The princes of the sea.
The Tyrians were a seafaring people on a large scale. Unlike the poor Philistines, who did not go beyond the fisherman's simple toil, those adventurers swept the Mediterranean with their fleets, and even ventured to distant shores of the Atlantic. They had the advantages and the evils of a great maritime nation.
I. THE PRINCES OF THE SEA GATHERED RICHES, The merchants of Tyre were princes. Wealth was got by industry, daring, and enterprise. Thus the Tyrians anticipated the good fortune of the English. Prosperity is not often won except by means of energy and adventure. When the spirit that urges on daring attempts is enervated by luxury, the success that it once achieved is surely doomed. It is happy when that spirit is transformed into a higher character, and seeks for better returns than bales of merchandise. We cannot but feel that the voyages of the Beagle and the Challenger are nobler in this respect, as their aim was to gather treasures of knowledge. But better still is it when the command of the waters is used for the promotion of peace, the extension of liberty, and the check of the slave trade, and above all, the propagation of Christianity.
II. THE PRINCES OF THE SEA UNITED RACES. In ancient times the Tyrians were the great link of connection between the East and the West. Through them the venerable civilization of Asia woke up the genius of Europe, as yet slumbering in unconscious barbarism. Tyre gave the alphabet to Europe. Thus she laid the foundation of Greek culture and started European literature on its wonderful course. She gave more than she took. Immense and untold good comes from the peaceful intercommunication of races.
III. THE PRINCES OF THE SEA RAN GREAT RISKS. They trusted their wealth to the treacherous waves. The Merchant of Venice finds himself beggared by unexpected calamities. The greatest wealth is usually won by the most uncertain means, i.e. by foreign trade and home speculation. This is a warning to the prosperous not to put their trust in riches which so easily take wings and fly away. The fate of Tyre should drive us further to seek those better riches in the heavenly treasury, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6:20). If even the princes of the sea were ruined, who can be satisfied to rest in the greatest earthly success?
IV. THE PRINCES OF THE SEA LIVED LOW LIVES. Princes they were, but not saints. Their mercenary character was not hidden by all the splendor of their surroundings. In their gorgeous palaces, among their well-stocked bazaars, with their heavy-laden ships on many waters, they were the cynosure of every eye. Yet in God's sight they were "miserable, and blind, and naked," for they were but mammon-worshippers. More enlightened than the Tyrian merchants, Englishmen will be guilty of greater sin and folly if they fall down and worship the same image of gold.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON