The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 313

God's approval. It ie of no uee that our course seems right to ourselves if it is wrong before ~~d. On the. other ban~, it may be objected that these con~iderations destroy the validity of conscience; for 1f we arc not to follow our own consmence, what higher guide can we have? The answer may be threefold. (1) Seeming right may not be the verdict of our truo consciences, but only the too readily accepted conclusion of more worldly considerations. (2) Conscience may be perverted. (3) At all events, while we have the light of revelation in Scripture and especially in Christ, we have a guide for conscience, to neglect which is to be left without excuse. 11. THE FATAL END OF THE WAY. 1. TJ,e importance of the end. The gTeat question is-Whither are we going? The purpose of a road is not to serve as a platform for stationary waiting, but to lead to some destination. It is foolish for the traveller to neglect the sign-post, and only follow the attractiveness of the road, if he wishes to reach his home. In life the value of the course chosen is determined by its issues. 2. The character of the end. The end is " the way of death." This is true of every course of sin. Dark and dreadful, without qualification of any kind, this goal ever stands at the end of the way of wickedness. Disappointment may come first, and sorrow, and weari- ness; it will be well for us if they warn us before we take the final plunge into soul- destruction. 3. The manner of reaching the end. The pleasant way does not lead directly into the pit of destruction. It is only a preliminary stage in the downward journey. It brings the traveller to "the ways" of death. It may be regarded as a by-path running into the broad road. There are questionable amusements and dan- gerous friendships that are not themselves fatal, but they incline the careless to ways of evil. They are perilous as subtle tempters fashioned like angels of light. I Ver. 31.-'l71e glory of old age. I. OLD AGE MAY BE CROWNED WITH GLORY m THE COMPLETION OF LIFE. It is not natural to die in yonth. We talk of the bud gathered before it has opened on earth, that it may bloom with perfection in heaven, etc.; but we must confess that there is a great mystery in the death of children. If God so wills it, it is better to live through the whole three score years: and ten into full old age. The broken column is the symbol of the unfinished life. "Such a one as Paul the aged" could say, "I have finished my course." 1. Life is good. It may be sorrow-stricken and it may be wrecked on the rocks of sin.· Then, indeed, it is evil. There was one of whom it was said, "It had been good for that man if he had not been born" (Matt. xxvi. 24). But in itself life is good. Men in mental sanity prize it. The Old Testa-, ment idea of the value of a full long life is more healthy than the sickly sentimentalism that fancies an early death to be a Heaven-sent boon. 2. Time is for service. There- fore the longer the time allotted to one, the more opportunity is there for doing good. This, again, may be abused and misspent in sin. But the old age of a good man means the completion of a long day's work. Surely it is an honour to be called into the field in the early morning of life, and to be permitted to toil on till the shadows descend on a long summer evening. II. OLD AGE MAY BE CROWNED WITH GLORY IN ITS OWN ATTAINMENTS. A bad old age presents a hideous picture. A hoary-headed sinner is, indeed, a spectacle of horror. Mere old age is not venerable in itself. Reverence for years implies a belief that the years have gathered in a harvest of venerable qualities. Old age bas its defects, not only in bodily frailty, but in a. certain mental stiffening. Thus Lord Ba.con says, "Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success;" and Madame de Stael says, "To resist with success the frigidity of old age, one must combine the body, the mind, and the heart; to keep these in parallel vigour one must exercise, study, and love." But, on the other hand, there are inward attainments of a ripe and righteous old age that give to the late autumn of life o. mellow flavour which is quite unknown in its raw summer. "Age is not all decay,'' says a modern novelist; "it is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk." It has been remarked that women are most beautiful in youth and in old age. 'l'he wisdom, the ~udiciousness, the large pati~nce with varieties of opinion which should came with experience, are not always found m old people, who sometimes stiffen into bi"otry and freeze into dreary customs. But when tbeso graces are found in e. large and healthy soul, no stage of life cau approach the glory of olJ. age. 320 THE PROVERBS. [en. xvr. 1--33.