Vere. 6-12.-Me:zns to the preservation of the good name. I. EARLY TRAINING. (Ver. 6.) The young twig must be early bent. Experience teaches us that nothing in the world is so mighty for good or evil as custom; and therefore, says Lord Ba.con, "since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let man by all means endeavour to obtain good customs. Custom is most perfect when it beginuetb in young years; this we call education, which is in effect but an early custom. 'l'he tongue is more pliant to all expreer-ions and sounds, the joints more supple to all feats of activity and motions, in youth than afterwards. Those minds are rare which do not show to their la.test, days the ply and impress they have received as children." II. INDEPENDENCE. (Ver. 7.) How strongly was the worth of this felt in those ancieut times! Poverty and responsibility to others are to bo avoided. Many are forced into distress of conscience and to the loss of a good name by being tempted, for the ca.ke of the rich man's gold or the great man's smile, to vote 1,ontrary to their con• OR, XXII, 1-29.J THE PROVERBS. 433
victions. Others will sell their liberty to gratify their luxury. It is an honest ambition to enjoy a competence that shall enable one to afford to be honest, and have the luxury of the freest expression of opinion. Hence frugality becomes so clear a moral duty. III. INTEGRITY. (Ver. 8.) Ill-gotten gains cannot prosper. "The evil which issues from thy mouth falls into thy bosom," says the Spanish proverb. 'l'he rod iv herewith the violent and unjust man struck others is broken to pieces. IV. NEIGHBOURLY LOVE. (Ver. 9.) "Charity gives itself rich, covetousness hoard& itself poor," says the German proverb. "Give alms, that thy children may not ask them," says a Danish proverb. "Drawn wells are never dry." So give to-day, that thou mayest have to give to-morrow; and to one, that thou mayest have to give to another. Let us remember, with the Italian proverb, that "our last robe is made without pockets." Above all, if our case is that "silver and gold we have none, let us freely substitute the kindly looks and the healing words, which are worth much and cost little." V. A PEACEFUL TEMPER. (Ver. 10.) Let the scoffing, envious, contention& temper be cast out of our breast first. As for others, let us strike, if possible, at the cause and root of strife. Let there be solid argument for the doubter, and practical relief for actual grievances. Let us learn from the old fable, and follow the part of Epimetheus, who, when evils flew abroad from the box of Pandora, shut the lid and kept hope at the bottom of the vessel. VI. A FAITHFUL .AND CONSTANT HEART. (Ver. 11.) The greatest treasure to an earthly monarch, and dear above all to the King of kings. "He who serves God serves a good Master." Grace and truth are upon the lips of God's Anointed for ever- more. And to clench these proverbs, let us recollect that nothing but truth in the inward parts can abide before the eye of Jehovah. "A lie has no legs." It carries along with itself the germs of its own dissolution. It is sure to destroy itself at last. Its priests may prop it up, after it has once fallen in the presence of the truth; but it will fall again, like Dagon, more shamefully and irretrievably than before. 'l'ruth is the daughter of God (Trench).-J. Vars. 13-16.-Hindrances to the attainment of a _qood Mme. I. SLOTH. (Ver, 13.) It is full of ridiculous excuses here satirized. While a noble energy refuses to own the word "impossible," it is ever on the lips of the indolent. As in the Arabic fable of the ostrich, or "camel-bird," they said to it, "Carry I" It answered, "I cannot, for I a.m a bird," 'fhey said, "Fly I" It answered, "I cannot, for I o.m a camel." Always, "I cannot 1 " Ha who in false regard to his own soul refuses to go out into the world and do God's work, will end by corrupting and losing his soul itself (John xii. 25). II. PnoFLIGAOY. (Ver. 14.) Lust digs its own grave. HeaHh goes, reputation follows, and presently the life, self-consumed by the deadly fire, sinks into ruin and ashes. lf men saw how plainly the curse of God is written on vice, it would surely become n.s odious to them as to him. III. UNGOVERNED l'OLLY. (Ver, 15.) Nothing more pitiable than an old fool, whose folly seems to stand in clear relief against the background of years. Hence, again, the urgent need of firm discipline for the young. And what occasion for thank- fulness to him who, in his wise chastisements, will not "let us alone," but prunes and till~ the soul by a!Hiction, and plucl:s up our follies by the root! IV. OPPRESSIVENESS. (Ver. 16.) To become rich at the expense of other's loss ia no real gain. The attempt cuts at the root of sound trade and true sociality. H11stily gotten will hardly be honestly gotten. 'l'he Spaniards say, "He who will be !'ich in a year, at the half-year they hang him." Mammon, which more than o.nything else men are tempted to think God does not concern himself about, is given and ta.ken away by him ~cording to his righteousness-given someUmes to his enemies and for their greater punishment, that under its fatal influence they may grow worse and worse (Tr2nch).-J. Vere. 17-21.-The words of the wise to be taken to he,a,rt. I. 'l'11EY YIELD DIVIN& PLEASURE. (Ver, 18,) And aU the pleasure of the world iB not to be weighed ag:,,inst l'ROVERDB, i 1 THE PROVERBS. [OR. XXII, 1-29,
it. Let those who have "tasted of the good Word of God" bear their witness. The human so~l is made for. truth, an~ dc)ights in it. There is pleasure in grasping a matheme.t1cal demonstration or a. sc10nt11lc law; and the successful inquirer may shout his " Eureka! " with joy over every fresh discovery. But above all "how oharmin" is Divine philosophy! "-that which traces the clear path of virtue, w;rns against vice': shows the eternal rcmird of the former nnd the doom of tho latter. Received with the appetite of faith, Diviue truth is food most sweet. H. THEY LEAD us ON TO CONFIDENCE IN Gon. (Ver. 19.) .And this is our true foundation. He is Jehovah, the Eternal One. He is the Constant One. His Name is the ex:pre~sion of mercy, of truth, and of justice. To love and to trust him is to be in living intercourse with all that is true and beautiful and good. III. THEY ARE RICll IN MANIFOLD INSTRUCTION. (Ver. 20.). They are "princely words," i.e. of t!1e highest and _noblest di~nity .. Prone to sink into the commonplace, the mean, the impure, they lift us to h1gli views of our callin"', our duty and our destiny. " ' IV. THEY PRODUCE JUSTICE OF THOUGHT AND SOUNDNESS OF SPEEOH; (Ver. ·21.) Thoug~t and spe?c~ togetbe~ form t_he garment of the soul. It is only the living sap of Gods truth w1thm us which can impart greennMs and beauty, blossom and fruit to the life. As water rises to the level from which it descended, so does all truth recei~ed into the soul go back in some form to the imparter, in thanks and in blessing.-.:.J.