HOMILETIG'S. Vers.1-5.-The banquet of wisdom. I. THE BA~QU£T-HousE. 1. It is substantial. A house, not a mere tent. The feast of wisdom is no brief repast, rarely enjoyed. It is a lasting delight, a frequent refreshment always ready. 2. It is magnificent. Seven pillars are hewn out for the house. It is fitting that the house of God should be more beautiful than a. man's dwelling. He who enters into the habitation of God's thoughts will find it beautiful and glorious. There is nothing mean about Divine trnth. It is all large, noble, magnificent. He who comes into communion with it will find himself in no poor hovel. He will be in a palace of splendour, with which the material grandeur of marble columns, delicate tracery, etc., cannot vie. II. TnE PROVISION. Rich and abundant-slaughtered beasts, spiced wine, a. well- furnished table. Nothing looks more sordid than poor fare in splendid apartments. This shall not be seen in the house of Divine wisdom, but, on the contrary, enough for all, and that of the best quality. No thoughts are so full nor so rich as the thoughts of revelation. There is variety here as in the viands of the banquet. And "all things are ready." The table is spread. It waits for the guests. While we are praying for light, the light is shining about us. God has revealed his truth. Christ, the Light of the world, has appeared among us. The feast of the truths of the glorious gospel of the blessed God is ready for all who will come and share in its bounties. III. THE INVITATION. The maidens are sent forth-not one, but many-that the message may go to all quarters. They cry in the highest places of the cir.y, that the message may have the greatest publicity, may spread over the widest area, may reach all classes. This is the character of the call of God to us in his truth. He seeks us before we seek him. He has already sought us. The gospel is preached, proclaimed as by heralds; and this gospel contains the invitation to the rich banquet of Divinti truth. IV. THE GUESTS. "The simple;" "him that lacketh understandin~." So in our Lord's parable, "the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" are called (Luke xiv. 21). The whole need not the physician; the full need not the feast. '!'hey who are satisfied with their own knowledge will not sit humbly at the feet of a Divinti revelation. It is they who feel themselves to be foolish, who acknowledge their ignorance and grope dimly after the light, who will be able to enjoy the banquet of wisdom; and these people are specially invited. The heathen, the illiterate, the weak.- minded, are all called to receive the saving truth of Christ. V. THE SATISFACTION. "Eat of my bread, and drink of the wine," etc. 1. Divine truth is nourishing. "By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live" (Deut. viii. 3). Christ, the" Word," is the Bread of life. 2. Divine truth is a source of /oy. At the banquet there is wine that maketh glad the heart of man. The gospel offers no prison fare. It kills the fatted beast. It gives wine- spiced wine, things of pleasure and luxury. Yet the pleasure is not enervating; the gospel wine is not harmfully intoxicating. How much better this banquet than the injurious and really less pleasing feast of folly (vers. 13-18) I
Ver. 8.-Reproof. I. How TO GIVE REPROOF. The duty of reproving is one of the most difficult and delicate ever attempted. The people who are most rash in adventur- ing upon it too often fall into the greatest blunders, while those who are really fitted to undertake it shriuk from the attempt, The mere utterance of a protest is generally worse than useless. It only ro.ises anger and provokes to greater obstinacy. U 11less there is some probability of convincing a man of the wrongness of his conduct, there is mtle good in administering rebukes to him. It is not the duty of any man to raise up 18G THE PROVERBS. rorr. tx. 1-18.
enemies without cause. We should all seek, as far as in us lies, to live pe11ceably with all men. Of conrse, it may be incumbent upon us sometimes so to act that ,ve shali provoke opposition. Jesus Christ could have avoided the enmity of the Jews, but only by unfaithfulness to hi" mission. ,vhere we are in the way of our 111ission,.or when any duty will be accomplished or any good done, we must not shrink from rousing antagonism. To do so is cowardice, not peaceableness. But if no good is done, we may only bring a nest of hornets about our heads by our indiscretion. Let us understand tbat while we are never to sanction evil-doing, we are only called to rebuke it when the rebuke will not be certainly rejected; then we must risk insult for the sake of righteousness. The practical point, then, is that we consider the character of a man before attempting to rebuke him, and that we be not so anxious to protest against siu as to counsel the sinner and guide him to better ways. If he is in a bard, scornful mood, we had better wait for a more fitting opportunity. If he is too stron"' for us 1 we shall only injure the cause of right by attempting to grapple with him: Weal~ champions of Christianity have often only hurt themselves, discredited their• cause tmd afforded a triumph to powerful opponents by their rash.encounters. In all ca.s~s t~ reprove well requires wisdom, tact, simplicity, humanity. • ' II. How TO RECEIVE REPROOF. He who hates 'the reprover will become himself a scorner ; the wise man will love the reprover. Our manner of accepting merited :i-eprbti-f will therefore be a test of our character. 'Thus viewed, may not the text class many of us with the scorners, though we had little suspected where our true place was to be found? It is too co=on for a man to reject all reproof with rage, Not inqµii-ing whether the accusation is true, he unjustly regards it as an attack upon himself, as. a personal insult. There may be fault with the reprover-very often there is.· .. But 'ii wise man will not shelter himself behind that. Granting that the method of reproof was unwise, harsh, offensive; still, was there no ground for_ any 'rep~oof? To be angry at all reproof is to be one of the worst of scorners-to scorn right and truth. Fnr the conscientious man will not dare to reject appeals to his conscience; he 'will feel· bound to listen to them, no matter bow unwelcome. the voice that speaks them. He will desire to be free from faults. Should he not, therefore, thank those people who sho\~ them to him? If be loves gooilness, he ought to love those whose advice. w-ill help hiµi to remove the greatest hindrances to attaining it. If he bates_ sin as the diseas~ of his soul, he should accept reproof as medicine, and treat the reprover as a valuable physician. 0