Ver. 13.-Hatred of evil. I. RELIGION INCLUDES MORALS. This is the broad lesson of the text. It should be accepted as a self-evident truism. Yet it has been often obscured by dangerous sophisms. Thus some have regarded relicrion as consis.tincr in correctness of creed or iu assiduity of devotion-thincrs treated by God as. worthless unless accompanied by righteousness of conduct (Isa. i. 10---17). There is a commoii. impression that religious merits may be pleaded as a set-off acraicst moral deficiecciei No assumption can be more false, uor can any be more decrr~dicg or more injurious. T~~ re~erse is true. Religious~es.s incr;ases the guilt ?f ~nrighteousness of life. by ramng the standard up to which one 1s supposed to live, and also adds the sin .of hypocrisy. True religion is impossible without a proportionate devotion to righteous~ ness, because it consists in the fear of God. But God is holy; to reverence him must inv:olve t~e adorat~on of his character-the love of goodness and the corresponding detes~ tat1on of its opposite. II. RELIGION INSPIRES MORALS WITH STRONG EMOTION. Morality is to obey the law'. Religion goes further, and hates evil. It is not a matter of outward conduct only. It goes down to the secret springs of action. It rouses the deepest passions of the soul. We cannot accept Mr. M. Arnold's definition of religion as "morality touched with emotion," because it ignores the foundation of religion in "the Jear of the Lord," in devotion to a personal God; but the phrase may serve as an apt description of an essential characteristic of religion. The difficulty we all feel is that, while we know the better way we are often so weak as to choose the worse. A cold, bare exposition of morality will be of little use with this difficulty. What we want is a powerful impulse, and that impulse it is the function of religion to supply. • It' makes goodness not only visible but beautiful and attractive, and it inspires a hunger and thirst after righteous- ness, a passion for a God-like life in the love of God, a yearning after the likeness of Christ in devotion of heart to him. It also makes evil appear hideous, detestable, by it~ horrible opposition to these affections. nr. AMONG RELIGIOUS EMOTIONS IS THE PASSION OF HATRED. Religion is cot based upon hatred. It begins with" the fear of the Lord," with reverence for God rising up to love. No strong thing can rest oa a mere negation. Neither morality nor religion starts from an attitude in regard to evil. But they lead on to this, and they are uot perfect without it. The passion of hatred is natural; it has a useful, though a low, place in the array of spiritual forces. It is abused when it is spent upon persons, but it is rightly indulged against evil principles and practices. We are morally defec~ive unless we can feel "the hate of hate, and scorn of score." One of the means by which we are helptd to resist sin is found in this hatred of it. It is not enough that we disapprove of it. We must loathe and abhor it from the very bottom of our hearts. lY. RELIGIOUll HATRED IS DETESTATION OF EVIL ITSELF, NOT THE MERE DISLIKE OF ITE: CONSEQUENCES. When Paley, in his 'Moral Philosophy,' described the function of rt!igion in aiding morality as tlie addition of the prospect of future rewards and promises, he expressed a common-sense truth, but a very low truth detached from more spiritual ideas and a very partial representation of the case. Religious moralitv is not simply nor chiefly the fear of God as a Judg(l who will pnnish us if w~ do wron". 0 It is reverence for a holy Father leading to hatred of all that is disple,1sing to him. We have no religion till we go beyond the instinctive dislike for pain that follows sin to hatred of bin itself. This is the test of true religion-that we love good- ness and hate evilfJr their own sakes. It i, interesting to observe that tlie sin selected for Rpecial abhorrence on the part of those who are inRpired by" the fem· of the Lord n is pride. This is spiritual wickedness of the most fatal character. In its feeling of 1,rrsonal merit a.ud sclt'-Gullicie1icy it cJ;cludcs both repentance and faith-the two OH, VIII, 1-36.] THE PROVERBS. 171
fundamental conditions of spiritual religion. Therefore the spirit of the Pharisee and 1111 pride mUBt be hated above all thin~s, and will be hated by those who have true reverence for the great and holy God, and true love for the lowly Christ who promised the kingdom of heaven to the "poor in spirit" (Matt. v. 3).