Proverbs 18

Proverbs 18:1-8

LECTURE XLIX.

Proverbs 18:1-8 .

“Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach. The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. A fool’s month is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”

Of the first of these verses two views are given by critics and commentators. They are opposites. The one makes Solomon refer to a pursuit of knowledge and wisdom that is right and commendable, the other regards him as speaking of what is wrong and censurable.-And of this second view of the general meaning there are several varieties. By one critic1 the intended character is thus described-" A self-conceited hair-brained fool seeks to satisfy his fancy, and intermingleth himself with all things." Another2 draws it thus:-“He who has separated himself agitates questions as his desire prompts, and breaks his teeth on every hard point.” A third*3 thus-“The recluse seeks his own pleasure, or inclination; he laughs at, or derides, everything solid or wise:"-and a fourth,*4 differently from all these-” He seeks occasions, who desires to separate himself from his friends." In the margin, we have it thus: “He that separateth himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom;"-and, from the reference subjoined, ( Jude 1:19 ) it is evident in what sense this was meant to be understood.

*1 Schultens.

*2 Schulz.

*3 Parkhurst.

*4 Hodgson.

Another gives it, like our translators, a general form, without directly expressing either good or evil in the case:-“A retired man pursueth the researches he delighteth in, and hath pleasure in each branch of science.”

I am disposed to think that our own translation gives the sense-“Through desire”-that is, the desire of knowledge–“a man having separated himself”-that is, having retired and secluded himself from interruption by the intrusion of companions and the engagements of social life-“seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.”

Among other reasons for preferring this view of the verse, I may mention, that to me there seems to be an intended contrast between the character in the first verse and that in the second. The contrast is between the man that loves and pursues knowledge, and the man who undervalues and despises it.

In the investigation of each of the sciences, and in the pursuit of general knowledge, many have been the instances of men devoting themselves to research,-” rising early and sitting late"-expending time, and toil, and mind, and treasure, for the acquisition. Different and mingled motives have incited and maintained the pursuit. The love of knowledge for its own sake; the love of reputation and fame, present and posthumous, as one of its results; and a benevolent desire to contribute, by means of it, to the comfort, entertainment, improvement, and happiness of mankind, as another. Men of literature, and men of science and art, have discovered an abstraction and a perseverance in their respective pursuits,-though in some instances disproportionate to the real value of their objects,-eminently creditable to their mental powers, and to their powers of application and research.

It were well if the word of God,-the fountain of the best and highest of all wisdom-had a greater number of such ardent and devoted students. Alas! how many there are, and ever have been,-men of eminence in erudition and science,-by whom its sacred pages have been neglected, and who have remained utter strangers to the knowledge it communicates;-who have thought that knowledge quite beneath them, and would have been ashamed of being seen with the Bible in their hands or of being for a moment supposed ever to look into it!-“In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Here is knowledge which babes may understand; and yet here is knowledge for the grasp of angelic minds. And this union of the simple with the lofty and sublime,-of information for a child amongst men, with subjects of devout admiration for seraphs before the throne,-is one of the evidences of divinity with a heavenly origin with which the Book is enstamped. The philosopher may despise it; yet it contains depths that are beyond the soundings of the longest line of his wisdom; and if he despises it, because its blessed discoveries can be apprehended, sufficiently for their salvation, by the unlettered poor-and the lisping child, he despises it on account of one of its divinest and most wonderful excellences. Let it be observed, at the same time, respecting the study of the Bible, that there are dangers to be guarded against. There is the danger of studying it simply as a branch of science, or of mere philosophic speculation. There are many points relative to the evidences of Christianity, and to the system of theology which the Bible unfolds, such as may engage and interest the inquisitive mind, while the soul remains estranged from its influence-the knowledge “playing round the head,” but never reaching the heart. There is the further danger-against which all its public teachers require to be on their guard,-of merely studying the Bible professionally; preparing from the Scriptures, something to be preached, week after week, to others, without a due impression of its importance to themselves, or the necessary personal application of it. The Bible may, in this way, be studied for a life-time, and never be felt and exemplified in its spiritual and saving power. Yes, my friends. There are other unworthy ends for which a man may wish for, and choose, the profession of a minister, besides the desire of a living, or of a reputable standing. This is one-fondness for literary retirement. Here is a situation for its indulgence. A man may thus, in literary leisure, “seek and intermeddle with all wisdom.” I will not say, honourably; I will not say safely. For nothing can be more dishonourable, than for a man to choose, for his own gratification, what ought to be a scene of active inquiry and effort for the benefit of others; to convert into a literary lounge, and a source of mere selfish mental luxury, the most fearfully responsible of all the services in which it is possible to be engaged.-Yet there is far more in the word of God than that which lies on the surface; and it is well when sanctified minds devote themselves to such researches as are fitted to bring out for public benefit its hidden treasures. And here lies one part of the value of a well-instructed ministry.

Verse Proverbs 18:2 . “A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself."-This verse, as we have said, presents a contrast to the first,-an opposite character. According to the sense we have put upon the first verse, it is the desire of knowledge and wisdom, that induces tho man who “separateth himself” to choose his seclusion, that he may follow out the desire with success. But the fool has no such desire. He “has no delight in understanding.” If he seeks knowledge at all, it is neither for its own sake, nor for the purpose of fitting him for usefulness, but solely for the ends of self-display. He “hath no delight” in knowledge, “but in the displaying of his own thoughts.”* His delight is in the gratification of vanity and self-conceit. Such kinds and measures of knowledge as may just save his credit, or enable him, in the company he frequents, to show off,-to talk so as to be admired and flattered,-he seeks eagerly:-and a very superficial smattering may serve his purpose. He thus makes manifest to every sensible and observant mind, both tho weakness and emptiness of his understanding, and the vanity of his heart. In the use he makes of his knowledge, such as it is, his heart “discovers itself.”

• Hodgson.

It may mean too, that the fool-the unprincipled man-seeks knowledge such as accords with the perverse propensities of his heart; such as he can use for the gratification of those propensities. In the very choice he makes of the knowledge to be sought, as well as in the use he makes of it when it has been acquired, he shows the state of his heart.

For the purpose of vanity and self-display, the fool may take a fancy to attend a little, among other matters, even to divinity. Such subjects may be introduced. When they are, it would never do for him to have nothing to say. He does not like them, it is true; they are very dry; not at all to his taste. But still, the appearance of utter ignorance would be mortifying; and by the contrary,-by showing that he can talk on that as well as on other subjects, he has his vanity gratified. The very thought of the applause of his circle,-of his sentiments being received with-” Spoke like an oracle!" is everything to him. It is to be feared, that with some this goes further; and that the discovery of what is in the heart is of something worse than vanity. There are those who seek a little acquaintance with the doctrines of Christianity, for the purpose of enabling them to say some thing against them; and who get a smattering of the arguments of infidelity, that they may go primed with them to the club or the tavern, or the debating society, and there get a reputation for being persons of free thought and independent spirit, by sporting sentiments that are in contrariety to what are ordinarily held, and showing their superiority to vulgar prejudices. They pass for choice spirits, that have freed themselves from the leading-strings of a nursery education, and learned to think for themselves. Thus “the heart discovers itself.” There is nothing there of the real earnest love of truth; but the desire of a character for originality and boldness, and for being the oracles of their circle. This is a very sad, but, it is to be feared, no very uncommon case. And it is no less sad when the sacred truths of the divine word, instead of being studied for their own sakes, and for the infinitely important ends to which they are designed to be subservient, are made the mere food of vanity, and means of a fool’s self-display.

Verse Proverbs 18:3 . “When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach."-The sense of this verse will somewhat vary, according to the sense attached to the first clause. It may mean:-

1. “When the wicked cometh” into places of public trust, power, and influence-” then cometh contempt." They bring “contempt,” not to themselves only, but to the places they fill, and the societies to which they become united-to themselves, for the unworthy manner in which they fulfil the duties of the trust they have assumed, or have had committed to them; and to their places and societies, with which their names are associated. They entail “ignominy and reproach” upon all they have to do with. And in no case is this more true, than with regard to offices in the church. O what an amount of scorn and reproach has been brought upon the sacred office of the ministry by the intrusion, under numberless pretexts, and from numberless causes, of wicked, worldly, ungodly men into its holy functions. How full is Church history of this deplorable evil!-and how many infidels and scorners has Church history by this means produced. Thus it was under the old dispensation. The wickedness of the sons of Eli made men" abhor the offering of the Lord." And thus it is still. Of the “false teachers” who should arise in the latter days, it is said-" by reason of them the way of truth shall be evil-spoken of." From few other sources, if from any, has there proceeded a greater profusion of unmerited “reproach” of the name and doctrine and kingdom of the Lord; or has “the chair of the scorner” drawn a greater number and variety of its sarcastic sneers and bitter revilings.

2. The phrase may mean-“When the wicked cometh” into intimacy, companionship, familiarity, “then cometh contempt."-He who admits the wicked to his intimacy-makes him his associate,-must share the infamy of his ill-chosen companion. Many a time too has this been exemplified. Many a fair reputation has been blasted,-many an honoured name brought into disgrace by association with the wicked and worthless. On this account, then, as well as on the higher ground of the risk of infection from the contact of evil, beware, all of you,’-beware, especially my youthful hearers,-of such associations. Keep aloof from the wicked and the foolish. Be assured, there is far more reason to fear that he will debase and degrade you, than to hope that you will elevate him. You will get the disgrace of his society, rather than he the credit and the honour of yours.

Verse Proverbs 18:4 . “The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.”

Here two different interpretations have been given, as the terms are evidently susceptible of them.-1. The two clauses of the verse are by some considered as containing a contrast between two opposite things:-the first clause referring to the depths of evil and guileful counsel in the heart; while the words do not truly indicate what lies there concealed:*-while the second refers to the transparent open flowing stream of true wisdom, from the heart of the upright and the good; whose conversation flows in a limpid current, not deep and turbid, but clear, fresh, cheering, fructifying.-2. It is more likely that the other interpretation is the correct one;-according to which there is no designed contrast; but the character of the former clause is to be taken from the latter:-“The words of a man’s month”-that is, according to the second clause, of a wise man’s mouth-” are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook." In the two clauses of the verse, on the principle of parallelism, there appears to be an inversion of the same sentiment;–for, properly speaking, the words uttered are not the “deep waters,” but the stream that issues from them; and, on the other hand, “the wellspring of wisdom” is not “the flowing brook,” but the deep and copious fountain or reservoir from which it issues. Another passage may serve to confirm this view. “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; hut a man of understanding will draw it out.” Here, the counsel is the deep water-not the words. But the words are the stream which the deep waters send forth. The words bring out and contain the counsel. They are like “deep waters,” inasmuch as they do not readily run dry-are not quickly exhausted. The stream of words is of a character such as indicates the depth or abundance of waters from which it flows. The wisdom proceeding from the deep and full fountain in the heart, flows in a pure and silent stream,-not like the shallow current, with rattling and brawling noise,-the apt emblem of the noisy but empty talk of the fool.

• Comp. Psalms 64:6 .

The sentiment expressed in the verse, we have already had before us more than once under different modifications.

The same may be said of the sentiment of the fifth verse. We have had it twice before us, though not precisely under the same form of expression, recently,* and it will come before us again hereafter:-" It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment." Bear in mind, that what is true of causes in civil courts, or in submission to arbitration, is not less true of causes that come before the churches of Christ. There must be “no respect of persons.” It is of such cases the apostle James speaks when he says, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” James 2:1-4 . The last of these verses determines the meaning. If they were tempted to give a preference to tho rich, in a plea between the rich and the poor, they were become “judges influenced by evil thoughts."-On the part of the church, and of all who may be appointed to investigate cases for their guidance in discipline, no duty is more important than that of “doing nothing by partiality.”

• See Proverbs 17:18 ; Proverbs 17:23 .

Verses Proverbs 18:6-7 . “A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul."-While the contrast here described is wicked as opposed to the character and will of God-the God of peace and love-it is marked by weakness and imprudence. He is weak minded indeed who is easily offended,-takes every thing amiss,-startles at every act or look or word that can bear to be interpreted into a reflection or an insult,-is on fire and in a blaze in a moment, like a heap of combustibles on the falling of every spark,-vows vengeance,-“enters into contentions”-“calls for strokes”-gives his card, or sends his friend, challenging to the death the man who has dared to use a word out of joint and not in the perfect punctilio of etiquette and honour, or the glance of whose eye has seemed to his jealous spirit to speak defiance.-The grounds of such challenges, in the world of fashion, are in many instances-perhaps in most instances, the littlest and most pitiful imaginable,-unworthy of a man of common sense to mind,-such as should make any man blush to own them. True vigour of mind and wisdom, would regard and treat such trifles with the contempt which is their due; would not even allow its tranquillity to be disturbed,-the calm surface of their peace to be so much as ruffled by them.

And he is imprudent.-“Entering into contentions”-may refer to the contentions of others, as well as his own. The folly of fools is often thus discovered. They are so fond of strifes, that they quite delight when they find two fallen or falling out. They join the fray. They stir up the combatants; foment their wrath; touch their pride, and urge them on to all the vehemence of passion. They excite to lawsuits and duels, rather than do what lies in their power for their prevention; and delight to embitter bitterness, and to ensure interminable jars and irreconcileable alienation.

Verse Proverbs 18:8 . “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” We have had this character before us already: but it is one which cannot be too frequently exposed, or too strongly and severely reprobated.-The “talebearer” is generally very smooth and insinuating; very fair in his speech; very insidious in his purpose.-Love and regard are professed towards the party of whom the tale is told; and very sincere and deep regret at having such a tale to tell. “Who would have thought it!” he exclaims, “I hardly expect you will believe me. But alas! it is even so-too true.” It is with extreme reluctance he repeats it, knowing as he does how very much it will grieve you to hear it. But then the very interest you take in the person renders it quite impossible to keep it from you; and perhaps-who can tell?-you may, by knowing it, be the instrument of doing him good. And many apologies are suggested for the unhappy doer of what he tells,-and palliations pleaded in his behalf, yet still with an insinuated uncertainty that puts a sting into the very plea. The words go deep. The wounds they inflict are deep. They pierce to the very vitals-first, on the reputation and character, and it may be, on the interest too, of the subject of the tale; slaying and destroying both, beyond recovery:-and secondly, on the confidence, the friendship, the peace and comfort of the person to whom the tale is told; infusing the venom of suspicion, or worse than suspicion into his mind; embittering his spirit; engendering feelings the most agonizing in regard to those whom he loved, and whom he still wishes to love, and whom to suspect of treachery or of wrong, is like tearing his very heart asunder.

The bite of a viper is not so deadly as the wound of these “talebearers” stories and insinuations. The truth is, they contrive to infuse their poison without a bite. If they would but appear in their true character;-would they but show their fangs, and make us feel them, we should be put upon our guard. We know the viper. We shun it. And when it has unhappily succeeded in wounding us, we instantly have recourse to means for preventing the poison from getting into the mass of the blood, and pervading the system. But these human vipers infuse their poison in the language of kindness and love. “Their words are smoother than oil; yet are they drawn words;"-envenomed fangs, of which the virus gets into our system ere we are aware, works its mischievous and morally deadly effects, and becomes incapable of extraction. Every attempt at its removal still leaves some portion of it behind.-There is, in the original word, an implication of softness, simplicity, undesignedness, which only gives the secret weapon with which the wound is inflicted the greater keenness.

By one eminent critic the word rendered wounds is, by a different etymology, made to signify-” like morsels greedily swallowed;"-by which translation the passage is made to express what is certainly too melancholy a truth-the avidity with which the “talebearer’s” words are generally listened to and received,-swallowed with eagerness.-The other is the sense generally adopted.

Beware of every approach to the character yourselves; and beware of giving it any countenance or encouragement in others.-If there exists a character that deserves to be hooted out of society, and branded deep with disgrace and infamy, the whispering “talebearer” is that character.-O cultivate openness, straightforwardness, simple-hearted candour, unsuspecting charity-the charity that “thinketh no evil,” that “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things!”

Proverbs 18:9-14

LECTURE L.

Proverbs 18:9-14 .

“He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?”

It must be obvious to every one, that the tendencies of waste and thriftlessness are the same with those ascribed to sluggishness and idleness* They tend alike to poverty. The slothful man might have more by diligence; the thriftless man might have more by economy. Diligence and economy are sister virtues; laziness and thriftlessness are kindred vices:-the sluggard is brother to the waster.

• See Proverbs 6:6-11 ; Proverbs 10:4 .

The practical lesson is, that, in personal and domestic interests, diligence and economy should go together; and that the one without the other, never can avail, for either obtaining or securing, even the comforts of life. Of what use is industry if its proceeds are not prudently managed when they come in?-if husband, or wife, or both, be destitute of discretion, improvident and thriftless?-if there is the absence of all sober and considerate calculation, and, as a consequence, no due proportioning of outlay to income, but a reckless and wasteful expenditure, leaving an unlooked-for deficiency-a woeful amount minus-at the year’s end? The poor inconsiderate fools never think what they are about. They keep no daily reckoning-no accounts; and so their money is gone-they can’t tell how-they had no idea they were living at such a rate!-and even when they have made the discovery, there is no improvement. They say, possibly, they must take care; but they only say it, and immediately forget it. Things go on as before; and still (to use rather a colloquial, but sufficiently expressive phrase) what is taken in by the door is thrown out by the window, and still the wonder continues how it goes! They are ever marvelling how other folks do. They can’t understand it. For their parts, all that comes in finds its way off from them as fast as it comes, and many a time faster!-Thus, as might be expected, there are the same appearances of bareness, and cheerlessness, and want, in the dwelling of the thriftless as in that of the slothful. Extremes thus meet. The lesson of the verse is one for all stations. That which all, in every station, ought to aim at, is-a union of industry and economy; associated with a liberality proportionate to providentially bestowed means-a careful distinction being made between an economical, and a penurious and miserly, disposition,-a disposition that keeps all for self-that grasps hard, and can part with nothing. This is what God commands; and this is what will ever draw the approving and confiding admiration of men. Diligence, let me remind you, is as necessary for the acquisition of spiritual as of temporal good,-of the riches of divine knowledge to the mind, as of the blessings of the divine life to the heart.-And not less is economy of means. How often may it be seen, that with means of a very limited and stinted amount, there is more of spiritual prosperity in one instance, than is discoverable in another, with means the most varied and abundant. Many believers, it is to be feared, are spiritual spendthrifts. They use their privileges on no principle of economy. They read, they hear, they frequent ordinances,-and yet their progress in spiritual attainments bears no proportion to the extent of their advantages. Rich in privilege, they are poor in both the graces and enjoyments of the life of God in the soul. Why? The answer is plain. They who thrive on slender means, make the most of what they have; whereas they who live in the midst of abundance get into habits of carelessness, and of the prodigal use of what they have-allowing a great deal of it to run to waste. Fellow-Christians, guard against this tendency. Improve every part of what you enjoy, as if it were the whole; uniting thus diligence and carefulness, that “you may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;"-that the prayer of Paul for the Philippians may be fulfilled in your happy experience.*

• Phi 1:9-11 .

Verse Proverbs 18:10-12 . “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.”

Between these verses there is a manifest and interesting connexion; and we therefore take them together in illustration. “The Name of the Lord” means his character-his perfections, as revealed in His word;-what any one is, being naturally associated with, and suggested by, his name. When the Psalmist says, “They that know Thy name will put their trust in thee”*1-it is quite obvious, that by knowing Jehovah’s name he means more than merely knowing that God was called Jehovah. It is to know God Himself;-the idiom being quite common in the Scriptures of using the name of a person as a phrase for the person to whom the name belongs. The comparison of Jehovah’s name to “a strong tower” is frequent.*2 There is in this, occasion for grateful wonder; that to a sinner God’s name should be a refuge!-Surely, it was not to have been expected that a rebellious and guilty creature should find his refuge there! It is that from which such a creature might be supposed to shrink and to flee, as yielding him anything but the prospect of protection and safety. It is God as revealed in His word that is meant. The grand object of that word is to make known the gospel-the way of salvation;-God in his true character as light and love; “delighting in mercy;” “in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” It is in this character-in which he made himself known before the law, under the law, and more clearly under the dispensation of “the fulness of time,"-that God invites sinners to come to him, and to put their trust in him; in his name,-in his character, in the truths and promises of his covenant. To “the righteous-the name of the Lord”-the Lord in whom they have believed-” is a strong tower:"-a tower of impregnable security. And in times of temptation, trial, difficulty, and danger, it is always at hand,-so that they may “run into it,” and feel their safety. All that can be imagined necessary to ensure protection is combined in Jehovah’s Name. There is the union of mercy and love, wisdom, righteousness, faithfulness, and power, all pledged in covenant promise, by their God and Father in Christ. Thither, then, may the tried, afflicted, imperilled, tempted child of God ever betake himself; and there he will delightfully feel that all is safe and well. There he can sit secure and sing-” God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,” Psalms 46:1-2 .

*1 Psa 9:10 . rr

*2 Psa 18:2 ; Psalms 27:7 ; Psalms 56:3-4 ; Psalms 91:2 ; Psalms 144:2 .

In the next verse, a temptation is mentioned to a very different kind of confidence:-“The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.” This is a “strong delusion,” and shows the tendency of our nature, under various influences, to “believe a lie.” Surely he is going on with “a lie in his right hand,” who is thus “trusting in his wealth, and boasting himself of the multitude of his riches;"-who is thus “saying to the gold, Thou art my hope, and to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;” who is thus “setting his heart upon that which is not.” While he exults in his security, and regards his wealth as his “high wall” of protection from evils and sufferings that abound around him,-and alas! from within its entrenchments even sets at defiance the salutary admonitions of that God who gives him all, and warns him of a reckoning to come,-it is a “high wall” only “in his own conceit.” It is a wall of no real strength, and affording no real safety,-either from the ills of time, or from the woes of eternity. It is a wall that is only “daubed with untempered mortar,” and to which the words of the prophet may, in all their emphasis, be accommodated:-” Say unto them who daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it,” Ezekiel 13:11 . It is a wall which, even although no desolating storm should overthrow it in the rich worldling’s life time, is to him, in the very decay of his own life, mouldering away, and coming to ruin; and leaving him, in the end, to the full and torturing experience of all that is meant by the simple but alarming question-" Then, whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?"-Or, to change the figure-Death, like an armed man, in the might of his resistless commission, shall invade his stronghold, at the very moment, it may be, when he is most confidently vaunting of its security;-and before that all-conquering power, no wealth shall profit him; “no, not gold nor all the forces of strength.” The “haughty heart”-the spirit of proud and self-confident independence engendered and fostered by “wealth”-is but the prelude to “destruction.”

Verse Proverbs 18:13 . “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”–Nothing, to be sure, can be more preposterously foolish than the conduct thus described. It is, however, in all departments, strangely common.

It is very common in ordinary conversation. How frequently do you find people who interrupt and answer you, ere you have half finished, or perhaps well begun, what you have to say!-It is common too in causes submitted for judgment-not so much so, perhaps, as in the former case, yet painfully common. A decision is pronounced at once with all confidence, before the statement and the proof are half closed-It is no less common in matters of argument and controversy. Your opponent will not allow you to complete your process of reasoning, but starts into a reply long before you have done, or can possibly be understood.

These are points of fact and character, of every-day occurrence. The sources of the evil are various; and in touching on them, its nature, and the “folly and shame” of those by whom it is practised, will more fully appear. I notice, then-

1. Natural or acquired eagerness of spirit, and impatience of protracted inquiry.-Such minds cannot bear anything that requires close and long-sustained attention. They become uneasy, fretted, and fidgetty; and are ever anxious to catch at any occasion for cutting the matter short and being done with it.

2. The sympathy of passion with one or other of the parties.-One of them happens to be their friend; and whether it be he or his adversary that makes the statement, partiality for him stirs their resentment at the injury done to him; the blood warms; and, passion thus striking in, they hastily interrupt the narration-will hear no more of it,-and at once proceed to load the enemy of their friend with abuse and imprecation. They know their friend, and to them it is enough that he has been a sufferer; they take it for granted that he must be in the right.

3. Indolence-indisposition to be troubled.-This is a temper the very opposite of the first, but producing a similar effect. The former jumped to a conclusion from overeagerness; this comes soon to a close from sheer sluggishness of mind. It is to a man of this stagnant and lazy temperament an exertion quite unbearable to keep his mind so long on the stretch, as to listen even to a statement, and still more to an argument or pleading, that cannot be finished in a breath and done with. His attention soon flags; he gets sick of it; he seems as if he were listening, when he is not, and with a yawn of exhaustion and misery, he pronounces his verdict, and at times with great decision, for no other purpose than to get quit of the trouble. He can stand it no longer.

4. Self-conceit-the affectation of extraordinary acuteness.-This-would be an amusing character, were it not, at the same time, so provoking. The self-conceited man assumes a very sagacious and penetrating look:-sits down with apparent determination to hear out the cause on both sides, and to “judge righteous judgment.” But it is hardly well begun, when the self-conceited man sees to the end of it. He starts up; his countenance beams with self-satisfaction; he throws aside the pen with which he had begun to take careful memoranda:-“Not the smallest need to go any farther-the case is clear as day-not a doubt about it-settled beyond a question-it is so, and so, and so.” And the same is the case in all matters of controversy. You can’t get leisure to state your argument. Whether it be favourable or unfavourable,-on the one side or on the other,-this man of wondrous penetration sees it all in an instant, as if by intuition; and he springs to the inference and to the answer, before you have well entered on your premises; or each argument in succession he catches out of your mouth, and finishes for you. It is surprising with what agility this spirit of self-conceit gets over difficulties. It sees none-no, never.

“Where others toil with philosophic force,

Its nimble nonsense takes a shorter course;

Flings at your head conviction in the lump,

And gains remote conclusions at a jump.”

Did I say that this self-conceit never sees difficulties?-I was wrong. There is one case in which it is very likely, almost sure to see them. I mean, when others can’t. Ah! then, it looks very grave, and shakes its head, and with oracular foresight, discerns a thousand-ay, and great and serious ones too.

“Be not ye,” my brethren, thus “wise in your own conceits:” for “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” It is “folly” from whichsoever of these or of other causes it proceeds. And it is no less “shame.” Many a time does it bring a man to shame, and cover him with confusion. In not a few cases, it is twenty to one if he hit upon the truth. And perhaps there can be few better ways to expose the folly and punish the presumption, than to allow the man to go on to his close; and then, when he is in the full flush and triumph of selfcomplacency, to point out to him calmly how completely he has mistaken and misjudged the case. At any rate, such treatment is well merited on his part, if it can only be inflicted (which is not perhaps easy) in a right spirit on ours.

Verse Proverbs 18:14 . “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?”-“When “the spirit” is fresh and vigorous, bodily infirmities, and even pains of the severest description, may be endured with a great measure of composure by natural fortitude alone: how much more when it is enlivened and sustained in energy by the grace of the gospel! There is no saying what degree of bodily suffering may be borne without shrinking, by a mind in the full action of its powers and principles, and animated by divine influences. “What have Christians, sinking to death under diseases the most agonizing, endured with smiling patience!-and what have martyrs submitted to with cheerfulness, in the dungeon, on the rack, on the scaffold, at the stake!-But when “the spirit” itself is “wounded”-when it is pierced and tortured, the bodily frame is shaken thereby to weakness and to the dust.

And what is “a wounded spirit?” The designation may be applied to the soul in various conditions. “The spirit” may be wounded, for example,-deeply, sorely wounded-by disappointed hopes;-especially when these hopes have rested on the attachment of a friend or friends, in whose faithfulness and love we have trusted, but by whom our confidence has been betrayed, and whose pledged affection has misgiven us:-when “our own familiar friend, who did eat of our bread, hath lifted up his heel against us:"-when the bosom on which we leaned and reposed proves false and treacherous:-when we find ourselves left alone, when most we required the sympathy, the counsel, and the aid of faithful friendship;-when we are “deserted at our utmost need” by those to whom we had looked with all the security of an undoubting reliance:-when, it may be, those who are “bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,” instead of dividing our sorrows and doubling our joys by fond and faithful participation, are cooled, alienated, estranged from us. O this, to such as may have experienced it, or may ever experience it, must be anguish itself. Well may we say, “Who can bear it ?"-The tortures of the joint-dislocating and bonebreaking wheel are not to be compared with the agony of a spirit thus wounded. To bear well-that is, to bear with right principle and in a right manner, even bodily and other providential inflictions, requires more than mere natural fortitude:-and to bear well the agony of “a wounded spirit,” requires a measure still larger of the gracious influences of God’s Holy Spirit,-and all the power of promise and of hope.

The words may also be applied to a wounded conscience,-a conscience pierced through with the arrows of a thousand convictions,-stung with self-accusations,-agitated, through the discovery of the spiritual and heart-searching character of the divine law, with the “fearful looking-for of judgment."-A “good conscience” is one of the firmest supports under the heaviest ills of life. It was amidst his sufferings from severe persecution, that Paul felt its preciousness. It was his “rejoicing.” But-a true believer, enjoying reconciliation and peace with God through Jesus Christ, and “exercising himself to have always a conscience void of offence”-O how different his case, even when alive to a sense of many failings, from that of the poor sinner with unrepented, unconfessed, undeplored, unforgiven guilt lying upon his conscience,-and that conscience quickened to action-roused to its fearful functions-by the “fiery law.” This is intolerable anguish. This form of the “wounded spirit who can bear?”*

• Psalms 32:3-4 ; Psalms 38:1-3 .

By this desperate state of spirit, men are sometimes driven to conduct the most infatuated-and to the most fearful of all extremities-suicide itself; by which they seek refuge from the pangs of earth in the severer pangs of hell. This is one of the forms of that “sorrow of the world which worketh death.”

The only cure for a wounded conscience is the blood of atonement-of the divinely provided, the divinely accepted, the divine atonement. There is no other way of true and, in the end, satisfactory deliverance from this deepest and most excruciating of all the wounds of the mind. It is a wound which cannot be borne, but in one or other of two ways. Either the conscience must be seared into hardness by familiarity with sin-drugged into insensibility by its intoxicating cup, (the most fearful curse under the form of a present relief which can ever, in the judicial vengeance of heaven, fall upon any sinner on earth,) or it must be divinely pacified by faith in the atoning Saviour. The wound is one which no influence of God’s Spirit can ever be imparted to enable a man to bear. The Holy Spirit is given to deliver from it, not to sustain under it. And this He does by “taking of the things that are Christ’s, and showing them” to the mind of the conscience-stricken and spirit-wounded sinner, leading him to “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Groaning under the load of his sins, which have become a burden too heavy for him to bear,-smarting in anguish with the stings of an awakened and busy conscience,-overwhelmed with the” fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation”-the trembling sinner comes to the cross,-comes to it, under the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is there-” looking on Him whom he has pierced”-that he finds his effectual cure; there, that his wounded spirit is healed:-

“We sing a note that far transcends

The highest angel’s highest strain:-

They never knew the pang that rends-

Nor felt the grace that heals the pain.”

With what exquisite and touching pathos does the Christian Author of the Task-drawing from his own experience,-describe the anguish of “a wounded spirit,” and the efficient means of cure!-

“I was a stricken deer, that left the herd

Long since:-with many an arrow deep infixed.

My panting side was charged when I withdrew,

To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.

There was I found by One who had himself

Been hurt by th’ archers. In his side he bore,

And in his hands and feet the cruel scars.

With gentle force soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth, and heal’d, and bade me live!''

O my hearers, if a wounded conscience-a sense of guilt in the soul-is thus ill to be borne here; what will be the sufferings of the “wounded spirit” in the world to come!-where there will be no pleasures of sin to alleviate or to sear it!-when it will be excited to the keenest sensibility, and its arrows will be dipped in the venom at once of memory and hopeless anticipation!-when the spirit shall be “pierced through with many sorrows,” and sorrows for which no softening and no cure shall ever be provided;-“no balm” in the place of final woe,-“no physician there!” “Their worm dieth not.”

If such be the agony of a thoroughly awakened and sensitive conscience-will you think me cruel in expressing the wish and the prayer that every conscience in this assembly were thus awakened-thus endowed with sensibility?-Ah! my friends, the wish is as far as possible from being a cruel one. I wish your consciences awakened now, while you are within reach of healing; while you have access to the balm and to the physician. Now the cure is to be found. Now, peace and hope are attainable. The blood that cleanseth from all sin, will heal the very deepest, fiercest, and most agonizing wounds of the spirit. If a conscience awakened and armed with its torturing sting is fearful,-still more fearful, and more ominous of future misery, is a conscience seared and insensible. This is not peace; it is stupor; it is the sleep of death; it is the appalling prelude to death eternal!

Proverbs 18:15-19

LECTURE LI.

Proverbs 18:15-19 .

“The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him. The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty. A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”

“The heart” is here, as in many other instances, apparently used for the mind in general,-including both the intellect and the affections. There is, in “the wise,” a love of knowledge; and an application of the mental powers for its attainment. And as “the ear” is one of the great inlets to instruction, it may here, with propriety, be considered as comprehending all the ways in which knowledge may be acquired. “The ear” of “the wise” listens with interested and eager attention, when instruction of any valuable kind is imparted; and as “the ear trieth words” he hears with discrimination,-desirous to distinguish truth from error, that the latter may be rejected, and the former stored up in his memory, and retained for use. “The wise” appreciates knowledge according to its utility, and never loses sight of its practical application. It is his desire that his whole character may be formed by the truth which he receives from the divine record. The Psalmist expresses the “wisdom of the wise,” in this respect, when he says-” Thy word have I bid in my heart, that I sin not against thee.”

Vers Proverbs 18:16 . “A man’s gift’ maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.”*

• Compare Proverbs 17:8 ; Proverbs 19:6 .

Some would render, instead of “maketh room,” “maketh enlargement,” that is, procures release and liberty. On this principle the governor Felix acted toward the Apostle Paul, eager for the gratification of his own avaricious disposition,* His was a basely sordid and unprincipled expectation. Alas! that a feeling so mean and despicable as well as profligate should be so common, under one form or another!-How often does it happen, that, when a man is unknown as to his rank and condition,-however fair and worthy his suit may be,-all is distance, and reserve,-all cold repulsiveness; and recourse is had to any pretext whatever in order to get rid of him;-but when afterwards, his station and wealth are discovered, and he is found to be a man who has a good deal in his power,-from whom something may be expected;-O what a change!-how many apologies, and regrets, and thousands of excuses!-what altered looks and manner! what obsequiousness, politeness, and courtesy! what cringing, what flattery! He who before refused a look or word of ordinary civility, would now go to the ends of the earth to serve one so worthy! nothing too great or too good to be done for him! all at his command!-Shame on our fallen nature! He who can thus basely stoop from the manly dignity of independence; and, instead of taking his ground in character alone,-in the realities of substantial excellence,-can condescend to accept of civilities and honours and tokens of respect, paid him solely for his conferred or expected gifts,-is, if possible, even more contemptible than he by whom those gifts are received. The “great men” are little men, into whose presence “a gift” obtains admission, when sterling worth would fail of finding it. And when there is any principle involved, and the gift comes for the purpose of bribing that principle out of the way of access,-it ought to be, and by every man of right character it will be, rejected with honest indignation-an indignation that blushes at being thought capable of such disgraceful and criminal pliancy. It will be thus rejected, independently of what the world may say; but a regard to character will. at the same time, concur, with a regard to principle, in commanding its rejection; for even were the giver of the gift to gain his plea fairly, independently of his bribe,-to the bribe the success would be imputed,-and the fairness of the decision in itself would be considered as only accidental and fortunate,-the “gift” ensuring the sentence, let the merits of the case be what they may. He who makes his way by “gifts” deserves to be disappointed:-and he is truly honourable, and proves himself worthy of implicit confidence, and of the happy results of such a character, who, under the dominant power of principle, scorns and repudiates the “gift,” how valuable soever it may be, and does disappoint him.

• Acts 24:26 .

O! my hearers, remember, every one of you-that there is One to whom no gift of yours can introduce you,-with whom nothing you can ever have it in your power to offer can obtain you favour,-and yet an introduction to whom, and the attainment of whose favour, is to each one of you of infinite value. There is no offering that can “make way for you” to the presence of the God Op Heaven. Could you pour at his feet the treasures of all worlds, you would be giving him only what was his own. Yet, there is a way made for you:-not by any gift of yours,-but by the gift for you of Himself-by the divine Mediator. If you approach in that way to the God of salvation, you may come fearlessly to His very seat; and you will find it a mercyseat; you will have a sure acceptance and a gracious welcome, both now and in the great day.

Verse Proverbs 18:17 . “He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him."-We have, in this verse, another evidence of the identity of human nature in all times and places. There are different causes of the pleasure we derive from particular sayings. Sometimes it arises from its profoundness and originality; while at other times it springs from its very striking conformity with every-day fact, and the pithy brevity and terseness with which that is put into words which has so frequently been marked, in every one’s own experience-with which that is said, which every one has seen. The latter is the description under which comes the case before us. Every day is the proverb verified; and in a variety of ways:

1. He who comes first may give a statement which, in some of its particulars, is false-contrary to the actual facts of the case. The falsehood of these particulars may not be detected. The story, as told, may hang well together, being made to wear a very imposing verisimilitude. It may look so like truth, from its very consistency, that its plausibility may almost force belief. But “his neighbor comes.” He detects and exposes what is untrue in the statement, and so gives the account an entirely new and different aspect.

2. The statement may in no particular be false; but it may be partial;-the truth being told, but not the whole truth. Now, it is wonderful, how the leaving out of a single circumstance, and one, perhaps, that appears in itself trivial, often affects an entire narrative, altering its whole complexion. The “neighbor comes,” he introduces what had been concealed, and startles you by a surprisingly new view of the matter. The insertion, in its appropriate place, of the omitted fact constrains the instant exclamation-“Ah! that is very different-quite another thing!”

3. There may be additions as well as omissions. Some new circumstance may be left out by the one, which is not to be found in the account of the other. The “neighbor” that “comes and searches,” finds this addition, and throws it out,-and so produces as thorough a change as, in the former case, was produced by inserting what had been omitted.

4. There may be nothing false, and nothing partial-that is, all the particulars may be introduced, all the facts told,-and neither may there be any additions;-but they may be arranged, connected, and coloured, in different ways. In one way of telling the story, prominence is given to some particular, which in the other account is indeed introduced, but is represented as of little moment, and thrown very much into the shade. In the different statements, this is before that, and that is before this:-and you can readily conceive how the inversion of the order of facts, and of their relative positions in regard to each other, their mutual dependencies and casual relations, may produce two stories essentially different.

The effect produced in this way on a narration may be illustrated from the effect produced by grouping in a picture. The very same set of objects may be in two different paintings; but by their different arrangement or collocation,-an object being in the foreground of the one, large and distinct, which, in the other, is thrown far back into the distance, diminutive and hardly visible; while some other object, which was in the shade of diminutiveness, is brought forward into magnitude and prominence,-two pictures may be produced as different as possible in appearance and effect. The same thing might be illustrated from the different and even opposite sentiments which may be brought out by changing the collocation of the same set of words;-and by the difference too of effect produced, without any change in the arrangement of the words, by a change in the emphasis from one word to another.

The colouring and grouping of the facts of the same story may be the result of an intention to deceive and to produce a false impression. Yet it is wonderful to what an extent it may arise, almost unconsciously, from the secret influence of self-love, which really makes the very same things appear widely different, in their relative bearings and comparative importance, to ourselves, from what they do to another;-even to a neutral party-far more to an adversary. It has become proverbial, that there are always two sides to a story.

Let us see, then, what are the lessons of practice, deducible from this: for we do nothing to purpose, when we merely attend to the fact, as one of the characteristics of human nature. There are lessons for parties in a cause, and lessons for those who may be called to decide between them. As to the parties, then-let them learn, in the first place, not to be too easily, hastily, touchily displeased and irritated by each other’s statements; but mutually to make allowance for the natural tendencies of self-regard to make the best of a case for self, when there is no actual falsehood or obviously intentional mis-statement of facts.-Let them further learn to avoid being unreasonably dissatisfied with those who hesitate, or even refuse, to decide upon their single statement; remembering the tendency just noticed to favour self, and how hard they would esteem it, were the cause to be decided on the single representation of the other party. Let them apply, in this as in other cases, the great general law of equity and love.

As to others,-especially when called to form a judgment between parties,-let them learn to maintain a rigid and determined adherence to the rule of hearing both sides before deciding. The rule should be regarded as indispensable, even in the ordinary occurrences of everyday life:-and it is of special importance in exercising the functions of judges, jurymen, arbitrators, and members of churches in cases of discipline. The judgment should be kept entirely in suspense, till both sides have been fully heard. The first may “seem right;” but we must not allow-not only our lips to pronounce any decision, but even our minds to be prepossessed by his statement, till we have called in “his neighbor” to “search him.” Not even the representation of the dearest, the most confidential, upright, and best-principled friend on earth should be taken at once, and without a hearing of the other party. As self makes the very same things appear to the opposite parties in different lights; as they see them with different eyes, and through different mediums,-how under these different impressions, can their statements fail, though both are ever so conscientious, to make correspondingly different impressions on others? We may frequently have cause to say, even to the friend in whose integrity we place the most unbounded confidence, Really, dear friend, you have taken too strong a view of this matter:-the thing does not seem to us to have been done or said in the spirit in which it appeared to you to have been; nor can we regard jt as in itself possessing anything like the importance you ascribe to it, or calculated to produce the consequences you apprehend from it.

We ought not to allow ourselves to be driven from a strict adherence to this rule by any offence which either party, that happens to come first, may be disposed to take at his statement not being at once and unqualifiedly accepted. If persons will be unreasonable, we cannot help it. We may endeavour to show them that we are not suspecting at all their veracity; but, whether we succeed or not, we must abide by our rule. Every man of sound sense and right principle will be satisfied, on reflection, with the necessity of an unswerving adherence to it; from which he will feel, that he has no more right to insist on his being an exception, than another has. We are not commanded to have the same confidence in the representations of one as in those of another. Difference of known character may put this quite out of the question. But in all cases, Hear both sides must be our rule; and the longer we live, we shall feel the duty the more imperative of holding to it with unfailing constancy.

The subject of next verse we considered in a former lecture:*-“The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty.” As the lot was had recourse to when causes were such as admitted not of determination otherwise, there seems to be a natural enough relation of suggestion between this verse and the preceding. In cases when representations differed, and the evidence between them was such as to leave it impossible to say certainly on which side was the preponderance; or when the parties would not submit to arbitration; or when they were too powerful to be safely meddled with;-then “the lot caused contentions to cease, and parted between the mighty.”

• Proverbs 16:33 .

Perhaps it might not be amiss if “wars and fightings,” from which such an amount of misery and all evil is ever arising, were to be prevented in a similar way, both between individuals and nations: unless-as arbitration ought to be resorted to by individuals, when they cannot come to an agreement themselves-there might be instituted, on the principles of national honour and good faith, some great general tribunal of appeal for the countries and governments of Europe, whose decision, in cases of international differences, should, by mutual convention, be binding, and to which such differences might be referred.

I must not leave this subject without an additional remark or two, especially to my younger hearers. I formerly offered a few observations on “chance games,” in connexion with this subject. These, I have some reason to think, have not, in some quarters, been rightly understood. I have been represented as not condemning such games. Now, if I heard of a youth saying, in these terms or in the spirit of them-“Oh! the minister tells us that cards are not the devil’s books they have been called; that there is, after all, no harm in them,"-I should tremble for that youth. I should fear he had contracted, or is in course of contracting, a liking for such play. Should the simple expression of a sentiment respecting the abstract evil of “games of chance” as such, take off from his mind any portion of the salutary restraint which I am anxious he should feel, bitterly should I mourn his delusion. Let such a youth recollect, that they have deceived and ruined many a precious soul; that they have dissipated many a fortune, and turned, in ten thousand instances, plenty to beggary, freedom to a jail, life, health and vigour to emaciation and the grave; that they are marks of a worldly character; that they do stir up the worst passions of the heart; and that they have covered many a fair character with infamy:-and let him tremble when he ventures on such ground. O beware of beginnings! You only show inexperience, and ignorance of yourselves, if you fancy you are sure of never going beyond a given limit. Small stakes lead to greater. Losses themselves seduce onward by the hope of retrieving. The meshes of the net entangle the feet more and more inextricably. Temptation presses on temptation. Dishonesty, and pilfering, and mayhap forgery, supplies the exhausted purse. Tho horrors of an evil conscience are drowned in intemperance and dissipation. The conscience becomes seared. Health gives way. Character and confidence and credit are lost. Phrenzy tempts to self-destruction, or the body pines to the dust, and the soul sinks into perdition.-Who are they, let me ask you, among the young people you know, that indulge in play-in the various species of gambling? Are they the sober, the virtuous, the godly? or are they the idle, the dissipated, the profligate, the worldly, the reckless of God and of eternity? The youth who joins himself to such, or who begins to look favourably on any of their ways-is in imminent peril. He is on the verge of a precipice. He is on the way, it may be, to the gaming-table and to hell. Let him start and turn, ere it be too late,-as he values his everlasting happiness. And I affectionately beseech you, let not your perdition, by your misunderstanding or perverting any sentiment of mine, be traceable, even were it but as the innocent occasion, to me!

Verse Proverbs 18:19 . “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle."-The word offended signifies here, evidently, provoked, roused to resentment. And the words imply, that when a brother is thus offended, the resentment is more violent, and the reconciliation more hard to be effected, than where the difference is with a stranger. And so it is whether the offence be without just ground, or with it. I might refer to the cases of Cain and Abel; of Joseph and his brethren; of Absalom and Amnon; of Esau and Jacob. In each of these cases, nothing short of death was plotted and resolved.-The verse seems to point chiefly to cases of offence given; and the words contain a caution against offending, as well as against being offended. It is supposed, however, that offence has actually been taken as well as given. Unbrotherly conduct;-ungrateful returns for favours bestowed,-for efforts and sacrifices made, to promote a brother’s interests; a course perhaps of provocation long borne with,-the irritating and offensive conduct often passed over, and as often repeated,-has led at last to a rupture: patience and forbearance have been worn out, and anger and alienation substituted for long-suffering affection. “A brother” thus “offended is harder to bo won than a strong city; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”

The matter of fact is here stated-and there are natural enough reasons to account for it. More is justly expected from a brother than from a stranger-more of affection, gratitude, kindly treatment, fidelity and trustworthiness. When such expectations are disappointed, the wound in the spirit is proportionally deeper, and more difficult of healing,-the breach wider, and harder of being made up. Besides, the slower a person is to take offence,-the longer he forbears,-the more he forgives,-the more difficult it is fairly to overcome the yearnings of affection, and break the bonds of brotherhood,-the more inveterate may the spirit of resentment be; the more sullen and distant the alienation, when it is actually produced. The offended brother cannot get the better of it. He broods over it;-and the more he broods, the more he feels. The more he reflects on the offender’s violated obligations, the more aggravated does his culpability appear. He looks, and justly, for acknowledgment; while the offender, possibly, thinks the less, instead of the more, of his offence, because it is only a brother against whom it has been committed, and is apt to expect forgiveness without acknowledgment. Thus, on both sides, there is too much of stern unbending pride; and continued distance widens more and more, instead of diminishing.

Persons are in danger of taking undue advantage of their near relationships, and of using unaccountable liberties;-of forming and cherishing the most extravagant expectations, insisting on their fulfilment, and absurdly and pertinaciously resenting their refusal;-of doing to a brother what they never would think of doing to another person. They forget, that to use a brother ill is worse than the same ill-usage to a stranger. It is strongly felt to be so; and when mutual alienation has actually taken place; when brother has cut brother; when intercourse is suspended,-their doors respectively closed against each other; and when, if they have families, these make the quarrel their own, each taking part with him whom they regard as their injured husband and parent;-the spectacle is indeed a sad one. And, as each, instead of feeling the duty of himself giving in, or being the first to attempt a reconciliation, looks for the first step from the other side, and cannot bring himself down to make the first advances, (O false and unworthy pride!) the castle-bars remain undrawn; and, rusting in their hold, become more and more difficult to force open:-and the unseemly contentions the unhappy and mischievous feuds-pass down from generation to generation! It is not always thus. The grace of God ought, in all its subjects, to prevent such breaches, and, if unhappily they have at any time taken place, it should have power to heal the wounds, to draw heart again to heart,-to unfasten “the bars,” and open the gates of mutual reconciliation:-“The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated.” Christians are brethren. They are members of one family. It becomes them to love and live as brethren; to be slow to give, and slow to take, offence; to be humble, and ready to pardon; to delight in reconciliation and peace themselves, and in successfully mediating, and making peace between others. The gospel is the gospel of peace; of love; of forgiveness; of harmony between God and men, and between all who are reconciled to God and to one another through the blood of the covenant. Their “bars” should be those which shut out causes of offence, and will give no admission to the demons of discord. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore!” Psalms 133 .

Proverbs 18:20-24

LECTURE LII.

Proverbs 18:20-24 .

“A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be tilled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Whoso findeth a wile findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord. The poor useth entreaties: but the rich answereth roughly. A man that bath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

It is evident that in this passage “the fruit of the mouth” and “the increase of the lips” mean the same thing-namely, that which the mouth and the lips utter,-the nature of their customary communications. And the general sentiment conveyed by both clauses of the twentieth verse is, that the effects, or results, will correspond with the kind of “fruit” thus produced; or, in other words, with the general style and character of a man’s conversation. It shall be so amongst men-in the intercourse of social life:-a man will be respected according to the wisdom, trusted according to the truth, beloved according to the sweetness and benevolence, of “the fruit of his mouth;” whereas foolish talk will procure contempt; the utterance of falsehood distrust; harsh, austere, and haughty words dislike and aversion.

There is a sense in which we may understand the language, even taking the former clause of the twentieth verse literally-“A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth.” You may smile and say, A man cannot live upon words! Very true. But the way in which a man uses his lips and his tongue, as the organs of speech, may contribute not a little to his getting, or his failing to get, “the meat that perisheth.” I mean not that any of you should, in the slightest degree, try to work your way in life by words of flattery: but when a man’s general conversation is such as to procure for him a character for discretion, courtesy, gratitude, straightforward integrity and trustworthiness,-this may surely contribute, eminently and directly, to the temporal sustenance and comfort of the man himself and his family: while an opposite style of intercourse may tend to penury and starvation. A man may, in various ways, make his “lips” the instrument of either want on the one hand, or plenty on the other.

It must have been observed, however, by careful readers of the Bible, that the belly sometimes stands for the inward parts-the mind, the conscience, the heart; just as the bowels do for the compassionate sympathies.*1 In this verse, then, the words may mean that a man’s inward satisfaction or the contrary, shall arise from “the fruit of his mouth.” His conscience shall have peace,-his heart true enjoyment. According to the excellence of a man’s words-according as they tend to righteousness or unrighteousness, to good or evil, to the glory of God or his dishonour,-will be the inward satisfaction or the inward bitterness of spirit with which the man is “filled:"-with which he is filled now, and with which he shall be filled for ever.*2 In this highest sense, then, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The dutiful, or the wayward and rebellious use of it may tell effectually on the “death” or the “life” of eternity.-The words, at the same time, are strikingly true as to the effects of the tongue upon others. One word of perjury or falsehood may consign an innocent man to “death,” or obtain unmerited “life” to one who is guilty:-so too, in different circumstances, may one word of truth. One word of slander may go far to break a sensitive man’s heart, and send him pining to the grave;-while one word of comfort and merited commendation may bring up and cheer into new life the sinking spirit of despondency. And so all the intermediate stages, between the full sweetness of life and the wormwood bitterness of death, are capable of being affected, to a large extent, by “the tongue.”

*1 See, among various examples, Proverbs 20:27 . The belly is evidently the whole inner man:-John 7:38 . “Out of his belly” means simply from within.

*2 See Matthew 12:33-37 .

What has been applied to the testimony of a witness,-to the verdict of a jury,-to the sentence of a judge,-bears a still higher and stronger application to the preaching of error and of truth. Well may it be said here, that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” According as it gives utterance to the one or to the other, it may send souls to hell or to heaven,-sealing them in spiritual “death,” or quickening them to spiritual “life.” Oh! how solicitous should this consideration make public teachers to be sure that their lips utter nothing but the truth of God; what shall be “for edification and not for destruction,"-for “life,” and not for “death!”

The latter clause of the twenty-first verse ( Proverbs 18:21 ) is somewhat ambiguous:-“And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."-By one translator the words are rendered-“They who indulge it.” If this be the kind of “love” that is meant, then the indulgence of the tongue is probably, we may almost say certainly, intended for its evil indulgence; its natural tendency, according to Solomon, being to evil, and requiring constant vigilance and restraint.-We may remark, however, that love operates in two ways-wisely and foolishly. Thus it is with parents. He who loves his children wisely, will restrain them; he who loves them foolishly, will indulge them. If we only take the love of the tongue in a similar way, we shall have again the two opposite descriptions of results. The wise love of the tongue will lay it ever under salutary restraint,-withholding it, by a firm coercion, from the utterance of what is evil, and would recoil in mischief on itself and its owner:-the foolish love of the tongue will give it unbridled license,-allowing it, like a spoiled child, to have all its own way: and according to the one course or the other, will the fruits be sweet or bitter,-lifegiving or deadly. (James 3:5-10 .)

Verse Proverbs 18:22 . “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.” Nothing can be more manifest than that this cannot be meant indiscriminately of all who may happen to sustain the relation. In the Septuagint we have it a good wife. The Vulgate has the same supplement, though the form of expression varies. So also in the Syriac.-Matthew Henry says “a bad wife does not deserve to be called by a name of so much honour.” The wife meant is evidently such a one as answers to the design of the original institution of the marriage relation, and is a “helpmeet” for her husband.* It is such a wife as Solomon himself describes in the last chapter of this book,-where he gives her full-length portraiture. And he there represents the character as one that is far from being very easily found,-a precious jewel, and precious by its very rarity. Observe-

• Genesis 2:18 ; Genesis 2:21-24 .

1. We may regard the words as associated in Solomon’s mind with the wretched and ruinous tendency of that sin which is so strongly condemned, and against which the rising youth are so emphatically, so repeatedly, and so affectionately warned.* Of how many thousands and tens of thousands has that sin been the temptation and the destruction! Blessed, then-blessed of God-is he who escapes the snare; who gives his heart to one object of virtuous and fond attachment; whom such early affection and conjugal union are the means of saving from temptation, vice, and ruin; who “lives joyfully with the wife of his youth;” who “drinks water out of his own cistern, and springing water out of his own well;” who, contemning the maxims of a vain world, which would demand a style of starting in life beyond his means, resolves, with the prudent partner of his heart’s choice, to set out happily together, in the spirit of contented moderation! Where there are the means at all of anything like comfortable subsistence, there is not a more desirable preservative from personal and diffusive vice, than early wedlock.

• Proverbs 5:7-13 .

2. Solomon, you will observe, recognizes here the original law of marriage. He speaks of one wife, and only one. He had, in this point, grievously transgressed himself. Had Solomon “found a wife,” instead of crowding a seraglio with hundreds, he would have experienced the truth of his own saying-he would have “found a good thing, and have obtained favour of the Lord.” By acting otherwise, in “the days of his vanity,” he was led fearfully astray; his “heart departed from the Lord;” and the Lord withdrew His favour from him, and raised up against him the agents of His avenging jealousy. It was, moreover, by the course which he pursued that he failed to find the “good thing” which he here commends,-a wife that could make him happy. Mark the record of his experience-“One man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.” Was it any wonder? No, verily. He took the worst way possible to find a virtuous, worthy, female character. What woman of reputation would choose to be found in such company?

I believe every departure from the original law, without exception, by whomsoever practised, was sinful; and in all cases, the fruits were bitter. Patriarchs, and judges, and kings broke the law; and good men and bad alike suffered for it. Jesus, in instituting the Christian law on this subject, only re-affirms what was the law from the beginning. And it is only when that law is attended to, and the union of two hearts maintained with the devotedness of conjugal fidelity, that the full meaning of the verse before us can ever be experienced.

3. Such being the law of God,-and the laws of European countries being in harmony with it,-few things are more wonderful than the reckless inconsideration with which the choice is often made of a partner for life. How little consideration is there, in multitudes of cases, of what is so essential to social happiness, congruity of principles, of tempers and dispositions, of objects of pursuit and sources of enjoyment! In how many instances is it the purse that is wedded, not the person!-in how many the person, merely as respects bodily appearance, not mental or moral character!-and in how many is it a rash and heedless risk, independently of all serious attention to character or grounds of promise for future concord and happiness; or, if there is anything that seems ominous of the contrary, a self-flattering assurance that it will be done away afterwards! Marriage was the institution of a kind and benevolent God. It was meant for the happiness of His creatures. When formed and maintained on right principles, it answers, in an eminent degree, its original intention. It is not the fault of the institute, nor of the God with whom it originated, that in any case it is not so formed; or that, when formed otherwise, it fails of yielding what it was meant to confer. I am fully persuaded that nineteen-twentieths of the failures complained of have their causes in the “unequal yokings” of the parties:-and for these, unless in cases of extraordinary previous simulation, who but the parties themselves are to blame?-And on this topic-

4. Let the duty be specially noticed, on the part of believers, that they marry “in the Lord.” I might trace the history of the conjugal relation from the beginning, and show you how mischievous and fatal, in regard to the spiritual character of individuals and communities of God’s professing people, has been the disregard of this restriction. I might show you, in a variety of particulars, both in regard to the parties themselves and to rising families, the reasonableness of the restriction. The law is expressly laid down in 1 Corinthians 7:39 . The case, indeed, is of such a nature, that a law should not have been necessary. Christians might well have been expected to be, on such a subject, “a law unto themselves.” It ought to be a proposition of selfevident truth, that to a believer, an unbelieving wife, or an unbelieving husband, can never be “a good thing;” and that for such a one to look for “favour of the Lord” in the very act of violating His will, is a very vain and a very presumptuous expectation. A wife may have all other qualifications a man can well desire; she may be wealthy, beautiful, wellconnected, accomplished, prudent, and even in natural temper amiable:-yet still, with all this, O what a want must be felt, when there is no coincidence of principle, of feeling, of desire, of pursuit, of prospect, on the most important and interesting of all subjects-no union of heart in spiritual affection, in prayer, in converse, in domestic education, and in the anticipations of hope! Such union ought to be regarded by all believers as primary and indispensable. At the same time, in itself it may not always bo enough. There may be agreement in religious principles, while yet, in not a few points, there may be a want of congruity too great to render happiness very likely.

The choice ought, in all cases, to be a matter of very serious deliberation; and, with Christians, of earnest prayer. If a “prudent wife is from the Lord,” from the Lord should such a wife be sought. It is itself a favour from the Lord; and it brings His favour along with it. In every stage of such a union, it has the smile and the blessing of heaven. Few sights are more lovely, or more full of interest, than that of a youthful pair, setting out in life together,-united by the bond of virtuous, tender, and fervent love;-and their intercourse hallowed, sweetened, and beautified by the sacred influence of Christian piety; when the bond of grace is intertwined with that of nature, each adding its strength to the other. And then-what sight in the world more delightful, than that of a family, the result of such an union,-trained for God,-“brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,"-early manifesting the happy influence of religious instruction; all mutually affectionate, all cheerful, their hearts beating in unison in the sympathy of one another’s joys and sorrows; and all living in the pleasing though pensive hope, that though they must part on earth, they shall meet in heaven! This is indeed a sight on which the eye rests with beaming delight,-lovely as the very bowers of Eden,-grateful to the feelings as a garden of spices. And this too is “from the Lord,"-even the invaluable blessing-first in the list of all earthly joys,-the blessing of domestic happiness. (Psalms 128 .) Nor must we stop here. We must look to the end as well as the beginning. Think of an aged pair, who have journeyed together through a long pilgrimage, sharing the joys and the sorrows of their common lot, and, by the sympathy of love, doubling the one and dividing the other,-“heirs together of the grace of life,"-bound together and mutually endeared by the faith of Christ and the hope of heaven! Their children have risen up, and call them blessed. And at the close of their long day of life, the shadows of the evening are gently lengthened out, and they sleep together in peace! How delightful to think of those who have been one in life, being one in death, and one for ever!-one even in that happy world, where they “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."-I would fain not reverse the picture;-but, as a further inducement to Christians to beware of all “unequal yoking with unbelievers,” affectionate faithfulness obliges me to add-how sad, how agonizing the thought of an eternal separation-of parting for ever! What a pang of unutterable anguish must that be, with which a man follows to the grave, and deposits there, the remains of one respecting whom he has no good reason to believe that she was united to Christ! With what a knell of agony must the sound of the shovelled earth come upon his heart, that covers from his sight “the desire of his eyes,” the companion of his life,-when the consolation of the “sure and certain hope” is a stranger to his bosom!-never again to meet, save only where the seal of eternity shall be put upon their separation!

Verse Proverbs 18:23 . “The poor useth entreaties: but the rich answereth roughly."-This is one of those general sayings which express rather tendency and frequency than universality. There are many exceptions to both sides of the statement. The poor are sometimes insolent, and the rich gentle and kind. But, generally speaking, although pride belongs to our fallen nature, and is to be found in the poor as well as in the rich,-yet necessity is still stronger in its demands. The poor are fain to master their feelings of pride;-they must “use entreaties”-and persist in using them, even amidst many refusals. The tendency of riches again, and their too frequent effect, is, to engender in their possessors a fueling of superiority, a supercilious haughtiness, and a harshness of manner and of language to their inferiors. And I think it may be observed with truth, that the temptation to this is strongest, and the fact most frequently to be witnessed, in those who have risen, or are rising to affluence from comparative poverty. It is among that class that the greatest amount of that most pitiful of all principles is to be found: purse-pride. We have an instance at once of the humble, necessitous entreaty of the poor, and an instance of exception to the haughty roughness of the rich, in Ruth and in Boaz.*1 On the other hand, an example of purse-proud surliness is to be seen in the character of Nabal;*2 and we have the entreaty of felt dependence, and the harsh severity of lordly insolence, in the case of the oppressed Israelites and the merciless king of Egypt.*3-The rich are not here justified in treating with insolent roughness the entreaties of the poor. Far from it. The poor are entitled to sympathy and kindness, both in speech and in behaviour. It is enough that providence has visited them with privation, and the humiliation of dependence, without advantage being taken of their circumstances to crush the fallen, and add insult to suffering. There may be cases of poverty which require to be treated with firmness, and with steady refusal;-but not on account of the poverty, but of the character with which it is associated. There is a manner even of giving to the poor-of answering their entreaties by an alms,-which, to a mind of sensibility, (and the poor have their sensibilities as well as their betters in station) takes off half the value of the benefaction. The alms are given with a churlish rebuff; it is a “rough answer” after all. The very refusal of kindness-when circumstances necessitate it, may be far less offensive than the very alms of unfeeling and gratuitous rudeness.

*1 See Rth 2:7-13 . rr

*2 1 Samuel 25:10-11 . rr

*3 Exo 5:13-18 .

In one sense, we are all poor-all dependent-having nothing that we can call our own. We must “use entreaties.” God has made this our duty. And when we come before Him, in the true spirit of dependence, and plead as He prescribes,-we may rest assured, we shall never be “answered roughly” there. The Proprietor of the universe “has respect unto the lowly;"-he is the friend and patron of the poor. “The poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless;” and no poor, dependent, suppliant does He ever “send empty away.” He says to all, in the accents of inviting condescension and kindness-“Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” “The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him."-The rich should in this “imitate God.” They are never so truly dignified, as when they treat those beneath them with kind and courteous affability, and make the poor, instead of cowering under their scowl, feel at ease in their presence; taking off the pain of dependence by the grace of generous benignity.

Verse Proverbs 18:24 . “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."-Friends are persons who, from congruity of character, are mutually attached to each other in close and benevolent intimacy. In this verse, the man is supposed to have friends: and it contains a lesson how to retain them, and a motive to so doing.

1. The lesson is one of consistency. Towards those whom we call by the endearing designation of friends, friendly dispositions must be shown in a corresponding behaviour. If the “man who has friends” treats those whom he so calls with coldness, reserve, and distance; and still more, if he goes beyond this, and adds neglect and selfish injury; he has nothing to expect but the forfeiture of friendship on their part. He constitutes himself unworthy of its blessings. He may complain of his friends having forsaken him; whereas he has no right of complaint. The cause is in himself; the fault his own. He has put them away-driven them off by wrong, or allowed them to drop off by neglect. And if, having thus lost them by his own fault when he did not feel his need of them, he comes afterwards to experience such need and to be sensible of the want of them, who is to blame but himself? If those whom he has thus disfranchised from the obligations of friendship do they take compassion upon him,-feel the renewed yearnings of old attachment, and spontaneously offer their restored intimacy and kind services, they act nobly; but he has not to thank himself for it.-All friendships must, from their very nature, be, on both sides, voluntary; and founded not in circumstances or condition merely, but in character, in harmony of mind and heart, in reciprocal esteem and love. If a man, on rising in the world, makes those who before were his friends feel themselves inferiors and dependents, friendship is at an end. If they choose to resign the position of friends and to allow themselves to be regarded as pensioners, or as hangers-on upon his condescension,-they may. But if, with a becoming spirit of self-respect, they decline exchanging the equality of friendship for the position of obsequious debtors to a lofty condescension, the blame lies, not with them, but with him who has virtually discarded them. There are few things more wounding to the spirit than the failure of those who have called themselves our friends. We may bear long with their seeming neglect or inconsistent dealings,-finding excuses for them, and anxious to retain them. But there are limits to such good-natured forbearance; even to the charity which “believeth and hopeth all things.” “The man who has friends” must, if he would keep them, “show himself friendly."-We have then-

2. A motive to the keeping of them: “and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”-“The friend that sticketh closer than a brother,” has with many become a favourite designation of the Saviour-the blessed Jesus; so that they use it, as if, in the Bible, it had really been meant of him. Now, it is true of him; no designation could be more appropriate. He is “the sinner’s friend.” He expressly calls his people friends; and he founds the designation on the intimacy of his communications with them.* And in this relation he is constant and consistent-“the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever”-“whom ho loves, loving unto the end,"-and in every step of his conduct towards them acting in uniform congruity with his character and the claims of the graciously assumed relation.

• John 15:13-15 .

I need hardly say, however, that there is no such reference in the proverbial saying before us:-of which the obvious meaning is-that there have been friendships of which the bond has proved itself stronger and more tenacious than even that of natural affection. It has withstood the tuggings and wrenchings of severer trials of its strength and tenacity. Friends have remained fast in their friendship when brothers themselves have parted. This has especially been the case, when the friendship has been cemented by grace,-by the tie of a common faith common sensibilities, and a common hope in matters of religion,-compared with other relations when without this bond. Such was the friendship, formerly adverted to, between David and Jonathan. It was, on Jonathan’s part, severely tried,-put to tests before which fraternal affection would, in many instances, have given way: but “Jonathan loved David even as his own soul;” and David, in his pathetic and touching lament over his friend “fallen in battle,” exclaims-“I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.”

The preciousness of such friendships has ever been felt, and has been the theme of story and of song. Life has been made a sacrifice on the altar of faithful friendship. It is unspeakably valuable;-to have a heart on which you can repose, with confidence of tender interest, your most secret solicitudes and desires, and from which you receive a return of the same confiding love. What a support in trial!-what a stimulus in duty!-what a guide in difficulty!-what a solace in despondency!-what a zest and relish of every joy!

“Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss

Hath made my cup run o’er;

And in a kind and faithful friend

Hath doubled all my store.”

If such be the sacredness, the intimacy, the pleasure, and the permanence, of true friendship;-with what gratitude should we bless the name of our gracious Lord, for having assumed this relation to his people!-“calling them friends!” He afforded the highest evidence that the designation was not with him a name without a meaning:-He “gave his life for his friends.” And what is his promise to them now?-the promise of faithful friendship-of a love which “many waters could not quench, nor the floods drown?” It is one which comprehends in it all that they can wish-all that they can need:-“I will never leave thee; I will never forsake thee!” To have an interest in His friendship, is to be honoured and blessed indeed!

Let the feeling of holy friendship be mutually cultivated among the followers of “the friend of sinners,"-friendship, “not in word and tongue only, but in deed and in truth,"-friendship practical and self-denying. He who “gave his life for his friends” teaches those friends to be ready to give their lives for each other:-“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

O let all, if they would be truly and permanently happy, choose the friendship of Christ and of God, and cast in their lot with God’s people. The right hand of divine friendship is held out to every one of you. The voice of the gospel-in the name of Him “in whom God reconciles the world unto himself” is-“Be ye reconciled unto God!"-and all God’s people, with one heart and one soul, unite in saying to you-“Come with us, and we will do you good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.”