The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 225

men." lf we are indifferent to principle in the common transactions of the week, it is imrossible to be really religious in anything or on any day, I. HAUGHTINESS AND MODESTY. Extremes meet. The former topples over into shame; the latter i~ lifted_ into the he_ights of wisdom. 1. No feeling was more deeply stamped on the ancient mmd than this. Among the Greeks hubris, amonrr the Romans insolence, designated an offence peculi11.rly hateful in the eyes of Heaven~ We see it reappearing in the songs and proverbs of the gospel: "He hath brought down the mighty from their seat, and exalted them of low degree;" "Every one that hmnbleth himself sliall be exalted; but ho that exalteth himself shall be abased." 2. It is stamped upon all languages. Thus, in English, to be high, haughty, lofty, overbearing, are tNmS of censure; lowly, humble, terms of praise. In the German the words ueber- muth, hochmuth, point to the same notion of excess and height in the temper. 3. At the same time, let us remember that the good temper may be counterfeited. Nothing is more easy than to suppose we have humbled ourselves by putting on a manner. Yet nothing is more detestable than the assumption of this particular manner. True humility springs from seeing ourselves as we are; pride, from nourishing a fanciful or ideal view of ourselves. Wisdom must begin with modesty; for a distorted or exag- gerated view of self necessarily distorts OUl' view of all that comes into relation with self. III. RECTITUDE AND FAITHLESSNESS. (Ver. 8.) The former means guidance, for it is a clear light within the man's own breast; the latter, self-destruction. As scriptural examples of the one side of the contrast, may be cited Joseph and Daniel; of the other, the latter, Saul, Absalom, Ahithopbel, Ahab, and Ahaziah. IV. RECTITUDE AND Jl.lCHES. (Ver. 4; see on eh. x. 2.) 1. Riches cannot purchase the grace of God, nor avert bis judgments. 2. Rectitude, though not the first cause of salvation, is its necessary condition. To suppose that we can be saved from condem- nation without being saved from sin is a gross superstition. V. SELF-CONSERVATIVE AND SELF-DESTRUCTIVE HABITS. (Vers. 5, 6; comp. eh. iii. 6; x. 3.) Honesty and rectitud'3 level the man's path before him; wickedness causes him to stumble and fall. Straightforwardness means deliverance out of dangers, per- plexities, misconceptions; while the eager greed of the dishonest man creates distrust, embarrassment, inextricable difficulty. "He that hath light within bis own clear breast May sit in the centre and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dal"k soul and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the midday sun; Himself is his own dungeon." (Milton.) VI. lioFE AND DESPONDENCY IN. DEATH. (Ver. 7.) The former seems implied. If the Olcl Testament says exvressly so little about a future life, some of its sayings may be construed as allusions to and indications of it. It is little that we can know definitely of the future life. But the least we do know is that hope is inextinguish- able in the good man's soul; it is its own witness, and "reaps not shame." But despondency and despair are the direct, r~sult of wicked livi~g.. To cease to hop_e is to cea,e to wish and to cease to fear. 'Ih1s must be the extmct1on of the 11oul m the most dreadful way in which we can conceive it. VII. THE EXCHANGE OF PLACES FOLLOWS MORAL LAW. (Ver. 8.) The good man comes out of distress, aud the evil becomes his substitute in sorrow. So with the Israelites and Pharaoh, a great typical example; so with Mordecai and Haman; with Dalliel and his accusers. Great reversals of human judgments are to be expected; many that were last shall be first, and the first last. VIII. THE SOCIAL PEST AND THE TRUE NEIGHBOUR. (Ver. 9.) The pernicious power of slander. 'l'he best people are most injured by it, as the best fruit is that which the birds have been peckill" at; or, as the Tamil proverb says, "Stom•s are only thrown at the f1uit-Jaden tree." "The tougue of slander "out-venoms all the worms of Nile." It spares neither sex nor age, nor helplessness. It is the" foulest whelp of sin." It promotes nothing that is go~d, but d 7stroys _much._ ~nowledg<;, ou the other hand-in the form of soulld scnec, wide expcnence-1f reachly IDljlartcd, 1s a boon on. xr. 1-31.) THE PROVERBS. 225