The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 459

sufferer on life's highway is "'man to be pitied and relieved, how much more ore they who are" drawn unto death," who are" ready to be slain" I To see our brother or our siste~-made like ourselves, and capab~e as_ we are of inte?se suffering, holding life as precious as we ourselves regard 1t-m circumstances ot keen distress or of utmost .ianger, and to withhold our pity and our aid,-this is condemned of God. Whether we " pass by on the other side " (Luke x. 31), so as to hide our cruel indifference ae well as we can fr~m our own sight; or wh~t~er we pa~s close by, clearly recognizing our duty, but cynically and heartlessly dechnmg to do 1t; or whether we stand awhile and pity, but conclude that help will be too costly, and so pass on without helping· -we are guilty, we are unbrotherly, inhuman, altogether unlike our Lord. ' III. 'l'HAT EXCUSES WILL NOT AVAIL us. If we want to escape from our plain duty we seldom refose it point-blank. We do not say to our Lord or to ourselves "We will not;" we say, "We would if--," or "We will when--" When our brother is in difficulty or in sorrow, and urgently needs the extricating hand, the sympathizin" word, we may plead, to ourselves or to our neighbours, our ignorance of the sufferer, ou~ imperfect acquaintance with the circumstances, our want of time, our incapacity for assisting in that kind of trouble, our multitudinous and pressing duties and claims, etc. These may succeed with men, but they will not avail with God. God knows the hollowness of these poor pleas; to his eye they are only thin veils that do not hide our cruel selfishness; he judges that nothing justifies us in abandoning the perishing to their fate, and he condemns us. IV. THAT Goo Is GRIEVED WITH us FOR OUR OWN SAKE. He "that keepeth our soul" knows it. And because God does "keep our soul," he is grieved to see us tako up an attitude towards our brother which (1) proves us to be unbrotherly, and (2) helps to fix us in our cold-heartedness. For every act and instance of selfishness hardens our heart and makes it more capable of cruel indifference than before. V. THAT CRUELTY AND KINDNESS MOVE TO THEIR BEW ARD. "Shall he not render," etc. ? Cruelty and kindness must be cursed or blessed by the immediate effects they leave in the soul of the agent. But they also move toward a day of award. Then will a selfish indifference hear its strong, Divine condemnation (Matt. xxv. 41-46). Then, also, will a generous kindness listen to its warm, Divine commendation (Ma.Lt, xxv. 34--40).-C. Vers. 17, 18, 29.-The ignobler and the nobler spirit. (See homily on oh. xx. 22.) There can be no question at all, for the testimony of human history is everywhere and at all times the same, as to- I. Ou& DISPOSITION UNDER BIN, IN VIEW OF OUR ENEMIBS. These two passages indicate it. It is both passive a.nd active. 1. A disposition to rejoice at their dis.: comfiture; to exult in the secret places of the soul when we hear of their failure, of their defeat, or even of their suffering. 2. A disposition to inflict some injury on them by our own effort. The impulse of the man who is struck is to strike a.gain; that of the man who is cheated is to take the next opportunity of overreaching the treacherous neighbour; the prevalent feeling, under the long reign and malignant influence of sin, is to compass, in some way or other, the humiliation, or the loss, or the anger of the man who has injured us. We rejoice when our enemy falls; wo do more and worse than that-we do our beet, we use our ingenuity and put forth even our patient labour, to bring about hie overthrow. So coinmon, so universal, is this sentiment of revenge and retaliation, that no one is in a position to speak severely of his nei"hbour or to condemn him harshly. Yet we understand now- II. fTs UNWORTHINESS OF OUR NATURE. It was not to cherish such thoughts as these, nor was it to act in such a way as this, that our Divine Fa.the~ called us into being, and gave to us our powe~s. 1. W~ ~ere m:i,de to love and_to pity; and_ for us to harbour in our souls a foehng of pos1t1ve delight when we witness _the misery or misfortune of a brother or a sister is really inhuman; it is e. perversion, under tho malign power of sin, of the end and purpose of our ?6ing. 2. We were mad_e ~o help aud bless; and for us to expend the powers with wh1ch we ore endowed to 1n;urc, to inflict suffering and loss, to send as far as we can on tho ~o~nward road a hu~::m heart or human life,-thie is wholly unworthy of oureelvrs, 1t 18 e. sad dep!\rturo Jrom tLe intention of our Creator. We see clearly- orr. xxrv. 1-34.] THE PROVERBS. 477