with his own house." Shall inherit the Jae. v. 20). The Septuagint introdnoes wind; he will be tho loser i1t the encl; no nn o.ntit.hesie not found in our Hebrew one will lencl him II helping hand, and his text: "But the souls of transgressors are nffoirs will fall to min. The fool-the man taken untimely nway." Ewald and others who acts thus foolishly-shall be servant change the present order of clauses in vers. to the wise of heart; to the man who 29 e.nd 30, thinking thus to improve the administers his household matters in a parallelism. They would rearrange the helter and more orderly manner (see on eh. passage in the following way: "He that xii. 24). It is implied that the troubler troubleth hie own house shall inherit the of his own house shall be reduced to such wind; but the fruit of the righteous is a extremity as to have to apply for relief to tree of lire. The foo]i,h shall be servant to the wise of heart. The other side of the the wise of heart; but he that is wise question· is given by the Son of Sirnch : winneth souls." There is no authority " Unto the servant that is wise shall they whatever in the versions or older com- that are free do service" (Ecclus. x. 25). mentators for this alteration ; and the exist- The prodigal in the parable prayed his ing arrangement, as we have shown, gives a father to make him one of his hired servants very good sense. (Luke xv. 19). Ver. 31.-The righteous shall be recom- Ver. 30.-The fruit of righteousness (of pensed in the earth. There are two ways the righteous) is a tree of life (eh. iii. 18; of understanding this verse. The word xiii. 12); lignum vitai, Vulgate. That rendered "recompensed," □'t.:! (lhalam), is a which tho righteous so.y and do is, o.s it voz media, and can be taken either in a were, a fruitful tree which delighte and good or bad sense. So the meaning will be, feeds many. A good man's example nnd "The righteous meets with his reward upon teaching promote spiritual health and earth, much more the sinner," the " re- leacl to immortal life. Septuagint, "From ward" of the le.tter being, of course, punish- the fruit of righteousuess spriugeth a tree ment. But the versions lead to another of life." And he that winneth eoule is interpretation, by which "recompensed·• is wise; rather, he that is wise winneth souls. rendered "chastised;" and the meaning 'l'hc latter member is parallel to the former. is-if even the righteous shall be punished He who gives men of the tree of life attracts for their trespasses, as Moses, David, etc., souls to himself, to listen to hie teaching how much more the wicked! The Septua- and to follow his example. With this gint, quoted exactly by St. Peter (1 Epist. iv. "winning of souls" we may compare 18) he.s, "If the righteous sce.rcely be saved, Christ's promise to the apostles that they where sbe.11 the ungodly e.nd the sinner should " catch men" (Luke v. 10; comp. e.ppeo.r?"
HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-Just weights. The point of this proverb is different from that of our low- toned though often useful saying, "Honesty is the best policy." Every day we are discovering more and more how profoundly true that saying is, if not in the narrow view some take of it, yet in its broad issues and in the long run. But no man will be truly honest who puts policy before honesty, and bases his morality on selfish expediency. Therefore, if we a.re ever to reap the personal profit promised in the English proverb, we must mould our conduct on higher principles, such as that of the Hebrew proverb, which teaches us that dishonesty in trade is hateful to God, and that justice is his delight. ' l. COMMERCE 18 INCLUDED IN THE BIGHTFOL DOMAIN OF RELIGION. Few men woulu deny the abstract proposition that commerce has its morals, though many may be very indifferent in the application of them. But it must be further seen that commerce hus its religion. 'l.'here is a religious way of carrying on trade, and an irreligious wuy of doing it. God is in the shop as well as in the church. He is as much concerned with the manner in which we buy and sell as with the style in which we pray; nay, more so, for his chief interest is with our real, daily, practical life. II. RELIGION REQUIRES JUST WEIGHTS JN TRADE. Rcli~ion requires them. No one would dare to admit that morality did not require them. But we have now to see that religion especially demands them. 'l'his is the place where the incidence of religion on trade is to be felt. Religion carried into business does not mean praying for prosperity and then cheating our neighbours in order to secure the answer to our prayer, nor giving to missionary collections u small dole out of the profits of swindling. It means 220 THE PROVERBS. [oa. XI. l-31.
honesty in business preserved for God's sake. He will not hear our prayers while the weights and measures a.re being tampered wit,b. Ill. THE RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENT OF JUST WEIGHTS IS BASED ON THE OBLIGATIONS OF TRUTH AND OF OUR DUTY TO OUR NEIGHBOURS. 1. Truth. God hates all lies. :False balancrs are concrete lies. They are worse than verbo.l untruths; for they are deliberate and per?Jane~t. A_ w~ak man may be surprised into a hasty expression that does not accord with his convictions under the shock of a sudden temptation. But to construct and ke~p fa~se bal_an?es is to deceive with full consideration of what is being d;:me. Adulteration 1s a smular offence. People who construct elaborate machinery for the very purpose of adulterating articles of trade should feel that all their ingenuity aggravates their condemnation. 2. Our duty to our neighbours. In a Christian country surely we should have some regard for the great maxirn of Christ, that we should do to others as we would that they would do unto us. 'l'he tradesman should put himself in the customer's case, the buyer in that of the seller. Brotherly kindness is the best human safeguard for integrity; but above this should be our regard for the apprornl of God. \V c please God not so much by singing hymns and offerin" sacrifices as by honest business. "A just weight is his delight." b