Ver. 3.-Divine proving and purifying. Heat, like water, is a very bad master but a very excellent servant. It proves whether our acquisition has or has not any value, whether it should be carefully preserved or be "trodden underfoot;" and it refines that which has any worth at all, separating the dross and securing for ns the pure metal which we want for use or ornament. What we do with our materials God does with ourselves; but the fires through which he sends us are of a very different kind from those we kindle. I. THE FIRES THROUGH WHICH Goo PABBES us. These are the disciplinary experiences through which, in his holy providence and in his fatherly love, he causes us to pass. And of them we may say that their name is legion, for "they are many." They vary as do the histories of human life. It may be (1) a change for the worse, sudden or gradual, permanent or transient, in our temporal conditions, affluence sinking into competence, or competence into pecuniary embarrassment, or into hard toil and scant enjoyment; or (2) bereavement and consequent loneliness of spirit, the loss of some near companion whose fellowship we.s sweet beyond expression, or whoso guidance was ince.lculably helpful; or (3) disappointment, the going out of some bright hope in the light of which our path had been trodden e.nd the extinction of which throwa the future into thick darkness; or (4) the loss of health and strength, when we are taken a.way from activities which were congenial or apparently necesse.ry to us, and are shut in to an enforced idleness, from which we long to be delivered; or (5) the endure.nee of pain; or (6) our failure to e.ccomplish some good work on which we had set our heart and put our hand, II. His TRIAL OF oua SPIRIT. God thus proves us. These troubles are trials ; they show to our Cree.tor and to ourselves what manner of men we are, what is" the spirit we are of." 'l'hey prove to him and to us whether we care more about our circumstances 344 Tim PROVERBS. [oil. xvn. 1-28.
than we do abont onrselves and our character; they prove whether we have a deep spirit of submission and of trustfulness, or whether our subjection to the will of God is Yery shallow and departs as soon as it is tested; they prove whether in the hour of need we look above us for strength and succour, or whether we htLve recourse only to those persons aud ~h_ings which are around us, or whether we descend to props and stays that are pos1t1vely beneath us. They prove the quality of our Christian character; they sometimes demonstrate its actual unreality. III. Goo's REFINING ?O?DNESS AND WISDOM. God tries our henrts, not merely tlmt be or we 1:,a:f see wha~ 1s m them, but that !hey ~a.l'. be purified (see Isa. xlviii. 10). Many punfymg, practical lessons we learn m affhct1on which we are very slow to receive, and which, but for its_dis?ipline, we might never gain at all. They are these, among others. 1. The unsat1sfymg character of all that is earthly and human. 2. The transitoricess of the present., and the wisdom of laying up treasures in heaven. 3. Tbe secondariness of all claims to those that are Divine, and our consequent obliuation to give the first place to the will and the cause of our Redeemer. 4. Our deep n~ed of Christ as the Lord whom we are to be faithfully serving and the Friend in whose fellowship we are to spend our days. With these great spiritual truths burnt into our souls by the refining fires, we shall have our worldliness and our selfishness expelled, and be vessels of pure gold, meet for the Master's nse.-C.
Vers. 6, 21, 25.-Fatl,erhood and sonship. Certainly, some of our very greatest mercies are those that come to us in our domestic relationships. I. THE JOY AND CROWN OF FATHERHOOD AND OF GRANDFATHERHOOD. Our Lord speaks of the mother forgetting her anguish "for joy that a man is born into the world" (John xvi. 21). The joy of parentage is keen, and it is common; it may, indeed, be said to be universal,. And it is pure and gooil ; it elevates and enlarges the soul, taking thought and care away from self to another, nnd by so doing it distinctly benefits a.ad blesses the nature. And, like all pure joys, it is lasting ; it does not evaporate with time; on the other hand, it grows and deepens as the child of its affection develops and matures. Moreover, in the kind providence of God, it is renewable in another generation ; for the grandfather has almost as much delight in his grandson as the father in his child (text; Gen. 1. 23; Pa. cxxviii. 6). Fatherhood (motherhood) is: l. A natural desire of the human heart. 2. Often the reward which God gives to patient industry and virtne in earlier days; for the setting up of a. home is, in many if not in most cases, the attainment of a hope for which the young have striven and waited. 3. Sometimes a source of grievous disappointment and saddest sorrow (vers. 21, 25). There is no one in the world who can pierce our souls with such bitter anguish as can our own child when he or she goes astray from wisdom and righteous- ness. 4. Always an entail of the most serious responsibility; for what we are in spirit and in character it is most likely that our children will become. 5. Therefore a. noble opportunity; for it is in our power, by wisdom and virtue, by kindness and piety, to lead our sons into the gates of privilege and up to the gates of the kingdom of Christ. 6. And therefore usually a source of profoundest gratitude and gladness, and the means by which we can hand down our principles and our influence, through our own direct endeavours, to the second and the third generation. JI. THE GLORY OF CHILDHOOD. "The glory of children are their fathers." 1. It is the urea.test of all earthly heritages to have parents that can be esteemed and loved, Happy is the son who, as his judgment matures, can honour his father with an undiminishing or even a growing regard and deepening joy. 2. It is a. very real delight to be able to look back, throuuh all the later years of life, and recall the memories of the beloved and revered parents who have" passed into the skies." 3. It is the duty of childhood to make the very best response it can make for 'the love, care, pains, patience, prayerful solicitude, its parents have expended. upon )t. 4. It. will rema!u a lasting source of thankfulness and joy that every possible filial a.ttent10n was paid that could be paid; lighting aud smoothing the path of the parents to the very door of heaveu.-C. Ver. 9 (with eh. xvi. 28).-Friendship; th~ siler,ce that saves and the speech that teparates it. We may learn- OIi, JI.VII, 1-28,] THE PROVERBS. 345