Ver. 9.-Purity of heart. A subject that stretches back and looks onward as far as the limits of human history. But Jesus Christ has introduced into the world a power for purity which is peculiar to his gospel. I. THE UTTER TTGLINEBS OF IMPURITY. To the eye of holy men there is an unspeak- able offensiveness in any form of impurity-selfishneJs, worldliness, covetousness, sensuality, whatever it may be. And how much more hideous and intolerable must it be in the eyes of the Holy One himself (Hab. i. 13; Ps. v. 5) ! This is one explana- tion of choosing leprosy as a type and picture of sin, viz. its foarful loathsomeness in the sight of God. II. lTs EXCLUSION FROM THE PRESENCE AND KINGD€1M OF Goo. (See Ps. 1. 16; lxvi. 18; eh. xv. 29; xxviii. 9; Isa. i. 10-17; Matt. v. 8; Heh. :xii. 14.) III. THE ONE w AY OF RETURN. When the heart sees, and is ashamed of, its corrup- tion, and returns in simple penitence to God, then there is mercy and admission. But sincere repentance is the only gateway by which impurity can find its way to the favour and the kingdom of God. IV. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INWARD PURITY. When the heart, con~cious of gnilt, has sought and found mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and is "cleansed of its iniquity," so that there is "a clean heart and a right spirit " before God, all is not yet done that 400 THE PROVERBS. [err. xx. 1-30,
has to be accomplished. What Christian man can say, "I have made my heart clean• I am pure from my sin"? "If we [who are in Christ Jesus] say that we lmve no sin' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John i. 8). "Iu many things w~ offend all " ( J as. iii. 2). We are washed, but we " need to wash our feet" (John xiii. 10). 'l'here yet lingers within the heart of the humble and the pure that which nee4s purification before they will be" holy as he [the Lord] is holy." What are these cleansin<> forces "'hich will best do this much-needed and most desirable work? Are they not 1. The avoidance of that which defiles; the deliberate turning away of the eyes of the soul (so far as duty to others will allow) from all that stains and soils? 2. Much fellow- ship "'ith Jesus Christ the Holy One, and much intercourse with his true friends and followers? 3. The earnest, determined pursuit of that which is noblest in man, especially by the study of the worthiest lives? 4. Prayer for the cleansing influences which come direct from the Holy Spirit of God (Ps. li. 10; cxxxix. 23, 24 ; 2 Thess. ii. 17 • Heb. xiii. 20, 21) ?-C. ' Ver. 10.-(See homily on eh. xvi. 11.)-C.
Ver. 11.-Childhood: a transparency, a propliecy, a study, It is not apparent why Solomo~ says," Even a child i~ known." It is a. familiar fact, at which we may glance, and which seems to be the mam thought of the text. I. THE TRAN~PARENCY OF CHILDHOOD._ Som~ men are full of guile and of hypocrisy; they have acquired the power of concealmg their real thought and feeling beneath their exterior, and you are never quite sure what they mean. You dare not trust them• for their words, or their demeanour, or their present action may entirely belie them. Not so the child. He means what he says. If he does not love you, he will not affect any liking for you. You will soon find from his behaviour what he thinks about men and things, about the studies in which he is occupied, about the service in which you want him to engage. And whether he is living a pure and faithful life, whether he is obedient and studious, or whether he is obstinate and idle, you will very soon discover if you try. It requires but very little penetration to read a child's spirit, to know a child's character. But the truth which is not so much on the surface respecting the know- ledge we have of or from the child relates to- ll. THE PROPHECY OF CHILDHOOD. "Even a child" will give some idea of the man into whom he will one day grow. "The child is father to the man." In him a.re the germs of the nobility or the meanness, the courage or the cowardice, the generosity or the selfishness, the studiousness or the carelessness, the power or the weakness, that is to be witnessed later on. He that has eyes to see may read in the chiltl before him the future-physical, mental, moral-that will be silently but certainly developed. Hence we may regard- III. CHILDHOOD AS A STUDY. If men have found an insect, or a. flower, or a seed, or a stone well worth their study, how much more is the little child ! For, on the one hand, igTlorant assumption may spoil a life. To conclude hastily, and therefore falsely, respecting the temper, the tastes, the capacities, the inclinations, the responsibilities, the culpability or praiseworthiness of the child, and to act accordingly, may lead down into error and rmbelief and despair the spirit that might, by other means, have been led into the light of truth and the love of God. And, on the other hand, a conscientious and Just conclusion on these most important characteristics of childhood may make a life, may sa.ve unimaginable misery, may result in an early, instead of a late, unfolding of power and beauty, may make all the difference in the history of a human soul. And only the Father of spirits can tell what that difference is.-C.
Ver. 12.-God our Maker. Truly we are" wonderfully made;" and "the hand that made us iB Divine." 'fhe human ear and eye are- I. INBTANCEB OF DIVINE SKILL AND POWER. 'l'hat we should be able, by means of this small apparatus included in "the ear," to detect such a variety of notes, to dis- tinguish sounds from one another so readily, through so many years, to perceive the faintest whisper in the trees, and to enjoy the roll of the reverberating thunder; that we should be able, by means of two small globes in our face, to see thingij as minute as a bud or a dewdrop and as mighty as a mountain or as the " great wide sea," to detect OH, Xl[, 1-80,] THE PROVERBS. 401