purpose, but it controls human action. It is constrained to become God's servant, but it makes itself the master of man.-Arnot. The rich man often goes about his Sion, or rather his Jericho, and views the walls thereof; he marketh the bulwarks, and telleth the towers of it. He looks upon his wealth, he marks his bags, he tells his moneys, and therein is his confidence; thereby he thinketh to outstand any siege or assault, and, placing his security on it, dareth to oppose his strength to any right or reason; whereas God with a. blast of ram's horns is quickly able to throw down all his might and his greatness.-Jermin. Verse 16. The labour of the righteous tendeth to life or serves as life.' 1. Because it is a good thing in itself. 2. Because it procures good, each stroke earning its pay. 3. Because it increases, and that on for ever, making us holier and happier, and making others holier and happier through the endless ages. It serves" pre-eminently "as life," therefore, literally, "is for life." But the fruit, or "gains of the wicked" (and we must not fail to note the crescendo in the second clause, "The labour of a righteous man"-" the gains of a wicked man"; the righteous still toiling, the wicked having made his harvest,) serve to sin or as a sinoffering! That is, they are all demanded by justice, and are all consumed for the expiation of his sins. Pious acts are a life. Wicked gains go to swell what our great creditor seizes. -Miller. Labour, not idleness, is the stamp of a servant of God; thus cheered by the glowing confidence, that it tendeth to life (John vi. 27). "Occupy till I come"-" Do all to the glory of God" (Luke xix. 13; 1 Cor. x. 31)-this is the standard. Thus the duties even of our daily calling tend to life. God works in us, by us, with us, through us. We work in and through Him. Our labour, therefore, is His work-wrought in dependence on Him; not for life, but to life (Rom. viii. 13; 1 Cor. xv. 10; Phil. ii. 12, 13)— Bridges. The words are fitly chosen: "labour" in honest industry is the righteous man's ordinary way of living." Revenue" (fruit) not gained by honest labour is frequently the wicked man's livelihood. -Fausset. It is not directly said, as the previous clause might lead us to expect, that the "fruit" of the wicked tendeth to "death," but to "sin." This, by the wise man, is considered as the same thing. It "tendeth to sin," and, consequently, to death. Thus it is said, said, "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (Jas. i. 15.). Between the two there is an intimate and inseparable connection.Wardlaw. For The righteous are laborious, as knowing that to be the end of their life. For themselves they labour, to lead their lives with comfort here, to get the life of glory hereafter. others they labour, to supply the wants of their disconsolate life on earth, and to help them forward to the blessed life of heaven. Wherefore St. Bernard saith well, "When we read that Adam in the beginning was set in a place of pleasure to work in it, what man of sound understanding can think that' his children should be set in a place of afflction for to play in it."-Jermin. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 18. THE INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. We take here the rendering of all recent commentators as given in the Critical Notes, and understand the verse to set forth the truth that " no man liveth to himself." His character is reproduced in others. I. A good man is a way, because he is the means to an end. The way to the city is the road by which we reach it. The life of a holy man is a way to spiritual and eternal life, because it is the means by which men come home to God. If there were no good men in the world, there would be no means by which sinners could be brought from death unto life. Christ is pre-eminently "the way," because His life is the great means by which men learn to know and to return to God. "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John xiv. 6). The longer a path is trodden the more distinctly it proclaims itself as a way. So a good man becomes a more evident way the longer he lives. A good life is so distinct in its teachings that both sage and savage are compelled to admit its influence, and the longer it exerts its power for good the more pronounced it becomes. The Son of God has for ages been the way to life, and the longer He continues to be so the more distinctly is He seen to be the means to this end. II. The conditions to be fulfilled in order to become a way of life. 1. The man must keep instruction. It is not enough to receive it. The Word of God must not only be heard, but must be remembered. The commandments of God. must not only be received, but must be kept. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John xiii. 17). 2. He must submit to discipline even when it takes the form of reproof. This is implied in the last clause of the verse, "He that refuseth reproof causeth to err. The man who has attained a position in any profession, and has thereby become qualified to lead others, has done so because he has submitted to discipline even when it has been in the unpalatable form of reproof. Such a man can well exhort others to submit to that by which he has become fit to be their guide. Even the Son of God "learned obedience by the things which He suffered" (Heb. v. 8). III. An ungodly man injures others as well as himself. He not only wanders from the path himself, but he "causeth (others) to err." We often hear it said of a godless man of one "who refuseth reproof "--that "he is nobody's enemy but his own." This cannot be. It has been truly said that "nothing leaves us wholly as it found us. Every man we meet, every book we read, every picture or landscape we see, every word or tone we hear, mingles with our being and modifies it.' This being so, every man makes every man with whom he comes in contact better or worse, and as every good man draws others into the path of life, so every man who refuses to submit to Divine discipline drags others with him in the broad road that leads to destruction. OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. St. Basil, answering the question, "With what mind anyone ought to receive the instructions of reproof administered unto him," giveth this answer, "With the same mind that befitteth him who, being sick of some disease and troubled for the preserving of life, receiveth a medicine, namely, with the greatest desire of recovering his health." For there is a way of life though a man be not sick but dead unto sin. And the hand that putteth into this way is instruction, and that which must keep us in the way is the keeping of instruction: for he that refuse h reproof erreth, erreth in refusing, erreth more by refusing.Jermin. This is the idea of other verses (11-13): that a man going to heaven blazes a path for others. He is a way. Others travel upon him in his prayers and in his example.-Miller. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 18. THREE DEGREES OF MORAL FOOLISHNESS When a case I. A liar. 1. A liar is a fool because he fights for a weak cause. can only be made out by lying it is manifestly a bad one. A man who will strive to uphold such a cause reveals his folly. 2. Because he makes use of a weak weapon. Among tribes ignorant of the methods of civilised warfare we find weapons which are little better than slim rods, and, although their points. are sharp and poisoned, yet they proclaim their weakness when they come into collision with an experienced swordsman. Lying is such a weapon, and its use reveals the utter folly of him who wields it. It can no more stand against truth than the wooden spear of a savage can turn aside the thrust of a Damascus blade. 3. Because by lying he degrades his moral character. The serpent lost his upright position by being linked with lying, instead of going erect, God passed upon him the sentence-" Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" (Gen. iii. 14). The liar finds that this is his doom. He can no longer hold up his head like an honest man among his fellow-men, he must henceforth crawl and wind his way through the world, and eat the dust of ignominy and scorn. Men turn from a liar as they do from a serpent. It is assuredly the height of folly for a man thus to throw away that which alone makes him worthy to be called a man. II. A liar who conceals hatred by lying. This man displays a higher degree of iniquity and folly. There are those who lie simply to serve their own purposes and have no dislike to the person whom they deceive. There is often much lying where there is no special malice. But when lying is used to conceal hatred-which is murder (1. John iii. 15)—there is a double folly because there is a double sin. The lying of the "father of lies" is simply a blind to conceal his intense hatred of the human race, and this makes him the greater sinner. III. A liar who utters slander. When malice finds vent in lying slander we have an exhibition of greater iniquity and therefore of greater folly. It is bad to be a liar, it is worse to conceal hatred by lying, but it is worse to let the hatred of the heart break forth into false accusations of the innocent. The tree that is most richly laden with the ripest fruit is the one upon which the birds will congregate. We never find them passing by such booty to peck at green fruit. The pirates lay in wait for vessels with a rich cargo, empty vessels pass by unmolested and secure from attack. So it is always the best men who attract slanderers, men of little or no moral worth are not considered foemen worthy of their steel. God declared Job to be the best man in all the earth, "perfect and upright, one who feared Him, and eschewed evil" (Job i. 8). And it was because he stood thus pre-eminent that the tongue of the great slanderer was used against him; being from the begining a liar and a murderer of character he gave one of the most complete exhibitions of his real nature when he pointed his lying hatred agains the best man of his day. The Holy One of God did not escape the tongue of the slanderer. He was a "man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber" (Matt. xi. 19), "one that perverteth the people" (Luke xxiii. 14). When "He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows He was esteemed "smitten of God and afflicted" (Isiah liii. 4). All lying and malice, whether concealed or manifested, becomes the most palpable folly when looked at in the light of the "coming of the Lord, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts" (1 Cor. iv. 5). OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. If we desire the credit of wisdom let us use better means to obtain it than artificial disgracings of our brethren, for that cometh not from above; it is no gift of God; it is sensual, carnal, and devilish. Do not hearken to the reports of such wicked persons as seek to defame others and detract from their good name; they are but foolish and base pedlars that utter such infectious wares, and therefore they cannot be wise chapmen that traffic with them and receive them at their hands. Here is consolation for them that are molested and vexed unjustly for the Gospel's sake by clamourous and false accusers; let them consider what account God maketh of their malicious adversaries; He calls them fools and derideth their practices, and, therefore, in the end it shall be seen that when they have spat all their venom they have but shot a fool's bolt and procured shame and sorrow to themselves.-Dod. And The folly of slander. 1. If this practice be proved extremly sinful it will thence be demonstrated no less foolish. And it is indeed plainly the blackest and most hellish sin that can be; that which giveth the grand fiend his name, and most expresseth his nature. He is the slanderer, Satan, the spiteful adversary, the old serpent or dragon spitting forth the venom of calumnious accusation, the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, the grand defamer of God to man, of man to God, of one man to another. highly wicked that practice must be whereby we grow namesakes to him. 2. The slanderer is plainly a fool because he makes wrong judgments and valuations of things, and accordingly driveth on silly bargains for himself, in result whereof he proveth a great loser. He means by his calumnious stories either to vent some passion boiling within him, or to compass some design which he affecteth, or to please some humour that he is possessed with; but is any of these things worth purchasing at so dear a rate? Can there be any valuable exchange for our honesty? Can anything in the world be so considerable that for its sake we should defile our souls? 3. Because he uses improper means and preposterous methods of effecting his purposes. As there is no design worth the carrying on by ways of falsehood and iniquity, so there is scarce any (no good and lawful one at least) which may not more surely, more safely, more cleverly be achieved by means of truth and justice. . . He that is observed to practise falsehood will be declined by some, opposed by others, disliked by all. 4. The slanderer is a fool, as bringing many great inconveniences and troubles upon himself. (1.) By no means can a man inflame so inflame so fierce anger, impress so stiff hatred, raise so deadly enmity against himself, and consequently so endanger his safety, ease, and welfare as by this practice. Men will rather pardon a robber of their goods than of their good name. (2.) And he is not only odious to the person immediately concerned, but generally to all men who observe his practice; every man presently will be sensible how easily it may be his own case to be thus abused. (3.) He also derogateth wholly from his own credit, for he that dareth thus to injure his neighbour, who can trust him in anything that he speaks? (4.) This practice is perpetually haunted with most troublesome companions, inward regret, and self-condemnation. (5.) The consequence of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract and to render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted. (6.) The slanderer doth banish himself from heaven and happiness. For, if none that "maketh a lie" (Rev. xxii. 15) shall enter the heavenly city, assuredly the capital liar, the slanderer, shall be far excluded from felicity. All these things being considered, we may, I think, reasonably conclude it most evidently true that "he who uttereth slander is a fool."-Barrow. Better. Ile who hideth hatred is of lying lips. The alternative is offered with a delicate touch of irony. He who cherishes hatred must choose between being a knave or a fool-a knave if he hides, a fool if he utters it.-Plumptre. MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.-Verses 19-21. SPEECH AND SILENCE. I. The wisdom of not always using the tongue when we might. "He that refraineth his lips is wise." The reputation of a good man may be much injured by even speaking the truth at certain times and to certain persons. The silence of a man who can speak wisely and eloquently is a revelation of self-control, and often adds more to the dignity of his character than words can. The Son of God" opened not His mouth" before His false accusers, and thus revealed His power of self-control-His moral majesty. That He could be silent in such circumstances is a manifestation of the deep ocean of conscious innocence within Him, and is an unparalleled exposition of His own precept, “In patience possess ye your souls." 1. Silence is wisdom when we feel that speech would be useless to convince.-when we feel that a foregone conclusion has been arrived at which no argument or appeal could shake. This has been the case in the history of the confessors and martyrs of the Church in all ages, and was pre-eminently so when the Lord Jesus Christ stood to be tried before men who had determined to murder Him. 2. Silence is sometimes more convincing than speech. Men are often more impressed by acts than by words, by a spirit of forbearance than by a passionate vindication of our rights. 3. Silence does not necessarily imply acquiescence. The Eternal Himself is sometimes silent from displeasure. These things hast thou done and I kept silence" (Psalm lv. 21). II. The blessing of using the tongue when we ought. "The tongue of the just is as choice silver." The lips of the righteous feed many because they supply a need. Man needs a medium by which to express the value of his labour or his merchandise, and silver supplies this want. And he likewise needs a medium by which to express his thoughts, and speech is this medium. But unless it is the speech of a just man it will be a curse and not a blessing. It must convey good thinking if it is to be as choice silver to a needy man. The prisoner who stands at the bar charged with a crime of which he is innocent feels that the tongue of the man who pleads his cause is more precious to him than much silver. To the man who is seeking after God, the tongue of one who can tell him "words whereby he shall be saved" is as choice silver (Acts xi. 14). The words of Peter were so esteemed by Cornelius. The heart of the Ethiopian eunuch was more rejoiced by the preaching of Philip the Evangelist than it would have been by the possession of all the treasure of his mistress (Acts viii. 26-39). The words of Him who was "the Just One" (Acts iii. 14) are and ever will be "a strength to the needy in his distress" (Isa. xxv. 4); more precious to those who are conscious of their soul-poverty "than thousands of gold and silver" (Psalm cxix. 72); and it is in proportion as men are like Him in character and disposition that their speech will bless the world. III. The sin of using the tongue too much. The shell and the kernel of the fruit were intended by God to grow together; the latter cannot grow to perfection without the former, yet the shell only exists for the kernel. The soul and body are ordained to grow together; the body only exists for the soul, yet the soul |