Vers, 23-28.-Moral invectiws. I. AGAINST BLANDER. (Ver. 23.) Here is a. striking picture. Cunning and slanderous habits beget a dark and gloomy expression on the brow; as a homely German proverb sa.ys, "He makes a. face like three dayg' rainy weather." The countenance, rightly read, is the mirror of the soul. Without the candid soul the brow cannot be clear and open. If we look into the mirror, we may see the condemnation which nature (that is, God) stamps upon our evil and unholy moods. II. AGAINST CONTENTIOUSNESS. (Ver. 24.) Better solitude than the presence of the quarrelsome in the home. A wife is either the husband's most satisfying delight or the cruellest thorn in his side. III. UNHOLY COWARDICE. (Ver. 26.) Faint-heartedness springs from neeil of genuine fe.ith. To see the chief struck down in battle dismays the band. "He is gone from the mountain, be is lost to the forest, Like a summer-dried fountain, when our need was the sorest!" And if the good man is a fountain of help and encouragement by his example, how does the drying np of such a spring-the failure to assert the truth and confront tho gainsayer-dismay and paralyze those who look on! IV. EXCESS IN SPECULATIVE THOUGHT, (Ver. 27.) There may be too much of any good thing, even of the pursuit of knowledge. It is too much when it disturbs the health; as a. common proverb of the Germans says," To know everything gives the headache." It is too much when it disturbs the moral balance and unfits for society. We must know when to leave the heights of speculation and nestle in the lowly vale of faith. V. WANT OF SELF-CONTROL. (Ver. 28.) It is like n.n undefended city or one in ruins. How weak is it to be able to endure nothing, to deem it a mark of strength to resist every provocation a.nd injury! Let us learn, after Christ's example, to be abused with- out being angry; to give soft words and hard arguments; and to cultivate self-control in matters of small moment, in preparation for those of greater. For" if we have nm with the footmen, and they have wearied us, how shall we contend with horses? "-J.
Ver. 25.-Good news from abroad. I. IT IS REFRESHING AND EVER WELCOME, This needs no illustration. Absence and distance raise a thousand fears in the fancy. Division and space from loved ones chill the heart. 'l'he arrival of good tidings bridge3 over great gulfs in thought. II. IT IS A PARABLE OF THE SPIRITUAL SPHERE. God has sent us good news from what, in our sins and ignorance, seems o. fo.r country. We have friends there. There is o. real link between us. We are really near. There is the prospect of o. final reunion.-J.
Ver. 2.-God's glory in concealing. A contrast is here drawn between the glory of God and the honour of man, especiilily of one class of men-the order of kings. I. THE HONOUR OF MAN IN INVESTIGATING. 1. The honour of royalty. This is "to seorch out a matter." Thu king is acting in a. way that honours him when (1) he searches human nature and knows all that he can learn about mankind, all, tbere1orc, that be can know about his subjects; (2) he acquaints himself with the character, tho disposition, the career, of those immediately about him, in whom he trusts, on whom he leans; (3) ho investigates different affairs as they arise, probing and sifting most carefuily, not satisfied until be has searched the whole thing through. It becomes a king to make the most complete and patient investigation into all national affairs. 2. The honour of mankind generally. This is to "search out" and become practically familiar with (1) all the resources this earth will yield us for our use and our enlarge- ment; (2) the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual necessities of those a.round us; (3) what is the true way to supply their need. 'l'his is that which most honours the disciples of that Son of man who came to minister and to redeem. II. THE GLORY OF GoD IN CONCEALING. The thought of the writer is obscure. We shn.11 certainly get into the track of it if we consider the three truths: 1. That God has no need to investigate. "All things arc naked n.nd open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do;" all the dark places of the earth, the hearts of lllen, tho THE PROVERBS. [OH. XXV, 1-28.
most abstruse problems which are so perplexing in our sight. 2. That he himself is the Inscrutable One. "His thoughts are very deep," his" ways past finding out." 3. That it i.s necessa1·y for him to conceal in order that he may truly bless • that he knows more than he can wisely reveal at once, Parents readily understa~d this, for they have frequently, constantly, to keep some truths out of sight, ready for a later day and fuller powers; also to decline to reveal, and to leave their children to find out by their own patience and ingenuity. 'l'his is very frequently the case with our heavenly Father. For our own sake he half reveals to us and half conceals from us (1) the way to become materially enriched, leaving us to find out what we need to know about agri- culture and the stores of wealth that are far below the surface; (2) the way to be mentally enlarged and established; (3) the way to moral and spiritual good. God has designedly and for our ultimate benefit and blessing left much to be searched for and brought out of the Bible-his providential, dealings with us, our future, both here and hereafter. It is the glory of man that he can discover and reveal what his fellow- -::.i~n are unable to make out. It is the glory of God that he cannot make known to us all that is present to his eye, or such revelation of present good and future blessed- ness would injure us; that he must hide from us a part of his infinite wisdom, some of his inexhaustible stores, and leave us to search and ascertain, that by our searching we may be "lifted up and strengthened."-C.