The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 366

Ver. 18.-Timely chastisement. I. CHASTISEMENT SHOULD BE TIMELY. "Preven- tion is better than cure." lf we wait till the weeds run to seed it is in vain for us to pull them up-they will have sown another and larger crop. The lion's cub may be caught and caged; the full-grown beast is dangerous to approach, and out of our power. Consider some pre.ctical applications of these trutrui. I. They show us the importance of early home-training. The first seeds are sown at home. If an evil disposition reveals itself there, it should be checked before it develops into a fatal habit. Foolishly fond pa.rents laugh at exhibitions of bad temper and other faults in very young children, amused at the quaintness and pitying the helplessness of these miniature sins. But surely a. wiser course would be to nip the evil in the bud. 2. They enhance the value of Sund.ay schooZ work. Five million children were under Sunday school t~aching in. England during the year 1888. The great ma.ss of the : population passes through this instruction. Surely more should be made of the golden opportunity _thus afforded of giving a right course to the lives of the people. Most • working men will not go to church. But they will permit their children to attend Sunday ecb.ool.. We have the workini!: classes with us in their childhood. 3. They point to an enlargement of the agency of industrial schools. Already juvenile crime h3.lJ been reduced l>y one-half-this is one of the most cheering signs of the times. But still there are multitudes of children who breathe an atmosphere of crime frorn their era.dies. _There.is no more Christian work than the effort to save these victims of the vices of their pa.rents. The juvenile offender should be an object of peculiar solicitude to one who he.s the well-being of society at heart. II. CHASTISEMENT SHOULD BE HOPEFUL. There is hope for all in their youth. We may not be able to recover the degraded, besotted wrecks of humanity in their more advanced years. But the children are amenable to saving influences, and the treat- ment of them should be inspired with a belief that they may be trained. Directly any p11-rent or teacher despe.irs of a child he proves himself no longer competent to have the charge of him. Rea.ding the second clause of the verse in the language of the Revisers, w.e are warned against vindictive chastisement: ".And set not thy heart on his destruction.'' The old.notion of punishment was purely retributive; the newer notion of it is more disciplinary. ,ve want fewer prisons and more reformatories. But for encouragement in such efforts we must have grounds of hope. Observe some of these. 1. The elasti<:ity of youth. The young are capable of great cha.ages and of large development. 2. The Divine direction. The providence of God overruling . our attempts at correction is needed to bring them to a. successful issue. But we have a ngh t to look for this end, for God desires the se.lvation and recovery of his children. 3. The power of love. We can never correct to good purpose unless we do so from 1:11oti~es of love. Whe)l these motives e.re felt they cannot but make themse!Yes effective m the end. Then, though the chastisement me.y have been resented at first, the good purpose that instige.ted it will be ultimately recognized, and may rouse the better nat·.1re of the wi-ong-doer. 876 Tl:IE PROVEltBS. (ou. XIX, 1-29.