Proverbs 15
ButlerIf we never go to war save when justice and righteousness require that we should do so; if our dealings with any other nation, whether weak or strong, civilized or savage, be rigidly and chivalrously upright; if our commerce be not corrupted at the fount by that horrible selfishness which sacrifices nations to its greed of gain—then we may expect and we shall receive a blessing from the God of all nations, for then the one principle of all our foreign policy will be this—to aim at ever finding our own highest good in the highest good of all mankind. Farrar.—To be known as the wisest people, so that others seek in friendly emulation to learn from us—this is an eminence any patriot well may desire for the land he loves. But this will depend on the amount of moral culture in a people—i.e., on the degree of clearness with which a people see what is right, on the measure of force they put forth in the pursuit of it, and on the firmness with which they insist on the right being paramount to any considerations of power, expediency, or gain. Not only in the individual, the family, and the social life must righteousness be the chief corner-stone of a common weal, but in those acts in which a man has to play the part of a citizen, and in which a nation has to do with other nations. Righteousness may not be eliminated from politics, nor may it play a subordinate part. Universal, eternal, unchangeable, are the laws of righteousness, and by whomsoever they are violated—by individuals, families, churches, or nations—such violation will surely be followed by remorse and shame. The truest form of moral culture is loyalty to the Divine Being and His commands. No nation ever can thrive without this. And there is as much obedience to God in the nation as is rendered to Him by individual souls, and no more. Hence it is the part of the true patriot who desires his nation’s greatness to see that he is living the life which will help to make the nation great. C. C.
1. A SOFT answer turneth away wrath: But a grievous word stirreth up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright: But the mouth of fools poureth out folly. 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch upon the evil and the good. 4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: But perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit. 5 A fool despiseth his father’s correction: But he that regardeth reproof getteth prudence. 6 In the house of the righteous is much treasure: But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. 7 The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: But the heart of the foolish doeth not so. 8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: But the prayer of the upright is his delight. 9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD:
But he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. 10 There is grievous correction for him that forsaketh the way: And he that hateth reproof shall die. 11 Sheol and Abaddon are before the LORD: How much more then the hearts of the children of men! 12 A scorner loveth not to be reproved: He will not go unto the wise. 13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. 14 The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: But the mouth of fools feedeth on folly. 15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: But he that is of a cheerful heart hath a continual feast. 16 Better is little with the fear of the LORD, Than great treasure and trouble therewith. 17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
18. A wrathful man stirreth up contention :
But he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
19. The way of the sluggard is as an hedge of thorns :
But the path of the upright is made an high way.
20. A wise son maketh a glad father :
But a foolish man despiseth his mother.
21. Folly is joy to him that is void of wisdom :
But a man of understanding maketh straight his going.
22. Where there is no counsel, purposes are disappointed :
But in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
23. A man hath joy in the answer of his mouth : And a word in due season, how good is it !
24. To the wise the way of life goeth upward, That he may depart from Sheol beneath.
25. The LORD will root up the house of the proud :
But he will establish the border of the widow.
26. Evil devices are an abomination to the LORD :
But pleasant words are pure.
27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house :
But he that hateth gifts shall live.
28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer :
But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
29. The LORD is far from the wicked :
But he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
30. The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart :
And good tidings make the bones fat.
31. The ear that hearkeneth to the reproof of life
Shall abide among the wise.
32. He that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul :
But he that hearkeneth to reproof getteth understanding.
33. The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom ;
And before honour goeth humility.
1. AN answer soft, in the sense of mild and soothing, turns back wrath ; abates its virus, averts its aim, makes the wrathful man ashamed. But irritating words, such as cause pain, fire up the passion of anger to fury. Even gentle tones of voice and a quiet manner and bearing have a marvellous power to turn away wrath ; even as sharp and violent tones on the contrary excite angry passions to a fiercer flame H. C. —“ A soft answer” is the only effective answer in the way of good results. A severe, sharp manner in response to offensive words or conduct, no matter what the provocation, is the poorest of all vindications, and is certain not to mollify but intensify the spirit that assaults our good name. Gentle words, a forgiving spirit, will do what hard blows and angry epithets and a belligerent attitude never did and never can accomplish. J. M. Sherwood.
Cold words freeze people, hot words scorch them, bitter words make them bitter, and wrathful words make them wrathful. Kind words produce their own image on men’s souls ; and a beautiful image it is. They smooth, and quiet, and comfort the hearer. Pascal. — Hasty words rankle the wound ; soft language dresses it ; forgiveness cures it ; and oblivion takes away the scar. It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury, than by argument to overcome it. Quarles. — Kind words cost no more than unkind ones. Kind words produce kind actions, not only on the part of those to whom they are addressed, but on the part of those by whom they are employed ; and this habitually in virtue of the principle of association. Jeremy Bentham.
Making use of the gentlest and least grating terms that we can will be extremely beneficial ; and accordingly it follows here that “ grievous words stir up anger.” But if such begin to present themselves and struggle for vent, we must resolve to utter as few of any sort as possible ; or, if it become requisite, none at all ; but shut fast the door of our lips till the mastiff within hath done barking. It is a painful restraint, but if we will remain masters of ourselves, it is absolutely necessary. For one hasty expression bursting out makes freer way for another, till at last the banks are levelled, and the torrent carries all before it. “ A patient man, therefore, will bear for a time, and afterward joy shall spring up unto him. He will hide his words for a time, and the lips of many shall declare his wisdom” (Eccl. 1 : 23, 24). Archbishop Secker.
2. Tongue of the wise. The power of speech and the use we make of it cannot be overlooked. It is a talent, and not a mean or trivial one, which we all possess. We hold it in trust. We are to use it as stewards who are to give account. This is, indeed, a high standard, but it is the true one. E. H. G. — What a man wants to do in talking is to get and to give as much of the best and most real life that belongs to the two talkers as the time will let him. Life is short, and conversation apt to run to mere words. O. W. Holmes.
Uttereth knowledge aright. Think of the true end of knowledge; and endeavor not after it for curiosity, contention, or the sake of despising others; nor yet for profit, reputation, power, or any such inferior consideration; but solely for the occasions and uses of life; all along conducting and perfecting it in the spirit of benevolence. Bacon.
3. The eye is the best possible symbol from the material world to represent the piercing, pervading, perfect knowledge of the omniscient mind. To say “they are in every place” gives us the conception of His omnipresence, reaching every possible sphere and mode of created existence, showing that the darkness and the light are both alike to Him, and that there is no hiding in any secret place where His mind shall not know our thoughts and deeds most perfectly. The word for “beholding” means scanning, searching out, the term commonly used for the responsible service of the watchman whose sole concern is to see. The words, “the evil and the good,” mean evil men and good men—the responsible agents who are doing either evil or good. The infinite God is bound to take cognizance of their doings. This proverb puts a great and vital truth in its most practical form. H. C.
The eye of God is upon every hour of my existence. His Spirit is intimately present with every thought of my heart. His presiding influence keeps by me through the whole current of my restless and ever-changing history. When I walk by the wayside He is along with me. Go where I will, He tends me, watches me, and cares for me. Amid all my forgetfulness of Him, He never forgets me. Chalmers.—The right state of mind plainly is, to have the thought of God’s presence so perpetually at hand that it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted. So that, whenever we are on the point of doing or saying anything cowardly, or mean, or false, or impure, or proud, or conceited, or unkind, the remembrance that God is looking on shall instantly flash across us and help us to beat down our enemy. This is living with God. And this perpetual though not always conscious sense of God’s presence would, if we would let it have its perfect work, gradually act on our characters just as the presence of our fellow-men does. We cannot live long with men without catching something of their manner, of their mode of thought, of their character, of their government of themselves.
So by living in the presence of God we shall assuredly learn something of a heavenly tone, and shake off some of that coarse worldliness, that deeply ingrained selfishness, that silly pride and conceit which now spoils our very best service. Bishop Temple.
6. A great treasure is in the house of the righteous, since there dwells content, which gratefully esteems what highest love bestows, and though his earthly portion be but scant, enjoys more real happiness than falls to the lot of fortune’s favorite. There dwells love, which binds hearts as walls are bound, only to part in dust and ruins; love which makes imparted joy more sweet and sorrow shared the lighter. And where love dwells, there dwells God! God from above, God from within; God before our eyes, God in the heart; God in prosperity, God in pain; God as guide of soul and mind, God in light and darkness; is there, can there be, treasure greater than this? No, answers every heart that God has touched. How different the household which the end of the proverb pictures: “but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble!” Sin poisons all—the kindest household, the richest treasure, the most happy marriage. Household piety is thus the only key to household happiness, the means by which even our family distresses, our cares and wants, are changed to gold refined, since if God be for us, who or what can be against us? Van O.
7. The true way to make pure and wholesome our own share in the ceaseless tide of words which is forever flowing around us, is to strive to make pure and wholesome the heart within. If once our hearts have been trained to care very deeply for what is best and purest in life, for what is beautiful and true in thought, our heartiest mirth, our freest words, will not be those of men and women who are indifferent, who care nothing for noble living, nothing for a Christian life, nothing for a Christian spirit. Dean Bradley.—Keep clear of personalities in general conversation. Talk of things, objects, thoughts. The smallest minds occupy themselves with persons. Do not needlessly report ill of others. And, as far as possible, dwell on the good side of human beings. There are family boards where a constant process of depreciating, assigning motives, and cutting up character, goes forward. They are not pleasant places. One who is healthy does not wish to dine at a dissecting-table. There is evil enough in men, God knows. But it is not the mission of every young man and woman to detail and report it all. Keep the atmosphere as pure as possible and fragrant with gentleness and charity. J. Hall.
8. The sacrifice offered by the wicked God abhors for the twofold reason—that it lacks sincerity, love, the element of true worship and homage; and also, that it has sinister ends in view, e.g., to propitiate God’s favor upon a heart and life of sin; to buy an indulgence; it being an effort to offset so much cost of sacrifice against the permission to go on in sin and rebellion without incurring the awful penalties thereof. On the other hand, the mere prayer of the upright, even though he may have no costly sacrifice to give, is God’s delight. The offering of the heart insures His favor. H. C.
10. Shall die. If this phraseology has a meaning which is intelligible, it would seem to be that the idea of future retribution must have entered into the minds of those who employed it. No other meaning, which is both significant and true, can well be attached to it. M. S.
11. Sheol, meaning the underworld, the supposed abode of the dead, thought of as the deepest and darkest of all places. The word for “destruction” (abaddon), corresponding to the Greek apollon (English, apollyon), is here another name for the same place. The proverb affirms that this deepest and darkest of places is not too dark for the eye of God to pierce through, but is present to His view, all exposed and naked before Him. How much more then must this be true of the hearts of all the sons of men? The sentiment is therefore essentially the same as in v. 3 above. H. C.
12. God made both tears and laughter, and both for kind purposes: Tears hinder sorrows from becoming despair and madness; and laughter is one of the very privileges of reason, being confined to the human species. Locke. —A cheerful spirit, under the government of wisdom and grace, is a great ornament to religion, puts a further lustre upon the beauty of holiness, and makes men the more capable of doing good. H. —Cheerfulness must be genuine, not put on as a mask that can be removed at pleasure; it must be the outcome of a healthy soul, the shining forth of the light that is within you, the real, actual cheerfulness of one who is not insensible to the troubles and trials of this life, but who lives above them and endures them with cheerful patience because he is true to his convictions of Christian life beyond. Hallock.
Every tendency, feeling, and desire of which we are conscious was implanted in us by God for some wise and good purpose. The mere fact that our mouth can be filled with laughter seems to prove that God designed us to use the power for good ends. Those ends are such as these: the relaxation and refreshment of the mind after labor or sorrow or other severe tension; the encouragement of vigorous work by the pleasure attaching to success; the promotion of that spirit of cordial fellowship and good-will which may be ennobled and sanctified into brotherly kindness and Christian charity. Mirth may intrude into times and places from which it should be excluded; it may degenerate into irreverence and frivolity. He who is frivolous regards everything in a ludicrous or trifling aspect, whether it is some high effort of the intellect, some sublime truth or noble action, or the very revelations of Christ’s Gospel. Such is not the condition of him who remembers the duties which he owes to the kind and loving Father who endowed us with the capacity of enjoyment, who knows that his first duty is to serve God and sacrifice his own inclinations, and so accepts laughter and cheerfulness as merciful recreations to the real work of life. Bishop Cotton.
15. Cheerfulness, which is lasting and diffuses itself over all our actions and enjoyments, is not merely like a feast which is temporary, but is like a perpetual feast, i.e., an enduring source of pleasure. M. S.—Life to the cheerful is as one perpetual banquet, whether he be poor or rich. That which disturbs the feast is anxiety, the “taking thought” of Matt. 6:34. E. H. P.
Between levity and cheerfulness there is a wide distinction; and the mind which is most open to levity is frequently a stranger to cheerfulness. Levity may be the forced production of folly or vice; cheerfulness is the natural offspring of wisdom and virtue only. The one is an occasional agitation; the other a permanent habit. The one degrades the character; the other is perfectly consistent with the dignity of reason, and the steady and manly spirit of religion. Instead of those fallacious hopes of perpetual festivity with which the world would allure us, religion confers upon us a cheerful tranquillity. Instead of dazzling us with meteors of joy which sparkle and expire, it sheds around us a calm and steady light, more solid, more equal, and more lasting. Blair.—Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy. On the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity. The cheerful state of mind is a constant habitual gratitude to the great Author of nature. An inward cheerfulness is an implicit praise and thanksgiving to Providence under all its dispensations. It is a kind of acquiescence in the state wherein we are placed, and a secret approbation of the Divine will in His conduct toward man. Addison.
16. This sentiment is at once plain and rich. The blessing of God on the humblest crust of bread is sweeter than the abundance of earthly riches, with trouble ever attending. “The fear of the Lord” is used here in the large sense of true piety, including love and trust. It is the filial spirit of sonship, reposing in the universal providence of a Great Father, and rejoicing in His wisdom to withhold as truly as in His bounty to bestow. The trouble incident to “great treasure” is rarely estimated at its full measure. Men are not wont to consider how many have lost their reason under the perpetual strain of the cares and anxieties of a great estate. Over against this, how blessed are those who have only the more of God’s presence and love, as they have less of earth and of things earthly! H. C.—Hard work brings health, and an ounce of health is worth a sack of diamonds. It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness. There is more sweet in a spoonful of sugar than in a cask of vinegar. It is not the quantity of our goods, but the blessing of God on what we have that makes us truly rich. Spurgeon.—Abundance loads more than it fills, and men’s wealth only heightens their wants. The rich man oftener wants a stomach and rest than the poor man wants meat and a bed to lie on. Fleming.
17. Even leaving the favor and love of God out of account, there are things in the line of the social affections which far more than counterbalance the ills of frugal or even meagre fare. A dinner of herbs, with the sweet charities of the heart superadded, stands indefinitely far before the stall-fed ox, served up amid the asperities and malignities of cherished hate. H. C.—It is better to have peace without plenty than plenty without peace. Where there is but a slender subsistence, an uninterrupted interchange of mutual endearments among those of the same family imparts a more solid satisfaction than to fare sumptuously every day. Seed
19. The proverb condenses a parable. The slothful goes on his journey, and for him the path is thick set with thorns, briars, fences, through which he cannot force his way. For “the righteous” (better, upright), the same path is as the broad raised causeway of the king’s highway. (Compare Isa. 40:3.) E. H. P.—Here is lively represented, how laborious sloth proveth in the end; for when things are deferred to the last instant, and nothing prepared beforehand, every step findeth a brier or an impediment, which catcheth or stoppeth. Bacon.
“The way of the slothful man,” the course which the sluggard taketh in going about his affairs, “is as a hedge of thorns,” is slow and hard; for he goeth creeping about his business; yea, his fears and griefs prick him and stay him like thorns and briars. “But the path of the righteous is as a paved causeway.” The order which the godly man taketh is most plain and easy, who so readily runneth on in the works of his calling as if he walked on a paved causeway. P. Muffet.
22. The best of plans need wisdom for their effective execution. Since all men, though wise, do not look from the same standpoint, and hence see various aspects of the same thing, it comes to pass that “a multitude of counsellors” enhances the probability of attaining the best wisdom and the safest results. H. C.
23. If we speak wisely and well, it will redound to our own comfort and to the advantage of others. A man has joy by the answer of his mouth; he may take a pleasure but by no means a pride in having spoken so acceptably and well that the hearers say, “How good is it, and how much good does it do!” H.—A word spoken in due season, how good is it! There is the word of warning; the word of encouragement; the word of sympathy; the word of congratulation; the word of explanation and apology. To be in any sense “a son of consolation,” to be able to make life a little sweeter for others, good a little easier, evil a little more hated and despised, this would be a high privilege for the oldest as well as the youngest among us. Words can do much in this Christian work. Think of the blessing involved in these words of Isaiah, “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” If God has not given to each of us the tongue of the learned, He has given to each, if we will but use it, the tongue of truth, of kindness, of purity, of sympathy. H. M. Butler.
Sympathy does not lighten a burden of sorrow, but it does help the burdened one to bear his load. If, therefore, you know of a sorrow which presses another’s heart, give expression to your sympathy with him, even though you understand that he alone must struggle under the weight of his burden. In one sense your words cannot help him; in another sense they can. Speak them out, therefore, for what they may be worth. He will be grateful for them, and you will be the better for their speaking. H. C. T.—Who can tell the power for good or evil of but one sentence falling on a fellow-creature’s ear, or estimate the mighty series of emotions, purposes and actions, of which one articulate breath may be the spring? “A word spoken in season, how good is it?” In another sense than the poet’s, all words are winged, and imagination can illy track their flight. Evil or idle words may seem as they are uttered—light and trivial things; yet if light, they are like the filaments of the thistle down—each feathery tuft floating on the slightest breeze bears with it the germ of a noxious weed. Good, kind, true, holy words dropped in conversation may be little thought of, too, but they are like seeds of flower or fruitful tree falling by the wayside, borne by some bird afar, haply thereafter to fringe with beauty some barren mountain-side, or to make glad some lonely wilderness. North British Review.
24. Upward.** The wise man’s chosen way of living tends upward, far as possible away from the deep abyss of perdition beneath. The proverb seems to involve these two ideas: that he aims to remove himself as far as possible from the place and the doom of the wicked; and that such is in fact the result of his chosen path of life. H. C.—He that is truly wise has his affections and conversation above, and in the holy way of obedience walketh to eternal life. Bishop H.
26. The thoughts and words of the pure, being, like themselves, clean, honest, and sincere, are pleasant words and pleasant thoughts, well pleasing to the holy God who delights in purity. It may be understood both of their devotions to God and of their discourses with men tending to edification. Both are then pleasant when they come from a pure, a purified heart. H.—Speech is a man’s most spiritual act, has the least of the material about it, and most of the immaterial. Speech marries body and soul together, takes as little as possible of the body, the mere breath of the mouth, air made audible and articulated, and is, for all the rest, in its life and meaning wholly spiritual. A man’s speech, therefore, is his chief and best manifestation of character. An uncontrolled and conscienceless tongue is the sign of a soul conscienceless and uncontrolled. On the contrary, an offenceless tongue is evidence of perfectness in life. Budiington.—Burnet bore this testimony to Leighton: “I never heard him say a word in conversation that was not to edification. I never met him in his house but there was something in his look which did me good.” J. Clements.
28. The emphasis lies on the contrast between the “studying” of the wise before he answers and the hasty “bubbling” or babbling of the foolish. Within the limits of human wisdom and experience the “studying” is right. E. H. P.
29. The promises made to prayer form the main body of all the promises in the Bible. The instances of good connected with it and obtained by it form a rich portion of the sacred history. And then, all the good men, from the beginning of time to this hour, have practised it. God has heard from earth, from every man that ever loved, feared, and served Him. With all good men it has been the primary expedient in seeking to be happy. It has been the grand resource in seeking truth, in performing duty, in resisting temptation, in bearing affliction, and in preparing to meet death. Foster.—If we pray for any earthly blessing we must pray for it solely “if it be God’s will, if it be for our highest good!” but for all the best things we may pray without misgiving, without reservation, certain that if we ask God will grant them, for what we desire we ask, and what we ask we aim at, and what we aim at we shall attain. No man ever yet asked to be, as the days pass by, more and more noble, and sweet, and pure, and heavenly-minded, no man ever yet prayed that the evil spirits of hatred, and pride, and passion, and worldliness might be cast out of his soul, without his petition being granted and granted to the letter. Farrar.
All prayer that is in faith includes the leaving it to God to give or to withhold the thing desired, as He sees to be best. And the more a child of God knows of his own liability to be mistaken in his thought of what is for his good, the readier he is to leave the decision, in every case, trustfully with God. Both reason and faith combine to convince the Christian believer that his prayers should always have in them the substance of the quaint prayer of old Thomas Fuller: “Lord, grant me one suit, which is this: Deny me all suits which are bad for me.” H. C. T.—A petition may be refused in love; in which case it is not really refused, but rather granted in a higher shape than was contemplated by the asker. There is a beautiful passage in his Confessions, where, concerning some prayers of his mother, Monica, Augustine observes, God gave heed to the hinge of her desire, though He did not yield her the boon exactly by the means through which she sought it. Her desire and earnest prayer was that her son might not sail for Italy, so did she dread for him the dangers and temptations which he would encounter at Rome; he sailed notwithstanding, and it was there at length that he found Christ. Trench.
30. Light of the eyes. The brightness which shines in the eyes of one whose heart and face are alike full of joy. Such a look by itself acts with a healing and quickening power. E. H. P.
32. Here again we meet with that peculiar and forcible idiom of the Hebrew, despiseth his own soul, i.e., treats it as though he despised it—makes no provision for its safety and welfare. The phrase is of the same tenor as the following: All that hate Me love death; he that cometh to Me, and hateth not his father, etc. M S.
33. Before honor is humility. To stand low in one’s own esteem is thus a first condition of standing high in the esteem of others, the wise and the good. Discreet men award honor most freely to those who seem not only worthy to receive, but able to bear it. H. C.—Humility is always ready to give place; pride is always disputing about preference. If we look narrowly into the world, we find that few people are heartily willing to be below others; the greatest number think of nothing but gaining a superiority. The primary or first place in humility is the only one to which we are permitted to aspire. Quarles.
The answer of Augustine to the question, “What is the first thing in religion?” Humility. “And what the second?” Humility. “And what the third?” Humility. Augustine said truly, when speaking of pride, “That which first overcame man is the last thing he overcomes.” Anon.—Humility is the same disposition which the Psalmist called a “broken heart,” and that consciousness of need which Jesus had in view when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” So far as it has respect to God, it is that docility which is willing to learn what God teaches; that conscious penury which is willing to accept whatever God proffers; that submissiveness which is willing to do what God desires, and to endure whatever God deems needful. And so far as it has respect to man, it is that self-oblivion which is not indignant at being overlooked; that modesty which is not aware of its own importance; that considerateness which, in reproving sin and in trying to rescue the sinner, recognizes a brother or sister in the same condemnation, and in this development it is near of kin to that charity “which envieth not; which vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked.” Hamilton.
Divine revelation is the only system which, either in ancient or in modern times, assigns to humility the rank of a virtue, or makes provision for its cultivation. It assigns to it the highest place, and a sort of pre-eminence among the graces of piety; bestows upon it the greatest commendations, enforces it by the most powerful motives, encourages it by the richest promises, draws it into exercise by the most splendid examples, and represents it as the brightest jewel in the Christian’s crown. Everything in the Word of God is calculated to humble us; the description which it contains of the Divine character, combining an infinitude of greatness, goodness, and glory, compared with which the loftiest being is an insignificant atom and the purest heart as depravity itself; the view it gives us of innumerable orders of created intelligences, all above man in the date of their existence, the capacity of their minds, and the elevation of their virtue; the account it preserves of the intellectual and moral perfection of man in his pristine innocence, the discovery which it thus furnishes of the height from which he has fallen and the contrast it thus draws between his present and his former nature; the declaration it makes of the purity of the eternal law, and the immeasurable depth at which we are seen to lie beneath our obligations; the history it exhibits of the circumstances of man’s fall, of the progress of his sin, and of the numberless and awful obliquities of his corruptions; the characteristics it affixes to his situation as a sinner, an enemy of God, a child of wrath; the method it presents by which he is redeemed from sin and hell—a scheme which he neither invented, nor thought of, nor aided, but which is a plan of grace, from first to last, even the grace of God, manifested in and through the propitiation of Christ—a plan which, in all its parts, and in all its bearings, seems expressly devised to exclude boasting. J. A. J.