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I
The Unknown God; or, Inspiration among Pre-Christian Races. In 8vo, cloth, 12s.
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II
“A really earnest and noble book.”
—Academy.
“This really valuable book.”
—Daily News.
Nunnery Life in the Church of England; or, Seventeen Years with Father Ignatius. By Sister Mary Agnes, O.S.B. Introduction by the Rev. W. Lancelot Holland, M.A., Vicar of All Saints’, Hatcham. With Portrait. Fourth Thousand. Cloth, 3s. 6d.
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—Christian.
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—English Churchman.
Important Work by the Dean of Norwich
The Christian Ministry: Its Origin, Constitution, Nature, and Work. A Contribution to Pastoral Theology. By the Very Rev. William Lefroy, D.D., Dean of Norwich. In one Volume, 8vo, cloth, 14s.
“This is, in every sense of the word, a timely book.... From the importance of the themes which it embraces, Dean Lefroy’s book is one that should be of great value.”
—Record.
“In presenting his own views, which he does with remarkable power and in the most lucid way, the author has occasion to controvert the opinions of several recent writers, a duty which he performs with great ability, fairness, and unvarying courtesy. These lectures are by no means dry or dull reading; they are lightened up by many passages of chastened eloquence; they show ripe scholarship, and a thorough mastery of materials by which a judgment is to be formed.”
—Scotsman.
The Late Dr. Hatch
“There is noticeable throughout them a sincerity, a strong affection, and sureness of faith; a tender-heartedness and sympathy for the lot of the poor and suffering which is real and often touching. His best sermons are his simplest, and his power shows itself most surely when he is dealing with matters of character and the conduct of life.”
—Spectator.
“Standing quite by itself as a solid result of individual search, a book stiff with significant facts and bursting with inferences.”
—Expositor.
“They are exquisitely beautiful.”
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“These delicate and thoughtful poems breathe the very spirit of their author, broad, simple, and sincere.”
—Pall Mall Gazette.
“Charming, and very readable.”
—English Churchman.
“A bright and pleasant book of cultivated and well-informed gossip.”
—Leeds Mercury.
Memoir by W. Robertson Nicoll, M.A., LL.D. With Reminiscences by Professor Marcus Dods, D.D., Professor Henry Drummond, Rev. John Smith, M.A., and Rev. James Stalker, D.D.
“In more ways than one this volume is full of interest. Dr. Robertson Nicoll has outlined the personal career of the Professor of Hebrew for his pupils, and of the Presbyterian minister for his disciples, whether directly or indirectly under his charge; but, in supplying them with an admirable selection of memorable words, has given a wider public the opportunity of making acquaintance with the thoughtful life of an original religious mind. The value of the portrait—for it should be valuable to those working for and with others in the spiritual struggles of the age—lies in the inspiration it should give to young thinkers in the Christian Church. In these selections we have little that is not truly catholic in spirit. We do not mean that Professor Elmslie’s papers are in any way of classic rank, but we do mean that they tell us of those serene depths over which roll the waves of this troublesome world, powerless to affect their calm. It is impossible by extracts to give an idea of the impression of strength made upon one by what are, after all, only popular sermons and surface-papers; but we think some will thank us for calling attention to what we point to as typical of a young teaching spirit of our own time in its sensitive perceptiveness and practical administrative activity.”
—Spectator.
James Macdonell (of “The Times”). A Story of Self-Help. By W. Robertson Nicoll, M.A., LL.D. With Etched Portrait by H. Manesse. 8vo, 12s.
“An admirable portrait.”
—Academy.
“Mr. W. Robertson Nicoll has enriched not only the literature of our day, but the lives of many of us by his sincere, sympathetic, loyal, and artistic rendering of what he fairly calls ‘the only life of a journalist pure and simple ever written.’... This masterly monograph.”
—Daily Telegraph.
“A delightful book upon a glorious subject, by one who is better qualified to write it than any other living man.... An immortal book.”
—Sword and Trowel.
“One of the most suggestive books we have seen lately on the study of the Gospels.”
—Methodist Recorder.
“Marked by the competent scholarship, the sound and cautious exegesis, the homiletic tact, and the mastery of lucid and, at times, beautiful style which characterise his preaching.”
—Theological Review.
“Few sermons, one would fancy, could do more good than this book, honestly considered. It speaks plain sense on faults and follies that are usually gently satirised, and makes fine invigorating reading. The book warmly deserves success.”
—Scotsman.
“Mr. Runciman expresses himself with a vigour which leaves nothing to be desired. He leaves no doubt of what he thinks,—and he thinks, anyhow, on the right side.... Altogether a very vigorous deliverance.”
—Spectator.
Dr. T. L. Cuyler says:—“I have just laid down the most robust and the most fascinating piece of autobiography that I have met with in many a day. It is the story of the wonderful work wrought by John G. Paton, the famous missionary to the New Hebrides; he is made of the same stuff with Livingstone. A book which is as thrilling as any romance.”
The Rev. Dr. Pierson, author of “The Crisis of Missions,” says:—“I consider it unsurpassed in missionary biography. In the whole course of my extensive reading on these topics, a more stimulating, inspiring, and every way first-class book has not fallen into my hands. Everybody ought to read it.”
“That the present volume will be received with as much favour as its predecessor may be looked upon as a foregone conclusion. Together they form one of the most fascinating records of missionary work.”
—Glasgow Herald.
“No modern missionary story is more thrilling, romantic, or in parts pathetic, than this; none furnishes more convincing proof of the power of the Gospel or the efficacy of prayer. The whole story is told without one word of self-exaltation, and in a style charming in its simplicity and tenderness.”
—Methodist Times.
The Theological Educator
The Language of the New Testament. By the Rev. William Henry Simcox, M.A.
“The most living grammar of the New Testament we have.”
—Expositor.
Outlines of Christian Doctrine. By the Rev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A., Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Third Edition.
An Introduction to the New Testament. By Rev. Marcus Dods, D.D. Third Edition.
An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. By the Rev. Professor B. B. Warfield, D.D. Third Thousand.
A Manual of Church History. By the Rev. A. C. Jennings, M.A. In Two Volumes.
Vol. I.—From the First to the Tenth Century.
Vol. II.—From the Eleventh to the Nineteenth Century.
A Manual of Christian Evidences. By the Rev. Prebendary C. A. Rowe, M.A. Sixth Thousand.
A Manual of the Book of Common Prayer. Showing its History and Contents. For the use of those studying for Holy Orders and others. By the Rev. Charles Hole, B.A., King’s College, London.
A Hebrew Grammar. By the Rev. W. H. Lowe, M.A., Joint Author of “A Commentary on the Psalms,” etc., etc. Second Thousand.
An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed. By the Rev. J. E. Yonge, M.A., late Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.
“A very complete guide to the sermon literature of the present day.”—Scotsman.
The Sermon Bible
Strongly Bound in Half-Buckram. 7s. 6d. each Volume.
Each containing some Hundreds of Sermon Outlines, and several Thousand References.
Vol. I.—Genesis to 2 Samuel.
“We do not hesitate to pronounce this the most practically useful work of its kind at present extant. It is not a commentary, but a Thesaurus of sermons on texts arranged consecutively, chapter after chapter and book after book.... We are bound to say that the object announced by the compilers is on the way to be realised, and here will be given the essence of the best homiletic literature of this generation.”
—Literary Churchman.
Vol. II.—1 Kings to Psalm LXXVI.
“Preachers anxious to discover the best books out of which they may collect golden thoughts on any particular text, for use in their sermons, will doubtless be glad of the volume before us, which aims at being a guide-book, pointing out where sermons and articles on those texts may be found. In addition to this, extracts from sermons are given in the book itself.”
—English Churchman.
“The series, when completed, will form an excellent guide to the best English sermons of recent times, while it presents, as well, a selection of outlines upon the most important passages of Scripture by the best preachers of our time.”
—Methodist Recorder.
Vol. III.—Psalm LXXVII. to Song of Solomon.
“The preachers whose names appear in connection with this book are some of the most remarkable of the past and present generations. The Book of Ecclesiastes furnishes some beautiful texts, which are here handled admirably; and even the Song of Songs gives preachers of a more mystical turn exercise for their peculiar gifts. The volume is likely to be very serviceable to preachers.”
—Church Bells.
Vol. IV.—Isaiah to Malachi.
“There is, as in previous volumes, great diversity of thought, the homiletic matter being the product of minds widely differing in theological views. It is a model of neatness in its get-up, and cannot fail to be a valued, because valuable, addition to any clerical library.”
—Rock.
Vol. V.—Matthew I. to XXI.
“The plan has been carried out with such admirable impartiality and such excellent taste that the student who wishes to ascertain how a given text is handled by the ablest English-speaking pulpit expositors of the day can hardly fail to find here what he seeks presented in the briefest form possible, an elaborate sermon being usually condensed into two or three short paragraphs.”
—Manchester Examiner.
London: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row.
Footnotes:
1 Cf. xxv. 24 (xxi. 9), xxvi. 22 (xviii. 8), xxvii. 12 (xxii. 3), xxvii. 13 (xx. 16), xxvi. 13 (xxii. 13), xxvi. 15 (xix. 24), xxviii. 6 (xix. 1), xxviii. 19 (xii. 11), xxix. 13 (xxii. 2); to which add xxvii. 15 (xix. 13), xxvii. 21 (xvii. 3), xxix. 22 (xv. 18).
2 Eccl. vii. 24.
3 Wisdom viii. 1.
4 Eccl. vii. 25.
5 1 Kings iv. 33.
6 In this passage Wisdom is represented saying—
“I from the mouth of the Highest came forth, and as vapour I veiled the earth;
I in the heights pitched my tent, my throne in a pillar of cloud;
I alone circled the ring of heaven, and walked in the depths of abysses;
In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and race I obtained a possession;
With all these I sought a rest (saying), In whose inheritance shall I settle?
Then came to me the command of the Creator of all; my Creator pitched my tent; and He said,
In Jacob pitch thy tent, in Israel find thine inheritance.
Before the world was, in the beginning He created me, and while the world lasts I shall not fail:
In the holy tent before Him I offered service, and thus in Sion I was planted;
In the beloved city He likewise made me rest, and in Israel is my power;
And I took root in a people that is glorified, in a portion of the Lord His inheritance.”—Eccles. xxiv. 3.
7 Prov. xiv. 27.
8 It may be well to remind the reader who is too familiar with the name “the Lord” to consider its significance; that “the Lord” is the English translation of that peculiar name, Jahveh, by which God revealed Himself to Moses, and the term Jahveh seems to convey one of two ideas, existence or the cause of existence, according to the vowel-pointing of the consonants יהוה.
9 Eccles. i. 6, 8.
10 Prov. ii. 10.
11 Prov. i. 32.
12 We may remind ourselves that, according to the most probable conjecture, this introduction to Solomon’s Proverbs (chaps, i.-ix.) dates from the reign of Josiah (640-609 b.c.).
13 Isa. i. 15.
14 Isa. lix. 7.
15 Micah iii. 10.
16 Jer. ii. 34.
17 Jer. xxii. 17.
18 Prov. i. 14. Compare the proverb, xvi. 29, “A man of violence enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him in a way that is not good.”
19 Prov. ix. 13-18.
20 Prov. v. 12-14.
21 Prov. vi. 32 and v. 22.
22 Prov. i. 19.
23 A dog-chain sold in London at one shilling and threepence was found to have cost, for materials twopence, for labour three-farthings. (Evidence before Lord Dunraven’s Commission on the Sweating System).
24 See Prov. i. 13.
25 Prov. ii. 22.
26 Prov. i. 19.
27 Prov. ii. 19.
28 Prov. i. 17.
29 Prov. i. 25.
30 Prov. i. 31, 32.
31 Prov. i. 24-31.
32 Prov. ii. 21, 22.
33 Prov. i. 31-33.
34 Prov. ix. 12, 18.
35 Cf. xxviii. 26, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.”
36 Prov. iii. 1-10.
37 Luke xviii. 29, 30.
38 The Hebrew word שִׁקּוּי in iii. 8b is the same as that which is translated “my drink” in Hosea ii. 6. The LXX. render it “marrow,” but it means the moisture which in a natural and healthy state keeps the bones supple, as opposed to the dryness which is produced by senility or disease.
39 Si ton Dieu veut ta mort, c’est déjà trop vécu.
40 Prov. iii. 29.
41 Prov. iii. 33.
42 Cf. xii. 8, “A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart, shall be despised.”
43 Prov. iii. 27, 28.
44 Prov. iii. 6.
45 Matt. vi. 22.
46 Prov. iii. 13-15.
47 Prov. iii. 18.
48 Prov. iii. 16.
49 Prov. iii. 8.
50 Prov. iii. 31.
51 Prov. iii. 12.
52 Prov. iii. 35.
53 This subject, which occupies so large a part of the book, is further treated in Lect. XXIII.
54 It is noteworthy that the LXX. in ver. 2 seek to maintain the Solomonic authorship by deliberately altering the words.
55 Cf. the beautiful family picture of the linked and mutually blessed generations in the proverb, “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers” (xvii. 6).
56 Prov. iv. 8, 9.
57 Prov. iv. 14.
58 Prov. iv. 20-23.
59 Matt. xv. 19.
60 Paradise Lost, iv. 20, etc., and 75. Cf. also ix. 120:—
“And the more I see
Pleasures about me, so much more I feel
Torment within me, as from hateful siege
Of contraries. All good to me becomes
Bane, and in heaven much worse would be my state.”
61 Prov. iv. 24.
62 Prov. iv. 25-27.
63 Prov. iv. 27.
64 Cf. xvii. 24, “Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.”
65 Eccles. ix. 7.
66 Prov. iv. 26.
67 Prov. v. 21.
68 Prov. iv. 19.
69 Prov. iv. 16, 17.
70 Prov. iv. 18, margin.
71 Prov. iv. 12.
72 Prov. xiv. 12.
73 Prov. v. 8.
74 The Laureate has touched with stern satire on this debased modern Realism:—
“Author, atheist, essayist, novelist, realist, rhymester, play your part,
Paint the mortal shame of Nature with the living hues of Art.
Rip your brothers’ vices open, strip your own foul passions bare,
Down with Reticence, down with Reverence—forward—naked—let them stare!
Feed the budding rose of boyhood with the drainage of your sewer,
Send the drain into the fountain lest the stream should issue pure.
Set the maiden fancies wallowing in the troughs of Zolaism,
Forward, forward,—aye and backward, downward too into the abysm!”
—The new Locksley Hall.
75 Prov. ix. 17.
76 Prov. vi. 25.
77 Prov. vii. 16, 17.
78 Prov. v. 15-19.
79 Paradise Lost.
80 Prov. vi. 27, 28.
81 Prov. v. 9.
82 Prov. vi. 33.
83 Prov. vi. 34, 35.
84 Prov. v. 10.
85 Prov. vi. 26.
86 Prov. v. 11.
87 Prov. v. 12-14.
88 Prov. v. 21.
89 It is, if we may say so, a maxim of modern science that “A sin without punishment is as impossible, as complete a contradiction in terms, as a cause without an effect” (W. R. Gregg).
90 Prov. v. 23.
91 King Lear.
92 Mark iii. 26.
93 Prov. vi. 26.
94 Prov. xxiii. 29, 32.
95 See Prov. xvii. 18, xx. 16, repeated in xxvii. 13, and especially xi. 15.
96 Prov. xxii. 26, 27.
97 Eccles. xxix. 14, 16, 17, 18, 19.
98 Prov. xxiv. 30-34; see for a fuller treatment of the subject Lecture XX.
99 Prov. xxx. 25-27.
100 It is the word used in Exod. v. 6 of those who directed the tasks of the Israelites in Egypt.
101 Prov. vi. 6-8.
102 Prov. vi. 12-15.
103 Cf. the proverb xvi. 30—“He that shutteth his eyes, it is to devise froward things: he that compresseth his lips bringeth evil to pass.”
104 Cf. Prov. xx. 14: “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.”
105 It is probably assumed that warnings and corrections have been given him in vain—cf. Prov. xxix. 1: “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be broken, and that without remedy.”
106 Prov. vi. 16-19.
107 Prov. xxx. 13. See Lecture XIII. for the teaching of the Proverbs on Pride.
108 Prov. xii. 19.
109 See Prov. xii. 17; xiv. 5, 25; xix. 5, 9. A crime, it may be remembered, which would be much more common and much more fatal in a primitive state of society, where on the one hand legal procedure was less cautious and less searching, and on the other hand the inward sanctions of truth which Christianity has brought home to the modern conscience were but feebly perceived.
110 Prov. vii. 6.
111 Prov. vii. 4.
112 Prov. vii. 9.
113 Prov. vii. 8. The term צָעַד describes a special kind of motion, e.g., the slow pacing of the oxen that bare the ark (2 Sam. vi. 15), or the imagined efforts of idols to move (Jer. x. 5); it is therefore unfortunate to render it by the generic word “go.” The affected dignity and sauntering insouciance of a dandy are immediately suggested by it, and the shade of meaning is fairly well preserved in the English “saunter.”
114 This is the meaning of the word translated ‘clamorous.’
115 So says the Greek version of ver. 10: ἣ ποιεῖ νέων ἐξίπτασθαι καρδίας.
116 See Lev. vii. 16.
117 Prov. viii. 1-6.
118 Prov. viii. 7-9.
119 Prov. viii. 20.
120 Prov. viii. 8, 9.
121 Prov. viii. 18.
122 Prov. viii. 10-16.
123 Prov. viii. 17.
124 Prov. viii. 22. There is unfortunately an ambiguity in the word קָנָה. It may mean either “to possess” or “to create.” Cf. Gen. xiv. 19, 22, where it is impossible to decide between “Possessor of the earth” and “Maker of the earth.” That the word might be rendered “got” in this passage is evident from iv. 7, where it is employed; on the other hand, the LXX. renders ἔκτισε, and the author of Ecclesiasticus evidently took it in this sense; cf. i. 4, “Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting.” In Gen. iv. it is rendered “gotten,” but it is quite possible that the joyful mother called her son קַיִן with the feeling that she had created him with the help of the Lord.
125 Prov. viii. 26.
126 Milton, Paradise Lost, vii. 225.
127 Prov. viii. 29. It is hardly necessary to point out that the language betrays a complete ignorance of those facts with which astronomy and geology have made us familiar. The author puts into the lips of Wisdom the scientific conceptions of his own time, when the earth was regarded as a flat surface, covered by a solid circular vault, in which the sun, and moon, and stars were fixed. The “circle upon the flood” is probably the apparent circle which is suggested to the observer by the horizon. No one had as yet dreamed that the mountains were thrown up by, not settled in, the surface of the earth, nor was it dreamed that the bounds of the sea are far from being settled, but subject to gradual variations, and even to cataclysmal changes. It may be observed, however, that the voyage of the Challenger seems to have established beyond question that the great outlines of land and ocean have remained approximately the same from the beginning. Ocean islands are of volcanic origin or the work of the coral-insect; but the great continents and all contained within the fringe of a thousand-fathom depth from their shores have remained practically unaltered despite the numerous partial upheavals or submergences.
A passage so full of spiritual and moral significance, and yet so entirely untouched by what are to us the elementary conclusions of science, should furnish a valuable criterion in estimating what we are to understand by the Inspiration of such a book as this.
128 Cf. x. 23.
130 Wisdom vii. 25-29. The book of Wisdom, a work of the second century b.c., at one time had a place in the canon, and owes its exclusion, in all probability, to the fact that it was written in Greek; as there was no Hebrew original, it was evident that Solomon was not the author. But the use which the Epistle to the Hebrews makes of the passage quoted in the text may suggest how very unnecessary the exclusion from the canon was.
131 Luke vii. 35; Matt. xi. 19.
132 John viii. 58.
133 John i. 3, 18.
134 Cf. for this contrast between the two xxiii. 26-28, where Wisdom speaks, and expressly warns against her rival.
135 The arrangement of the house is that of an open courtyard, surrounded with apartments, the general roof supported on the pillars thus.
136 Prov. vii. 14.
137 Prov. ix. 5.
138 Matt. xxii. 1, et seq.
139 Prov. ix. 6.
140 Prov. ix. 7.
141 Prov. xxiii. 9.
142 Prov. xiii. 1.
143 Prov. xiv. 6.
144 Prov. xv. 12.
145 Prov. xix. 25.
146 Prov. xxiv. 9.
147 Prov. xxii. 10.
148 Matt. vii. 6.
149 Prov. ix. 9. Cf. xviii. 15, “The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.”
150 Prov. ix. 10.
151 Matt. xii. 43.
152 See John viii. 1 et seq.
153 Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 650 etc.
154 The fuller teaching of the book on the subject of Woman will be found in Lect. XXXI.
155 Prov. x. 15; xviii. 11.
156 Prov. xiii. 8.
157 Prov. xviii. 16.
158 Prov. xix. 6; xiv. 20.
159 Prov. xxi. 14.
160 Prov. xvii. 8. More literally: “A precious stone is the gift in the eyes of him who gets possession of it, whithersoever he turneth he deals wisely.” That is to say, the man who receives the gift, whether a judge or a witness or an opponent, is as it were retained for the giver, and induced to use his best faculties in behalf of his retainer.
161 Prov. xix. 4: “Wealth addeth many friends, but the poor—his companion separates from him.”
162 Prov. xxii. 17.
163 Prov. xviii. 23.
164 Prov. xiv. 20; xix. 4.
165 Prov. xix. 7. The sense of the Authorised Version is here retained, but it will be seen in Lecture XII. that there is good reason for treating the third clause of the verse as a mutilated fragment of another proverb: see p. 166.
166 Prov. xxii. 7.
167 Prov. xii. 9. This reading is obtained by following the LXX., whose translation ὁ δουλεύων ἐαυτῷ shows that they pointed וְעֹבֵד לוֹ. Cf. Eccles. x. 27: “Better is he that laboureth and aboundeth in all things than he that boasteth himself and lacketh bread.”
168 Prov. x. 4.
169 Prov. xiii. 18.
170 Prov. xxii. 4.
171 Prov. xxi. 20.
172 Prov. xxiii. 21.
173 Prov. xxvii. 23-27.
174 Prov. xi. 28.
175 Prov. xxiii. 5 (marg.).
176 Cf. the Turkish proverb: “Of riches lawfully gained the devil takes half, of riches unlawfully gained he takes the whole and the owner too.”
177 Prov. xv. 6, cf. xiv. 24, “A crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools, (though they be rich, remains nothing but) folly.”
178 Prov. xiii. 11.
179 Prov. xxi. 6. It is evident from their translation ἐπὶ παγίδας θανάτου that the LXX. read מוֹקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת as in Psalm xviii. 6, and this gives a very graphic and striking sense, while the received text of the Hebrew, מְבַקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת, is hardly intelligible.
180 Prov. xxii. 16.
181 Prov. xiii. 22; xxviii. 8.
182 Prov. xi. 4.
183 Prov. x. 22.
184 Prov. xv. 6.
185 Prov. xvi. 8.
186 Prov. xix. 1. The parallelism in this verse is not so complete as in xxviii. 6. The Peshitto reads, “than he who is perverse in his lips and is rich,” but it is better to retain the text and understand: There is a poor man walking in his integrity, and everyone thinks that he is to be commiserated; but he is much better off than the fool with perverse lips, though no one thinks of commiserating this last.
187 Prov. xvi. 16.
188 Prov. xx. 15.
189 Prov. xv. 16, 17.
190 Prov. xvii. 1.
191 Prov. xxii. 1. This proverb is inscribed in the cupola which lights the Manchester Exchange. It is a good skylight, but apparently too high up for the busy merchants on the floor of the Exchange to see without more effort than is to be expected of them.
192 Prov. xxii. 2.
193 Prov. xiv. 31; xvii. 5.
194 Prov. xxviii. 11. Cf. an interesting addition to xvii. 6 in the LXX.— τοῦ πιστοῦ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων τοῦ δὲ ἀπίστου οὐδὲ ὀβολός. The faithful man owns the whole world of possessions, the unfaithful owns not a farthing.
195 It is said of Agassiz that he excused himself from engaging in a profitable lecturing tour on the ground that he had not time to make money.
196 Cf. the saying of Sirach: “Winnow not with every wind and go not into every way, for so doth the sinner that hath a double tongue.” (Eccles. v. 9).
197 Prov. xv. 27.
198 Prov. xx. 21.
199 Prov. xxviii. 20.
200 Prov. xxviii. 22.
201 Prov. xxiii. 4.
202 Prov. xxi. 26.
203 Prov. xi. 24, 25.
204 Prov. xxviii. 27.
205 Prov. xix. 17.
206 Prov. xxii. 9.
207 Prov. xxx. 8, 9.
208 Prov. x. 28.
209 Prov. x. 30.
210 Prov. xiv. 11. Cf. Prov. xii. 7: “Overthrow the wicked; and they are not (i.e., there is no rising again for them), but the house of the righteous shall stand.”
211 Prov. xi. 18.
212 Prov. xiii. 3.
213 Prov. xi. 5, 6; xxi. 7.
214 Prov. xxii. 8.
215 Prov. xxi. 7, 8, 10, 15; xxvi. 24, 26; xv. 28.
216 Prov. xi. 7.
217 Prov. xiii. 9; xxiv. 20.
218 Prov. xi. 19.
219 Prov. xi. 21.
220 Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 5, 25; xxi. 2.
221 Prov. xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1, 19.
222 Prov. xii. 7.
223 Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 25.
224 Prov. xxiv. 15, 16.
225 Prov. xxix. 16.
226 Prov. xi. 3.
227 Prov. xiii. 6. Cf. Prov. xiv. 14: “The backslider in heart shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from himself.” Though probably we ought to read, with Nowack, מִמְּעֲלָלָיו, which would give a completer parallelism: “The backslider shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from his own doings.”
228 Prov. xi. 8. Cf. Prov. xxviii. 18.
229 Prov. xxi. 18.
230 Prov. xii. 13.
231 Prov. xii. 21.
232 Prov. xiii. 25.
233 Prov. xvi. 17; xix. 16.
234 Prov. xiv. 22.
235 Prov. xxi. 21.
236 Prov. xxi. 15; xxix. 6. Unless, with Delitzsch, we are to read בְּפֶשַׂע for בְּפֶשַׁע, and יָרוּצ for יָרוּן, which would give: “In the steps of a bad man lie snares, but the righteous runs and rejoices.”
237 Prov. xi. 27, 30.
238 Prov. xii. 12.
239 Prov. xvii. 26: “To punish the righteous is not good, nor to smite the noble for their uprightness.”
240 Prov. xiv. 32.
241 Prov. xx. 11.
242 Prov. xiv. 19.
243 Prov. xxv. 26.
244 Prov. xiv. 26: “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.” So Prov. xx. 7: “A just man that walketh in his integrity: blessed are his children after him.”
245 Prov. xiii. 22.
246 Prov. xii. 26.
247 Prov. xxii. 11. Cf. Prov. xvi. 13.
248 Prov. xi. 31.
249 Prov. xxix. 2.
250 Prov. xxviii. 12.
251 Prov. xi. 10, 11.
252 Prov. xiv. 34.
253 Prov. xxviii. 28.
254 Prov. xii. 26.
255 Prov. xvi. 27.
256 Prov. xviii. 3.
257 Prov. xxviii. 28.
258 Prov. xxix. 2.
259 Prov. xxiv. 24, 25.
260 Prov. xxviii. 4.
261 Prov. xxviii. 1.
262 Prov. xi. 20.
263 Prov. xii. 2.
264 Prov. xv. 26.
265 Prov. xv. 9.
266 Prov. xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5.
267 Prov. xxi. 12, where “one that is righteous” seems to mean God Himself; see the margin of R.V.
268 Prov. xxii. 12.
269 Prov. xxiv. 12.
270 Prov. x. 29.
271 Prov. xxviii. 9.
272 Prov. xxi. 3.
273 Prov. xxi. 27.
274 Prov. xv. 8, 29.
275 Prov. xiv. 9. This seems to be the meaning of this difficult verse, which should be translated: The sin-offering mocks fools, but among the righteous is favour.
276 Prov. x. 23.
277 Matt. xvi. 27.
278 1 John iii. 7, 10; ii. 29.
279 “If ye know that He is righteous,” says St. John, “ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him.” (1 John ii. 29).
280 Prov. xxv. 15.
281 Prov. xiii. 2.
282 Prov. xviii. 20.
283 Prov. xviii. 21.
284 Prov. x. 14.
285 Prov. xii. 18.
286 Prov. xviii. 6, 7.
287 Prov. xii. 13.
288 Prov. xiv. 3.
289 Prov. xv. 23.
290 Prov. xxi. 23.
291 Prov. xxi. 28.
292 Prov. xvii. 20.
293 Prov. xviii. 4.
294 Prov. xxii. 11.
295 Prov. xxii. 18.
296 Prov. xix. 1, 22.
297 Prov. xxiii. 16.
298 Prov. xii. 16.
299 Prov. xxix. 11.
300 Prov. xix. 7. All the Proverbs in this selection are in the form of a distich. This affords a fair presumption that this verse with its three clauses is mutilated; and the presumption is confirmed by the fact that the third clause adds nothing of value, even if it be intelligible at all, to the sense. There is good reason, therefore, for believing that this third clause is the half of a distich which has not been preserved in its integrity; all the more because the LXX. have a complete proverb which runs thus: ὁ πολλὰ κακοποιῶν τελεσιουργεῖ κακίαν, ὃς δὲ ἐρεθίζει λόγους οὐ σωθήσεται. “He that does much evil is a craftsman of iniquity, and he that uses provoking words shall not escape.” Perhaps in the Hebrew text which was before the Greek translators מְנַדֵּף appeared instead of מְרַדֵּף, and לֹא הָיָה instead of לֹא־הֵמָּה.
301 Prov. xxvi. 21.
302 Prov. xxx. 32, 33.
303 Prov. xii. 18.
304 Prov. xii. 17.
305 Prov. xix. 28.
306 Prov. xix. 5, rep. ver. 9.
307 Prov. xxi. 28.
308 Prov. xxv. 18.
309 Prov. xxvi. 23-28.
310 Prov. xiii. 5.
311 Prov. xii. 19.
312 Prov. xii. 22.
313 Prov. xx. 17.
314 Prov. xxvi. 2.
315 Prov. xxviii. 23.
316 Prov. xxix. 5.
317 Prov. xi. 13 and xx. 19; xxv. 2, 23. Cf. “Whoso discovereth secrets loseth his credit and shall never find friend to his mind” (Eccles. xxvii. 16).
318 Prov. xviii. 8, rep. xxvi. 22.
319 Prov. xvi. 28.
320 Prov. xxvi. 20.
321 Prov. xvii. 9.
322 Prov. xi. 9.
323 Prov. xii. 6.
324 Prov. xv. 28.
325 Prov. xvi. 28.
326 Prov. xxvi. 18, 19.
327 Prov. xviii. 13.
328 Prov. xxix. 20.
329 Prov. xxiii. 9.
330 Prov. x. 19.
331 Prov. xiii. 3, 16.
332 Prov. xiv. 23.
333 Prov. xiv. 33.
334 Prov. xiv. 7. There is a quaint and pertinent passage in Lyly’s Euphues:—“We may see the cunning and curious work of Nature, which hath barred and hedged nothing in so strongly as the tongue, with two rowes of teeth, and therewith two lips, besides she hath placed it farre from the heart, that it should not utter that which the heart had conceived; this also should cause us to be silent, seeinge those that use much talke, though they speake truly, are never beleeved.”
335 Prov. xv. 2.
336 Prov. xviii. 2.
337 Prov. xii. 18.
338 Eccl. x. 4.
339 Prov. xv. 4. מַרְפֵּא is best rendered here and in Eccl. x. 4 by “gentleness.” It is just that quality of humility and submission and tranquillity which our Lord blessed as meekness.
340 Prov. xv. 1.
341 Prov. xv. 26.
342 Prov. xvi. 24.
343 Prov. xii. 25.
344 Prov. xv. 23.
345 Prov. xxv. 20.
346 Prov. xxv. 11.
347 Cf. Eccles. xx. 20: “A wise sentence shall be rejected when it cometh out of a fool’s mouth, for he will not speak it in due season.”
348 Prov. xxv. 12.
349 Prov. xxviii. 23.
350 Prov. xv. 7.
351 Prov. xvi. 21.
352 Prov. xvi. 23.
353 Prov. xx. 15.
354 Prov. xv. 28.
355 Prov. xxiv. 26.
356 Prov. xi. 9.
357 Prov. xii. 6.
358 Prov. xiv. 3.
359 Prov. xiv. 5, 25.
360 Prov. xxxi. 8, 9.
361 Note the intimate connection between conduct and speech in such a proverb as xvii. 4. When we do evil we are always ready to listen to evil talk, when we talk deceitfully we are preparing to go on to worse deeds of evil, to listen to tongues of destruction. Note, too, how in xii. 5 the thoughts and the counsels of the heart come before the words and the mouth in v. 6.
362 Prov. xi. 12.
363 Prov. xvii. 27.
364 Prov. xvii. 28. Cf. the old Norse proverb:—
“An unwise man when he comes among the people
Had best be silent: no one knows
That he nothing knows unless he talks too much.”
365 Prov. xxiv. 7.
366 Prov. xiv. 15.
367 James i. 26.
368 Prov. xvi. 1.
369 Prov. xxi. 10.
370 Prov. xxv. 14.
371 Prov. xvi. 18, 19.
372 Prov. xviii. 12.
373 Prov. xxvii. 2.
374 Prov. xxi. 24.
375 Prov. xxix. 23.
376 Prov. xxvi. 12.
377 Prov. xiii. 1; xv. 20.
378 Prov. x. 17.
379 Prov. xii. 1.
380 Prov. xv. 8.
381 Prov. xv. 32.
382 Prov. xiii. 13 should be translated: “Whoso despiseth the word (sc. of warning and rebuke) shall be under a pledge to it (i.e. he has contracted an obligation to the word by hearing it, and in case of disobedience will have to redeem this implicit pledge by suffering and remorse), but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
383 Prov. xiii. 17.
384 Prov. xvii. 10.
385 Prov. xxvii. 5.
386 Prov. xxviii. 23.
387 Prov. xxvii. 21: “The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man for the mouth of his praise.” This somewhat obscure aphorism is most simply explained thus:—A man should make his conscience a kind of furnace, in which he tries all the laudatory things which are said of him, accepting only the refined and pure metal which results from such a test, and rejecting the dross. This is simpler than, with Delitzsch, to explain, “a man is tested by the praise which is bestowed upon him as silver and gold are tested in the fire.”
388 Prov. xiii. 10.
389 Prov. xxviii. 26.
390 Prov. xi. 2.
391 Prov. xii. 15b.
392 Prov. xvi. 20.
393 Prov. xv. 31, 33.
394 Prov. xvii. 2.
395 This is an addition of the LXX. to xiii. 13, and may represent an original Hebrew text. For the idea cp. Eccles. x. 25, “Unto the servant that is wise shall they that are free do service.”
396 Prov. xiii. 10.
397 Prov. xvii. 19.
398 Prov. xiv. 3.
399 Prov. xiv. 16.
400 Prov. xvi. 5.
401 Prov. xv. 25.
402 Prov. xxi. 29.
403 Prov. xxi. 4.
404 Prov. xxii. 4. The probable rendering is, “The outcome of humility is the fear of the Lord, riches, honour, and life.”
405 Prov. xvi. 20.
406 Prov. xviii. 12.
407 The answer of the saint was very characteristic. Could he really believe that he was so vile as he said, when he compared himself with others who were obviously worse? “Ah,” he said, “it is when I recount all God’s exceptional mercies to me that I seem to myself the worst of men, for others have not had such favours at His hands.”
408 Prov. xiii. 19.
409 Prov. xiii. 12.
410 Prov. xiii. 12.
411 Prov. xvii. 22.
412 Prov. xviii. 14.
413 Prov. xiv. 13.
414 Prov. xv. 13.
415 Prov. xv. 15b.
416 Prov. xvii. 22.
417 Prov. xv. 15.
418 Prov. xv. 30.
419 Prov. xxiv. 12, marginal reading.
420 Prov. xx. 12.
421 Prov. xv. 3.
422 Prov. xv. 11.
423 Prov. xvi. 2, rep. xxi. 2.
424 Prov. xx. 27.
425 Prov. xx. 24.
426 Prov. xii. 5.
427 Prov. xix. 22.
428 Prov. xvii. 3.
429 Prov. xx. 9.
430 Prov. xvi. 4. This strange saying, interpreted in the light of the Gospel, cannot mean that wicked people are actually made in order to exhibit the righteousness and judgment of God in their punishment on the day of wrath, though that was probably the thought in the mind of the writer. But it reminds us of the truth that every human being is a direct concern of the Maker, who has His own wise purpose to fulfil in even the most inconsiderable and apparently abortive life.
431 Prov. xxix. 22.
432 Prov. xxix. 8.
433 Prov. xxvi. 21.
434 Prov. xxii. 24.
435 Prov. xvii. 12.
436 Prov. xiv. 17, 29.
437 Prov. xix. 11. “When Lanfranc was prior of Bec he ventured to oppose Duke William’s Flemish marriage. In a wild burst of wrath William bade his men burn a manor house of Bec and drive out Lanfranc from Norman ground. He came to see the work done, and found Lanfranc hobbling on a lame horse towards the frontier. He angrily bad him hasten, and Lanfranc replied by a cool promise to go faster out of his land if he would give him a better steed. ‘You are the first criminal that ever asked gifts from his judge,’ retorted William, but a burst of laughter told that the wrath had gone, and William and Lanfranc drew together again.”—Green’s Conquest of England, p. 551.
438 Prov. xvii. 27.
439 This word הִתְנַּלָּע, which only occurs here (xx. 3) and in xvii. 14 and xviii. 1, would seem from the cognate root in Arab. and Syr. to mean “setting the teeth together,” which is a much more vivid and specific idea than quarrelling.
440 Prov. xx. 3.
441 Prov. xxix. 11.
442 Prov. xxv. 28.
443 Prov. xix. 19.
444 Prov. xxv. 8.
445 Prov. xxv. 9.
446 Prov. xvii. 14. See note 4, p. 205.
447 Prov. xvi. 32.
448 Prov. x. 12.
449 1 Peter iv. 8.
450 James v. 20.
451 1 Cor. xiii. 4.
452 This meaning of מַרְפֶּא, as was observed in Lecture XII., p. 172, seems to yield the best sense in these two passages (cp. xii. 18; xiii. 17), as in Eccl. x. 4, “gentleness allayeth great offences,” which is a good commentary on our text.
453 Prov. xiv. 30.
454 Prov. xv. 4.
455 Prov. xx. 22.
456 Missionary Review of the World, Feb. 1889, p. 143.
457 Prov. xv. 33.
458 Prov. xvi. 1.
459 Prov. xvi. 2.
460 Prov. xvi. 3.
461 Prov. xvi. 4. See note, p. 201.
462 Prov. xvi. 5.
463 Prov. xvi. 6.
464 Prov. xvi. 7.
465 Prov. xvi. 9. Cf. Prov. xix. 21: “There are many devices in a man’s heart; but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.”
466 Prov. xvi. 20.
467 Prov. xviii. 18. John Paton, the missionary to the New Hebrides, uncertain whether to go back to Scotland and plead for more missionaries, and receiving no light from human counsel, says, “After many prayers and wrestlings and tears, I went alone before the Lord, and on my knees cast lots with a solemn appeal to God, and the answer came ‘Go home.’ In my heart I believe that... the Lord condescended to decide for me the path of duty, otherwise unknown; and I believe it the more truly now, in view of the aftercome of thirty years of service to Christ that flowed out of the steps then deliberately and devoutly taken.” See the Autobiography, Second Part (Hodder and Stoughton, 1889).
468 Prov. xvi. 33.
469 Deut. xxv. 13-16.
470 Lev. xix. 33, 36.
471 Eccles. vii. 15.
472 Isa. xxviii. 23-29.
473 It seems impossible that a general and perfect morality in business can ever be attained apart from this apprehension of an Omniscient Mind weighing and judging, as well as accurately observing, everything done even in secret. In mediæval Europe, when this faith was practically unquestioned, there was a certain honesty and sincerity in handicrafts and in general dealing, until the Church made the fatal blunder of granting indulgences for men’s peccadilloes, and professing to exonerate them from the consequences of the truth which she herself in theory held.
474 Prov. xvi. 6.
475 Prov. xviii. 24. This sense is obtained by what appears a necessary change in the text; we must read יֵשׁ for אִישׁ. A similar error occurs 2 Sam. xiv. 19 and Micah vi. 10.
476 Prov. xxvii. 14.
477 Prov. xxvii. 19.
478 “Sorrows by being communicated grow less and joys greater.”—Bacon.
479 Prov. xxvii. 17.
480 Prov. xxvii. 6.
481 Prov. xxvii. 9.
482 “Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.”—Cicero.
483 Prov. xxvii. 10.
484 Prov. xviii. 24.
485 Prov. xviii. 19.
486 2 Chron. xx. 7.
487 Exod. xxxiii. 11.
488 John xv. 14.
489 Prov. xxvii. 14.
490 See note on הִתְּנַּלָּע in Lecture XV., p. 205.
491 III. King Henry VI., Act v., Sc. 6.
492 ἢ θεὸς ἢ θήριον.
493 Prov. xxvii. 8.
494 Prov. xxvii. 10.
495 Prov. xxv. 17.
496 Eccles. xv. 11-20.
497 James i. 13-15.
498 Prov. xix. 2.
499 Prov. xii. 15.
500 Prov. xv. 22.
501 Prov. xix. 20.
502 Prov. xi. 14.
503 Prov. xx. 18.
504 Prov. xxiv. 5, 6.
505 Prov. xx. 5.
506 Prov. xix. 21.
507 Prov. xix. 23.
508 Prov. xix. 16.
509 Prov. xix. 8.
510 Prov. xix. 27.
511 Prov. xiii. 13.
512 Prov. xix. 29.
513 Prov. xxi. 30.
514 Prov. xxi. 31.
515 Prov. xvii. 11.
516 Prov. xix. 20.
517 Prov. xxvi. 14.
518 Prov. xxiv. 34.
519 Prov. xix. 24.
520 Prov. xxvi. 15.
521 Prov. xxvi. 13.
522 Prov. xxii. 13.
523 Prov. xxvi. 16.
524 Prov. xv. 19.
525 Prov. xx. 13.
526 Prov. xix. 15.
527 Prov. xii. 27.
528 Prov. xvi. 26.
529 Prov. xxi. 25.
530 Prov. xviii. 9.
531 Prov. xii. 11.
532 Prov. xxviii. 19.
533 Prov. xiv. 4.
534 Prov. xxviii. 19.
535 Prov. xxiv. 30-34.
536 Prov. xxvii. 23-27.
537 Prov. xiii. 4.
538 Prov. xxi. 5.
539 Prov. xxi. 20.
540 Prov. xxii. 29.
541 Prov. xii. 24.
542 Prov. xii. 27.
543 Prov. xxxi. 27.
544 Prov. xxi. 17.
545 Prov. xxxi. 6, 7.
546 Prov. xxxi. 4, 5.
547 Prov. xx. 1.
548 The difficulty of the word חַכְלִלוּת, which means “dimming,” is that in the only other place where it occurs (Gen. xlix. 12: “His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk”) the redness is evidently regarded as an advantageous attribute. But perhaps the explanation is to be sought in the fact that the immediate effect of wine upon the eye is to darken it in one sense, and the ultimate effect is to darken it in another. In the first moment of excitement the pupil of the drinker’s eye dilates and flashes with a darkling fire; but it is not long before the eye becomes heavy, dim, watery, and maudlin. It is in this last sense that we must understand the word here.
549 Prov. xxiii. 33. זָרות must, as in xxii. 14, be rendered “strange women” (Bertheau). The alternative rendering, “the strange, or the rare” (Nowack) is logically inadmissible, because the verse is obviously describing the moral effects of drink, and no one can say that to see strange or rare visions is a moral effect to be specially deprecated.
550 “The primary discomforts of an act of drunkenness,” says Dr. G. W. Balfour, “are readily removed for the time by a repetition of the cause. Thus what has been an act may readily become a habit, all the more readily that each repetition more and more enfeebles both the will and the judgment.”—Art. “Drunkenness” in Encycl. Brit.
551 2 Tim. iii. 4—φιλήδονοι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόθεοι, pleasure-loving rather than God-loving; which means, not that men place pleasure before them consciously as a substitute for God, but only that the instinctive desire of pleasure has not been mastered by the love of God.
552 Prov. x. 15.
553 Prov. xxiii. 10, 11.
554 Prov. xv. 25.
555 Prov. xiv. 31.
556 Prov. xvii. 5.
557 Prov. xix. 17.
558 Prov. xix. 13.
559 Prov. xxii. 2.
560 “What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin-grey, and a’ that;
Gie fools their silks and knaves their wine,
A man’s a man for a’ that.
For a’ that and a’ that,
Their tinsel show and a’ that,
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.”
561 Prov. xiv. 21.
562 Prov. xi. 26. The following description of Persia, in the Missionary Review of the World, October, 1889, p. 782, aptly illustrates the practices against which the text inveighs:—“The sole end for which the Persian Government exists is the collection of the revenue, the fleecing of the people. Large portions of the land, confiscated from time to time, belong to the Sovereign, and are farmed out on terms well-nigh ruinous to the tenant. Even where property belongs to the subject, it is taxed to the last degree as a starting-point, while the successions of sub-rulers and collectors make still further drains upon the moiety that must save the labourer’s family from absolute want. The whole burden of taxation thus comes really upon the labouring class. Added to this extortion is the constant uncertainty as to whether the planter will be permitted to reap his crop at all. Downright robbery of fields or households by the retainers of petty chiefs is of frequent occurrence, and the poor are liable any day to be deprived of their very last resource. Agriculture and other industries so discouraged and paralysed barely sustain the lives of the people at the best, and when drought is added thousands must perish.” In times of scarcity, “The king sets the example—locks up his granaries, and withholds every kernel of wheat except at famine prices. Every nabob and landowner who has a stock on hand follows this example. Rapacity and cupidity rule; money is coined out of the sufferings of the poor.”
563 Prov. xxviii. 3. Oddly enough the commentators, who seem never to have heard of “sweating,” propose to read for רָשׁ, either עָשִׁיר = rich, or רשׁ = רֹאש = head, for the head of the State; an example of conjectural emendation which may well make us cautious of the mere scholar’s method of treating the sacred text.
“The cruellest landlords, receiving 10, 20, and 30 per cent. from detestable habitations (in London), are nearly connected by birth and circumstance to those they oppress” (Lecture delivered at Essex Hall, November 18th, 1889, by Thomas Locke Worthington).
564 Prov. xxviii. 8. The difficult verse Proverbs xxii. 16 should find a place here, “He that oppresses the poor to increase for him, he that gives to the rich only for need,” but it is impossible to accurately determine its meaning. If the rendering of the English Bible is correct, we may interpret the proverb as a statement of the folly of oppression which leads to want as inevitably as the more obvious folly of giving to the rich. But possibly Nowack is right in an interpretation which gives quite another turn to the saying, and makes it not a condemnation of the oppressor, but a suggestion of the advantage which may be gained from the oppression by the oppressed. “He who oppresses the poor—it turns to his (viz., the poor man’s) gain,” because it calls out all his energy and endurance, “while he who gives to the rich—it turns only to want,” because it still further enervates and unfits him for the duties of life. This is not very satisfactory, and is decidedly far-fetched; but it is better than Delitzsch’s suggestion, which strips the proverb of all moral significance, viz., “He that oppresses the poor, it is at any rate for his own gain; but he who gives to the rich, it is only to get want.” The conclusion from this would be, that it is better to oppress the poor than to give to the rich, a sentiment quite out of harmony with the ethical teaching of the Proverbs. In a case like this we can only suppose that the saying has reached us in a mutilated form.
565 Prov. xi. 17.
566 Prov. xxviii. 27.
567 Prov. xi. 24.
568 Can the shareholders of the G. W. R., for instance, hold themselves free from responsibility in the case referred to in the following paragraph from the Journal of the People’s Palace? “The Saturday Review, always trustworthy and read-worthy on subjects of law, calls attention to a case which concerns a great many. It is a case in which the decision is most unfortunate to the interests of all working men. One Membery was employed at Paddington to shunt trunks: he was taken on by a contractor, but his real employers were the G.W.R. The trucks were drawn by a horse, and the horse ought to have had a boy to hitch on or off at a moment’s notice: but the contractor refused to supply boys. Membery in vain asked for one, pointing out the great dangers to which he was exposed. He complained on the very day of the accident by which he was knocked down and injured seriously. He sued the Company; he won his case with damages; the Company, being a rich body, appealed. Now, considering the vexation, the anxiety, and the expense of carrying on such a case, a Company which appeals ought in justice to have the damages doubled if it loses. The Company lost. They appealed to the Lords, still on the principle of being rich and their opponent poor. This time the Company won. The Lords have ruled that the Company did not employ Membery, and that he was not obliged to work without a boy: he might have refused to work at all. Indeed! Then, if he refused to work, what about the children at home? A more mischievous doctrine was never upheld. Why, there are thousands and thousands of men and women who work daily under ineffectual protest,—who work at trades unwholesome, for wages inefficient, and for excessive hours; yet they work because they must—because they must. Membery worked without a boy, knowing that he would some day be run over and perhaps killed, because he must: he had no choice. When all the Trade Unions are merged into one immense Trade Union, it will not be the wages alone that will be determined, but the cases of such unfortunate men as Membery.”
569 Prov. xxi. 13.
570 Prov. xxiv. 11, 12.
571 Prov. xxii. 9.
572 Prov. xxix. 7.
573 Prov. xxix. 14. Has William II. of Germany been considering this text? If so, it is full of promise for the prosperity of Germany and of Europe? (International Labour Conference, March 1890.)
574 Prov. xxxi. 30.
575 Prov. xxii. 15.
576 John v. 39.
577 “I am the eldest child, born in 1795, December 4th, and trace deeply in myself the character of both parents, also the upbringing and example of both.”—Carlyle’s Reminiscences, vol. i., p. 54.
578 Eccles. xxx. 2.
579 Prov. xvii. 21.
580 Prov. xvii. 25, xix. 13, 26.
581 Prov. xv. 20. Cf. x. 1, xxvii. 11, xxix. 3.
582 Prov. xxiii. 15, 16, 24.
583 See that invaluable little book, “The Education of a Christian Home,” edited by Ella S. Armitage.
584 Prov. xxiii. 17.
585 “The Education of a Christian Home.”
586 Prov. xiii. 24.
587 Prov. xix. 18.
588 Prov. xx. 30.
589 Prov. xxiii. 13, 14.
590 Prov. xxix. 15.
591 Prov. xxix. 17.
592 Lev. xxvi. 41: “If then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, then will I remember My covenant with Jacob.”
593 Prov. xxix. 15.
594 Prov. xxiii. 17-21.
595 “The Education of a Christian Home.”
596 Psalm cxl. 9, 10.
597 Jer. xviii. 23.
598 Prov. xvii. 5b.
599 Paradise Lost, ix., 171.
600 Burke said of Pitt after his fall, that the manner in which he made his own justification, without impeaching the conduct of his colleagues or taking any measure that might seem to arise from disgust or opposition, set a seal upon his character. (Lecky, “England in the Eighteenth Century,” vol. iii., 61.)
601 See Rom. xii. 20.
602 Matt. xviii. 35.
603 Cf. the proverb, “When a man’s ways please the Lord He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. xvi. 7).
604 It will be observed that, speaking generally, the early proverbs present the more favourable side of the kingship, and the later proverbs suggest a period of decline (see Introduction). Possibly the same test may serve to distinguish the passages in Deuteronomy and the book of Samuel; the brighter thought that the king was originally intended by God may come from the early days when the kings still promised well, and the darker thought which crosses the optimistic picture may emanate from the period when their failure and decline were unmistakable.
605 Prov. xvi. 12, 13.
606 Prov. xx. 8, 26.
607 Prov. xxii. 11.
608 Prov. xvi. 14.
609 Prov. xix. 12.
610 Prov. xvi. 15.
611 Prov. xx. 28.
612 Prov. xxi. 1.
613 Prov. xiv. 35.
614 Prov. xxix. 14.
615 Prov. xxv. 2-5.
616 Prov. xxv. 6, 7.
617 Prov. xxx. 31.
618 Prov. xx. 2.
619 Prov. xxiv. 21, 22.
620 The LXX. of xxiv. 23, which adds a passage not appropriate to Christ, “Whosoever is delivered up to him shall be crushed. For if his temper be exasperated, he consumes men, sinews and all, and crunches their bones, and burns them up as a flame, so that they are uneatable to the young of eagles.”
621 Prov. xxviii. 15, 16.
622 Prov. xi. 15. The image from steering survives in our own governor (gubernator).
623 Prov. xx. 18.
624 Prov. xv. 22.
625 See 1 Kings xvi. 7.
626 Prov. xxx. 22.
627 Prov. xvii. 7.
628 Prov. xxviii. 2.
629 Prov. xxviii. 12.
630 Prov. xiv. 28.
631 Prov. xxix. 2.
632 Prov. xxix. 4.
633 Prov. xxix. 12. Cf. Ecclesiasticus x. 2: “As the judge of the people is himself, so are his officers; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are they also that dwell therein.”
634 Prov. xxiii. 1-3. Cf. the Eastern adage, “Dainties of a king burn the lips.” It was a common occurrence at the court of Pope Alexander VI. to invite an obnoxious person to the Papal table and there dispose of him by means of poisoned food.
635 Prov. xxxi. 8, 9.
636 Luke xix. 38.
637 Prov. xxix. 25, 26.
638 Prov. x. 23.
639 Prov. x. 18.
640 Prov. xii. 23.
641 Prov. xiv. 33.
642 Prov. xiv. 7.
643 Prov. xvii. 16.
644 Prov. xxi. 20.
645 Prov. xvii. 21.
646 Prov. xxx. 22.
647 Prov. xxvii. 22.
648 Prov. xxii. 15.
649 Prov. xvi. 22.
650 Prov. xiv. 24. This seems simpler than supposing that the clause אִוֶּלֶת אִוֶּלֶת כְּמִילִים contains a play upon the possible double meaning of אִוֶּלֶת, which, though it yields an excellent sense,—“the power of fools is only folly,” i.e., when they have power they turn it only to a foolish account (cf. xxvi. 1),—must be regarded as very obscure, especially seeing that we have no positive instance of אִוֶּלֶת as a derivative of אוּל in the sense of “power.”
651 Prov. xxvii. 3.
652 Prov. xxix. 9.
653 Prov. xxiv. 9.
654 Prov. xix. 10.
655 This is reading לוֹ for לֹא, a constant source of confusion and interchange in Hebrew MSS.
656 Prov. x. 13.
657 Prov. xix. 29.
658 “Quos divi conscia facti
Mens habet attonitos et surdo verbere cædit,
Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum.”
—Juv., Sat., xiii., 193.
659 Matt. xiii. 15.
660 Prov. xvii. 12.
661 Prov. xxvi. 4.
662 Prov. xxvi. 5.
663 Prov. xxix. 11.
664 Prov. xxvi. 8.
665 Prov. xxvi. 6.
666 Prov. xxvi. 7.
667 Prov. xxvi. 9.
668 Prov. xxvi. 10. This rendering Delitzsch obtained by altering the vowel points in the first שׂכֵר into שְׂכַר, and the sense is good, if a little far-fetched. On the other hand, the received reading gives a plain though a somewhat insipid meaning: “Much produces all,”—whoever has a little and uses it well quickly gets more,—“but he that hires a fool is as he who hires passers by,” i.e. the employment of a fool is a barren undertaking which practically leads to nothing.
669 Prov. xxvi. 11.
670 Prov. xxviii. 26; cf. ix. 8 and xxiii. 9.
671 Prov. xxvi. 12.
672 נָבָל, Psalm xiv. 1.
673 Browning, Pippa Passes.
674 Prov. xxiv. 27.
675 Prov. xxii. 3; xxvii. 12.
676 Psalm xliv. 8.
677 Prov. xxvii. 20.
[679] Prov. xxvii. 4.
680 Sir Edward Dyer (b. 1540).
681 Prov. xv. 15.
682 Matthew Arnold.
683 Phil. i. 21.
684 Prov. xxvii. 18.
685 Prov. xxviii. 17.
686 It may be necessary to point out to the reader that in approaching the subject of atonement from the standpoint of the book of Proverbs, and merely in the expository treatment of the passages before us, the so-called objective ground of atonement in the sacrifice of Christ does not come into view, but its necessity becomes manifest as each step in the exposition reveals how impossible it would be for us, apart from the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, to realize those conditions which are here laid down as indispensable to pardon and acceptance with God.
687 Voltaire rose once from the table at Ferney, where some atheists were discussing their views. He said he could not let his servants hear this talk, for they would rob and murder him if that was true.
688 Isa. xliii. 25.
689 See Rom. v. 11. This is the only place in the New Testament where even in the Authorised Version the word “atonement” occurs. But the contention of the text is not one of words, but of facts. Whatever terms are used, the Gospels and the Epistles all agree in identifying the salvation of God with an actual and practical righteousness wrought out by the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who believe in Christ as their Saviour.
690 Isa. ii. 3.
691 “Modern Science and Modern Thought” (pp. 289, 290), by S. Laing. Chapman & Hall: 1890.
692 Cf. Prov. xxviii. 4, 9:—
“They that forsake the law praise the wicked:
But such as keep the law contend with them.
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law
Even his prayer is an abomination.”
693 Cf. the Sanscrit Hitopadesa, “Fire is never satisfied with fuel, nor the ocean with rivers, nor death with all creatures, nor bright-eyed women with men;” also the Arabic proverb, “Three things are of three never full, women’s womb of man, wood of fire, and earth of rain.”
694 Joel ii. 7.
695 Prov. xxxi. 1-9.
696 Prov. xxxi. 10-31.
697 E.g., בַּר ver. 2 and מְלָכִין ver. 3: cf. the strange expressions כָּל־בְּנֵי־עֹנִי and כָּל־בְּנֵי הֲלוֹף in vv. 5, 8.
698 Prov. xxxi. 8, 9.
699 Prov. xxii. 14, xxiii. 27.
700 Prov. xix. 13, xxi. 9, xxv. 24, xxi. 19, xxvii. 15.
701 Prov. xxvii. 16.
702 Prov. xi. 22.
703 Prov. xiv. 1.
704 Prov. xi. 16.
705 Prov. xviii. 22.
706 Prov. xix. 14. In the LXX. this clause is beautifully rendered παρὰ δὲ κυρίου ἁρμόζεται γυνὴ ἀνδρί. By the Lord’s ordinance woman and man are dovetailed together in a complete harmony. The thought is well expanded in Ecclesiasticus (xxvi. 1-3): “Blessed is the man that has a virtuous wife, for thereby his life is doubled. A woman made for a man rejoices her husband, and he shall fulfil the years of his life in peace. A virtuous wife is a good portion, in the portion of them that fear the Lord shall she be given.”
707 Prov. xxxi. 12.
708 Prov. xii. 4.
709 Prov. xxxi. 23.
710 Prov. xxxi. 29.
711 Prov. xxxi. 11.
712 Prov. xxxi. 14.
713 Prov. xxxi. 15.
714 Prov. xxxi. 16.
715 Prov. xxxi. 17.
716 Prov. xxxi. 18.
717 Prov. xxxi. 24.
718 Prov. xxxi. 27.
719 Prov. xxxi. 21.
720 Prov. xxxi. 25.
721 Prov. xxxi. 20.
722 Prov. xxxi. 30.