Vere. 7, 8.-The blessing of contentment. I. THE CONTENTED mND. (Ver. 7.) "Enough is as good as a feast;" "Hunger is the best sauce." 'l'o know when we are well off is the cure for the canker of envy and discontent. Deprivation for a time teaches us the need of common blessings, 'l'ho good of affliction is that it brings us nearer to God; and of poverty of spirit, that it is never without food. II. THE EVIL OF RESTLESSNESS. (Ver. 8.) "The rolling stone gathers no moss." Rarely does the wanderer better his condition. Unstable as water, be doth not excel. Those who seek satisfaction for the soul out of God are like those who wander into a fa.r country, like the prodigal. "0 my wandering ways! Woe to the soul which pre- sumed, if it departed from thce,'that it should find anything better! I turned on every 626 'l'HE PROVERBS. [err. xxvu. l-~27.
~ide, and all things were hard, and thou alone wast my Rest. Thou hast made us for thyself, 0 God, and our heart is restless till it finds rest in thee."-J. Vers. 9, 10.-The praises offriendship. I. ITS SWEETNESS. (Ver. 9.) It is compared to fragrant unguent and incense (Ps. civ. 15; cxxxiii. 2). It is more'delightful to listen to the counsel of a dear friend than sternly to rely on self. It is in h\.iman nature 'to love to see itself reflected in other objects; and the thoughts we approve, the opinions we form, we recognize gladly on another's lips. Talking with a friend is better than thinking aloud. II. Tir.rn-JIONOURED FRIENDSHIP SHOULD ADOVE ALL DE HELD DEAR .• (Ver. 10.) The presumption is that your own and your father's friend is one tried and approved, and may be depended upon. " The frieuds thou hast nnd their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." II!. FRIE~"DSHIP IS FOUNDED UPON ~PIRITUAL SYMPATHY. And this ranks before the ties of blood. The thought meets us in the proverbs of the ancient world in general. In the touching story of the friendship of Orestes and Pylades, e.g. it has its application. "This is what people say, 'Acquire friends, not relations alone'.' since a man, when he is united by disposition, though not of kin, is better than a host of blood-relations for another man to possess as his friend" (cf. Euripides, 'Or.'' 804). And Hesiod says, " If aid is wanted, neigh hours come ungirt, but relations stay to 'tuck up their robes." Divine friendship is the highest illustration of this love. Christ is above all the "Friend that sticketh closer than a brothcr."-J. •
Vers. 11-13.-The need of prudence. I.· PRUDENT CONDUCT REFLECTS CREDIT UPON o~E's P.ABENTS. (Ver. 11.) The graceless children of gracious parents are a special reproach, bringing dishonour even upon the Name of God (Gen. xxxiv. 30; 1 Sam. ii. 17). The world will generally lay the blame at the parents' door. The Mosaic Law severely punished the sins of the priest's daughter for the disgrace brought upon the holy office (Lev. :x.xi. 9). II. THE NEED AND ADVANTAGE OF FORETHOUGHT. (Ver. 12.) Prudence l1as been described as "the virtue of the senses." It is the science of appearances. It is the outward action of the inward life. It is content to seek health of body by complying with physical conditions, and health of mind by complying with the laws of intellect. It is possible to give a base and cowardly interpretation of the duty of prudence; that "which makes the senses final is the divinity of sots and cowards, and is the subject of all comedy. The true prudence admits the knowledge of an outward and real world." Thus true prudence is only that which foresees, detects, and guards against the ills which menace the life of the soul; for there is no profit in the prudence which seeks the world and risks the soul. '!'hose are "simple"· who, often with the utmost regard for their material interests, go on heedless of the moral perils which their habits incnr. III. THE FOLLY OF TIIOUGHTLESS SURETYSITTP. (Ver. 13.) This, as we have seen, is often dwelt on in this.book. It refers to a different condition of society from our own. ,ve may generalize the warning. Prudence includes a proper self-regard, a virtuous egotism, so to speak. When g?od-natured people complain that they have been dec~ivcd, taken in, and turn sourly agamst human nature, do they not reproach themselves for having lacked this primary virtue of prudence? The highest virtues can grnw only out of the root of independence (see eh. xx. 16).-J. Ver. 14.-Insincerity in friendship. The picture is that of one who indulges in the noisy ostentation of friendship, without having the reality of it 11.t his heart. , I. EXCESS IN PRAISE OR DLAMii: IS TO BF. GUARDED AGAINST.' Luther shrewdly observes "He who loudly scolds, praises; and he who excessively praises, scolds. They are not believed because they exaggerate." 'l'oo great praise is half-blame; Language should be used with sobriety and temperance. H. INSIKCEBITY 1s SUBJECT TO A CURSE. It is odious to God and to man. ·one of th~ constant moral trials of life is in the observance of the golden mean: of conduct i; CIB, XXVII, 1-27 .] THE PROVERBS. 527