75-Pro_24:23-34
LECTURE LXXV.
"These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect to persons in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer. Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work. I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well; I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." The principle laid down in the first of these verses, while it immediately relates to the public exercise of judicial power, and (as we have had occasion more than once to notice, and to show from many express citations from the Old Testament,) is by divine authority strongly and repeatedly urged on judges under the ancient economy,-has obviously, at the same time, a direct and forcible application to other two cases:-to the case of private arbitration, and to the discipline of the church of God. Every arbiter or referee, in any cause, is by such reference constituted a judge, and bound to the honourable and faithful exercise of the judicial function. Departure from this in one iota would involve the twofold guilt of a violation of integrity and a breach of trust,-of a sin against God and a crime against man. And as to the discipline of the church, the very same law is actually laid down for it, as for the dispensation of justice by civil functionaries.*
* Comp. Leviticus 19:15 as a specimen of such passages in the Old Testament, and James 2:1-9 for the same principle in the New.
Verse Proverbs 24:24. "He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him."-Integrity, honesty, justice, are virtues of society, which the men of the world, though themselves without godliness, and regardless of the dishonour done by the violation of them to the divine Lawgiver, are fully competent to appreciate, in regard to their influence on the condition and well-being of civil communities. They will bear with much that is dissolute and vile in the conduct of their rulers. They think little of it. They regard it as if it affected only their private characters,-nay, in this respect they are not at all ill-pleased to have the countenance of such high example in what they are inclined to practise themselves; and as to religion, they never give a thought to the question whether they know anything about it or not:-but they are very sensitive as to the violation of the principles of equity in the administration of the laws. When a public man acts a flagrantly unrighteous and dishonest part,-whether he does it under the influence of fear, or self-interest, or avarice, or indolence, or favouritism, or any other misleading principle and motive,-he becomes the object of general detestation. His people, instead of looking up to him with affectionate gratitude and confidence, become alienated from him, and-timidly and secretly perhaps at first, but more and more openly and loudly as they find a responsive feeling in the bosoms of others,-they load himself and his government with bitter execrations:-so that if the man has any feeling, he will read his sin in his punishment, as, amidst spreading and thickening murmurs and imprecations, coming, even though partially on his ear, he trembles on his throne:-for though he may have found that "the king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion," and that his subjects for a time quailed before it, yet the wrath of a once awakened and vengeful people, roused and united by a sense of common and deep-felt wrongs, is incomparably more fearful.
How pleasing the contrast, verse Proverbs 24:25:-"But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them." Whence this delight? From various and obvious sources:-as 1. From the consciousness of having done rightly. He who acts unjustly, treating the wicked as righteous, and the righteous as wicked, cannot have this;-the sweetest and richest of inward delights,-infinitely surpassing, in real value and happy influence, all the charms of adulation and flattery. Of all conceivable things, indeed, to a man who has any conscience at all remaining, or any sensibility, praise must be the most cutting and distressing when there is the inward consciousness of its being undeserved, and that it comes out of either ignorant or feigned lips:-2. From the possession of public approbation, affection, and confidence. The attachment of others to him should not be either a man’s or a magistrate’s supreme end. But still, the enjoyment of it is sweet. Few things, indeed, to a mind of sensibility, can be more so. For a monarch not only to be greeted with the assurance by the lip of fulsome flattery, but to see and know by indubitable proofs, that he reigns in the hearts of a devoted and grateful people, must be a spring, to that monarch’s bosom, of a "delight" inexpressible:-3. From a sense of divine approbation. Human commendation and attachment little avail any one, unless they are in harmony with this. God’s blessing,-and that is indeed "a good blessing," the best of all,-comes upon the head of the man who, in the firm exercise of right principle, in opposition to all intimidation and to all allurement, to the frown of one and the favour of another, keeps, with unshaken steadfastness, to the dictates of straight-forward truth, and unbending rectitude.-4. From the affection and complacency of all good men,-and-the grateful acknowledgments of those whose causes have been carefully, disinterestedly and righteously investigated and determined:-even those who fail having, notwithstanding, a testimony in their consciences to the soundness of principle and the sincerity of the desire to do right, with which all has been conducted. This kind of general approbation is strongly expressed in the following verse:-"Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer."-It is a truth, established by the history of the world, that a truly conscientious and good ruler, who acts upon principle, and in all things shows that he is seeking his people’s good, will be the object of a warmly loyal attachment, such as would rally that people round him at the risk of life for his protection and that of his throne,-ready to shed their blood, if need be, in his cause. It has been at times, of course, the fate even of such, to be mistaken and misrepresented; and to become for a season the victims of prejudice and alienation most unmerited. But the misapprehensions having been cleared away and the suspicions proved unfounded, the wrong felt to have been done him has but endeared him the more.
Similar will be the attachment of the people to such ministers and counsellors of the crown as "give a right answer"-an answer dictated, not by flattery, not by a desire to secure the royal favour to themselves by conforming to the royal likings, but by a sincere regard to right principle and to the national welfare;-that is, public favour will be the lot of the man who, having the royal ear, avails himself of the privilege and the confidence, to give faithful and disinterested counsel. And although royal fools (for such there have been) may cast off such men, because they refuse to give counsel against their own convictions, merely to please their masters and keep their places,-yet monarchs even of ordinary principle will respect the conscientious principle that sacrifices interest to fidelity and truth; and on experiencing the happy results, will "kiss the lips that gave a right answer" instead of one time-serving, selfish, and flattering. And the words certainly involve a pointed condemnation of all the venial and unworthy adulation too often lavished on wicked men when in power, by sycophant courtiers; by orators, and poets, and party authors; by ministers of state, and alas! by ministers too of the altar of the God of truth!-palliating and excusing vice and injustice,-extolling unreal or questionable virtues,-investing wickedness and licentiousness with a halo of false and illusive splendour,-bestowing on the tyrant or the debauchee the honour and the praise that belong only to the upright prince and to the good man. O how sadly and criminally have human talents and human influence been thus prostrated and prostituted at the shrine of power, in the spirit of selfish venality!-"This proverb," says a judicious expositor, "contains a useful rule for private persons, as well as for rulers. When we are asked an important question, or consulted on an affair of importance, every man will esteem and love us, if we ’give a right answer.’ And, that our answer may be right, it is necessary that it should be sincere, prudent, and meek. We must not give an answer calculated merely to please the person that advises with us; for that would not be consistent with integrity. We must consider all the circumstances of the case, that we may give a proper and pertinent answer; and we must speak with that meekness which renders wisdom lovely. If our answers to those who advise with us have these qualifications, although they may sometimes be distasteful, because truth compels us to speak things disagreeable, yet they will tend, on the whole, to the advancement of our character:-and our character is no contemptible object, because the goodness of it is necessary for us in accomplishing the great business of life, glorifying God, and doing good to men." *
* Lawson.
There is one question, my hearers, to which, above all others, "a right answer" is desirable. The question is that of the jailor at Philippi:-and assuredly he would have kissed those lips that gave him the answer,-the faith of which inspired his own heart and those of his family with "joy unspeakable." It was the right-the only right answer. It was the answer "given by inspiration of God." The same had come from those lips into which "grace was poured"-the lips of the "faithful and true witness." Sinners, in their infatuation, may wish a different answer. But the "right answer" is the only one that will obtain favour in the end. All who receive that answer, and experience the blessed results, will "kiss the lips" that have given it. But, "whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear"-the one answer must be given. It is the answer that points to the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." The answer that was the right one to the jailor is the right one to each of you:-"BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED." We might give you an answer more in accordance with your spirit of self-righteousness, and worldliness, and pride. You might bless our lips for it, possibly, now; but we are fully assured, you would curse them in the latter end.
Verse Proverbs 24:27. "Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house." A large number of proverbial sentiments, and maxims of practical wisdom, are to be found couched in terms taken from particular departments of life and business. Every one at all acquainted with even the ordinary, but frequently very terse and pithy proverbs of our own country, must be aware of this. It is so in the verse before us. The advice thus given, to bring the lands into good heart, and make the estate productive, before we lavish large expenditure upon the mansion, is clearly intended to convey a general lesson. What is it? I answer-One or other of two things.
1. Begin no undertaking, without due forethought and adequate preparation. Let needful calculations be previously made. Look before you. Think what you are doing. See that you have means for going forward and finishing as well as for commencing. Let all be planned and laid out; materials collected or secured; your way clear. This view of the admonition is often too little regarded; and the important principle of it too often violated. Men set about objects of great magnitude with little of either reflection or anticipation,-with partial information, inadequate provision, and unascertained resources. All is imposing in the outset, and great expectations are excited. But all comes by and by to a stand; and shame, disappointment, and loss are the result,-their unfinished works remaining to future generations as the memorials of their folly.
2. Let those things which are obviously most important and necessary be done first, and the less urgent afterwards. Let not a man begin business by building, and expensively furnishing, a fine house. Let the land be first cultivated. Let your business, whatever its nature, be faithfully and diligently minded, and well established, as far as human industry can effect, or human foresight calculate. Be content, in the mean time, with inferior accommodation. There is an ambitious hasting to be great upon little, as well as an eager hasting to make little much, that is deeply reprehensible, because it is injurious to others as well as to the speculator himself. A man should have property well realized and secured, before he enters on schemes of expensive building. He must not, with sanguine infatuation, appropriate the very first proceeds of his trade to the erection of a palace to live in! The principle of the general maxim, as one of prudential wisdom, is applicable in other departments than those of worldly business. The man violates it who, in the department of literature or science, undertakes works for which he either has not from nature adequate capacity, or for which he has not adequately endowed himself by preparatory study and information. There is the certainty, in such cases, of a disgraceful failure; and, if others have been made to depend upon his instructions, and he proves himself utterly incompetent to redeem the pledge held out, he becomes chargeable with the injustice and wrong done to them, as well as the butt of ridicule himself. By the highest of all authorities, Jesus himself, the principle is applied, in tho department of religion, to the duty and importance of avoiding a hasty and inconsiderate profession of it. He wished and warned all to think what they were doing; to count the cost; to act on the principles of prudential calculation; to consider, whether what they were to obtain by becoming his followers, was, or was not, worth the sacrifices which the step might demand of them. The man who founds a mighty profession on very scanty and imperfect acquaintance with the doctrine he professes, and with the nature and effects of the profession it requires, is like the man who makes a fine show by rearing a splendid mansion, while his fields are not in a condition to support it. Such a man, instead of maintaining his profession out of his capital, puts all his capital into his profession. There is nothing else. He cannot stand. The principle of the maxim has also been justly applied to spiritual knowledge. "There are first principles which ought in the first place to be well studied, and then we must ’go on unto perfection.’ To think of going on to perfection without learning the first principles is as foolish as to think of raising the superstructure of a house without laying the foundation; and to rest in the first principles, is as foolish as to lay the foundation of a house, and then to fancy that our work is all over."*
* Lawson.
Verse Proverbs 24:28. "Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips."-So far as witness-bearing is concerned, we have had this same subject repeatedly under our notice. It may be an imperative duty at times, painful as it ever must be, to "bear witness against our neighbour." It may bo required of us, by our regard to the good of society, to the glory of God, and to the rights of individuals. Our testimony, whensoever we are called and bound to give it, must invariably be according to the strictest truth. But there is, in this verse, something more than this. Not only are we forbidden to bear false witness against our neighbour,-we are not to bear witness against him at all,"without cause:"-that is, when our unfavourable testimony is uncalled for; when it is not required by any of the considerations mentioned, or even by that of self-exculpation,-when we are implicated, and our character, reputation, or interest, is at stake, and cannot be vindicated or secured without the crimination of another. The interdiction is violated, when a man, from any improper motive, ultroneously and needlessly, pushes himself forward to offer his testimony,-though fully aware of the results to the party who is the subject of it. If a man is induced to give unfavourable testimony by any selfish or unwarrantable consideration, he transgresses this prohibition. You will at once perceive,-and I trust you will have the impression of it fixed deeply and indelibly in your minds, so that it may duly influence your entire practice,-that the terms apply, directly and forcibly, to all descriptions of scandal that consist in the needless repetition of real evils. Of this there is a vast and lamentable amount. Slander is properly "false invective;" but there may be a great deal of scandal, even where there is not an atom of slander. Deem it not enough that the evil you tell of your neighbour is true. Still think of the golden rule. Still ask the question, whether, if you are conscious of anything wrong in yourselves, which another knows, you would like the possessor of the secret to bring it into publicity. And, as you feel how decidedly you would deprecate this in your own case, venture not on it in the case of another. Venture not, even in the way of the most confidential secrecy. Keep what you know in your own bosoms. It is best and safest there. In all such matters, proceed on the maxim that a whisper in solitude may one day become the buzz of a public fama,-that what is "told in the ear in closets" may be by and by "proclaimed upon the housetops;" that however unseen you drop the stone into the stillness of the lake, you give thereby the first impulse to a circling and widening wave.
"All very good," you may say, "as regards friends and neighbours that have done one no wrong, and to whom one owes no grudge. But what of enemies, of persons who have slandered and injured us ?-are we to be schooled and censured for only paying them in their own coin?" The answer is in next verse. It is clear and pointed. Ponder it well;-"Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."*
* On the general subject of retaliation, see on verses 17th and 18th of this chapter (Proverbs 24:17-18) and preceding passages. The general subject of the following verses (Proverbs 24:30-34) has been more than once noticed;* but they not only bear but require repetition,-" line upon line, precept upon precept." Solomon describes what had come accidentally under his eye. It was a scene of desolation,-not the result of the barrenness of the soil, nor of the violence of the invading foe, but of indolence and neglect. The field which had before been cultivated lay waste; the vineyard, which before had been dressed and productive, was now overrun with every description of useless and noxious weeds. Solomon looked on this scene, and gathered a lesson from it; a lesson to himself, which the Holy Spirit directed him to put on record for all generations:-"Then I saw, and considered it well; I looked upon it, and received instruction." It has been said, and truly said, that "wise men profit more by fools, than fools by wise men: for wise men will learn to avoid the faults of fools, but fools will not learn to imitate the virtues of wise men." Let us learn from the scene described- * As in Proverbs 6:6-11.
1. How gradual may be the approaches of the evils of sloth, while, at the same time, they are irresistible in the end. This is the lesson of the thirty-fourth verse. The traveller approaches by degrees. When comparatively at a distance, he appears harmless; but, when he has advanced a certain length, he is discovered to be "an armed man,"-all resistance to whom is too late, and consequently vain. Famine, though gaunt, is irresistibly mighty. Who can stand before it? Not the man of habitual sloth. The very habit has the more thoroughly incapacitated him for plucking up any spirit to ward off the final ravages of the frightful enemy. He succumbs, sinks, and dies. The same lesson is read to us in the case of the field and the garden. It is by degrees that they come to the state of utter desolation and luxuriance in all that is profitless and hurtful, here described:-but though slowly, it is surely. And so surely is the tendency realized in a neglected business and a neglected family. You may possibly have chanced to see two little gardens adjoining each other; the one the garden of the diligent-neat, clean, orderly, beautiful, wellstocked and productive; the other that of the sluggard, here so graphically described. Now, as you see the garden without, you may expect to find the family within:-in the one, all clean, and snug, and tidy, and comfortable; in the other, all dirty, and bare, and tattered, and cheerless: and this too, where there is the same amount, or rather the same scantiness of means,-nay perhaps the advantage, in this respect, on the side of the sluggard.
How opposite the feelings produced by these two scenes!-what delight in the one! what disgust in the other! And of one emotion, in contemplating each, we are especially conscious. If circumstances of trial and loss are imagined to come upon the one, how prompt in purpose we feel to help him,-to keep him up, or, when he falls, to raise him again. His neighbours will unite to stock his garden for him from their own store,-to provide for his children, and to furnish him anew with the means of doing well, and will pray for a blessing upon him. The other will meet with but little sympathy. He will be left to reap the bitter fruit of his own laziness and folly; no eye pitying, no hand helping him.
2. Our souls are committed by God to our own spiritual cultivation. This is no sinecure. They will not thrive themselves. If we would have them "as a watered garden, and as a field which the Lord hath blessed," we must apply spiritual activity and labour, to stock them with the appropriate graces, affections, and virtues, and to promote the growth and productiveness of them all. We must sow the seed, and seek by prayer the showers of the divine blessing,-the promised influences of the divine Spirit. We must watch over the germination, the springing, the growth, and the fructifying of the seed. "Without this all will be stunted and sterile. The noxious and unsightly weeds of sin will spring and luxuriate, and overspread the soil; all growing tliat ought not to grow, and nothing growing that should. Ignorance and error,-foolish and sinful imaginations,-all the lusts and passions,-all the thoughts, and words, and acts of vice and wickedness,-will make room for themselves, choking up and destroying everything else. If there be any fruit in the field, it will be "thistles instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley:"-if any grapes in the vineyard, they will be "wild grapes;"-the "grapes of Sodom, the clusters of Gomorrah," "grapes of gall, clusters of bitterness,"-while all the under-soil will be fertile only in what is worthless or worse,-in the weeds of foolishness, and the poisons of iniquity and death. A neglected garden is unsightly; but how much more unsightly to the spiritual eye, a neglected soul!-a soul left to itself; uncultivated, and unprotected; left to produce what it will, and exposed, by the breaking down of its fences, to the ravages of every passing devourer; "the lion from the bottomless pit wasting it at his pleasure!"
Let us, then, my beloved brethren, attend with unremitting diligence to the fencing and the cultivation of our minds and hearts, in the knowledge, and faith, and love, and holy influence, of divine truth; that so all that is noxious may be repressed and rooted out, and that we may be "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." "Herein," said Jesus, "is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples." O let us beware of bringing upon ourselves the complaint of Jehovah against his ancient people-who enjoyed so much privilege, but proved so sadly degenerate-fertile in evil, and sterile of good!* Let us bear in mind, that it is only when we wait for, and "drink in" the rains of divine influence, and "bring forth fruit unto God," that we can receive an increase of blessing; and that when, in the midst of all means and all advantages, we are, solely through our own listlessness, and indolence, and negligence, in the use and improvement of them, barren and unfruitful, or fruitful only in evil, we are exposing ourselves to the righteous desertion and curse of God.
* Comp. Isaiah 5:1-7.
Let parents apply the principle to the spiritual instruction of their children. Your families are as vineyards committed to your care and culture. Imagine not that, when left to themselves, they will spontaneously yield good fruit. The experience of all generations reads you an opposite lesson. You must enclose; you must dig, and sow, and water, and watch, and protect the springing blade, till it comes to the ear, and the full corn in the ear. You must train from their earliest germs your tender plants, and guard, and support, and prune them, and clear and manure the soil around them. The incessant care of both parents must be bestowed upon this; and all little enough. They must look for the help and for the blessing of God. O see to it, that the verses before us be not a just description of any of your families,-from your parental negligence, indifference, and sloth. Let every family be as a sacred enclosure for God; fenced in from the blasts and blights of the world, where the "plants of his right hand’s planting" are reared from the seed, for future productiveness. And it would ill become me to forget,-deeply humbling as the remembrance is, as being associated with the consciousness of great failures, and great, though some of them unavoidable, deficiencies,-that the Church is the Lord’s vineyard, and that every separate church of Christ is a section of that vineyard; that ministerial watchfulness, and diligence, and fidelity, and prayerfulness, are required, for its protection from the inroads of Satan, and for its suitable culture, and divinely required fruitfulness. When, through erroneous, unfaithful, speculative, heartless preaching,-by a shunning to declare the whole counsel of God,-by the teaching of doctrine without practice, or of practice without doctrine,-and by the laxity or entire neglect of instituted discipline,-by carelessness in the admission of members, and the want of vigilance over their conduct when received,-by allowing to pass without admonition what ought to be admonished, and retaining that which ought to be excluded,-any portion of that sacred enclosure becomes overrun with the briars and thorns of conformity to the world from which it ought to be separate, and from which its distinction ought to be apparent to all,-a solemn responsibility may be incurred, and a heavy account may have to be rendered. And let us look with pity on the vast outfield of the world, both in Christian and in heathen lands. Is it not, on a fearfully extensive scale, what is here described? "It is all grown over with thorns, and nettles have covered the face thereof, and the stone-wall thereof is broken down." It is overspread, in sad luxuriance, with all the varieties of sin; it is open to the wasteful malignity of the enemy of God and of souls. Instead of being, as it should have been, one great garden of the Lord, it is rank with all that is hateful in His sight. It is the duty of Christians to reclaim this desolation. Jehovah has given to his Son "the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." The "desolate heritages" must be brought in. It has been through the criminal indolence and apathy of the church of God, that they have lain so long and so extensively waste. The world, as committed to the care and culture of the people of God, has, alas! for many an age, been "the field of the slothful, and the vineyard of the man void of understanding." There has been for some time an awakening to a more intelligent view of the relation of the church to the world, and to a sense of the sin and shame of former indolence and neglect. The great duty is now, in no small degree, felt, of clearing away from the face of this apostate earth the "thorns and nettles" of sin and the curse, and bringing the whole into spiritual cultivation and productiveness. O let Christians be more and more, personally and unitedly, diligent in this good work, that so "the wilderness and the solitary place may be glad for them; and the desert may rejoice and blossom as the rose," Isaiah 35:1. Let the prayer of the ancient church be ours: "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause thy face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon the earth, thy saving health among all nations." Psalms 67:1-2.