| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Proverbs
Chapter Twenty-seven
Proverbs 27
Commentary on Proverbs 27:1
(Read Proverbs 27:1)
We know not what a day may bring forth. This does not
forbid preparing for to-morrow, but presuming upon to-morrow. We must not put
off the great work of conversion, that one thing needful.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:2
(Read Proverbs 27:2)
There may be occasion for us to justify ourselves, but
not to praise ourselves.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:3,4
(Read Proverbs 27:3,4)
Those who have no command of their passions, sink under
the load.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:5,6
(Read Proverbs 27:5,6)
Plain and faithful rebukes are better, not only than
secret hatred, but than love which compliments in sin, to the hurt of the soul.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:7
(Read Proverbs 27:7)
The poor have a better relish of their enjoyments, and
are often more thankful for them, than the rich. In like manner the proud and
self-sufficient disdain the gospel; but those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, find comfort from the meanest book or sermon that testifies of
Christ Jesus.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:8
(Read Proverbs 27:8)
Every man has his proper place in society, where he may
be safe and comfortable.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:9,10
(Read Proverbs 27:9,10)
Depend not for relief upon a kinsman, merely for
kindred's sake; apply to those who are at hand, and will help in need. But
there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and let us place entire
confidence in him.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:11
(Read Proverbs 27:11)
An affectionate parent urges his son to prudent conduct
that should gladden his heart. The good conduct of Christians is the best
answer to all who find fault with the gospel.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:12
(Read Proverbs 27:12)
Where there is temptation, if we thrust ourselves into
it, there will be sin, and punishment will follow.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:13
(Read Proverbs 27:13)
An honest man may be made a beggar, but he is not honest
that makes himself one.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:14
(Read Proverbs 27:14)
It is folly to be fond of being praised; it is a
temptation to pride.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:15,16
(Read Proverbs 27:15,16)
The contentions of a neighbour may be like a sharp
shower, troublesome for a time; the contentions of a wife are like constant
rain.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:17
(Read Proverbs 27:17)
We are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with. And
directed to have in view, in conversation, to make one another wiser and
better.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:18
(Read Proverbs 27:18)
Though a calling be laborious and despised, yet those who
keep to it, will find there is something to be got by it. God is a Master who
has engaged to honour those who serve him faithfully.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:19
(Read Proverbs 27:19)
One corrupt heart is like another; so are sanctified
hearts: the former bear the same image of the earthly, the latter the same
image of the heavenly. Let us carefully watch our own hearts, comparing them
with the word of God.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:20
(Read Proverbs 27:20)
Two things are here said to be never satisfied, death and
sin. The appetites of the carnal mind for profit or pleasure are always
desiring more. Those whose eyes are ever toward the Lord, are satisfied in him,
and shall for ever be so.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:21
(Read Proverbs 27:21)
Silver and gold are tried by putting them into the
furnace and fining-pot; so is a man tried by praising him.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:22
(Read Proverbs 27:22)
Some are so bad, that even severe methods do not answer
the end; what remains but that they should be rejected? The new-creating power
of God's grace alone is able to make a change.
Commentary on Proverbs 27:23-27
(Read Proverbs 27:23-27)
We ought to have some business to do in this world, and
not to live in idleness, and not to meddle with what we do not understand. We
must be diligent and take pains. Let us do what we can, still the world cannot
be secured to us, therefore we must choose a more lasting portion; but by the
blessing of God upon our honest labours, we may expect to enjoy as much of
earthly blessings as is good for us.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Proverbs》
Proverbs 27
Verse 1
[1] Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not
what a day may bring forth.
Boast not — Of any good thing which thou
purposeth to do, or hopest to receive tomorrow, or hereafter.
Knowest not — What may happen in the space of
one day. The day is said to bring forth, what God by his almighty power either
causes or suffers to be brought forth or done in it.
Verse 3
[3] A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's
wrath is heavier than them both.
Heavier — More grievous, being without cause, without measure,
and without end.
Verse 5
[5] Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Open — When it is needful, in which case, though it put a man
to some shame yet it doth him good.
Better — More desirable and beneficial.
Secret love — Which does not shew itself by
friendly actions, and particularly by free and faithful reproof.
Verse 6
[6] Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of
an enemy are deceitful.
Wounds — The sharpest reproofs.
Kisses — All the outward profession of friendship.
Verse 8
[8] As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that
wandereth from his place.
Wandereth — That flies from place to place,
whereby she is exposed to all the arts of fowlers, and to birds of prey.
So — So is he who through vanity or lightness changes his
abode, or his calling.
Verse 10
[10] Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not;
neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a
neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
Neither go — For comfort and relief, so as to
forsake thy friend for him.
A neighbour — The friend, who hath shewed
himself to be a good neighbour.
Near — In affection.
Verse 11
[11] My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may
answer him that reproacheth me.
Reproacheth — For being the father of a wicked
son.
Verse 14
[14] He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising
early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
Blesseth — That praises him to his face.
A loud voice — That both he, and others, may be
sure to take notice of it.
Rising early — To shew his great forwardness.
A curse — His friend will value this kind of blessing no more
than a curse.
Verse 16
[16] Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment
of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
Hideth — Attempts to smother her passion.
Right-hand — Which being the great instrument
of action, by its much stirring, diffuses the savour of it.
Verse 17
[17] Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the
countenance of his friend.
Iron — Iron tools are made sharp and fit for use, by rubbing
them against the file, or some other iron.
The countenance — The company or conversation of
his friend.
Verse 18
[18] Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof:
so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
So he — That serves him faithfully, prudently, and diligently.
Verse 19
[19] As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man
to man.
So — So one man resembles another in the corruption of his
nature.
Verse 20
[20] Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man
are never satisfied.
Hell — The grave devours all the bodies which are put into
it, and is always ready to receive and devour more.
The eyes — The desires, which discover themselves by the eyes.
Verse 21
[21] As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold;
so is a man to his praise.
To his praise — Or, according to his praise. So a
man is tried by praise.
Verse 23
[23] Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and
look well to thy herds.
Flock — Flocks and herds are here put for all possessions,
because anciently they were the chief part of a man's riches.
Verse 24
[24] For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure
to every generation?
For — What thou dost now possess, will not last always. If a
man had the wealth of a kingdom, without care and diligence it would be brought
to nothing.
Verse 25
[25] The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself,
and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
The hay — Another encouragement to diligence; God invites thee
to it by the plentiful provisions wherewith he has enriched the earth for thy
sake.
The mountains — Even the most barren parts afford
thee their help.
Verse 26
[26] The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the
price of the field.
The price — By the sale whereof thou mayest
either pay the rent of the field which thou hirest, or purchase fields or
lands. Goats might better be spared and sold than sheep, which brought a more
constant profit to the owner.
Verse 27
[27] And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for
the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
Goat's milk — Or, if thou chusest rather to
keep thy goats, the milk will serve thee for food to thyself and family. In
ancient times men used a plain and simple diet.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Proverbs》
27 Chapter 27
Verses 1-27
Verse 1
Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth.
On the conduct to be held with regard to future events
It is needless to prove the change and mutability of our present
state, or the fact that the changes cannot be foreseen by us. Obvious as they
are, it would be well if the thoughts of men dwelt on them more. But by a
strange and prevailing deception, almost every one thinks his own case an
exception from the general law; and that he may build plans with as much
confidence on his present situation as if some assurance were given him that it
were never to change. It has been so contrived by Providence that there should
be no permanent stability to man’s condition on earth. The seeds of alteration
are everywhere sown. And think on what small and inconsiderable causes changes
depend. In the midst of all these contingencies plans and designs for the future are every day
formed. And this is fit and proper. Rules and precautions may be indicated.
I. Boast not
thyself of to-morrow, Never presume arrogantly on futurity. Beware of pride and
vanity. In the day of prosperity rejoice with trembling.
II. Despair not of
to-morrow. Adverse situations fill many with fears and alarms of what is to
come. The day may bring forth some unforeseen relief, and therefore we should
hope under distress. The doctrine which the changes of the world perpetually
inculcate is that no state of external things should appear so important, or
should so affect and agitate our spirits, as to deprive us of a calm, an equal,
and a steady mind. Anxiety, when it seizes the heart, is a dangerous disease,
productive both of much sin and much misery.
III. Delay not till
to-morrow what is proper to be done to-day. Thou art not the lord of to-morrow.
Procrastination has, throughout every age, been the ruin of mankind. Many of
the misfortunes which befall men in their worldly concerns are a consequence of
delay. To-morrow, being loaded with the concerns of to-day, in addition to its
own, is clogged and embarrassed. Evils of the same kind, arising from the same
cause, overtake men in their moral and spiritual interests.
IV. Be every day
prepared for what to-morrow may bring forth. The best preparation for all the
uncertainties of futurity consists in a well-ordered mind, a good conscience,
and a cheerful submission to the will of heaven. If to-morrow bring you any
unexpected good, prepare to receive it with gratitude, temperance, and modesty.
If it shall bring forth evil, prepare to receive it with manly fortitude.
V. Build your
hopes of happiness on somewhat more solid and lasting than what either to-day
or to-morrow are likely to produce. He who rests wholly upon this world builds
his house upon the sand. We are begotten again unto a “lively hope.” Here is
the object to which a wise man will bend his chief attention, that, having
acted his part on earth with fidelity and honour, he may be enabled, through
the merits of his Saviour, to look for a place in the mansions of eternal and
untroubled peace. This prospect is the great corrective of the present vanity
of human life. (Hugh Blair, D.D.)
Boasting
Man’s nature inclines to boasting, to glorifying in something, and
this ariseth from some apprehended excellency or advantage, and so is
originated in the understanding power of man. There is a glorying and boasting
which is good, especially a boasting in God. It is the apprehended personal
interest in a thing which makes it become a subject of boasting. Nothing is
truly the soul’s own but that which survives all changes, and is inseparable
from it. There may be a lawful glorying in the works of God. Oftentimes men are
found glorying in that which is their shame. The object of degenerate and
vicious boasting is presented in this text. “Boast not thyself,” or of thyself.
Self is the centre of man’s affections and motions. This is the great “Diana”
that the heart worships. Men’s affections part themselves into three great
heads of created things.
1. The goods or perfections of the mind.
2. The goods or advantages of the body.
3. The things that are without us, bona fortunae, riches and honour.
There is also a strong inclination in man towards the time to
come; he has an immortal appetite. If the soul of man were in the primitive
integrity, this providence of the soul would reach to eternity, which is the
only just measure of the endurance of any immortal spirit. But since man’s
understanding is darkened, he can see nothing further than “to-morrow.” But
confidence in to-morrow is folly, because of the instability of all outward
things, and because of our ignorance of future events. Of all boastings the
most irrational and groundless is that which arises from presumption of future
things, which are so uncertain both in themselves and to us. Self is the great
and ultimate object of man’s glorying. No man’s present possession satisfies
him, without the addition of hope and expectation for the future. Our present
revenue will not content the heart. Therefore the soul, as it were, anticipates
and forestalls the morrow. But consider--
1. How independent all things are of us and of our choice.
2. The inconstancy of all material things. There is nothing certain
but that all things are uncertain.
3. Our ignorance concerning coming changes. All things proclaim the
folly and madness of that which the heart of man is set upon. “The counsel of
the Lord,” that alone shall “stand.” (H. Binning.)
The necessity of a present repentance
It is not the doctrine of repentance men scruple to
acknowledge, but the time for doing it. They say, “To-morrow will be time
enough.” And they say this, again and again, through all the stages of life.
Press on attention the absolute necessity of our present performance of this
great work of repentance.
I. Show this by
the dangerous uncertainties which all delaying men have to depend upon. There
is no such thing hinted at in Scripture as future repentance. There is no
ground for hoping that a late repentance will avail men who knowingly and
wilfully defer that repentance which is the duty of the present.
1. What certainty can there be in that which depends upon so
uncertain a foundation as the life of man? Who can ensure a hereafter to repent
in?
2. As life is uncertain, so is the continuance of God’s grace
uncertain also.
II. How improper
the times resolved on by such men to repent in will be for the work of their
repentance. Such as the time of sickness, or of old age, or of death.
III. Every excuse
which men may make in favour of their delays must, if seriously considered,
oblige them to hasten their repentance.
1. Excuse--their sins are so small; they can be easily cast off at
pleasure.
2. Sins are so great; it is too difficult to repent.
3. Life is just now too full of other things. Consider that every
moment consumes somewhat of the thread of life; and that of all business and
employments none can possibly be more requisite than our making our peace with
God. (William Bramston.)
To-morrow
Some are hindered by doubts, or blinded by definite unbelief;
others are repelled from the gospel by prejudices of early education; others by
worldly influences, others by the love of sin; and some by a coward fear of the
possible consequences of decision. The chief hindrance, however, is the habit
of procrastination. The fault is a common one even in worldly matters. There
are things that must be done at once, and things which may be left. These
latter have a very good chance of never being done at all. There are few who
have not a lurking intention of thinking about religious matters sooner or
later. Many are indisposed to prompt action, because they fear religion may
interfere with their manner of life, their commercial prosperity, and their
social enjoyments. By and by, when other matters are not so urgent, they may
find a convenient season. This habit of procrastination grows upon us until it
becomes a sort of second nature, and at last, even should we wish to act
promptly, we seem almost to have lost the power. For one who doubts the Bible,
there are a hundred who simply put off for the present. The Holy Ghost says,
“To-day”; they still say, “To-morrow.” How can we best counteract this
disposition towards procrastination? The nominally Christian world is pervaded
by the radically false notion that religion has mainly to do with the future
rather than with the present. This notion is encouraged by the use of the word
“salvation.” Men do not see that they need to be saved now. True religion is a
matter of present urgency. Religion is the one secret of true enjoyment in
life. Another cause of procrastination is a false idea of the relative
importance of things temporal and things spiritual. Religion is regarded as
distinct from the practical purposes of life. This is an inverted estimate of
the relative importance of things. Why should we say to-day rather than to-morrow?
Because, of all our life, only to-day is really ours. Tomorrow belongs to God.
Every to-morrow that God allots you, when it gets to you is a to-day. The
to-morrow that we think will do so much for us never comes. To-day may ensure
our best interests; to-morrow they may have passed from us, and be forfeited
for ever. Moreover, we have a great work to do, and only a limited time to do
it in. And we are living in a perishing world, and men and women are dying
unprepared every day that passes. By religious decision, how much happiness we
may confer upon others by our personal example and influence. In this world of
changes and uncertainties, no man can be sure that he will have any to-morrow.
Think, too, how you are treating your Lord when, from day to day, you still
continue to say, “To-morrow.” To-day again He proffers the unspeakable gift.
His time is now. Another to-morrow, and He may be constrained reluctantly to
depart, wearied out at last by your heartless indifference. Oh, take shame to
yourself that, hitherto, He has had nothing from you but “to-morrow.” (W.
H. Hay Aitken, M.A.)
The folly and danger of boasting of the morrow
No truth is more obvious than that of the instability of human
life, and the uncertainty of all earthly things; and yet there is none which
produces a less abiding impression on the mind, or a less practical effect on
the conduct. It seems to be a truth so trite as to be beneath our notice. All
our courses of action, all our habits of thought, imply that we have a longer
continuance, and a firmer interest, in the things around us, than a full
conviction of their vanity and their uncertainty appear to warrant. We are
willing to allow, as a general rule, that all below is fleeting and uncertain,
but in our own case we are anxious to find a fortunate exception. This, at
least, lies in the bottom of our hearts, springing up indistinctly in our
thoughts, and whispering peace and safety, where neither of them are
discoverable by the eye of reason. A knowledge of the fate of others can never
entirely remove this error, because it is deeply seated in the heart. By
boasting of to-morrow is meant a confident expectation of its arrival, and an
undoubting calculation of the enjoyments which it may be expected to bring
along with it; such a fancied assurance of possessing it, as may lead us to
defer what ought now to be done till that imaginary period. The greatest evil
to which this leads is the postponement of a religious life to some future
period of our existence, it is too common for man to look upon religion as
something totally incompatible with the pursuits and enjoyments of the present
world. He therefore relies upon the possibility that the morrow may be extended
to him, and to that uncertain period he commits the serious task of shaking off
the evil habits which he has contracted, and curbing the corrupt passions which
he has hitherto indulged, and of cultivating the Christian graces. Too often in
the short and anxious hour of our closing existence all the more serious work
of life has to be done. Let it be our aim, then, to look upon religion, not as
a task which we are commanded to perform, but as a privilege which we are
invited to share. For most of the ills of life religion is an effectual remedy,
and in all it is a cheering alleviation.
1. There are many miseries which the morrow is continually bringing
forth, that are the direct consequence of our own imprudent conduct or our own
vicious habits. They spring from a want of religion; and the possession of it
would of course relieve them.
2. Suffering also belongs to us as the sons of mortality; such as
pain, sickness, infirmity, age. Religion cannot altogether remove such woes,
but it can very materially mitigate and relieve them. And, at least, it enables
us to look rightly upon them.
3. There is a class of disappointments to which irreligious men are
subject, but from which the true Christian is altogether free. The worldly man
is entirely immersed in the things of this life, its pleasures and its cares.
When the changeful morrow comes, and these are swept away, he is ruined. The
happiness of the religious man is not dependent on such accidents as these. (R.
Parkinson, B.D.)
To-morrow
I. The abuse of
to-morrow. “Boast not”--
1. Because it is extremely foolish to boast at all, Boasting never
makes a man any the greater in the esteem of others, nor does it improve the
real estate either of his body or his soul. Morrows come from God; thou hast no
right to glory in them.
2. Because to-morrow is one of the frailest things in creation, and therefore
the least to be boasted of. Boast not of to-morrow--thou hast it not. Boast not
of to-morrow--thou mayest never have it. Boast not of to-morrow--if thou hadst
it, it would deceive thee. Boast not of to-morrow, for to-morrow thou mayest be
where morrows will be dreadful things, to tremble at.
3. Because it is exceedingly hurtful to boast. It is hurtful now.
Some men are led into extraordinary extravagance from their hopes of the
future. It is hurtful to-morrow also. Because you will be disappointed with
to-morrow if you boast about it before it comes. The over-confident not only
entail great sorrow upon themselves but upon others also.
II. The abuse of
the spiritual to-morrow. Never boast of to-morrow with regard to your soul’s
salvation. Those do who think it will be easier for them to repent to-morrow
than it is to-day. Those do who suppose they shall have plenty of time to
repent and return to God. Those do who boast in a way of resolves to do better.
III. If to-morrows
are not to be boasted of, are they good for nothing? Nay; we may look forward
to them with confidence and joy, and we may seek in wise ways to provide for
to-morrow. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The folly and danger of delays in religion
I. Men are
naturally inclined to boast of something.
II. Men are apt to
delay religion as long as they can. They boast of to-morrow.
III. It is base and
sinful to put off the concerns of religion till to-morrow.
IV. God alone knows
what is to come. The Jews of Christ’s time were dreaming of future prosperity,
but He foresaw their ruin and destruction as at hand. We, like them, lay plans
for futurity, and invade the province of the Most High. We perhaps anticipate
wealth, honour.
V. Great changes
happen in a short time. “For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
Since the introduction of sin, the creature at its best estate is altogether
vanity. (Christian Recorder.)
The danger of trusting to the future
I. In this passage
it is very plainly insinuated that we are too apt to boast of to-morrow. The
young hope to live to old age; the middle-aged, having passed the most critical
stages of infancy and childhood, reckon, with too much security, on grey hairs;
while the old look around them for examples, a few of which they can glean of
extreme age, and hope they themselves shall add to the number of extraordinary
cases of longevity. Boasting of to-morrow likewise appears in framing worldly
schemes of future ease and aggrandisement. He who proposes it as his object to
make up a sum at all hazards, that he may, by a certain time, execute a plan of
a great mansion, suited to the fortune, and then to enjoy himself. See where
the evil lies; not in thinking of to-morrow, in the way of making wise and
prudent preparation, always taking along with us, “If the Lord will”; but the
evil is that boasting of to-morrow which involves in sinful, at any rate in
worldly and presumptuous plans, in reference to some future period, or that
kind of reference to to-morrow which is a substitute for attention, immediate
and serious, to our most important, even our eternal interests.
II. That it is
foolish to boast of to-morrow, “We are young.” Granted; but the young droop
oftentimes. The green leaf often is seen falling, nipped by frost, or shaken by
the wind. The young and strong have been called hence by disease or accident,
the majority were young. “But we have stood already many trials of our
constitution, and many attacks, and are yet vigorous.” The last, however, will
come, and the very next may be fatal. “But we are a long-lived race. Father and
mother, yea grandfather, and many relatives, lived to a great age.” You forget
the exceptions. “But we have somehow this persuasion, that we shall live long,
and at any rate we will not indulge in gloomy presage of an early tomb.” This
is very delusive--it is foolish--you can give no reason for it--you may soon
find you were deceiving yourselves.
III. That there is
much danger in indulging this disposition.
1. It fosters irreligion and atheism. Leaving out of calculation your
own weak and dependent state, the uncertainty of time, and your ignorance of
futurity, you form your plans without any reference to the Divine Disposer. You
erect many high towering schemes, which savour at once of impiety and folly.
2. It is found to foster some of the worst passions of the human
heart. The ambitious reason thus: A few steps more, and I shall rise to the
very top of my profession, or of my rank in society, and that in the regular
course of events, which supposes the removal of others by the stroke of mortality,
as the means of elevation. The covetous man adds heap to heap, with desires
more and more insatiable, forgetful of his latter end, and of that country to
which he goes, where his wealth will be of no benefit. A due consideration of
this might, by the Divine blessing, cut up by the roots this grovelling and
idolatrous propensity, and give the soul a heavenward direction. A day may
bring forth many most unexpected events, casting a dark cloud over the most
flattering prospects. This present day improved may be the happy means of
arresting the evil which the presumption of to-morrow tends so much to foster.
3. The boast of to-morrow is most prejudicial to spiritual and
eternal concerns. It is the most successful of all Satan’s devices, and the
easiest mode of compassing his designs. (W. Burns.)
Ignorance of the future
I. To what the
words of the text will apply. On some things we can calculate with a degree of
certainty. Apply text--
1. With regard to ourselves. And it will apply to both good and evil.
The text seems to have in view evil.
2. To the dispensations of Providence.
3. This uncertainty regards our lives. Some are cut off in the midst
of sin. Some in the midst of religious declensions.
II. What reasons
can be given for this ignorance of futurity. It never was designed that man
should know the future. Even the angels in heaven have not this knowledge.
Would such knowledge add to our happiness? or improve our religious character?
This arrangement keeps us fully dependent on God. By this means He keeps the
world in awe.
III. Apply the fact
to some useful purposes.
1. It should check vain curiosity.
2. It teaches us to hope for the best.
3. It is good to be prepared for the worst.
4. Learn the importance of real religion. (Charles Hyatt.)
Man’s ignorance of futurity
I. The sentiment
contained in the text. No man will attempt to controvert the assertion it
makes.
1. We are ignorant of the future as to our circumstances.
2. We cannot tell what a day may bring forth as to the state of our
bodies and our minds.
3. We are ignorant
of the future as to our families and connections.
4. We are totally ignorant of futurity, as to the continuance of our
lives.
II. Some lessons of
practical instruction.
1. Learn the importance of a life of faith and dependence on God. Man was never
designed to be independent.
2. Learn to cultivate a spirit of holy resignation to the Divine
will.
3. Learn to cultivate a spirit of cautious moderation as to the
things of this present life.
4. Learn to cultivate a spirit of humility. (R. Cameron.)
Ignorance of the future
Mr. D. L. Moody says: “To recall the following act I would give my
right hand. On the night when the Court House bell of Chicago was sounding an
alarm of fire, my sermon was upon ‘What shall I do with Jesus? ‘ And I said to the
audience, ‘I want you to decide this question by next Sunday.’ What a mistake!
That night I saw the glare of flames, and knew that Chicago was doomed. I never
saw that audience again.”
Verse 2
Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth.
Self-boasting
Self-boasting is always a source of weakness as well as a
revelation of vanity. In vanity there is no substance; it is idle breath, it is
foolish vapour. When a man is left to praise himself it is evident that he has
lived an inverted life, not a life full of blessedness and comfort in relation
to other men. The sun does not praise himself, but under his splendour and
warmth men look up and say how pleasing a thing it is for the eyes to behold
the light. On the other hand, we must beware of a very common and perilous
deceit. There is a sense in which every man ought to be able to praise himself;
otherwise the applause of the public will be left by him to be a mockery and a
lie. Our own heart should not condemn us. The psalmist was wont to glory in his
integrity, and to point to it as his refuge in the time of misunderstanding. (J.
Parker, D.D.)
Verse 3
Sand weighty.
The weight of sand
By a fool this book means, not so much intellectual feebleness as
moral and religious obliquity, which are the stupidest things that a man can be
guilty of. The proverb-maker compares two heavy things, stones and sand, and
says that they are feathers in comparison with the lead-like weight of such a
man’s wrath. I want to make a parable out of the text. What is lighter than a
grain of sand? What is heavier than a bagful of it? The accumulation of light
things is overwhelmingly ponderous. Is there anything in our lives like that?
I. This reminds us
of the supreme importance of trifles. The small things make life, and if they
are small, then it is. We are poor judges of what is great or small. We have a very vulgar
estimate of noise, notoriety, and bigness. We think the quiet things are the
small ones. The most trivial actions have a knack of leading on to large
results, beyond what could have been expected. These trivial actions make
character. Men are not made by crises. The crises reveal what we have made
ourselves by the trifles. We shape ourselves by the way we do small things.
II. The
overwhelming weight of small sins. The accumulated pressure upon a man of a
multitude of perfectly trivial faults and transgressions makes up a tremendous
aggregate that weighs upon him. The words “great” and “small” should not be
applied in reference to things about which “right” and “wrong” are the proper
words to employ. Acts make crimes, but motives make sins. To talk about
magnitude, in regard to sins, is rather to introduce an irrelevant
consideration. Small sins, by reason of their numerousness, have a terribly accumulative power; a
tremendous capacity for reproduction. All our evil doings have a strange
affinity with one another. To go wrong in one direction leads to a whole series
of consequential transgressions of one sort or another. Every sin makes us more
accessible to the assaults of every other. If we indulge in slight acts of
transgression, be sure of this, that we shall pass from them to far greater
ones. An overwhelming weight of guilt results from the accumulation of little
sins.
III. Plain,
practical issues of these thoughts.
1. The absolute necessity for all-round and ever-wakeful watchfulness
of ourselves.
2. This thought may take down our easy and self-complacent estimate
of ourselves.
3. Should we not turn ourselves with lowly hearts to Him who alone
can deliver us from the habit and power of these accumulated faults, and who
alone can lift the burden of guilt and responsibility from off our shoulders?
(A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Verse 4
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand
before envy?
Anger and envy
I. The evil
principles indicated in the text are extensively and dangerously prevalent. To
be irritated and out of temper is one of the common tendencies of our nature,
manifested even in childhood. The root is wrath, anger. This pernicious root grows
differently in different natures, and with more or less vigour. This vicious
principle is generally regarded too complacently, as though it were a necessary
part of our nature. Wrath is dangerous. Its tendency is to increase. The spark
will rise into a flame. The intensity of anger depends upon external
circumstances, and also upon the condition of our health. The external exciting
causes are continually changing. The foolish vice of irritating the temper of
others is too common. Some like to torment the susceptible. Others are
perpetually fault-finding and sneering. Envy is the condition of one who looks
upon the happiness of another and longs to possess it. Envy generally seeks to conceal itself, and
to work in secret and in darkness. Passion would strike down its victim in the
public market-place, whilst envy would carefully weigh out and mix the poison
for its victim to consume unconsciously in his food. This dangerous and deadly
principle has extensive existence. Envy is the development of germs which are
universally diffused. Then search into the very depths of your nature after the
most minute germs of this evil.
II. Wherein Lies
our safety against the growth and development of these principles? There may be
lurking in our nature forces which need to be held in check by a stronger power
than mere intellectual culture. Our higher civilisation too often only gilds
crime, and throws its mantle over it. A formal profession of religion may cover
the vilest lusts of humanity. There is a higher power. Christianity offers a
Divine power by which the evil nature may be purified and every evil passion
brought into subjection. Our safety, our only safety, lies in the renewal and
sanctification of our nature by the Holy Ghost. Separated from the conscious
presence of Christ, and destitute of His renewing grace and protecting
providence, who can tell into what mischief we may fall! (Robert Ann.)
The sin of envy
The envious man is far blacker than the passionate man; for the
outrageous behaviour of an angry person sounds an alarm to his neighbour to be
on his guard, but the envious man conceals his malignity till he has a fit
opportunity to strike a mortal blow without danger of missing his aim. The one
is a dog, that barks before he bites, the other is an adder in the grass, that
stings the traveller when he is dreading no hurt; for the malice of the envious
man is generally unsuspected, because no occasion was given for it. It is the
good and happiness of the envied object that excited his malignity, and he does
not so much as pretend that he has received any provocation. (George Lawson,
D.D.)
The nature and mischief of envy
The wise man compares envy with two very exorbitant commotions of
man’s mind, wrath and anger. Worse than these, more unkind and uncharitable, more
unjust, violent and mischievous, is envy. There is neither any goodness, nor
yet any strength, that is a sufficient guard against it.
1. There is no man’s innocency, no man’s virtue, that can secure him
from the direful strokes of envy. Sometimes a man’s goodness actually inflames
the hearts of the envious. See case of Cain and Abel; of Esau; of the brethren
of Joseph; of Saul, etc. The greatest instance of all is the envy of Scribes
and Pharisees against our Saviour.
2. There is no man so great and powerful, or of so secure an estate
or fortune, but the violence of envy hath been capable of overthrowing him.
Illustrate case of Abner.
I. A just
description of envy. It is a displeasure or trouble arising in a man’s mind
from the sight or knowledge of another man’s prosperity, and causing a man to
hate such person, and try
to ruin him. It commonly arises on the sight of the prosperity of inferiors or
equals. Men envy that to others which they think themselves as well or better
to deserve. They seldom envy things or persons that are much above them.
Distinguish envy from emulation. Illustrate by these two qualities in Saul and
Jonathan, on the occasion of David’s killing Goliath. Emulation is a great and
noble virtue, envy a poor and sneaking vice. It is always hiding itself. No man
will own himself to be envious. He disguises it under a mighty pretended zeal
for the truth; or a great love for the public welfare; or a charitable concern
for the credit of his neighbour. How few men are wholly free from this vice.
II. The mischievous
effects produced by envy. See these, that we may be more set against it; that
we may avoid it ourselves; that we may beware of it in others; that we may use
our utmost endeavours to quench this flame. Disturbances in the state, schism
in the Church, and trouble in a neighbourhood, or in a private family, are
generally traceable to envy. To what end is all this evil done by envious men?
What do they get by it? Envy is its own punishment. No man can find a greater
torment for an envious man than he inflicts upon himself. Even if it succeeds
in pulling down a man, it very rarely gets into his place. How is it that God
endures, and seems to leave alone, these mischief-making, envious men? They are
agents in doing
His disciplinary work in His people. It makes men self-watchful. The envious
quickly light upon and show up faults that we might have passed over. The
envious calumniate failings, not virtues. Remedies are--
1. A right apprehension of the things of this world.
2. A due submission to the will of God.
3. A true humility.
4. A Christian charity.
This last plucks it up by the very roots; and plants in our hearts
what is most contrary thereto. (Jonathan Blagrave, D.D.)
Verse 5-6
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Charitable reproof
Self-love is so natural to us, that as it makes us apt to flatter
ourselves on all occasions, so it inclines us to accept too easily of the
flatteries of all others. Our unwillingness to know our own faults, or to be
humbled under the sense of them, makes us uneasy when any venture on the most
charitable, but often the most unacceptable, act of friendship, the telling us
of our faults. But so long as we have faults it is very fit that we be made
acquainted with them. And since we are too much blinded in our own favour, it
is a great happiness to fall Into the hands of such friends as will not spare
us. No man can perform this act of friendship without some force put upon
himself. Few love to touch a tender part, or to grieve a person who is dear to
them. Friends see faults while they are yet secret, before they break out into
open observation; so by the kind severity of their rebukes, they save from the
shame which the discoveries that envy will soon make may bring. Friendship that
carries a man to rebuke another plainly and roundly is better than secret love,
or silent, indulgent, blind love. Such reproofs may be as wounds, and give a
very painful uneasiness; but even that will be medicinal. The first and
necessary rule in managing our reproofs is, that no man should offer to reprove
another, who is eminently and notoriously faulty himself. Another is, reprove
in such a manner that it may
appear we are their friends whom we reprove, and that we correct them for their
own good. So much depends on the temper in which reproof is given. The most
comprehensive rule is to order our reproofs with discretion and prudence. The
things of which we find fault should be things of importance. Junior and
inferior persons should not usually reprove their elders and superiors. And a
wise and prudent time should be chosen. Take care that it is not a mere finding
fault upon some general and popular notions. Illustrate such things as lewd conversation,
swearing, etc. (Bp. Gilbert.)
False love
The contrast is not between “open reproof” and love that is not
real, but only affected, and assuming the garb and manner of what is real,
flatters and imposes upon its object. This could not, with propriety, be called
“secret love.” It is professed love hiding enmity or indifference. “Secret love
“ is love which is indeed real, but which fails to speak out faithfully when it
ought--when the good of its object calls for such fidelity; which shrinks from doing
so because it is unwilling to inflict present pain; which thus connives at
existing evils--silently allowing them to pass when they are such as ought to
be noticed and reprehended. This is a false love, which really injures its
object. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)
Verse 6
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy
are deceitful.
God’s friendship and Satan’s enmity
True friends are scarce. The old cynic who went about in broad
daylight with a lighted lantern in search of “a man” would have had like
difficulty in finding a true friend. True friendship often assumes a rough
garb; enmity may clothe itself in the stolen dress of love. Men like flattery
better than the rebuke of the faithful friend. The truth-speaker often inflicts
pain.
I. God’s
friendship ever brings sorrow with it. Out of the depths of His loving heart,
God summonses the prodigal sinner to return. If he returns he must expect a weary
journey. It is a toilsome path, that rugged one of repentance.
II. Satan’s enmity
is often disguised by means of deceitful offers of joy. An enemy, he deals in
pretences of love, and deceives with a kiss. When Satan tempted Christ, he came
as it were with kisses--that is, with bribes. Is it not ever so? Sin wears the
garb of friendship without its reality, and men are slaves to appearances. The
truly wise man best shows his wisdom by detecting the embraces of an enemy, the
false promise, the lying lips. (Homilist.)
Verse 7
The full soul loatheth an honeycomb.
Spiritual appetite
It is a great blessing when food and appetite meet
together. Sometimes men have been so luxuriously fed that appetite has departed
from them altogether. The rules which apply to bodily appetite equally hold
true of the mind. We easily lose our taste for anything of which we have our
fill. Men in the things of God have not always an appetite for the sweetest and
most precious truth.
I. Jesus Christ is
Himself sweeter than the honeycomb. This is clear if we consider who He is, and
what He gives and does. Our Lord is the incarnation of Divine love. The love of
God is sweet, and Jesus is that love made manifest. Jesus is in Himself the
embodiment of boundless mercy to sinners as well as love to creatures. Jesus
must be sweet, for He meets all our wants as sinners. He breathes into our
hearts the sweetness of abounding peace. His very name is redolent of celestial
hope to believers. Jesus is sweet to God Himself, and to the angels in heaven.
It is His presence that makes heaven what it is.
II. There are those
who loathe the sweetness of our Lord. Some loathe Him so as to trample on Him.
Others are always
murmuring at Him. Some are utterly indifferent to Him. The loathing manifests
itself by little signs. It comes of a soul’s being full--of the world; of
outward religiousness; or of pride.
III. There are some
who do appreciate the sweetness of Christ. Pray for a good appetite for Christ,
and when you have it, keep it. Do not waste a good appetite upon anything less
sweet than the true honeycomb. When you have the appetite, indulge it. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
An appetite for good things essential for their enjoyment
To appreciate a thing you must first feel its want. This applies
to--
I. Corporeal good.
It is appetite that makes bodily food sweet and enjoyable. Delicious was the
manna to the Israelites at first. Which of the two is the more blest, the man
who has the abundance of the enjoyable without the power of enjoying or he who
has the scarcest and humblest fare with the full relish of the hungry soul?
II. Intellectual
good. A man may have an immense library, and no appetite for books. To him the
priceless library is worse than worthless. I’d rather be the man of one book,
nay, of no book at all but the book of my own soul--the book of nature--with an
appetite for truth, than the owner of the choicest library of the world with no
desire for knowledge.
III. Spiritual good.
(D. Thomas, D.D.)
Verse 8
As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth
from his place.
The inconvenience and danger of persons being long absent from
home
Nothing that affects our religious interests can, properly
speaking, be called little. Everything that can influence the present temper
and future state of the soul is weighty and important This text is a caution
against a rambling spirit in general. “A bird that wandereth from her nest”
leaves her eggs unhatched, or starves her young ones, or exposes them to peril.
The evil consequences of restless and prolonged wanderings from home are--
1. They who wander lose many relative comforts. A heathen philosopher
observes that “wanderers about have many acquaintances, but few friends.”
2. The domestic affairs of wanderers greatly suffer. Their work
either stands still, or goes on very indifferently.
3. Precious time is lost in wandering from home. Many whose lawful
business leads them abroad stay much longer than is needful. They trifle at
every place where they come, and must chat with every person who hath as little
prudence as themselves.
4. Wanderers are exposed to many temptations which ought to be avoided.
5. This habit is a great hindrance to family religion. Apply these
thoughts to ourselves, and inquire how far we are concerned in this admonition.
It is important for young people to cultivate a habit of staying at home. It is
peculiarly bad in servants to wander from their place. Relations should
endeavour to make home agreeable to one another. It is especially bad to wander
from the house of God. (J. Orton.)
Wandering birds
Some people are always restless; they must move about. They are
like wandering birds. Such people do not know that the right place is always
the best place for them. Whatever is our calling in life, let us not be in a
hurry to leave it. Depend upon it, where God has placed us is the best for us
after all. The right place for us all is where we can best serve Jesus, and
where we can glorify Him. A bird that wanders from its nest is one that will
get into danger and trouble. A bird that wanders from its nest will lose its
nest. Three counsels--
1. Love your own nest, and stay in it.
2. Keep the nest clean, and make your home happy.
3. No nest is so good for you as your own, and therefore do not seek
to change it. (J. J. Ellis.)
The wanderer
I. As the bird has
its nest, so man has his place. And both are of Divine appointment. Behind the
instinct of the bird and the social nature of man we must recognise the purpose
of God. Man’s place is in--
1. The home. “God setteth the solitary in families.”
2. In society. “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for
the powers that be are ordained of God.”
3. In the Church, its fellowship, worship, work.
II. As the bird
needs the nest, so the man needs the place.
III. As the nest
needs the bird, so the place needs the man.
IV. “Wandering.”
V. The
consequences of wandering.
VI. Appeal to wanderers.
Come back! the place waits for you. Your own heart echoes its cry. (Homiletic
Review.)
Unnaturalness
Sin reverses Divine arrangements. It is consequently the most
unnatural thing in God’s universe. We speak of “natural depravity”; it is,
properly speaking, un-natural depravity. Sin is earth’s exotic; the soul’s
nightshade; it has “turned the world upside down,” and thrust man out of his
proper place.
I. Man in his
wrong place. Here called “a wanderer.” “Where art thou?” God asked Adam;
intimating that he was not where he ought to have been. Sin had turned him out
of his place. Some things concerning man’s original state--the place from which
he had wandered.
1. It was a state of conscious Divine approval. Conscience was at
rest.
2. A state of Divine illumination. The creature enjoyed the high
privilege of companionship with his Creator. Sin has both stained the
conscience and darkened the understanding.
3. A state of Divine sympathies. His supreme affections were centred
in his Maker. Towards Him his emotions moved like bright constellations round
the sun. The fatal mistake sin has introduced into the hearts of men is the
vain attempt to meet the wants of the spiritual in the supplies of the
material.
II. Man in his
right place. “Man is as his heart is.” The evils which have been enumerated
arise from the moral derangement of the affections. The gospel comes to restore
the forfeited “place” by restoring lost confidence. It does so by revealing God
in such a way as to inspire confidence. The gospel is the revelation of Divine
love putting away sin, and bringing the sinner near to Himself. The soul’s
resting-place is faith and love. (G. Hunt Jackson.)
The wandering bird
Persons of the vagrant kind seldom, if ever, prosper.
1. In the common affairs of life Solomon was correct. The unrest of
that man’s mind, and the instability of his conduct, who is constantly making a
change of his position and purpose, augurs no success for any of his
adventures. See cases of eagerness to leave the native country; changing
occupation; changing situation and acquaintance. And it is certainly true in
changing one’s religious service in the cause of God.
2. In spiritual things. There is a tendency in us all to be looking
for evidences, signs, marks, experiences, graces, and coincidences of one kind
or another. When a Christian wanders from his place--from the simplicity of his
faith in Jesus--that moment he departs from his safe shelter in the solid rock.
Many believers wander out of their place. A believer’s place is in the bosom of
his Lord, or at the right hand of his Master, or sitting at His feet with Mary.
Wandering habits imply a lack of watchfulness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The wandering bird
The teaching of the proverb may be, that a man who leaves his own
home, his own proper sphere, situation, calling, is strange, awkward, lonely,
exposed--he has got away from duty and into danger, and is forlorn as a lost
bird that has got away from its nest and cannot find its way back. Our subject
is that men, institutions, Churches, are most useful when faithful to their own
particular calling, and when true to their own distinctive characteristics.
There is some danger lest Christian Churches should wander from their place.
Far be it from me to depreciate the importance of social questions and social
work. But we are told that we are strong in the degree in which we take in hand
social questions, and play the part of social reformers. But our work is
supremely spiritual; our work is to the soul of man. To us, the main cause of
the misery which is in this world is to be found in the spiritual condition of
men, in their alienation from God. The Church of Christ is not to be a
food-supply association, nor a banking company, nor a society for the reform of
manners. Our work is to bring men to God. The monition of the text may be
applied to individuals. There are few things more common than for men to
forsake the sphere in which their own peculiar powers have ample scope for a
sphere in which those powers are scarcely required at all. An infatuation
sometimes leads men to seek positions to which they are not called, and for
which they are manifestly unfit. Some of us are not allowed to remain in one
place. We are compelled to be wanderers on the face of the earth. The
determination to abide in one’s own lot, and to be true to one’s own gifts and
aptitudes, is the secret of power. If a man will prove his own work, he shall
have rejoicing in himself. Cultivate a vivid sense of personality and a solemn
conviction of our own individual significance. You will not best serve your
generation by becoming a washed-out reproduction of some stronger character. If
a man honestly does the best with his own powers in his own place, he will not
live in vain. We cannot escape from our personal limitations, but we may do
good work, and minister much blessing notwithstanding. We also wander from our
place when we neglect the things that are about us, and strain after strange
and distant things, for satisfaction. The highest and best things are possible
to us where we are. In our own place the highest culture of character is
possible. Our place has no limitations for spiritual growth. We can be men in
Christ Jesus where we are. So let there be no repining and no wandering. He
orders our lot; let us stand in it. (James Lewis.)
Verse 10
Better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
Sociability
This proverb points out that when assistance is needed the near
neighbour, though he may love less, is more useful than the brother who is far
away. Society is absolutely necessary for human existence. Companionship forces
us to think and feel in common. A large-hearted sociability corrects irrational
prejudices. As no two minds are exactly alike, so no two can see any subject
from exactly the same standpoint. The greater number of minds we can bring to
bear on any aspect of truth, the nearer shall we be to the aspect that is
right. It may be objected that many think erroneously, and therefore
companionship with them would lead us from, and not towards, the truth. It
would if we adopted their opinions, but not if, by sifting and searching them,
we grasped our own more firmly. The same holds true in the realm of Christian
experience. Sociability is, then, a duty we all owe to society, one which we
ought scrupulously to pay according to our means and our opportunities. About
the nature of true sociability great mistakes are made. Amusement is not the
first purpose of society. To be truly sociable we must be able to make society
more Christian than it was; to infuse into it something more, however little,
of the spirit of sympathy, truth, purity, and love than it had. But to do this
we must have the spirit ourselves. We ought also to be able to make it more
intellectual, by adding information, giving ideas, and stimulating to mental
effort. Then we cannot always be in society. It is in solitude we gather those
germs of thought that we are afterwards to scatter. The power we have of influencing
society by our words is one whose value we cannot over-estimate, one that ought
to be cultivated to the very highest pitch. The benefit derived from
companionship must depend on the persons with whom we associate. Bad companions
have led many to ruin. Sociability has a tendency to produce hypocrisy, and
subsequent self-deception in certain characters. Conversation in society is,
too often, neither true nor edifying. By insensible degrees the vapid talker
becomes the idle gossip, and the gossip sinks into the envenomed slanderer. It
is, then, in our power to influence society for good or ill. Sociability must
be either a curse or a blessing as we use it. (J. McCann, D.D.)
Friendship
The Lord Jesus found strength and consolation in the love of human
friends. That He should not only have pitied men, and loved them, but should
have found here and there men and women whose presence and affection were a
relief to Him, under the burden
of His griefs; men and women who gave Him rest when He was weary, and joy when
He was troubled; this may seem surprising to as. Christ Himself, the Son of the
Eternal, had His human friends. He loved all men well enough to die for them,
but there were some whom He loved more than others.
1. Some men are so happy as to inherit friends from their fathers.
The love of our father’s friend is worth having. If he is a good man, there
will be a certain power in him that will be a restraint to keep now in the good
way your father would have approved. Your father’s experience of life survives
in him to give you counsel. If he should ever be in trouble, pay your father’s
debts in friendly attention to him.
2. “Thine own friend forsake not.” There are friends and friends.
Most of our friends are acquaintances, and nothing more. Friendships of the
perfect and ideal sort are necessarily rare. By friends we mean those for whom
we have a strong affection, and who have a strong affection for us. A wise man
said, “I want my friends to stand by me when I am wrong; other people will
stand by me when I am right.” When you have friends of that sort, forsake them
not. Keep them when you have them.
3. Friendships which fall far short of this ideal are also worth
keeping. For the most part our friends must be people whose circumstances and
education and history are very much like our own. There are people who drop a
whole set of their “friends” whenever they get a considerable rise in their
income. For the most part, close and real friendships must be formed early in
life. When close friendships are formed after a man has passed middle life, it
is usually with much younger persons.
4. Of the place and power of friendship in life, only those who have
had and retained loyal and worthy friends, can have any real knowledge. Bacon
says, “Friendship redoubleth joys and cutteth grief in halves.” Friendships
assist to check and to subdue that selfish absorption in our own successes and
in our own sorrows which poison the very springs of life and brings paralysis
on all its nobler powers. Our confidence in their goodness and our delight in
their affection save us from cynicism. We think the better of the human race
because we think so well of them. When we do not absolutely accept the judgment
of a friend, it clears our mind to discuss a difficult question with him. Our friends
take the side of all that is best in us against whatever is mean and cowardly
and dangerous; they serve the purpose of an external conscience. Our friends
see us, not merely as we are, but as we might be.
5. The Christian will form his closest friendships with men who share
his faith in Christ and his hope of immortality. Such friends will continue to
be our friends in the realms that lie beyond death. (R. W.
Dale, LL.D.)
Genuine friendship
I. Friendship is
based of true love. Concord of sentiment, agreement of taste, unity of purpose,
frequent companionship, are not enough. These may exist without the binding
together of hearts. Love is the essential element of true friendship. “For my
friend first, and then for myself,” is the spirit of true friendship. The idea
of sacrifice is in friendship, and sacrifice is in the very nature of love.
II. Friendship is
reciprocal in its growth and preservation. It cannot be a one-sided thing.
Seneca said, “Love if you wish to be loved.” The atmosphere of suspicion or
distrust is fatal to real friendship.
III. Genuine
friendship strengthens in the time of trial. There is nothing like adversity to
test life’s attachments. See some points of duty in true friendship. Do not
encourage your friend to your secrets. If they are disclosed, see that you
never betray them. There is
a becoming reticence and dignity even in friendship. Do not think you can treat
your friend anyhow because he is your friend. The dearest friendships cannot
dispense with thoughtfulness, kindness, and politeness. Do not allow any
trivial matter to interfere with your friendship. Do not forget to pray for,
and seek, the spiritual welfare of your friend. As you believe in the power of
prayer, pray for
your friend. Cultivate close and endearing fellowship with the best Friend--the
Friend of Sinners. (J. Hiles Hitchens, D.D.)
On friendship
Whatever relates to the behaviour of men in their social character
is of great importance in religion. The duties which spring from that character
form many branches of the great
law of charity. True piety is not less friendly to men than
zealous for the honour of God. Deal with the nature and duties of virtuous
friendship, as closely connected with the true spirit of religion. Among
mankind, friendships or connections are of different kinds. Some so-called
friendships would better be called conspiracies. Some are but the connections
of political parties. Private friendships flow from similarity of disposition,
corresponding harmony of minds. Sincere and affectionate friendships form some
of the greatest blessings of human life. The fundamental duties of true
friendship are constancy and fidelity.
1. Do not expect perfection in any with whom you contract friendship.
If we do, we shall be sure to meet with disappointments. Young people are apt
to cherish romantic ideas, and to form impossible expectations. In the best
persons, great and solid qualities counterbalance the common infirmities. To
these qualities you should look in forming friendships; to good-sense and
prudence; virtue, good-temper and steadiness of affection.
2. Do not be hurt by differences of opinion arising in intercourse
with your friends. These are sure to occur. Perpetual uniformity of thought
would become monotonous and insipid.
3. Cultivate openness of temper and manners. Nothing more certainly
dissolves friendship than the jealousy which arises from darkness and
concealment.
4. Cultivate gentle and obliging manners. It is a common error that
familiar intimacy supersedes attention to the lesser duties of behaviour. Let
no harshness, no appearance of neglect, no supercilious affectation of
superiority, occur in the intercourse of friends. A tart reply, a proneness to
rebuke, a captious and contradictious spirit, are often known to embitter
domestic life and to set friends at variance.
5. Do not rashly listen to evil reports against your friends. Be slow
of believing anything against the friend whom you have chosen. Suffer not the
poison of jealousy easily to taint your mind and break your peace.
6. Do not desert your friend in danger or distress. When your friend
is calumniated, then is the time openly and boldly to espouse his cause. The
honourable zeal of friendship has, in every age, attracted the veneration of
mankind. (Hugh Blair, D.D.)
Reasons for valuing true friendship
1. Because of the pleasure of it. There is a great deal of sweetness
in consulting and conversing with a cordial friend. The sweetness of friendship
lies not in hearty mirth, but in hearty counsel, faithful advice, sincerely
given, and without flattery.
2. Because of the profit and advantage of it, especially in a day of
calamity. Don’t expect relief from a kinsman for kinsman’s sake, but apply
yourselves to your neighbours, who are at hand, and will be ready to help us at
an exigence. (Matthew Henry.)
The friendship of God towards man, and man towards God
There is no friend like an old friend. It is the heat of a whole
life that has melted together the hearts of those who have walked together the
long walk of life as friends. It is possible for any who seek the Lord and His
will to be reckoned among His friends. God is the Friend of man; and man is
admitted to be the friend of God. What are the terms on which we should stand
towards a friend? In hollow friendships two things are wanting, faith and love.
But in the friendship we are permitted to cherish towards God these are the
very corner-stones, an enlightened lively faith and a glowing active love. Are
we enjoying the heavenly sunshine of this Divine fatherly friendship? If so, we
shaft show it in our own faithful, affectionate life, as friends of God. Of all
living agencies a friend is the most alive, the most alert. (Archdeacon
Mildmay.)
Near and far off
The antithetical phrases, “at hand” and “far off,” have
evident reference here, not to locality, but to disposition. A friendly and
kindly-disposed neighbour, who bears no relation to us save that of
neighbourhood, is greatly preferable to a brother--to any relation whatever--who is cold, distant, and
alienated. Even natural affection requires to be exercised with discretion.
When appealed to injudiciously, at improper times, in improper circumstances,
and with improper frequency, it may be cooled, it may be lost, it may be turned
to dislike. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)
Verse 12
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the
simple pass on, and are punished.
Eyes and no eyes
The distinction is not between “goodness” and “wickedness,” but
between strength and weakness, wisdom and folly. The “seeing” and the “acting”
man victoriously compels circumstances to further his own ends. The “blind” and
the “drifting” man is conquered by the force of circumstances, and suffers
penalty and loss. The proverb is applicable to every sphere of human life and
effort, and becomes more and more rigidly and absolutely true the higher we
ascend. In the lower spheres of action there may appear evils which the most
prudent man cannot avoid; and the “simple” may sometimes escape disaster by a
fortunate combination of circumstances. But these are exceptions. When we
ascend to the sphere of moral and spiritual efforts, even the exceptions
vanish, and the principle becomes absolute.
1. Man’s life and destiny are determined, not by an inexorable and
eternal fate, but by his free manhood. Circumstances are the material out of
which he has to weave the garment of his life, and it depends upon himself
whether it shall be a garment for honour or dishonour.
2. The radical distinction between men lies in the possession of true
vision. The true man sees the realities of things, gazes into the truer and
eternal. The unspiritual man sees only the show and appearance of things. This
true vision, being an essential characteristic of the spiritual man, is more
than intellectual apprehension. It is a perception in which the whole being is exercised.
3. True vision determines true action. There is a sense in which a
man may “see,” and yet follow his evil passions rather than his nobler knowledge.
But in such cases there is something perilously defective in the vision. It has
lacked depth and splendour, and divineness.
4. “Vision” and “action” determine destiny. “Drifting” is fatal; to
“pass on” in the unresisted current of circumstances is “to suffer.” For lack
of the “true vision” that creates true action empires have perished, and
individuals are subject to the same law. Spiritual blindness is death. (John
Thomas, M.A.)
The foresight of prudence
A good husband will repair his house while the weather is
fair, not put it off till winter; a careful pilot will take advantage of wind
and tide, and so put out to sea, not stay till a storm arise. The traveller
will take his time in his journey, and mind his pace when the night comes on,
lest darkness overtake him; the smith will strike while the iron is hot, lest
it grow cool, and so he lose his labour; so we ought to make every day the day
of our repentance; to make use of the present time, that when we come to die we
may have nothing to do but to die, for there will be a time when there will be
no place for repentance, when time will be no more; when the door will be shut,
when there will be no entrance at all. (J. Spencer.)
He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the
morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
The curse of ostentatious flattery
Flattery is a species of conduct generally most pleasing, always
most pernicious. The flattery in the text is a loud vaunting. It intrudes
itself on all occasions; it is busy and demonstrative.
I. It is a curse
to its author. He who practises sycophancy inflicts an incalculable injury on
his own spiritual nature. The spirit of independence, the feeling of honest
manhood, give way to a crawling, creeping instinct; it is a sneaking art used
to cajole and soften fools.
II. It is a curse
to its victim Perhaps this is what Solomon means when he says “it shall be
counted a curse to him,” i.e., the object of it. “Of all
wild beasts,” says Johnson, “preserve me from a flatterer.” (Homilist.)
Verse 17
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his
friend.
Friendship
Scripture instances of friendship are David and Jonathan; Ruth and
Naomi; Paul and Timotheus; and our Lord and the Bethany sisters. In classical
literature we see that friendship had a great part, both in the government of
states and the lives of individuals. It is an aspect of politics and of human
nature, and of all virtue. Partly owing to the different character of domestic
life, the tie of friendship seems to have exercised s greater influence amongst
the Greeks and Romans than among ourselves; and although these attachments may
sometimes have degenerated into evil, we cannot doubt that much that was noble
in the old life was also pure. See cases of Achilles and Patroclus, and of
Pylades and Orestes. The school of Socrates was as much a circle of friends as
a band of disciples. Roman friendships are illustrated in Scipio and Loelius,
and in Cicero and Atticus. Shakespeare gives several types of friendship. In
youth, when life is opening before us, we easily form friendships. A young man,
even if he be poor in worldly goods, may reasonably hope to be rich in friends.
Like draws towards like, and youth rejoices in youth. We cannot make
friendships exactly as we please. Friendships are not made, but grow out of
similar tastes, out of mutual respect, from the discovery of some hitherto
unsuspected vein of sympathy. They depend also on our own power of inspiring
friendship in others. Yet neither is the choice of friends altogether
independent of ourselves. A man may properly seek for friends. He gets good, or
he gets harm, out of the companionship of those with whom he lives. Such as
they are he will be in some degree.
I. The character
of true friendship. It should be simple, manly, unreserved; not weak, or fond,
or extravagant, nor yet exacting more than human nature can fairly give; nor
intrusive into the secrets of another’s soul, or curious about his
circumstances. The greatest element in friendship is faithfulness. Friends
learn from one another; they form the characters of one another; they bear one
another’s burdens; they make up for each other’s defects. The ancients spoke of
three kinds of friendship--one for the sake of the useful, one for the sake of
the pleasant, and a third for the sake of the good or noble. The first is a contradiction
in terms. It is a partnership, not a friendship. Every one knows the delight of
having a friend. Is there a friendship for the sake of the noble and the good?
Mankind are dependent beings, and we cannot help seeing how much, when
connected together, they may do for the elevation of one another’s character
and for the improvement of mankind.
II. Changing
friendships. Like the other goods of life, friendship is commonly mixed and
imperfect, and liable to be interrupted by changing circumstances or the
tempers of men. Few have the same friends in youth as in age. Some youthful
friendships are too violent to last; they have in them some element of weakness
or sentimentalism, and the feelings pass away. Or, at some critical time of
life, a friend has failed to stand by us, and then our love to him grows cold.
But there are duties we owe to an extinct friend. We should never speak against
him, or make use of our knowledge about him. A passing word should not be
suffered to interrupt the friendship of years. It is a curious observation,
that the most sensitive natures are also the most liable to pain the feelings
of others.
III. Christian
friendship. The spirit of a man’s life may be more or less consciously
Christian. Friendship may be based on religious motives, and may flow out of a
religious principle. Human friendships constantly require to be purified and
raised from earth to heaven. And yet they should not lose themselves in spiritual emotion or
in unreal words. Better that friendship should have no element of religion than
that it should degenerate into cant and insincerity. All of us may sometimes
think of ourselves and our friends as living to God, and of human love as
bearing the image of the Divine. There are some among us who have known what it
is to lose a friend. Death is a gracious teacher. Who that has lost a friend
would not wish to have done more for him now that he is taken away? The memory
of them is still consecrated and elevating for our lives. (Professor Jowett.)
Friendship
This is what one friend should be to another; a whetstone, to give
keenness to the edge of his energy. A friend can encourage his friend when duty
is difficult, or wearisome, or painful; can comfort, can advise. But friendship
is too often made the stepping-stone to the worst falls; and many a sinner has
his friends to thank for his having fallen into sins which, left to himself, he
would have shrunk from with horror. God has mercifully hedged round most sins
with many barriers--the barrier of ignorance, of shame, and of affection. This
latter, in a personal friend, may be especially helpful. A friend may aid us in
both the right and the wrong. It is sometimes the duty of a true friend openly
to find fault with a friend. But the occasion is very rare. In most cases all that
is wanted is to hold to the right, and you will do more towards holding your
friend to the right than by all manner of exhortations. Few things can give
acuter pain to the soul in after-years than the memory of friends misled by our
friendship. Friendship, and sympathy, and cheerful example ought to help us
more than anything else to grow up soldiers and servants of Christ, and to
fight His battle when we are grown up. Iron cannot sharpen iron more than we
might sharpen each other. The very differences in our character might be such a
help to us in making friendship valuable, because when one friend is much
tempted the other is strong, and can uphold him, and yet, when another kind of
temptation comes, will receive back as much support as he gave. (Frederick
Temple, D.D.)
“A friend in need is a friend indeed”
Bacon says, “To be without friends is to find the world a
wilderness.” It is only a mean man that can be contented alone. A trusty friend
is one of earth’s greatest blessings. Alas, for the dire contagion of evil
friendships! Washington said, “Be courteous to all, intimate with few, and let
those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.” Stick to your
friend. He can never have any true friends who is often changing them. Bring
your friend to a proper understanding of himself. Persuade him of his follies.
Phocion said truly to Antipater, “I cannot be both your friend and flatterer.”
True friendship cannot exist between bad men. True friendship is tested in the
hour of adversity. Wait until you are in trouble, and many a professed friend
will be shy of you and give you the dead cut. Many people expect too much from
their friends. There is an old saying that “Friends, like fiddle-strings, must
not be screwed too tight.” Friendships are often productive of mischief because
they are not governed by wisdom and prudence. He is our best friend who is a
friend to our soul. Give a wide berth to the sneering sceptic. Have for your
bosom friends men who will “strengthen your hand in God,” who will foster your
piety and make you wiser, better, and holier men. In Christ alone the proverb
at the heading of this outline finds its fullest verification. (M. C.
Peters.)
Friendly converse
This proverb is described by Edward Irving as forcibly expressing
the effect of religious converse and communion by a beautiful figure, which
also not inaptly represents the way in which the effect is produced. Iron
sharpeneth iron by removing the rust which has been contracted from their lying
apart; so intercourse between friend and friend rubs down the prejudices which
they have contracted in their separate state. And as the iron, having removed
the rust which entered into the good stuff of the blade, and hindered its
employment for husbandry or war, straightway applies itself to the metallic
substance, brings it to a polish and to an edge, shows its proper temper, and
fits it for its proper use, so the intercourse of friends having removed the
prejudices which were foreign to the nature and good conditions of each,
proceeds, in the next place, to bring out the slumbering spirit which lay hid,
to kindle each other into brightness, and prepare each other for action. (Francis
Jacox.)
The sharpening influence of religious intercourse
We are all well acquainted with the every-day fact that “iron
sharpeneth iron”; we have all seen steel used to sharpen a blade, to give it an
edge, and make it fit to do its work. We are also well aware that the blade, when sharpened,
may be used for a good purpose, or abused for a bad one. The axe may be used to
fell the timber of the temple, or to break down all the carved work thereof.
The steel or the whetstone to sharpen, fits the blade for doing good or doing
evil, according to circumstances. The act of sharpening increases its power,
whether for good or evil; and so is it with regard to a man’s friends--they
stir him up, they excite him, but it is to good or to evil, according as they
themselves are good or evil. We must take care who our friends are, lest we
receive mischief; take care what kind of friends we are, lest we impart it.
Those who countenance what is wrong are answerable for much of the evil their
countenance leads to. For instance, all persons should take great care to what
they are led by the countenance and encouragement of friends on occasions of
public festivity or show. Many on such occasions have their countenances
sharpened as they are not on other days. They are encouraged to say, to do, to
boast, to indulge, as they never would do, and never do, when sitting at home
in their own houses. It is a pleasing thought, however, that the man whose
heart is right with God “sharpeneth” for good “the countenance of his friend.
There is nothing more false upon true religion than to imagine that it stunts
our minds, that
its design is to withdraw them from the genial warmth of social life, where it
may blossom--where, like a healthy plant, it may open and expand, and place
them alone, to become proud and selfish. True religion, like every other good
sentiment, requires society to bring it to perfection. Now, if there be
something so valuable in the intercourse of true Christians, they should seek
it in the spirit best calculated to profit by such communion. They should seek
it in Christian friendship. They should constantly be on the look-out for those
who are willing to drink deep with them at the fountain of Divine truth. But
our expectations from this truth are not to be limited to the exercise of
private friendship. We cannot all be bound together by such ties, desirable as
they are; but then, again, all real Christians are real friends. They may never
have spoken; they may want introduction one to another; distance of situation
may keep them apart; circumstances may keep them unacquainted though near in
point of neighbourhood; yet have they, being all partakers of the same Spirit,
that which is calculated, under altered circumstances, to make and keep them
friends. All Christians, I repeat, are friends; and, therefore, we may expect
many circumstances, short of strict and intimate friendship, calculated to
bring into play the principle upon which I have been dwelling. I shall mention
two circumstances under which this may happen.
1. I would recommend all persons to seek this means of improvement in
their families. With his family is every Christian bound to share, and by
sharing to increase, his devout affections. There are innumerable degrees of
life among the members of our Lord: there are all the stages from simple
consecration to Him, in baptism and profession, to the fullest union. To be
helpers of each other’s faith throughout these several stages--to become by
mutual communication joint partakers of one common Spirit--is one of the most
effectual means of spiritual growth. “He that watereth may hope to be watered
also himself.”
2. But this is not all: he is in the way to have his own “countenance
sharpened,” his own motives quickened, his own soul stirred up to watchfulness,
love, zeal, diligence, and an endeavour at being consistent. If we know
ourselves, we know that we want every kind of motive, every sort of help. Then
let every Christian try the power of meeting each morning and evening to pray
together with his family. But, if so, how much more should we thank God for
those further helps which He affords to us in the public assemblies of the
congregation. Here especially the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that
above. If we came to His house expecting much, imploring much, desiring much,
we should gain much. Our God would enrich us, and that partly through the
channel of our “fellowship one with another.” (J. H. A.
Walsh, M.A.)
Verse 18
So he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
The way to honour
If a man in Palestine carefully watched his fig-tree, and kept it
in proper condition, he was sure to be abundantly rewarded in due season. So
good servants obtain honour as the fruit of diligent service.
I. The relation
which subsists between ourselves and our Lord--He is our Master. You are men,
and naturally moved by all which moves other men, but still the master motive
power with you who are Christians is the supremacy of Christ. He has a right to
be our Master from the very dignity of His character. We yield Him service
because of His love to us. And our position of servants is an irreversible one.
II. There is a
conduct consistent with being servants of Jesus. A servant should--
1. Own himself to be his Master’s.
2. Have no time at his own disposal.
3. Be always about his Master’s business.
As servants it is our duty to learn our Master’s will, and to do
it when we know it. It is ours also to obey the Master willingly, and for love
of His person. The waiting upon the Master is to be performed personally by the
servant. It is ours, in waiting, to abide near to Christ.
III. The reward
which surely comes to faithful servants. He finds his honour in waiting upon
his Master. Every faithful servant of Christ is honoured in his Master’s
honour. He is honoured with his Master’s approval. He is honoured by having
more given him to do. He is honoured in the eyes of his fellow-servants. But
the chief honour of the faithful servant comes from the blessed Trinity. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
The reward of God’s servants
He who tends the fig-tree has figs for his pains, and he who waits
on a good master has honour as his reward. Truly the Lord Jesus is the very
best of masters, and it is an honour to be allowed to do the least act for His
sake. To serve some lords is to watch over a crab-tree and eat the crabs as
one’s wages; but to serve my Lord Jesus is to keep a fig-tree of the sweetest
figs. His service is in itself delight; continuance in it is promotion; success
in it is blessedness below; and the reward for it is glory above. Our greatest
honours will be gathered in that season when the figs will be ripe, even in the
next world. Angels who are now our servitors will bear us home when our day’s
work is done. Heaven, where Jesus is, will be our honourable mansion, eternal
bliss our honourable portion, and the Lord Himself our honourable companion. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
An honoured servant
Melancthon’s friends were astonished at his liberality, and
wondered how, with his small means, he could afford to give so much in charity.
It was principally owing to the good management of a faithful servant named
John. The whole duty of providing for the family was entrusted to this
domestic, whose care and prudence amply justified the confidence reposed in
him. He avoided all needless expenditure, and watched with a jealous eye his
master’s property. He was also the first instructor of the children during
their infancy. John grew old in his master’s service, and expired in his house,
regretted by all. During a service of thirty-four years how much usefulness was
effected by honest John, and by his master, through his instrumentality!
Melancthon invited the students of the university to attend the funeral of his
faithful servant; delivered an oration over his grave; and composed a Latin
epitaph for his tombstone.
Verse 19
As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
Mirror of human nature
As a man looking into the water (used anciently as a mirror) sees
an exact transcript of his own countenance, so every heart has, by nature,
precisely the same moral character with every other unsanctified heart. Every
child of Adam, till renewed by Divine grace, has, in view of Omnipotence and
Omniscience, the same moral aspect. Notice some of the circumstances which have
contributed to make men differ in their conduct who have by nature the same
moral character. Grace has made a wide difference in men who were by nature
alike. Difference in instinctive passions and affections makes men differ in
their conduct. Some have not the talents for doing mischief that others have.
Others have not the opportunities. One man may achieve less mischief than
another because more restrained.
1. That all men have naturally the same moral character might be
inferred from the similarity of origin, aspect, and general habits that belong
to all ages and all nations of men.
2. We can hardly fix our eye on any individual or community of antiquity but we
can find its exact resemblance in some individual or community with whose
character we are familiar. Of this take as Scriptural examples the family of
Adam and of Jacob; the characters of Balaam, and of Shimei, and of Joab, and of
Jezebel.
3. There have prevailed in all ages and nations the same crimes,
calling for the restraining influence of the same laws. Men have been at all
times inclined to wrong their fellow-men of their property. The descriptions of
depravity which applied to Israel, Babylon, Egypt, Syria, Sidon, and even Edom,
apply with equal propriety to the men of this land.
4. Argue from the fact that the Bible has never become obsolete. It
describes men of other periods, and the description suits the present
generation. Remarks:
They who are our associates in this world will most probably be
our associates in the next
Bishop Patrick explains this proverb thus: “A man may see himself,
while he looks upon other men, as well as know other men, by considering his
own inclinations.” Bishop Hall says: “He that looks into his friend’s heart
sees there his own.” The most mysterious thing in God’s work is the heart of
man. The Eden of the human heart has been transformed into a wilderness of vile
passions. Some restrain themselves more than others, and therefore there are
different degrees of depravity in the world; and perhaps, by looking around us,
we may find what rank we properly
belong to, and what chance we have of escaping the wrath of God.
1. Let us ask ourselves who are our intimate friends and associates?
2. Let us compare
ourselves with the dying. (John Collinson.)
Verse 21
So is a man to his praise.
The influence of applause
The various passions implanted in human nature are necessary to
animate the soul in the service of God and our generation. The poet sung, “Love
of fame, the universal passion.” The wise man beheld this principle in human
nature; he saw the effect of praise upon mankind. The text is a rule, grounded
upon the observable effect of it upon man; a refined rule for trial of our true
moral character or religious state. It is, literally, “A fining-pot for silver
and a furnace for gold; and a man to the mouth of his praise.” The conduct of
men, in regard to their praise, may be as sure a trial of their moral and
religious character as the fining-pot is of silver and the furnace of gold. By
praise we should understand, not the plaudit of individuals or of the
multitude, spoken in a tone of sarcastic irony; nor that given by mistake, as
when another’s conduct is innocently ascribed to us, with the praise of his
commendable behaviour. By a man’s praise we understand real, unfeigned praise,
bestowed for actions or conduct commendable in the sight of men, useful to the
community. Such praise answers valuable purposes. To observe how a man is to
his praise is a matter of serious importance to every soul of man. His praise
refines one man, renders him thankful to God for a good name among men. Praise
to a righteous soul renders it seriously inquisitive, whether its conduct
really deserves praise--the praise not of men, but of God also. Praise renders
the righteous respectful to those who bestow it; and they become more diligent
to improve in well-doing. Praise to a righteous man is a fiery trial, where he
needs humility and sober thoughts. Praise bestowed on the ungodly man renders
him vain, self-confident, and self-conceited. He becomes haughty and insolent.
Jealous of his honour, he is impatient to hear another praised. Persons of this
character become careless--regardless of the praise of God. The reason of the
different effects of praise is the different state in the inner man of the
heart. The reason of the different effects of the fining-pot and furnace upon
metals is the different nature and quality of the metals cast into them. The
natural improvement of this subject is to determine our moral and religious
character by the effect which the praise of men has upon us. (John Devotion,
M.A.)
Popularity the most trying test of character
Men, in ancient times as well as in modern, submit precious
metals, such as silver and gold, to the test of the fire. Fire revealed their
impurity, and made them appear in their true character. What fire is to these
metals, Solomon says, popularity or applause is to man’s character--it tests
him.
I. Popularity
reveals the vanity of the proud man. How did Absolom appear in the blaze of
popularity? (2 Samuel 25:22). How did Herod
appear? Amidst the shouts of his flatterers he assumed to be a god.
II. Popularity
reveals the humility of a true man. A true man shrinks from popular applause,
and feels humbled amidst its shouts. Dr. Payson, a careful self-observer,
mentions among his trials “well-meant but injudicious commendations.” “Every
one here,” he writes to his mother, “whether friends or enemies, are conspiring
to ruin me. Satan and my own heart, of course, will lend a hand, and if you
join too, I fear all the cold water which Christ can throw upon my pride will not
prevent it from breaking out in a destructive flame. As certainly as anybody
flatters and caresses me, my Father has to scourge me for it, and an
unspeakable mercy it is that He condescends to do it.” Popularity is indeed to
character what the “fining-pot is for silver and the furnace for gold.” Few
things in life show us the stuff of which men are made more than this. Little
men court this fire, but cannot stand it. (Homilist.)
Verse 23
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to
thy herds.
Kindness to animals
We live in an age when great regard is paid to the comfort and
well-being of every class of the community, and when efforts are made to
promote the general happiness. When so much is being done to add to the
happiness of the human family we should not be forgetful of the dumb animals,
to which, for our comfort, we are so largely indebted. It is always a good sign
of a man when he takes a kindly interest in the brutes. A man who can roughly
treat a horse or a dog can never be one in whom his own family find much to
love. The days are gone of cruel and disgusting sports, in which men found
their pleasure in watching the sufferings of the lower creatures. But a good
deal of pain is still caused through mere thoughtlessness. See Bible notices of
animals.
1. The fact of their creation by God. They were brought upon the
earth before man was, and have, by priority, a right to such comforts as it affords.
2. Their being named by Adam. This indicated his lordship over them,
and the interest God would have him take in them.
3. When man had sinned, by the slaughter of innocent animals he was
impressively taught, and continually reminded of, the only way of salvation.
4. In the time of the Flood the animals were carefully preserved.
5. In the Mosaic economy laws were enacted for the protection and
well-being of the creatures. Many make the mistake of thinking that animals
must be frightened into obedience. A kind and gentle treatment, as it is the
most humane, is also the most successful. They are fond of being praised and
encouraged: a kind word or affectionate stroke makes them wonderfully happy,
and even the expression of countenance they learn to understand. Remember it is
said of God, “With the merciful man Thou wilt show Thyself merciful.” His eye
is upon us, and He will call us to account for every act of cruelty done to the
creatures He has made. Strive, then, to be like Him in kindness and in
gentleness. (J. Thain Davidson, D.D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》