Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1:1

LECTURE I.

Proverbs 1:1 .

“The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.”

Here is the Title of the Book-“the Proverbs Of Solomon.” There is no necessity, however, from this title, for considering the collection, in the precise state in which we now have it, as the work of Solomon. The proverbs which the Book contains were all his; but the selection and arrangement of them appear, from the very statements of the Book itself, to have been made by different hands. In chap. Proverbs 25:1 , we read,-“These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.” “The men of Hezekiah” were, without question, “holy men of God,” prophets, appointed by that eminently pious prince to the execution of the good work. By whom the previous and larger part of the collection was made, we cannot with certainty say-Agur, possibly, and Ezra, and others. But the proverbs forming the contents of the Book had been partly written by Solomon, and partly spoken and taken down from his lips.

Solomon was successor to his father David, and swayed the sceptre of Israel for forty years. He has obtained, by way of eminence, the designation of The wise man; and as this Book, had it been the only source of our judgment of him, is itself sufficient to vindicate his title to the distinction, we are naturally led to notice the origin and the recorded extent of his wisdom.

Youth, and especially youth in high station,-born to wealth and honour, and, above all, heir to a throne,-is in proverbial hazard of being high-minded, self-sufficient, and reckless of control. Solomon was to the young, in the outset of his career, an eminent example of the contrary;-of humility, and self-diffidence, and pious dependence upon God. How beautiful! How interesting and instructive the manifestation of these lovely features of character, at the commencement of his public life! When God said, “Ask what I shall give thee,” his reply was, “O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”* Here we have the origin of Solomon’s unparalleled wisdom. And yet, in one sense, it preceded the answer to his request. Was not the request itself a proof of it? Yes, my young friends, in that request it was manifest that he had already the best of wisdom-“the fear of the Lord,"-the principles of early piety. And these, too, we can trace to their origin, not only as to the divine influence which inspired them, but as to the human means by which that influence operated, “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live,” Proverbs 4:1-4 . He owed much, then, as many among us also do, to parental instruction. When he was born, the pleasing intimation was made, by a divine message to his father, that the special favour of Jehovah rested upon him; the name being by the same authority given him of Jedidiah-the beloved of the Lord, (2 Samuel 12:24 .) And afterwards the expectations of David were raised high respecting him, although in the language there is a reference to a greater than Solomon, in whom it received its higher and more perfect fulfilment, (1 Chronicles 22:9-10 .) This incident of his early choice was a fair commencement of the verification of all the hopes which intimations so remarkable had inspired. Let all, and especially the young, learn from his example, to whom they should apply, not only for the production and progress of those religious principles and affections of which the early exercise is the wisdom of youth, and the late exercise, amid the maturity of experience, the wisdom of age;-but also, for acuteness of discernment, enlargement of comprehension, and general illumination of mind, to fit them for the acquisition of all descriptions of knowledge, as well as to guide them successfully to its attainment. The powers by which all knowledge is acquired are, in all their variety of degrees, His gift. “There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding,” Job 32:8 . All the mind in the universe is from Him. The human mind was His, when its powers were in all their original vigour and expansion, undebased and uncontracted by the power of evil. And still, in the inscrutable arrangements of his providence, according to the dictates of his sovereign will, it is He that makes the mind of the philosopher differ from that of the idiot,-conferring on the former faculties and means of their improvement, associated with an awful responsibility, of which the conscious possessor too often, in the plenitude of a lofty self-sufficiency, thinks not; but for the violation of which the solemn reckoning at last will make him envy the man whose destitution of them saves him from so fearful an account. The philosopher and the genius may forget to trace their powers to the true source; but it is He,-the omniscient God-that “teacheth man knowledge.” Let the powers and the means be ever ascribed to Him, by which knowledge is obtained; and let the knowledge itself, when obtained, be consecrated to His glory.

• Compare the whole passage, 1 Kings 3:5-15 .

The extent of the wisdom of Solomon is briefly sketched, 1 Kings 4:29-34 . The son of Sirach, in the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, says of him, that “he was a flood filled with understanding; that his soul covered the whole earth; and that he filled it with parables.” This is the language of hyperbole, and befits more an apocryphal than an inspired book; but it shows the height of estimation in which the wisdom of Solomon was held.

In the spirit of national partiality and vanity, which engender the disposition to exaggerate whatever contributes to our country’s glory, the Jewish historian Josephus magnifies the three thousand proverbs of Solomon to three thousand books of proverbs; and it is not the only instance in which he is chargeable with the same fault,-a fault which, however the principle from which it springs may be natural and commendable, is a very serious one in a historian; and may, in some cases, be productive of no trivial evils.

The Bible is not given to teach us philosophy, but religion; not to show us the way to science, but the way to holiness and to heaven. Notwithstanding, therefore, the extent and variety of Solomon’s knowledge in botany, in natural history, and other departments of science, we have in preservation none whatever of his discoveries or his speculations on such subjects.

We have only three productions of the wisdom of Solomon handed down to us; and they are all contained in the sacred canon of revelation, and are all in harmony, in their contents and their tendencies, with the other portions of the same blessed and holy Book. All that is preserved there is fitted to impart true spiritual wisdom, to change and sanctify the heart, and to regulate the life. Of the whole Old Testament canon, as it existed in his day, and as it exists in ours, the apostle Paul says:-“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” 2 Timothy 3:15-17 . Of these “holy scriptures” the Book of Proverbs forms an integral and important part.

I do not think there is any reason that should lead us to conclude, that all has been preserved that ever was written by divine inspiration, any more than all that was spoken. From the mere fact of any dictate of the Spirit having been committed to writing, it does not follow that it was the divine purpose it should be preserved. A thing might be written for a temporary purpose, as well as spoken for a temporary purpose. Providence watched over, and preserved, and furnished with full evidence of authenticity and genuineness, all that divine wisdom saw needful to be transmitted to future generations, as containing the complete discovery of His mind and will, in regard to our own character, condition, and prospects.

The canon of the Old Testament appears to have been made up chiefly in the time of Ezra, and under his divinely directed superintendence. The Book of Proverbs, as forming a part of that canon, we regard as having been “given by inspiration of God,” and as having, therefore, in all its contents, the sanction of Heaven. Our subjection to its dictates, therefore, is something quite different from mere deference to the judgment of a fellow-man, of extraordinary sagacity and eminent wisdom, and of unwonted extent of observation and experience. Such a man, how unparalleled soever his natural and acquired endowments, is still fallible. His authority imposes no obligation. But, considered as part of the divine oracles, the contents of this Book bind our consciences. They are from God; and not only may but must be received, and laid up in our hearts, and practised in our lives. It is not a book of which we may take or reject what we please. We must not presume to question the correctness of any of its maxims. Our only object must be to understand them rightly. “When we do understand them, they are binding on us. We have simply to believe and obey.”

This Book has, by frequent citation and allusion, the full sanction of the New Testament. Instances of quotation from it occur in Hebrews 12:5-6 , of Proverbs 3:11-12 ; in James 4:6 , of chap. Proverbs 3:34 ; in 1 Peter 4:8 , of chap. Proverbs 10:12 ; in Romans 12:20 , of chap. Proverbs 25:21-22 . I make these references the rather, for the purpose of showing you the identity, in their great principles and practical features, of the religion and the morality of the two great divisions of divine revelation,-the Old Testament and the New; between which there is frequently a disposition to make by much too wide a difference,-as if there were moral principles and practices tolerated and connived at, if not sanctioned, under the one, which are set aside and explicitly condemned under the other.

Such references in the New to the Old, at the same time show, that the Old and the New are mutually, in regard to authority, bound up in each other; so that they stand or fall together. And the entire evidence of the divine authority of the New is, by this means, brought to bear also in confirmation of the divine authority of the Old; so that we cannot consistently take the one and reject the other, but must receive or refuse both. There are, it is true, evidences of genuineness, authenticity, and inspiration peculiar to each; but from the reference of each to the other,-of the Old forward to the New, and of the New back to the Old,-the former being the introduction to the latter, and the latter the verification and completion of the former,-it is quite vain to attempt their separation, or to fancy the possibility of holding the New independently of the Old. They form together one consistent and perfect whole.

Proverbs are short, weighty, authoritative sayings;-sententious maxims of practical wisdom. They are the condensations of human knowledge and observation, in a pithy and memorable form; resembling concentrated essences in chemistry, in which the strength of a large measure of a liquid is distilled into a few drops. The practice of expressing sentiments in this way is very ancient; and it was common to the Jews as with other oriental nations. The proverbs of the Old Testament are reckoned by eminent critics as belonging to the didactic poetry of the Hebrews. They are distinguished by the two characters of brevity and elegance; brevity being essential to their very nature, as well as necessary for aiding the memory in their retention; and their elegance giving them an attraction to taste, and contributing to fix them in the mind and promote their circulation. “When I say these things, I speak of Eastern proverbs generally. Those of Holy Scripture stand on still higher ground. They are to be regarded, not as the mere recorded results of human wisdom, but as “the true sayings of God.” The proverbs contained in this Book are not, by any means, to be regarded merely as ancient sayings which were in common use, and which Solomon only set himself to collect. This opinion has been adopted by some; but it is untenable. It is founded principally on the difficulty of imagining such a collection of wise sayings to be the work of one man. But this is weak ground. The difficulty arises from forgetting the passages quoted, in which the character and extent of Solomon’s wisdom are described. To suppose him the mere gatherer of current sayings, is to assign him an occupation for which, surely, such wisdom as is ascribed to him was by no means necessary. Besides, there are many, very many of the sententious maxims of the Book that could not by possibility be proverbs in the currency of other oriental nations. They are such as could be found nowhere but among a people possessing the knowledge of the true God.

The Book, throughout, bears all the marks in itself-internal evidence the most satisfactory, of being something infinitely superior to a mere collection of sayings in common use,-the gathered maxims of uninspired prudence. That some of them might be in currency need not be denied. If any were, they have acquired by the place here assigned them, the full weight of divine authority.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, there can, in my opinion, be no doubt, was the production of Solomon’s last days, after he had been recovered from his fearful apostasy. It contains the lessons he had learned by bitter experience in “the days of his vanity,” when “his heart departed from the Lord;” and the solemn warnings which these lessons dictated to others, to keep them from the rocks on which he had well nigh irrecoverably foundered. That the Book of Proverbs was written in the same period, I am myself persuaded, from the whole style of the commencing chapters; which are strongly and affectionately monitory to youth, and are evidently dictated by a similar experience to that which dictated Ecclesiastes, of the misery arising from the evils against which he warns. His warnings are those of a man who had drunk deeply of the cup, against whose intoxicating qualities and bitter and deadly effects he lifts his monitory voice,-the voice of faithful and earnest dissuasion. The whole of the sayings are a record of his long observation of human nature,-of men and things.

That they were written in order before Ecclesiastes seems clear from chap. Ecclesiastes 12:9 , of that Book, “And, moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.” This was one of the various methods which “the preacher” adopted in imparting instruction. He “gave good heed,” applying himself to the object carefully; investigating truth with deep deliberation; not uttering hasty and crude sayings, but the results of meditation and prayer, and divine illumination. His “many proverbs” were “sought out”-not, as I have said, from other existing collections, but from wise and divinely directed observation of the circumstances, characters, and prospects of men; and having been thus, with attentive care, sought out, they were committed to writing as they were successively framed, and then “set in order,” as far as they were susceptible of arrangement, for public benefit. A wonderful book it is!” “What an inexhaustible treasure of admirable practical counsel! The more deeply it is searched into, the more will be discovered in it; and the more attentive and close our observation of human life, and of human nature both in ourselves and others, the more of truth and accuracy will there be found in its various and valuable sayings.”

The Book is usually divided into five parts. 1. The introductory-comprising the first nine chapters. This introduction is addressed principally to youth, and was, in all probability, prefixed, after the collection of proverbs, so far as made by Solomon, had been completed. 2. From chapter 10:1 to 22:15: which part contains proverbs generally, though not always, unconnected. 3. From chap. 22:16. to the end of chap. 24: where the pupil is again addressed, somewhat more connectedly, as in the introduction. 4. From chap. 25 to chap. 29 inclusive,-which contain an additional collection of Solomon’s proverbs, “copied out,” by selection probably from a larger number, by such men as Eliakim, Joah, Shebnah, Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, who lived in his reign:-and 5. Chapters 30 and 31;-the various opinions respecting whose authorship must be left till we shall arrive at that portion of the Book.

In entering on the exposition of the Book, I desire to apply-and do you, brethren, apply with me, to the source from which Solomon, its author, derived all his wisdom; that we may obtain, in answer to prayer, the Spirit’s aid, so as rightly to understand its instructions; and receive that, in which we are all chiefly defective, the disposition to follow them, remembering the words of Jesus, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

May you, beloved brethren, enjoy the teaching of that Spirit, to give light to your minds and love to your hearts; and to prevent the indisposition to what is good, from engendering such prejudice as may come, like a film over your mental vision, and hinder your clear perception of the truth and the will of the Lord! And may the same teaching be imparted to your instructor, that he may thus be enabled, out of this treasure of “unsearchable riches,” to bring forth, for your edification, and direction, your comfort and joy, your present spiritual improvement, and your final salvation, “things new and old!”

Proverbs 1:2-9

LECTURE II.

Proverbs 1:2-9 .

“To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.”

In the Introductory Lecture I took some notice of the title and author, the general structure and arrangement of this Book, purposely avoiding all minute and elaborate discussion, my special object being the elucidation and enforcement of the important truths themselves contained in this interesting portion of the Sacred Volume.

For the same reason I should deem it an unprofitable expenditure of your time, were I to enter into critical disquisition as to the exact shades of meaning which attach to various terms of very similar import employed in this and other passages. Excepting when such distinctions become really necessary for some important practical end, it is not my intention to trouble you with them.

From verse second to verse sixth, we have a statement of the general design of the Book.

The first object here indicated, in regard to the readers of it, is that they may “know,” that is, understand aright “wisdom and instruction”-the wisdom and instruction that come from the highest source,-divine wisdom,-divine instruction.

The general idea of wisdom is that it consists in the choice of the best ends, and of the best means for their attainment. This definition admits of application both in a lower and in a higher department. In the first place, it may be applied to the whole conduct of human life, in all its daily intercourse and ordinary transactions, and amidst all its varying circumstances. We stand in different relations; we occupy different conditions; we are subjected to different trials; we are exposed to different temptations; our lot is characterized by different changes, difficulties, and perplexing incidents; one day, one hour, may shift our position, and require an entire alteration of our course. To accommodate our conduct to these variations,-to suit to all of them the application of the great general principles and precepts of the divine law, and to “guide our affairs with discretion” in them all-requires “wisdom.” And for enabling us to act our part rightly, creditably, and usefully, from day to day, there is, in this Book, an immense fund of admirable counsel, and salutary direction.

And then, secondly, the knowledge of wisdom may be taken in its higher application, to interests of a superior order, to spiritual duties, to the well-being of the better part, to all that regards true religion and the salvation of the soul. Wisdom, in this Book, is generally understood in this its highest application, as might indeed be expected in a book of instructions from God. We would hardly imagine a communication from Him, confined to the mere prudential and successful regulation of our temporal affairs. How important soever this may be in a life, of which the personal and the social enjoyment, so long as it lasts, is to so great an extent made up of little things and dependent on their due adjustment;-yet in a divine communication to man, as an immortal creature, and occupying a position, in regard to God and his everlasting destinies, so peculiar and so pregnant with interesting results,-we cannot conceive these to be the only, or even the principal subjects. Nor are they. They are in every way subordinate. We shall see, ere the close of the present lecture, wherein the “Oracles of God” place the true wisdom of man.

Of important “instruction,” both as it relates to temporal and to spiritual concerns, there is a vast amount compressed in this Book into narrow bounds,-presented in a condensed form. The proverbial sayings, being very generally unconnected with each other, so that in many instances it is hardly possible to discern any link of association or of suggestion between them, are by no means easily committed to memory in a series-in the order in which they stand. But each maxim, by itself, when rightly understood, becomes “as a nail fastened in a sure place;” and, being thus fixed in the mind, is ready for application in the practical business of life. The Book is thus fitted to store the mind with true, and excellent, and useful principles,-principles, not of merely speculative abstraction, but of daily and hourly use.

“To perceive the words of understanding”-is a phrase which may be interpreted as meaning the discrimination of these from the dictates of folly, so as to entertain the one, as worthy of consideration, and to reject the other;-the power of justly distinguishing between good and evil counsel,-that which is right in its principle and salutary in its operation, and that which is unsound and pernicious:-and, as a consequence of such discriminative knowledge, the possession of the necessary qualifications for being a counselor of others; for guiding them in “the way of understanding”-keeping them from evil and conducting them to good.

But it is not enough to possess the mere knowledge, or speculative understanding, of even the most profitable maxims of wisdom. There must be the acceptance of them, as really good, with an approving purpose of application. We must “receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.” A disposition to “receive instruction,” is the first and most important lesson for all, and especially for youth;-a humble, docile, self-diffident temper,-a mind open to the admission of sound advice, and desirous to apply it to practice. This disposition is the opposite of self-conceit, and self-will, which are amongst the greatest obstacles to improvement.

“Justice, judgment, and equity,” are terms which have different shades of import; but they may all be considered as meaning a correct apprehension of the principles of rectitude, and their impartial and judicious application, in all the private and in all the more public concerns of life: in the regulation of our own conduct; in the arbitrative settlement of appealed differences; in giving direction in cases of difficult and doubtful casuistry; or in the official administration of government. The Book is full of important and discriminative maxims, as to all that is right and just, fair and equitable, in an endless variety of situations and circumstances.

In the fourth verse, we have an instance or more instances than one, of the different senses in which the same word is used; and especially at different stages in the history of the same language.

The word subtlety is now generally understood in a bad sense, as meaning a cunning, artful deceitfulness-that is when it is applied to character. When used in reference to metaphysical or other recondite discussions, it has the sense of minuteness and refinement of discrimination in the process of investigation or of reasoning. It is obviously in a sense analogous to this that the term is employed here. I need not say that it does not, as used by our translators in their day, signify cunning or artfulness. This is a feature of character that is odious in all, wheresoever it may be found; and it is peculiarly distressing to witness it in the youthful mind. There, an open, frank, artless, generous disposition is what we look for and delight to find. Even when such a temper leads to occasional imprudences, we greatly prefer it to a shrewd and guileful craftiness. “Subtlety” means here-discriminative prudence. It may be considered as explained by the admonition of our Lord to his apostles-“Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents.” And this wisdom of the serpent, He at the same time teaches them, was to be associated with the harmlessness of the dove, (Matthew 10:16 .)

It is contrasted with simplicity. Now simplicity is sometimes used in a good sense, in contrast with subtlety in its bad sense. Thus in Psalms 106:6 : “The Lord preserveth the simple;” and in 2 Corinthians 1:12 : “Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world.” But in the passage before us, “the simple” are the foolish and inexperienced; those who lack wisdom, and are in constant danger of being misled.

“To give subtlety to the simple” is not, then, to make the artless cunning; but to make the inconsiderate prudent,-the short-sighted discerning,-the foolishly wayward wisely submissive to superior guidance.

True wisdom has for its companion, in the mind that possesses it, true lowliness and self-diffidence: “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning: and a man of understanding will attain unto wise counsels.” Ignorance and folly are generally self-conceited and self-confident. They don’t need direction-not they. They are not, therefore, disposed to “hear”-to listen, that is, to the instructions and counsels of others. They think it would be more seemly that others should listen to them. But it is a mark of true wisdom to be ever ready to hear. It is ever conscious of its own deficiency, and desirous to gain new acquisitions to its stores of knowledge,-and to lay up hints for the regulation of its future course. The more a man knows, the more sensible will he become of his ignorance. As the circle of information widens before him, he sees the more of its unexplored extent. He becomes more and more convinced of the truth of the poet’s answer to the question, “What is knowledge? Tis but to know, how little can be known.” And mark it, my friends:-this hearing is the only way to “increase learning.” A vast deal of information is many a time lost, from the mere fear and shame of discovering our ignorance; but he who hears, acquires new ideas by the intercourse of mind with mind. It is incomparably better, surely, to obtain the knowledge at the expense of the detection of our previous ignorance, so as to become wiser today than we were yesterday, than to retain the ignorance and forfeit the knowledge, for the sake of the false credit of having what we have not. There are few descriptions of vanity more pernicious than this.

The proverbial sayings of this book afford numberless instances of what are called parallelisms in Hebrew composition. The structure of this verse is an example of parallelism; the second clause corresponding very nearly in meaning with the first:-“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.” While he who hears increases knowledge, he who intelligently attends to direction and counsel, grows in a profitable acquaintance with the principles of human conduct; and, while he learns to regulate his own course of life aright, acquires the capability of being himself a judicious and useful adviser of others. He “attains unto wise counsels.” His understanding is enlarged and sharpened under divine teaching.

“To understand a proverb, and the interpretation,” signifies, to understand at once its true original import, and the proper and beneficial application of it to practice. The word rendered “dark sayings,” occurs also Psalms 78:2 ; Psalms 49:4 . It means, properly, Enigmae or Riddles. These were used of old, as one of the methods of conveying instruction. It was conceived, that by giving exercise to the understanding in finding out the solution of the enigma, it was calculated to deepen on the mind the impression of the lesson which was wrapped up in it. This was not done for mere amusement, but for imparting serious instruction;-although to the young, there might, in some instances, be the blending of an intellectual entertainment with the conveyance of useful information or salutary counsel. These enigmatical maxims of wisdom were sometimes rendered the more attractive, by being thrown into the form of verse, and even being set to music. A poetical taste and a musical ear were thus made subservient to the communication and impression of truth. To this latter practice allusion is made in the second of the two passages just quoted, “I will open my dark saying upon the harp!'

We have, in verse seventh ( Proverbs 1:7 ), an explicit declaration of what Solomon means by wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The fear of Jehovah* is a phrase which may fairly be interpreted as meaning true religion-all the principles of godliness. The same sentiment is to be found in other parts of Scripture; as in Psalms 111:10 ; and in an inspired book of much greater antiquity, Job 28:12-28 ; a passage marked by a sublimity worthy of the lesson with which it closes;-a lesson which should be “graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever.” Or rather, for that is of incomparably greater consequence, which ought to be written deeply and indelibly on the heart of every youth in this assembly. O that it were!-for if it be not written there,-on a heart softened to receive it by the Spirit of God, what would avail the permanent record of it on the flinty rock? It is preserved here-in this Book of God,-a Book under his own special keeping, and which, while the world lasts, can never be lost:-but if it be not transcribed from the book to the heart, what doth it profit?

• It is Jehovah in the Hebrew, in all cases where Lord is printed in small capitals in the English version.

This “fear of the Lord” is in invariable union with love, and in invariable proportion to it. You truly fear God just in proportion as you truly love him. It is founded in knowledge-in the knowledge of the divine character, especially as it is revealed in his word, and more especially still, in the gospel; where the lovely and blessed harmony of all the divine perfections is manifested in the work of man’s , salvation.-In Psalms 34:11 , the Psalmist invites the young to him, and promises to “teach them the fear of the Lord”-to teach them, that is, the nature of true religion, in its principles and in its practice. And this is properly the first lesson for the young to learn. It is pronounced “the beginning of wisdom.” All else is folly without it. All the previous part of life is spent in folly till this one lesson is learned,-till this fear takes possession of the heart. Every day’s observation shows us, that a vast amount of knowledge may be accumulated in minds that are utter strangers to its residence and power; that a man may be eminent for learning, and science, and elegant literature, without religion-without the indwelling principles of godliness. Ah! How sadly true!-and how sadly exemplified in the literary and scientific history of our own day! Have we not seen men-

“Thro’ learning, and thro’ fancy, take

Their flight sublime, and on the loftiest top

Of Fame’s dread mountain sit”-

who have, at the same time, discovered a melancholy destitution of the first lesson of true wisdom-” the fear of the Lord?” O that I could impress the conviction on the mind of every youth before me, that is engaged, and laudably engaged, in the pursuit of science and literature in all their departments, that valuable as their acquisitions may be, there is one thing that is above them all in dignity, and better than them all in real and permanent worth,-even this primary lesson of the wisdom of Heaven. “Without this, I repeat, all is comparatively folly; and the more ample the powers, and the more abundant and various the learning they enable their possessor to acquire-still the greater the folly; because the more fearful the responsibility and the final account of the man, who with such powers, by God bestowed, has lived without God; who instead of inscribing on them, and on the attainments they enabled him to make, “holiness to the Lord,” has pursued his course with a lofty independence of his Maker, and has consecrated all to the idolatry of self; and, it may be, associated all the light and sublimity of genius with the darkness and the degradation of profligacy and vice. He who pursues any description of knowledge, however good and honorable in itself, while he “forgets God,” is, according to this book, emphatically “a fool.” He may be admired by men, as a very prodigy of science, or philosophy, or literature, and may be adorned with all the titles of human honor, and send down his name to future ages with a halo of the light of this world around it; but in the eye of God, he stands the object of deep and merited condemnation; and, while eulogized and extolled on earth, is pitied and deplored in heaven. Far be it, that I should be understood as under valuing or disparaging human science. It is interesting and useful to man; and its discoveries are glorifying to God. But what I say is, in the language of a second poet-that “an undevout astronomer is mad;” in other words, that the man is beside himself who, while ever busied about the works of God, disregards and forgets God himself; who lives in disobedience to his will, and in the neglect or contumelious rejection of his revealed mercy,-providing an imaginary immortality on earth and leaving unprovided for the real immortality of the world to come! When I think on conduct like this, I cannot but say of those who thus “spend the little wick of life’s poor shallow lamp”-in the lofty and devout language of a third poet-

“When I see such games

Play’d by the creatures of a power who swears

That he will judge the earth and call the fool

To a sharp reck’ning that has liv’d in vain;

And when I weigh this seeming wisdom well,

And prove it in th’ infallible result,

So hollow, and so false-I feel my heart

Dissolve in pity, and account the learned,

If this be learning, most of all deceived.”

O let me recommend to you, first of all, the divine science here and throughout this book inculcated. There can be no infatuation more wretched than to “despise this wisdom and instruction.” Such contempt has been lamented in tears of bitter anguish by many a one whom it has brought ultimately to ruin. To this contempt and negligence there is, alas! A sad tendency in the heart by nature, and it is strong in youth. And the foolish are very often found, by the language of ridicule, tempting each other to the scorn and mockery of religion as unmanly; as nursery prejudice and antiquated restraint, to which no youth of spirit will submit; or as at best befitting only the graver sobriety and dull decorum of a later stage of life. We shall have a full answer to everything of this kind in the closing verses of this chapter. Should you hear it, as you often may, applied to the restraining and salutary lessons of parental education “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,"-let me recommend to you, in preference, the counsel which follows-

Proverbs 1:8 . “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”

Mark, my young friends, the dark list of characters in which the “disobedient to parents” are placed by an inspired apostle. He ranks them with “backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,” and others of like stamp, Romans 1:29-32 . The command of God is, “Honour thy father and mother,” Ephesians 6:2 ; and the judgment of God, couched in a beautiful figure, is-“The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it,” Proverbs 30:17 .

It is hardly necessary to say, that in all such counsels there is an implied restriction. It is implied that parental instructions, whether as to truth or duty, are in agreement with the mind and will of God made known in his word. Should they, in any case, be otherwise, no choice is left. The maxim with us all must be-“We ought to obey God rather than men,” Acts 5:29 . When He commands the young to obey their parents, He cannot mean to enjoin that, in obedience to them, they should do what involves disobedience to Him. Parents, on their part, should be careful that they give no orders that are out of harmony with God’s word. Children, on their part, must be diffident of their own judgment, and very sure of their ground, ere they venture to decline obedience. But when anything is taught, or anything commanded, that is manifestly inconsistent with the truth or with the will of God, then comes in the solemn declaration, “He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me!”

Youth is naturally fond-and truly the fondness is not peculiar to youth-of what will recommend it to notice and regard. This is sought in a great variety of ways; sometimes by attention to external appearance; or by the cultivation of various attractive accomplishments. Solomon sets before you, young friends, the best of all recommendations-

Proverbs 1:9 . “For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.”

“The instruction of thy father” and “the law of thy mother” are to be regarded as the instruction and the law of true religion-the faith of its doctrines, and the practice of its precepts. And this is what Solomon here recommends, as the loveliest, the most beautiful, and the most precious ornament. The first question, with each one of you, ought surely to be, “On what does God set the highest value? What is it that is most attractive and estimable in His eyes!” He is infinite in wisdom. His judgment is infallibly right. And consider,-the judgment and taste of all whose opinion is worth having are in harmony with His;-all the wise, all the good. Would you set any value on what could recommend you only to fools? O! What avails their admiration and applause, how rapturously soever paid, if the eye of God loathes to look upon you; if the countenance of God frowns and turns away from you; if all holy and happy beings behold you with pity and aversion? Let me recommend to you, my youthful hearers, the beauty of early piety. O that I could so impress the conviction on your minds, that irreligion is degradation and deformity, the greatest that can attach to an intellectual and moral nature, and that of such a nature true piety is the only honour and the only loveliness, as that you might, with full purpose of heart, disown the one, and embrace the other! Alas! That in the eyes of fallen creatures, piety should so sadly have lost its charms!-They “savour not the things that be of God.”

How affectingly was this perverted relish manifested, in regard to Jesus himself! His character was the perfection of sinless rectitude; yet what said the prophet of him-and bow literally was it verified,-“He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him,” Isaiah 53:2 .

His holy loveliness had no attractions for the worldly and carnal mind. But let him, my young friends, be your pattern, who was indeed “fairer than the children of men,”-“altogether lovely.” Seek to be like him, when, in his early years, he showed his subjection to his heavenly Father in his subjection to his parents on earth; and when, as he “grew in stature,” he grew “in wisdom,” “and in favour with God and man.” The ornament of true religion is an ornament that shall endure forever;-that shall continue to be your adorning where “ornaments of grace upon the head, and chains about the neck” can be worn no more; and when the body which by these was decked, shall be humbled to the dust of the tomb, and be food for the loathsome worms. True religion is the ornament of the better, of the immortal part-the ornament of the soul; and shall continue its ornament forever in heaven. You may read at times, on festive days in the high places of the earth, of the elegance and splendor of royal and courtly attire; and your imaginations may be dazzled by the profusion of diamonds, and pearls, and brilliants, and tasteful decorations, and costly finery, indicating the anxiety felt and the pains expended, to adorn this “painted piece of living clay.” Amidst all this profusion of cost and care for such a purpose-for the passing pomp and pageantry of the hour,-Ah! How little thought too generally is there about the adorning of the inner man-“the hidden man of the heart!"-of those “ornaments of grace,” in a higher sense than that in which the word is used here, “which are, in the sight of God, of great price,” and which shall last, in all their beauty and in all their worth,

“When gems, and monuments, and crowns,

Shall moulder down to dust!”

Let such be your adorning now, that it may be your adorning forever! For you must not forget-or if you do, it must not be by my ceasing to remind you-that those ornaments of heaven must be put on on earth. And in order to your putting them on here, remember where they are to be found. Study the Bible. Here is true religion. It is taught here, recommended here, exemplified here. May God grant, as to every one of you, that you may rightly learn its lessons, imbibe its pure and sacred spirit, and exemplify its holy and consistent practice!

Proverbs 1:10-19

LECTURE III.

Proverbs 1:10-19 .

“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.”

We have already considered what may be regarded as the primary and fundamental lesson of this Book; and indeed of the whole Bible, so far as the practical counsels of it are concerned, and the ultimate design of all its discoveries:-“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” It is in beautiful harmony with this great general lesson, that Solomon, in solicitude for the youth around him, and for the youth of all coming generations, makes his first solemn warning, a warning against the dangers of Bad Company;-“My son, if sinners entice thee-consent thou not.” There is also an interesting connexion between this admonition and the previous exhortation to mind parental counsel. To such counsel the enticements of sinners are conceived to be in opposition, (the father and the mother of whom he speaks, being evidently understood to make “the fear of the Lord” the great principle and end of their tuition and training,) and to be, of course, in their tendency and result the reverse;-so that instead of estimation and honour of the truest and highest kind, they would infallibly bring to shame all who hearkened to them and followed them.

“Sinners” is a designation sometimes used in Scripture as the generic or universal designation of our race; to every member of which, without exception, it is appropriate-for “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But it is also used, not unfrequently, of those who remain under the power of their natural sinful lusts and passions, in distinction from such as have been turned from the error of their way, and are walking in newness of life. (See Psalms 1:5 .John 9:31John 9:31 .)

Here it signifies those who do not fear God,-those who hear not the instruction of their pious fathers, if they enjoy such instruction, but “forsake the law of their mother.” Against the enticements of such, the young are here affectionately admonished.-Youth is the season of ardent passions and of buoyant and sanguine hopes. Not having, as yet, tried his strength, the young man is naturally self-confident; and, unexperienced as he is in the deceitfulness of the world and the precariousness of temporal things, he is incredulous of the premonitions of coming evil. He smiles at them as the gloomy presages of sombre and superstitious minds, and exults in the lively anticipation of good. The morning of life sparkles before his eyes in dewy freshness, and promises, to his ardent spirit, a long day of sunshine and joy. It is neither the purpose nor the tendency of the discoveries of the Bible, to sadden the natural vivacity of early life; to quench the gleam of light-hearted pleasure in the youthful eye; to shroud the rising morn with dark clouds of melancholy. God is good. All his prohibitions are only prohibitions of what would be injurious to ourselves;-and all the principles of which he orders the cultivation and exercise, are inseparably associated with the attainment and enjoyment of happiness.

But, alas! How small a proportion of mankind are under the influence and guidance of these “great principles.” And in a world where the true fearers of God are so sadly in the minority, those who are under their dominion cannot fail to stand exposed to many temptations and to corresponding hazards. They are surrounded, on all sides, by “sinners” of every description and of every degree. They come in contact, at all points, with the infection of evil. They are in danger, at every step, from the corrupting and deadening power of all the varieties of irreligion,-that of the openly profligate, and that of the creditably sober,-that of the avowed infidel, and that of the inconsistent professor of the faith. In a city like the one in which we dwell, such young men as are at all inclined to the fear of God are environed with innumerable perils. Their incipient piety, when not yet confirmed into decided godliness, is like a spark of fire hovering over the surface of the ocean. Allurements on the one hand, and intimidations on the other, everywhere abound; and the Arch-Adversary plies all his wiles, to catch away whatever seeds of truth and elements of goodness have been sown in their hearts.

Of all the dangers to which the young can be exposed, there is not one which experience pronounces more imminent than the company and example of the ungodly. “Sinners” are fond to have associates in their evil courses. Some of these courses are such as cannot be pursued without associates. And in how many instances besides, is solitary vice,-vice, of which the perpetrator has no companion but his own conscience,-felt to be irksome and miserable! How often is it for the purpose of preventing the intrusions, and silencing the annoying whispers or louder remonstrances of this troublesome visitor, that company is courted!” Hand joins in hand.” They keep one another in countenance. They rally each other’s spirits. They drown “dull care.” They unite in “making a mock at sin.” They help each other to “break God’s bands asunder, and cast away his cords from them,” and, for the time at least, to give their foreboding fears to the winds. And, while the fearers of God, in the exercise of a pure benevolence, rejoice with the angels of heaven over a repenting sinner-over one who turns from the “fatal paths of folly, sin, and death,” into the paths of wisdom, purity, and peace,-these children of the “Wicked One” participate in his infernal pleasure, when they succeed in seducing any from the right way, and thus obtaining an accession to their numbers, and an encouragement to their selfish indulgences, from the ranks of religion and virtue.

In the verses before us, Solomon evidently selects a particular case, in illustration of the counsel with which the passage commences-“If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” The particular case selected in exemplification, is that of young men combining into parties for plundering or marauding expeditions,-either against the caravans of travellers in the desert, or into the territories of adjacent tribes. You may, and not without reason, think that the case is one that has very little application to you. And, assuredly, I am under no serious apprehension of any of my youthful auditors forming themselves into bands of freebooters,-into gangs of thieves and robbers. But there are involved in the particular exemplification, important principles, capable of general application. It shall be my aim to bring out these principles; and in doing this, I shall avoid dwelling on the particular case further than may be necessary for due illustration; conceiving that there is nothing more unprofitable, than to spend time in dissuading from courses which there is not the remotest likelihood of one amongst my hearers following out. We have, in the first portion of the passage, the Enticement Of Sinners,-and in the last, the Divine Warning Against It.

The Enticement is contained in verses Proverbs 1:11-14 . “Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse.”

I wish your attention here to the style of artful temptation that is adopted,-the inducements that are held out to compliance.

1. The first is-the privacy and concealment of their villainies. “Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause."-Even by minds that are little if at all under the influence of the fear of God, a strong objection might be stated against compliance with solicitation to evil because of the risk of discovery, and of consequent disgrace and punishment from men. This very natural objection is here met and overruled. “There is no danger,” say those tempters; “we do nothing openly-we ’lay wait’-we ’lurk privily’-we take good care not to expose ourselves-we have eluded detection hitherto, and we shall elude it still.” And they boast themselves in the very art and skill with which they have evaded discovery, and cheated all their pursuers. And is not the same objection many a time silenced in the same way, in every department of wickedness?-in every description of solicitation to evil? How often do the profligate, in coaxing the inexperienced and unwary youth to become one of their party, tell him, with insinuating address, how easily the thing may be done without detection,-without father or mother, or any one knowing at all about it!” It may be kept perfectly secret, you know; you may depend upon our secresy; no one of us, be assured, will ever betray you; and, unless you choose to be such a fool as to blab it out yourself, who is to know it? Come away. If no one finds it out-where’s the harm?”

Now, my young friends, there is only one thing which requires to be said in answer to such insinuating address. These persons do not choose to remember, what, I fondly trust, you will never allow yourselves to forget-that there is an eye that never sleeps, always present, always wakeful.-“Thou, God, Seest Me!” “There is no darkness nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” O beware. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” You cannot dig deep enough to hide it from the eyes of the Lord. And if He sees it, what although it eludes the detection of every human eye! Should your sins never find a place in any record on earth, forget not, they are recorded in heaven, marked indelibly for judgment, in the book of God’s remembrance.

2. The second enticement is-the courage and boldness of their exploits: “Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit."-This is the boastful language of determined bravoes. To many youthful spirits, there are few qualities so dazzling and captivating as courage. And some of the books which furnish lessons for early life, by presenting courage in attractive forms, and yet in association with qualities and actions far from justifiable, serve to take off from the opening mind the decided feeling of moral reprobation, which, but for such association, these qualities and actions would draw upon them. So strong, frequently, is this tendency to admire intrepid boldness, that we feel it difficult to help admiring it, even when the exploits in which it signalizes itself are in themselves unprincipled and wicked. And, as is the case in the passage before us, the imagination is artfully drawn away from the nature of the deed, of which, were it allowed to be duly contemplated, the atrocity might be startling, and is fixed on the heroism displayed in the doing of it.

Now, only change the term. For courage, substitute spirit; and we have immediately before us an every-day temptation to sin,-one in constant, hourly use,-extensively and ruinously prevalent. No charge is more dreaded by the young than that of want of spirit-the imputation of shrinking and dastardly timidity. A lad of spirit is the designation they are ambitious to attain. Now, here, too, my young friends, my warning is similar. I remind you, affectionately and seriously, how miserably perverted such terms as courage, and spirit, and others of like character, are, when the authority to be violated, and the displeasure to be incurred, and the sentence to be brought upon you, are the authority, the displeasure, and the sentence of the infinite God. Every sin is a direct defiance of omnipotence. O let not the name of courage be abused and desecrated by being so applied. It is not courage. It is insensibility. It is profanity. It is madness. (Job 9:4 .Isaiah 45:9Isaiah 45:9 .)

3. The third enticement is, the profit of crime:-“We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil.”

The allurement thus held out is that of immediate inches;-the acquisition at once, by a single bold adventure or two, of what it usually requires years of unrelaxing thought, and solicitude, and toil, and travail, to obtain. These seducers present the allurement of a short cut to wealth,-“Come with us; we shall soon make a man of you; you shall wallow in wealth immediately.” And is this not capable of extended application? Are there no circles of companionship into which a youth may be drawn by circumstances or by solicitation, in which the old-fashioned every-day methods of making money are laughed at as spiritless and sickening; and shorter and easier ways to riches, or at least to what is necessary for the indulgence of vicious passions, are proposed and adopted! And when against particular startling practices, he ventures to raise objections on the ground of moral principle, he is coaxed, or ridiculed and bantered, out of them; or satisfied by unsound but specious arguments. He incurs the expenses I have alluded to. The funds for these must from time to time be recruited, for paying debts of vice or debts of honour; and the how becomes a question of agonizing perplexity and bitter disquietude. He is induced, by pressing but criminal necessity, to venture in thought on methods, or to listen to them when hinted or boldly proposed by others, from which, before, his conscience would have shrunk in horror. But that conscience has lost of its sensitiveness; and it is now to be soothed and drugged by the powerful though illegitimate pleadings of necessity. Objections are overruled and put down; and the moral obliquity of the action is as plausibly as possible covered from the arrows of self-reproach, by the force of the all-sufficient, irresistible plea-that necessity has no law;-the thing must be done; there is absolutely no help for it.

I hope I have not been describing a reality in the experience of any youth now hearing me. It is no mere fiction. It has many a time been a reality; and I warn you against whatever seductions, or enticements of sinners, might by possibility make it a reality with you.

4. The last consideration of an enticing nature here presented is-the honourable union, and the frank and openhearted generosity of the fraternity by which the invitation is urged:-” Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse."

“The heart is deceitful above all things,"-and there are few ways in which its deceitfulness is more strikingly apparent than in the considerations by which even the worst, the most unprincipled of men, quiet their consciences, and get even beyond that,-plume themselves, and flatter one another with imaginary good qualities. Confederates in the very worst of evils have valued themselves on their mutual good faith;-their fidelity to the very engagements and oaths that constitute their chief guilt;-their very honour and consistency in crime.

The tempters in the passage before us are a kind of gentlemen banditti. And the representation held forth of a generous, social brotherhood, pledged honour, joint stock, common risks and common profits, is not a little imposing and captivating to the youthful mind.

Is not this, too, or something akin to this, one of the enticements incessantly held out by dissipated associates in the merriment and the profligacy of vice, when they have marked out a victim of seduction, and court him to join their company? They are the choice spirits. Theirs is the good fellowship; so open, so jovial, so kind-hearted; so free of all the puling cant of sanctimonious grimace; so generous and honourable to one another; so-every thing that can be wished for enjoying life!-But O my young friends, beware of the enticing illusion. That it is an illusion let the dear-bought experience of thousands convince you, without your venturing to put it to the test of experiment for yourselves. You would but add to the accumulation of proof and of practical warning. It was the maxim even of a heathen moralist, that there is no true friendship but amongst the good. Where there is not sound principle, union cannot be depended upon. It is but a name, an empty pretension, a deceitful lure, a snare of golden texture, for the feet of the inexperienced and thoughtless. May God deliver you from it! Again I say-Beware!

Let me now request your attention to the Divine Dissuasion-monitory and authoritative, which follows in verses Proverbs 1:15-19 , “My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.”

1. The first thing to be noticed here is, the language of affectionate interest and trembling solicitude in which the admonition is couched;-“my Son.” Whether Solomon had any eye, as a father, to his own son, Rehoboam, we cannot with certainty say. It is more likely, that it is the language of affectionate concern for the young in general, expressing itself in individual address, for the sake of impression and effect-that so each youth who read the dissuasion might regard it as if he himself were personally spoken to. I call on each, therefore, now hearing me, to hear for himself. And if I know my own heart, I think I can adopt the address with a measure at least of the affection by which it was originally dictated-“My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path.” Every Christian minister, as well as every Christian parent, ought to feel for, and so to warn, the objects of his affection. How exquisite the delight of a godly parent, when he sees the child of his heart’s love choosing the “fear of the Lord,"-walking in His ways, and departing from evil! How he “travails in birth” for those who are “bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh,” “until Christ be formed in them!”

And surely, to every benevolent and pious mind, there can be few sights more deeply moving than that of a young man-after a struggle, perhaps, with early impressions and the restraints and compunctions of conscience-giving way before temptation, yielding to the enticements, joining the company, and lending-at first a timid, but afterwards a more prompt and daring hand to the practices of the ungodly;-like the heedless insect, insensible of its danger, wheeling and fluttering, in sportive mazes, round the consuming flame;-like the gallant ship, that has come within the outermost slowly circling eddies of the whirlpool, and is gradually, and with increasing celerity, sucked in to its destruction! When we behold such a youth, incredulous of warning because unconscious of his peril, thus going forward to irretrievable shame and ruin, it is not anger that is waked in our bosoms; it is pity; it is tender anxiety; it is compassionate and thrilling fear. Our heart swells; our eye fills; our hand is stretched out; our voice is lifted up in the accents of earnest and tender expostulation-“my Son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path.”

2. Mark, in the second place, the extent to which the admonition goes.-It is not to a gradual but an immediate; it is not to a partial but an entire, abandonment. It advises complete and instant separation; a renouncing of all intercourse; and a keeping cautiously and constantly aloof;-“Walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path.”

This is the counsel of sound wisdom, not that of Solomon only, but of God. Half-measures will not do. There must be no tampering with temptation-no compromise-no partial adoption of the practices of sinners, in the hope, or with the resolution of stopping and retracing your steps when you have advanced a certain length. Would you swallow poison by degrees to try how much your constitution would bear,-how far you could go without actual suicide? No. You must not only not comply,-you must not listen. He who has listened, has half complied; and he who makes one step in compliance, wretchedly deludes himself, if he imagines he can recede at pleasure, or can tell confidently how far he is to go. O do not think of trying your own strength of principle and power of self-command. Rather, let the first exertion be, to resist the first solicitations to evil; or, if with these you have unhappily complied, to arrest your progress at the present point. To try your own strength is presumption; and God helps not the presumptuous. He “giveth grace unto the lowly.”

3. In immediate connection with this, and partly indeed identical with it,-consider to what extremes the commencements of evil ultimately lead:-often to such extremes as the youth who is enticed into wicked company never anticipated,-never dreamed of, or imagined it within the range of the possible that he should ever endure even to witness, far less to participate:-“For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.”

There is a natural and fearful progress in sin. Success in it is a curse; for it is an encouragement to go on. In the course of advancement, the inclination onward gains strength, while the power of receding declines. Beware then, I pray you, of first steps. Smile not in self-confident scorn at the well-meant but needless warning. Many have scorned it before you, whose scorn has been turned into the bitterness of unavailing regret, when miserable experience has forced upon them the lesson of their folly. Deem nothing impossible for you, that it is within the reach of human power to do in the form of evil, if you have once given way to the violation of principle. You may not only go lengths that will ruin yourselves, you may contribute to the shame and ruin of the companions and victims of your vices; you may ruin families and fortunes; you may break honest and sensitive hearts; you may bring down grey hairs with sorrow to the tomb,-the grey hairs of your own loving but disappointed and grief-stricken parents, or of the fathers and mothers of your associates in evil.

4. The objects of Solomon’s affectionate solicitude are further reminded, that their folly and their guilt would be the more aggravated and inexcusable, if they should venture into the society of sinners in despite of admonition:-“Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” These words, it is true, might be interpreted of the artfulness and cautious secrecy, with which the seducers described lay their snares. They take care not to let their gins be seen by the birds they are laid to catch, which might scare them, and defeat their end. They do not expose their designs all at once. They deal subtlety. They show them at first as little as possible; and the little that must be seen they present in its least repulsive or most attractive form,-keeping studiously out of view what might startle and shock the uninitiated in the “mysteries of iniquity.” They lay their schemes of seduction warily; and suit their decoys to the various characters and circumstances of their victims.

I am disposed, however, to understand the words as rather signifying the aggravation of the guilt which would be incurred in consequence of the warning thus given: as if he had said-“Now you are put on your guard. I have given you faithful premonition. I have set before your eyes the gins of the seducer. If you go into them, you go in with your eyes open. Let my warning have the effect upon you which the sight of the fowler setting his nets has on the fowls of heaven. Flee from temptation. If your foot be taken now, you will sin presumptuously-sin against light and knowledge. The guilt will be entirely your own; and your blood will be upon your own heads. Let the snare, then, now you are warned, be spread for you “in vain.” Show that you are aware of your danger. ‘He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.’”

5. The last dissuasive consideration is-the ruinous consequences of yielding to the enticements of sinners:-“And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.” In the latter of these two verses, the pronoun “which” is supplementary. The meaning clearly is, “So”-that is, so deceitful, so ruinous-” are the ways of him who is greedy of gain; it taketh away the life of its owners”-or, “it taketh away the life of those who are under its power.” The verse will thus express-not the murderous conduct which the greed of gain produces in order to its gratification, but the mischievous and destructive effects of the base and criminal passion to the person himself by whom it is indulged,-exposing his bodily life to jeopardy and his soul to perdition. The sentiment of the two verses seems to be-that although the workers of iniquity might elude the vigilance of men, and the avenging visitation of human tribunals, or of the resentments of fellow-creatures, yet they were their own very worst enemies. The certain effect, or inevitable consequence, of any particular course of conduct is sometimes expressed by this figure of speech, and it is full of energy-as if it had been in the intention of the agent, the object he had in view. The idea is-that, had it been so, had he indeed intended it so, he could not have adopted means more appropriate for attaining his end. The expression in the 18th verse is evidently borrowed from the 11th. There the ungodly are represented as saying-“Come with us.” But, says the wise man, they are bringing a surer and heavier destruction upon themselves, than any they can ever inflict upon others. They invite you to “lay wait,” to “lurk privily,” for the “blood” and the “life” of unoffending fellowmen; but in truth “they lay wait for their own blood,-they lurk privily for their own lives.” They are themselves their surest and most pitiable victims. The vengeance of offended heaven pursues the evil-doer; secretly, silently, invisibly, but closely, constantly, unswervingly, tracking his steps. It is behind him in all the windings and doublings of iniquity; it finds him out in all the hidden haunts of vice. In a memory from which nothing escapes, it treasures up against him every act and word and thought of evil. It follows him all the downward road to perdition, and at last, shuts him up in the prison of hell, and there takes up its abode with him for ever. It may not be appointed to overtake him in this world. His schemes of evil may prosper to the end. But overtake him it inevitably will; if not here, hereafter. Will you seek, then, your own destruction? Will you, with frantic infatuation, try what amount of wrong and ruin you can bring upon yourselves? Will you foolishly and recklessly presume, in despite of the warnings both of men and of God? Will you, knowingly and wilfully, consign to damnation your never-dying souls? Will you be, in the very worst and most awful sense of the designation-a SELF-MURDERER?

I conclude with two observations.-First, Let not any imagine, from the nature of the case selected by Solomon, and of the course of illustration suggested by it-that there is no danger, excepting to the openly profligate-to adepts and bravoes in impiety, vice, and violence. That would be a sad mistake indeed. There is danger to all who are living without the fear of God-who are not thus “wise unto salvation.” We require not to go to the dens and caves of robbers and assassins, to the cells of bridewells and jails, to the polluted and infernal haunts of abandoned licentiousness, in order to find those who are without this fear, and who are in danger of perishing,-who are perpetrating the fearful suicide just mentioned. They abound around you, even among the sober, plodding, money-making men of the world. All ungodliness exposes to death. You may ruin your souls by worldly-mindedness, as effectually as by profligacy. Whatever it be that keeps you from giving up your hearts to God,-whatever it be that keeps you from being in earnest about the salvation of your souls,-whatever it be that shuts the Saviour out of your hearts, arid prevents you from taking up the cross and following him,-that will be the ruin of your souls.

2. We have in this passage associations for evil. We invite youth to Associations For Good,-to the Church of the living God, the community of the faithful; and to those societies which Christian piety and Christian benevolence have instituted, for the promotion of religion, and for the diffusion of the knowledge of divine truth. Shall Satan have his combinations, and not Christ,-the god of this world, and not the God of heaven? Let Christians associate. Let Christian youth associate. Let them “consider one another, to provoke unto love, and unto good works.” Let them “exhort one another daily,"-strengthen each other’s hands, and encourage each other’s hearts in the way of the Lord.

Shall Science have its combinations, and not Religion? While Societies are formed for the advancement of general knowledge, or of particular departments of philosophy and the arts,-shall not the heads and hearts and hands of Christians” be brought into united counsel and co-operation, for the promotion of knowledge still better, and blessings still more precious and enduring than those which all human discovery can ever confer? Shall not the experience of age and the energy of youth combine for ends, so glorifying to Christ, so salutary, so eternally salutary, to mankind?-O! if such associations of youth as those we have been contemplating be melancholy and revolting,-how delightful are Associations of youth for religious improvement,-for their own and one another’s spiritual benefit,-bands of young philanthropists, whose object it is, to make inroads on the kingdom of Satan,-to arrest the progress of vice and irreligion,-to do good to all as they have opportunity,-and in the terms in which their divine Master describes the end of his coming into the world-“not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them?"-To the youth of all such Associations we say-Go on, and prosper! And if sinners entice you to quit your own for theirs, consent not. Be it your endeavour to allure them to yours, to win them over to the Lord’s side, drawing them with the cords of love,-bearing in mind, that “he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

Proverbs 1:20-33

LECTURE IV.

Proverbs 1:20-33 .

“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth m the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”

It has been a question with expositors, whether by Wisdom, in this and subsequent passages, we are to understand a person under this designation-namely, the second Person of the adorable Trinity, “the Word” and “Wisdom of God,"-the medium of divine communications to men,-the “Light of the world;” or simply the instruction of the word of God personified as Wisdom, speaking to the children of men.

It is enough for the present to observe, what every sincere believer in the inspiration of the Bible will at once admit-that in this passage, the address is divine.* The voice of Wisdom is the voice of God. The authority of Wisdom is the authority of God. The invitations and the warnings of Wisdom are the invitations and the warnings of God. The neglect and scorn of Wisdom are the neglect and scorn of God. The blessing of Wisdom is the blessing of God; and the vengeance of Wisdom is the vengeance of God. If it is a personification of instruction, it is not of human but divine instruction; it is not of instruction as coming from the wisdom of Solomon, but from the wisdom of God. And surely when the wisdom of God speaks, it is the wisdom of man to hear and obey. Indifference and scorn are impiety, infatuation, madness.

• For the discussion of the point see Lect. on ch. 8.1-21.

Divine Instruction addressed men of old by the Prophets. Those “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” ( 2 Peter 1:21 ) in the name of Jehovah, “warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom,” (Colossians 1:28 .) They informed, they invited, they reproved, they promised, they threatened;-all in the same name;-all with the same authority. There was the solemnity and the weight of Heaven’s truth in every word they uttered. But “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,” (Hebrews 1:1-2 .) Following his Son are his inspired “ambassadors,” to whom he committed “the word of reconciliation,” and who had in all things, whether regarding truth or duty, the “mind of Christ.” Since the time when the “vision and the prophecy were sealed” in Patmos, there have been no new revelations, and no inspired teachers. Yet, all the servants of God still, who “speak according to this word”-(and it is very obvious, that no others can be his servants)-may be regarded as speaking with the voice of heavenly wisdom; and, however unworthy of notice or of deference in themselves, demanding audience for their message, as accredited by the Book from which they profess to take their instructions.

There are two things to be marked as characterizing the address of Wisdom. The first is publicity;-Proverbs 1:20-21 . “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words.”

She thus chooses the most suitable places for giving her instructions all the publicity possible. Now, this has been, and still may be, by the servants of God, done literally. Jesus himself set the example. He uttered his voice in the synagogues, in the courts of the temple, in the streets, in the fields, on mountains, and in plains,-wherever human beings could be assembled to listen. Pursuing, during his official life, the great ends of his ministry, as “a teacher come from God,” he acted as the occasions of that ministry required, seizing on every opportunity of proclaiming truth, and publishing the doctrines and admonitions of the Father that sent him. And what the Master did, the servants need not surely be ashamed to do. Street and field preaching have, in many cases, been signally owned and honoured of God, for the great end of all preaching-the bringing of sinners to Christ-the turning of the disobedient unto the wisdom of the just. It has sometimes been brought into disrepute by the conduct of inferior, unworthy, and mercenary characters; but there is the greater reason why it should be redeemed from obloquy, by the countenance of right-principled and right-hearted men; men who can truly say-” We seek not yours but you.” And we rejoice that by ministers peculiarly qualified for the work, it has, in our own day, been thus redeemed. If there is a portion of the world’s scorn, and even of the so-called Christian world’s scorn, still attached to it, what is that compared with saving souls from death?-But the general idea of publicity-universal publicity-is that which is intended to be conveyed; just as when our Lord says-“What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops,” (Matthew 10:27 ,) he simply means-make it known openly and everywhere.

The second thing in the address of Wisdom is-affectionate earnestness.-The very publicity of her instructions proves her earnestness. She does not wait in private, till men may find her out, and come to her for her lessons. She goes out to them. She not only embraces opportunities when they present themselves; she seeks them, she makes them. This must ever be the spirit and practice of Christians. The principle of regulating the supply by the demand, will never do in their department. The spirit of Christianity must be the spirit of kind aggression. It must seek men out, to tell them of the way of life. It must find its way to the abodes of those who would never themselves come to the house of God to hear of the things that “belong unto their peace.” It must carry the tidings of mercy to the most distant and sequestered spots of our country, and make “the dwellers in the mountains and the vales” hear its voice. It must carry it “far hence unto the Heathen,” bearing thither “the unsearchable riches of Christ,"-the treasures of that wisdom which “cannot be gotten for gold, nor can silver be weighed for the price thereof.” It must thus show itself in earnest for the conversion of sinners, and the evangelization of the world.-And in the earnestness of Wisdom, there is affection, dictating all the force and tenderness of persuasive expostulation and entreaty. Such was the example of the “great Teacher;” of his prophets before him and of his apostles after him. Theirs was not the style of cold, dry, formal, didactic statement, but the urgency of persuasion, the force of evidence, the exhibition and recommendation of their lessons by motives addressed to all the hopes and fears and longings of the human soul.* The language in the passage before us, is full of such tender and urgent solicitation:-Proverbs 1:22-23 . “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”

There are three descriptions of characters here addressed;-kindred characters, it is true, in their generic principles, but different in the mode and measure of the development of those principles.

• Luke 13:34 ; Matthew 11:28-30 ; 2 Corinthians 5:20 .

“Simple ones,” are evidently, as explained in Lecture second, the ignorant, thoughtless, inconsiderate, who, lightly regardless of admonition, “pass on and are punished.”-“How long,” it is said to such, “will ye love simplicity?"-choose, that is, to persist in thoughtless levity and dissipation, loving ease, and not liking to be disturbed and troubled in their course of carelessness; disinclined to give heed to any thing that would at all interfere with the tranquillity or the indulgence of the passing hour. The solemn import of the question, as intimating the duty and the necessity of immediate compliance with Wisdom’s counsels, will appear from what comes after.

“Scorners” go beyond the “simple ones.” They are not merely indifferent and regardless: they scoff at the things of God; they ridicule or revile his lessons; they sneer at and mock his servants and people; they make his word their jest-book, and his day their holiday; they disdain alike the restraints of his precepts and the encouragements of his promises; they laugh at his threatenings, make sport of his terrors, and glory in their superiority to vulgar and superstitious fancies. To them, in the same style of faithful and affectionate expostulation, it is said-“How long will you delight in scorning?” In so doing they took pleasure in what they should have hated; they made light of what ought to have made them serious; they gloried in their shame; they acted in opposition to all the plainest dictates of prudence; they were like “maniacs dancing in their chains;” their very delight and merriment were appalling; they joyed in what made all who loved them sorrowful; they courted death; they sported on the verge of hell.

“Fools” who “hate knowledge,” may describe still another class:-those who are not ignorant of divine lessons,-the lessons of truth and of duty; to whom they have been imparted, and on whom they have been inculcated, by parental tuition, and during their attendance with their parents in. the house of God. But they have felt all this a restraint. It has been utterly distasteful to them; irksome to their inclinations, and troublesome to their consciences. Determined on following their own ways, “walking after the sight of their eyes and the imagination of their hearts,"-they have hated the knowledge which has interfered with and thwarted their purposes, or made them unhappy in the prosecution of them. The career which such pursue is a career of sin against light,-in opposition to the convictions of their judgments, and the dictates and remonstrances of the inward monitor.*

• Comp. John 3:19-21 .

All these are here addressed in the terms of heartfelt compassion and solicitude. The question is that of serious expostulation:-“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?” It is the address of one who clearly saw, in the conduct of all the three, in whatever diversity of measure, folly, and guilt, and danger. They were all acting unwisely, criminally, recklessly. The longer they persisted, the deeper was their guilt becoming, and the more imminent their danger. While they were thus “loving simplicity,” “delighting in scorning,” “hating knowledge,” the moment might be at hand that should arrest their career and consign them to the woe from which there is no redemption!” How long” will ye act thus?-how long thus “forsake your own mercies?” how long thus provoke the slumbering vengeance of divine Justice? how long thus disregard or brave all that is fearful, and refuse and set at nought all that is exalted in honour and rich in happiness? The spirit of the address appears in the exhortation and the encouragement which are immediately added. The exhortation is-” Turn you at my reproof." The reproof was that of affectionate faithfulness; and the exhortation shows the temper of the reprover, as that of love: “Turn you”-to God, to truth, to holiness, to happiness. And we see from what follows, that the motive is a regard to their own well-being, urged upon them by the compassion of an all-merciful God;-as when he says, “Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?” Ezekiel 33:11 .

It is a call to repentance:-not to mere indolent regret-a repentance that needs “to be repented of”-the selfish sorrow of the world which “worketh death;” which for the moment admits the justness of the remonstrance, but still loves its old ways; and, carelessly alleging it is too late to think of changing now, resolves on going on as before:-but to a change of mind respecting their modes of thinking and living, feeling and acting; with the manifestation of the sincerity of both, by a decided turning to God and to the ways of faith and obedience.

And the most immediate and ample encouragement is held out to compliance. Every conceivable objection is anticipated. There is no obstacle in the way. God stands, with outstretched arms, waiting to receive them; and if they speak of their deficiencies, their own ignorance, their own weakness, their own inability, He takes every excuse out of their mouths, and silences all by the assurance, “Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”

The two things here mentioned are to be taken in connexion with each other. The latter is the result of the former-the former in order to the latter. There can be no plea, therefore, for continued ignorance. The word of God is in possession;-and the Spirit of God is in promise. “What more can be required? What sinners are called to do, is to come to God’s word, and to ask God’s Spirit to enlighten them by means of it. Is there anything unreasonable and hard in this? If unwilling to do this, are they not to blame? Nothing,-nothing but unwillingness prevents them. God is all encouragement to them. It is not he that keeps aloof from them, but they that keep aloof from him. He offers instruction; but they will not have it. He promises his Spirit; but they will not so much as ask it. All the consequences lie with themselves. The promise here is-“I will not only make my words enter your ears, but will open your understandings to a discernment of their truth, and excellence, and suitableness, and glory; and will open your hearts to their gladdening and saving power.” This is just what the natural man needs. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:14 . The inability to know them, in their real spiritual excellence, arises from no want of natural power of intellect, but from the blinding, perverting influence of a depraved heart and a vitiated will. And the Spirit of God “makes known God’s word” unto the sinner, not in the mere meaning of its terms, but in the glory and worth of its great truths, their adaptation to His own character, and to the exigencies of the fallen creature for whose salvation they are designed.

These are “exceeding great and precious promises.” If sinners are not sensible of their value, and are not induced by them to comply with the invitation which they are given to recommend and enforce, surely the fault is not His by whom they are made,-made in sincerity and kindness.

Such is the divine Invitation. There is then a solemn interval or pause. Wisdom waits to see the result; to witness the reception it meets with from those to whom it is addressed. Alas! Alas! Her hearers “make light of it.” They go away, “one to his farm and another to his merchandise,"-each to his worldly and sinful pursuits. The simple ones still love simplicity; the scorners still delight in their scorning; the fools still hate knowledge. They persist in “going astray.” Then Wisdom, with awful majesty, proclaims:-verses Proverbs 1:24-27 . “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.”

The season of forbearance is gone. The time of expostulation, and warning, and entreaty, could not always last. The voice of invitation is exchanged for the voice of judgment. The God of mercy having waited, and in many instances waited long, to be gracious, in the exercise of his “goodness and forbearance and long-suffering”-the God of righteousness summons to his bar, and pronounces sentence. The sentence is from the throne of justice, against those who refused, when invited, to come to the throne of grace. The description is in harmony with what goes before. The appeal to themselves as to the past is founded in truth. Wisdom appears in it tender, urgent, importunate, calling, and continuing to call even when sinners refuse; “stretching forth her hands, and all day long stretching them forth, to a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Her language had been-” Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David,” Isaiah 4:1-3 . Importunate repetition had been employed; and she had tried it in every possible form, of tenderness and of terror; of drawing with the cords of love, and of awakening by salutary alarm; of “counsel,” and of “reproof.” But all had been in vain. The heart would neither break nor molt. The ear was closed alike to the voice of mercy and of judgment, of persuasion and of threatening. Then comes the terrific Close:-“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.” This is indeed dreadful! Calamity, fear, desolation, whirlwind, destruction; and No Refuge!-“no ear to pity, no hand to help!"-the only ear to which they could appeal, finally closed; the only hand that had power to save, inflicting the ruin! They prospered in sin; they forgot providence; they laughed at the forewarning of danger, and banished from their hearts and from before their eyes “the fear of the Lord.” But now, their day of grace is ended. Their “judgment lingereth not, their damnation slumbereth not.”-“Be not deceived; God is not mocked;-for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “He that soweth the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.” Here it is-the whirlwind of divine wrath, the impetuous, sweeping, desolating storm, driving all before it; scattering all their hopes like chaff and stubble; annihilating everything from which they had looked for happiness, and overwhelming themselves in irretrievable ruin! Even as the hurricane and the flood carry devastation and overthrow along the cultured fields, laying prostrate the habitations of men and the replenished stores of wealth, and leave the wretched proprietors, houseless and penniless, to poverty and starvation:-such, (only as much more fearful as eternal destitution of all that can contribute to the happiness of an immortal being is more tremendous than the loss of all that pertains to sense alone, and is limited by the span of human life in the present world), such destitution may well warrant the employment of the strongest terms to express the woe occasioned by it-“distress and anguish.” O! Who can form any imagination of the agony of a soul that feels itself lost,-and has, at the same moment, the deep and sure conviction that the loss is irretrievable,-all opportunities of escape gone-gone for ever! What a change from the proud derision of the scorner, and the thoughtless dissipation of the simple!

And the bitterest ingredient of their cup-the most envenomed sting of the anguish, yet remains. The God whom they have despised,-to whom they said “Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways,” will disregard their sufferings and their terrors,-“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.” These are terms of awful import. If sinners feel the thought rising within them, that such expressions present a harsh and repulsive view of God,-a view of him very unlike a Being who says of himself that he “delighteth in mercy,"-I ask them, What would they have? God does delight in mercy. Is it no sufficient evidence of this that he spares them, and warns them, and invites them, and beseeches them, and stretches out his arms and opens his heart to them, and importunes them to come to him, and assures them-adding his oath to his word-that he “will in nowise cast them out?” Is it not enough, that in order to make way for them to his favour, and to form a ground on which he may receive them to the arms of his love, he “has not spared his own Son,” but given Him up to humiliation and expiatory tears and woes and death for them? Are these things not enough, but they must be allowed also, as a proof of his mercy, to break his laws, scorn his invitations, brave his judgments, and, insulting the agonies of a bleeding and dying Saviour, reject with disdain the grace and pardon that are offered them in his name? If they will not be satisfied that God is merciful, unless they are permitted to do all this and more with impunity-woe unto them! We can give them no countenance and no encouragement in such a posture of mind, without compromising the glory of God, and sacrificing the insulted majesty of Heaven to the misconceptions, the pride, the passion, of a worm of the dust! The government of God must be maintained. And impenitent sinners forget, that mercy to the individual might be the very reverse of mercy to the great community of the intelligent creation. They require to be assured, that the time is coming when, as they disregarded Gods voice, He will disregard theirs. The address in these verses is to them; and it amounts to-“Where is now your bravado courage? Where now your haughty scorning? Where now your foolhardy confidence? Where now you’re impious and incredulous taunts and jests, when, ‘walking after your own lusts,’ you scoffed at my people, and turned to ridicule both their hopes for themselves and their fears for you?”

In what follows, there is a remarkable change in the person; and it is singularly impressive. Ceasing her address to them, Wisdom turns to us, and speaks of them-pointing to their awful end, and converting it into a warning to others to beware of encouraging it:-verses Proverbs 1:28-31 . “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel: they despised all my re proof: therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”

Such a scene as that here depicted is sometimes witnessed on a dying bed:-the heart unsubdued, remaining in all its stubborn alienation, but the conscience awakened, and speaking to the agitated and foreboding spirit “terrible things in righteousness;"-and the wretched sinner crying to God, not as the object of love or of hope, but of mere terror,-feeling his irresistible superiority-his “arrows” already “sticking fast within him,” and “the poison of them drinking up his spirit:"-yet God still hated; his vengeance only dreaded; all within hard as the nether millstone, abandoned to judicial obduracy; and Hell opening to the vision of the conscience-stricken and terrified culprit! My friends, there is not to be seen under heaven a scene more horrible than such a deathbed!

But perhaps “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” may itself be more especially intended; which will produce a striking correspondence between this passage and several in the New Testament.-See, for instance, Luke 13:23-28 , and Matthew 25:10-12 . All cries for mercy will then be too late,-all unavailing. The door is shut. The ear of God is shut. The lips of divine Wisdom are shut. There are no more accents of love; no more pressing invitations; no sweet sounds of mercy; no “Ho, every one that thirsteth;” no “Come unto me, and I will give you rest;” no “Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?” but-“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”

Is not the sentence just-” Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices?” Their miserable end is the fruit-not of God’s way, but of their own. Had they hearkened to Him-had they obeyed His voice, very different had been the issue. His plan, His device for them, was a plan of salvation. It is by “their own devices” they are ruined. Had they, when they might, complied with the gracious counsels of Heaven, they should Lave had “their fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life;"-and, instead of the sentence of banishment and curse, they should still have heard the language of invitation, associated with that of welcome and blessing-“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”

Let me impress upon the mind and conscience of every one the reason, and the only reason, of the issue so fearfully described. There is not a word here of inability; it is all unwillingness. And point me out one passage of the Bible, where it is otherwise; where sinners are represented as condemned for inability,-for not doing what they could not do. The blessed God is no such tantalizer. It is never, “Ye could not”-but “ye would not:"-and when, at any time, inability is spoken of, it is inability all of a moral nature, and resolves itself into unwillingness. And this alone leaves the blameworthiness where it ought to lie-not with God, but with the sinner. It is of infinite importance thus to justify God. Every sinner to whom the voice of heavenly Wisdom is addressed-if he perishes, perishes as the consequence of his own unwillingness to hear and obey that voice. Every such sinner who thus perishes, perishes as one who might have been saved; and whom nothing whatever kept from salvation, but his own want of liking to its nature or to its terms. He would not. Every term here is of this description-“would not”-“refused”-“set at nought”-“hated”-“did not choose”-“despised.” “They eat of the fruit of their own way, and are filled with their own devices.”

And the same is the doctrine in the language which follows:-verse Proverbs 1:32 . “For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”

It is the turning away from the warnings and invitations of wisdom that slays them. And this turning of the ear from divine instruction and from all that relates to the soul and salvation, is many a time the result of this world’s prosperity-” the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” (Luke 12:16-21 .) The temptation is represented in Scripture as peculiarly strong; and the representation is in harmony with fact. But he is emphatically a fool who allows the prosperity of this world to “destroy” him, for-” “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

How simple, but how beautiful and striking, the contrast:-verse Proverbs 1:33 . “But whosoever hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”

He who listens to, and complies with, the counsels of Wisdom-the believer in divine truth-the Christian-shall possess genuine security. “Resting on the Lord,” on the wisdom, faithfulness, love, and power of a covenant God and Saviour, his mind will enjoy unmoved tranquillity, amidst all the turmoils and all the vicissitudes of this life. (Phi 4:6-7 .) And, infinitely more than that, he shall be quiet from the fear of ultimate and final evil-the evil of which the wicked and the careless, the “simple ones,” the “scorners,” and the “fools,” become the victims-the terrors of death and hell. The season of the impenitent sinner’s last alarm shall be to him the season of peace and hope and joy. He shall stand unappalled in the judgment-“quiet from fear of evil” even at the bar of the Eternal-quiet from the fear of a sentence of condemnation and banishment, such as shall drive away God’s enemies. “Accepted in the Beloved,” and safe from all evil in virtue of his union to Him, he shall “enter into His joy.” And there-in the residence of the redeemed, no “fear of evil” shall ever find admission. There shall be in the very fullest sense of the words, “quietness and assurance for ever.” How delightful the representations of the serene tranquillity, the perfect peace and joy-of the everlasting habitations:-“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,” Revelation 7:14-17 .