The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 555

practice of sin with equanimity. For the sake of the peace of his mind, everybody nature.Uy desires to stand we] I with his own conscience. Therefore there is a strong motive to lie to it, hoodwink it, cajole it; or, if these measures fail, to gag it, drown it, brand, or t.:rush, or stamp it out--if possible to murder it. 2. Pride also makes a man desire his own self-approve.I. The "lofty eyes" are disinclined to see any evil within. It is inwardly humbling to hear, amidst the plaudits of a bamboozled world, a keen inner voice exclaiming, " Thou art a hypocrite, a liar, a knave!" 3. Fear of coming judgment <lrives e. man into a refuge of lies rather than to remain out in the open, exposed to the pitiless storm. It is absurd, ostrich-like to hide one's head in the sand; but men are not always logical in their conduct. The feeling of danger disappears when a man persuades himself that he is innocent. II. LET us INQUIRE INTO THE CAUSES OF TITTS SELF-DECEPTION. 1. It springs from inclination. The temptation to flatter one's self helps to produce the delusion. Thus "the wish is father to the thought." 2. It is aided by a low standard of morals. Ouly when such a standard is prevalent and accepted will any sinful generation be capable of appearing pure in its own eyes. The higher the standard, the greater the feeling of guilt. Therefore the most holy men, being also the most spiritually enlightened, have the deepest consciousness of sin. 3. It is further encouraged by the example of others. 'l'here is a whole "generation" of these self-deluded people. Each man finds his neighbour as bad as himself. A single black sheep in the fold is marked by contrast with its fellows, and cannot but acknowledge its abnormal colour, but a whole flock of black sheep may readily forget that it is not white. m. LET us OBSERVE THE EVIL OF THIS SELF-DECEPTIO!i. The generation is pure in its own eyes, but it is not washed from its filthiness. 1. Self-deception does not cleanse. It only asserts what is false; it goes no way to make its assertion true. It rather tends the other .way, because there can be no effectual cleansing of the soul without confession and repentance. 2. It does not hide sin. It is not even a cloak thrown over what remains as foul as ever, though no longer visible. The generation may walk with lofty eyes, but its pride only deludes itself. Others can see the shame in spite of all the guilty people's loud protestations. Self-deception does not lead to a deluding of God. 3. Self-deception must be exposed and punished. It is itself sinful. For the sinner to walk with a lofty gait is for him to court his doom. The safer course is to follow the example of the publican, who would not so mnch as lift up his eyes to heaven while he smote his breast and cried, "God be merciful to me a sinner 1" (Luke xviii. 13). Vers. 18, 19.-The mystery of love. Agur sees four things that cannot be traced out. 1. "'l'he way of an eagle in the air." No track is followed by the king of birds as it cleaves the invisible fluid o.nd takes its own wild course from crag to crag. 2. "The way of a serpent upon a rock." Creeping out of a dark cranny, the reptile lies nnd basks on the hot stone, and then at the approach of an intruder darts into anot,her cranny-its course unknown. 3. " The way of a ship in the midst of the sea." \Ve te.lk of the ocean highway, but there is no beaten track, no worn course. The ship cuts the surface for a moment, and then the waves roll over its path, and in a short time every trace of its passage is lost in the wash of the waters. So it is with tho fourth mystery. The course of human love cannot be predicted or explained. It cannot be made to follow rule and precedent or to correspond to fond parental wishes. Love will go its own way free as the eagle in the air, unsuspected as the serpent on the rock, untracked as the ship in the sea. The three earlier wonders lead on to the fourth, and help to give colour and weight to it. The whole sentence thus gathers up its force into a climax. Nothing is so wonderful in the natural world as the great mystery of love. This may take three forms-- I. THE WILD FREEDOM OF THE EAGLE'S FLIGHT. Love can never be coerced. A forced marriage cannot be a love-match. It is natural that man and maid should lel\rn to love one another of their own accord, by the drawing of mutual sympathy. Friends me.y guide, warn, encourage, or hinder. But a matter whic~ concerns the lifelong happiness of two souls cannot be well arrauged by worldly contnvances. N evcrtheless, love that is untamed and utterly uncontrolled may lend to frightful mistakes, to folly and sin o.nd shame. The eagle is a wild e.nd dangerous bird-a terror to the helpless  584 THE PROVERBS. [ CB. XXX. 1--33.