and of which we are perfectly certain, if we have deserved it, consists in having done our work, or at least having taken pains to do our work, for that is of itself a great blessing, and one is inclined to say that, properly speaking, there is no other reward in this world. And men bring themselves to want by neglecting their proper work, by idle talk, and waste of time and daylight. "Work while it is called to-day." 3. Hence, well-gotten wealth is a testimonial to the earner of it. (Ver. 24.) It is an ornament, e. decoration in which he may feel a juster pride than in stars, or garters, or patents oi nobility, which carry no such significance. On the other hand, the folly of the fool is and remains folly, however he may plume himself, however by means of wealth or factiLiollS advantages he may seek to pass for somebody before the world. 4. But deeper than these are the specifically religious blessings. (Ver. 26.) Security springs from religion; and religion is the constant habit of regard for God, his will in loving obedience, his favour as the most precious possession. God himself is a Hefuge to his children, and they will not fear. The very source of life itself is religion, and nothing but the fear of God in the heart can preserve from the deathful snares which attend our way.-J. Vers. 28-35.-Life-contrasts. I. IN PUBLIC LIFE. 1. Fulness and scantiness of population. (Ver. 28.) The Hebrew had a deep sense of the value of fruitfulness in the wedded life, and of increase in the nation. The majesty of the monarch is the reflection of the grGatness of his people, and the decay must represent itself in his feebleness for action. It is our duty as Christian men to study with intelligence political questions, and to support all measures which tend to freedom of commerce and abundance of food. 2. National exaltation and shame. (Ver. 34.) The common ideas of national glory and shame are false. There is no glory in victory over feeble foes, no shame in seeking peace in tbe interests of humanity. Too often these popular ideas of glory represent the bully and the coward in the nation, rather than its wisdom and honour. There is no other real secret of a nation's exaltation than, in the widest sense, its right dealing, and no other shame for a nation than its vices-such as drunkenness, selfishness, lust for territory. Could Englishmen see the national character in the light in which it often appears to foreigners, it would be a humbling view. 3. Royal favour or disfavour is an index of worth. (Ver. 35.) Not, of course, the only or the truest index; and yet how seldom it happens that a man rises to high position in tbe service of his sovereign and country without eminent worth of some description or other I Here, again, moral law is exemplified. There is nothing accidental. If it be mere prudence which gains promotion, still prudence is of immense value to the state, and moral law is confirmed by its advancement. II. IN PRIVATE LIFE. 1. Patience and haste of temper. (Ver. 29.) They are branded respectively with the mark of sense and of folly. "The Scripture exhorteth us to possess our souls in patience; whosoever is out of patience is out of possession of his soul." 2. The calm and the seething heart. (Ver. 30.) The first member seems more correctly rendered, "life of the body is a gentle or tranquil mind." Zeal, on the other ha.nd, or envy, is a constant ferment within the soul. Men's minds must either feed upon their own good or others' evil. Inquisitive people are commonly envious; it is e. "gadding passion," and an old proverb says that "Envy keeps no holidays." Lord Bacon says it is the vilest passion and the most depraved. Christian humility and. love can only sweeten the heart, and dilute or wash awo.y its natural bitterness. 3. The violent death a.nd the peaceful end. (Ver. 32.) A sudden death was viewed as a visitation from God (Ps. xxxvi. 13; lxii. 4). It was thought that the wicked could hardly come to any other end. But the righteous has confidence in his death. Considering the great silence of the Old Testament on the future life, it can hardly be honest exegesis to force the meaning of hope of e. future life into this passage. Nor is it necessary. It is the consciousness that all is well, the soul being in God's hands, that the future may be left with him who has revealed himself iu the past, which sheds peace into the dying soul. 4. Silent wisdom and noisy pretence. (Ver. 33.) The still and quiet wisdom of the sensible man (eh. x. 14; xii. 16, 23). is contrasted with the eager and noisy utterances of what the fool supposes to be w1Sdom, but in reality is the ex:posure of his folly. "There is no decaying merchant or inward beggar hath 110 JUany tncks to uphold the credit of their wealth as those empty persons hrwl'l 286 THE PROVERBS. [oH. XIV, 1-86,
to maintain the credit of their sufficier.cy." Wisdom and piety are felt and fragrant, like the violet in the hedge, from humble places and silen.t lives, Let us aim to be, not to seem.-.T.
Ver. 1.-Woman as a builder. Where the light of revelation has sbone, woman has had a position and a power, an honour and a happiness, such as she has not en Joyed elsewhere. Under the teaching of Christian truth she has been, or is beina, rapidly raised to her rightful place, and is becoming all that the Creator intended her to be, \Ve cannot forecast the future, but we may predict that her own especial province, the sphere where she will always shine, will be, as it is now, the home. • It is" her house" that she will either build up or pluck down" with her own hands." Whether she will· do the one or the other depends on the question whether she shows- I. GooDh'"ESS (moral worth) or GUILT. II. IMPARTIALITY or an unwise and unrighteous preference of one child to another, III. DILIGENCE in the discharge of her household duties, or NEGLIGENOE. IT. KINDNESS or ASPERITY in her bearing toward all the members of the home. V. PATIENCE or IMPATIENCE in the government of her family and her servants. And since the upbuilding or the down-plucking of "the house," the promotion or the ruin of domestic harmony and happiness, depends in so large a degree on the wisdom or the folly of the woman who is the wife and the mother, therefore: 1. Let. every wise man think many times before he makes his choice. 2. Let every woman who is entering on this estate go forth to occupy it in (1) humility, (2) prayerfulness, (3) wise and holy resolution.-C. ,