xix. 22) and they which will take him up from the ground, and carry
him after God to do His will, be the work never so hard. Is it any marvel then, that God has promised they shall be granted?--_Bunyan._
The desire of all, as it is desire, is only _of good;_ but as desire is accomplished, so it is the desire of the righteous only that is good, and their desire accomplished is _good only._ It is simply good, there is no mixture of evil added to it, yea, it is not only all good, but all the good that desire can wish.--_Jermin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 24-26.
THE LIBERAL AND THE NIGGARDLY MAN.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Be very careful with the word "niggardly" because it can sound like a racial slur, especially to those who do not know the word or who are not paying attention. Consider substituting "miserly," "sparing," or "parsimonious."
We have here a twofold contrast under two similitudes--
+I. A man who withholds what he ought to give out.+ "He withholdeth more than is meet--he withholdeth corn" when he ought to sell it. 1. _He is a sinner against the law of necessity which runs through all human things._ The earth will only yield of her good things by first having good things cast into her bosom. The farmer who is sparing of labour and of money in the tillage of his fields will never be a rich man. The same principle is at work in the mart and on the exchange. There must of necessity be a wise scattering of wealth before there is any increase. 2. _He is a sinner against the Divine ordination and commandment._ When God organized the Hebrew commonwealth He ordained that the "poor should not cease out of the land" (Deut. xv. 11), and that they should be helped by the rich. The same principle was proclaimed by Christ, when He said "Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. x. 8), God has given to you that you may give to others. This is the fast that Jehovah has chosen, "_Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thine house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh_" (Isa. lviii. 7). 3. _He is, as a necessity, a sinner against his fellow creatures._ He sins against their need. In times of scarcity those who have abundance and will not _give_ of their abundance are guilty, how much more those who have the material to feed the people and will not even _sell_ it, but withhold it to raise the price. Such men are robbers and murderers. They murder by refusing the means of life. 4. _He is a sinner against himself._ He will not be so rich as he would have been if he had used what he had in accordance with the laws of nature and morality. A man who does not put his money out to a lawful use cannot make more by it. More than this, he is a stranger to that blessedness of which Christ spake when He said "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts xx. 35). But this is not all, he is under a Divine and human curse. God's ban is upon him. If a tree is constantly receiving from the fatness of the earth and the heavens and yet brings forth no fruit for the service of man, it is marked for the woodman's axe. The message of God to such cumberers of the ground is, _"Go to, now, ye rich man, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire"_ (Jas. v. 1-3). "The people shall curse him." How can they do otherwise? They feel that he has robbed them of their rights when he will not even sell what they are willing to buy.
+II. The man who gives out liberally of that which he possesses.+ He yields first of all to the necessity of things. He scatters his wealth wisely in order to increase it. But this is his lowest motive and his smallest blessing. So far as more trading goes this scattering to increase is a mere matter of necessity. He knows he must cast a bushel of corn into the ground if he would have it increase--that he must spend a thousand pounds before he can gain ten thousand. In this way he shows that he has faith in the ordinary law of multiplication. But he goes further than this. "He selleth corn" at a fair price, when, by withholding it, he might exact more. This is a sample of all his dealings with his fellow-men. He does not take advantage of their necessities to enrich himself (see Homiletics on verse 1). He goes beyond this--he not only _sells_ at a fair price, but he is a _giver._ He scatters in the way of giving out of his abundance, "looking for nothing again" (Luke vi. 35). But he is a great gainer. 1. _He will very likely get richer in material wealth by giving._ This is not positively affirmed in the text "there is that scattereth and yet increaseth." But he will certainly never be the poorer, for he makes God his creditor. "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord" (chap. xix. 17). 2. _He will certainly be richer in more precious wealth._ "He will be watered himself." He will have a double blessing. Men will call down blessings on his head. Those who partake of his wealth will give him in return love, honour, and respect. God will add to his personal character that which will increase tenfold the blessedness of his existence. He will, according to the apostolic promise, "_make all grace to abound toward him, that he, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work._" He will "_increase the fruits of righteousness_" (2 Cor. ix. 6-11), and water his soul with His own Divine influence. "_If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, whose waters fail not_" (Isa. lviii. 11).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verses 24, 25. Is not this just one of the appropriate ways of putting faith to the test on God's part, and showing its reality on ours? Is it not precisely the defectiveness of this faith that makes us timid, cautious, parsimonious in giving? ever fearing that we may stint ourselves and feel the want of what we expend on suffering humanity and on the cause of God? Is it not thus by unbelief that we are tempted to sow sparingly? And ought it to be, that the husbandman trust more to the laws of nature than the Christian does to the covenant of his God?--_Wardlaw._
The Jews in Haggai's time had no prosperity till they made the house of the Lord their chief object (Hag. i. 6, 9-11; ii. 15-19). So far is the true wealth of the withholder from being increased by withholding what is meet to be given for the glory of God and the good of man, that he is at last deprived even of that which he had (Matt. xiii. 12).--_Fausset._
Men may scatter in improvidence and sin, and it tendeth to poverty (chap. xxi. 17). But the man of God, "dispersing abroad" the seed of godliness (Ps. cxii. 9), consecrating his substance and influence to the Lord, "as he has opportunity, doing good unto all men" (Gal. vi. 10), shall receive a plentiful increase.--_Bridges._
The liberal man will ever be rich; for God's providence is his estate, God's wisdom and power are his defence, God's love and favour are his reward, and God's word is his security.--_Barrow._
The liberal soul is made fat in the healthful vigour of practical godliness. The minister is refreshed by his own message of salvation to his people. The Sunday-school teacher learns many valuable lessons in the work of instruction. The Christian visitor's own soul glows in carrying the precious name of Jesus to a fellow-sinner. Every holy temper, every spiritual gift, every active grace is increased by exercise.--_Bridges._
Give, and thou shalt receive. John Howard, when he grew sad about his piety, put on his hat and went about among the poor. He came back a gainer. He diverted his mind from his own interests, and yet promoted them in a higher assurance. Religion being benevolence, as well as a love of holiness, doing good to others is a philosophic way of ripening it in ourselves. Verse 24 has its Poor Richard phrase as well as a higher one. Being "penny wise and pound foolish" is understood even in our shops. But the grand sense is evangelical. "_Inserviendo allius consumor_" may be true of poor impenitents, but a candle is no emblem for a Christian. He is a glorious sun who, by some strange alchemy, brightens by shining. _Watereth_ refers to the ground, or to animals. "Giving plenty to drink" is the meaning of the word as applied to man.--_Miller._
Wherefore doth the Lord make your cup run over, but the other men's lips might taste the liquor? The showers that fall upon the highest mountains should glide into the lowest valleys.--_Secker._
Man is God's image, but a poor man is Christ's stamp to boot; both images regard. God reckons for him, counts the favour His: Write, so much given to God; thou shalt be heard. Let thy alms go before, and keep heaven's gate Open for thee, or both may come too late.
The last clause of ver. 25 is literally _he that raineth shall himself become a river._ The water that falls in refreshing and fertilising irrigation is not lost, but becomes a fair stream. So the bounty of the liberal man, which rains down blessings, will flow on for ever in a beautiful river.--_Wordsworth._
The well-being of all is concerned in the right working of each. One necessarily affects for good or evil all the rest in proportion to the closeness of its relations and the weight of its influence. You draw another to keep him from error: that other's weight which you have taken on keeps you steadier in your path. You water one who is ready to wither away; and although the precious stream seems to sink into the earth, it rises to heaven and hovers over you, and falls again upon yourself in refreshing dew. It comes to this, if we be not watering we are withering.--_Arnot._
Poor men are not excluded from the grace and blessing of being merciful, though they attain not to the state and ability of being wealthy. Mercy is not placed with money in the purse, but dwelleth with loving-kindness in the heart. He that can mourn with such as do mourn, he that can pray for them that be in distress, has a "soul of blessing."--_Dod._
St. Gregory applieth the words particularly unto ministers and saith, He that by preaching doth outwardly bless, receiveth the fatness of inward increase. And to this sense the Chaldee reads it, saying, "He that teacheth shall himself also learn." And then the former part of the verse may be taken thus, the soul that bestoweth abroad the blessings of a wise instruction shall profit much in his wisdom, according to a common saying among the Jews, "I have profited more by my scholars than by all things else."--_Jermin._
Bounty is the most compendious way to plenty; neither is getting, but giving, the best thrift. The five loaves in the Gospel, by a strange kind of arithmetic, were multiplied by a division and augmented by subtraction. So will it be in this case. St. Augustine, descanting upon Psa. lxxvi. 5, says, "Why is this?" "They found nothing in their own hands, because they feared to lay up anything in Christ's hands." "The poor man's hand is Christ's treasury," saith another Father.--_Trapp._
Verse 26. He that withholdeth corn holdeth, as it were, the gracious hand of God, yea, pulleth it back by his covetousness, when God in bounty hath stretched it forth unto a land. . . . Now, what is said of a countryman concerning his corn, let the citizen also mark concerning his wares, "Let not profit overcome honesty, but let honesty overcome profit." And what is said to the citizen let the minister also observe, and bind not up by a damnable silence that good word which may profit many.--_Jermin._
The point of antithesis apparently fails only to give stronger security to the blessing. The _curse_ comes directly from the _people_; the _blessing_ from _above_.--_Bridges._
The prevailing maxim of the world, ever since the first murderer gave utterance to the tendencies of human nature, after its fall, in the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" has been, "_Every man for himself._" The identity of human nature in all ages is stamped upon the book of Proverbs. What presented itself to view in Solomon's days is no rarity still. . . . There can hardly be a more affecting exemplification than this of the power of an avaricious disposition in hardening the heart.--_Wardlaw._
Such a man, like a corrupt, imposthumated member, would draw all the nourishment to himself, and cares not, though the other parts of the body perish. This oak, which will suffer no small trees to thrive near it, will in time fall with the breath of so many curses.--_Swinnock._
Modern political economy may have taught us that even here the selfishness of the individual does, in the long run, by limiting consumption, and maintaining a reserve, promote the general good, but it is no less true that men hate the selfishness and pour blessings upon him who sells at a moderate profit. Our own laws against forestalling and regrating schemes for a maximum price of bread, as in the famine of the French Revolution, histories like that of M. Manlins, legends like that of Bishop Hatto and the rats, are tokens of the universality of the feeling.--_Plumptre._
Literally, "breaketh it," like Joseph to his brethren and the people in Egypt. In a spiritual sense this verse may be applied specially to pastors and to churches. He that withholdeth corn--he that keepeth back from others the bread of life, which is the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures--the food of the soul, he shall be accursed; but blessings are upon him that fully and freely dispenses it.--_Wordsworth._
To be an object of aversion among his neighbours is a heavy infliction upon a human being. No man can despise it. . . . This, in the last resort, is the protection of the poor and the punishment of the oppressor. The mightiest man desires the blessing of the people, and dreads their curse. Wealth would be a weapon too powerful for the liberty of men, if he who wields it were not confined within narrow limits by the weakness of humanity, common to him with the meanest of the people.--_Arnot._
Here is consolation to them that bring an upright heart to selling, though they cannot be large in giving: therein they do a service to God and perform a work of love to their neighbour.--_Dod._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 27.
DILIGENT SEEKERS.
+I. An object worthy of search.+--"Good." There is. 1. Material, temporal good. The human race need no exhortation to stimulate them to go in quest of this good. The child begins his search after this good as soon as he is conscious of need and finds himself in possession of power to seek it. And until old age these good things are sought without any admonition from God to lead a man to seek them. 2. But there is a higher good--the good which ministers to the spiritual nature and forms a holy character--the good of which Christ speaks when He says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." (Matt vi. 23). Men need to be exhorted to seek this good, and the Bible puts before them every kind of motive to stimulate men to the search--motives drawn from the happiness of a future heaven and a future hell, and from the present heaven or hell which will result from the search or from the neglect of this true good. Men are, as a rule, too much occupied with seeking the lower and the transitory good to seek that which is spiritual and eternal--that Supreme Personal Good--God Himself. God is the Good that the soul needs because He unites in Himself all that can minister to our better nature. The soul needs truth--and God is truth. The soul needs something above itself to worship, to love, to obey. There is nothing can supply this need but the living God.
+II. How this good is to be sought.+ "Diligently." The diligence will be in proportion to the desire. The word here translated diligently is the same as that translated "early" in chap. viii. 17. (See Homiletics on that passage.)
+III. The reward of diligent seekers after real good.+ "Favour." 1. Of God. He loves to see men value that upon which He sets value, viz., their own spiritual and eternal gain 2. Of good men _always._ Of bad men _often._ For the diligent seeking of this highest good does not make a man selfish--on the contrary, the more earnest he is in the search, the more he will lay himself out to serve his fellow-men. In this the contrast is marked between the diligent search after material and spiritual good. The sentiment of the verse is the same as that in chap. iii. 4 (see Homiletics on that verse).
+IV. A most unworthy object of search.+ "Mischief." Understanding this of evil in general which is most mischievous in its working and its results, we remark--1. That it requires no great diligence to work moral mischief towards a man's self. To abstain from seeking good is to seek and to find mischief. To "neglect salvation" (Heb. ii. 3) is enough to ruin. 2. That the man who plots to work mischief to another often sets the seekers after good an example of diligence. How much of planning--what an expenditure of thought and activity is often put forth to ruin another! 3. That the man who seeks mischief is certain to find it. It will not wait even to be found--it will "come" to meet him. But there may and will be some amount of disappointment. If he seeks his own ruin he will certainly succeed, but if he seeks to do another a mischief, he may miscarry, but the intention will be fulfilled in himself. Whether he succeeds in harming another man or not, it is a law of moral gravitation that "His mischief shall return upon _his own head_ and his violent dealing shall come down _upon his own pate_" (Psalm vii. 16).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
There is no negative existence. Man is born for action. All of us are living with a stupendous measure of vital activity for _good_ or for _mischief_. Man was never intended--least of all the Christian--to be idle. Our Divine Master "went about doing good." He is a counterfeit who does not live after this pattern. Usefulness is everything. We must not rest in life received, nor must we wait to have it brought to us. We must seek it.--_Bridges._
From the last proverbs it has appeared that going after our own selfish gain, is really going after evil. Joy is innocent in itself; and yet, gone after absorbingly, it is an evil end. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it" (Luke xvii. 33). Solomon, therefore utters a most philosophic truth when he says "He that diligently seeketh good," etc., that is, who forgets himself, and is _early_ (for that is the original sense) after what is intrinsically right and holy, that man is really the person who is seeking or _hunting up_ favour; that is, if he could really gain it by hunting it up directly, and for his selfish good, he could not gain it more directly than by forgetting it, and striving for what is pure. (See Matt. vi. 33). Then follows the antithesis. He that seeks mischief, etc., as one is conscious that he does when he turns his heart selfishly even after innocent joys. He goes after that which may in itself be innocent, like money, or like the support of life; in a way that to his own conscience makes it confessedly evil, shall have it "come to him" at the end of his course, infallibly as evil.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 28.
TRUST IN RICHES AND TRUST IN GOD.
+I. The trust in riches springs,+ 1. _From the fact that gold, and what it can do for us, is within the reach of our senses._ Unless the bodily senses are counterbalanced by the moral--the spiritual--sense, they have a tendency to shut us in upon the seen--to shut out the unseen. This is why men make to themselves gods that they can see and carry about with them. The rich man can look upon his gold and upon all that it has purchased for him, his mansion, his lands, his sumptuous table, his obsequious servants. All these things are daily before his eyes, and if his spiritual sight is not keen, they are very likely to become his confidence. 2. _From the fact that gold can do very much for men._ It can afford him opportunities of the best education. Gold can place the son of a tradesman side by side with that of a nobleman in this respect. It can surround him with all the refining influences of life. It will open to him positions of power and influence, its magic power will surround him with friends. When a man feels that he owes all these good things to gold, he is very prone to trust in it. 3. _From the fact that gold is so universal in its influence in the present world._ There is no place upon the globe, where there are human beings, where gold, or what gold can purchase, will not do something for a man. No monarch has such a wide dominion or so many subjects as this King _Gold_.
+II. But he that trusts in riches will find them fail him.+ 1. _Because he is more than the object of his trust._ Man is more than gold because it was made for him and not man for gold. God made it to be his servant, but when a man makes it the object of his supreme hope and confidence, he inverts the Divine order and becomes its slave. And man needs something more than himself to be the object of his trust. 2. _Because there are comforts for existence that gold cannot buy._ Faith in a living God, a good conscience, hope for the future, present peace and rest of soul cannot be purchased for all the gold of the Indies. Nebuchadnezzar could make an image of gold, but all his riches could not purchase the faith and godly courage of the three Hebrew youths. The rich man in hell needed comfort that all his earthly wealth could not have purchased. 3. _Because the only Being who can supply man's deepest needs cannot be bribed._ Pardon of sin cannot be "gotten for gold neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof." A holy character "cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold." (Job xxviii. 16, 17). The Holy Ghost--that "gift of God," cannot be "purchased with money." (Acts viii. 20). A golden key will not open the gate of heaven. Therefore _"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God"_ (1 Tim. vi. 17).
+III. The righteous man shall not fall, but flourish as a branch, because as a branch in a tree he is in connection with life.+ Gold is a dead thing, but the God of the good man is a Living Person, a Being who can understand and supply all his soul's need--a Being who is not only King of the present and the seen, but of the future and the unseen. _"I am the vine, ye are the branches." "Because I live, ye shall live also"_ (John xiv. 9, xv. 5). He shall not only _live,_ but _flourish_--"his leaf shall not wither"--"he shall bring forth fruit in his season" (Psa. i. 3). The cause of the _branch_ being laden with fruitfulness and beauty is because of its connection with the _root. Trust_ is the link between the creature and the Creator, which makes the one a partaker of the fulness of the other. _"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be like 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. 7, 8).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
I have read of one that, upon his dying bed, called for his bags, and laid a bag of gold to his heart, and then cried out, "Take it away, it will not do, it will not do!" There are things that earthly riches cannot do. They can never satisfy Divine justice, nor pacify Divine wrath, nor quiet a guilty conscience. And till these things are done, the man is undone.--_Brooks._
As sheep that go in fat pastures come sooner to the slaughter-house than those which are kept upon the bare common: so, likewise, rich men, who are pampered with the wealth of this world, sooner forsake God, and therefore are sooner forsaken of God than others.--_Cawdray._
He that trusts in riches may trust in that which may not disappoint him. That is, it may remain great, and may follow him to the grave. But while his riches are piling up, he himself is withering away. It is not the rich, but they that _trust in riches_ (Mark. x. 24). The truly important thing is the man himself; and while the unregenerate _falls,_ or decays, the righteous, even without money, prospers. He grows from within. That is _he_ grows, and not his money.--_Miller._
Be not proud of riches, but afraid of them, lest they be as silver bars to cross the way to heaven. We must answer for our riches, but our riches cannot answer for us.--_Mason._
Riches were never true to any that trusted in them. The rich churl that trusted and boasted that he had "much goods laid up in store" for many years, when, like a jay, he was preening himself in his boughs, came tumbling down with an arrow in his side.--_Trapp._
Riches are of a falling nature, now they fall to a man, now they fall from him, not they fall to this man, now to that, now to another. There is no holdfast of them, and less holdfast by them. He, therefore, that trusteth in them shall fall, fall into their hands and power, who seek his hurt and mischief, because not trusting in God, he receiveth no succour from Him.--_Jermin._
Good men have the Lord Jesus Christ for their root, and God, the Father to dress and keep them, therefore the drought of adversity shall not hurt them, nor the dews of wholesome prosperity fail them. They shall have safety for their bodies, graces for their souls, competency for their state, and all good furtherances for their everlasting glory.--_Dod._
Money, thou bane of bliss, and source of woe, Whence com'st thou, that thou art so fresh and fine? I know thy parentage is base and low: Man found thee poor and dirty in a mine.
Surely thou didst so little little contribute To this great kingdom, which thou now hast got, That he was fain, when thou wert destitute, To dig thee out of thy dark cave and grot.
Then forcing thee, by fire he made thee bright; Nay, thou hast got the face of man: for we Have with our stamp and seal transferred our right: Thou art the man, and man but dross to thee.
Man calleth thee his wealth, who made thee rich, And while he digs out thee, falls in the ditch.--_Herbert._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 29.
FOOLISH HOME RULERS.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Be very careful with the word "niggardly" because it can sound like a racial slur, especially to those who do not know the word or who are not paying attention. Consider substituting "miserly," "sparing," or "parsimonious."
+I. There are many ways of troubling thine own house.+ Many sparks fly from one anvil, but one is sufficient to set a house on fire. Some home-destroyers emit many sparks, but one evil habit or temper is enough to consume all the peace of home-life. A man may trouble his house by--1. _Selfishness._ When a dry sponge is placed in a vessel of water, it will soak up every drop of water that it can hold, and very probably will leave the vessel empty. So the selfish head of a household will absorb all the comforts of the household--take to himself all the luxuries and enjoyments which ought to be distributed among all its members. 2. _Hasty temper._ A human father and husband that will complain at every trifle and blaze into a passion when nothing has been done or said worthy of notice, will be a great troubler of his house. He will not be heeded when there is real occasion for his displeasure. The perpetual rattle of a daily siege so dulls the ear of the soldier that he does not notice the roar of the cannon on the day of special battle. So the members of a household who are always being subjected to the rattle of an ungovernable tongue make no account of reproof when there is really an occasion for it. 3. _A perpetual assertion of authority._ There can be no joyful obedience in a family where its head is always insisting upon the fact that he is their master. Such a constant proclamation of the right to rule makes this a bondage which would otherwise be a glad service. 4. _Prodigality or niggardliness._ He who wastes that which belongs to his children is a robber, and so is he who from avaricious motives deprives them of those home comforts with which he is able to furnish them. These are but samples of the many ways in which a man may trouble his house--ways which are not altogether unknown in some homes whose head is a professor of godliness. Such a man is a far-reaching curse. The members of such a home scatter themselves abroad in the world carrying with them none of the blessed influences that they ought to have received from their home-life, and are very likely in their turn to become the troublers of _their_ houses. The gold receives its form and polish, its image and superscription at the mint. Home is the mint where the value of the character for its entire future is often impressed upon it. The child generally bears the image and superscription of his parent.
+II. Such a troubler is a fool.+ 1. _He can reap no possible advantage by it._ To "inherit the wind" is to inherit cold cheer. A wintry wind is poor comfort for a man with little raiment on a cold night. Wind is an unsatisfying substitute for food to a hungry man. But a man in such a condition is an apt illustration of a man in the winter of life who has forfeited that love and honour which would have been the reward of a different course of conduct. 2. _He shall go down in social position._ The man who has ruled his household well must win the respect and confidence of those outside of it. It is an inevitable consequence that he will go upon the estimation of his associates while one of the opposite character will go down and so "be servant to the wise of heart."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
He that troubles his own house in any form of impenitence; he that takes the trouble to live without the gospel; he that chases wealth when he admits that it will breed him vengeance; he that goes through the self-denials of the world to accumulate worldly benefits which he knows are mischiefs to his soul, is absolutely "fool" enough to be the "servant" in all these trials, and that through eternal ages, of wiser and better creatures.--_Miller._
He shall leave at last but the wind of his breath to deplore his folly and to beg help for his misery. St. Gregory taketh the latter part of the verse that a fool serveth the wise in heart even by ruling over him and oppressing him, for he advanceth him to a better state and condition of goodness.--_Jermin._
He that would not undo himself, let him not undo his family and domestic affairs. It nearly concerneth a householder to know that his house is laden with his whole estate, that his people sail together with him in the same vessel, for his use.--_Dod._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 30.
THE WINNER OF SOULS.
+I. Souls can be won to God and goodness.+ 1. _There is in every man a natural light to which to appeal._ If a sick man has something in his constitution upon which the physician can fix as a basis of operation, there is hope of recovery. But where the constitution is utterly and entirely bad, the very effort of the physician is a proof of his lack of wisdom. Man is morally diseased, but he is not so depraved as to make his being won to God a hopeless attempt. There is in him a moral base of operation, he has a conscience which is more or less enlightened. Men are, according to the highest authority, "a law unto themselves," "that which may be known of God is manifest in (or to) them." (See Rom. i. 19, 20, ii. 14.) They would not be "without excuse," as the Apostle there declares that they are, if they had no moral consciousness. 2. _The very existence of the Bible proves that man is not hopelessly lost._ Wise men do not waste words and efforts where they know that they would be thrown away. They do not set on foot plans to help those for whom they know there is no hope. A wise physician will not harass his patient and waste his own energies when he knows there is no possibility of cure. It is kinder to let him die in peace. God is too wise and too kind to send man a revelation which he knows would be useless to him. He would not tantalise him with hopes which could not be realised. 3. _The history of Christ confirms this view._ He claimed to come to this earth for the special purpose of seeking and saving men. He was pre-eminently a winner of souls. There can be but one explanation of the Incarnation. 4. _The moral difference in men is another proof._ For every effect there is a cause. That there is an immense difference in the character of men is admitted by all; and the difference is that some have been won from sin to God.
+II. Souls can only be won.+ There are but two kinds of power in the universe--force and persuasion. The mother who desires her child to take a certain place may attain her end in two ways--she may take the child in her arms and carry it where she desires, or she may use moral suasion and induce the child to fall in with her wishes by the exercise of its own free will. The thing may be done either by strength of muscle or by the strength of love. Souls cannot be dealt with in the first way. The soul can only be won _to_ God by the same kind of power as it was won _from_ God, viz., by that of persuasion. If the tempter had tried force he would have failed with our first parents. He knew human nature too well to attempt the use of such means. Force is of no avail to bring about a _friendship,_ and the winning of a soul is bringing about a _friendship_ between man and God. Therefore the Apostle "beseeches" and "prays" men to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. v. 20). To be won to God is to be won to _service._ Two kinds of service may be rendered to a human parent or ruler. There is a service of the _body only_ which is prompted by fear, and there is the service of the _whole man_ which is the fruit of love. God must have the latter or none (Isa. i. 11, etc.,) hence the soul must be "drawn," "constrained," by the power of moral force. (See Hosea xxi. 4; John xii. 32; 2 Cor. v. 11, 14).
+III. Souls are won by fruit.+ Human nature will not be influenced by words without actions. The actions which make up a holy life are here called _fruit._ When two men are at variance and hatred is deeply rooted, he who would be a peace-maker must _be_ something as well as _say_ something. Words alone will not kill enmity--there must be correspondent deeds. This constituted our Lord Jesus Christ the great Reconciler--that He brought forth the fruits of holiness and self-sacrifice, and so gave weight to His words of persuasion. So many souls have been won by Him because so much fruit was brought forth by Him. And all who would win souls must in their measure do likewise. In this sense they must obey His injunction and be made partakers of His promise: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. iv. 19).
+IV. The fruit that wins souls must be a "tree of life" both to the winner and to those who are won.+ The vine-dresser has joy in rearing his fruit, and the eater has joy in partaking of its sweetness. When he who seeks to win souls brings one to taste the sweets of godliness for himself, there is joy for both. The righteous man is a "tree of righteousness," hence he is himself a "tree of life." Others partake of his fruit and live unto holiness, and become fruit-bearing trees in their turn. And in this sense "he that reapeth and he who soweth rejoice together," and the precious harvest is a "tree of life"--an undying source of soul-satisfaction to both.
+V. He who thus wins souls is a wise man.+ He saves men from a present and real misery. The end of all practical wisdom is to elevate the human race--to lift men out of misery and degradation--to solve the problems of every day social life. The man who wins a soul to God is a truly scientific man--he has reduced his moral science to practice in his own life, and then has brought it to bear upon the lives of others. He is a wise general who can turn the guns of the enemy against the foe. He who wins a soul can teach a man how to turn the forces that have been against him into powers and influences that shall work for him. He is a wise financier who can devise means by which a man can free himself from debt. The winner of souls can show his fellow-man how to be freed from moral debt. He is a wise physician who, by healing one man of a deadly pestilence, prevents the spread of disease. The man who turns another from the error of his ways, not only "saves a soul from death," but hides a multitude of sins (Jas. v. 20) by, in some measure, lessening the increase of sin in the universe.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
+I. Christians are a blessing to the world.+ 1. _There is the influence of personal character, showing what religion is, viz., a living principle in the hearts of the faithful, which must spread its radiance._ It may be said of a good man, as it was said of Christ, "He could not be hid" (Mark vii. 24). 2. _There is a force of the great principles they advocate--Freedom, Education, etc._ They raise, in this way, the standard of public opinion. 3. _There are their habits of active beneficence._ +II. To win souls the highest wisdom is requisite.+ 1. _Consider the preciousness of the object--souls._ Made in the image of God, and designed to reflect His glory. Of infinite value in the esteem of Him who came to redeem them. 2. _How greatly they are endangered by sin, held captive by Satan, in bondage by the world, entrenched in long habits of evil._ The soul, in its present depraved state, is not inclined to seek God, nor anxious to obtain deliverance. 3. _The difficulty is increased by the shortness of the time and the limitation of the means at our command._ The preacher has only the Sabbath; Satan and the world have all the week wherein to exert their influence. It is more or less so with all who endeavour to win souls.--_S. Thodey._
He may begin as a "leaf" or "branch" (verse 28), but he ends as a "tree." The tree of life made the partaker of it immortal. "The fruit of the righteous" is immortal life to many a poor sinner. The latter clause may read either: "The wise is a winner of souls," or "The winner of souls is wise." It doubtless should be read in both. The grand "tree of life" on earth is the man converted already. The man converted already will be a "tree of life." Both doctrines are true, and, therefore, in so terse a passage, I see no resource but to understand the Hebrew as pregnant of both. It is of the very essence of wisdom to be benevolent, and it is the very height of benevolence to catch the souls of the impenitent. Moreover, no soul is caught but by the wise.--_Miller._
What is dealt on is the power of wisdom, as we say, to win the _hearts_ of men. He that is wise draws men to himself, just as the fruit of the righteous is to all around him a tree of life, bearing new fruits of healing evermore. It is to be noted, also, that the phrase here rendered "winneth souls," is the same as that which is elsewhere translated by "taketh the life" (1 Kings xix. 4; Psa. xxxi. 13). The wise man is the true conqueror.--_Plumptre._
To win souls is one special fruit of the tree of life. This is a noble fruit indeed, since our soul is more worth than a world, as He hath told us who only went to the price of it (Matt. xvi. 26).--_Trapp._
In this verse we have set forth to us the excellency of a righteous man. I. _He is more useful than others._ He is not a barren tree, but a fruitful bough, as Joseph was. And he doth not bring forth fruit unto himself. As the tree of life would give life to them that would eat thereof, so those that will hearken to the counsel of the righteous shall partake with him of eternal life. II. _He is more skilful than others._ He wins souls--1. By Scripture demonstration. Thou canst never throw down the devil's strongholds except by God's own weapons. 2. By earnest supplications. As the prophet did pray life into the dead child, so thou shouldst strive in prayer for dead souls. 3. By kind obligation. Labour by kindness and courtesy to gain upon all thou dost converse with, that thou mayst get within him, that thou mayst be in a capacity to do good to his soul. 4. By faithful reprehension. 'Tis quite contrary to Christian love to let sin lie upon thy brother (Lev. xix. 17). Show your love to souls by the faithful rebuking of sin, not as a token of your displeasure, but as an ordinance of God. 5. By convincing conversation. Live before all thou dost converse with in the convincing power of a holy life. 6. By careful observation of all those advantages that God puts into your hand. Take advantage of his affliction. Make use of thy near relation or of his dependence upon thee, or of thy interest in him. It may be he is concerned in thy goodwill to him, or hath some affection for thee. Make use of it for God.--_Alleine._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 31.
THE RECOMPENSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED.
+I. The righteous man will receive a present chastisement for his sins+--1. _Because of his near relation to God._ "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos iii. 2). Is this a strange principle of action? Is it not one which is, or ought to be, acted upon among men? If the son of a king commits a crime, is it not felt that his high position and his special privileges make him more deserving of punishment? Our Lord recognised this truth when He said "To whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more" (Luke xii. 48). Those who stand in special relation to God are expected to show it by a holy life, and when they fall into sin greater dishonour is brought upon the name of God than by many sins of the ungodly. Hence the necessity for their chastisement. 2. _Because he will not be punished in the next world._ The whole tenor of Bible teaching recognises this truth, and Paul asserts it: "We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor. xi. 32). 3. _To overthrow that doctrine of devils--"Let us sin that grace may abound"_ (Rom. vi. 1, 15). Many false doctrines have gone abroad in the so-called church, but surely none is so manifestly from the devil as this which proclaims that the more a child of God sins the more God is glorified! Will the man whose wound has been closed and whose bleeding has been stanched by the surgeon, tear off the bandage and reopen the wound in order to afford the physician another opportunity of displaying his skill? May he not, by such an act, be guilty of suicide? May he not so incur the anger of his doctor as to make him refuse to re-dress the wound? If any man thinks that the abounding mercy of God is a licence for sin, let him read the history of David, and ask himself if it does not prove that he is wofully mistaken. David himself most certainly was, if he presumed upon his high standing with the God whose "gentleness had made him great" (Psa.