Chapter XI · (continued 2)

This expression comes from trading. He who gads about to indulge in gossiping, will gratify his taste by scandals that he did not intend to divulge. “Secrets” or “secret counsels,” that formal divan, where purest privacy is the thing that has been expected. It is these slight lusts, as we call them, that divulge character. The man that is born again will be of a “faithful spirit,” and will scorn to gratify scandal at a neighbour’s expense.—Miller.

A note to know a talker by, is that he is a walker from place to place (see Critical Notes), hearing and spying what he can, that he may have whereof to prattle to this body and that body. Thus carrying of tales the Lord forbiddeth in his law, where he saith, “Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people” (Lev. xix. 16).—Muffet.

Here we see that a well-governed spirit will govern the tongue. An unrestrained tongue is an evidence of levity, or of some worse quality in the heart. And if the spirit be faithful, the tongue will be cautious and friendly. The communication between the spirit and the tongue is so easy, that the one will certainly discover the quality of the other, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.—Lawson.

There are various ways of acting the “tale-bearer.” There is that of open blabbing. And this, as it is the simplest, is, in truth, the least dangerous. The character becomes immediately known; and all who have secrets which they really wish kept will take care to withhold them from him. There is the next that of confidential communication. The secret-holder affects to look this way and that, to ascertain that no one is within hearing; and then with many whispered doubts whether he is doing right, and whispered no doubts that he is perfectly safe with the dear friend to whom he speaks, imparts it in a breath that enters only his solitary ear, as a thing received in the profoundest secrecy, and not, on any account whatever, to go further—thus setting the example of broken confidence as the encouragement and inducement to keep it. There is that also of sly insinuation. The person who has the secret neither openly blabs it nor confidentially whispers it, but throws out hints of his having it—allusions more or less remote as to its nature—by which curiosity is awakened, inquiry stimulated, and the thing ultimately brought to light; while he who threw out the leading notices plumes himself on having escaped the imputation of a tale-bearer. Now these and whatever others there may be, are all bad; and the greater the amount of pretension and hypocrisy, so much the worse.—Wardlaw.

Reticence is commended from another point of view. The man who comes to us with tales about others will reveal our secrets also. Faithfulness is shown, not only in doing what a man has been commissioned to do, but in doing it quietly and without garrulity.—Plumptre.

He is a rare friend that can both give counsel and keep counsel.—Trapp.

The Holy Ghost, here and elsewhere, compareth busybodies and such as delight to deal in other men’s matters, to petty chapmen and pedlars, which carry wares about, selling in one place and buying in another. A slanderous tongue trafficketh altogether by exchange, it will deliver nothing to you, but upon condition to receive somewhat from you. It will never bear an empty pack, but desireth, where aught is uttered and taken out, there to take somewhat to put in, that it may have choice for other places.—Dod.

We must regard every matter as an entrusted secret, which we believe the person concerned would wish to be considered such. Nay, further still, we must consider all circumstances as secrets entrusted, which would bring scandal upon another if told, and which it is not our certain duty to discuss, and that in our own persons and to his face.—Leigh Hunt.

main homiletics of verse 14.

Helmsmanship.

I. The many (the people) are dependent upon the few for guidance. The word counsel is literally “pilotage,” “helmsmanship.” The many passengers in the vessel are dependent upon the few who guide it. The dependence of the many upon the few for guidance runs through every phase of human life. The dependence of the children upon their natural head is but prophetic of all the periods of after life, which very much consists in the dependence of the many upon the few. The child’s life at home and at school is a preparation for the rough handling of circumstance in this matter in the time of manhood. Although the man’s ability to guide his own life is far greater than that of the child, yet his need of counsel and guidance has increased with his years and responsibilities. This need of guidance springs from men’s unequal gifts. The physical, mental, and moral inequalities of men create and supply the demand for leaders—for counsellors for the many. This inequality is an ordination of the Divine Ruler of the universe—God is the Author of the inequalities. In nature we see that the strong give shelter to the weak. The mighty oak protects the tiny plant at its roots. Counsellors are the giant trees which give shelter by giving guidance to those who are in some respects inferior to them. Men may be born free, but they are nowhere born equal in mental and physical qualities. Hence some must counsel, others must be counselled. Guidance is felt to be a necessity, and men make a virtue of the necessity. The passengers on board a vessel submit to the direction of the pilot because they feel that their safety depends upon submission, and so do the members of a nation—the citizens of a city. They know from experience that the way out of a difficulty is not found by those who follow, but by those who lead—that if they would enjoy the advantages of civil peace and safety, they must submit to the guidance and direction.

II. That “no counsel” in a nation will end in their being no nation to counsel. “Where there is no counsel the people fall.” The passengers in a ship who have no one to steer the vessel will soon cease to have need of a helmsman. So the nation which has no head—no government—will cease to be a nation. Its national existence will be ruined by the anarchy that must follow.

III. Many men to give counsel are as a rule better than one. When the sea is heavy and breakers are ahead, one man at the wheel of a vessel would not be able to hold her on her course, many hands at once must be at work—the united strength of the many is indispensable. “In the multitude” there is “safety.” So it is generally in the case of the ship of the State. As a rule, there is more wisdom and ability in the union of many men than in one—there is likewise less danger of despotic rule. But there have been many exceptions to this rule. Joseph knew how to provide for the safety of Egypt when all the rest of Pharaoh’s counsellors were at their wits’ end. Before the battle of Plassey—which laid the foundation of British rule in India—Clive called a council of war to decide whether or not the battle should be fought. The majority pronounced against fighting. But it is now generally allowed that if the advice of that council had been followed the British would have never been in possession of India. Clive decided to act in opposition to the opinion of the majority, and the day was won for England. (See Macaulay’s Essay on Lord Clive.) Sometimes in the multitude of counsellors there has been national ruin. “All the council” of the Jews sought to put Jesus to death (Matt. xxvi. 59), and so brought about the destruction of their nation. But these are exceptions to a rule.

outlines and suggestive comments.

The case supposed, appears to be that of a self-willed, self-sufficient, headstrong ruler who glories in his power; who determines to wield the rod of that power in his own way, and who plays the hasty, jealous, resolute, sensitive and vindictive tyrant; who disdains to call in counsel, or who does it only for the pleasure or showing his superiority to it by setting it at nought. I conceive the phrase, “Where no counsel is,” to be intended to convey not a little of the character of him by whom it is declined or disregarded. We have an example of such a character in Solomon’s own successor Rehoboam. And yet, at the same time, in his case we are taught the necessity of understanding all such maxims as admitting of exceptions. Rehoboam did take counsel; and his counsellors were not few. Had they been fewer, there would in that instance been more safety. Had he stopped with the “old men who had stood before Solomon his father,” all would have been well. . . . How much better would it have been for Ahab, had he taken for his sole counsellor Micaiah the son of Imlah than it was when he preferred the four hundred prophets of Baal! The maxim, therefore, is general. It affirms the danger of solitary self-sufficiency, and the safety of deliberate and, in proportion to the complexity and difficulty of each case, and the nature and amount of its consequences, of extensive and diversified consultation.—Wardlaw.

It is a penalty inflicted by God on a sinful state to give it princes void of counsel (Isa. iii. 4; chap. xv. 22).—Fausset.

Care seems to be taken after a proverb lauding silence, always to put in a eulogy of speech. (See chap. x 20, 21.) Secrets are not to be hid until the whole community is one covered over wickedness. The same faithfulness that conceals a secret, intrudes counsel, and grasps control, and saves the people by that leadership that the pious alone are intended to achieve. The word counsel or “helmsmanship” is from a root meaning a cord; hence the tacking of the helm; and, now, that princely guidance, which piety in the world (though the world does not think so) does actually bestow. “Safety”—or “salvation.” The inspired sentence-maker is always managing what the music men would call a crescendo, for the second clause. The first clause speaks of the people as falling, the second as not only “not falling,” but though fallen, as actually raised.—Miller.

Tyranny is better than anarchy. And yet “Woe also to thee, O land, whose king is a child”; that is, wilful and uncounsellable. . . . One special thing the primitive Christians prayed for the emperor was, that God would send him a faithful council.—Trapp.

It is not said that in the multitude of counsellors there is safety, but in the largeness or muchness of a counsellor, that is, such a counsellor as is furnished with a variety of counsels, and can look many ways for direction. For such a one is indeed of many, nay, often far better; because he can sooner resolve what is best, than many will or can. And therefore, though it be good to have many, and when they agree perhaps to follow them, yet it may be better to have one of many counsels, on whom to rely.—Jermin.

Probably one is more struck, on reflection and in reading, with the exceptions to the rule, than with confirmatory examples of it, that in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. . . . A modern historian finds in the unlicensed discretion reposed by the Roman Senate in the general, the most efficient aid to the extent of Rome’s early conquests, and he points by way of contrast, to the modern republics of Italy, as denying themselves scope for larger conquests by their extreme jealousy of their commanders. Anarchy in Antwerp is the heading of one of Mr. Morley’s graphic pages, and a lively picture it offers us of the confusion that ensued when the hydra heads of the multitudinous government were laid together. In Drake’s expedition of 1585, there were too many in command; and after losing time in debate which Sir Francis, if alone, would have spent in action, they were obliged to give up the attempt on the Canaries, with some loss. The otherwise unaccountable action of De Witt in 1671 is explained at once when the anarchical constitution of the Dutch republic is remembered—its want of a central authority, and the fact that, to raise money or troops, the consent of a number of petty councils was necessary, in the multitude of whose counsellors was anything but safety. “In the multitude of counsellors there may be safety,” says Alison, “it is in general safety to the counsellors, not to the counselled.” The quality of the counsel, and the ability of the counsellors, are elements of main import in the maxim of the king.—Jacox.

For Homiletics on verse 15, see on chap. vi. 1–5.

illustration of verse 15.

The melancholy instances of ruin, in consequence of becoming surety for others, are exceedingly numerous in the East. Against this they have many proverbs and fearful examples; but nothing seems to impart wisdom. Nearly all the Government monopolies, both among native and European rulers, are let to the highest bidders, and as the whole of the money cannot be advanced till a part of the produce be sold, sureties have to be accountable for the amount. But as men generally enter into these speculations in order to better a reduced fortune, an extravagant price is often paid, and ruin is the consequence both to the principal and his surety. This practice of suretyship, however, is also common in the most trifling affairs of life. “Sign your name,” is a request preferred by every one who is desirous of obtaining additional security to a petty agreement. In every legal court or magistrate’s office may be seen, now and then, a trio entering, thus to become responsible for the engagements of the other. The cause of all this is probably the bad faith which prevails amongst the heathen.—Roberts.

outlines and suggestive comments.

The traffic of ancient times was small, in comparison with the vast system of exchange which now compasses the whole world like network; but the same vices that we lament marred it, and the same righteousnesses that we desiderate would have healed its ailments. Neither the law of gravitation nor the law of righteousness has changed since the times of Solomon; both are as powerful as they then were, and as pervasive. . . . In those primitive times, it seems, as in our own, some men desired to get faster forward in the world than their circumstances legitimately permitted. They will throw for a fortune at another’s risk. . . . The warning does not of course discourage considerate kindnesses in bearing a deserving man over temporary pressure. . . . The Bible permits and requires more of kindness to our brother than we have ever done him yet; but it does not allow us to do a certain substantial evil, for the sake of distant, shadowy good.—Arnot.

The heart and mind of every one is a stranger to every one except to God alone. He therefore that is a surety for another, is surety for a stranger.—Jermin.

. . . be not surety, if thou be a father, Love is a personal debt. I cannot give My children’s right, nor ought he to take it: rather Both friends should die, than hinder them to live. Fathers first enter bonds to nature’s ends; And are her sureties, as they are a friend’s.—Herbert.

main homiletics of verse 16.

A Gracious Woman.

I. What is a gracious woman? 1. She is one who stands in right relations to God. Every thing depends upon right relationship. Upon the right relationship of the earth to the great centre of the solar system depends all that makes the earth of worth to us—all its glorious fruitfulness and beauty. If there was not this adjustment of relationship between the earth and the sun, our planet would not only be an unfit abode for man, but would be a positive blot upon God’s universe. This is true also of man’s relations to each other, and is specially so in respect to our relationship to God. Nothing but a right relationship to Him can develop these moral beauties which alone make a true woman. She is accepted or “justified” by God’s most gracious favour on God’s own conditions. She lives in the eternal sunlight of His gracious influence, and is held to the most Blessed Being in the universe, by the sweet persuasiveness which flows from His blessed character. The thoughts of the Eternal God are the food of her spirit, and from this relationship to Him comes all the grace of her character. Is there any other relationship which can make such a woman? There is none, not only so, the absence of it may end in making even a woman a blot, a positive evil, in the moral universe. There can be no true graciousness where there is no union with Him whose most attractive attribute is His graciousness, who makes Himself known, as “the Lord God, merciful and gracious.” (Exod. xxxiv. 6). A gracious woman must be in right relationship with a gracious God. 2. In consequence of this, a gracious woman is right in her human relationships. Being right in the greater matter, she must be in that which is less. The earth, because she preserves her right relation to the sun, is right in her relationship to the other planets, that is, her path in the heavens is just that which is best for the whole planetary system—that which enables them also to keep their orbits, and prevents one of them from exercising a baleful influence over another. A woman whose spirit is under the influence of a gracious God will be a gracious daughter, a gracious wife, a gracious mother, a gracious friend and neighbour—that is, all her doings and sayings will be irradiated and warmed by that holiness and love which is the essence of the character of God Himself. In the summing up of the Divine law, Christ makes the right human relation depend upon a right Divine relation. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke x. 27), and He repeats this foundation in principle in His last discourse with His disciples before His death, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John xiii. 35).

II. A woman with such a character wins honour. The strong men to whom she is compared (see Critical Notes) are warriors who take the spoil by strength of hand, such men as Othniel, the son of Kenaz, who took Kirjath-sepher by reason of his strength and military skill. For the strong men must gain their spoil before they can retain it. So with a gracious woman. She must win honour before she can retain it, and this she most certainly will do. She will be honoured by God because she is fulfilling His purpose in sending her into the world—because she is bringing glory to Him by showing to the world what He meant a woman to be. And as a necessity she will be honoured. Those in nearest relation to her will honour her. “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also and he praiseth her.” But she is honoured in a wider sphere by a larger circle—“Her own works praise her in the gates.” (chap. xxxi. 28, 31).

III. What she has won she will retain. Strong men, when they have won their prize, hold it fast. It is more difficult to obtain wealth than to retain it. Having done the first by reason of their strength, it is comparatively easy to do the second by the same means. So with a gracious woman. Honour is the guerdon of her gracious character, this she has won without any striving. Her character is that for which she has striven, and this it is which is the strength by which she retains her riches, viz., her honour.

outlines and suggestive comments.

Albeit the woman is the weaker vessel, yet when she is gracious, that is to say, graced, not so much with beauty, as with wisdom and virtue, she keepeth honour, that is, maintaineth her credit and preserveth her chastity. It were a hard thing to rob or spoil a strong man of his goods; but to take away the chastity of an honest matron, be she never so weak, it is impossible, who will rather die a thousand deaths than to be stained with the least speck of dishonesty.—Muffet.

A woman is powerful by her grace as the mighty are by their strength. In grace there lies as great force as in the imposing nature of the mighty; nay, the power of the strength of the latter gains only more property, while the woman gains honour and esteem, which are of more worth.—Rueetschi, from Lange’s Commentary.

Thus Deborah “retained honour” as a mother in Israel, the counsellor and stay of a sinking people. (Judges iv. 4; v. 7). Esther “retained” her influence over her heathen husband for the good of her nation (Esth. ix. 12, 13, 25). And still the gracious woman retaineth honour long after she has mingled with the dust. Sarah, the obedient wife (1 Pet. iii. 5, 6); Hannah, the consecrating mother (1 Sam. i. 28); Lois, Eunice, and “the elect lady” (2 Tim. i. 5; iii. 15; 2 John 1–4), in the family sphere; Phœbe and her companions on the annals of the Church (Rom. xvi. 2–6; Phil iv. 3); the rich contributor to the temple (Mark xii. 42–44); the self-denying lover of her Lord (Mark xiv. 3–9); Mary in contemplative retirement (Luke x. 39); Dorcas in active usefulness (Acts ix. 36):—Are not these “good names” still had in honourable remembrance? (Psalm cxii. 6).—Bridges.

It is true of both sexes, which Solomon here affirms of women only, that gracious persons, they who are in the grace and favour of God, and are strengthened by His gracious assistance, shall from the generality of men gain an inward esteem, and for the most part, an outward respect. There are many instances in which virtue has been rather contemned and ridiculed,—and I will mention none other than the most signal of all, God Incarnate—but goodness has an inseparable splendour which can never suffer a total eclipse, and when it is most reviled and persecuted, it then shines brightest out of the cloud. So that all who are not wilfully blind, who will but make use of their eyes to see, must acknowledge the force of its rays. But why does Solomon here instance the woman rather than the man? Either this, that as vice is more odious and more detested, so on the other hand, virtue is more attractive, and looks more lovely in women than it usually does in men. Or it is, because men have more advantages of aspiring to honour in all public stations than women have, and the only way for a woman to gain honour, is an exemplary holiness. Or it is, because women are made of a temper more soft and frail, are more endangered by snares and temptations, and more inclinable to extremes of good and bad than men, and generally speaking, goodness is a tender thing, more hazardous and brittle in the former than in the latter, and consequently a firm and steady virtue is more to be valued in the weaker sex than in the stronger; so that a gracious woman is most worthy to receive and to retain honour. Or it is, because women in all ages, have given so many heroic examples of sanctity, that there is that peculiar to the sex which naturally renders them more pliable to the Divine grace than men.—Bp. Ken.

main homiletics of verse 17.

Mercy and Cruelty.

I. A blessed human character—“A merciful man.” The blessedness of any human existence depends upon the amount of mercifulness found in it. It will be blessed in itself, and a blessing to others in proportion as this Divine characteristic is found in the spirit. God, as a God of power, would be a wonderful and awe-inspiring Being, but He would not be “the blessed God” (1 Tim. i. 11) if this were His only attribute. So far as Men are concerned, He would only be a Person who added to the mysteries and miseries of human life. There is plenty of power in the world, but power is not the one thing needful for fallen and sorrowful humanity. A complex and mighty machine may, and does, excite our wonder and even our admiration, but it has not sympathy. God would be no more to us if He were not “The Lord God, merciful and gracious.” He could otherwise add nothing of blessedness to our existence—yes, His very existence would be a calamity for sinful man. So, no man is a real blessing to his fellow-creatures if he is not merciful. He may be a great genius, he may be a great intellectual power, he may be possessed of great influence from one source or another; but none of these things alone, or all of them put together, will add anything to the sum of human happiness if he is not merciful. He is simply a hard machine, and will never make any wilderness heart rejoice or any moral waste blossom as the rose. But mercy is a moral force, which works as subtilely and as certainly upon human hearts to bless them as do the mysterious influences of the spring-time upon the barren earth. The absence of mercifulness makes hell the barren world that it is, and fills heaven with moral light and joy. On earth, mercifulness is felt to be most needful. The scum of humanity are not insensible to its blessed influence, and there is no man, however exalted above his fellow-men, who does not sometimes stand in need of its exercise.

II. The region which is first blest by the exercise of mercy. The merciful man’s “own soul.” There are things which by the constitution of the material universe cannot be separated. Where there is flame, there is certain to be heat; where the sun’s rays come, there must be light. So mercifulness of disposition must bless a man’s own soul. The exercise of kindliness is in harmony with the law of self-love. A man is but obeying this law when he exercises mercy. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” implies that a man is to love himself. Loving his neighbour is the surest way—the only way—of truly doing good to himself. God has ordained that all exercise of loving kindness shall have a reward in the doing and for the doing. “He that watereth others shall be watered himself” (ver. 25). 1. His own spirit will be filled with a sense of blessedness. 2. His character will be daily growing more and more like God. 3. He will have mercy extended to him when he stands in need of it. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” “For with what measure you mete, it shall be measured unto you again” (Matt. v. 7, vii. 2). And so is that mercy—

“Is twice bless’d; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”

We have not to consider the opposite character:—

III. A curse to human kind. “A cruel man.” He is an inflicter of pain upon others from a malicious disposition. Pain is the common lot of men. In the present constitution of things in this world it is a necessity, and will remain so while sin remains in human nature. Sometimes pain has to be inflicted upon human beings from the purest motives, and by the most benevolent of beings. The kindest physician in the world is obliged constantly to inflict severe physical pain. The moral teacher—the loving parent or master—must often be the means of inflicting mental pain. But in these cases the motive is not ill-will, but good-will. The pain is contrary to the disposition of the person who inflicts it. He would not give the pain if the end could be obtained without it. He intends by present pain to give future pleasure. But a cruel man inflicts pain from choice, for the purpose of making men miserable. His cruelty is the outcome of his malicious nature. Hence he is a curse to his race. To the unavoidable and necessary pain of the world he adds that which is worse than needless. He would often inflict more than he does, if he had the power. Did not experience teach the contrary, we should not believe it possible that there could be such monsters in the garb of men. They are, indeed, of “their father the devil” (John viii. 44), who finds his only delight in the misery of others.

IV. That, in the end, the cruel man will inflict the most pain upon himself. 1. He will “trouble his own flesh,” or his whole being in the present. He will be tormented by his conscience which now and again will rise from its deathlike slumber and avenge the miseries of those upon whose rights he has trampled—whose lives he has taken, or worse, whose souls he has ruined. While he is still pursuing his course of cruelty he will have the sting of the serpent remorse poisoning the life-blood of his spirit—a prophecy of future retribution possibly in this world, certainly in the next. 2. He is laying up trouble for himself in the future. Men may return his cruelty with compound interest,—(see comments and illustrations on verse 10), whether they do or not God certainly will. The Divine decree has gone forth, “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.” (James ii. 13). His experience will be that of the cruel tyrant of Bezek. “As I have done so God hath requited me,” (Judges i. 6, 7), or that of Shakespeare’s Richard III.

O coward conscience, how thou dost afflict me! The lights burn blue.—It is now dread midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. What; do I fear myself? there’s none else by: Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I. Is there a murderer here? No;—yes, I am: Then fly,—What, from myself? Great reason, why? Lest I revenge. What? myself on myself? I love myself. Wherefore? for any good That I myself have done unto myself? O no; alas, I rather hate myself, For hateful deeds committed by myself.

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale convicts me for a villain

All several sins, all used in each degree, Throng to the bar, crying all,—Guilty! guilty! I shall despair.—There is no creature loves me:— And, if I die, no soul will pity me:— Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself Find in myself no pity to myself.

illustrations of the latter clause of the verse.

Buchanan, the Scotch historian, relates that John Cameron, Bishop of Glasgow, was so given to extortion and oppression, especially upon his tenants and vassals, that he would scarcely afford them bread to eat, or clothes to wear. But one Christmas eve, as he lay in his bed in his house at Lockwood, he heard a voice summoning him to appear before the tribunal of Christ, and give an account of his actions. Being terrified with this notice, and the pangs of a guilty conscience, he called up his servants, and commanded them to stay in the room with him. He himself took a book in his hand, and began to read; but the voice, being heard a second time, struck all the servants with horror. The same voice repeating the summons a third time, and with a louder and more dreadful accent, the bishop, after a most lamentable and frightful groan, was found dead in his bed.

The Last Days of Nero. Nero had landed in Italy about the end of February, and now, at the beginning of June, his cause had already become hopeless. Galba, though stedfast in his resolution, had not yet set his troops in motion; nevertheless, Nero was no longer safe in the city. . . . Terrified by dreams, stung by ridicule or desertion, when his last hope of succor was announced to have deceived him, the wretched tyrant started from his couch at supper, upset the tables, and dashed his choicest vessels to the ground; then, taking poison from Locusta, and placing it in a golden casket, he crossed from the palace to the Servilian gardens, and sent his trustiest freedman to secure a galley at Ostia. He conjured some tribunes and centurions, with a handful of guards, to join his flight, but all refused; and one, blunter than the rest, exclaimed, tauntingly, “Is it, then, so hard to die?” At last, at midnight, finding that even the sentinels had left their posts, he sent, or rushed himself, to assemble his attendants. Every door was closed; he knocked, but no answer came. Returning to his chamber, he found the slaves fled, the furniture pillaged, the case of poison removed. Not a guard, not a gladiator, was at hand, to pierce his throat. I have neither friend nor foe, he exclaimed. He would have thrown himself into the Tiber but his courage failed him. He must have time, he said, and repose to collect his spirits for suicide, and his freedman Phaon at last offered him his villa in the suburbs, four miles from the city. In undress and barefooted, throwing a rough cloak over his shoulders and a kerchief across his face, he glided through the doors, mounted a horse, and, attended by Sporus and three others, passed the city gates with the dawn of a summer morning. The Nomentane road led him beneath the wall of the prætorians, whom he might hear uttering curses upon him and pledging vows to Galbo; and the early travellers from the country asked him as they met, What news of Nero? or remarked to one another, These men are pursuing the tyrant. Thunder and lightning, and a shock of earthquake, added terror to the moment. Nero’s horse started at a dead body on the roadside, the kerchief fell from his face, and a prætorian passing by recognised and saluted him. At the fourth milestone the party quitted the highway, alighted from their horses, and scrambled on foot through a canebrake, laying their own cloaks to tread on, to the rear of the promised villa. Phaon now desired Nero to crouch in a sand-pit hard by, while he contrived to open the drain of the bath-room, and so admit him unperceived; but he vowed that he would not go alive, as he said, underground, and remained trembling beneath the wall. At last a hole was made through which he crept on all fours into a narrow chamber of the house, and there threw himself on a pallet. The coarse bread that was offered him he could not eat, but swallowed a little tepid water. . . . Suddenly was heard the tramp of horsemen, sent to seize the culprit alive. Then at last he placed a weapon to his breast, and the slave Epaphroditus drove it home. . . . Nero perished at the age of thirty years and six months.—Merivale.

outlines and suggestive comments.

There are two descriptions of mercy. There is mercy to sufferers, and mercy to offenders. Mercy to sufferers is the disposition to relieve; mercy to offenders is the disposition to forgive. The two are infinitely united in God. Under his government all sufferers are offenders. It is only as offenders that they are sufferers; and when He pardons the offence, He cancels the sentence to suffering. And in every good man the two are united. They should, indeed, be regarded as one principle, operating in different departments. Now “the merciful man” whether considered in the one light or the other,—in exercising forgiveness or in relieving distress—effectually consults his own interests. He does so, even for present enjoyment. The Divine sentiment of the Saviour—“It is more blessed to give than to receive,” has its full application here. Jesus Himself, above all that ever lived on earth, experienced its truth. He “delighted in mercy.” He came from above on an errand of mercy. The “merciful man” participates in the blessedness of the Son of God. . . . He, moreover, procures favour with his fellow-men;—he “makes himself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness;” he causes society to feel an interest in him—to regard and treat him as its friend and benefactor. This is eminently gratifying and pleasing;—to know that in the hearts of our fellow-men our names are associated with affection and blessing, and that when we “fail,” there will be some ready to receive us into “everlasting habitations,” who have been made friends by our kindness during their sojourn in the wilderness. But above all, the mercy of the merciful is associated with the favour and blessing of God. . . . But the cruel stirs up resentment, instead of conciliating favour; so that on every hand, in every face, he sees an enemy, from whom he dreads the fulfilment of the Saviour’s maxim,—“With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.” How can he be happy? There is unhappiness in his very passions. The opposite of the character of God, they cannot but be associated with misery.—Wardlaw.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: This next paragraph includes the word “niggardliness,” which is a fine word meaning “stinginess” or “parsimony.” However, it can sound like a racial slur especially to people who are not familiar with the word or are not paying close attention. When teaching this material please consider substituting a synonym.

We are to preserve, as much as in us lies, these two parts of our nature, our souls and our bodies. . . . He that may truly be called a kind man, is kind to his own soul, in comforting his own heart, and in granting thereunto the delight which may be received by sleep, by food, and the use of all things necessary and pleasant. Wherefore the counsel which the son of Sirach giveth is good and worthy to be followed: “Love thy soul, and comfort thine heart, and put heaviness far away from thee.” (Ecclus. xxx. 21, etc.) On the contrary side the cruel person, either for niggardliness, or travail, or sorrow, pincheth, consumeth, or pineth his body. He ceaseth not to labour, nor saith, For whom do I travail and deprive my soul of good things.—Muffet.

The merciful man will ever find a merciful God. (Psa. xli. 1. Matt. v. 7). The widow of Sarepta and the woman of Shunem, each for their kindness to the Lord’s prophets received a prophet’s reward. (2 Kings iv. 16. vii. 1, 6). The alms of Cornelius brought good to his own soul. (Acts x. 2, 4). Even now “God is not unrighteous to forget our work and labour of love.” (Heb. vi. 10. Matt. x. 42). At the great day He will honour it before the assembled universe. (Matt. xxv. 34). . . . Cain found his brother’s murder an intolerable “trouble to his flesh.” (Gen. iv. 13, 14). The doom of Ahab and Jezebel was the curse of their own cruelty. (1 Kings xxii. 38. 2 Kings ix. 36, 37). The treasures of selfishness will eat as a canker in our own flesh. (Jas. v. 1, 3).—Bridges.

Why did not the wise man say, “He that is cruel troubleth his own soul?” He knew that a cruel man cares nothing for his soul. If you would obtain a hearing from the merciless man, say nothing about his soul. He values it less than his dog. But if you could convince him that his want of mercy will be hurtful to his flesh, he would think a little about his ways. And it is evident from Scripture, that his flesh, no less than his soul, is under a fearful curse.—Lawson.

His chief business is with and for himself: how to set all to rights within, how to keep a continual Sabbath of soul, a constant composedness. He will not purchase earth with his loss of heaven. And inasmuch as the body is the soul’s servant, and should therefore be fit for the soul’s business—it ought not to be pinched or pined with penury or overmuch abstinence, as those impostors (Col. ii. 23), and our Popish merit-mongers, that starve their genius, and are cruel to their own flesh. They shall one day hear, “Who required these things at your hand?”—Trapp.

In every act that mercy prompts there are two parties who obtain a benefit,—the person in need, who is the object of compassion, and the person not in need, who pities his suffering brother. Both get good, but the giver gets the larger share. . . . The Good Samaritan who bathed the wounds and provided for the wants of a plundered Jew, obtained a greater profit on the transaction than the sufferer who was saved by his benevolence. It is like God to constitute His world so. Even Christ himself, in the act of showing mercy, has His reward. . . . And a man cannot hurt his neighbour without hurting himself. The rebound is heavier than the blow. . . . Such is the fence which the Creator has set up to keep men off his fellows. This dividing line is useful now to keep off the ravages of sin; but when perfect love has come, that divider, no longer needed, will be no longer seen. It is like one of those black jagged ridges of rock that at low water stretch across the sand from the edge of the cultivated ground to the margin of the sea, an impassable, an unapproachable barrier: when the tide rises, all is level, and it is nowhere seen. This law of God, rising as a rampart between man and man, is confined to this narrow six thousand year strip of time. In the perfect state it will act no more, for want of material to act upon.—Arnot.

It is to his own soul that a merciful man doeth good. For it hath been well said, there is nothing so much a man’s own as that which is given to the poor. That which men do, they do as to a poor soul, of as noble birth, and by nature of as great excellency as their own soul is, and so they do it, as it were, to their own. That which God doth, He doth to a sinful soul, degenerate from the birth which He gave it, and turned to be a rebel against Him. So that God is more ready to be good to His enemies, then we are to be good to ourselves.—Jermin.

main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 18–20.

Sowing and Reaping.

I. The life-work of the wicked contains within itself the germs of a three-fold bane: A deception, a death, and an abomination. 1. A deception. The wicked man expects from his life-work that which it cannot possibly yield. It is against the moral constitution of the universe that a life of wickedness, or an evil understanding in that life should yield satisfaction or any degree of real comfort to the worker. If a man sowed darnel in his field and expected to get a crop of wheat, he would be “working a deceitful work,” that is, he would be a victim of self-deception. Nature cannot go out of her way to gratify his desires, to prevent his disappointment. The ungodly man lives a life of ungodliness—he “pursues evil,” (ver. 19), he perversely chooses his own course, in other words, he “is of a froward heart,” (ver. 20), and he promises himself some kind of advantage. But it cannot be, he is doomed to disappointment. However much he lies to work his work, the issue of his work will not lie. The earth will not lie concerning what kind of seed is placed in her furrows. If wheat is hidden there she will not disappoint the husbandman by returning him tares—if tares are sown she will render back of what has been entrusted to her care. She will speak the truth about the sowing by giving according to that which she has received. The sinner wants to make God a liar. “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” is the Divine sentence. “Ye shall not surely die,” is the assurance of the great deceiver. But the end will ever be what it was when man first suffered himself to entertain a doubt upon the matter. The man who builds himself a house upon the side of a volcano may promise himself, or may be promised by others, safety and peace, but unless he can quench the internal fires, that promise cannot be kept. The elements of destruction are ever at work under his very feet, the day will come when the devouring flame will burst forth and consume the work and the worker together. 2. Death. There are three kinds of death which are all the fruit of sin and which are developed out of one another as the blade, the corn in the ear, and the full corn are successive developments of one seed. There is that present paralysis of all the spiritual capabilities of the man which the Bible calls carnal mindedness. (Rom. viii. 6). Into this condition Adam came at once as soon as he worked his wicked work, and every son of his who lives a life of oppression to the Divine will is even now “dead” in this sense. The death of the body is but the outcome of this spiritual death, and although it is the portion of those who have been made spiritually alive, its character is changed from a curse into a blessing. But the consummation of both these “deaths,” is that irrecoverable paralysis of spirit, and that correspondent condition of body known as the “second death.” This is what the man “pursues” who “pursues evil.” 3. An abomination. A musical soul hates discord, an honest man hates dishonesty, the pure-minded turn with loathing from all impurity. Although God loves His creatures, He holds in abomination all that is unholy; a persistent frowardness—a constant refusal to fall in with the Divine plan of separating sin from the human soul will—it is here and elsewhere declared—result in the very creature whom He has made becoming an offence to his Divine Creator.

II. The life-work of the righteous will meet the certain reward of a Divine character and Divine delight. 1. A Divine character. He is now a partaker of spiritual life. A man’s present healthy life is in itself a reward for any self-denial he may practise in observing the laws of health. There is a joy in living which a diseased man knows nothing of. So there is a present joy in being in a state of spiritual health, in the exercise of all the graces which are the fruit of the spirit, (Gal. v. 22), to which a man who is morally diseased and dead is an entire stranger. The spiritual life which is the harvest of “sowing righteousness” or uprightness, is a present reward. But the present spiritual live and health is a prophecy and an earnest of a completed and perfected life in the city of God. Righteousness is the very life of God, and in proportion as His children attain perfection of character they attain a more perfect life. (See Homiletics on chap. vii. 1–4). 2. Divine delight. God is the Author and Fountain of all the righteousness in the universe, and He can but take pleasure in the work of His own hands. He delights in men of uprightness because He sees in them a reproduction of His own character. His “soul delighted,” (Isa. xlii. 1), in the work and character of His elected servant, His only-begotten Son, because He was, pre-eminently “the Righteous.” (1 John ii. 1). He delights also in His created sons in proportion as their character comes up to that perfect standard.

outlines and suggestive comments.

Verse 18. 1. Opposite characters. The radical idea of the word righteousness seems to be that of equality, as the equilibrium of a pair of scales, etc. Hence, applied to moral or religious matters, it makes a correspondence between our obligations on the one hand, and our performance on the other. But as the rightful claims of God and man are embodied in the Divine law, righteousness is considered as obedience and conformity to that law (Deut. vi. 25). And as this rule rather declares what it enjoins to be fit and proper, than makes it so, righteousness, in relation to the arrangement and constitution of things, is order, fitness, reality, truth. The radical meaning of the word here employed to denote the wicked man appears to be that of inequality, unfairness. Hence wicked, that is, unequal, balances (Mic. vi. 11). Agreeably to this idea, the word, when used in a moral sense, means a want of correspondence between duty and performance—nonconformity to the laws of God. As righteousness is order, etc., so that which is the essence of wickedness, is disorder, incongruity, deception, a lie, an unsound principle. 2. Opposite practices. As is the tree, so is the fruit. Righteousness renders to God and to man their due. The unrighteous man robs God (Mal. iii. 8, 9) of time and talents which should have been devoted to His service. His work is—Deceitful (often) in its intention. Deception is the very object proposed. Deceitful (always) in its nature. Weighed in the balances, it is found wanting. 3. Opposite results. The deceiver himself often becomes the dupe of his own delusions. By abuse the moral sense becomes blunted, etc., then follows what is described Isa. xliv. 18, 20; 2 Tim. iii. 13. Deceitful in its results—generally in this world. A tradesman who makes a point of telling profitable lies, is detected and disbelieved even when he speaks the truth, and, being deserted, comes to ruin.—Certainly in the world to come. Every man loves happiness; but sin will leave the sinner to weeping and wailing, etc. On the contrary, the righteous has a sure reward. His reward is—1. Certain. The perfections and word of God assure this. 2. Suitable; a reward of truth, a reward in kind, an increase of correct and pious feeling (Matt. v. 6, 8). Hence, 3. Satisfying (Psalm xvii. 15). 4. Abiding (Psa. xix. 9).—Adapted from Sketches of Sermons.

Although the ungodly person labour much, yet he doth a work which neither shall continue, nor bring any fruit unto him. The hypocrite giveth alms oftentimes to be seen by men, but he shall never be rewarded for his liberality by the Lord. The transgressor of God’s law buildeth himself upon the show of an outward profession: such a house will fall. The vain teacher delivereth the straw and the stubble of error and vanity for true doctrine and sound divinity. This work cannot abide; the day will reveal it, and the fire will consume it.—Muffet.

None would be so rich and happy as he servants of Satan, were his promises all performed; but the misery is, that he will promise kingdoms, though he cannot, like Chaldean robbers, have a single sheep without the Divine permission; and what is worst of all, those that trust his promises are paid with fire and brimstone. The devil was a liar from the beginning, yet so infatuated are men, that they will trust him more than a God that cannot lie. The devil places pleasure and profit before them; God, by the threatenings of His word, sets an everlasting hell before them. But they will venture through it, in order to enjoy the vanities with which the great tempter allures them.—Lawson.

By necessity of his condition, every man’s life, and every moment of it, is a sowing. The machine is continually moving over the field and shaking; it cannot, even for a moment, be made to stand still, so as not to sow. It is not an open question at all whether I shall sow or not to-day; the only question to be decided is, Shall I sow good seed or bad?—Arnot.

If righteousness be our main end, God will make it our best friend; nor will He, as the world has done, reward us with ciphers instead of gold.—Bridges.

Nothing is durable that a wicked man does except his crimes.—A. Clarke.

Our wage is better than ordinary, the whole crop that we sow is given us for our labour, and therefore let us not be too hasty to reap it before it be ready. Good farmers indeed pay the ploughman sooner than the corn is ripe, but cheaper than the corn is worth: Whereas God bestoweth freely upon his labourers all that they have sown, it is their own, and therefore let them tarry till harvest, and they shall find their hire will far surmount their travail.—Dod.

Let us inquire why this gracious course of consecrating a man’s self to God in the practice of godliness is called a sowing of righteousness. It is because of the likeness which is betwixt the practice of godliness, and the sowing of the seed—(1) in some things which do go before the sowing. Two things, then, have to be looked after, viz., the preparation of the ground and the choice of seed. In the sowing of righteousness the like to these two are of great behoof. The preparation of the heart and the choice of particulars belonging to a Christian course. (2) In some things which do accompany the sowing, viz., the time of sowing and the plenty of sowing. When the season comes, the husbandman falls to his work, though, perhaps, it be not so seasonable as he could desire. So in spiritual business—the seed time for righteousness is this life: the opportunity must be taken when it comes. If I meet with many encumbrances, shall I cease sowing and tarry for a calmer season? God forbid. Through with it I must, in season, and out of season. If I look for a better time, upon a sudden, there will be no time at all. Then the seedsman casts not in one seed alone, but a handful at once, one handful after another. To sow righteousness is to be rich in good works, to do good once and again, to join with faith virtue; with virtue knowledge, etc. Some do now and then drop out a good work, some little devotion to God, some petty office of mercy to men, but it is to no purpose in the world; no plenty in sowing, no fulness in reaping. (3) In things which follow after sowing. Great is the care that the seed put into the ground may thrive and prosper; the fields be hedged, the cattle be shut out, etc. It is ever and anon looked to, to see how it be going on. So it is in vain to have entered upon a good course if it be not continued (Phil. iv. 1; 1 Thess. iv. 1; 2 Pet. iii. 18; Heb. vi. 1). Thus we see that to sow righteousness is—1. The submitting a man’s self to have his heart broken up by the power of God’s word. 2. A diligent inquiry into the best way of pleasing God. 3. A pressing forward amid many encumbrances. 4. A striving to be fruitful in good works. 5. A watching with continued diligence.—Hieron.

Verse 19. The courses of rivers is to return to the sea, from whence they issue, and so righteousness, coming from the ocean of life, thither tendeth again, and evil, coming from the black sea of darkness, bendeth thither also. The difference which the passengers find is this: that in the waters of righteousness all the tempests and rough waves are in the river, but going on with it to the sea, there is nothing but calmness, security, and pleasantness, in which they bathe themselves for evermore. In the waters of wickedness the passengers find the river to be easy often, and smoothly to carry them along, but following the course of it, when they come to the sea, there are nothing but horrid storms, raging winds, and gaping gulfs of death, wherein they are for ever swallowed up.—Jermin.

Our principal pay will be in life, whereof we have part in hand by grace in our souls in this world, and the rest is behind until the pay day in the world to come. So that a sinner cannot discern the happiness of a Christian, nor conceive how God dealeth with him. For the comfort of a heart is a thing unknown to him, and the glorious life is hid with Christ in God, and shall not fully be seen before we appear with Him in glory.—Dod.

If righteousness is a seed, and is sown, and has a certain crop, then, in this way, “righteousness is unto life,” but he that pursues evil does so to his death; that is, he sows in spiritual corruption, and that eternally. He grows in spiritual corruption, not because creatures are self-subsistent, and advance by laws implanted in themselves; but because sin is the punishment of sin, and advance by laws implanted in the Almighty. Eternal justice declares that sin must be given up to an advance in sin.—Miller.

It is frequently possible for man to screen themselves from the penalty of human laws, but no man can be ungrateful or unjust without suffering for his crime; hence I conclude that these laws must have proceeded from a more excellent legislator than man.—Socrates.

Verse 20. Uprightness is a noble quality, for the Lord greatly delights in it. He boasted, if we may speak so, to the devil of Job’s invincible integrity. Christ speaks of an upright Nathaniel as a wonder in the world. How wonderful is the grace of God, that takes such kind notice of grace so imperfect as that which may be found on earth.—Lawson.

“An abomination to Jehovah,” as taught in this book, is a thing so radically full of mischief that it must be forced out of the way some day, by the very necessities of the universe.—Miller.

Not only those that pursue and practise wickedness, but they also that harbour it in their hearts, are hated of God. (Luke xvi. 15). A man may die of inward bleeding; a man may be damned for contemplative wickedness. The antithesis requires that he should say, such as are upright in heart. But He chooseth rather to say, in their way, not only because a good heart ever makes a good life, but to meet with such as brag of the goodness of their hearts when their lives are altogether loose and licentious. Whereas holiness in the heart, as the candle in the lantern, well appears in the body.—Trapp.

A pearl upon a dunghill is worth stooping for, and a gracious man or woman is worth looking after. Sure it is that God looks on them as His jewels, as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His delight. His dear children, and what not. It much concerns us then, to set a true value upon them, make a true estimate of them, and (as much as lieth in us) to be mindful of them, comfortable to them, and willing on all occasions to do them good.—Spencer’s Things New and Old.

main homiletics of verse 21.

Deliverance from a Confederated Opposition.

I. The wicked will certainly confederate against the good. They will join “hand in hand.” 1. On account of their nearness to each other. If two nations who are near neighbours feel that the advance of one in possessions, in power, in wealth, will be the correspondent retrogression of the other, there will be a confederation of each nation. Their nearness to each other will necessitate a defensive confederation—most likely an offensive one, for each will feel that its existence depends upon a union of its members. The wicked and the good in the entire universe make but two hostile camps, although they are not separated into distinct nationalities or divided by geographical boundaries in this world. Some of each side are found in every nation, in every city, in every hamlet, often in the same house, and while this is the case there will be confederation on both sides we have here to do only with that of the wicked. Hatred of the good is often the only bond of union between wicked men, they feel that, if the good are to be held back from possessing the earth, they must unite to oppose their work. Hatred of Christ united Herod and Pilate (Luke xxiii. 12). 2. This confederation of the wicked is against both persons and principles. The good fight only against the principles of the godless—they love their persons, the wicked hate both the persons and principles of the good. 3. The wicked will confederate because of the tremendous issues depending upon the conflict. If the principles that govern the good should triumph in the world, they instinctively feel that there will be no place left for their persons and principles. 4. Confederation implies choice, confidence in numbers, thought, and a covenant to stand by each other. Those who join hand to hand show that they choose each other’s society—choice is a revelation of character—those who join hands with the wicked reveal that they are wicked also. It implies confidence in numbers. Numbers have a wonderful influence in begetting confidence. They inspire men with hope of success. It seems impossible that so many can be defeated. The fact that the wicked are in the majority in this world is often a strong point with them. This was the hope of Pharaoh (Exod. xiv. 6, 7) and of Sennacherib (Isa. xxxvi). The first Napoleon made it his boast that “Providence fought always on the side of great battalions.” It likewise implies thought. They do not go to their work without taking counsel together as to the best means of accomplishing their ends. This “multitude of counsellors” (ver. 14) is one of the advantages of confederation. It likewise implies covenant. There is something even in a wicked man that makes him slow to break an agreement—to violate a solemn promise. Even the wicked Herod would keep his oath to the daughter of Herodias, although the thought of the crime which he must commit to do so startled him for a moment (Matt. xiv. 9). All these things together make up the strength of the confederation of the wicked; but, notwithstanding,—

II. They will be defeated. “The seed of the righteous will be delivered.” The end of all their planning and plotting was the destruction of the good, but it will not be. Another confederation has been formed which has in it a stronger Person than any in the confederation of the wicked. God is in it. God has chosen the good for His confederates because they have chosen Him (Isa. xli. 8, 9). Although the wicked have many on their side there are more in numbers on the other side (2 Kings vi. 16). Those unseen defenders of the good cause must be taken into account. God has thoughts and plans which embrace and overrule all the plans and schemes of the wicked. He has likewise made a covenant, and He cannot “alter the thing that has gone out of His lips” (Psalm xxxix. 34). Therefore the righteous may meet their foes with this challenge: “Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for the Lord is with us” (Isa. viii. 9, 10).

III. The members of the wicked confederation will be punished. Men think that individuals will be lost in the crowd. They think there is safety in being one of many. But it is not so. God will deal with men as individuals. He will “render to every man according to his work” (Psalm lxii. 12). This is the word of the Lord to those who dare “to take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed” (Psalm ii. 2)—“Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Isaiah xxviii. 17–18). And this is His word to “the seed of the righteous,”—“Behold they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn” (Isaiah liv. 15–17).

illustration.

A very solemn method of taking an oath in the East is by joining hands, uttering at the same time a curse upon the false swearer. To this the wise man probably alludes. This form of swearing is still observed in Egypt and the vicinity; for when Mr. Bruce was at Shekh Hunner, he entreated the protection of the governor in prosecuting his journey, when the great people who were assembled came, and after joining hands, repeated a kind of prayer about two minutes long, by which they declared themselves and their children accursed, if ever they lifted up their hands against him in the tent, or in the field, or the desert, or in case that he or his should fly to them for refuge, if they did not protect them at the risk of their lives. Or, sometimes, when two persons make a contract they bring the palms of their right hands into contact, and raise them to their lips and forehead. At other times they rub the forefingers of their rights hands together, repeating the words “right, right,” or “together, together.”—Paxton’s Illustration.

outlines and suggestive comments.

What many wicked cannot do, in saving one wicked man from wrath, that shall one godly man do for many. For not only himself, but his seed shall be delivered.—Jermin.

The best way for any man to do his children good, is to be godly himself.—Dod.

The “seed of the righteous” is not simply the children of righteous people, because it includes the parents themselves; not simply the parents, because it includes the children; not both parents and children, because many children perish; but the seed of the righteous in this sense (1) that righteousness runs in lines;—there is a generation of them that seek Him (Psa. xxiv. 6)—and (2) that the righteous, as far as they are righteous in the parental relation, will have godly children (Gen. xviii. 19; Titus i. 6). Righteousness itself (by its fidelities) has its offspring in Christian families. This is the favourite method of the Church’s growth.—Miller.

Let sinners beware of the danger and the inevitable result of fighting against God! “He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who hath hardened himself against Him and prospered?” What fearful odds—the creature against the Creator! the sinner against his rightful Judge! the arm of flesh against the hand of Omnipotence. Though the wicked could league all creation with them in conspiracy and rebellion, how powerless the combination! “He that sitteth in the heavens should laugh; the Lord should have them in derision. He should speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.” Companions in sin shall be companions in banishment and suffering. “Forsake the foolish, then, and live.” Choose another fellowship. Give your hand to God’s people, giving your heart to God Himself.—Wardlaw.

When we hear of the wicked, we are apt to think that man of abandoned lives can alone be meant. Hence, when we read the text we have a picture brought before us of some overbearing tyranny, or some perfidious conspiracy. Such specimens of evil are doubtless intended; still, after all, much more is included in its meaning, much which we see before our eyes. Is not the world itself evil? Is it an accident, is it an occasion, is it but an excess, or a crisis, or a complication of circumstances, which constitutes its sinfulness? or, rather, is it not one of our three great spiritual enemies at all times, and under all circumstances? (See Jas. iv. 4; Ephes. ii. 2; Rom. xii. 2; 1 John ii. 15). Let us be sure, then, that the confederacy of evil which Scripture calls the world—that conspiracy against God of which Satan is the secret instigator—is something wider, and more subtle, and more ordinary than mere cruelty, or craft, or profligacy: It is that very world in which we are. It is not a certain body or party of men—it is human society itself.—J. H. Newman.

main homiletics of verse 22.

Precious Things Possessed by Unworthy Owners.

I. There is an analogy between gold and beauty. 1. They are both gifts from God. Whether a man possesses gold by inheritance or as the result of labour it is a gift from God. In the first instance no praise or blame is due to him for being a rich man, he can no more help it than he can help being in existence. And it is no less a gift from God when it has been earned by toil (see Homiletics on chap. x. 22). Beauty is also a gift from God, those who possess it deserve no honour for being beautiful, those who lack it are not to be despised on that account. 2. Both have a certain value. Gold may add much to a man himself, it increases his opportunities of spiritual and intellectual growth. It enables him to add much to the joy and comfort of others, to give them opportunities of growth also; a rich man can, if he pleases, serve his generation most effectually by a right use of wealth, and thereby increase a thousandfold his own happiness as well as that of others. Beauty is precious also. A woman who possesses physical beauty possesses an influence which she can use, if she pleases, as a lever to raise the moral tone of those who come under her influence. A beautiful woman may use her beauty so as to earn for herself a good reward, and gladden the hearts of her fellow-creatures. 3. Both may make their possessors worthy of praise or blame. Although neither praise nor blame can be attached to the possession of them, much may be to their use. He who uses gold as we have just indicated will receive the “well done,” which is the highest praise that man can receive (Matt. xxv. 21). But if, like a sponge, he sucks up all the blessings that his gold can give into his own life, and leaves others unsuccoured and unblest, he will deserve, and he will receive, the sentence passed upon the rich by the Apostle James (chap. v. 1). So with the use or the abuse of beauty. For the right use of this gift of God, praise will be accorded to its possessor, for its abuse she will be called to render an account.

II. Gold and beauty, each in a wrong relation. An ornament of gold is a fitting and becoming adornment of the human person. But the same thing in a swine’s snout is utterly out of place; the conjunction of the two strikes us as entirely incongruous. But it is not more so than to find a fair face united to an unlovely soul—to a soul which lacks the purity and modesty without which a woman is the most repulsive of God’s creatures. For the word translated discretion evidently means womanliness—virtue, and when we see a beautiful face and find that it belongs to one with a foul spirit, we seem to see heaven and hell united in one person. The analogy goes further; the swine uses his snout to grovel in the mire in search of that which will satisfy his animal and swinish nature, he could put a jewel of gold to no other use. And the woman of the proverb does the same thing with her beauty. She debases this jewel of God’s own workmanship to the vile use of satisfying her own grovelling and lawless desires, and thus renders the resemblance most striking.

illustration.

Nearly all the females of the East wear a jewel of gold in their nostrils, or in the septum of their nose; and some of them are exceedingly beautiful, and of great value. The Oriental lady looks with as much pleasure upon the jewel which adorns her nose as any of her sex in England do upon that which deck their ears.—Roberts.

outlines and suggestive comments.

We cannot, if we are ourselves right-minded,—if we have even good sense, apart from piety—admire such beauty. It hardly deserves the name. True loveliness consists not in mere exquisite symmetry of features. It cannot exist without expression. To constitute true beauty, the countenance must be the index of the mind and heart—of what is intellectual and what is amiable.—Wardlaw.

The most direct proverb, in the sense of “mashal,” or similitude, which has yet reached us.—Plumptre.

Beauty is an earthly jewel, and is a comely ornament, where God and nature have bestowed it. But if there be no discretion to consider whence it cometh, and by whom it is preserved; if there be no understanding to perceive what the nature of it is, to what at last it cometh, and how soon it fadeth, it is then but a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout.—Jermin.

God makes no more reckoning of sinful people without understanding, than of brute beasts without reason. Though they have human nature, and carry the shape and form of men and women, with best show, yet if there be nothing but flesh and blood and sinfulness, no beauty no bravery, make the best of them, is more acceptable to Him than is the basest of all the other creatures. It is a very homely comparison wherewith the Holy Ghost disgraceth the wicked in this book, and yet so true, that He toucheth it again in the New Testament (2 Pet. ii. 22).—Dod.

It is small praise, saith one, to have a good face and an evil nature. No one means, saith another, hath so enriched hell as beautiful faces. Art thou fair? saith an author; be not like an Egyptian temple, or a painted sepulchre. Art thou foul? let thy soul be like a rich pearl in a rude shell.—Trapp.

Beauty in the possession of an unthinking woman is more dangerous than a drawn sword in the hands of an idiot.

Beauty, unaccompanied by virtue, is as a flower without perfume.

main homiletics of verse 23.

The Desire of the Righteous, and the Expectation of the Wicked.

We cannot understand the first clause of this verse to mean that all a righteous man’s desires are good. 1. History contradicts it. Solomon must have known it was not true of his own father. David was a righteous man, but some of his desires were not only not good, but inhuman and devilish. Of all the good men of whom we read, whether in inspired or uninspired history, there is hardly one of whom some act is not recorded which reveals that their desires were sometimes sinful. 2. Present experience contradicts it. If those who are now looked upon as the salt of the earth were appealed to upon this matter they would emphatically deny that their desires were at all times and altogether good. But this we may affirm. I. That the main desire of a righteous man is that he may be good, and that to all his fellow-creatures “good may be the final goal of ill.” II. That there will be a period in his history when his desires will be “only” good. In nature all things tend towards a perfection—a completion. If no untoward circumstances prevent, a tree or a flower will go on growing until it has attained to the perfectness to which it has been ordained. The Christian is destined to attain to perfection of moral beauty. And when this completion is arrived at his desires will be only good. See 1 John iii. 1, 2, etc. (For full treatment of the verse see Homiletics on chap. x. verses 24 and 28.)

outlines and suggestive comments.

Here we are to contrast a wish and an assurance (expectation) like that class of passages already alluded to where the last clause is intensive. The mere wish of the righteous is an intrinsic good; either first, because all writings of his heart, whether wise or unwise will exercise him (Psalm lxxxiv. 7), and will speed him to his celestial state; or secondly, because the wish of a righteous man, quoad a righteous man, will be a righteous wish, and, therefore, will be good in itself, and will be sure to be gratified. The wish of a righteous man, like the spongelets of a tree, is that which goes searching for God’s gifts, and is sure in the end to attain them. Therefore, emphasising “only” the wish of a righteous man will be made altogether to work for his good, however disappointed, and however kept low and troubled in the difficulties of the present life. But “an assurance of the wicked;” that is, a thing so grasped and reached as to be no longer a “wish,” but a certainty; wealth, when it is made his, or honour, when it is actually grasped, will not only be lost; will not only be followed by “wrath” in the sense of actually bringing it; but “is wrath” in the sense of being sent as punishment, and in the further sense that the sinner knew it all the time; and that his assurance, though it seemed to be a certainty of joy, was, lower down, a certainty of punishment; we mean by that an assurance (which he would confess if he were asked) that all his properties could end only in increasing retribution.—Miller.

“Desire is the wing of the soul, whereby it moveth, and is carried to the thing which it loveth as the eagle to the carcase, to feed itself upon it, and be satisfied with it” (Bishop Reynolds). The desire of the righteous must be good because it is God’s own work (Psalm x. 17; Rom. viii. 26, 27). It must be only good, because it centres in Himself (Psalm lxxiii. 25; Isa. xxvi. 8, 9). . . . The corrupt mixture of worldliness, selfishness, and pride is against our better will (Rom. vii. 15). In despite of this mighty assault—“Lord, all my desire is before thee; thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee” (Psalm xxxvii. 9; John xxi. 17).—Bridges.

Evil motions haunt his mind otherwhiles, but there they inhabit not. . . . As the ferryman plies the oar, and eyes the shore homeward, where he would be, yet there comes a gust of wind that carries him back again, so it is oft with a Christian. But every man is with God so good as he desires to be. They are written in the book of life that do what they can, though they cannot do what they would.—Trapp.

Verse 23 and chap. x. 24. I. What, or who is the righteous man? 1. He is one whom God makes righteous by bestowing righteousness upon him—by counting the righteousness of His Son for his (Rom. v. 19). A man must be righteous by imputation before he can be made good, for the Spirit which makes our persons good—which sanctifies our nature—is the fruit of the righteousness which is by Jesus Christ. 2. God makes a man righteous by bestowing upon him a principle of righteousness. Man must have eyes before they can see, tongues before they can speak, and legs before they go: even so a man must be made habitually good and righteous before he can work righteousness 3. The man is practically righteous. Fruits show outwardly what the heart is principled with. Mark how the apostle words it: “Being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness” (Rom. vi. 22). The works flow from the heart of a righteous man—of a man that before he had any good work had a twofold righteousness imparted to him—one to make him righteous before God, the other to principle him to be righteous before the world. II. What a righteous man desires. A righteous man is sometimes taken for his best part, or as he is a second creation as in 2 Cor. v. 17; Col. iii. 10, etc. In which places the sinful flesh, the old man, the outward man—all of which are corrupt according to his deceitful lusts—are excluded, and so pared off from the man, that he is righteous. As Paul in Rom. vii. 15–17 severs himself in twain,—himself as he is spiritual from himself as he is carnal—so the righteous man here must be taken for the I that would do the good, the I that hates the evil. There is a spring that yieldeth water good and clear, but the channels through which this water comes to us are muddy and foul: now, of the channels the water receives a disadvantage, and so come to us savouring of what came not with them from the fountain of grace—the Holy Ghost—but from the channels through which they must pass. The desires of a righteous man, then, are comprised under, 1. those they would have accomplished here, and 2. those which they know cannot be enjoyed until after death. And the first are comprised under communion with God in spirit and the liberty of enjoyment of His ordinances. And the second are comprehended under the desire of that presence of the Lord which is personal, and their desire to be in that country where their Lord personally is. These last have a long neck: for they look over the brazen wall of this, quite into another world. They breed a divorce betwixt the soul and all inordinate love of the world; their strength is such, that they are ready to dissolve that sweet knot of union betwixt body and soul and to grapple with the King of Terrors. These desires do deal with death, as Jacob’s love to Rachel did with the seven long years which he was to serve for her. III. What is meant by granting the righteous man’s desires. It is to accomplish them. There is nothing that God likes of ours better than He likes our true desires. For, indeed, true desires are the smoke of our incense, the flower of our graces, the vital part of the new man. Right desires jump with God’s mind; they are the life of prayer; they are a man’s kindness to God; (chap. xix. 22) and they which will take him up from the ground, and carry him after God to do His will, be the work never so hard. Is it any marvel then, that God has promised they shall be granted?—Bunyan.

The desire of all, as it is desire, is only of good; but as desire is accomplished, so it is the desire of the righteous only that is good, and their desire accomplished is good only. It is simply good, there is no mixture of evil added to it, yea, it is not only all good, but all the good that desire can wish.—Jermin.

main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 24–26.

The Liberal and the Niggardly Man.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Be very careful with the word “niggardly” because it can sound like a racial slur, especially to those who do not know the word or who are not paying attention. Consider substituting “miserly,” “sparing,” or “parsimonious.”

We have here a twofold contrast under two similitudes—

I. A man who withholds what he ought to give out. “He withholdeth more than is meet—he withholdeth corn” when he ought to sell it. 1. He is a sinner against the law of necessity which runs through all human things. The earth will only yield of her good things by first having good things cast into her bosom. The farmer who is sparing of labour and of money in the tillage of his fields will never be a rich man. The same principle is at work in the mart and on the exchange. There must of necessity be a wise scattering of wealth before there is any increase. 2. He is a sinner against the Divine ordination and commandment. When God organized the Hebrew commonwealth He ordained that the “poor should not cease out of the land” (Deut. xv. 11), and that they should be helped by the rich. The same principle was proclaimed by Christ, when He said “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. x. 8), God has given to you that you may give to others. This is the fast that Jehovah has chosen, “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thine house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh” (Isa. lviii. 7). 3. He is, as a necessity, a sinner against his fellow creatures. He sins against their need. In times of scarcity those who have abundance and will not give of their abundance are guilty, how much more those who have the material to feed the people and will not even sell it, but withhold it to raise the price. Such men are robbers and murderers. They murder by refusing the means of life. 4. He is a sinner against himself. He will not be so rich as he would have been if he had used what he had in accordance with the laws of nature and morality. A man who does not put his money out to a lawful use cannot make more by it. More than this, he is a stranger to that blessedness of which Christ spake when He said “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts xx. 35). But this is not all, he is under a Divine and human curse. God’s ban is upon him. If a tree is constantly receiving from the fatness of the earth and the heavens and yet brings forth no fruit for the service of man, it is marked for the woodman’s axe. The message of God to such cumberers of the ground is, “Go to, now, ye rich man, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire” (Jas. v. 1–3). “The people shall curse him.” How can they do otherwise? They feel that he has robbed them of their rights when he will not even sell what they are willing to buy.

II. The man who gives out liberally of that which he possesses. He yields first of all to the necessity of things. He scatters his wealth wisely in order to increase it. But this is his lowest motive and his smallest blessing. So far as more trading goes this scattering to increase is a mere matter of necessity. He knows he must cast a bushel of corn into the ground if he would have it increase—that he must spend a thousand pounds before he can gain ten thousand. In this way he shows that he has faith in the ordinary law of multiplication. But he goes further than this. “He selleth corn” at a fair price, when, by withholding it, he might exact more. This is a sample of all his dealings with his fellow-men. He does not take advantage of their necessities to enrich himself (see Homiletics on verse 1). He goes beyond this—he not only sells at a fair price, but he is a giver. He scatters in the way of giving out of his abundance, “looking for nothing again” (Luke vi. 35). But he is a great gainer. 1. He will very likely get richer in material wealth by giving. This is not positively affirmed in the text “there is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” But he will certainly never be the poorer, for he makes God his creditor. “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord” (chap. xix. 17). 2. He will certainly be richer in more precious wealth. “He will be watered himself.” He will have a double blessing. Men will call down blessings on his head. Those who partake of his wealth will give him in return love, honour, and respect. God will add to his personal character that which will increase tenfold the blessedness of his existence. He will, according to the apostolic promise, “make all grace to abound toward him, that he, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” He will “increase the fruits of righteousness” (2 Cor. ix. 6–11), and water his soul with His own Divine influence. “If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, whose waters fail not” (Isa. lviii. 11).

outlines and suggestive comments.

Verses 24, 25. Is not this just one of the appropriate ways of putting faith to the test on God’s part, and showing its reality on ours? Is it not precisely the defectiveness of this faith that makes us timid, cautious, parsimonious in giving? ever fearing that we may stint ourselves and feel the want of what we expend on suffering humanity and on the cause of God? Is it not thus by unbelief that we are tempted to sow sparingly? And ought it to be, that the husbandman trust more to the laws of nature than the Christian does to the covenant of his God?—Wardlaw.

The Jews in Haggai’s time had no prosperity till they made the house of the Lord their chief object (Hag. i. 6, 9–11; ii. 15–19). So far is the true wealth of the withholder from being increased by withholding what is meet to be given for the glory of God and the good of man, that he is at last deprived even of that which he had (Matt. xiii. 12).—Fausset.

Men may scatter in improvidence and sin, and it tendeth to poverty (chap. xxi. 17). But the man of God, “dispersing abroad” the seed of godliness (Ps. cxii. 9), consecrating his substance and influence to the Lord, “as he has opportunity, doing good unto all men” (Gal. vi. 10), shall receive a plentiful increase.—Bridges.

The liberal man will ever be rich; for God’s providence is his estate, God’s wisdom and power are his defence, God’s love and favour are his reward, and God’s word is his security.—Barrow.

The liberal soul is made fat in the healthful vigour of practical godliness. The minister is refreshed by his own message of salvation to his people. The Sunday-school teacher learns many valuable lessons in the work of instruction. The Christian visitor’s own soul glows in carrying the precious name of Jesus to a fellow-sinner. Every holy temper, every spiritual gift, every active grace is increased by exercise.—Bridges.

Give, and thou shalt receive. John Howard, when he grew sad about his piety, put on his hat and went about among the poor. He came back a gainer. He diverted his mind from his own interests, and yet promoted them in a higher assurance. Religion being benevolence, as well as a love of holiness, doing good to others is a philosophic way of ripening it in ourselves. Verse 24 has its Poor Richard phrase as well as a higher one. Being “penny wise and pound foolish” is understood even in our shops. But the grand sense is evangelical. “Inserviendo allius consumor” may be true of poor impenitents, but a candle is no emblem for a Christian. He is a glorious sun who, by some strange alchemy, brightens by shining. Watereth refers to the ground, or to animals. “Giving plenty to drink” is the meaning of the word as applied to man.—Miller.

Wherefore doth the Lord make your cup run over, but the other men’s lips might taste the liquor? The showers that fall upon the highest mountains should glide into the lowest valleys.—Secker.

Man is God’s image, but a poor man is Christ’s stamp to boot; both images regard. God reckons for him, counts the favour His: Write, so much given to God; thou shalt be heard. Let thy alms go before, and keep heaven’s gate Open for thee, or both may come too late.

The last clause of ver. 25 is literally he that raineth shall himself become a river. The water that falls in refreshing and fertilising irrigation is not lost, but becomes a fair stream. So the bounty of the liberal man, which rains down blessings, will flow on for ever in a beautiful river.—Wordsworth.

The well-being of all is concerned in the right working of each. One necessarily affects for good or evil all the rest in proportion to the closeness of its relations and the weight of its influence. You draw another to keep him from error: that other’s weight which you have taken on keeps you steadier in your path. You water one who is ready to wither away; and although the precious stream seems to sink into the earth, it rises to heaven and hovers over you, and falls again upon yourself in refreshing dew. It comes to this, if we be not watering we are withering.—Arnot.

Poor men are not excluded from the grace and blessing of being merciful, though they attain not to the state and ability of being wealthy. Mercy is not placed with money in the purse, but dwelleth with loving-kindness in the heart. He that can mourn with such as do mourn, he that can pray for them that be in distress, has a “soul of blessing.”—Dod.

St. Gregory applieth the words particularly unto ministers and saith, He that by preaching doth outwardly bless, receiveth the fatness of inward increase. And to this sense the Chaldee reads it, saying, “He that teacheth shall himself also learn.” And then the former part of the verse may be taken thus, the soul that bestoweth abroad the blessings of a wise instruction shall profit much in his wisdom, according to a common saying among the Jews, “I have profited more by my scholars than by all things else.”—Jermin.