chapter x
. 12, page 157.) This proverb sets forth--
+I. That he who thus covers sin is a great benefactor of the human race.+ The great need of a fallen world is such a state of heart as will promote love among men. One of Christ's last commands to his disciples was _"Love one another as I have loved you"_ (John xvi. 12). And there is no more effectual way of promoting love than by freely forgiving an offence and at the same time endeavouring to turn the transgressor from the error of his way. A stream in winter may, by reason of the biting cold, be congealed into a rock-like solid mass, but when the summer sun shines upon it, it cannot long resist the influence, but melts and begins again to ripple and sparkle under its beams. So a sense of guilt and shame hardens the human heart, but a consciousness that the sin has been freely forgiven and forgotten melts it into contrition and love if it is not utterly dead to moral influences. This is the great power which binds sin-forgiven men and women to God--having been forgiven much they love much (Luke vii. 47-50).
+II. A man of opposite character is a curse to his race.+ Friendship is the greatest boon of human existence, and he whose words or deeds tend to break any such tie does his fellow-men a great wrong. There is no more effectual way of doing it than by a constant repetition of the faults of others, either by reminding the offender himself of his shortcomings or by speaking of them to a third person. Solomon may refer to either of these habits--both are bad, and show a disposition entirely opposed to that of Him who, when he forgave His ancient people, promised that He would "remember their sin no more" (Jer. xxxi. 34).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
_Seeketh love!_ A beautiful expression, much to be kept in mind! It shows a delight in the atmosphere of _love_--man's highest elevation in communion with his God (1 John iv. 16). It implies not the mere exercise of _love,_ where it is presented, but the searching and making opportunity for it. But how seldom do we rise to the high standard of this primary grace, exalted as it is pre-eminently above "the best gifts" (1 Cor. xii. 31; xiii.); and illustrated and enforced by no less than the Divine example! (Eph. v. 1, 2). Yet too often it sits at the door of our lips, instead of finding a home in our hearts; forgetting that the exhortation is not, that we should _talk_ of _love,_ but that we should "walk in it;" not stepping over it, crossing it, walking by the side, but _"in it,"_ as our highway and course. One step of our feet is better than a hundred words of the tongue.--_Bridges._
_All unnecessary repetition_ even of _real_ faults comes under the category of _scandal,_ and is sinful and mischievous. You may fancy you are within the limit of blameworthiness, when you are telling no more than what is _true:_ but, if you are telling even truth _needlessly,_ for no good and laudable end, you are chargeable with the offence.--_Wardlaw._
Alas! how many things are there to be suffered, how many things to be forgotten, how many things, though seen, to be as it were unseen, that love may be preferred. He that covereth transgression warmeth affection, and he that seeketh the love of man shall be sure to find the love of God. The way to seek and find other things is by uncovering that which is hid; but the way to seek and find love is by covering the offence.--_Jermin._
If one has been our enemy it has been for some trespass. The best way to abate the enmity is to cover up and smother over, and thus erase from memory our act against him. He that does this _"seeks love."_ "He who falls back into the wrong," _i.e.,_ iterates or doubles over his offence, drives away everything. (See Critical Notes.) . . . Spiritually, a man is not to complain of the alienation of his Maker, if he wilfully retain his sin. If God has given us a special way for _covering sin,_ and we postpone it, and go tumbling back into our acts, the strife is ours.--_Miller._
There are two ways of making peace and reconciling differences: the one begins with amnesty, the other with a recital of injuries, combined with apologies and excuses. Now I remember that it was the opinion of a very wise man, and a great politician, that "he who negotiates a peace without recapitulating the grounds of difference rather deludes the minds of the parties, by representing the sweetness of concord, than reconciles them by equitable adjustment." But Solomon, a wiser man than he, is of a contrary opinion, approving of amnesty, and forbidding a recapitulation of the past. For in it are these disadvantages: it is as the chafing of a sore; it creates the risk of a new quarrel (for the parties will never agree as to the proportions of injuries on either side); and lastly, it brings it to a matter of apologies: whereas either party would rather be thought to have forgiven an injury than to have accepted an excuse.--_Lord Bacon._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 10.
CORRECTION MUST BE ADAPTED TO THE CHARACTER OF THE OFFENDER.
+I. Some men can be influenced by moral means.+ A man whose moral nature is developed can be brought to a sense of error by an appeal to his own sense of right and wrong. Although he has fallen into sin he does not love it, and the rebuke from without finds an echo in the monitor within his own breast. His susceptibility to reproof arises--1. _From a deep sense of his obligations to God._ He knows what God has done to put away sin and its effects from the universe, and gratitude to Him opens his ear and his heart to reproof. 2. _From a sense of his own true interest._ A man would be counted a fool if he were to be angry with the physician who desired to free him from the dominion of a bodily disease, and a morally wise man is too keenly alive to the worth of his own soul not to listen to a wise reproof.
+II. But there are men who can only be aroused to a sense of wrong-doing by physical suffering.+ Such men, by a long course of crime or by a constant resistance of moral influences, have sunk almost to the level of the brute. They are like the horse and mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle (Psalm xxxii. 9). Nothing can awaken their sleeping consciences but severe and startling judgments or bodily chastisement, and even these "stripes" may fail to bring them to a right state of mind. Let men, then, beware, lest being often reproved and hardening themselves against it (ch. xxix. 1), they become so callous to the words of God and good men, or to the visitations of Providence, as to be "past feeling" (Eph. iv. 19).
_ILLUSTRATION._
It was a maxim of Bishop Griswold--"when censured or accused, to _correct_--not to justify my error." A certain minister, with more zeal than discretion, once became impressed with the thought that the bishop was a mere formalist in religion, and that it was his duty to go and warn him of his danger. Accordingly he called upon the bishop, very solemnly made known his errand, and forthwith entered upon his reproof. The bishop listened in silence till his visitor had closed a severely denunciatory exhortation, and then in substance replied as follows:--"My dear friend, I do not wonder that they who witness the inconsistency of my conduct, and see how poorly I adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour, should think I have no religion. I often fear for myself that such is the case, and feel very grateful to you for giving me the warning." The reply was made with such evidently unaffected humility, and with such deep sincerity, that if an audible voice from heaven had attested the genuineness of his Christian character it could not more effectually have silenced his kindly intending but mis-judging censor, or more completely disabused him of his false impressions.--_Episcopal Record._
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Fools have sometimes received correction and made a good use of it, but they were fools no longer, for the rod and reproof gave them wisdom; but it is a sign that folly is deeply ingrained when an hundred rods leave men as great fools as they found them.--_Lawson._
A look from Christ brake Peter's heart and dissolved it into tears. . . . But Jeroboam's withered hand works nothing upon his heart.--_Trapp._
The folly of simplicity is a softness of nature; the folly of sin is a hardness of heart; the folly of conceit is a stiffness of will, and little doth a rod enter into any of them. For though the first be soft, it is hard to work upon it, although it be with hard and many strokes of the stick. The woolliness of a sheep's skin keeps back the force of the beating rod. . . . The rock in the wilderness first denied water to the Israelites, as, withstanding nature's force and the first stroke of Moses, it resisted as opposing the infidelity of sin, to the second stroke it yielded as submitting to God's power. But it is not the power of God's rod that enters into a fool.--_Jermin._
A needle pierces deeper into flesh than a sword into stone.--_Bridges._
David is softened with _Thou art the man;_ but Pharaoh remains hardened under all the plagues of Egypt.--_Henry._
Even amongst the children of God themselves there are great diversities of temper; some requiring harder dealing than others to bring them down, and to reclaim them from their follies, as is the case often with children in the same family. A word, or a look, will go with melting and heart-breaking power to the very soul of one, while the severest correction, and oft-repeated, will fail to bring down the stubborn and fractious spirit of another. O for more of the spirit of Job and less of the spirit of Jonah!--for more of that truly child-like disposition which gives way before every Divine admonition, which melts into penitence under the eye of an offended God, and looks up with a child's submission at the slightest touch of His corrective rod!--_Wardlaw._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 11-13.
PHASES OF EVIL.
+I. The main characteristic of a sinner is that he is a rebel against the moral order of the universe.+ "He seeketh only rebellion." The planets in their courses describe their orbits in obedience to the law of gravitation, and because they do so the order of the heavens is preserved. God is the sun of the moral universe, and before sin entered it all His creatures kept the path of obedience to His will, held to their allegiance by the love and confidence which they bore to their Lawgiver. But sin snapped the bond, and the word sinner stands for one who has broken away from the moral law of God; every sinner seeketh rebellion.
+II. A sinner is a restless being.+ He _seeks_ rebellion. These words seem to depict the restless character of the ungodly man. When a soul has lost its centre of gravity--when the will of God is not the polestar of life--it drifts about in obedience first to one lawless passion and then another, following in the footsteps of the great leader of rebellion, the first sinner, who, by his own confession, is continually going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it (Job i. 7).
+III. A sinner is an injurious man.+ No man can set himself in antagonism to the law of God, which leads to the happiness of his creatures, without bringing misery upon others, and the more determined his rebellion the more cruel are the effects of his sin upon them. A bear is naturally a cruel beast, but then a bear is robbed of what her instinct leads her to guard most jealously she is an object to be dreaded and avoided. Yet a wicked man is more to be feared, for there are in him capabilities of mischief beyond those possessed by the furious brute. The anger of the beast might be diverted or appeased--even a bear robbed of her whelps would forget her anger if a carcase were thrown in her path upon which she might wreak her vengeance. But the wrath of an angry man is less easily appeased. The mischief which the furious bear can do is more limited. The superior skill of man can soon put a stop to the ravages of a wild beast, but the angry folly of a single fool has often destroyed many lives and broken many hearts.
+IV. A sinner is an ungrateful thing.+ Many an ungodly man would deny this charge, but everyone who continues in a state of rebellion against God is continually rewarding evil for good. But the sin of the text doubtless refers to the ingratitude towards a fellow-man. This sin cannot be charged home upon every ungodly man--there are those who, though careless of rendering to God that which is His due, are content with rendering to their fellow-men evil for evil, and would not knowingly render evil for good. But while the heart is in a state of rebellion against its rightful sovereign, every evil tendency is continually growing stronger, and men by degrees descend to depths of evil from which they would once have recoiled with horror.
+V. God will, sooner or later, call His rebellious subjects to account.+ Although men sometimes go on in open rebellion against God for many years, not one shall finally escape. A writ has been issued for the apprehension of each one, although the execution is in some cases deferred. _"Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God"_ (Rom. xiv. 12), and the messenger that summons the ungodly man to the Divine tribunal will be "cruel" because looked at through the medium of a guilty conscience.
+VI. The sinner brings evil upon his posterity.+ It is a truth which is illustrated by the experience of our daily life that no man stands alone in the world--that the sins of the fathers are, in some measure, visited upon the children--that "whoso regardeth evil for good," not only brings evil upon himself but upon _"his house."_
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 11. God sometimes employs terrible messengers to chastise His own people. When David numbered his subjects, 70,000 of them were destroyed in three days by a visible messenger of severity, under the direction of an invisible minister of providence. If God takes such vengeance of the rebellions of some whom He pardons, what will the end be of them that seek only rebellion!--_Lawson._
God hath forces enough at hand to fetch in His rebels. . . . The stones in the walls of Aphek shall sooner turn executioners than a rebellious Aramite shall escape unrevenged.--_Trapp._
Many things there are which an evil man proposeth to his seeking: sometimes pleasures, sometimes profit, sometimes honour, sometimes favour, but in truth it is only rebellion against God that is sought by him. For these things are not to be found in the ways of wickedness, and therefore it is only his deceived imagination that looketh for them there. But rebellion against God is found in all his ways.--_Jermin._
There are men that are summoning a cruel messenger to be sent against themselves. . . . They are "only the rebellious." A door of mercy! and a ransom fixed for sin! and only one class to fail! and they spontaneously rebels! These are the men that go in search of evil, and this is the meaning of the wise man.--_Miller._
Verse 12. Witness Jacob's sons putting a whole city to fire and sword for the folly of one man; Saul slaying a large company of innocent priests; Nebuchadnezzar heating the furnace sevenfold; Herod murdering the children in Ramah; "Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord"--was not all this the rage of a beast, not the reason of a man? Humbling, indeed, is this picture of man, once "created in the image of God" (Gen. i. 27).--_Bridges._
For the "fool," what a meeting! when he has been robbed of every earthly chance! and is dead eternally! and the _"folly,"_ that has robbed him, is shut up with him in everlasting misery!--_Miller._
See Miller's reading of the verse in Critical Notes.
Verse 13. To render good for evil is Divine, good for good is human, evil for evil is brutish, evil for good is devilish.--_Trapp._
The most striking illustration of this sentence, is the history of the Jewish nation. Never was such ingratitude showed to any benefactor, as they showed to the Son of God, and never was the punishment of any people so dreadful, and of so long continuance. That scattered people proclaim to every nation under heaven how dangerous the sin of ingratitude is, especially when God our Saviour is the object of it.--_Lawson._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 14.
THE BEGINNING OF STRIFE.
+I. This moral pestilence is of great antiquity.+ It began with the angels who "kept not their first estate" (Jude 6), and from that far-distant period until now the universe has never been free from discord--good and evil have striven against each other, and strife has also reigned between those who are on the side of evil. There was strife between the first two human brothers born into this world, and since the day when Cain slew Abel because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous, this terrible enemy of human happiness has been slaying his victims wherever men were to be found.
+II. Strife is a thing of growth.+ There is a moment when the fire which will presently destroy a town is only a tiny spark which the breath of a child could extinguish,--the leak which at last sinks the vessel and sends a hundred brave men to a watery grave was once no larger than a pin-hole--and the breach in the dam through which a torrent of water rushes, leaving desolation behind it, begins with an opening through which no more than a few drops of water can force their way. So it is with strife. It does not attain to its full dimensions in a moment. The hatred in the heart which is the root of strife may be at first but a passing feeling, but if it is not overcome at its first appearance it grows in strength from day to day. And its outward manifestation in strife may begin with but a few angry words--an apparently trifling disagreement. But those who have indulged in it will presently find themselves in the grip of a giant--overmastered, and carried headlong by passion to crimes of which they once thought it impossible they could ever be guilty.
+III. If the miserable effects of strife are to be avoided, it must be attacked in its beginnings.+ Seeing how disastrous are the effects of the leak in the ship, and how much desolation is caused by the ravages of fire or the bursting forth of pent-up water through its banks, it behoves all who are in any way responsible in these matters to be watchful for the first indications of mischief, and to put a stop to it before it gets beyond their power. And if a man would avoid being a party to a quarrel, he must watch narrowly the first risings of anger in his heart and take care that he never utters the _first_ angry word. If the _first_ remains unspoken, a _second_ can never pass his lips; but if in an unguarded moment the angry feeling finds an outlet in angry speech, the speaker himself cannot tell where and how the mischief will end. It may go from words of strife to deeds of strife, and both will entail more misery upon their author than upon him who is the subject of them. The self-interest of every man ought to prompt him to check the beginnings of strife in himself and in others; it is so great an enemy to our social well-being that we are all as much interested in putting a stop to its ravages as we are in arresting the progress of a pestilential disease. But the children of God are specially called to this work. They are bound to be imitators of their Father in this matter, and He is "the God of peace" (Rom. xv. 33). All the plans and purposes of God have for their aim "peace on earth" (Luke ii. 14), and His children ought to emulate His example. And they cannot do otherwise. They have been made partakers of the Divine nature (2 Peter i. 4), and the nature of God is eminently peace-loving. If, therefore, a man has been born of God he must delight in social peace and harmony--he must recoil from strife and discord. It is _peacemakers_ that shall be called _"the children of God"_ (Matt. v. 9), and _"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now"_ (1 John ii. 9).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Man is a sociable-living creature, and should converse with man in love and tranquility. Man should be a supporter of man; is he become an overthrower? O apostasy, not only from religion, but also from humanity! The greatest danger that befalls man comes from where it should least come, from man himself. Lions fight not with lions; serpents spend not their venom on serpents; but man is the main suborner of mischief to his own kind. . . . God hath hewn us all out of one rock, tempered all our bodies of one clay, and spirited our souls of one breath. Therefore, saith Augustine, since we proceed all out of one stock, let us all be of one mind. Beasts molest not their own kind, and birds of a feather fly lovingly together. Not only the blessed angels of heaven agree in mutual harmony, but even the very devils of hell are not divided, lest they ruin their kingdom. We have one greater reason of love and unity observed than all the rest. For whereas God made not all angels of one angel, nor all beasts of the great behemoth, nor all fishes of the huge leviathan, nor all birds of the majestical eagle, yet He made all men of one man.--_T. Adams._
We are but several streams issuing from one primitive source; one blood flows in all our veins; one nourishment repairs our decayed bodies; we are co-habitants of the same earth, and fellow-citizens of the same great commonwealth; and he that hates another detests his own most lively picture; he that harms another injures his own nature. . . . The heavenly angels, when they agree most highly to bless and to wish the greatest happiness to mankind, could not better express their sense than by saying, "Be on earth peace, and goodwill among men."--_Barrow._
It is easier to abstain from a contest than to withdraw from it.--_Seneca._
Both the destructive elements--fire and water--illustrate the danger of the beginning of strife (chap. xxvi. 21). To neither element can we say, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further!" (Job xxxviii. 11). . . . Seldom when we have heard the first word, do we hear the last. An inundation of evil is poured in. . . . The bank is much more easily preserved than repaired. . . . For, as one strongly observed, "Man knows the beginning of sin, but who bounds the issues thereof?"--_Bridges._
Quietness is like a pleasant pond full of sweet fish sporting themselves up and down in it, and multiplying continually to a great increase; so in a quiet life men's affairs do prosper, and their estate is increased to plenty and abundance, so that they bathe themselves in the comfort of it. But let the sluice be taken up, the fishes are quickly gone, the waters stay not until they be gone also, and nothing but mud and mire is left; and even so let the gap of contention be opened, all comforts flee away, and usually the estates sink lower and lower until it be dried up to beggary and misery. Make up, then, all breaches as soon as they appear, or rather keep all sound by watchfulness, so that no breach may appear. And let not the serpent get in his head, for, because the scales of his body stand the other way, it is not easy to get it out again; because the mind of thine adversary is made averse from thee, it is not easy to end a strife begun.--_Jermin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 15.
INVERSION AND RESTITUTION.
+I. A present inversion of moral order.+ There is an established law, by which things spiritual are governed as well as things material. According to this law, punishment ought to come to the unrighteous and the righteous should be justified; that is, they should be declared to be righteous and treated accordingly. This law must and will prevail in the upshot and issue of things, because the Great Lawgiver of the universe is perfectly just and holy; but it does not always govern the dealings of men with men. Injustice may be meted out to a man by his fellow-man from _ignorance._ A human judge may pass an unjust sentence upon a prisoner, or society may condemn a man undeservedly simply because they are ignorant of all the facts of the case. We are so little capable of weighing all the motives of our fellow-creatures, that we may unwittingly sometimes justify the wicked and condemn the just. But the proverb is evidently directed against those who do it because they are themselves _unrighteous_--against those who are prompted by motives of self-interest or malice or by a simple hatred of good wherever it is found.
+II. A future restitution of moral order.+ If a man has an ear for music, all discordant tones are displeasing to him; but when the law of harmony is entirely subverted, all his musical sensibilities are outraged. So when a righteous man becomes cognizant of some gross injustice his whole soul rises up in protest against it. What therefore must be the light in which the perfectly pure and just God regards such subversion of moral order? He can but regard it with repugnance. But the certainty of this fact makes another fact no less certain--viz., that there will come a period in the history of the universe when this inversion shall cease, when moral order shall be restored, and it shall be no longer possible for the wicked to be justified, or for the righteous to be condemned. Thus saith the Lord, _"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness. . . . Which justify the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel"_ (Isa. v. 20, 23, 24). When this sentence is completely carried out moral order and harmony will be restored to the universe.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
This verse shows that the term justify (Hebrew, _matzeddik_) is forensic, to _pronounce just_ one, even though not just in himself: a keyword in the doctrinal Epistle to the Romans: the opposite of _"condemn"_ or _pronounce impious_ (_mareshiang_).--_Fausset._
That _"both"_ should be, to the expression _"even"_ seems to point to as wonderful. They are both very plain propositions; and yet neither of them, in the mind of the sinner, is free from half-conscious surprise. That God "will by no means clear the guilty" (Exod. xxxiv. 7) and, therefore, that "without the shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. ix. 22), when learned, is half the Gospel. To learn it easily, would imply that "then hath the offence of the Cross ceased" (Gal. v. 11). God will not condemn Himself in his "righteous"
## action, and He cannot _"justify the wicked"_ without a mediator; and
Solomon, without being able to clear all the difficulties, sets in this sentence as one of the great timbers of thought, which he looks to to defend the Gospel.--_Miller._
He spareth the wolf and so hurteth the lambs; He toucheth the members of Christ and the very apples of the Lord's eye.--_Muffet._
But let us place ourselves before the "Judge of all" accused by Satan, our own conscience, and the righteous law of God; convicted of every charge; yet justified. Does God then in thus "justifying the ungodly" (Rom. iv. 5) contravene this rule? Far from it. If He _justifies the wicked,_ it is on account of righteousness (Ib. iii. 25, 26). If He _condemns the just,_ it is on the imputation of unrighteousness. Nowhere throughout the universe do the moral perfections of the Governor of the world shine so gloriously as at the cross of Calvary. The satisfaction of the holy law, and the manifestation of righteous mercy, harmonise with the justification of the condemned sinner. And this combined glory tunes the song of everlasting praise.--_Bridges._
That condemning the just is a grievous crime, there is no doubt. But some will be startled at the wise man's assertion, that justifying the wicked is a crime of the like nature and malignity. But we rebel against God by turning to the right hand, as well as by turning to the left, from that way in which we are commanded to walk. Justifying the wicked has an appearance of mercy in it, but there is cruelty to millions in unreasonable acts of mercy to individuals. It was not altogether without ground observed by a senator to the Emperor Cocceius Nerva, when his detestation of his predecessor's cruelty seduced him into the extreme of clemency,--That it was bad to live in a state where every thing was forbidden, but worse to live in a state where every thing was allowed. Historians tell us, that the provinces of the empire suffered more oppression under the administration of this mild prince, than in the bloody reign of Domitian.--_Lawson._
As in the administration of justice, in the world or in the Church, so in the official declaration of doctrine and of duty, _faithfulness_ is the first and most essential qualification. No "gift," no bribe, no love of gain,--or, in the apostle's words, "greed of filthy lucre,"--must ever be allowed to corrupt "the man of God," and tempt him either to pervert or to keep back the truth--to "shun to declare" any part of "the counsel of God," or to utter a single sentiment but what he believes to be a lesson of God's Word, a Divinely authorised message. For a minister of Christ either to say what is false or to withhold what is true, from a wish to please those on whom he may feel himself dependent, is as unworthy of him as for a judge on the civil bench to pervert justice, and may be to others unspeakably more mischievous. The decisions of the latter can affect only what is temporary; the effects of the former's unfaithful temporising may extend to eternity. The guilt of the former, therefore, may be greater than that of the latter, in the proportion of the value of the _soul_ to the _body,_ of _eternity_ to _time._ There must be no bribery or corruption here. O to be able to say with Paul, "I am clear from the blood of all men."--_Wardlaw._
When Jacob, blessing the sons of Joseph, put his hands across, and laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh the elder, the thing displeased Joseph. But Jacob refused to have his hands removed. Now that which Jacob did in the blessing of his grandchildren, the same is the cursed doing of many who in the world are seated in the place of justice. For those whom God setteth on His right hand, they set on the left, those who God setteth on His left hand they set on the right. . . . And though God Himself call to them, _Not so,_ yet they refuse to alter their sentence. . . . And though their hands in justifying go across, yet being joined together in wickedness they are both an abomination to the Lord.--_Jermin._
_He that saith to the wicked, thou are righteous_ (1) condemneth the law of God, for that condemneth the wicked; (2) doth as much as he may to bring sin into credit, that others also should practise it without fear or reproach; (3) hardeneth the heart and hurteth the soul of the offender, debarring him from corrections, which are God's medicines for the curing of evils. He dealeth as a murderer under the name of a physician that encourageth his patient to eat the poison freely.--_Dod._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 16.
NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES.
+I. One of the uses which ought to be made of wealth.+ Men ought to use it to "get wisdom." it is obvious that a wealthy man has more opportunities of gaining knowledge than a poor man has, and an increase of knowledge ought to make a man wiser. A rich man's wealth gives him access to the wisdom of the great minds of past ages, and it often obtains for him the companionship of the most learned men of his own generation. It enables him to gain a knowledge of the world on which he lives and of the men who people it; by travel he can stand face to face with all the glorious works of God in nature, and he can mingle with men of various races and see human nature in all its various phases. And these experiences ought to make him a wise man. Wealth is given to men for this purpose, among others, to make them intellectually and morally better--for although spiritual blessings cannot be purchased for money, yet where the grace of God is in the heart, the "price in the hand" will increase a man's opportunities of growing in the knowledge of God and in the practice of godliness. Those who are _"rich in this world"_ may and ought to lay _"up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life"_ (1 Tim. i. 17-19). Their wealth ought not to be a hindrance but a help to high spiritual attainments. When we use bread rightly we get strength out of it; when we use water rightly we get refreshment out of it; when we use light rightly we get guidance out of it; and when the gift of wealth is rightly used, men get wisdom out of it.
+II. Wealth bestowed, where we can give no reason for its bestowal.+ Wealth in the hand of a fool seems thrown away. If we saw a bundle of bank-notes in the hands of an infant we should at once say they were in the wrong hand; but many a princely fortune is at the disposal of men who are as incapable now of putting it to a good use, as they were when they were children. Neither the head nor the heart are capable of guiding the hand--there is neither moral nor intellectual capability to make the riches the means of blessing even the possessor. _"Wherefore,"_ then, _"is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom,"_ especially when there are so many men in poverty who would make the best possible use of riches? We cannot answer the question. Even the wise man does not attempt to solve the problem. Men daily come face to face with facts connected with human existence which they cannot explain. In some of these they can see adaptation; although they cannot tell _how_ it is that the thing is so, they can discern a _fitness_ in its being so. But there are other facts in the government of God for which we can assign no reason, and the "price in the hand of a fool" is one of them. The Divine Ruler of men's destines fulfils His wise purposes in ways and by means which often perplex His finite creatures.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
We understand the term _"a price,"_ as signifying _whatever puts it in anyone's power to acquire_ the particular object. The phraseology is borrowed from the _market._ Any article, we are wont to say, may be had there, if a man has but the price to pay for it. What the _"price"_ is to the article wanted, the _means of acquiring_ are to _"wisdom."_ When we wish to put any article of ordinary merchandise within a person's power, we furnish that person with the price at which it is valued. There are cases, however, in which this may not be enough. The price may be in a man's hand, and yet the article may not be within his reach, not, at the time, to be had. Happily, it is never so with the wisdom here spoken of. If the means are possessed of acquiring it, it may always be acquired. It is in the hand of God himself; and He is never either at a distance that we cannot repair to Him, or unwilling to bestow it upon us when we come to Him for it--_bestow_ it, I say, for we must remember, with regard to divine wisdom, that, in a literal sense, it _cannot be purchased._ It must be had _"without money and without price."_ It is not to be "gotten for gold." Why is it, then, that in so many cases in which "the price is in the hand to get wisdom," the means of securing it possessed, its lessons remained unlearned, the mind ignorant, the heart unimproved? . . . Here is the answer--the only one that can with truth be given,--there has been _"no heart to it."_ The principle is of wide application, and might be largely illustrated. . . . There is no maxim more thoroughly established by experience, than that a man cannot excel in anything to which _his heart does not lie._ When do men succeed best in the pursuit of any object? Is it not when they _have a heart to it?_ What is it that keeps all men astir in the pursuit and acquisition of wealth? Is it not that _they have a heart to it?_ How do men acquire celebrity in any of the departments of science or of art? Is it not when they _have a heart to it?_--some measure of enthusiastic eagerness and persevering delight in the pursuit? . . . I put it to your consciences,--whether there be anything else whatever, that keeps you from the knowledge and the fear of God, wherein true religion consists, than your _having no heart to them?_ Talk not to me of _inability:_--your inability is entirely moral, and consists in nothing else whatever than your _"having no heart"_ to that which is good. And is this not criminal? If not, then there is no sin nor crime on earth, in hell, in the universe; nor is the existence or the conception of such a thing as moral evil possible. The want of heart to that which is good, is the very essence of all that is sinful. You offer anything but a valid excuse for your want of religion, when you say you _"have no heart to it."_ You plead in excuse the very essence of your guilt. If you desired to fear God, and could not help the contrary, your inability might be something in your behalf. But the thing cannot be. To desire to fear God, and not to be able, is a contradiction in terms. The having of the desire is the having of the principle. There can be no desiring to fear without fearing, no desiring to love without loving.--_Wardlaw._
No means can make a man wise who wanteth a good will to learn heavenly wisdom. Ishmael had good education, and Ahithophel had quick capacity, and the fool spoken of in the Gospel had great wealth, and none of all these attained to any grace. One of them was strong, and another witty, and another wealthy, but never a one wise and godly. Judas had as good a teacher as Peter, or as any other apostle, and had as good company, and saw as many miracles; and yet they having good hearts become worthy and excellent persons, and he having a false heart became a traitor and a devil.--_Dod._
Wherefore serve good natural parts, either of body or mind; or authority, opportunity, or other advantages, if they be not rightly improved and employed? Certainly they will prove no better than Uriah's letters to those that have them; or as the sword which Hector gave to Ajax, which, so long as he used it against his enemies, served for help and defence, but after he began to abuse it, turned into his own bowels. This will be a bodkin at thy heart one day: "I might have been saved, but I woefully let slip those opportunities which God had thrust into my hand."--_Trapp._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 17, 18, _and of CHAP. xviii._ 24.
TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
+I. A true friend loves under all conditions.+ 1. _He loves in times of separation._ The distance between our earth and the sun does not prevent the one from influencing the other--there is a power in gravitation which can make itself felt even when the objects affected by it are thousands of miles apart. So true love is quite independent of space--oceans may roll between the friends, yea, the very grave may separate them, and yet the gravitating force which first drew the heart of one man to another will make itself felt. It has been said that the dead and the absent have no friends, but this is a libel upon human nature. A friend loveth whether the object of his love is present or absent, and will, if needs be, defend his friend's character when he is not present to speak for himself. 2. _He loves even in times of temporary estrangement._ Transitory differences are not incompatible with the most genuine friendship, and while human nature is in its present imperfect condition it will sometimes happen that one real and true friend will disappoint and grieve another. But if the real and true feeling is in the heart it will be as unshaken by these temporary disturbances as the root of the tree is by the storm-wind that moves its branches.
+II. Friendship is especially precious in times of trial.+ True friends are not like the locust, which seeks only the green pastures and fruitful fields, and leaves them as soon as it has taken from them all that it could feed upon, but they are like the stars, the value of whose light is only really understood when all other lights are absent. When all is going well with a man he may underestimate the value of his friend's regard; he may not really know how heartfelt it is; but when misfortune, or sickness, or bereavement overtake him, he realises that a "brother is born for adversity."
+III. There is a bond stronger than any tie of blood-relationship.+ We have abundant and melancholy proofs that the mere fact of being brothers according to the flesh does not make men one in heart. The first man who tasted death was murdered by his brother, and many sons of the same father since that day have been separated from each other by a hatred as deep and deadly as that which prompted Cain to murder Abel. In the family in which Solomon was a son there was one brother with the blood of another upon his head (2 Sam. xiii. 28-30). Something stronger and deeper than the mere tie of blood is needed to make men one in heart. The most beautiful example of friendship upon record existed between the son of Saul and the shepherd of Bethlehem where there was no relationship according to the flesh, and where the heir-apparent to the throne loved as his own soul the youth who was to supplant him. There is no friendship so firm and enduring as that which is based upon doing the will of God (Mark iii. 35) no brotherhood so perfect and lasting as that which has its origin in a common discipleship to Him who is not ashamed to call them brothers (Heb. ii. 11), and who is Himself the "friend above all others," whose love can span the distance between His throne in glory and the meanest hovel upon earth, and the greater distance between Divine perfection and human sinfulness, and who was in all things _"made like unto his brethren,"_ that having Himself _"suffered being tempted, He might be able to succour them that are tempted"_ (Heb. ii. 17), and thus prove Himself to be pre-eminently the "Brother born for adversity," and the "Friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
+IV. It is an evidence of great folly to treat men as bosom-friends before we know them.+ There are men who will trust in a comparative stranger to such an extent as to lend their credit and their good name to him without any reasonable security. Such a man Solomon here characterises as being "void of understanding." It is a mark of a fool to enter into any engagement without deliberation, and in nothing does lack of wisdom more plainly manifest itself than in the formation of hasty friendships, especially if the friendship involves a man in any kind of suretyship. From lack of prudence in this matter many a man has been "all his lifetime subject to bondage." It behoves all men in the matter of friendship to follow the advice of Polonius:--
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.
_ILLUSTRATION OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP._
Damon was sentenced to die on a certain day, and sought permission of Dionysius of Syracuse to visit his family in the interim. It was granted on condition of securing a hostage for himself. Pythias heard of it, and volunteered to stand in his friend's place. The king visited him in prison, and conversed with him about the motive of his conduct, affirming his disbelief in the influence of friendship. Pythias expressed his wish to die, that his friend's honour might be vindicated. He prayed the gods to delay the return of Damon till after his own execution in his stead. The fatal day arrived. Dionysius sat on a moving throne drawn by six white horses. Pythias mounted the scaffold and thus addressed the spectators, "My prayer is heard; the gods are propitious, for the winds have been contrary till yesterday. Damon could not come, he could not conquer impossibilities; he will be here to-morrow, and the blood that is shed to-day shall have ransomed the life of my friend. Could I erase from your bosoms every mean suspicion of the honour of Damon, I should go to my death as I should to my bridal.". . . As he closed a voice in the distance cried, "Stop the execution!" and the cry was taken up and repeated by the whole assembly. A man rode up at full speed, mounted the scaffold, and embraced Pythias, crying, "You are safe now, my beloved friend! I have nothing but death to suffer, and am delivered from reproaches for having endangered a life so much dearer than my own." Pythias replied, "Fatal haste, cruel impatience! What envious powers have wrought impossibilities in your favour? But I will not be wholly disappointed. Since I cannot die to save you, I will not survive you." The king was moved to tears, and, ascending the scaffold, cried, "Live, live, ye incomparable pair! Ye have borne unquestionable testimony to the existence of virtue, and that virtue equally evinces the existence of a god to reward it. Live happy, live renowned, and oh! form me by your precepts, as ye have invited me by your example, to be worthy of the participation of so sacred a friendship."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 17. _"The Friend."_ We are to notice the article. It does not impair the proverb for its secular use. We have such an idiom: _"the friend," i.e., the true friend._ Even a worldly friend, to be worth anything, must be for all times; and what is a brother born for, but for distress? But spiritually, the article is just in its place. There is but One Only _"Friend,"_ and a _"Brother"_ who would not have been _"born"_ at all, but for the distress and straitness of His house.--_Miller._
Friendship contrasted with the wicked decreases from hour to hour, like the early shadow of the morning; but friendship formed with the virtuous will increase like the shadow of evening, till the sun of life shall set.--_Herder._
Extremity distinguisheth friends. Worldly pleasures, like physicians, give us over, when once we lie-a-dying; and yet the death-bed hath most need of comforts. Christ Jesus standeth by His in the pangs of death, and after death at the bar of judgment; not leaving them either in their bed or grave. I will use them, therefore, to my best advantage; not trust them. But for Thee, O my Lord, which in mercy and truth canst not fail me, who I have found ever faithful and present in all extremities, kill me, yet will I trust in Thee.--_Bp. Hall._
A friend shares my sorrow and makes it but a moiety; but He swells my joy and makes it double. For so two channels divide the river and lessen it into rivulets and make it fordable, and apt to drink up at the first revels of the Syrian star; but two torches do not divide, but increase the flame. And though my tears are the sooner dried up when they run on my friend's cheek in furrows of compassion; yet when my flame has kindled his lamp, we unite the glories, and make them radiant, like the golden candlesticks that burn before the throne of God; because they shine by numbers, by unions, and confederations of light and joy.--_Jeremy Taylor._
When a man blind from his birth was asked what he thought the sun was like, he replied, "Like friendship." He could not conceive of anything as more fitting as a similitude for what he had been taught to regard as the most glorious of material objects, and whose quickening and exhilarating influences he had rejoiced to feel.--_Morris._
A brother for adversity is one who will act the brother in a season of adversity. Of such an one it is said, _he must or shall be born,_ possibly, _he is born._ I do not understand this last clause unless the assertion is, that none but such as are _born brethren, i.e.,_ kindred by blood, will cleave to us in distress. Yet this is true only in a qualified sense. But another shade of meaning may be assigned to the passage, which is, that such a man as a friend in adversity _is yet to be born, i.e.,_ none such are now to be found; thus making it substantially equivalent in sense to the expression: "How few and rare are such faithful friends."--_Stuart._
As in the natural, so in the spiritual brotherhood, misery breeds unity. Ridley and Hooper, that when they were bishops, differed so much about ceremonies, could agree well enough, and be mutual comforts one to another when they were both prisoners. Esther concealed her kindred in hard times, but God's people cannot; Moses must rescue his beaten brother out of the hand of the Egyptian, though he venture his life by it.--_Trapp._
Man in his weakness needs a steady friend, and God in His wisdom has provided one in the constitution of nature. Not entrusting all to acquired friendship, He has given us some as a birthright inheritance. For the day of adversity a brother is born to many who would not have been able to win one. It is at once a glory to God in the highest, and a sweet solace to afflicted men, when a brother or a sister, under the secret and steady impulses of nature, bears and does for the distressed what no other friend, however loving, could be expected to bear or do. How foolish for themselves are those who lightly snap those bonds asunder, or touch them oft with the corrosive drops of contention! One who is born your brother is best fitted to be your friend in trouble, if unnatural strife has not rent asunder those whom their Maker intended to be one in spirit. . . . _"There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."_ He must be a fast friend indeed, for a brother, if nature's affections have been cherished, lies close in, and keeps a steady hold. . . . Oh, when hindering things are taken out of the way of God's work, a brother lies very close to a brother. He who comes closer must be no common friend. . . . It is the idea of a friendship more perfect, fitting more kindly into our necessities, and bearing more patiently with our weaknesses, than the instinctive love of a brother by birth. From God's hand-work in nature a very tender and a very strong friendship proceeds: from His covenant of mercy comes a friendship tenderer and stronger still. Now, although the conception is embodied in the communion of saints, its full realisation is only found in the love wherewith Christ loves His own. . . . The precious germ which Solomon's words unfold, bore its ripened fruit only when He who is bone of our bone gave Himself the just for the unjust. Thus by a surer process than verbal criticism, we are conducted to the man Christ Jesus, as at once the Brother born for adversity, and the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. . . . In the day of your deepest adversity even a born brother must let go his hold. That extremity is the opportunity of your best friend.--_Arnot._
Verse 18. It is good to try him whom we intend for a bosom friend before we trust him; as men prove their vessels with water before they fill them with wine. Many complain of the treachery of their friends, and say, with Queen Elizabeth, that in trust they have found treason; but most of these have greatest cause, if all things be duly weighed, to complain of themselves for making no better choice.--_Swinnock._
Seeing he hath not understanding to keep himself from hurt, it were good if he had not power in his hand to do himself hurt. . . . Surely such a fool may quickly wring his hands together in sorrow, who before did clap his hands in joy, and may strike himself in anger with the same hand, wherewith in the foolish kindness of surety he struck the hand of another. . . . For often this over-kind part of a friend is the breaking of friendship if it bring no further mischief.--_Jermin._
The evil effects of _strife_ and _pride,_ which form the subject of verse 19, have been treated before. See on verse 14, and on chaps. xi. 2, and xvi. 18. Some expositors attach a slight difference to the meaning of the latter clause. See below.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
_"Sets high_ (exalteth) _his gate;"_ a figure that is probably misunderstood. It probably means _belligerence._ A moat over which issued armed bands, with banners and mounted spearmen, required high space to let them go forth. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates," etc. The soul that fixes itself that way against the Almighty, ready to march out upon Him on any occasion of quarrel, _"seeks"_ ruin.--_Miller._
The slothful man exposes himself to misery; but he waits for it till it comes upon him like a traveller. The aspiring man, that cannot be happy without a stately dwelling, and a splendid manner of living beyond what his estate will bear, _seeks_ for destruction, and sends a coach and six to bring it to him.--_Lawson._
_"And he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction."_ Some take this for a comparison:--As surely as he that exalteth his gate (enlarging it out of due proportion) seeketh destruction to his house, by thus weakening its structure,--_so surely_ does he that loveth strife generate transgression. The phrase _"exalteth his gate,"_ however, instead of being thus understood literally, may, with more propriety, be interpreted of a man's _ambitiously affecting a style of living beyond his income_--disproportionate to the amount of his means of maintaining it. The _general character_ is described by one
## particular manifestation of it--the high style of the exterior of his
mansion. The "exalting of the _gate_" applies to the entire style of his household establishment--not to his dwelling merely, but to his equipage, his table, his servants, his dress, and everything else. He who does this _"seeks destruction:"_ he courts his own downfall, as effectually as if it were his direct object to ruin himself. Matthew Henry, in his own quaint and pithy way, says--"He makes his gate so large, that his house and estate go out at it."--_Wardlaw._
There is none that loveth strife more than he that _exalteth his gate,_ either the gate of his ears to hear the tales of others, and the praises of himself, or else the gates of his eyes overlooking others with scorn and disdain, and his own worth by many degrees, or else the gate of his mouth, which is properly the gate of man, with big and swelling words, with high and lofty terms which usually are the sparks that kindle contention. But what doth such an one do, but ever _seek for destruction,_ which at his lifted-up gate, findeth easy passage to run in upon him.--_Jermin._
For Homiletics on the subjects of verses 20 and 21, see on