PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Proverbs
Horton, Robert F. (Robert Forman) · 128,563 words · 191 reading sections
_Wealth._
A little wisdom, a little sound understanding, or a little wholesome knowledge is more precious than wealth. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold. Yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver.[187] There may be gold and abundance of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.[188] …
720 wordsSECTION 62_Wealth._
Again, while we are cautioned not to aim constantly at the increase of our possessions, we are counselled to exercise a generous liberality in the disposal of such things as are ours. Curiously enough, niggardliness in giving is associated with slothfulness in labour, while it is implied that the wish to help others is…
887 wordsSECTION 63Footnotes:
In this way Christians have made their religion incredible, and even ridiculous, to many of the most earnest spirits of our time. When Christ is made unto them Wisdom as well as Redemption, they will see that the principles of Wisdom which concern wealth are obligatory upon them, just because they profess to believe in…
670 wordsSECTION 64_Goodness._
[196] _Cf._ the saying of Sirach: "Winnow not with every wind and go not into every way, for so doth the sinner that hath a double tongue." (Eccles. v. 9). [197] Prov. xv. 27. [198] Prov. xx. 21. [199] Prov. xxviii. 20. [200] Prov. xxviii. 22. [201] Prov. xxiii. 4. [202] Prov. xxi. 26. [203] Prov. xi. 24, 25. […
750 wordsSECTION 65_Goodness._
On the other hand, goodness is its own continual reward. While treacherous men are destroyed by their perverseness, the upright are guided by their own integrity.[226] While the sinner is overthrown by his wickedness, righteousness guardeth him that is upright in the way.[227] If the righteous gets into trouble he is d…
727 wordsSECTION 66_Goodness._
Blessing to himself, blessing to his children, his neighbours, his country, is the beautiful reward of the good man; ruin to himself, a spreading contagion of evil to others, and general execration, is the lot of the wicked. Well may the former be bold as a lion, and well may the latter flee when no man pursues, for co…
700 wordsSECTION 67_Goodness._
Yes, a truism, but it was a discovery which the world was very slow to make, and it is still a principle on which the world is very unwilling to act. The main characteristic of all heathen religions is that their gods do not demand righteousness, but certain outward and formal observances; sacrifices must be offered t…
764 wordsSECTION 68_Goodness._
The Gospel itself is accompanied by a new and more earnest assertion of this cardinal truth, that God loves goodness, and that He judges men according to their works. And even now, after many centuries of Christian faith, and notwithstanding all the teachings of the Bible and the witness of the Spirit, it is very diffi…
672 wordsSECTION 69Footnotes:
May God grant us a clear vision in this matter, that we may see the due relation of things! Goodness is the principal thing--for it faith itself and all religion exists. God is goodness--man is evil; what God means by saving us is to make us good like Himself. That we must be saved by faith means that we must be made g…
651 wordsSECTION 70_The Tongue._
[254] Prov. xii. 26. [255] Prov. xvi. 27. [256] Prov. xviii. 3. [257] Prov. xxviii. 28. [258] Prov. xxix. 2. [259] Prov. xxiv. 24, 25. [260] Prov. xxviii. 4. [261] Prov. xxviii. 1. [262] Prov. xi. 20. [263] Prov. xii. 2. [264] Prov. xv. 26. [265] Prov. xv. 9. [266] Prov. xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5. [267] Prov.…
717 wordsSECTION 71_The Tongue._
In the case of the fool it is always very obvious how powerfully the tongue affects the condition of the speaker. His lips are always coming into strife, and his mouth is always calling for stripes. It is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.[286] In the transgression of the lips always lies the snar…
924 wordsSECTION 72_The Tongue._
Closely allied to lying is _Flattery_; and to this vile use the tongue is often put. Flattery is always a mistake. It does not attain its end in winning the favour of the flattered; for in the long run "he that rebuketh a man shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue."[315] If it is believed, as of…
720 wordsSECTION 73_The Tongue._
Considering then what mischief may be done with the tongue, it is not to be wondered at that we are cautioned against _excessive speech_. "In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression, but he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely."[330] "He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his life; who opens wide his lips …
828 wordsSECTION 74_The Tongue._
Great stress is to be laid on this seasonableness of speech, whether the speech be for comfort or reproof. A word fitly spoken, or to preserve the image implied in the original, a word that runs on its wheels in the just and inevitable groove, is compared to a beautiful ornament consisting of golden apples set in an ap…
681 wordsSECTION 75_The Tongue._
The Press--that great fourth estate--which represents for us the more extended use of the tongue in modern times, illustrates in the most vivid way the service which can be rendered where speech is fit, and also the injury that can be done where it is rash, imprudent, dishonest, interested, or unjust. After thus revie…
616 wordsSECTION 76Footnotes:
[280] Prov. xxv. 15. [281] Prov. xiii. 2. [282] Prov. xviii. 20. [283] Prov. xviii. 21. [284] Prov. x. 14. [285] Prov. xii. 18. [286] Prov. xviii. 6, 7. [287] Prov. xii. 13. [288] Prov. xiv. 3. [289] Prov. xv. 23. [290] Prov. xxi. 23. [291] Prov. xxi. 28. [292] Prov. xvii. 20. [293] Prov. xviii. 4. [294] …
652 wordsSECTION 77_Pride And Humility._
[360] Prov. xxxi. 8, 9. [361] Note the intimate connection between conduct and speech in such a proverb as xvii. 4. When we do evil we are always ready to listen to evil talk, when we talk deceitfully we are preparing to go on to worse deeds of evil, to listen to tongues of destruction. Note, too, how in xii. 5 the th…
652 wordsSECTION 78_Pride And Humility._
Now what are the evil effects of pride, and what are the blessings that follow on humility? _First of all_, pride cuts a man off from all the salutary effects of reproof, rebuke, criticism, and counsel, without which it is not possible for any of us to become wise. "A wise son" is the result of "a father's correction,…
682 wordsSECTION 79_Pride And Humility._
Yes, "with the lowly is wisdom:"[390] they "hearken to counsel,"[391] and in doing so they get the advantage of many other wits, while the proud man is confined strictly to his own, and however great his capacity may be, it is hardly probable that he will sum up all human wisdom in himself. The lowly gives heed to the …
927 wordsSECTION 80_Pride And Humility._
From first to last this haughty spirit is a curse and a torment to everyone, and not least to itself. It is like a cold and biting wind. It is like an erosive acid. It produces more sorrows than the north wind produces icicles. It mars more lives than anyone but God is able to count. It breaks the hearts of the humble,…
751 wordsSECTION 81_Pride And Humility._
If in ordinary human affairs "before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour goeth humility;"[406] if even in our dealings with one another happiness and success and prosperity depend on the cultivation of a modest spirit, how much more when we come to deal with God must haughtiness appear the presag…
295 wordsSECTION 82Footnotes:
[369] Prov. xxi. 10. [370] Prov. xxv. 14. [371] Prov. xvi. 18, 19. [372] Prov. xviii. 12. [373] Prov. xxvii. 2. [374] Prov. xxi. 24. [375] Prov. xxix. 23. [376] Prov. xxvi. 12. [377] Prov. xiii. 1; xv. 20. [378] Prov. x. 17. [379] Prov. xii. 1. [380] Prov. xv. 8. [381] Prov. xv. 32. [382] Prov. xiii. 13 sh…
429 wordsSECTION 83_The Inward Unapproachable Life._
"The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy."--PROV. xiv. 10. "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness."--PROV. xiv. 13. "Yes! in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery wild, We m…
853 wordsSECTION 84_The Inward Unapproachable Life._
But this thought becomes very pathetic when we think of the heart's bitterness, which the heart alone can know,--the hope deferred which makes it sick,[410] the broken spirit which dries up the bones,[411] the spirit which for so long bore a man's infirmity, and then at last broke because it could bear no more, and bec…
802 wordsSECTION 85_The Inward Unapproachable Life._
It has been very truly said, "Man is only partially understood, or pitied, or loved by man; but for the fulness of these things he must go to some far-off country." In proportion as we are conscious of being misunderstood, and of being quite unable to satisfy our longing for sympathy and comprehension at human fountain…
827 wordsSECTION 86_The Inward Unapproachable Life._
Have we not found a solution of the paradox? The human heart is isolated; it longs for sympathy, but cannot obtain it; it seems to depend for its happiness on being comprehended, but no fellow-creature can comprehend it; it knows its own bitterness, which no one else can know; it broods over its own joys, but no one ca…
778 wordsSECTION 87_A Passionate Disposition._
[408] Prov. xiii. 19. [409] Prov. xiii. 12. [410] Prov. xiii. 12. [411] Prov. xvii. 22. [412] Prov. xviii. 14. [413] Prov. xiv. 13. [414] Prov. xv. 13. [415] Prov. xv. 15_b_. [416] Prov. xvii. 22. [417] Prov. xv. 15. [418] Prov. xv. 30. [419] Prov. xxiv. 12, marginal reading. [420] Prov. xx. 12. [421] Prov…
682 wordsSECTION 88_A Passionate Disposition._
This leads us to notice that anger and folly are very closely allied. The passionate nature is constantly betrayed into actions which sober wisdom must condemn,--"He that is soon angry will deal foolishly.... He that is slow to anger is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly."[436] Any on…
955 wordsSECTION 89_A Passionate Disposition._
You know, we will suppose, that you are easily entangled in a quarrel; you must then prepare yourself before you go out into the business of the day,--"Go not forth hastily to strive, lest.... What wilt thou do in the end, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame?"[444] This realization of what will probably result fr…
668 wordsSECTION 90_A Passionate Disposition._
But now we come to the important question, How are our evil passions to be cured? And we must frankly admit that our book has no suggestions to offer. Its tendency is to regard our disposition as fixed, our temperament as irreversible, our character as unchangeable. It points out with crystalline clearness the mischief…
770 wordsSECTION 91_A Passionate Disposition._
Where the Lord Jesus Christ reigns evil passions subside and die away. "Learn of Me: for I am meek and lowly of heart." "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." One who is born again, one whose life is hidden with Christ in God, is necessarily meek, meek as the Lord Himself: not, as we well know, devoi…
280 wordsSECTION 92Footnotes:
[431] Prov. xxix. 22. [432] Prov. xxix. 8. [433] Prov. xxvi. 21. [434] Prov. xxii. 24. [435] Prov. xvii. 12. [436] Prov. xiv. 17, 29. [437] Prov. xix. 11. "When Lanfranc was prior of Bec he ventured to oppose Duke William's Flemish marriage. In a wild burst of wrath William bade his men burn a manor house of Bec …
326 wordsSECTION 93_A Just Balance._
"A just balance and scales are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are His work."--PROV. xvi. 11. "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight."--PROV. xi. 1. "Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord."--PROV. xx. 10. "Divers wei…
726 wordsSECTION 94_A Just Balance._
The Israelite was encouraged to think that all the work in which he engaged was ordained by, and therefore under the observation of, his God. "Hate not laborious work, neither husbandry which the Most High hath ordained," says Ecclesiasticus.[471] And there is a striking passage in Isaiah where the operations of agricu…
669 wordsSECTION 95_A Just Balance._
Perhaps you will let me, as a man speaking to his fellow-men, as a Christian, I hope, speaking to his fellow-Christians, expand these three points a little. _First._ We are all of us tempted to think that a considerable proportion of our life is too insignificant to attract the particular attention of God. We can unde…
805 wordsSECTION 96_A Just Balance._
Now all _that_ God knows; it is His delight; He has recorded it already in His Book, and also in your own moral nature, which is the stronger and the better for it. On the other hand, it must be a subject of some concern to many that the same all-observing, all-recording Mind regards with hatred all the sharp practice…
825 wordsSECTION 97_A Just Balance._
No, the only safe and effectual method is to bring all your business habits, all the practices of the counter and the counting-house, under the searching eye of the All-seeing One. Unless you realize that He sees and knows, and unless you humbly submit everything to His judgment, you are sure to go wrong; your standard…
253 wordsSECTION 98Footnotes:
[457] Prov. xv. 33. [458] Prov. xvi. 1. [459] Prov. xvi. 2. [460] Prov. xvi. 3. [461] Prov. xvi. 4. _See_ note, p. 201. [462] Prov. xvi. 5. [463] Prov. xvi. 6. [464] Prov. xvi. 7. [465] Prov. xvi. 9. _Cf._ Prov. xix. 21: "There are many devices in a man's heart; but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." …
302 wordsSECTION 99_Friendship._
"A friend loveth at all times, and as a brother is born for adversity."--PROV. xvii. 17. (This rendering, based upon the margin of the R.V., yields a much better sense than the loosely connected, "And a brother is born for adversity.") One of the most striking contrasts between the ancient and the modern world is i…
813 wordsSECTION 100_Friendship._
We may then practically, in thinking of friendship, confine our attention to that which exists between well-meaning people, and tends on the whole to bless, to strengthen, and to improve them. We may come to look at some of the uses and the delights of friendship. "As in water face answers to face, so in the heart man …
785 wordsSECTION 101_Friendship._
But the decisive test and the most beautiful proof of real friendship will be found in the day of adversity. A friend is never known till needed.[482] When calamity falls upon us, false friends make excuses and go; lip-friends relapse into silence; but we begin then for the first time to find out who is a friend indeed…
812 wordsSECTION 102_Friendship._
Surely such a motive and such an impulse are to be discovered only in that relation of friendship which God Himself deigns to sustain towards the human soul. Jehoshaphat in his prayer appeals to God on the ground that He had given the land to "Abraham His friend for ever."[486] And we read of Moses that "the Lord spake…
671 wordsSECTION 103_The Evil Of Isolation._
Now, where the soul counts God its nearest and dearest Friend,--the Friend of whom nothing in life or death can rob it,--this effect follows by a beautiful necessity: the chief and all-inclusive friendship being secured, we are at leisure from ourselves to soothe and sympathise, we are able to extend our thoughts and o…
724 wordsSECTION 104_The Evil Of Isolation._
The misanthrope is one who has no faith in his fellows, and shrinks into himself to escape them; who pursues his own private ends, avoiding all unnecessary speech with those who are around him, living alone, dying unobserved, except for the mischief which consciously or unconsciously he does to those who survive him. S…
701 wordsSECTION 105_The Evil Of Isolation._
The "sound wisdom" is the wisdom of the Creator, who from the beginning determined that it is not good for men to live alone, and marked His conception of the unity which should bind them together by the gift of the woman to the man, to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. It becomes therefore a necessity to ev…
667 wordsSECTION 106_The Evil Of Isolation._
The relation of Christ, as the Son of God, to the human race as a whole, immediately opened up the possibility of a world-wide society in which all nations, all classes, all castes, all degrees, all individualities, should be not so much merged as distinctly articulated and recognised in a complete and complex whole. T…
727 wordsSECTION 107_The Evil Of Isolation._
If, then, on the ground of our humanity we are cautioned against separating ourselves, because by so doing we set our teeth against all sound wisdom, on the ground of our Christianity we must be warned not to separate ourselves, because that means to harden our hearts against the faith itself. When we say to ourselves,…
547 wordsSECTION 108_Human Freedom._
[490] See note on הִתְּנַּלָּע in Lecture XV., p. 205. [491] _III. King Henry VI._, Act v., Sc. 6. [492] ἢ θεὸς ἢ θήριον. [493] Prov. xxvii. 8. [494] Prov. xxvii. 10. [495] Prov. xxv. 17. "The foolishness of man subverteth his way; And his heart fretteth against the Lord."--PROV. xix. 3. There is such a valuabl…
864 wordsSECTION 109_Human Freedom._
Now our actual responsibility for our own sins, and the troubles which result from them, will perhaps come out in the clear light of conscience, if we regard our conduct in the following way. We must make an appeal to consciousness. There are actions which, consciousness tells us, rest entirely on our own choice, and c…
796 wordsSECTION 110_Human Freedom._
But now we may pass from these inward moral decisions which have determined our character and made us what we are, to the ordinary actions which form the greater part of our everyday conduct. Here again we are generally inclined to take credit for every course which has a happy issue, and for every unfortunate decision…
808 wordsSECTION 111_Human Freedom._
We may wonder at the strong conviction with which this truth was urged even under the Jewish law; it may seem to us that the requirements then were so great, and the details so numerous, and the revelation so uncertain, that a man could scarcely be held responsible if he missed the way of life through inadvertence or d…
688 wordsSECTION 112_Human Freedom._
Is it not clear to you that if you refuse Him that speaketh, and your way is thus subverted,--as indeed it must be,--it is your own folly that is to blame? You fret against the Lord now, and you charge Him foolishly, but some day you will see clearly that this is all a blind and a subterfuge; you will admit that the ch…
269 wordsSECTION 113_Idleness._
[496] Eccles. xv. 11-20. [497] James i. 13-15. [498] Prov. xix. 2. [499] Prov. xii. 15. [500] Prov. xv. 22. [501] Prov. xix. 20. [502] Prov. xi. 14. [503] Prov. xx. 18. [504] Prov. xxiv. 5, 6. [505] Prov. xx. 5. [506] Prov. xix. 21. [507] Prov. xix. 23. [508] Prov. xix. 16. [509] Prov. xix. 8. [510] Prov.…
743 wordsSECTION 114_Idleness._
That is a complete picture of the sluggard. We do not of course see him fully developed very often; but we recognise at once the several tendencies in our own characters--the slothfulness, the listlessness, the idle procrastination, the inertia--which may, if unresisted and unconquered, gradually bring us nearer to thi…
800 wordsSECTION 115_Idleness._
It may be noted that the idle, whether they be rich or poor, are denominated "vain persons," and sensible people are cautioned solemnly to avoid their society, as their emptiness is contagious, and the habits which are quickly acquired in their company lead straight to ruin: "He that tilleth his land shall have plenty …
662 wordsSECTION 116_Idleness._
We must observe then the good effects which result from honest and earnest toil. But, first, we cannot help noticing what an important place is here given to agriculture. This is not accidental to the time in which the book was written. It is an eternal principle. Out of the soil comes our wealth; by the soil therefore…
835 wordsSECTION 117_Idleness._
Then, _secondly_, it is industry rather than genius which commends us to our fellow-men, and leads us to positions of influence and power: "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men;"[540] "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall …
589 wordsSECTION 118_Wine._
[517] Prov. xxvi. 14. [518] Prov. xxiv. 34. [519] Prov. xix. 24. [520] Prov. xxvi. 15. [521] Prov. xxvi. 13. [522] Prov. xxii. 13. [523] Prov. xxvi. 16. [524] Prov. xv. 19. [525] Prov. xx. 13. [526] Prov. xix. 15. [527] Prov. xii. 27. [528] Prov. xvi. 26. [529] Prov. xxi. 25. [530] Prov. xviii. 9. [531] P…
833 wordsSECTION 119_Wine._
We have a taste for these intoxicants, latent or realized. The stimulating influence is pleasant, the narcotic influence is pleasant. The immediate effect on the body is pleasant, the immediate effect on the mind is pleasant. Drink produces a sense of great self-satisfaction, promotes a flow of conversation and a feeli…
716 wordsSECTION 120_Wine._
The way then in which we are brought to look at the drink question is this: here is a powerful natural temptation, a seduction which nature herself offers to the body, a foe which always has a traitor in collusion with it inside the assaulted citadel. This enemy is ingenious in its argumentation: it approaches usually …
873 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.