than even the accusers ; and " the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel ''." Silence therefore is the best remedy, at least till the offended person is so far calmed as to listen readily to the voice of reason : and though the advice of Solomon appears at first sight as para- doxical and absui'd, yet it is the best that can be offered ; " Leave off" contention before it be meddled with^:" for it will be difficult enough to leave it off" when once it is begun.]
2. By humility and self-denial —
[Gideon might justly have said, " If God has been pleased to honour me, why should that give any umbrage to you?" But he forbore to take to himself the credit that was his due, or to claim from them the approbation he had merited at their hands. Thus he hid from them the light which had pained their eyes, and cast a veil over the actions which had provoked their jealousy. This was a striking instance of that " charity which vaunteth not itself, and seeketh not her own^" This ia a disposition which tends no less to the preservation of our own. happiness than it does to the conciliating of those who are offended at us : for when once we are willing to forego the honour to which we are entitled, it will appear a small thing to us to be censured without a cause ; seeing that such censures only reduce us to the place which we were previously in our own minds prepared to occupy. And it will almost invariably be found true, that, as men are ready to hate those who arrogate honour to themselves, so will they be more easily reconciled to those who are humble and unassuming.]
3. By commendation and love —
[Gideon, instead of loading his adversaries with blame, was glad to search out causes for commending them. The Ephraimites, though they offered not themselves in the first instance, were of great service in pursuing and destroying the routed foe. They took the two hostile princes, Oreb and Zeeb : and though this was only the gleaning of Gideon's vintage, yet does Gideon speak of it as incomparably greater than any thing that had been done by him. And it is parti- cularly deserving of notice, that this was the word which pro- duced the desired effect ; " Then their anger was abated, when he had said that.'''' Thus it appears, that " a soft answer turneth away wrath";" and that, if we would blunt the edge of other men's displeasure, we should study to conform ourselves to that subHme precept ; " Let nothing be done through strife and vain-glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves''."]
r 2 Sam. xix. 41 — 43. * Prov. xvii. 14. * 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. u Prov. XV. 1. '^ Phil. ii. 3.