The moral quality of life
Nothing we can touch, no relation we can enter into or observe, but has its moral bearing. This, indeed, is the great lesson, in hundredfold iteration, of this book.
I. POVERTY WITH INNOCENCE, WEALTH WITH PERVERSITY. (Proverbs 28:6.) Whatever be the compensations of poverty in a lower point of view, most men would vote for riches if they had the opportunity at the price of all its inconveniences, and we need to be reminded that he who would sell his peace of conscience for wealth does but "gain a loss." Better go to heaven in rags than to hell in embroidery. Better God than gold; better be poor and live, than rich and perish.
II. A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS. (Proverbs 28:7.) The first example is that of the man whose delight is in the Law, who is in fellowship with the truth, and who is therefore a companion "of all them that fear God and keep his precepts." The second is that of one who keeps company with the dissipated, stains his name, and brings dishonour on his family. In society lie the greatest perils and the greatest safeguards. The Christian Church is the Divine society which aims at the true and holy ideal of living. As with books, so with men; the rule is—keep company only with the best.
III. ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH DWINDLES. (Proverbs 28:8.) Wealth is not his who gets it, but his who enjoys it. And if gotten by ill means, it cannot be enjoyed; and "Ill got, ill spent," says the proverb. Wealth, diverted by force or fraud from its natural channels flows back by a law of economic gravitation. A man labours for himself with selfishness and wickedness, and the harvest falls into better hands; "not intending it of himself; but it is so done through God's secret providence."
IV. PRAYERS ARE VITIATED BY INJUSTICE. (Proverbs 28:9.) They are tainted by a horrible lie. In prayer the goodness, the moral perfection, of God is assumed; and prayer implies that the holy will ought to be done. Yet how great the contradiction between such prayers on the lips and the heart bent upon defeating that will! "Just reason that God shall refuse to hear him who refuses to hear God." Without the "ceasing to do evil, and the learning to do well," sacrifices are vain oblations, and incense is an abomination to God (Isaiah 1:11-15).
V. THE SEDUCER IS SELF-SEDUCED. (Proverbs 28:10.) So the snare of Balaam, laid for Israel, became the cause of his own ruin. If the retribution is not visible, it is a fact in the soul. Among the ingredients of remorse, none is more bitter than the recollection of having led youth and innocence astray. It is a sin most difficult of self-forgiveness. But the righteous inherit salvation. There is a real sense in which men should seek to realize the character of "just men that need no repentance." There is no salvation in selfishness—none which does not imply a regeneration of the social consciousness.
VI. POVERTY AND RICHES HAVE THEIR COMPENSATION. (Proverbs 28:11.) Confidence in riches begins in illusory self-confidence; and there is much to abet and foster it in the opinion of the multitude; for, as the old saying runs, "Rich men have no faults." But the poor man, endued with sense and with religion, sees through these false estimates; knows that the rich feel misfortunes which pass over his own head; that they pay a tax of constant care and anxiety; and that it is ever better to fare hard with good men than to feast with bad.
VII. "THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE THE VOICE OF GOD." (Proverbs 28:12.) Whatever be the love of greatness and splendour, of rank and position, in the common mind, the people cannot but rejoice in good rulers, and be depressed under evil. A generous acclamation breaks from the popular heart when good men are raised to honour. "When Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in the king's royal apparel, …the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour; in every province … a feast and a good day" (Esther 8:15-17).—J.
The inner conditions of peace and of misery
I. THE CONCEALMENT OF SIN. (Proverbs 28:13.) It is like a worm in the bud, preying upon the check and upon the heart. The deepest way of such concealment is when the sinner persuades himself that "he has no sin," apologizing to himself, giving a false colour to his wrong. The sense of a dualism in our being unreconciled will not admit of peace and rest.
II. THE CONFESSION AND RENUNCIATION OF SIN. To admit the truth about ourselves, neither extenuating nor exaggerating our sin and fault; to allow the detecting and discriminating light of God's judgment to fall clear and full on the conscience;—this is what confession requires. But it must be completed by renunciation; otherwise it is mockery. To say—
"We're sorry and repent,
And then go on from day to day,
Just as we always went"
—in the words of the child's hymn—is mere sentimentality and weakness. But never are these conditions fulfilled without a sense of the Divine pity striking into the heart. God is faithful and just to forgive our sins; and the conscience is assured that he is too just to permit the sinner who has become a sufferer from godly sorrow to be tormented by remorse one moment longer than is necessary for his healing.
III. THE TENDER CONSCIENCE. (Proverbs 28:14.) It is well with him whose heart is in the constant habit of reverential dependence upon God. His law for human conduct envelops all life from the greatest to the minutest matters. It is the atmosphere of the soul that we need to keep pure; it is the fellowship with the Spirit who is holiness that we need most jealously to guard.
IV. THE HARDENING OF THE HEART. (Proverbs 28:14.) Making light of sin leads to its repetition; repetition indurates the conscience. Disregard of the delicacies of the soul leads surely to a benumbed, and presently to a lost, sensibility. It is better to feel too keenly than not to feel at all; better the weak conscience than no conscience at all. He who presumes upon the mercy of God will have to reckon with his justice.—J.
The wicked ruler
I. THE SIMILE. (Proverbs 28:15.) He is like a fierce and devouring beast. No pity softens his bosom; no justice regulates his conduct. Complaint provokes further exactions; resistance kindles him into fury. He looks upon his people, not as a flock to be tended, but to be preyed upon. He roars around them like the nightly bear about the fold. Such monsters have often appeared in history.
II. THE SOURCE OF OPPRESSION. It lies in the ignorance of the oppressor's heart—ignorance of policy, of humanity, of Divine and eternal right. The great generalization, "They know not what they do," covers, indeed, all kinds of sin, but does not exempt from guilt. Men might know better; but, without the practice of what we know, our light itself becomes darkness.
III. THE GOOD RULER. (Proverbs 28:16.) The trait that "he hates covetousness" may be made general; for false or perverted desire is the real motive of all such wickedness. "Lust and desire to have" gold, territory, power, etc; is selfish and cruel, and turns every man governed by it into a being more or less resembling the non-moral brute. Politics can never be excluded from Christianity; and the immense effect for good or evil of the acts of those in power is a reason why all good Christians should take a close interest in politics, and not permit any rank or station to be exempt from criticism.—J.