The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 504

social relations-to be agreeable without flattery, and sincere without rudeness. Here, ae ever, we must walk in the bright light of our Saviour's example, the All-loving, yet the All-faithful.-J. Vere. 15, 16.-The q'Ull'lll'elsorne wife. She is compared to the continual dropping of a shower; and the attempt to restrain her is like seeking to fetter the wind or to grasp at oil. I. rHE MONOTONY OF ILL TEMPER. It persists in one mood, and dyes all it touches with one colour,' and that a dismal one. , II. THE CORRODING EFFECT UPON OTHERS' MINDS. Fine tempers cannot resist this perpetual wear and tear; the most buoyant spirits may be in time depressed by this dead weight. . III. THE INFLEXIBILITY OF ILL TEMPER. Alas! it is one of those things we are tempted to say cannot be mended. Nothing indeed but that Divine grace which can turn the winter of the soul into summer is able to remedy this ill. In reliance upon this, the exhortation may be given, "Purge out the old leaven! "-J. Vers. 17-22.-Wisdom for self and for others. I. THE BF.NEFIT OF INTELLIGENT SOCIETY. (Vers. 17, 19.) 1. The collision of mind with mind elicits truth, strikes out fla8hes of new perception. A man may 'grow wiser by an hour's discourse than by a day's meditation. "Speech is like embroidered cloth opened and put abroad," said Themistocles to the King of Persia. In the collision of minds the man brings his own thoughts to light, and whets bis wits against a stone that cuts not (Bacon). 2. The reflection of mind in mind. (Ver. 19.) For we are all "like in difference," and never see so clearly what is in our own spirit as through the manifestation of another's. As we have not eyes in the back of our head, so is introspection difficult-perhaps, strictly speaking, impossible. Self-knowledge is the reflection of the features of other minds in our own. II. SPIBITUAL LAWS. 1. Diligent husbandry is rewarded. (Ver. 18.) 'Whether we cultivate the tree, the master, the friend, our own soul, this law must ever hold good. Everything in this world of God's goes by law, not by luck; and what we sow we reap. Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them justly, and they will show t,hemselves just, though they make an exception in your favour to all their rules of conduct. 2. The quenchless thirst of the spirit. (Ver. 20.) Who can set e. limit to the human desire to know, to do, to be'? 'l'he real does not satisfy us; we are ever in quest of the ideal or perfect. Evil excesses and extravagances of vicious passion are the reverse of this undying' impulse of e.n infinite nature, God is our true Good; our insatiable curiosities are only to be satisfied by the knowledge of himself. 3. The criterion of character. (Ver. 21.) According to the scale of that which a man boasts of, is he judged. If he boasts of praise, worthy things, he is recognized as a virtuous and honest man; if be boasts of vu.in or evil things, he is abhorred. "Show me what a man likes, and I will show you what he is n (this according to what seems the true rendering of this proverb). 4. Folly in grain. (Ver. 22.) In the East the husk is beaten from the corn by braying in a. mortar. But from the fool the husk of folly will not depart. It is possible to despise the lessons of affliction, to harden one's back against the rod. Mere punishment cannot of itself correct or convert the soul. The will, the conscious spiritual activity, must co-operate with God. A great man speaks of "that worst of afflictions-an affliction lost."-J. Vers. 23-27.-The man diligent in his business. I. EcoNOMY AND FORESIGHT. (Vars. 23-25.) He looks after the outgoings of his farm, w~ll aware that there is in all things constant waste, that even the royal crown is a perishable thing. All know- ledge is useful, and prudence applies through the whole scale of our being. Let the man, " if be have hands, handle ; if eyes, measure and discriminate ; let him accept and hive every fact of chzmistry, natural history, and economy; the more he has, the less he is willing to sll~re any one. Timo is always bringing the.occasions th~t dj~clo~e their value. Some Wisdom comes out of every natural and innocent action. 'lo preserve and hold to,,ether are as necessary as to gain in every kind of riches. II. THE FRUITS o; INDUSTRY, (Vers. 26, 27.) Joyous is the sight when man's toil.  528 THE PROVERBS. [en. XXVII. 1-27.