HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-3.-Sayings against folly. I. THE INAPTNESS OF HONOURS TO THE FOOLISH MAN. (Ver. 1.) According to Jerome, it is something unheard of or impossible to experience, rain in the harvest-time (see 1 Sam. xii. 17, sqq.). The advancement of the fool appears to all men .unseasonable, even shocking. High place reveals the more clearly the smallness of small souls. Honour is the just reward of virtue and ability. Let men be virtuous and wise, that they may be honoured, and that external distinctions may not rather invite the contempt of observers. II. THE HARMLESSNESS OF UNMERITED 0URSES. (Ver. 2.) Aimless as the wayward :flight of sparrow or swallow, they fail to strike their object (see that in 2 Sam. xvi. 5, sqq.; 1 Kings ii. 8). "I would not hesitate to say," observes Trench "that the great glory of proverbs in their highest aspect, and that which makes tb;m so full of blessing to those who cordially accept them, is the conviction, of which they are full, that, despite all appearances to the contrary, this world is God's world, and not the world of the devil or of those wicked men wiho may be prospering for the hour. A lie ha,s no legs." Truth may be temporarily depressed, but cannot fall to the ground (Ps. xciv. 15; 2 Cor. iv. 9). But as for the lie; its priests may set it on its feet again after it has once fallen before the presence of the truth, yet this will all be labour in vain; it will only be, like Dagon, again to fall. III. FoLLY INVITES ITS OWN CHASTISEMENT. (Ver. 3.) The instincts of flesh and blood show like untamed and unbroken-in animals, especially in idleness, and demand the like severe treatment. "Our flesh and sense must be subdued," not flattered and fed. If we do not practise self-control, God will administer his chastisements.--J. Vers. 4-12.-Discussion ofJolly and its treatment. I. How TO ANSWER THE FOOL. (Vers. 4, 5.) 1. Not according to his folly; i.e. so chiming in with his nonsense that you become as be is. Do not descend into the arena with a fool. Preserve self-respect, and observe the conduct of the Saviour when to folly he "answered not again." 2. According to bis folly; that is, with the sharp and cutting reply his folly invites and deserves. We have also examples of this in the conduct of our Lord ; e.g. in reference to the inquiry of the Jews concerning the purging of the temple, which he answered by a reference to John's baptism (Matt. xxi. 25, etc.). 'l'he twofold treatment of the fool reminds that the spirit and motive must determine the act, and that opposite methocls may be eqn.ally good at different times. II. THE FOOL IB NOT TO BE TRUSTED. (Vers. 6, 7.) 1. With messages and com- missions. (Ver. 6.) He who does so is like one who amputates his own limbs, deprives himself of the means of gainin:i; his object, or who voluntarily drinks of an evil brewage. 2. His words are not to be trusted. (Ver. 7.) S:i.yings in the mouth of the fool are purposeless and pointless, when they even do no harm. Fools will not be prudent, says Luther, and yet would ever play the part of wise men. "A wise saying doth as ill become a fool as dancing does a cripple." The wise and weighty saying becomeB in hie mouth a jest. He who would instruct others in Divine wisdom must first have embraced it himself. Solemnity may be a cover for a sot; and the greatest folly is to impose on one's self. Ill. THE FOOL IB :t.OT TO BE HONOURED. (Ver. 8.) To lift him out of his placa by corr!pliments or honours is as inapt as to lay a jewel upon a common heap of stones. 'l'be sling makes the stone bound in it an implement of death; and to flatter the undeserving brings disgrace upon one's self. It is like putting sword or pistol into a madman's band. But the other interpretation is better. Ver. 9 shows how miRchievous are even good things in the lips and hands of those who only abuse them. Luther quaintly says, "If a drunkard sports with a briar, he scratches more with it than he allows to smell the roses on it; so does a fool o~en work more mischief with the Scripture than good." (The meaning of ver. 10 is so obscure, it must be left to cxc,f.;ctes; it appears to coincide with the foregoing-the fool is not to be trusted.) CH. XXVI, 1-28,) THE PROVERBS. 509
IV. THE FOOL IS INCORRIGIBLE. (Vers. 11, 12; see 2 Pet. ii. 22.) He returns to bis exploded nonsense, his often-repeated fallacies; and to his exposed errors of conduct (Matt. xii. 45; John v. 14; Heh. vi. 4-8). Relapses into sin, as into sickness, are dangerous and deadly. "A raw sin is like a blow to a broken leg, a burden to a crushed arm." The cause of these relapses and this incorrigibility is pointed out- deep-rooted self-conceit. This is the fruitful mother of follies. Let none deem himself perfect, but let every one cultivate humility as his dearest possession. God giveth grace to the lowly, but resisteth the proud and them that are wise in their own conceits.-J. Vers. 13-16.-The vice of idleness. I. IT IB FULL OF EXCUSES. (Ver. 13.) There is always some pretext for evading duty, however frivolous and absurd, with the idle man. Idleness is the parent of almost every sin; here of cowardice. He who excuses, accuses himself. Every manly act of exertion is imagined to be full of danger by the lazy mind. 'l'he sluggard does not see what danger of another and deadlier kind there is in stagnation. Danger is the brave man's opportunity, difficulty the lion in the way, by victory over which he may earn the laurel of victory and gain the joy of new conscious power. II. IT LOVES REPOSE AND SELF-INDULGENCE. (Ver. 14.) .As the door swings perpetually upon its hinges, without moving a step from its fixed position, so with the sluggard. He" turns round and round, with dull stupidity, like the dyer's horse in the ring" (eh. xix. 24). How often the cannot of the slave of vice or evil habit only disguises the will not of the sloth-eaten heart I To make mere rest our life-object is to contend against the order of God. III. IT HATES EXERTION. (Ver. 15.) Even tbe most necessary exertion may become by ha.bit distasteful. To take his band from his bosom, even merely to reach after the bread of life, is too much labour for him. And thuB his life, instead of being a continual feast, sinks into spiritual indigence and starvation. "The idle soul shall suffer hunger." IV. IT BREEDS CONCEIT AND FOLLY. (Ver. 16.) This is the strange irony of the vice, that the empty hand shall fancy itself full of wisdom. But such fancies are the very growth of the soil of indolence. It is impossible to make such a one understand his ignorance, for it requir-es knowledge to perceive it; and he who can perceive it has it not (Jeremy Taylor). The evil may creep into the Church. One may foll into an idle and passive piety, content with sitting still, hearing, praying, singing, from one end of the year to the other, without advancing one step in the practical Christian life (1 'l.'hess. v. 6),-J.