Proverbs 6

Proverbs 6:1-11

LECTURE XIV.

Proverbs 6:1-11 .

“My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

A Surety is one who becomes security for a debt due by another, in case of the insolvency of the original debtor. In different countries, the customary or legal forms have been different, by which such suretiships are undertaken, and are rendered valid. In the first verse, allusion is made to the practice of the surety confirming his engagement by giving his hand to the creditor, in presence of witnesses-" My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger."

Solomon, on different occasions, condemns the practice of suretiship (See Proverbs 11:15 . and Proverbs 22:26 ). The condemnation is general. It does not follow, however, that what he says is to be taken as an absolute unqualified prohibition, to which there are no circumstances that can constitute an exception. There are cases in which it is unavoidable; and there are cases in which the law requires it; and there are cases in which it is not only in consistency with law, but required by all the claims of prudence, and justice, and charity. These, however, are rare. And it may be laid down as a maxim regarding the transactions of business, and all the mutual dealings of man with man, that the less of it the better. In such cases as the following, it is manifestly inadmissible, and may even, in some instances, involve a large amount of moral turpitude:-

1. It is wrong for a man to come under engagements that are beyond his actually existing means-beyond his ability to pay, in case of need. Such a course is not one merely of imprudence! There is in it a threefold injustice. First, to the creditor for whom he becomes surety; inasmuch as the security is fallacious, not covering the extent of the risk. Secondly, to his family, if he has one, to whom, in case of the security being required, and the payment called for, the requisition must bring distress and ruin. And thirdly, to those who give him credit in his own transactions, with the risks of his own trade: for in thus undertaking suretiships, he involves himself, without their knowledge, in the risks of other trades besides his own, and thus exposes them to hazards of which, in the outset, they were not aware.

It may be thought that a person may always be justified in becoming a surety, provided he retains as much clear as is sufficient for the payment of his own obligations, and, at the same time, do justice to his family. But it ought not to be forgotten amidst what uncertainties we live-the incessant liability to fluctuations and reverses. We “know not what shall be on the morrow.” In trusting to what we now have, we may be “setting our eyes on that which is not.” All may be quite square, and to every appearance prosperous, to-day; and to-morrow all may be ruin. So that, if in giving his security, a man goes to the limit of his means, without taking into account the risks of his own business, he does wrong; and his own calamity, and that of others associated with him, may come speedily.

2. The same observations are applicable to the making of engagements with inconsideration and rashness. The case here supposed, is evidently that of suretiship for a friend to a stranger. And the rashness and haste may be viewed in relation either to the person or to the case.

First, as to the person. The partiality and warmth of friendship, may be a temptation to agree precipitately and without reflection to what both prudence and equity forbid: and especially when the friend presents and presses his suit on the very ground of friendship. That is very trying. How can we refuse an old, attached, and valued friend, or one, it may be, to whose kindness we have been more than once indebted! If a man stands alone, out of business, and without a dependent family, and has, at the same time, abundance of which to dispose, he may be quite at liberty to make such sacrifices to friendship as he pleases. But suppose the reverse of all this-then the claims of justice to others must take precedence of the claims of kindness to the friend. The friend, in such cases, must be regarded, not merely in his capacity as a friend, but in his capacity as a man of business. If, for example, he is known to us as a man who is indolent and careless, incorrect and improvident, profuse and extravagant; then, whatever may be our feelings, they must on no account be allowed to supersede, in the slightest, the demands of justice. These demands lie against their indulgence, on the part of family and of creditors; whose rights, in such a case, would be clearly and egregiously violated. In such circumstances, it is very wrong in your friend to urge you; but, let the urgency be ever so great, and the pain to which you are put ever so excruciating, right ought to prevail, even if the forfeiture of friendship should be the penalty. Men, when they feel the generous impulse of friendly emotion, and say at once while under it, “I’ll be his surety,” are exceedingly apt to think at the moment only of themselves, as if the risk were all their own; and to forget, that in thus hastily “striking hands,” they are making creditors and family securities, without asking their consent, or making them aware of their risks.

In the case of the person in whose behalf we bring ourselves under the obligation being “a stranger,” the culpability is indefinitely augmented. The young, naturally warm, inexperienced, unsuspecting, and credulous, are very apt to allow themselves to be drawn away by their juvenile ardour, and to commit themselves fast and fondly to new and open-hearted companions. Suretiships “for strangers” are accordingly laid under special condemnation:-" He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure." “Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman,” Proverbs 11:15 ; Proverbs 20:16 . The force of the latter passage is, “If he is your debtor who has come under suretiship for a stranger, you had better see sharply to payment.’Take his garment’ for your debt. He will soon come to it; will soon have nothing more to pay; take in pledge whatever you can get.” In the verses before us the case is different. It is the case of becoming surety, not for a stranger, but, as was formerly noticed, to a stranger for a friend.

In regard to all such cases, it should be recollected, that, although we may have a confidence in our friend that is in the main well-founded, we can never be sure in what speculations he may be tempted to embark, or what new courses in business he may be induced to pursue. The practice is elsewhere condemned as that of indiscretion and folly:-" A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend," Proverbs 17:18 . The words, “in the presence of his friend,” may mean, being swayed and overcome by the influence of friendship-his friend being before him in distress, needing and seeking his aid: a situation which every man of sensibility will feel it very difficult to withstand. Or, it may mean, complying with the request hastily, on the instant, ere the friend who pleads for the favour has left his presence.

It is very far wrong in any man to avail himself of the claims of friendship to bring another into a situation which, his conscience tells him, is one into which he would not like himself to be drawn; or to induce the friend to do what he knows is either in principle faulty, or in tendency and possible results injurious. This is the very opposite of friendship. It is selfishness betraying friendship, and making it available for its own ends. He who, in business, makes such a use of friendship, exposes himself to just suspicion that all is not right; that he is trying unwarrantable means to prop up a false credit, and to gratify a haste to be rich. It is very natural for us, no doubt, to wish to make our own bargains as secure as possible. But does any man like to be security for the bargains of others? If this is what none like, should any tempt others to do it? Should any one, for the sake of making all sure for himself, seek to place others in circumstances by which their security may be affected? Here, as in every case, comes in the golden rule, “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” If we cannot trust a man ourselves, so as to transact business with him, would it not be better to forego our bargain, even though it may seem a tempting one, and to decline dealings with him, than to accomplish our purpose by bringing others into a situation we ourselves dislike?

I may further ask, whether, in the spirit, and to no small extent in the letter of it, what has just been said does not bear application to the whole system of what is known, in modern business, under the term Accommodation. Is not that a system which, on the principles stated, ought to be denounced and put down? Some say it is impossible to transact business without it. It may be well, however, to inquire how far this alleged impossibility does not arise from the very modes of transacting business which modern usage has introduced? I allude to the unrighteous, lying, ruinous method of speculation without capital; of extensive risks on a baseless credit; of what may be called the lottery plan of business, where wealth to ourselves, or ruin both to ourselves and others, are put upon the cast of a die. If the credit is baseless, the business is base. All are, in theory, of one mind, that the accommodation system, as it has been carried on, is a false, treacherous, hollow, ruinous system; a system of utter delusion, stamped throughout with lies. Christian men of business should set their faces decidedly against it, doing what they can to fix on it the stigma of dishonour, and to oust it from the mercantile world.

But while Solomon condemns suretiship, he at the same time intimates that when an engagement has once been made, it is binding. Such seems the import of the second verse-“Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.”

This is one of the very considerations by which previous caution and forethought are rendered necessary. You may wish, after the thing has been done, that it had not been done, or that it could be undone. But truth and honour may now tie you down to your promise. The case may come under that feature of the acceptable worshipper in God’s courts-" He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." You have brought yourself into a snare, and by your own word, in speech or in writing, have placed yourself in the power of others. What, then, is to be done? Solomon’s counsel is-Extricate yourself, if you can; that is, if by any means consistent with the principles of truth and honour, it is at all in your power. He exhorts you to the very humblest concessions:-verse Proverbs 6:3 . “Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.”

The closing words seem to mean, as in the margin, “Humble thyself that thou mayest prevail with thy friend.” The object is, to induce him, by all equitable and self-denying concessions, to pay the money himself, or to prevail with the creditor to dispense with the security,-to discharge your obligation. There is a pride sometimes which, after a man has committed himself, even how strongly soever he may see and feel afterwards his error, both as it affects himself and others, will not allow him to stoop to any means whatever of disentangling himself. The principle, to a certain extent, is one which we cannot but admire. But it may be carried too far; especially when we find that we have been implicating others as well as ourselves. What will it profit to add pride and pertinacity to folly and wrong?

Solomon, observe, treats it as a matter of most urgent exigency:-verses Proverbs 6:4-5 . “Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

The urgency of the case will of course correspond in degree with the extent of the obligation and the risk. It is here supposed to be one of magnitude and importance. But the principle comprehends all cases, though applicable with various measures of force. There is a correspondence between the figure in these verses and that which had been used in the second: “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth,”-" Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." The hunter and the fowler catch their prey for their own purposes, not for the benefit of the roe or the bird. So you have suffered yourself to be snared and caught by others, not for your profit, but for theirs. If they, then, have caught you for theirs, for your own you should seek escape.

It is evident, however, that the language implies, If, with all your efforts, you are unsuccessful in obtaining your discharge, you must stand to your engagement. Treachery would be a much greater loss in character, than would be compensated by evading, or attempting to evade, the loss of property; and, even were you able to keep your money, while you would lose caste in the world, you would lose “peace with God” and “the answer of a good conscience.”

This, then, is one of the ways in which a man may bring himself into straits, and even reduce himself to beggary. It is not the first nor the second time that a man has beggared himself by suretiships. We may commend his generous and accommodating kindness; but we cannot praise the prudence with which it has been exercised: and if others are connected with him, and involved in his downfall, the error has been one of principle as well as of prudence.

In the verses which follow, Solomon brings before us another way in which straits and poverty may be induced. It is Sloth. “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”

The indolent and improvident are addressed; and they are sent to the inferior creation for a lesson: and not to the greatest and the noblest of animals, but to one of the least and most insignificant of insects. Of the Ant there are various species even in the same country; and some that are peculiar to their respective climates and regions of the earth. They differ in size, in colour, and in some particulars both of their structure and of their instinctive habits. All are remarkable for their industry. It is indeed astonishing; and the results of their united labours are no less so, when the diminutiveness of the agents is considered. Of some of the species the abodes-the ant-hills as they are usually termed-are of great size, exceeding the height of a man; and they are constructed with wonderful regularity and skill, the result of labours that would seem incredible were they not thus ascertained in their effects. They are in the form of a conical mount, with roads winding through every part of the settlement; and all their granaries for food, and their depositories for their young (in their care of which they are most singularly assiduous and exemplary) are arranged in suitable positions, and in due order. Their travels and exertions in procuring provisions are not less amazing than their habitations, and the order of their community. These expeditions in quest of food are sometimes made solitarily, and sometimes in bands; and it would appear as if individuals, when they fall in with any article of public utility, but too bulky for their unaided efforts to remove, have methods of communicating the intelligence, and leading off swarms of assistants, to accomplish by numbers what could not be done by strength. They go in these troops to very considerable distances, and repeat their journeys till they have got all secured. Ants may be seen pushing on before them grains of corn which they are unable to carry. It is further said (and it is previously likely, and seems to be sufficiently authenticated) that, to prevent the grain in their deposits from growing, they instinctively gnaw off the germ from the extremity. The little white substances, resembling very small peas, which appear in such numbers at times on the surface or when the surface is at all displaced, are not their food; nor are they their eggs, but their young at a particular stage of their progress. These are the first objects of their attention; and when the settlement is disturbed and thrown into alarm by any foreign invasion, whether from the foot of man or otherwise, the eagerness, the toil, and the rapidity with which all instantly set about and effect their removal, are not less instructive than they are surprising.

On the subject of the other particular, the providence of the ant, it has, by some naturalists, been questioned. It has been alleged that during winter they are, like some other insects, in a state of torpidity, and therefore need not the precaution ascribed to them in the eighth verse, of “providing their meat in the summer, and gathering their food in the harvest.” On this we may observe-

1. If the fact of their laying up provisions be ascertained, all analogy more than warrants the conclusion that it is for some end. We do not find these extraordinary instincts operating to no purpose. Nature, or more properly, the God of nature, does nothing of this kind in vain.

2. “Whereas it has been said, the stock thus laid up is not for winter, but for the sustenance and nourishment of the community, at a period when the young come to need the almost undivided attention of the whole, and when, consequently, they have not leisure for their predatory excursions;-I need not say that, as a proof of providence, even were it admitted, this comes to the very same thing. But observe-

3. The assertion that the laying up of provisions is a mistake, is, even by those who make it, confined to the ants with which we are acquainted in England or in Europe, while it does not extend with certainty even to all of them. It is granted by these sceptical naturalists themselves, to be more than probable in regard to the ants of other and warmer climates. “What has been said with exaggeration” says one of them, “of the European ant, is, however, true if asserted of those of the tropical climates. They build an ant-hill with great contrivance and regularity; they lay up provisions; and, as they probably live the whole year, they submit themselves to regulations entirely unknown among the ants of Europe.” * There is often no little amount of uncertainty respecting the instinctive customs of these minute creatures. Such uncertainty is apparent even in the terms used in this extract-“exaggeration” and “probably.” But the admission it contains is itself quite enough. If there were ants of the kind described, known in the time and country of Solomon, we need not carry our inquiries further. Not a few fabulous extravagances, as might be expected, have been asserted, both respecting this and other creatures of a similar description; but when all that is fabulous has been deducted, there remains enough, in the well-ascertained facts, to excite our astonishment and call forth our praise.

• Buffon.

But the lesson for which these little wonders of sensitive creation are here introduced is of a different kind. It is a lesson of reproof and shame to the slothful, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard.”

The language of the seventh verse is far from being intended to convey the idea that these creatures have no regular subordination among themselves in their little settlements. For although here, in a special manner,-under the influence of a fancy enamoured of the subject, and addicted to the marvellous, fond itself of wondering and making others wonder,-fabulous things have been imagined to have been observed and have been recorded among the facts of their natural history; yet, as in the case of the Bee and other insects, there is no reason to doubt, but good ground for believing, that they have a government-a regular system of subdivision into castes, or peculiar occupations, and of rule and subjection and social operation. But the ants, as a community, are here spoken of; and the meaning is, that they have no creature of superior intelligence to teach them what to do and how to do it; to inform them of their future necessities, and direct them in what way to provide against them. It is in their nature,-impressed there in a way that is full indeed of mystery, yet full of the wisdom of Him, all whose works are perfect.

The lesson is, that Industry is the duty of man, as it is the practice of the ant. Even in paradise, man was not to be idle, though his occupation was to have nothing in it of toil fatigue, or disappointment. He was placed in the garden “to dress it and to keep it.” And on men now, numerous are the inculcations of this duty in the Word of God.*

• See, for example, Romans 12:11 . 1 Timothy 5:8 . 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 . 2 Thessalonians 3:6-14 .

We may mention three grounds of the duty, as indicated in Scripture. The first is, that persons may not be a burden on society, or on the church. On this point, indeed, the apostle’s language is strong even to seeming harshness; but it is the language of God’s Spirit, and shows the light of severe reprehension in which He regards the idle. He interdicts support to them–prohibits charity, “If any will not work, neither should he eat.” A further reason is, that they may be out of the way of temptation; there being many temptations in idle habits, and in the want to which they lead, from which the industrious are free; temptations to dishonesty, and pilfering, and extorting by false pretexts, living by lying.* The third is, that they may have wherewith to assist others, whose need, from unavoidable causes, may be greater than their own. This motive is strongly inculcated by the apostle, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth,” Ephesians 4:28 .

• Comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:12 .

It is characteristic of sloth, as of some other dispositions, that it is ever growing. Give it any measure of indulgence, and it demands more. The indolent man is ever seeking apologies for keeping his bed or his easy chair. When these fail, he still pleads for a little-were it but ever so little-just another half-hour-just one minute more! Solomon in the next verses sounds the alarm, “How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” How graphically descriptive of the yawning sloth; the useless piece of lazy lumber in society!-

“Like the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,

Moves his sides and his shoulders, and his heavy head.”

And how forcibly is he warned of the natural tendency, and the inevitable consequence! Poverty may make slow, but they are sure, advances. “It comes as a traveller.” And when it arrives, the habit of inaction has become so powerful and inveterate, that it proves “as an armed man.” All resistance is vain. The very effort of prevention, if it can be called such, is that of indolence, and proves fruitless; and the poor sluggard, thoroughly mastered by arms which himself has furnished, becomes a prey to all the wretchedness of pinching penury; and is doomed to endure it without any portion of that soothing sympathy which is ever extended to the diligent but unfortunate-or let us rather say providentially unsuccessful labourer; who will always find a place in the compassion and the practical charity of others.

The passage suggests the following among other important reflections:-

1. The great importance of Christians exemplifying in all their transactions with the world, what may be denominated business virtues,-integrity, prudence, and diligence. Remember, fellow-Christians, the men of the world, while they may scorn, or affect to scorn, your piety,-in regard to the business of life, and the principles by which it ought to be reciprocally regulated, are, in many respects, acute and discriminating judges. T’s; and they have the eyes of lynxes upon Christian professors, to detect whatever is inconsistent with uprightness and honour, and even with industry and discretion. Oh! it is a sad thing when those who “name the name of Christ,"-who profess the faith of his truth and subjection to his will, and from whom all that is exemplary is naturally and justly expected, are found failing in these palpable and every-day duties of life; when they not only give occasion to the world to say of them, What do ye more than others?-but even to point to them as falling short of the world’s standard! The Christian does not look for spirituality and devotion in the man of the world; but the man of the world looks, and justly looks, for uprightness and diligence and honour in the Christian. It is melancholy when devotion is divorced from. practical righteousness; when a man appears affecting unwonted sanctity; makes long prayers and long faces; talks much about religion, and takes a prominent part in all Bible, and Missionary, and Tract, and Sabbath-School Societies; and by his transactions in business, by his hardness, by his chicanery, by his false credit and mean shifts, gives the world reason for its favourite nicknames, the utterance at once of contempt and indignation, of a canting, psalm-singing hypocrite!

2. Let Christian parents in every station train their children to habits of industry as well as of incorruptible honesty. It is said to have been the rule and practice of the Jews to teach all their children some handicraft employment, to which they might be able to have recourse in all circumstances. The principle of the rule was excellent. Idleness not only tends to “clothe a man with rags,” but as before noticed, is the inlet to numberless temptations. It is one of the Highways To Vice. Young friends, if you would be virtuous, be busy. If you would be vicious, be idle.

3. Spiritual service,-all that regards religion and the divine life in the soul, no less than the interests of the present world, requires, in order to prosperity, “all diligence.” Without it there can be no spiritual acquisitions any more than temporal; no riches in the things of God, any more than in the things of the world.

Thus we apply the admonition to the cultivation of personal godliness. We apply it also to the duties of parents in the instruction of their families. We apply it to the labours of pastors and deacons in the church. We apply it to the whole course of Christian duty, in zeal for God, and benevolence to men. In regard to all, “whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

The first thing to which the ungodly are called is faith in Christ. If you are expecting or attempting to get pardon and heaven in any other way-never was there a more hopeless undertaking. Many an airy speculation has been gone into in this world’s business, and gone into with a confidence in the direct ratio of its unsubstantiality and unsoundness. But never was there a speculation surer of failure than this. You are trading without a capital. You are trying to force credit, where you have none, and where you never can get it. You are not merely bankrupt. Bankrupts may make a composition, paying a smaller or a larger proportion of their debts. But yours is a case-as is that of every sinner on earth-of absolute destitution. You have nothing to pay. The question-“What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” is a question which admits but of one answer, what can he give who has nothing? O my friends, there is but One Surety who, in this exigency, can stand between you and ruin, Jesus will answer for you; and none else in heaven or earth can. If you come to Him, with a sense of your own destitution, He will undertake for you. If you believe in Him, you will find the full amount of your debt to God paid in the ransom of his precious blood. Whatever you have owed, it will be frankly and for ever cancelled. And then you will set out anew, “working the works of God,” on a new principle and new credit; with a stock, not of fancied merit, but of real grace. Receiving from Christ’s fullness, while you rely upon his mercy, you will trade with the talents committed to you for the interests of his kingdom and the glory of his name, and he will say to you at last with the smile of approving love-” Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make the ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”

Proverbs 6:12-19

LECTURE XV.

Proverbs 6:12-19 .

“A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward month. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually, he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination until him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

The description with which this passage commences, of the character and end of unprincipled men, might possibly be suggested by what had just been said, of the tendency of idleness to lead into their society, and thus to vice, profligacy, and ruin; and it is introduced for the obvious purpose of warning all against such, and especially the young.

Of the “naughty person,” “the wicked man,” it is here said first, in general terms-he “walketh with a froward mouth.” Walking is the Bible word for a man’s daily course of conduct. A froward mouth is, as already noticed, a mouth under the influence of a froward, that is, a self-willed, rebellious spirit. It is a mouth that gives fearless and unrestrained utterance to the suggestions of such a spirit; that speaks its own words without regard to God or man.

In human nature, as in every other, there is an innate love of freedom. But alas! in human nature, as fallen, this principle, good in itself, has taken" a sadly perverse direction. It is too often the mere love of following, without restraint, our own inclinations. And while aversion to restraint is common to all, it is peculiarly strong in the bosoms of youth. They spurn at it. They wince and fret; are restive and turbulent; feel, when the rein of authority is imposed upon them, as if their proper liberty were abridged, and are envious of those who can indulge themselves in all they set their hearts upon, without coercion and without fear. They cherish a secret wish that the precepts of God’s word were somewhat less rigid, or its denunciations against evil less awful, that so they might gratify their sinful inclinations in a similar way. There is, in the fearless indulgence of the libertine, an appearance of spirit and independence, of their want of which, when laughed at for their stiffness and precision, they are ashamed, and sigh impatiently for the breaking of the yoke. Ah! young friends, this is a mournful kind of shame. The freedom, not the want of it, is that for which the shame ought to be felt. It is that fearful liberty of which the Apostle speaks, when he says-" “When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness!” Romans 6:20 .

Allow me to remind you, that the mouth is by no means always a true index of the heart. It is such an index indeed, as to the wickedness that is in it; but it is far from being so in regard to its happiness and peace. Ah! no. The mouth is many a time the cover, rather than the index, of what is in the heart. While the mouth pours out its arrogant and boastful impiety, as if the spirit were a stranger to fear and foreboding, let but some sudden accident, or disease, or danger, bring death and judgment and eternity near, and you may see the countenance of the braggadocio assume an ashy paleness, his lips quiver, and his fearless vauntings give way to silent trembling, or to the stifled groans or the loud exclamations of agony. The greatest boasters have often proved the greatest dastards. Look to Belshazzar.* “Wherefore all his perturbation? He knew not the meaning of the mysterious writing. For aught he knew, it might be an intimation of good. It was conscience, that sternly though silently, told him the contrary. It was conscience that made the mirthful and heaven-daring reveller a quaking coward,-turning in a moment his jovial festivity to consternation, and the laughter of profanity to the awe-struck silence of amazement and dread. It was this that made his eyes start from their sockets, and his knees to smite together. Was he then to be envied?-Ah! it is a dreadful liberty-the liberty to sin. It is a desperate, an ill-named and ill-omened courage that sets at defiance the God of heaven-that turns to scorn His restraints and His intimations of vengeance!

• Daniel 5:5-6 .

The next verse adds to the description of the “naughty person,” the “wicked man:"-verse Proverbs 6:13 . “He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers.”

Different interpretations may be put upon these words-which are all allied to each other, and may be all found in real existence together. They may refer, first, to the clubs and cabals of the ungodly-with their slang language, and their secret signs, or, secondly, to the fact of all the members and all the powers of such men being made, jointly and severally, the instruments of evil, and that in every form and mode of their exercise, or, thirdly, to the multiform artfulness and duplicity-the “cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” This last is probably the true purport of the verse:-that they convey their meanings, and carry on their schemes, and promote their ends, in every sly, covert, unsuspected way. If at any time there is a risk in committing themselves by words, they keep to signs; “they wink with their eyes, they speak with their feet, they teach with their fingers.” What an amount of evil may be thus communicated, and thus effected! Who can tell what mischief may be done by a wink of the eye? In that simplest and least perceived of motions, accompanied by a certain expression of the countenance, there may lurk falsehood, treachery, slander, suspicion, jealousy, alienation, revenge, murder, covetousness, lasciviousness, and a host more of the worst passions and purposes of the human heart. And there may fairly be included in the description all the signs and attitudes of hypocritical devotion; of sanctity assumed for selfish and secular ends-the bended knee, the lifted hand, the closed or the turned-up eye, the sanctimoniously shaken head, the ejaculated Amen!-with all the affected grimace of ostentatious and worldly-minded pharisaism.

The source of this evil is in the heart:-verse Proverbs 6:14 . “Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.” Frowardness, as explained, is the spirit of scornful insubordination, and a pride in expressing and showing it. The devising of mischief may be against various descriptions of persons, and may be modified accordingly, in regard to the principles or passions by which it is dictated. It may be against the pious and the good, and may spring from malignity-from the innate hatred of God and holiness, dictating the wish to injure their reputation; to make them ridiculous; or otherwise to gratify, at their expense, the spirit of impiety. It may be against the prosperous, and may be dictated by envy. It may be against their enemies, real or imagined, and may be the effect of pique, resentment, avarice, or possibly mere sport; for, as the wise man elsewhere says, “It is a sport to a fool to do mischief.” Devising mischief is a step beyond the doing of it, as opportunities may present themselves. It implies the setting of the wits to work in inventing and studying plans of evil, and the means of carrying them into effect. Of similar characters it is said by the Psalmist, “He deviseth mischief upon his bed”-devises by night, and executes by day.

The last of the particulars in this verse is that of having pleasure in the Satanic employment of fomenting alienation and strife: “He soweth discord.” He delights in the horrid success of his artful insinuations, in the miserable harvest springing from his busy and often unsuspected seed-time: for he is “sowing discord” even when the seed he is scattering seems, to the credulous and ignorant, the seed of “righteousness and peace.” It is not unlikely that to the arts of such mischiefmakers there may be an allusion in the thirteenth verse. And while by such means their envy is gratified, that is not always the limit of their aim. They sometimes have purposes of more substantial benefit to their selfish spirits. They fish in troubled waters:-first troubling them themselves, and then taking advantage of the disagreements they have stirred up from the muddy bottom of the heart’s corruptions, to promote their own profit. But these disturbers of peace; these subverters of the delights and blessings of mutual love; these distillers of venom for the darts of the Wicked One; these froward inventors and workers of mischief-these “naughty persons,” these “wicked men,” are ultimately the authors of their own ruin-

Verse Proverbs 6:15 . “Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.” Their calamity often comes, and comes suddenly, from men. When those who have unsuspiciously listened to their poisonous insinuations, and by means of them, have been led to suspect, and have come to be suspected by, their former associates and friends, happen to discover the malignity that has severed intimacy, and robbed them of mutual enjoyment, when they have got a clue by which to trace the mischief to its origin in the centre of the labyrinth of the intricate mazes of malice,-indignation is roused, and the author of the evils justly suffers by abandonment, or even by merited infliction of punishment, the due desert of his odious acts. And even should the mischiefs never be mended, and the source of them never be discovered so as to suffer at the hand of man, Gods displeasure is awake against him; and he shall experience the sudden lighting-down of the arm of divine vengeance. God may bear long with the wicked. But though the transgressor be tempted by His very forbearance to take encouragement in what is wrong-in the end, “suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy “-reaping from the seed he has sown a harvest of irremediable misery to his own soul.*

• Comp. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 .Psalms 73:18-20Psalms 73:18-20 . Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 .

The “seven, things” enumerated in the following verses as the special objects of divine abhorrence, are naturally introduced in connexion with the general character of such men, in its leading features:-verses Proverbs 6:16-19 . “These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

The language of the first of these verses is strong. The reduplication of the assertion is intended to impress the fearfulness of the evils. Let all lay the terms of reprobation to heart. There cannot but be unspeakable danger in indulging in aught that is “abomination to the Lord.”

1. The first of the seven is pride-“a proud look.” I have said pride. You must at once be sensible, that it is not the look merely that is meant, but the temper of mind which the look expresses-not the mere indication of the principle, but the principle itself. There may be much pride in the heart that is not indicated by haughtiness in the look, but covered from observation by the assumed air of humility and lowliness of spirit. In this case, the look is absent, but the thing is there; and is there in a doubly odious form. The “proud look” is to be interpreted as including pride of all kinds. There is, first of all, if I may use an expression that is really, in its terms, contradictory, religious pride. I have called it contradictory; because there never has been, never is, never can be, any pride in religion. Its very essence is humility. The pride of religion is of all things the most irreligious. You know what I mean-the pride of the Pharisee, when he stood in God’s sanctuary before the very “beauty of holiness” and prayed, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are.” That this pride of self-righteousness is an abomination in God’s sight, his whole word tells us; and the verdict of Jesus, in the parable referred to, testifies in the plainest terms. There is the pride of high station and wealth, with its look of lofty supercilious disdain upon its inferiors. There is the pride of high spirit and false honour, of quick touchy resentment, that cannot brook an injurious act, word, or even glance, however passing and slight; whose eye of kindling and impetuous fire flashes on the offender, and whose revenge sighs for his prostration, and even, it may be, thirsts for his blood.

The face of God is set against this high-mindedness. He “resisteth the proud.” He “knoweth them afar off.” He “hath respect unto the lowly.” And the lowliness which He respects must begin with Himself-with the acceptance of mercy, in the spirit of self-renunciation. There is no true humility in a sinner’s spirit, till it is brought to this.

2. We have next in order, “a lying tongue.” God is the God of truth. He “desireth truth in the inward parts.” As in the former case, so here, a “lying tongue” must be understood as comprehensive of all the modes of wilfully conveying a false impression. This is the essence of a He; and it may be done in many ways. There are lying looks, and lying motions, as well as lying words. The “naughty person” who “winketh with his eyes, speaketh with his feet, teacheth with his fingers,” may by the eye, by the feet, by the fingers, tell lies-tell them as really, as effectually, as guiltily, as if he uttered them with his tongue. The declarations of the divine displeasure against this sin are specially frequent and strong;* and in the outset of the Christian church, there was read to both believers and the world, a solemn and awful lesson of God’s opposition to all deception and lying, in His judicially visiting Ananias and Sapphira with death for their selfish dissembling-a dissembling in which they sought the gratification of covetousness, and the desire of eclat for their liberality, by the sin of falsehood.

• See Psalms 5:6 ; Psalms 120:3-4 ; Hosea 4:1-3 ; John 8:44 ; Revelation 21:8 ; Revelation 21:27 .

3. Then we have-“hands that shed innocent blood.” The first innocent blood shed on earth was the blood of a brother. At the second commencement of the human race, Jehovah, with obvious reference to this first murder, set a guard of threatened vengeance around the life of man. (Genesis 9:5-6 .)

Life may be taken-” innocent blood shed”-otherwise than directly by the armed hand. It is not the assassin alone, with his murderous knife that is intended. The judge is guilty who gives sentence against the innocent. The executioner, whose hands actually shed the blood, is not, in that case, the culprit, but he by whom the sentence was pronounced. The promoters of persecution are guilty, whether acting with legal form or without it:-if with it, only so much the worse. He, who, by cruel treatment, breaks another’s heart, is guilty. When the broken heart brings its victim, by pining atrophy, to the grave, there can be no question to whose account that “innocent blood” must be placed. Remember, the Lord is the righteous “avenger of blood.” He “maketh inquisition” for it. He will allow no blood-guiltiness to escape. The murderer was even to be dragged from His altar unto death.

4. The fourth in order, is one in which divine omniscience is implied for its detection-“a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.” “The thought of wickedness is sin.” You may form, and even cherish, desires which it is not in your power to execute. Or even those which are in your power, so far as ability is concerned, you may, by uncontrollable circumstances, be prevented from executing. But God knows them all; and He will judge and avenge them, as if actually done.

This leads to the general reflection, that “the law is spiritual.” The reflection applies to the immediately preceding particular, and indeed to them all.*

• Compare Matthew 5:21-22 ; 1 John 3:15 .

5. The fifth is “feet that are swift in running to mischief.” “Running to mischief” may mean, either running to do it, or running to see it. In either case we are supposed to enjoy it. “Feet that are swift” in carrying us to do it, are supposed to be the agents of a heart that has a relish for it. The one will be proportioned to the other. And the feet that are swift in “running to mischief,” will be slow to works of benevolence, slow to the abodes of distress, slow to the house of God, slow to whatever is good.

6. “A false witness that speaketh lies,” may be considered as having been already included in a former particular-the “lying tongue.” But there is a peculiarity of guilt in falsehood when it is committed in witness-bearing-when it assumes the form of perjury. The cause of others is thus injuriously affected: it leads to a false decision; and therefore adds injustice to untruth: the judges, or the arbiters are deceived, troubled, wronged, by being frustrated in their solicitude to give a fair and equitable verdict. And, when an oath has actually been taken, there is the superadded guilt of blasphemy-the “taking of God’s name,” in the most heinous sense, “in vain.”

There is a species of witness-bearing, in which a deep criminality is involved, that is too often little thought of-being “found false witnesses of God,” 1 Corinthians 15:15 . O! this is a fearful description of false-witnessing!-setting the seal of the God of truth to falsehood!-forging upon heaven! God keep from such guilt all his professed servants! It is at once the guilt of blood, and the guilt of making God a bar.

7. The last in this enumeration is, “he that soweth discord among brethren.” There is here an emphatic addition to the language of verse fourteenth-“among brethren.” In proportion to the loveliness of any scene, even in external nature, and the degree in which we are captivated by its beauties, are we offended by the man who defaces it-despoils it of its chief attractions, and spreads disorder and desolation where before every sense found its richest and sweetest gratification. So is it in the moral world. There is not on the face of the earth a scene of more engaging interest and delight, than a family all united in the bonds of nature’s love, making each other’s joys and sorrows their own; every heart beating in unison; every eye and every hand eager to anticipate each other’s wants and wishes. And what is beautiful as a specimen of the affections of nature, is no less beautiful when the bond of union is “the love of the Spirit,” the spiritual love by which the children of God are bound together in “the household of faith.” The disturber of the harmony of a united family, or of a united church, is incomparably worse than the man who desolates the face of any earthly paradise. God is the God of love and peace. He delighteth in them. The prevalence of them among his people is honourable to his truth in the eyes of the world; and his eye rests on the scene with divine satisfaction.* Hateful, then, diabolical the man who seeks to introduce discord into such a scene of harmony-to embitter its joys, to destroy its benefits!

• Comp. Psalms 133 .

There are cases in which we cannot be responsible for the discord to which we give rise;-in which we are only its innocent occasion, not its guilty cause. The Saviour himself anticipates such discord, (Matthew 10:34-36 .) But neither he nor his truth is answerable for it. It arises from the opposition of the carnal minds of men to the principles of his kingdom. For this, these principles are not to blame. It is not the end Jesus or his servants had in view. “What they teach is fitted, when received, to knit all mankind in one blessed bond of peace, and purity, and joy. The Gospel alone can extirpate the evils here enumerated, and other evils of kindred nature. It produces humility, sincerity, regard for human life and happiness, holiness of heart, reverence for God’s name, and that love which is “the bond of perfectness.”