Prov. xxviii. 20. A faithful man shall abound ivith blessings.
ST. PAUL has told us, that " the love of money is the root of all evil : and that many, whilst coveting after it, have pierced themselves through with many sorrows ^" In truth, the effects of this principle on the persons in whom it dwells, and on all connected with them, are beyond all conception bitter and inju- rious. On the other hand, a superiority to the love of money greatly elevates and ennobles those in whom it is found ; and conduces, in a very eminent degree, to their happiness both in this world and the next.
This appears to be the precise import of our text, as it stands connected with the words which follow it. But we need not so limit its use. It contains a general truth, which will afford us much profitable instruction. Taking it in this more enlarged sense, I will endeavour to shew,
I. Who are they that answer the description here given us —
Nehemiah, speaking of his brother Hanani, says, " He was a faithful man, and feared God above many :" and he assigns this as his reason for ap- pointing him to superintend the repairs of the city of Jerusalem ; since he might be fully depended on for a conscientious discharge of his high office \ From hence, then, we see who they are that are en- titled to the character of " faithful men." They are those who are,
1. Faithful to their convictions in things relating to God —
[There is in every man, under the Christian dispensation, a conviction that he is a sinner who stands in need of mercy ; that God has revealed to us in his Gospel the way in which alone he will dispense mercy ; and that, as responsible beings, who shall soon stand at the judgment-seat of Christ in order to be judged according to our works, it is our duty and our hap- piness to be seeking for mercy in God's appointed way. Now,
^ 1 Tim. vi. 10. ^ Neh. vii. 2.