Proverbs 2

Proverbs 2:1-9

LECTURE V.

Proverbs 2:1-9 .

“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path.”

Is Wisdom here to be considered as the speaker, or Solomon? If Wisdom, she must be understood as addressing herself to her own children; that is, those who receive her counsels and place themselves under her tuition and guidance, her instruction and authority; as she had just finished her solemn admonition of danger and of their final doom to those by whom her words are unheeded and disobeyed. If Solomon, he may be understood as addressing himself either to Rehoboam, or to youth in general, under the designation of paternal affection, as one that felt all a father’s interest in their well-being.

In the passage, (verses Proverbs 2:1-4 ,) there is an Exercise recommended, or rather, a Duty enjoined, of the first importance and the most imperative obligation; and it is enforced by the happy results which are represented as arising from it.

The exercise-the duty, is a candid, earnest, persevering inquiry after Divine truth.

1. The inquiry must first be candid-sincere. It is said of “fools,” that they “despise wisdom and instruction.” But the children of Wisdom “receive” her words. They do not shut their ears against them. They do not slight them. They do not hastily and thoughtlessly disregard them. They give them, what they are entitled to, a serious and deliberate attention. They listen, they remember, they meditate, they examine, they accept, they lay up for use.-The words of divine wisdom are now in the Bible. There the voice of Wisdom, or of God, addresses you. In reading the Bible, you should consider yourselves as listening to God. And it is a blessed privilege, to have this Word in your possession,-to have God addressing you in it. It is the most valuable of all deposits that can be committed to you. But it is one of those deposits of which the value to you depends, not on the possession but on the use. It will prove, through neglect and misimprovement, a curse, instead of a blessing. O! How few are duly impressed with the preciousness of a communication from God,-of a record of the mind and will of the Infinite Being “with whom they have to do!”

If you feel the value of this privilege, you will attend to the instructions and counsels, the admonitions, the encouragements, the commands, which in the Bible are set before you. It will be your sincere and cherished desire, as the children of Wisdom, to comprehend her lessons. You will “apply your heart to understanding."-There are some who refuse to hear at all. This is unreasonable, uncandid, unmanly, and most infatuated: for if the claims of the Bible be well-founded, what can be imagined more important than the knowledge of its contents? There are some who do hear, or rather it should be said, seem to hear. They profess to be all attention; but it is all pretence,-the mere result of politeness and courtesy to the speaker,-the spirit of assentation in which there is no sincerity, no heart:-like the temper of the son in the parable, who said, “I go, Sir; and went not.” This is worse than not hearing at all; inasmuch as it is the reality of neglect, with the guilt of hypocrisy superadded to it. You must “apply your hearts to understanding,"-cherishing a true and sincere desire for its attainment. And when there is this sincerity, you will “hide with you” the divine counsels and commands: not hiding the book that contains them, laying it aside and allowing it to lie in safe and secluded custody, under the guardianship of lock and key; but hiding its contents in the memory, in the understanding, in the conscience, in the heart. The father of Solomon expresses in few words what Solomon means-when he says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee,” Psalms 119:11 .

2. The inquiry that is thus sincere, will be an earnest inquiry-an inquiry determined on gratification, and that spares no pains for its attainment. This is the spirit of verse third ( Proverbs 2:3 ).

Divine Wisdom, as we have seen, is herself in earnest in imparting and recommending her salutary counsels. And while the instructress is thus in earnest, so should the pupil be in seeking her instructions. That about which we really are in earnest, we cannot satisfy ourselves with asking in a careless and scarcely audible whisper, as if indifferent whether we were heard or not-ah no! Thus will not the awakened soul do with God. “Crying,” and “lifting up the voice,” are frequently in Scripture the indications of earnestness; and he who is in earnest for the right understanding of the lessons of Wisdom, will “cry mightily to God” for that illumination which he needs, and which it is God’s to bestow. The man who has lost his way, and is wandering in the dark, knowing not which way to turn him, unable to find the right path, will seek a guide. He will cry out for one, exerting all his powers of voice, if, peradventure, he may be within the hearing of any one who can come to his relief, and conduct him to safety. So he who is sensible of his inability to guide himself in the perplexing paths of life, while he feels “pleasures tempting from without, and passions warring within,” will be all solicitude for a conductor-a divine guide, who may bring him into the right way, and keep him in it. Nor will he rest till he has secured what he so earnestly seeks. Hence,

3. With earnestness is united importunate perseverance. This is implied in the variety of expressions used in succession to each other. It is implied specially in the repetition of the same thing in different terms in the third verse; where it is not one cry succeeded by silence, but evidently importunate crying that is meant-” If thou criest, and if thou liftest up thy voice”-not ceasing to cry, but crying with augmented vehemence. And the idea of perseverance united with earnestness is strongly brought out in the figure employed in verse fourth,-“If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures.” Men discover the value they set on the treasures of this world, by their unrelaxing diligence in seeking them. They do not give up the search immediately, because they do not immediately succeed. So long as any hope remains in one direction, they persist in the search; and if, at length, they find that in that direction it is vain, they try in another; and try, and try again, till they discover the way to what they are in quest of. If any expectation exists of a mine of silver or of gold, or of aught the working of which may yield silver or gold by its merchandise, what earnestness is discovered! What “drilling and boring of the solid earth!” what excavating toils in all directions, perpendicularly here, and horizontally there! what searching, and washing, and breaking, and testing!-And then, when a vein of precious ore has been discovered, with what patient perseverance and care it is traced and worked, in its main trunk and in all its ramifications; and never relinquished, till the last fibre of it has been explored and exhausted. The application of this appropriate figure is, in every view, obvious. Divine knowledge is fitly compared to treasure, to treasures of gold and silver,-the articles which are held by men in highest estimation. The comparison is natural and common. It occurs repeatedly in the introductory part of this book; and in many other parts of the Scriptures. David says-“The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver,” Psalms 119:72 . Job says of the excellence of wisdom, “It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold,” Job 28:15-19 . Thus, were the mines of all that is precious in the bowels of the earth emptied of their treasures, there would be a treasure still remaining, not only surpassing each, but surpassing all;-the accumulation of the whole, in all their weight, and worth, and lustre, and beauty, and variety, being nothing compared with the treasures of the divine word-the “excellency of the knowledge” which it contains. Paul speaks of “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” and of the “unsearchable riches of Christ;” divine knowledge being a mine of precious ore, which we shall be exploring through eternity, without ever exhausting it. Alas! How little of a disposition appears in the world to form, or to act upon, this estimate! How few are thus earnest in the pursuit of divine knowledge-the lessons of heavenly wisdom! How few who “count all things but loss” compared with it; and who would sacrifice all the treasures of earth, rather than not find it, or, having found it, rather than part with it!-How few even of the people of God, who profess to have learned the value of this wisdom and knowledge by a happy experience, discover the longing, the thirsting, the vehement and persevering research, for the attainment of a larger and larger amount of it which might be expected of them! It is the admonition of an inspired apostle-“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”-laid up in the understanding and in the heart. Now there is no way in which that word can be in us richly without an eager seeking after it; or dwell in us richly, without a careful and jealous keeping of it-“giving the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip,” Hebrews 2:1 . Do Christians show anything like the anxious, persevering ardour in seeking such knowledge, which the men of the world discover in seeking wealth? Nay, is it not sadly true of some Christians, and of Christians who have no excuse from poverty, and small wages, and the necessity of unceasing toil for themselves and their families, that such is the eagerness with which they allow themselves to be absorbed in the pursuit of the riches of the world, that they can hardly redeem daily time for the reading and the study of the divine word, and for making daily additions, even however small, to their stock of spiritual wealth? It ought not so to be. Among the richest, and among the poorest, if there but exist in the soul such feelings towards the word of God as are in this passage described,-feelings arising from, and maintained by, a right estimate, and settled impression, of its incomparable excellence, there will be the practical result of such feelings-the determined redemption of time for keeping up and increasing the knowledge of that word. And Christians may be assured, that in proportion as they act on this principle, and, while they are “not slothful in business,” are, at the same time, “fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,"-that Lord will bless them, not in their spiritual state alone, but even in their temporal affairs. Whatever else there may be included in our Lord’s words, surely this is, when he says to his disciples, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” Matthew 6:33 . Remember, there is no converse of the promise. God will “add” what is good of the blessings of this life to those who place his kingdom first in their desires and pursuit;-but there is no promise that he will add the blessings of the kingdom to those who place the world first.

But there are, in the passage before us, powerful spiritual inducements presented to the course which, has thus been recommended:-verse Proverbs 2:5 . “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

The nature of true religion is expressed in similar terms in the preceding chapter. “The fear of the Lord” is the religious principle, and may, without impropriety, or unnatural straining, be regarded as comprehensive of all the variety of holy affections, which are appropriate to the various views and attributes of the divine character, revealed in the divine word. “The fear of the Lord,” taken thus comprehensively, is founded, of course, in the “knowledge of God.” This knowledge of God is the first lesson of heavenly wisdom. On the right apprehension of this lesson all the rest necessarily depends:-

“You cannot be right in the rest,

Unless you think rightly of Him.”

Wrong views of God will vitiate every other department of your knowledge. Without right views of God, you can have no right views of his law. Without right views of his law, you can have no right views of sin, either in its guilt or in its amount. Without right views of sin, you can have no right views of your own character, and condition, and prospects as sinners. Without right views of these, you can have no right views of your need of a Saviour, or of the person, and righteousness, and atonement of that Saviour. Without right views of these, you can have no right views of your obligations to divine grace, and can be under the influence of no right principles of obedience, and must be insensible to all those impressive appeals on God’s behalf, that are founded on the wonders of his mercy in the gift of his Son, or of the grace of the Son in the gift of himself Thus fundamental, in the lessons of Wisdom,-thus fundamental amongst the principles of all religion,-is the “knowledge Of God.” And, beyond all question and comparison, this is the noblest and most valuable of all knowledge.

The “fear of the Lord,” founded in the knowledge of Him, is something, to the right understanding of which experience is indispensable. To a man who had never tasted anything sweet, you would attempt in vain to convey, by description, a right conception of the sensation of sweetness. And what is true of the sensations, is true also of the emotions. To a creature that had never felt fear, you would hardly convey, by description, an idea of its nature; and equally in vain would be the attempt to make love intelligible to one that had never experienced that affection. It is thus to a depraved creature with regard to spiritual and holy affections. “The fear of the Lord”-a fear springing from love, and proportioned to it, such a creature cannot “understand” but by being brought to experience it. He may talk about it, but it will, in general, be very injudiciously and incorrectly; and while he does not live under its influence, the very absence of that influence shows that he does not understand it in one of its most important characteristics as a practical principle. But blessed are they who have the experimental understanding of the principles of true religion! They know the value of the promise contained in this verse. It may be undervalued and slighted-alas! It is, by multitudes; but this only shows that they understand it not. And none are more to be pitied than they who have no relish for the best of all knowledge, and no experience of the best and most divinely blessed of all principles!

We have then the source from which true wisdom is to be obtained:-Psalms 2:6 . “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

“The Lord giveth,” or, “will give-wisdom.” From the connexion we are naturally led to remark, that God giveth wisdom-“to them that ask him.” The admonition is to seek it; and the encouragement to seek is the assurance of finding.*1 He “giveth wisdom” in two ways; by his Word, and by his Spirit:-or rather these two should be conjoined, and considered as one: for he neither gives wisdom by his word without his Spirit, nor by his Spirit without his word. He has given wisdom in his word. He has given it through those “holy men of God” that wrote “as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” It is from that Word that all true knowledge and wisdom in the things of God must be derived. But it is got thence under the illuminating influence of the same Spirit by whom it was supernaturally dictated.*2

*1 Comp. James 1:5-7 ; *2 1 Corinthians 2:14

We might take the words more comprehensively. “The Lord giveth wisdom,” is a declaration of very general import. Of this, Solomon himself was a remarkable exemplification. When he asked of God “a wise and understanding heart,” God gave it him; and it was, in consequence, that he not only knew the fear of the Lord, but had so extensive and scientific an acquaintance with all the kingdoms of nature. But without doubt, Solomon’s chief reference here is to the best knowledge and the best wisdom,-that which is contained in those oracles which were “given by inspiration of God,” and which he imparts thence to sinners of mankind, when by his Spirit he “opens their understandings that they may understand the scriptures.”

The assurance is further expanded in verse seventh:-“He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.”

The word rendered “sound wisdom” is one of general import, signifying anything real, solid, substantial. It might be understood as meaning in general-substance; and this would suit well with the verb-“he layeth up substance for the righteous.” It is rendered in the same way as in this verse, in chap. Proverbs 3:21 and chap. Proverbs 8:14 . And in these passages it seems to be the rendering most in harmony with the context. Considering this as its meaning here, the words will signify two things: that for “the righteous”-for those who are justified through the righteousness provided for them in the work of the Redeemer’s mediation-then promised, now come; and who are brought, at the same time, by his regenerating Spirit, under the dominion of the principles of personal righteousness, and are living “soberly, righteously, and godly”-that for them the Lord has stores of wisdom laid up for their present use, to be imparted according to their need, and according to the sense of need, and the measure of faith with which they ask it; so that He will give them larger and larger, clearer and clearer manifestations of himself, of his truths, of his ways, and of his will, out of these inexhaustible stores. And then further, that beyond all that is attainable in the present life, there is still a treasure of this invaluable wisdom and knowledge, in reserve for his people in a future and better world; where all that they had come to know while here will appear to them but as the simplest elements of information in the mind of an infant, compared with the most extensive and varied acquirements of the perfect man. They have here but gone to school; their full instruction is above. This accords well with the view given by Paul-1 Corinthians 13:9-12 . It is “sound wisdom” that God bestows and keeps in store. There is a great deal that passes under the name that is not sound-a “science falsely so called.” There is a knowledge of the works of God, unassociated with the knowledge of God himself. There is a knowledge that is mere speculation, exerting no influence on the heart and life, inspiring no devotion, no fear, no love, no spirit of dependence and of obedience. There is no “sound wisdom” but that which, coming from God, leads to God;-none, but that which tells upon character, engendering moral and spiritual principles and affections, fitting the man for the “chief end” of his being-“to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.”

Another blessing to the righteous is-safety. This had been specified in the way of promise before, at the close of the first chapter. Here is the same promise under another form-“He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.” Mark again the character. This is essential, to prevent self-delusion. To “walk uprightly,” is to maintain a course of life regulated by right principles, and directed to right ends. He “walks uprightly” who lives with the fear of God as his principle, and the word of God as his rule, and the glory of God as his end; whose “eye is single;” whose “heart is right with God;” whose constant study it is to have a “conscience void of offence toward God and toward men;” to have his conversation in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God;"-who thus “walks not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;” and “in whose spirit,” as “an Israelite indeed,” “there is no guile.” To such, Jehovah is “a buckler.” He is their security amidst all the assaults of their enemies, and especially amidst the “fiery darts of the Wicked One,” which, when the shield of Jehovah’s power is interposed, cannot touch him, but fall, quenched and pointless, to the ground.*

• Comp. Psalms 84:11 ; Psalms 144:2

The same idea is amplified in verse eighth:-“He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.”

“He keepeth the paths of judgment”-or of righteousness, means that He is there, watching over all that walk in them; superintending, guiding, and guarding them. He is not the guardian of the broad way,-the way of the world and of sin. That way Satan superintends,-“the god of this world,"-doing everything in his power, by all his varied acts of enticement and intimidation, to keep his wretched subjects and victims from leaving it. But the saints, in “the way of holiness,"-the way of wisdom,-“the paths of judgment,” are ever under the gracious eye of Jehovah; ever under his watchful care and mighty protection. Of the way-the “highway” of holiness, in which they walk, it is said-“No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away,” Isaiah 35:9-10 .

Those whose “way” Jehovah thus “preserveth,” are “His saints.” It is a term of reproach in the world, but of high honour and endeared affection with God;-those whom He hath “renewed in the spirit of their minds”-implanting in their hearts the principles of sanctity, and destining them to the perfection of holy conformity to himself The practical character of their religion is further expressed in next verse, “Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.” It is needless to state the import of each of the particular terms here used. We only observe, that they include, as a part of the “sound wisdom” which the Lord giveth,-acquaintance with the great principles of holy living, and with the peculiar duties of the various relations and conditions of life,-the right way in all these in which God would have us to walk. This very Book of Proverbs is itself eminently fitted to supply a means of verifying this promise. And if you, in childlike ingenuousness of spirit, yield yourselves up unreservedly to the dictates of the word of God, you will seldom be at a loss, in any circumstances, for the “right path”-the “good path”-the way of rectitude and of peace.

To “understand” must here, as in verse fifth ( Psalms 2:5 ), mean to understand experimentally; to have experience of the tendency of those ways to true happiness;-to know them “as ways of pleasantness” and “peace”-not right only but good. The ways which the Lord keeps cannot fail to be ways in which a blessing is to be found; “the way of truth;” “the way of peace;” “the way of holiness;” “the way of life.”

Sinners!-forget not, O forget not, that the way of sin is the way of Death. Turn from it! Flee from it. God is not there. Peace is not there. Safety is not there. Life is not there. Heaven is not there. Neither happiness for time nor for eternity is there.

Proverbs 2:10-22

LECTURE VI.

Proverbs 2:10-22 .

“When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which nattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life: that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”

Solomon here proceeds to show, that true religion,-the wisdom, of which he celebrates the excellence and recommends the cultivation,-not only has a positively, but also a negatively beneficial influence; inasmuch as, while it conducts in every “good path,” it at the same time is a preservative from paths that are evil:-verses Proverbs 2:10-11 . “When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.”

You can never be too frequently reminded of the distinction between the understanding of the meaning of divine discoveries, and the perception of their excellence and truth. The knowledge spoken of in Scripture, with which salvation is connected, must be considered as including the latter.

This proceeds upon a sufficiently simple principle. The knowledge of anything means the knowledge of its real and distinctive properties. Thus the knowledge of the natural historian, is the knowledge of the properties of different animals, by which they are distinguished from each other. The knowledge of the botanist, is the knowledge of the properties of the various plants in the vegetable kingdom. The knowledge of the chemist, is the knowledge of the properties of the materials with which he is conversant, considered in their elementary composition and relative affinities. The knowledge of the mental philosopher or metaphysician, is the knowledge of the properties and powers of mind, with their several appropriate uses and functions. None of these could with propriety be said to know the objects of their respective departments of inquiry, if they knew only their existence while they had no acquaintance with their qualities; if they knew only the fact of their being, without knowing what they were, in their distinguishing attributes. The same thing is true with regard to any proposition. You cannot be said to know it, if you merely hear it announced, and understand the meaning of its terms, while you know nothing of its properties, whether it be true or false, whether it has any important relations to other propositions, or any real use and capability of application to any purpose in moral or intellectual science. If a proposition is true, if truth be one of its properties, then to know it is to know it as true. If a proposition is of real value and excellence, and capability of useful application in the system of truth, to know it is to know it as thus excellent and valuable and suited to important ends. On such principles we at once explain such texts as 1 Corinthians 2:14 -“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” It is plain that in order to the “things of the Spirit of God” even appearing “foolishness to the natural man,"-in order to his scorning and rejecting them, he must have some understanding of their meaning. No man can disbelieve or despise a statement, without knowing it, in this sense. But to know the “things of the Spirit,” evidently, from the very position which the word holds in the verse, signifies, so knowing them as that they shall no longer appear “foolishness;” it is to know them, that is, as possessing the divine attributes of truth and excellence, and appropriateness to the character of God and to the condition and exigencies of man. This is what the apostle calls spiritual discernment. It includes a spiritual taste for moral and spiritual beauties, just as the mere sight of a rich and varied landscape, or the mere hearing of the most perfect combination of sounds, can impart little or no pleasure, unless there be a taste for the beauties of scenery, and an ear for the charms of harmony. The man who has this taste and the man who lacks it, may both, with equal clearness and precision, so far as the mere picture on the retina of their respective eyes is concerned, see the very same objects, in the very same relative positions and combinations;-and the very same sounds may strike on the tympanum or drum of their respective ears; and the one be entranced in ecstasy, while the other is vacant and unmoved. Thus to the carnal eye-the eye of the “natural man,” who is destitute of spiritual discernment, or spiritual taste, the Saviour appears “as a root out of a dry ground, having no form or comeliness, no beauty that he should be desired;” while to the eye of the spiritually enlightened, He stands forth " fairer than the children of men,” “the chiefest among ten thousand,” the “altogether lovely.” The same things may be said of Him in the ears of the one and of the other. In the mind of the one the description awakens no sentiment but one of contempt and aversion, while it draws forth, in the bosom of the other, all the combined and delightfully blending emotions of admiration, reverence, and love. And thus it is with regard to divine truth generally. I need not say that there is much more meant than the mere speculative understanding of divine doctrines in the tenth verse. “Wisdom entering into the heart,” is accordingly to be explained from previous statements-chap. Proverbs 1:7 ; chap. Proverbs 2:5 . It clearly implies the spiritual illumination of the mind, and renovation of the heart by divine influence accompanying divine truth. This is the only way in which true wisdom ever finds entrance into the naturally foolish heart of man. And then it is, that “knowledge becomes pleasant unto the soul”-the knowledge before spoken of-the knowledge of God, and of the things of God, as revealed in his word. There are many kinds of knowledge which may be “pleasant unto the soul,” while the understanding is darkened as to these things, and the heart enmity against them. What delight the man of science, in whichsoever of its various departments, derives from the knowledge acquired of any additional fact or additional principle, while yet he is stone-blind to the beauties of divine truth, and has no relish for the light and the love of the Godhead, or for the wonders of that gospel,-that scheme of redemption by grace and by blood, which is emphatically “the wisdom of God”-the most truly marvellous of all its displays! But when, by divine illumination, “the eyes of the understanding” are opened to the discernment of divine excellence in the discoveries of God’s word, that word becomes “sweet unto the taste,” “sweeter also than honey to the mouth.” Such is the recorded experience-recorded in terms full of emphasis-of all God’s people.*

• Psalms 1:1 ; Psalms 119:72 ; Psalms 119:97 ; Psalms 119:111 ; Psalms 119:127 ; Psalms 119:129-131 ; Psalms 19:7-11 ; 1 Peter 2:1-3 .

Proverbs 2:11 . “Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.”

“Discretion” and “understanding,” may well be regarded, in such a connection, as meaning especially self-jealousy arising from self-knowledge. The knowledge of ourselves includes the knowledge, theoretical and experimental, of the unlimited deceitfulness of our own hearts. And this, connected with a right knowledge of the sources of temptation as they exist in such abundance and variety around us, will inspire and maintain “discretion.” The man whom God has enlightened knows his own remaining corruption, and is deeply conscious of his own weakness to withstand its tendencies. With these impressions he will be ever vigilant. He will “watch unto prayer;” “keep his heart with all diligence, out of which are the issues of life;” and “ponder the path of his feet,” in every single step of his walk through life. Nor will he trust to his own discretion; but, while he keeps all the powers and energies of his mind, all his foresight, all his resources of observation and caution, ever on the alert, will still look upward and say-” O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,” Jeremiah 10:23 . Diffidence of himself and confidence in God may be considered, in combination, as constituting the “discretion” of the spiritual man. It is a part of his prudence to take the best counsel, to have it always at hand, to be ever asking it-” in all his ways acknowledging God, that he may direct his paths."

From the twelfth to the nineteenth verse, the wise man dwells, specifically, on two sources of temptation. And he may be considered as addressing himself, with a peculiarity of interest and of emphasis, to Youth. These two sources of temptation are-wicked men, and wicked women:-

Verses Proverbs 2:12-17 . “To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.”

Against “the way of the evil man,” with the temptations and dangers attending it, he had already affectionately and strongly warned the young-Proverbs 1:10-15 . The paths of irreligion, vanity, and vice, while they are all devious and downward, are at the same time exceedingly various; and they have all their peculiar enticements, by which those who themselves walk in them; endeavour to allure others into them. And he who has the “discretion” spoken of in the eleventh verse will, amongst other exercises of it, seek to be duly aware of his own most easily-besetting sin-of the evil desire which he is most prone to indulge, or the evil temper to which he is most apt to give way; and will keep a double guard over that particular point of assault and temptation.

The “evil man” is here described as “the man that speaketh froward things:” that is, the words of perverse rebellion,-of a spirit stubborn, refractory, scornful, self-willed.* And such “froward things,” having the sound and appearance of freedom and independence, are apt to work with a most seductive and perilous influence on youthful minds of a particular temperament. O the fondness of poor fallen humanity for independence! It extends it even to God and vainly says of Jehovah and his Anointed-“Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” From the influence of such vain boastings, let “discretion preserve thee;” let “understanding keep thee!”

• Comp. Psalms 12:1-4 .

Minute analyses of the different parts of the description are unnecessary, especially after the illustration of former passages.-We may remark on the thirteenth verse, “Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness”-that darkness, as thus set in contrast with uprightness, may be interpreted as descriptive both of the nature of the ways, and of their tendency and end. The man who walks in “uprightness,” walks in light. His eye is “single.” There is “none occasion of stumbling in him.” He has but one principle;-his “eyes look right on, his eyelids look straight before him.” He is not always looking this way and that, for devious paths that may suit a present purpose; but presses onward ever in the same course; and thus all is light, all plain, all safe. “The ways of darkness,” are the ways of concealment, evasion, cunning, tortuous policy, and deceit. He who walks in them is ever groping; hiding himself among the subtleties of " fleshly wisdom:" and being ways of false principle and sin, they are ways of danger, and shame, and ruin. They are dark; and they lead to darkness-“the blackness of darkness for ever.”

“What a wretched kind of “delight” and “joy” is that in verso fourteenth! The happiness of God is his perfect holiness. He “rejoices to do good.” He “delights” in true virtue-the virtue that has its basis in godliness-in the fear and love of himself; “and that which He delights in must be happy.” What a fearful account, then, of any moral and accountable agents, that they “rejoice to do evil,"-rejoice in that which is the very opposite of all that God is, and of all that God approves and loves!

There is a correspondence between their ways and themselves-“Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths.”-“Crooked ways,” is a designation, not unusual in Scripture, for the ways of sin and the world; and it is very appropriate.* The ways of sin are not like “the way of holiness.” It is a straight and direct way-an even, uniform, unbending course. God has marked it out; and his people have but to follow it, never swerving to the right hand or to the left. The ways of evil are the reverse-“crooked ways,” in which sinners, in their frowardness, are ever winding about; turning in every direction; and changing from purpose to purpose, as wayward caprice or shifting inclination, the alternations of evil propensity, happen to ‘dictate. O forget not that these ways all terminate at the gates of the eternal prison! “Avoid them; pass not by them; turn from them, and pass away.”

• See Psalms 125:5 .

The same admonition applies, with special emphasis, to the way of “the strange woman,” with her seductive wiles. This was one of the principal occasions of Solomon’s own awful departure from God; by which he brought his soul into such jeopardy of perdition. No wonder he dwells upon it so often and so earnestly as he does. He knew the danger of youth, not only from his own experience,-an experience recorded by himself with shame, but from extensive observation, in regard to the prevalence and the fatal results of this sin;-a sin which, I am verily persuaded, if there be another that slays its thousands, may with truth be affirmed to slay its ten thousands. I must not, by a false and overfastidious delicacy, be prevented from faithfully, affectionately, and vehemently warning youth against its awfully seductive blandishments. Of these Solomon here speaks as if they were chiefly on one side,-on the part of the unprincipled female seducer, with her fair and flattering words, her endless arts of allurement, and silken toils of fascination. But they are on both sides. We are not to forget that that accomplished seducer has herself perhaps been seduced. By “studied, sly, ensnaring art” it may have been, that she has been tempted to “forsake the guide of her youth, and forget the covenant of her God."-The “guide of her youth” may either mean God himself-who by Jeremiah says to his wandering people, “Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth;"-or her earthly father or mother, the natural guardians and guides of their youthful offspring; or, according to the more general, although I am far from sure of its being the more reasonable interpretation, her husband, whom it was incumbent on her to hear, and love, and obey, as the “guide” assigned her in her youth by a gracious Providence.

“Forgetting the covenant of her God,” may either have reference to the marriage compact, made in God’s name; or, more generally, to the law and commandments of God: according to a very common phraseology in the Old Testament Scriptures-as in Psalms 103:17-18 . The circumstance of the case subsequently detailed by Solomon in its particulars of seduction, being that of a faithless and perfidious wife, gives the greater likelihood; it is admitted, to this interpretation. No matter. It is the general lesson and the general warning we are anxious to impress. Many a time had this wise observer of mankind had occasion to see the havoc wrought among the principles and characters, the rising interests, and the prospects for time and eternity, of the young and the unstable, by this particular sin. “Many strong men “-strong to all appearance in moral and even religious principle-he had seen “cast down by it.” From a “heart that had known its own bitterness,” he admonishes youth to beware. O let me, young friends, reiterate and urge the admonition. Mark the rocks on which vessels like your own, full of promise, have struck and gone to pieces, and avoid them. Take the warning. Guard against first steps in this path of imminent hazard-nay, according to Solomon, of almost inevitable ruin:-verses Proverbs 2:18-19 . “For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

“Death”-to which her paths “incline “-is the death both of body and soul, but especially “the second death;” and “the dead” are the miserable victims of that never-dying death. Ah! How many a poor infatuated deluded youth has been led on, step by step, the downward road to “the chambers of death!"-led on, by soft and silken bonds,-amidst “the pleasures of sin for a season,"-to “adamantine chains and penal fire!” To every youth, then, now hearing me, I say, with all the earnestness of affection,-the earnestness of a father to his children,-Shut thine ear to the syren voice of pleasure! Escape for thy life!

Opposed to the way of evil men is the way in which Solomon was desirous those with whom he pleads should walk:-verse Proverbs 2:20 . “That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.”

The “way of good men” is the way of God’s commandments,-of faith and love and active obedience;-and “the paths of the righteous” may mean all the varieties of that obedience, in the different departments of life and service.

The chapter closes with encouragement on the one hand and repeated warning on the other:-verses Proverbs 2:21-22 . “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”

The continued possession of the land of promise was often by Moses connected with obedience, as in Deuteronomy 4:40 . And so also was it by the prophets, Isaiah 1:19-20 . This obedience was the obedience of faith. Such obedience was always what Jehovah required of his people; and the promise expressed his delight in it. It was on account of the true Israelites-the spiritual seed of Abraham-by whom this obedience of faith was rendered, that the land continued to be possessed by the nation at large: but abounding unbelief, and the wickedness produced by, and indicating it, were ultimately to be the cause of entire dispossession:-“Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. “When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you,” Joshua 23:12-13 ; Joshua 23:16 .

By such assurances the Israelites were reminded of the original terms of God’s covenant with them; of his unceasing, unabating, uncompromising, and universal detestation of all sin, by whomsoever committed, especially by those who called themselves his people, and of his determination to visit it with merited vengeance. He ever, from the beginning, made a difference between the righteous and the wicked. He could not but make this difference. The saying has always been, and must always be, a truth-“The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish,” Psalms 1:5-6 .

Even in this world, the good man, with the love of God, the pardon of sin, a new heart, and a good hope for eternity-has the best of it,-a goodly heritage. And when he leaves this world, he has the animating anticipation of a better country-“a land of pure delight”-the heavenly Canaan-“the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” Whereas, when the wicked are removed from the earth, instead of being taken they are driven-not to God, but from God,-“driven away in their wickedness.” They are “rooted out,” finally and for ever. The wheat is gathered safely into the barn, while the tares, bundled together, are cast into the “unquenchable fire.”

Would you escape this fearful end? There is but one way-the way of Faith and Holiness: faith to unite you with Christ; and holiness to prove its reality.