACE.

 

dangers to which this season is exposed, and "the sins which most

easily beset it," are painted with the hand of a master. And while

the progress and issues of vice are exhibited under a variety of the

most striking delineations and metaphors, in their utmost deformity

and horror; all the beauties of language, and all the force of eloquence

are poured forth in the diversified form of earnest expostulation,

insinuating tenderness, captivating argument, and sublime allegory,

to win the ingenuous youth to virtue and piety, and to fix him in a

steady pursuit of his duties towards God and man. Virtue is pro-

nounced in the very outset to be essential wisdom, and vice or wicked-

ness essential folly. The only wise man therefore is declared to be the

truly good and virtuous, or he that fears God, and reverences his law;

while the man of vice and wickedness is a fool, a stubborn or perverse

wretch, and an abomination to Jehovah.

     Wisdom is hence allegorized as a tree of life, yielding delicious

shade, fruit, and protection to those that approach her branches ;

throwing a garland of honour around their shoulders, and decorating

their heads with a graceful chaplet, more precious than rubies. She is

a sage and eloquent monitor, lifting up her warning voice at the gates

and in the squares of the city; denouncing to the young the snares

and dangers, to which they are exposed; and exhorting them to

abandon "the way of the wicked, which is as darkness," for the path

of the just, which is

                      --------'As the brightening dawn,

               Advancing and brightening to perfect day.'*

 

     The Second Part commences at the opening of the tenth chapter,

as is obvious from the introductory clause. The style and manner

of the second part are as different as possible from those of the first.

 

   * We add two interesting testimonies, of a widely different character. 'The first part,

including the first nine chapters, is a kind of exordium, and is varied, elegant, sublime,

and truly poetical. The natural order is generally observed, and the parts are aptly con-

nected together. It is embellished with very beautiful descriptions and prosopopoeias, and

adorned with the most finished style, together with every kind of poetical ornament; so

that it scarcely yields, in beauty, to any specimen of Sacred Poetry'--Bp. LOWTH'S

Lectures on Heb. Poetry, xxiv. (Mr. Holden ventures to doubt whether this picture is not

somewhat over-wrought.--Pref. to Translation of Proverbs, xxxix.) 'The first nine chap-

ters of the Book of Proverbs present us with a most interesting specimen of "acceptable

words." There is in them an inimitable union of admonitory fidelity, and enticing and

subduing kindness. Like Paul, he "exhorts, comforts, and charges, as a father doth his

children." The whole soul of the writer is breathed out in the earnestness of benevolent

desire.'-- WARDLAW on Eccles. xii. 10.

PREFACE.                                                     vii

 

It is evidently designed for the use of persons advanced from the state

of youth to that of manhood. While in the preceding, addressed to

the young, the richest ornaments of the fancy are made choice of to

captivate their attention, and allure them to a right practice; in the

present all is business and activity, brevity, continuity, and terseness.

Every thought, though as highly polished, is at the same time as

compressed as possible; and the Writer, thoroughly aware of the

value of every moment of time at this important period, lays down

a complete series of short rules of life, and concentrates the most

momentous precepts into the narrowest compass. The former appeals

to the imagination; the latter to the judgment. The one exhibits

all the genius of poetry; the latter all the art of composition; and

hence the general matter is rendered as attractive in the one instance

as in the other.

     'The great object in each of the Proverbs of the present part,

is to enforce a moral principle in words so few, that they may be

easily learnt, and so curiously selected and arranged, that they may

strike and fix the attention instantaneously; while, to prevent the

mind from becoming fatigued by a long series of detached sentences,

they are perpetually diversified by the changes of style and figure.

Sometimes the style is rendered striking by its peculiar simplicity,

or the familiarity of its illustration;¹ sometimes by the grandeur

or loftiness of the simile employed on the occasion;² sometimes by

an enigmatical obscurity,³ which rouses the curiosity; very frequently

by a strong and catching antithesis;⁴ occasionally by a playful

iteration of the same word;⁵  and in numerous instances by the

elegant pleonasms or the expansion of a single or common idea by

a luxuriance of agreeable words.'⁶

     The Third Part we conceive to comprise the last seven chapters.

The first five were written by Solomon, and edited some centuries

after by the royal scribes in the reign of Hezekiah. The two last

were written by separate hands, but preserved by Divine care and

altogether worthy of the place they hold in the inspired Canon.

     The time when this book was written is a matter of some un-

 

   [1] Chap. I. 19; xvi. 3; xxii. 2.

   2 Chap. xii. 58; xv. 11; xxi. 16, 22.

   3 Chap. xvi. 24; xvii. 8; xviii. 20.

   4 Chap. xiv. 10; xvi. 16; xvii. 10; xviii. 4; xix. 12; xx. 14.

   5 Chap. xi. 15; xiii. 20;  xvii. 13, 15.

   6 Chap. xvi. 32;  xvii. 17, 27, 28;  xix. 6.

 

viii                                           PREFACE.

 

certainty. We cannot doubt but its contents were a part of "the

three thousand Proverbs," which "he spake" before his most lament-

able fall. (1 Kings, iv. 32.) They were therefore the exercise of his

vast and comprehensive mind, under the full influence of his Divine

wisdom. (Ib. verse 29.) They might, however, as many judicious

critics have thought, have been "set in order" (Eccles. xii. 9) in their

present form at a period subsequent to that afflictive event. Both

parts of this hypothesis read a most solemn practical lesson. Do

we see "outlandish women causing him to sin" (Neh. xiii. 26)--

this "beloved of his God" falling himself into the snare, which he

so minutely described, and against which he so earnestly and re-

peatedly warned?¹ Christian Ministers! does not Solomon, no less

than St. Paul,² awfully teach us, that preaching to others will not

save our own souls? The supposition of the posterior arrangement

gives additional weight to his faithful admonitions. They come to

us, like the exhortations of the restored Apostle,³ with all the force

of painful experience, in the true spirit of his Master's command--

"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."⁴

     The interpretation of this Book requires much care and sobriety.

Believing the principles of the Old and New Testament to be essen-

tially the same, it seems reasonable to expound the more obscure by

the more clear. The primary duty is indeed to affix to each Proverb

its own literal and precise meaning. This is undoubtedly its spiritual

meaning--that is--the mind of the Spirit. In an extended appli-

cation of this discovered meaning, or in deducing inferences from it,

judgment, not imagination, must be the interpreter. When no other

than a literal meaning is plainly intended, the object must be, not

to search out a new and miscalled spiritual meaning, but to draw

practical instruction from its obvious sense.    

     There is, however--we may remark--a line to be drawn between

exposition and illustration. The figures used in this Book, after their

literal meaning has been wrought out, may fairly be used as illustrative

of other collateral truths, not specifically intended. The Sacred

Writers appear to warrant this principle of accommodation,* though

 

   1 Chap. ii. v. vii. ix. xxii. 14; xxiii; 27, 28.

    ² 1 Cor. ix. 27.

    ³ 1 Pet. i. 13, 17; iv. 7; v. 8, with Matt. xxvi. 35.

    ⁴ Luke, xxii. 32.

 * See the Apostle's application of Ps. xix. 4, at Rom. x. 18, and DODDRIDGE'S and

GUYSE’S Paraphrase. Compo SCOTT on Chap. xxv. 6, 7.

                                    PREFACE.                                        ix

 

its use requires great delicacy and consideration; lest it should

divest Scripture of its determinate meaning, and identify us with

those artists, whom Dr. South memorializes, 'who can draw any-

thing out of anything.'*

     But with all care to preserve a soundly-disciplined interpretation,

we must not forget, that the Book of Proverbs is a part of the volume

entitled--"The word of Christ." (Col. iii. 16.) And so accurately does

the title describe the Book, that the study of it brings the whole sub-

stance of the volume before us. It furnishes indeed the stimulating

motive to search the Old Testament Scripture (John, v. 39)--the true

key that opens the Divine Treasure-house; so that, as Mr. Cecil ob-

serves--'If we do not see the golden thread through all the Bible,

marking out Christ, we read the Scripture without the Key.'†  This

remark however does not undervalue its large mass of historical and

practical instruction. But unquestionably Christ is the Sun of the

whole Scripture system; "and in his light we see the light" (Ps.

xxxvi. 9), that reflects upon every point of practical obligation, and

quickens life and energy throughout the whole Christian path. There

is therefore, as Professor Franke reminds us--'much JOY, comfort, and

delight to be found in the writings of the Old Testament (especially in

reading those places, which before were wearisome and almost irksome)

when we perceive Christ is so sweetly pictured there.'‡

     It has, been recorded, of Mary Jane Graham, 'that she was delighted

in the course of her study of the Book of Proverbs to have Christ so

much and so frequently before her mind'¹--a recollection--her bio-

grapher ventured to observe--of great moment for the spiritual dis-

cernment of the divine wisdom treasured up in this storehouse of prac-

tical instruction.'§  Indeed, considering that these "Proverbs set in

order--these words of the wise"--were originally "given from one

Shepherd" (Eccles. xii. 9-11), whom we cannot surely fail to identify,

we might naturally expect them to record distinct testimony of himself.

     We cannot but fear, however, that this portion of the sacred volume

 

                                                     [1] Chap. 1. viii. ix. &c.

    * Sermon on Matt. v. 44.

  † Mrs. HAWKES'S Life, p.171. So Augustine--'The Old Testament has no true relish

if Christ be not understood in it.' Ninth Tractat. on John.

     ‡ Christ the Sum and Substance of Holy Scripture. Sect. xxi.

     § Life, chap. v.

x                                             PREFACE.

 

is not generally estimated at its just value. Doubtless its pervading

character is not, either explicit statement of doctrinal truth, or lively ex-

ercises of Christian experience. Hence the superficial reader passes over

to some (in his view) richer portion of the Scriptural field. Now we

readily admit, that all parts of the Bible are not of equal importance.

But to value one part to the disparagement of another, is a slight to the

divine testimony, that will be visited with a severe rebuke. Such a

reader will only be possessed of mutilated fragments of truth, severed

from their vital influence. He will never rise beyond a sickly senti-

mentalism. Seeking for novelty and excitement, rather than for the

food of solid instruction; like Pharaoh's kine,* he devours much, but

digests nothing. Never will he have light enough for the firm settle-

ment of his faith; neither can he receive the true moulding of the mind

of the Spirit, or the impress of the divine image.

     But the question has been often asked--and that--not in cavilling,

but in an anxiously enquiring, spirit--'How can I read this Book pro-

fitably ?' Not unfrequently the confession has been added--'My mind

and soul do not get food from it. I think I am less interested in this,

than in any other, part of Scripture. I acknowledge the wisdom of its

sayings. I am fully persuaded, that, being the Word of God, it was

not written in vain. The fault therefore must be in myself. Still the

question returns-- How am I to read it with profit?'

     Now it might almost appear, as if the rules given at the opening of

the Book were intended to answer this question. (Chap. ii. 1-4.) Cer-

tain it is, that they do furnish the most satisfactory reply. The first

and chief direction--that which gives life to every other--that which

applies to every page and every verse of the Bible is--Begin with

prayer--"Cry--lift up thy voice." Then combine a pondering mind

with a praying heart. Actively apply thyself to "seek and search for

the hid treasures." The riches lie not on the surface. Only those

therefore, that dig into the bowels of the earth--not the readers, but

"the searchers of the Scriptures"--are enriched. (John, v. 39.) If the sur-

face be barren, the mine beneath is inexhaustible. Indeed it is a wise

discipline, that has made an active spirit of meditation necessary to

give solid and fruitful interest to this study, and to possess ourselves of

 

   * Gen. xli 20, 21. Comp. the picture drawn, 2 Tim. iii. 7.

PREFACE.                                                     xi

 

a blessing, which carelessness or indolence will never realize. The pro-

mise here held out to diligent investigation fixed that intelligent

Christian just mentioned 'on one occasion in intense meditation for two

hours. She appeared to be lost in astonishment and gratitude at the

condescension and kindness of God in giving a promise, so free, so

encouraging. She grasped it, as if determined not to let it go.'*

     The habit of interested attention being fixed, how shall we best

"apply the heart to the understanding" of the Book? Here the

valuable exercise of Scripture reference will greatly expand our own

thoughtful meditation. Gather contributions from all parts of the field.

Many a doubtful or apparently uninteresting Proverb will thus be

brightened in instructive application. We are persuaded, that an

enlarged Scriptural study, with whatever collateral helps may be within

our reach, will bring no regret in having rested awhile in this part of

the field, instead of passing onwards to a more inviting surface. To

advert once more to our Scriptural student--'She frequently employed

herself in the profitable exercise of "comparing spiritual things with

spiritual;" Scripture with itself; thus making God His own interpreter.

Much light and heavenly unction she conceived herself to have gained

by this means.'† The fruitfulness of this exercise will be, when we

"find God's words" as our treasure; "eat them" as our invigorating

food; and "they" thus become "the joy and rejoicing of our hearts."

(Jer. xv: 16.)  'Set your affection'--saith the apocryphal writer--

‘upon my words. Desire them, and ye shall be instructed. Wisdom is

glorious, and never fadeth away; yea, she is easily seen of those that

love her, and found of such as seek her. She preventeth those that

.desire her, in making herself first known unto them. Whoso seeketh

her early shall have no great travail; for he shall find her sitting at his

doors. Whoso watcheth for her‡ shall quickly be without care. For

she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her, sheweth herself

favourably unto them in the ways, and meeteth them, however,

in every thought.'§

 

   * Life of Mary Jane Graham, ut sup.

 † Ib. Nicholls's Exposition of this Book, and Scott's Marginal References, will give

much valuable assistance to this study. No foreign help, however, should damp the

profitable interest of original research.

    ‡   [O a]grupnh<saj --whom wisdom scarcely affords time to sleep.

    § Wisd. vi. 11-16. The reader will find throughout this Exposition frequent reference

xii                                           PREFACE.

 

     An accurate apprehension of the main end and scope of this Book

will greatly facilitate the understanding of it. Different portions of

Scripture may be seen to have different ends, all however subordinate

to one end--primary and supreme. Without entering into detail

foreign to our purpose, suffice it to remark, that the end of this Book

appears to be, to set out a system of practical instruction, generally

applicable. Nor let this be thought a low gradation in the Christian

scheme. Unpalatable as it may be to the mere professor of godliness,*

the true man of God will honour practical inculcation in its place, no

less than doctrinal statement. "The truth as it is in Jesus"--that

which flows from him, leads to him, and centres in him--that in which

"we are to be learned, and to be taught by him"--is practical truth.

(Eph. iv. 20-24.) While other parts of Scripture shew us the glory of

our high calling; this may instruct in all minuteness of detail how to

" walk worthy of it." Elsewhere we learn our completeness in Christ

(Col. ii. 10): and most justly we glory in our high exaltation as "joint-

heirs with Christ, made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ

Jesus." (Rom. viii. 17. Eph. ii. 6.) We look into this Book, and, as by

the aid of the microscope, we see the minuteness of our Christian

obligations; that there is not a temper, a look, a word, a movement,

the most important action of the day, the smallest relative duty, in

which we do not either deface or adorn the image of our Lord, and the

profession of his name. Surely if the book conduced to no other end,

it tends to humble even the most consistent servant of God, in the

consciousness of countless failures. Not only therefore is the last

chapter--as Matthew Henry would have it--'a looking-glass for

ladies,' but the whole Book is a mirror for us all.

     Nor is it only a mirror to shew our defects. It is also a guide-

 

to the Apocryphal Books of Wisdom--but only as human authorities. Mr. Horne has most

demonstrably overthrown their claim to a place in the sacred canon. (Introd. to Scrip.

vol. i. Append. No.1. last edit.) Yet while we would most distinctly mark the wide gulf

between inspired and uninspircd writings, there seems no necessity to lose much valuable

and beautiful instruction, only because the writers were not inspired, or their writings were

tainted with pernicious errors.

   * We fear that Mr. Scott's hearers at the Lock as a sect have not died away. Their real

objection--as his son admirably observed--'was not to Arminianism (of which they

very probably scarcely knew the meaning) but to half, or more than half the word of God.

They had been accustomed to overlook it themselves, and could not bear to have it pressed

upon their notice by another.'--Scott's Life, pp. 232-235. Yet the preceptive part of an

Epistle may be set out, so dissociated from the doctrine, that the main-spring of practical

godliness is weakened, if not destroyed.

                                           PREFACE.                                             xiii

 

book and directory for godly conduct. The details of the external

life, in all the diversified spheres, are given or implied with perfect

accuracy, and with a profound knowledge of the workings of the human

heart. 'Beside a code of laws directly religious, a variety of admirable

rules stream forth from the deep recesses of wisdom, and spread over

the whole field.'* All ranks and classes have their word in season.

The sovereign on the throne is instructed as from God.¹ The princi-

ples of national prosperity or decay are laid open.² The rich are

warned of their besetting temptations.³ The poor are cheered in their

worldly humiliation.⁴ Wise rules are given for self-government.⁵ 'It

bridles the injurious tongue,⁶  corrects the wanton eye,⁷ and ties the

unjust hand in chains.⁸  It prevents sloth,⁹ chastises all absurd desires;¹⁰

teaches prudence¹¹ raises man's courage;¹² and represents temper-

ance and chastity after such a fashion, that we cannot but have them

in veneration.'†  To come to important matters so often mismanaged

--the blessing or curse of the marriage ordinance is vividly pour-

trayed.¹³ Sound principles of family order and discipline are incul-

cated.¹⁴  Domestic economy is displayed in its adorning consistency.¹⁵

Nay--even the minute courtesies of daily life are regulated.¹⁶  Self-

denying consideration of others,¹⁷ and liberal distribution¹⁸  are enforced.

All this diversified instruction is based upon the principles of true

godliness.¹⁹ Thus if the Psalms bring the glow upon the heart, the

Proverbs "make the face to shine." Indeed the Writer may mention

as one motive that led him to this work; that, having in a former

Exposition‡ shewn at large Christian experience to be built upon the

doctrines of the gospel, he wished to exhibit Christian practice as rest-

ing upon the same foundation. That is not sound faith, that does not

issue in practical godliness. Nor is there any true morality, apart from

 

¹ Chap. viii. 15, 16; xvi. 10-13; xx. 8, 26; xxi. 1; xxv. 2-5; xxviii. 16; xxix. 14; xxxi. 1-9.

² Chap. xi. 14; xiv. 34; xxiv. 6; xxviii. 2.                ³ Chap. xviii. 11; xxiii. 4, 5; xxviii. 20, 22.

⁴ Chap. xv.16,17; xvii. 1; xix.1, 22; xxviii. 6.         ⁵ Chap. iv. 23-27; xvi. 32; xxiii. 1.-3.

⁶ Chap. iv. 24; x. 31; xvii. 20; xxv. 23; xxvi. 20-26.

⁷ Chap. v. 20, 21; vi. 25-29; xxiii. 26, 27.   ⁸ Chap. xviii. 5; xxviii. 8.

⁹ Chap. vi. 6-11; xii. 27; 4; xix. 24; xx. 4; xxiv. 30-34.                    ¹⁰ Chap. xxi. 25, 26.

¹¹ Chap. iv. 14, 15; vi. 1-5; xiv. 8, 15, 18; xxii. 3; xxv. 6-10.          ¹² Chap. xxviii. 1.

¹³ Chap. xviii. 22; xix. 14; xxxi. 10, with xii. 4; xix. 13; xxi. 9, 19.

¹⁴ Chap. xiii. 24; xiv. 1; xix. 18; xxii. 6; xxiii. 13, 14; xxix. 15, 17, 19, 21.

¹⁵ Chap. xxvii. 28-27; xxxi. 10-27.           ¹⁶ Chap. xxiii. 6-8; xxv. 17.         ¹⁷ Chap. iii. 27, 28.

¹⁸ Chap. xi. 24; xxii. 9.                             ¹⁹ Chap. xxxi. 10, 30.

                  * Lord BACON’S Advancement of Learning, Book viii. chap. ii.

          † Chap. v. 15-19, with xxiii. 29-35. Basil, quoted by Bp. Patrick.

                                 ‡ On Ps. cxix.

 

xiv                                                       PREFACE.

 

"the principles of Christ." This Book, if it be not, as the New Testa-

ment,--the Rule of Faith, may surely be considered as a valuable Rule

of conduct. And--as Mr. Scott observes--'it would be very useful

for those, who can command their time, at some stated season every

day, to read and deliberately consider a few of these maxims with

reference to their own conduct, in the various affairs in which they are

concerned.'*  Doubtless if the world were governed by the whole

wisdom of this single Book, it would be "a new earth, wherein

dwelleth righteousness."

     One other weighty consideration the Writer would advert to, as

having directed his attention to this Book--its distinctive character, as

a Book for the Young. The wise man's father propounded a most

anxious question--"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?"

His son in this Book has fully opened the answer--"By taking heed

thereto according to thy word." (Ps. cxix. 9.) Nay he expressly states

the Book to be written for the heeding of youth.¹ It takes them as it

were by the hand, sets up way-marks to warn against coming danger

and imminent temptations,² and allures them into the bright ways of

God by the most engaging motives.³ And never surely was the

object so momentous, as at the present day. Our young are growing

up at a period, when "the foundations of the earth are out of course;"

and when subtle and restless efforts are making to poison their hearts,

and pervert their ways. Nothing therefore can be more important, than

to fortify them with sound principles; that, when withdrawn from the

parental wing into a world or a Church (alas!  that we should be con-

strained to use, the term!) of temptation, they may be manifestly under

a Divine cover, as the children of a special Providence. What this

invaluable Book impresses upon their minds is, the importance of deep-

seated principles in the heart; the responsibility of conduct in every

step of life; the danger of trifling deviations for expediency's sake;

the value of self-discipline; the habit of bringing everything to the

Word of God; the duty of weighing in just balances a worldly and a

heavenly portion, and thus deciding the momentous choice of an ever-

lasting good before the toys of earth. These lessons, thoroughly

inwrought, will prove the best security against all attempts to loosen

 

    * Pref. to Comment. on Prov.

    1 Chap. i. 4; iv. 1, &c.

    2 Chap. i. 10-15; ii. 10-19; v. 1-13; vii.

    3 Chap. iii. 1-18; viii. I7, &c.

                                PREFACE.                                                    xv

 

the hold of principle, and to entice upon enchanted ground. This

practical godliness--so far from wearing a forbidding, look, or being

associated with gloom or sadness--casts a smile over a world of

sorrow, is a sunbeam of comfort in suffering, and ever a principle of

peace and steadfastness. "Great peace have they which love thy law;

and nothing shall offend them." (Ps. cxix. 165.)

     As to the matter of the exposition, the Writer cannot indeed say,

with a Romish commentator,* 'that he has gone through all the circle

of Biblical exposition, versions of the Scripture, Patristic reading, and

classic literature bearing upon the Scripture.' He trusts, however, that

it will be seen by the mass of references throughout the work, that he

has taken due care to mature his own judgment, and to enlarge his

scanty resources, by availing himself of the assistance of those exposi-

tors, who appear to have been most conversant with the original

language, and to have given the most careful and sober interpretation.

By a wider range, he would have probably rather perplexed than

informed his readers.

     He would not only add, in conclusion, in the words of one of the

most valuable expositors†--that 'if there should be anything here to

please the reader, ascribe not the writing to the pen, but to the writer;

not the light to the lamp, but to the fountain; not the picture to the

pencil, but to the painter; not the gift to the unfaithful dispenser, but to

God the bountiful Giver.'

 

 

          * Cornelius á Lapide.                      † Geier.

 

 

 

Old Newton Vicarage,

     Oct. 7, 1846.

 

 

 

 

                             ADVERTISEMENT

 

                      TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

 

 

The Writer desires gratefully to acknowledge the many testimonies

of interest and edification connected with his Work. Deeply sensible

as he is of its great imperfections, may his God have the glory!

     In reference to the mass of Scriptural references, he would state,

that his primary object in this, as in a former Exposition, was to draw

out into view the unsearchable riches of the Sacred field. And if he

may have sometimes inadvertently carried out this desire to an undue

extent, he trusts, that upon the whole it may encourage some of his

Readers to a meditative study of Holy Writ, so that "the Word of

Christ may dwell in them richly in all wisdom," to their own enlarged

profit, and to the edification of the Church.

     He has been enabled to compress the work (without abridgement),

in order to reduce the price for wider circulation. He has now only to

commend it afresh to the blessing of his God, and to the kind accept-

ance of His Church.

 

      Hinton Martell Rectory,

             July 16, 1859.

 

 

In accordance with suggestions repeatedly made to the Author the Exposition

     of the first nine chapters has been reprinted, apart, for more extensive

     distribution, under the title of "A MANUAL FOR THE YOUNG;" at the

     price of 2s. 6d.

.

          EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF

 

1. The proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King of Israel; 2. To

      know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understand-

      ing; 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and

      equity; 4. To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and  

      discretion.

 

THE Book naturally opens with a short account of its author. Solomon

is recorded as the wisest of men; a man of wisdom, because a man of

prayer. (1 Kings iii. 12. Comp. chap. ii. 1-9.) His extraordinary

wisdom was the admiration of the world. (1 Kings iii. 28; iv. 34.)

Had he been the Son of Jeroboam, he would have commanded respect;

much more as the son of David, formed by his godly prayers (Ps. lxxii.1.)

and counsels. (Chap. i-v. 1-4. 1 Kings ii. 1-4. 1 Chron. xxviii. 9.)

And if a King's sayings, even though without intrinsic merit, are pre-

served; the wise teaching of this King of Israel (Eccres. i. 1; xii. 9, 10)

may well demand our especial interest.

     Valuable, however, as were Solomon's maxims for their own wis-

dom (exceeding the sages of his own or any other time) (1 Kings, iv.

29-31); they claim our reverence upon infinitely higher ground. "Be-

hold! a greater than Solomon is here." (Matt. xii. 42.) Often does he

speak in the person (Verse 20; viii. ix. xxiii. 26) always under the

inspiration (2 Tim. iii. 16) of "the wisdom of God;" so that his

sayings are truly "Divine sentences in the lips of the King." (Chap.

xvi. 10.)

     The great end of this inestimable book is to teach, not secular or

political wisdom (though many excellent rules of each are interspersed)

2              EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

(Chap. vi. 1-11; xxvii. 23-27; with xi. 14; xiv. 28, 34; xx. 18); but

that knowledge of God (Verse 7), which, while it "maketh wise unto

salvation, perfects and furnishes the man of God unto all good works."

(2 Tim. iii. 15-17. Tit. ii. 11, 12.) Its glowing privileges are set forth.

(Chap. iii. 13-18.) It is pressed upon us with intense earnestness, as

"the principal thing," our very "life." (Chap. iv. 5-9, 13.) Instruction

is the means of gaining it. We are directed to perceive the words of

understanding; to receive the instruction as a complete rule of wisdom,

justice, judgment, and equity (Comp. chap. ii. 9); sound principles, and

their practical application. Here also the simple, so readily deluded

(Chap. xiv. 15; xxi. 11. Ezek. xlv. 20), learn that subtilty, so needful

to discriminate between truth and error (Philip. i. 10. 1 Thess.

v. 21); to guard them from false teachers (Ps. xvii. 4. 1 John, iv. 1.

Comp. Acts, xvii. 11); and to "convince gainsayers." (Tit. i. 9; ii. 8.

Comp. Matt. xxii. 15-46.) Specially is the young man directed to this

book.*  His undisciplined ardour runs to waste. His mind fluctuates

at the mercy of the winds of opinion in the world around him; and

greatly does he need some settled master-principles to fix his purpose,

choice, and conduct. Here then he finds knowledge and discretion; a

religion, not of imagination, impulse, or sentiment; but the sound

practical energy of Scriptural truth.

 

   5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of under-

       standing shall attain unto wise counsels; 6. To understand a proverb,

       and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

     Not only the simple and the young, but even the wise, may here gather

instruction. For a truly wise man is one, not who has attained, but who

knows that he "has not attained," and is pressing onward to perfection.

(Philip. iii. 12.  Comp. 1 Cor. iii. 18; viii. 2.) David, while conscious

of comparative attainments, was ever seeking for higher light. (Ps.

cxix. 98-100; with 18, 33, 34.) Indeed the richest stores would soon

waste, without constant additions. Hearing is a great medium of know-

ledge.  Jethro instructed Moses (Exod. xviii. 17-26); our Lord his

disciples.  (Matt. xiii. 11-16. John, xvi. 12.) Peter enlightened his

fellow-apostles. (Acts, xi. 2-18.) Priscilla and Aquila "instructed

Apollos in the way of God more perfectly." (Ibid. xviii. 24-26.) In-

deed we must be hearers, ere we would be teachers.  'He gathers that

hears; he spends that teacheth.  If we spend before we gather, we shall

soon prove bankrupts.'† The longer we learn, the more we feel our-

selves to be learners; and the more ready we shall be to hear, that we

 

   * Ps, cxix.  9.  Over the gates of Plato's school, it was written:   Mhdeij agewmetrhtoj

eisitw.   (Literally--Let no one who is not a geometrician enter.) But very different is

the inscription over these doors of Solomon--Let the ignorant, simple, foolish, young enter.

CARTWRIGHT in loc.--LAVATER in c. iv. 20-22.

   † Bishop Hall.

                                              CHAP. I. 7.                                                 3

 

may increase in learning. (Chap. ix. 9; xviii. 15.) And at such a crisis

as this, both of the Church and of the world, how eagerly should we

improve every medium of instruction, by which we might become

"men of understanding, and attain wise counsels, to know what Israel

ought to do!" (1 Chron. xii. 32.) The wise man himself expounded

his words and dark sayings to the delight and instruction of his royal

scholar (1 Kings, x. 1-5); so to a teachable hearer "the deep things

of God" will be interpreted. (1 Cor. ii. 9, 10.) Hence the value of the

Minister of God; "an interpreter, one of a thousand" (Job, xxxiii. 23.

Comp. Acts, viii. 27-35); the divinely-appointed mean of bringing to

the perfection of knowledge. (Eph. iv. 11-15. 1 Thess. iii. 10.) Many

disorders and heresies might have been spared to the Church, if, instead

of indulging the perversity of an unsettled judgment, men had honoured

"the Priest, as the messenger of the Lord of Hosts," and in humble

simplicity had "sought the law at his mouth." (Mal. ii. 7. Comp. Heb.

xiii. 17, with 1 Cor. iv. 8; iii. 2-4.) Self-will may resist this sugges-

tion as Romish domination. But a humble subjection to the faithful

“steward of the mysteries of God," coming to learn, not to teach; to have,

not the curiosity fed, but the conscience satisfied. This reverence of

God's ordinance will issue in the "good things of the heart established

with grace." (Heb: xiii. 9.)

 

7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning (principal part, marg.) of know-

                    ledge: but fools  despise wisdom and instruction.

 

     The preface has stated the object of this Book of Wisdom. The

book itself now opens with a noble sentence. 'There is not'--as Bishop

Patrick observes--'such a wise instruction to be found in all their

books (speaking of Heathen ethics), as the very first of all in Solomon's,

which he lays as the ground of all wisdom.'* The fear of the Lord is

the beginning of knowledge. So Job had pronounced before. (Job, xxviii.

28.) So had the wise man's father. (Ps. cxi. 10.) Such is the weight

of this saying, that Solomon again repeats it.†  Nay--after having

gone round the whole circuit; after having weighed exactly all the

sources of knowledge; his conclusion of the whole matter is this, that

the fear of God in its practical exercise "is the whole of man" (Eccles.

xii. 13. Comp. Job, xxviii. 12-14, with 28)--all his duty; all his

happiness; his first lesson and his last. Thus, when about to instruct

us from the mouth of God, he begins at the beginning, the principal part.

All heathen wisdom is but folly. Of all knowledge, the knowledge of

God is the principal. There is no true knowledge without godliness.

(Comp. Deut. iv. 6, 7.)

     But what is this fear of the Lord? It is that affectionate reverence,

 

    * Preface to his Paraphrase.

    † Chap. ix. 10 Comp. the fine description by the son of Sirach. Ecclus. i. 14-20, 27.

4                EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his

Father's law. His wrath is so bitter, and his love so sweet; that hence

springs an earnest desire to please him, and--because of the danger of

coming short from his own weakness and temptations--a holy watch-

fulness and fear, "that he might not sin against him." (Heb. xii. 28, 29.)

This enters into every exercise of the mind, every object of life. (Chap.

xxiii. 17.) The oldest proficient in the Divine school seeks a more

complete moulding into its spirit. The godly parent trains up his

family under its influence. (Gen. xviii. 19. Eph. vi. 4.) The Christian

scholar honours it as the beginning, the head, of all his knowledge; at

once sanctifying its end, and preserving him from its most subtle

temptations.

     Why then do multitudes around us despise wisdom and instruction?

Because the beginning of wisdom--"the fear of God--is not before their

eyes." (Ps. xxxvi. 1.) They know not its value. They scorn its obliga-

tion. Wise they may be in their own sight. But surely God here

gives them their right name. For fools they must be, to despise such

a blessing (Jer. viii. 9);  to rush into wilful ruin (Verses 22, 24-32.

Comp. 1 Sam. ii. 25. 1 Kings, xii. 13. Jer. xxxvi. 22-32); to treasure

up work for despairing repentance. (Chap. v. 12, 13 j xxix. 1.) Good

Lord! May thy childlike fear be my wisdom, my security, my happiness!

 

8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy

     mother; 9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and

     chains about thy neck.

     Let the young mark the fear of the Lord connected with reverence to

parents. Thus the opening of this book puts honour upon “the first com-

mandment with promise." (Eph. vi. 2. Comp. 1 Tim. v. 4.) God here,

speaking by the mouth of a parent or teacher,* blends paternal tender-

ness with his Divine authority—My son. The command supposes the

godly character of parents, and recognises the responsibility of both

parents.†  Children are rational creatures. Instruction, not blind sub-

mission, must be inculcated. Yet they are wayward. Instruction must

therefore be enforced with the authority of law. God puts his own

stamp upon parental discipline. Hear it--Forsake it not. Reverence

for his mother's law was the honourable mark of Timothy's profession.

(2 Tim. i. 5; iii. 14, 15.) Nor must this reverence be confined to the

years of restraint. The disciple of the Bible will own himself to be a

 

  ® Thus the prophets were called Fathers--2 Kings, ii. 12; xiii. 14. Our blessed Lord

used the same endearing address--John, xxi. 5. Comp. Matt. ix. 2, 22. Thus the Apo-

stles also acknowledged both their individual converts and collective Churches--l Tim. i. 2.

2 Tim. i. 2. Tit. i 4. 1 Cor. iv. 15; with 1 John. ii. 1; v. 21.

  † See Judg. xiii. 12. No ancient system, so fully as the Bible, recognises the Mother's

just and equal claims. Comp. vi. 20; xv. 20; xx. 20; xxiii. 22; xxx. 17. Lev. xix: 3.

Deut. xxi, 18-21. Cartwright observes, that the names of Mothers of good and bad kings

are mentioned in Kings and Chronicles, as partakers in their credit or reproach. See also

Ecclus. iii. 1-16.

                                  CHAP. I. 10-16.                                                  5

 

child in relative obligations, long after he has ceased to be a child in

years. (Jer. xxxv. 8-10, 18.) Neither age nor rank gives any claim for

exemption. Joseph--when ripe in years, the head of a family, and

the first Lord in Egypt--bowed before his father's feet. (Gen. xlvi. 29;

xlviii. 12.) Solomon, in the glory of his crown, forgot not the respect

justly due to his mother.*  Nor were the crown upon his head, and the

chain of gold about Joseph's neck (Comp. chap. iv. 9, with Gen. xli.

39, 42), so graceful as this ornament of filial humility. (1 Pet. v. 5.)

This indeed commands the praise of the world, and may sometimes be

a delusive, self-righteous dependence. But wherever it is grounded

upon right principle, it is the "putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ"

in his lovely example. (Rom. xiii. 14.) Though angels were subject

to him, yet was he "subject to his parents." (Luke, ii. 51, with Heb.

i. 6.) Yea, how did he honour his mother in his last dying command

to his disciple--"Behold thy mother!" (John, xix. 27.)

     The same reciprocal obligation binds the spiritual father and his

children. Authority softened by tenderness--instruction moulded in

parental endearment--will always command its measure of reverential

and affectionate attention. Such was the Apostolical Ministry to the

Churches of Philippi and Thessalonica. Humility, tenderness, mutual

communion and cneerful subjection, formed the harmony of Christian

love and happiness. (Philip. iv. 9-19. 1 Thess. ii. 7-13.)

 

10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 11. If they say, ‘Come

     with us, let us lay wait for blood; let us lurk privily for the innocent

     without cause; 12. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and

     whole as those who go down into the pit; 13. We shall find all pre-

     cious substance; we shall fill our houses with spoil:  14. Cast in thy

      lot among us; let us all have one purse:’  15. My son, walk not thou

     in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:  16.  For their

     feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.

     Let the young hearken to the instruction, and law of the godly parent

and minister. Who that has the charge of youth does not mourn

over the baneful influence of evil companions? Would that the

Lord's Servants were as energetic in his work, as sinners are in further-

ing the ends of their master! Almost as soon as Satan became an

apostate, he became a tempter. And most successfully does he train

his servants in this work. (Chap. xvi. 29. Gen. xi. 4. Num. xxxi. 16.

Isa. lvi. 12.) If sinners entice thee--This is no uncertain contingency.

'My son'--said the wise son of Sirach--'if thou come to serve the Lord

prepare thy heart for temptation.' (Ecclus. ii. 1.) Yet we have one

rule against all manifold enticements (Chap. vii. 5-23. Comp. Deut.

 

® 1 Kings, ii. 19, 20. See also Queen Esther's respect for Mordecai, her reputed father--

ii. 20.

6                EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK: OF PROVERBS.

 

xiii.. 6-8.1 Chron. xxi. 1. 1 Kings, xiii. 15-19)--Consent thou not. Consent

constitutes the sin. Eve consented, before she plucked the fruit (Gen.

iii. 6); David, before he committed the act of sin. (2 Sam. xi. 2-4.

Comp. Josh. vii. 21.) Joseph resisted, and was saved. (Gen. xxxix. 8,

9.) Job was sorely tried; "yet in all this Job sinned not." (Job, i. 22;

ii. 10.) If the temptation prevail, charge it not on God; no--nor

on the devil. As the worst he can do, he can only tempt, he cannot

force us, to sin. When he has plied us with his utmost power, and

most subtle artifice, it is at the choice of our own will, whether we

yield or no. (See Jam. i. 13-15.) The habitual resistance of the will

clears us of responsibility. (Comp. Rom. vii. 14-17, 19, 20, 23.) The

consent, even if it be not carried out into the act, lays the responsi-

bility at our own door.

            The enticement here was to robbery and blood; covetousness leading

to murder. Most fiendish was the plot. The innocent was to be mur-

dered without cause (Gen. iv. 8. Ps. x. 8),  swallowed up alive and whole;

like Korah and his company, going down into the pit in their full strength.

(Num. xvi. 33.) The invitation at first was seemingly harmless--Only

come with us. Soon the demand rises--Cast in thy lot with us.  'But

we shall be discovered.' No--they reply--'we will do all so cleverly,

that there will be no more blood to be seen, than if the earth swallowed

them up; or they died a natural death, and were decently buried.’*

The spoil of precious, substance will be found, when our victim is destroyed.

(Comp. Matt. xxi. 38.)  Precious substance!  Why! This is as large a

promise, as that from the mouth of the Son of God. (Chap. viii. 21.)

But how can substance be found belonging to a world of shadows? (Ps.

xxxix. 6.) Much more, how can the fruit of robbery be precious, with

the curse of God? (Chap. xxi. 6. Ps. lxii. 9,10.)

            Not that this horrible plot is usually propounded at first. But step

by step, unless the Lord graciously restrains, it may come to this at last.

The cover and varnish are; here taken off, to show what sin is in its

nature, character, and certain end. What young man, but would shud-

der, and start away from the wickedness, if presented to his imagination

alone?  But many a deluded sinner is thus hurried on by the influence

of company to lengths of sin, that he had never contemplated.†  Other

enticements are prepared for the amiable and the uninitiated, just enter-

ing into life; less fearful and obvious, and therefore more really danger-

ous. Such "advantage does Satan get of us by our ignorance of his

devices!”  (2 Cor. ii. 11.)

            Is it safe then to trust in our good resolutions or principles? No

--Walk not in the way with them.  The invitation is --come with us.

The warning is--Refrain thy foot from their path. (Chap. iv. 14, 15.

 

   * Cartwright. But see Gen iv.10. 2 Kings, ix. 26.

    † Chartist Associations afford ample evidence of this awful delusion.

                       CHAP. I. 17-19.                                  7

Comp. Ps. i. 1.) Avoid parleying with them. No one becomes a pro-

fligate at once.*  But "evil communications corrupt good manners."

(1 Cor. xv. 33.) The tender conscience becomes less sensitive by every

compliance. Who can stop himself in the down-hill road?  One sin

prepares for another, pleads for it, nay, even makes it necessary for con-

cealment. David committed murder to hide his adultery, and for his

covering charged it upon the providence of God. (2 Sam. xi. 4, 17, 25.)

            Again then—we repeat with all earnestness--Refrain. The path

may be strewed with flowers; but it is a path of evil, perhaps of blood.†

Every step on Satan's ground deprives us of the security of the promises

of God. Often has ruin followed by not refraining from the first step.

(Comp. Mark, xiv. 54, 71.) The only safety is in flight. (Gen. xxxix.

10, 12.) Run then into "thy hiding-place, and behind thy shield," and

boldly bid thy tempter "depart from thee." (Ps. cxix. 114, 115. Comp.

Matt. iv. 10.) Awful is the thought! There is not a sin, that the

highest saint of God may not commit, if trusting in himself. "Thou

standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear." (Rom. xi. 20.)

 

17. (Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.) 18. And

     they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

     19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh

     away the life of the owners thereof.

            The sight of danger leads, when possible, to the avoiding of it.

Instinct directs the bird; reason the man. Yet such is the infatuation

of sin, that man in his boasted wisdom will not do, what the bird will

do by her native instinct. She shuns the net spread in her sight; man

rushes into it. These men thirsted for their neighbour's blood. But in

the end they laid wait for their own. They lurked privily for the innocent

without cause. But it proved to be lurking privily for their own lives.

(Verse 11 with 18. Comp. Job, xviii. 8. Hab. ii. 10.) Ahab and his

guilty partner, in plotting the destruction of their innocent victim, worked

out their own ruin. (1 Kings, xxi. 4-24.) Little did Haman, when

bent upon the murder of Mordecai (Esth. vii. 9); or Judas, when "seek-

ing opportunity to betray his Master" (Matt. xxvi. 14-16; xxvii. 3-5),

see, that they were "digging a pit for themselves." (Ps. vii. 15, 16; ix.

15, 16.) Yet the sinner, would he but use his own eyes, might see hell

at the end of his path. (Matt. vii. 13.) But sin is self-delusive, self-

destructive. So are the ways—such the end—of greedy, often mur-

derous, gain.‡  My son—once more hear thy Father's instruction, "Flee

these things." (Verse 8, with 1 Tim, vi. 9-11.)

 

   * ‘Nemo fit repente turpissimus.'—Classical adage.

   †  Verse 16. Isa. lix. 7. An apt illustration of the total depravity of man in the perverted

use of the members of his body.—Rom. iii.15.

   ‡ Comp. Job, xxxi. 39, 40. Jer. xxii. 17-19. Mic. iii. 10—12. ‘How great a cheat is

wickedness! It ensnareth the ensnarers, and murders the murderers; holds a dark lantern

in one hand, while with the other it discharges silently a pistol into our bosom.’—JERMIN

(Dr. M.), Comment on Proverbs, folio, 1638.

 

8             EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

20.      Wisdom (Wisdoms, Marg.) crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the

            streets: 21. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of

            the gates; in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22. How long, ye

            simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their

            scorning, and fools hate knowledge?  23. Turn you at my reproof: behold,  I

            will pour out my Spirit unto you; I will make known my words unto you.

            A Father's instruction has warned us against the enticement of Satan.

Wisdom--the Son of God himself, now invites us,--in all the plenitude

of his Divine authority and grace.*  Full of yearning love to sinners,

he crieth, not only in the temple, but without in the streets, in the chief

place of concourse, in the openings of the gates (Comp. chap. viii. 1-5. Matt.

xiii. 2. John, vii. 37-39; xviii. 20, 21. Ps. xl. 9, 10)—How long?

Simplicity is another term for folly. It is the temper of mind of those

that fear not God. They weigh not what they say or do. They live

as if there were neither God nor eternity. Their understandings are

blinded by the love of sin. In other cases man delights, not in his

ignorance, but in its removal. But these simple ones, ignorant of the value

and danger of their souls, love-simplicity. They consider all endeavours to

enlighten them, as breaking in upon an indulgent repose, and exciting

a groundless alarm. For while they live riotously, slothfully, or licen-

tiously, "they consider not in their hearts, that God remembereth all

their wickedness," and “that for all these things he will bring them into

judgment." (Hos. vii. 2. Eccles. xi. 9.) They are encouraged by a few

more furious than themselves--scorners--who have neither fear nor

shame, remorse of heart, nor decency of manner; who take an active

delight in their scorning: shooting their poisoned arrows against godli-

ness. (See Ps. lxiv. 3, 4.) All earnestness in religion is with them a

weakness unworthy of sensible men. The very Scripture terms are

revolting. A saint in Scripture means one sanctified by the Spirit of

God. With them it means a foolish person or a hypocrite. Their souls

are too high to stoop to the vulgar thoughts and habits of the gospel of

Christ. Thus do they prove themselves (both the indolent mass of the

simple ones, and their scornful leaders) to be fools, that hate knowledge.

 

* The cry, the chief place of concourse, the outpouring fountain of the Spirit, are identified

John, vii. 37-39. This very remonstrance, accompanied, as here, with a stirring invitation,

is also given in prophecy from the Saviour's own mouth. Isa. lv. 1-3. The terms of the pro-

mise forbid any other than a personal application. We can easily conceive a spirit to have

wisdom. But that an attribute of wisdom may dispense his Spirit or influence to others, is

beyond conception. Moreover, the Messiah assumed this personal title (Matt. xxiii. 34, with

Luke, xi. 49); and his Apostle expressly gives it to him (1 Cor. i. 24). The plural noun

joined with the singular verb (marg. comp. chap. ix. 1) seems to point him out as the

author and whole substance of all wisdom; ‘the very wisdom of the most wise God, "in

whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and by whom rivers of wisdom

are poured into man by the word.' (Glass. Lib. iii. Tract. i. Can. 24.) The future tense in the

original may possibly give a prophetic character to the proclamation. Altogether, ‘this

interpretation gives to the exhortation of Wisdom a peculiar majesty and emphasis; setting

forth the eternal untreated Wisdom of the Father, using all means to draw men to God;

both by his works and by his word, inviting all men to know the truth.'--SCOTT. Bishop

Ball. Compare notes on v. 24, viii. 1.

                                                  CHAP. I. 20-23.                                       9

 

(Verses 7, 29, 30. Job, xxi. 14; xxiv. 13.) Aiming to keep out alarm,

with it they shut out all that would make them wise and happy. If

they hate the knowledge of their lost condition, they exclude all that

follows upon it, to make them "wise unto salvation." Of other know-

ledge they have often too much: mischievous, as keeping out better

things; giving them an evil eye, filling the soul with darkness; making

them "hate the light, so that they will not come to the light, lest their

deeds should be reproved." (John, iii. 19, 20.)

            Our Lord deals with this case on the perfect freeness of the gospel.

He would melt down the hardness by pleading remonstrance—How

long?  (Comp. Matt. xxiii. 37. Luke, xix. 41, 42.) He sweeps away all

the suggestions of unbelief, all the heartless excuses of indolence, by

inviting promises— Turn at my reproof. ‘I cannot turn myself.’ But

I will pour out my Spirit as a living fountain unto you. And—as the

consequence of this blessing---I will make known my words unto you.

The Bible, before a dark and sealed book, shall be made clear to you. ‘I

offer to you both my word outwardly to your ears, and a plentiful, measure

of my Spirit inwardly to your heart, to make that word effectual to

you.'*

            But we are often told, that all the illumination to be expected in our

day is the written word, interpreted, like every other book, by our

own reason; and that the Spirit's teaching is an enthusiastic delusion.

Now this may pass with the simple and the scorner— who know no-

thing of the blindness of their hearts, and of the power of natural

prejudice, which Divine grace alone can conquer. But the man that

knows his own darkness, and that nothing less than the power of God

can teach him--he will—he must--"cry for knowledge, and lift up

his voice for understanding" (Chap. ii. 3); not because the word is dark

(for it is light itself), but because he is dark, and therefore utterly

unable to receive its instructions. (1 Cor. ii. 9-14.) We do not want

a new revelation, we only want a Divine Teacher, we want the pouring

out of the Spirit to make known the word. The word is the same Divine

word as before. But it was not understood, discerned, not therefore

practically effectual. Now there is joy, a power and sweetness, of

which before we had no conception. It humbled us in the sense of our

ignorance, and makes us pant for more of its heavenly light and

influence.

            But the proud caviller complains of God, as if he reckoned with

"him for a blindness and inability, which he cannot help,--innate with-

out his consent. "Nay, but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest

against God?" (Rom. ix. 20.) He at once answers this Satanic plea,

by offering to you present, suitable, and sufficient relief. He meets

you on your way to condemnation with the promise of free and full

 

                                                      * Bishop Hall.

10         EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

forgiveness. (Isa. i. 18; xliii. 23, 26.) Your plea will be of force, when

you have gone to him, and found him wanting. The power indeed is

of him. But he hath said —"Ask, and it shall be given you." (Matt.

vii. 7.) If your helplessness is a real grievance, bring it to him with

an honest desire to be rid of it. If you have never prayed, now is the

time for prayer. If you cannot pray, at least make the effort. Stretch

out the withered hand in the obedience of faith. (Mark, iii. 5.) If your

heart be hard, your convictions faint, your resolutions unsteady; all is

provided in the promise —I will pour out my Spirit upon you. Move

then, and act in dependence upon the Almighty Mover and Agent.

(Comp. Philip. ii. 12, 13.) Christian experience explains a mystery un-

fathomable to human reason. It harmonises man's energy and God's

grace. There is no straitening, no exclusion, with God. His promises

with one mouth assure a welcome to the willing heart. If it cannot

move, his Spirit can compel, point, draw it to the Saviour. Yea, in the

desire to turn, has not the Saviour already touched it, and drawn it to

himself?

            But remember — the call—How long? is to an instant conversion;

not to the consideration or resolution of the morrow, but to the de-

cision of to-day. Delay is mockery of God. "Quench not the

Spirit " now striving, but which "will not always strive with man."

(1 Thess. v. 19. Gen. vi. 3.) Add not thus to the mass of guilt ready

to sink you into perdition.

 

24.      Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand,

            and no man regarded:  25. But ye have set at nought all my counsel,

            and would none of my reproof:  26. I also will laugh at your calamity;

            I will mock, when your fear cometh;  27. When your fear cometh, as a

            desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress

            and anguish cometh upon you.  28. Then shall they call upon me, but

            I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me;

            29. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the

            Lord:  30. They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

            31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled

            with their own devices.

 

            The Saviour calls by his word, his providence, his ministers, con-

science. But ye refused. Not till his calls have been refused, does he

thunder forth his warnings. But such grace, so rich and free, yet

rejected--who can take the guage of this guilt? All creatures beside

are his servants. (Ps. cxix. 91.) Man alone resists his yoke. He

stretched out his hand (Isa. lxv. 2) to afford help; to confer a blessing;

to beseech its acceptance; yea, even to command attention to his call.

(See Acts, xxi. 40.) But no man regarded. The wisest counsel, the most

solemn reproof, all is set at nought. Thus does he "endure with much

                                            CHAP. I. 24-31.                                        11

 

long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." (Rom. ix. 22.)

But, O sinner! the day cometh, when he, who once yearned, and

wept, and prayed, and died, will have no pity (Ezek. v. 11, viii. 18,

with xxxiii. 11); when he shall be, as if he laughed and mocked at your

calamity (Comp. Judg. x. 14. Isa. i. 24); when he shall delight in the

exercise of his sovereign justice over you. (Comp. Deut. xxviii. 63.

Ezek. v. 13.) All will then be the desolation of realized fear (Chap. x.

24); sudden as a whirlwind;*  the distress and anguish of utter despair.

(Job, xv. 24. Dan. v. 5, 6, 30.)

            This is his solemn denunciation. And then, as if he could bear

these despisers no longer in his sight, he changes his address, and

pictures the scene itself in its strongest colours. They would not hear

when I called. Then shall they call upon me, and I will not answer. They

would not listen to my warnings; I will not listen to their cries. They

shall call upon me — yea, they shall seek me early; but they shall not find

me.†  Prayer, once omnipotent, will then be powerless. ‘The last

judgment before the very last of all is come; the very outward court

or portal of hell;‡  the misery of deserted souls. To be forsaken of

God at any time is awful woe (Hos. ix. 12); how much more in the

time of trouble! (1 Sam. xxviii. 15.) But to have his countenance not

only turned: from us, but turned against us, his eternal frown instead of

his smile — this will be hell instead of heaven.

            Does this unmeasured wrath seem inconsistent with a God of love?

"The Lord our God is a consuming fire." (Deut. iv. 24.) And think of

his knowledge, instead of being a delight, being hated; his fear not

chosen; none of his gracious counsel regarded; all his reproof despised.

Is it not just, that the sinner, thus obstinately bent upon the choice of

his own way, should not only gather, but eat the fruit of it? (Chap. xiii.

2); that it should enter into him, and become his substance; that he

should be filled with it, even to satiety;§ and that--not only daring

his road. (Num. xi. 4, 20. Ps. cvi. 13-15), but at the end, throughout

eternity? (Isa. iii. 11. Gal. vi. 7.) The moral elements of sin constitute

a hell of themselves, apart from the material fire. ‘The fruit of sin in

time, when arrived at full and finished maturity, is just the fruit of sin

 

   * Chap. x. 25. Ps. lviii. 9. Isa. xvii. 13; xl. 24. Eastern travellers furnish abun-

dant illustration of this striking figure. Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture Geography,

pp. 412-416. — (Oliphant.)

   † Matt. xxv. 6-12. Luke, xiii. 24-26.  Dr. Owen admirably remarks upon this remon-

strance as a proof of the Personality of Wisdom — ‘If these things express not a person,

and that a Divine person, the Scripture gives us no due apprehension of anything what-

ever. Who is it that pours out the Holy Spirit? Who is it that men sin against, in

refusing to be obedient? Who is it, that in their distress they call upon, and seek early in

their trouble? The whole Scriptures declare to whom, and to whom alone, these things

belong, and may be ascribed.' — Expos. of Hebrews. Prelim. Exercit. xxvii. 8-12. We

might add — Who besides could threaten rebels with ruin, and promise peace and security

to the obedient?

‡ Bishop Reynolds' Works, p. 97]..

   § Chap. xiv. 14. Comp. xxv. 16. — ‘Ad nauseam implebuntur, et comedent, ita ut consi-

liorum vehementer tandem, sed nimis sero, ipsos prnniteant.'--MICHAELIS.

12          EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

through eternity. It is merely the sinner reaping what he has sown.

It makes no violent or desultory step from sin in time to hell in eter-

nity. The one emerges from the other, as does the fruit from the

flower. It is simply, that the sinner be filled with his own ways, and that

he eat the fruit of his own devices.'*

            This picture might seem to be the foreboding of despair. Yet, such

miracles of Divine grace have we seen; nay—such are we ourselves

--that we despair of none. We must not, however, soften down God's

own words by a misplaced presumptuous tenderness. Have we never

seen them verified in the dying sinner, who has neglected and scoffed

at the Gospel, and never sent up one cry for mercy on his soul? Is this

no warning of the danger of a protracted repentance; of the worthless-

ness of confessions extorted by terror; "howling on the bed; hot weep-

ing at the cross?" (Hos. vii. 14, with Luke, xviii. 13.) And does it not

solemnly tell us, that the day of grace has its limits (Gen. vi. 3. Heb.

iv. 7); that there is a knock, which will be the last knock; that a

sinner may be lost on this side of hell; intreated, pleaded with, wept

over—yet lost! lost even in the day of salvation? To "do despite to

the Spirit of grace" (mark the endearing name) —the Spirit of all kind-

ness, of alluring love; who pleads so tenderly with us—to wound him, as

it were, to the soul (Heb. x. 29, Gr.) — this is a provocation beyond words,

beyond thought. "There remaineth" only that, which might strike

into the very centre of the man, "the fearful looking for of judgment

and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. It is a fearful

thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Ib. verses 26, 27, 31.)

 

32. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity

            of fools shall destroy them, 33. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall

            dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

            Again is the sinner's ruin laid at his own door. He turns away

from Wisdom's beseeching voice. He despises the only remedy. He

dies a suicide. It matters nothing to what we turn. If we turn away

from God, we turn from our true, our eternal interests. And, oh ! be it

remembered, that every inattention, every wilful neglect, is a step

towards this fearful apostasy. The word gradually becomes a burden,

then a scorn. The fool may seem to be spared from judgment. But

his prosperity is his destruction.†  To desire ease, therefore, is to embrace

a deadly enemy. Who that knows his own heart will not feel it a

matter, not of congratulation, but of deep and anxious prayer—'In all

time of our wealth--Good Lord, deliver us?’‡

 

   * Chalmers on Rom. vi. 21.

   † Job, xxi. 11-13. Ps. 1v. 19; lxxiii. 3-20. Jer xii. 1-3. Luke, vi. 24, 25; xii. 16-20;

xvi. 19-24. Jam. v. 1-5. Examples of Israel. —Deut. xxxii. 15-25. Jer. xxii. 20-22.

Hc's. xi ii. 6-9. Amos, vi. 1.-6. Babylon.— Isa. xivii. 7-9. Moab. —Jer. xlviii. 1-15. Sodom.

--Ezek. xvi. 49. Tyre.—Ezek. xxvii. 2, 25-27.                                        ‡ Litany.

 

                                        CHAP. II. 1-6.                                      13

 

            But to close with the sunshine of promise--Art thou, Reader,

like God's own child, hearkening unto him? Then art thou under his

cover, where no evil can reach thee; dwelling not only safely, but

assured of safety; quiet even from fear of evil (Chap. iii. 21—26. Job, v.

21. Ps. xci. 5; cxii. 6, 7. Isa. xxxii. 17—19); as Noah in the ark, in con-

scious security, while the world were perishing around him (Gen. vii.

11-16); as David, fearless in imminent danger, because realizing a

refuge in God. (Ps. iii. Comp. 1 Sam. xxx. 6.) Yes — even the coming

day of distress and anguish brings with it no fear of evil. (Contrasting

verses 26, 27. Luke, xxi. 26. Rev. vi. 16-18.) "The day will burn like

an oven." Thou shalt behold the world on fire, and feel thou hast lost,

thou canst lose, nothing. The "day of darkness and gloominess" will

be to thee a day of unclouded sunshine, the entrance into everlasting

joy. (Mal. iv. 1, 2. Luke, xxi. 28. 2 Pet. iii. 10-13.)

 

                                             CHAPTER II.

1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with

            thee; 2. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine,

            heart to understanding: 3. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and

            liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4. If thou seekest her as silver,

            and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5. Then shalt thou under-

            stand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the

            Lord giveth wisdom a out of his mouth cometh knowledge and under-

            standing.

Wisdom, having solemnly warned rebellious scorners, now instructs her

dutiful children. The dark question long before asked—"Where shall

wisdom be found?" (Job, xxviii. 12, 20, 21) —is now answered. It is

here set before us, as the fear and knowledge of God (Verse 6); a prin-

ciple of practical godliness (Verses 7-9); a preservation from besetting

temptations (Verses 10-19); and a guide into the right and safe path.

(Verse 20.) Hence follow the security of its scholars (Verse 21), and

the certain ruin of its ungodly despisers. (Verse 22.)

            The rules for its attainment are such as the simplest comprehen-

sion can apply. Carefully pondered, and diligently improved, they will

furnish a key for the understanding of the whole word of God. Let

us examine them more distinctly.

            Receive my words —Let them be "the seed cast into the ground of

an honest and good heart" (Luke, viii. 15)—a heart prepared of God.

(Chap. xvi. 1.) Read the book of God as one who "sat at the feet of

Jesus, and heard his word." (Luke, x. 39.) Like the Bereans, "receive

it with all readiness" (Acts, xvii. 11); like the Thessalonians, with

reverential faith, acknowledging its supreme authority (1 Thess. ii. 13).

 

14           EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

Hide my commandments with thee. Carry them about with thee as thy

choicest treasure for greater security (Col. iii. 16, with Matt. xiii. 44);

as thy furniture always at hand for present use. (Chap. iv. 20, 21; vii. 3.

Job, xxii. 22.) Let the heart be the hiding-place for the treasure.

(Luke, ii. 19, 51. Ps. cxix. 11.) Satan can never snatch it thence.

            But there must be an active, practical habit of attention.* Yet to

incline the ear, and apply the heart —"who is sufficient for these things?"

Oh! my God! let it be thine own work on me—in me. Thou alone

canst do it.†  Let it be with me, as with thy Beloved Son—"Waken

my ear morning by morning to hear as the learned." (Isa. L. 4.) So let

me under thy grace "incline mine ear, and hear, that my soul may

live." (Ibid. lv. 3.)

            Without this spirit of prayer--there may be attention and earnest-

ness ; yet not one spiritual impression upon the conscience; not one

ray of Divine light in the soul. Earthly wisdom is gained by study;

heavenly wisdom by prayer. Study may form a Biblical scholar;

prayer puts the heart under a heavenly tutorage, and therefore forms

the wise and spiritual Christian. The word first comes into the ears;

then it enters into the heart; there it is safely hid; thence rises the cry

—the lifting up of the voice. Thus, "the entrance of thy word giveth

light; it giveth understanding to the simple." (Ps. cxix. 130.) God

keeps the key of the treasure-house in his own hand. "For this he

will be enquired of" (Ezek. xxxvi. 37) to open it unto thee. We look

for no other inspiration than Divine grace to make his word clear and

impressive. Every verse read and meditated on furnishes material for

prayer. Every text prayed over opens a mine of "unsearchable riches,"

with a light from above, more clear and full than the most intelligent

exposition. David (Ps. cxix. 18, &c.) and his wise son (1 Kings, iii.

9-12) sought this learning upon their knees; and the most matured

Christian will continue to the end to lift up his voice for a more enlarged

knowledge of God. (Eph. i. 17, 18.)

            But prayer must not stand in the stead of diligence. Let it rather

give energy to it.‡  The miner's indefatigable pains ; his invincible

 

    * Chap. xxii. 17; xxiii. 12. The Emperor Constantine stood hours to hear the word;

replying, when asked to sit, ‘that he thought it wicked to give negligent ears, when the

truth handled was spoken of God.'--(Euseb. de Vita Constant. lib. iv.) Foxe records of

Edward VI. ‘That never was he present at any sermon commonly, but would excerp

them, or note them with his own hand.'—Vol. v. 700. Yet Bishop Hooper thought, that

his royal master's love for the preached word needed to be quickened. — Sermon 7th on Jonas.

    † Chap. xx. 12. "Thou giving me the ear, I have heard, as thou wouldest thy word to

be heard."—JEROME on Hab. iii. 2.

    ‡ On one side is Luther's inestimable axiom — ‘Bene orasse est bene studuisse.' On

the other side is the balance of the old proverb—'Ora et labora.' Comp. Matt. xi. 12. ‘We

are all,' says the heavenly Leighton, ‘too little in the humble seeking and begging this

Divine knowledge; and that is the cause why we are so shallow and small proficients. "If

thou cry, and lift up thy voice for understanding, search for it as for hid treasures;" sit

down upon thy knees, and dig for it. That is the best posture, to fall right upon the

golden vein, and go deepest to know the mind of God, in searching the Scriptures, to be

                                                     CHAP. II. 1-6.                                15

 

resolution; his untiring perseverance; seeking, yea, searching for hid

treasures,—such must be our searching into the sacred storehouse.*

To read, instead of "searching the Scriptures," is only to skim the

surface, and gather up a few superficial notions.† The rule of success

is--Dig up and down the field; and if the search be discouraging, dig

again. The patient industry of perusal and re-perusal will open the

embosomed treasure. "Surely there is a vein for the silver." (Job,

xxviii. 1.) Yet what miner would be content with the first ore? Would

he not search deeper and deeper, until he has possessed himself of the

whole; not satisfied with taking away much, but determined to leave

nothing? Thus let us daily explore "the length, and the breadth, and

the depth" of our boundless stores, until we be "filled with all the

fulness of God." (Eph. iii. 18, 19.)

            This habit of living in the element of Scripture is invaluable. To

be filled from this Divine treasury; to have large portions of the word

daily passing through the mind; gives us a firmer grasp, and a more

suitable and diversified application of it. Yet this profit can only be

fully reaped in retirement. We may read the Scriptures in company.

But to search them, we must be alone with God. Here we learn to

apply ourselves wholly to the word, and the word wholly to us. This

enriching study gives a purer vein of sound judgment. The mere

reader often scarcely knows where to begin, and he performs the routine

without any definite object. His knowledge therefore must be scanty

and ineffective.  Nor is the neglect of this habit less hurtful to the

Church. All fundamental errors and heresies in the Church may be

traced to this source —"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." (Matt.

xxii. 29.) They are mostly based on partial or disjointed statements of

truth. Truth separated from truth becomes error. But the mind

prayerfully occupied in the search of Divine truth—crying and lifting up

the voice--will never fail to discern the two great principles of godli-

 

directed and regulated in his ways; to be made skilful in ways of honouring him, and doing him

service. This neither man nor angels can teach him, but God alone.'—Sermon on Ps. cvii. 43.

   * ‘Viscera terae extrahimus, ut digito gestiatur gemma, quam petimus. Quot manus

afferuntur, ut unus niteat articulus! Simili studio, industria, constantia, Sapientiae in-

quisitioni incumbendum erat.'—Pram. lib. ii. c. 65.

   † Comp. John, v. 39. Gr.— a similar allusion to the miner's toil. ‘I can speak it by

experience'—said a wise man—' that there is little good to be gotten by reading the Bible

cursorily and carelessly. But do it daily and diligently, with attention and affection; and

you shall find such efficacy, as is to be found in no other book that can be named.'

ERASMUS'S Preface to Luke. Peter Martyr gives the same testimony, Epist. Dedic. to Com-

ment. on .Rom. The following relic of our renowned Elizabeth will be read both with

interest and profit. It was written on a blank leaf of a black-letter edition of St. Paul's

Epistles, which she used during her lonely imprisonment at Woodstock. The volume itself,

curiously embroidered by her own hand, is preserved in the Bodleian:—‘August. I walk

many times into the pleasant fields of the Holy Scriptures, where I pluck up the goodli-

some herbs of sentences by pruning, eat them by reading, chew them by musing, and lay

them up at length in the high seat of memorie, by gathering them together, that so, having

tasted their sweetness, I may the less perceive the bitterness of this miserable life.'—MISS

STRICKLAND'S Queens of England, vi. 113.

16            EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

ness— The fear and knowledge of God. There is no peradventure nor

disappointment in this search— Then shalt thou understand. The Lord

giveth wisdom; it cometh out of his mouth. None shall search in vain.

(Job, xxxii. 8. Isa. xlviii. 17; liv. 13. Jam. i. 5, 17. Comp. Gen. xli.

38, 39. Exod. iv. 12. Dan. i. 17.) Never has apostasy from the faith

been connected with a prayerful and diligent study of the word of God.

 

7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them

            that walk uprightly. 8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and pre-

            serveth the way of his saints. 9. Then shalt thou understand righteous-

            ness, and judgment, and equity; yea every good path.

            Vanity (Eccles. i. 18) and foolishness (1 Cor. iii. 19) are the stamp

on the wisdom of this world. Here is sound wisdom. It looks at things

not in their notions, but in their proper substance. It is sound, because

it is practical. It is indeed a hid treasure (Verse 4); so safe, that no

spoiler can reach it; yet so free, that every sinner may have access to

it. Yes; in the Son of God himself "are hid all the treasures of wisdom

and knowledge." All these treasures in him are laid up for the righteous

--made over to them. (Col. ii. 3. 1 Cor. i. 30.) Oh let us draw upon

this infinite treasure daily, hourly, for light to direct an upright walk.

‘To those that are true and upright in heart, he will in his own good

time reveal true: and saving knowledge, and that sound spiritual wisdom,

which shall make them eternally happy.'*  Our faithful God is a buckler

to them that walk uprightly. (Chap. xxx. 5. Ps. lxxxiv. 11.) His wisdom

covers is from that subtle sophistry, which would spoil us of our

treasure. (Chap. xxii. 12.) The way of the saints is indeed fraught

with danger; beset with temptation: yet is it safe (Chap. iv. 11; viii.

20. Deut. xxxiii. 26-29. 1 Sam. ii. 9. Ps. xxxvii. 23, 24 lvi. 9)--

kept and preserved by Almighty power. even on the very edge of the

enemy's ground. (1 Sam. xxv. 39; xxvii. 1, with xxix. 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.)

            Such also is the completeness of this godly privilege, that not only

does it enlarge our knowledge of God (Verse 5), but it brings us to a

full understanding of every practical obligation. Indeed that only is

sound wisdom, that guides our feet into every, good path; that "makes

the man of God perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

(2 Tim. iii. 15-17.) The gracious wisdom that saves the soul, sanctifies

the heart and life. (Tit. ii. 11, 12.)

 

10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto

            thy soul; 11. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep

            thee.

            We have seen the good that wisdom brings to us. (Verse 5.) Now

see the evil, from which it preserves us. But observe its place —in the

 

                                             * Bishop Hall.

 

                                           CHAP. II. 12-45.                                  17

 

heart. Here only has it any light, life, or power. (Chap. iv. 23.) Clear

knowledge floating in the head is deep ignorance. While it only

glitters in the understanding, it is dry, speculative, and barren. When

it entereth into the heart, light beams out, all the affections are engaged;

and how pleasant is it to the soul! (Chap. xxiv. 13, 14. Job, xxiii. 12.

Ps. cxix. 103. Jer. xv. 16.) Religion now is no lifeless notion. It is

handled, tasted, enjoyed. It gives a discreet and understanding direction

to the whole conduct. It becomes not only an external rule, but a

preserving, keeping principle (Chap. iv. 6; vi. 22-24. Ps. xvii. 4; cxix.

9-11, 104); like the military guard for the safety of the royal person.

(1 Sam. xxvi. 16. 2 Kings, xi. 11.) Before, it was the object of our

search. Now, having found it, it is our pleasure. Until it is so, it can

have no practical influence. It is "the man, whose delight is in the law

of the Lord," who is preserved from "walking in the counsel of the

ungodly." (Ps. i. 1, 2; comp. ch. vii. 4, 5.) Education, conviction, high

moral principle, are at best only partially operative. The reclaimed

drunkard may be true to his Temperance-pledge; but, if the "root of

bitterness" be untouched, he may be a Socialist or a Chartist, or revel

in some other equally ruinous course. External wickedness may be

exchanged for decent formality. Vagrant affections may be turned

from some object of vanity; yet not fixed upon the Divine centre of

attraction. The mind may be disciplined from utter unprofitableness,

only to indulge in the idolatry of talent, or the fascinations of poisoned

literature. The folly of the pride of life may be resisted; yet pride in

other of its multiform fruits tenderly cherished. In all, these cases, the

principle is unsubdued. The forsaken sin only makes way for some

more plausible, but not less deadly passion. The heart, cast into the

mould of the Gospel, is the only cover from those snares within and

without (Rom. vi. 17, 18. 2 Cor. iii. 18), which so imperceptibly, yet

so fatally, estrange us from God. Never, till the vital principle is

implanted, is their mischief discerned. Never, till then, does the heart

find its proper object, its true resting-place.

 

12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh

            froward things; 13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the

            ways of darkness; 14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the fro-

            wardness of the wicked; 15. Whose ways are crooked, and they froward

            in their paths.

            The various snares for the young, about to be detailed, furnish a

fearful picture of the temptations to which our children are exposed.

Will it not awaken our earnest cries for their deep and solid conversion

to God; that wisdom may indeed enter into their hearts, and its pleasures

be really enjoyed; that they may have a religious taste, as well as a

religious education; that they may know the Gospel, not only in the

 

18           EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

conviction of their conscience, or the excitement of their feelings, but

in the entire renewal of their hearts before God? This, and nothing

less, will preserve them from the snare of their cruel foe. Every town

and village swarms with his emissaries; first, initiated themselves into

the mysteries of his art; then, going forth, laborious and practised

teachers, well instructed for his murderous work. Against one of these

enticements we have been before warned. (Chap. i. 10-13.) Another

is here given: The tempter bears his character upon his lips; the evil

man that speaketh proud things against God and his law; like a poisonous

fountain sending up poisoned waters. Oh! how quickly does the con-

tamination spread! He does not sin in ignorance. He and his com-

panions* have probably been trained in the paths of uprightness. Having

come in contact with the pestilential breath, of the ungodly, they have

caught the contagion, and eagerly spread it. Readily do they leave the

paths, which they never heartily loved, to walk in the ways of darkness,

which their hearts do love. (Chap. iv. 16, 17. Job, xiv. 13-16. John,

iii. 19, 20.) Having left the hated paths, they become therefore fore-

most in iniquity. Poisoned themselves, they would poison all around

them. They rejoice, like Satan himself, to do evil †  to draw their

fellow-sinners into the net; and they delight in those, who are most

froward in their wickedness.‡  Thus they plunge deeper and deeper

into sin, till they lose all traces of the straight way, and all their ways

become crooked, leading with sure steps to eternal ruin. Is not this the

picture, drawn to the very life, of many a Sunday-scholar, or a child of

godly parents, the subject of deep and tender care; "hardened through

the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. iii. 13), the neglect of faithful warning,

the stifling of solemn conviction? How do they deserve to be left of

God, who have first left him with such fearful aggravation! Young

man! especially shun companions, who are sinning against better

knowledge and instruction. They are hardened in devotedness to

their master's work. Oh! if misguided sinners could but see sin in its

horrid deformity and certain end, would not "their hearts meditate

terror?"  But the crookedness of their ways hides the end from view.

Satan presents the bait, palliates the sin, covers the enormity, closes

the eyes, and conceals the certain end of all—Hell. (Ps. cxxv. 5.

Rom. vi. 21; with 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.) The froward in their paths cannot

—will not—turn back.

 

16. To deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger, which flat-

            tereth with her lips: 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and

            forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18. For her house inclineth unto

 

   * The change to the plural number (the man—who leave) implies confederacy.

   † Comp. Isa. iii. 9 ; Jer xi. 15. God's heavy judgment. 2 Thess. ii. 12.

   ‡ The sin of the heathen, Rom. i. 32.

                                    CHAP. II. 16-22.                                               19

 

            death, and her paths unto the dead. 19. None that go unto her return

            again: neither take they hold of the paths of life.

            Another snare of the fowler is here graphically pourtrayed.*  Wisdom

hidden in the heart is, as before, the most effectual deliverance; restraining

even the eye from the hurtful object.†  Ought not the strange woman,

even if she be born and baptized in a Christian land, to be counted as

a stranger and foreigner among us? One who had forsaken the guide

of her youth,§ and forgotten the solemn bond of the covenant of her God||

—what else could she be to the unwary but a vile flatterer with her

lips? (Chap. v. 3; vii. 5, 21.) The slave of unlawful desire; having

no guide but her own will; no pleasure but sensual gratification;

quickly she becomes her own and her victim's murderer. Her house

is the land of death. (Chap. v. 5.) Eternal death is her doom. (Gal. v.

19-21. Eph. v. 5. Rev. xxi. 8 ; xxii. 15.) Her paths incline to the dead,

with the awful monuments of Divine vengeance in olden time.¶  Some

instances indeed of deliverance are given; not so much examples, as

special miracles, of grace, to show how far the "arm of the Lord" can

reach.**  But so rare are they, that it is as if scarcely none†† that go unto

her return again. And what madness is it to rush into the snare upon

so faint and glimmering hope of escape! (Eccles. vii. 26.) The spell of

lust palsies the grasp, by which its victim might have taken hold of the

paths of life for deliverance. He that is "saved, is so as by fire" (1 Cor.

iii. 15), the wonder of heaven and earth. "Is not this a brand plucked

out of the fire?" (Zech. iii. 2.)

20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the path of

            the righteous: 21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the per-

            fect shall remain in it; 22. But the wicked shall be cut of from the

            earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

            Here is the consummating blessing of engrafted wisdom. Not only

 

* Chap. v. 3-20; vi. 24; vii. 5-23; xxii. 14; xxiii. 27. Some commentators give an

allegorical interpretation to these pictures, as descriptive of idolatry or false doctrine.

'But surely,' as Holden well observes, 'if there be any dependence to be placed upon the

language of the sacred writer, any propriety in his expressions, it is to be understood in its

literal sense, as a warning against the seduction of harlots. The spirit of allegorical inter-

pretation may make the Scriptures speak whatever is prompted by the wildest fancy, or

the deepest fanaticism.'—HOLDEN in loco. Comp. SCOTT in loco.

   † Comp. Job, xxxi. 1, and our Lord's rule :—Matt. v. 28.

   ‡ The strange woman—a stranger. Two different words in the Hebrew, the latter ap-

pearing to mark a foreigner. Comp. Deut. xxiii. 17; Lev. xix. 29. It is, however, but too

evident that this abandoned class was not confined to foreigners. Comp. Gen. xxxviii.

15, 16; Judg. xi. 1; 1 Kings, iii. 18.

   § Though an harlot, she might be (Chap. vii. 5, 10, 19) or might have been (John, iv.

17, 18) a married woman.

   || Mal. ii. 14-16. Comp. Ezra, xvi. 59, 60. Does not this sacred view of the marriage

ordinance rebuke the legislative sanction which has now degraded it to a mere civil contract?

   ¶ 'The dead.'— SCOTT and Bishop PATRICK in loco. Comp. chap. ix. 18. Heb. MEDE'S

Learned Discourse, vii.

   ** Solomon's own case. Comp. Luke, vii. 37-50; 1 Cor. vi. 9-11.

   †† None in comparison, very few. Comp. Isa. lix. 4; lxiv. 7.

 

20            EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

does it deliver from evil men; but it guides us into the way of good men.

Clad with this Divine armour, thou shalt have courage, like Joseph, to

turn thy face from the enchantment of Sin (Gen.. xxxix. 9, 10), and keep

the paths of the righteous, rugged indeed, yet the only paths of rest and

security. (Cant. i. 7, 8. Jer. vi. 16.) Thus shalt thou dwell and remain

in the land, as its original inheritor (Ps. xxxvii. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34. Matt.

v. 5), having the best portion in earth, and ap infinitely better portion

in heaven ; while the wicked and transgressors, though they may "enjoy

the pleasures of sin for a season," shall be ultimately cut of rooted out,

and "driven away " into everlasting ruin. (Chap. x. 30; xiv. 32; xv. 25.

Ps. lii. 5–7 ; xcii. 7. Matt, iii. 10.)

 

            And now, what serious reader of this chapter can fail to estimate

above all price the privilege of being early enlisted under the banner

of the cross; early taught in the ways, and disciplined in the school, of

the Bible; and early led to hide that blessed book in the heart, as the

rule of life, the principle of holiness, the guide to heaven!

            Parents, sponsors, teachers of youth; ponder your deep respon-

sibility with unceasing prayer for special grace and wisdom. Beware

of glossing over sins with amiable or palliating terms. Let young

people be always led to look upon vicious; habits with horror, as the

most appalling evil. Discipline their vehemence of feeling, and all ill-

regulated excitement. Keep out of sight, as far as may be, books cal-

culated to inflame the imagination. To give an impulse to the glowing

passion may stimulate the rising corruption to the most malignant

fruitfulness. Oh! what wisdom is needed to guide, to repress, to bring

forth, develope safely, and to improve fully, the mind, energies, and sen-

sibilities of youth!

            Young man! beware! Do not flatter thyself for a moment, that

God will ever wink at your sinful passions; that he will allow for them,

as slips and foibles of youth. They are the "cords of your own sins,"

which, if the power of God's grace break them not in time, will "hold"

you for eternity. (Chap. v. 22.) Shun then the society of sin, as the

infection of the plague. Keep thy distance from it, as from the pit of

destruction. Store thy mind with the preservative of heavenly wisdom.

Cultivate the taste for purer pleasures. Listen to the fatherly, pleading

remonstrance, inviting thee to thy rest---"'Wilt thou not from this

time cry unto me, ‘My Father! thou art the guide of my youth?’"

(Jer. iii. 4.)

                                        CHAP. III. 1, 2.                                               21

 

                                         CHAPTER III.

 

1. My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments;

            2. For length of days, long life, and peace shall they add to thee.

THIS is not the stern language of command. It is our Father's voice

in all the endearing persuasiveness of promise—My son—He had

before instructed us to seek and search after wisdom, and set out before

us its invaluable blessings. Now he calls us to bring it into practical

exercise--Forget not my law, The wilful forgetfulness of the heart

(Chap. ii. 17. Ps. ix. 17; x. 4; comp. chap. iv. 5; Deut. iv. 23; Ps.

cxix. 93, 176), not the infirmity of the memory (for which a special,

though we fear too much neglected, help, is provided) (John, xiv. 26)

is here implied. Let thine heart, like the ark of the testimony, be the

keeping place of my commandments. (Chap. iv. 4. Deut. xi. 18. Isa. li. 7;

with Ezek. xi. 20. Heb. ix. 4.) And is not this the child's desire---"0

that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes.?"  (Ps. cxix. 6; comp.

verses 69, 129), while his conscious helplessness takes hold of the cove-

nant promise—"I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it

in their hearts." (Jer. xxxi. 33.)

            Indeed no laws, but God's, bind the heart. All acceptable obedience

begins here. The heart is the first thing that wanders from God: the

first also that returns. Here is the vital principle, (Chap. iv. 23. Rom.

vi. 17.) All religion without it is a mere name; and, however the

professor may practise a thousand arts to put life into it, all must fail,

" The root being as rottenness, the blossom goes up as the dust."

(Isa. v. 24.) If every moment were filled up with deeds of benevolence,

or external piety; yet, except the heart was quickened to keep the com-

mandments, the voice of rebuke would be heard—"Who hath required

this at your hand?" (Isa. i. 11, 12.)  "The inner man's delight"

(Rom. vii. 22) stamps the excellency upon the service. And this plea-

sure and perseverance in duty flow from a gracious change upon the

heart. (See Ezek. xi. 19; xxxvi. 26, 27.)

            Herein also lies our interest, not less than our obligation. The

reward of this hearty obedience (need we add--a reward of grace?) is

a long and happy life--the highest earthly good. (Ps. xxxiv. 12;

comp. verse 16; iv. 10; ix. 11; x. 27; Job, x. 12.) The wicked indeed

live long, and the godly often "live out only half their days." The

wicked die in outward comfort; the righteous in outward trouble.

(Eccles. ix. 2.) But length of days is the promise to the righteous;

whether for earth or for heaven, as their Father deems fittest for them.

In itself the promise, as regards this life, has no charm. To the un-

22        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

godly it is a curse (Gen. iv. 11–15. Isa. lxv. 20); to the people of God

a trial of faith and patience (Gen. xxvii. 46; xlvii. 9. 1 Kings, xix. 4.

Job, vii. 16. Philip. i. 23, 24. Rev. xxii. 20); to all a weariness. (Chap.

xv. 15. Ps. xc. 10. Eccles. xii. 1.) But peace added forms the sunshine

of the toilsome way (Ps. cxix. 165. Isa. xxxii. 17; xlviii. 17, 18):

peace with God through the blood of sprinkling" (Rom. v. 1. Eph. ii.

13, 14. Col. i. 20); eternal peace in his home and in his bosom (Ps.

xxxvii. 37. Isa. lvii. 2); where all the fightings of a rebellious flesh,

all the counter-strivings of a perverse and ungovernable will, shall have

ceased for ever. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they

might have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gate

into the city." (Rev. xxii. 14.)

 

3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write

            them upon the table of thine heart; 4. So shalt thou find favour and

            good understanding (marg., success,) in the sight of God and man.

            Mercy and truth are the glorious perfections of God; always in com-

bined exercise (Gen. xxxii. 10. Ps. xxv. 10; lxxxv.10; lxxxix.14; c. 5;

cxvii. 2. Mic. vii. 18–20) for his people's good. While we rest upon

them for salvation, let us copy them in our profession. Are not his

children new-created-in his image? Let then our .Father's image be

manifested in us, "as his dear children." (Eph. iv. 24; v. 1, 2, 8.) Let

these graces be, as with God, in combination. ‘The want of one

buries the commendation of the other. Such a one is a merciful man to

the poor; but there is no truth in him. Such a one is very just in his

dealings, but as hard as flint.’*  "Put on, as the elect of God, bowels

of mercy. But lie not one to another. Speak every man truth with

his neighbour." (Col. iii. 12, with 9. Eph. iv. 25.) Indeed, ‘as a rich

sparkling diamond added both value and lustre to a golden ring ; so do

these virtues of justice and mercy, well attempered, bring a rich addi-

tion of glory to the crowns of the greatest monarchs.'†

            But these virtues must not be in temporary or occasional exercise.

Let them not forsake thee. Bind them as jewels about thy neck. (Chap.

vi. 21 ; vii. 3. Deut. vi. 8.) Let them be “written, not in tables of

stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” (Chap. vii. 3. 2 Cor. iii. 3.)

God indeed is not thy debtor; yet none shall serve him for nought.

The man who shows mercy to his neighbour shall find it with him.

(Ps. xviii. 25. Matt. v. 7.)  "They that deal truly are his delight."

(Chap. xii. 22.) So shalt thou find favour and good understanding (Ps.

cxi. 10)--(success) (Josh. i. 7, 8. M. R.) —both in his sight, and in

the sight of man. Witness Joseph in Egypt (Gen. xxxix. 2–4, 21–23;

 

   * F. TAYLOR’S Comment on Chap. i.-ix.; 4to. 1655-1657.

   † Bishop SANDERSON's Sermon on Chap. xxiv. 10-12.

                                             CHAP. III. 5, 6.                                        23

 

xli. 37–43; xlv.16); David in the family of Saul (1 Sam. xviii. 5,14–16);

the servants of God in the eastern courts;* the early Christians with

the people around them. (Acts, ii. 44-47.) What is more lovely than

thus to live down reproach by consistent godliness? What more

acceptable to God, or more edifying to the Church? (Rom. xiv. 16–19.)

The Scripture connects the favour of God with the favour of men, as if

the one was often the fruit of the other. (Comp. chap. xvi. 7.) Such

was the record of the holy child. (Luke, ii. 52.) The highest crown of

a youthful profession is conformity to this Divine pattern. (Comp.

1 Sam. ii. 26.)

 

5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own under-

            standing. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy

            paths.

            This is the polar-star of a child of God —faith in his Father's pro-

vidence, promises, and grace. The unmeaning expression of trust on

the lips of the ignorant and ungodly is a fearful delusion. What

ground of confidence can there be when there is, everything to fear?

Can the sinner's God--a just, avenging God—be an object of trust,

What owe we to that precious atonement, which has opened. up our

way to a reconciled God (Rom. v. 11), and assured our-confidence in

him as our Friend and Counsellor!  Nor is this the cold assent of the

enlightened judgment. It is the trust of the heart, of all the heart. It

is a child-like, unwavering (Ps. Ixxviii. 2 Chron. xiv. 11. Contrast

Jer. i. 6–8) confidence in our Father's well-proved wisdom, faithfulness,

and love. Any limit to this confidence is a heinous provocation. (Ps.

lxxviii. 18-21.) He is truth itself. Therefore he would have us take

him at his word, and prove his word to the utmost extent of his power,

            But our trust must not only be entire: it must be exclusive. No

other confidence, no confidence in the flesh, can consist with it. (Comp.

Philip. iii. 3.) Man with all his pride feels that he wants something to

lean to. As a fallen being, he naturally leans to himself, to his own

foolish notions and false fancies. Human power is his idol. His

understanding is his God. Many would rather be convicted of want of

principle than want of talent. Many bring God's truth to their own

bar, and cavil at it, as an excuse for rejecting it. In these and other

ways, man "trusteth to himself, and his heart departeth from the Lord."

(Jer. xvii. 5.) This is the history of the fall; they history of man from

the fall; the dominant sin of every unhumbled heart; the lamented

and resisted sin of every child of God. Need we advert to it as the sin

of youth? How rare is the sight of the "younger submitting unto the

elder!" (1 Pet. v. 5.) If advice is asked, is it not with the hope of

 

   * Dan. i. 8, 9; iv. 8, 9; v. 11; vi. 1-3, 27, 28. —His three Companions, iii. 30; Ezra,

vii. 9-12. Neh. ii. 1-6. Mordecai, Esth. x. 3,

24         EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

confirming a previously-formed purpose? In case of a contrary judg-

ment, the young man's own understanding usually decides the course.

            Great reason then is there for the warning—Lean not to thine own

understanding. Once, indeed, it gave clear unclouded light, as man's

high prerogative, "created in the image of God." (Gen. i 26. Col.

iii. 10.)  But now, degraded as it is by the fall (Ps. xlix. 20), and

darkened by the corruption of the heart (Eph. iv. 18), it must be a false

guide. Even in a prophet of God it proved a mistaken counsellor.

(2 Sam. vii. 2–5.) Yet though we refuse to lean to it, to follow it may

be implicit trust in the Lord; because it is a trust in his Divine power,

enlightening it, as his lamp for our direction.  The Christian on his

knees, as if he cast his understanding away, confesses himself utterly

unable to guide his path. But see him in his active life. He carefully

improves his mind. He conscientiously follows its dictates. Thus

practical faith strengthens, not destroys, its power; invigorates, not

supersedes, exertion. (Comp. Gen. xxxii. 9-20; Neh. 4–20; iv. 9.).

            It is therefore our plain duty not to neglect our understanding, but

to cultivate it diligently in all its faculties in a world of such ex-

tended 'knowledge, ignorance is the fruit of sloth dissipation, or mis-

guided delusion. But lean not to thine understanding. Lean—trust in

the Lord. Self-dependence is folly (Chap. xxviii..26), rebellion (Jer.

ii. 13 ; ix. 23), ruin. (Gen. iii. 5, 6. Isa. dlvii. 10, 11.) 'The great

folly of man in trials'---as Dr. Owen justly remarks—'is leaning to or

upon his own understanding and counsels. What is the issue of it?

Whenever in our trials we consult our own understandings, hearken to

self-reasonings, though they seem to be good, and tending to our pre-

servation; yet the principle of living by faith is stifled, and we shall in

the issue be cast down by our own counsels.'*

            Next—let our confidence be uniform— all thy ways acknowledge

him. Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and

direction. (Comp. Ezek. viii. 21–23; Neh. i.11.) Ever plane for your-

self in simple, dependence on God.†  It is nothing less than self-idolatry

to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day

without his counsel. He loves to be consulted. Therefore take all thy

difficulties to be resolved by him. Be in the habit of going to him in

the first place—before self-will, self-pleasing,‡ self-wisdom, human

friends, convenience, expediency. Before any of these have been con-

sulted go to God at once. Consider no circumstances too clear to need

his direction.§  In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy con-

 

    * Treatise on Temptation, chap. viii. Comp. Job, xviii 7; Hos. x. 8.

    † Jam. iv. 15. If the Lord will— as Fuller remarks with his pithy quaintness —'a

parenthesis, and yet the most important part of the sentence.'

    ‡ See the awful hypocrisy, and judgment of asking counsel of God under this deadly

influence. Jer. xlii. 1-3, 19-22. Ezek. xiv. 1-6.

    § See the evil consequence of this inconsiderate neglect. Jos. ix. 14.

                                         CHAP. III. 7, 8.                                   25

 

cerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let him be supreme.

Who of us has not found the unspeakable "peace" of bringing to God

matters too minute or individual to be entrusted to the most confidential

ear?*  Abraham thus acknowledged God.  Wheresoever he pitched a

tent for himself there was always an altar for God. (Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 18.)

In choosing a wife for his son there was a singular absence of world-

liness. No mention was made of riches, honour, beauty; only of what

concerned the name and honour of his God. (Gen. xxiv. 1–8. Comp.

also his servant, verse 12-27.) Thus did the wise man's father in all

his ways acknowledge God, asking counsel of him in all his difficulties,

and never disappointed.†

            Now if we be weaned from the idolatry of making our bosom our

oracle, and our heart our counsellor if in true poverty of spirit we go

every morning to our Lord, as knowing not how to guide ourselves for

this day; our eye constantly looking upward for direction (Ps. v. 3;

cxliii. 8–10; xxv. 4, 5), the light will come down.‡   He shall direct thy

paths. We want no new revelations or visible tokens. (Such as Exod.

xiii. 21, 22.) Study the word with prayer. Mark the Divine Spirit

shedding light upon it. Compare it with the observation of the pro-

vidences of the day (Ps. cvii. 43); not judging by constitutional bias

(a most doubtful interpreter), but pondering with sober, practical,

reverential faith. Let the will be kept in a quiet, subdued, cheerful

readiness, to move, stay, retreat, turn to the right hand onto the left, at

the Lord's bidding; always remembering that is best which is least our

own doing, and that a pliable spirit ever secures the needful guidance.

(Comp. Ps. xxxii. 8, 9; Isa. xlviii. 17, 18, with xxi. 21.) We may "be

led," for the exercise of our faith, "in a way that we know not" (Isa.

xlii. 16; l. 10) —perhaps a way of disappointment, or even of mistake.

Yet no step well prayed over will bring ultimate regret. Though the

promise will not render us infallible; our very error will be overruled

for deeper humiliation and self-knowledge; and thus even this myste-

rious direction will in the end be gratefully acknowledged, "He led me

forth in the right way." (Ps. cvii. 7.)

 

7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and, depart from evil;

            8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

            This warning against self-confidence is closely connected with the

preceding verse. The wise in his own eyes is he, that leans to his own

 

   * Phil. iv. 6, 7. "In every thing."

    † 1 Sam. xxiii. 9-11; xxx. 6-8. 2 Sam. ii. 1; v. 19. Comp. the smarting rod from the

neglect of this godly habit. 1 Sam. xxvii. 1, with xxix.

    ‡ Matt. vi. 22. Comp. Ps. xxxii. 8; xxxiv. 5. Neh. i. 4-11; ii. 4-8. Sir M. Hale left

it on record, when nearly eighty years old, as his experience, that whenever he had com-

mitted his way simply and unreservedly to the Lord, he had always directed his path.

26        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

understanding.*  Such wisdom is folly and self-delusion.†  Put it away, and

let it be thy wisdom to fear the Lord, and depart from evil. How striking

is this connexion between the fear of God and the fear of sin. (Chap.

xiv. 27; xvi. 6. Gen. xxxix. 9, 10. Neh. v. 15. Job, xxviii. 28.)

Where God is honoured, sin is hated, loathed, and resisted. (Rom. vii.

18-24.) It lives indeed; but it is conderined to die. (Ibid. vi.-6.) It

cleaves to the child of God; but his heart departs from it. Often is it

the cause of the sickness of the body:‡  always of the soul. (Hos. vii. 9.)

The departure from it in the exercise of self-denial and godly discipline,

is health to the body. (Verses 1, 2.) The soul, drooping under the bane-

ful influence of spiritual disease, revives in fruitfulness. (Hos. xiv. 5-7.)

The man that feareth the Lord, under "the healing beams of the Sun of

Righteousness, goeth forth" (Mal. iv. 2), as from his sick chamber, full

of life and Christian energy. "The joy of the Lord is his strength."

(Neh. viii. 10.)

 

9. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine

            increase; 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses

            shall burst out with new wine.

            This rule of sacrifice is a costly precept to the worldling and the

formalist. But to the servant of God, is it not a privilege to lay aside

a portion of substance with this sacred stamp,—"This is for God?"

(1 Cor. xvi. 2.) The first-fruits of the increase were the acknowledg-

ment of redemption from Egypt. (Exod. xiii. 12, 13. Deut. xxvi. 1-40.)

And shall we, redeemed from sin, Satan, death, and hell, deny the claim?

(1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.)  'Well, may we think our substance due, where we

owe ourselves.'§  Nay, could we be happy in spending that substance

on ourselves, which he has given us wherewith to honour him? (Luke,

xix. 13. Contrast xii. 16-22.) What a value, what a dignity, does it

give to the talent, that he should condescend to employ it for his own

grand, eternal purposes! This sacred devotedness is, moreover, the

true road to riches. (Chap. xi. 24.) God challenges us to "prove him

now herewith," if the abundant harvest, and the overflowing vintage,

shall not put unbelief and covetousness to shame. (Mal. iii. 10. 2 Chron.

xxxi. 5-10.)  A niggardly spirit is, therefore, narrow policy; contract-

ing the harvest, by sparing the seed-corn. (2 Cor. ix. 6. Hag. i. 4-6.)

 

    * Verse 5. Comp. xxiii. 4. Rom. xii. 3-18. See the mind of God expressed in that

solemn woe. (Isa. v. 21.)

   † Even a heathen could remark—‘I suppose that many might have attained to wisdom,

had they not thought they had already attained it.' SENECA, de Ira, Lib. iii. c. 36. Comp.

1 Cor. viii. 2; Gal. vi. 3. ‘Our knowledge should hold the light before us, and help us for

the better discovery of our ignorance, and so dispose us to humility, not pride.’—Bp. SAN-

DERSON's Sermon on Rom. xiv. 3.

   ‡ In sensual indulgence--Chap. v. 8-11. Intemperance—xxiii. 29, 30. As a judicial

infliction — Ps. xxxii. 3, 4; xxxviii. 1-8. 1 Cor. xi. 30.

    § Bishop Hall.

                                             CHAP. III. 11, 12.                                       27

 

There is no presumption, or enthusiasm in looking for the literal fulfil-

ment of the promise. If we doubt the temporal, should we not suspect

our assumed confidence in the spiritual, engagements? For if the

Lord's word be insufficient security for our substance: much more must

it be for the infinitely weightier deposit of our soul!

            The rule and obligation are therefore clear. The law dealt with

us as children, and prescribed the exact amount. The gospel treats us

as men, and leaves it to circumstance, principle, and conscience. This

consecration of substance, as the seed-corn for the harvest, is as strange

to the world, as would be the casting of the seed in the earth to an

untutored savage. Yet is the result secure in both cases; only with

this difference, that the temper of the earthly sower has no influence on

the harvest; whereas the fruitfulness of the spiritual harvest mainly

depends upon the principles of the work. Most important is it to be-

ware of bye-ends and selfish principles; that we honour the Lord, not

ourselves. Let there be a self-renouncing spirit (1 Chron. xxix. 14-16.

Matt, vi. 1-4; xxv. 37-39), implicit faith (1 Kings, xvii. 12-16), con-

straining love (Rom. xii. 1. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. Matt x. 42), special

regard to his own people. And doubt not, but he will affix his own

seal—"Those that honour me, I will honour." (I Sam. ii. 30. Comp.

chap. xi. 25; xxii. 9; Heb. vi. 10.)

 

11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his

            correction; 12.  For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a

            father the son in whom he delighteth.

            Prosperity and adversity in their wise mixture and proportion, form

our present condition. Each is equally fruitful in opportunity of honour-

ing the Lord; in prosperity—by the full consecration of our substance

(Verses 9, 10); in adversity —by a humble and cheerful submission to

his dispensation. 'In prosperity it is well to expect the rod; and sup-

pose it be his pleasure, let it not make thee either doubt of his gracious

Providence, or out of impatience take any unlawful course to remove

it from thee.’*  His "exhortation"---the Apostle reminds us—"speak-

eth to us, as unto children."†  And indeed, under no character does

he approach so near to us, and endear himself so closely to us, as that

of a Father, Most precious at all times, especially under correction, is

the privilege of adoption—My son.

            Nowhere, indeed, are our corruptions so manifest, or our graces so

shining, as under the rod. We need it as much as our daily bread.

Children of God are still children of Adam; with Adam's will, pride,

 

    * Bishop Patrick.

     † Heb. xii. 5. We must not overlook the Apostle's testimony to the Divine inspiration

of the Book; showing the instruction throughout to be the teaching of our Heavenly

Father to his beloved children.

28         EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

independence, and waywardness. And nothing more distinctly requires

Divine teaching and grace, than how to preserve in our behaviour the

just mean between hardness and despondency; neither despising the

chastening of the Lord, nor being weary of his correction.*

            Too often, while we guard against an error on the right hand, we

forget one not less hurtful on the left; like the man, who, in guarding

against the precipice on the one side, rushes into some fearful hazard on

the other. The middle path is the right path. Doubtless the Lord means

his chastening to be felt. (2 Sam. xv. 26. Ps. xxxix. 10, 11.) A leviathan

iron-heartedness (Job, xli. 24-29. Jer. v. 3) is the stubbornness of the

flesh, not the triumph of the spirit; a frame most offensive to him, and

most unseemly for the reception of his gracious discipline. To be as

though no pain was felt or cared for; sullenly to "kick against the

pricks " (Acts, ix. 5. Comp. chap. xix. 3), and to dare God to do his

worst--this is, indeed, to despise his chastening.†  But pride will lift

up the head, stiff and unbending: many a stroke does it require to

bring it down.

            Yet, alas! this is not the sin only of the ungodly.  Often do we see

the child of God in an undutiful spirit (Job, v. 17. Heb. xii. 6), caring

little whether his Father smiles or frowns. The chastening is lightly

passed over. He considers only second causes, or immediate instru-

ments. (Amos, iii. 6.) He is irritated by looking at the rod, rather than

at the hand that inflicts it. (2 Chron. xvi. 10-12.) He shrinks from

searching into the cause. He disregards his Father's loving voice and

purpose. Hence there is no softening humilation (Ps. xxxii. 3, 4);

no "acceptance of the punishment of iniquity" (Lev. xxvi. 41, 43);

no child-like submission; no exercise of faiths in looking for support.

Is not this to despise the chastening of the Lord?

            But while some despise the hand of God as light, others "faint "

under it as heavy. (Heb. xii. 5. Ps. xxxviii. 2, 3; xxxix. 10.) They

are weary of his correction. Beware of yielding to heartless despondency,

or fretful impatience. (Ps. lxxiii. 14; lxxvii. 7.40.) Resist hard and

dishonourable thoughts of God. (Gen. xlii. 3;  Judg. vi. 13. Jonah,

iv. 9.) Their very admission spreads destruction. Very apt are we to

judge amiss of our Father's dealings;‡ to neglect present duty; to

cherish a morbid brooding over our sorrows (Job, vi. 1-16):  to forget

our title and privilege of adoption (Heb. xii. 5); or in obstinate grief

to "refuse to be comforted" with the "hope of the end" (Ps, lxxvii. 2.

 

   * The philosopher's definition is striking and accurate, but infinitely above his own

Tactical standard-‘Non sentire mala tua, non est hominis; et non ferre, non est viri.’—

(It is inhuman not to feel thine afflictions, and unmanly not to bear them.)—SENECA, Consol.

ad Polyb. c. 36.

     † Comp. Pharaoh—Exod. vii. 23. Jehoram—2 Kings vi. 31. Ahaz—2 Chron.

xxviii. 22. Israel--Isa. i. 6. Zeph. iii. 2. Comp. Job, xv. 25, 26.

     ‡ Chap xxiv. 10. Isa. xl. 27-31; Comp. 1 Sam. xxvii.1; 1 Kings, xix. 4; Job

iii. 1-3; Jer. xx. 14-18.

                                      CHAP. III. 11, 12.                                  29

 

Comp. Jer. xxix. 11; xxxi. 15-17.) And is not this to be weary of his

correction?

            But these rules imply much more than their negative meaning.

Instead of despising, reverence the chastening of the Lord. Let it be a

solemn remembrance to thee, that thou art under thy Father's correction.

(Lam. iii. 28, 29. Mic. vii. 9.) Receive it then in good part. Instead

of being weary of it, hang upon his chastening hand, and pour thy

very soul into his bosom. (1 Sam. i. 10–15.) Kiss the rod. (Job,

xxxiv. 31, 32. 1 Pet. v. 6.) Acknowledge its humbling, but enriching,

benefit. (Ps. cxix. 67–71.)  Expect a richer blessing from sustaining grace,

than from the removal of the deprecated affliction. (2 Cor. xii. 7–10.)

            After all we must add, that chastening is a trial to the flesh (Heb.

xii. 11); yet overruled by wonder-working wisdom and faithfulness to

an end above and contrary to its nature. This, very rod was sent in

love to the soul. Perhaps we were living at ease, or in heartless back-

sliding. The awakening voice called us to our Bible and to prayer.

Thus eyeing God in it, we see it to be love, not wrath; receiving, not

casting out. We might perhaps have wished it a little altered; that

the weight had been shifted, and the cross a little smoothed, where it

pressed upon the shoulder. But now that our views are cleared, we

discern blessing enough to swallow up the most poignant smart. We

see the "needs-be," for our preservation from imminent danger (Comp.

Chap. i. 32; Ps. lv. 19), and for "the trial of our faith." We come to

an unhesitating verdict in favour of the absolute perfection of the dis-

pensation. (Ps. li. 4 ; cxix. 75.) Faith understands the reasons of the

discipline (I Pet. i. 6, 7); acknowledges it as a part of his gracious

providence (Deut. viii. 2, 15, 16), and the provision of his everlasting

covenant (Ps. lxxxix. 30–32); waits to see the end of the Lord (Jam.

v. 11); and meanwhile draws its main support fro the seal of adoption.

            For indeed it is the declared test of our legitimacy. (Heb. xii. 7, 8.

Rev. iii. 19.) He corrects whom he loves, the son it whom he delighteth.

His discipline is that of the family; not of the school; much less of the

prison. He corrects his children, not as criminal, but as those whom

he beholds without spot, "made accepted in the eloved." (Eph. i. 6.)

Nor is there caprice, as too often with an earthly father, in his chastise-

ment. (Heb. xii. 10.) It is wisdom in the spirit of love. " He

rejoiceth over his child to do him good" (der. xxxi. 41); yet as a wise

and affectionate father, he would not suffer him to be ruined for want

of correction. (Chap. xiii. 24. Deut. viii. 5.) It is correction—this is

for your humbling. It is only correction—this is your consolation.

The intolerable sting of penal infliction is removed. Here then the

child has rest indeed?*  The rod is now meekly, yea—thankfully

borne, because it is in the hand of One supreme in wisdom, as in love,

 

   * 1 Sam. iii. 18 2 Sam. xv. 25; xvi. 10, 11. Ps. xxxix. 9. Job, i. 21. Isa. xxxix. 8.

30        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

who knows what is our need, and how to apply the discipline. He

chooses the fittest time (Isa, xxx. 18. I Pet. v. 6), the surest yet

gentlest means, the most considerate measure (Isa. xxvii. 7, 8. Jer.

xxx. 11. Lam. iii. 31-33), the most effective instruments. And, com-

paring our affliction with our sin, is not the marvel that it is so light?

(Ezra, ix. 13. Ps. ciii. 10. Lam. iii. 39.)  Have we not more than

deserved it all? 'I love the rod of my heavenly Father'-- exclaimed

the saintly Fletcher---'How gentle are the stripes I feel!  How heavy

those I deserve!'*  '0 God, I have made an ill use of thy mercies, if

I have not learnt to be content with thy correction.'†

            Should he then at any dark season ask —"If it be so, why am I

thus?" (Gen. xxv. 22)—you are thus, because this is your Father's

training discipline for heaven.‡  He loves, thee so well, that he will

bestow all pains upon thee. He will melt thee in his furnace, that he

may stamp thee with his image. (Isa. xxvii. 9; xlviii. 10. Zech. xiii.

9. Mal. iii. 3.) He would make thee "partake of his holiness" (Heb.

xii. 10), that thou mightest partake of his happiness. But unless thou

enter into his mind, thou wilt, so far as thou canst, defeat his purpose,

and lose the benefit— a loss never to be told? (Comp. Jer. vi. 8.)

Look then well into the dispensation. (Job, x. 2. Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24.

Eccles. vii. 14. Lam. iii. 40.) Every rod is thy Father's messenger;

and he will not bear to have his messenger despised. Be anxious to

"hear the rod; and who hath appointed it " (Mic. vi. 9); well knowing

that "the Lord hath not done without cause all that he hath done."

(Ezek. xiv. 23.) Be more concerned to have it sanctified than removed;

yea, above all things deprecate its removal, until it has fully wrought

its appointed work. (Isa. iv. 4.) We can but admire that considerate

dispensation, which uses these "light" afflictions as the means of

deliverance from the most deadly evil. Should flesh and blood rebel;

should the earthly tabernacle shake with "the blow of his hand" (Ps.

xxxix. 10, ut supra):  yet shalt thou bless him throughout eternity, that

even by this crushing discipline he should accomplish his most merciful

purpose. Meanwhile, give him unlimited confidence; and if some steps

of the way are hid, wait and "see the end." (Job, xxiii. 8-10; Jam.

v. 11.) Watch for the first whispers of his will, the first intimation of

his Providence, the guidance of his eye. (Ps. xxxii. 8, 9.) Many a

stroke will thus be saved to thy peace and quietness. This indeed is a

golden opportunity, requiring for its due improvement much study,

prayer, and retirement. No communion is so close, so endearing,

so fruitful, as with a chastening God. Never is Christ more precious to

 

Comp. John, xviii. 11. The heathen philosopher has accurately drawn the line—‘Chastise-

meat is on the sufferer's account. Vengeance is for the satisfaction of him that inflicts it.'

—ARIST. de Rhetor b. i. e. 10.

   * Life of Rev. H. Venn, pp. 238, 584.                             † Bishop Hall.

   ‡ Job, xxxiii. 14-28; xxxvi. 8-10. Heb. xii. 7, 8, ut supra.---The term refers to the

education of children.

 

                                         CHAP. III. 13-15.                                 31

 

us; his love never more sweet, than in the midst,--yea, in the very

form, of chastening. Never have we so full a manifestation of the

Divine character (Ps. cxix. 75), and perfections.  What we have before

learnt in theory, we here learn experimentally; and what we have

before imperfectly understood, is here more filly revealed.*  With

regard to the full weight and duration of the trial, and all its minute

circumstances, successively so bitter and piercing—we may ask—

‘Which of them could be spared?' It is quite clear as to the whole

time, the whole weight, the whole number and variety of circumstances

that all and each were as necessary as any part. Where could we have

stopped, without making that stop fatal to the great end? What does

it all mean, but the Lord holding to his determination to save us;

all the thoughts of his heart, every exercise of his, power, centering

in this purpose of his sovereign mercy?

13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth (marg.

            draweth out), understanding; 14. For the merchandize of it is better

            than the merchandize of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold; 15.

            She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire

            are not to be compared to her.

            Who does not admire this glowing picture of happiness?†  The

wisdom of this world affords no such happiness, (Eccles. i. 18.) Yet

cold and barren is admiration, without an interest in the blessing. The

happy man has found a treasure, where possibly the least expected it,

under the chastening of the Lord. David‡ and Manasseh (2 Chron.

xxxiii. 12, 13) found (as who hath not found?)  ‘God's house of correc-

tion to be a school of instruction.’§  Under all circumstances, however,

prayerful diligence in the search of wisdom ensues success. (Chap. ii.

1-6.)  The naturally wise man is a fool in heavenly wisdom. The man

of prayer getteth understanding, draweth it out to light, as out of the hid

treasure.||  We wonder not at the merchant-man's concentrated interest,

at his untiring toil.¶  Here the wise man, himself enriched with the

 

    * Job, xlii. 5. Comp. the Apostle's most instructive and encouraging exposition, Heb.

xii. There is some slight variation between Heb. xii. 6, and verse. 12. The one describes

the mode and subject of the chastening. The other shows the Father's delight in his chas-

tened child.  Some by inverting the first clause, ver. 12, grossly pervert the meaning, and

conclude themselves to be the Lord's children, because they are afflicted. But though every

child is corrected, not every one that is corrected is a child. The same hand—but not the

same character—gives the stroke,' to the godly and the ungodly. The scourge of the

Judge is widely different from the rod of the Father. Comp. I Sam. xxviii. 15-20, with

2 Sam. xii. 13, 14 ; Chap. i. 26. Isa. i. 24, with Jer. xxxi. 18-2.  Hos. xi. 7. 8; also Isa.

xxvii. 7-9. Nor is it chastening, but the endurance of chastening, according to the rules pre-

scribed, that seals our adoption. Heb. xii. 7.

    † Happy man —Heb. plural. Comp. Ps. i. 1; xxxii. 1. Blessedness—to mark supreme

and perfect happiness. See the beautiful description of Wisdom, Ecclus xxiv. 1-19.

    ‡ Ps. cxix. 67, 71. Hence he commends it, Ps. xciv. 12.               § TRAPP, in LOCO.

     || M. R. Comp. Chap. viii. 35. M. R. Chap. ii. 4. Matt. xiii. 44

     ¶ Impiger extremos currit mercator ad Indos,

         Per mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes.         HOR. Epis. i. 1.45.

32        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

merchandize of fine gold (1 Kings, ix. 26-28) points out to us a better

merchandize. It is the search for " the pearl of great price," more precious

than rubies, yea, than all things that could, be desired.*  So the Apostle

judged. So upon a trial he found it. All the world's show, all his

former valuable "gain, he counted as dung and dross" for "the true

wisdom"—"the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord."

(Philip. iii. 4-8.) Never will solid happiness be known without this

singleness of judgment and purpose. This inestimable blessing must

have the throne. The waverer and the half-seeker fall short. Deter-

mined perseverance wins the prize. (Philip. iii. 12-14.)

 

16. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and

            honour; 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness; and all her paths are

            peace; 18. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and

            happy is every one that retaineth her.

            Behold this heavenly Queen dispensing her blessings!  Her right

hand presents the promise of both worlds (Verse 2. Ps. xci. 16. 1 Tim.

vi. 8)—the rich enjoyment of the world's lawful comforts (1 Tim. vi. 17),

and the yet higher joy of serving the Lord and his church--a privilege

for which the Apostle was content for a while to be detained from

heaven. (Philip. i. 23, 24.) Add length of days for eternity to the

balance; and the amount sets at nought all computation. Her left

hand offers riches and honour,† so far as may be for her children's good;

yet in their highest splendour, only a faint shadow of her more "durable

riches," and of the honour of a heavenly crown.

            But what say we of her ways? Is she a sullen matron, who enter-

tains her followers only on sighs and tears; so that to obtain the joys

of the next life, we must bid eternal adieu to the contents of this life;

‘we must never more expect a cheerful hour, a clear day, a bright

thought to shine upon us?'‡  This is the world's creed--a slander of

the great forger of lies, to deter us from wisdom's ways. They must be

ways of pleasantness, because "Thus saith the Lord." And if we feel

them not to be so, we know them not.

            The man of pleasure utterly mistakes both his object and his pursuit.

The only happiness worth seeking is found here; that which will live

in all circumstances, and abide the ceaseless changes of this mortal life.

The ways may be dark and lonely; yet howl does the sunshine of recon-

ciliation beam upon their entrance! Every step is lighted from above,

and strewed with promises; a step in happiness, a step to heaven.

 

    * Matt. xiii. 45, 46, with Chap. xxiii. 28. Comp. Chap. viii. 11, 19; Job, xxviii. 15-18.

Most truly does the great Moralist define Wisdom to be ‘The knowledge of the most

honourable things'—e]pisthmh twn timiwtatwn.—ARIST. Ethic. b. vi. chap. vii.

    † See the treasures of right and hand promised to the wise man himself, 1 Kings,

iii. 12-14.

     ‡ BISHOP HOPKINS' Works, iv 354, 855.

                                 CHAP. III. 16-18                                                 33

 

Wisdom's work is its own reward (Ps. xix. 11. isa. xxxii. 17)— strict-

ness without bondage. (Matt. xi. 29, 30.) God rules children, not slaves.

They work neither from compulsion, nor for hire; but from an ingenuous

principle of gratitude to their Benefactor; filial delight in their Father.

Pleasant therefore must be the labour—yea—the sacrifices--of love;

short the path; cheerful the way, when the heart goes freely in it.

            It is saying far too little, that the trials of these ways are not incon-

sistent with their pleasantness. They are the very principles of the most

elevated pleasure.  ‘The verdict of Christ,’— says Dr. South—‘makes

the discipline of self-denial and the cross—those terrible blows to flesh

and blood—the indispensable requisite to the being his disciples.'*

And yet, paradoxical as it may appear, in this deep gloom is the

sunshine of joy. For if our natural will be "enmity to God" (Rom.

viii. 7), it must be the enemy to our own happiness. Our pleasure,

therefore, must be to deny, not to indulge it; to mortify sinful appetites,

that only "bring forth fruit unto death." (Ib. vii. 5.) Even what

may be called the austerities of godliness are mere joyous than "the

pleasures of sin." Far better to cross the will; than to wound the

conscience. The very chains of Christ are glorious. (Acts, v. 41, 42;

xvi. 24, 25.) Moses endured not "his reproach" as a trial. He "es-

teemed it as a treasure--greater riches than the treasures of Egypt."

(Heb. xi. 26.) Our principles are never more consoling than when we

are making a sacrifice for them. Hannah yielded up her dearest earthly

joy. But did she sink under the trial? Did she grudge the sacrifice?

"Hannah prayed and said—My heart rejoiceth in the Lord" (1 Sam. i.

26; ii. 1); while—to show that none serve him for nought—for one

child that was resigned, five were added. (Ib. ii. 20, 21.)

            In fact, the world have no just conception of the real character of

wisdom's ways. Religion to them is associated with cold, heartless

forms and irksome restraints—much to do, but nothing to enjoy. But

they only see half the prospect. They see what religion takes away.

But they see not what it gives. They cannot discern, that, while it

denies sinful, it abounds in spiritual, pleasures. We drudge in the ways

of sin. But we "shall sing in the ways of the Lord (Isa. lvii.10; with

Ps. cxxxviii. 5.) Here is the only thing below worth the name of joy

—solid—abiding—overflowing—satisfying (Hab. iii. 18)--God's

own joy. (John, xv. 11; xvii. 13.) It is not a mere impulse of vapid

sentimentalism, but a principle of Christian energy, invigorating for

duty, supporting for trial. (Neh. viii. 10.) Here, then, "we have less

toil, and reap more fruit." For will not any reasonable man, upon the

hearing of the names of the things only, presently yield, that "love, joy,

peace, and gentleness," which are "fruits of the Spirit," are far more

lovely, more easy, fuller of sweetness and calmness, less vexatious, than

 

                         * Sermons, vol. i. Matt. xvi. 24.

34          EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

are "hatreds, emulations, murders," and those other "works of the

flesh?"*

            But ways of pleasantness are not always safe. Yet all wisdom's paths

are peace. The deadly breach is healed. The cloud vanishes. Heaven

smiles. And peace, the Saviour's last bequest, is realised even in the

heat of "this world's tribulation." (John, xvi. 33.) "The feet are shod"

for the rugged path "with the preparation of the Gospel of peace."

(Eph. vi. 15; with Deut. xxxiii. 25.) The subjugation of the will, the

sorrow of contrition, the weariness of the (cross--all end in peace.

(Ps. xxxvii. 37. Isa. lvii. 2, with 20, 21.)

            Yet nothing can make wisdom's ways palatable to a carnal mind.

"They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;" so that,

as "they cannot please God," God's ways cannot please them. (Rom.

viii. 5, 8.) Nor again—though wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness,

are wisdom's children always happy. Sometimes a naturally morose

temper gives a gloomy tinge to religion. Professors forget, that it is

no matter of option, whether they should be happy or not; that it is

their obligation no less than their privilege to be so; that the commands

of God on this duty† carry weight, and demand obedience. The pro-

phets in the burst of their rapture search heaven and earth, bring forth

the most beautiful objects of nature; nay— call the inanimate creation

into glowing sympathy with the joys of the Gospel. (Ps. xcvi. 11-13;

xcviii. Isa. xliv. 23; lv. 12, 13.) A rejoicing spirit is the character of

the servants of God (Phil. iii. 3. Acts, ii. 46, 47), specially in affliction.

(2 Con vi. 10; viii. 2. 1 Pet. i. 6-8.) Is them thy happiness clouded?

Has there not been some deviation from wisdom's paths? Thy God calls

thee to search, to humble thyself, to return. (Jer. ii. 17-19. Hos. v.

15; vi. 1.)

            Lastly—to the glory, beauty, and fruitfulness of wisdom, the Para-

dise of God alone can furnish the full counterpart. (Rev. ii. 7.) ‘The

tree of life was the means ordained of God for the preservation of last-

ing life, and continual vigour and health, before man sinned. So true

wisdom maintains man in the spiritual life of God's grace, and the

communion of his Spirit.'‡  Once our way was barred up, and none

could touch her. (Gen. iii. 22-24.) Now our way is opened to her in

a better paradise. (Heb. x. 19-22.) We "sit down under her shadow

with great delight." Her branches bend down upon this world of sin

and misery. Her clusters hang within the reach of the youngest child,

and "the fruit is sweet to the taste" (Cant. ii. 3); sweeter than ever

man tasted, since he became an exile from Eden. For what is so

refreshing, as near communion with God; access to him; boldness in

 

   * Bishop SANDERSON'S Sermon on Gal. v. 22, 23.

    †  Such as Ps. xxxii. 11; xxxvii. 4. Phil. iv. 4. 1 These. v. 16. Comp. the warning,

Deut. xxviii. 47, 48.                                            ‡ Diodati.

                                          CHAP. III. 19, 20.                                        35

 

his presence; admission to his most holy delights?  And if the earthly

shadow and fruit be so rich, what will be "on the other side of the

river,"--her monthly fruits, her healing leaves! (Rev. xxii. 2.) And

yet only the weeping, wrestling soul can lay hold upon the beloved

object (Gen. xxxii. 26–28. Hos. xii. 3, 4), and embrace it, in despite of

all the enemy's struggle to loosen the grasp. (Matt. xi. 12.)  And

even, when Almighty power has enabled us to lay hold, the same con-

tinual miracle of grace, the same continually-renewed effort of faith, is

needed to retain it. (1 Tim. vi. 12.) There must be "continuance in

the ways" (Isa. lxiv. 5. John, viii. 31); "settled, rooted, and grounded"

(Col. i. 23 ; ii. 7); "keeping the works;" holding the beginning of our

confidence steadfast "unto the end." (Rev. ii. 26. Heb. iii. 6, 14.)

Happy is every one that retaineth her. The promises are "to him that over-

cometh." (Rev. ii. iii.) God honours perseverance in the weakest saint.

            This lovely description of wisdom's blessing is no fancy picture, but

Divine reality. Rest not, till thine heart is filled with its substance.

Take it to the Lord in prayer; and ere long, thou shalt rejoice in thy

portion.

 

19. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth: by understanding hath he

            established (marg. prepared) the heavens. 20. By his knowledge the

            depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

            We have seen wisdom, as it is in man, with all its enriching bless-

ings. Here we behold its majesty, as it is in the bosom of God, and

gloriously displayed in his works. 'Hereby he showeth, that this

wisdom, whereof he speaketh, was everlasting, because it was before all

creatures; and that all things, even the whole world, were made by

it.’*  Behold it founding the earth "upon nothing;" and yet "so sure,

that it cannot be moved." (Job, xxvi. 7. Ps. xciii. 1.) See how this

great Architect hath established the heavens, fixing all their bright lumi-

naries in their respective orbits (Gen. i. 14–16. Ps., cxxxvi. 5. Jer. x. 12;

li. 15)—‘such a glorious canopy set with such sparkling diamonds!'†  

Each of these departments declares his knowledge—In the earth, by

breaking up the depths, and gathering them up into rivers and streams

for the refreshment of man. (Chap. viii. 24–29 Gen. i. 9, 10. Job,

xxxviii. 8–12. Ps. civ. 8–13)—In the heavens, by collecting the mois-

ture into dew, and dropping down fatness upon the parched ground;‡  

each of these countless drops falling from this Fountain of life. (Job,

xxxviii. 28.) Thus does every particle of the universe glitter with

infinite skill. (Ps. civ. 24.) The earth is its pavement, and the

 

    * Reformers' Notes.  † Leighton's beautiful fragment On Ps. viii. Works, vol. ii.

     ‡ Gen. xxvii. 28, 29. There is a philosophical difficulty in supposing "the clouds to drop

down the dew," which is the moisture rising from the lower re ion, sometimes a very few

feet from the earth. In the East, however, the dew is said to fall from a considerable

height. Gesenius states, that the Hebrew word represents a ‘gentle rain.'

36       EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

heavens--its ceiling; both miracles of wisdom, to "declare the glory of

God." (Ps. xix. 1.) How beautiful is the uniformity of the two great

systems of God! Both are the work of the same Architect. Both dis-

play the wisdom and knowledge of God. (John, i. 1-14. Eph. i. 8; iii.

10. Col. i. 13-17.) The universe is a parable, a mirror of the gospel.

The manifestation of these Divine Perfections in the field of Creation opens

a rich provision for our happiness. Much more let their more glorious

exhibition in the great work of redemption fill us with adoring praise

—"O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”*

21. My son, let them not depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and

            discretion: 22. So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace unto thy

            neck.

            Again we listen to Wisdom's voice. Her repetitions are not "vain

repetitions;" but well fitted to impress upon youth (Isa. xxviii. 9, 10)

the weight of her instructions. (Philip. iii. 1; 2 Pet. i. 12.) As thy

much-loved treasure, as thy daily guide--let them not depart from, thine

eyes. (Chap. vii. 1-3.)  Worse than valueless are they, if received as

notions; of inestimable price, if kept as principles. God's teaching is

sound wisdom (Deut. iv. 9; vi. 8. Josh. i. 7, 8); full of light, and sub-

stance; transfiguring Divine truth with heavenly glory. Therefore

keep it close to thine heart. Exercise it in that practical discretion,

which disciplines all our tempers and duties. Man's wisdom is utterly

devoid of all energy. The soul, "alienated from the life of God" (Eph.

iv. 18), is in a state of death, until "the entrance of God's word giveth

light and understanding" (Ps. cxix. 130)--"the light of life." (John,

viii. 12.) "The excellency of this knowledge is, that," "with this

light and understanding," it giveth life to them that have it. (Eccles.

vii. 12. Comp. Chap iv. 22; vi. 23.) Every truth under its influence

springs up into the new creature with heavenly glow, and with all the

grace of "the beauty of the Lord;"† outshining, even in the most

despised garb, the richest glory of an earthly drown.

 

23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safer, and thy foot shall not stumble.

            24. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie

 

   * Rom. xi. 33. Full of profound thought are the words of our admirable Hooker—

'That which moveth God to work is Goodness; that which ordereth his work is Wisdom;

that which perfecteth his work is Power. All things, which God in these times and sea-

sons hath brought forth, were eternally and before all time in God; as a work unbegun is

in the artificer, which afterwards bringeth it into effect. Therefore whatsoever we do

behold now in this present world, it was enwrapped within the bowels of Divine Mercy,

written in the book of Eternal Wisdom, and held in the hands of Omnipotent Power, the

first foundations of the earth being as yet unlaid. So that all things which God hath

made are in that respect the Offspring of God. They are in him, as effects in their highest

cause. He likewise is actually in them; the assistance and influence of his Deity is their

life.'—Book v. lvi. 5.

    † Ps. xc. 17; cxlix. 4. Comp. Chap. i. 9. 'Grace to thy jaws'— is the Douay Version,

with the Marg. Explanation — 'Merit for the words of thy Month.'

 

                                       CHAP. III. 23-26.                                     37

 

            down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear,

            neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.  26. For the

            Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

            The habitual eyeing of the word keeps the feet in a slippery path.

(Chap. iv. 11, 12. Ps. xvii. 4; xxxvii. 23; cxix. 9, 11, 133.) David,

from inattention to wisdom's words, "well-nigh slipped." (Ps. lxxiii.

2-17.) Peter from the same neglect fearfully stumbled. (Matt. xxvi.

33-35, 69-75.) But our sleeping hours, no less than our waking steps,

are divinely guarded. "So he giveth his beloved sleep." (Ps. cxxvii. 2.

Comp. cxxi. 3, 4.) "Underneath them are the everlasting arms." (Deut.

xxxiii. 27. Comp. Lev. xxvi. 6.) They enjoy a child-like repose, sleep-

ing in his bosom without fear. Thus did David 'sleep in God, and in

a state of salvation,' amid the tumultuous warfare with his undutiful

son!*  Peter in prison, in chains, between two soldiers, on the eve of

his probable execution, when "there seemed but step between him

and death"--Yet in such a place, in such company, at such a moment,

did he lie down so fearless, and sleep so sweetly; that even the shining

light failed to disturb him, and an angel's stroke was needed to awaken

him.†  What would not many in troublous times, waking at every

stir, give for one night of this sweet sleep! And yet bow many such

nights have we enjoyed; waking, as Jacob on his stony—we might

add—downy, pillar, in the consciousness of our Father's 'keeping!

But where has been our renewed dedication to God? (Gen. xxxvii.

11, 18-22.)

            But sudden fear may come. Yet be not afraid. (Job, v. 21--24.

Comp. 2 Kings, vi. 16, 17 ; Jer. xxxix. 15-18.) It is the desolation of

the wicked. They must fear. (Isa. lvii. 20, 21.) Child of God ! run you

to your confidence, and "be safe." (Chap. xiv. 26; xviii. 10. Isa. xxvi.

1, 20.) Surely he shall keep thy foot from being taken. (Ps. xci. 1-3.)

Noah found this security in the flood of the ungodly; Lot in the

destruction of Sodom (2 Pet. ii. 5-9); the Christians in Pella, in the

desolation of the wicked city. Luther sung his song of confidence--"God

is our refuge and strength." (Ps. xlvi.) In the consummating desola-

tion, when it cometh--what will then be the sudden fear—the undis-

mayed confidence? "All the-tribes of the earth will mourn" at the

sight of their despised Saviour—then their Judge. (Chap. i. 27. Luke,

xxi. 26. Rev. i. 7; vi. 15-17.) But, "when ye see these thing's, then

look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."

(Luke, xxi. 28. Comp. 2 Thess. i. 7-10.)

 

    * ‘Obdormit in Deo, et in statu salutis.'—Lyra.--Ps. iii. iv. 8. Compare the beautiful

picture, Ezek. xxxiv. 25-28, in contrast with chap. iv. 16. Deut. xxviii. 66.

    † Acts, xii. 6, 7. Our Martyrologist records of John Rogers, the proto-martyr in the

Marian persecution, that ‘on the morning of his execution, being Found fast asleep, scarce

with much shogging could he be awaked.'—FOXE, vi. 699.

38        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due (the owners thereof,

            marg.), when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.  28. Say not

            unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give;

            when thou hast it by thee.

            The wise man now comes to practical points. He shows the fruit

of selfishness—withholding dues. Many are the forms of this dis-

honesty—borrowing without payment (Ps. xxxvii. 21), evading the

taxes;* "keeping back the labourer's hire.” (Jam. v. 4. Jer. xxii. 13-17.

Comp. Gen. xxxi. 7; Dent. xxiv. 14, 15.) But the, rule probes deeper

than this surface. If we have no legal debt to any, we have a Gospel

debt to all. (Rom. xiii. 8.) Even the poor is bound by this universal

law to his poorer neighbour. (Eph. iv. 28. Comp. 2 Cor. viii. 1-3.)

Every one has a claim upon our love. (Comp. Luke, x. 29-37.) Every

opportunity of doing good is our call to do so. Our neighbours are the

real owners of our good. (Marg.) The Lord of all has transferred his

right to them, with a special reference to "his own brethren." (Gal. vi.

10. Mark, ix. 41. Matt. xxv. 31-40.) Kindness is therefore a matter,

not of option, but of obligation; an act of justice no less than of

mercy. Not indeed that it may be demanded by our fellow-men. But

the obligation lies upon conscience; and to withhold the due will be our

eternal condemnation. (Matt. xxv. 41-45. Comp. Deut. xxiii. 3, 4.)

            Christian benevolence will also do good in the kindest manner.

Delay is an offence against the law of love. Too often the cold repulse

—Go, and come again—is a cover for selfishness. There is a secret

hope that the matter will be forgotten, dropped, or taken up by some

other party. Often an application is put off from mere thoughtlessness.

We have it by us.† But it does not just now suit our convenience.

This is a serious injury to the applicant. A little given in time of need

is more than a larger sum when the time is gone by. We should cul-

tivate a quick sensibility of the wants and sufferings of others; putting

ourselves as much as possible in their place; not only "doing good,"

but "ready to every good work." (Tit. iii. 1. 1 Tim. vi. 18.) If we are

to "do justly"--which sometimes (as in the' punishment of criminals)

may be our sorrow; we are like our gracious God (Mic. vii. 18), to love

mercy (Ib. vi. 8. Comp. Rom. xii. 8; 2 Cor. ix. 7); seizing the pre-

sent, perhaps the only (Chap. xxvii. 1. Gal. vi. 10), opportunity; rather

anticipating the need than wantonly or thoughtlessly delaying to

relieve it. (2 Cor. viii. 10.) The Gospel presents every neighbour

before us as a brother or sister needing our help, and to be loved and

cared for "as ourselves." (Lev. xix. 18.) Whey do we not more readily

 

   * The example and admonition of Christ are evidently directed against this iniquity.

Matt. xvii. 24-27; xxii. 15-21,

    † See how Job rebutted his friend's accusation, xxii. 9, with xxxi. 16. Comp. Jam.

ii. 15-16.

                                       CHAP. III. 29, 30.                                      39

 

acknowledge this standard? The Lord raise us from our selfishness,

and mould us to his own image of mercy and love!*

 

29. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

            30. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

            The command—withhold not good—is naturally followed by the

forbidding to do evil. The treachery here rebuked was a scandal even

to a heathen.†  It is generally abhorred by the world, and should be

doubly hated by a godly man. With him all should be clear and open

as the day.  An evil device against a neighbour, from whatever cause, is

a cursed sin. (Chap. vi. 14-18. Deut. xxvii. 24. Ps. xxxv. 20; lv. 20.

Jer. xviii. 18-20.) But to take occasion from confidence reposed,

betrays "the wisdom that descendeth not from above—devilish."

(Jam. iii. 15.) Such was the craft of Jacob's sons against the unsus-

pecting Shechemites (Gen. xxxiv. 13-29; xlix. 5-7); Saul's malice

against David, when under his protection (1 Sam. xviii. 22-26); Joab's

murder of Abner and Amasa (2 Sam. iii. 27; xx. 9, 10); Israel's of

Gedaliah. (Jer. xli. 1, 2.) No trial cuts so keenly. (Ps. lv. 12-14.)

This was one of the bitters in the Saviour's cup of suffering. (John,

xiii. 21, with Ps. xli. 9; Matt. xxvi. 46-50). And many a wounded

spirit has been cheered by his sympathy with this poignant sorrow.

(Heb. iv. 15.)

            Yet we must guard not only against secret malice, but against

causeless strivings. A propensity to embroil ourselves in quarrels

(Chap. xvii. 14; xviii. 6 ; xxv. 8, 9) kindles strife, instead of following

the rule of peace. (Born. xii. 18.) This spirit is a great hindrance to

holiness (Heb. xii. 14. Col. iii. 12-15), and inconsistent with a true

servant of God. (2 Tim. ii. 24.) Irritable persons, strongly insist upon

their rights, or what they conceive to be due to them from others. "Is

there not"—say they—"a cause?" But impartial observers fre-

quently judge it to be striving without cause; that no harm has been

done; none at least to justify the breach of love; that more love on

one hand, and more forbearance on the other, would have prevented

the breach; that "there is utterly a fault--Why do ye not rather

take wrong?" (1 Cor. vi. 1-7.) How valuable is a close application

 

   * Dr. South's caustic application may be wholesome probing--"Was ever the hungry

fed, or the naked clothed, with good looks or fair speeches? These are but thin garments

to keep out the cold, and but a slender repast to conjure down the rage of a craving appe-

tite. My enemy, perhaps, is ready to starve; and I tell him I am heartily glad to see him,

and should be very ready to serve him. But still my hand is closed, and my purse shut.

I neither bring him to my table, nor lodge him under my roof. He asks for bread, and I

give him a compliment—a thing indeed not so hard as a stone, but altogether as dry. I

treat him with art and outside, and lastly, at parting, with all the ceremonial of dearness,

I shake him by the hand, but put nothing into it. I play with his distress, and daily

with that which was not to be dallied with—want, and misery, and a clamorous

necessity.'—Sermon on Matt. v. 44.

   † 'Fallere eum, qui laesus non esset, nisi credidisset.'—CICERO, pro Roscio.

40        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

of the self-denying law of Christ! (Such as Matt. v. 39-41.) How

earnestly should we seek from himself his own meek and loving spirit!

(1 Pet. ii. 21–23.)  '0 Lord, pour into our hearts that most excellent

gift of charity, the very bond of peace, and of all virtues without

which, whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee:*

 

31. Envy thou not the oppressor (a man of violence, marg.) and choose

            none of his ways. 32. For the froward is an abomination to the Lord;

            but his secret is with the righteous.

            What is there--we might ask--to envy in the oppressor? The love

of power is a ruling passion; and the slave of his own will enjoys a

brutish pleasure in tyranny. Yet little reason have we to envy him,

much less to choose his ways. (Chap. xxiv. 1. Eccles. iv. 1.) Can he

be happy, going froward in his way, in perverse contradiction to the

will of the Lord? with the frown of Heaven?  'For he who hateth

nothing that he hath made, abhors those who have thus marred them-

selves. They are not only abominable, but, ‘an abomination in his

sight.’†  Really to be envied, or rather ardently, to be desired, is the lot

of the righteous, enriched with the secret of the Lord--"his covenant and

fatherly affection, which is hid and secret from the world."‡  Sinners are

an abomination. Saints are his delight. ‘They are God's friends, to

whom he familiarly imparts, as men used to do to their friends, his

mind and counsels, or his secret favour and comforts, to which other

men are strangers.'§  Communion with himself (John, xiv. 21–23);

peace (Phil. iv. 6, 7); joy (Chap. xiv. 10); assurance (Rev. ii. 17);

teaching (Matt. xi. 25; xiii. 11–17; xvi. 17. John, vii. 17. 1 Cor. ii.

12, 15); confidence (John, xv. 15); an enlightened apprehension of

providence (Gen. xviii. 17, 18. Ps. cvii. 43); yea, all the blessings of

his covenant (Ps. xxv. 14)—this is the secret between God and the

soul, an enclosed portion, hidden from the world, sealed to his beloved

people. Here then--child of God--a dwell in the secret place of the

Most High." (Ib. xci. 1.) If he hath given to thee the knowledge of

himself, and of thine interest in him; and to the froward oppressor only

worldly advantage; is it not the seal of his love to thee, and rejection

of him? Is it not infinitely more to dwell on high with thy God, than

in the vain pomp of an ungodly world? (Ib. lxXxiv. 10.)

 

33. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the

            habitation of the just.

            The contrast between the sinner and the saint, affects us not only

 

    * Collect for Quinquagesima Sunday. 1 Cor. xiii. 4-7.

    † HENRY in loco, chap. vi. 14-18; xi. 20; xv. 9. Mic. i. 1, 2. See the Lord's open

judgment, Exod. ix. 16; xiv. 28. Isa. xxxvii. 21-38. Acts, xii. 1, 2, 23.

    ‡Reformers' Notes.

    § POOL’S Annotations, 'He loves them dearly as his intimste friends, to whom he com-

municates the very secrets of his heart.'—DIODATI.

                                                  CHAP. III. 33.                                          41

 

personally, but relatively. The curse or blessing of the Lord follows us

to our homes. Shall we then envy the wicked, with his cup of earthly

joy filled to the brim? The curse of the Lord is in his house (Mal. ii. 2)

— a "curse that never cometh causeless." (Chap. xxvi. 2.) Let him

think —'It is my Maker's curse--how awful, that my being and my

curse should come from the same sacred source!'  It is not the impo-

tent wishing of ill. Could we trace its deadly work, we should see the

man wasting, withering, consuming under it. Observe "the roll in the

house of the thief, and of the swearer—twenty cubits long"— a long

catalogue of woes; "flying"—to mark its swiftness; "remaining in

the midst of the house; consuming it even with the timbers and stones

thereof." (Zech. v. 1-4.) Is this an idle dream?  Surely— but for the

blindness of the heart, the wicked would see the naked sword hanging

by a hair over his head, or the awful "hand-writing upon the wall,"

solemnly proclaiming —"There is no peace— saith my God— unto

the wicked." (Dan. v. 5, 6. Isa. lvii. 21.) Vainly will the proud worm

resist. Ahab multiplied his house beyond all human average, as if to

set at defiance the curse pronounced against it. Yet at one stroke all

were swept away. (1 Kings, xxi. 20-22. 2 Kings, x. 1-11.) Similar

instances* abundantly prove whose words shall stand — man's or

God's. (Jer. xliv. 28.) "Who hath hardened himself against him, and

prospered? Who hath resisted his will?" (Job ix. 4. Rom. ix. 19.)

            But bright is the sunshine of the just. Not only is the secret of the

Lord with their souls, but his blessing on their habitation. And when he

blesseth, who can reverse it? (Num. xxiii. 20. Job xxxiv. 29.)  Many

a homely cottage, tenanted by a child of Abraham, shines more splen-

didly than the princely palace of the ungodly.†  An heir of glory

dwells here. A family altar of prayer and praise consecrates it as the

temple of Jehovah. (Gen. xii. 8.) Promises, like clouds of blessings,

rest over it. God has been honoured, and God will honour. (2 Sam.

vi. 11. Jer. xxxv. 18, 19. 2 Tim. i. 18.)  "They that dwell under his

shadow shall return." (Hos. xiv. 7.) Is then my house under the curse

or blessing of the Lord?  Let my God be honoured in his own gifts: that

I and mine may be manifestly sealed with the full tokens of his love.

 

34. Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

            Two Apostles have combined with the wise man, to set out this

rule of the Divine government.‡ On no point is the mind of God more

fully declared than against pride — the spirit of scorning. It displaces

 

   * JEROBOAM: 1 Kings, xiv. 9—11; Amos, vii. 9. BAASHA: 1 Kings, xvi. 1-4, 12, 113.

JEHU: 2 Kings, xv. 8-12. Hos. I. 4. HAZAEL: Amos, i. 4. JEHOIAKIM: Jer. xxii. 13-19.

CONIAH: Ib. 24-30. ESAU: Obad. 18. Comp. chap. xiv. 11; xv. 25.

   † Job, xxix. 4. Isa. iv 5. Enqa kai oi qeoi. ‘The gods are within’— said the Heathen

philosopher of his poor cottage.—F. TAYLOR in loco.

   ‡ James, iv. 6. 1 Peter, v. 5.—The exact quotation of the LXX. save the substitution of

42            EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

man, and would, if possible, displace God himself. Jealous therefore of

his own glory, he sets himself in battle array, as against the usurper of

his prerogative, the rebel against his dominion.*  Witness the Babel-

builders (Gen. xi. 1–9); Pharaoh (Exod. xiv. 13); Sennacherib (Isa.

xxxvii. 33–38); the proud opposers of his Gospel (Ps. ii. 1–4)--all the

objects of his scorn. But most hateful to him is the sinner, that will not

submit to his righteousness, that scorns the corner-stone of salvation.

How fearfully does it then become "a rock of offence," of eternal ruin!

(Rorn. x. 3, with ix. 32, 33. Matt. xxi. 41–44.)  Surely without doubt,

without way of escape from his frown, he scorneth the scorners.

            A lowly spirit--a deep conviction of utter nothingness and guilt--

is a most adorning grace. Nor is it an occasional or temporary feeling,

the result of some unexpected hateful disclosure, but an habit, "cloth-

ing" the man (1 Pet. v. 5) "from the sole of the foot to the head." It

combines the highest elevation of joy with the deepest abasement of

spirit. And those who sink the lowest, stand nearest to the most

exalted advancement. For "he that scorneth the scorners, giveth grace to

the lowly"—"more grace" (Jam. iv. 6), till his work is perfected in

them. ‘He pours it out plentifully upon humble hearts. His sweet

dews and showers of grace slide off the mountains of pride, and fall on

the low valleys of humble hearts, and make them pleasant and fertile.' †

The centurion (Matt. viii. 5–10); the Canaanite (Ib. xv. 21–28); the

penitent (Luke, vii. 44–50); the publican (Ib xviii. 13, 14); such as

these are the objects of his favour. (Isa. lxvi. 2.)  Their hearts are his

dwelling-place. (Ib. lvii. 15.) Their inheritance is his kingdom.

(Matt. v. 3.) The soul, swelling with its proud fancies, has no room

for his humbling grace. Blessed exchange of the little idol of self-

esteem for Him; who alone has the right! when even his own graces

are only desired, as instruments to set out his glory.

 

35. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools,

                                    (exalteth the fools, marg.)

            This is the last contrast drawn to restrain our envy at the prosperity

of the wicked. (Verse 31.) It carries us forward to the coming day,

when all shall "discern" in the full light of eternity. (Mal. iii. 18.) The

wise--the heirs of glory--are identified with the lowly (Verse 34; xi. 2)

—the heirs of grace. Self-knowledge--the principle of lowliness--

is the very substance of wisdom. Their inheritance also is one--grace

and glory. (Ps. lxxxiv. 11.) For what higher glory can there be than

 

qeoj for Kurioj.  ‘The Apostle's quotation of this passage, though somewhat different in

the words, is the same in the sense with the original. For scorners in Scripture are proud,

insolent, wicked men. And to resist such persons, by rendering their schemes abortive, and

by humbling them, is emphatically called a scorning of them.'--MACKNIGHT on James, iv. 6.

   * antitassetai,  LXX.

    † Leighton on 1 Pet. v. 5. Compare also on Chap. iii. 8.

                                         CHAP. IV. 1, 2.                                            43

 

the grace, which “hath redeemed” a vile worm of, the earth, "and made

him a king and priest unto God?" (Rev. v. 9, 10.) Oh! let the re-

deemed cherish honourable thoughts of their present glory. Be careful

to clear it from the defilement and degradation of the world's dust, and

enjoy it in adoring praise to Him, who hath chosen thee to this so un-

deserved grace. (Ib. i. 5, 6.)

            But who can tell the glory, of the after inheritance—not like this

world's glory—the shadow of a name; but real, solid; ‘an infinite

gain, in the exchange of dross for down-weight of pure gold.’*  All

occasion of sin and temptation is shut out for ever; ‘The tree of know-

ledge shall be without enclosure. There shall be neither lust, nor

forbidden fruit; no withholding of desirable knowledge, nor affectation

of undesirable. The glorified spirits touch nothing that can defile, and

defile nothing they touch.'†  But after all, the glory of this glory will

be communion and likeness with our Lord---"to be with him—to

behold his glory." (John, xvii. 24. 1 John, iii. 2.) We need not pry too

minutely. Thus much is clear. The value of our inheritance is beyond

all price; its happiness unspeakable; its security unchangeable; its

duration eternity. The wise shall inherit glory. "They that be wise

shall shine as the brightness of the firmament forever and ever." (Dan.

xii. 3. Matt. xiii. 43.)

            Oh! will not the fools then discover the vanity of this world's

glory, too late to, make a wise choice? Shame is their present fruit.

(Chap. xiii. 18; x. 9.) Honour even now sits unseemly upon them.

(Chap. xxvi. 1.) But "what fruit will eternity bring" of those things,

whereof they will "then be ashamed?" (Rom. vi, 21.) Truly shame

will be their promotion. Their fame will be infamous, their disgrace

conspicuous; lifting them up, like Haman upon his elevated gallows

(Esther, vii. 9)—'a gazing-stock to the, world.' How solemn and

complete will be the great separation for eternity!  "Many that sleep

in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to

shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan. xii. 2.)

 

                                             CHAPTER IV.

 

1. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know under-

standing.  2. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

 

SURELY these frequent repetitions are as the angel's visit to the prophet

—"waking him, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep." (Zech. iv. 1.)

A mind like Solomon's, "large even as the sand that is on the sea-

shore" (1 Kings, iv. 29), might readily have made every sentence a

 

   * Leighton on 1 Pet. v. 10.

    † Howe's Blessedness of the Righteous. Chap. v. xi.

44         EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

fresh discovery of his knowledge. But more suitable to our sluggish

and forgetful heart is "the word of the Lord, precept upon precept."

(Isa. xxviii. 13.) Children are often bereft of destitute of a parental

instructor. Here these orphans are taken up, and called to hear the

instruction of a father. For truly does the wise man, like the Apostle

in after days, "exhort and charge, as a father cloth his children."

(1 Thess. ii. 11.)

            Solomon evidently speaks from the mouth of God, declaring his

doctrine--his law. Therefore he claims attention to know understanding,

for I give you good doctrine. (Eccles. xii. 9-11.) To many, exciting

(Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32), curious and speculative (2 Tim. iv. 3, 4),

compromising (Isa. xxx. 10. Jer. v. 31), self-righteous, self-exalting

doctrine (Gal. i. 6, 7), is more attractive. But--young people!—

remember—that which humbles the soul before God; that which

exhibits the free grace of the Gospel; which melt’s down the will,

consecrates the heart, imbues' with the spirit of the cross--however

unpalatable to the flesh—is alone good doctrine for the soul. Therefore

forsake it not. Do not be carried away with the senseless cry,--’Every-

body thinks contrary.' What is the judgment of the mass of mankind

worth on the great subject of religion? "This their way is their folly."

This is God's stamp upon man's "saying," however applauded and

"approved" by successive generations. (Ps. xlix. 13.) Shall this world's

judgment be preferred to the word of God?" The morning" of the

resurrection will reflect the glory of eternity upon the choice of the

narrow path. (Ib. v. 14.)

 

3. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my

            mother. 4. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart

            retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. 5. Get wisdom,

            get understanding; forget it not; neither decline from the words of my

            mouth. 6. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and

            she shall keep thee. 7. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get

            wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding. 8. Exalt her, and

            she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost

            embrace her. 9. She shall give to thine head to ornament of grace; a

            crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

            Solomon here claims our attention as a teacher of youth, on account

of his own godly education by such a father. He was a tender child

(1 Chron. xxii. 5: xxix. 1), well-beloved, as an only son.*  The more

dearly he was loved, the more carefully was he taught. Thus we are

brought into the family of "the man after God's heart," to hear him

 

    * Not really the only son. 2 Sam. v. 14. 1 Chron. iii. 5. Thus Isaac was called the only

son (i.e. most beloved), when Ishmael was another son: Gen, xxii. 2, 12, 19, with xvii. 19.

So the Church is called "the only one—the choice"—implying others, out of which the choice

was made. Cant. vi. 9.

                                    CHAP. IV. 3-9.                                           45

 

"commanding his child" in the fear and service Of the Lord. (Comp.

also 1 Kings, ii. 2-4; 1 Chron. xxii. 6-16; xxviii. 9, 10, 20. Comp. Gen.

xviii. 19. Deut. vi. 7.) A special mercy is it to us, if we can tell of an

Abraham or a David—of a Lois or an Eunice, having taught and bound

us to the ways of God! (2 Tim. i. 5; iii. 14, 15.) Parents remember,

a child untaught will be a living shame. (Chap. xxix. 15.) Training

discipline, not foolish indulgence, is the truest evidence of affection to

our tender and beloved ones. (Chap. xiii. 24; with 1, Kings, i. 6.)

            But let us examine this beautiful specimen of parental instruction.*

Observe the anxiety for his son's heart-religion. Let thine heart retain my

words. Often (and this is a comfort to a weak memory) words may be

lost to the memory, yet practically retained in the heart. This heart-

keeping is the path of life (Verse 13; vi. 23; viii. 34, 35. Isa. lv. 3.

Zech. iii. 7), without which all is dead. Observe again, the extreme

earnestness of the exhortation. Many a parent, like Augustine's father,†

insists—‘Get wealth, worldly honour, or wisdom.’  This godly parent

inculcates "line upon line"— Get heavenly wisdom; get it with all thy

getting--at any cost and pains (Chap. xxiii. 23. Comp. 1, Kings, x. 1;

Matt. xii. 42), as the principal thing; and when thou,hast got it--forget

it not—decline not from it—forsake it not‡—love§--embrace--exalt

—her. Such a keeping is she for thy soul! (Chap. 10-18.) Such a

treasure for thy happiness! Such a promoting honour even in this life!

Such an ornament of grace in the Church! Such, a crown of glory in

heaven! This is not the style of a cold pleader, enforcing with decent

seriousness some unimportant truth. It is the father, feeling that his

child's soul is perishing, unless it be taught and led in wisdom's ways.

Parents! do we know this stirring concern, anxiously looking out for

the first dawn of light upon our child's soul? Do we eagerly point

out to him wisdom as the principal thing, to be gotten first (Matt. vi. 33.)

Is it our own first choice, infinitely above this world's glitter (1 Kings,

iii. 5-12. Phil. iii. 7, 8); not only important, but all-important? It

can have no place, if it has not the first place. If it be anything, it will

be everything. Earthly wisdom may be "a goodly pearl." But this

"wisdom from above is the pearl of great price;" worth getting

 

   * Where David's instruction begins, is obvious. Where it ends, is not so clear—Whether

it be ver. 6, 10, 12, or 13 ; or as F. Taylor asserts, at the close of the ninth chapter. But as

Geier observes—'Let the reader form his own judgment; provided that we pay due obedi-

ence to the instruction, it matters little, whether we have it in the words of David or

Solomon.'

    † Of whom he records —'This father of mine never troubled himself with any thought

of— How I might improve myself towards thee, so that I proved eloquent, though I were

withal left undrest by thy tillage.'— Confess. ii. 3.

    ‡ See the great importance of this continuance, John, viii. 30, 31. Col. i. 22, 23. Heb.

iii. 6, 14, contrasted with Matt. xiii. 20, 21.

    § Thus Jerome wrote to a friend —'Beg now for me, who am grey-headed, of the Lord,

that I may have Wisdom for my companion, of which it is written—‘Love her, and she shall

keep thee.’"

 

46        EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

indeed; but only to be got, by "selling all that we have, to buy it."

(Matt. xiii. 45, 46.)

 

10. Hear, 0 my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall

            be many. 11. I have taught thee in the ways of wisdom;  I have led

            thee in right paths. 12. When thou goes, thy steps shall not be

            straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13. Take

            fast hold of instruction: let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

            It is instructive to see a king (whether David or Solomon) not for-

getting in the midst of his royal cares his domestic responsibilities.

We are told—'Youth will have its swing.' ‘So’--adds an old Com-

mentator solemnly—'it may—to hell.'*  For where else can a way-

ward will lead? Let us see the need of guidance of every step, both

to take and to avoid. The ways of wisdom assure a happy life in the

favour of God. (1 Tim. iv. 8, with chap. iii. 1, 2.  Ps. xxxiv. 12–14.

1 Pet. iii. 10–12.) And what rest to the parent's conscience on the death-

bed will be the recollection of children, not brought up for the world,

but taught in these ways! Yet this cannot be, if the rod, when needed,

has been spared; if the will has been indulged; the love of the world

cherished. This will be--if godly discipline has been exercised; if

the Bible has been laid down as the rule of lifer if habits of prayer, love

to the service of God, fellowship with his people, have been encouraged.

The path, though rough and sometimes lonely, is a right path, and a path

of liberty. (Ps. cxix. 32, 45.) The single eye will preserve a steady

walk. (Chap. x. 9. Isa. xlviii. 17, 18. Matt. Vii. 22.) Thou shalt run,

and shalt not stumble. (Chap. iii. 21–26. Hos. xiv. 9.)

            And yet the animated exhortation to take fast hold, shows the

struggle necessary to retain our principles. Feeble, indeed, is our hold,

when connected merely with the excitement of novelty (Matt. xiii. 20, 21),

temporary convictions (Ps. lxxviii. 34–36; cvi. 12, 13), the restraint of

education (2 Chron. xii. 1; xxiv. 2, 15–18), unestablished knowledge

(Gal. iii. 1–4), or the indulgence of sin. (Mark, vi. 18–26.) Truths

received only in the understanding, not becoming the daily nourish-

ment of the soul, never fix on the heart. The fast hold of instruction is

by a personal living faith; including an intense interest, and persever-

ing pursuit; "continuing in the things which we have heard and been

assured of;" cleaving with purpose of heart unto the Lord. (2 Tim.

iii. 14. Acts, xi. 23; ii. 42.) As Jacob detained the angel (Gen.

xxxii. 26–29); as the spouse held fast hold of her Beloved (Cant. iii. 4);

as the disciples "constrained the Saviour to abide with them" (Luke,

xxiv. 28, 29)—So—young Christian—let her not go, Keep her, as the

man "for joy" guarded his precious treasure. (Matt. xiii. 44.) So let

thy heavenly treasure stand above every earthly blessing. Thus will

                 

                                             * Taylor.

 

 

                                        CHAP. IV. 14-17                                       47

 

it be thy life. (Chap. iii. 18. Eccles. vii. 12.) And while others "turn

back, and walk no more" in the way, thine heart will turn to its only

spring of happiness—"Lord, to whom shall I go? ''Thou hast the words

of eternal life." (John, vi. 67-69.)

 

14. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

            15. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. 16. For

            they sleep not, except they have done mischief: and their sleep is taken

            away, unless they cause some to fall. 17. For they eat the bread of

            wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

            How often does fellowship with the wicked loosen the fast hold of

instruction! Their path is so contrary to the way of instruction, that

the very entrance into it is forsaking the way of God. Their character

is here drawn in their Father's image—first sinners, then, tempters.

Mischief is their meat and drink. (Job, xv. 16. Ps. xiv. 4.)  'To do

evil is more proper and natural than to sleep, eat, or drink.'*   With

sleepless eagerness do they pursue their work (Job, xxiv. 15, 16. Ps.

xxxvi. 4. Mic. ii. 1), caring little for any lengths of violence, so that

they do mischief, or cause some to fall. (Chap. i. 10-14, 16; ii. 14; xxiv. 2.

Ps. x. 8. 2 Pet. ii. 14.) Judas with his midnight torches (John, xviiii. 3);

the early morning assemblage of the Jewish rulers (Luke, xxii. 66); the

frenzied vow of the enemies of Paul;† and many a plot in after ages

against the Church—all vividly pourtray this unwearied wickedness.

Yet if we be preserved from this undisguised malignity, what are

all the allurements for every rank and circumstance of life, but the more

subtle poison of the murderer? A light-minded young person pours

into his companion's ear—simple and inexperienced in the ways of

sin—perhaps filthy conversation; or presents before him images of

lasciviousness. What but a rooted principle of grace can save his

unsuspecting victim? Or again—the venomous infidel, intent upon

"spoiling" (Col. ii. 8) his fellow-creature of his most precious treasure,

drops into his bosom the repetition of the first lie (Gen. iii. 4.) No

principle appears to be given up, no fundamental doctrine denied; yet

the foundation of an unwavering confidence is shaken to pieces. And

is not this mischief and violence as the murderer's stab?

            Surely then it is mercy, that forbids needless intercourse with the

evil man. (Eph. v. 11.) With a constitution prone to evil, when the

alternative is, whether we shall shun or dare the danger, can we doubt

our path? The whole Scripture is on the side or caution, to hazard

nothing, except on a plain call of Providence. ' Because we are free,

 

    * Reformers' Notes.

    † Acts, xxiii. 12.    Such a spirit is graphically described by the Classics:—

            Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses. —VIRGIL, Eclog. iii. 15.

                 Ergo non aliter poterit dormire; quibusdam

                 Somnum rixa facit. —JUVENAL, Sat. iii. 278-202.

48            EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

 

we may not run wild.’*  Half our virtue we owe to being out of the

way of temptation. Observe how the wise man heaps up his words—

Enter not into the path—no—not so much as set thy foot into it. If

some accident throws thee into it, go not on in it; avoid it with detesta-

tion.†  Pass not by it, lest thou shouldest unwittingly turn in. (Chap. v. 8.)

Not only avoid it when near, but avoid nearness to it. It is like living

in the atmosphere of contagion, in the midst of virulent and fatal dis-

ease. The earnest repetition of the warning shows at once the imminency

of the danger, and the certainty of the injury. The world around us is

the action of mind upon mind. We are continually, through the

medium of intercourse, moulding ourselves by other minds, and other

minds by our own. Intercourse with the ungodly must, therefore, be

fraught with fatal contamination. (1 Cor. xv. 33. Ps. cvi. 35. Chap.

xxii. 24, 25.) The occasions, the company, the borders of temptation

-- all must be avoided. (Chap. ix. 10, 15. Gen. xxxi. 9, 10.)

            Young people are apt to plead with those who have the charge of

their best interests--'What harm is there in this or that path?'  Apart

from other evils--this is plain. It is a contagious atmosphere. You

are drinking in poison. It is far more easy to shun the occasion of

sin, than the sin when the occasion presents it; to resist the begin-

nings, than the progress, of sin. There must, therefore, be no tam-

pering with it; no trial of strength, to see how far our resolutions will

keep us. Let the examples of Lot (Gen. xiii; 10-13; xiv. 12), Dinah

(Gen. xxxiv. 1, 2), Solomon (1 Kings, xi. 1-5), Peter (Matt. xxvi. 58,

69-74), warn us, how far only the entrance into the path of the wicked

may carry us; lengths that we could never have contemplated in pro-

spect without horror. It may appear an harmless outset. But how far

on? The entrance is fatally connected with the next step onward. The

frightful extent of the probability of falling might make the boldest

tremble. Those at least, that know their own corruption and weak-

ness, will shrink back, where you tread lightly. Here and there, in-

deed, there may be some special miracle of preservation. But no one

comes out of the path without hurt (2 Chron. xviii. 1–3; xix. 2; xx.

35–37); and the general issue is an open door to ruin. To pretend to

dread sin without fearing temptation, is self-delusion. Satan has too

nearly allied them for us to separate them. The evil company is loved,

then the evil of the company.‡  To pray "not to be led into tempta-

 

    * Bishop HALL'S Contempl. B. xv. 3.                  † LEIGH'S Critica Sacra. See CARTWRIGHT.

Eusebius mentions a young man, whom St. John committed to the special charge of

the Bishop of Ephesus; but who by evil company was drawn away to be a captain of rob-

bers. until St. John went after him, and brought him back. B. iii. c. 20.--Augustine's

recollections of his youthful theft was—'By myself alone I would not have done it. It was

the company that I loved, with whom I did it.' He adds —'O nimis iniqua amicitia!'

When they said—'Come, let us go and do it, I was ashamed not to be as shameless as

they.'— Confess. Lib. ii. 8, 9.

                                             CHAP. IV. 18.                                        49

 

Lion;" yet not to "watch, that we enter not into it"-- is practically to

contradict our prayers; to mock our God, by asking for what we do

not heartily wish. "Walk then with God and with his people, separate

from an ungodly world." (Chap. ix. 6. 2 Cor. vi. 17.) Yet do not

presume upon safety, even in separation from the ungodly. The whole

tempting world may be presented to your imagination. The unsearch-

able deceitfulness of the heart may bear fearfully upon you. The

tempter may in solitude, as with our Lord, put forth his special power.

(Matt. iv. 1.) Walk closely with God in secret, and he will spread his

almighty covering over you for your security. Avoid fellowship with

them, who hinder your fellowship with God. (Ps. cxix. 63, 1.14, 115,

also xvii. 4; xxvi. 4, 5.)

 

18. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more

                                           unto the perfect day.

            This is a fine contrast of the Christian's path of light with the dark

and dangerous path of the wicked. It is not the feeble wasting light of

a taper, nor the momentary blaze of the meteor; but the grand lumi-

nary of heaven, "coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong