vii. 8)--to the general intent and purpose of his life being toward

God and goodness--to his being in the main faithful to his convictions of the right and true. (On this subject see on chap. xi. 3, page 196.) And although _faithful_ men are still rare enough to need _search,_ they are more common than they were in Solomon's days. There are many men scattered throughout the world who put duty before worldly interests, and God's glory before their own, and are thus earning for themselves the _well-done_ of the _faithful_ though not the _perfect_ servant (Matt. xxv. 21). For it is certain that if a man is faithful to himself--if he subjects his own moral condition to that scrutiny which must convince him of his own impurity before a heart-searching and Holy God, and accepts His method of being cleansed from guilt--he will be faithful both to God and man.

"To thine own self be true: And it must follow as the night the day; Thou canst not then be false to any man."

+II. A general rule.+ Another proposition here laid down is, that although absolutely pure men are not to be found, and although faithful men are rare, yet "most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness" (verse 6). There is a natural tendency in men to shrink from a very close inspection of their own motives, and desires, and feelings--they look anywhere rather than within, and consequently, very few have any conception of their own depravity. They have never measured even their actions, much less their thoughts, by the requirements of God's law, and consequently, while He pronounces them _"wretched, and miserable, and poor"_ they are saying, _"I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing"_ (Rev. iii. 17, 18). Most men are thanking God that _"they are not as other men are"_ when they ought to be smiting their breasts and saying, _"God be merciful to me, a sinner"_ (Luke xviii. 13). It is this wide-spread self-deception concerning their real condition that renders men so indifferent to God's method for restoring them, and thus keeps the world in its present state of soul-sickness and death.

For Homiletics on verse 10, see on chap. xi. 1.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

This faithfulness, where it exists, develops itself in two branches; the one suppressing our neighbour's vanity, and the other our own. The last mentioned is first in order of nature and in relative importance the chief. True faithfulness, like charity, begins at home. . . . Faithful reproof of another's foibles is a virtue which some can exercise without an effort. They deal a hearty blow on the head of a luckless brother egotist who stands in the way of their own advancement, and then expect to be praised for faithfulness. But it is Jehu's driving. The zeal which impels it is not pure.--_Arnot._

The meaning is (see Critical Notes for Miller's rendering) that a man is apt to call mere animal traits, like amiableness, or good nature, by the name of _goodness;_ and the caution is, that seeking deep for piety (ver. 5), we should be careful to take up with no such stupid counterfeit. Much of the mere _flesh_ to borrow a New Testament expression, is kind and honest. There is much of the mere man's native morality. We must take care not to take that for _"goodness."_ There is a certain true _fidelity_ that embraces everything. That is religion. It embraces God. It embraces spiritual _faithfulness._ It may be easily counterfeited. It has been the snare of our race to take _"what is of the mere man,"_ and confound it with it.--_Miller._

A faithful man--as a parent--a reprover--an adviser--one "without guile"--who can find? (Mic. vii. 1, 2). Look close. View thyself in the glass of the Word (Psa. ci. 6). Does thy neighbour, or thy friend, find thee faithful to him? What does our daily intercourse witness? Is not the attempt to speak what is agreeable often made at the expense of truth? Are not professions of regard sometimes utterly inconsistent with our real feelings? In common life, where gross violations are restrained, a thousand petty offences are allowed, that break down the wall between sin and duty, and, judged by the Divine standard, are indeed guilty steps upon forbidden ground.--_Bridges._

But the manner in which men make known what they account their goodness is very various. Some are open with it. They almost literally "proclaim" it upon the housetops. To every individual, and in every company, they speak of it--of what they are, of what they have said, of what they have done, of what they think, and of what they wish and intend to do. And O! if they had but the means what would they not accomplish!

Some there are who are quite as vain, and as ambitious of commendation and praise--who, knowing that everything of the nature of ostentation is exceedingly unpopular, and lets a man down, and tempts others to pluck his feathers from him--set about their object with greater art. They devise ways of getting their merits made known so as to avoid the flaw of ostentatious self-display. In company, they commend others for the qualities which they conceive themselves specially to possess, or for the doing of deeds which they themselves are sufficiently well known to have done; and they turn the conversation dexterously that way; or they find fault with others for the want of the good they are desirous to get praise for; or they lament over their own deficiencies and failures in the very points in which they conceive their excellence to lie--to give others the opportunity of contradicting them; or, if they have done anything they deem particularly generous and praise-worthy, they introduce some similar case, and bring in, in as apparently accidental and unintentional a way as possible, the situation of the person or the family that has been the object of their bounty.--_Wardlaw._

Verse 7. Many are the several walks of men in this world--one walketh in his pleasure, as it were in the walks of a garden; another walketh in his profit, and he walketh as it were up and down the exchange; another walketh in troubles, and he walketh as it were in a wood; another walketh in his poverty, and he walketh as it were in a desert; another walketh in his beastly lusts of drunkenness and uncleanness, and he walks as it were in mire and dirt; the just man walketh in his integrity, and he walketh as it were in the holy temple.--_Jermin._

Verse 8. We must be very careful, then, how we do our sifting. God's is perfectly complete. . . . He _winnows_ us at a glance. It is important, therefore, that we have something more than "evil," because "all" that He shall _winnow_ bodily away.--_Miller._

Verse 9. Behold here the king sitting upon the throne of His judgment, whereof the former verse speaketh! Who _can_ say it, and so be untrue in saying it? Who shall say it, and be so impudent as to say it? For to make clean the heart is His work who hath made the heart, thou who hast made it unclean canst not make it clean.--_Jermin._

This proverb is especially noteworthy because, in contrast with the style of conception which is elsewhere predominant in the Proverbs, according to which the imperfection of all human piety is but slightly emphasized, and he who is relatively pious is allowed to pass as righteous, it gives expression to the unsatisfying nature of all moral endeavours, as never conducting to the full extirpation of all sense of guilt, and a perfect feeling of peace with God; _it accordingly suggests the need of a higher revelation in which the sense of guilt and of an ever-imperfect fulfilment of duty shall finally be overcome._--_Elster, in Lange's Commentary._

Verse 10. Originally, as in xi. 1, of dishonesty in actual trade, but here perhaps as a companion to verse 9, with a wider application to all inequality of judgment, to all judging one man by rules which we do not apply to ourselves or to another.--_Plumptre._

That whereby thou takest from others shall add unto the weight of thine own punishment; that whereby thou addest in measuring for thyself shall make God to take away from the measure of His mercy towards thee.--_Jermin._

Verse 11. There is no tree that in growing doth not bend rather to the one side or the other; there is no river which, although it have many windings and turnings, yet in the course of it doth not rather turn one way than another; and so it is in the life of man, even from the childhood of man's life. Do not judge, therefore, of any man by one work or two, so thou mayest wrong him and deceive thyself.--_Jermin._

For Homiletics on verse 13 see on chap. vi. 10, 11, page 79.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 14.

BARGAINING.

This proverb refers--

+I. To a world-wide manifestation of human selfishness.+ A custom that was prevalent in the days of Solomon, many centuries ago, and amid circumstances which differed widely from those by which we are surrounded, has held its place among men until the present day, and will doubtless continue to do so until the teachings and the spirit of Christianity rule the world. It prevails in modern England quite as extensively as it did in ancient Judea; and whether the buyer be a millionaire bargaining for an estate, or a costermonger for the worth of a shilling, he is often found knowingly, and therefore criminally, depreciating the value of the commodity. It is a trait of fallen humanity which "makes the whole world kin."

+II. To a pitiful ground of boasting.+ Although it does need some skill and experience to tell the real value of an article, it requires none to pronounce it good for nothing. Only a man with some knowledge and judgment can put a fair price upon it, but any fool can say, "It is naught, it is naught." And if by knowingly depreciating the purchase the buyer robs the seller, he has but a very poor transaction to boast of. He has wronged another, it is true, but he has far more grievously wronged himself, for if his neighbour is the poorer by a few pence or pounds he is the poorer by so much injury done to his own conscience, and by so much loss of the confidence of his fellow men. He who makes a boast of such a matter must, indeed, have few grounds for boasting.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

This victorious boasting is not like other boasting. For that delighteth to do it in the face of the conquered; but this, as justly ashamed of itself, is made when they are gone one from the other. But to make a moral application of the words, as it is in buying commodities, so it is in the getting of wisdom and godliness; while a man labours for the obtaining of it, the trouble of his pains maketh him not to think so well of it, but having made it his own, then he praiseth the worth and excellency of it.--_Jermin._

For Homiletics on Verse 15 see on chap. iii. 14, 15; viii. 11; xii. 14; xviii. 20, 21; pages 39, 107, 275, and 555.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 16.

NECESSARY SECURITY.

+I. An untrustworthy creditor.+ A man who under ordinary circumstances makes himself a surety for one who is a stranger to him, is chargeable with great folly, and the act may be a criminal one. He is very foolish if he pledges himself up to his ability of redeeming his pledge, and he is dishonest if he goes beyond it. The warning of the proverb is directed against entering into business relations with a man who has so slight a sense of his own responsibility as to become "surety for a stranger." It may be regarded as a certainty that a man who will enter into such an engagement without reflection and caution is not to be depended on--does not measure his actions in this particular by a very high standard of morality. He may be a man of generous impulses and good intentions, but he lacks that substratum of high principle which makes a safe creditor.

+II. An extreme security.+ The necessity of exacting security before credit, discloses the existence of immorality in the world. In a family where every brother is known to the other, and where the interests of each are the interests of all, there is no need to take a pledge for the performance of any promise, or the payment of any debt. But in the imperfect state of society in which we find ourselves, security before credit is necessary when we enter into business transactions with our fellow men, for the world is not yet ruled by the Divine precept, _"Love thy neighbour as thyself"_--(Matt. xix. 19). And the security may be regulated by the reliability of him whom we trust. Solomon here regards him who becomes surety for a stranger, as so unlikely to be faithful to his own liabilities, that those who trust him may exact from him even that pledge which was the last allowed in the Mosaic law, and which could not be retained beyond the day (Exodus xxii. 26, 27). The injunction is probably to be regarded rather as advice against trusting such a man at all. (On the subject of suretyship, see Comments on chap. vi. 1, page 76.)

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

The moral is that securityships are so unsafe that we may treat the man as one already ruined. But in the spiritual world it means (chap. vi.) that a man who holds fast sloth (chap. v. 13), holds fast a bond of eternal vengeance; that he renews it by his wilful act (xvii. 18); that it is a bond to a friend (chap. vi. 1), but that friend forced _ex lege_ to collect it; that if now at this late day he holds it on, stand clear from him! He will certainly be lost. _Take his garment,_ that is, use the last resort, as against the most hopeless bondsman.--_Miller._

His garment is not so near unto him as thou art unto thyself; this is not more needful to keep him warm than it is to keep thee safe. And seeing that he, by his folly, hath made himself naked of understanding, it is not thou but himself that maketh him naked of his garment. Seeing he is content to give himself a pledge for a stranger, it is less than thou doest in taking his garment as a pledge of him.--_Jermin._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 17.

BAD BREAD.

+I. Some gratification is to be obtained from dishonest gain.+ Many a swindler gets not only bread by swindling, but many other things, which not only minister to his senses, but gratify mental appetites not in themselves unlawful. And he finds pleasure in the fruit of his dishonesty--in, it may be, his well-furnished table, his luxurious mansion, his social position. It is not the highest and the purest pleasure, but there is a sweetness in it, or men would not grasp so eagerly the "bread of deceit."

+II. A time will come when it will not only cease to give pleasure, but will bring misery.+ The dishonest man will find that, after all, his gains are not bread for his higher nature--that his soul is still unsatisfied, and crying out for sustenance--and, more than this, that his conscience demands satisfaction for the wrong-doing of the past--and even if he is permitted to keep possession of his ill-gotten wealth, it is not only what chaff without the grain, or the husk without the kernel, is to the starving man, but as the very sand of the desert or the dust of the highway in the mouth, tormenting as well as unsatisfying.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

"Everything gotten wrongfully is here implied." Bitter was Achan's sweet, deceitfully hid in the tent, which brought ruin upon himself and his family (Josh. vii. 21-24). Look at Gehazi. What profit had he from his talents of silver and changes of garments? Bitter indeed was the bread of deceit to him (2 Kings v. 20-27). Look even at Jacob, a true servant of God; and yet chastened heavily almost to the end of his days with the bitter fruits of deceit (Gen. xxvii.; xli. 36-38).--_Bridges._

Men must not think to dine with the devil, and then to sup with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.--_Trapp._

It is crusted without, as if it were bread; but within, contrary to bread, is not soft. The deceived, tasting it with the tongue of his hope and presuming confidence, findeth nothing which is not grateful unto him: the deceiver tasting it with the tongue of present profit findeth it most luscious unto him. But when the deceiver, having it in his mouth, pierceth it with the teeth of his trial, then so gravel breaketh the teeth so it breaketh his heart; and when the deceiver comes to feed upon it he findeth there is no juice of true profit.--_Jermin._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 18.

THOUGHT BEFORE ACTION.

+I. The permanent success of an undertaking is generally in proportion to the thought bestowed upon it beforehand.+ It is an act of extreme folly to commit ourselves to any course, or to undertake any task without first weighing all the probable consequences, and providing against the most likely contingencies. Such a wise forethought by no means excludes entire dependence upon God, for while it is most true that _"Man's goings are of the Lord,"_ and _"a man cannot understand his own way"_ (ver. 24), both common sense and the Word of God plainly teach that man must use the powers of forethought with which he has been endowed, or he must be content to see his purposes frustrated and his plans miscarry. If he desires his "purposes" to be "established," in other words--what he does to have a lasting result in the direction desired--he must _"sit down first"_ and _"count the cost"_ (Luke xiv. 28, 31).

+II. It is advisable to call in the wisdom of others to help us in our deliberations.+ Since one man is rarely, if ever, able to look at a matter from every point of view, his plans are most likely to be wisely laid, and his purposes most likely to succeed, if he looks at them with the eyes of other men as well as with his own. They may discern a weak spot where he saw nothing to fear, or a point of vantage which had escaped his notice entirely. Or they may see good reasons for dissuading him altogether from the undertaking, or may make him so much the stronger for the task by encouragement and counsel. It is not generally those who are most able to act alone who lightly esteem the advice of others--these men who are the most successful in that to which they put their hand are not as a rule given to undervalue the wisdom of other people.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel. . . . Things will have their first or second agitation; if they be not tossed upon by the waves of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune, and be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling of a drunken man.--_Lord Bacon._

Ponder Bishop Hall's description of the spiritual _war._ "It admits of no intermission. It knows no night, no winter. It abides no peace, no truce. It calls us not into garrison, where we may have ease and respite, but into pitched fields continually. We see our enemies in the face always, and are always seen and assaulted; ever resisting, ever defending, receiving and returning blows. If either we be negligent or weary, we die. What other hope is there, while one fights and the other stands still? We can never have safety and peace but in victory. Then must our resistance be courageous and constant, when both yielding is death, and all treaties of peace mortal." Does not this war bring the greatest need of deliberate _counsel,_ carefully counting the cost (Luke xiv. 31, 32); cleaving to our All-wise Counsellor (Isa. ix. 6) and Almighty Helper?--_Bridges._

Among the Romans, though a man were never so strong, never so valiant, yet, if he wanted wisdom and counsel, he was said to be _miles sine oculis,_ a soldier without his eyes.--_Jermin._

See Critical Notes for the correct rendering of the second clause of verse 19, and for Homiletics see on chap. x. 19 and xi. 13, pages 168 and 211.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 20.

AN UNNATURAL CHILD AND A NATURAL LAW.

+I. An unnatural child.+ The ungrateful son or daughter of good parents is an unnatural being. If experience did not contradict, we should say that even fallen human creatures must return love for love, and could not help feeling gratitude to those who have denied themselves for their good. And if there is no love so strong and so unselfish as that which a parent feels toward a child, it does seem almost impossible that any child can be unresponsive to it. But if to remain untouched by it is unnatural, how much more so is it to attain to the height of wickedness upon which the text passes judgment. We must suppose that the proverb refers to fathers and mothers who are, to some extent, what they ought to be--who do in some measure reflect upon their offspring the tenderness of the Great and Divine Father--and then we can conceive of no more unnatural being than he "who curseth his father or his mother." Every natural instinct tends in the opposite direction.

+II. A natural law.+ It does not need any special Divine interposition to blight and ruin such a man. The most powerful and blessed human influences are those which flow from the home-life, and from the emotions which ought to be kindled by the relationship of a child to its parent. But if these holiest influences are resisted and these emotions are stifled, moral darkness must overshadow the life, and it will continue to deepen while the hardness of heart continues. It is well known that even the remembrance of parental love after long years of insensibility to it is often the first step back into the light of righteousness and hope, and that many who have sunk very low in crime could trace their present condition to the unnatural sin of hardening their hearts against parental love.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

This cursing, according to our Lord's standard, includes "setting light by father or mother;" wilful disobedience--a fearful, palpable mark of the last days. How God regards it, let his own curse on Mount Ebal (Deut. xxvii. 16), and his judgment of temporal death, testify. The present degradation of Africa is a witness, on the confirming page of history, of the frown upon an undutiful son (Gen. ix. 22-25)--his lamp put out in darkness.--_Bridges._

It must needs be an obscure darkness that is fallen upon that soul, in whom the light of nature is so far extinguished as that he curseth them from whom he had the blessing of being. It must needs be a smoky breath that shall reproach him who was the breath of his nostrils. And what can he expect but that his lamp shall be put out in darkness.--_Jermin._

For Homiletics of verse 21, see on chap. xiii. 11, page 306; also on chap. xxi. 5, 7, 17, page 609.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 22.

THE RECOMPENSER OF EVIL.

+I. The man who has been wronged is disqualified to punish the offender.+ A sense of pain and suffering is not helpful to a man's judgment. He sees neither things nor persons in the light in which he would see them under happier conditions, and would not be likely to deal impartially with the offender. Hence, both the Bible and wise human governments--while freely allowing that he who injures another ought not to go unpunished--forbids men from undertaking the punishment themselves. Every human creature labours under another disqualification also. He is himself a law-breaker in a greater or less degree, and is not himself guiltless in thought and word, and perhaps in deed, of wrong towards his neighbour. The best of men cannot claim to be guiltless in this matter, and the majority are great offenders in one form or another. Therefore on this account also it is not meet for men to avenge their personal wrongs.

+II. The most effectual way to rid one's self of the desire for revenge.+ We do not understand this proverb to forbid the bringing of men who have wronged us to the bar of human justice, for this may be a duty which we owe to society. It would be criminal in most cases not to apprehend one who had robbed us if it lay in our power to do so, for by letting him go free we should be exposing other innocent men to danger. But there are many cases in which men are greatly wronged in ways which do not come within the cognisance of human law, and when no benefit to anyone would arise from their punishment by any human instrumentality. In such cases, the sure remedy for any vindictive feelings in our own breasts is to lay the matter before Him whose judgment must be impartial, and who will render to every man according to his works. Waiting upon the Lord, too, will remind us so forcibly of our own shortcomings and wrongdoings that we shall be more ready to forget those of our brother.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

It is to be observed that it is not said, Wait on the Lord and He will avenge thee, but, He will save thee. By this kind of speech, the Holy Ghost would warn every one that is injured, not to think of the revenge or hurt of his adversary, but of his own defence and salvation.--_Muffet._

The question is clearly this: Is your safety and protection best lodged in God's hand or your own? By indulging your revengeful spirit, you do yourself a greater hurt than your greatest enemy can do you, for you gratify his ill-nature, when you suffer it to make a deep impression on your spirit, without which it could do you little or no hurt; but by committing your cause to God, you turn his ill will to your great advantage, making it an occasion for the exercise of the noblest graces, which are attended with the sweetest fruits, and with the rich blessing of God.--_Lawson._

While Moses is dumb, God speaks; deaf, God sees and stirs. Make God your chancellor, in case no law will relieve, and you shall do yourself no disservice. If compelled to go a mile, rather than revenge, go two, yea, as far as the gospel of peace will carry you, and God will bring you back "with everlasting joy" (Isa. xxxv. 10). This is the way to be even with him, that wrongs you, nay, to be above him.--_Trapp._

So far should the desire of revenge be from man's heart, so far the execution of revenge be from man's hand, that his _tongue should not say it._ Shall any say, I will revenge, when God says, revenge is _mine._ Neither let any say, I will revenge because I have been wronged. For, as Tertullian says, what difference is there between being the provoker and the provoked; but that he is first found in wickedness, and the other afterward? Do not therefore provoke God to anger, by seeking revenge in thy anger. Let God have his right.--_Jermin._

For Homiletics on verse 23, see on chap. xi. 1, page 190.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 24.

GOD OVER ALL.

A reference to the Critical Notes will show that in this verse there is an argument from the greater to the less, for the first clause contains an affirmation of a truth, and the second an argument drawn therefrom.

+I. The truth affirmed,+ viz.--That the actions of the most mighty men, and the purposes of the wisest, are directly and absolutely under the control of God. This is self-evident if we admit that God is an Eternal, Omniscient, and Almighty Being, who concerns Himself with the government of the world. Having existed throughout the Eternal past and possessing absolute knowledge of the Eternal future, and being the Author of every man's being--determining the date of his entrance into the world and the period of his continuance in it, and during all that time _"encompassing his path and his lying down,"_ and even _"understanding his thought afar off"_ (Psa.