ix. 21), gives a special significance to the
illustration.--_Plumptre._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 25.
HEAVINESS OF HEART AND ITS CURE.
+I. The causes of "heaviness of heart" are many and various.+ It may arise, 1. _From great bodily pain._ The human mind and the human body act and re-act upon each other. The mind or spirit may be made heavy by physical pain, as the body may be brought under the dominion of disease by mental suffering. It is only when a more powerful influence comes into operation that pain of body is prevented from exercising a depressing influence upon the spirit. In the case of Job we have an instance of severe bodily suffering, weighing down a spirit that had borne other most terrible calamities without being overcome (Job vii). In the case of Stephen, and many others, we see intense bodily suffering exercising no depressing influence upon the man, because he is lifted above it by supernatural interposition. When this special grace is not given pain of body will make the heart "to stoop"--that is, it will disqualify the man for duty by depriving him of hope and courage, and will leave him more or less passive in the hands of circumstances. 2. _Heaviness of heart is often caused by bringing the future into the present._ The man that has every day to carry a heavy burden upon his shoulders will find that an attempt to carry the load of two days at once will weigh down his body beyond all his power to rise and stand upright. The weight of the present is as much as he can carry, his heart must "stoop," if he dwells upon the possible or certain trials of the future. The right way to bear burdens is to take the advice of One who Himself was a burden-bearer. _"Take therefore no thought (no anxious care) for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."_ There are many other burdens which make the heart to stoop, we will mention but one more. 3. _A consciousness of unpardoned guilt._ There is no burden so heavy to bear as this. Guilt makes the spirit feel as if the hand of God's displeasure was sinking the soul lower and lower. The language of Scripture is very vivid in describing the feelings of man in such a case. _"When I kept silence my bones waxed old, through my roaring all day long." "Mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me." "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up,"_ etc. (Psa. xxxii. 3; xxxviii. 4; xl. 12).
+II. The human heart can be uplifted by seasonable words.+ "A good word maketh it glad." Such words sometimes take the form of a promise of help. A man bowed down by disease is made glad by the word of the physician, which assures him that his malady can be cured. The debtor who feels himself hopelessly involved is made glad by the promise of one who engages to meet his debts. The man who is bowed down under a sense of guilt is lifted out of his heaviness by the promises of a forgiving God. In all these cases the worth of the word depends upon the character of him who utters them. It is a "good word" if it is not only a _cheering_ word, but a _reliable_ word--if the promise is uttered by one whom we know would not promise what he was unable to perform. It is this certainty which makes every promise of God so _good_ a _word_ to the soul. And when a man's heaviness of heart arises from a source which is beyond the power of human help, there is no greater service that a friend can do him than to remind him of some "good word" of the Heavenly Father which is suitable to his case.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Not "heaviness," but _"anxiety."_ This last is the fashion of most griefs. We are bound to conquer it. The _determined_ man (see comments on verse 24) is just the character to do it. "Anxiety" discredits faith. "A good word," and such words are plenty in this very book, should _gladden_ it, as the expression is; or, as a freer translation, _"cheer it away."_ It is a sin for men to be dejected. It is a great folly, too; for it broods over half their lives. Our passage tells all this, and tells the mode to dissipate it. It was the mode of Christ when he quelled the foul fiend. The sword of the Spirit is the "word" of God (Ephes. vi. 17).--_Miller._
There is nothing that claims our grief so much as sin, and yet there may be an excess of sorrow for sin, which exposes men to the devil and drives them into his arms.--_Lawson._
A single good or favourable word will remove despondency; and that word, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee," will instantly remove despair.--_A. Clarke._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 26.
THE GUIDE AND THE SEDUCER.
Translating this verse, "The righteous guides his neighbour aright," we remark:--
+I. That the righteous man guides his neighbour both by his word and by his life.+ He guides him by wise counsel--by giving him "a word in season" (see verse 25)--and he more especially guides him by his holy life. His character is a revealer of the way of life. The light which shines through a lantern reveals the path, not only to the man who carries it, but to him who beholds it if he should be disposed to follow in the same road. The righteous man is a light-bearer--he has moral light within him, which breaks forth in the acts of his daily life, and sets a good example to other men, and so, to some extent, his life, like that of his Master's, is a "light of men."
+II. That he guides him aright because he shows him how to make the most of his life.+ Men are generally anxious to live long, and the righteous man shows his neighbour how to live _long_ by living _well._ A husbandman values his trees, not by the length of time they have stood in the ground, but by the amount of fruit they yield. There are trees which bring forth more fruit in one season than others do during the whole time they stand in the orchard. And the length of a man's life is to be estimated not by the number of years he has been in the world, but in the use which he has made of them. Many men who leave the world comparatively young have lived longer, because to more purpose, than others who have not died until they were a hundred years old (On this subject see homiletics on chap. x. 17, page 164).
+III. That the wicked man also exercises an influence upon his neighbour; but his influence leads to evil.+ He is a _seducer_--one who leads astray by false professions and promises. Like the good man, he emits a light, but it is the false light of the _ignis fatuus,_ which is the offspring of the stagnant swamp, and which will only lure him who follows it to destruction. One of the chief employments of the bad, and that which seems to afford them the greatest pleasure, is to carry other men to ruin. And even when the wicked man is not an _active_ seducer, his _way,_ or his life, seduces his neighbour. The force of an evil example is very great, and men are insensibly influenced by it. Men of ungodliness diffuse around them an atmosphere of moral unhealthiness, which insensibly affects those around them, who are not godly, and strengthens them in all their downward tendencies. Such men are "as graves which appear not" (Luke xi. 44), and are centres of spiritual disease and death.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
If then, the "righteous be more excellent than his neighbour," how is it that men do not follow their way? Because "the way of the wicked, which is apparently more _excellent,_ or _abundant_ in temporal advantages, seduces them" _(Kimchi in Mercer),_ It "seduceth" with false hopes, doomed in the end to destruction.--_Fausset._
The way of the godless leads them into error; the course of life to which they have given themselves up has such a power over them that they cannot set themselves free from it, and it leads the enslaved into destruction. The righteous, on the contrary, is free with respect to the way which he takes, and the place where he stays. His view (regard) is directed to his true advancement, and he _looks after his pasture_ (see Critical Notes), _i.e.,_ examines and discovers where, for him, right pastures, _i.e.,_ the advancement of his outer and inner life, is to be found.--_Delitzsch._
Let him dwell by whomsoever, he is ever a better man than his neighbours; he is "a prince of God" among them, as Abraham was amongst the Hittites. Said Agesilaus, when he heard the King of Persia style himself the Great King--"I acknowledge none more excellent than myself, unless more righteous; none greater, unless better." "Upon all the glory shall be a defence" (Isa. iv. 5)--that is, upon all the righteous, those only glorious, those "excellent of the earth" (Psa. xvi. 2), that are "sealed to the day of redemption" (Ephes. iv. 30). Now, whatsoever is sealed with a seal, that is excellent in its own kind, as Isa. xxviii. 25. The poorest village is an ivory palace, saith Luther, if it have in it but a minister and a few good people. But the wicked will not be persuaded of the good man's excellency, he cannot discern, nor will not be drawn to believe that there is any such gain in godliness, any such difference between the righteous and the wicked. He, therefore, goes another way to work.--_Trapp._
I. _In regard to their condition in this present life._ They have all prerogatives and preferments. By parentage every one of them is God's child. By dignity they are all kings. By inheritance they have title to heaven and earth; their food is heavenly manna, their clothing is Christ's righteousness, their attendants are the holy angels.--II. _In respect of their state that shall be in the life to come._ They shall have perfect happiness, and be made like unto Jesus Christ, more excellent and puissant than the most glorious angels.--_Dod._
The _"wicked"_ man not only does not _"guide"_ his neighbour, but does not guide himself, actually _"leads"_ himself _"astray."_ Here is the same climax we have so often noticed (chap. xi. 14).--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 27.
THE LOSS OF THE SLOTHFUL, AND THE GAIN OF THE DILIGENT.
+I. Even the slothful man may be sometimes roused to activity.+ He is here represented as having made an effort, he has "taken spoil in hunting." There are probably few men who are not sometimes roused to exertion, who do not every now and then make a start towards an industrious life, but they lack perseverance, they do not let one act of industry follow upon another so as to form industrious habits. Therefore--
+II. The slothful man loses by negligence what he has gained.+ "He roasteth not that which he took in hunting." He is too lazy to finish his work. He naturalises the one action by neglecting to perform the other. The food that he has taken is wasted because he is too lazy to roast it, and therefore he might as well have remained idle altogether.
+III. He may thus rob an industrious man.+ The game which he has taken and wasted might have fallen into better hands. Another man might have taken it and put it to good use. A man has no right thus to deprive another of what he is too lazy to put to a good use himself.
+IV. A diligent habit of life is a fortune in itself.+ 1. _It is a possession of which a man cannot be robbed by any of the mischances of life._ A habit is a second nature, and if a man has once acquired the habit of a diligent improvement of his time and opportunities, he can no more lose it than he can his identity. It can be touched by no rise or fall of the market, nor affected by any commercial panic. If he is rich, he will be diligent, and if he becomes poor he will make the most of what still remains to him. 2. _It is a source of continual satisfaction._ God has made men for work, and a rightly constituted mind is never so happy as when all its powers are actively employed. It is a great source of consolation in times of sorrow to have acquired industrious, active habits, for they often help a man to forget, or to rise above his trials. 3. _It makes a man, in one respect, an imitator of God._ The Eternal Ruler of the universe is ever active; diligence is one of His attributes. It is the boast of the Hebrew prophet, concerning the everlasting God, that "He fainteth not, neither is weary" (Isaiah xl. 28). Christ declares that He and His Father are unceasing in their activities: "My father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John v. 17).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
What a diligent man gains becomes, in his hands, precious by the use he makes of it. It is the means of further increase. And his substance becomes "precious" to others as well as to himself. It is industriously, profitably, benevolently used. In _this_ lies the true value of a man's substance;--not in the _acquisition,_ but in the _use._--_Wardlaw._
By translating _remiyah_ the _deceitful,_ instead of the _slothful_ man, which appears to be the genuine meaning of the word, we may obtain a good sense, as the Vulgate has done. "The deceitful man shall not find gain, but the substance of a (just) man shall be the price of gold." But our version, allowing _remiyah_ to be translated _fraudulent,_ gives the best sense. "The fraudulent man roasteth not that which he took in hunting," the justice of God snatching from him what he had acquired unrighteously. Coverdale translates "A dis-creatfull man schal fynde no vauntage: but he that is content with what he hath, is more worth than golde."--_A. Clarke._
The substance of a diligent man is great in value, whatsoever it be in quantity, as a small boxful of pearls is more worth than mountains of pebbles. The house of the righteous hath much treasure. He is without that care in getting, fear in keeping, grief in losing--those three fell vultures that feed continually on the heart of the rich worldling, and dis-sweeten all his comforts. Jabal, that dwelt in tents, and tended the herds, had Jubal to his brother, the father of music. Jabal and Jubal, diligence and complacence, good husbandry and well-contenting sufficiency, dwell usually together.--_Trapp._
Is not this a graphical picture of _the slothful_ professor? He will take up religion under strong excitement. He begins a new course, and perhaps makes some advance in it. But, "having no root in himself," his good frames and resolutions wither away (Matt. xiii. 20, 21). The continued exertion required, the violence that must be done to his deep-rooted habits, the difficulties in his new path, the invitations to present ease, all hang as a weight upon his efforts. . . . No present blessing can be enjoyed without grasping something beyond (Phil. iii. 12-14). Godliness without energy loses _its full reward_ (2 John 8).--_Bridges._
The impenitent, who wait for something to turn up, are the same type of lazy people as love hunting and fishing better than more regular labour. The wise man goes to the root and says, There are no such hunting gains in the spiritual world. He goes further. He seems to remind his reader that character is all that will be left for a man at the last. He seems to imply that man will bring home from his hunt nothing but "his laziness," and would ask whether one can "roast" that like a quail or a duck. And though we start at such horrible absurdity, yet it brings out in keen light a very different possibility for diligence. Diligence _can_ be roasted. It earns for us an eternal heaven, and yet, for all it gets, it is itself our richest dainty. _"One cannot roast laziness as something he has taken in the chase; but a precious treasure of a man is a diligent one."_ It is tantalizing to come so near other and important renderings. Many see very plausibly a meaning like this: _"The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting"_ (so far the English version), meaning that he is wasteful, and suffers what he has actually now to run to loss; _"but the substance of a common man"_ (making the distinction as in verse 14) _"is precious"_ (that is, made account of, and kept) _"by a man of diligence."_ A sinner throws away treasures; a saint values the very smallest. This would be a fine sense if the verse before meant that the _"saint gains from his neighbour."_ _Per contra,_ though, there are difficulties. _"The slothful man"_ (E.V.) in the Hebrew is the _"sloth"_ or _"laziness"_ itself. And the word is feminine, and must be the object rather than the subject of the verb. The meaning is, that sloth cannot be roasted and eaten, but diligence can.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 28.
THE WAY OF LIFE.
+I. There is a way of righteousness in the world.+ 1. _This fact is universally recognised._ Men regard each other as moral and responsible beings. The doctrine of necessity will not do for every-day life. In all positions and conditions, man is met with the assumption that there is a "way of righteousness," and his fellow-men deal with him accordingly. Man could not be held accountable for his actions if a right way of life did not exist, in which it was possible for him to walk. 2. _This fact is confirmed by conscience._ Bad actions are followed by remorse, and good deeds bring gladness to the soul. If there were no way of righteousness, how could this be the case? 3. _It is revealed to us by God._ The Bible sets forth two paths, in one of which man must walk, it foretells a day in which God will judge men, and will hold them guilty who have refused to walk in the way of righteousness after it has been made known to them. Where there is no way of righteousness there can be no transgression, and, consequently, no penalty.
+II. The way of life implies+--1. _A beginning._ All ways or paths have a starting-point, all methods or plans of life date from point of time. 2. _An object in view._ If men walk in a certain road it is presumed that they have some purpose in view. 3. _An end or goal._ So the way of righteousness. Its beginning is "repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;" the object at which it aims by "patient continuance in well-doing" is "glory, and honour, and immortality;" its end is "eternal life" (Acts xx. 21; Rom. ii. 7), for "in the pathway thereof is no death, or immortality" (On this subject see also homiletics on chap. iv. 18.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
From life being said to be in the way of righteousness, I should urge the lesson from the deeds of the hand have a reflex influence upon the state of the heart. There is life in spiritual-mindedness, and it serves to aliment this life to walk in the way of obedience.--_Chalmers._
And life, in any sense, is a sweet mercy, a precious indulgence. Life natural is but a little spot of time between the two eternities, before and after, but it is of great consequence, and given us for this purpose, that glory may be begun in grace, and we have a further and further entrance into the kingdom of heaven here, as Peter saith (2 Peter i. 2). Christ hath unstinged the first death, and made of a postern to let out eternal life, a street-door to let in eternal life. Surely the bitterness of this death is past to the righteous; there is no gall in it; nay, there is honey in it, as once there was in the corpse of Samson's dead lion. And for the second death there is no danger, for they shall pass from the jaws of death to the joys of heaven. Yet, though hell had closed her mouth upon a child of God, it would as little hold him as the whale could Jonah; it must, perforce, regurgitate such a morsel.--_Trapp._
_"Righteousness,"_ which is the very path of the righteous man, is itself eternal life. All men have a _"way,"_ and this implies that all men have an _"end."_ The Psalmist had before announced (Psa.