The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 259

and most inspiring. 6. Fruitful poverty. (Ver. 23.) The image is that of the poor man's field, which becomes rich in produce through the investment of his toil in it. The improvement of the ground is the most natural way of obtaining riches; it is our great mother's blessing, the earth. The blessing of God visibly rests upon the honest labour of the poor. 7. Wise training of the young. (Ver. 24.) The rod may stand as a figure for all correction, firm yet kindly discipline, and instruction. The wise father will seek to anticipate more.I evil by subduing early the passionate temper. He will incessantly follow up his child with prayer, with discipline, with exhortations, that he me.y not later rue the absence of seasonable warnings. 8. Temperate enfoymenl and sufficient supplies. (Ver. 25.) The mind governed by religion and wisdom learns to reduce its wants to e. small compass; and this is a great secret of content and of true riches. He who wants only what is necessary for the life and free action of the soul may rely with confidence on the infinite bounty of Providence. II. THE COUNTERPART. 1. Poverty and shame. (Ver. 18.) The one an outward misery, patent to a.II; the other not so pa.tent, but more acute; for contempt, as the Indian proverb says, pierces through the shell of the tortoise. So long a.go as old Homer, we find the sentiment, "Shame greatly hurts or greatly helps mankind" (' Iliad,' xxiv. 45; Hesiod, 'Op.,' 316). "Take one of the greatest and most approved courage, who makes nothing to look death and danger in the face, . . . in a base and a shameful action, and the eye of the discoverer, like that of the basilisk, shall st!ike him dead. So inexpressibly great sometimes are the killing horrors of this passion" (South, vol. ii. ser. vii.). The Bible designates this all a peculiar fruit of sin. 2. The un9.uenchablefire of lust. (Ver. 19.) To this the correct rendering of the second member of the verse appears to point (J as. i. 14-, 15). 'Tis hard to give up the bosom sin, which still in better moments is bated- e. loathsome tyranny, yet one which cannot be cast off. 3. Depraving companionship. (Ver. 20.) Wickedcompe.nion11 invite to hell. "There a.re like to be short graces when the devil plays the host." 4. Haunting troublers. (Ver. 21.) Much romance has been woven about" haunted houses;" but what haunted house so gruesome as the bad man's heart? His sin draws God's wrath and punishments after it, even as the shadows follow his feet. 5. Forfeited wealth. (Ver. 22.) Riches that come from the devil go back to him. Fraud, oppression, and unjust dealing are not really retentive; or wealth obtained by :flattering, complying with others' humours, and servility does not prosper. The Proverbs see the outrush of life with great clesrness; they do not always explain the inner connection of cause and effect, which should be clear to us. 6. Self-destruc- tion. (Ver. 23.) Many a man is "carried away by his unrighteousness." "In contrast with the contented, humble condition of the good man, the selfish and profligate 'lovers of themselves without a rival,' are often unfortunate; and whereas they have all their time sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned" (Lord Bacon). 7. Weak indulgence to children. (Ver. 24.) A most injurious error. It tends t-0 weaken the young minds and foster all the violent passions; just as the opposite extreme tends to debase and incite to deceit. E. Irving, in one of his works, hints that a great proportion of the inmates of lunatic asylums have been only and spoilt children. 8. Want. (Ver. 25.) "Great wants," it has been said, "proceed from great wealth; but they are undutiful children, for they sink wealth down to poverty."-J. Vera. 1, 13, 18.-The wisdom of docility, etc.: a sermon to tlie young. We have the positive and negative, the happy and the sorrowful aspects of the subject brought into view. I. THE WISDOM OF DOCILITY. The excellency of docility is seen in its results: 1. In character. It is a "wise son" who heareth his father's instruction. (1) .Already he is wise. Apart from all that he will gain by his teachableucss, readiness to receive instruction is in itself an admirable feature of character; it is so more particularly in the young. In them it is positively cssenti~l to spir(Lual beau~y and ~or~h; an~ it goes e. lono- way to constitute such worth. It 1s an attribute of nund which 1s pleasmg to God, a':id which commends itself greatly to the esteem of man. (2) It has the promise of wisdom further on. For he who is ready to learn, and more especially if he ie willing to "regard reproof," is on the high-road to much attainment in knowledge,  26.J- THE PROVERBS. [err. xm. 1-21!.