main homiletics of verse17.
Soul-Preservation.
I. The main object of an upright man’s care—his soul.Every human creature is possessed of an instinct to preserve his bodily life and well-being. An upright man has also a spiritual instinct which leads him to guard carefully his spiritual life—his soul. He is desirous of keeping a conscience purged from dead works—free from bruise or moral taint. 1.He seeks to preserve his soul because of the value he places upon its powers.We are wont to value material things according to the power they possess to fulfil certain ends. A skilful workman values a piece of mechanism in proportion to the complicated and various movements which it can execute. And in proportion to the value set upon it will be the care taken to preserve it. Human life is valued according to its abilities to do things which cannot be done by many. The life of a great statesman, of a skilful physician, is of more value to the race than the lives of a hundred ordinary men, because their power to minister to the welfare and health of their fellow-creatures so far surpasses the power of ordinary men. And the upright man values his soul because of its mighty and almost infinite capabilities and powers. In its present undeveloped condition it can suffer much and can enjoy much, it can become a partaker of the “Divine nature” (2 Pet. i. 4), and he knows that its powers will be mightily increased and multiplied after the death of the body. 2.He seeks to preserve it because of the value God sets upon it.If we come into possession of a precious gem and desire to know its value, we take it toone who we are certain is qualified to judge in such matters, and our estimate of it is increased or lessened in proportion to his opinion. He who wants to know the value of his soul must go to the only Being in the universe who is certain not to err in the price he sets upon it. Jesus Christ Himself has given to men His estimate of the worth of the human soul, both in His word and in His deeds. He who is fully acquainted with all its powers and possibilities for good and evil—of suffering and of joy—has said,“What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”(Matt. xvi. 26). And He has gone beyond words. To save men’s souls He,“being in the form of God . . . took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”(Phil. ii. 6–8). The wise man values his soul according to the estimate of Gethsemane and Calvary, and therefore he counts it the chief business of his life to guard it.
II. There can be no preservation of the soul except by departure from evil.The human nature of even the best men in this world is duplex. The ruling power in a godly man is good, but there are also evil tendencies within him still. He subscribes to the apostolic confession, “Evil is present with me,” (Rom. viii. 21). But there must be a constant departure from evil by a constant effort to do good. The strengthening of holy affections will most effectually check the power of sinful desires. The dominion of sin will be weakened by the formation of holy habits. In other words, keeping the highway of the upright is in itself a departure from evil—“following after righteousness is fleeing from sin” (1 Tim. vi. 11).
outlines and suggestive comments.
“The highway,”a waycast up.Such ways were convenient in the East;—first, for being found; second, for being travelled.“Departing from evil”is a way that opens itself as we press on. One evil cured, like the big coal lump in the digging, clears the way to another. So much (1) for its being found; then (2) as to its being travelled. Conceive of how a man could get to heaven except on such a“highway.”We cannot move nearer except on some sort ofway.There is no sort of“way”except the discipline of wisdom. There is no discipline of wisdom except“the departing from evil.”The only thing a soul can do for itself under the grace of the Spirit is to exercise itself unto godliness (1 Tim. iv. 7). And therefore the last clause is important, which intimates the fact that we cannot“guard our souls”directly,—that wewatch our soulsbywatching our way—and that the plan to fit a lost spirit for Paradise is, under the grace of the Redeemer, to observe its steps—to see that one by one they are taken so as to depart from evil.—Miller.
The highway of the upright is to depart from evil.That is his road, his desire and endeavour, his general purpose, though sometimes (by mistake, or by the violence of temptation), he step out of the way, and turn aside to sin, yet there is no “way of wickedness in him” (Psa. cxxxix. 24).He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.As if a man be out of God’s precincts he is out of His protection. “He shall keep thee in all thy ways” (Psa. xci. 11), not in all thine outstrays. He that leaves the highway, and takes to byeways, travelling at unseasonable hours, etc., if he fall into foul hands, may go look his remedy, the law allows him none.—Trapp.
I should say that this last clause is a notable; and the lesson that I should read and give forth from it is:“the reflex influence of the outward walk upon the inner man.”—Chalmers.
Our English word “highway” doth well express the force of the original. And as we call it the highway, either because it is the king’s way, who is the highest, or else because it is made higher than the rest, for the more clearness of it,so the way of the upright is a highway,because it is the way of the King of Heaven; and because it is higher, and so cleaner from the dust of the world. . . . There is hardly any so perpetual follower of wickedness as that he doth not sometimesdepart from evil.And this it is which many other times doth embolden him in the embracing of it. For if a wicked man once do well he conceiveth it so great a matter as that he imagineth that God ought to pardon his doing ill many times for it. Butto depart from evil is the way ofthe upright. It is their common and ordinary course, wherein they go as frequently as passengers do go along the highway of the earth. All may see what they do, they care not who looks on, for their way being to depart from evil they walk in the highway, where everyone may view them. And there they walk the rather that others also may follow them, and departing from evil may be joined to them in the highway to heaven.—Jermin.
Every man has a highway of his own. It is formed, as our forefathers formed their roads, simply by walking often on it and without a pre-determined plan. Foresight and wisdom may improve the moral path, as much as they have in our day improved the material. The highway of the covetous is to depart from poverty and make for riches with all his might. In his eagerness to take the shortest cut he often falls over a precipice, or loses his way in a wood. The highway of the vain is to depart from seriousness, and follow mirth on the trail of fools. The highway of the ambitious is a toilsome scramble up a mountain’s side towards its summit, which seems in the distance to be a paradise basking in sunlight above the clouds; but when attained is found to be colder and barer than the plain below. The upright has a highway too, and it is to “depart from evil.” The upright is not an unfallen angel, but a restored man. He has been in the miry pit, and the marks of the fall are upon him still. . . . The power of evil within him is not entirely subdued, the stain of evil is not entirely wiped away. He hates sin now in his heart, but he feels the yoke of it in his flesh still. His back is turned to the bondage that he loathes, his face to the liberty which he loves. . . . The preserving of your soul depends upon the keeping of your way. . . . It is in theway,theconduct,thelife,that the breach occurs whereby a soul is lost that seemed to bid fair for a better land. It is probable that with nine people out of ten in this favoured land the enemy finds it easier to inject actual impurity into the life than speculative error into the creed. A shaken faith leads a life astray; but also a life going astray makes shipwreck of faith. I do not teach that any righteousness done by the fallen can either please God or justify a man; but I do teach on the authority of the Bible that a slipping from the way of righteousness and purity in actual life is the mainstay of Satan’s kingdom—the chief destroyer of souls. . . . The miners in the gold-fields of Australia, when they have gathered a large quantity of dust, make for the city with the treasure. The mine is far in the interior. The country is wild: the bush is infested with robbers. The miners keep the road and the daylight. They march in company, and close to the guard sent to protect them. They do not stray from the path among the woods, for they bear with them a treasure which they value, and they are determined to run no risks. Do likewise, brother, for your treasure is of greater value—your enemies of greater power. Keep the way, lest you lose your soul.—Arnot.
main homiletics of verses18, 19.
The End of Pride.
I. Pride has a present place and power in the world.All human history bears witness to the existence of pride in the human heart, and to the mighty influence it has always exerted upon the destinies of men. And it is in the full exercise of its power to-day; in various forms, and under various modifications, it still holds its place in the nation, in the social circle, and in the individual heart. Would that we could speak of it as an existence of the past, and had only to mourn over the mischief that it has wrought in bygone ages. But we cannot speak of it as a mighty tyrant who once held sway over men to their destruction, but whose dominion has long ceased to exist. To-day, as in the days of old, we must use the present tense and say, “Pride goeth.” Pride is not like some monster who lived in pre-historic times, of whose life and death we know nothing but what we can infer from the skeleton dug up by the geologist, and which we now gaze upon as a curiosity, but which is athingonly, and not a living power in the world. Pride is living and active. Like the mighty being to whom it owes its origin, it is ever “going to and fro in the world, and walking up and down in it.” Without doubt, while it rules some men, it only exists under protest in others, but the most godly man upon earth is not altogether free from its blighting influence. It lived in ages past in the souls of prophets and apostles, and to-day it has a place and power in the Church, as well as in the world.
II. Pride is always a forerunner of evil to its possessor.Wherever and whenever found, the mischief that it brings in its train is always proportionate to the rule which it has been allowed to exercise. It is like the officer who comes to the condemned criminal to announce the hour of execution—after him comes destruction; or like the advanced guard of a destroying army, the pledge and promise of the ruin that is on its way. When pride enters there destruction of some kind—humiliation and sorrow in some form or other—is sure to follow sooner or later. Pride was the forerunner of the deepest humiliation—of the most entire destruction—of Belshazzar when he drank wine out of the vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple at Jerusalem (Dan. v.), and a “haughty spirit” was the forerunner of a terrible fall to Peter when it led him to utter the boast “Though all shall be offended, yet will not I” (Mark xiv. 29). It therefore follows—
III. That fellowship with poverty and humility is better than fellowship with wealth and pride.1.When a man is in the society of the proud he is in danger of becoming proud himself.We are all moulded unconsciously by those by whom we are surrounded; our own moral health depends very much upon the moral atmosphere we breathe, and therefore fellowship with the proud is injurious to a man’s spiritual well-being. But fellowship with those who are “poor in spirit” (Matt v. 3) may make us like-minded. Intercourse with the lowly in heart is likely to have a blessed influence upon our own hearts, and to help us also not to estimate ourselves too highly. This holds good whether the proud man be rich or poor, and whether the lowly man be high or low in station, for pride and wealth have no necessary connection with each other any more than poverty and humility have. But when pride and riches are found united in one person, fellowship with them is more to be avoided, inasmuch as we may not only be influenced to become as proud as they are, but may be tempted to over-value their external possessions, and, perhaps, to envy the possessor. But in the society of the poor we are free from both dangers, and intercourse with those who are poor in the world’s goods as well as poor in spirit, will be a good lesson in the science of true happiness. 2.But such fellowship is not only betterfor a man’s spirit, it may also be better for his material warfare.Seeing that every proud man must experience the destruction of that upon which his pride has fed, and that every haughty spirit will have a fall, association with such may involve a participation in their misfortune. To divide spoil with the proud may make us partakers of the penalty which follows the proud. (See also on chap.xi. 2.)
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 18.Shame and contempt the end of pride.1. By natural tendency. 2. Because of God’s detestation and resolution to punish it.—Waterland.
The danger of pride is plain from every history of the great transactions that have come to pass in heaven and earth. The prophets describe the destructive consequences of this sin with all the strength of their Divine eloquence, and all the sublimity of the prophetic style (Isa. xiv.; Ezek. xxix. 31). The history of the evangelists shows us what amazing humiliation was necessary to expiate the guilt contracted by the pride of man. And the tendency of the preaching and writings of the apostles was to cast down every high imagination of men, that no flesh might glory but in the Lord (1 Cor. i. 29). Might not this loathsome disease become a cure for itself? Can anything afford us greater cause of humiliation, than to find ourselves guilty of a sin so exceedingly unreasonable and presumptuous as pride? Shall a worm swell itself into an equality with the huge leviathan? What is man that he should be great in his own eyes? or, what is the son of man, that he should magnify himself as if he were some being greater than an angel? Was the Son of God humbled for us that we might not perish for ever, and shall pride be suffered to reign in our souls?—Lawson.
Before,in the presence of, in a confronting local sense.“Before ruin is pride;”that is, when its terror-fit has come,“pride”is to appear as the wretched cause of it.—Miller.
“God resisteth the proud;” and good reason, for the proud resisteth God. Other sins divert a man from God, only pride brings him against God, and brings God against him. There is nothing in this world worth our pride, but that moss will grow to a stone.—T. Adams.
Thehaughty spiritcarries the head high. The man looks upward, instead of to his steps. What wonder, therefore, if, not seeing what is before him, he falls? He loves to climb. The enemy is always at hand to assist him (Matt. iv. 5, 6); and the greater the height, the more dreadful the fall.—Bridges.
It is the nature of pride that it seeketh to go before, and to take place, and so God hath placed it. He hath appointed it togo before,but it isbefore destruction,andbefore a fall.It is the quality of a haughty spirit to love to be waited on, and God hath appointed attendants for it, but they are the attendants of ruin and confusion. No doubt as the pride of a haughty spirit disdaineth them that follow him, so it disdaineth to hear of either falling or destruction, notwithstanding they shall pursue and overtake him also. He that sees pride go before may quickly tell what will follow after: he that heareth the major proposition of an angry spirit may easily infer the conclusion of a certain destruction. Indeed it is but one falling that goeth before another; and, as St. Augustine speaketh, the falling which is within, and whereby the heart falleth from Him than whom there is nothing higher, this hidden falling, whilst it is not thought to be a falling, goeth before the outward and manifest falling of destruction.—Jermin.
Verse 19. It is a pleasant thing to be enriched with other men’s goods; it isa gainful thing to have part of the prey; it is a glorious thing to divide the spoil. But what are all outward possessions to the inward virtues of the mind? What will goods ill-gotten profit the possessors thereof? Finally, what is the end of a proud person but to have a fall? Surely it is better to be injured than to do injury; it is better to be patient than to be insolent; it is better with the afflicted people of God to be bruised in heart and low of port than to enjoy the pleasures or treasures of sin or of this world for a season.—Muffet.
Such an one is happier in having the favour of God and man, immunity from perils, and tranquillity of conscience. Whereas the proud, who seek their own aggrandisement by oppressing their fellow-men, lose the favour of these as well as of God, are in danger of destruction at any moment, and have a guilty conscience whenever they dare to reflect.—Fausset.
Although pride were not followed by destruction, and humility were attended with the most afflicting circumstances, yet humility is to be infinitely preferred to pride. The word here renderedhumblemight, by inconsiderable variation, be renderedafflicted.Humility and affliction are often in Scripture expressed by the same word, and described as parts of the same character. Low and afflicted circumstances are often useful, by promoting humiliation of spirit. The reverse sometimes takes place, but it is an evidence of a very intractable spirit if we cry not when God bindeth us, and continue unhumbled under humbling providences. The cottager that has his little Babylon of straw is less excusable than the mighty Nebuchadnezzar walking in his pride through the splendid chambers of his stupendous palace.—Lawson.
There are main gates to the city of peace; there is a little postern besides, that is, humility: for of all vices, pride is a stranger to peace. The proud man is too guilty to come in by innocence, too surly to come in by patience; he hath no mind to come in by benefaction, and he scorns to come in by satisfaction. All these portcullises be shut against him; there is no way left but the postern for him; he must stoop or never be admitted to peace. Heaven is a high city, yet hath but a low gate. . . . Men may behold glory in humility, they never shall find peace in ambition. The safest way to keep fire is to rake it up in embers; the best means to preserve peace is in humbleness. The tall cedars feel the fury of tempests which blow over the humble shrubs in the low valleys.—T. Adams.
Better is it to be conquered by God than to be conqueror of the whole world. For if God conquer thee, the devil is conquered by thee; if pride be driven from thee, meekness is triumphant in thee, and where thou art so spoiled thou hast gotten the spoil of thy spiritual enemies, the love of God, the comfort of His Spirit, the expectation of glory which they hadst gotten from thee, and which the earth cannot value, much less be an equal value unto them. But then thou must be not only of a humble look, or of a humble speech, but of a humblespirit.—Jermin.
I. The one is rich in his soul by the endowments and force of the spirit, and the other hath a beggarly mind and impotent heart. II. The one is acceptable to God and amiable to good men, whereas the Lord doth abhor the other, and good men shun his society. III. The one is rising and growing to a better state, and the other is coming down and falling into misery.—Dod.
main homiletics of verses20and21.
The Fruits of Trust in the Lord.
I. There can be no real blessedness in life unless there is trust in the Lord.Men are so constituted that, if they are to have soul-rest, they must confide inthe power and wisdom and love of a Being who is stronger and wiser and better than they are. Let a man be ever so great intellectually or morally, there will be times in his life when he will feel the absolute need he has of the guidance of One who is far wiser than he is, of the help of One who far exceeds him in ability and in goodness. If he has not such a helper and guide to whom he can turn, he will be a stranger to that calmness of soul which alone makes a man truly blessed. 1.A trust of this kind must rest upon a knowledge of the Divine character.If a man is following a guide in some difficult and dangerous path, it is necessary to his peace of mind that he should know enough about his guide to be assured that he will lead him aright. If he does not know enough about him to know this, he may be haunted by underlying doubts and fears which will banish all comfort from his mind. When a ship’s crew have so little knowledge of their captain’s character and ability as to be uncertain whether he is able or whether he intends to bring the ship safely to her destined port, they will be possessed by a spirit of uneasiness. But if they know that all his powers will be directed to that end, and that his ability is equal to the task, they will sail through the deep in comparative rest and peace. So no human soul can possess a confidence in God which will keep it calm and restful amid the waves of life’s sea, unless he has made himself acquainted with the character of God—unless he knows so much about Him as to feel assured that His ways and works are perfectly wise and good. 2.God has given men means of acquiring this knowledge.He has no motive for holding back from His creatures a knowledge of what He is and what His purposes are concerning them. Those who endeavour to conceal what they are and what their intentions are in relation to their fellow-men, do so from a consciousness that if they revealed them they would not be trusted. But God has no such motive for concealing His character and intentions, and He has therefore revealed to men what He is and what He desires to do for them as fully as they are able to receive it, and with clearness and certainty enough to be the basis of an unwavering trust. This is indeed the end of all revelation of Himself—to lead men to“know the only true God and Jesus Christ”(John xvii. 2), so that they may have faith in both the Divine Father and Divine Son,—that a trust may be begotten of the knowledge that will make them truly blessed.
II. An intelligent trust in the Lord is true wisdom.Wisdom has been often defined as the application of knowledge to practice, and a man whose knowledge of God has begotten within him a trust in the Lord, is the only man who is capable of “handling wisely” either matters connected with his own life or with the lives of others. When Adam lost his trust in God he gave evidence of his folly—when his confidence in the Divine character became unsettled, he lost his ability to do the best with his own existence as a whole, or with any particular matter connected with it. It is a mark of the truest wisdom to handle all matters whether they are more immediately connected with our spiritual or material welfare, in a spirit of trust in the perfect wisdom and love of God, and it is a mark of the highest folly to endeavour to do it without dependence upon Him. He who, in all his ways, rests upon a Divine guide, is the only man who deserves the name of a “prudent” man (ver. 21). If a child comes into possession of vast estates—of large revenues—he is quite unable by reason of his undeveloped capacities and his limited experience to use what he possesses to the best advantage. Unless his inheritance is to suffer from misuse, there must be the help of a higher intelligence and a more extended experience than he possesses: and many men possess a great inheritance of intellectual endowments, or of wealth and position, but because they fail to apply to the Highest Wisdom for help to use it rightly, they are neither blessed themselves in the possession, nor do they bless others by the possession.
III. Such a wise and prudent man finds good and does good.1.He willget good to himself.He will get a godly character, for trust in the Lord is not only the foundation of all true soul-rest, but of godliness of heart and life.“He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit”(Jer. xvii. 8). Here the prophet teaches that he who possesses within him a constant well of spiritual happiness from confidence in God will manifest it in godly deeds, and thus will become the possessor of the greatest good in God’s universe—a holy character. 2.He will do good to others by his wise and holy conversation.“The sweetness of the lips increaseth learning,” and the speech of a man who trusts in the Lord will be so attractive and winning a nature as to lead others to know God and to trust in Him.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 20. Combined view of the two chief requisites to a really devout life; (1) Obedience to the Word of God. (2) Inspiring confidence in God.—Lange’s Commentary.
In doubtful cases to hold fast to God’s Word, and believingly hope in His help, ensures always a good issue.—Geier.
Wise about a word.(SeeCritical Notes.) By usage,“wise about a thing,”hence,“shrewd, though it be but in one transaction.”How often in London might mansions be pointed out of men opulent at a stroke! Such a stroke is faith! See the same marvel in chap. xviii. 21. What a wonder is it that a man can win palaces of light by“one act”of casting himself upon the sacrifice.“Act,”literally,word.But men acted so by thewordin that country, that it grew to meanaffair(Gen. xx. 8). The very name of Christ (John i. 1) seems to be coloured by this Eastern usage. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Psalm xxxiii. 6). “Blessed” in every sense whatever. What other “affair” ever produced as much as theaffairof faith? (Mark ix. 23).—Miller.
The obvious sense is that thorough understanding of business and prudent management of ittendto insure a prosperous issue. And if the business is another’s, the intelligent, cautious, successful conducting of it, will procure benefit by the favour it conciliates, and the character it establishes. One business well conducted brings a man another. This is the way to get forward in the world. And in proportion as the entrusted transaction is difficult and delicate, will the “handling of it wisely” prove advantageous. Still there is no amount of human understanding and discretion that can render success in any transactioncertain.The result rests with God. Hence a very natural connection of the latter clause of the verse with the former. Here is the true secret of happiness—the union in all things of prudence and diligence, with trust in God.. . . Let it be further observed that “handling a matter wisely” does not mean handling itcunninglywith artifice and what the apostle calls “fleshly wisdom”—the policy of this world; but with a wisdom and prudence in harmony with the most rigid and straightforward integrity. Double dealing may be misnamed wisdom, the arts of a tortuous cunning may be dignified with the designation of prudence; but whensuchwisdom,suchprudence has been employed, even the greatest amount of success can impart little that deserves the name of happiness. And no man who is using the arts of a crooked policy can exercisetrust in God.The two things are incompatible. Who can unite obedience and confidence? How could David trust in God for the success of his plan against Uriah the Hittite? There was art in it, but there was not wisdom.—Wardlaw.
This is in all cases true wisdom—to make man the excitement to diligence, God the object of trust. . . . “I have had many things,” said Luther, “in my hands, and have lost them all. But whatever I have been able to trust in God’s I still possess.”. . . “I will therefore,” says Bishop Hall, “trust Him on His bare word, with hope, beside hope, above hope, against hope, for small matters of this life. For how shall I hope to trust Him in impossibilities if I may not in likelihoods.” This simple habit of faith enables us fearlessly to look an extremity in the face. Thus holding on, it is His honour to put His own seal to His Word. (Psalm ii. 12; Jer. xvii. 7, 8).—Bridges.
Many meddle with more matters than they do well quit themselves of; and many a time a good matter is made ill by the illhandlingof it. And he that handleth a matter wisely shall find good, although the matter be ill; and well doth he acquit himself, although the matter may not succeed well. . . . To put our trust in God, and not to use a wise care, is to deceive ourselves; to use a wise care, and not to trust in God, is to dishonour God.—Jermin.
Verse 21. Piety is sure to be discovered; but many a pious man has less influence for want of courtesy. Thesuavitermay be really stronger than thefortiter.The last word is literallya taking,from the verb totake.This noun is oftenlearning.Atakingmay very legitimately be“a lesson.”The idea is, that sweet lipsincrease the taking, i.e.,make more wisdom to be taken by the men around. The duty, therefore, is evolved, of being kind in speech that our good may not be evil spoken of (Rom. xiv. 16).—Miller.
If the “wise in heart” be understood of the truly, spiritually, divinely wise, then the phrase “shall be calledprudent” must be interpreted, according to a common Hebrew idiom, as meaning “isprudent”—deservesto be so called. The sentiment will thus be the oft-repeated one, thattrue religion is the only genuine prudence.And is it not so? we ask anew. Take as a standard the ordinary maxims of prudence among men. Is it the part of prudence to be considerate? to look forward? to anticipate, as far as possible, the contingencies of the future? to provide against evil? to make sure of lasting good? This is true religion the very perfection of prudence.—Wardlaw.
That our wisdom may be useful, we should endeavour to produce it to advantage by a graceful and engaging manner of expression. It is not uncommon with bad men to set off their corrupt sentiments by dressing them in all the beauties of language, and by this means multitudes are seduced into error and folly. Is not wisdom far better entitled to this recommendation than folly?—Lawson.
There is no sweetness that entereth into the lips to be compared to the sweetness that cometh from the lips. The fig-tree must leave her sweetness, and tall the trees of delight their pleasantness, when the fruit of the lips is mentioned among them. And most fitly is eloquence styled the sweetness of the lips. How daintily doth it sweeten all matters of knowledge! What a delicate relish doth it give unto them! With what pleasure doth it make them to slip into the ears of men! How doth it mollify the hardness and sharpness of reproof! How doth it qualify the bitterness of sorrows! How doth it warm the dull coldness of apprehension and attention! And therefore, though wisdom in the heart is of the chiefest worth, yet eloquence of the lips is an addition to it. St. Augustine, speaking of himself, saith, that when he heard St. Ambrose preaching, “I stood by as one careless of the matter he spake, and a contemner of it, and I was delighted with the sweetness of his words; but together with the words which I respected, the matter came into my heart which I neglected, and while I opened my heart to receive howeloquentlyhe spake, it entered also into my heart howtrulyhe spake.”—Jermin.
main homiletics of verses22–24.
An Unfailing Spring.
I. Moral intelligence is its own reward.A healthy state of body is its own reward. It is a well-spring whence men may draw much bodily comfort—it adds much to the joy of existence. Moral intelligence—a good understanding—is a condition of moral health, it is a state of soul in which the moral capabilities of a man are well-developed, and it is a constant source of satisfaction to the possessor.“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing up into everlasting life”(John iv. 14).
II. It is also a means of giving spiritual life and comfort to others.A well is a place where weary men find refreshment and consolation. And no morally wise man lives for himself alone; his “heart maketh his mouth wise,” and his “pleasant words” strengthen and comfort weary wayfarers on the journey of life. No man who is himself acquainted with God can fail to speak words which will help and comfort others. He who drinks of the water which Christ gives will be a fountain-head whence“shall flow rivers of living water”(John vii. 38).
III. A moral fool may be in the seat of instruction.“The correction,” rather ”the instructionof fools is folly” (ver. 22). A man is not necessarily a wise man, either intellectually or morally, because he assumes the position which ought only to be held by a wise man. Many fools are found sitting as instructors of others. The Scribes and Pharisees in the days of our Lord were destitute of moral wisdom, and yet they were found“in Moses’ seat”(Matt. xxii. 2). And in all ages of the Church men have been found speaking in the name of God who have been entirely ignorant of Divine truth—“watchmen”who have been“blind,” . . . “shepherds that could not understand”(Isa. lvi. 10, 11). Men of such a character are like wells of poisoned water, their teachings are not simply unsatisfying and powerless to bless, but they are positively injurious to those who imbibe their doctrines. All who come under their influence will by their own lack of moral strength show that “the instruction of fools is folly.”
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 22. This spiritual understanding is not a work on the surface; not a mere forced impulse; not the summer stream, but a deep-flowing fountain. If it be not always bubbling, there is always a supply at the bottom-spring.—Bridges.
Two things are necessary to the opening and flow of well-springs—deep rendings beneath the earth’s surface, and lofty risings above it. There must be deep veins and high mountains. The mountains draw the drops from heaven; the rents receive, retain, and give forth the supply. There must be corresponding heights and depths in the life of a man ere he be charged as a well-spring of life from above. Upward to God and downward into himself the exercises of his soul must alternately penetrate. You must lift up yourself in the prayer of faith, and rend your heart in the work of repentance; you must ascend into heaven to bring the blessing down, and descend into the depths to draw it up. Extremes meet in a lively Christian. He is at once very high and very lowly. God puts all His treasures in the power of a soul that rises to reach the upper springs, as the Andes intercept water from the sky sufficient to fertilise a continent. And when the Spirit has so descended like floods of water, the secret places of a broken heart afford room for his indwelling, so thatthe grace which came at first from God rises within the man like a springing well, satisfying himself and refreshing his neighbours.—Arnot.
Verse 23. 1. That which a wise man utters isin itselfgood—instructive, edifying, “profitable to direct.” The streams bear analogy to the fountain. 2. The wise man uses the understanding imparted to him for the benefit of others. The wisdom that is in his heart passes to his lips. 3. His self-knowledge, his experience of his own heart, his incessant self-inspection, . . . his knowledge both of the “old man” and of the “new man” in their respective principles and influences as they exist and contend within himself, all qualify him for wisely and judiciously counselling others, according to their characters and situations. 4. The truly wise man will, in his wisdom, accommodate themannerof his instructions and counsels to the varying characters and tempers of his fellow-men. A vast deal depends on this. The end is often lost, not for want of wisdom in the lesson itself, but for lack of discretion in themodeof imparting it. A thorough knowledge of anatomy is necessary to a judicious and successful practice in the operations of surgery. Ere he venture to make his incision, the surgeon ought to understand all about the region where it is to be made—what arteries, veins, glands, nerves, lie in the way of his instrument; and should be fully aware of the peculiarities of the case under his treatment. In like manner an intimate acquaintance with theanatomy of the heartis necessary to discriminative and successful dealing withmoral cases—to the suitable communication of instruction and advice. Without the surgical knowledge mentioned, a practitioner may inflict a worse evil than the one he means to cure. And so, through the ignorance ofmoralanatomy, may the injudicious adviser, who treats all cases alike, and makes no account of the peculiarities of character and situation with which he has to do.—Wardlaw.
Who does not know the difference between one who speaks of what he has read or heard, and one who speaks of what he has felt and tasted? The one has the knowledge of the Gospel—dry and spiritless. The other has thesavourof this knowledge (2 Cor. ii. 14)—fragrant and invigorating. The theorist may exceed in the quantum (for Satan—as an angel of light—is a fearful proof how much knowledge may be consistent with ungodliness); but the real difference applies, not to the extent, but to the character of knowledge; not to the matter known, but to the mode of knowing it. . . . It is not, therefore, the intellectual knowledge of Divine truth that makes the divine. The only true divine is he who knows holy things in a holy manner; because he only is gifted with a spiritual taste and relish for them. . . . And this experimental knowledge gives a rich unction to his communications. Divinity is not said by rote.The heart teacheth the mouth.—Bridges.
Every wise man is both a master and scholar, and that unto himself; as a master he sitteth in the chair of his heart, and giveth thence lessons to his several scholars, that are within the school of his own person, of his own life. His hands he teacheth what to do, and how to work; his feet he teacheth whither to go, and how to walk; his ears what to hear, and how to listen; his eyes what to see, and how to look; his mouth what to say, and how to speak. And that being an unruly scholar, and like a wild youth, much care he hath, and much pains he taketh to instruct it well and to keep it in good order.—Jermin.
Verse 24. The words express the twofold idea ofpleasantnessand ofbenefit.Many things have the one quality which have not the other. Many a poison is like honey, sweet to the taste; but instead of beinghealthto the bones, it is laden withdeath.So it may be in regard to their present effect, and their ultimate influence withwords.Harshness and severity neverafford pleasure, and seldom yield profit. If they were, in any case, requisite to the latter, we should be under the necessity of giving it the preference, for profit must ever take precedence of mere pleasure. But it will be usually found thatbothare united.Pleasantwords, however, must be distinguished fromflatteringwords. The latter may be at times palatable, but they can never be otherwise than injurious; for they are not words oftruth.—Wardlaw.
Verse 25 is a repetition of chap.xiv. 12, for which see Homiletics.
outlines and suggestive comments.
These words concern not so much the course of the open sinner as of the mistaken and self-deceived man. . . . The practice of sin seems expedient, seems pleasant, seems unavoidable, but it does not seemright.Those who live in the open practice of it are in the ways of death, and they know it. They are blinded, infatuated, intoxicated, if you will, but they are notmistaken.There is, however, a very different class of persons, to whom the text directly applies, and to whom the warning is very solemn; persons whose course lies just short of that degree of divergence from right where the conscience begins to protest, and yet is sure, as every divergence must if followed, to lead very far from it at last. . . . It is this sort of travellers wherewith, in our day, the downward road is lavishly crowded; men who walk not with the sinful multitude, but on convenient embankments so contrived as to make the great broad road appear immensely distant and precipitous beneath, and the narrow path comfortably near and accessible above. . . . It does not say of these apparently right ways that theyarethemselves ways of death, but that theyendin ways of death. And this is important; for nothing is so common as for the man, when warned, to vindicate himself by endeavouring to show, and often by successfully showing, that there is nothing destructive in his present course. . . . The ways are mainly of two kinds—errors in practice and errors in doctrine. . . . There is (1)A life not led under the influence of practical religion.. . . Improbable as it may seem that this correct man, this blameless and upright liver, should perish at last, it is but a necessary consequence from his having rejected the only remedy which God has provided for the universal taint of our nature. (2)Those believing from the heart yet notoriously and confessedly wanting in some of the main elements of the Gospel.Or, (3)Those who, while professing zeal for religion in general, nourish some one known sin or prohibited indulgence.. . . And regarding errors of doctrine, there is nothing in life for which we are so deeply and solemnly accountable as the formation of our belief. It is the compass which guides our way, which, if it vary ever so little from the truth, is sure to cause a fatal divergence in the end.—Alford.
main homiletics of verse26.
The Mainspring of Human Industry.
I. God intends every man to be a labourer.Adam in Paradise was required to dress and keep the Garden of Eden, so that the labourer’s patent of nobility dates from before the fall. The Son of God, in human flesh, laboured with His own hands for the supply of His daily wants, and thus for ever sanctified the ordinary toil of life. (On the profitableness of labour, see on chap.xiv. 23.)
II. God has taken means to ensure the continuance of labour.He has socreated man that if the majority do not labour neither can they eat, nor can those eat who do not labour. There must be always a large proportion of workers in the great hive of human creatures, or both they and the drones would starve. It is hunger that keeps the world in motion, and it is the craving of man’s mouth that builds our cities and our ships, that stimulates invention, and sends men abroad in quest of fresh fields of industry. It is this necessity to eat that keeps all the members of the human family in a state of ceaseless activity, and prevents them from sinking into a state of mental stagnation and bodily disease. It is a noteworthy fact that those nations who have to work hard to supply their physical wants are more intellectually and spiritually healthy than those who live in lands where the needs of life are satisfied with little labour. God has promised that “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest shall not cease” (Gen. viii. 22); but He has also, by the constitution of man, ordained that he must be unceasingly active upon the face of the earth; and He has so ordained because of the many blessings which flow from this necessity.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Since that which causes us to labour and trouble becomes a means of our subsistence, it in turn helps us to overcome labour and trouble, for this very thing, by virtue of God’s wise regulating providence, becomes for us a spur to industry.—Von. Gerlach.
A man’s industry in his calling is no sure sign of virtue, for although it is a duty commanded by God, and necessary to be practised, yet profit and necessity may constrain a man to labour, who has no regard either to God or man. But this proves that idleness is a most inexcusable sin. It is not only condemned in the Scripture, but it is a sign that a man wants common reason as well as piety, when he can neither be drawn by interest, nor driven by necessity, to work. Self-love is a damning sin where it reigns as the chief principle of action; but the want of self-love where it is required is no less criminal.—Lawson.
To labour is man’s punishment, and that man laboureth for himself is God’s mercy. For as it is painful to labour, so it is made more painful when another reapeth the fruit thereof; but when ourselves are comforted with the fruit thereof, the labour is much eased in the gathering of it. God himself does not look for any benefit from our labour, it is all for ourselves, whatever we do. And therefore as God doth command labour, so the mouth of our benefit doth call for it.—Jermin.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses27–30.
Different Species of the Same Genus.
I. Human depravity manifests itself in a variety for forms.—There may be many lawless children in a family, but they may not all sin against the same law—they may all rebel against what is true and good, but some may be pre-eminent transgressors in one way and some in another. One son may be a notorious liar and another may be a slave to ungovernable passion, while a third may be addicted to another and different vice. It is so in the great human family—all unregenerate men are transgressors against God’s good and righteous law, but their transgressions may take different forms.
II. But all ungodliness is subversive of human happiness.—If a man sets at nought the law of God, he will be a curse to those around him. There are many such men who seem to delight in increasing the misery of mankind, theymake it their business to “dig up evil,” they work diligently to bring to light that which it is most desirable should be hidden and forgotten, and so they are like a scorching, consuming fire to the peace of many of their fellow creatures. And if they are not so openly and manifestly bad, if they are untruthful men, they must sow around them seeds of suspicion and discord which hinder men from being bound together in bonds of friendship or break such bonds when they have been formed.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 27.“A worthless man.”This is the farthest an impenitent moralist will go in condemning himself. He may be a worthless man (a man of Belial,i.e.,of no profit), but he is not a harmful man. . . . Solomon calls this mild gracelessness a digging up of evil. Recurring to the potency of the tongue, he says, “Thelipsof such men, sweet as they may seem, fairly scorch and burn.”—Miller.
In the expression “diggeth up evil” two ideas may be included:—1.Taking pains to devise it.We dig or search for treasure in a mine, or where we fancy it lies concealed: thus the wicked man does in regard to evil. It is his treasure—that on which he sets his heart; and for it, as for treasure, he “digs” and “searches”—ay, often deep and long. His very happiness seems to depend on his reaching and finding it. He is specially laborious and persevering when anyone chances to have become the object of his pique or malice. Marvellous is the assiduity with which he then strains every nerve to produce mischief,—plodding and plotting for it,—mining and undermining,—exploring in every direction, often where no one could think of but himself,—and with savage delight exulting in the discovery of aught that can be made available for his diabolic purpose. 2.Taking pains to revive it after it has been buried and forgotten.He goes down into the very graves of old quarrels; brings them up afresh; puts new life into them; wakes up grudges that had long slept; and sets people by the ears again who had abandoned their enmities, and had been for years in reconciliation and peace. As to “evil,” whether old and new, “the son of Belial” is like one in quest of some mine of coal, or of precious metal. He examines his ground, and wherever he discovers any hopeful symptoms on the surface he proceeds to drill, and bore, and excavate. The slightest probability of success will be enough for his encouragement to toil and harass himself night and day until he can make something of it. The persevering pains of such men would be incredible were they not sadly attested byfacts—“They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep”(Psalm lxiv. 6).—Wardlaw.
Whisperers are like the wind that creeps in by the chinks and crevices of a wall, or the cracks in a window, that commonly proves more dangerous than a storm that meets a man in the face upon the plain.—Trapp.
Verse 28. The idea is, sin cannot keep silence. In its quiet hour it speaks,rolling out(literally) articulate influences. The very idea is terrible. Itseparates friends.That is, the world being knit together by the law of love, the impenitent separate it asunder. They separate man from his race, and destroy that highest friendship that he might have with the Almighty.—Miller.
Verse 29. Yet though a wicked man be never so violent, he cannot compel thee to his ways, he can butenticethee, he can butleadthee; it is still in thine own power whether thou wilt follow him or no. Wherefore though it agree to his violence to lead, let it be thy care to keep back from his ways.—Jermin.
Unbelief can hardly be libelled, and Solomon’s very thought is to show howviolentit is! It is the match even of hell, for it derides it! It is the robber even of God, for it thieves from Him. It takes life without paying for it. It assaults the Maker upon His throne. It stares broadly at the truth each Sunday when it listens, and flouts it as though never heard. Unbelief is“violence;”and yet, as though it were the most seductive charm it “seduces”(entices)one’s neighbour.—Miller.
These sons of Belial are alsotempters of others.A fearful employment—a fearful delight! Yet the employment would not be followed were there not pleasure in it. The pleasure is fiendish—laying plans and putting every vile art into practice, to seduce the virtuous and unsuspecting youth from the way of rectitude! . . . As there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, so there is a maliciousjoy in hellwhen such tempters succeed in turning any from the right to the wrong, from the narrow to the broad way. This is the joy of fiends, the other of angels.—Wardlaw.
Verse 30. Wicked men are great students; they beat their brains and close their eyes that they may revolve and excogitate mischief with more freedom of mind. They search the devil’s skull for new devices, and are very intentive to invent that which may do hurt; their wits will better serve them to find out a hundred shifts or carnal arguments, than to yield to one saving truth.—Trapp.
main homiletics of verse31.
A Crown of Glory.
I. Hoary heads may be found which are not in the way of righteousness.A hoary head in the way of ungodliness is one of the saddest sights that a thoughtful mind can look upon. 1.Because in such a man the tendency towards evil has been strengthened by the habits of a long life.In childhood there is a condition of comparative innocency to start with, and there is hope that this freedom from actual transgression may develop into a tried virtue in the passage from youth to old age. But when childhood has passed away, the condition of comparative innocence has passed away too, and if the evil tendencies of human nature are not resisted they grow stronger as the man grows in years, and old age finds him more under the dominion of sinful habit than any former period of his life. An ungodly man is more ungodly when he is old than he has ever been before, and is therefore a sadder object of contemplation then than he was in his youth or in his prime. Such a hoary-headed sinner often wishes that it was now as easy to do right as it was in his youth, but he finds that it is not so. “To will” may be “present” with him (Rom. vii. 18), but he finds that by reason of his long indulgence in sinful habits it is less easy now to perform that which he will than it was when his locks were black and his form unbent. The man whose limbs are palsied by age finds that they do not move in obedience to his will so readily as they did in the days of his health, and the aged man finds also that his moral actions are not so easily controlled as they were when he was young—the vessel does not answer to her helm so quickly as it did then. It is always sad to look upon a slave, even upon one who is only a slave in body. But it is far sadder to see a man who is in spiritual bondage—one who is “taken captive by the devil at his will” (2 Tim. ii. 26), and we look upon such an one whenever we look upon a hoary head in the way of ungodliness. 2.Because such a man is growing old in soul as well as in body.When he was a child the seeds of perpetual youth were implanted within him; if he had then given himself up to holy influencesold age would have found him as young in heart as when he was a boy, because although the outer man of all men perishes daily, the inner man of the godly is renewed day by day (2 Cor. iv. 16). But ungodliness deprives a man of the blessedness of being for ever young—of retaining to the latest hour of life the freshness of feeling which characterises the young, and of leaving the world with a certainty that all his mental and spiritual powers will be renewed throughout eternity. His soul sympathises with his body, and the weakness and decay of the shell is a symbol of what is going on within. 3.Because he is nearing the mysterious exodus from this world which must be accomplished by all without being prepared for it.All men are near to death—men of all ages are uncertain whether they will be here on the morrow, but the old man knows certainly that his race is almost run—that he must shortly put off this tabernacle. And there is nothing more depressing to a man than to feel that he is utterly unprepared to meet the demands of a great crisis in his life which is near—that he has soon to meet a person who holds his destines in his hand and that he has nothing to hope, but everything to fear from him—that he has to embark on a voyage to a distant land without any knowledge of what shall befall him when he arrives there. And if a long course of ungodliness has blunted his capability of seeing his own true position, it is clear to thoughtful onlookers, and the sight fills them with sadness.
II. But a hoary head in the way of righteousness is a kingly head.There is nothing kingly in old age considered in itself. An old man’s body is not such a kingly object to look upon as a young man’s—it does not give us the idea of so much power and capability. And an ungodly old man—as we have seen—is not a king but a slave—a slave to sinful habits, to the infirmities of age, and to the fear of death. But the hoary head of a righteous man—1.Tells a tale of conquest.It speaks of many temptations met, and wrestled with, and overcome. His passions are not his masters, but his servants—he has learned to bring into subjection even his thoughts; he reigns as king over himself, and so his hoary hairs are a symbol of his kingship. 2.It is a sign of spiritual maturity.In all the works of God we expect the best and the most perfect results at the last. There is a glory and a beauty in the field covered with the green blades of early spring, but the period of its perfection is not in the spring, but in the autumn, when the full corn in the ear stands ready for the sickle. The mind of the youthful philosopher may be mighty in its power, but its capabilities are greater when he has spent a long life in developing them. It is in harmony with all the methods of God’s working that all that is of real worth in a man should be nearer perfection the longer he lives, and it is so with all those who are willing to bring their lives into harmony with the Divine Will. If an old man is a godly man, he is more like God in his character and disposition in his old age than he ever was before, and this spiritual maturity invests him with a kingly dignity. 3.It is an earnest of a brighter crown which is awaiting him.To him death is not an welcome visitor, and God is a Being in whose presence he expects to realise “fulness of joy” (Psa. xvi. 11), and the country beyond the grave a place to which he often longs to depart. All such hoary-headed servants of God can adopt the language of the aged Paul, and say,“I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day”(2 Tim. iv. 7, 8). To all such it is especially fit that kingly honours should be paid.“Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man”(Lev. xix. 32).
outlines and suggestive comments.
We honour them whose heads have been encircled with crowns by the hands of men, and will we refuse honour to those whom God himself hath crowned with silver hairs?—Lawson.
The wordifis a supplement. The verse may be read, “The hoary head is a crown of glory:it shall befound in the way of righteousness.” Two things are implied:—The conduciveness of righteousness tothe attainment of old age,and its conduciveness to therespectability and honour of old age.—Wardlaw.
The hoary head is the old man’s glory and claim for reverence. God solemnly links the honour of it with His own fear (Lev. xix. 32). “The ancient” are numbered with “the honourable” (Isa. ix. 15). The sin of despising them is marked (Isa. iii. 5), and, when shown towards His own prophet, was awfully punished (2 Kings ii. 23, 24). Wisdom and experience may be supposed to belong to them (Job xii. 12), and the contempt of this wisdom was the destruction of a kingdom (1 Kings xii. 13–20). But the diamond in thecrownis, when it is found in the way of righteousness. Even a heathen monarch did homage to it (Gen. xlvii. 7–10); an ungodly nation and king paid to it the deepest respect (1 Sam. xxv. 1; 2 Kings xiii. 14). The fathers of the Old and New Testament reflectedits glory.The one died in faith, waiting the Lord’s salvation; the other was ready to “depart in peace” at the joyous sight of it (Luke ii. 28, 29). Zacharias and Elizabeth walked in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless; Anna “a widow indeed,” in the faith and hope of the Gospel; Polycarp, with his fourscore and six years, in his Master’s service. Crowns of glory were their hoary heads, shining with all the splendour of royalty. Earnestly does the holy Psalmistpleadthiscrownfor usefulness to the Church (Psa. lxxi. 18); the Apostle, for the cause of his converted slave (Philemon 9).—Bridges.
The old age is to be reverenced most which is white, not with gray hairs only, but with heavenly grace. Commendable old age leaneth upon two staves—the one a remembrance of a life well led, the other a hope of eternal life. Take away these two staves, and old age cannot stand with comfort; pluck out the gray hairs of virtues, and the gray head cannot shine with any bright glory. . . . The gray head is a glorious ornament, for, first hoary hairs do wonderfully become the ancient person, whom they make to look the more grave, and to carry the greater authority in his countenance; secondly, they are a garland or diadem, which not the art of men, but the finger of God, hath fashioned and set on the head.—Muffet.
Hoariness is only honourable when found in a way of righteousness. A white head, accompanied with a holy heart, makes a man truly honourable. There are two glorious sights in the world: the one is a young man walking in his uprightness, and the other is an old man walking in the ways of righteousness. It was Abraham’s honour that he went to his grave in a good old age, or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, with a good grey head (Gen. xxv. 8). Many there be that go to their graves with a grey head, but this was Abraham’s crown, that he went to his grave with a good grey head. Had Abraham’s head been never so grey, if it had not been good it would have been no honour to him. . . . When the head is as white as snow, and the soul is a black as hell, God usually gives up such to scorn and contempt. . . . But God usually reveals Himself most to old disciples, to old saints: “With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding” (Job xii. 12). God usually manifests most of Himself to aged saints. They usually pray most and pay most, they labour most and long most after the choicest manifestations of Himself and of His grace, and therefore He opens His bosom most to them, and makes them of His cabinet council. “And the Lord said,shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do,” etc. (Gen. xviii. 17–19). Abraham was an old friend, and therefore God makes him both of His court and council. We usually open our hearts most freely, fully, and familiarly, to old friends. So doth God to His ancient friends.—Brooks.
Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling of the fresh life within that withers and bursts the husk.—George Macdonald.
Aged piety is peculiarly honourable. 1. It hath long continued. When it is said “If it befound,” etc., intimates that such a one has been long walking in that way. 2. It is founded on knowledge and experience. They are well acquainted with the suitableness and sufficiency of the Redeemer. They have made many useful observations on the methods of providence towards themselves, their families, and the Church of God. They know much of the evil of sin, of the nature of temptations, and of the many devices of Satan. 3. It is proved and steadfast. The aged Christian is “rooted in the faith,” grounded and settled, his habits of piety are become quite natural. 4. It is attended with much usefulness. The piety of an aged Christian is much to the glory of God, as it shows especially the Gospel’s power to bear the Christian on through difficulties and temptations. And aged saints are veryuseful to mankind.Their steadfast piety puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men who complain of the restraints of religion as unreasonable and intolerable, and of the Redeemer’s laws as impracticable. They are living witnesses to mankind to the kindness of God’s providence and the riches of His grace.—Job Orton.
main homiletics of verse32.
Taking a City and Ruling the Spirit.
I. A man who takes a city may do a good work.When Solomon says that the man who rules his spirit does a better work than he who takes a city, he by no means implies that the taking of a city is a wrong action. In the records of God’s dealings with the nations of old, we find that He sometimes laid it as a duty upon His chosen servants to take a city. The overthrow of a city is sometimes necessary for the preservation of the morality of the human race, and it is as indispensable for its well-being as the amputation of a diseased limb is for the health of the individual man. Large cities are favourable to the development and increase of crime, and sometimes become such moral pest-houses that God, out of regard for His human family, causes them to be wiped from off the earth, and sometimes uses His own servants to do the work. It was He who commanded Joshua to take the city of Jericho and the other cities of Canaan, and they were destroyed because of the sin of those who dwelt in them. Or the overthrow of a city may be the downfall of a tyrant, and the deliverance of the oppressed, and then we also know that it is well-pleasing to God. The Bible has it in many songs of praise to God for His overthrow of those who held their fellow-men in bondage—songs which were not only acceptable to Him, but which were the fruit of the inspiration of His Spirit, and therefore we know that the taking of a city which was followed by such a result might in itself be a righteous and praiseworthy act.
II. A man may do a good work in taking a city, and yet be under the dominion of sinful habits.Many a man has acquired vast power over others without ever learning how to master his own evil passions—many a city has been taken by him, and good may have been the outcome of some of his conquests, and yet he has been ever an abject bondslave to his own evil impulses. Many a conqueror of cities has been himself brought more and more intocaptivity to the vices of the mind as his conquests advanced, and though God may have used him to further His wise and beneficent purposes to the race, he may, by his inability to rule himself, have lived and died a miserable victim of sin—in greater bondage to himself than any of those whom he conquered could ever be to him.
III. Self-rule is nobler than the possession of rule over others.1.This conquest is over spirit and the other may only be over flesh.We cannot rule over the whole of our fellow-man by physical force; if circumstances make us masters over his body, there is a spiritual part of him which we cannot enslave without his consent. A “city” and a man’s “spirit” belong to entirely different regions, and the latter cannot be ruled by the same weapons as the other. But “spirit” is far higher than matter, and when a man has learned to rule his own inner man he has made a conquest which is far more difficult, and therefore nobler, than he who “takes a city.” The man who can check a lawless thought or desire, must be as much greater than he who can only subdue men’s bodies, as mind is greater than matter, and he must do a more glorious work because he lessens the power of sin in the universe. It may sometimes be a necessary and good thing to drive the sinner out of the world, but it is infinitely better to kill sin, and this is what he who rules himself is always doing. 2.It requires the exercise of greater skill and is a more complete victory.If there is a spiritual part of a man which cannot be subdued to our will without his consent, this consent can only be obtained by the exercise of weapons which require more skilful handling than the sword of steel. God never attempts to conquer the human spirit by physical force; He has created it to bow only to spiritual forces, and it is by these that He brings men into obedience to His will. A city may be surprised into submission, but dominion over the soul must be gained step by step. And the man who rules his own spirit uses these spiritual weapons, and achieves his conquest little by little. But if the weapons are more difficult to wield, and if the victory is more slowly won, the conquest is much more complete. For when the spirit is ruled the entire man is ruled. 3.The battle is fought and the victory won in silence and in secret.When men take a city they are as conscious that the eyes of many are upon them, and that the news of their victory will be spread throughout half the world, and that thus they will acquire great renown among their fellow-creatures. And this nerves them to the conflict. But the man who fights upon the battle-ground of his own heart fights in secret, and his victories bring him none of that renown which falls to him who takes a city. No eye looks on but the omniscient eye of God, and although Divine approval is infinitely beyond the praise of a world of finite creatures, yet it has not always such a conscious influence as that of our fellow-men. 4.The conflict and victory works nothing but good.Even when the taking of a city ends in the good of the majority, there must be suffering for some who are innocent. But the bringing of the spirit under dominion to that which is good and true bring blessings on the man who wins the victory, and works no ill to anyone, but is a source of good to many. 5.The glory of self-rule will last much longer than the glory of any material conquest.Alexander of Macedon took many cities, but the glory that once shed a halo around his name has died away as the world has grown older. And even if the fame of an earthly warrior could last to the end of time, it would last no longer if it rested only on his military achievements. But the glory of self-rule is the glory of goodness which will never grow dim, but shine with increasing brightness as the ages roll.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Now the Lord has made so glorious a conquest over these proud enemies that rose up against you, I beseech you consider, of all conquests the conquest of enemies within is the most honourable and the most noble conquest; for in conquering those enemies that be within, you make a conquest over the devil and hell itself. The word that is rendered “ruleth,” signifies to “conquer,” to “overcome.” It is this conquest that lifts a man up above all other men in the world. And as this is the most noble conquest, so it is the most necessary conquest. You must be the death of your sins, or they will be the death of your souls. Sin is a viper that does always kill where it is not killed. There is nothing gained by making peace with sin but repentance here and hell hereafter. Every yielding to sin is a welcoming of Satan into our very bosoms. Valentine the emperor said upon his deathbed, that among all his victories, one only comforted him; and being asked what that was, he answered, “I have overcome my worst enemy, mine own naughty heart.” Ah, when you shall lie upon a dying bed, then no conquest will thoroughly comfort, but the conquest of your own sinful hearts. None were to triumph in Rome that had not got five victories; and he shall never triumph in heaven that subdueth not his five senses, saith Isidorus. Ah, souls! what mercy is it to be delivered from an enemy without, and to be eternally destroyed by an enemy within?—Brooks.
To follow the bent and tendency of our nature requires no struggle, and being common to all, involves no distinction. But to keep the passions in check—to bridle and deny them; instead of letting loose our rage against an enemy, to subdue him by kindness—this is one of the severest efforts of a virtuous or of a gracious principle. The most contemptible fool on earth may send a challenge, and draw a trigger, but “not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good,” demands a vigour of mind and decision of character, far more difficult of acquiring than the thoughtless courage that can stand the fire of an adversary.—Wardlaw.