| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Proverbs
Chapter Eight
Proverbs 8
Chapter Contents
Christ, as Wisdom, calls to the sons of men. (1-11) The
nature and riches of Wisdom. (12-21) Christ one with the Father, in the
creation of the world, and rejoicing in his work for the salvation of man.
(22-31) Exhortations to hear Christ's word. (32-36)
Commentary on Proverbs 8:1-11
(Read Proverbs 8:1-11)
The will of God is made known by the works of creation,
and by the consciences of men, but more clearly by Moses and the prophets. The
chief difficulty is to get men to attend to instruction. Yet attention to the
words of Christ, will guide the most ignorant into saving knowledge of the
truth. Where there is an understanding heart, and willingness to receive the
truth in love, wisdom is valued above silver and gold.
Commentary on Proverbs 8:12-21
(Read Proverbs 8:12-21)
Wisdom, here is Christ, in whom are all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge; it is Christ in the word, and Christ in the heart; not
only Christ revealed to us, but Christ revealed in us. All prudence and skill
are from the Lord. Through the redemption of Christ's precious blood, the
riches of his grace abound in all wisdom and prudence. Man found out many
inventions for ruin; God found one for our recovery. He hates pride and
arrogance, evil ways and froward conversation; these render men unwilling to
hear his humbling, awakening, holy instructions. True religion gives men the
best counsel in all difficult cases, and helps to make their way plain. His
wisdom makes all truly happy who receive it in the love of Christ Jesus. Seek
him early, seek him earnestly, seek him before any thing else. Christ never
said, Seek in vain. Those who love Christ, are such as have seen his
loveliness, and have had his love shed abroad in their hearts; therefore they
are happy. They shall be happy in this world, or in that which is beyond
compare better. Wealth gotten by vanity will soon be diminished, but that which
is well got, will wear well; and that which is well spent upon works of piety
and charity, will be lasting. If they have not riches and honour in this world,
they shall have that which is infinitely better. They shall be happy in the
grace of God. Christ, by his Spirit, guides believers into all truth, and so
leads them in the way of righteousness; and they walk after the Spirit. Also,
they shall be happy in the glory of God hereafter. In Wisdom's promises,
believers have goods laid up, not for days and years, but for eternity; her
fruit therefore is better than gold.
Commentary on Proverbs 8:22-31
(Read Proverbs 8:22-31)
The Son of God declares himself to have been engaged in
the creation of the world. How able, how fit is the Son of God to be the
Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it! The Son of God was ordained,
before the world, to that great work. Does he delight in saving wretched
sinners, and shall not we delight in his salvation?
Commentary on Proverbs 8:32-36
(Read Proverbs 8:32-36)
Surely we should hearken to Christ's voice with the
readiness of children. Let us all be wise, and not refuse such mercy. Blessed
are those who hear the Saviour's voice, and wait on him with daily reading,
meditation, and prayer. The children of the world find time for vain
amusements, without neglecting what they deem the one thing needful. Does it
not show contempt of Wisdom's instructions, when people professing godliness,
seek excuses for neglecting the means of grace? Christ is Wisdom, and he is
Life to all believers; nor can we obtain God's favour, unless we find Christ,
and are found in him. Those who offend Christ deceive themselves; sin is a
wrong to the soul. Sinners die because they will die, which justifies God when
he judges.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Proverbs》
Proverbs 8
Verse 1
[1] Doth
not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
Wisdom — It
is a great question what this wisdom is. Some understand it of the Divine
wisdom; others of the second person in the Godhead: and it cannot be denied
that some passages best agree to the former, and others to the latter opinion.
Possibly both may be joined together, and the chapter may be understood of
Christ considered partly in his personal capacity, and partly in regard of his
office, which was to impart the mind and will of God to mankind.
Verse 2
[2] She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the
paths.
High place —
Where she may be best seen and heard.
Paths —
Where many paths meet, where there is a great concourse, and where travellers
may need direction.
Verse 3
[3] She
crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
Gates —
The places of judgment, and of the confluence of people.
The entry — To
invite passengers at their first coming and to conduct them to her house.
The doors — Of
her house.
Verse 4
[4] Unto
you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
O men — To
all men without exception.
Verse 5
[5] O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding
heart.
Ye simple —
Who want knowledge, and experience.
Fools —
Wilful sinners.
Verse 9
[9] They
are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
To him —
Whose mind God hath enlightened.
To them —
That are truly wise.
Verse 10
[10]
Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
And not silver —
Rather than silver.
Verse 12
[12] I
wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
I dwell — My
inseparable companion is prudence to govern all my actions, and to direct the
actions of others.
Find out — I
help men to find out.
Inventions — Of
all ingenious contrivances for the glory of God, and for the good of men.
Verse 14
[14]
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
Wisdom —
All solid and substantial and useful wisdom is assential to me.
Verse 15
[15] By
me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
By me —
They rule their kingdoms wisely and justly, by my counsel and assistance. Their
injustice is from themselves, but all the good they do, they owe to my conduct.
Verse 17
[17] I
love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
I love — I
do not despise their love, but kindly accept it and recompence it with my love
and favour.
Early —
With sincere affection and diligence, which he mentions as the evidence of
their love.
Verse 21
[21] That
I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their
treasures.
Substance —
Substantial happiness: opposed to all worldly enjoyments, which are but mere
shadows.
Verse 22
[22] The
LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
Possessed me — As
his son by eternal generation, before the beginning.
Of old —
His works of creation.
Verse 23
[23] I
was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Set up —
Heb. anointed, constituted to be the person by whom the Father resolved to do
all his works, to create, to uphold and govern and judge, to redeem and save
the world.
From the beginning —
Before which, there was nothing but a vast eternity.
The earth —
Which together with the heaven, was the first of God's visible works.
Verse 24
[24] When
there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains
abounding with water.
No depths — No
abyss or deep waters.
Brought forth —
Begotten of my father.
Verse 26
[26]
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of
the dust of the world.
The earth —
The dry land called earth after it was separated from the waters Genesis 1:10.
Fields —
The plain and open parts of the earth distinguished from the mountains.
Dust — Of
this lower part of the world which consists of dust.
Verse 27
[27] When
he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of
the depth:
I was there — As
co-worker with my Father.
Depth — Of
that great abyss of water and earth mixed together, which is called both earth
and water and the deep, Genesis 1:2, when he made this lower world in
the form of a globe.
Verse 28
[28] When
he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the
deep:
Strengthened —
When he shut up the fountains in the cavities of the earth, and kept them there
as it were by a strong band.
The deep —
Which have their original from the deep, either from the sea, or from the abyss
of waters in the bowels of the earth.
Verse 31
[31]
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the
sons of men.
My delights were — To
uphold them by my power and providence, to reveal myself and my Father's will
to them from age to age, to assume their nature, and to redeem and save them.
Verse 34
[34]
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the
posts of my doors.
Waiting — As
servants or clients, wait at the doors of princes or persons of eminency.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Proverbs》
08 Chapter 8
Verses 1-36
Verse 1
Doth not Wisdom cry
The personification of Wisdom
Whatever may have been the satisfaction experienced by devout
minds in reading this chapter, as if it contained the words of Christ and
evidence of His pre-existent Divinity, I dare not withhold what I believe to be the true
principle of interpretation.
The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, ere He became flesh, when
“in the beginning He was with God, and was God,” are to my mind quite
insuperable. For example--
1. It should be noticed that the passage is not so applied in any
part of the New Testament. Had any New Testament writer expressly applied any
part of the chapter to the Son of God, this would have been a key which we
could not have been at liberty to refuse.
2. Wisdom here is a female personage. All along this is the case. Now
under such a view the Scriptures nowhere else, in any of their figurative
representations of “the Christ,” ever thus describe or introduce Him.
3. Wisdom does not appear intended as a personal designation,
inasmuch as it is associated with various other terms, of synonymous, or at
least of corresponding, import.
4. The whole is a bold and striking personification of the attribute
of wisdom, as subsisting in Deity (see verse12: “I wisdom dwell with prudence,
and find out knowledge of witty inventions”).
5. Things which are true of a Divine attribute would naturally be
susceptible of application to a Divine person. (R. Wardlaw.)
Verse 2
She standeth in the top of high places.
The purpose and range of Wisdom
She sets up her tower everywhere, and speaks to all mankind. That
is the true wisdom. When we come to understand the purpose and range of true
wisdom, our business will be to see how many people we can get in, not how many
we can keep out. Sometimes we shall endeavour to enlarge the gate, if haply we
may bring some one in who otherwise would be kept outside. Wisdom does not
whisper; she cries: she puts forth her voice; she asks the assistance of
elevation; where men are found in greatest number she is found in greatest
activity. Universality is a proof of the gospel. Any gospel that comes down to
play the trick of eclecticism ought to be branded, and dismissed, and never
inquired for. We want ministers that will speak to the world, in all its
populations, climes, languages, and differences of civilisation and culture. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Verse 4
Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
God revealed in the universe and in humanity
The truth, which can guide us to perfection and to happiness, is
teaching us always and everywhere. God surrounds us constantly with His
instruction. The universal presence of Truth is the subject before us. Wisdom
is omnipresent. The greatest truths meet us at every turn. God is on every
side, not only by His essential invisible presence, but by His manifestations
of power and perfection. We fail to see Him, not from want of light, but from
want of spiritual vision. In saying that the great truths of religion are
shining all about and within us, I am not questioning the worth of the
Christian revelation. The Christian religion concentrates the truth diffused
through the universe, and pours it upon the mind with solar lustre. We cannot
find language to express the worth of the illumination given through Jesus
Christ. But He intends, not that we should hear His voice alone, but that we
should open our ears to the countless voices of wisdom, virtue, and piety, which
now in whispers, now in thunders, issue from the whole of nature and of life.
I. The voice of
wisdom. That is of moral and religious truth speaks to us from the universe.
Nature everywhere testifies to the infinity of its Author. It proclaims a
perfection illimitable, unsearchable, transcending all thought and utterance.
There is an impenetrable mystery in every action and force of the universe that
envelops our daily existence with wonder, and makes sublime the familiar
processes of the commonest arts. How astonishingly does nature differ in her
modes of production from the works of human skill. In nature, vibrating with
motion, where is the moving-energy? What and whence is that principle called
life--life, that awful power, so endlessly various in the forms it
assumes--life that fills earth, air, and sea with motion, growth, activity, and
joy--life that enlivens us--what is it? An infinite universe is each moment
opened to our view. And this universe is the sign and symbol of infinite power,
intelligence, purity, bliss, and love. It is a pledge from the living God of
boundless and endless communications of happiness, truth, and virtue. A
spiritual voice pervades the universe, which is all the more eloquent because
it is spiritual, because it is the voice in which the All-Wise speaks to all
intelligences.
II. The voice of
wisdom utters itself from the world of moral and intelligent beings, the
humanity of which we each form a part. This topic is immense, for the book of
human nature has no end. New pages are added to it every day through successive
generations. Take one great lesson, which all history attests--that there is in
human nature an element truly Divine, and worthy of all reverence; that the
Infinite which is mirrored in the outward universe is yet more brightly imaged
in the inward spiritual world or, in other words, that man has powers and
principles, predicting a destiny to which no bounds can be prescribed, which
are full of mystery, and even more incomprehensible than those revealed through
the material creation.
1. They who disparage human nature do so from ignorance of one of the
highest offices of wisdom. The chief work of Wisdom consists in the
interpretation of signs. The great aim is to discern what the visible present
signifies, what it foreshows, what is to spring from it, what is wrapped up in
it as a germ. This actual world may be defined as a world of signs. What we see
is but the sign of what is unseen. In life an event is the prophetic sign and
forerunner of other coming events. Of human nature we hardly know anything but
signs. It has merely begun its development.
2. In estimating human nature most men rest in a half-wisdom, which
is worse than ignorance. They who speak most contemptuously of man tell the
truth, but only half the truth. Amidst the passions and selfishness of men the
wise see another element--a Divine element, a spiritual principle. Half-wisdom
is the root of the most fatal prejudice. Man, with all his errors, is a
wonderful being, endowed with incomprehensible grandeur, worthy of his own
incessant vigilance and care, worthy to be visited with infinite love from
heaven. The Infinite is imaged in him more visibly than in the outward
universe. This truth is the central principle of Christianity. What is the
testimony of human life to the Divine in man? Take the moral principle. What is
so common as the idea of right? The whole of human life is a recognition in
some way or other of moral distinctions. And no nation has existed, in any age,
that has not caught a glimpse at least of the great principles of right and
wrong. The right is higher altogether in its essential quality than the
profitable, the agreeable, the graceful. It is that which must be done though
all other things be left undone, that which must be gained though all else be
lost. Every human being is capable of rectitude. The power of resisting evil
exists in every man, whether he will exercise it or not. The principle of right
in the human heart reveals duty to the individual. Here, then, we learn the
greatness of human nature. This moral principle--the supreme law in man--is the
law of the universe. Then man and the highest beings are essentially of one
order. It is a joyful confirmation of faith thus to find in the human soul
plain signatures of a Divine principle, to find faculties allied to the
attributes of God, faculties beginning to unfold into God’s image, and presages
of an immortal life. And such views of human nature will transform our modes of
relationship, communication, and association with our fellow-beings. They will
exalt us into a new social life. They will transform our fellowship with God.
How little we know ourselves! How unjust are we to ourselves! We need a new
revelation--not of heaven or hell--but of the Spirit within ourselves. (W.
E. Channing, D. D.)
The voice of Divine Wisdom
I. It is a voice
striving for the ear of all.
II. It is a voice
worthy of the ear of all.
1. Her communications are perfect.
2. They are intelligible.
3. Precious.
4. Exhaustless.
5. Rectifying.
6. Original. What Divine Wisdom gives is undeniably uuborrowed. (Homilist.)
Christ calling to men
There are two suitors for the heart of man. The one suggests the
pleasures of sense, the other the delights of religion. The earthly suitor is
the world, the heavenly suitor is Christ.
I. The speaker.
II. The object he
has in view. Our salvation: our temporal and eternal happiness.
III. The persons to
whom he speaks. Not to fallen angels, but to the sons of men. He utters His
voice in every possible variety of place, if so be that by any means He might
save some. The self-destruction of the impenitent. (Charles Clayton, M. A.)
The matter of Wisdom’s speech
Her exhortation. Her commendation.
I. God’s especial
care is for men.
1. Because there is no creature upon earth more to be wondered at
than man.
2. Because God hath made him more capable of instruction than other
creatures.
3. Because man is most capable of getting good by instruction.
4. Because God sent His Son into the world to become man for the good
of man.
II. God looks that man
should learn.
1. God takes great pains with him.
2. God is at great cost with him.
III. All sorts of
men may be taught by wisdom’s voice.
1. There is a capacity left in mean men.
2. Common gifts of illumination are bestowed on mean men, as well as
great ones.
It reproves great men if they are ignorant; and men of meaner rank
cannot be excused if they are ignorant. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
Wisdom offered to the sons of men
Wisdom shows herself to be truly wise by recognising the different
capacities and qualities of men: “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to
the sons of man.” Children who are at school are accustomed to distinguish
between viri and homines--between the strong and the weak.
“Unto you, O men, I call”--strong, virile, massive--“and my voice is to the
sons of man”--the lesser, the weaker, the more limited in capacity, but men
still--and I will accommodate my speech to the capacity of every one, for I
have come to bring the world to the temple of understanding. Then there is
further discrimination; we read of the “simple” and of the “fools.” “Simple” is
a word which, as we have often seen, has been abused. There ought to be few
lovelier words than “simple”--without fold, or duplicity, or complexity, or
involution: such ought to be the meaning of simple and simplicity. Wisdom comes
to fools, and says she will work miracles. Could a man say, “I am too far gone
for Wisdom to make anything of me,” he would by his very confession prove that
he was still within the range of salvation. “To know one’s self diseased is
half the cure”: to know one’s self to be ignorant is to have taken several
steps on the way to the sanctuary of wisdom. This might be Christ speaking;
yea, there are men who have not hesitated to say that by “Wisdom” in this
chapter is meant the Wisdom of God in history, the Loges, the eternal Son of
God. Certainly, the wisdom of this chapter seems to follow the very course
which Jesus Christ Himself pursued: He will call all men to Himself--the
simple, and the foolish, and the far away; He will make room for all. A
wonderful house is God’s house in that way, so flexible, so expansive; there is
always room for the man who is not yet in. So Wisdom will have men, and sons of
man; simple men, foolish men. By this universality of the offer judge the
Divinity of the origin. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The universal call of the gospel
I. The call of the
text to spiritual duty is addressed to all men.
II. Calls and
invitations serve the following important purposes.
1. They show us our duty and obligation.
2. They show the connection betwixt the state to which we are called
and the enjoyment of the blessing promised.
3. They point out and hold before us what must be accomplished in us,
if ever we be saved.
4. They are intended to shut us up to the faith now revealed.
5. They are designed to show us what we ought to pray for.
6. They are to shut us out of all so-called neutral ground in
spiritual things. (John Bonar.)
Verse 5
Ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
Are you a fool?
The word “fool” is derived from a Latin verb, signifying
“to be inflated with air”; substantive, “a wind-bag.” So a fool is a witless,
blundering creature, one whose conduct is not directed by ordinarily good sense
or judgment. All who do not serve God are fools, according to the Bible way of
looking at things. Many are Bible fools who are not fools according to the
world’s idea.
I. He is a fool
who buys the wealth of the world with the riches of heaven. Does not the soul
far outvalue the
body? Is not eternity greater than time? Thousands choose the
tinsel before the real gold, as did the wicked cardinal, who said, “I prefer a
part in the honours of Paris to a part in the happiness of heaven.”
II. He is a fool
who supposes he can freely indulge in sin, and still keep it under his control.
Men say they will go so far in the direction of this or that sin, and then stop
short. As well might a man allow his train of loaded waggons to run down a
steep declivity, until half the descent was made, before he applied the brakes.
Dr. Johnson says, “The diminutive chains of habit are generally too small to be
felt till they are too strong to be broken.”
III. He is a fool
who, having once received injury, recklessly exposes himself to it a second
time. In other words, He is a fool
who learns nothing from his own folly. The wise man is a wary man; and having
received injury in any direction once, he keeps clear of that coast ever after.
“Experience,” one has said, “is one of the most eloquent of preachers; but she
never has a large congregation.”
IV. He is a fool
who waits till to-morrow before he becomes religious. What has any one to do
with to-morrow? Does he know that he will ever see it? Men may trifle with their
religious opportunities until they are lost beyond recall. Until you enter
fully and lovingly into the service of God you are living like fools, because unnecessarily
imperilling your highest and most urgent interests--because you are living at
enmity with Him in whose favour is everlasting life, and in whose displeasure
is everlasting death. (A. F. Forrest.)
Verse 6
Hear; for I will speak of excellent things.
The excellency of wisdom
Wisdom is represented as making a public appearance in a rude,
ignorant, and corrupt
world, loudly proclaiming her doctrines and counsels, and calling upon all men
to hearken to them. What consideration could be more powerful to engage their
attention than this, that she speaketh of “excellent things”: the opening of
her lips is of “right things,” and her mouth speaketh “truth.” I propose to
show that this is the just character of the instructions and precepts of
religious virtue.
I. The excellence
of the doctrines and injunctions of wisdom, absolutely and in themselves. We
must fix an idea of excellence, making it the standard whereby to try
everything which pretendeth to that character. There must be some common and
plain rule wherein all men are agreed, and which must have so deep a foundation
in nature as the necessary invariable determination of our minds. If you
suppose the character of excellent and right to be the result of arbitrary
human constitutions, it would never be uniform. But our notions of excellent
and right are before the consideration of all laws, appointments, orders, and
instructions whatsoever; for we bring all these to the test in our own minds,
and try them by a
sense which we have prior to any of them. Nor does this sense depend on any
positive declaration of God’s will. The original idea of excellence is
essential to our nature. It is one of those perceptions to which we are
necessarily determined when the object fitted to excite it is presented to us.
There is a test, or power of discerning, in the mind. And this discerns the
excellency of religious things. Set right and true against their opposites, in
any case wherein you are competent judges, and you will see to which of them
your own minds must necessarily give the preference. There is eternal truth in
all God’s testimonies; they are founded on self-evident maxims.
II. Compare the
doctrines and precepts of wisdom with other things which are most valued by
man, and show their superior worth. That wisdom is better than rubies, pearls,
or whatever else can be described in this world, is shown--
1. In that none of them come up to the character of excellence
before insisted on, and which must be attributed to wisdom. They all have only
a limited and relative worth.
2. The most precious treasures of this world are not valued but with
some regard to virtue, but religious wisdom is necessarily esteemed excellent
independently of them, and without any manner of regard to them.
3. The things of this world, which rival wisdom in our esteem, have
many inconveniences attending the acquisition and use of them, which do not
affect this invaluable possession. Application:
Verse 7
For my mouth shall speak truth.
The doctrines of religion have their evidence in themselves
I. Confirm and
illustrate this proposition.
1. Those things which religion requires of us are such as Reason
herself, when she forms her judgment aright, cannot but approve, or, at most,
cannot justly refuse her assent to them. This will appear with respect to the
practical commands and duties of religion. The duties which seem to bear
hardest upon human nature are repentance, mortification, contempt of this
world, loving our enemies, suffering persecution for righteousness’ sake, and
the like; which do all recommend themselves to our minds by their
reasonableness. Though we have not the same clue of reason to conduct us
through all the high mysteries of our faith, yet here also reason will justify
us in yielding a firm and uncontroverted assent of mind to them, as having
solid grounds of authority to rely upon, for the belief of them, which cannot
possibly deceive us.
II. The concurrent
judgment and approbation of all wise and good men both as to the evidence and
reasonableness of these doctrines and laws. The judgment of such persons ought
to be of great weight and moment,
as being a judgment based on personal experience. These men not
only know the truth,
but feel such a sensible force and power of it upon their minds, as both
enlightens their understanding to discern its real excellency, and gently bends
their wills to receive and embrace it. Faith is no hasty and blind credulity,
but a sober and rational assent of mind, built upon sure and solid principles.
III. Such persons as
have no unjust prejudices against religion prevailing in their minds will
sooner be brought to examine the several proofs and testimonies of its truth
and divine authority. A fair examination of these proofs will not fail of
giving them entire satisfaction. In dealing with the Jews, our Lord Jesus
appealed to the consonancy of His doctrine with their own established law. He
submitted His life and doctrine to their trial.
IV. they who fairly
examine the truths of religion, and are disposed to embrace them upon
sufficient evidence, shall have that internal illumination of God’s Holy Spirit
which shall clearly discover the excellency and agreeableness of them to their
minds. God will not give them a full and intuitive view into the great and
sublime mysteries of religion. God will give such knowledge as our present
faculties can receive.
1. Religion is very plain and intelligible to all those who are
willing to understand it.
2. Prejudice gains an almost invincible power over the minds of men.
3. The more men improve in the knowledge and practice of religion,
the greater will
be their satisfaction in it. The best men will have the most important secrets
of God’s will revealed to them. (John Cornwall, D. D.)
Verse 10
Receive my instruction, and not silver.
The commendation of wisdom
I. Knowledge must
be received.
1. Do not refuse knowledge offered you in the Book of God.
2. Do not refuse instruction offered you by God’s ministers.
II. Knowledge must
be received by way of instruction. Instruction is necessary, as it does not
come by nature, and God does not teach it now by miracle.
III. Knowledge must
be more readily received than silver or gold. It can do that which gold and
silver can never do. It is the best riches. More is gotten by labouring for
knowledge than for money. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
Verse 11
For wisdom is better than rubies.
Rubies
This jewel is called a sardius in two places in the Bible. The
name comes from the Latin “Ruber,” which means red, and this name is given to
the ruby because of its colour. It is sometimes called a carbuncle. We may
regard the ruby as representing love or charity. What is there about the ruby
on account of which love or charity may be compared to it? What did people in
olden times think the ruby could do?
I. Cure sorrow. It
was thought that a ruby had the power of driving away sadness from their
hearts, or of curing their sorrows. That was not true, but this is true--if we
have this ruby, a heart of love to Jesus, it will help to cure our own sorrows,
and help us to cure other people.
II. Shine in the
dark. Stories used to be told of rubies and other jewels being employed,
instead of lamps, in dark caverns, to give light, just as if they had power in
themselves to shine like so many suns. But this was a mistake. It is only true
of the Bible ruby. Real love to anybody, and especially the love of Jesus, will
shine in the dark. And when we speak of love shining in the dark, we mean that
it will give us help and comfort in trouble. It will make us able to do and
suffer things that we never could do without it.
III. Keep them from
harm. People used to carry a ruby about them as a sort of charm. It is only the
Bible ruby that can keep from danger. Loving and trusting God will be a true
charm. The ruby heart will keep us from getting hurt. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The supreme worth of wisdom
What does Wisdom offer? She offers to surpass in value everything
that men have yet honoured with their appreciation. She will put aside rubies,
and things that are to be desired, and all gold, and she will stand alone,
absolutely unique in worth. Gold may be lost, rubies may be stolen; desire may
say, “I cannot pant and gasp any longer, I have been filled to satiety: let me
die.” Nor are these things to be ignored as to their temporary value and uses.
He is a foolish man who despises gold and rubies and pearls and choice silver:
he is more foolish still who thinks they can buy him anything that he can take
into eternity with him. In death all these things leave the possessor. That is
a mournful reality. May not a man take the family jewels with him? No, not one.
Must he go into the other world empty-handed. Yes, empty-handed: he brought
nothing into this world, and it is certain he can carry nothing out. Then we
have only a life-right in them? Is there anything that will go with a man clear
through to the other spaces? Yes: character will go with him. The man’s character
is the man
himself. The wise man has the key of all the worlds. And the fool has the key
of none of them. He who is without wisdom is without riches. He who has wisdom
has all wealth. The wise man is never solitary. He has the thoughts of ages. He
is a silent prophet; he will not write his prophecies but oh, how they make him
glow, how they send a radiance into his vision, how they make him despise the
charms, seductions, and blandishments of a lying world that rattles the bag of
its emptiness to prove its treasure! (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 12
I, Wisdom, dwell with Prudence.
Prudence
This has been brought into unmerited contempt by being associated
with what is really its opposite. The abuse of the title has led to practical
evils. Individuals have been known to despise prudence as the most beggarly of
the virtues, from a mistaken apprehension of its qualities. Marking the errors
of the niggardly--the muck-worms of society--some persons conclude at once
against the utility of prudence, and read the text, “There is that scattereth,
and yet increaseth,” in a perverted sense. Nothing will they save, or provide
for; and so against imprudence in one extreme they set up imprudence in the
other. There is no such short cut to happiness; the spendthrift is as far off
from felicity as the save-all. The only security lies in a positive assertion
and practical affirmation of the whole doctrine and discipline of prudence in
its purity and truth. We must conceive the right idea of Prudence, properly
define her characteristics, arrive at an honest appreciation of her gifts and
graces, and devote ourselves to her, as her faithful ministrants, in all her
relations, social, intellectual, and moral. Such a prudence is co-mate with the
loftiest wisdom. The prudential course of conduct would commend itself as an
illustration of the most elevated philosophy. It would be at one with the most
benevolent and beneficent impulses of the human heart, and at the same time
insure the true interests of every individual who acted in obedience to its
precepts. (The Scottish Pulpit.)
Of religious prudence
According to the general design of these proverbial writings,
wisdom stands before religion, and religion is expressed by the fear of God.
Prudence is either universal or particular. Universal prudence is the same with
the doctrine of morality, the application of the most proper means, viz.,
virtuous actions, towards the acquiring the chief end, the happiness of man.
And particular prudence is distinguished by the different objects and ends
about which it is conversant, and is the prosecution of any lawful design by
such methods as shall appear to be best, upon a due consideration of
circumstances. The text asserts that there is an inseparable connection between
religion and prudence. Neither can be without the other.
I. There is no
true political prudence, but what is founded upon religion, or the fear of God.
God has delivered the government of the world to men, reserving to Himself a
power over nature and a philosophy consisted in pretending to give an account
of the world and its original, without an infinite understanding and first
mover. And the main corruption of prudence consists in attempting the
government of the world by human policy, without a due submission to the
providence of God. Proud reasoners, and the sensual part of mankind, either
wholly deny a providence or attribute very little to its superintendency and
power. The universal history of the world, and the particular histories of
nations and families, are full of the tragical end of those proud politicians
who thought to govern without God, and to be prudent without religion. A
natural sagacity is not sufficient for man, who is accountable for his actions,
who must engage on no designs but what are rational, nor pursue them by any
means but what are just and lawful. The wisdom that degenerates into craft is
really mischievous folly. An uprightness of action, a constancy in virtue, and
unmovable frame of mind and resolution of always pursuing what is just and
beneficial to the public, by right and laudable ways, will make a man
fortunate, valuable, and reverenced--fit for any trust.
II. The pious
person in the main is the truly judicious. Wisdom is the knowledge of things
great, admirable, and Divine, whereby the mind is raised and enlarged into
delightful contemplations; and prudence is a right practical judgment, or the
skill of judging what we are to do, and what not, and of distinguishing between
good and evil, and the degrees of each. The ancient moralists never allowed a
wicked man to be prudent. They declare that a wicked life corrupts the very
principles of true prudence and right reason. Prudence is that virtue or power
of the soul whereby the mind deliberates rightly, and finds out what is best to
be done, when all things are considered; or it helps us to discover what are
the best means for obtaining a good end. Now it is religion that qualifies the
mind to consider practical matters in their true nature and consequences; that
purifies the intention, corrects the inclination, moderates the affections, and
make our deliberations calm and wise. It is the fear of God that sets bounds to
prudence, that shows how far we are to act in any undertaking, and where we are
to resign things up to a higher Conduct. It is temperance that gives us
intellectual vigour, that makes us masters of our reason. These, and such-like
virtues, being the prerequisites, or ingredients, of all true prudence, it is
the pious man that in the main is the truly judicious person. But it is the
truly pious man. It is a very imperfect notion of prudence to think that it
consists in an exact knowledge of the world, or in getting a large share and
possession of it.
III. That particular
prudence which is required in the conduct of a religious life.
1. The first rule for the more prudent conduct of a religious life
is, not to engage in things which are above our sphere.
2. Not presently to catch at perfection and the highest instances of
piety. There is an order of duties, and a gradual advancement in religion.
Enthusiasts make mad work with religion.
3. Not to engage too vehemently in things of an indifferent nature.
4. Not to spoil a good constitution of soul by any superstitious
fancies or unnecessary scruples of conscience. Piety alone keeps men in the
right, the safe, the pleasant path. (Bp. T. Mannyngham.)
True prudence
Many men are prudent who are not wise--that is to say, they are
superficially cautious, sagacious, calculating; but they are never wise. True
wisdom is the metaphysic of prudence. It is the innermost life and reality, and
it expresses itself in the large prudence which sees more points than can be seen by mere cleverness.
He that seeketh his life shall lose it; he that will throw away his life for
Christ’s sake shall find it, and shall thus prove himself in the long run to be
the truly prudent man. Beware of the prudence that is as a skeleton. The true
prudence is the living body, inhabited by a living soul--the soul is wisdom.
Sometimes wisdom will drive a man to do apparently foolish things--at least,
things that cannot be understood by those who live in rectangles, two inches by
one and a half. But “Wisdom is justified of her children”; she calmly abides
the issue of the third day, and raised again, she vindicates her origin and
declares her destiny. (J. Carter, D. D.)
Verse 13
The fear of the Lord to to hate evil.
Hatred of evil
A formal definition of the fear of the Lord. To dread the
punishment of sin seems to be the main feature in that religion which, under
many forms, springs native in the human heart. This is the mainspring which
sets and keeps all the machinery of superstition going. It was a maxim of
heathen antiquity, that “Fear made God.” To fear retribution is not to hate
sin. It is a solemn suggestion that ever the religion of dark, unrenewed men
is, in its essence, a love of their own sins. Instead of hating sin themselves,
their grand regret is that God hates it. If they could be convinced that the
Judge would regard it as lightly as the culprit, the fear would collapse like
steam under cold water, and all the religious machinery which it drove would
stand still. All the false religions that have ever desolated the earth are
sparks from the collision of these two hard opposites--God’s hate of sin, and
man’s love for it. In Christ only may this sore derangement be healed. It is
when sin is forgiven that a sinner can hate it. Instead of hating God for His
holiness, the forgiven man instinctively loathes the evil of his own heart, and
looks with longing for the day when all things in it shall be made new. Such is
the blessed fruit of pardon when it comes to a sinner through the blood of
Christ. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
A hidden token of the fear towards God
It is not merely in enlightenment of mind that the fear towards
God has its result. “By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” This
departing from evil is the practical manifestation of a principle; it is
habitual practice founded on a strong conviction of duty. In this text, the
fear of the Lord is connected with the inward feeling of dislike for evil.
Hatred, like love, is of the heart.
I. This fear must
not be misunderstood as to its nature. It may be twofold. The alarm that is
awakened by the threat of violence, or of immediate privation, is one kind of
fear. This is the fear of dread, or terror. The other kind of fear is of
respect or reverence, and this can only dwell in the heart of a friend towards
a friend, or of a faithful servant towards a master worthy of esteem, or of a
dutiful child towards an honoured parent. This is the “fear of the Lord.” What
other fear should God be desirous of receiving and acknowledging at their
hands?
II. If there be
this fear, there will also be the hatred of evil. The Holy One cannot be so
indulgent as to put no difference between godly fear and the love of sin. God
hates evil as abhorrent from His holy nature. To require that we hate evil is
no more than what the holiness of His own character requires from Himself. This
requirement shows that God would draw us nearer to Himself. As He hates evil,
He would have us hate it. (J. Rhenius, M. A.)
Verse 14
I have understanding; I have strength.
The self-assertion of Christ
Here is more than a florid personification of wisdom. It is the
Word who is from everlasting--“Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”
I. The
self-assertion of Christ. Exhibited in three ways.
1. Christ claims a boundless power of satisfying human wants.
2. Christ claims for Himself the most transcendent ideals.
3. Christ claims the possession of absolute truth, by the very form
and mode, as well as by the substance, of His teaching.
II. The bearing of
that self-assertion on certain difficulties of our day. Take the tone of much
of the record in the Old Testament.
1. The Old Testament is a progressive system. Then much of it must be
imperfect.
2. The Old Testament contains the pathology and diagnosis of sin. In
meeting the difficulties of the Old Testament, the self-assertion of the “Amen”
is our stay. He who spake the words given in Matthew 5:17-18, knew the Old Testament.
We talk of the extermination of the Canaanites. Are we gentler than He? We are
offended by the polygamy of the patriarchs. Can we survey marriage with a purer
gaze than that of the virgin eye which is also the eye of God? We take the book
as it is from the hand of Him who says, “I am understanding.”
3. Take the general sources of unbelief and their salient characteristics.
The source of unbelief is not always genuine thought, it is often feebleness of
character and moral enervation. The secret of strength is to believe in Him who
says, “I have strength.” (Abp. W. Alexander.)
Verse 15
By Me kings reign.
Christian loyalty
I. The special
cause that we have for increased thankfulness to God.
1. We ought to be thankful for any event which tends to secure the
blessings of peace to our country.
2. A state of peace, as it is most conducive to the temporal
interests of a nation, so too it is essential to the interests of true
religion.
II. The duty of
praying constantly and earnestly for those who are lawfully set over us. (H.
W. Sulivan, M. A.)
Civil governments and their subjects
In this chapter is the figure of speech known as prosopoeia, or
personification, in which any eminent quality or distinct attribute is invested
with personal powers and properties, and is said to hear, to speak, to govern,
to suffer, or to enjoy, and indeed, whatever else a person amongst us is
capable of doing. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the personal and essential
Wisdom of God. Here one of His prerogatives is alarmed--He has supreme control
and authoritative influence over the great ones of the earth. The
administration of all things in the natural and providential, as well as in the
spiritual kingdom, is confided into His hands.
I. Civil
government is of Divine institution; it is an ordinance of God. It is not the
creature of chance; nor founded in the social compact; or by a sort of
conventionality understood between the governed and the governors; but is based
on the will of God.
1. Prove this by appeal to reason. God formed mankind with a view to
happiness, and civil government is necessary to happiness. There can be no
happiness without order, security, freedom. It never has been known that human
beings, in any large numbers, have existed for any considerable time without
the intervention of governments.
2. Prove this by appeal to Scripture (Romans 13:1-3; 1 Peter 2:13). God is not the author
of any specific form or mode of government in His Holy Word. In the case of
Israel God dictated the special system of political government known as the
Theocracy. But in other cases the mode of government is left to the suggestions
of human wisdom, the improvements of time, and the claims and requirements of
experience and of circumstances.
II. The duties
which subjects owe to their civil government.
1. Reverence and respect, for conscience’ sake, and for the Lord’s
sake. The language of censure never becomes a subject towards his ruler but under the four
following restrictions--
2. Obedience to the laws. Disobedience to the laws is a sin against
the public, and a virtual attack upon the social character of man.
3. Our proportion of contribution to the exigencies of the State.
4. We owe to our rulers to defend and support them in the lawful
exercise of their authority.
5. And earnest prayer to God for His blessing upon them. This is the
dictate of common benevolence, and is sanctioned and enjoined by a regard to
the public welfare. It is the official character of the civil governor that is
the ground upon which prayer is claimed for him. The direction of the faculties
and talents and influence of the individual must materially interfere with the
safety and happiness of the community. We may, therefore, wisely implore God to
assist in their counsels those whom, in His providence, He has exalted. (G.
Clayton, M. A.)
The connection of our Lord Christ with earthly sovereignty
I. The gifts which
our Lord Christ has received for us.
1. The speaker. Wisdom personified. Wisdom in itself is perfect only
in God. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is called “the
Word,” which is wisdom manifested in utterance, and issuing in streams of
blessings.
2. The gifts. Counsel, or practical wisdom. Sound wisdom, or inward
principles. Understanding, shown in refusing the evil and choosing the good.
Strength, the gift necessary to complete the other gifts.
3. For whom has the Redeemer these gifts? Generally, for the human
race. Specially for kings, and all that are in authority.
II. The connection
of our Lord with the sovereignty of the earth. The true sovereignty of the
whole earth belongs to our Lord Christ. All other power is simply derived from
Him. (E. Bickersteth.)
Thanksgiving to Almighty God
The origin of kings may be traced as far back as authentic history
extends. The kings engaged in the Persian wars appear to be among the first of
whom any regular historical connection may be relied upon; indeed, we must have
recourse to the sacred writings of the Jews for the earliest historical
information. The Jewish historians frequently impute their national calamities
to the vices of their monarchs. The words of this text imply--
1. A delegated authority, given by God Himself, in the appointment
of kings and rulers.
2. That all earthly crowns must perish--that all earthly sovereigns
are mortal. It is incumbent on all sincere Christians on special national
occasions to acknowledge with gratitude the hand of Almighty God, and to adorn
the Divine providence which superintends all worldly affairs; and let us rest
assured that the exercise of almighty power and infinite goodness is combined
with that mercy which is so strikingly exhibited throughout the vast range of
creation, and which will be abundantly manifested in the realms of unfading
glory. (N. Meeres, B. D.)
Good government
1. Magistrates cannot rule well without wisdom. They need wisdom in
consultation and in execution.
2. Men cannot make good laws without wisdom. In regard of matter or
manner.
3. Princes cannot rule well without just laws. Bless God that we live
under laws, and are not left to the mere will of men. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The wisdom behind civil government
If good laws against ill manners be, as sure they are, decrees
of justice, these kings and princes, with inferior magistrates, will be the
governing societies, here on earth, for public reformation. Civil rulers should
be considered as subordinate to that ever-blessed society of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit above, the one God who, through the one Mediator between God
and man, hath graciously vouchsafed to concern Himself for the reformation of a
degenerate world, that iniquity might not be, at least so speedily or
universally, its ruin.
I. The tendency of
civil government to public reformation, in which common safety and happiness is
so manifestly concerned. The very decreeing of justice, or the justice in good
and wholesome laws decreed, has a natural and evident tendency to public
reformation, with all its implied and consequent advantages. Ill manners have
given the occasion to many good laws, which, though they serve to direct and
confirm the good, yet are principally designed to correct and reform the bad.
It is wrong and weakness to attempt government by mere compulsion. All fit
methods of dealing with men must take hold of some principles, allowed or
presumed, if not confessed. The great business of good laws will be more
effectually to repress the overt acts of those vicious inclinations which so
often lead men, in particular cases, contrary to the general dictums of their
own deliberate judgment and conscience. See the matter and measure of some of
the principal decrees of justice; as--
1. To God; that He be not openly affronted by the denial of His
being, neglect of evident duty, and daring commission of notorious sin.
2. To the community; that private interests give way to that of the
public.
3. To the magistrate; that all needful defence be provided, with a
power sufficient for the asserting of his just authority.
4. To subjects more generally considered. The saving and securing to
them those rights and liberties
which are due, whether by common reason or the particular reason and
fundamental contract.
5. To the poor; that the disabled and destitute be maintained; that
the able and willing want not work, nor the idle a spur to labour.
6. To offenders themselves; that the justly obnoxious go not
unpunished, nor yet their punishment outweigh the offence.
7. To persons of merit. Honour and other rewards are surely a point
of justice due to such. Surely such decrees of justice are a public testimony
for virtuous actions, and against the contrary vices. Whilst the preceptive
part of such decrees recommends virtuous actions to the understanding, their
sanctions of reward and punishment most fitly serve to press them on the will,
as powerfully moving those two great springs of human action--hope and fear.
The execution of just decrees gives a standing and open confirmation to them,
as being the abiding sense of our rulers. They have evidently been well weighed
and wisely resolved.
II. The Son of God,
the reforming, saving wisdom, on whom government depends. The term “son” is
taken from amongst men, and though it cannot exactly agree to Him who is the Son of God, yet
certainly intends to lead us to some such apprehensions about Him as may be
allowed to our weakness, and will be sufficient for our purpose. The salvation
of men is everywhere in Sacred Writ represented as the great design and
business of this Wisdom, which well knows that pride, arrogancy, and the evil
way will never comport with the peace and welfare of men either in their single
or social capacity. The government of the Son as Mediator is to be founded in
redemption, and exercised in a way of reformation. Religion in a degenerate
world is but another name for reformation: especially the Christian religion,
which was to correct not only the irreligion but also the superstitions of the
world. It has been the care of our gracious Redeemer to recover the declining
reformation under the happy influence of present governments.
III. The more
immediate dependence of civil government on the Son of God. True it is that our
Saviour’s kingdom is not of a secular but spiritual nature: but His subjects
are embodied spirits, and have their temporal as well as eternal concernments.
Civil government decrees justice--
1. By our Saviour’s purchase and procurement.
2. Providential disposal.
3. Counsel and aid.
4. Appointment and authority. (Joshua Oldfield.)
The Divine right of kings
I. The authority
or right by which kings reign. Monarchs and their authority have an
acknowledged cause, and that cause external to themselves. All is derived from
some other person. The person who speaks in this passage could be no other than
the eternal Son of God. When St. John beheld our Lord in the Apocalypse, he saw
Him as the fount and origin of government, with many crowns upon His head. Meet
it was that the kings of the several quarters of the world should have their
being by Him who is King of all the world; that all crowns, both the crown of
glory in heaven and the crown of highest glory on earth, should be held of Him.
By Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the Son of God, monarchs hold their rule and
kingdoms are governed. They reign not by His mere leave, but by His express
commission. They reign in Him and by Him. He reigns in them and by them; He in
them as His deputies, they in Him as their authoriser; He by their persons,
they by His power.
II. The act of
reigning. Consider it in three different ways. That they reign at all; that
they reign long; that they reign well. Each of these is alike the gift of God.
By Him, His co-eternal Word and Wisdom, as by a door, they enter on their
reign. By Him, as by a line which He stretches over every government, be it
longer or shorter, they hold its continuance. Finally, by Him, as by a rule,
they reign; they walk before the Lord their God; consider whom they represent,
whose ministers and vicegerents they are. It is duration that constitutes a
reign. Now, without any question, this depends on God. When they have begun
they may end quickly, if He who create do not also preserve. And so that right
reigning, upon which only a continuance of reign is promised. Can we believe
that the complicated machinery of government can be preserved if religion be
neglected? But our business now is with subjects, not kings. What has been said
imposes duty on them. And even as, if princes considered by whom they reign,
they would reign better, so also, if subjects remembered the same truth, they
would obey better. For it from Him comes the authority, to Him is the duty of
allegiance; and we are bound to be subject, not for wrath only, but also for
conscience sake. Remember who it is that speaks. He is Christ, and he is called
Wisdom. If Christ speaks, disloyalty and disaffection are anti-Christian. If
Wisdom speaks, they are folly. Folly in itself, and folly in its consequences.
Let Wisdom, then, be still justified in her children. (G. S. Cornish, M. A.)
Per me reges regnant
How do men claim to be kings? how do they hold their
sovereign authority? by whose grant? Of the four words of the motto, the two latter (reges
and regnant) be two as great
matters as any be in the world. One, the persons themselves, as they be kings. The
other, the act of their reigning, or bearing rule over nations. These two
latter words depend on the two former--per me. By and through Him kings
were first settled in their reigns. By and through Him ever since upholden in
their reigns. By and through Him vouchsafed many miraculous preservations in
their reigns.
I. Kings and
kingdoms have their “per.” They are no casualties. There is a cause of a king’s
reigning. That cause is a person.
“By Me”--that is, not man or angel, but God only; God manifest.
By Him--
1. Because He was man.
2. Because He is wisdom.
3. Because on Him the
Father hath conferred all the kingdoms of the earth.
III. Kings reign.
Consider this reigning three ways.
1. As it hath a beginning.
2. As it hath continuance.
3. As it hath rectitude or obliquity incident to every act.
These three are duly
set on every king’s head through all the story of the Bible. Such a king is
said to have been so many years old when he began to reign. He reigned in
Jerusalem, or Samaria, so many years. And he reigned well or ill. (Bp.
Lancelot Andrewes.)
The authority of Divine Wisdom
Wisdom here speaks of herself as the queen of the world. Wisdom, in the exercise
of her authority--
I. Determines the
destiny of rulers.
1. It inspires all the good actions of kings.
2. It controls all the bad actions of kings.
II. Has a special
regard for the good. Divine wisdom has heart as well as intellect; it glows
with sympathies as well as radiates with counsels.
III. Has the
distribution of the choicest blessings for mankind. (David Thomas, D. D.)
Verses 17. I love them
that love Me.
Emotion and evidence
The mind must reach religion’s creed by help of the heart. Reason
is not to be set aside, but, with the value of the rational faculty exalted to
its highest honour, the affections of the heart must constantly aid the
rational faculty if it is expected to accomplish much in the realm of moral truth. There must be an
attuning of the two instruments, the objective truth and the subjective man,
such that the music of the former may not be rejected as a discord or lost
because inaudible. Wisdom has always distributed her truth to those who love
her. Those special ideas called “religion” will become truths or doctrines only
by help of the heart’s friendship. Unless men can reach some wish in their
favour, some partiality for them, it is hardly to be supposed that mere logic
will ever force them upon individual or public practices. The power of the mind
to reject conclusions not welcome to the feelings is enormous. It is possible
that the poverty of evidence, confessed in this world to exist as to vast moral
propositions, comes from the fact that earth was made, not for a wicked but for
a virtuous race. Sin may have destroyed evidence by destroying the sentiments
that made it visible. The exact sciences proclaim their ideas to all, and ask
no favour of any kind. The evidences of Christianity must be weighed by a mind
not averse to virtue, not averse to the being and presence of a just God, but
full of tender sympathy with man. By a soul capable of sadness and of hope. (David
Swing.)
The characters whom Christ loves
The love which Christ entertains for His people is an affection
the nature and extent of which can be learned only from a consideration of the
causes which produce it.
I. The foundation
of that love was laid in eternity.
II. Christ loves
those who love Him because He has done and suffered so much for their
salvation. He purchased them with His blood. From the birth to the death of His
people He watches over them with unremitting attention. He forgives their sins,
alleviates their sorrows, sympathises in their trials, heals their
backslidings, wipes away their tears, listens to their prayers, intercedes for
them with His Father, enables them to persevere, and accompanies them through
the valley of the shadow of death. All this care and attention naturally tends
to increase His love for them.
III. Christ loves
those who love Him because they are united to Him by strong and indissoluble
ties. The union between Christ and His people is presented under various
figures--bride-groom and bride, vine and branches, head and members, soul and
body. The bond of this union on our part is faith, but the union itself is
formed by the appointment of God.
IV. Christ loves
those who love Him because they possess His spirit and bear His image.
Similarity of character always tends to produce affection, and hence every
being in the universe loves his own image whenever he discovers it. Christ
loves His own image in His creatures because it essentially consists in holiness, which is
of all things most pleasing to His Father and Himself.
V. Christ loves
those who love Him because they rejoice in and return His affection. It is the
natural tendency of love to produce and increase love. Even those whom we have long
loved on account either of their relation to us or of their amiable qualities
become incomparably more dear to us when they begin to prize our love and
return it. Improvement:
1. This subject may enable every one to answer the important
question, Does Christ love me?
2. If Christ loves those who love Him, then He will love those most
who are most ready to return His affection, to do all things, and to suffer all
things for His sake.
3. How happy are they who love! What happiness, then, must they enjoy
who love and are
beloved by the infinite fountain of love, God’s eternal Son!
4. These truths afford most powerful motives to induce sinners to
love Christ. (E. Payson, D. D.)
To whom will Wisdom give her good things
On them that love her she will bestow love again. On them that
seek her aright she will bestow herself. There is great use of Wisdom, and she
hath great store of wealth to bestow. How shall we obtain this Wisdom? Love her
and get her. Love is the best Master of Arts, the surest teacher. As the good
fruit of the study of Wisdom is very great, so the labour of them that respect
her is not in vain. They shall enjoy both her love and herself.
I. Wisdom loves
such as love her.
II. Wisdom must be
sought for early and diligently.
III. Such as seek for
wisdom diligently shall Find her. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The love of wisdom necessary to the attaining of it
I. Explain the
love of wisdom, and show the sentiments and dispositions that are imported in
it. The affections and passions of the human nature are the moving springs
which set our active powers at work. Various are the methods by which the
objects of affection are introduced into the mind. Some wholly by the senses,
some by reflection, inquiry, comparing things, and forming general notions of them.
What is imported in the love of wisdom is--
1. A high esteem of its superior excellency as the result of mature
consideration.
2. That we should desire it above all things. This Solomon proposeth
as a qualification and means of attaining wisdom.
3. Love naturally showeth itself in the complacency which the mind
taketh in the enjoyment of, or even in meditating upon, the beloved objects.
II. How it
contributeth to our obtaining wisdom.
1. In ordinary human affairs we see that desire putteth men upon that
labour and diligence which are the ordinary means of success.
2. The love of wisdom is a disposition highly pleasing to God, and to
it He hath made gracious promises. We must conceive of the Supreme Being as a
lover of virtue and goodness, of everything which is truly amiable on the
account of moral excellence; and if it be so, He hath complacency in those of
mankind whose affections are placed on the same thing which is His delight. We
have, therefore, the greatest encouragements and advantages for attaining to
wisdom, and we ought to use all diligence in humble and affectionate
concurrence with Him who worketh in us. (J. Abernethy, M. A.)
God loves those that love Him
I. What kind of
love God exercises towards them that love Him. There is the love of benevolence
and the love of complacency. These two kinds of love are of the same nature,
but distinguished by the objects upon which they terminate. The love of
benevolence terminates upon percipient being, and extends to all sensitive
natures, whether rational or irrational, whether they have a good, or bad, or
no moral character. God desires and regards the good of all His creatures, from
the highest angel to the lowest insect. The love of complacency is wholly
confined to moral beings who are possessed of moral excellence. Nothing but
virtue, or goodness, or real holiness is the object of God’s complacence.
II. What is implied
in men’s loving God?
1. Some true knowledge of His moral character.
2. True love to God implies esteem as well as knowledge. Esteem always
arises from a conviction of moral excellence in the person or being esteemed.
All men have a moral discernment of moral objects. Sinners cannot contemplate
the infinite greatness and goodness of God without discerning His infinite
worthiness to be loved.
3. Their loving God truly implies a supreme complacency in His moral
character. In the exercise of true love to any object there is a pleasure taken
in the object itself. When men truly love God they take pleasure in every part
of His moral character.
III. Why does God
only love such as first love Him? Before they first love Him they are not
lovely. Their hearts are full of evil, and entirely opposed to all that is
good. They are under the dominion of selfishness, which is total enmity to all
holiness. But there is
something in God which renders Him lovely and glorious before He loves sinners;
and therefore they can love Him before He loves them. Improvement:
1. If God does not love sinners before they first love Him, then it
is a point of more importance in preaching the gospel to make them sensible
that He hates them than that He loves them.
2. Then the first exercise of love to Him must be before they know
that He loves them.
3. Then they must love Him, while they know that He hates them, and
is disposed to punish them for ever.
4. Then sinners are naturally as unwilling to embrace the gospel as
to obey the law.
5. If God love those who first love Him, then He is willing to
receive them into His favour upon the most gracious and condescending terms.
6. If God does not love sinners before they love Him, then they have
no right to desire or pray that He would become reconciled to them while they
continue to hate and oppose Him.
7. If God loves sinners as soon as they love Him, then, if they
properly seek Him, they shall certainly find Him. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Love returned
These words do not set forth either--
1. That Christ’s love is produced by ours. Its source is Himself.
2. Or that Christ’s love is since ours. It is eternal.
3. Or that Christ’s love is dependent on ours. Unchangeable.
4. Or that Christ’s love is only for those who love Him. He gave the
greatest proof of it while we were enemies.
I. Those who
return Christ’s love have the evidence of His love to them.
II. Those who
return Christ’s love receive special manifestations of grace from Him. Answered
prayers, the Spirit’s comfort, success in labour, joys of communion.
III. Those who
return Christ’s love have the position and title of His loved ones. Brethren,
friends, sons of God.
IV. Those who return
Christ’s love give Him special gladness. (R. A. Griffin.)
And those that seek Me
early shall find Me.--
Diligence in seeking wisdom always successful
The enjoyments of life are dispensed by the indiscriminating hand
of Providence, and often in as large a measure to the unthankful and evil as to
the good and virtuous. But wisdom is of a peculiar nature, and it doth not
prevent any qualifying dispositions and endeavours in those who obtain it. The
foundation of it is laid in the faculties of the mind. Nothing can sufficiently
prove the sincerity of our professed affection to wisdom but that seeking it
early which is recommended in this text.
I. Explain seeking
wisdom early. It means this, that it has the chief room in our cares and
application. That which is highest in our esteem, most earnestly desired and
delighted in, will naturally engage our first concern and endeavours, while
matters of an inferior consideration are justly postponed.
1. If we would seek wisdom it must be by the constant use of the proper
means in order to our obtaining it.
2. Diligence, or “seeking early,” importeth using the best means
frequently, and with spirit and vigour.
II. Show the
advantage of it. We have assurance of success. The text contains an express
promise in the name of wisdom.
1. Diligence importeth such dispositions of mind as must please the
Supreme Being.
2. Diligence in seeking wisdom or religion is really practising it.
Commend the importance of seeking wisdom and religion in the beginning of every
day, and in youth-time, which is the morning of life. (J. Abernethy, M. A.)
Early seekers of Christ directed and encouraged
I. What it is to
seek Christ early. The expression is sometimes used for the duty of prayer,
sometimes for the whole of religion. To seek Christ is to seek the true
knowledge of Christ, and a saving interest in Him. It is to seek that He may be
all that to us, and that we may be all that to Him, for which He is made known
and proposed in the gospel. To seek early signifies carefully, earnestly, diligently.
1. We are to seek early with respect to the time of life, or in the
younger part of our days. The greatest and most important, concern of all
others is not to be put off to the busy time of life, that is incumbered with
the cares and hurries of this world; nor to old age, that is enfeebled by
decays and loaded with infirmities. It is never too soon to seek after Christ,
but it may be too late.
2. We are to seek Him early with respect to the day of grace, or to
our opportunities of seeking Him. Whenever God calls us by His Word or
providence, we should be early and speedy in attending to those calls.
3. It is to seek Him early with respect to all other things, or above
and before all thing else. This relates to the earnestness and fervour with
which He is to be sought in the younger part of our days. It is to seek Him
with the whole heart.
II. What peculiar
encouragements there are to such as seek christ early.
1. Early seeking is most pleasing to Him.
2. It is the ordinary course of Divine grace to be found of early
seekers.
3. Such have fewer obstructions in seeking.
4. There are peculiar promises to such. (J. Guyse, D. D.)
The holy quest
The legend of the “Holy Grail” tells us that Joseph of Arimathea
came into possession of the dish from which the Saviour ate, or, according to
another version, the cup from which He drank, when He celebrated the last
Passover in the upper room with His apostles. When Joseph stood at the Cross,
some of the blood which came from the wounds of Christ fell into this vessel,
and Joseph ever afterwards carried about this relic with him in all his
wanderings, until at length he came to England. The very presence of this
sacred vessel had a mystic influence: miraculous cures were effected by it. But
at length, in consequence of the wickedness of the land, this sacred vessel was
no longer permitted to remain visible amongst men. What could be a worthier
task of Christian knighthood than to go in search of it? Man is, by the very
constitution of his nature, a seeker. For wise and good reasons God has made us
creatures of desire. It is of the utmost importance that this seeking instinct
of our nature should be wisely directed. This Book of Proverbs speaks to you of
a treasure which is worthy of your pursuit, and which is the most valuable of
all treasures.
I. This wisdom is
a hidden treasure. Never be led astray by that lie of the devil, that those
things which can be seen are the most real and substantial. It is a delusion
which is the parent of all ignoble life. The existence of God is the greatest
reality of all, and yet your eye cannot see God. You cannot see your mother’s
love.
II. This wisdom is
a sacred treasure. The grail was called the holy grail because it had sacred
associations. God’s own wisdom is that which we are invited to share. By wisdom
is not meant mere knowledge, but that heavenly yet practical wisdom which has
to do with the most sacred region of our being--the conscience, the affections,
the will--and which enables a man to walk through life in a right and wise direction,
and in a spirit sympathetic with the mind of God. No man can be said to live
wisely who is living out of harmony with God’s own purpose concerning him. True
wisdom enables us to make a wise use of all earthly knowledge, but it is itself
a heavenly and sacred treasure.
III. This wisdom is
a priceless treasure. Wisdom may sometimes put a man in the way of obtaining
wealth; but no amount of wealth can ever buy wisdom. The true wisdom will lead
you into the paths of duty, honour, and integrity. No amount of wealth can by
any possibility be a compensation for the lack of the priceless treasure.
IV. This wisdom is
a life-giving treasure.
1. It is a healing influence.
2. A nourishing influence.
3. A life-renewing influence.
V. This wisdom is
a treasure which may be found by every earnest seeker. In the way of--
1. Reverence.
2. Prayer.
3. Courage.
4. Purity.
I have said that man is born a seeker. It is also true that the
elements of heroism lie embedded in the very constitution of our nature. There
is plenty of room for Christian knighthood yet--for true chivalry of heart and
life. Christ is the Divine Wisdom incarnate--the Word of God in human nature.
Then seek Christ. (T. Campbell Finlayson.)
Advantages of seeking God early
The favour of the Almighty has always been bestowed upon such as
remember Him in the days of their youth. See the cases of Joseph, Samuel,
Solomon, Josiah, Hannah, Ruth, Timothy, etc.
1. There is an incalculable advantage in beginning in season a work
which we know to be long and difficult.
2. Another advantage is the defence which is thus set up against the
encroachments of vice. Youth is the season of warm and generous affections: the
time when inexperience entices into a thousand snares; the season for active
exertion. In youth, we say, the future hinges on the present. If the thoughts
and feelings are pure, the soul will be bright with happiness.
3. Another advantage is the promotion of happiness in the family
circle, and the beneficent
influence thus exerted upon companions and friends.
4. Another advantage is the indescribable satisfaction which is
afforded to parents and friends.
5. Another advantage is the ready access which it affords to the
throne of grace.
6. Another is that we are thus prepared to meet with a smile the dark
frowns of adversity.
7. There is every encouragement for seeking early after God, because
we are thus enabled to await, with calm and holy resignation, the coming of
death. (John N. Norton.)
Seeking God early
The Hebrew word used denotes seeking at the dawn or beginning of a
day. From the words “I love them that love Me” it might be inferred that man
must love God as a preliminary or condition to God’s loving man. The truth,
however, is, that God’s love of man must in every case precede man’s love to
God, and be its chief producing cause. “We love Him because He first loved us.”
There is no natural power in men of loving God. No one of us will love God
because everything around proves that God loves him. Our love to God is nothing
else but the reflection of God’s love to us. What produces love to God? You
cannot make yourselves love God. It is God alone who can make you love God.
When we answer to His love, becoming new creatures through the motions of His
Spirit, then, as though He had not loved us before, so endearing is the
relationship into which we are brought, that He says “I love them that love
Me.” If we cannot make our selves love God, we may think over the proofs of His
love, we may look at His picture, read over His letters, and so put ourselves
in the way of receiving those influences which can alone change the heart. From
the words “Those that seek Me early shall find Me” we need not argue that if He
has not been sought early it is in vain to seek Him late. What are the motives
which should conspire to urge the young to an immediate attention to the things
which belong unto their peace?
1. The life of the young is as uncertain as that of the old. Health
and strength are no security against the speedy approaches of death. Now is the
only moment of which you are sure.
2. They will have much greater difficulty in their seeking who fail
to seek early. Many suppose that one time will be as fitting as another, late
as early, for seeking the Lord. They think that, if they live, repentance will
be as much within their power twenty or thirty years hence as it is now. But this is a supposition
for which there is no warrant. An old writer says, “God has, indeed, promised
that He will at all times give pardon to the penitent, but I do not find that
He has promised that He will, at all times, give penitence to the sinful.” By
continuing in sin habits are formed which will strengthen into taskmasters, and
which, when men grow old, will be well-nigh irresistible. Very small is the
likelihood of producing any moral impression on those who have grown old in
forgetfulness of God. We know no so unpromising a subject of moral attack as an
aged sinner, always supposing him to have heard the gospel in his youth. Then
give God the prime of your strength, the flower of your days, the vigour of
your intellect, the ardency of your affections. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
On the advantage of early piety
That the religion of Christ is, beyond all others, calculated to
produce private and public felicity no man who is acquainted with that religion
can doubt.
1. Those who enjoy the singular benefit of a pious education have the
greatest probability of success and perseverance in their course. Of two
travellers who have the same journey to go, he is much more likely to
accomplish it who, rising betimes in the morning, sets out in all the
liveliness and vigour of his strength than he who drowsily sleeps till noon and
in the heat and toil of the day can scarce drag his feeble feet along. Good
principles and habits, early imbibed and formed, are of such power that they
will scarcely permit a wide deviation from right.
2. As no good either is or can be perfected in the human mind without
almighty grace, so we have the most solid assurance of that Divine assistance
when, in our early days, we carefully cherish the influences of God’s Holy
Spirit. Our text is not only a promise, it is the most condescending call from
the Lord of wisdom, inviting us to His love. Love begets love. Our love to Him
shall be repaid by His love to us.
3. Hence arise many striking advantages. The first tincture is thus
given to the mind, the first bias to the affections; thereby right habits and
right principles get the first possession and preserve the inclination and
practice from those warping and destructive customs and opinions which it is
difficult to bend again and reduce to their original and necessary
straightness. We all know how strong are the prepossessions and prejudices of
education--ill prepossessions and unhappy prejudices--and we may be perfectly
satisfied that good prepossessions and prejudices are equally prevalent and
powerful. “The cask long retains the smell of the liquor with which it was
first seasoned” (Horace). How difficult it is to gain the superiority over
habits and customs, even in the most trifling matters, no man is ignorant; but
to subdue habits which have long lived with us, and gained our
approbation--habits of vice, to which sensual affections have annexed pleasure
in the gratification; totally to alter our conduct, to pluck out the right eye of a
darling lust, to cut off the right hand of a profitable sin--oh, how arduous,
how painful! Here, then, we discern the unspeakable advantage of early good
habits and principles, which, preserving us in the road of duty, secure us from
this most difficult, if not, in some cases, impossible task, of correcting
vicious habits, and amending corrupted customs and notions, which, through long
possession, become intimate to men almost as themselves. And the early
dedication of ourselves to God will be found not less comfortable than
advantageous. It will teach you content in every station, will enable you to
sail through life with as much ease and serenity as the unavoidable
difficulties of this transitory state will permit; will give to your mind the
purest pleasures and most satisfactory enjoyments; will make you a comfort to
yourself, a blessing to your friends, and an ornament to society. (W. Dodd,
LL. D.)
Early piety
1. Men have souls and minds capable of being very good or very bad,
of enjoying much and suffering much. It is important that a right direction be
given early in life to man’s whole nature. This can be secured in no way but by living, hearty
piety.
2. Early piety will have a good effect in directing us to aright
calling in life, and to a choice of suitable companions and associates.
3. Early piety alone can surely protect us from dashing on those
rocks where so many have made shipwreck, both for this world and the next.
4. If we do not become pious in youth it is very uncertain whether we
ever shall become so at all. When men grow old their hearts become harder,
their wills more stubborn, and their sound conversion less probable. And a
large number of the human race die before the period of youth has passed.
5. Should you live through youth, how can you bear the heavy burdens
of middle life without the grace of God? If one comes to old age, with all its
infirmities, and has not the grace of God in him, how sad his condition, how
cheerless his prospects!
Application:
1. Are you young? Be not wise in your own conceit. Live by faith on
the Son of God.
2. Are you middle-aged? Is the burden of cares heavy? Cast it upon
the Lord. Trust in the Lord and do good. Glorify Christ in your body and
spirit, which are His.
3. Are you aged? Give yourself much to devotion. Set an example of
sweet submission to the will of God. The nearer you draw to heaven, the more
let its light and peace shine in your face, cheer your heart, and make your
life a blessing to others. (W. S. Plumer, D. D.)
Seeking Christ early
I. Consider what
it is to seek Christ early. To seek Christ is to seek the true knowledge of
Him, and a saving interest in Him. As it relates to the act of seeking Him, it
is to attend upon all the means of grace with seriousness, faith, hope, love,
and delight. We are to seek early. With respect to all other things, or before
and above all things else. This relates to the earnestness and fervour with
which He is to be sought. We are to seek Him with the whole heart.
II. Consider what
secular encouragements there are to such as seek Christ early that they shall
find Him.
1. Early seeking is most pleasing to Him.
2. It is the ordinary course of Divine grace to be found of early
seekers.
3. Early seekers have fewer obstructions to their seeking and finding
Christ than others have.
4. There are peculiar promises made to early seekers. (T. Hannam.)
Seeking the Lord
In seeking the Lord--
I. Keep two things
perpetually in view--His truth and the influences of His Holy Spirit. Without
His truth we can have no rule, and without the influences of His Holy Spirit we
can have no disposition to prize the right rule: both are absolutely necessary.
II. Under the
influence of the Divine Spirit we shall invariably seek God as a God of mercy.
III. As a God of
peace.
IV. As a king.
V. As a guide.
VI. As a portion.
Now let me apply my subject.
1. There are some of you who do not seek the Lord--you can live
without Him perfectly well.
2. There are others who seek the Lord, and perhaps you wonder why you
do not find Him. Now, examine yourselves; is there not a great deal of
hypocrisy, of deceit, in you?
3. There are others who seek Him, and seek Him honestly, and who
think they do not find Him, when in reality they do find Him. They do not find
Him in the consolation which they seem to need; but they find Him in
principle--they find Him in driving guilt from the conscience, they find Him in
enabling them to triumph over the tyranny of sin.
4. There are others who rejoice in the God of their salvation, who
can say, “I know that I have sought and found the Lord; my Saviour is in me the
hope of glory. I cannot but rejoice in Him at the present moment.” Rejoice with
trembling. Remember, you have many and mighty enemies within and without. (W.
Howels.)
Early seeking of Christ encouraged
I. What is implied
in seeking the Lord Jesus?
1. A decided conviction of the utter insufficiency of every other
object for our happiness and salvation.
2. A decided persuasion that in Christ Jesus every blessing that the
soul requires is to be found.
3. A strong desire to obtain an interest in Christ.
4. Persevering efforts in the use of all appointed means to obtain
this object.
II. What it is to
find Christ, and the happiness that results from it.
1. The expression, finding Christ--
2. The happiness that finding Christ yields.
III. Those that seek
Christ early have the strongest reason to expect success.
1. The Redeemer takes peculiar delight in the movements of early
piety. These, in an especial manner, honour His supreme excellence.
2. The young are likely to seek Him with undivided hearts, and from
affectionate choice.
3. The young have peculiar reason to expect the aids of the Spirit in
seeking Christ.
4. The language of the text suggests that those who do not seek the
Lord Jesus in their youth have much reason to fear that they shall never find
Him.
Conclusion:
1. Let me beseech the young to seek the Lord while He may be found.
2. I exhort those who have sought the Saviour early to maintain their
earnestness in religion.
3. Let those who are in advanced life consider their ways and be
wise. (H. Belfrage.)
Seekers who do not seek in vain
All the people in the world are seekers, only some people spend
their time in seeking for silly and useless things. A king that I have heard
of, instead of ruling his people properly, neglected his duties, and spent his
time in going from kingdom to kingdom seeking for a mouse with pink eyes. What
a waste of time for such a man! Those who are really learned have gathered
their wisdom by being ready to learn.
I. Those who begin
to seek God early have longer time in which to learn about Him. People who
study music after they have grown up seldom become good players or singers; nor
do I believe that any one ever really masters grammar who does not begin to
study it thoroughly at an early age. Begin therefore at once to learn, for you
have lost already more time than you can well spare.
II. Begin early,
because you will have less to unlearn. Socrates, a wise man, charged one of his
disciples double fees because, he said, he not only had to teach him how to speak, but also how to
hold his tongue. A blacksmith could never become a painter, at least not very
readily, for he would have to unlearn so much. If you fill your mind with
foolish ideas, a vast amount of time will be required to get rid of these
follies before you can be instructed in wisdom.
III. I think, too,
that you will be more ardent and eager in the pursuit of wisdom if you begin
young, and you will find that history confirms the truth of my opinion. You
will not be so readily discouraged, and will more easily master your
difficulties than older
people can. Little children-students, we are here assured, shall not seek in
vain, but they will be required to take pains. Columbus somehow got the idea
that America existed, and he went to find the great unknown land. Day after day
he sailed on without seeing it, but he one day spied some seaweed of a kind
different to that known in Europe. This encouraged him to continue his search.
So you, too, will sometimes feel inclined to give up in despair, but keep on;
it is worth all the trouble you can ever expend upon it to become wise. And
what joy it will impart to you when at length you see what you desire! (N.
Wiseman.)
Seek Jesus early
Our business is to seek Jesus early in life. Happy are the young
whose morning is spent with Jesus! It is never too soon to seek the Lord Jesus.
Early seekers make certain finders. We should seek Him early by diligence.
Thriving tradesmen are early risers, and thriving saints seek Jesus eagerly.
Those who find Jesus to their enrichment give their hearts to seeking Him. We
must seek Him first, and thus earliest. Above all things Jesus. Jesus first,
and nothing else even as a bad second. The blessing is, that He will be found.
He reveals Himself more and more clearly to our search. He gives Himself up
more fully to our fellowship. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Seeking Christ in the dawn of life
The word “early” is not in the original. The passage
therefore might be read thus--“And those that seek Me Shall find Me.” Yet we
cannot altogether throw out the word “early”; it seems to complete the rhythm.
The word “seek” as originally employed is a word which involves the meaning of
seeking in the dawn--just as the east is whitening a little, just as the day is
being born. Thus we have some claim to the word early. There are men who do not
wait until midday in order to resume their journey after they have been
benighted; they have, indeed, succumbed to circumstances, saying, “The darkness
has overtaken us, and here we must lie”; but the moment there is a streak in
the east up they start, the staff is resumed, and the journey is prosecuted
with renewed energy. This is the image of the text: “they that seek Me in the
dawn shall find Me; they that seek Me at daybreak; they that come after Me ere
the dew be risen shall find Me, and we shall have a long morning talk together:
when the soul is young, when the life is free, when the heart is
unsophisticated, they that seek Me in the dawn shall find Me, for I have been
waiting for them, yea, standing by them whilst they were sleeping, and
half-hoping that the moment they open their eyes they would see Me, and
exclaim, “Blessed Spirit, take charge of my poor, young, little, frail life all
the day, and tell me what I ought to do.” Fool is he who begins the day
prayerlessly, who takes his own
life into his own hand: verily in doing so he puts his money into bags with
holes in them, and at night he shall have nothing. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 18
Riches and honour are with Me; yea, durable riches and
righteousness.
On gaining and using riches
Whatever is true and substantial happiness even in this life has a
necessary dependence upon morality and religion. Wealth and riches are but
heavy encumbrances and unprofitable lumber if they are not made use of to
reward the good, to excite the diligent, and to relieve the oppressed. But that
religion should be the path that leads to wealth and substance, and that to be
good is the way to become rich, seems to be a paradox contrary to the
sentiments of mankind. Piety may indeed comfort us in our wants, and support us
in our affictions; but that it should be the best factor to gain them and store
them up is an assertion so opposite to the persuasion of men that it seems like
the wild affirmation of one who would defend a novelty.
I. Piety is the
most effectual means to obtain riches.
1. Riches are the gift of God, not the goods of fortune. If there is
a wise and provident Governor of the world, the success of all human
enterprises depends upon His disposition of things. If the men of virtue and
piety are the favourites of the Almighty, they may expect bounties as the signs
of His love; if they be His faithful servants, as rewards of their fidelity.
2. See what piety is, examine it in itself and in its consequences,
and we shall find it to be naturally productive of riches and plenty. Piety is
the habitual practice of moral and Divine virtues, each one of which has a
tendency to enrich its followers, e.g., industry, temperance, humility,
brotherly love, liberality, and charity.
3. Credit and reputation in the world have a very great dependence
upon honesty and an upright life, and they are things absolutely necessary for
the promotion of our health and worldly interest. The only solid foundation of
a good name is piety and virtue.
4. Piety and virtue direct to the use of those methods which are
honest and lawful. The most honest means are always the sweetest.
II. The securing of
riches or making them durable. This may be considered in a double respect--
1. In relation to ourselves.
2. In relation to posterity. Whatever is got by means that are
repugnant to piety is not to be kept, but must be parted with. All vices have a
natural tendency to impoverish mankind. It is well to note that the efficacy of
piety is not bounded here; it reaches beyond the grave, and entails its
blessings on future generations. The generation of the faithful shall be
blessed. (William Hayley, M. A.)
Verse 20
I lead in the way of righteousnses.
Substance the inheritance of the saints
I. Jesus leads in
the way of righteousness--
1. By leading them into His holy, strict, and condemning law.
2. By implanting sincerity and uprightness.
II. Jesus leads in
the midst of the paths of judgment. These paths of judgment are when He, with
His holy eye, scrutinises the heart and brings to light its secret workings. He
leads by setting up a court of judicature in the heart, arraigning the soul at
its bar; not with vengeance, as punishing a criminal, but as a parent, after
the child has been playing truant all day.
III. Jesus causes
the soul to inherit substance. Something solid, weighty, powerful, real, and
eternal. Power and life and feeling, and the blessed kingdom of God set up with
authority in the soul. A substantial religion--something that is dropped into
the soul from His own blessed self, something that comes out of Himself, and
out of the fulness of His own loving heart, to make them rejoice and be glad. (J.
C. Philpot.)
In the midst of the paths
of Judgment.
The golden mean
In this country, if you walk in the middle of the street in the
town, or in the middle of the road in the country, you are exposed to danger
from horses and vehicles, for which that part of the road was reserved, and
therefore side-paths and pavements have been provided, where you can take
refuge from the traffic. It is different in the East. There the roads are so
badly made, and so little frequented, that you are always safest in the middle.
There is a rock, perhaps, on this side, and a precipice or a ditch on that, and
the edges of the road are always so rugged and uneven that only the well-worn
track in the middle is available for easy travelling. And from this condition
of Eastern roads has arisen the moral lesson that the middle of the path of
conduct is the safest and the best. The sentiment may be exemplified in
everything moral and religious. The Greeks of old always spoke of the golden
mean between two extremes, and were fond of proving that truth and safety
always lay in the middle. The wise man speaks of the paths of judgment. These
paths are oft either side of the way of righteousness, which is the middle; and
they are called paths of judgment because, if you stray into them off the
strait and narrow way of righteousness, you will meet with dangers and evils
that will assuredly punish you. The virtues that yield the blessings of life
are in the middle, between the vices that wreck and blight your life. A little
too much on the one side or the other makes all the difference in the world;
and so close to each other do the evils you have to avoid come, that narrow is
the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. The side-path
may, therefore, be smooth and pleasant, but it leads to danger. The middle of
the road may be rough and difficult, but it is safe--the way of righteousness,
between the paths of judgment. (H. Macmillan,D. D.)
Verse 21
That I may cause them that love Me to inherit substance.
Man’s enrichment by God
I. Love--the love
of God as the source of every blessing.
II. The love of
created being is excited by some good, real or imaginary, in the object
beloved.
III. Man’s
individual sins, wants, and necessities.
IV. Observe the way
in which man is to become rich. God gives Himself--involving every good.
V. God himself is
to be the wealth of His family for evermore. (W. Howels.)
Real substance in spiritual things
This is among the golden sayings of the book. In the text is an
encouragement to religion drawn from the incomparable benefit of it. “They that
love Me shall not be losers by Me.” The Hebrew word for substance means that
which is: that which hath a firm and solid consistency.
1. By substance may be meant Christ. He must needs be substance who
gives being and substance to everything.
2. By substance is meant the grace of the Spirit. That must needs be
substance which partakes of the fulness of God.
3. By substance is meant salvation, expressly called substance (Hebrews 10:34).
I. The
qualification of the persons. “Those that love Me.”
1. The affection: Love. Love doth mellow and perfume holy duties.
Love is that which the Lord is most delighted with.
2. The object of love: Christ. Did men know Christ, it were
impossible to keep them off from loving Him.
II. The
specification of the privilege. Why is grace called substance?
1. For its preciousness.
2. For its suitableness.
3. For its needfulness.
4. For its satisfyingness.
5. For its certainty.
6. For its durableness.
Substance signifies something that runs parallel with eternity.
That spiritual things must needs have a real being and substance in them
appears by two convincing arguments.
Learn--
1. The incomparable excellence of grace.
2. See the difference between the things of God and the things of the
world.
3. See the egregious folly of those who mind things of less moment,
but do not look after substance (Isaiah 4:2).
Why do not men labour more after spiritual substance? Answer:
1. Ignorance.
2. Presumption.
If we have this spiritual substance, we can remember a time when
we wanted it. We know how we came by it. We highly prize it. (T. Watson.)
The Lord possessed us in the beginning of His way.
Wisdom the first creation of God
Here is the noble idea which overturns at a touch all mythological
speculations about the origin of things--an idea which is in deep harmony with
all the best knowledge of our time--that there is nothing fortuitous in the
creation of the world; the Creator is not a blind Force, but an intelligent
Being whose first creation is wisdom. He is the origin of a law by which He
means to bind Himself; arbitrariness finds no place in His counsels; accident
has no part in His works; in wisdom hath He formed them all. Here is a clear
recognition of the principle that God’s law is a law also to Himself, and that
His law is wisdom. He creates the world as an outcome of His own wise and holy design,
so that “nothing walks with aimless feet.” It is on this theological conception
that the possibility of science depends. (R. F. Horton, D. D.)
The autobiography of Wisdom
I. As having
existed before all time.
II. As having been
present at the creation.
III. As having been
in external association with the creator.
IV. As having felt
before all worlds a deep interest in man. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Verse 23
I was set up from everlasting.
Christ set up from everlasting
Doctrine: That as Christ is the everlasting God, so, from all
eternity, He was foreordained and set up for the great service of man’s
redemption.
I. To prove That
Christ is the everlasting God.
1. That He existed
before the incarnation is evident from the appearance He made to our first
parents in paradise.
2. We find His
existence and agency in the production of all created beings.
3. Run up to the
endless ages before the creation of the world, and we find Him existing or ever
the earth was.
II. What is
imported in His being set up from everlasting.
1. It supposes the
council of peace, or an eternal transaction between the Father and the Son
concerning the redemption of lost sinners.
2. It implies the
infinite complacency that the Father and Son had in each other from all
eternity.
3. It implies a
Divine ordination and decree, whereby He was from eternity elected into the
great service of man’s redemption.
4. It implies
that, in consequence of the decree, He was called of God to undertake the work
of redemption.
5. It implies His
own voluntary consent to, and complacence with, His Father’s call. He was
actually set up in time.
III. For what ends
and purposes Christ was thus set up.
1. As a sun, to
give light to this lower world.
2. As a second
Adam, the head of a new covenant of grace and promise.
3. As a repairer
of breaches between God and man.
IV. The grounds and
reasons way Christ was set up.
1. Because it was
the Father’s will and pleasure.
2. Because of the
good-will He did bear to man upon earth.
3. Because of His
ability for the undertaking.
4. Because He
voluntarily offered Himself for the work and service.
5. Because from
everlasting God foresaw what a revenue of glory would accrue to the crown of
heaven through His mediation.
V. Application of
the doctrine. See the antiquity and activity of the love of God; the stability
and perpetuity of the covenant of grace and of the Church; the reason why all
hands should be at work to exalt Him. (E. Erskine.)
Verse 30
And I was daily His delight.
The happiness of Christ antecedent to His incarnation
The delights between the Father and the Son, before His assumption
of our nature, were twofold.
1. They delighted
in one another without communicating their joys to any other; for no creature
did then exist save in the mind of God.
2. They delighted
in the salvation of men; in the prospect of that work, though not yet extant.
The condition and state of Jesus Christ before His incarnation was a state of
the most unspeakable delight in the enjoyment of His Father. Consider this--
I. Negatively.
1. He was not
abased to the low estate of a creature.
2. He was not
under the law in this estate.
3. He was not
liable to any of those sorrowful consequents and attendants of that frail state
of humanity which afterwards He assumed with that nature. Unacquainted with
griefs. Never pinched with poverty and want. Never underwent reproach and
shame. Was never offended with any impure suggestions. Never sensible of
tortures and pains. There were no hidings or withdrawings of His Father. No
experience of death.
II. Positively.
1. A state of
matchless happiness.
2. A state of
intimacy, dearness, and oneness with His Father.
3. A state of
pure, unmixed, and ravishing delight.
III. Comparitively.
1. Compare it with
the delight that some creatures take in each other, and you will soon find that
they fall infinitely short of this.
2. Compare it with
the delight that God takes in some of His creatures; you will find it to come
short of the delight that God takes in Christ.
3. Compare it with
the delight that the best of creatures take in God and Christ; how infinitely
short it comes of the delight that God takes in Christ!
Conclusion:
1. What an
astonishing love was this for the Father to give the darling of His soul for
poor sinners!
2. Adore the love
of Jesus to sinners, that ever He should consent to leave such a bosom.
3. An interest in
Jesus Christ is the true way to all spiritual preferment in heaven.
4. Jesus Christ is
worthy of all love and delight.
5. It is a
grievous thing to see God’s dear Son despised, slighted, and rejected by
sinners.
6. Let us be ready
to forsake and leave all for Christ. (John Flavel.)
Christ’s eternal felicity
I. Christ was with
the Father at the beginning. This censures the Arians.
II. God the Father,
as He delighted in Christ at the beginning, so He doth always.
1. Because He is
His Son.
2. Because He
never offended Him.
3. Because He is
always ready to please His Father.
III. Christ rejoiced
in God the Father from the beginning, and does so always. Some read, “I
rejoice, or sport, always before Him.” (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
Rejoicing always before
Him.
Eternal Wisdom rejoicing in the events to be revealed
If we contemplate the character of Divine Wisdom as directed to
earth, dwelling amongst men, anticipating the concerns and circumstances and
history of this human world, we shall--
1. Be led to
perceive an importance attaching to all the ramifications of that history, to
all its epochs and all its events.
2. In addition to
this we shall be led to depend, with a degree of delight and joy, on all the
arrangements and developments of this Wisdom in relation to our circumstances.
3. And we shall
perceive the impropriety of our murmuring; and that there is the greatest
measure of folly, as well as of danger, in allowing ourselves to dispute any
part of the Divine proceedings.
4. Such a view
will induce us to look with intelligent and instructed minds upon all the
things around us, and to observe in the various circumstances which transpire
before our view the actual working out of a plan arranged before eternity.
5. We shall regard
the great Supreme with deep solicitude, in order that we ourselves may be brought to see the
truth and results of all that is around us.
6. We shall
anticipate the glory of that scene in its fulness which we now perceive in
fragments. Christ looked forward to the production of the world for the sake of
the men who would dwell on it. What is more wonderful than the intellectual,
physical, moral, and spiritual being, man? Consider the proofs of this
anticipation and delight, and the reason whence arises all this delight. (R.
S. McAll, LL. D.)
Verse 31
Rejoicing
in the habitable part of His earth.
The rejoicing
of Wisdom
I. Where did the Son of God by anticipation rejoice? “Habitable part
of His earth.”
“Sons of men.”
1. The simple fact in itself. Of all creation this insignificant
globe of earth is singled out. And of this globe its habitable part. It is with
souls He would have to do. It was the empire of mind upon the earth that He in
time expected to assume. This puts an honour and dignity upon our poor human
nature which it is impossible fully to estimate.
2. Certain circumstances connected with this fact. What claims had
earth’s inhabitants upon His regard? We can think of none. Man is an
insignificant being and a sinner.
II. Why did the eternal joy of the Son of God centre in this earth?
This joy could not have arisen from contemplation of our misery, and far less
of our guilt. When He cast a glance down to this earth, what did His mind’s eye
discover in its habitable parts? He saw men ruined, and purposed to save them.
His atonement was the chief ground of joy to Himself, because the great
occasion of glory to His Father and of good to His people. Lessons--
1. Of reproof to careless and Christless sinners.
2. Of consolation to believers. (N. Morren, M. A.)
Christ’s joy in
the Church before His incarnation
Wisdom
here is a real, not an allegorical person. It is the Eternal Word. Our Saviour
informs us that, as soon as the world was made, the habitable parts of it
became the scene and subject of His rejoicing. His delights were with men
rather than angels. Yet He knew that the world would be wet with His tears and
stained with His blood. Why, then, did He rejoice in the human inhabitants of
the earth? It could not be on account of man’s intellectual or moral
excellency. It must be because in the world the plan of redemption was to be
executed, and because men were the objects of it. Our Redeemer rejoiced in the
world because--
I. It was destined to be the place in which He should perform the
most wonderful of His works. There He would obtain His greatest victory, make
the most glorious display of His moral perfections, and in the most signal
manner glorify the Father.
II. Because the habitable parts of the earth were the destined residence
of His then future Church. They are all destined to be filled with His
disciples. Everywhere Churches are to be established.
III. Our Redeemer’s chief delights and pleasures were with men.
1. Because He intended Himself to become a man.
2. To many the Divine Redeemer was to become still more nearly
related. As His Church.
3. His delights partly lay in its being more blessed to give than to
receive. How ungrateful and inexcusable does the treatment which Christ has
received from men appear when viewed in the light of this subject! (E.
Payson, D. D.)
The voice of
God’s eternal Wisdom
I. From the beginning the welfare of man engaged the complacent
regard of God our Saviour.
1. He represents Himself here as deriving delight from the spectacle
even of the material creation, because it was subservient to man. He looked on
material objects as visible realisations of eternal types. On comparing them
with the originals in His own infinite
mind He beheld the perfect resemblance, and was satisfied. He beheld them in
their prospective application, serving as indexes or intimations of His
infinite greatness to myriads of minds which He purposed to create. He looked
on these objects as the first in an endless series yet to come. In His first
acts of creation the Great Architect was laying the foundation of an
all-comprehending and eternal temple. And it was all present in His mind, and
He rejoiced in the glorious prospect.
2. There was the happiness of prospectively beholding the activity,
enlargement, and progress of the whole system of creation and providence. The
prospect of this development of His great plan afforded Him profound
satisfaction. This is evident because He has sought at times to throw His
Church into an ecstasy of delight by affording them glimpses of its onward
course; for the disclosures of prophecy are such glimpses.
3. There was the happiness of prospectively beholding the effects
arising from His gratuitous interposition for human salvation.
4. Then there was the happiness derivable from knowing that,
important as the recovery of man is, in attaining it He should be attaining an
end greater still--attaining the greatest of all ends--the manifestation of the
Divine glory.
II. All the Mediator’s communications and intercourse with us are made
to harmonise with our welfare also. Tell us the distinguishing wants of human
nature, and we will tell you the distinguishing excellences of Divine
revelation.
1. From their eager inquiries and their signs of reflection you infer
that they are intelligent beings, and from other signs you infer that the
subjects which most deeply interest them are those which refer to their origin,
their character, and their relation to the invisible and the future. Man’s
solution of these problems is puerile, contradictory, and absurd. What is the
Divine explanation of the mystery?
2. Man is manifestly a sufferer. Sorrow has but two places of
refuge--the sanctuary and the grave.
3. Man is a personally sinful being. The Mediator has made special
provision for the necessities thus arising. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ,
while providing a complete satisfaction for human guilt, provides that which we
equally require--means for the renovation of our sinful nature and motives to a
constant progress in holiness. So wonderfully adapted to the susceptibilities,
so exquisitely adjusted to all the springs of our nature is the Cross of
Christ, that in the hand of the Spirit it relieves our apprehensions, while it
quickens our sensibility--gives peace to the conscience while it increases its
activity and power--inspires hope while it produces humility, by the very
magnitude and splendour of the objects which inspire it--demands perfection, by
presenting the affections with an object calculated to produce it.
4. But man is not only a rational, suffering, sinful being. He is
groaning and travailing together in pain, casting anxious looks on the future,
gazing on the distant darkness, invoking the dead. The burden of his great
anxiety is this, “If a man die, shall he live again?” Answering that, Jesus is
“the Resurrection and the Life.” Such are parts of that great system of saving
truth by which the Saviour seeks to realise those purposes of mercy toward us,
the bare contemplation of which filled Him with delight.
III. The Saviour rejoices in such parts of the earth as are set apart
for the diffusion of His truth and the promotion of His designs. Man was to
have moved over the face of the earth as amidst the types and symbolic services
of a temple, where everything was adapted to remind Him of God. Sin has
disturbed this adjustment and thrown it in confusion. If this is to be
remedied, some counter-force must be employed.
IV. What does Christ expect from a place thus distinguished?
1. He expects you to sympathise with Him in His regard for human happiness.
2. He expects you to aim at results and to look for them.
3. Not only expect the results, but anticipate the consequences of
those results. (J. Harris, D. D.)
And My delights were with the sons of men.
Christ’s
delight in the sons of men
1. “Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth.”
2. The delights of Jesus Christ, from all eternity, were “with the
sons of men.”
1. His interest in them.
2. His continual remembrance of them.
3. His readiness to bestow His best favours upon them. Did Jesus Christ
delight in His people from everlasting; then all the disciples of Christ should
delight in Him (1 Peter 2:7; Song of Solomon 5:10). (W. Notcutt.)
Wisdom resident
in the world
Wisdom
rejoices in the habitable parts of the earth, not in the monastic retreats of a
dreary desert or wilderness.
Wisdom’s delights are among the sons of men, not in the midst of books. The
inestimable advantages gained in those places, only become wisdom as they are
used among men, just as the wheat, growing on some distant prairie, where few
eyes ever rest upon its beauties, becomes food only as it reaches the crowded
city, where men are longing for it and would die without it. Wisdom is in the
world where men are; she delights to be there; we need not leave the world to
find her if we will only hear the voice of God just where we are. The sins and
failings of men can speak warnings to us; the needs of men can stir our
activities; the kindness and goodness of men can point to God’s greater love.
Everywhere hands point up to God and our true relations to Him, if only we will
let Him be as real, as truly personal, as the rest of the world is to us . . .
Wisdom delights in the habitable parts of the earth, and rejoices to be among
the sons of men. Can it always be so? How often we tire of the very noise of
our fellow-men, and wish to flee afar off and be at rest! Wisdom cannot feel
that exhaustion. But how often the most habitable parts of the earth are the
very homes of the foolishness of sin! We see their wickedness and foolishness:
must not Wisdom itself see it much more? Are the social regulations of our life
to-day likely to please the heart of Wisdom and make her long to be among them?
How much true wisdom do they cultivate among those who are devoted to them?
Wisdom may be in our streets, but it must be as a very sorrowful resident, as
she sees soul after soul that she loves lost in the desire of gain, associating
with its fellow-man only for selfish purposes. The souls might delight her and
make her stay, but would the lives which she saw those souls leading do so?
What can we do to make society and life generally worthy of this great presence
which is ever in it? No laws, no customs, no institutions that we can establish
for business or the State, no prescriptions that we may make for social life,
will do the work; for those are impersonal, and what we have seen to be
valuable to the world is the personal presence of Wisdom. And that must find
its expression in our personal lives. All that makes society attractive or city
life prosperous to-day came from God, and in that fact has its power for us.
For that reason it cannot be ignored or put out of sight. But why, then, is it
so dangerous to us? Because it destroys our sense of personal responsibility,
which is the great thing by which we are to show forth the true character of
God’s wisdom. Be followers of Christ, personal friends of Jesus. Recognise the
fact that Christ is in all that is good, and that by being true to Him you
cannot possibly get out of the stream of the world’s true life. You will have
to leave some things that are false, you will have to condemn them by leaving
them; but all which truly belongs to men must ultimately be the possession of
those who have the Wisdom whose delights are among the sons of men. (Arthur
Brooks.)
Divine Wisdom
I. The joy of god in this material world. The Divine Wisdom approved
the result of the Divine power and skill.
II. His delights were with the sons of men. Humanity has always held a
foremost place in the thoughts of God.
1. Man as a creature of God. The noblest work that God has placed
upon the earth; he is the crown and glory of this terrestrial creation.
2. Man has sinned. The prescient eye of God from eternity looked upon
man, not only as a creature endowed with high capabilities, and as an offender
against law and a sufferer because of sin, but He looked upon him as a
transgressor redeemed. He looked on men not only in their connection with the
first Adam, but also in their connection with the second Adam. He foresaw the
success which should crown the mission and sacrifice of His well-beloved Son. (T.
Stephens.)
On the
benevolence of Christ to the human race
I. Our blessed Lord rejoiced in the habitable part of the earth
because He foresaw that the perfections of God would be manifested and
glorified. The human race appears to have been created for a twofold purpose.
1. To glorify God upon the earth.
2. That our Lord might defeat the infernal purposes of the malicious
spirits, destroy the works of the devil.
II. His delights were with the sons of men, that He might minister to
the comfort and happiness of their bodies. What an amazing constellation of
virtues did He exhibit, and how boundless must have been that love which led
Him day after day, amidst hunger, and thirst, and fatigue, and suffering, and
sorrow, to relieve the wants of the needy and restore to the soundness of
health and activity the miserable and forlorn sufferers of calamity and woe!
III. His delights were with the sons of men, that He might enlighten
their minds by His Word and Spirit. Many theories have been propounded to solve
the mystery of the introduction of moral evil into the world, but no hypothesis
is so credible or intelligible as that of the Scripture account of the fall of
man. Our blessed Lord interposed on our behalf, and generously undertook to
redeem us from the curse of the law and regain that immortal life which we had
forfeited by our disobedience. How can we account for such a display of
unparalleled benevolence but from His ardent desire to promote the best
interests of men?
IV. His delights were with the sons of men, that He might sanctify
their souls and prepare them for the enjoyments of heaven. We ought to be
extremely solicitous for the salvation of our souls, and never dare to imagine
that, because Christ has died for our sins, we shall be saved without that
holiness of heart and life which are the fruits of the Spirit in all them that
believe. (D. Davidson.)
Wisdom’s
delights with the sons of men
In
these words are revealed things concerning the personal, substantial, and
self-existent Wisdom.
I. “My delights were with the sons of men.” Wisdom, then, has her
delights; and where does she find them? The prime of these delights is that
which He finds in Himself. He has complacential delight in Himself, for He only
is perfection, independent, and eternal. The communications of His glorious
attributes are also His delight. These rest on the sinful sons of men. The
words include the idea of dwelling with the sons of men. What led the Saviour
to such condescension? It was purely of His tender love towards mankind. Whence
originates this love? In His own bosom, and we can say no more and see no
farther.
II. Rejoicing in the habitable parts of God’s earth. The Hebrew is
forcible and poetical--“playing or disporting on the orb of God’s earth.” God
formed the earth and the world with wisdom, but also with love, and not only
for the benefit, but also for the happiness of His creatures, and with a
special view to the pleasure of the sons of men. In Christ, the Wisdom of God,
the same wonderful condescension continues still. He adapts Himself to our
human conceptions; brings His mysteries near to us in a most gracious manner;
and the same graciousness is seen in God’s everyday communion with His beloved
children. The word “rejoicing” reminds of sweet music, and all the music on
earth is made by Christ or for Him. (F. W. Krummacher, D. D.)
Verse 32
Blessed
are they that keep My ways.
The claims of
Divine Wisdom
I. These are very simple.
1. Diligently study its counsels.
2. Constantly obey its precepts. The teachings of Divine Wisdom arc
not speculative, but regulative. They are maxims to rule the life.
II. Very important.
1. Obedience to them is happiness.
2. To neglect them is ruin. (David Thomas, D. D.)
Verse 33
Hear instruction, and be
wise.
Motives for hearing
sermons
Contempt of God’s Sabbaths
and disregard of ministerial instruction are melancholy characteristics of the
age in which we live.
I. The
tendency of preaching and meaning the word to promote our best interest. This
tendency is sufficient to enforce the duty recommended in my text. The sacred
oracles are profitable. The doctrines revealed in them are not doubtful
speculations, or light and trivial matters, but truths of infallible certainty,
of the most sublime and excellent nature, and, to us men, of infinite
importance. The learned as well as illiterate need to go to church on their own
account. None, in this imperfect state, arrive at such extent and exactness of
Christian knowledge as to need no further assistance for knowing more. For wise
reasons the Bible was not written in a systematic form. In searching the
Scriptures we need to use the fittest and most effectual means in our power. What can be
better suited to assist us in the attainment of religious knowledge than the
discourses of those who have not only made it their chief business to study the
sacred oracles, but who, by cultivating their rational powers, have acquired a
facility of forming distinct conceptions of things, and of expressing those
conceptions with plainness and propriety? And knowledge, however extensive, if
it hath no suitable influence on men’s hearts and lives, will profit them
nothing. Therefore men need a faithful monitor, to awaken in us a practical
sense of danger and of duty. So sensible was Julian the apostate how wise an
institution preaching was for promoting the knowledge and practice of religion,
that he appointed men to preach moral philosophy, and to harangue, publicly, in
defence of heathenism.
II. Hearing
the Word of God is enjoined by express Divine authority. In the Old Testament
dispensation (Deuteronomy
24:8; Ecclesiastes
12:9-11; Nehemiah
8:7-11; Haggai
2:11; Malachi
2:7)
synagogue worship had to be regularly attended. New Testament injunctions are Ephesians
4:11-13; 1 Timothy
4:16; 2 Timothy
2:15; 2 Timothy
4:2; Titus
1:9; Titus
2:1; Titus
2:7-8.
III. The
dreadful threatenings denounced and executed against those who refuse to hear
God’s Word. Such as Proverbs
1:24-31; Proverbs
21:16; Proverbs
28:9; Matthew
10:14; Hebrews
2:2-3; Hebrews
10:28-29; Hebrews
12:25. On
the other hand, God hath promised His special presence and blessing to the
faithful preaching, and conscientious hearing of His Word. To support and
strengthen our hopes let us review former accomplishments of these exceeding
great and precious promises. In how miraculous a manner hath the Word of God
often triumphed over the greatest opposition. (J. Erskine, D. D.)
Verse
34
Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting
at the posts of My doors.
Attending public instruction recommended
I. The reasonableness of
attending all the instituted means of our instruction. If God had never
vouchsafed to men a positive revelation, we should have been obliged to feel
after virtue if haply we might find it. And it is surprising to what lengths
some have arrived without the help of that “grace which bringeth salvation.”
But when it hath pleased God to erect a kingdom in the world, it is great
ingratitude, a heinous contempt of God’s authority, an affront to His love, and
so must be inexcusable folly so to neglect our own true interest.
II. What is imported in
hearing. Scripture represents this as the sum of that duty and respect which
God demandeth for Christ who is His Wisdom, and the great revealer of His will
to mankind. Whatever is meant by hearing Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, it
is enjoined and enforced with all the authority and obligatory power with which
any Divine precept can be enforced. Hearing importeth a serious and attentive
consideration, and a diligent application of the mind, to understand the
important contents of the Divine message. We are to understand by hearing--
1. An attentive regard to instruction. The Wisdom of God hath the
first right to be heard, and what He prescribeth, to be attended to.
2. Hearing signifies a submissive disposition. To hear is to turn at
the reproofs of Wisdom, to tremble at the threatenings of God, to hope in His
promises, and practise what He enjoineth.
3. Hearing Wisdom importeth an absolute unreserved obedience.
III. The proper dispositions of
mind, and the manner of hearing and using all means.
1. It importeth a sense of our constant need of instruction, that we
may be still making further progress in knowledge and in grace. If this be the
temper of our minds, it will incline us to a daily attendance at the gates of
Wisdom; that is, a daily use of the appointed means for our increase in
knowledge and virtue.
2. A constant care and solicitude that the benefit of them may not be
lost; and particularly a strict vigilance over our own spirits and our whole
behaviour.
3. Patience, which is signified by waiting, is also needed. Our
progress to religious knowledge and virtue is gradual. Patience is the
character of a continuance in well-doing, as well as of enduring afflictions.
Always endeavour with alacrity and vigour to use the means of our religious
instruction and improvement.
(J. Abernethy, M. A.)
Watchful diligence
I. The way to happiness is to
hearken diligently to wisdom’s words.
1. We cannot of ourselves find out the way to true happiness.
2. No man can show it to us.
II. We must not only hear, but
watch for wisdom. Omit no occasion of learning, and make the best possible use
of every occasion.
III. We must not only watch for
a while, we must wait long, if we would get wisdom. Give no place to idleness
and slothfulness, lest ye become unteachable, and incapable of wisdom. (Francis
Taylor, B. D.)
Waiting upon God
Profession without principle is worthless. He who is not an every-day
Christian is no Christian at all.
I. The characteristics of an
every-day Christian. They are--
1. Hearers. Many hear, and do not hear. Hearing implies profitable
hearing. Many do not profit. They come to hear, but not to learn, or to
practise. Some come fresh from the cares of the world. Others come with unclean
hearts. If you would receive good by attending at the house of God, there must
be a desire to profit; and with a lively faith.
2. They are watchers. This implies frequency, perseverance, self-denial,
self-abasement, and a certain degree of anxiety.
3. They “wait at the posts of His doors.” That is, attend those
places, and frequently attend them, where Christ is expected.
II. Such a man will never lose
his reward.
1. He finds life. St. John says, “He that hath the Son hath life.”
Finding Christ is finding life. Finding Iris implies pardon. With pardon we
have peace.
2. The reward consists in the favour of God. This favour is enduring.
It supports the sinner in the time of his trouble.
Lessons:
1. Though you may be a hearer, a watcher, a waiter upon Christ, you
must expect your trials. Do not be surprised either at the number or the degree
of your trials.
2. See that you come in the spirit of prayer and of faith. (H.
Montagu Villiers, M. A.)
Waiting at Wisdom’s gates
The Bible seldom speaks, and certainly never its deepest, sweetest
words, to those who always read it in a hurry. Nature can only tell her secrets
to such as will sit still in her sacred temple, till their eyes lose the glare
of earthly glory, and their ears are attuned to her voice. And shall revelation
do what nature cannot? Never. The man who shall win the blessedness of hearing
her must watch daily at her gates, and wait at the posts of her doors. (F.
B. Meyer.)
Verse 35
Whoso findeth Me findeth
life.
The Christian life
delineated: Christ to be found in the ordinances, with the import and happy
effects of finding Him
I. The ordinances
are the place where Christ is to be found of poor sinners
1. What are the ordinances? The Divine ordinance of meditation.
Christian conference about spiritual matters. Singing of the Lord’s praises.
Prayer. The Word. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
2. Confirm this doctrine. The ordinances are by Christ’s own
appointment the trysting-places wherein He has promised to be found of those
that seek Him. Trysting-places for sinners, where they may be convinced,
converted, and regenerated. Trysting-places for saints, where they may receive
life more abundantly. They are the places wherein His people seek Him, who know
best where He is to be found. They are what the Lord has allowed His people to
supply the want of heaven, until they come there.
3. Apply this doctrine. It reproves those who slight attendance on
ordinances; those who come to meet some they have worldly business with; who
come, but not to find Christ there; who stand in the way of others attending on
ordinances. It urges to seek Christ in ordinances. He is well worth the
seeking.
II. People may come
to ordinances and not find Christ.
1. Reasons on the sinner’s side. Some have no design of finding
Christ in ordinances at all. Many are indifferent whether they find Christ or
not. Some desire not to see Him at all. Some cannot wait patiently at the
gates.
2. Improve this point. Seek Him sincerely and uprightly with all your
heart. Seek Him honestly and generously for Himself. Seek Him fervently,
humbly, diligently, mournfully. Seek Him till you find.
III. Then do people find
christ when, upon a saving discovery of Christ made to their souls, they close
with Him by faith.
1. Things in general touching the finding of Christ. There is a
twofold finding of Him, initial and progressive. The immediate effect of the
former is union, of the other actual communion with Christ. Some things to be
observed. Sinners in their natural state have lost God. Man is a seeking
creature. There is no satisfying of the soul till it come to God. God is in
Christ, and is to be found in Him only.
2. More particularly explain the soul’s finding Christ. The soul
savingly discovers and discerns Jesus Christ by a new light let into it. There
is a twofold discovery of Him in the gospel, objective and subjective. There
are six things the soul sees in Christ: A transcendent excellency. A fulness
for the supply of all wants. A suitableness to meet his case and to glorify
God. The Wisdom of God in Him. An ability to save. Willingness to save. Upon
this discovery of Christ made unto and by the soul, the soul closes with Christ
by faith. Such a discovery is not made to the soul till it be hunger-bitten.
The nature of the object discovered speaks for itself. And the discovery is
always attended with a heart-conquering power.
IV. Sinners finding
Christ find life.
1. Unfold that life which sinners find. It is a life of grace, in
regeneration. A life of favour with God. A life of new obedience. A life of
comfort. And eternal life.
2. What are the qualities of this life? It is a Divine life. A life
of the whole man. A pleasant life. A persevering life. A growing life.
3. Confirm this doctrine. The sinner finding Christ finds all things
necessary to make him happy. Look to the whole of Christ’s purchase, what He
bought for poor sinners with His blood; and the soul finding Christ finds it
all, and may say, “It is all mine.” (T. Boston, D. D.)
Wisdom’s rewards
Some man might say, “Why
should we watch so much for Wisdom? What shall we get by so much labour? Lest
any should refuse and despise Wisdom, as terrified with the mention of so much
pains in getting, Wisdom promises large rewards of life and favour from God.
Heavy things grow light, when
great rewards are propounded. And if any man be inquisitive to know what is
that blessedness promised to such as take pains to get Wisdom, she tells them
that their diligence in seeking her shall be recompensed in a most copious
reward. As if she had said, “They that find Me shall not obtain some vulgar
matter of little weight, but an incomparable treasure of all good things--to
wit, life, which all men naturally desire, and eternal life, which only God can
give, and all that a man can justly desire; and so shall he be fully happy in
God’s favour.” (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
Life
The life that is found in
Christ, who is our life--the life which, if diligently sought, shall be
assuredly found, and which, when found, fills the soul with joy and peace.
I. The advantage
of seeking Christ. We seek not only Him personally, but all that is in Him. We
seek Him in whom all fulness dwells, and in seeking Him all the fulness that
dwells in Him becomes ours. In finding Christ we find happiness, holiness, and
heaven; pardon, peace, a quiet conscience, relief from the weary load of sin.
II. What do we find
in Christ? Life is the great aim of all sentient beings; to obtain life, and
having obtained it, to preserve it. Inquire, by way of contrast, what is gained
by that life which is found elsewhere than in Christ? Sometimes life is sought
in pleasure, in the world, in the love of things of the world, and in sin.
Mistaking the great object of living, and pursuing a career of sin, men find
that sin bringeth forth death--death of body and of soul, death for time, and
death throughout eternity. There is a more excellent way, a way which has the
promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. The true life
commences here. This life of ours is a pilgrimage. “He that findeth life” finds
a life that is clothed with immortality, that revels in eternal day, that
climbs unwearied the everlasting hills, that wears the crown of everlasting
victory. (Robert Maguire, M. A.)
And shall obtain favour of the Lord.
Sinners interested in
Christ obtaining favour of the Lord
I. Show some
things supposed in this truth tending to clear the meaning of it.
1. There is a treasure of favour for poor sinners with the Lord. A
treasure speaks preciousness, variety, and abundance.
2. This treasure is locked on sinners out of Christ, they have no
access to it.
3. The sinner once interested in Christ has free access to the
treasure, to bring forth from thence whatever he needs.
4. The sinner, when interested in Christ, will still be needing,
while he is in this world.
5. It is the privilege and duty of believers to bring forth and fetch
supply for all their wants out of that treasure.
II. Show wherein
the soul once interested in Christ shall obtain favour of the Lord.
1. In prosperity. They shall have balancing grace, to make them carry
evenly and usefully. Balancing providences; some such mixture of bitterness in
their cup as keeps them from miskenning themselves.
2. In personal outward athletics. But they shall be bettered by it;
supported under it, and have deliverance in due time.
3. In desertion. They shall never be totally or finally forsaken.
4. In temptation. They shall either be made to keep their ground
against the temptation, or at least temptation shall not be allowed to gain a
complete victory over them.
5. Even when fallen into sin, the Lord will not leave them, nor cast
them off.
6. In time of public calamity. They shall either be hid, or gracious
favour shall be mixed with the trouble, or the sting shall be taken out of it.
7. Death. They shall then be freed from sin and freed from trouble.
III. Confirm this
doctrine.
1. Sinners have a right to the whole treasure of favour in Christ, in
whom they are interested.
2. Jesus Christ is the dispenser of the treasure, the high Steward of
the house of heaven.
3. The enjoyment is secured by the covenant of promises.
4. They have each of them a private key to the treasure, and that is
faith. Improve this doctrine--
What found with wisdom
I. Wisdom may be
found. Else these promises were annexed in vain.
II. If wisdom be
found, life is found withal.
1. Natural.
2. Spiritual.
3. Eternal life.
III. Not only life,
but God’s favour is gotten also by getting wisdom.
1. He shall find favour from God in receiving Him.
2. He shall find favour from God in rewarding him here.
3. He shall find favour from God in preserving him from many dangers.
4. He shall receive favour from God in preferring, or crowning him
with eternal glory in heaven.
Use--
1. To confute the doctrine of merits.
2. Seek wisdom earnestly and truly; not faintly and hypocritically,
seeing ye look not only for life, but also for God’s favour from thence, which
is the very cause of life, and the very life of life itself. (Francis
Taylor, B. D.)
The favour of God obtained
by wisdom
The intention of this text
is to represent a very great blessedness to good men, whether in the present or
a future state, annexed to wisdom, or religious virtue, in consequence of their
obtaining God’s favour.
I. How great, how
substantial and comprehensive a felicity this is. It will be easily allowed, if
we consider our most obvious notions of the Deity, as a Being infinitely
perfect and all-sufficient, the fountain of life and happiness. We judge of the
importance of any person’s favour, and of the security and advantage which may
arise to ourselves from it, by his power and capacity. It is impossible that
God’s favourites should be unhappy, because He neither wanteth power to effect
what His good-will inclineth to, nor wisdom to contrive the best method for
their safety and advantage. Though there are objects suitable to the
inclinations God hath planted in our nature, yet even supposing them sought after,
and enjoyed without sin, they come short of being our true felicity, both in
the perfection of degree and in the duration of them. They cannot yield solid
contentment and satisfaction to the mind of man, because they are too low in
their kind for its high capacity; and they are of a perishing nature; pleasure
is but for a season, honour only an empty shadow; nothing can be more variable
and uncertain than it is. But the favour of God is a substantial good, and
never-failing foundation of hope and spring of comfort; it extendeth to all
possible cases, and is a support in the most distressed situation of affairs.
II. Upon what
grounds may we expect that, if we find wisdom, we shall obtain favour of the
Lord? How can men do anything that is good out of a regard to the Deity, unless
they first believe Him to be good, and a lover of virtue? The greatest
corruptions of religion and morality have taken their rise from wrong notions
of God. But how doth it appear that the wise and virtuous obtain favour of the Lord,
since His providence doth not distinguish them by marks of favour, but, by the
confession of the sacred writers themselves, they are in as bad a condition
with respect to the affairs
of this life as the wicked? This objection hath been advanced against the
equity and wisdom of Providence, and as seeming to prove that the affairs of
this world are under no intelligent direction, but left to blind chance or
necessity; but this is not conclusive against the doctrine of the text for the
following reasons:
1. The present state is appointed in the wisdom of God to be a state
of discipline and improvement.
2. The sufferings of good men in the present state may be considered
as trials, and it is consistent with the favour of God to His servants that He
should try them in order to their growth in virtue, and so becoming still more
the objects of His favour.
3. We must keep in mind those things promised in the gospel. Two
practical reflections.
Verse 36
He that sinneth against Me wrongeth him own soul.
The sinner wrongeth his own soul
I. What are we to
understand by a man sinning against Christ?
1. To take partial views of His glorious gospel.
2. When He would wreathe
His gentle yoke about our necks, to kick at the restraint, and refuse it.
3. To coldly hear the offers of His grace, and grieve His Holy Spirit
in not fully and spiritually accepting them.
II. How can we be
said to hate the only being who can save us? This expression seems wholly
inconsistent with the natural dispositions of men. Yet as a fact, men may be
seen all around us loving the ways of death.
1. We may be said to love death when we suffer and encourage our desires to go forth
and loiter about the precincts of it. The thoughts and desires of a man tell us
what he is.
2. We love the captivity of death when we make but few and faint
efforts to break the chains of it.
III. How does a
sinner who loves death wrong his own soul?
1. He does it by choosing to be a beggar in the midst of riches.
2. He does it when he treats his soul as a fleeting mortal thing. We
do it great wrong when we labour to fill it with too much of the creature, and
with too little of Christ. (F. G. Crossman.)
Sinners wrong themselves
1. They snatch their souls away from wisdom.
2. They spoil (rob) their souls.
3. They infect their souls with the guilt of sin.
4. They corrupt them with the filth of sin.
5. They disgrace their souls.
6. They torment their souls with the pangs of conscience.
7. They betray their souls to sin.
8. They destroy them eternally. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
Wronging one’s self
It would be repugnant to our moral sense to overlook the
consequences of sin, and put on the same plane one whose life had been one of
spotless purity and a grey-haired sinner who had at the eleventh hour found
pardon. “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap” is an inflexible law.
Notice certain particulars in which the principle is seen.
1. Opportunities are lost. A man wrongs his own soul by the sinful
neglect of God’s commands in his early years. Those grand years freighted with
golden chances of service for God and humanity, can never be recalled.
2. Moral growth is arrested. You may secure the resumption of
arrested processes in a crystal or a plant, but as you ascend the scale of
being difficulties increase. In one’s moral nature the law we illustrate holds
inexorable sway. He that sinneth against God dwarfs, deadens, and stultifies
his better faculties. Take a single faculty, like the memory. There is
retention as well as reception. The passing thought, the momentary impulse, the
fugitive desire we entertain--all these are ours; yea, they are us. We are ever
enriching or defacing our moral life through the faculty of memory.
3. Look at the true end of our life here, service for God and our
fellow-men. If that service is unrendered, it remains undone for ever.
4. Look at the effects of our sin on others. True religion in a man
is that which earnestly and habitually makes for righteousness and holy
obedience. If it does not keep from sin, it is not a religion sufficient to
save. (H. A. Stimson, D. D.)
Wronging the soul
Of all created things the soul of man most resembles the Deity. It
is like Himself in its nature. The soul is a being possessed of volition, with
powers of imagining the loftiest themes, of conceiving and working out the most
difficult inquiries. The Divine image is still traced upon the soul. It is
therefore true that “he who sinneth against God sinneth against (wrongeth) his
own soul.”
I. The Sinner
wrongs his own soul in this world, by debasing it. Indulgence in vice wrongs
and destroys the moral nature. Even the intellectual faculty is hurt and
wronged by sin. Sensuality debases the mind. He who is the slave of sin
occupies a lower position in creation than the man who by virtue asserts the
high prerogative of nature, who by his goodness and righteousness strives to
assimilate his soul to God. He wrongs the soul who makes it subservient to the
base requirements of the body. The intellectual faculty will censure sin, and
so will the moral faculty. Therefore these properties should be cultivated. The
conscience is seared by indulgence in sin, and the Holy Spirit is grieved.
II. Sin wrongs the
soul by subjecting it to punishment in the world to come. That this is true is
evident from the teaching of nature as well as religion. The mind has reasoned
correctly when it wrought out for itself the doctrine of the immortality of the
soul, and proved an existence beyond the grave. The living being is not the
outer frame. Consciousness is perceived to be a simple and indivisible
power--an essential property of the mind. The destruction of matter cannot of
necessity be considered the destruction of living agents. The destruction of
the body and all its organs does not necessarily involve the destruction of the
reflecting powers; they may not even be suspended in death. Upon the
immortality of the soul philosophy speaks the precepts of religion. Behold,
then, the excellency of the soul, and the guilt of him who wrongs it. How is it
possible that he who wrongs the heavenly Essence can escape the just judgments
of God? But the Christian can realise the dignity of the soul from other
considerations. He has the evidence of his own heart. Christianity requires the
submission of the whole heart; the acceptance of its mysteries; the noblest
self-denial, the most exalted virtue, the highest holiness, the perfection of
humanity. But who except the Christian can realise this? From the death-bed of
the unbelieving may be learned the misery, here and hereafter, of those who
wrong their own soul. (David Ross, B. A.)
The wronged soul
I. The wrong sin
does the nature of the soul.
1. Sin is inhuman.
2. Sin is unnatural.
3. Sin is the degradation of human nature.
II. The wrong sin
does the capacities of the soul. The soul of man is a great capacity for God.
There is no punishment worse than the habit of sin, which comes from sinning.
To do wrong is worse than to suffer any calamity. Pain is soon over, misfortune
is for a moment, calamity is temporary. But sin is permanent. It does an
irreparable injury to the soul. It keeps man out of his heritage. It defeats
the end for which man was made. God made us in His image.
III. The wrong sin
does the power of the soul.
1. The conscience, which is that power of the soul by which we
recognise the moral quality of actions.
2. Sin also wrongs the will. Sin enfeebles man at the most vital part
of his nature. Sin wrongs the soul in every faculty and power. Conclusion:
The self-destroyer
The particular truth of the text is, that sin is not only an
offence to God, whom no man hath seen or can see, but it is a distinct and
irreparable injury to the man, the sinner himself. And that is the only way to
get hold of man. Tell a man that by sinning he is hurting the unseen God, and
what does he care? You can only get hold of a man in so far as any truth you
teach or any requisite you demand impinges upon himself. Touch the little Self
and you have put a hook in the nose of leviathan. God can make you possess in
your bones the effects of your moral action. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The wrong done to the soul by unbelief
I. Unbelief, or a
sinner’s not believing, accepting, closing with, and resting on Christ for
salvation, is the sin against Christ by way of eminency. What treatment of
Christ is it that is this sinning against Him? There is a doctrinal and a
practical treatment of Him. Living ignorant of Christ and the fundamental
truths of the gospel. Living insensible of our absolute need of Christ. Not
believing the doctrines of the gospel. Of this treatment of Christ there are
two evidences: their not seeking Him with the utmost diligence; their seeking
life and salvation some other way--the way of the covenant of works or the way
of uncovenanted mercy.
II. Confirm this
doctrine.
1. Faith in Christ is honouring Him in a special manner; therefore
unbelief must be a special dishonour.
2. Unbelief is the great Antichrist in the heart, sitting up there in
downright opposition to the Son of God.
3. This sin engrosses the whole soul to itself against Christ.
4. It is the sin that ruins the hearers of the gospel, with whom
Christ has to do.
5. It is equal to the grossest sins against the light of nature.
6. It is above these sins in heinousness.
7. It has none that goes beyond it but the sin against the Holy
Ghost.
8. It is a sin directly striking against the glorious office
wherewith Christ is invested, and while He is in the actual exercise of that
office.
III. Unbelief is sin
against christ by way of eminency, and this appears from a view of some
particular pieces of malignity wrapped up therein.
1. It is a despising Him as the Father’s choice.
2. It is a trampling of His love in taking the mediatory office.
3. It is a treating of Him as if He were an impostor.
4. It is a contempt poured upon His precious blood.
5. It is a frustrating of the ends of the death of Christ, as far as
lies in the unbeliever’s power.
6. It is a declining of His government most reproachfully. From this
doctrine learn lessons for saints, for sinners, for all.
IV. The sinner
Against Christ by unbelief wrongs his own soul.
1. Wrongs his own soul really. He does in very deed do hurt and bring
damage to himself, body and soul. He keeps his soul in a state of alienation
from God. He keeps his soul under the guilt of all his sins. In a state of
inability to do what is good or acceptable in the sight of God. It fixes the
soul in a state of condemnation.
2. Wrongs his own soul only; not Christ whom he sins against. All sin
is against the mind and honour of Christ, but no sin is against His happiness.
(T. Boston, D. D.)
The indignity of sin
There are various definitions of sins, each one of which is true
according to our standpoint. If we regard sin as a violation of man’s true
destiny, which destiny we read not only in God’s loving command, but also in
the very law of man’s own being, then sin is the transgressing of the law. If
we regard sin as
variation from the right, the good, the true, then sin is unrighteousness. If
we regard sin as the negation of man’s true nature as a spiritual being, and
the identifying of him with the things of sense, then sin is materialism. If we
regard sin as the fixing of the affections--affections that were intended for
glories beyond the stars--upon the perishing thing of this world, then sin is
worldliness. And, finally, if we regard sin as the failure or refusal of the
soul to apprehend and confide in the unseen, then sin is unbelief. But it is
always the one and self-same thing, the same grim and ghastly thing--in the
godless man of the world, and the ruffian who outrages law, and the smooth
libertine and vulgar thief; in the respectable atheist who says there is no
God, and the brave outlaw who lives his creed and acts upon his belief. For,
while sins differ, sin--the evil root out of which all sins proceed--is the
same. Sins are but symptoms; the disease called sin lies deeper in the soul.
And oh! it is an awful thought, well calculated to humble us all into the very
dust, that no matter what our sins may be--no matter how decent, how
respectable, how secret--they each and all proceed out of the same fell
disorder as the sins of the veriest wretch who outrages man’s laws and exhausts
man’s patience by his wickedness! And now that sin has been traced to its last analysis,
let us consider its results on the soul. It was Wisdom that of old spoke the
words of my text, and her voice is still uplifted among the sons of men, “He
that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul.” It is true that he wrongs the
souls of others also. But it is not of this that I now speak. The worst wrong,
the deepest
indignity, is done to the soul that commits the sin.
1. He wrongs his soul by the degradation he inflicts upon it, the
evil that he scatters through it. The soul comes as a new creation from God. It
is enshrined in a body that inherits evil--evil propensities, insurgent
affections; and it has a hard struggle at best, and cannot win the victory but
by the help of God. But the man who sins makes a voluntary surrender of the
nobler to the baser part, and so appropriates the frailty of the baser nature,
and makes it a part of his soul’s being. Each sin by a certain reflex action
spreads disorder through man’s whole nature. In this way the very bodily
appetite may become the appetite also of the soul. Oh, grim and ghastly are the
evils which sin inflicts upon the body! It dulls the eye, and palsies the hand,
and banishes manly grace from the brow, and coarsens and brutalises the human
face Divine. But something far more dreadful than this befalls the sinner. The
soul takes on the vice of the body. The worst symptom of drunkenness, for
instance, is not the craving of the body, but the craving of the soul. The soul
of the inebriate begins to crave the false excitement of drink, and an obliquity
corresponding to that of the body begins to set up in the soul. The eye of the
drunkard sees false or sees double: the mind’s eye begins to see false also.
And so it comes to pass that the soul of the drunkard becomes untruthful. This
is the reason that men cannot trust the word of a drunkard. So also the deadly
sin of impurity. The very mind and conscience become defiled. The mind panders
to the body. Oh, horrible degradation! And so we find that there is a
correspondence and correlation between different kinds of sin. The sensual man
is always a cruel man. The drunkard is a liar. The thief is simply covetous and
selfish, just like the worldling and the miser. In all these things man’s whole
nature is shamed and dishonoured. In all his being he is degraded and coarsened
by his sin.
2. And this becomes all the more evident when we examine the wrong
which sin does to man’s characteristic powers. And first, his intellectual
faculties, his reason, his power to know. It is a great and awful truth, little
heeded, little understood, that all the powers of man’s intellect are blunted
and weakened by sin. Who has not seen the splendour of some lordly intellect
first dimmed, then obscured, by excess or folly, until its fitful light would
blaze at intervals, and then go out in piteous darkness, or fade into still
more pitiable imbecility? But even more pitiable, if possible, is it to see the
royal intellect of man forced into the base service of the world, and compelled
to drudge like a very slave in the interest of sordid vice, or avarice, or
other selfishness. Who does not know how such intellect declines into trickery
or beastly cunning, and it watches like a fox for a chance to deceive, or like
a predatory beast to seize its prey? To such a man high thoughts and noble
purposes become simply impossible. Not less disastrous and dishonouring is the
influence of sin on man’s moral nature--on his power to discriminate and choose
between right and wrong. Of the debilitating effect of sin upon the will of man
I need not speak at length. All observation and all experience prove that this
is its immediate, unvarying, inevitable effect. He who once yields to do wrong
will find it harder the next time to do right, until he speedily becomes
powerless to choose God and resist evil. But of the darkening, paralysing
effect of sin upon a moral sense not so much is commonly thought, though such
effect is not less immediate and inevitable. The moral sense, which at first is
quick to discriminate, begins, under the pressure of sin, to lose the keenness
of perception. The high sense of honour and of truthfulness is dulled. The good
seems to be less good, and the evil does not seem to be so very evil, until at
last that soul calls evil good and good evil. Woe to the soul that is in such a
case! He has abdicated his throne, and lost his regal state, and broken his
sceptre, and flung away his crown. Finally, even more debasing is the effect of
sin upon the affections. This would seem to be the worst degradation of
all--that man should not only sin his intellect and will and conscience away,
but that he should love his shame, that his soul should be enamoured of its
degradation. And yet, who does not know that even this is the effect of sin?
Through it men learn to love the base things of this world and lose the power
to love the nobler things. What is life to such a soul but shame? What shall
death be but the beginning of an eternal bereavement? One word in conclusion.
All the effects of sin may be summed up in one dreadful word--death. The dying
of the soul, the decay of its faculties, the languishing of its strength--the
progressive unending dying of an immortal soul, with all its unending anguish
of unsatisfied tonging, unfulfilled desire, baffled hope, pitiless remorse,
remediless desire--this is the dread reality at which men ought to tremble. It is no chimera
of imagination; it is no spectre of the future--it is a present reality. It is
doing its ghastly work even now in every soul where sin reigns. For the soul
that sins is dying. The wages of sin is death. (Bp. S. S. Harris.)
The self-hurt of sin
Wisdom, as used here, is the law of God concerning human life and
conduct, and sin is the transgression of that law. The text, not in a spirit of
haughty denunciation, but with sad and kindly warning, declares that he who
transgresses that law wrongs his own soul, is the author of his own sorrow and
suffering and loss. God’s laws, under His immediate direction, work out the
penalty of their own violation; in part here, fully hereafter. All God’s purposes
in us are accomplished by the operation of beneficent law. To break the law is
to thwart His purposes, and bring the ruin which naturally follows such a
course. The law of the piano is, that its strings shall be tuned in harmony,
and that under the skilful touch of the key light-cushioned hammers shall
strike them so that they give out genuine music. But if you fail to tune them
in harmony, and then, lifting the lid, strike them with iron hammers, you get
discord and destruction. You have transgressed the law of the piano. The law of
the watch is to submit to balance-wheel and regulator; take off the one and
misplace the other, and your watch reports falsely all the time. You have
transgressed its law. The law of the circulation of the blood is from heart to
artery, capillary, and back again by the veins; and as it goes it repairs
waste, carries off useless matter, and gives health and strength. But if you
open an artery and send the blood outside its course, you die. You have
transgressed the law. How sinful and self-destructive, then, is the violation
of law, and how fatally does he who thus sins wrong his own soul!
I. Sin against
spiritual law.
1. The law of nutrition. Hunger, flavour, and the delight of the
palate are God’s arrangements for insuring the taking of proper food to repair
the waste and supply the growth of the body. Break the law, and eat for the
sake of pleasing the palate or increasing sociability, then indigestion,
dulness, sleeplessness at night and sluggishness by day follow. Who shall
estimate the sin against the temple of the soul?
2. The nervous system. Its motor power is intended to carry messages
from the mind to the muscles, ordering work done and motion performed. Properly
governed and temperately used, what usefulness, health, and abundance of
valuable labour accomplished may result! Abuse it, and exhaustion, prostration,
paralysis follow.
II. The spiritual
hurt.
1. To the truth-perceiving faculties. The judgment and reason, acting
under the restraint of a pure conscience, leads to the truth in a thousand
ways: in business, society, pleasure, habits, indulgences--in all necessary
things--and the life is guided in righteousness and wisdom. But let unholy
ambition, improper desire for gain, any form of wicked selfishness, get control of these
faculties, and how they become warped, blinded, and misguided!
2. To the power of self-control. This is the battle of growing evil
habits against the will--growing more and more impatient of restraint, more and
more defiant of conscience and will, till appetite, strengthened into habit,
leads manhood captive and blots out every hope and joy.
3. To the religious nature. Properly acted upon by the Holy Spirit,
it becomes God’s audience-chamber in the soul; the natal chamber of the holiest
purposes; the place where the strength comes which gives martyr-power. Sinned
against, the demons of superstition, distrust, hatred of good, vile affections,
scepticism, and cold, dark atheism come in to torment the soul. To the joys of
memory and hope. Every life gathers up all its past and holds it in its present
possession for evermore by faithful memory; and if that past be one of holy
purpose and noble endeavour, every record it holds will be a joy for ever; its
pains will turn to pleasure, its hardships to victories, its struggles to
triumphs. But if its records be of deceit and dishonesty, of lust and
recklessness, then remorse pours her bitterness into every recollection.
III. He that sins
against wisdom interferes with God’s purposes for his future. God has great
ambitions for us.
1. He would build in us a noble character. Sin defeats His wish, and
makes us in character ignoble.
2. He would make us useful; sin makes us hurtful to others.
3. He would make us happy; sin makes us wretched, utterly and for
ever.
4. He would have us grow in spiritual beauty, symmetry, and power;
sin deforms, enfeebles, and mars our being. (C. N. Sims, D. D.)
The wrong which sin does to human nature
The sinner does a wrong, indeed, to others. Sin is, to all the
dearest interests of society, a desolating power. It brings misery into the
daily lot of millions. But all the injury, great and terrible as it is, which
the sinner does or can inflict upon others, is not equal to the injury that he
inflicts upon himself. Does any one say he is glad that it is himself that he
injures most? What a feeling of disinterested justice is that! Because he has
not only wronged others, but ruined himself, is his course any the less guilty,
or unhappy, or unnatural? I say unnatural; and this is a point on which I wish
to insist, in the consideration of that wrong which the moral offender does to
himself. The world, alas! is not only in the awful condition of being filled
with sin, and filled with misery in consequence, but of thinking that this is
the natural order of things. Sin is a thing of course; it is taken for granted
that it must exist very much in the way that it does; and men are everywhere
easy about it, as if they were acting out the principles of their moral constitution,
and almost as if they were fulfilling the will of God.
1. Sin does a wrong to reason. There are instances in which sin, in
various forms of vice and vanity, absolutely destroys reason. There are other
and more numerous cases in which it employs the faculty, but employs it in a
toil most degrading to its nature. There is reasoning, indeed, in the mind of a
miser; the solemn arithmetic of profit and loss. There is reasoning in the
schemes of unscrupulous ambition; the absorbing and agitating intrigue for
office or honour. There is reasoning upon the modes of sensual pleasure; and
the whole power of a very acute mind is sometimes employed and absorbed in
plans, and projects, and imaginations of evil indulgence. But what an unnatural
desecration is it, for reason--sovereign, majestic, all-comprehending
reason--to contract its boundless range to the measure of what the hand can
grasp; to be sunk so low as to idolise outward or sensitive good; to make its
god not indeed of wood or stone, but of a sense or a nerve!
2. Sin is a kind of insanity. So far as it goes, it makes man an
irrational creature; it makes him a fool. The consummation of sin is ever, and
in every form, the extreme of folly. And it is that most pitiable folly which
is puffed up with arrogance and self-sufficiency. The infatuation of the
inebriate man, who is elated and gay just when he ought to be most depressed
and sad, we very well understand. But it is just as true of every man that is
intoxicated by any of his senses or passions, by wealth, or honour, or pleasure,
that he is infatuated--that he has abjured reason. What clearer dictate of
reason is there than to prefer the greater good to the lesser good? But every
offender, every sensualist, every avaricious man, sacrifices the greater
good--the happiness of virtue and piety--for the lesser good, which he finds in
his senses or in the perishing world. Nor is this the strongest view of the
case. He sacrifices the greater for the less, without any necessity for it. He
might have both. A pure mind can derive more enjoyment from this world and from
the senses than an impure mind. What bad man ever desired that his child should
be like himself? And what a testimony is this, what a clear and disinterested
testimony, to the unhappiness of a sinful course! How truly, and with what
striking emphasis, did the venerable Cranmer reply, when told that a certain
man had cheated him: “No he has cheated himself.”
3. Sin does a wrong to conscience. There is a conscience in every
man, which is as truly a part of his nature as reason or memory. The offender
against this, therefore, violates no unknown law nor impracticable rule. From
the very teaching of his nature he knows what is right, and he knows that he
can do it; and his very nature, therefore, instead of furnishing him with apologies
for wilful wrong, holds him inexcusable. He will have the desired
gratification; and to obtain it he sets his foot upon that conscience, and
crushes it down to dishonour and agony worse than death.
4. Sin does a wrong to the affections. How does it mar even that
image of the affections, that mysterious shrine from which their revealings
flash forth, “the human face Divine”; bereaving the world of more than half its
beauty! Can you ever behold sullenness clouding the clear, fair brow of
childhood--or the flushed cheek of anger, or the averted and writhen features
of envy, or the dim and sunken eye and haggard aspect of vice, or the red
signals of bloated excess hung out on every feature, proclaiming the fire that
is consuming within--without feeling that sin is the despoiler of all that the
affections make most hallowed and beautiful? But these are only indications of
the wrong that is done and the ruin that is wrought in the heart. Nature has
made our affections to be full of tenderness; to be sensitive and alive to
every touch; to cling to their cherished objects with a grasp from which
nothing but cruel violence can sever them. But sin enters into this world of
the affections, and spreads around the death-like coldness of distrust; the
word of anger falls like a blow upon the heart, or avarice hardens the heart
against every finer feeling; or the insane merriment, or the sullen stupor of
the inebriate man falls like a thunderbolt amidst the circle of kindred and
children. Oh! the hearts where sin is to do its work should be harder than the
nether millstone; yet it enters in among affections, all warm, all sensitive,
all gushing forth in tenderness; and, deaf to all their pleadings, it does its
work as if it were some demon of wrath that knew no pity, and heard no groans,
and felt no relenting! (O. Dewey, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》