The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 440

his Divine favour and a growing measure of likeness to our Lord. And we find what we seek. 3. By kind Christian helpfulness, by sympathy and succour freely and f;hdly given to those in need, we seek the blessedness of him that gives (Acts :xx. 36), Llie gratitude of true and loving hearts, the present smile and finnl benediction of the Son of man (Matt. :xxv. 34-40). And we :find and shall find it. Surely there is a reward for us; our hope shall not be cut off. No; let us "envy not the sinner·" l~t us make him wel_come to a]l _he ha~; le~ us try to elevate and enlarge his hope a~d !us reward by changmg the spmt of his mmd. As for ourselves, let it be in our hearts to say, "God is faithful who bath called us to the fellowship of his Son•" let us anticipate the anthem of the angels, and sing already, "Great and marvellou~ are thy works, Lord God Almighty,;'ust and true are thy_ways, 0 thou King of saints I "-C. Vers. 20, 21.-(See below.)-C. Ver. 23.-The freedom and the prfoe of truth. We have often to insist upon- I. THE FREEDOM OF THE TRUTH. In one sense, truth is essentially free. If firm and strong as the granite rock, it is also fluent as the water, elastic as the air. It belongs to no man, and cannot be patented or monopolized; it is the inheritance of mankind. We are all of us bound to communicate it freely, to "pass it on like bread at sacrament." This is emphatically the case with the truth of the gospel. "Ho I every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that bath no money; come ye, buy, and eat ... without money and without price;" "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." But the les~on of the text is- II. THE PRICE OF TRUTH. Truth has sometimes to be paid for; it has its own price, and we must be willing to buy it. 1. That truth/or which we involuntarily pay some price. We go forth into the world with crude, immature notions, which we find, by painful experience, have to be corrected and perhaps changed, Sometimes this necessary lesson is very costly to us. In this way we have to buy the truth ns to: (1) The checkered character of our human life. We have to learn, painfully enough, that it does not answer to our early dreams, but is sadly dashed with disappointment, with failure, with loss, with trouble; that it is many-coloured, with a large admixture of the dull or even the dark. (2) The imperfections of the good. That there is a large amount of profes- sion without any reality at all ; that some really good men allow themselves to be over- taken in serious fault ; that all good men have some defects which tarnish the perfect brightness of their character; that human excellency is not so much an attainment as an earnest and admirable endeavour. (3) The strength and weakness of our own character. We have to find, at the cost of much humiliation, where our strength ends and our weakness begins. Such truths as these we buy without bargain ; we do not agree to the price that we pay. There is not the freedom of contract we usually have in any purchase we make. But we may part willingly, and even cheerfully, as we are called upon to do, with that which we lose, thankfully accepting the truth we acquire; and so doing we practically and wisely " buy the truth." 2. The truth for which we voluntarily pay the price. (1) A completer knowledge of God's Word. Our knowledge of the book of God is very varied; it may be. very slight: or it may be very deep and full. How deep or how full depends on whether or not we will pay tbo price of this excellent wisdom ; the price is that of patient, reverent study. (2) The surpassing blessedness of true consecration; the peace and the joy to be had in Christ and in his holy and happy service. We do not know as much as we might, and as we should, of this; but we do not pay the price of knowledge. That price is whole-hearted surrender of ourselves to our Saviour and to his service, So long as we "keep back part of the price" we cannot know this experience; but if wo will "yield ourselves unto God" unreservedly we shall know the truth in its fulness. We may make a special point of (3) the beauty and excellency of Christian work; and the price of knowing this is the act of hearty and faithful labour, sustained by much earnest prayer for _the. inspiration and the blessing of God. We complete the thought of the text by cons1denng- III. THE ABSOLUTE PBIOELESSNESB orr THE TRUTH. " Sell it not." Heavenly wisdom, once p_ained, is not to be parted with for any consideration whatever. Nothing on earth represents its value. To lose it is to sign away our inheritance. It is to be held at all costs whatever.--C. en. XXIV. 1-34.] THE PROVERBS. 457