Vers. 26-29.-Just conduct to ou,· neighbour. I. Tmrn WITNESS. (Ver. 26.) He who gives true and faithful a.nswers--especia.lly in courts of justice-delights, even as the sweetest kiss upon the mouth delights. The poet alludes to the effect upon the ear. The understanding can no more be delighted with a lie than the will can choose an apparent evil. "Strange as it may seem," says one playfully, "the human mind loses truth." We may add," when passion does not blind the intellect to its beauty." In the court of justice, all but· the guilty and those interested in his fate see the beauty of truth, and prize it above all things. Hence to spea.k the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is the solemn oath of witnesses. II. FALSE AND UNCALLED-FOR WITNESS. (Ver. 28.) To bear false witness strikes at the very root of conscience and moral obligation. But crimina.l, though in a less degree, is the volunteering of evidence without cause against another; i.e. when no object but private hatred and revenge is to be served. Compare the case of Doeg (1 Sa.m. n:ii 9, 10); the Pharisees with the wretched sinner in John viii.; the words of the Lord in John xv. 25. Speak evil of no man, not only that evil which is alto- gether false and groundless, but that which is true, when speaking of it will do more harm than good (Matthew Henry). III. DELillERATE DECEPTION. About a court of justice, which represents truth, there ga.thers a dark shade of roguery and falsehood; " persons that are full of sinister tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines and labyrinths." IV. BLilID INDULGENCE OF VTh'DICTIVE TEMPER. (Ver. 29; comp. eh. xx. 22.) Nothing is more deeply impressed in the Bible than the truth of compensation or retribution. But men must not take the law into their own hands. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith Jehovah." "Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. In taking revenge a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over he is superior. It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. The man who studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. which otherwise would heal and do well" (Bacon).-J. Ver. 27.-The prudence and policy of industry. I. ALL LABOUR IS ROOTED IN THE TILLAGE oF THE EABTH. 'Tia thus that bread was first wrung from her-by universal field-labour. Our ancestors were all agricultural labourers. All other industry must be fruitless and stop without the action of this spring. It is therefore the part of all prudent and good men to encourage cultivation, to improve the condition of the labourer and the farmer. All honour to the great statesmen of our time who have wrought in this cause. It is edifying to recollect that God has made Mother Earth the eternal mediator and millister to us of material blessings which lie at the foundation of all our life. II. DoMEBTIC COMFORT AND INDEPENDENCE REST UPON LADOUR. It is the "pru- dence of a hi"her strai.ri." than that which begins and ends with mere sensual comfort thnt is taught in this book. It is attention to law, it is unbelief in Jue~, which con- stitutes its principle. Self-c?mmand, unslothful habits, ~ons~ant exert10n, put _the bread ,. man eats at his own disposal, so that he stands not in bitter 11,Dd false relat10ns to other men.-J. Vere. 30-34.-Tlie sluggard's vinevard: a parable of slotlt. I. A PICTURE OJr. nn. XXIV. 1-84.] THE PROVERBS. 473
ll'IDOLENCE. (Vere. 30, 81.) The vineyard in the East corresponds to the garden, orchard, or small farm in the West. In the parable it is overgrown with nettles and thorns. The stone fence is crumbling for want of repair. We may contrast the picture in lea. v. 1, sqq., of what e. vineye.rd ought to be. The way in which God tilled the chosen people is the we.y in which he would have ea.eh of us attend to the garden of the soul. II. THE BIGHT CARRIES A. LESSON AND A WARNING. (Vers. 32-34.) Let us attend to the pa.re.hies of Nature. The eye is the great critical organ, and we never want lessons if we use it. The lesson here is-the effect has a cause-the wildness of Nature betrays the sin of man. Neglect marks itself on her truthful face. The sfuggard's soul is revealed in her aspect not less than in the unkempt hair and squalid face of the human being. Here is the" vile sin of self-neglect," which involves all other neglect, clearly mirrored. In such spectacles and in the gloomier ones of ma.larious swamps, once smiling fields, God writes his judgment on the broad earth's face against the crime of sloth. The W0//'71,ing is against poverty and want, which stride on with noiseless footsteps, rushing in at last with sudden surprise upon dreaming self-indulgence, like an armed robber. Sadden-seeming woes are long preparing, and no curse" causeless comes." III. THE MORAL APPLICATION. I. The analogy of Nature and the human spirit. ]Joth are of God. Both contain principles of life, beauty, and use. Both need cultiva- tion in order to their perfection. In both sloth and neglect a.re punished by loss and ruin. 2. The personal moral duty. To" awake from sleep," to" stir up the gift within us," to "work out our salvation," to be good husbandmen, good and faithful servants in this garden of the Lord-the soul. If not faithful here, how can it be expecteu that we shall be faithful in spheres more remote ?-J.