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Proverbs
Chapter Seven
Proverbs 7
Chapter Contents
Invitations to learn wisdom. (1-5) The arts of seducers
with warnings against them. (6-27)
Commentary on Proverbs 7:1-5
(Read Proverbs 7:1-5)
We must lay up God's commandments safely. Not only
Keep
them
and you shall live; but
Keep them as those that cannot live without
them. Those that blame strict and careful walking as needless and too precise
consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye; indeed the law
in the heart is the eye of the soul. Let the word of God dwell in us
and so be
written where it will be always at hand to be read. Thus we shall be kept from
the fatal effects of our own passions
and the snares of Satan. Let God's word
confirm our dread of sin
and resolutions against it.
Commentary on Proverbs 7:6-27
(Read Proverbs 7:6-27)
Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful
lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive kind. Will any one
dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity
after Solomon has set
before his eyes in so lively and plain a manner
the danger of even going near
them? Then is he as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock
when
he has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The misery of
self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's blessed commands. We ought
daily to pray that we may be kept from running into temptation
else we invite
the enemies of our souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighbourhood of
vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They are the more
dangerous
because they most easily gain the heart
and close it against
repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it. Were a man
to live as long as Methuselah
and to spend all his days in the highest
delights sin can offer
one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must
follow
would far outweigh them.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Proverbs》
Proverbs 7
Verse 2
[2] Keep
my commandments
and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Live —
Thou shalt live.
Eye —
With all possible care and diligence.
Verse 3
[3] Bind them upon thy fingers
write them upon the table of thine heart.
Bind them — As
a ring which is continually in a man's eye.
Verse 4
[4] Say
unto wisdom
Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
And call —
Acquaint and delight thyself with her.
Verse 8
[8]
Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house
Passing —
Idle and careless
near the corner of the street in which her house stood.
Verse 12
[12] Now is she without
now in the streets
and lieth in wait at every
corner.)
Without —
Without the door of her house.
Corner — Of
the streets
where she might either conceal or discover herself
as she saw
fit.
Verse 14
[14] I
have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
Offerings — I
have paid my peace-offerings which I had vowed. Whereby she signifies
that she
had plentiful provisions at her house for his entertainment. For the
peace-offerings were to be of the best flesh
Leviticus 22:21
and a considerable part of
these offerings fell to the offerer's share.
Verse 20
[20] He
hath taken a bag of money with him
and will come home at the day appointed.
Hath taken —
Which is an evidence that he designs to stay a considerable time.
At the day — So
that we need not fear any surprise.
Verse 22
[22] He
goeth after her straightway
as an ox goeth to the slaughter
or as a fool to
the correction of the stocks;
As an ox —
Going to it securely
as if it were going to a good pasture.
Verse 23
[23] Till
a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare
and knoweth
not that it is for his life.
His liver —
His vital parts
'till his life be lost.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Proverbs》
07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-27
Verse 1
My son keep my words
and lay up my commandments with thee.
Parental precepts
“Lay up.” Hebrew
“hide.” A metaphor from treasure not left open
in the house
but looked up in chests unseen
lest it should be lost
or got
away.
I. Children must
remember parents’ words.
1. Their words of instruction.
2. Of charge or command.
3. Of commendation
for that is a great encouragement to do well.
4. Of consolation
which revives the spirit of good children in their
troubles.
5. Of promise.
6. Of prohibition.
7. Of reprehension.
8. Of commination.
The spring of parents’ words is love--yea
when they chide. The
end and result of all their speeches is their children’s good.
II. The heart is
the receptacle for godly precepts. There they must be laid up.
1. They are very precious in themselves. Common things lie about the
house. Choice things are locked up.
2. They are very profitable to us
and such things easily creep into
our hearts.
3. The heart is the secretest place to lodge them in.
4. It is the safest place. Good precepts should be as ready in our
thoughts as if we had them in our eyes. (Francis Taylor
B. D.)
Verse 5
That they may keep thee from the strange woman.
Heavenly wisdom protective
I. Knowledge is a
special means to keep us from wantonness.
1. By way of excellency. Wisdom is far more beautiful than the
fairest strumpet in the world.
2. By her good counsel. Wisdom will advise thee for thy good.
3. By sweet and pleasant discourse far more pleasant to a pious heart
than all the wanton songs in the world.
4. By arming thee against all objections. Keep in with knowledge
and
thou shalt be sure to keep out of harlots’ paws.
II. The false woman
is a stranger. Possibly in the sense of being a foreigner
and not considering
herself in the control of our moral laws.
1. A stranger in regard to marriage. Then thou hast no right to her.
2. A stranger in regard to carriage. Thou canst not look for any good
respect from her.
III. The false woman
is a flatterer.
1. The difference between her words and her deeds prove it. She speaks
like a friend
and acts like an enemy.
2. The difference between her first and her last words proves it. She
will surely turn against thee when thy money is spent. She will sink thee with
fair words. (Francis Taylor
B. D.)
Verse 7
A young man void of understanding.
A youth void of understanding
Solomon was pre-eminently a student of character. His forte lay in
the direction of moral philosophy
in the sense of the philosophy of morals.
I. The special
peril of great cities. Human nature remains the same in every age. The
descriptions of the temptations that assailed the youth of Jerusalem and Tyre
answers precisely to what we see in our own day. Therefore the counsels and
warnings of the ancient sage are as valuable and fitting as ever. The vastness
and multitudinousness of our modern cities provide a secrecy which is congenial
to vice. In all great towns solicitations to vice abound as they do not
elsewhere. Every passion has a tempter lying in wait for it. Whatever be your
temperament or constitution
a snare will be skilfully laid to entrap you. Vice
clothes itself here in its most pleasing attire
and not seldom appears even
under the garb of virtue.
II. The evil of late
hours. The devil
like the beast of prey
stalks forth when the sun goes down.
Night is the time for unlawful amusements and mad convivialities and lascivious
revelry. Now Jezebel spreads her net
and Delilah shears the locks of Samson.
Young men
take it kindly when I bid you beware of late hours. Your health
forbids it; your principles forbid it; your moral sense forbids it; your safety
forbids it. Purity loves the light. Late hours have proved many young man’s
ruin.
III. The danger of
foolish company. “Simple” in the Book of Proverbs means silly
frivolous
idle
abandoned. You could almost predict with certainty the future of one who
selected such society. The ruin of most young men is due to bad company. It is
commonly the finest natures that are first pounced upon. The good-hearted
amiable fellow
with open countenance and warm heart and generous disposition
is at once seized by the vermin of the pit
and poisoned with every kind of
pollution. Take care with whom you associate. There are men who will fawn upon you
and flatter you
and call you good company
and patronise you wonderfully
and take you anywhere
you wish to go; and--allow you to pay all expenses. As a rule
a companion of
loose character is the most mean and selfish of creatures. “Void of
understanding.” Understanding is more than wisdom
more than knowledge; it is
both and something besides. It is a mind well-balanced by the grace of God; it
is the highest form of common-sense
sanctified by a genuine piety. No man’s
understanding can be called thoroughly sound until it has been brought under
the power of the truth as it is in Jesus. Your only security against the perils
of the city
of the dark night
and of evil company
your only safety amid the
lusts that attack the flesh
and the scepticisms that assail the mind
is a
living faith in God
a spiritual union with Christ. (J. Thain
Davidson
D. D.)
A beacon to young men
Now reason is the glory of man. It is a light within the soul by
which he is exalted above the brutes that perish. And yet God often charges men
with displaying less judgment than the mere animal creatures (Isaiah 1:3).
I. The evidences
of this state. How can we know with certainty the young who are void of
understanding?
1. Those who throw off the restraints and counsels of their parents
and friends. When counsel and supervision are most needed they are rejected
and who so fit to guide and counsel as the parent?
2. Those who become the companion of the foolish and wicked. No other
influence will be so disastrous on our highest interests as that of evil
companionship. It will insidiously undermine every good principle.
3. Those who disregard the opinions of the wise and good around them.
4. Those who neglect the institutions of religion. The atmosphere of
religious ordinances is that of health and life to every virtue and grace of
the soul. By neglecting Divine ordinances and services
the heart and mind run
fallow.
5. Those who yield themselves up to sensual gratifications. The text
refers to the ensnaring woman. “For at the window of my house I looked through
my casement
” etc. How fearful the result! Money
reputation
health
mind
morals
life
and the soul
all sacrificed!
II. Its evil
results.
1. The morally evil condition of the youths themselves. Here are
powers perverted--talents prostituted--sin and misery increased.
2. The pernicious influence they exert on others. Every such youth
has his young friends and relations
all of whom may be corrupted by his
conduct.
3. The eternal misery to which they are hastening.
III. The only
remedy.
1. Immediate and genuine repentance. Prompt consideration.
2. There must be the yielding of the heart to Christ. Christ alone
can open the blind eyes
expel the foul spirit
renew the heart.
3. By the regulation of the life by the Word of God.
4. Union to
and fellowship with
God’s people. (J. Burns
D. D.)
The ignorance and folly of the man of pleasure
It is a mortifying truth that that age
which of all others stands
most in need of advice
thinks itself the least in want of it. Youth is warm
even in its desires
hasty in its conceptions
and confident in its hopes. Talk
to it when its passions are high
or when pleasure is glittering around it
it
will in all likelihood look upon you as come to torment it before its time
and
will none of your reproof. The particular error of youth is its pursuit of
licentious pleasures. This writer gives us an interesting picture of a young
man
confident in his own wisdom
and relying on his own strength
met by a
character whom the world has denominated Pleasure. He paints to us the charms
which she displays for his seduction
describes the flattery of her tongue
the
crafty wiliness of her allurements
and shows us his simple heart won by her
deceptions
and following her guilty call.
I. The man of
pleasure betrays an utter want of acquaintance with his own being. It is among
the foremost arguments in support of this kind of life that it is only in
conformity with that nature which God has given us. But your nature
as long as
it is without the renovation of the Eternal Spirit
cannot possibly be made
your guide. In reality full of diseases
the man imagines himself in perfect
health. Bound in misery and iron
he dreams that he is happy and at liberty. In
following his carnal desires a man is surely “void of understanding.”
II. The man of
Pleasure shows his ignorance and folly in his want of acquaintance with his
duties in this world. The sins of impurity are doubly sinful
inasmuch as they
incapacitate the follower of them from those exertions to which he is bound in
whatever state of life it hath pleased God to call him. The libertine imagines
that his duties are easily reconcilable with his pursuits of pleasure; and in
few cases does he show himself more void of understanding. It is their direct
tendency to enervate the spirit; to absorb the native vigour of the mind; to
extinguish generous ambition
that incitement to worthy deeds; and to drown all
in dissipation
indolence
and trifling. The pagans made the temple of honour
lie through the temple of virtue.
III. The libertine
shows his want of understanding in his ignorance or defiance of Omnipotence. Of
all the instances of want of wisdom
a disregard of the injunctions of Almighty
God is surely the most absurd
as well as the most wicked. And it never can be
confined to yourself
but involves often the misery
and always the guilt
of
others. The man bent on pleasure seldom considers whom he offends
whom he
injures
whose confidence he abuses
whose innocence he betrays
what
friendship he violates
or what enmities he creates. Your first vice might
arise from the seduction of bad companions
but a continuance of it becomes
your own sin.
IV. The libertine
acts in opposition to his own conviction. There is always an inward monitor
whispering against him. Rouse
then. Break from the infatuating circle. No
longer miscall the things of this world. (G. Matthew
M. A.)
The young man void of understanding
Understanding or reason is the glory of human nature. It is the
“candle of the Lord
” to light us on our destiny. Where this is not
you have a
traveller on a devious path without light
a vessel on a treacherous sea
without rudder or compass. Who is the young man void of understanding?
1. One who pays more attention to his outward appearance than to his
inner character. He sacrifices the jewel for the casket.
2. One who seeks happiness without rather than within. But the well
of true joy must be found in the heart
or nowhere.
3. One who identifies greatness with circumstances rather than with
character. But true greatness is in the soul
and nowhere else.
4. One who is guided more by the dictates of his own nature than by
the counsels of experience. He acts from the suggestions of his own immature
judgment. He is his own master
and will be taught by no one.
5. One who lives in show and ignores realities. He who lives in these
pursuits and pleasures which are in vogue for the hour
and neglects the great
realities of the soul and eternity
is “void of understanding.” (Homilist.)
A simple youth
void of understanding
The young man Solomon had in mind perhaps thought himself wise
but in the opinion of the sober and virtuous part of mankind
he was one of the
most infatuated of men. When may a young man be spoken of as “void of
understanding”?
1. When he suffers his mind to remain unacquainted with the great
principles of religion.
2. When he follows the dictates of his own corrupt heart. How shall
we account for all that wickedness which abounds in the world if there is no
bad principle from which it breeds? Take corruption out of the heart
and this
world would become a paradise. Simple souls
instead of checking the evil
principle within them
rather give it the greatest indulgence.
3. When he throws himself in the way of temptation. Snares abound.
There is hardly a step in our way in which we do not run some hazard of
stumbling. Have we not often complied when we ought to have resisted? Sin is
sometimes so artfully disguised that it loses its deformity
and we are
insensibly drawn into the commission of it. Is it not
then
wise and prudent
to keep at a distance and not to tamper with temptation? The old serpent is too
cunning and subtle for us
and if we throw ourselves in his way we must fall.
4. When he has not resolution to withstand the allurements with which
he may be surrounded. We can hardly hope to escape allurement altogether. All
depends on our yielding to or resisting first enticements. And what avails the
most enlightened understanding if we have not firmness to follow its dictates?
5. When he does not hearken to the admonitions of those who are older
and more experienced than himself. Vanity and self-conceit are too natural to
young minds
and numbers have been led away by them. Positive and headstrong
they refuse to be admonished
and scorn to be controlled. Hence they run
headlong into vice
and involve themselves in misery.
6. When he flatters himself with seeing long life and many years.
This is very natural to youth. But there is nothing more vain and uncertain.
Can there be a greater defect of understanding than to flatter one’s self with
what we may never enjoy? (D. Johnston
D. D.)
A young man void of understanding
1. One who makes light of parental restraints and counsels. No young
man is walking in safe paths who is engaged in pursuits or pleasures which a
wise father or a tender mother would be mortified and grieved to see him mixed
up with.
2. One who neglects the cultivation of his mind. If knowledge is
power
ignorance is weakness. The mind must be carefully trained in order that
the soul may fulfil her destiny upon earth
and be prepared for a more glorious
existence hereafter. 3 One who is content to live an idle and aimless life. To
spend the golden hours of existence in irresolution and idleness
with no
definite purpose
betrays
as much as anything could do
the lack of good
sense.
4. One who chooses his bosom companions from the ranks of the
thoughtless and the profane. We are naturally social beings
and seek for
pleasure in the company of others.
5. One who yields to the enticements of folly and wickedness. As soon
as he reaches the point when he is indifferent to the opinion of the wise and
the good
his case may well be set down as desperate. The young are always
surrounded by temptations
and every evil thought which is allowed a
resting-place in the mind vitiates and corrodes the fibres of the soul
and
every sinful deed unnerves the arm and paralyses the essential power of
manhood.
6. One who makes light of religion. Religion never encouraged anybody
to be indolent and improvident; never led him into the haunts of vice; never
wasted his substance in riotous living; never dragged a single victim to the
prison or the gallows. All its offices in the world have been elevating and
beneficent. Unbelief is not a misfortune
but it is the sin
the damning sin
of the world. Men first do wrong
and then believe wrong in order to escape from its consequences. True religion
will make you abhor sin
and draw you to Christ
the Redeemer; it will
strengthen you for duty
and nerve you for endurance. It will give songs in the
night
and through the grave and gate of death it will brighten your pathway to
eternal glory. (John N. Norton.)
Verse 8
He went the way to her house.
Occasions of sin
I. Many occasions
of sin present themselves unlooked for.
1. All places afford temptations.
2. All times have theirs.
3. All things afford it.
4. So do all conditions
all actions
and all persons.
Therefore we need to keep a constant watch
since we are not
secure in any place
time
or condition. Then suspect all things with a holy
suspicion.
II. It is dangerous
coming near bad houses.
1. Much danger may come from within.
2. Much danger from without; for ruffians and quarrellers haunt such
places.
3. Judgment may be feared from heaven.
III. Idleness is the
nurse of wantonness.
1. Because nature is corrupt
and of all sins most inclines to
wantonness.
2. The soul is very active both in our waking and sleeping
and if it
move us not to good it will move us to bad actions.
3. Because labour removes the rubs in the way of wantonness.
Spiritual duties and labour in our vocation take the heart
eyes
and ears off
from wanton objects. The heart set at liberty by idleness falls upon them with
greediness.
4. God’s judgment follows idleness to give such over to wantonness.
Take heed of idleness. Many think it either no sin or a light one. (Francis
Taylor
B. D.)
Verse 16
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry.
A luxurious bed
“I have exhausted the toil of myself and bought the toil of others
to increase the luxury of my rest. Come and see the courtly elegance with which
my bed is decked. Long and weary days have I laboured at the counting-house
at
the workshop
or at the desk. And now my bed is decked. Come and look. Place
yourself at my chamber window and tell me what you see now and what you will
see next year.”
1. “I see thee lying on this bed which thou hast decked
fretful
restless
and miserable. Thou hast found out too late that enjoyment is more
painful than expectation.
2. I see thee dying on the same bed. May God grant thee mercy! but if
He does it is in spite of the luxury with which thou art surrounded.
3. I see thee lying in another bed. It is narrow
and though well
quilted and smoothed
yet it has no room for the weary body to turn
or for the
feverish head to lift itself.” “I have decked my bed with peace. And though its
coverings are but scanty
and though sorrow and desolation have taken their
seats by its side
yet peace remains. And there is one like unto the Son of Man
whose gracious face ever shines on me from before this
my poor resting-place
so that though deserted and wretched
His love gives me a comfort this world
can neither give nor take away.
Come and see.” “I have come
oh
saint of God! and I see three
sights.
1. Destitution and pain are indeed about thee as thou liest on that
rude couch; but peace and love reign there
and who shall prevail against the
Lord’s elect?
2. I see thee in thy dying hour. Deserted and miserable thou mayest
be
but angelic forms are hovering over thee
and I hear a voice speaking as
man can never speak
saying
‘Come
thou beloved of My Father!’
3. I see thee in thy narrow bed
but I see something else behind. For
I see that great city
the holy Jerusalem
having the glory of God. And I hear
a voice there saying
‘Who is this who is arrayed in white robes? and whence
came he?’ And I say unto him
‘Sir
thou knowest.’ And the voice says
‘He is
one of them that came out of great tribulation
’” etc. (Christian Treasury.)
Verse 21
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield.
Good and bad speech
There is a force in words which it is often almost impossible to
resist. Good words have a wonderful virtue in them to work upon the mind
and a
great part of the good which we are called to do in the world is to be
accomplished by means of that little member
the tongue. But corrupt minds are
often found to have greater intelligence in persuading men to sin because human
nature is depraved
and needs only a temptation to draw men to the practice of
the worst of evils. No words have greater force in them to persuade men to sin
than the flatteries of the strange woman
and therefore the apostle Paul
who
directs us to strive against sin
calls loudly to us to flee youthful lusts.
Such lusts can scarcely be conquered but by flight
because the temptations to
them
when they meet with a simple mind and an impure heart
are like sparks of
fire lighting upon stubble fully dry. The force that is in the tongue of the
strange woman will not excuse the deluded youth; for his yielding to her is to
be attributed to the depravity of his own heart
which inclines him to prefer
the advice of a bad woman to the counsels of the Supreme and Eternal Wisdom. (G.
Lawson.)
Verse 22
As a fool to the correction of the stocks.
Slaughter of young men
1. We are apt to blame young men for being destroyed
when we ought
to blame the influences that destroy them. Society slaughters a great many
young men by the behest
“You must keep up appearances.” Our young men are
growing up in a depraved state of commercial ethics
and I want to warn them
against being slaughtered on the sharp edges of debt. For the sake of your own
happiness
for the sake of your good morals
for the sake of your immortal
soul
and for God’s sake
young man
as far as possible keep out of debt.
2. Many young men are slaughtered through irreligion. Take away a young
man’s religion
and you make him the prey of evil. If you want to destroy a
young man’s morals take his Bible away. You can do it by caricaturing his
reverence for Scripture. Young man
take care of yourself. There is no class of
persons that so stirs my sympathies as young men in great cities. Not quite
enough salary to live on
and all the temptations that come from that deficit.
Unless Almighty God help them they will all go under. Sin pays well neither in
this life nor in the next
but right thinking
right believing
and right
acting will take you in safety through this life and in transport through the
next. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Verse 23
Till a dart strike through his liver.
The gospel of health
Solomon had noticed
either in vivisection or in post-mortem
what
awful attacks sin and dissipation make upon the liver
until the fiat of
Almighty God bids the soul and body separate. A javelin of retribution
not
glancing off or making a slight wound
but piercing it from side to side “till
a dart strike through his liver.” Galen and Hippocrates ascribe to the liver
the most of the world’s moral depression
and the word melancholy means black
bile. Let Christian people avoid the mistake that they are all wrong with God
because they suffer from depression of spirits. Oftentimes the trouble is
wholly due to physical conditions. The difference in physical conditions makes
things look so differently. Another practical use of this subject is for the
young. The theory is abroad that they must first sow their wild oats and then
Michigan wheat. Let me break the delusion. Wild oats are generally sown in the
liver
and they can never be pulled up. In after-life
after years of dissipation
you may have your heart changed
but religion does not change the liver. God
forgives
but outraged physical law never. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Verse 24
Hearken unto me now therefore
O ye children.
On impurity
Cicero says
“There is not a more pernicious evil to man than the
lust of sensual pleasure; the fertile source of every detestable crime
and the
peculiar enemy of the Divine and immortal soul” This is true of all sensual
pleasures immoderately pursued and gratified beyond the demands of reason and
of nature.
I. How
contradictory the vice of impurity is to the great laws of nature and of
reason
of society and religion.
1. It is in opposition to the first law of our nature
which enjoins
the due subordination and subjection of our inferior appetites and passions to
the superior and ruling principle of the soul--that principle which
distinguishes man from the animal creation. What can be so degrading to our nature
as to reverse this first and important law by giving the reins of dominion to
an inferior and merely animal appetite
implanted in us
as a slave
to serve
the purposes of our temporal existence? Appetites are wholly of sense; with
them
abstractly considered
the mind has no concern. But if indulged beyond
due bounds
they darken the mind and absorb all its noblest faculties.
2. It opposes the laws of reason
whose peculiar office it is to
direct our conduct and form our manners in such a way as becomes the rank and
station we bear in the universe. What folly
then
to indulge a vice and pursue
a conduct which is at once most opposite to
and most derogatory from
the
honour and the dictates of reason! And can anything be more so than the
unrestrained gratification of impure desires
with which reason is so far from
concurring
that men are obliged to lull its keen remonstrances in the tumult
of passion and the hurry of sensual pursuits?
3. It opposes the laws of society--those universal laws of justice
honour
and virtue
upon which all society is founded
and upon the due
observation whereof the happiness and the permanence of society depends.
Nothing conduces more to corrupt the morals and deprave the minds of youth than
the unrestrained gratification of impure and lustful desires; nothing conduces
more to spread a general corruption of manners; nothing more affects and harms
the nearest and dearest interests of men; nothing introduces more distressful
injuries; and nothing is a greater prejudice or discouragement to just and
honourable marriage.
4. It opposes the Divine laws. The Divine instructions inform man of
the true state of his nature
of his dignity
fall
and possible restoration.
Man is informed that his triumph is sure and his reward inestimable if
superior to sense and to appetite
he improves the Godlike principle of reason
and virtue in him and purifies himself
even as his God
his great pattern and
exemplar
is pure. There are some considerations peculiar to the Christian
religion
drawn from the “Inhabitation of God’s Holy Spirit in the bodies of believers
as His temples
” and from their being incorporated by faith as living members
into the pure and immaculate body of Jesus Christ. Can men be so senseless as
to defile this holy temple? What can the gratification of youthful lusts
bestow
adequate to the loss
to the misery which it will assuredly occasion?
Neither the laws of God nor of man are founded in fancy or caprice. No precept
is imposed with a view to command or prohibit aught that was unessential to
their well-being.
II. How inimical
the vice of impurity is to the best interests of ourselves and of our
neighbours! What ever youth would wish to arrive at true honour and true
happiness must scorn with a noble fortitude the allurements of the harlot
pleasure
and implicitly follow the counsels of pure virtue. The practice of
impurity never can
never did or will
produce aught but thorns and briars
“mischiefs” and “miseries
” to others and to ourselves. One peculiar and
aggravating circumstance of malignity in this vice is that the perpetration of
it involves the ruin of two souls. You cannot be singly guilty. Have pity on
yourselves! Have pity on the companions of your sin! The seductions of
innocence can never be adequate to the end proposed. It is a complicated guilt.
All gratifying of lustful passions must be in a high degree injurious to their
fellow-creatures
and particularly to the unhappy partners of their guilt. And
the vice of impurity is peculiarly noxious and prejudicial to ourselves
to the
mind
body
estate
and reputation. (W. Dodd
LL. D.)
Verse 27
Her house is the way to hell.
The way to hell
An energetic expression. It is not the place itself
but the way
to it. In this ease what is the difference between the way and the destination?
The one is as the other
so much so that he who has entered the way may reckon
upon it as a fatal certainty that he will accomplish the journey and be plunged
into “the chamber of death.” No man means to go the whole length. A man’s will
is not destroyed in an instant; it is taken from him
as it were
little by
little
and almost imperceptibly; he imagines that he is as strong as ever
and
says that he will go out and shake himself as at other times
not knowing that
the spirit of might has gone from him. Is there any object on earth more
pathetic than that of a man who has lost his power of resistance to evil
and
is dragged on
an unresisting victim
whithersoever the spirit of perdition may
desire to take him? It is true that the young man can plead the power of
fascination; all that music
and colour
and blandishment
and flattery can do
has been done: the cloven foot has been most successfully concealed; the speech
has been all garden
and paradise
and sweetness
and joy; the word hell
or
perdition
has not been so much as mentioned. This is what is meant by
seduction: leading a man out of himself
and from himself
onward and onward
by carefully graded processes
until fascination has accomplished its work
and
bound the consenting soul in eternal bondage. (J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》