Arnot Proverbs Vol1
Arnot Proverbs Vol1
Arnot Proverbs Vol1
ILLUSTRATIONS
OF THE
BOOK OF PROVERBS.
BY THE
REV. WILLIAM ARNOT,
ST. PETER'S FREE CLIMB, GLASGOW.
First Series.
Vol. 1.
LONDON;
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
MDCCCLXIII.
TO THE READER.
THESE illustrations of the Proverbs are not critical, con-
tinuous, exhaustive. The comments, in imitation of the
text, are intended to be brief, practical, miscellaneous,
isolated. The reader may, however, perceive a principle
of unity running through the whole, if he takes his stand
at the outset on the writer's view point—a desire to
lay the Christian System along the surface of common
life, without removing it from its foundations in the
doctrines of Grace. The authority of the instructions
must be divine: the form transparently human. Al-
though the lessons should, with a pliant familiarity, lay
themselves along the line of men's thoughts and actions,
they will work no deliverance, unless redeeming love be
everywhere the power to press them in. On the other
hand, although evangelical doctrine be consistently main-
tained throughout, the teaching will come short of its
purpose unless it go right into every crevice of a corrupt
heart, and perseveringly double every turn of a crooked
path. Without "the love wherewith He loved us" as
our motive power, we cannot reach for healing any of the
deeper ailments of the world: but having such a power
within our reach, we should not leave it dangling in the
air; we should bring it down, and make it bear on every
iv TO THE READER.
W. A.
CONTENTS.
Page
I. THE PREACHER 9
II. THE BOOK—PROVERBS 15
III. THE ROOT OF KNOWLEDGE 19
IV. THE FAMILY 25
V. FILIAL LOVE A BLOSSOM OF BEAUTY 30
VI. THE FOE AND THE FIGHT 34
VII. FILTHY LUCRE 57
VIII. THE CRY OF WISDOM 64
IX. A REVIVAL 72
X. SOWING DISOBEDIENCE, REAPING JUDGMENT 78
XI. SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND 88
XII. PERILS IN THE DEEP 97
XIII. THE MEANS OF SAFETY 104
XIV. A GOOD MEMORY 106
XV. THE ART OF PRINTING 110
XVI. TRUST 116
XVII. THE HEALTH OF HOLINESS 121
XVIII. CAPITAL AND PROFIT 123
XIX. A FATHERLY WORD ON FATHERLY CORRECTION 126
XX. TREASURES FOR THE TAKING 134
XXI. GAINFUL MERCHANDISE 136
XXII. LENGTH OF DAYS IN THE HAND OF WISDOM 139
XXIII. A PLEASANT PATH 142
vi CONTENTS.
Page
XXIV. WISDOM MAKING AND MANAGING WORLDS 144
XXV. CONFIDENCE IN GOD THE TRUE SAFEGUARD FROM
TEMPTATION 147
XXVI. THE RIGHT THING DONE AT THE RIGHT TIME 152
XXVII. THE CURSE AND THE BLESSING UPON THE HOUSE 158
XXVIII. PRECEPT AND EXAMPLE 161
XXIX. HOLD FAST 163
XXX. THE PATH OP THE JUST 166
XXXI. THE FOUNTAIN AND ITS STREAM 171
XXXII. FAMILY JOYS 179
XXXIII. THE METHOD OP PROVIDENCE FOR RESTRAINING EVIL 185
XXXIV. SEVEN HATEFUL THINGS 188
XXXV. MOTHER'S LAW 190
XXXVI. THE WORTH Or WISDOM 197
XX XVII. HATE EVIL 200
XXXVIII. RANK AND RICHES 202
XXXIX. THE REDEEMER ANTICIPATING REDEMPTION 205
XL. THE MARRIAGE SUPPER FOR THE KING'S SON 200
XLI. REPROOF 213
XLII. THE TALENT AND ITS PRODUCT 219
XLIII. THE PLEASURES OF SIN 221
XLIV. THE PLACE AND POWER OF A SON 229
XLV. DILIGENT IN BUSINESS 234
XLVI. POSTHUMOUS FAME 236
XLVII. THE WISE TAKE ADVICE: FOOLS ONLY GIVE IT 238
XLVIII. THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY 240
XLIX. THE WELL OF LIFE 242
L. EXPERIENCE KEPT FOR USE 245
LL THE MONEY POWER 247
LII. THE LIPS AND TONGUE 251
LIII. THE BLESSING OF THE LORD MAKETH RICH 254
LIV. A FOOL'S SPORT 261
CONTENTS. vii
Page
LV. FILM REALIZED, AND HOPES FULFILLED 263
LVI. THE PAINING WHIRLWIND AND THE SURE FOUNDATION 273
LVII. THE GREATNESS OF LITTLE THINGS 274
LVIII. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY 279
LIX. ASSORTED PAIRS 285
LX. DIPLOMACY 288
LXI. THE DESTROYER OF A NEIGHBOUR 290
LXII. A TALEBEARER 292
LVIII. DEBTS AND SURETIES 294
LXIV. VIRTUE ITS OWN REWARD 303
LXV. EVERY SEED BEARS FRUIT OF ITS OWN KIND 305
LXVI. GOD'S PEOPLE ARE GOD'S DELIGHT 307
LXVII. A JEWEL ILL SET 308
LXVIII. THE DESIRE OF THE RIGHTEOUS 312
LXIX. SCATTERING TO KEEP, AND KEEPING TO SCATTER 315
LXX. THE WATERER IS WATERED 319
LXXI. RAISING THE MARKET—THE PRACTICE AND THE
PENALTY 323
LXXII. THE TREE AND ITS BRANCH 327
LXXIII. THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS 333
LXXIV. A BITTER BUT HEALTHFUL MORSEL 336
LXXV. A HUSBAND'S CROWN 340
LXXVI. THE TENDER MERCIES OP THE WICKED 343
LXXVII. LIES, THE SNARE THAT LIARS ARE CAUGHT IN 345
LXXVIII. HOPE DEFERRED 347
LXXIX. GOD'S WORD THE PRESERVER OF NATIONS 350
LXXX. THE HARD WAY 352
LXXXI. THE CHOICE OF COMPANIONS 355
LXXXII. THE FATHER WHO HATES HIS SON 359
LX XXIII. SECULARISM 367
LXXXIV. FLIGHT, THE SAFETY OF THE WEAK 373
LXXXV. SYMPATHY 375
viii CONTENTS.
Page.
LXXXVI. A MAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BELIEF 378
LXXXVII. THE BACKSLIDER 384
LXXXVIII. THE TRUSTFUL AND THE TRUTHFUL 388
LXXXIX. THE FOOL'S CONFIDENCE 392
XC. WITNESS 396
XCI. THE PLACE OF REFUGE 401
XCII. ENVY, THE DISEASE AND THE CURE 406
XCIII. THE MERCIFUL 410
XCIV. THE TWO DEPARTURES—THE HOPEFUL AND THE
HOPELESS 417
XCV. THE TRUTH IN LOVE 424
ILLUSTRATIONS
OF THE
BOOK OF PROVERBS.
I.
THE PREACHER
II.
THE BOOK—PROVERBS.
III.
IV.
THE FAMILY.
the better will it be both for the individual and the com-
munity. God is wiser than men,
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is
right, and all right things are profitable. To violate the
providential laws is both a crime and a blunder.
Love to parents ranks next under reverence to God.
That first and highest commandment is like the earth's
allegiance to the sun by general law; and filial obedience
is like day and night, summer and winter, budding spring
and ripening harvest, on the earth's surface. There could
be none of these sweet changes, and beneficent operations
of nature on our globe, if it were broken away from the
sun. So when a people burst the first and greatest bond
—when a people cast off the fear of God, the family rela-
tions, with all their beauty and benefit, disappear. We
may read this lesson in the fortunes of France. When
the nation threw off the first commandment, the
second went after it. When they repudiated the fear of
God, they could not retain conjugal fidelity, and filial love.
Hence the wreck and ruin of all the relations between
man and man. As well might they try to make a new
world, as to manage this one wanting the first and second,
the primary and subordinate moral laws of its Maker.
30 FILIAL LOVE A BLOSSOM OF BEAUTY.
V.
VI.
purpose is the fact that there are none such. The idea,
wherewith some would fain excuse their sin, is a stage
managed in accordance with pure morals. It is a vain
imagination. Those who build and manage theatres do
so with the view of a good investment and profitable
employment. They know the tastes of their customers.
They must either conform to these tastes, or lose money
by opposing them. A theatre conducted on such prin-
ciples as would make it safe to the morals of youth
would not pay its proprietor. There are many enlight-
ened and benevolent citizens who rear and maintain
institutions which do not bear their own charges. They
submit to loss from zeal for the public good: but these
men never choose theatres as the instruments of elevating
the community.
We scarcely know anything that would make us fear
more for a young man than to hear that he was in the
habit of attending the theatre. We know that the prac-
tice, besides its own proper evil, would not long stand
alone. A man cannot take fire into his bosom without
being burned.
Does the impatient spirit of youth attempt to ward off
our word, by averring that we would smother the joys of
the young under the gloomy cloud of religion? Oh, for
a balance that could nicely discriminate the degrees of
happiness that each enjoys! We would enter the com-
petition with the merriest frequenter of the stage. We
would set any sensible, God-fearing youth in competition
with him, and show that, even as to present gladness, the
theatre is a cheat and a lie. Once, on a Sabbath morn-
THE FOE AND THE FIGHT. 41
VII.
FILTHY LUCRE.
VIII.
"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets she crieth in
the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she
uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?"—
i. 20-22.
that fools are those who have reached the very highest
degrees of evil. Here it is intimated that they hate
knowledge; and knowledge has its beginning in the fear
of God. All the branches springing from that root, and
all the sweet fruit they bear, are hateful to fools. The
knowledge has come to men, in so far as to be presented
to their minds, and pressed on their acceptance. Some,
the simple, never think of it at all; and others, the
scorners, bar its faintest approaches; but these fools,
after it has made its way into the conscience, exclude it
from their hearts. They have not been able to keep
Truth's heavenly form out of their minds, but they hate it
when it comes in. Others only live without Christ,
keeping Him at a distance; but these are against Him,
after He has been revealed in majesty divine. The
emphatic "No God" of the Fourteenth Psalm indicates,
not the despair of a seeker who is unable to find truth,
but the anger of an enemy who does not like to retain
it. It is not a judgment formed in the fool's under-
standing, but a passion rankling in his heart.
How long is all this to last?
"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?"
God is weary of your indifference; how long will it
cleave to you? How long will a man continue to be
regardless of his soul? Till death? It will certainly be
no longer. He who would not cry in hope for mercy to
pardon his sin, did cry without hope for a drop of water
to cool his tongue.
"How long will the scorners delight in their scorning?"
Will they not cease from blaspheming God, until God,
THE CRY OF WISDOM. 71
IX.
A REVIVAL.
"Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you."—i. 28.
X.
"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no
man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of
my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they
call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall
not find me."—i. 2 4-28.
III. They shall eat the fruit of their own ways, and be
filled with their own devices.
This life is the spring time of our immortal being; the
harvest is eternity. Harvest is not the time for sowing.
We shall reap then what we sow now. This law is of
God. It is like the laws by which He regulates all nature.
If a man sow tares or thistles in his field in spring, it is
probable that a bitter regret will seize upon him in the
harvest day. He will loathe the worthless crop that he
gets to fill his bosom. But he cannot, by a sudden and
energetic wish, change all the laws of nature, and make
his field wave with ripened grain. As certainly as a hus-
bandman in harvest reaps only what he sowed in spring,
84 SOWING DISOBEDIENCE, REAPING JUDGMENT.
shall they who in life sow sin, reap wrath in the judg-
ment. The provisions of his covenant are steadfast as
the laws of his world. His promises are sure as the ordi-
nances of heaven, and his threatenings too.
It is true that God destroys his enemies: but it is also
true that they destroy themselves. They throw themselves
into the fire, and by his laws they are burned. He has
laws that are everlasting and unchangeable. He has not
hidden them from men. He has plainly declared them.
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Those who cast them-
selves on revealed wrath are their own destroyers. These
outstretched hands of his are clear of a sinner's blood.
Judgment will be an exact answer to disobedience, as
fruit answers the seed, or an echo the sound. The
stictness of retribution at last will correspond to the
freeness of mercy now. There would be no glory in God's
present compassion, if it had not the full terror of immut-
able justice behind it to lean upon. Even the divine long-
suffering would lose its loveliness if it did not stand in
front of divine wrath. You cannot paint an angel upon
light: so mercy could not be represented—mercy could not
be, unless there were judgment without mercy, a ground of
deep darkness lying beneath, to sustain and reveal it.
That there may be a day of grace pushed forward within
the reach of men on earth, there must be a throne of judg-
ment as its base in eternity. When the day of grace is
past, the throne of judgment stands alone, and the impeni-
tent must meet it.
The anguish comes first within the conscience of the
ungodly, when the life course is drawing near its close.
SOWING DISOBEDIENCE, REAPING JUDGMENT. 85
XI.
"If thou seekest her as silver . . . thou shalt find the knowledge of God."—
ii. 4, 5.
that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith. He that hath a heart to love, let him love with
it the altogether Lovely. The ear inclined to divine wis-
dom will draw the heart; the heart drawn will incline
the ear. Behold one of the circles in which God, for his
own glory, makes his unnumbered worlds go round.
3. "Cry after knowledge." The preceding verse ex-
pressed the bent heavenward of the heart within and the
senses without: this verse represents the same process at
a more advanced stage. The longing for God's salvation
already begotten in the heart, bursts forth now into an
irrepressible cry. It is not any longer a Nicodemus
inclined toward Jesus, he cannot tell how, and silently
stealing into his presence under cloud of night; it is the
jailor of Philippi springing in, and crying with a loud
voice, "What must I do to be saved?" While the man
was musing, the fire burned; and now it no longer
smoulders within, it bursts forth into a flame. He who
gave Himself for his people loves to feel them kindling
thus in his hands. Men may be offended with the fer-
vour of an earnest soul—God never. "Hold thy peace,"
the prudent will still say to the enthusiastic follower of
Jesus: but he feels his want, and hopes for help; he
heeds them not: he cries out all the more, "Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me." Even disciples, appa-
rently more alarmed by what seem irregularities in the
action of the living than they were by the silence of the
stiffened dead, may interpose with a frown and a re-
buke; but compression will only increase the strength of
the emotion struggling within. That word hidden in
SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND. 93
the heart will swell and burst and break forth in strong
crying and tears, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength
of my heart, and my portion for ever." Psalm lxxiii.
25, 26.
4. "Seek her as silver." Another and a higher step.
The last was the earnest cry; this is the persevering
endeavour. The strong cry is not enough: it is a step
in the process, but the end is not yet. It might be
Balaam's cry, "Let me die the death of the righteous,"
while in life he loved and laboured for the wages of ini-
quity. Fervent prayer must be tested by persevering
pains.
Seek wisdom. Not only be inclined to spiritual things,
and earnestly desire salvation, but set about it. Strive
to enter in; lay hold on eternal life. Work out the sal-
vation. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and
the violent take it by force." The Christian life is a
battle to be fought: the reward at last is a crown to
be won.
More particularly, the search for wisdom is compared
to another search with which we are more familiar. Seek
her as silver. Those who seek the treasures that are at
God's right hand are referred to their neighbours who are
seeking treasures that perish in the using, and told to go
and do likewise. The zeal of mammon's worshippers
rebukes the servants of the living God. We are invited
to take a leaf from the book of the fortune-seeker.
Besides the pursuit of money in the various walks of
94 SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND.
the right object. How all this puts to shame the languid
efforts of those who do seek the true riches! There
may be an inclination on the whole rather to the im-
perishable riches—a wish to be with Christ rather than
left with a passing world for a portion. There may be
the desire in that direction, but another question comes
in, what is the strength of that desire? That blessed
portion in Christ is what you desire; well, but how much
do you desire it? Will not the far reaching plans, and
heroic sacrifices, and long enduring toil of Californian
and Australian gold diggers rise up and condemn us who
have tasted and known the grace of God? Their zeal is
the standard by which the Lord stimulates us now, and
will measure us yet. Two things are required in our
search—the right direction, and the sufficient impulse.
The Scriptures point out the right way; the avarice of
mankind marks the quantum of forcefulness, wherewith
the seeker must press on.
But the search for hid treasure, which reads a lesson
to the Church, is not confined to the gold regions, and
the gold diggers. They dig as hard at home. It cannot
be told how much of plan and effort, of head and hand,
are expended in making money. It is no business of ours
here to draw the nice distinctions between the rightful
industry of a Christian merchant, and the passage through
the fire of mammon's child. This is not our present
theme at all. What we want is to get our slackness
in seeking a Saviour rebuked and quickened by the
parallel movement of a more energetic search. Our
question here is not how much is gold worth? but is
96 SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND.
XII.
"To deliver thee from the way of the evil [man], from the man that speaketh
froward things; who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of
darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: to deliver thee
from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her
words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of
her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of
life."--ii. 12-19.
XIII.
"When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy
soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee."—ii.
10, 11.
CHRIST'S prayer for his disciples was not that they should
be taken out of the world, but that they should be pre-
served from the evil that is in it. Life is a voyage on
the deep: there are perils which we must pass; how
shall we pass them safely? The grand specific is the
entrance of wisdom into the heart. As already ex-
plained, you may understand by Wisdom either the Sal-
vation or the Saviour. The entrance of the word giveth
light, and chases away the darkness. If the truth as it
is in Jesus come in through the understanding, and make
its home in the heart, it will be a purifier and preserver.
"Sanctify them through the truth." The word of God
and the way of the wicked are like fire and water; they
cannot be together in the same place. Either the flood
of wickedness will extinguish the word, or the word will
burn and dry up the wickedness.
If we understand the Word personally of Christ, the
same holds good. Where He dwells, the lusts of the flesh
cannot reign. Evil cannot dwell with Him. When the
Light of the world gets entrance into the heart, the foul
spirits that swarmed in the darkness disappear. His
coming shall be like the morning.
THE MEANS OF SAFETY. 105
XIV.
A GOOD MEMORY.
"My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments."—
iii. 1.
XV.
"Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck;
write them upon the table of thine heart."—iii. 3.
XVI.
TRUST.
XVII.
"Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall he health to thy navel, and
marrow to thy bones."—iii. 7, 8.
XVIII.
XIX.
"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his
correction: for whom the Lord loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son
in whom he delighteth."--iii. 11, 12.
XX.
XXI.
A GAINFUL MERCHANDISE.
"For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain
thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her."—iii. 14, 15.
XXII.
young man will lean his life and his soul on the lie that
his fast life is consistent with a long life; but let him try
to effect a life assurance on himself, and he will find that
the capitalist will not entrust his money on such a frail
security.
Drunkenness is selected by the agents of assurance
societies for their calculations, and mentioned here for
illustration, not that it is more sinful before God, or more
hurtful to life than other vices, but simply because it is of
such a palpable character that, it can be more easily ob-
served and accurately estimated. Others, if human eyes
could trace them, would give the same result; but they
are trackless, like a serpent on the rock, or an eagle in
the air.
142 A PLEASANT PATH.
XXIII.
A PLEASANT PATH.
"Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."—iii. 17.
XXIV.
"The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he estab-
lished the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds
drop down the dew."—iii. 19, 20.
XXV.
"The Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken."—
iii. 26.
XXVI.
"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of
thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-
morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee."—iii. 27, 28.
tion may do for cattle, but not for men. It appears that
the same all-wise Disposer has arranged that there shall
be great and manifold diversities of elevation in the sur-
face of the material earth, and in the condition of its
intelligent inhabitants. For similar purposes of wisdom
and goodness have both classes of inequalities been intro-
duced and maintained. Levellers, who should propose to
improve upon this globe, by bringing down every high
place and exalting every low, so that no spot of all its sur-
face should remain higher than another, would certainly
destroy it as a habitation for man. The waters would
cover it. In attempting to make a level earth, they
would make a universal sea, The grand comfort is that
the mischief cannot be done. The mountains are too
firmly rooted to be removed by any power but that of the
world's Maker.
We suspect the other class of levellers aim at a change
as perilous; and our consolation is, that it is equally im-
possible. We believe that for the present dispensation,
the inequalities in the condition of individuals and fami-
lies is as needful to the general prosperity of the whole,
as the diversity of hill and valley in the surface of the
globe. We believe, also, that the arrangement is as firmly
fixed. It would be as easy to level the world as its in-
habitants. What may be in store for the earth and man
in the future we know not; there may be a time when
the globe shall be smooth like an ivory ball, but then
there must be no more sea: and if ever there come a
time when all men shall be and abide equal, it must be
that time when there shall be no more sea of sin to over-
THE RIGHT THING DONE AT THE RIGHT TIME. 155
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
HOLD FAST.
XXX.
"The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto
the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at
what they stumble."—iv. 18, 19.
XXXI.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put
away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let
thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to
the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."—iv. 23-27.
FIRST the fountain, then the streams: first the heart, and
then the life-coarse. The issues of life are manifold: three
of their main channels are mapped out here—the "lips,"
the "eyes," and the "feet."
The corruption of the heart, the pollution of the spring-
head, where all life's currents rise, is a very frequent topic
in the Scriptures. It occurs in many places, and in many
forms. In proportion to the opposition which it is fitted
to excite, is the doctrine reiterated and enforced. The
imaginations of man's heart are only evil, and that con-
tinually. The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked. As a fountain casteth out her waters,
Jerusalem casteth out her wickedness. God foreknew
that a deceitful heart would be unwilling to own its
deceitfulness, and therefore the truth is fortified beyond
most others in the word.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are
the issues of life." This precept of the Proverbs sounds
very like some of the sayings of Jesus. His ear caught
prophetically before the time, what we have heard his-
172 THE FOUNTAIN AND ITS STREAMS
would hang down at the sight. When all the words this
tongue has uttered are written and opened in His sight
on that day, how shall I appear, if the dark record re-
mains still mine? While for that reckoning we must
trust all and only in the blood of Christ, that taketh sin
away, we should diligently set about the business of
watching and restraining the perverseness of our own lips.
The work is hopeful. They who try it in the right way
will be encouraged by seen progress. A vain, a biting, an
untruthful, a polluted, a profane tongue cannot be in the
family of God, when the family are at home in the Father's
presence. The evil must be put away; the tongue must
be cleansed; and now is the day for such exercises: that
which remaineth for the people of God is a Sabbath on
which no such work is done, in a heaven where no such
work is needed.
2. The next outlet from the fountain is by the "eyes."
The precept is quaint in its cast—"let thine eyes look
right on;" and yet its meaning is not difficult. Let the
heart's aim be simple and righteous. No secret longings
and side glances after forbidden things: no crooked bye-
ends and hypocritical pretences. Both in appearance and
reality let your path be a straightforward one. In a
mercantile community especially this is the quality that
should be chiefly in request. Much mischief is done when
men begin to look aside instead of straight before them.
A manufacturer glances to the side one day, and sees a
neighbour making as much by a lucky speculation in an
hour as he has won by the regular prosecution of his busi-
ness in a twelvemonth. He throws for a prize, and draws
176 THE FOUNTAIN AND ITS STREAMS.
X.XXII.
FAMILY JOYS.
and all joy will die around its borders. The children,
too, have much in their power both for good and evil.
Heavy cares are strong temptations to the parents.
Their spirits are burdened, and the burdened spirit is apt
to give way. If the children, by ready obedience, and
mutual love, would contrive to sit light as a burden on
their parents' shoulders, the lightened parents might re-
joice together, and the beams of glad contentment on the
faces of father and mother would radiate through all the
house. Children are sometimes little peacemakers, bless-
ing their parents, and blessed by God.
But careful abstinence from evil is only one, and that,
the lower side of the case. There must be spontaneous
outgoing activity in this matter, like the springing of
flowers, and the leaping of a stream from the fountain.
The command is peremptory, v. 18, "Rejoice with the
wife of thy youth." It is not only feed and clothe her,
and refrain from injuring her by word or deed. All this
will not discharge a man's duty, nor satisfy a woman's
heart. All the allusions to this relation in Scripture
imply an ardent, joyful love. To it, though it lie far
beneath heaven, yet to it, as the highest earthly thing, is
compared the union of Christ and his redeemed Church.
Beware where you go for comfort in distress, and sym-
pathy in happiness. The Lord himself is the source of
all consolation to a soul that seeks Him; yet nature is
His, as well as redemption. He has constructed nether
springs on earth and supplied them from his own high
treasuries; and to these he bids a broken or a joyful
spirit go for either sympathy. "Drink waters out of
184 FAMILY JOYS.
XXXIII.
"The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his
goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be
holden with the cords of his sins."—v. 21, 22.
XXXIV.
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto
him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mis-
chief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren."—vi. 16-19.
XXXV.
MOTHER'S LAW.
"My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy
mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy
neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep
thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment
is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of
life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a
strange woman."—vi. 20-24.
occupy all the room, and collapse at the first rude rub on
real life. In pity to your children, put something into
them that will last, and wear. Don't expend all your
energies in tying ornaments on them, to attract the gaze
of the curious on the street; get into them, if you can,
some of that ornament which is in the sight of God of
great price (1 Peter iii. 4). Mothers, if your hearts have
been quickened by the Spirit, take your fashions from
the word of God. Occupy yourselves mainly in moulding
the heart and life of your children, after the pattern
which Jesus showed and taught This will give you
most enjoyment at the time, and most honour afterward.
Hitherto we have been sketching from the reflection a
parent's duty, but the command of this passage is directly
addressed to the child. Very graphic and memorable is
the advice here tendered to a son. Bind a mother's laws
continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy
neck. The idea no doubt refers to the Mosaic precept
about binding the law of the Lord on the person, which
in practice degenerated into the phylacteries of the Phari-
sees. From this strong figure the moral meaning stands
out in bold relief. If a piece of dress or a bag of money
hangs loosely upon you, in the jolting of the journey it
may drop off and be lost. Life is a rough journey. The
traveller must crush through many a thicket, and bear
many a shake. If that law of truth, which you get in
childhood through a mother's lips, be loosely held, it may
slip away. "Therefore we ought to give the more ear-
nest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any
time we should let them slip" (Heb. ii. 1).
MOTHER'S LAW. 195
XXXVI.
too late! Winter has come, and their seed rots in the
soil. They die of want in the midst of their treasures.
This earth is the little isle--eternity the ocean round
it. On this shore we have been cast, like shipwrecked
sailors. There is a living seed; there is an auspicious
spring-time: the sower may eat and live. But gold mines
attract us: we spend our spring there--our summer there:
winter overtakes us toiling there, with heaps of hoarded
dust, but destitute of the bread of life. Oh, that they
were wise, that they understood this, that they would con-
sider their latter end! Seek first the kingdom of God,
and let wealth come or go in its wake. He who, in the
market of a busy world, gains money and loses his soul,
will rue his bargain where he cannot cast it.
200 HATE EVIL.
XXXVII.
HATE EVIL.
XXXVIII.
"Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. . . .
That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their
treasures."—viii. 18, 21.
WISDOM from above cries in the gate, and enters into com-
petition with the world's most powerful attractions. In
the matters of rank and riches, the two strong cords by
which the ambitious are led, the two reciprocally support-
ing rails on which the train of ambition ever runs,—
even in these matters that seem the peculiar province of
an earthly crown, the Prince of Peace comes forth with
loud challenge and conspicuous rivalry. Titles of honour!
their real glory depends on the height and purity of the
fountain whence they flow. They have often been the
gift of profligate princes, and the rewards of successful
crime. At the best the fountain is low and muddy: the
streams, if looked at in the light of day, are tinged and
sluggish. Thus saith the Lord, "Honour is with me."
He who saith it is the King of glory. To be adopted into
the family of God,—to be the son or daughter of the Lord
Almighty,—this is honour. High born! we are all low
born, until we are born again, and then we are the chil-
dren of a King.
The riches which this King gives to support the dignity
of his nobles are expressly called "durable riches." This
is spoken to place them in specific contrast with those riches
RANK AND RICHES. 203
that make themselves wings and fly away. They are also
said to be coupled with righteousness for company. Surely
the Spirit who dictates this word knows what is in man,
and the wealth which man toils for. Its two grand de-
fects—the two worms that gnaw its yet living body—are
the unrighteousness that tinges the most of it, and the
uncertainty that cleaves to it all. The riches which the
King of saints imparts along with the patent of nobility
to support its dignity withal, are linked to righteousness,
and last for ever. Anointed by the Spirit, they are secure
from both the rust spots that eat into the heart of the
world's wealth. Pure and imperishable, they have been
by a double metaphor called "the silver springs of grace,
and the golden springs of glory."
The Lord will cause those that love him to "inherit
substance." Here is a withering glance from the coun-
tenance of the Truth himself at the cheat which the world
practises upon its dupes. Those who are rich in grace in-
herit substance; this is obliquely to say that those who
give themselves to the pursuit of wealth are chasing a
shadow. They are ever grasping at it; and it is ever
gliding from their grasp. Such is the dance through
which Mammon leads his misers. It is kept up through-
out all life's vain show, until the dancers drop into the
grave, and disappear in its darkness. They who seek the
substance shall find it; and as to the amount of their gain,
the promise is precise—"I will fill their treasures." This
is a great promise. It is made in a kingly style. There
is no limit. It will take much to fill these treasures;
for the capacity of the human spirit is very large. God
204 RANK AND RICHES.
moulded man after his own image, and when the creature
is empty, nothing short of his Maker will fill him again.
Although a man should gain the whole world, his appetite
would not be perceptibly diminished. The void would
be as great and the craving as keen as ever. Handfuls
are gotten on the ground, but a soulful is not to be had
except in Christ. "In him dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily, and ye are complete (that is full) in him."
Hear ye him: "I will fill their treasures." "Even so,
come, Lord Jesus."
THE REDEEMER ANTICIPATING REDEMPTION. 205
XXXIX.
"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I
was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When
there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains
abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills
was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,
nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens,
I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth when he
established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his com-
mandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was
by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing
always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my
delights were with the sons of men."—viii. 22-31.
XL.
"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars; she
hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished
her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest
places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that
wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink
of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in
the way of understanding."—ix. 1-6.
breaking heart the tender plaint, "Ye will not come unto
me that ye might have life." There, from His own lips,
you have a command to come, and a reason for coming.
The argument to enforce his invitation is life—from Him-
self in Himself life that will never die. This Scripture,
too, speaks from Him and like Him. It is the resound
of his own words, afar on these heights of ancient pro-
phecy, "Forsake the foolish and live." By line upon
line throughout all the Bible He is saying, Ye must be
separate from them, or Me.
REPROOF. 213
XLI.
REPROOF.
"He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a
wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee:
rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man,
and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning."
—ix. 7-9.
are silent now, they will lay no more incense on his altar.
Your stroke has stirred up every motive within the
scorner, to redouble his blasphemy. He is shut up either
to submit, to you as a conqueror, or to assault you as a
foe. The first he will not, and therefore the second he
must do. He raises the laugh against you, and against
that blessed name which you invoked. Such is the filthi-
ness of the weapons employed, that you cannot maintain
the combat. To reply would be to defile your own
tongue. You are obliged to be silent, because, if you
should follow him, you could not maintain your footing
on the slimy path. Truth is silent before falsehood and
filth, not from her weakness or their strength, but from
the place and circumstances in which the challenge was
given and the battle accepted. His pride is touched:
he knows that his chieftainship is conclusively forfeited,
if he is seen to quail before a saint. Expressly, he will
"hate thee." You have struck a piece of wood while it
is lying hollow, and instead of cutting it, yourself will be
injured by the rebounding blow. There is a possibility
of approaching it carefully and turning it skilfully, and
getting it laid solid before you strike. Then both you
will sever it, and it will not rebound on you.
If you could find the scorner alone, his courage would
not be so great. Conscience makes cowards of us all.
Whisper softly into his ear your solemn reproof. Tell
him that he is trampling under foot that blood of the
covenant which alone can wash his sin away; and if you
tell him this weeping, your word will go the deeper in.
There are many arts by which a wise reprover might
216 REPROOF.
XLII.
XLIII.
"A foolish woman is clamorous; she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For
she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,
to call passengers who go right on their ways: whoso is simple, let him turn
in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen
waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth
not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell."—
ix. 13-18.
but the word was quick and powerful. The sleepers cry
out when first they feel it in their joints and marrow.
The evil spirit in them still resists the coming of Jesus
as a torment; but when they are restored to their right
mind, they sit at that Saviour's feet, and love Him for
His faithfulness.
THE PLACE AND POWER OF A SON. 229
XLIV.
XLV.
DILIGENT IN BUSINESS.
XLVI.
POSTHUMOUS FAME.
XLVII.
XLVIII.
XLIX.
WELL OF LIFE.
SEE what the Lord expects, and the world needs, from
Christians. The mouth is taken as the principal channel
by which the issues of life flow out for good or evil. It,
is a well. If it be full, it flows over; and if the over-
flow be sweet water, the border will be fresh and green.
The well's supply falls in rain from heaven, and secret-
ly finds its way by hidden veins to the appointed open-
ing. The overflow fringes the well's brim with green,
although the surrounding soil be barren. As the world
is a wilderness, and the righteous are wells in it, there is
urgent need that they should get supply for themselves in
secret from above, and that the outcome of their conver-
sation should be the means of reviving to all around.
In a hot summer day, some years ago, I was sailing
with a friend in a tiny boat, on a miniature lake, en-
closed like a cup within a circle of steep bare Scottish
hills. On the shoulder of the brown sun-burnt moun-
tain, and full in sight, was a well, with a crystal stream
trickling over its lip, and making its way down toward
the lake. Around the well's mouth, and along the course
of the rivulet, a belt of green stood out in strong contrast
with the iron surface of the rock all around. "What do
you make of that?" said my friend, who had both an
THE WELL OF LIFE. 243
L.
LI.
them poor; and partly their poverty has made them reck-
less. There is a reciprocal action in the process which
enhances the result. When a multitude, who are all poor,
combine for united action, rash and regardless spirits gain
influence and direct the course. Such a spirit, powerful by
the numbers whom it wields, is dangerous to every interest
of the community. In this country, working men might
take possession of the strong city as well as their masters.
They might make this "unrighteous mammon" their own
friend. Money, though a bad master, is a good servant.
Money to the working men would answer all the ends
which the strike contemplates, if each, by patient industry
and temperance, would save a portion for himself. If a
thousand men, in a particular town, or of a particular
trade, possessed on an average a free capital of fifty
pounds each, the fruit of their own savings, they could
maintain their own ground in a conflict with employers.
Their success would be sure, as far as their claim might be
legitimate; and their success would be salutary, both to
themselves and their neighbours.
Any great community of men is like a body. All
members have not the same office, but each is useful—
each is necessary in its own place. In virtue of their
union, if one member suffer, all the members suffer with
it. Thus, by the constitution of things, each has an in-
terest in the welfare of all. In arranging the laws of his
universe, the Creator has given a bounty on the exer-
cise of charity, and imposed heavy taxes for the discourage-
ment of quarrels between man and man, or between class
and class.
252 THE MONEY POWER.
labour which brings down the head will soon paralyze the
members: the inordinate uplifting of the head, which
overtasks the toiling limbs, will rebound from the suffer-
ings of the multitude a stroke of vengeance to lay the
lofty low.
Two truths stand conspicuously out from all this con-
fusion. The world has a righteous Ruler, and the Ruler
has a dislocated world to deal with. They speak of the
progress and the perfection of the species. We are far
from the goal as yet, even if we be in the way to it. The
sign from heaven that most surely marks its neighbour-
hood is, One is our Master, even Christ, and all we are
brethren. When we see that beauteous bud swelling and
bursting and blooming all over our land, we may safely
conclude that her millennial summer is nigh.
THE LIPS AND TONGUE. 255
LII.
"He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his
lips is wise. The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked
is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of
wisdom.""—x. 18-21.
LIII.
"The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it"—
x. 22.
science, which will not out all the rich man's days.
Sometimes the wealth is scattered by means that the
public, with one voice, pronounce judgment-like. Some-
times it becomes waters of strife, to desolate his family
after the winner has been laid in the dust. There are
many arrows of judgment in the Almighty's quiver. Men
may well tremble, when they find themselves growing
rich on a trade whose secrets they are obliged to hide in
their own hearts, and dare not pour out before the All-
seeing day by day. To heap up these treasures, is to
treasure up, wrath over their own head.
If you take God into your counsels, and so grow rich,
there will be no bitterness infused into your gains. It is
a common practice to constitute firms for trade, and exhi-
bit their titles to the public with a single name, "and
company." Most partnerships, indeed, appear to the
world in that form. Such a man, and company; this is
all about the business that the passing stranger learns
from the sign-board; but, under that indefinite and com-
prehensive addition, who are included? What deeds and
what doers does that mercantile formula conceal? Ah
what some do in the dark beneath that veil! Now and
then the world is startled by its accidental rending, and
the exposure of a nest of night-birds in the light of day;
but the full disclosure awaits another rending and another
light. Reverently take the All-seeing into your com-
mercial company and counsels. If you cast Him out,
there is no saying, there is no imagining whom you may
take in. When these counsels cease to be godly, they
are "earthly and sensual;" and a terrible experience tells
262 THE BLESSING OF THE LORD MAKETH RICH.
LIV.
A FOOL'S SPORT.
LV.
the one will be relieved from all his fear, the other will
be deprived of all his hope. The wicked will get what
he feared, and miss what he hoped; the righteous will
get what he hoped, and miss what he feared. Ah! how
deep this difference is! One has his hopes all realized,
and his fears all disappointed; the other has his fears all
fulfilled, and his hopes quenched in despair.
It is not very difficult to ascertain what are the chief
fears and desires of a wicked man. Cleaving to his sins,
he is in enmity against God. The terrors of the Lord
glance from time to time like lightning in his conscience,
and he trembles at every quiver of the light, lest it be a
bolt of wrath sent to strike him through. When one
flash has passed and not smitten him, he gathers breath
again, and is glad he has escaped; but ere he is aware, he
is wincing beneath another. He fears the wrath of God
and the punishment of sin. What does he desire or
hope? His desire for time is the indulgence of his appe-
tites; his desire for eternity is that there should be no
God, or, at least, that he should not be just to mark
iniquity. This desire shall not be gratified; for God is,
and is the rewarder of them that seek Him. It is a
desperate throw to risk your soul and its eternity on the
expectation that God will turn out to be untrue, and that
the wicked shall not be cast away. This is the desire of
every unrenewed, unreconciled man, whether he confess
it to himself or not; and this desire must be disappointed.
The hope of the sinner will perish when Christ shall, come
in the clouds of heaven and sit upon the throne of judg-
ment. But the fear of the wicked—what did he fear?
270 FEARS REALIZED AND HOPES FULFILLED.
LVI.
LVII.
LVIII.
Him we live and move and have our being." The only
man who in merchandise is happy or safe, is the man who,
while trying to please his customer over the counter, tries
also to please God. We ought, in this bustling commu-
nity, to be aware that unfair trickery in disposing of goods
is a sin that "doth most easily beset us." When a prac-
tice becomes common, it ceases to attract attention, and
if it be evil, it escapes reproof, by reason of its prevalence.
It would be our wisdom to suspect ourselves on our ex-
posed side. It is in a crowd that you are apt to lose your
money, or your good conscience. When you have cleverly
concluded a bargain by concealment and falsehood, the
loss is not all on one side. The seller suffers more by
that transaction than the buyer. He leaves the shop
with a damaged article, you remain with a defiled con-
science. It is more blessed to give than to receive; and
the counterpart is a terrible truth,—it is more cursed to
be an intake than to be taken in.
But there is much actual dishonesty where the parties
have not a deliberate intention to deceive. A man's
judgment leans sadly over to the side of his own interest.
He has a bias in his own favour, and unless he be both
watchful and prayerful, he will enter ere he is aware into
the temptation, and give a false tone to his statements
without admitting to himself the design of telling lies.
This kind of dishonesty is still dishonest. A man may
indeed innocently make a mistake, but the innocent mis-
takes will, on an average, as frequently favour your cus-
tomers as yourselves. If they are all on your own side,
they are not innocent There is a rule by which we may
282 HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY.
LIX.
ASSORTED PAIRS.
LX.
DIPLOMACY.
LXI.
LXII.
A TALEBEARER
LXIII.
LXIV.
LXV.
LXVI.
LXVII.
THE lines of this picture are few and bold. The details
are not elaborated; but by one stroke the likeness is
caught, and with unwavering hand it is held up to public
gaze. The conceptions and expressions here are peculiar
and memorable. They are remarkable alike for the un-
varnished homeliness of the allusion, and the permanent,
palpable truth of the picture. The very rudeness of the
imagery is designed, and serves a purpose. An analogy
might have been found fitted to convey a true sentiment
on the point, and steering clear of associations which
affect the mind with a measure of disgust. But that
very disgust is an essential part of the impression to be
conveyed. The words of the Lord are tried words. The
comparison is chosen for the purpose of setting before us
an outrageous incongruity—the conjunction of two things
whose union is palpably and monstrously inappropriate.
Both the judgment and the taste must be educated. It
is necessary that we should both see the thing to be
wrong, and feel it to be revolting. We need both to
have the understanding enlightened and the affections
exercised. Christian's affections should be trained to
strike out positive and strong in both directions; he
A JEWEL ILL SET. 309
should love the lovely and hate the hateful. Both emo-
tions should start quickly, like instincts, when their
objects appear; both should be hearty and effective. A
good man loathes evil as much as he loves good. The
law that action and reaction are equal and opposite holds
good in morals as well as in physics. The righteous
Lord loveth righteousness, and it is but the other side of
that same glory that glances in the rebuke of lukewarm
Laodicea, "I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Rev.
iii. 16.)
Personal beauty is not a thing to be despised. It is a
work of God, and none of his works are done in vain.
We do not count it a man's duty to be unimpressed by
the grandeur of a lofty mountain, or the loveliness of a
starry sky. It is obvious that human kind are the chief
of God's works on earth, and that in the human form is
displayed the highest beauty of creation. Beauty is a
talent, and has a power. Call it, if you will, a power
like that of a sharp knife, dangerous in the hands of the
weak or the wicked; but still it is a power the gift of
God, and capable of being ranked among the all things
that advance his glory. Like wealth or wisdom, or any
other talent, it may be possessed by the humble, and em-
ployed for good. If the heart be holy and the aim true,
personal beauty will enlarge the sphere and double the
resources of beneficence. The same spread full sail may
speed the ship on her course, or dash her on the rock of
doom. If the beautiful be not also good, beauty becomes
an object of disgust and a cause of ruin. For such a
spread of sail, and such a breeze as it is sure to catch, a
310 A JEWEL ILL SET.
LXVIII.
only good, they will all be gratified. When the last ruse
of the flesh is crucified, disappointments will cease. If
my heart's desires were all and only good, they would
be like God's; and when my will is God's will, it shall
be accomplished, for He will do all his pleasure.
SCATTERING TO KEEP, AND KEEPING TO SCATTER 313
LXIX.
"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth
more than is meet, but it teadeth to poverty."—xi. 24.
LXX.
LXXI.
LXXI.
LXXIII.
LXXIV.
LXXV.
A HUSBAND'S CROWN.
spreads over all its breadth, and, sinks into its core. It
spreads shame on the husband's countenance, and infuses
rottenness into his bones.
God did not take from among the creatures any help
for man that came to hand, but made one meet for him.
The Maker of all things took the measure of man's need,
and constituted woman a suitable complement. This is
God's part, and His work, in as far as it bears yet the
mark of His hand, is very good. Every man on his
part should seek an individual "help," "meet" for his
own individual need. On that choice interests of un-
speakable magnitude depend for time and eternity; he
who makes it corruptly or lightly is courting misery, and
dallying with doom. It is not in man that walketh to
direct this step of his life; those who seek direction from
above will be sure to find it. Our Father loves to be
consulted in this great life-match for his children, and
they who ask His advice will not be sent away without
it. If men were duly impressed with the vastness of the
interests involved in the transaction, that alone would go
far to bear them steadily through. Let a man remember
that woman, by constitutional character, goes into all,
like water. She should be clean who plies so close. Let
a young man know, while he is adjusting the balance of
this momentous choice, what are the alternatives that
depend on either side, and the weight of them will do
much to keep his hand steady and his eyesight clear.
In that act he is either setting a crown on his own head,
or infusing rottenness into his own bones.
THE TENDER MERCIES OF THE WICKED. 343
LXXVI.
ters than the stains of that blood which soaked the soil
of France. By the accounts of those who did the deed,
and favour Rome, 30,000; according to other estimates,
100,000 Protestants were slain. Such were the heaps,
in some places, that they could not be counted. The
Pope and his cardinals greatly rejoiced when they heard
the news. So lively was their gratitude, that they cast
a medal to record it on. There stands the legend, raised
in brass and silver, "Strages Huguenotorum" (the
slaughter of the Huguenots), in perpetual memory of the
delight wherewith that wicked antichrist regarded the
greatest, foulest butchery of men by their fellows that
this sin-cursed earth has ever seen. That spot will not
out by all their washings. That monument, reared by the
murderer's own hands, exhibits to the world now a faith-
ful specimen of his tender mercies, and will remain to
identify the criminal at the coming of the Judge.
"Blessed are the merciful." A curse lies on the cruel
ever since Cain shed his brother's blood.
LIES, THE SNARE THAT LIARS ARE CAUGHT IN. 345
LXXXVII.
LXXVIII.
HOPE DEFERRED.
LXXIX.
LXXX.
LXXXI.
LXXXII.
"He that spareth his rod hateth his son.” —xiii. 24.
LXXXIII.
SECULARISM.
LXXXIV.
LXXXV.
SYMPATHY.
LXXXVI.
THE way seems right, but is wrong; and the result ac-
cords, not with the false opinion, but with the absolute
truth of the case. Its issue in death proves that its
direction was erroneous. A tree is known by its fruits,
and a life-course by the end to which it leads. A man
follows a path which he thinks right, but which really is
wrong; if he persist he will perish. This case is of fre-
quent occurrence in the world, both in its material and
its moral departments. Your opinion that the path is
right does not make it right: your sincerity in that erro-
neous opinion does not exempt you from its consequences,
whether these affect more directly the body or the soul.
There is a mercantile company which bulks largely in
the public eye, and turns over vast sums, and spreads its
agencies widely over the world. You think the concern
is solid, and court its alliance. You are accepted; your
interests are bound to its fortune, and are ruined in its
fall. Your favourable opinion of a hollow pretence did
not prevent the loss of your means when the bubble
burst. The law is universal. In the nature of things it
cannot be otherwise. It is a hollow form of philosophy
that deceives some men on this point. They say, surely
A MAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BELIEF. 379
LXXXVII.
THE BACKSLIDER.
"The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways."—xiv. 14.
LXXXVIII.
LXXXIX.
XC.
WITNESSES.
He saves you, and you serve Him. All things are in His
hand. Those who are bought with His blood He loves,
with a love that is wonderful, passing the love of mothers:
He would call them home, and give them rest, if He had
not some needful work for them to do in this outer world.
The very fact of a Christian being here and not in heaven,
is a proof that some work awaits him.
And the special work for which Christians are left in
the world is to be witnesses. Himself told his disciples
so when He was about to leave them: "Ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and
ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts i. 8). On high,
whither he was then going, he does not need witnesses.
There they behold his glory. The Lamb is the light of
heaven, and they who bask in His rays need none to
tell them that He is great and good; but in this outfield,
where enmity and ignorance prevail, Christ has need of
witnesses, and He has chosen to this office those who
trust in His salvation and are called by His name.
He does not send angels to proclaim His message and
wield His power. He does not command the thunders
to pronounce His name, and the lightnings to write His
character on the sky. The epistle in which He desires
to be read is the life of His disciples. The evidence by
which the Spirit will convince the world is His truth,
uttered from the word, and echoed, still and small, from
the meek and quiet life-course of converted men. It
should be encouraging, stimulating, elevating to the hum-
blest disciple to learn that the Lord who redeemed him
has appointed his time and his path. It is required that
398 WITNESSES.
XCI.
XCII.
XCIII.
THE MERCIFUL
XCIV.
This very word will justify the Judge, and shut the con-
vict's mouth. It comes to warn the wicked, that he may
turn and live. If he come out of his wickedness at
God's invitation, he will not be driven away in it by His
wrath.
We are not able to form a right conception of what it
is to be and abide in wickedness. Because it is so near
us, we do not know it. If it were a body standing be-
fore us, we could examine its proportions, and describe its
appearance; but because it is a spirit transfused through
us, we remain ignorant of its character and power. To
be in sin is a fearful condition; yet he who is in it may
be at ease. A ship is lying in a placid river when win-
ter comes, and is gradually frozen in. The process was
gentle, and almost imperceptible. There was no commo-
tion and no crash. The ice crept round, and closed in
upon the ship without any noisy note of warning. If it
had been a foreign body brought by human hands to
bind the ship withal, the operation would have been ob-
served. If men, whether professing to be friends or foes,
had carried trees or stones, and piled them round the
ship, suspicion would have been aroused; the owners
would have heaved their anchors, and worn her down to
the sea for safety. As it was, no one approached the
ship. Her own element, the water on which she lay,
closed and held her. It was not possible to prevent that
lockfast, except by taking the ship out of the river in
time.
But what is the effect? The ship is not shaken. No
creaking is heard—no strain is felt. She feels firm and
THE HOPEFUL AND THE HOPELESS. 419
anchor of the soul, goes out, and up, and into Jesus our
Advocate within the veil, not only is ultimate safety
secured, but present severance accomplished. Down the
line of hope's hold flows a melting heat from the Sun of
righteousness, which loosens the gripe of sin, and sets the
soul at liberty. But the sentence remains sure; he who
is not so drawn out of wickedness, will be driven away
in it.
2. The hope of the just.—"The righteous hath hope in
his death." Certain it is that the faithful in ancient
times believed God, and it was counted to them for
righteousness; but at this distance of time we are not
able to determine how far their faith was like an appetite
of the renewed nature, and how far it attained to under-
standing also. The regenerate in the childhood state of
the Church were alive, and lived upon the sincere milk
of the word, and grew thereby, whatever the measure of
their knowledge or their ignorance may have been. The
righteousness that justified Abraham was the same as
that which Paul put on. The righteous of those days
knew that, by birth-right and personal desert, he was on
the same standing with the wicked, and that the difference
was due to redeeming love. If Israel's first-born were not
destroyed like Egypt's, it was because of the Lamb's blood
marking their dwellings. On the ground of a perfect
righteousness imputed, an actual obedience begins. He is
bought with a price, and therefore serves the Lord. By
birthright he was a child of wrath: he has been "be-
gotten again into a living hope." This man has hope at
the time when humanity needs it most--when death draws
422 THE TWO DEPARTURES—
XCV.