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 Christ.
[155] Prov. x. 15; xviii. 11.
[156] Prov. xiii. 8.
[157] Prov. xviii. 16.
[158] Prov. xix. 6; xiv. 20.
[159] Prov. xxi. 14.
[160] Prov. xvii. 8. More literally: "A precious stone is the gift in the eyes of him who gets possession of it, whithersoever he turneth he deals wisely." That is to say, the man who receives the gift, whether a judge or a witness or an opponent, is as it were retained for the giver, and induced to use his best faculties in behalf of his retainer.
[161] Prov. xix. 4: "Wealth addeth many friends, but the poor--his companion separates from him."
[162] Prov. xxii. 17.
[163] Prov. xviii. 23.
[164] Prov. xiv. 20; xix. 4.
[165] Prov. xix. 7. The sense of the Authorised Version is here retained, but it will be seen in Lecture XII. that there is good reason for treating the third clause of the verse as a mutilated fragment of another proverb: see p. 166.
[166] Prov. xxii. 7.
[167] Prov. xii. 9. This reading is obtained by following the LXX., whose translation ὁ δουλεύων ἐαυτῷ shows that they pointed לוֹ וְעֹבֵד. _Cf._ Eccles. x. 27: "Better is he that laboureth and aboundeth in all things than he that boasteth himself and lacketh bread."
[168] Prov. x. 4.
[169] Prov. xiii. 18.
[170] Prov. xxii. 4.
[171] Prov. xxi. 20.
[172] Prov. xxiii. 21.
[173] Prov. xxvii. 23-27.
[174] Prov. xi. 28.
[175] Prov. xxiii. 5 (marg.).
[176] _Cf._ the Turkish proverb: "Of riches lawfully gained the devil takes half, of riches unlawfully gained he takes the whole and the owner too."
[177] Prov. xv. 6, _cf._ xiv. 24, "A crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools, (though they be rich, remains nothing but) folly."
[178] Prov. xiii. 11.
[179] Prov. xxi. 6. It is evident from their translation ἐπὶ παγίδας θανάτου that the LXX. read מוֹקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת as in Psalm xviii. 6, and this gives a very graphic and striking sense, while the received text of the Hebrew, מְבַקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת, is hardly intelligible.
[180] Prov. xxii. 16.
[181] Prov. xiii. 22; xxviii. 8.
[182] Prov. xi. 4.
[183] Prov. x. 22.
[184] Prov. xv. 6.
[185] Prov. xvi. 8.
[186] Prov. xix. 1. The parallelism in this verse is not so complete as in xxviii. 6. The Peshitto reads, "than he who is perverse in his lips and is rich," but it is better to retain the text and understand: There is a poor man walking in his integrity, and everyone thinks that he is to be commiserated; but he is much better off than the fool with perverse lips, though no one thinks of commiserating this last.
[187] Prov. xvi. 16.
[188] Prov. xx. 15.
[189] Prov. xv. 16, 17.
[190] Prov. xvii. 1.
[191] Prov. xxii. 1. This proverb is inscribed in the cupola which lights the Manchester Exchange. It is a good skylight, but apparently too high up for the busy merchants on the floor of the Exchange to see without more effort than is to be expected of them.
[192] Prov. xxii. 2.
[193] Prov. xiv. 31; xvii. 5.
[194] Prov. xxviii. 11. Cf. an interesting addition to xvii. 6 in the LXX.--τοῦ πιστοῦ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων τοῦ δὲ ἀπίστου οὐδὲ ὀβολός. The faithful man owns the whole world of possessions, the unfaithful owns not a farthing.
[195] It is said of Agassiz that he excused himself from engaging in a profitable lecturing tour on the ground that he had not time to make money.