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Proverbs
Chapter Four
Proverbs 4
Chapter Contents
Exhortation to the study of wisdom. (1-13) Cautions
against bad company
Exhortation to faith and holiness. (14-27)
Commentary on Proverbs 4:1-13
(Read Proverbs 4:1-13)
We must look upon our teachers as our fathers: though
instruction carry in it reproof and correction
bid it welcome. Solomon's
parents loved him
therefore taught him. Wise and godly men
in every age of
the world
and rank in society
agree that true wisdom consists in obedience
and is united to happiness. Get wisdom
take pains for it. Get the rule over
thy corruptions; take more pains to get this than the wealth of this world. An
interest in Christ's salvation is necessary. This wisdom is the one thing
needful. A soul without true wisdom and grace is a dead soul. How poor
contemptible
and wretched are those
who
with all their wealth and power
die without
getting understanding
without Christ
without hope
and without God! Let us
give heed to the sayings of Him who has the words of eternal life. Thus our
path will be plain before us: by taking
and keeping fast hold of instruction
we shall avoid being straitened or stumbling.
Commentary on Proverbs 4:14-27
(Read Proverbs 4:14-27)
The way of evil men may seem pleasant
and the nearest
way to compass some end; but it is an evil way
and will end ill; if thou love
thy God and thy soul
avoid it. It is not said
Keep at a due distance
but at
a great distance; never think you can get far enough from it. The way of the
righteous is light; Christ is their Way
and he is the Light. The saints will
not be perfect till they reach heaven
but there they shall shine as the sun in
his strength. The way of sin is as darkness. The way of the wicked is dark
therefore dangerous; they fall into sin
but know not how to avoid it. They
fall into trouble
but never seek to know wherefore God contends with them
nor
what will be in the end of it. This is the way we are bid to shun. Attentive
hearing the word of God
is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart
and a good means of carrying it on. There is in the word of God a proper remedy
for all diseases of the soul. Keep thy heart with all diligence. We must set a
strict guard upon our souls; keep our hearts from doing hurt
and getting hurt.
A good reason is given; because out of it are the issues of life. Above all
we
should seek from the Lord Jesus that living water
the sanctifying Spirit
issuing forth unto everlasting life. Thus we shall be enabled to put away a
froward mouth and perverse lips; our eyes will be turned from beholding vanity
looking straight forward
and walking by the rule of God's word
treading in
the steps of our Lord and Master. Lord
forgive the past
and enable us to
follow thee more closely for the time to come.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Proverbs》
Proverbs 4
Verse 1
[1] Hear
ye children
the instruction of a father
and
attend to know understanding.
A father — Of me
who have paternal authority over you and
affection for you.
Verse 3
[3] For I was my father's son
tender and only beloved in
the sight of my mother.
Tender — Young and tender in years
and tenderly educated.
Only beloved — Beloved above all the rest.
Verse 4
[4] He taught me also
and said unto me
Let thine heart
retain my words: keep my commandments
and live.
Said — The following verses
at least as far as the tenth
verse
are the words of David.
Verse 7
[7] Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and
with all thy getting get understanding.
With all — Even with the price of all.
Verse 8
[8] Exalt her
and she shall promote thee: she shall bring
thee to honour
when thou dost embrace her.
Exalt — Let her have thine highest esteem and affection.
Verse 9
[9] She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a
crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
Grace — A beautiful ornament
such as they used to put upon
their heads.
Verse 16
[16] For they sleep not
except they have done mischief; and
their sleep is taken away
unless they cause some to fall.
For — They cannot sleep with quietness.
Verse 17
[17] For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine
of violence.
For — Wickedness is as pleasant to them as their bread.
Verse 18
[18] But the path of the just is as the shining light
that
shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
But — Just men daily grow in knowledge
and grace
and
consolation
'till all be perfected and swallowed up in glory.
Verse 19
[19] The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at
what they stumble.
Darkness — Full of ignorance and error
of uncertainty and
confusion
of danger and misery.
Verse 23
[23] Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the
issues of life.
Heart — Thy thoughts
will
and affections.
For — From thence proceed all the actions
as of the
natural
so of the spiritual life
which lead to eternal life.
Verse 24
[24] Put away from thee a froward mouth
and perverse lips
put far from thee.
Mouth — All sorts of sinful words.
Verse 25
[25] Let thine eyes look right on
and let thine eyelids look
straight before thee.
Right on — Direct all thine actions to a right end
and keep thy
mind fixed upon that way which leads to it
and neither look or turn aside to
the right-hand or the left.
Verse 26
[26] Ponder the path of thy feet
and let all thy ways be
established.
Ponder — Consider thine actions before thou dost them
and see
that they agree with the rule.
And — Let thine actions be uniformly and constantly good in
spite of all temptations.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Proverbs》
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-27
Verse 1
The instruction of a father.
A religious home
I. The love of a
religious home. Two kinds of love for the offspring.
1. The natural love.
2. The spiritual love
which has respect to the spiritual being
relations
and interests of the children.
II. The training of
a religious home.
1. The parent’s teaching is worth retaining.
2. The parent’s teaching is practical.
3. The parent’s teaching is quickening to all the powers
intellectual and moral.
III. The influence
of a religious home.
1. The susceptibility of childhood.
2. The force of parental affection. Religious homes are the great
want of the race. (David Thomas
D.D.)
Paternal exhortation
Doctrine and law form the staple of this appeal. By “law”
understand “direction
” for life is an ever-bisecting course
and
full of points that must bewilder inexperienced travellers. Do not venture upon
great sea voyages without proper instruments and without being taught how to
use them. So in life. Be enriched with doctrine or wisdom
and cultivate that
tender filial spirit which gratefully yields itself to direction. It is at once
wise and lovely for youth to consult the aged
and to avail themselves of
accumulated experience. Any other spirit is vain
self-conceited
frivolous
and unworthy. Why should the father be anxious to instruct and direct the son?
Because he has seen more of life
more of its mystery
its peril
its tragedy;
therefore his heart yearns to preserve the young from danger. The father’s
position is one of moral dignity and supreme benevolence. Having suffered
himself
he would save his children from pain. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Attend to know
understanding.
Knowing understanding
I. Young men have
need often to be called upon to get true knowledge.
1. Because of their own backwardness to the work.
2. The impediments and diversions from attaining true wisdom.
3. There are many things to be believed
beyond the power of
corrupted reason to find out.
4. There are many practical things to be learned
else they can never
be done.
5. There are many faculties of the soul to be reformed.
6. There are many senses and members of the body to be directed to
many particular actions
and each to its own.
Uses:
1. To blame young men that think their parents and teachers
over-diligent.
2. To urge children to attend to their parents instructing them in
piety.
3. To persuade parents and teachers not only to instruct
but also to
incite to attention.
II. Every young man
has need to be called on to look after true knowledge.
1. Because there is no disposition to this wisdom in the best by
nature.
2. There is much averseness
because the principles of faith are above
nature
and of practice against nature. (Francis Taylor
B.D.)
The invitation
I. Let our own
children receive instructions. This charity must begin at home.
II. Let all young
people take pains to get knowledge and grace. They are in the learning stage.
III. Let all who
would receive instruction come with the disposition of children. Let prejudices
be laid aside. Let them be dutiful
tractable
and self-diffident. (Matthew
Henry.)
Verse 3-4
For I was my father’s son
tender and only beloved in the sight of
my mother.
The religious education of Solomon
Solomon in these words gives us two pieces of his own private
history
in order to account for the zeal he shows in this book for the welfare
of the rising generation. The first is
that in early life he had a large share
in the affections of his parents; and the second
that he received the first
rudiments of that wisdom
for which he became afterwards so eminent
from their
early instructions. The affection of his father David did not
by excessive
indulgence
stand in the way of his education
as does the ill-regulated
affection of many foolish parents
who cannot cross the inclination of their
children
nor employ the authority to compel the attention of their light and
unstable minds to what is for their lasting benefit. His mother
Bathsheba
took her share with her husband
David
in the delightful task of instructing
young Solomon in the things of God. Of this Solomon says nothing in the text.
Though he speaks of the affection of both his parents
he mentions only his
father’s care of his education. But in another passage of this book we find him
referring to his mother’s instructions
and styling them “the prophecy which
his mother taught him.” And it gives us a most comfortable proof of the genuine
piety of both David and Bathsheba
and of the sincerity of their repentance for
their grievous sin which they had committed.
I. What kind of
education did Solomon’s parents give him when he was young? We cannot entertain
a doubt that David would give his favourite son
to whom he looked as his
successor on the throne
the best education which Israel
in his time
could
afford. A man of talent and information himself
and possessed of the amplest
means
he would certainly grudge no labour or expense to make him acquainted
with whatever could serve to fit him for his future station in life. The
schools of the prophets were for the instruction of the youth of Israel.
Whatever value we may attach to other branches of education
and however
important and useful instruction in those arts and sciences which serve the
purposes of this present life may be supposed to be
the knowledge of the
principles of religion is unquestionably far more valuable
important
and
useful. For as the soul is more valuable than the body
and eternity than time
so the knowledge which fits us for spending life as becomes rational
immortal
and accountable creatures
and which
through the blessing of God
may train us up for spending eternity in happiness
and joy
must be inconceivably more valuable than what refers merely to this
present vain and transitory world. We cannot
indeed
insure that our children
however carefully instructed in the fear of God
will profit by our care so as
to serve God in their generation; but early instruction is the probable means
of their future and eternal benefit--a means which God has enjoined parents to
use
and which He has promised in ordinary eases to bless. Let the means be
conscientiously employed
and let the fear that all may be unavailing rather
excite to greater diligence than repress exertion
and to earnestness for the
Divine blessing on the means of Divine appointment.
II. In what manner
did they conduct the business of his religious education?
1. They did not confide it entirely to others. There were good men
about David’s court
some of whom probably had a particular charge of Solomon’s
education
and in whom
as being prophets of God
David might have reposed the
most entire confidence for ability and fidelity. But Solomon’s parents do not
seem to have considered this as exempting them from the obligation of the law
of God to watch over their young charge themselves. They wished to see with
their own eyes
and to hear with their own ears
the progress that he made
and
to add their own diligence to that of his teachers
in order to promote his
spiritual benefit. A king and queen taking so much pains for the religious
instruction of their son is a pleasant sight
and must certainly silence and
shame multitudes of persons in private life
who either neglect this duty
altogether
or satisfy themselves entirely with the diligence of others
to
whose care they entrust it. You have no time
you say. But will you not find
time to die? and why should you so involve yourselves in the affairs of the
world as not to have time for doing those things which are necessary for your
dying well? If you have little leisure on working days
as perhaps many of you
have
what deprives you of time on the first day of the week?
2. They adapted their instructions to his years. If we wish to be
useful to the young our language must be plain and familiar; we must address
ourselves to the imagination even more than to the judgment
must confine
ourselves chiefly to first principles
and frequently repeat the same
instructions
that they may take the firmer hold on the memory.
3. They instructed him in the most affectionate
serious
and winning
manner. They showed by their manner that they felt the importance of the
instructions they gave him
and that in the pains they took they were prompted
by the sincerest love. Perhaps it is owing in some degree to a harshness and
ungraciousness of manner employed by some pious parents
that so little
advantage is gained by their children
from all the anxious pains taken on
them; and perhaps
in other instances
to a want of due seriousness of manner
when instruction is given.
III. The motives by
which they were induced to devote their attention to the religious education of
their son.
1. The warmth of their affection for their son. Did the affection of
his pious and penitent parents
think you
expend itself in the endearments of
parental fondness? in endeavours to gratify the passions of their darling
child
and to anticipate
were it possible
every foolish and preposterous wish
of his heart? Was it the only effect of it that they spoiled his temper by
indulgence
and neglected his education by their aversion to cross his humour
or subject him to necessary restraint? Such is the effect of the foolish
fondness of many parents; they do their children the greatest injury by the
injudicious manner in which they show their regard; they “doat too much
” as
saith the poet
“and spoil what they admire.” Not so the parents of Solomon.
Love to their son excited them to labour for his welfare. And what does a good
man or woman consider as best for their children? Doubtless what they consider
as best for themselves--the knowledge of God
the fear of God
the enjoyment of
God. When parents neglect the religious education of their children
I can
account for their negligence only in one of two ways--either they do not really
love their children
or they do not themselves believe the truth and necessity
of religion. The first I am reluctant to admit; for bad as the world is
the
instances of parents who do not love their children are few
and natural
affection shows itself
not unfrequently
very strong in the conduct of the
most abandoned of men. To be “without natural affection” is to be worse even
than the brutes. I will not say
then
that those parents who do not educate
their children in the fear of God are destitute of natural affection: the truth
is
that they do not really believe the religion which they profess; for did
they believe it
they love their children so well that they would use every
conceivable means within their power to make them acquainted with it
and so
put them in possession of its inestimable advantages. Did you believe the
gospel yourselves
you could not indolently look on and see your beloved
children perish. You would “travail in birth till Christ were formed in their
hearts.” You would
like the parents of Solomon
teach your children
while
they are yet young
“the things which belong to their peace.”
2. The example of their godly ancestors excited them to educate their
child in the fear of God. And why should not we also follow the commendable
practices of our godly forefathers? We are sufficiently prone to follow customs
which we have “received by tradition from our fathers
” which
perhaps
can
scarcely be justified; and must it not much more be our wisdom and honour to
imitate them in what is so
praiseworthy? What evidence do we give that we belong to the family of God
if
the customs and manners of the family are not adopted by us--if
instead of
“bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
” that they
may be “a seed which shall serve Him
that shall be accounted to the Lord for a
generation
” we shall suffer them to continue ignorant of the first principles
of religion
and a ready prey to every temptation?
3. The positive injunction of the law of God
though last mentioned
must have been first in its force on the conscience of Solomon’s parents
exciting them to see to his religious education. And this law is still
obligatory. It is not one of those things peculiar to the old dispensation
which have passed away
but part of that law by which we are bound
under the
dispensation of the gospel. Our obligation to attend to the religious education
of our offspring is inseparable from our relation to them as our children. When
God gives a person the blessing of children
He unites duty with privilege
the
duty of educating them for God with the privilege of enjoying them as His gift.
IV. The use which
Solomon made of his parents’ instructions. Here I can only remark
in general
that it appears
from the text
that he had profited by them. His parents
who
had instructed him with such pious care in his youth
at least his father
David
were many years dead before he wrote this book; but we find that
at the
time he wrote it
they still lived in his affectionate remembrance of them and
their pious care; and
in token of this
he quotes some of their early
instructions
and
in imitation of them
enforces on his son attention to the
same duties. And good reason had he to cherish a grateful recollection of them;
for
in thus training him
they had done him the greatest kindness--a kindness
for which he could never repay them
and which it would have been the highest
ingratitude if he should ever have forgotten. (James Peddie
D.D.)
Let thine heart retain my
words.--
Education: the child’s thought of the parent
This chapter begins with a charming little piece of autobiography.
The grateful memories of a father’s teaching and of a mother’s tenderness give
point and force to the exhortations.
I. The importance
of early impressions. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the permanent
effects of those first tendencies impressed on the soul before the intellect is
developed
and while the soft
plastic nature of the child is not yet
determined in any particular direction. We learn to love
not because we are
taught to love
but by some contagious influence of example
or by some indescribable
attraction of beauty. Our first love to religion is won from us by living with
those that love her. The affections are elicited
and often permanently fixed
before the understanding has come into play. The first thing is to give our
children an atmosphere to grow up in; to cultivate their affections
and set
their hearts on things eternal; to make them associate the ideas of wealth and
honour
of beauty and glory
not with material possessions
but with the
treasures and rewards of wisdom.
II. What is to be
the definite teaching of the child? The first object in the home life is to
enable children to realise what salvation is
as an inward state
resulting
from a spiritual change. We are tempted in dealing with children to train them
only in outward habits
and to forget the inward sources which are always
gathering and forming; hence we often teach them to avoid the lie on the
tongue
and yet we leave them with the lies in the soul
the deep inward
unveracities which are their ruin. We bring them up as respectable and decorous
members of society
and yet leave them a prey to secret sins; they are
tormented by covetousness
which is idolatry
by impurity
and by all kinds of
envious and malignant passions. The second thing to be explained and enforced
is singleness of heart
directness and consistency of aim
by which alone the
inward life can be shaped to virtuous ends. The right life is a steady progress
undiverted by the alluring sights and sounds which appeal to the senses. Here
in the passage
is a great contrast between those whose early training has been
vicious or neglected
and those who have been “taught in the way of wisdom
led
in paths of uprightness.” It is a contrast which should constantly be present
to the eyes of parents with a warning and an encouragement. (R. F. Horton
D. D.)
Verse 7
Wisdom is the principal thing.
The principal thing
I. If we consider
man’s spiritual state in the sight of God.
II. If we consider
man’s present happiness. The true happiness of man has its foundation in
wisdom. I go on the supposition of Christ that a “man’s life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things he possesseth.” Happiness depends on the state of
the mind. It is religion only which enlightens the understanding
which
influences the heart
and which brings into the favour of high heaven. Man
cannot be happy
because he is subject to passions and tempers which perplex
and disturb him.
1. Religion brings us into a state of mind which is calculated to
make us happy.
2. It gives a blessing to all around
and inspires contentment in
every state.
III. If we consider
the imperishable nature of this blessing. True religion accompanies us in life;
it lives with us in death; it goes with us into eternity.
IV. If we consider
its sovereign and peculiar influence in improving the world. This true wisdom
shall one day produce such a change that heaven shall come down to earth and
dwell among men. (J. Stewart.)
The “summum bonum”
A modern author says the “chief good must unite the following
qualities: It must be intellectual
or adapted to the higher and nobler part of
our nature; attainable by all
of whatever sex
age
or mental conformation;
unimpaired by distribution; independent of the circumstances of time or place;
incapable of participation to excess; composed essentially of the same elements
as the good to be enjoyed in a future state.”
I. “summum bonum”
described.
1. Consists in the possession of the highest knowledge.
2. In the application of the highest knowledge.
II. “summum bonum”
sought.
1. Attentively.
2. Constantly.
3. Lovingly.
4. Supremely.
III. “summum. Bonum”
enjoyed. It will be three things to us.
1. A guardian.
2. A patron.
3. A rewarder. (D. Thomas
D.D.)
The principal thing
I. What this
wisdom is. Sometimes the word refers to our blessed Lord Himself. It also means
that religion of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the sum and substance.
1. He is a wise man who knows himself. Till a man knows God he knows
not himself. God is
in that sense
a glass
in which a man sees himself
and
the nearer he comes to that glass the more he discerns himself. A man knows
himself when
as a law- condemned sinner
as a sin-condemned sinner
and as a
self-condemned sinner
he stands before the eye of God. Then there is
self-acquaintance--not till then. He now reads the hardest book in the world.
There is no book so hard as the book of a man’s own heart.
2. He is a wise man who draws near to God in Christ. He is a wise man
who
under a sentence of condemnation as in himself deserved
can in Christ
know how to meet the holy Lord God with humble confidence.
3. He is a wise man who
in the midst of the crookedness of this
world
is led to walk straightly with God.
4. He is a wise man who knows how to meet the trials of life.
II. Why is this
wisdom called the principal thing? That is the principal thing which is the
only abiding thing. True wisdom
like its source
is perennial
unchanging
everlasting. And it is the only satisfying thing. It comes from God; it leads
to God. It comes from above; it leads to above. It is a principle of
immortality
and it trains the soul and educates it for immortality.
III. The
exhortation
“get wisdom.” Get it; then it is to be got. It is to be got in the
way of seeking. For a man to feel his lack of wisdom is the beginning of
wisdom.
1. Do not mistake a counterfeit for wisdom.
2. Avoid first declensions.
3. Make a conscience of secret prayer.
4. Avoid dangerous associations.
5. Take heed as to your books.
6. Study to show religion at home as well as abroad.
7. Live upon Christ.
As your soul is under the constraint of His love it weakens the
world
it makes sin hateful
it raises above self
it purifies the motives
and
brings a man to walk nearly
closely with God. (J. H. Evans
M.A.)
Divine wisdom
Divine wisdom only deserves the name of wisdom.
1. Because it converseth in the highest things.
2. Because it seeks to approve itself to God.
3. Because it is both the mother and guide
or chariot-driver
of all
virtue
and guides it aright.
4. It is the greatest gift God ever gave man
for it directs him to
Jesus Christ
the wisdom of the Father
without whom is no salvation
and
therefore no true nor lasting gain by any other wisdom. Use: To reprove such as
boast much of human sciences
but make no account of heavenly wisdom. (Francis
Taylor
B. D.)
Grace is wisdom
and wisdom is the principal thing
I. The
commendation of wisdom. By wisdom is meant Christ the Wisdom of God; and grace
which is the only wisdom in a man. This can be shown in two ways.
1. The Lord counts nothing wisdom but godliness
and this He doth
everywhere style “wisdom.”
2. In God’s account all things are folly without grace. The heathen
were the greatest artists and philosophers of the world
those that most
inquired into the secrets of nature
as in Athens and Corinth
which were
universities and places far more famous than any other for knowledge
tongues
and all abilities. Take the greatest statist and politician in the world
which
hath also a great show and name for wisdom. Let him be without a principle of
grace
and his own policies will prove his own snare. Take the greatest men in
the world
and they are wise in their own conceits
yet is their life a vanity.
Wisdom acts by the highest principles. According to a man’s principles are the
rules of his actions. These are some of the high and excellent principles that
godliness lays in the soul.
(a) That the chief beauty of the creature is holiness.
(b) The happiness of the creature consists in communion with God.
(c) Sin is the greatest evil in the world.
(d) It is better to suffer than to sin.
(e) Things seen are but temporal.
II. An exhortation
to get this wisdom.
1. The excellency of grace lies in a conformity unto God.
2. From this conformity there ariseth a communion.
3. Grace fits a man for the service of God.
4. Grace turns all that a godly man enjoyeth into a blessing.
5. Grace fills the soul with all spiritual excellences.
6. Grace will preserve a man from all evil. (William Strong.)
The principal thing
Wealth
power
ease
pleasure
intellectual greatness are thought
by different persons to be the principal thing. God says
“Wisdom is the
principal thing.”
I. In what does
true religion consist? It embraces three things--regeneration
justification
and sanctification; and secures a fourth--glorification. Regeneration is a
change of heart; justification a change of state; sanctification a change of
character; glorification is the union and consummation of all other changes.
II. Why is true
religion the principal thing?
1. Because it more exalts our nature and character than anything else
can possibly do.
2. It puts man in possession of more solid and lasting enjoyment than
anything else possibly can.
3. It provides for the whole scope of man’s being
for soul and body
for time and eternity
for earth and heaven.
III. The
applications of the subject. Get true religion--by forsaking everything
previously sought as the principal thing; by repenting of the past
by coming
to Christ in faith and prayer
by seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit; by
imbuing the mind with gospel truths
submitting to its doctrines and precepts
and conforming the character to all its requirements. How great the happiness
of those who have true religion! (Essex Remembrancer.)
Religion is wisdom
Mankind is constantly in search after happiness; they seek it in
various ways of their own contrivance.
I. True religion
is the soundest wisdom. Real religion
when it takes possession of the human
bosom
always produces in its possessor a true concern for his everlasting
salvation.
II. This wisdom is
the “principal thing
” and therefore worthy of our earnest pursuit. If a man
consult his own safety and happiness he will seek it in religion. Our safety
and security are only in God. Religion opens to us enjoyments not to be found
elsewhere. Religion adds to every man’s relative usefulness. Only that
usefulness which springs from religious principles will be lasting. Religion
will be found to be “the principal thing” at the hour of death and at the day
of judgment. (George Clayton.)
Religion man’s only wisdom
I. The object that
is set before us. We are to pursue “wisdom” and “understanding.” These words
relate to that state of the human mind
when it is brought to apprehend Divine
truths
and to apply those truths to the course of human action. A wise man is
one who has gained
and who has taken home to his heart
the knowledge
essential to the right guidance of his steps towards heaven. A man of
understanding is one whose mind has been enlightened to a clear perception of
right and wrong
and who has within him those just and holy principles of the
law of God which lead him to pursue the good and to avoid the evil. The object
pointed out to you is
the application of the science of religion to man in his
present state
leading him to the discharge of duties which he owes to God
himself
and his fellow-creatures. There is no motive like a religious motive
to insure the performance of a right action. There is no law equal to the law
of God as a guide to what is good
and a check to what is evil. When this law
reaches the heart
and becomes the governing principle of a man’s conduct
it
produces effects which you will look for in vain from the purest precepts of
mere morality. Knowledge enlightens a man
and so great is its influence in
this way
that many at the present day are actually making it the object of
idolatry. We must not mistake the character of knowledge
or overrate her
influence. She does much for a nation to civilise and polish it
but she does
not teach us our duty to God
nor lead us to practise it. What is human
knowledge compared with the knowledge of religion? Our main object through life
should be to acquaint ourselves with the things of God
and to gain for our
mind that Divine illumination that shall enable us to pass in safety through
the varied temptations of the present world
and to reach the happiness of the
next.
II. The supreme
importance of this heavenly wisdom. The hearts of the fallen race of Adam are
naturally fond of sensible objects. We are like little children
pleased with
trifles; baubles amuse us; when
as beings destined for eternity
we ought to
be contemplating heaven’s august realities. What have the men who have been
most given to the things of the world gained even here by this earthliness?
Surely
nothing that deserves the name of satisfaction. The possession of
religion more than makes amends for whatever losses
or trials
or anxieties
we may experience in obtaining it. Religion is so incalculably important that
we cannot estimate its value. It is “profitable unto all things.”
III. The diligence
with which we should apply ourselves to the attainment of it. (William
Curling
M.A.)
The worth of wisdom
I. Its sacred
nature. Even in the ordinary concerns of life we feel the difference between
knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is not limited to prudence in relation to the
ordinary concerns of this life. Nor does it consist in science
however exalted
its flight; nor in philosophy
however ennobling the vantage-ground on which it
stands. Wisdom is the fear of God
the knowledge of God
the love of God
a
right state of heart before God. The wisdom proper for man as a fallen being
concerns the questions how he may obtain the favour of God
escape the
punishment due to sin
obtain glory
honour
and immortality. Wisdom is
connected with salvation.
II. Its supreme
importance.
1. Its superiority above all other objects to which you can possibly
direct your attention. Pleasure is a great attraction to the youthful mind
but
happiness is often sought where it is not to be found. That alone deserves the
name of happiness which will bear reflection. Wisdom
thought of as religion
is superior to fame
or wealth
or knowledge.
2. Its beneficial effects should be considered. Observe the character
thus formed; its influence on conduct and practice
and its relation to the
future.
III. The Scriptural
method of obtaining true wisdom.
1. There must be a deep conviction of the necessity of this wisdom.
2. A diligent study of God’s Word.
3. Fervent and habitual prayer.
4. A believing application to Jesus Christ.
5. Habitual retirement for meditation.
6. Practical carrying out of good principles in all the relations of
life. (J. Fletcher
M.A.)
Therefore get wisdom
The desire of knowledge is common to all human kind. All knowledge
is worth the having
but far more desirable
and infinitely above all
is the
knowledge of spiritual things. To this is given the name Wisdom.
I. It is possible
to get wisdom. We are living in an age of weak convictions
of guesses as
distinguished from beliefs
of opinions rather than established views. The most
popular phase of thought in these times is known as Agnosticism. The original
agnostic was Pyrrho of Ells. He was the universal sceptic
whose philosophy was
merely an interrogation point. But it is possible to know respecting spiritual
things. We have the faculty wherewith to apprehend them. This faculty or
spiritual sense is the link binding us to God. We have it as a Divine inheritance;
it belongs to us by reason of our Divine birth. We are environed by spiritual
facts. I do not say that we can exhaust all or any spiritual truth.
II. It is our
magnificent privilege and prerogative to inform ourselves concerning spiritual
things. We are Divine and immortal. In reaching out for spiritual truth we give
distinct evidence of our descent from God. The lowest attitude which men can
assume towards truth is that of credulity. A step higher and we reach the
doubters. Doubt is nobler than credulity. A sceptic is a better man than an
unthinking bigot. But the sceptic is not a learned man
for true learning
implies conviction. He is a half-educated man
and a little learning is ever a
dangerous thing. Doubt is always something to move away from. There are two
kinds of doubt as there are two twilights. The higher thing is belief. Faith is
substance resting on evidence; the substance of spiritual things resting on
evidence which appeals to the moral sense. The character of any man is measured
by his creed.
III. It is our
bounden duty
therefore
to have sound convictions as to spiritual truth. We
have no right to allow the great problems to go by default. If there is a God
it behoves us to know it. How shall we get wisdom? (James 1:5). God is light; open the
windows
and let God shine in. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Bow down at the mercy-seat and ask God to illuminate the dark chambers of your
soul. Get wisdom from God. (D. J. Burrell
D. D.)
The attainment of true wisdom
I. Show the nature
of wisdom
what it is
and wherein it consists.
1. The description of its nature and causes. Aristotle calls it that
intellectual virtue whereby we are directed in our manners and carriage
to
make choice of the right means in the prosecution of our true end. Tully
describes it as ars vivendi. Aquinas as the skill of demeaning a man’s self
aright in practical affairs. In Proverbs 14:8
we read
“The wisdom of
the prudent is to understand his way.” The philosophers call four of the
virtues “cardinal
” because all the rest turn upon them as upon their hinges.
These are prudence
justice
fortitude
and temperance. Prudence
or wisdom
consists of three parts
A sagacity of judgment to make a true estimate of
things
persons
times
and events. A presence of mind to obviate sudden
accidents
to meet every emergency. Experience and observation of the most
usual and probable consequences of things.
2. The several kinds and distinctions of it. One is a grace
or
virtue
the other is not. There is a wisdom that cometh from above. There is a
wisdom which is from beneath
earthly
sensual
devilish. There is a distinction
in wisdom according to the several ends which men propose to themselves and the
means whereby these several ends are to be attained; the gratifying of carnal
appetite; peace and contentment of mind; or spiritual blessedness. So wisdom
may be carnal policy
moral prudence
or spiritual wisdom.
3. The proper effects of wisdom. It directs to the right end
such as
may be perfective of our natures. It directs to consult about the means
which
must be fit and accommodate to the end
and must be honest and lawful in
themselves. Two things every man should propose to himself in the management of
his affairs
success and safety: in order to which he must observe four
conditions--forecast and providence against want; wariness and caution against
danger; order and union against opposition; sedulity and diligence against
difficulties. These four seem to be recommended in Proverbs 30:24
where four living
creatures are spoken of as being “exceeding wise
” the ants
conies (or mice)
locusts
and the spider.
4. The opposite to this virtue of wisdom
by way of excess is craft
by way of defect is folly.
II. The necessity
of wisdom
or the grounds of our obligation to it. Scripture gives both precepts
concerning it (such as Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:15); and commendations of it
(as Job 28:16). It is better than riches. It
is itself the greatest honour
and will be a means to advance a man in the
esteem of others. It is the truest and best pleasure. It is as our life. It is
necessary to the safety of our persons; and to the management of our affairs
with success. Objection: Is not wisdom a gift and privilege
rather than a
duty? Answer:
1. Christian wisdom
for the nature and substance of it is a duty
for the degrees a gift.
2. Moral or civil prudence is also a duty. The neglect of such
abilities as are suitable to a man’s station is not only a defect but a fault.
Three inferences:
1. No wicked man can be truly wise.
2. Grace and holiness are the truest wisdom.
3. If wisdom be the principal thing
then let it be our principal
endeavour to attain it. (Bp. John Wilkins.)
The best treasure
The figure of merchandise is still maintained. Work
plan
seek
toil
are the watchwords of true zeal in this matter. It is as if the youth
were face to face with many attractions--say
beauty
wealth
ease
pleasure
and the like--and whilst he is estimating their claims the father exhorts him
saying
“Get wisdom
get understanding; do not be deceived; insist upon having
the brightest treasure
and on no account be victimised by men who would urge
you to sacrifice future satisfaction to immediate gratification.” (J.
Parker
D. D.)
The best thing to get
Wisdom is of incomparable value
as it enables us to turn every
other good to a right use.
I. The true nature
of wisdom.
1. Wisdom is not synonymous with knowledge.
2. Wisdom is not merely the equivalent of prudence in relation to the
ordinary concerns of life.
3. Wisdom is not identical with philosophy.
4. Wisdom consists in reverence of the Divine
in the knowledge of
God
and a right state of the heart in relation to God. It is
in a word
religion. It is the choice of the highest end
pursued by the best means. It
consists in discharging aright those obligations which we owe to our glorious
Creator.
II. The supreme
importance of wisdom.
1. Remark its superiority to all other objects of human regard. True
wisdom sought and won and worn appeases the hunger and thirst of the soul.
2. The beneficial results of gaining wisdom. Formation of virtuous
and Christian character. Avoidance of evil. Eternal gain.
III. The proper
means of obtaining wisdom. (W. E. Daly
B. A.)
Application to wisdom and learning recommended and enforced
I. What is meant
by wisdom? Cicero calls wisdom the knowledge of things Divine and human
and of
their efficient causes.
II. Wisdom is the
guide to virtue. Virtue is the right discharge of our duty in every station of
life. Virtue contains the whole art of right and happy living. Did learning
afford no assistance to virtue; were pleasure the only benefit arising from
study; it must on every account be allowed to be an amusement of the noblest
kind
and every way best suited to the nature of man. He is most likely to
prosper in this life whose mind is best cultivated and enlarged with the truest
notions of things
and who joins to that cultivated understanding a
corresponding practice
not less excelling in virtue than in knowledge. Honour
too
is a general attendant upon wisdom. Moreover
the love of wisdom and the
practice of virtue
will tend above all things to lengthen our present
existence.
1. God
the great Father of the world
has created you a reasonable
being
and endowed you with faculties. The duty lies on you to improve and
enlarge them.
2. Your parents on earth do everything to help you in getting wisdom.
3. Society has a claim upon you. Then cultivate liberal science as
the handmaid of sublimer knowledge. Moral virtue and the improvement of the
heart are graces which give to science its lustre
and to life its worth. They
expand and enlarge the soul. Cultivate liberal science under the sanction and
guidance of religion. (W. Dodd
LL.D.)
The excellency of wisdom
I. An encomium of
wisdom. She is commended to us as the most excellent of all things. She holds
the principality amongst those virtues that ennoble
enrich
and adorn the mind
of man.
II. An earnest
persuasion
backed with arguments
to endeavour the acquisition and improvement
of this excellent virtue. Wisdom is an excellent
energetical virtue of the
mind of man
whereby
upon a clear apprehension and right judgment of things
the whole soul is carried Out
in a well-governed order
in an earnest and
constant pursuit of the most excellent attainments. There is a threefold act of
wisdom.
1. To propose the most excellent end.
2. To elect the best means.
3. To engage the most earnest endeavours in the diligent use of these
means.
III. Wherein does
the excellency of wisdom lie?
IV. This excellency
is attainable. It cannot be commended in vain. Man’s work in the world cannot
be done without wisdom. God has given man a rational soul. Wisdom may be
attained by--
1. A due government of man’s self.
2. A serious consideration of a man’s state.
3. A diligent study of the Holy Scriptures. (Thomas Willis
D.D.)
The wisdom and importance of religion
1. Religion is the principal thing
as it is the care of our
principal part--our rational and immortal nature.
2. Wisdom is the principal thing
for this secures our principal
interest.
3. Wisdom is the principal thing
as this comprises everything that
is amiable
virtuous and excellent.
4. Religious wisdom is the principal thing
because
while it secures
our main interest
it promotes all our subordinate interests.
5. This heavenly wisdom is the principal thing
for without it
worldly wisdom will do us no good.
6. Religious wisdom is the principal thing
as it is of universal
importance. (J. Lathrop
D.D.)
Religion and virtue a sovereign good
1. Widely different are the effects of moral good which is the object
of religion. The contemplation of an infinite Being
the study of His
astonishing works and dispensations
are objects which will afford unceasing
employment and satisfaction for the most exalted faculties of the sublimest
genius. The constant progressive improvement of the soul in virtue and
happiness
and the continual approaches to the perfection of its nature
are
ends worthy the existence not only of man
but even of the highest angel.
2. Another condition requisite to constitute the sovereign good is
that it be conducive to our well being. Happiness is not made up of transient
raptures. It consists in the enjoyment of permanent serenity and calm
satisfaction. Of such felicity what can afford a fairer prospect than a virtuous and
religious disposition? This tends to preserve the desires and passions within
due subjection
to prevent them from inflaming the imagination and biasing the
judgment. Such a disposition enables us to view objects in their true and
proper colours
unadorned with fictitious and delusive attractions.
3. The third quality requisite to constitute the sovereign good is
that it should be suitable to all times
places
and conditions of life. Even
when flesh and heart fail
when the world
with all its attractions
can no
longer amuse
then will the consolations of religion and virtue still support
us
and shed beams of comfort and hope to dispel the dreary shades of the dark
vale of death.
4. A fourth condition implied in our idea of the sovereign good is
that it should be durable and inadmissible. The satisfactions of religion and
virtue
being derived from God
are permanent and unchangeable as the source
from whence they spring. Not even death
which tears us from every sublunary
pleasure
can destroy these satisfactions
(B. C. Sowden.)
Wisdom
(a sermon to the young):--
I. What that
wisdom is which is here so earnestly recommended. It is twofold
viz.
speculative and practical
or wisdom of mind and wisdom of conduct Speculative
wisdom
or wisdom of mind
consists in the knowledge of our true happiness and
the way to it. Practical wisdom
or wisdom of conduct
consists in the steady
pursuit of it in the right way.
II. How it is the
principle thing. It is that which ought in the first and principal place to be
minded
secured
and preferred before everything else; the one thing needful
in comparison of which everything else has but a very inconsiderable
importance.
1. Though wisdom
as now explained
be the principal thing
it is not
the only thing that deserves our regard. The very term “principal thing”
implies that there are other things of a subordinate consideration that ought
to be minded in a proper degree. The affairs of the present life claim some of
our thoughts and time.
2. Wisdom is the principal thing
so the importance of every other
thing is to be measured by its connection with
or relation to it.
III. How wisdom is
to be attained.
1. Accustom yourselves to a habit of thinking on the best things.
Wisdom begins with consideration
the want of which is the source of universal
folly.
2. Would you be wise
let me beseech you to consider the importance
of improving the opportunities and advantages of your present education.
3.Would you be wise indeed
you must carefully inform yourselves of the will of
God and every branch of your duty from the sacred Scriptures.
4. Would you be truly wise
you must not only take care to furnish
your minds with a knowledge of the Christian principles in general
but of
those duties and principles in particular which will best adorn that character
and station wherein you may hereafter appear in the world.
5. In order to be truly wise
you must take care to know yourselves;
and particularly your constitutional sins.
6. Cultivate a sense of your constant dependence on God for
everything
and acknowledge that dependence daily.
7. Think often of death.
8. Earnestly pray to God to make you wise. (John Mason
M. A.)
Verse 8
Exalt her
and she shall promote thee.
Man and religion mutually exalted
True wisdom includes two things--first
the choice of the highest
possible good; secondly
the adoption of the best possible means for the
attainment of that good.
I. Man exalting
religion. There is a sense in which it may be said that man cannot exalt religion.
But--
1. Man may exalt it into his heart as a supreme passion. Abounding
around us are organisations which have for their object the reformation of
morals
the correcting or suppressing certain evil habits
social and national.
But mere external reformation without inward renewal will leave the man lost
and perishing. When man proposes to improve the condition of humanity he begins
outside
whereas God always begins inside. Man works from circumference to
centre
God works from centre to circumference. You must place religion on the
throne of your heart
give her supremacy
and the effect will be seen in the
temper
conversation
and life.
2. Man may exalt it into his will as the all-controlling force
the
life-principle. Tell me what the ruling force in the man is and I will tell you
his character. All intelligent beings in the universe are under the dominion of
either selfishness or benevolence. There is no sin apart from selfishness;
there is no virtue apart from benevolence. When Christ takes possession of the
heart the usurper is overthrown. Sin is no longer in the ascendancy
Christ
becomes king; but although the power
the supremacy
of sin is broken
evil in
a subordinate state may exist within. Christ can also expel His rivals.
3. Man may exalt it in his practice by living its lofty precepts.
Christianity is not a creed
it is a life. The morals of Christianity are the
purest the world has ever known
our enemies being judges. We want “living
epistles
” men and women sanctified to God
embodying in their daily life and
conversation the lofty precepts of the New Testament.
II. Christianity
exalting man.
1. It will promote your honour. Men everywhere yearn for a twofold
immortality--the immortality of the life in the world beyond
and the
immortality of posthumous fame in this world. Men have obtained honour in other
ways than by religion. But where is the man who will match for:honour the men
of “faith” mentioned in Hebrews 11:1-40?
2. It will promote your happiness. One of the strongest instincts of
the human soul is the instinct for happiness. All men covet it. In order to
gain this coveted prize man must be brought into harmony with himself. Man is a
being of strange contrarieties. Within him are forces of evil which drive him
into wrong courses; there is also a power of conscience which meets him in
these evil ways
denounces
condemns
and punishes him. You cannot secure peace
by forgetting the past. In order to peace and contentment you must be in
harmony with your surroundings.
3. Religion will promote your prospects. It supplies man with blessed
hopes
cheerful prospects
and a glorious future. (R. Roberts.)
Wisdom’s bargain
I. Exalt wisdom.
1. By entertaining lofty thoughts about her.
2. By making earnest efforts to obtain her.
3. By giving her the highest place in our affections.
4. By placing her upon the seat of government within the soul.
5. By helping her to reach her throne of universal dominion.
II. Wisdom shall promote
thee--
1. To the favour and fellowship of God on earth.
2. To a place of safety aria comfort among the trials and dangers of
life.
3. To a position of usefulness and honour amongst men.
4. To a throne of glory in the skies. (T. Whitelaw
M. A.)
She shall bring thee to
honour.
The true honour of man
The love of honour is one of the strongest passions in the human
heart. All wish
by some means or other
to acquire respect from those among
whom they live. Among the advantages which attend religion and virtue
the
honour which they confer on man is frequently mentioned in Scripture. By the
true honour of man is to be understood
not what merely commands external
respect
but what commands the respect of the heart
what raises one to
acknowledged eminence above others of the same species. From what cause does
this eminence arise?
1. Not from riches.
2. Not from rank or office.
3. Not from splendid actions and abilities which excite high
admiration.
4. Not in reputation derived from civil accomplishments.
5. Not from any adventitious circumstances of fortune.
We must look to the mind and the soul. The honour which man
acquires by religion and virtue is more independent and more complete than what
can be acquired by any other means. The universal consent of mankind in
honouring real virtue is sufficient to show what the genuine sense of human nature is on this
subject. The honour acquired by religion and virtue is honour Divine and
immortal. (Hugh Blair
D. D.)
Verse 10-11
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right
paths
Precept and example
Teaching and leading are closely allied
but are not identical.
It is possible and common to have the first in large measure where the second
is wanting. It is easier to tell another the right way than to walk in it
yourself. Only a godly man can bring up his child for God. Many will do evil;
few dare to teach it to their own offspring. This is the unwilling homage which
the evil are constrained to pay to goodness. Great is the effect when parents
consistently and steadfastly go before their children
giving them a daily
example of their daily precepts. An example of some kind parents must exhibit
in their families. If it be not such as to help
it will certainly hinder the
education of the young. God in the providential laws permits no neutrality in
the family. There you must either be for or against Him. (W. Arnot
D. D.)
The true parental aim
What is the prime object we should seek for our children? It is to
have them fixed and established in ways of wisdom and right paths. What are the
means of securing this object? It is teaching them and leading them. This
father had trained his son in character for wisdom and righteousness. Some
fathers are only concerned for the physical wants of their households. Others
are most concerned for the intellectual culture of their children. Yet others
look chiefly after traits of character. The true aim of parents should be the
culture of a God-fearing
God-obeying
God-loving character. In the world there
is a woeful lack of character. Then--
I. Teach children
right views of life.
2. Teach children right habits. You lead them into right paths--
Verse 12
When thou goest
thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou
runnest
thou shalt not stumble.
Monotony and crises
The old metaphor likening life to a path has many felicities in
it. It suggests constant change
it suggests continuous progress in one
direction
and that all our days are linked together
and are not isolated
fragments; and it suggests an aim and an end. “When thou goest”--that is
the
monotonous tramp
tramp
tramp
of slow walking
along the path of an
uneventful daily life
the humdrum “one foot up and another foot down” which
makes the most of our days. “When thou runnest”--that points to the crises
the
sudden spurts
the necessarily brief bursts of more than usual energy and
effort and difficulty. And about both of them
the humdrum and the exciting
the monotonous and the startling
the promise comes that if we walk in the path
of wisdom we shall not get disgusted with the one and we shall not be
overwhelmed by the other. But before I deal with these two clauses
specifically
let me recall to you the condition
and the sole condition
upon
which either of them can be fulfilled in our daily lives. “The path of Wisdom”
assumes a heightened meaning
for it is the path of the personal Wisdom
the
Incarnate Wisdom
Christ Himself. And what does it then come to be
to obey this command?
Let the Christ who is not only wise
but Wisdom
choose your path
and be sure
that by the submission of your will all your paths are His
and not only yours.
Make His path yours by following in His steps. Keep company with Him on the
road. You will say
“Leave me not alone
and let me cling to Thee on the road
as a little child holds on by her mother’s skirt or her father’s hand
” then
and only then
will you walk in the path of wisdom. Now
then
these three
things--submission of will
conformity of conduct
closeness of
companionship--these three things being understood
let us look for a moment at
the blessings that this text promises
and first at the promise for long
uneventful stretches of our daily life. Perhaps nine-tenths at least of all our
days and years fall under the terms of this first promise
“When thou walkest.”
For many miles there comes nothing particular
nothing at all exciting
nothing
new
nothing to break the plod
plod
plod along the road. Everything is as it
was yesterday
and the day before that
and as it will be to-morrow
and the
day after that
in all probability. Now
then
if Jesus Christ is not to help
us in the monotony
of our daily lives
what
in the name of common sense
is His help good for?
Unless the trivial is His field
there is very little field for Him
in your
life or mine. We all know the sense of disgust that comes over us at times
and
of utter weariness
just because we have been doing the same things day after
day for so long. I know only one infallible way of preventing the common from
becoming commonplace
of preventing the small from becoming trivial
of
preventing the familiar from becoming contemptible
and it is to link it all to
Jesus Christ
and to say
“for Thy sake
and unto Thee
I do this “; then
not
only will the rough places become plain
and the crooked things straight
and
not only will the mountains be brought low
but the valleys of the commonplace
will be exalted. “Thy steps shall not be straitened.” Walk in the path of
Christ
with Christ
towards Christ
and “thy steps shall not be straitened.”
Now
there is another aspect of this same promise--viz.
if we thus are in the
path of Incarnate Wisdom
we shall not feel the restrictions of the road to be
restraints. “Thy steps shall not be straitened
although there is a wall on
either side
and the road is the narrow way that leads to life
it is broad
enough for the sober man
because he goes in a straight line
and does not need
half the road to roll about in. The limits which love imposes
and the limit
which love accepts
are not narrowing. “I will walk at liberty
for I keep Thy
precepts”; and I do not want to go vagrantising at large
but limit myself
thankfully to the way which Thou dost mark out. Now what about the other one?
“When thou runnest
thou shalt not stumble.” As I have said
the former promise
applies to the hours and the years of life. The latter applies to but a few
moments of each man’s. Cast your thoughts back over your own days
and
however
changeful
perhaps adventurous
and
as we people call it
romantic
some parts
of our lives may have been
yet for all that you can put the turning-points
the crises that have called for great efforts
and the gathering of yourselves
up
and the calling forth of all your powers to do and to dare
you can put
them all inside of a week
in most cases. “When thou runnest
thou shalt not
stumble.” The greater the speed the greater the risk of stumbling over some
obstacle in the way. We all know how many men there are that do very well in the uneventful
commonplaces of life
but bring them face to face with some great difficulty or
some great trial
and there is a dismal failure. Jesus Christ is ready to make
us fit for anything in the way of difficulty
in the way of trial
that can
come storming upon us from out of the dark. And He will make us so fit if we
follow the injunctions to which I have already been referring. Without His help
it is almost certain that when we have to run
our ankles will give
or there
will be a stone in the road that we never thought of
and the excitement will
sweep us away from principle
and we shall lose our hold on Him; and then it is
all up with us. But remember the virtue that comes out victorious in the crisis
must have been nourished and cultivated in the humdrum moments. For it is no
time to make one’s first acquaintance with Jesus Christ when the eyeballs of
some ravenous wild beast are staring into ours
and its mouth is open to swallow (A.
Maclaren
D. D.)
Verse 13
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she
is thy life.
The hold-fast religion
Faith may be well described as taking hold upon Divine
instruction. To take “fast hold” is an exhortation which concerns the strength
the reality
the heartiness
and the truthfulness of faith
and the more of
these the better. If to take hold is good
to take fast hold is better. The
best instruction is that which comes from God: the truest wisdom is the
revelation of God in Christ Jesus; the best understanding is obedience to the
will of God
and a diligent learning of those saving truths which God has set
before us in His Word.
I. The method of
taking fast hold upon true religion. At the outset much must depend upon the
intense decision which a man feels in his soul with regard to eternal things.
This depends much on a man’s individuality and force of character. Many are
truly religious
but are not intense about anything. Some who in other matters have
purpose enough
and strength of mind enough
when they touch the things of God
are loose
flimsy
superficial
half-hearted. If the religion of Christ be
true
it deserves that we should give our whole selves to it. Our taking fast
hold depends upon the thoroughness of our conversion. Another help to a fast
hold of Christ is hearty discipleship. Another is a studious consideration of
the Word of God. An established Christian is one who not only knows the
doctrine
but who also knows the authority for it. An earnest seriousness of
character will help towards maintaining a fast hold of Christ. If these things
are in us and abound
there will grow around them an experimental verification
of the things of God. And in the mode of taking fast hold upon the gospel
practical Christianity
practical usefulness
has a great influence.
II. The
difficulties of taking fast hold of instruction.
1. This is an age of questioning. Conceited scepticism is in the air.
2. This is an age of worldliness.
3. There is
and always has been
a great desire for novelty.
4. The worst difficulty of all is the corruption of our own hearts.
II. The benefits of
taking fast hold. It gives stability to the Christian character to have a firm
grip of the gospel. It will also give strength for service. It will bring joy.
Persons of this kind are the very glory of the Church.
IV. The arguments
of the text. They are three.
1. Take fast hold of true religion
because it is your best friend.
2. It is your treasure.
3. It is your life.
Mr. Arnot
in his book upon the Proverbs
tells a story to
illustrate this text. He says that in the southern seas an American vessel was
attacked by a wounded whale. The huge monster ran out for the length of a mile
from the ship
and then turned round
and with the whole force of its acquired
speed struck the ship and made it leak at every timber
so as to begin to go
down. The sailors got out all their boats
filled them as quickly as they could
with the necessaries of life
and began to pull away from the ship. Just then
two strong men might be seen leaping into the water who swam to the vessel
leaped on board
disappeared for a moment
and then came up
bringing something
in their hands. Just as they sprang into the sea down went the vessel
and they
were carried round in the vortex
but they were observed to be both of them
swimming
not as if struggling to get away
but as if looking for something
which at last they both seized and carried to the boats. What was this
treasure? What article could be so valued as to lead them to risk their lives?
It was the ship’s compass
which had been left behind
without which they could
not have found their way out of those lonely southern seas into the high-road
of commerce. That compass was life to them
and the gospel of the living God is the same to
us. You and I must venture all for the gospel: this infallible Word of God must
be guarded to the death. Men may tell us what they please
and say what they
will
but we will risk everything sooner than give up those eternal principles
by which we have been saved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Education the business of life
I. Education is
the business of life. Begin with the infant
and observe how
from the very
first breath
every stage in its growth is but the antecedent of another
its
chief occupation being to get ready for the next. Infancy spreads out into
childhood
etc. Thus obviously is life occupied with preparation for the future.
To cause men to enter on that future with the best advantage is the purpose of
education
in whatever form dispensed. Consisting thus in preparation for the
future
it evidently implies three things--
1. The development of the faculties. These lie folded up in the
child
unobserved and inactive. By assiduous culture they are to be unfolded in
their true proportions
and to be made skilful by judicious exercise.
2. The acquisition of knowledge--without which one rushes upon the
future like a blind man into a wilderness. Knowledge is safety
light
and
power; ignorance is darkness
peril
and imbecility.
3. Special fitness for the special employment on which one is to
enter. Education is not to be conducted at random
nor with a merely general
intent. It has regard to the peculiar calling of the individual. It would fit
him to act well his part in the precise sphere which he is destined to fill.
This
then
is one sense in which education is the business of life. It is the
business of every season to prepare for the next. But there is yet a higher
sense. Life itself is but one period of existence
antecedent to another and
final period. Life itself is but the childhood of the immortal spirit
getting
ready for its future youth and eternal manhood. Life itself
therefore
is but
one long school-day; its great purpose the discipline of the powers
the
acquisition of knowledge
the fitting of the character
in preparation for that
immortal action to which the grave introduces. The perfect man--he who is thoroughly
furnished by the completest culture of all his powers
faculties
and
affections--is educated for heaven. To stop short of this is to leave the
Divine work incomplete. Made to reach indefinitely after wisdom
goodness
and
happiness
in this world and the next
he can rightfully propose to himself no
other end; and his education is in no just sense finished until this end is
attained. Whence we observe there are two essential deficiencies in the common
judgment: first that the cultivation of the intellect is limited to that small
exercise of the mind which just fits for some one occupation; and second
that
the cultivation of character is left almost altogether (in all formal
education) to circumstance and accident.
II. By what method
the desired result is to be effected. There are three processes--by
instruction
by circumstances
by self-discipline.
1. Instruction; by which I intend all the express external means of
human or of Divine appointment which are used in early or later life. This is
sometimes spoken of as including the whole of education. But a little
thoughtful observation convinces us that it is far from being so in fact; that
in truth formal teaching is little more than offering favourable opportunities
and excitements to the individual
which he may neglect
and so
with the best
instruction
remain uneducated. Essential as direct instruction may be
if left
to itself
unaided and alone
it can accomplish scarce anything. It needs the
concurrence of circumstances
and of the will of the instructed.
2. Circumstances have more to do with the acquisition of knowledge
and the formation of character than is often supposed. They make the atmosphere
by which one is surrounded
the climate in which he resides. They make up that
assemblage of invisible
intangible
indescribable influences which
in the
moral world as in the natural
give a complexion
hue
constitution
character
to all who are subjected to it; influences to which they of necessity yield
and which they in vain seek to counteract. It is of the first importance m
education to give heed to this consideration. Inattention to this is the cause
of frequent ill-success in what appear to be the best arranged processes of
instruction. Great pains have been taken
and expensive apparatus employed
with most unsatisfactory results. It was the wrong sort of pains. The
controlling power of circumstances was overlooked. The influences of situation
companions
example
and social habits
were disregarded.
3. To these processes is to be added that of self-discipline. Without
it nothing efficient can be done by force of teaching
or by the best
arrangement of most favourable circumstances. The individual must have a desire
to make progress
and must exercise his own powers in making it. It is when he
cheerfully
with voluntary labour and watching
applies himself to learn and to
become good
that success crowns the endeavour. The general uses of this
subject are as obvious as they are important.
Take fast hold
It is only “instruction” that we must take fast hold of. There are
some things that we must not even touch
much less must we try to grasp them.
Take fast hold of the wonderful things that are contained in the Bible.
1. We take fast hold of instruction by praying over it. If we pray
often over it we shall
of course
think much about it
and then we may
understand it better. And if we truly do this we shall
without fail
strive to
put the truth that we have thus taken hold of into practice.
2. It is a great help if we seek to impart what we have learned of
Jesus. If we tell what we know
it will fix it upon our minds. If we do not
thus take fast hold of instruction
we may lose it. (J. J. Ellis.)
Hold fast
I. Fast hold must
be laid upon wisdom’s precepts.
1. Because many thieves lie in the way to rob us of what wisdom
teacheth us--the devil
wicked men
the world
the flesh.
2. Because we may lose our wisdom ourselves--by negligence
by sinful
courses.
II. Wisdom’s
precepts must not be parted withal
but kept safe.
1. Because parting with it brings loss of other things
as of our
safety and likewise of our comfort.
2. Because it brings much danger
and that to all that is dear to us.
III. Holding fast
wisdom is the way to life. What thou losest of heavenly wisdom
so much thou
losest of thy life. (Francis Taylor
B. D.)
Religious instruction
Instruction is not here used for acquisition of knowledge or
intellectual enlargement. It is synonymous with wisdom
understanding
heavenly
teaching. Note--
1. The extreme earnestness which the wise son of David displays in
pressing his advice.
2. The text suggests the natural alienation of the heart from
instruction. It does not receive it willingly. It does not retain it
if
received
without difficulty.
3. The last clause of the text resolves the whole question into a
simple and intelligible proposition. It brings the matter to a point. Dost thou
desire to live--not the life that now is
the transient and ephemeral existence
of a corruptible body--but in that never-ending state when a thousand years
will be as one day? Then take fast hold of instruction--in obtaining her thou
hast secured thy object
for she is thy life. There is
in that word life
a
comprehensiveness which conveys the fulness of joy to the penitent soul. (Lord
Bishop of Winchester.)
Vigorous steadfastness
The path of wisdom requires the most vigorous steadfastness. Hold
the lessons of wisdom with a firm and unrelaxable tenacity; grasp them as the
drowning man the rope that is thrown out for his rescue. “Firmness
” said
Burns
“both in sufferance and exertion
is a character which I would wish to
possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint
and the
cowardly
feeble resolve.” (David Thomas
D.D.)
A wise caution
I. We must take
heed of falling with sin and sinners. Our teacher having
like a faithful
guide
shown us the right paths (Proverbs 4:11)
here warns us of the
by-paths into which we are in danger of being drawn aside. Those that have been
well educated
and trained up in the way they should go
let them not so much
as enter into it
no
not to make a trial of it
lest it prove a dangerous
experiment
and difficult to retreat with safety. “Venture not into the company
of those who are infected with the plague
no
not though thou think thyself
guarded with an antidote.”
II. If at any time
we are inveigled into an evil way
we must hasten out of it. If
ere thou wast
aware
thou didst enter in at the gate
because it was wide
go not on in the
way of evil men. As soon as thou art made sensible of thy mistake
retire
immediately; take not a step more
stay not a minute longer
in the way that
certainly leads to destruction.
III. We must dread
and detest the wax of sin and sinners
and decline them with the utmost care
imaginable. (Matthew Henry.)
Popular amusements
This advice bears
in its practical relation
on two important
features developed in practical affairs. It strikes at the way of the wicked--
1. As it is traced in those open violations of integrity which are
condemned alike by the laws of man and the laws of God; and--
2. In that great class of sins which falls under the term
“dissipation” in ordinary life
which is condemned by the laws of God
and too
frequently tolerated by the laws of man
which is
in itself
in fact
too
evanescent
too much a thing of the heart
sinks into too great triviality
is
too personal in its character
involving too exclusively the sacrifice of a
man’s own soul and life
and the dishonour of his Creator
to fall within the
province of human legislation. Popular amusements bear directly upon both these
classes of crime. They form a certain fascinating territory--a frontier lying
between them and the practice of godliness. To allure the youth
the
territories of criminality must be surrounded with a frontier of fascinating
pleasures.
I. Every step you
take in these forbidden gratifications is taken at your own cost. All the
difficulties that will occur to you there are encountered at your own expense.
In the very first principle of starting you forfeit all the protection
the
guidance
and the help which man may expect at any time
in justifiable
engagements
at the hand of God. God has designed that the whole of life should
be conducted in a subjugation of the mind to His own teachings; and
in the
path of these forbidden pleasures
amongst the allurements that awaken
thoughtlessness of Him
and draw the heart from Him
there is no covenanted
protection and guidance
and in that abandonment from God he has the elements of the final
curse.
II. The popular
amusements of our time are to be reprehended and forsaken because they are
always attended with inducements to greater wrong. It is not merely the
stealing and subtle influence that draws the heart away from God; it is not
merely the dreadful effect which the fascination has in soothing down the mind
into a state of self-gratification; it is not merely the fact that these
delusive pleasures draw the mind away from everything distinctly religious; but
they stand surrounded with inducements to drive the spirit home to the point in
which it must break through the restrictions
not of Divine law only
but of
human law also.
III. The direct
influence of the habits formed in scenes of popular amusement is altogether
opposed to the exercise of vital Godliness. In cases I have known
there was
the declination of the habits of godliness
and the very gift of prayer had
almost ceased; every element of piety was crippled. It is said that these
popular amusements are patronised by religious people
and that they may at
times be rendered subservient to virtue. The answer is that the peril in them
wholly outweighs every advantage that can be derived from them. (Charles
Stovel.)
Curiosity a temptation to sin
One chief cause of wickedness is our curiosity to have some
fellowship with darkness
some experience of sin
to know what the pleasures of
sin are like. Not to know sin by experience brings upon a man the laughter and
jests of his companions. Curiosity brought about Eve’s fall; and a wanton
roving after things forbidden
a curiosity to know what it was to be as the
heathen
was one chief source of the idolatries of the Jews. This delusion
arises from Satan’s craft. He knows that if he can get us once to sin
he can
easily make us sin twice or thrice
till at length we are taken captive at his
will. He sees that curiosity is man’s great and first snare. He therefore
tempts men violently while the world is new to them
and hopes and feelings are
eager and restless. The great thing in religion is to set off well
to resist
the beginnings of evil; to flee temptation; and for these reasons--
1. It is hardly possible to delay our flight
without rendering
flight impossible. Directly we are made aware of temptation we shall
if we are
wise
turn our backs upon it
without waiting to think and reason about it; we
shall engage our mind in other thoughts.
2. If we admit evil thoughts we shall make ourselves familiar with
them. Our great security against sin lies in being shocked at it.
3. There is a tendency to repeat an act of sin once committed.
4. The end of sinning is to enslave us to it. Our safeguard lies in
obeying our Lord’s simple but comprehensive precept
“Watch and pray
lest ye
enter into temptation.” (Plain Sermons by Contributors to the “Tracts for
the Times.”)
Breakers ahead
To the young it may be said
“Whatever be the evil course that
tempts you
your only safety lies in determined refusal to take a single step
in that direction
to tamper for a moment with the temptation”; and that this
axiom may be as a nail fastened in a sure place. Solomon gives it six strong
blows with the hammer
saying in regard to every such devious and sinful path
“Enter not
go not in it
avoid it
pass not by it
turn from it
and pass
away.” Some of the courses against which we need to be warned.
1. The way of the fraudulent. If you cannot be rich without guile be
content to be poor. To act or imply what is false is as bad as to utter a lie.
2. The way of the extravagant. Spending money you do not possess;
against debt. Start in life as you mean to continue
and let this be one of
your maxims
“Owe no man anything.”
3. The way of the gambler. This loathsome cancer is eating into the
very vitals of English society. There is no evil course that is more insidious
in its commencement
or more insatiable in the appetite it awakens.
4. The way of the drinker. Have the good sense to make a disaster
impossible by simply refusing to touch the dangerous thing.
5. The way of the libertine. Shut your ear against every whisper of
immodesty.
6. The path of the scoffer. This danger almost always springs from
unwise companionships. One sceptic in an office may unsettle all his fellows. (J.
Thain Davidson
D.D.)
Contamination of evil society
On the moors of Yorkshire there is a stream of water which goes by
the name of the “Ochre Spring.” It rises high up in the hills
and runs on
bright and sparkling for a short distance
when it suddenly becomes a dark and
muddy yellow. What is the reason of this? It has been passing through a bed of
ochre
and so it flows on for miles
thick and sluggish
useless and
unpleasant. The world is full of such beds of ochre . . . Enter not in the path
of the wicked
and go not in the way of evil men. (Church of England
Teachers’ Magazine.)
The two paths
I. The path of the
wicked. Bad men are here described in such terms as imply a very wretched state
of society. They delight in acts of violence and plunder. Such men form the
criminal classes. There are other evil-doers who are much more dangerous
because
their evil-doing is not so criminal
is not usually of a sort that exposes them
to the penalties of the law. One feature of bad men is pointed out. They cannot
rest unless they do mischief
to some one. There are men who take an intense pleasure in corrupting their
juniors and making them as bad as themselves. One of the chief pleasures of sin
lies in making others sinful
just as
on the other hand
one of the chief
pleasures of goodness is making others good. The tempter prefers the form of
the serpent
and does his evil work subtly
slyly
stealthily. Yet the wicked
are blind
blinded sometimes by ignorance
sometimes by passion. They do not
see what their true interest is.
II. The path of the
just. “As the shining light.” By the “just” we are to understand the good man;
not a man altogether free from sin
but one who
though far from faultless
sincerely desires and earnestly strives to live in all things according to the
will of God. The word “just” signifies “commanded.” A just man is a commanded
man
a man whom God commands
a man who acts according to God’s commandments.
The just man is something more than a man who is true
honest
fair in his
treatment of his fellow-men. The just man is he who
to the full extent of the
knowledge of God’s will
obeys it
or does his best to obey it
and so is a
commended man. The path of the just is the just man’s course of life. We have a
description of a good man’s life in its character
its progress
its
perfection. Light in Scripture bears several meanings. It means knowledge in
relation to the mind
holiness in relation to the conscience
happiness in
relation to the heart. The life of a just man is a life of growing knowledge
holiness
and happiness. “Unto the perfect day.” What is the perfect day? Never
seen or experienced by Christians in this world. A poor idea of the perfect day
that man must have who thinks that he has already attained to it. The
difference between day and night is due to this
that the portion of the earth
on which we live turns towards or from the sun. And it is the turning of our
souls towards Him who is the Sun of Righteousness that makes our night of
ignorance and sorrow turn into the day of knowledge and goodness and happiness.
(Hugh Stowell Brown.)
Verse 15
Avoid it.
Companionships to be avoided
The same decision of character which men evidence in their worldly
affairs is necessary also in the affairs of eternity. The duty here enjoined is
one by no means pleasing to the natural mind
and cannot possibly be softened
down to suit the taste of the worldly man. It depends not upon our inclination
but upon the command of God. Our salvation is at stake.
I. What society we
are to avoid. Now here there can be no difficulty with regard to persons of
openly immoral lives
whose society none but persons like themselves can
possibly approve. Again
the case of those who boldly deny religion
or are
attempting to make converts to their own infidel opinions
is equally clear.
But
doubtless
the maxim goes much further; so that we ought to shun the ways
not of these more notorious characters only
but in general the ways of all who
do not love and fear God. These persons may be differently divided
and may have
various shades of virtue and vice amongst them. A cold-hearted formalist
an
inconsistent professor of religion
a man who knows what is right and
Scriptural
but has no true feeling of piety in his soul
is a dangerous
companion for him who would walk humbly with his God. Shall we
it may be said
go out of the world and forsake even our friends and connections in life
because they may not be religious?
II. How far the
society of those who do not love and fear God is to be avoided. Now here we
cannot as Christians hesitate to admit that if it could be proved that the Word
of God required absolute and unceasing seclusion from all who are not partakers
of true religion
it would be our duty to obey the command. But it is not
necessary
or indeed Scriptural
to suppose that this separation from all
worldly things and persons is thus entire and absolute
for then
as the
apostle argues
we must needs go out of the world. We may lawfully have
commerce and transact our daily affairs with various persons who are not
partakers of true religion. Neither
again
must we forsake the professing
Church of Christ merely because many hypocrites and false members are to be
found connected with it. In this world the tares and the wheat must thus grow
together
and to try completely to separate them would be a vain attempt. Nor
still further
are we so to forsake the society of men as to prevent our
labouring for their salvation. We may converse with sinners for their good.
What we are then to avoid is unnecessary familiarity with sinners and a
disposition to comply with their sins. When David would describe “a blessed
man
” he speaks of him as not walking in the counsel of the ungodly
nor
standing in the way of sinners
nor sitting in the seat of the scornful. If our
intercourse with men be so conducted as to weaken our affections towards God
destroy the tenderness of our conscience
make us forget or neglect our souls
or unfit us for prayer and communion with our Maker
we may be assured we have
transgressed the Scriptural limit.
III. But it may be
asked
why
after all
is the path of sinners to be thus carefully avoided? Why
should Solomon so multiply his cautions--“Avoid it
pass not by it
turn from
it
and pass away”? What is the real danger? The duty under consideration ought
to be attended to
both for our own sake and for that of others. Let us
suppose
then
that a person is really in earnest respecting his salvation
and
let us examine what will be the effect of his neglecting the duty in question.
Alas
how hard will he find it to
preserve the true spirit of religion in the midst of worldly society! Evil
example will gradually prevail. The conversation of the wicked has far more
power to corrupt the righteous than the conversation of the righteous to amend
the wicked; just as it is much easier for the healthy to become diseased by
communication with the sick than for the sick to be restored by communication
with the healthy. One reason why the society of those who are not truly
religious will be a great hindrance to the Christian is that if he will not
give up the dictates of his conscience he must expect to meet with the scoffs
of men. There would be less danger to the Christian in mixing with sinners if
it were not that they are always ready to entice him to their evil ways. Good
men
it is to be lamented
are not usually as anxious to bring their companions
to the knowledge and practice of true religion as bad men often are to tempt
the good to wander from it. Many a person
after feeling his heart impressed with
the things belonging to his eternal peace
has been fatally ruined by mixing
with those who viewed his religion with suspicion or contempt
and were
desirous to make
him forget the sacred impression. Besides
if we truly desire to serve God
the
company of the wicked will be offensive to us. But the strongest reason for
obeying the command in the text is that our salvation is endangered by the
society of the wicked. The man of wisdom hath taught us
“He that walketh with
wise men shall be wise
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (Christian
Observer.)
Keep at a distance
A noble ship
with British colours flying was making its
way across the ocean on a summer afternoon. Yet the face of the pilot wore an
expression of deep anxiety
and he cast many uneasy glances in one direction
while steadily steering the opposite way. The captain came up to him with a
pale and anxious countenance. “Surely we must now be safe?” “It is best to err
on the right side. We can easily get too near
but we can hardly keep at too
great a distance.” What was this mysterious peril? It was a whirlpool
one of
those deceitful eddies which
once approached
will draw the finest vessel
irresistibly into certain destruction. There are worse whirlpools on land than
those of the ocean. There are sins which
if you once come within their
influence
are almost sure to drag you into their vortex of ruin. Is not
drunkenness one of these? Is not gambling one of these? Is not dishonesty one
of these? Sins of every kind have something of this fatal fascination
but some
more than others. Keep at a distance from the path of the destroyer.
Evil to be avoided
There is no need of your trying to face certain temptations. You
are foolhardy to try it. Your only safety is in flight. It is as fifty against
five thousand. If you be given to appetite
escape the presence of decanter and
demijohn. If you are given to pride
go not amidst things that flatter it. If
your proclivity be toward uncleanness
like Job make a covenant with your eyes
that you look not upon a maid. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Verse 16
Their sleep is taken away
unless they cause some to fall.
The proselytism of error
It is of the wicked that Solomon here speaks. What a restlessness
does this indicate! What a zeal in a bad cause! The subject suggested by the
text is the restless activity of evil men in the propagation of evil. A man is
accountable for his creed as well as for his practice--accountable inasmuch as
it must be through his own fault that he believes what is false just as much as
it is through his own fault that he does what is wrong. This takes all force
from the objection that they who sleep not except they bring over others to
what themselves hold to be true are performing a duty rather than committing a
sin. It would seem as though error were far more energetic than truth. Why
should falsehood be thus zealous in diffusing itself? Allowing that it sets an
example
allowing that it addresses a rebuke to truth
how are we to account
for its being so surprisingly energetic and devoted? The holder of falsehood
may make religion a matter of party. Error is that which the warmest adherent
may support from pride
or jealousy
or ambition
but truth is that which can
enlist these passions in none but the hypocrite. Error can work on all the
corruptions of our nature
whereas truth has to hold these corruptions in
check. That falsehood should have a missionary spirit follows on the fact of
its being falsehood
and therefore forced to lean upon others for support. (H. Melvill
B.D.)
Verse 18
The path of the just is as the shining light.
The path of the just
The essentials of a just man’s character have been in all ages the
same. The path
the life-course
of such a man
is like the shining light. I do not think that the path of the
justified is compared to the course of the sun
from the period of his
appearance in the morning to the time of his meridian height. The sun is an
emblem
not of the justified
but of the Justifier. The just are those whom the
Sun of Righteousness shines upon. The new life of the converted is like the
morning light. At first it seems an uncertain struggle between the darkness and
the dawn. It quivers long in the balance. When the contest begins
however
the
result is not doubtful
although it may for a time appear so. Once begun
it
shineth more and more unto the perfect day; and it is perfect clay when the sun
has arisen
as compared with the sweet but feeble tints of earliest dawning.
The path of the just will be like the morning
it will increase until dawn
break into day. The analogy holds good more exactly still
if we take into view
the actually ascertained motions of the planetary system. When any portion of
the earth’s surface begins to experience a dawn diminishing its darkness
it is
because that portion is gradually turning round towards the sun; while any part
of the earth lies away from the sun
in proportion to the measure of its
aversion
it is dark and cold; in proportion as it turns to him again
its
atmosphere grows clearer
until
in its gradual progress
it comes in sight of
the sun
and its day is perfect then. The path of the just is precisely like
this. Arrested in his darkness by a love in Christ
which he does not
understand as yet
he is secretly drawn towards Him in whom that love
in
infinite measure
is treasured up. As he is drawn nearer
his light increases
until
at last he finds himself in the presence of the Lord. There follows in the text
a counterpart intimation fitted to overawe the boldest heart. “The way of the
wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.” The darkness is in
him. A dark place in the path may be got over
but darkness in his own heart
the traveller carries with him wherever he goes. To the blind
every place and
every time is alike dark. It is an “evil heart of unbelief.” The way to get
light is to turn from sin. (W. Arnot
D. D.)
The Christian’s light
The righteous man possesses an understanding brightened by the
rays of Divine truth
for the Sun of Righteousness hath shone into his soul.
His heart is beautified by the light of purity
diffusing a pleasant lustre
around him in his conversation; and his spirit is cheered with the light of joy
and consolation from the countenance of God. This light is not like that of a
taper which burns itself away into darkness
but like that of the morning sun
which shines brighter and brighter
till it blazes with meridian splendour. (G. Lawson.)
The path of the just
The point of resemblance between the path of the just and the
shining light.
I. As to origin.
The shining light emerges from the darkness at the dawn of the day
and so does
the path of the just
or the believer on the morning of conversion. There is a
great spiritual crisis
call it by whatever name you will. Our Lord speaks of
it as a new birth.
II. As to progress.
There should be progress--
1. In knowledge of Divine things.
2. In holiness of heart and life.
3. In Christian usefulness and activity.
4. In growing meetness for heaven.
III. As to
perfection. Progress ending in perfection
but not here. The perfect day is not
for earth
but for heaven. As to knowledge of Divine things
here we know in
part
there we shall know even as we are known. Here the feeble intellect is
soon exhausted in its search after knowledge
there it shall soar with untiring
wing. As to purity
what a change! There are spots on the disc of the brightest
sun that ever shone
but there are none on the spotless robes that have been
made white in the blood
of the Lamb. As to useful activity
it will assume a more exalted character
it
will embrace a wider range. (A. Wallace
D. D.)
The path of the just
I. The character
of this man--the just man. A just or righteous man is he who conforms himself
to the laws of God’s government over men. The perfectly just man is he who has
never in any matter trampled upon the rule of life laid down by the all wise
God
and who continues to walk onwards by the same perfect rule. But no such
character is to be found among men. The all-wise God has found out a way
whereby He may be just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus. All the
righteousness and merit of God’s own Son becomes theirs. The child of faith is
the only just man.
II. The
starting-point of his life-course--from dawn.
1. The believer is likened to the light
inasmuch as now he has
attained to wisdom
holiness
and happiness. Light
as symbolical of the good
speaks to us of the enlightenment of the understanding
the purity of holiness
and true happiness. Light is also significant of natural good
of happiness.
2. The believer is likened to the shining light
or the bright dawn
of morning. This figure speaks to us of the transcendent beauty of holiness. It
is the heavenly ideal of all that is bright and fair and fresh.
III. His actual
course--shineth more and more. Growth is the one grand law in the kingdom of
light. The believer at his new birth is but a babe in Christ. The children of
the kingdom grow from strength to strength. Where there is no growth there is
no life. Perfect manhood
“the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ
” is the goal short of which no child of the Father dare stop. Every
being grows according to the measure of his own inward nature
and so does the
child of God. This Divine necessity of the Christian’s growth is symbolised by
the figure of the text. The Christian’s growth
like all growth
is gradual; it even proceeds often
by means of apparent retrogressions. Often the Christian seems to retrograde.
Yet even from a sad eclipse he will come forth
shining with a fuller splendour
of blessed light.
IV. His
goal--everlasting noon--the “perfect day.” From the path of the just all
shadows of the darkness
shall pass away. Children of light though we be
we are often doing the deeds
of darkness and walking in the dark and cloudy day of trial. But it shall not
be so always. A Godlike purity
and God Himself as our joy
constitute the two
elements of the light of the perfect day
into which our faith and patience
grow more and more. (James Hamilton
M.A.)
The path of the just
I. The believer’s
natural state of darkness and misery.
II. The brilliant
course he pursues after being turned from darkness to light. His way is as the
“shining light.”
1. Beautiful in its appearance. The light of grace begins from the
first to adorn the actions of the righteous. Their simplicity of mind and
teachableness of spirit endear them to all their brethren; their lowliness and
humility attract universal notice
while the fervour of their love excites
admiration and esteem. The very shades in their character serve as a contrast
to the excellency of the change that has passed upon them. As they proceed
their
graces are more matured
and even thus early they “adorn the doctrine of God
their Saviour.”
2. They shall continue to be beneficial in their influence. They have
a work to do
and God will ensure them in a course of well-doing
or the Divine
purpose would fail.
3. Believers
like the sun
are constant in their progress. The sun
invariably pursues his wonted course. The believer’s progress is directed by
the same power.
III. The glorious
consummation of the text. (The National Preacher.)
The path of the just
It is not from the observation of earthly circumstances that we
believe in the reign of eternal righteousness. It is because the voice of God
has spoken the truth into the hearts of men
because we are ethical beings
because we know by the divinest instinct within us that righteousness reigns.
The destiny of men is ethically determined. It is not so altogether upon this
earth
where great distinctions are created through other circumstances; but in
the long run
in the eternal issue
moral character will determine destiny.
I. The beauty of
the simile. The reference is evidently to the light of day
the sunlight. It
suggests--
1. Gladness.
2. Power.
3. Beauty.
4. Order.
5. Glory.
II. The progressive
aspect. From dawn to full day. The life of the just is not completed at once.
All progress. Not all at the same rate.
III. The words “path
of the just” include character
condition
and destiny. The light of goodness
of joy
and of glorious destiny. And these three things are involved in one
another. (John Thomas
M.A.)
The path of the just
like the shining light
Religious virtue is recommended to our affectionate esteem
to our
choice and constant pursuit
by the character of wisdom. The goodness of the
sincere is like the morning dawn
which is weak in its beginning
but gradually
increases in brightness
till it arises to its meridian glory. The path of the
just is nothing else but the practice of virtue
of moral piety
of
righteousness
of temperance
of charity. The whole of virtue is comprehended
and every essential branch of it must be reduced to practice in the path of the
just.
1. The way of the just
morally considered
is a regular scheme
formed according to one model
and under one uniform direction. The principle
of virtue is always an unvarying guide
admirable for its simplicity
without a
mixture of interfering counsels
without a diversity of inconsistent views.
2. The path of the just is accompanied with inward serenity and
satisfaction. The principles of religion
diffusing their influence through the
whole scheme of life
set everything about us in a fair and amiable light.
3. The path of the just sends light abroad--that is
communicates
profitable instruction to
and hath a useful influence on
those who have the
opportunity of observing it. The path of the just is like the spring of the day
animated by an inward undecaying principle; it rises in splendour from its low
and more obscure beginnings
going on gradually to perfection. (J.
Abernethy
M.A.)
The path of the first
or persevering piety
The just man here is not the man who merely begins
it is the man
who perseveres. This man’s path is no meteor
which gleams and expires; no
rising day
lowering into mist and darkness; it is the path of the cloudless
light of heaven. Persevering piety is as the light that shineth more and more.
I. Because of the
increasing demonstration which it furnishes of the truth and excellency of
religion. There are many proofs of that excellency
some argumentative
others
experimental. These last have always an increasing power.
II. Persevering
piety possesses an increasing assurance of the Divine favour. This is the very
light of the soul
the only source of peace in the conscience. At first it is
obtained by faith; but in the case we are supposing faith grows into a habit
and keeps the soul in perfect peace.
III. Persevering
piety has increasing pleasures. There can be no growing happiness without a
preserved sense of Divine acceptance. Piety opens sources of mental pleasures:
pure
because not applied to sinful objects; rich and constant
because flowing
from sources of real good. All these have in them a principle of increase.
Increasing pleasures are opened by the Word and ordinances of God
by Christian
communion and religious exertions. All these
to a spirit prepared for them by
the salvation which is of grace
through faith
present pleasures which never
cloy
which afford richer and still richer satisfaction.
IV. Persevering
piety has the advantage of an increasing evidence of the wisdom and care of God
in His providential arrangements. The man who perseveres in piety is more wise
to see
and more careful to mark
the abounding instances of Divine
interposition.
V. Persevering
piety has brighter and more cheering views of the eternal state. The conviction
of the world’s vanity
experience of the world’s trials
are designed to
quicken the progress of the affections towards man’s heavenly home. Everything
in piety moves towards God; but it is God in heaven
as fully revealed there.
1. See
then
that your
path be indeed the path of the just. Walk in it by the strength of regenerate
habits
fed by prayer
and by communion with God.
2. Remember that the way of the wicked is darkness; it is all error
and perplexity.
3. Recollect
for your encouragement
that
bright and cheering as is
the light upon your path
it is but the light of the morning. (R.
Watson.)
Two paths before the young man
The Word of God hath imposed upon man a choice of alternatives.
Two ways--two ends; two characters--two consequences; two aims or objects in
the life that now is--two states or conditions in the life that is to come.
When the alternative is presented to a rational and responsible being we think
he can only make one choice; he would surely reject the evil and embrace the
good. Two things
however
are practically opposed to this reasonable
conclusion; the choice may be evaded or postponed
and human philosophy and
vain deceit have left no artifices unassayed to perplex what God has made
straight. The period of life when for the most part the path of the individual
is to be chosen is that of youth; a stage of life in which the passions are strong
and the
judgment is weak
the mind sometimes scantily furnished
and the will too often
altogether unregulated and uncontrolled. Hence
in a moral sense
the period of
youth is doubly endangered
because
impetuous and precipitate in its very
nature
and urged by impulse rather than actuated by principle
it will not
readily pause to deliberate at all; and if it does
false views are enticingly
presented to it. The one of these dangers--which the apostle calls the “vain
deceit of philosophy”--may be escaped by taking truth for a counsellor; and the
other--the perilous folly of procrastination--by hearkening to reason as our
guide.
I. The path of the
just. The path of “light” is that which discloses to those who pursue it their
own motive of action; to others who examine them
their principles; and both to
themselves and to others who assume the same standard of judgment
the
consequences of those actions. Ignorance of what is personally
relatively
socially
or even politically right
can never co-exist with a genuine belief
in the gospel of Christ Jesus. By the “just” we understand the man who has
determined to do right simply because it is right; resolving all first
principles of right into the expressed and recorded will of God. By the “path”
of such a man we understand the habitual tenor of his course and conduct among
mankind.
II. The way of the
wicked. By the “wicked” we understand the man who is indifferent to that which is good; who
acknowledges
or at least obeys
no law of action but his own pleasure
or his
own interest
or his own inclination
or his own appetite. The way of such a
man is “darkness
” from the absence of any fixed principle or of any certain
end. If peace is essential to happiness
on Scriptural principles happiness
never can be realised by the ungodly. All nature is full of enemies to him who
hath not God for his friend. See
then
the importance of making the right
choice in early life. (Thomas Dale
M.A.)
Of increase of grace
and perseverance therein unto the end
Increase of grace and perseverance are benefits flowing from or
accompanying justification.
I. Increase or
growth of grace. That real grace does increase is evident from three things.
Scripture testimony. God has appointed a certain stature that His children
shall grow to. This is the end of Divine influences and the effect of Divine
ordinances.
II. How a Christian
grows in grace.
1. Inward
into Christ.
2. Outward
in good works
in all the parts of a holy life
piety
towards God
and righteousness towards men.
3. Upward
in a heavenly disposition.
4. Downward
in humility
self-denial
self-loathing
resignation to
the will of God.
III. The causes of
this growth.
1. Union with Christ.
2. Communion with Christ in His ordinances and in His providences.
IV. The difference
between true and false growths.
1. True Christian growth is universal.
2. The hypocrite soon comes to a stand
the Christian goes on to perfection.
V. True grace
grows always.
1. It does not always grow
nor at every particular season.
2. It never decays utterly.
3. A Christian may be growing and yet not be sensible of it. This may
cause fear and trembling. (T. Boston.)
Perseverance in grace
is another benefit flowing from or accompanying justification.
I. What this
perseverance is. To persevere is to continue and abide in a state into which
one is brought.
II. How is this
perseverance to be understood.
1. Not of all who profess Christ.
2. Of all real saints
those who are endowed with saving grace.
Saints may lose the evidence of grace
so that they cannot discern it in
themselves. They may lose the exercise of grace. They may lose much of the
measure of grace they have had.
III. The saints
shall persevere to the end.
IV. What are the
things which make hypocrites fall away?
1. Satan’s temptations.
2. The world’s snares.
3. The corruptions and lusts of the heart.
V. The grounds of
the perseverance of the saints.
1. The unchangeable decree of God’s election flowing from the free
and unchangeable love of the Father to them.
2. The merit and intercession of Christ the Son.
3. The perpetual abiding of the Spirit.
4. The nature of the covenant of grace.
VI. The means of
perseverance.
1. God’s ordinances and providences.
2. The duties of religion
and exercise of the graces
faith
fear
watchfulness
etc.
Then look well to the foundation of your religion
for sincerity
will last
but hypocrisy is a disease in the vitals that will end in death. Let
those whose care it is to be found in Christ be comforted amidst all their
temptations
snares
and corruptions
in that God has begun the good work and
will perfect it. (T. Boston
D.D.)
The Christian life a progressive state
I. It is in every
man’s power to make his life a progressive state. If we trace the progress of
the human mind from the first dawnings of sense and reason
we may see from
what small beginnings it acquires a prodigious store of intellectual knowledge.
The moral powers
like the natural perfections of the body
are more equally
distributed than the intellectual; and in them there is as large a field laid open
for our advancement towards perfection as there is in the intellectual. No man
knows what he can do till he is firmly resolved to do whatever he can. There
are often abilities unknown to the possessors which lie hid in the mind for
want of an occasion to call them forth. One can scarcely have too high an
opinion of the powers of the human soul
especially in the affair of our salvation
and scarce too low an opinion of men’s inclinations to exert these powers in
that important case. But God gives to every man adapted and effectual grace. We
have the same natural power
the same gracious aid and assistance
for
persevering and improving in every virtue and grace
as we had originally for
attaining them. What
then
should restrain or hinder our continual progress?
One reason why men do not quicken their pace more in the ways of goodness is
the mistaken judgment they form by using a deceitful standard. They are not at
any trouble to get exact notions of perfection and goodness
and to examine
their lives by such truly imitable patterns. So far
then
from considering
this life as a dull round of the same insignificant trifles
we ought to look
upon it as an indefinite line wherein every step we take is
or ought to be
an
important and valuable advance in goodness.
II. Some reasons
and considerations to engage us in such a practice.
1. This progressive state is our duty. God’s design is to make men as
virtuous and pious as possible. It is in our power to make a constant and
continued progress in the kinds of these perfections
and thence arises our
obligation to advance in the degrees as far as the sum of our faculties
exercised and improved to the utmost
can carry us. Our condemnation will not
lie in this
that we did not exactly transcribe the original
but that we did
not make the copy so complete as was in our power. If a man thinks himself
already as virtuous and good as he needs to be
it is a certain sign that he
has not yet arrived at any eminence in virtue.
2. The advantages we shall reap from the progressive state.
Reflections:
1. How groundless and unreasonable are all complaints of human life
as an insignificant
capricious
and wayward state.
2. If the progressive is the right state of life
what shall we think
of those who are pursuing an opposite course? (J. Seed
M. A.)
The progressive lustre of the Christian’s character and example
The use of light is twofold--it enables us to see and to be seen;
and from this twofold use of light arises a twofold application of the text.
I. The path of the
just
as he sees it himself. “As a shining light.”
1. Because it is the path of Christ. He is the true light. Whatever
light exists upon earth
whether physical
intellectual
or spiritual
comes
from Him as the Creator by whom all things were made. By Him the lights of
reason and of conscience were lit up in the soul of man to guide him to a
knowledge of God and duty. And after the candle of the Lord had been so dimmed
and defiled by sin as to become comparatively useless
then did He
as the Sun
of Righteousness
arise with healing in His beams
to restore in the minds of
His believing people that light which sin had so grievously obscured and
beclouded. To this light the eyes of God’s people were from the earliest ages
of the world directed
for its dawn was coeval with the fall of man. Taking the
Lord Jesus as his guide and exemplar in the ways of salvation
the path of the
just is as a shining light.
2. In respect of the increasing certainty and confidence wherewith he
walks in it. As the rays of light move in straight lines
so also the path of
the just is a straight-forward path--free from those perplexing turnings and
windings which mark the ways of worldly wisdom and carnal policy. It is also a
path of security in which he can walk without fear of danger. The path is
moreover pleasant and joyful. So far
then
as his own understanding and
feelings are concerned
the analogy between the path of the just and the
shining light is evident and exact.
II. the path of the
just as it appears to his neighbours. As the light of Divine truth and love is reflected to
us from the person and character of our Lord Jesus Christ
in like manner the
light of His grace and holiness is reflected to the world from the lives and
characters of His faithful disciples. As a comet increases in brilliancy in
proportion to the nearness of its approach to the sun
so the Christian’s light
will always be more conspicuous in proportion to the closeness of his communion
with the Sun of Righteousness. As light is the most plain and conspicuous
object in nature
so the Christian
walking in the integrity of his heart
is
so transparent and straightforward a character as to be known and approved of
all. As the same light shining upon a smooth and polished surface is reflected
with greater lustre than from a rough and muddy one
so the same grace is
reflected with greater brilliancy by some Christians than by others. As a professed
follower and disciple of the Son of God
the Christian is imperatively called
upon to let his “light shine before men.” If we are the children of light
we
are called upon to walk as such. Beware
then
of continuing in the dim
twilight of a lukewarm and unstable profession. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Sun of Righteousness. Take Him for your guide and exemplar
and He will
assuredly lead you to everlasting joy. (William Ford Vance
M. A.)
Quiet progress
All life means progress. Stagnation is death. Our life is either a
halt
a return
or a pressing forward.
I. In quiet times
we see more of the truth.
II. It shows us
more in truth. Not only more of it
but more in it.
III. In quiet
progress we make more use of truth. Through quiet progress in our lives
we are
extending Christ’s kingdom.
IV. In this quiet
progress you will be more reconciled to changes that must come.
V. We are more
restful in the inner evidences of truth. (W. M. Statham.)
On the progressive nature of religion in the soul
We derive a great part of our ideas from comparison
and the mind
is pleased with similitudes. No comparison can be more appropriate and
beautiful than that employed in the text.
I. The character
which is here denoted by the term “just.” “Just” expresses a person who has
without omission or fault
fulfilled every branch of moral obligation. The same
word is employed to denote that character which extends not its virtuous
exertions beyond the discharge of the demands of strict justice. A distinction
is made between justice and goodness. “Just” also characterises the person who
having adopted right principles
directs his conduct by them
as far as is
compatible with human infirmity. The term is also employed to signify those who
through the
merits of Jesus Christ
and the means of grace and salvation which He hath
instituted
are restored to the favour of God. The two last of these meanings
come into the text. The just man here is he who
with an understanding as much
enlightened as his situation will permit
and with a heart impressed with the
importance of religion
endeavours to fulfil the law of God
through the whole
of his conduct
and renders the cultivation of holiness and virtue his grand
and predominant object.
II. All the
faculties of man are of a progressive nature. The human faculties ascend to the
most sublime attainments; but for this progressive and boundless improvement
culture and discipline are necessary. The faith of the just man
though founded
on rational convictions
will
at first
be weak and wavering. Whether he
contemplate nature or revelation
he will meet with obscurity to perplex
with
difficulties to embarrass
and with objections to stagger him. But though these
obscurities hang over the path of the good man
and these obstacles start up
as he advances
they neither involve him in complete darkness
nor even retard
his progress. As the faith of the man truly pious advances with increasing
brightness
his works observe the same tenor. From the frailties and defects
incident to humanity
the man of piety and virtue is not exempt. But the good
man sins from infirmity alone
loathes himself on account of every fault he
commits
and strives to acquire greater firmness and resolution against future
temptations. Advancing in his virtuous progress
he acquires
at every step
fresh vigour and alacrity
and
at last
arrives at that confirmed habit of
obedience
which places him beyond the power of such temptations as seem to
other men irresistible
and enables him
through Divine grace
to triumph
in
some measure
over nature herself. The good man having the principles of virtue
lodged in his soul
and gradually brought forward by Divine energy
begins his
course with difficulty
and amidst obscurity and temptation. Gradually doubts
and difficulties disappear
and he rises at last to that settled temper of
virtue and holiness which makes him “a light shining in a dark place.” (W.
L. Brown
D. D.)
Signs of progress
In whatever path we set out
there is no standing still.
The grace of God
which is given to men
lies not dormant.
I. How shall we
know if we have made progress in the paths of righteousness?
1. Are you sensible of your faults and imperfections? The first
indication of wisdom is to confess our ignorance
and the first step to virtue
is to be sensible of our own imperfections. Till we feel our own weakness we
can never be strong in the Lord; we can never rise in the Divine sight till we
sink in our own estimation.
2. What is the strength of your attachment to the cause of
righteousness? Are you enamoured with the beauty of holiness? Men will never
imitate what they do not love. If
then
you are not lovers of goodness and
virtue
you never will be good and virtuous.
3. Are your resolutions as firm and your application as vigorous now
as when you first set out in the spiritual life? True religion does not consist
in fits and starts of devotion. He alone is a good man who perseveres in
goodness. Are you as much in earnest now as when your first love to God began
to bring forth the fruits of righteousness? As you advance in years
all the
passions will gradually cool. You will not feel that degree of ardour in your
devotions which you experienced in your early years. But your devotions may
continue as sincere
though not so inflamed
as before
and religion may be as
effectual as ever in the regulation of your life.
4. Another mark of increasing grace is when you obey the Divine
commandments from affection and love. He alone will make progress in the path
of the just who is drawn by the cords of love.
II. Directions how
to make further progress in the path of the just.
1. Make a serious business of a holy life. The true Christian will
not be deficient in his attention to the externals of religion; but he will not
rest there. We must make a study of the holy life
in order to advance from
strength to strength in the ways of the Lord.
2. Never rest satisfied with any degrees of holiness or virtue which
you attain. The law of the spiritual life is to aim at perfection. Absolutely
perfect we can never become in this life; but we must be always aspiring and
endeavouring after perfection.
3. Be alway employed in the improvement of your souls. Evil habits
may be weakened; inclinations may be counteracted. You may call forth graces that
have not yet made their appearance
and bring forward to perfection those that
have.
4. Abound in prayer to God for the assistance of His Holy Spirit.
III. Exhortation to
a life of progressive virtue.
1. It is your duty to make progress in the ways of righteousness. You
must “abound in the work of the Lord” if you expect your labours to be attended
with success.
2. Be assured that you will be successful in the attempt. Here
all
who run may obtain.
3. Think of the beauty and the pleasantness of such a progress. These
are pleasures that time will not take away. While the animal spirits fail
and
the joys which depend upon the liveliness of the passions decline with years
the solid comforts of a holy life
the delights of virtue and a good
conscience
will be a new source of happiness in old age
and have a charm for
the end of life.
4. Let me exhort you to this progressive state of virtue
from the
pleasant consideration that it has no period. There are limits and boundaries
set to all human affairs; but in the progress of the mind to intellectual and
moral perfection there is no period set. On what you do
on what you now do
all depends. (John Logan.)
Progression and perfection
There are two ideas in the text--progression and perfection. The
life of the believer here and there is one. If we have believed
we have
everlasting life--we possess already the immortal life which will be perfected
in heaven.
I. Progression the
characteristic of the Christian life on earth. Is it a remarkable thing that we
should look for the growth of the Divine life in man? Ought we to expect
progress in ourselves as Christians? It is a reasonable thing for the parent to
look for growth in his child; and he is greatly concerned if he does not
discover it. It is a reasonable thing for the farmer to look for growth in the
seed which he has scattered upon the prepared soil. It is a reasonable thing
that men should expect the sun to shine more and more unto the perfect day. But
let us put it to our own hearts whether we have looked for this progress in
ourselves. What is God’s thought
expressed in His Word
about this
progression? Paul’s prayer on behalf of the Ephesians
that they might be
strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man; that they might be
rooted and grounded in love; that they might comprehend more fully the love of
Christ; that they might be filled with the fulness of God--certainly implies
the possibility and desirability of progression. Then again
the words of the
same apostle concerning the same people
that they “be no longer children but
growing up unto Him in all things
who is the Head
even Christ;” coming “unto
a perfect man
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”: these
again imply the possibility and desirability of progression. And again
Paul desires
for the Colossians that they “be filled with the knowledge of His will unto all
wisdom and spiritual understanding; that they might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing
being fruitful in every good work
and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious power
unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.” Shall we not be
concerned about our own growth? Shall we not be grieved if we do not grow in
our views and feelings in reference to sin? The older we are as the children of
God
the longer we have had fellowship with the Pure and Holy One
the more we
should hate everything which is sinful. Shall we not be grieved if
as the
months go by
we do not find ourselves more decided and resolute and settled in
our religious convictions and habits? Shall we not be concerned if we are not
gaining greater power over the sin which easily besets us? Shall we not be
concerned if we are not more humble
more heavenly-minded
more gentle and
forgiving
more Christlike than we were?
II. Perfection the
characteristic of the Christian life in heaven. Progression here; perfection
there. Perfection there according to progression here. Is it so? We think so.
If we mistake not
the ordinary notion is--no matter what our life may be here
if only we have faith in Christ
the moment this mortal shall put on
immortality we shall be perfect in heaven. We ordinarily think of our
perfection there as apart from our progression here. But the teaching of
Scripture is not the stagnant pool here becoming the gushing fountain there; it
is the well of water here
and there springing up into everlasting life. It is
not the babe
or rather the dwarfed child here
appearing there the strong
wise
well-proportioned man; it is the babe growing up here
till there he
attains the stature of the perfect man. We know it is very true
though the
“well of water” spring up here ever so continuously and copiously
it shall
there in comparison gush forth like a fountain of living waters. If we search
the Scriptures with this design in view
to discover whether a careless
inactive Christian will attain the same perfection in heaven as a man like the
apostle Paul
we shall quickly see that progression here has something to do
with perfection there. What glories are these which are set before us! To be
without sin; to know as we are known; to love as we are loved; to have
ourselves possessed with the peace of God. Every one of us will reach the
perfect day. There will be no imperfection in heaven. Yet those who grow more
here shall have larger capabilities there. Those who are the more faithful here
shall have the larger range for faithfulness there. Here is something to fill
us with joyful anticipation. (James Neobard.)
From dawn to noon
No nobler expression has ever been given of the great thought of
Christian progress than these words contain. But it is not always observed that
that thought is presented twice in the text
once in the familiar condensed
metaphor of life as a path
and once in the lovely expanded figure which
follows. A path leads some whither; and the travellers on it are marching in a
definite direction. Then
if we turn to the other emblem of our text
the idea
is even more completely carried out in the original than our translation would
suggest to an ordinary reader. For the words rendered “shining light” do really
mean “light of dawn
” and those rendered “perfect day” do really mean
literally though clumsily translated
“the steadfast (moment) of the day
” the
instant when the sun seems to pause on the meridian
like the tongue of the
balance right in the centre
and inclining to neither side.
I. So let me ask
you to look
first
at the great possibility opened here for us all. Now
it is
true that every life
of whatever kind
tends to completeness in its own kind;
that the good becomes better
and the bad worse. Single actions consolidate
into habits
just as the minute grains of sand
beneath the pressure of the
ocean
are hardened into rock. Convictions acted on are strengthened. Light
stands as the emblem of three things--knowledge
purity
and joy. The Christian
life is capable of continual increase in all three.
1. It is capable of continual increase in knowledge. Of course
I do
not mean merely the intellectual apprehension of certain propositions which are
received as true. We know a book or a science or a thought in one way; we know
a person in another; and Christian knowledge is the knowledge of God in Christ
and of Christ in God. That knowledge is something a great deal more
warm-blooded and full-pulsed than an intellectual perception of the truth of a
statement. And it is this knowledge which it is intended should grow
unceasingly in Christian experience
and in our daily life. We have an infinite
object on whom to fix our minds and hearts. A man begins to be a Christian when
perhaps through many a cloud
and with many hesitations and doubts
and with a
very inadequate apprehension of the truth that he is receiving and the Person
that he is grasping
his faith puts out an empty hand
and lays hold of Christ
as his hope and his all. But as his days go on
if he be truly in possession of
that initial truth
he will find that it opens out into splendours
and
discloses depths and assumes a power controlling all life and thought
which he
never dreamt of when he first apprehended it. We begin
like gold-seekers
with
surface-washings; we end with crushing quartz. We begin on the edge of the
great continent
we travel onwards and inwards
through all the leagues of its
mountains and plains and lakes
and we never shall traverse it altogether. Life
interprets Christ
if we let Christ interpret life. When the night of sorrow
closes in over our heads
there are truths that shine out bright and starry
like the light points in a keen
frosty winter’s night
which never could be
seen in the garish day.
2. Again
the Christian life is capable of a perpetual increase in
purity. And if a man be truly a Christian
there is nothing more certain than
that
day by day
his conscience will become more sensitive and quick to
discriminate between good and evil. The more we rise in the moral scale
the
more solemn
sovereign
and far reaching we discern the commandment to be
that
we shall be like our Lord. Depend upon it
all of us have things in our
characters
and acts in our daily ordering of our lives
which
if we had
advanced further along the path
we should avoid as a pestilence.
3. Again
the Christian life is capable of a continual increase in
gladness. Yes! “As sorrowful
yet always rejoicing.” All other kinds of
gladness fade
and all other sources pass away. But Jesus Christ’s gladness
as
He said Himself
is given to us that our “joy may be full
” because His joy
remains in us. Time takes the gloss off most things. It does not take the
brightness out of the Christian life.
II. Let us mark the
frequent failure to realise this possibility. What I have been saying must
sound to many of us liker irony than a description of fact
when we turn our
eyes from the possibility for which provision is made by the gift of an
infinite Christ
and an infinite Spirit
to the facts of Christian experience
as we see them lying round us. Progress! Stagnation is the truth about hosts of
us. A path! Well
it is a circular path if it is a path at all. They mark time
as the soldiers say
one foot up and the other down
but the feet are always
planted in the same place. Sure I am that in a tragically large number of cases
a professing Christian’s early days are his best. Many of us seem to have gone
to school to the Japanese gardeners
that will take you an oak
and stick it
into a flower-pot
and stunt it there
so that it is warranted never to break
the flower-pot
and never to grow an inch. There is another kind of opposite to
that steady incease in brightness only too common amongst us
and that
is--spasmodic growth by fits and starts; brief summer followed by a dreary
winter
and no continuous and steadfast advance.
III. Lastly
let me
ask you to consider the cure of the failure
and the way of realising the
possibility. What made a man who is a Christian in reality light at first? The
apostle tells us
“Now are ye light in the Lord.” The reason why so many
Christian people do not grow is because there is no depth and reality of union
between them and Jesus Christ; and there is no depth or reality of union
between them and Jesus Christ because they have no strength of faith. It is not
merely for getting escape from some hell
or forgiveness for sins
that the
faith is essential
but it is needful that there may be flowing into our hearts
that which will change our darkness into radiance of light. Take a lesson from
your electric lights. The instant that you break the contact
that instant the
flame disappears. The first requisite
then
is to kep our union with Christ
and that is done by thinking about Him by the occupation of mind and heart with
Him. And the second requisite is
to bring all our life under the influence of
Christ’s truth
and to bring all Christ’s truth to bear upon our life. And
then
we shall be “as the sun shineth in his strength.” (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Character and destiny of the just
There are three methods of using natural facts as moral
illustrations.
1. The poetic: which employs facts according to their impressions on
the senses.
2. The scientific: which employs facts according to their best
ascertained laws
with respect to sensible impressions.
3. The composite: which unites the poetic and scientific; applying
facts in accordance both with the laws that govern them and the manifestations
which accompany them. The poetic method is generally employed in the Bible. The
scientific method would have required a scientific revelation
and the time for
this had not yet come. The text is an example of poetic illustration.
I. The character
of the just. It is distinguished by these two facts--
1. Its elements are pure and complete. They are matters of intellect
sentiment
propensity
conscience
and will. The intellect of the just man is
always thoughtful of moral principles. The sentiments of the just man admire
moral principles. He sees that they sustain self-respect
and claim
rightly
the respect of the community. The propensities of the just man cling to moral
principles. As thought excites admiration
so admiration excites love. The conscience
of the just man is responsive to moral principles. Its instant intuitions of
virtue and vice
and its instinctive excitments
consequent upon these
intuitions
aid the intellect in its studies
encourage the sentiments in their
admiration
and confirm the propensities in their attachment. Not vain
however
of its natural sagacity
it acknowledges the necessity and superiority
of revelation
and corrects its own errors by the infallible decisions of the
Word of God. The will is faithful to moral principles. This is his grandest
distinction.
1. These elements are well proportioned in their combination
in the
character of the just. What is wanted is a balance of powers: all the faculties
and principles in equal and harmonious action. The elements of chaacter in the
just man are pure
complete
and well-proportioned.
II. The destiny of
the just. What are the distinctions of the sun’s path?
1. It is a high path. Far too high for any earthly obstruction.
2. It is a radiant path. It is glorious because it is radiant. The
glory of the just is from within. It is a radiation.
3. It is a triumphant path.
4. It is a benignant path. (T. H. Stockton.)
The path of the just
I. The path of the
just resembles the shining light in being preceded by a state of darkness (Ephesians 5:8). The darkness of ignorance
gives way to spiritual knowledge. The darkness of depravity gives way to the
light of grace (1 Peter 2:9).
II. The path of the
just resembles the shining light in its progressive character. Sanctification
is a work which
beginning in conversion
is carried on gradually. And where
there is true grace in the heart
there is a desire and a capability of geater
perfection
just as in the seed there is an ability and tendency to vegetate
and spring up into a plant or a tree. The pleasure
too
felt in the way of
righteousness
naturally leads a man to aim at greater attainments.
IV. The path of the
just resembles the shining light in at length reaching to the perfect day. (Jas.
Kirkwood
M. A.)
The path of the just
I. The just.
II. Their path.
1. Of penitence.
2. Of prayer.
3. Of self- denial.
4. Of humility.
5. Of struggling
yet of peace.
6. Of weakness and strength.
III. Perfect day.
1. Possessors (Revelation 8:13-14).
2. Of full revelation.
IV. The crows of
life. Certainty in truth
pardon
joy
peace. (Henry Bennett.)
The advantages of a religious life
I. The certainty
and evidence afforded by a religious life. Its subject is sure that it is the
path of God’s commandment. He sees that it is the path of life.
II. The beauty and
excellence of a holy life.
III. The
pleasantness of a holy life.
1. Pleasures of action.
2. Pleasures of reflection.
3. Pleasures of hope.
IV. Its
instructiveness.
V. Its progressive
nature. The good man improves--
1. In knowledge of Divine things.
2. In the adhesion of his will to Divine things.
3. In the perfection of his example.
4. In the ease and pleasure of well-doing.
VI. It will at last
issue in consummate perfection--a perfection of holiness and happiness. (H.
Grove.)
Marks of the Christian’s progress towards the perfection of heaven
I. His knowledge
is gradually increasing. It must be very evident
that the more a heaven-taught
man devotes himself to serious meditation
that he will obtain clearer views of
the subtle and disguised workings of corruption--he will be more thoroughly
satisfied of the desperate alienation of the human heart from God. He will
accordingly
be conducted to a more profound view of the value and importance
of that work which was finished at Calvary
to a more unreserved renunciation
of every claim to Divine favour on the ground of his own good works
and to a
more heartfelt conviction that he must be justified by faith alone.
II. His humility is
deepening. The knowledge of his unworthiness prostrates him who is enlightened.
As the genius who has arrived at the highest proficiency in any art or science
finds it hardest to please himself with his own work
and sees best the
inferiority of his attainments to the standard of perfection
so the saint who
entertains the loftiest views of the holy character of God will form the most
lowly estimate of his own strength and performances.
III. His desire and
alacrity to do the will of God are becoming more ardent. This is the result of
all that he knows of the Sovereign of the Universe
since He delights in
righteousness. This is the natural result of the unreserved admission of gospel
truth into the mind
since those who believe in God must be careful to maintain
good works.
IV. His affection
for the things of time is diminishing. Where the treasure is
there will the
heart be also. As any body rises above the ground
up into the regions of
space
that which philosophers call the attraction of gravitation affects it
less and less; and if it could be elevated sufficiently
the earth would at
length lose its power over it altogether
and it would be drawn away towards
some other planet. This explains
in the way of illustration
the process which
takes place with respect to the human soul.
V. By his
increasing love for God and His people
he evinces his progressive meetness for
that heaven which is love. (David Strong.)
Christian progress
In mountain climbing the traveller is not conscious of
getting nearer to heaven
only of getting farther from earth. The sun and the
stars are no nearer
but the houses and the fields are more distant. So is it
in the Divine life. We may not grow consciously meet for heaven
and are apt to
deplore our want of progress. But the fact may be that we have been advancing
and ascending
and that now we have a higher standard whereby we judge ourselves.
If we look back
one thing we are certain of
that the world has less charm for
us and less hold upon us. But farther from earth is nearer heaven. (J.
Halsey.)
Grace perfected
It is the nature of all the works of God’s creation to seek
and
to go on to
their perfection. The first dawn of morn continues to increase
until it shines in the noontide radiance. The feeble plant which is just
breaking the clod continues to grow until in the course of years it stands a
flourishing and a stately tree. In the animal kingdom we see God’s creatures
gradually emerging from the weakness and insignificance of infancy
and rising
where no obstructions exist
into the vigour and maturity of age. And shall the
light go on to perfection
the plant and the flower to blossom
the tree to
bring forth its fruit; and all God’s creatures grow up and flourish each in its
own perfection
and grace--the immortal plant of grace--this little tree of the
Lord’s own planting--shall this alone be denied the benefits of God’s universal
law? No! grace has its destined perfection. (H. G. Salter.)
Verse 19
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they
stumble.
The blindness of sinners their destruction
All men are either saints or sinners; and they are all
walking in paths as different as the characters they sustain. The text
indicates that sinners are in such darkness that they are insensible of the
objects which are leading them to ruin.
I. The darkness
which sinners are involved. It cannot be owing to any deficiency in their
natural powers
nor to any want of intellectual information. The darkness is
moral darkness; it lies not in their understandings
but in their hearts. Moral
depravity always produces moral blindness. While sinners remain under the
entire dominion of a wicked heart
they are altogether blind to the moral
beauty of the character
of the works
of the providence of God.
II. Sinners abe
insensible of the objects over which they are stumbling and falling. Spiritual
blindness is the same in all sinners
at all times; and has the same dangerous
and destructive tendency.
1. They are insensible that they stumble at the great deceiver.
2. They are not sensible that they are stumbling at one another.
3. That they stumble at Divine providence.
4. That their common employments are dangerous objects
over which
they are stumbling and falling.
5. They are no less blind to the nature and tendency of their
religious performances.
6. The moral blindness of sinners insensibly leads them to stumble at
the preaching they hear.
7. They are blind to the blindness of their own hearts
which are
insensibly leading them to blackness and darkness for ever.
Improvement--
1. If sinners are so blind and insensible to the dangerous objects
with which they are surrounded
and over which they are stumbling
it is not
strange
that they generally live so securely and joyfully.
2. If all sinners are involved in such moral darkness as makes them insensible
of their dangerous and perishing condition
then it is not strange that they
are so displeased at having their danger clearly pointed out.
3. If sinners are blind to the objects which are insensibly leading
them to destruction
then they are in extreme danger of being finally lost. All
things conspire to destroy them
because they abuse all things with which they
are connected and concerned.
4. If sinners are constantly growing blinder and blinder
and more
insensible of the things which are leading them to ruin
then they are entirely
in the sovereign hand of God
who may save or destroy them
according to His
holy and righteous pleasure.
5. It is owing to the distinguishing and astonishing grace of God
that any are saved.
6. Inquire whether sinners have ever been made the subjects of God’s
special grace. (N. Emmons
D.D.)
The obscurity and uncertainty of the way of the wicked
1. We will consider the man who admits the principles of religion in
speculation
but contradicts them in practice. His way is darkness. Light
indeed
has come to him; but he loves darkness rather than light. He is not
guided by the dictates of reason
or the precepts of revelation; but pursues a
course in direct opposition to both. He never knows what course he shall next pursue;
for he cannot tell what the next impulse will be--what gust of passion will
take him
or what wind of temptation will drive him away.
2. Let us consider the hypocrite
who
without integrity of heart
assumes the external form of religion His way is dark and slippery. He believes
that there is such a thing as religion
and that it is a matter in which he is
really concerned. He views a future state as certain
and preparation for it as
immediately important. His heart is
indeed
full of love to this world; but
since he must leave it
he wishes to have a good hope in the view of another.
He is sure he should enjoy himself and his earthly treasures much better if he
could only free his mind from this painful bondage to the fear of death--this
troublesome apprehension of the wrath to come. He applies himself to obtain
that tranquil state which seems so desirable. He has no more love to religion
than he used to have. Terror only has awakened him from his guilty slumbers. It
is not the temper of godliness
it is only the pleasure of a good hope
which
is the immediate object of his desire. He gains his hope by self-deception
and
maintains it by self-flattery.
3. To consider the wicked man in another point of view; as believing
the great truths of natural religion
but discarding revelation. His way is
covered with darkness. He has no light to direct his eye or guide his steps.
With respect to the nature
condition
and means of future happiness
an awful
uncertainty attends him. There is no ground on which his faith can stand; no
support on which his hope can lean.
4. There is another view which we are to take of the wicked. We will
consider them as renouncing the great principles of natural religion
the
existence and government of God
moral obligation
and a future retribution.
There are some such infidels as these; but their way is covered with darkness
more gloomy and dismal than that which involves the path of other
transgressors. What peace and satisfaction can a mortal feel without a
persuasion that there is a wise
just
and good Being
who made and governs the
world
and that this Being is his friend? With this persuasion he may possess a
cheerful serenity amidst all the vicissitudes of life; for to the virtuous God
is a present help in trouble
and all things will He turn to their advantage. (J.
Lathrop
D.D.)
The way of the wicked
There is a castle on the Lake of Geneva which stands upon a rock
and the lake is underneath. In the old
cruel days great atrocities were
perpetrated there
and one was this: There is a shaft from that prison to the
lake. Looking down it
you see the water glittering far away below. In those
days they used to plant in that shaft spikes or sharp knives. Then they came in
the darkness
and
opening the door
whispered to the prisoners
“Three steps
and liberty.” And the poor prisoner took his leap in the dark--as he thought
to liberty; but
he fell amongst these knives
and in a few moments dropped
a bleeding corpse
into the lake below. Yes; three steps and liberty--to be cut up
and drop
a
mangled body
into the abyss. I tell you that is like the liberty of sin. A man
who fancies he is going to live after his passions takes a leap in the dark
and
pierced through with many sorrows
drops into the gulf of darkness. (W.
L. Watkinson.)
Verses 20-22
My son
attend to my words.
Divine principles
“The words of
wisdom” are the vehicles of those Divine principles the reception and embodiment
of which by man are essential to his well-being.
I. The method of
gaining them.
1. There must be the attentive ear.
2. There must be the steadfast look.
3. There must be the enshrining heart.
II. The blessedness
of having them.
1. They are life to those who find them; they are the soul-quickening
elements.
2. They are health.
Life without health is scarcely worth living. These principles not
only give life to the soul
but they also supply the nutriment and stimulate
the activities that ensure health--health of all kinds. (D. Thomas
D.D.)
Call to attention
The motives that call for our attention are exceedingly
powerful. It is a father that speaks. The things which are spoken are of
quickening and invigorating virtue. They are life to such as find them
and
health not only to the soul
but to the body; not to a particular part of it
but to all flesh. A medicine effectual to the cure of a single member might
soon enrich the inventor of it. Here is a medicine for all the flesh
and yet
the physician that prescribes it without reward finds so few willing to make
use of it that he must proclaim its virtues again and again. Here is a
physician of infinite value; attend to the directions which he gives for the
management of our whole life. (G. Lawson.)
Verse 23
Keep thy heart with all diligence.
Heart-keeping
The great defect in our system of education is that it turns a man
away from himself. Many a schoolboy can describe the continents and islands of
the earth
trace out the intricacies of the planetary system
naming suns and
moons and stars
who would stand abashed should you ask him the number of bones
in the human body
or to trace out the marvellous nervous system that God has given
him. Now
Christianity turns man’s attention to himself. No other teacher ever
equalled Christ in this respect.
I. The heart. If
we ask why the heart is chosen rather than the understanding
the judgment
or
memory
we find our answer in the fact that the understanding may be always
subject to circumstances
or may be enfeebled by disease; the judgment may be
in error
and the memory may fail. There are three reasons why the heart is
chosen.
1. A pathological; it is the fountain of life
through which the
blood passes
to be distributed to every part of the system. Stop the heart
and death follows.
2. The heart is the region of sensibility. When the great passions of
hope and fear
of love and hate
of joy and sorrow
take hold of a man
he realises
the sensation in the region of the heart.
3. The intellect is controlled by the heart more than the heart by
the intellect. Men do not follow their thinkings
but their feelings
yet there
are teachers proclaiming a religion of pure intellect
excluding the passions
or feelings of the soul. Christianity appeals to the emotions.
II. The keeping. We
are not to destroy our appetites and passions
but to keep them in
subordination: keeping the heart is not murdering it. Vigilance is the price of
everything good and great in earth or heaven
Nothing but unceasing
watchfulness can keep the heart in harmony with God’s heart. (Christian Age.)
Supremely good advice
I. Some of those
weighty considerations upon which the advice is founded.
1. The heart is the source of all human conduct. The greatest and
basest actions of men did once exist as a simple and insignificant thought. The
sallyings forth of purpose might easily have been checked at the gate of the
citadel
whereas
when once beyond control
the consequences might prove such
as we never ventured to anticipate.
2. Every man is that really which he is in his heart. Conduct is not
always a trustworthy basis
of estimate. The heart imparts a tinge and character to those streams which
issue from it.
3. Scripture represents the heart of man as not in a trustworthy
condition
and therefore the more to be diligently kept and guarded.
4. The fact that out of the heart come the “issues of life” adds to
the importance of this counsel. What is meant is the issues of our future
never-ending existence.
II. Point out in
what way this duty may be best performed.
1. Watch narrowly the course and current of our thoughts and
affections.
2. Check them at once
when we discover them to have taken a wrong
course.
3. Exercise the mind as much as possible with holy and heavenly
themes.
4. Earnestly call down the aid and blessing of the Holy Spirit. (Essex
Congregational Remembrancer.)
The government of the thoughts
Keep a strict guard over the workings of your mind
your thoughts
and inclinations; for your life and conversation will be conformable to the
main current of your thoughts and desires. The soul is ever busy and at work.
There is no pause
no suspension of thought
at least while we are awake. Think
we must
but what to think is the question.
I. How far may we
have a command over our thoughts?
1. It is impossible to hinder irregular
fantastic
evil thoughts
from rising up in our minds. But we may choose whether we will cultivate a
familiarity with them.
2. It is not in our power to prevent distractions even in our
religious addresses to God. While the soul is immersed in matter
it will
sometimes fly off in airy wanderings
or flag into a supine heaviness. This is
our frailty or misfortune
but will not be imputed to us as a sin
provided we
strive against it.
3. Our thoughts are not absolutely free
just after we have received
some considerable loss or disaster. But we must not give up our mind as a prey
to melancholy
and wilfully indulge our sorrows.
4. Angry thoughts have to be taken into consideration; the passion of
anger; the first starts or sallies of this passion; the deliberate and settled
consent of the will to it. We are invested with the power to withhold the
determinate consent of the will to these primary motions. We may counterbalance
one passion by another
and may turn their artillery upon themselves. We may
call in our fear to subdue our anger. So far as our thoughts are involuntary
so far they are not sinful. The mind is passive in receiving its notices of
things
whether pure or impure; but it is active in its determination
whether
to harbour or discard them. So far as it is active it is accountable. It is
active when we dwell upon impure thoughts with complacency. We can suspend our
judgment. Our mature examination is the consulting of the guide; the
determination of the will thereupon is the following of that guide. We may
habituate ourselves to the contemplation of the greatest good
and then lesser
delights will shine with a diminished lustre.
II. Some rules for
the conduct of our thoughts.
1. We must not go too much into light amusements. The mind fixed on
trifles is disabled and indisposed for greater and more important business.
2. We must avoid the reading of bad books.
3. Call in other ideas to your aid as soon as ever any passion begins
to ferment. When we observe in ourselves the least approaches towards anger
lust
envy
and discontent
we should seek God’s assistance
and pray for the
succours of His Holy Spirit.
4. We must often descend into ourselves.
5. Much may be done by the pursuit of knowledge. The more variety of
knowledge the mind is enriched with
the more channels there will be to divert
our minds into. (J. Seed
M.A.)
The heart
and the issues of life
In its elements and outward scenery nature is the same to all.
Light and night
sun and stars
air and earth and landscapes
offer a common
enclosure and background to our existence. But the various impulses and
aptitudes for work with which we are born--which press from the very core of
our being--diversify the world as widely as if we were distributed upon
different globes. To one set of men it is a place to think and learn and grow
wise in. Another finds the world a place to work in. Others find it a garden of
beauty in which the stars are more valuable as blossoms of poetic light than
for their astronomic truth
and the air richer for its hues than for its uses
and the mountains grander for their millinery of mist and shadow and their
draperies of verdure and snow than for their service to the climates and
housekeeping of nations. Still others see the world as a place to trade in and
grow rich--a gorge between gold mountains
where they must quarry. Or it is a
pleasure-ground for giddy or elegant enjoyment. It is plain
therefore
that
our natural bent in the line of work does a great deal to impress a character
upon the universe. Even when no moral quality is involved
we see how life gets
coined at our mint
so that the world
God’s world
somehow wears the stamp of
the die cut into our heart. And temperament
natural temperament
has an effect
on life that must be considered in this connection. If a man has a music-box in
his heart
the pulse of the sun will seem to beat with it
and the trees to
throb and bud with its melody. If his bosom is strung as an AEolian harp
nature will be full of weird and sad cadences. You know how experience
also
interprets the same principle
even in cases where moral considerations are not
prominent. You know how a piece of good-fortune brightens the air
how
prosperous hours make the globe buoyant
how some impending evil puts the edge
of a spiritual eclipse upon the sun as solemnly as the shadow of the moon
settles on its burning disc
how suddenly ill-fortune in business will seem to
make the very springs of beauty bankrupt
how the sickness of a dear friend
turns nature pallid
how the death of wife
husband
or child will convert all
the trees to cypress
and set the music of nature in a minor key
as s dirge or
requiem. All these facts
which belong rather to the margin of our subject
enforce the duty of “keeping the heart.” For though aptitudes
temperaments
and moods have much to do with the tone and quality of our life
states have
more. A dark moral state stretches a permanent veil of cloud over the heart
that thins and chills all the light
while a mood or a sorrow may sail only
like the swift blackness of a shower through our air. And we can do a great
deal to control the moral states of the heart; we are responsible for them.
Moral evils
such as envy
avarice
selfishness
license
only vivify with
various colouring the one fundamental evil
sin--distance from sympathy with
God
alienation from the heavenly Father
indifference or disloyalty to His
will and love. This is our central foe. This is what corrupts the issues of
life. This is the serpent at the fountain. Back of all sins is sin. The one
comprehensive purpose of life is to bring Infinite grace to bear on that
and
drive it from the inmost artery of the soul. The first thing to do
in order
that such life may issue from your heart
is to get your heart broken. Not
because it is totally corrupt
but because it is not centrally
dedicated--because God is not invited and admitted to the inner shrine
to rule
thence with His wisdom and purity
so that you shall consciously live for Him.
This world
with its hard conditions and mysteries
is built for an upper and
nether millstone to grind pride out of human hearts
to crush their natural
state
so that
in penitence and humility
God may come into the spirit
and
the world seem remade because the soul is regenerate in consecration and the
beginning of a filial life. You are to keep your heart with all diligence
by
desiring and praying for this spirit of sympathy with God and allegiance to
Him. And you are also to “keep” it by living in fellowship with great truths
and sentiments. If you have had any seasons or season when you have seen the
value and blessedness of a religious conception of the universe and of
religious principle
honour that; honour your soul’s own witness to sacred
realities
by trying to keep in the society of those noble truths and ideas. (T.
Starr King.)
Keeping the heart with diligence
I. Some of our
hearts are not worth keeping. Addressing some unconverted men
I say
“The
sooner you get a new heart the better.” God is very plain in telling us no good
can come out of these corrupt
degenerate hearts that we all have by nature.
II. Inasmuch as out
of the heart “are the issues of life
” it is important to keep the reservoir
full. It is bad enough to have an empty head
but an empty heart is worse
still. For
other things being equal
a man’s force in the world is just in
proportion to the fulness of his heart. Heart is power. We all want more heart
in our Master’s service.
III. Strive with all
diligence to keep the heart pure. A full reservoir is not enough--the water
must be clean. A full reservoir means spreading the seeds of pestilence and
death. If the heart be not pure
the thoughts will not be pure
nor the conversation
nor the life. A scrupulous conscience and thorough transparency of character
are all-important.
IV. Keep your heart
tranquil. Seek to have a soul calm and peaceful
and at rest. The state of the
heart has far more to do with one’s comfort
and prosperity
and success
than
most people imagine. From your heart
as from a clear mountain spring
there
shall issue influences of health and benediction
to gladden your own lives and
to bless all around you. (J. Thain Davidson
D.D.)
Keeping the heart
Either keep thy heart with all sorts and degrees of care and
diligence
or keep thy heart as thy most precious thing.
1. Mark or attend unto
inquire into and study the heart.
2. The governance and good management of our hearts
keeping all the
motions thereof in due order
within fit compass
applying them to good
and
restraining them from bad things.
3. Or preserving
guarding
securing from mischief or damage. It is a
peculiar excellency of human nature that man can reflect on all that is done
within him
can discern the tendencies of his soul
is acquainted with his own
purposes. It is
therefore
his work to regulate as well the internal workings
of his soul as his external actions
to settle his thoughts on due objects
to
bend his inclinations into a right frame
to constrain his affections within
due bounds
to ground his purposes on honest reasons
and direct them unto
lawful matters. It is our duty to be looking inward on ourselves
observing
what thoughts spring up within us; what imaginations find most welcome harbour
in our breasts
what prejudices possess our minds
etc. Thus we may arrive at a
competent knowledge of ourselves. This preserves from self-conceit; disposes to
equanimity; qualifies our opinion of others; makes wise and prudent; helps to
reforming our lives and regulating our devotions
and enables us properly to
govern our hearts. (I. Barrow
D. D.)
The keeping of the heart a practicable and important duty
I. What is it to
keep the heart? It evidently needs to be kept. It is prone to go astray.
1. The heart is to be kept from all improper objects; every object
which has no proper connection with present duty.
2. The heart is to be guarded against all improper affections. When
placed upon proper objects
the heart may have very improper affections towards
them.
II. Show how the
heart is kept.
1. Men should always attend to those subjects only with which they
are properly concerned.
2. Men must pursue the same method to keep their hearts from improper
affections
as from improper objects. They must
therefore
exercise good
affections. Love will exclude hatred; faith will exclude unbelief; repentance
will exclude impenitence; submission will exclude opposition; humility will
exclude pride. Any gracious exercise will exclude any sinful one: only by the
exercise of holiness can the heart
be kept from sin.
III. The importance
of men’s keeping their hearts with the greatest care and constancy.
1. While they neglect to keep their hearts
all their moral exercises
will be sinful. Those who neglect to keep their hearts live in the continual
exercise of selfish and sinful affections.
2. While men neglect to keep their hearts
all their thoughts will be
sinful. Though bare thoughts have no moral good or evil in themselves
considered
yet in connection with the heart they all acquire a good or bad
moral quality. No thought is indifferent after the heart has been exercised
about it.
3. While men neglect to keep their hearts
all their words will be
sinful. Men never speak but of choice
so that their hearts are concerned in
all their vain or serious conversation.
4. While men neglect to keep their hearts
all their intentions
purposes
or designs will be evil. Every evil design is first formed in the
heart of the projector.
5. Let men pursue what employment they will
whether public or
private
high or low
civil or religious
their daily business will become
their daily sin
unless they keep their hearts with all diligence.
6. Men must keep their hearts lest they abuse all the blessings of
providence with which they are favoured
and all the troubles and afflictions
which they are called to suffer.
Improvement--
1. Men are never under a natural necessity of sinning.
2. Since men can guard their hearts against evil
they can guard them
also against good.
3. Those who neglect the duty enjoined in the text are in imminent
danger.
4. None can be sincere in religion who entirely neglect to keep their
hearts.
5. The Christian warfare consists in watching
guarding
and keeping
the heart.
6. It is both important and helpful diligently to attend the means of
grace. (N. Emmons
D. D.)
On keeping the heart
I. The duty
enjoined. We must keep the whole heart in--
1. A state of holy watchfulness.
2. A state of continued devotion.
3. A state of joy and confidence.
4. A state of lively activity.
5. A state of preparedness for death and uncertainty.
II. The mode of
performing it specified.
1. Under all circumstances.
2. In all places.
3. At all times.
4. With all intensity of solicitude.
III. The motive
designed.
1. Thoughts are formed there.
2. Purposes are planned there.
3. Words originate there.
4. Actions proceed from thence.
Learn--
1. The means of spiritual safety: preservation of the heart.
2. The importance of this exercise. All depends upon it.
3. The necessity of cleaving to God with purpose of heart.
4. Urge sinners without delay to believe the gospel and give their
hearts to the Lord. (J. Burns
D. D.)
On the government of the heart
Men are apt to consider the regulation of external conduct as the
chief object of religion. If they can act their part with decency
and maintain
a fair character
they conceive their duty to be fulfilled. The wise man
advises us to attend to our thoughts and desires. The issues of life are justly
said to be out of the heart
because the state of the heart is what determines
our moral character
and what forms our chief happiness or misery.
I. The state of
the heart determines our moral character. The tenor of our actions will always
correspond to the dispositions that prevail within. On whatever side the weight
of inclination hangs
it will draw the practice after it. Independent of all
action
it is
in truth
the state of the heart itself which forms our
character in the sight of God. In the eye of the Supreme Being
dispositions hold the place
of actions; and it is not so much what we perform as the motive which moves us
to performance that constitutes us good or evil in His sight. The rectification
of our principles of action is the primary object of religious discipline. The
regeneration of the heart is everywhere represented in the gospel as the most
essential requisite in the character of a Christian.
II. The state of
the heart forms our principal happiness or misery. In order to acquire a
capacity of happiness
it must be our first study to rectify inward disorders.
Whatever discipline tends to accomplish this purpose is of greater importance
to man than the acquisition of the advantages of fortune. Think what your heart
now is
and what must be the consequence of remitting your vigilance in
watching over it. The human temper is to be considered as a system
the parts
of which have a mutual dependence on each other. Introduce disorder into any
one part
and you derange the whole.
III. In what does
the government consist?
1. The thoughts are the prime movers of the whole human conduct. Many
regard thought as exempted from all control. To enjoy unrestrained the full
range of imagination appears to them the native right and privilege of man. To
the Supreme Being
thoughts bear the character of good or evil as much as actions. The moral
regulation of our thoughts is the particular test of our reverence for God.
Thought gives the first impulse to every principle of action. Actions are
in
truth
no other than thoughts ripened into consistency and substance. But how
far are thoughts subject to the command of our will? They are not always the
offspring of choice. Vain and fantastic imaginations sometimes break in upon
the most settled attention
and disturb even the devout exercises of pious minds.
Instances of this sort must be placed to the account of human frailty. Allowing
for this
there is still much scope for the government of our thoughts. As--
2. Passions are strong emotions
occasioned by the view of
apprehending good or evil. They are original parts of the constitution of our
nature; and therefore to extirpate them is a mistaken aim. Religion requires us
to moderate and rule them. Passions
when properly directed
may be subservient
to very useful ends. They are the active forces of the soul. It is the present
infelicity of human nature that the strong emotions of the mind are become too
powerful for the principle that ought to rule them. Two principles may be
assumed.
To obtain it we must--
1. Study to acquire just views of the comparative importance of those
objects that are most ready to attract desire.
2. Gain the power of self-denial; which consists in our being ready
on proper occasions
to abstain from pleasure
or to submit to sacrificing
for
the sake of duty or conscience
or from a view to some higher or more extensive
good.
3. Impress your minds with this persuasion
that nothing is what it
appears to be
when you are under the power of passion.
4. Oppose early the beginnings of passion. Avoid particularly all
such objects as are apt to excite passions which you know to predominate within
you.
5. The excess of every passion will be moderated by frequent
meditation on the vanity of the world
the short continuance of life
the
approach of death
judgment
and eternity.
6. To our own endeavours for regulating our passions
let us join
earnest prayer to God. Lastly
the government of the temper is included in
“keeping the heart.” Temper is the disposition which remains after the emotions
are past
and which forms the habitual prosperity of the soul. The proper
regulation of temper affects the character of man in every relation which he
bears.
The government of the passions
I. When do our
passions become culpable? A sect of ancient philosophers condemned all emotion
held every passion to be culpable
because inconsistent with that serenity of
temper
that equal tranquillity of mind
which they thought should ever be
preserved. We cannot
however
lay aside our innate dispositions
and with
equal indifference meet health or sickness
pleasure or pain. The Stoical
doctrine is better calculated for heaven than earth. The passions and
affections were all originally designed to have either our own personal good or
the good of others for their object
though they are too generally misapplied
by our corruption
and degenerate into vices. Our rational and moral powers
ought always to have dominion over the inferior principles of our nature. We
all stand accountable for the use of our reason
and where reason points out to
us good and evil
if we choose the latter
we doubtless appear guilty in the
eye of our heavenly Judge. If we cannot wholly extirpate or subdue our
passions
yet to subjugate them to government is not only the duty
but the
proper and most important employment
of a rational being.
II. Our happiness
here
as well as hereafter
is determined by the conduct of our passions. When
they are duly regulated
and act under the guidance and direction of reason
we
may promise ourselves all the happiness that our station
or other circumstances
of life
will admit. They who are at no pains to discipline and govern their
passions
but
disregarding right and wrong
indiscriminately follow
whithersoever inclination points the way
may find some pleasure in such
pursuits
but none that can compensate for the loss of those interior
satisfactions
as well as exterior advantages
that naturally result from a
wise and virtuous conduct.
III. The means by
which this self-government may be attained. Consideration
or a right use of
reason
is our only remedy. We must often retire into ourselves
and in some
calm hour of reflection review the state of the heart. Passions
however strong
and vigorous by nature
may be checked in their growth by timely care and
prudent opposition. Let us accustom ourselves to deliberate before we act. We
should observe
with a watchful eye
all our passions
desires
and affections;
keep a constant guard on every avenue to the heart
and be careful to oppose
the admittance of any wrong inclination. In order to succeed in this arduous
and important work
let us
to our own efforts
add our supplications to Him
who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men. (G.
Carr
B.A.)
Governing our own thoughts
I. What power a
man hath over his own thoughts! Some men
by the very principles of their make
and constitution
are much better able to govern their thoughts than others.
Some that are naturally weaker
have
by long use and many trials
obtained a
greater power over their thoughts than others. All have a greater power over
the motions of their minds at some times than at others.
1. The first motions of our minds are very little
if at all
in our
power. We cannot help suggestions coming to us.
2. When a man’s mind is vigorously affected and possessed
either with
the outward objects of sense
or with inward passions of any kind
in that case
he hath little or no command of his thoughts.
3. A man’s thoughts are sometimes in a manner forced upon him
from
the present temper and indisposition of his body.
4. We have liberty of thinking
and may choose our own thoughts. It
is in our power to determine what suggestions we will fix our minds upon.
5. It is always in our power to assent to our thoughts
or to deny
our consent to them. Here the morality of our thoughts begins. No man is drawn
to commit sin by any state or condition that God hath put him into
nor by any
temptation
either outward or inward
that is presented to him. Our sin begins
when we yield to the temptation. The sin becomes great as it grows into action.
II. The art of
governing our thoughts.
1. We must rightly pitch our main designs
and choose that for the
great business of our lives that really ought to be so.
2. We must avoid two things
viz.
idleness and loose company.
3. We must be as attentive as possible to the first motions of our
minds; so that when we find them tending towards something that is forbidden
we may stop them at once.
4. There are some particular exercises which would prove helpful.
Converse with discreet and pious persons; reading good books
and especially
the Bible; taking times for meditation; and fervent and constant prayer to God.
5. With our diligence we must join discretion. We must have a care
not to “intend”
our thoughts immoderately
and more than our tempers will bear
even to the
best things. We must so keep our hearts as at the same time to keep our health
and the vigour of our minds. As long as we consist of bodies and souls
we
cannot always be thinking of serious things. (Archbp. John Sharp.)
The keeping of the heart
I. The suggestive
saying
“Out of (the heart) are the issues of life.”
1. All our words and actions originate there. “All these evil things
come from within
and they defile the man.”
2. The moral quality of every word and action depends on its inner
motive.
3. Thoughts and feelings themselves
apart from actions
are all
either good or evil. “The thought of foolishness is sin.”
4. Within the heart is formed that “character” which determines most
of the actions of the man. We give the name “character” to that complex
collection of tendencies and habits which grows up within us all as the sum and
result of individual acts continually repeated. The germs of the ultimate
character can often be detected in the child.
5. The “issues of life
” in outward condition
depend most of all on
the heart within us.
6. The everlasting “issues of life” come “out of the heart.”
II. Take up the
admonition
“Keep thy heart with all diligence.” The margin reads
“Keep thy
heart above all keeping.” The common estimate of the relative value of the
outside and the inside is terribly astray. It creeps into our very religion.
1. We can avoid the evil.
2. We can fill up the heart with good. (F. H. Marling.)
On keeping the heart
I. The duty here
enjoined. The heart is the seat of the thoughts
the will
and the affections.
The avenues which lead to this habitation are the senses
through which a great
variety of objects are ever soliciting admission. By the original frame of our
nature
there was also another way of admission into the heart
viz.
faith.
Over these was placed the judgment
as a faithful sentinel
to direct the will
Scarcely
however
had this happy constitution of our nature existed when
the
judgment being perverted
the will was induced to make a wrong choice. Upon
this great revolution in our nature
sensible objects began to occupy our chief
attention. They tend to produce the utmost irregularity in the affections
and
to banish God
and heaven
and eternity
from the mind. To keep the heart while
in this state
would only be to shut up the enemy within the wails. The enemy
must be ejected. This God promises to do. To keep the heart with all diligence
is to set a constant guard on every avenue which leads to it. It is to exercise
the strictest vigilance over our thoughts
and to subject them to the most
rigid scrutiny
for the purpose of suppressing
upon its first appearance
what
is base
impious
or unjust
and of giving every possible encouragement to the
slightest emotions of piety and benevolence. So nice and delicate are the
heart’s springs of action
so susceptible is it of impressions from external
objects
and so greatly is it in danger of being disordered by means of these
that we can never be sufficiently apprised of the manner in which it may be
kept with safety.
II. The way in
which this duty may be best discharged.
1. By summoning up to the view just apprehensions of God
of His
greatness
and glory
and holiness
and justice
and authority
and mercy
and
love
as exhibited in the plan of redemption
and endeavouring to have these
apprehensions habitually impressed upon the mind.
2. We should beware
after having been engaged in any of the
solemnities of religion
of exposing them suddenly to the renewed incursion of
loose and worldly thoughts
by foolish talking or mixing with vain and giddy
associates.
3. We must beware of evil company. And there are secret
as well as
open
enemies of goodness.
4. We must carefully abstain from idleness
and rightly occupy every
portion of our time.
III. Recommend the
duty to serious attention. You live in a world where ten thousand objects are
ever ready to pollute the heart
and to seduce it from God. God requireth the
heart of man--the whole heart
and nothing but the heart. A heart that is not
kept with diligence is not reconciled to God; is not impressed with the love of
Jesus; is not sanctified
by the Spirit
and is not fit for heaven. (James Somerville
D. D.)
The duty and blessedness of keeping the heart
I. Occasions when
it is of the utmost moment to attend to this duty.
1. When you draw near to God in the solemn exercise of religious
duty. You have then to do with a God who searches the heart. Be upon your guard
against those vain excursions of the soul that eat out all the life and spirit
of devotion.
2. When you are surrounded with an abundance of worldly enjoyments.
There is something in prosperity that tends to intoxicate the mind.
3. When God’s afflicting hand is upon you. “In the day of adversity
consider”; for consideration and a guard upon the heart are needful.
4. When under provocations from your fellow-creatures. These are very
trying periods
and the spirit that is in us often lusteth to resentment and
retaliation. Do not be too sensitive of injuries.
5. When your hands are full of worldly business. We walk in the midst
of snares. It is no easy thing to keep our souls disengaged
and to live above
while we ere in
the world. Love nothing with a very strong affection that is
not immortal as thyself
and immutable as thy God.
6. When you are engaged in diversions and recreations. Very many are
in excess given to pleasure
make it the main business of their existence. We
ought not to give too much time to recreations
nor seek them for themselves.
7. When you find any tumultuous passions are excited within you.
Think what inflammable matter you carry in your bosoms
and be watchful against
the approach of whatever may kindle it into a flame.
8. Keep thy heart with all diligence in solitude and retirement.
Solitude is not necessarily a blessing. Then only it is a blessing when it is
employed piously
with holy feelings and a holy object in view. Whenever you
are alone
be present with your God.
II. Arguments
urging attention to this duty. This duty is important
because--
1. It is the heart that falls directly under the cognizance of God.
Be a man’s actions ever so regular
if his heart be not right with God
he
will
when weighed in the balances
be found wanting.
2. Because of the influence which the state of the heart has upon the
conduct. He who is concerned about making the tree good will surely make the
fruit good also.
3. Because keeping the heart is essential to our peace. Is there
nothing peaceful
pleasant
comforting
in being masters over our own spirits
able to suppress any rising passion
to restrain any rebellious lust that
threatens the peace of God’s kingdom within--of that inner house of man
himself? What a poor
contemptible
miserable creature is he who has no rule
over his spirit
in respect of present things as well as future!
III. Directions for
keeping the heart.
1. If you desire to keep your heart
endeavour by all means to know
it. Endeavour to know human nature in general
its weakness and its corruption.
Above all
endeavour to know your own heart
your particular weakness: knowing
it
watch that point carefully.
2. If you desire to keep your heart
solemnly feel as in the Divine
presence. Seriously consider that God searches the hearts
and that He is with
you wherever you are
and whatever you do.
3. If you would keep your hearts
be often calling them to account. I
hope that none of you live without self-examination.
4. See to it that your mind be well furnished. Lay in a stock of
useful knowledge from the Word of God
from observations of providence
from
converse with your fellow-creatures.
5. If you would keep your heart
be often looking up to Him who made it. To
find our hearts taken off from dependence on ourselves
and fixed upon God
is
a token for good in every part of our Christian course. (T. Munns
M. A.)
The custody of the heart
The “heart
” in Scripture
implies the whole spiritual end
aspiring part in man. Keeping the heart is controlling the whole spiritual
condition of our nature.
I. The degree of
responsibility implied in the command to keep the heart. We are not mere
machines
we are free
immortal
intelligent beings
fallen indeed from our
first estate
crippled in body and soul
yet raised again in Christ. We are
free to choose good or ill
and therefore responsible for the choice. To keep
the heart is to guard it
to watch it
to subdue it. It is attempting
and by
God’s grace achieving
the work of self-conquest. The keeping must be habitual.
Unless we have been previously vigilant
the tempter
when he comes
will be
sure to conquer. One of the miseries of old transgressions is
that it mars the
keeping of the heart. We are apt to fall back into a sin which we have
committed before. Old sins tend to soften the soul--to emasculate its energies
to destroy those habits of carefulness which are so important in resisting
temptation. It is the inward reciprocation with the outward temptation which
forms the tempter’s vantage-ground. Each sin diminishes by so much our chance
of repentance
inasmuch as a fresh lesion and hurt has been inflicted on the
soul.
II. We must chiefly
regard our will and our affections
because these sway and control the rest of
the inner man. By the will we mean that power of the soul which determines and
chooses; by the affection
that attribute which loves and adheres. The one is
the strength of the character
the other is its sweetness and beauty. And these
are specially concerned in the service of God
for if man fulfils his end
God
is the choice of his will and the object of his affection. God is the choice of man’s will.
The will of man must submit to God’s will
for God’s wisdom and goodness are
necessities of his being. By the original constitution of man’s nature
God was
the object of his affection. Then he should keep his affections for God “above
all keeping.”
III. All the other
powers of the soul must also be kept; for influences deteriorating or elevating
are being hourly exercised upon them. The memory may be filled with vile images
and unholy recollections
or it may be stored with pious thoughts and the sweet
remembrance of past mercies. The imagination may be crowded with foul pictures
worldly fancies
and daring speculations
or it may be consecrated by visions
of the beauty of God and the splendours of the New Jerusalem. The intellect may
revel in the deceitful charms of scepticism and inquiry
or it may bow down in
adoration before the tremendous supernatural truths of the Christian Church.
The judgment may take its portion in this life and wed itself to earthly
success
or it may choose the better part--sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His
words. So the whole heart may be perverted or directed; and hence the urgent
necessity of keeping it with diligence. (Bp. A. P.
Forbes.)
The stronghold of the Christian sentinel
I. The citadel
which the Christian has to guard. The heart of man is a wondrous mystery
a
strange world in itself; its feelings
affections
desires
emotions
cravings
reasonings
wonderings--who shall tell them? The heart given the Christian
soldier in charge is a heart that is renewed and yet unrenewed
that is holy
and yet unholy
that is spirit and yet flesh. Such is the heart of every man
that is born of the Spirit. The germ is there
but all that is good of that
germ has yet to be unfolded and perfected. So long as the heart is kept a man
is comparatively safe
for it is the key of the position.
II. The importance
of maintaining this citadel. Out of it are the issues of life in man’s whole
course and conduct
and out of it is the final result of a man’s career and
course of life. All the streams of life proceed from within. A man’s life is
regulated by his heart. If the heart be kept the man is kept
and it matters
little what else a man keeps; for
after all
a man is what he is in
principles
in desires
in emotions
and affections. Every Christian soldier must
be aware that it
is only by constant vigilance that he can maintain the citadel and prevent its
being betrayed. There are two perils--betrayal within and surprise from
without. There are many who
instead of keeping their heart
leave its keeping
to Satan. And many fall because they allow their hearts to get out of their
control. (H. Stowell
M. A.)
Watch the heart
If you would keep the eye from injury
much more keep the
heart
so susceptible as it is of complete disorganisation from the mere dust
of an evil thought. If there is anything in the world which should be the object of unsleeping
anxious guardianship
it is the heart. Then keep it “above all keeping.” It is
evident
even to reason
that without this precaution of watchfulness over the
heart every other counsel for resisting temptation must be of no avail. The
heart is the key of the entire spiritual position. But the dangers of the heart
are not merely external. There are many traitors in the camp. The exports and
imports of the heart are exceedingly numerous. What a fertility of thought
sentiment
impression
feeling is there in the heart of a single man! There are
a thousand doors of access to the heart. Passengers are busily passing in and
thronging out at every door. Active steps must be taken to ensure against
mischief-makers. Solitude is scarcely less dangerous in our spiritual welfare
than company
because temptations of self and the devil meet us then. The
remedy
in company or in solitude
is to guard
as far as in us lies
“the first
springs of thought and will.” By every spiritual man an attempt is made to
bring the region of the heart--the motives
desires
affections--under the
sceptre of Christ. It will be found that all the more grievous falls of the
tempted soul come from this--that the keeping of the heart has been neglected
that the evil has not been nipped in the bud. There is no safety for us except
in making our stand at the avenues of the will and rejecting at once every
questionable impulse. This cannot be done without watchfulness and
self-recollection. Endeavour to make your heart a little sanctuary
in which
you may continually realise the presence of God
and from which unhallowed
thoughts
and even vain thoughts
must carefully be excluded. We must watch
but we must also pray. Man must give his exertion
but he must never lean upon
it. Prayer is
or ought to be
the expression of human dependance upon God--the
throwing ourselves upon His protecting wisdom and power and love. When our
Saviour counsels us to unite prayer with watching He counsels us to throw
ourselves upon God
under a sense of our own weakness and total insufficiency.
To God
then
let us commit the keeping of our souls in the most absolute
self-distrust. (Dean Goulburn.)
God only judgeth of the heart
I. An admonition.
1. The act: “Keep.” Our hearts are untrusty
unruly
and obvious to
be surprised; for such things we are wont to keep.
II. The object:
“The heart.” By “heart” understand inward thoughts
motions
and affections of
the soul and spirit
whereof the heart is the chamber. We should keep our
hearts in a state of--
1. Purity.
2. Loyalty. A loyal heart cherishes no darling sin; scruples at small
sins; hates sin at all times. A loyal heart is the same as a “perfect” heart.
III. The means of
keeping the heart “above all keeping.” Nature hath placed the heart in the most
fenced part of the body.
1. As those who keep a city have special care of the gates and
posterns
so must we watch over the senses
the gates and windows of the soul
especially the eye and the ear.
2. Make exceeding much of all good motions put into our hearts by
God’s Spirit
and resist at its first rising every exorbitant thought which
draws to sin.
3. Let him that would guard his heart take heed of familiar and
friendly converse with lewd
profane
and ungracious company. This “keeping”
must be done
because all spiritual life and living actions issue from the
heart. This issuing of our works and actions from the heart is that which is
called sincerity and truth
so much commended unto us in Scripture. That which
is wanting in the measure of obedience and holiness is made up in the truth and
sincerity thereof. (Joseph Mede
B.D.)
The issues of life out of the heart
First the fountain
then the streams; first the heart
and then
the life-course. The issues of life are manifold; three of their main channels
are mapped out here--the “lips
” the “eyes
” and the “feet.” The corruption of
the heart
the pollution of the spring-head
where all life’s currents rise
is
a very frequent topic in the Scriptures. The precept
“Keep thy heart with all
diligence
” sounds very like some of the sayings of Jesus. He said
“Out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts
murders
adulteries.” Therefore keep with all
diligence that prolific spring. Here
as in all other cases
prayer and pains
must go together. “Keep it with all keeping” is the precise statement. Leave no
means untried. Out of our own conduct will we be condemned if we do not
effectually keep our own hearts. We keep other things with success as often as
we set about it in earnest. In other keepings man is skilful and powerful too
but in keeping his own heart
unstable as water
he does not excel. Keep it
from getting evil
as a garden is kept: keep it from doing evil
as the sea is
kept at bay from reclaimed netherlands.
1. The first of the three streams marked on this map as issuing from
an ill-kept heart is “a froward mouth.” Words form the first and readiest
egress for evil. The power of speech is one of the grand peculiarities which
distinguish man. A vain
biting
untruthful
polluted
profane tongue cannot be
in the family of God when the family are at home in their Father’s presence.
The evil must be put away; the tongue must be cleansed; and now is the day for
such exercises.
2. The next outlet from the fountain is by the “eyes.” Let the
heart’s aim be simple and righteous. No secret longings and side-glances after
forbidden things
no crooked by-ends and hypocritical pretences. When the eye
is single the whole body will be full of light. Straightforwardness is the
fairest jewel of our commercial crown.
3. The last of these issues is by the “feet.” Ponder
therefore
thy
path. The best time to ponder any path is not at the end
not even at the
middle
but at the beginning of it. The right place for weighing the worth of
any course is on this side of its beginning. Those who ponder after they have
entered it are not in a position either to obtain the truth or to profit by it.
The injunction applies to every step in life
small or great. The value of
weighing anything depends all on the justness of the balance and the weights.
By the Word of God paths and actions will be weighed in the judgment. By the
Word of God
therefore
let paths and actions
great and small
be pondered
now. (W. Arnot
D. D.)
The fountain of life
(to children):--In each one of you there is a small organ or
member which is sometimes called the seat or throne of life. Its work is to
beat out the blood to every part of the body
and so to keep the red stream of
life always moving. The text speaks about another heart and another life which
we all have. There is a something within a child with which he thinks and
loves
hates and wishes
and that something the Bible calls our heart. It means
your very self. Out of this heart are the “issues
” the flowings or streams
of
life. A man’s real life flows from his love. Thoughts and wishes
likes and
dislikes
love and hate--these are the great workers that build up and pull
down and do all that is done in the world. Every human life
good or bad
flows
like a stream from good or bad thoughts
good or bad wishes. When a man loves
goodness
longs for it
thinks about it
a life full of noble
kindly deeds
flows like a pure stream out of his heart. But if a man likes what is wrong
thinks wicked thoughts
a stream of bad deeds will flow out of his heart. God
guards carefully the heart He has put into your body. He has put the strongest
bones all round it
so that
though other parts may be easily hurt
the heart is safe. The
text says we should guard the heart of our real lives--our mind--in the same
way “with all diligence
” because
if the heart goes wrong
the whole life goes
wrong with it. How can we guard the heart? By keeping bad thoughts
bad wishes
out of it. (J. M. Gibbon.)
The heart more than the head
Most men practically underrate the influence of the heart
compared with that of the head
on success and happiness. Reason
the
intellect
the head and not the heart
is usually regarded as man’s dignity.
But it is his reason as manifested in his active and moral powers. Knowledge is
not power--personal power--but only one of its instruments. The power is not in
the knowledge
but in the moral qualities or passions which accompany it
which
lie behind it
constituting what is called “force of character.” The essence of
greatness
always and everywhere
is a great spirit. If we aspire not only to
be great
but to be truly happy
the heart is not only the principal thing
it
is almost everything. What is happiness but the sum total of the gratifications
of a man’s affections and desires? The heart has more to do than the head in
determining the distinctions of character. A man’s real character depends
not
on his outward actions
but on the principles from which he acts--those
principles which are real springs of action. All the distinctions of character
resolve themselves at last into distinctions of disposition and temper
and not
of intellect or understanding. In everything pertaining to human greatness and
human happiness
to moral and Christian character
to final salvation
the
heart is more than the head. The heart is the principal thing. Out of that
and
that alone
are the issues of life. (James Walker.)
Dependence on our inward frame
I. The issues of
life
in a religious respect
depend upon the heart. All things relating to
religious conduct are reducible either to some matter of belief or practice.
How far are belief and practice subject to be influenced by the heart?
1. To begin with belief. How much that depends upon the temper and
disposition of the heart is easily seen from Scripture
history
and daily
experience.
2. Our practice. How far is the practice apt to be governed by the
inclination of the heart without the concurrence of the judgment
or even in
opposition to it? Men are generally more swayed by their affections and
passions than by their principles
and principles are of very little force or
efficacy except when they fall in with inclination or grow up into it.
Knowledge is one thing and grace another. Orthodoxy is not probity. A sound
head may often be consistent with a corrupt heart. It is not what we believe
but what we affect and incline to
that determines us. But our irregular
actions seem rather ultimately resolvable into the false judgments which we
make than into affection or inclination; the head is first tainted
then the
heart. The error
however
both of judgment and practice is really due to the
corruption of the heart. When some sensible good is presented to the eye or to
the mind the man judges it to be agreeable or pleasant to the sense
and so far
judges right. Yet this alone would not determine his choice
because other
considerations
more weighty
might keep him from it. But he dwells upon the
thought till his heart is inflamed: then he chooses
and not till then. The
drift and bent of his soul leaning too much toward it
he cuts off all farther
consideration
and is precipitately determined by it. It is the desire
the
impatience
the passion of his heart that hurries him into it. Men act against
principle
driven on by a prevailing passion.
II. What is implied
or contained in the precept of the text. It must consist of two parts or
offices--
1. To preserve our good dispositions.
2. To correct our bad ones. These will each of them imply two other things--a
frequent examination of our own hearts
and a constant endeavour to wean our
affections from this world and to fix them on another. (D. Waterland
D.D.)
The importance of keeping the heart
A most important reason is here assigned for “keeping the
heart with all diligence
” because “out of it are the issues of life.”
I. The heart in
the body of man is the centre of life. As the heart is
so is our general
conduct. But if the fountain is poisoned
the streams will carry death and
desolation in their course. If the principle of the action be defective or
vitiated
the action cannot be otherwise. “Keep thy heart with all diligence
”
because the state of it determines our real character; and because upon the state of it
essentially depends the comfort or wretchedness of our lives. When temptations
suited to the latest propensity to sin are presented--when strong inducements
are offered to passion not under due control--the practice will follow the
corrupt desire of the heart. Thus the evil heart will show itself
and
by its
acting
prove the melancholy truth that when the heart itself is not kept
no
mere professions
no outward restrictions
will be sufficient to keep us from
falling. But
further
a right state of heart is essential to our own comfort and
welfare. A man’s happiness consists not in the abundance of the things which he
possesses. These are things without a man
which cannot adapt themselves to his
wants within. What can outward means avail in lessening the terrors of guilt in
an awakened conscience
or in calming the fears of an approaching judgment? To
the natural principles of evil in the heart
moreover
Satan is ever adapting
his temptations and wiles. And where lies his chief hope of success? Is it not
in our remissness? Whilst we sleep he is awake.
II. We proceed to
offer some suggestions as to the manner in which this important duty may be
most effectually discharged.
1. The right keeping of the heart especially includes the government
of our thoughts
our passions
and our temper. If
either wilfully or through
neglect and inattention
we suffer our hearts to lie open to thoughts of
foolishness and sin
and permit them to lodge within us
then the guilt of
these thoughts becomes our own. But the due control of the passions is equally
essential
if we would keep our hearts aright. As originally implanted in our
nature
and kept in subserviency to reason
these were designed to be
instruments of good--the elements of what was great and virtuous in human
conduct. But sin has disordered them all. In the Christian
the passions are
subjugated to Christ. This is an essential feature in his character.
2. But to keep the heart is also to regulate the temper. Whatever
difference there may be in natural dispositions
settled depravity of temper
without any effort to correct it
can arise only from the deep and unaltered
corruption of our hearts. To oppose and to destroy this natural and sinful bias
is one of the great aims of the religion of the Bible; and where this has been
in no measure secured it is a mournful proof that the heart has never been
brought or kept under the influence of religion at all. If these things be
implied as essential to the keeping the heart
how valuable and important are
those means which
under the influence of the Holy Spirit
will most
successfully realise this great object! Amongst these means
watchfulness and
prayer. (C. Buck
M. A.)
Guarding the heart
More exactly the meaning is this: “Keep thine heart beyond
everything else you keep; guard thine heart above all else
for out of it are
the issues of life.” Not your health
not your reputation
not your business
credit
not your property--beyond all these things give time and thought to the
culture of your heart. If you must take time from one thing or another
rather
starve your business than let your heart run to waste. Your heart--what has
your heart got to do with your actual life? John Stuart Mill’s father thought
it counted for nothing
or
rather
it was a bad debt
it was a loss
it was a
detriment to have a heart
to have feelings
to have emotions. Power
intellect
and strength of will
these were the elements to make a man
and the
less heart he carried about with him--well
the less dead weight and the less
risk of his being led wrong. And the Bible comes in and says to the business
man
“Beyond your books and your accounts and your shops and your speculations
and your clients
watch over your heart
think about it
take care of it
toil
to keep it in health and in beauty.” The Bible comes and says the same thing to
the servant girl trying to do her
duty faithfully
to the working man wishing to improve his position in the
world
to the learned man bent on discovering new truth. Yes
your toil
your
ambition
your researches
your discoveries
commerce
industry
learning
are
all of them good
but the most precious thing is the human heart. Whatever else
suffers
see that your heart does not suffer. This proverb runs right in the
teeth of the whole mass of our daily life; runs against the whole current and
tendency of our education
and our habits
and our notions. The proverb gives
its reason--a reason that will stand and hold its own in the court of common
sense
as well as at the last judgment. “Beyond everything else
take care of
your heart
for out of your heart are the issues of your life.” Not out of your
body
not out of your intellect
not out of your business
not out of your
property
not out of your wisdom
not out of your fame--out of your heart are
the essential elements and sustenance of your life
its last results for joy or
for sorrow. “Out of the heart are the issues of life.” The phrase makes a
picture. You are travelling in the desert with a caravan over the hot sand. The
sky above you with a sultry sun in it
the hot ground beneath your feet
your
eye wearied
tired
inflamed by the glare above
the glare below; you long to
set eyes on the green leaf. In the distance you get sight of something in the
air. You draw nearer to it
it grows and forms itself
framed there in the
wilderness like a picture--a clump of palm-trees; beneath
green grass; in the
branches
birds singing; lazy cattle reclining on the herbage
sheep bleating.
You penetrate into it
you discover the tents and homes of men; women and
children playing around
life
beauty. Whence
whence all that? Right there in
the centre of it you come on a deep
brimming pool of water
fed by a perpetual
fountain
like an eye looking up to the sky--ah
more than an eye
the very
fountain of all that greenness and beauty; blossom
herbage
sheep
cow
bird
man
woman
child
all of them the outcome of that springing fountain of water.
“Out of it are the issues of life.” Poison it
and all that dies. Turn it
brackish
and all withers and diminishes and decays. Quench it
stop it
and the
desert flows over the green oasis. Like that fountain of living water is your
heart within you. Your heart it is that makes your life to flow
fair
radiant
or poor
poverty-stricken
cold
dead. What is your heart like? What is a man’s
heart? Well
it is not easy to describe that
and yet we all know well enough
what we mean by it. We cannot just put our finger on where it is
or say
precisely what it is; but oh
how well you know when your heart bounds with
joy
or when it grips together with sharp pain
sorrow
disappointment! Oh
you
know it is just the inner core of cravings and hopes and eager wishes and
conscious personal thoughts and plans and purposes and attributes that makes
you your own very self
that gives you your disposition
that makes up your
temperament
that settles your character
that fashions your conduct. Oh
what
a blunder a man makes when he thinks that his life will be planned and made by
his intellect! There never yet was a man who thought that by his mind he could
steer his own course through the world that did not find his heart steal a
march upon him. A man’s heart--that is what makes him
that is what determines
a man’s choice at all the great critical points in life. A man’s heart it is
that settles what his home is to be
that chooses the partner that is to be
his
for better
for worse
for him
for her. It is a man’s heart that chooses
fleshly
that chooses spiritually; that chooses unselfishly
that chooses
selfishly; that chooses for the outward appearance
or chooses for heart-worth.
“Oh
” you say
“there is not much heart in a great many of these things.” I beg
your pardon
there is: plenty of heart
but it is base
worldly
greedy
grasping heart; or silly
selfish
vain
flattered heart. When a man’s life
shows little or nothing of the echoes of lofty
generous
chivalrous thought
and purpose and endeavour
we constantly use a false expression
saying
“He
has got no
heart.” How is it that a score of men that are your daily associates or
friends
all of them educated pretty much on the same level
similar to one
another in manner
of the same deportment
and even the same politics--how is
it they are all so unlike you? Is it that the one man’s talk is tiresome and
wearisome? How is it that you feel as if he were made of wood? How is it that
the other man has that glow and sparkle that sends a thrill through you
that
stimulates you
that makes you think
that so brings out responses that you
admire your own cleverness? What makes the difference? Why
it is not the
amount of grammar the one learned more than the other
or that the one has read
more books. No
not that. It is the inner core and kernel of the one man
compared with what is inside the other. Heart
rich heart! for out of the heart
in very deed and truth are the ripe
supreme issues of life--life social
life
personal
life earthly
and life eternal. Now
if that be true
that a man’s
life really depends
beyond everything else
on his inner man
on his heart
on
his disposition
on his temperament
on his character formed within him
how is
it that we do not take a deal more trouble to take care of our hearts? Ah
there are a lot of books that talk about success that are full of the devil’s
lies. A man is a great success because he died a millionaire! Oh
a man may
make himself a millionaire and miss making himself a man in the image of God
in the likeness of Christ. Success in life is measured by the heart you die
with. Why
then
do not we take more pains about our hearts? How many of us do
it? For every one of you knows that is just the thing we neglect. Even our
bodily hearts
I suppose
physicians would tell us
we do not take half care
enough of. Rather than lose five minutes and miss a train we run
and risk
sudden death
or actually damage the working of the central fountain of life in
our bodies. And how we ever toil and tax the whole inner core of that body of
ours for things not worth it. For
if a man loses his health
what is money to
him? Yes
we imagine that our hearts take care of themselves. No man imagines
that his accounts will collect themselves. No man imagines that his house will
repair itself. Why
you must give as much care to the ties of love and
children
if you are to keep these
beautiful and fair
as you do to make your garden free from weeds
and your
house water-tight and weather-tight
and your business a solvent concern. And
besides
there is another mistake that people make. They say to themselves
“I
am not the one that makes my heart. It is the life that I have to live that
should make my heart; it is my circumstances
my fortunes. I am a very
miserable man indeed
always careworn and anxious; never able to feel bright
and cheerful. When I hear my neighbour whistling in the evening in his garden I
envy him; but then he has not the worries that I have.” Very likely he has got
much worse ones
but he has got the sense to leave them down in the office.
That is how he kept his health. It was not easy. The cares and anxieties
followed him into the train
got out at the station
stole up the garden; but
the man had the wisdom and the strength to slam the door and not let them in.
That is how he kept his heart and brain and health up
and his inmost heart of
all. How is a man to make the most of his heart? How to keep it pure in this
foul world? How to lift it above the grime
and the dust
and the tear and
wear? How to make it large and noble
the biggest and most beautiful according
to God’s plan? By not leaving it in this world
but by taking it out of this
world? Ah
no; not out of this world
but in this world to bring it into
another World; not by keeping it to yourself and making it in the measure of
your own self
but by taking that heart of yours and letting Christ into
it--the real
simple human Jesus. Oh
beyond all thy keeping
keep thy heart!
and that thou shalt do best by giving it away to Christ. (Prof.
Elmslie.)
What is imported in keeping the heart
and the best means of doing
it
I. Explain the
meaning of this precept. We need not
it should seem
be told that we are each
of us endowed with a power of reflecting upon our own desires and affections
and with a certain invariable standard within us
by which we are enabled to
judge whether these inward principles are right or wrong. Nor should we need to
be told that our affections and passions are in a great measure under the
influence of conscience
and of the superior calm principles
and instincts
by
which it was intended they should be controlled. He is the man of worth
he
only is truly so
who can hazard an appeal to the Searcher of Hearts
that he
does not indulge any vicious affection within him
but makes it his constant
business to purify the heart. I have only to add farther
that the great duty
recommended in my text must be understood to signify that we should watch over
and resist the first workings of passion
the conceptions of lust.
II. The most
effectual helps for our doing this with success.
1. And here
in the first place
we are to turn our thoughts to our
Creator. Frequent and serious contemplation of His perfections
and of the
relation in which we stand to Him
is undoubtedly the most effectual of all
means
in forming the heart to goodness.
2. The second thing I would recommend is a virtuous industry. We are
formed for action; and when the powers are not employed in something worthy
they are likely enough to find employment of another sort.
3. It is of very great importance that men choose such to be their
intimate familiar acquaintances as have a right temper and a just taste in
life; that their daily conversation may be such as will not only not endanger
innocence and virtue
but contribute to the guarding and strengthening of them.
There is a mighty power in conversation
in the behaviour of our familiar
acquaintances
to affect the mind
and to render us like them in temper.
4. Conversing much with the heart
observing the tendencies of the
affections with care
and endeavouring to preserve always a just sense of
things upon the mind
will be found of the greatest use. Taking the tendency of
our desires and inclinations to task with severity
and examining the pretences
under which the various gratifications of them are recommended. By such a
careful attention to ourselves we shall find out the deceitfulness of sin
and
those snares which prejudice conceals from the unthinking; we shall be able to
resist temptations with firmness and resolution; for in truth
the success of
them
where they do prevail
is in a great measure owing to carelessness and
inattention. (Jas. Duchal
D. D.)
Keeping the heart
(a sermon to children):--All wise people like to go deeply into a
thing
to go to the root of it. What is your root? Where is it? Your “heart.” A
little boy had a very nice watch; but it would not go right. It had a very
pretty case
and face; but it sometimes went too fast
and sometimes too slow.
He asked his mother what he should do about it. She told him to take it to the
watchmaker’s. He did so; and he said
“ Master John
it has its hands all
right
but it will not go right. Therefore leave it with me
and come again in
a few days
and I will tell you what is the matter with it.” John went again to
him in a few days
and the watchmaker said to him
“I opened your watch
and I
found there was the right number of wheels
and pins
and screws; but I found a
little part called ‘the spring’ which was wrong; and because the main-spring
was wrong
it sometimes went too fast
and sometimes too slow.” Now
I think
you are all like watches. Something within you goes tick
tick
and you have
hands and inside works. But how do you go? Sometimes too fast
and sometimes
too slow. Does not the tongue sometimes go too fast or too slow? Are not the
feet sometimes too fast or too slow? Are not the hands sometimes going wrong?
How is this? Let us examine--though I am not the watchmaker--God is the
watchmaker: the main-spring is the heart. Everything in you depends upon your
“heart.” God always looks most at the “heart.” What do you think God will look
at in the day of judgment? Your “heart.” That is what He will want to know about.
Now as it is so important to “keep the heart” right
I want to try to help you
to do so
by giving you a little advice thereupon. “ Keep thy heart with all
diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” One thing is to “keep” it as
we “keep” a garden--neat. Now
then
if you would “keep” your garden
you must
often look into it. And I will tell you what you will find there--every day
there will grow lumps of weeds; however well you may have weeded it yesterday
you will find more weeds to-day. Pull them out! Then another thing--you must
water it. This wants doing very often. Do you know what I mean? If not
look at
the fourth of John
to what Jesus Christ said about water
and what it is.
Bring the Holy Spirit into your heart. Pray that God will pour good
thoughts--His grace--into your heart: that is water. If you want to “keep your
heart
” do not let there be any empty corners therein. God likes all boys and
girls to be employed--sometimes at their lessons
sometimes at play; sometimes
helping somebody
thinking
reading
or playing
to be always employed. I must
tell you
if you do not always employ yourselves--if you are idle
and thinking
about nothing
the devil is sure to come into your hearts. Another piece of
advice I give you is this
be very particular whom you make your intimate
friends. You must “keep your heart” from catching those evil desires that
naughty boys and girls will suggest. One thing more. Have you not sometimes
when anybody has given you anything uncommonly valuable
taken it to your
father
and said
“ It is too precious
for me to keep
I am afraid of losing it
do take care of it for me”? It is
very wise for boys and girls to do this with their treasures. Oh
that you
would do this with your heart! You cannot “keep” it yourself; therefore often
take it to God: ask Him to keep your heart. (J. Vaughan
M.A.)
Things the heart is like
1. The heart is a lamp
which the High and Holy One has entrusted to
our care. Keep it well trimmed.
2. The heart is a ship. Look to the hull and the rudder
the masts
the sails
and the rigging. Have an eye to the crew
and take care what
merchandise you have aboard; mind that you have plenty of ballast
and do not
carry too much sail.
3. The heart is a temple. Keep it pure and undefiled.
4. The heart is a besieged city
and liable to attacks on all sides.
While you defend one part
keep a good look-out on the other. (Old Humphrey.)
Verses 24-27
Put away from thee a froward mouth.
Laws of life
A law for the
tongue
a law for the eye
a law for the mind
a law for the life.
I. A demand for
pure language. Speech is one of the grand peculiarities that distinguish man.
It is the organ by which one man can influence the ages. Yet it has become the vehicle of error
the
channel of pollution
the utterance of blasphemy
etc. A pure heart is
essential to pure speech.
II. A demand for a
straightforward purpose. Have no side-glances
no by-ends; but have a grand
purpose on which the eye of the soul shall be always fixed. Straightforwardness
stands opposed to all sly cunning
all vacillation
all ambiguity; all double meanings and aims.
III. A demand for
habitual thoughtfulness. Man was made not only to think
but to be thoughtful.
He should walk the path of life--
1. Thoughtfully
not by impulse.
2. Thoughtfully
not by prejudice.
3. Thoughtfully
not by custom.
IV. A demand for
unswerving rectitude. Duty is a straight path. The way of sin is serpentine in
its shape as well as in its spirit. Virtue is a straight line running right up
to God. Any turn
therefore
would be wrong and riskful. Take care: there are
by-paths tempting in every direction. (D. Thomas
D.D.)
Verse 25
Let thine eyes look right on
and let thine eyelids look straight
before thee.
Eyes right
These words occur in a passage wherein the wise man exhorts us to
take care of all parts of our nature
which he indicates by members of the
body. Every part of our nature needs to be carefully watched
lest in any way
it should become the cause of sin. Any one member or faculty is readily able to
defile all the rest
and therefore every part must be guarded with care. Having
eyes
use them; using them
take care to use them honestly. Some persons are
always as if they were asleep. Others are somewhat awake mentally
but are not
looking right on; they are star-gazing; they lead but a purposeless life. A man
ought to have a way; it should be a straight way; and in that straight way he
should persevere. The best way for a man is the way which God has made for him.
When you are on the King’s highway
you may go ahead without fear.
I. Let Christ be
your way. If He be
you will begin first to seek to have Christ. Then you will
want to know Christ. Then you will go on to obey Christ. Then you will seek to
be like Christ.
II. Set your eyes
on Christ as your way. Think of Him
consider Him
study Him.
1. That you may know the way of life
let your eyes be fixed on Him.
2. That you may follow Him well
follow Him wholly. Gather up all
your faculties to go after the Lord.
3. Look alone to Jesus
and do this to keep your spirits up. Some
live in retrospection; others in unhealthy introspection; and yet others carry
much too far a sort of circumspection. If you begin to look two ways at a time
you will miss the Lord Jesus. Under the Jewish law no man who had a squint was
allowed to be a priest.
III. Let your eyes
distinctly and directly look to Christ alone.
1. Look not to any human guide.
2. Look to Christ for yourself.
3. Look not to any secondary aims.
4. Forget all things when seeing Christ.
5. Take care that you continue gazing upon Christ until you have
faith in Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Simplicity
What is in these terms specially indicated is simplicity of
principle and aim; singleness of motive; an upright
unswerving regard to duty.
The path of duty is one. It is narrow and straight. On it the eye should
constantly and steadily be set--looking “right on
” not to any seducing objects
that present themselves on the one hand or on the other. Many things may
allure--may hold out tempting seductions from the onward path. Many other paths
may appear more smooth
more easy
and in all respects for the time more
desirable; but the one and only question must ever be
What is duty? (R.
Wardlaw
D.D.)
Looking to our way of life
God’s people have their minds made up as to all those things which
concern their everlasting interests. But to know our way is of little use
unless we keep that way in view. There are many spiritual travellers who know
the way to Zion
but have not their faces thitherward. The text is an important
motto for every man who is setting out for heaven. To understand the use and
value of this precept
consider it--
I. As it applies
to the faith of the child of God. By the “faith” is meant the great doctrines
on which their hopes are grounded. Often
in our experience
we are tempted to
entertain unworthy thoughts of the gracious Saviour; to mix up our own works
with the plan of His redemption
to place the confidence in frames and
feelings
in notions and professions
which should be placed in Him alone.
Against such temptations the text provides a remedy. Keep Jesus constantly in
view.
II. As it applies
to the duties of the child of God. The text is a preservative against unlawful
pleasures and indulgences. It is an exhortation to a close and constant
obedience to the revealed will of God
and to the duty of Christian
integrity--to an honest
upright
guileless conduct in all our dealings with
mankind. Seek
then
strength from God
that you may continue steadfast in the
holy course of life
as advised in this text. (A. Roberts
M. A.)
Verse 26
Ponder the path of thy feet
and let all thy ways be established.
Pondering the path
Mystery surrounds me. I find myself a resident of the illimitable
realm of the unknown. The commonest objects touching me on every side start
unanswerable questions. But amidst these enveloping mysteries
like a rock in
the central ocean
emerges this certainty--“I am.” That means
I know I am. I
am dowered with self-consciousness. There is a chasm wide and awful between
myself and everything which is not myself; the “me” is other than the “not-me”;
I am a separate
solitary soul. Amid all the mystery surrounding me
there
emerges this other certainty--“I ought.” That means
I have the power of
referring what I am to the judgment of the moral sense. There is
and must be
an irreversible distinction between what I ought and what I ought not. There is
both a standard and an ability of discrimination. There is a law of right and
wrong of which the moral sense takes cognisance. Amid the mystery there arises
another certainty--“I can.” That means
I dwell in the sphere of moral freedom;
the helm of my being is in the hand of an unenslaved volition; I possess a
self-determining and sovereign will. I am not a thrall
a thing; I am a power.
There emerges this other certainty--“I will.” That means
I exercise my power
in this direction or in that. I will to do the thing I ought not
or the thing
I ought. Man is a moral being
capable of choice
and actually choosing. You
should ponder the path of your feet--
I. Because your
feet are pressing toward an end by which your whole previous path in life is to
find final test. Thomas Carlyle says
“It is the conclusion that crowns the
work; much more the irreversible conclusion wherein all is concluded; thus is
there no life so mean but a death will make it memorable.” As you are going now
what will that final test of the end declare?
II. Because this
moment you are choosing your path. You should ask yourself whether it be the
right one.
III. Because the longer
you walk in the wrong path the harder it will Be to get out of it into the
right
The awful law of habit; the binding power of bad companionships
etc. (Homiletic
Magazine.)
Spiritual anatomy the feet
I. Their natural
course.
1. Found in the way of evil
2. Which has diverse paths.
3. These paths fatal in their termination.
II. Transition of
the feet to the way of righteousness.
1. Consideration.
2. Arrestment.
3. Abandonment of evil way.
4. Prayer.
5. Decision.
III. The feet
consecrated to divine service.
1. They stand on a rock.
2. Enjoy liberty.
3. Established by the Lord.
4. Guided in the way to life eternal. (J. Burns
D.D.)
Life a path
1. Unique
difficult
momentous.
2. This path
this journey
will be travelled but once--there is
never a retracing of our steps.
3. A false guide
a false step
may prove eternally fatal.
4. The path is intricate
and nothing short of the utmost care
and
constant watchfulness
and thorough discipline of heart and life can carry one
safely through it. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Feet and eyes joined
The wise man joins the feet unto the eyes
intimating that our
actions should be weighed
as well as our thoughts
words
and looks.
I. We must
beforehand order all well that we go about.
1. Lest we show our folly to all men by our indiscreet actions.
2. Lest we run ourselves into danger.
3. Because our actions are dangerous as well as our thoughts
looks
and words; and these were all to be ordered. Bring all your actions to the
touchstone before you do them. Weigh them in a just balance.
II. The meanest
members of the body must be well-ordered. The foot is lowest
yet must not be
left at liberty to go where it will.
1. Because the meanest members are of necessary use.
2. Because they
being disordered
bring much hurt.
III. Endeavour to
act surely in what you do. Show your wisdom by your sure and just acting
according to God’s Word
and it will stand. (Francis Taylor
B.D.)
Self-examination explained and recommended
It is our wisdom to look into our own hearts
to inquire seriously
and impartially into the state of religion in our minds; that we may form a
true judgment of our real character in the sight of God
and may be better able
to regulate our future conduct.
I. Explain the
precept of the text: “Ponder the path of thy feet.” This includes--
1. A serious inquiry--into our past conduct
i.e.
of the general
tenor of our conduct; whether it has been agreeable to our character as men and
as Christians
agreeable to the dictates of right reason
and the precepts of
the gospel.
2. A diligent examination of the motives of our conduct
and the
principal ends we have pursued in life; whether they are those which religion
points out
or those which are recommended by the example of the world around
us. Let us particularly attend to the state of our mind. Our chief motive is to
be the “glory of God.” This motive is of all others the most extensive
and
where it has its due place in the mind
will prove the most effectual means of
regulating the conduct.
3. Considering attentively what our ruling passion is
and what
influence it has had in determining our conduct. Every man has something
peculiar in the make or constitution of his mind
which inclines him more
strongly to some pursuits than to others
and which consequently lays him more open
to temptation from that quarter than from any other.
4. A diligent inquiry into the present temper and state of our minds;
the settled purpose and resolution of the mind
the prevailing bent of the will
and affections. In what light does sin appear to us? What are our sentiments of
the law of God? How do we stand affected towards the great objects of faith?
5. The examination recommended in the text must be accompanied with a
sincere resolution and a correspondent endeavour by Divine assistance to reform
the errors of our past life
and to make continual advances in virtue and
goodness.
II. The advantages
that will attend the practice of it. Steadiness and uniformity of conduct is
the result of habitual consideration and reflection.
1. This will be a probable means of securing us from all fatal errors
and miscarriages
or of restoring us to the path of duty
if we have wandered from it.
2. The habit of reflection will confirm and strengthen the mind
and enable us to make
continual advances in holiness.
III. Some directions
that may assist us in the performance of what has been recommended.
1. Set yourself as in the presence of God.
2. Implore the Divine direction and assistance.
3. Be upon your guard against the deceitfulness of your own hearts
while you are conversing with them.
4. Fear not to know the worst of your case.
5. Pursue the inquiry till you have brought it to some conclusion
and faithfully observe and comply with the admonitions which conscience may
give you.
6. Frequently renew the exercise of self-examination according to the
directions laid down. Improvement--
1. See the great end we should propose to ourselves by this
self-inquiry.
2. The great importance of self-examination to the Christian life.
(R. Clark.)
Salutary counsel
I. Ponder that
portion of our path which we have already trodden.
1. Has it been the way of evil?
2. Have we visited Calvary?
3. Has it been a path of usefulness?
II. Ponder the
portion of the path which we are now treading.
1. Is it lawful ground?
2. Are we following the footprints of Jesus? These are found
and
found only
in heavenly paths.
3. Is there a light shining upon the road? “The way of the wicked is
as darkness
” because it is their own evil
dismal
unhappy
and dangerous way;
but the path of the justified is
that of increasing holiness and joy.
III. Ponder that
portion of our path which we have yet to tread.
1. It is beset with snares and dangers.
2. It passes through the valley and shadow of death. There is now no
other way to immortality.
3. It leads either to heaven or to hell. (The Congregational
Pulpit.)
Christian casuistry
I. We ought to
ponder our steps in regard to the principle from which they proceed. An action
good in itself may become criminal if it proceed from a bad principle. The
little attention we pay to this maxim is one principal cause of the false
judgments we make of ourselves. Would you always take right steps? Never take
one without first examining the motive which engages you to take it.
II. We ought to
ponder our steps in regard to the circumstances which accompany them. An
action
good or innocent in itself
may become criminal in certain
circumstances. This maxim is a clue to many cases of conscience in which we
choose to blind ourselves. We obstinately consider our actions in a certain
abstracted light
and do not attend to circumstances which change the nature of
the action.
III. We ought to
examine the manners that accompany our ways. Actions
good in themselves
become criminal when they are not performed with proper dispositions.
II. An action
good
in itself
may become criminal by being extended beyond its proper limits. “Be
not righteous overmuch
neither make thyself overwise.”
1. In regard to the mysteries of religion.
2. In regard to charity.
3. In regard to closet devotion; in regard to distrusting yourselves
and fearing the judgments of God.
V. An action
good
when it is performed by a man arrived at a certain degree of holiness
becomes
criminal when it is done by him who hath only an inferior degree. If we wish
our ways to be established
let us weigh them with the different judgments
which we ourselves form concerning them. Set the judgment which we shall one
day form of them against that which we now form. In order to obey the precept
of the wise man
we should collect our thoughts every morning
and never begin
a day without a cool examination of the whole business of it. (James Saurin.)
Verse 27
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left.
Religious and moral conduct
Whatever the belief of men be
they generally pride themselves on
the possession of some good moral qualities. The sense of duty is deeply rooted
in the human heart. But as there is a constant strife between the lower and higher
parts of our nature
between inclination and principle
this produces much
contradiction and inconsistency in conduct. Hence arise most of the extremes
into which men run in their moral behaviour. One of the first and most common
of those extremes is that of placing all virtue either in justice on the one
hand or in generosity on the other. Both these classes of men run to a faulty
extreme. The perfection of our social character consists in properly tempering
the two with one another; in holding that middle course which admits of our
being just without being rigid
and allows us to be generous without being
unjust. We must next guard against either too great severity or too great
facility of manners. He who leans to the side of severity is harsh in his
censures and narrow in his opinions. The opposite extreme is more
dangerous--that of too great facility and accommodation to the ways of others.
Such a man views every character with an indulgent eye. Nothing
in moral
conduct
is more difficult than to avoid turning here
either to the right hand or
to the left; to preserve a just medium. True religion enjoins us to pursue the
difficult but honourable aim of uniting good-nature with fixed religious
principle
affable manners with untainted virtue. Further
we run to one
extreme
when we contemn altogether the opinions of mankind; to another
when
we court their praise too eagerly. The former discovers a high degree of pride
and self-conceit. The latter betrays servility of spirit. He who extinguishes
all regard to the sentiments of mankind suppresses one incentive to honourable
deeds
and removes one of the strongest checks on vice. He who is actuated
solely by the love of human praise encroaches on the higher respect which he
owes to conscience and to God. Hence
virtue is often counterfeited
and
religious truths have been disguised
or unfairly represented
in order to be
suited to popular tastes. Then there is the danger of running to the extreme of
anxiety about worldly interests on the one hand and of negligence on the other.
We need also to be warned against the extreme of engaging in a course of life
too busy and hurried
or of being devoted to one too retired and unemployed. We
are formed for a mixture of action and retreat. Temper business with serious
meditation
and enliven retreat by returns of action and industry. Let us study
to attain a regular
uniform
consistent character
where nothing that is
excessive or disproportioned shall come forward to view. Turning neither to the
right hand nor to the left
we shall
as far as our frailty permits
approach
to the perfection of the human character. (Hugh Blair
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》