Il. THE REGULATION OF TBE WISilES IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF SELF-DISOil'LINE. Ill. 1'0 WISH AND TO HOPE FOR NOTHING DUT THE DEBT (IN ACCORD WITH THI!l WILL OF Goo) IS AN Th'"SURANCE AGAINST DISAPPOINTMENT. lV. SBLFISH HOPES LEAD TO UNANSWERED PRAYERS AND TO DITTER CUAGRINB.-J. Vers. 24-26.-The nai·row and the large heart. I. THRIFTY SPENDING. All wise .1utlay of money is a form of thrift. The increase of capital depends upon the observ- ance of certain laws and rnles of prudence; and the prudence which enables to amass enables also to spend. Spending in works of benevolence is seldom known to impoverish a man, for it is seldom disjoined from calculation and economy in personal habits. Bllt whether we can trace out the manner of the connection iu every instance or 11ot, it is real and profound. Wise distribution is the condition of steady increase. In the highest point of view benevolence is a "lending to the Lord." II. UKTHRIFTY SAVING. Niggardliness tends to poverty, because it stints the energies. It springs from a false view of the value of money, or an exaggerated view. The true source of happiness, as of wealth, lies at last in the will, its energy, its industry. He who has so little faith in this as to put all his reliance on the mere means of living, may well become poor outwardly, as he certainly is inwardly. III. 'l'HE SATISFACTION OF DOING GOOD. Here, again, we must look to the reflex effect of actions. 'l'he indirect results are the wider and the more important. From every free forth-going of the heart in acts of love and kindness there is a certain return into the heart. It is not sufficiently considered that whatever iri ves expansion to the mind-large views, broad sympathies-is so much gain. in actual power. .And again, that we canuot directly do much towards the removal of our own troubles, but obliquely may quell or diminish them by aiming at removing the troubles of others. Fulne 11 of interests in the heart will not give room for grief to gnaw. 0
I';. SELFISHNESS AND GENEROSITY IN COMMERCE. (Ver. 26.) In time of dearth the &'T&ricious proprietor, keeping back his corn to secure a higher price, brings down. upon. ·uimself curses; while he who thinks of humanity more than of personal profit earns the blessiugs of the poor. The maxim that "business is business" is true, but may be pushed too far. If a trader profits by a war or scarcity, that is an accident; but it is not an accident, it is a crime, if he votes for war or interferes with the natural actiou of the market with a view to personal gain. If the same conditions of trade m ke the man rich which impoverish the many, he will feel it to be his duty to give the wore out of his abundance.-J. Vers. 27-3L-Temporal and eternal conti-asts. I. MEN FIND WHAT THEY SEEK. (Ver. 27 .) The favour of God, which includes all the elements of happia.ess by well- doin", or sorrow by ill-doing. This Jaw of antecedence and consequence in moral thiugs, thus so reiteratedly pressed upon us, cannot be too constantly before the mind. Every moral action is a prophecy before the event; every moral result, a fulfilment of a previous prophecy. ll. THE CAUSES OF DECAY AND OF PROSPERITY. (Ver. 28.) Trust in riches leads to moral downfall (comp. eh. x. 2; Ps. xlix. 6, 7). By trust in riches is meant the habit of depending on them an<l their accessories-luxury and ease-as the main good in life. Jt is in this sense that" riches slacken virtue and abate her edge." The laxity and disooluteness of the mind may well be compared to the limp and falling leaf. He, on. the other hand, whose trust is in spiritual resources-the treasures of the kingdom of God-is like a tree full of sap; his foliage is abundant; his leaf ever green (Ps. xcii. 13; Isa. !xvi. 14). Ill. THE RETRIBUTION OF GREED AND OPPRESSION. (Ver. 29.) The man who "troubles his house" is the close-fisted and greedy, who in his covetousness keeps his household upon scant fare or withholds from them their due pay (eh. xv. 27). .Ahab is thus charged by Elijah as a" troubler of Israel" (1 Kings x~iii. 17, 18). ~ut he reaps the wind, i.e. nothing from his misplaced care and exert1011 (Isa. xxv1. 14; Hos. viii. 7). Nay, he so comes down in the scale as actually often to fall into slavery to a j1 st and mercithl lord (vcr. 24). These reversals in human life-more marked 01· ea;ily observable, perhaps, in ancient times than with oursclvc~-rcmind men of a en. xt. 1-31.] THE PROVERBS. 229
superior judgment; which constantly revise~ and corrects the short-sighted and super- ficiBl judgments of men. IV. THE PRODUCTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Ver. 30.) All that the good man says and does becomes a source of blessing and life (a "tree of life") to many. He exercises an attractive power, and gathers many souls to his side for the service of God and the cause of truth. V. THE CERTAINTY OF RECO:'dPENSE. (Ver. 31.) This may be taken as an argument from the greater to the less. The sins of the righteous do not escape chastisement; how much less those of men unreconciled to God! "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Pet. iv. 18).-J.