Prov. xxvi. 12. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ? there is more hope of a fool, than of him.
THE Scripture seeks not to please the fastidious ear of man, but calls both persons and things by their appropriate names. Sin is declared to be the ex- tremest folly ; and those who commit it, are pro- claimed fools. In the eleven verses preceding our text, the folly of fools is mentioned no less than ten times : and from this humiliating picture our text de- rives a force and emphasis which no single expression could give. The import of the text, as connected with the context, is this : The condition of a fool is, as you have seen, awful in the extreme : but " seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ? there is more hope of a fool than of him." This is a solemn delaration, and worthy of the deepest attention. Let us consider it,
I. As a general truth —
Here we may distinctly notice,
1. The character described —
[There is in man a strange conceit, and a proneness to take very undue credit to himself for his abilities and attainments. Some are so confident in their own wisdom, that they seem to think they cannot err ; and they would have it supposed that they possess, almost by intuition, what others have attained only by laborious investigation. Persons of this description will not condescend to examine their sentiments by any test ; nor will they listen to any statements that are opposed to them. Confidence is to them in the place of proof; and any attempt to controvert their opinions excites only their indignation or contempt.]
2. His hopeless condition —
[Truly pitiable is the condition of " a fool." He is ignorant of all that constitutes true wisdom : he is also, in a great measure, incapable of receiving instruction ; and the instruction he does receive, he is incapable of turning to a good account, or of making a suitable improvement of it. Of such a one there certainly is but little hope : yet is the conceited person in a more hopeless state than he. If in respect of capacity he have the advantage, he labours under a tenfold disadvantage, b}- reason of his precipitancy, his confidence, his pertinacity. The endeavours used to convince him of his errors do but rivet him the more firmly in them ; and opposition to him serves but to increase his obstinacy. Thus, whilst the conceit of his mind indisposes him for the proper exercise of his judgment in rela- tion to truth, it unfits him for the reception of any benefit from