Life contrasts
I. IN PUBLIC LIFE.
1. Fulness and scantiness of population. (Proverbs 14:28.) The Hebrew had a deep sense of the value of fruitfulness in the wedded life, and of increase in the nation. The majesty of the monarch is the reflection of the greatness of his people, and the decay must represent itself in his feebleness for action. It is our duty as Christian men to study with intelligence political questions, and to support all measures which tend to freedom of commerce and abundance of food.
2. National exaltation and shame. (Proverbs 14:34.) The common ideas of national glory and shame are false. There is no glory in victory over feeble foes, no shame in seeking peace in the interests of humanity. Too often these popular ideas of glory represent the bully and the coward in the nation, rather than its wisdom and honour. There is no other real secret of a nation's exaltation than, in the widest sense, its right dealing, and no other shame for a nation than its vices—such as drunkenness, selfishness, lust for territory. Could Englishmen see the national character in the light in which it often appears to foreigners, it would be a humbling view.
3. Royal,favour or disfavour is an index of worth. (Proverbs 14:35.) Not, of course, the only or the truest index; and yet how seldom it happens that a man rises to high position in the service of his sovereign and country without eminent worth of some description or other! Here, again, moral law is exemplified. There is nothing accidental. If it be mere prudence which gains promotion, still prudence is of immense value to the state, and moral law is confirmed by its advancement.
II. IN PRIVATE LIFE.
1. Patience and haste of temper. (Proverbs 14:29.) They are branded respectively with the mark of sense and of folly. "The Scripture exhorteth us to possess our souls in patience; whosoever is out of patience is out of possession of his soul."
2. The calm and the seething heart. (Proverbs 14:30.) The first member seems more correctly rendered, "life of the body is a gentle or tranquil mind." Zeal, on the other hand, or envy, is a constant ferment within the soul. Men's minds must either feed upon their own good or others' evil. Inquisitive people are commonly envious; it is a "gadding passion," and an old proverb says that "Envy keeps no holidays." Lord Bacon says it is the vilest passion and the most depraved. Christian humility and love can only sweeten the heart, and dilute or wash away its natural bitterness
3. The violent death and the peaceful end. (Proverbs 14:32.) A sudden death was viewed as a visitation from God (Ps 36:13; Psalms 62:4). It was thought that the wicked could hardly come to any other end. But the righteous has confidence in his death. Considering the great silence of the Old Testament on the future life, it can hardly be honest exegesis to force the meaning of hope of a future life into this passage. Nor is it necessary. It is the consciousness that all is well, the soul being in God's hands, that the future may be left with him who has revealed himself in the past, which sheds peace into the dying soul.
4. Silent wisdom and noisy pretence. (Proverbs 14:33.) The still and quiet wisdom of the sensible man (Proverbs 10:14; Proverbs 12:16, Proverbs 12:23) is contrasted with the eager and noisy utterances of what the fool supposes to be wisdom, but in reality is the exposure of his folly. "There is no decaying merchant or inward beggar hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth as those empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency." Wisdom and piety are felt and fragrant, like the violet in the hedge, from humble places and silent lives, Let us aim to be, not to seem.—J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON