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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Proverbs XXX].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P R O V E R B S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This and the following chapter are an appendix to Solomon's proverbs;
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but they are both expressly called prophecies in the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:1,31:1">first verses of both</A>,
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by which it appears that the penmen of them, whoever they were, were
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divinely inspired. This chapter was penned by one that bears the name
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of "Agur Ben Jakeh." What tribe he was of, or when he lived, we are not
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told; what he wrote, being indited by the Holy Ghost, is here kept upon
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record. We have here,
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I. His confession of faith,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:1-6">ver. 1-6</A>.
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II. His prayer,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:7-9">ver. 7-9</A>.
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III. A caution against wronging servants,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:10">ver. 10</A>.
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IV. Four wicked generations,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:11-14">ver. 11-14</A>.
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V. Four things insatiable
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:15,16">ver. 15, 16</A>),
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to which is added fair warning to undutiful children,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:17">ver. 17</A>.
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VI. Four things unsearchable,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>.
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VII. Four things intolerable,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:21-23">ver. 21-23</A>.
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VIII. Four things little and wise,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:24-28">ver. 24-28</A>.
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IX. Four things stately,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:29-33">ver. 29 to the end</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Pr30_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Words of Agur.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, <I>even</I> the prophecy: the
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man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,
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2 Surely I <I>am</I> more brutish than <I>any</I> man, and have not the
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understanding of a man.
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3 I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
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4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath
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gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a
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garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what
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<I>is</I> his name, and what <I>is</I> his son's name, if thou canst tell?
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5 Every word of God <I>is</I> pure: he <I>is</I> a shield unto them that
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put their trust in him.
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6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou
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be found a liar.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Some make <I>Agur</I> to be not the name of this author, but his
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character; he was a <I>collector</I> (so it signifies), a gatherer, one
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that did not compose things himself, but collected the wise sayings and
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observations of others, made abstracts of the writings of others, which
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some think is the reason why he says
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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"<I>I</I> have not <I>learned wisdom</I> myself, but have been a
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scribe, or amanuensis, to other wise and learned men." Note, We must
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not bury our talent, though it be but one, but, as we have received the
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gift, so minister the same, if it be but to collect what others have
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written. But we rather suppose it to be his name, which, no doubt, was
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well known then, though not mentioned elsewhere in scripture. <I>Ithiel
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and Ucal</I> are mentioned, either,
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1. As the names of his pupils, whom he instructed, or who consulted him
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as an oracle, having a great opinion of his wisdom and goodness.
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Probably they wrote from him what he dictated, as Baruch wrote from the
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mouth of Jeremiah, and by their means it was preserved, as they were
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ready to attest it to be his, for it was spoken to them; they were two
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witnesses of it. Or,
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2. As the subject of his discourse. <I>Ithiel</I> signifies <I>God
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with me,</I> the application of <I>Immanuel, God with us.</I> The word
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calls him <I>God with us;</I> faith appropriates this, and calls him
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"<I>God with me,</I> who loved me, and gave himself for me, and into
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union and communion with whom I am admitted." <I>Ucal</I> signifies
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<I>the Mighty One,</I> for it is upon one that is mighty that help is
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laid for us. Many good interpreters therefore apply this to the
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Messiah, for to him all the prophecies bear witness, and why not this
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then? It is what Agur spoke concerning <I>Ithiel, even</I> concerning
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<I>Ithiel</I> (that is the name on which the stress is laid) <I>with
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us,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+7:14">Isa. vii. 14</A>.</P>
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<P>
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Three things the prophet here aims at:--</P>
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<P>
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I. To abase himself. Before he makes confession of his faith he makes
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confession of his folly and the weakness and deficiency of reason,
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which make it so necessary that we be guided and governed by faith.
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Before he speaks concerning the Saviour he speaks of himself as needing
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a Saviour, and as nothing without him; we must go out of ourselves
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before we go into Jesus Christ.
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1. He speaks of himself as wanting a righteousness, and having done
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foolishly, very foolishly. When he reflects upon himself he owns,
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<I>Surely I am more brutish than any man. Every man has become
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brutish,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:14">Jer. x. 14</A>.
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But he that knows his own heart knows so much more evil of himself than
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he does of any other that he cries out, "<I>Surely</I> I cannot but
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think that <I>I am more brutish than any man;</I> surely no man has
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such a corrupt deceitful heart as I have. I have acted as one that has
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<I>not the understanding</I> of Adam, as one that is wretchedly
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degenerated from the knowledge and righteousness in which man was at
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first created; nay, I have not the common sense and reason of a man,
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else I should not have done as I have done." Agur, when he was applied
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to by others as wiser than most, acknowledged himself more foolish than
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any. Whatever high opinion others may have of us, it becomes us to have
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low thoughts of ourselves.
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2. He speaks of himself as wanting a revelation to guide him in the
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ways of truth and wisdom. He owns
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
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"<I>I neither learned wisdom</I> by any power of my own (the depths of
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it cannot be fathomed by my line and plummet) <I>nor know I the
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knowledge of the holy</I> ones, the angels, our first parents in
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innocency, nor of the holy things of God; I can get no insight into
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them, nor make any judgment of them, further than God is pleased to
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make them known to me." The natural man, the natural powers, perceive
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not, nay, they <I>receive not, the things of the Spirit of God.</I>
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Some suppose Agur to be asked, as Apollo's oracle was of old, <I>Who
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was the wisest man?</I> The answer is, <I>He that is sensible of his
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own ignorance,</I> especially in divine things. <I>Hoc tantum scio, me
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nihil scire</I>--<I>All that I know is that I know nothing.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. To advance Jesus Christ, and the Father in him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>Who ascended up into heaven,</I> &c.
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1. Some understand this of God and of his works, which are both
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incomparable and unsearchable. He challenges all mankind to give an
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account of the heavens above, of the winds, the waters, the earth: "Who
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can pretend to have <I>ascended up to heaven,</I> to take a view of the
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orbs above, and then to have descended, to give us a description of
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them? Who can pretend to have had the command of the winds, to have
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grasped them in his hand and managed them, as God does, or to have
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bound the waves of the sea with a swaddling band, as God has done? Who
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has <I>established the ends of the earth,</I> or can describe the
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strength of its foundations or the extent of its limits? Tell me what
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is <I>the man's name</I> who can undertake to vie with God or to be of
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his cabinet-council, or, if he be dead, what is his name to whom he has
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bequeathed this great secret."
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2. Others refer it to Christ, to Ithiel and Ucal, the Son of God, for
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it is the Son's name, as well as the Father's, that is here enquired
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after, and a challenge given to any to vie with him. We must now exalt
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Christ as one revealed; they then magnified him as one concealed, as
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one they had heard something of but had very dark and defective ideas
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of. <I>We have heard the fame of him with our ears,</I> but cannot
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describe him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+28:22">Job xxviii. 22</A>);
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certainly it is God that has <I>gathered the wind in his fists</I> and
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<I>bound the waters as in a garment;</I> but <I>what is his name?</I>
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It is, <I>I am that I am</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+3:14">Exod. iii. 14</A>),
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a name to be adored, not to be understood. What is <I>his Son's
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name,</I> by whom he does all these things? The Old-Testament saints
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expected the Messiah to be the <I>Son of the Blessed,</I> and he is
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here spoken of as a person distinct from the Father, but his name as
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yet secret. Note, The great Redeemer, in the glories of his providence
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and grace, can neither be paralleled nor found out to perfection.
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(1.) The glories of the kingdom of his grace are unsearchable and
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unparalleled; for who besides has <I>ascended into heaven and
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descended?</I> Who besides is perfectly acquainted with both worlds,
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and has himself a free correspondence with both, and is therefore fit
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to settle a correspondence between them, as Mediator, as Jacob's
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ladder? He was <I>in heaven</I> in the <I>Father's bosom</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:1,18">John i. 1, 18</A>);
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thence he descended to take our nature upon him; and never was there
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such condescension. In that nature he again ascended
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:9">Eph. iv. 9</A>),
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to receive the promised glories of his exalted state; and who besides
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has done this?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+10:6">Rom. x. 6</A>.
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(2.) The glories of the kingdom of his providence are likewise
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unsearchable and unparalleled. The same that reconciles heaven and
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earth was the Creator of both and governs and disposes of all. His
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government of the three lower elements of <I>air, water,</I> and
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<I>earth,</I> is here particularized.
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[1.] The motions of the air are of his directing. Satan pretends to be
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<I>the prince of the power of the air,</I> but even there Christ has
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<I>all power;</I> he <I>rebuked the winds</I> and they obeyed him.
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[2.] The bounds of the water are of his appointing: He <I>binds the
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waters as in a garment; hitherto they shall come, and no further,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:9-11">Job xxxviii. 9-11</A>.
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[3.] The foundations of the earth are of his establishing. He founded
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it at first; he upholds it still. If Christ had not interposed, the
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foundations of the earth would have sunk under the load of the curse
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upon the ground, for man's sin. Who and what is the mighty He that does
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all this? We cannot <I>find out God,</I> nor the <I>Son of God, unto
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perfection. Oh the depth of that knowledge!</I></P>
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<P>
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III. To assure us of the truth of the word of God, and to recommend it
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to us,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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Agur's pupils expect to be instructed by him in the things of God.
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"Alas!" says he, "I cannot undertake to instruct you; go to the word of
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God; see what he has there revealed of himself, and of his mind and
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will; you need know no more than what that will teach you, and that you
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may rely upon as sure and sufficient. <I>Every word of God is pure;</I>
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there is not the least mixture of falsehood and corruption in it." The
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words of men are to be heard and read with jealousy and with allowance,
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but there is not the least ground to suspect any deficiency in the word
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of God; it is <I>as silver purified seven times</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+12:6">Ps. xii. 6</A>),
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without the least dross or alloy. <I>Thy word is very pure,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:140">Ps. cxix. 140</A>.
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1. It is sure, and therefore we must trust to it and venture our souls
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upon it. God in his word, God in his promise, is <I>a shield,</I> a
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sure protection, to all those that put themselves under his protection
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and <I>put their trust in him.</I> The word of God, applied by faith,
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will make us easy in the midst of the greatest dangers,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+46:1,2">Ps. xlvi. 1, 2</A>.
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2. It is sufficient, and therefore we must not add to it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Add thou not unto his words,</I> because they are pure and perfect.
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This forbids the advancing of any thing, not only in contradiction to
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the word of God, but in competition with it; though it be under the
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plausible pretence of explaining it, yet, if it pretend to be of equal
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authority with it, it is <I>adding to his words,</I> which is not only
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a reproach to them as insufficient, but opens a door to all manner of
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errors and corruptions; for, that one absurdity being granted, that the
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word of any man, or company of men, is to be received with the same
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faith and veneration as the word of God, a thousand follow. We must be
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content with what God has thought fit to make known to us of his mind,
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and not covet to be <I>wise above what is written;</I> for,
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(1.) God will resent it as a heinous affront: "<I>He</I> will
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<I>reprove thee,</I> will reckon with thee as a traitor against his
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crown and dignity, and lay thee under the heavy doom of those that add
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to his words, or diminish from them,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:2,12:32">Deut. iv. 2; xii. 32</A>.
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(2.) We shall run ourselves into endless mistakes: "Thou wilt be found
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a liar, a corrupter of the word of truth, a broacher of heresies, and
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guilty of the worst of forgeries, counterfeiting the broad seal of
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heaven, and pretending a divine mission and inspiration, when it is all
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a cheat. Men may be thus deceived, but <I>God is not mocked.</I>"</P>
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<A NAME="Pr30_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr30_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prayer of Agur.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>7 Two <I>things</I> have I required of thee; deny me <I>them</I> not
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before I die:
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8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty
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nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
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9 Lest I be full, and deny <I>thee,</I> and say, Who <I>is</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>?
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or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God <I>in
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vain.</I>
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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After Agur's confession and creed, here follows his litany, where we
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may observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. The preface to his prayer: <I>Two things have I required</I> (that
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is, <I>requested</I>) of thee, O God! Before we go to pray it is good
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|
to consider what we need, and what the things are which we have to ask
|
|
of God.--What does our case require? What do our hearts desire? What
|
|
would we that God should do for us?--that we may not have to seek for
|
|
our petition and request when we should be presenting it. He begs,
|
|
<I>Deny me not before I die.</I> In praying, we should think of dying,
|
|
and pray accordingly. "Lord, give me pardon, and peace, and grace,
|
|
before I die, <I>before I go hence and be no more;</I> for, if I be not
|
|
renewed and sanctified before I die, the work will not be done after;
|
|
if I do not prevail in prayer before I die, prayers afterwards will not
|
|
prevail, no, not <I>Lord, Lord.</I> There is none of this wisdom or
|
|
working in the grave. <I>Deny me not</I> thy grace, for, if thou do, I
|
|
die, I perish; if thou be silent to me, <I>I am like those that go down
|
|
to the pit,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+28:1">Ps. xxviii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Deny me not before I die;</I> as long as I continue in the land of
|
|
the living, let me continue under the conduct of thy grace and good
|
|
providence."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The prayer itself. The <I>two things</I> he requires are grace
|
|
sufficient and food convenient.
|
|
|
|
1. Grace sufficient for his soul: "<I>Remove from me vanity and
|
|
lies;</I> deliver me from sin, from all corrupt principles, practices,
|
|
and affections, from error and mistake, which are at the bottom of all
|
|
sin, from the love of the world and the things of it, which are all
|
|
<I>vanity and a lie.</I>" Some understand it as a prayer for the pardon
|
|
of sin, for, when God forgives sin, he removes it, he takes it away.
|
|
Or, rather, it is a prayer of the same import with that, <I>Lead us not
|
|
into temptation.</I> Nothing is more mischievous to us than sin, and
|
|
therefore there is nothing which we should more earnestly pray against
|
|
than that we may <I>do no evil.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. Food convenient for his body. Having prayed for the operations of
|
|
divine grace, he here begs the favours of the divine Providence, but
|
|
such as may tend to the good and not to the prejudice of the soul.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He prays that of God's free gift he might receive a competent
|
|
portion of the good things of this life: "<I>Feed me with the bread of
|
|
my allowance,</I> such bread as thou thinkest fit to allow me." As to
|
|
all the gifts of the divine Providence, we must refer ourselves to the
|
|
divine wisdom. Or, "<I>the bread that is fit for me,</I> as a man, a
|
|
master of a family, that which is agreeable to my rank and condition in
|
|
the world." For <I>as is the man so is his competency.</I> Our Saviour
|
|
seems to refer to this when he teaches us to pray, <I>Give us this day
|
|
our daily bread,</I> as this seems to refer to Jacob's vow, in which he
|
|
wished for no more than <I>bread to eat and raiment to put on.</I> Food
|
|
convenient for us is what we ought to be content with, though we have
|
|
not dainties, varieties, and superfluities--what is for necessity,
|
|
though we have not for delight and ornament; and it is what we may in
|
|
faith pray for and depend upon God for.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He prays that he may be kept from every condition of life that
|
|
would be a temptation to him.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He prays against the extremes of abundance and want: <I>Give me
|
|
neither poverty nor riches.</I> He does not hereby prescribe to God,
|
|
nor pretend to teach him what condition he shall allot to him, nor does
|
|
he pray against poverty or riches absolutely, as in themselves evil,
|
|
for either of them, by the grace of God, may be sanctified and be a
|
|
means of good to us; but, <I>First,</I> He hereby intends to express
|
|
the value which wise and good men have for a middle state of life, and,
|
|
with submission to the will of God, desires that that might be his
|
|
state, neither great honour nor great contempt. We must learn how to
|
|
manage both (as St. Paul,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+4:12">Phil. iv. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
but rather wish to be always between both. <I>Optimus pecuniæ
|
|
modus qui nec in paupertatem cedit nec procul à paupertate
|
|
discedit--The best condition is that which neither implies poverty nor
|
|
yet recedes far from it.</I> Seneca. <I>Secondly,</I> He hereby
|
|
intimates a holy jealousy he had of himself, that he could not keep his
|
|
ground against the temptations either of an afflicted or a prosperous
|
|
condition. Others may preserve their integrity in either, but he is
|
|
afraid of both, and therefore grace teaches him to pray against riches
|
|
as much as nature against poverty; but <I>the will of the Lord be
|
|
done.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He gives a pious reason for his prayer,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
He does not say, "<I>Lest I be rich,</I> and cumbered with care, and
|
|
envied by my neighbours, and eaten up with a multitude of servants, or,
|
|
<I>lest I be poor</I> and trampled on, and forced to work hard and fare
|
|
hard;" but, "<I>Lest I be rich</I> and sin, or <I>poor</I> and sin."
|
|
Sin is that which a good man is afraid of in every condition and under
|
|
every event; witness Nehemiah
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+6:13"><I>ch.</I> vi. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin. First,</I> He dreads
|
|
the temptations of a prosperous condition, and therefore even
|
|
deprecates that: <I>Lest I be full and deny thee</I> (as Jeshurun, who
|
|
<I>waxed fat and kicked,</I> and <I>forsook God who made him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:15">Deut. xxxii. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
and say, as Pharaoh in his pride, <I>Who is the Lord, that I should
|
|
obey his voice?</I> Prosperity makes people proud and forgetful of God,
|
|
as if they had no need of him and were therefore under no obligation to
|
|
him. <I>What can the Almighty do for them?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:17">Job xxii. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
And therefore they will do nothing for him. Even good men are afraid of
|
|
the worst sins, so deceitful do they think their own hearts to be; and
|
|
they know that the greatest gains of the world will not balance the
|
|
least guilt. <I>Secondly,</I> He dreads the temptations of a poor
|
|
condition, and for that reason, and no other, deprecates that: <I>Lest
|
|
I be poor and steal.</I> Poverty is a strong temptation to dishonesty,
|
|
and such as many are overcome by, and they are ready to think it will
|
|
be their excuse; but it will not bear them out at God's bar any more
|
|
than at men's to say, "I stole because I was poor;" yet, if a man
|
|
<I>steal for the satisfying of his soul when he is hungry,</I> it is a
|
|
case of compassion
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+6:30"><I>ch.</I> vi. 30</A>)
|
|
|
|
and what even those that have some principles of honesty in them may be
|
|
drawn to. But observe why Agur dreads this, not because he should
|
|
endanger himself by it, "Lest I steal, and be hanged for it, whipped or
|
|
put in the stocks, or sold for a bondman," as among the Jews poor
|
|
thieves were, who had not wherewithal to make restitution; but lest he
|
|
should dishonour God by it: "<I>Lest I should steal, and take the name
|
|
of my God in vain,</I> that is, discredit my profession of religion by
|
|
practices disagreeable to it." Or, "Lest I steal, and, when I am
|
|
charged with it, forswear myself." He <I>therefore</I> dreads one sin,
|
|
because it would draw on another, for the way of sin is downhill.
|
|
Observe, He calls God <I>his God,</I> and <I>therefore</I> he is afraid
|
|
of doing any thing to offend him because of the relation he stands in
|
|
to him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_14"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Four Wicked Generations.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee,
|
|
and thou be found guilty.
|
|
11 <I>There is</I> a generation <I>that</I> curseth their father, and
|
|
doth not bless their mother.
|
|
12 <I>There is</I> a generation <I>that are</I> pure in their own eyes,
|
|
and <I>yet</I> is not washed from their filthiness.
|
|
13 <I>There is</I> a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and
|
|
their eyelids are lifted up.
|
|
14 <I>There is</I> a generation, whose teeth <I>are as</I> swords, and
|
|
their jaw teeth <I>as</I> knives, to devour the poor from off the
|
|
earth, and the needy from <I>among</I> men.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. A caution not to abuse other people's servants any more than our
|
|
own, nor to make mischief between them and their masters, for it is an
|
|
ill office, invidious, and what will make a man odious,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Consider,
|
|
|
|
1. It is an injury to the servant, whose poor condition makes him an
|
|
object of pity, and therefore it is barbarous to add affliction to him
|
|
that is afflicted: <I>Hurt not a servant with thy tongue</I> (so the
|
|
margin reads it); for it argues a sordid disposition to smite any body
|
|
secretly with the scourge of the tongue, especially a servant, who is
|
|
not a match for us, and whom we should rather protect, if his master be
|
|
severe with him, than exasperate him more.
|
|
|
|
2. "It will perhaps be an injury to thyself. If a servant be thus
|
|
provoked, perhaps he will curse thee, will accuse thee and bring thee
|
|
into trouble, or give thee an ill word and blemish thy reputation, or
|
|
appeal to God against thee, and imprecate <I>his</I> wrath upon thee,
|
|
who is the patron and protector of oppressed innocency."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. An account, upon occasion of this caution, of some wicked
|
|
generations of men, that are justly abominable to all that are virtuous
|
|
and good.
|
|
|
|
1. Such as are abusive to their parents, give them bad language and
|
|
wish them ill, call them bad names and actually injure them. <I>There
|
|
is a generation</I> of such; young men of that black character commonly
|
|
herd together, and irritate one another against their parents. A
|
|
<I>generation of vipers</I> those are who curse their natural parents,
|
|
or their magistrates, or their ministers, because they cannot endure
|
|
the yoke; and those are near of kin to them who, though they have not
|
|
yet arrived at such a pitch of wickedness as to curse their parents,
|
|
yet do not bless them, cannot give them a good word, and will not pray
|
|
for them.
|
|
|
|
2. Such as are conceited of themselves, and, under a show and pretence
|
|
of sanctity, hide from others, and perhaps from themselves too,
|
|
abundance of reigning wickedness in secret
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
they are <I>pure in their own eyes,</I> as if they were in all respects
|
|
such as they should be. They have a very good opinion of themselves and
|
|
their own character, that they are not only righteous, but <I>rich and
|
|
increased with goods</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+3:17">Rev. iii. 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet <I>are not cleansed from their filthiness,</I> the filthiness
|
|
of their hearts, which they pretend to be the best part of them. They
|
|
are, it may be, swept and garnished, but they are not washed, nor
|
|
sanctified; as the Pharisees that within were <I>full of all
|
|
uncleanness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:25,26">Matt. xxiii. 25, 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. Such as are haughty and scornful to those about them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
He speaks of them with amazement at their intolerable pride and
|
|
insolence: "<I>Oh how lofty are their eyes!</I> With what disdain do
|
|
they look upon their neighbours, as not worthy to be set with the dogs
|
|
of their flock! What a distance do they expect every body should keep;
|
|
and, when they look upon themselves, how do they strut and vaunt like
|
|
the peacock, thinking they make themselves illustrious when really they
|
|
make themselves ridiculous!" There is a generation of such, on whom he
|
|
that <I>resists the proud</I> will pour contempt.
|
|
|
|
4. Such as are cruel to the poor and barbarous to all that lie at their
|
|
mercy
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>);
|
|
|
|
their teeth are iron and steel, <I>swords and knives,</I> instruments
|
|
of cruelty, with which they <I>devour the poor</I> with the greatest
|
|
pleasure imaginable, and as greedily as hungry men cut their meat and
|
|
eat it. God has so ordered it that the <I>poor we shall always have
|
|
with us,</I> that they shall <I>never cease out of the land;</I> but
|
|
there are those who, because they hate to relieve them, would, if they
|
|
could, abolish them <I>from the earth, from among men,</I> especially
|
|
God's poor. Some understand it of those who wound and ruin others by
|
|
slanders and false accusations, and severe censures of their
|
|
everlasting state; their tongues, and their teeth too (which are
|
|
likewise organs of speech), are <I>as swords and knives,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+57:4">Ps. lvii. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Four Things Unsearchable.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>15 The horseleach hath two daughters, <I>crying,</I> Give, give.
|
|
There are three <I>things that</I> are never satisfied, <I>yea,</I> four
|
|
<I>things</I> say not, <I>It is</I> enough:
|
|
16 The grave; and the barren womb; the earth <I>that</I> is not
|
|
filled with water; and the fire <I>that</I> saith not, <I>It is</I> enough.
|
|
17 The eye <I>that</I> mocketh at <I>his</I> father, and despiseth to
|
|
obey <I>his</I> mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out,
|
|
and the young eagles shall eat it.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
He had spoken before of those that devoured the poor
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
and had spoken of them last, as the worst of all the four generations
|
|
there mentioned; now here he speaks of their insatiableness in doing
|
|
this. The temper that puts them upon it is made up of cruelty and
|
|
covetousness. Now those are <I>two daughters</I> of the
|
|
<I>horse-leech,</I> its genuine offspring, that still cry, "<I>Give,
|
|
give,</I> give more blood, give more money;" for the bloody are still
|
|
blood-thirsty; being drunk with blood, they add thirst to their
|
|
drunkenness, and will seek it yet again. Those also that <I>love
|
|
silver</I> shall never <I>be satisfied with silver.</I> Thus, while
|
|
from these two principles they are devouring the poor, they are
|
|
continually uneasy to themselves, as David's enemies,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+59:14,15">Ps. lix. 14, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now, for the further illustration of this,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He specifies four other things which are insatiable, to which those
|
|
devourers are compared, which say not, <I>It is enough,</I> or <I>It is
|
|
wealth.</I> Those are never rich that are always coveting. Now these
|
|
four things that are always craving are,
|
|
|
|
1. The grave, into which multitudes fall, and yet still more will fall,
|
|
and it swallows them all up, and returns none, <I>Hell and destruction
|
|
are never full,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+27:20"><I>ch.</I> xxvii. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
When it comes to our turn we shall find the grave ready for us,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+17:1">Job xvii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. The <I>barren womb,</I> which is impatient of its affliction in
|
|
being barren, and cries, as Rachel did, <I>Give me children.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. The <I>parched ground</I> in time of drought (especially in those
|
|
hot countries), which still soaks in the rain that comes in abundance
|
|
upon it and in a little time wants more.
|
|
|
|
4. The <I>fire,</I> which, when it has consumed abundance of fuel, yet
|
|
still devours all the combustible matter that is thrown into it. So
|
|
insatiable are the corrupt desires of sinners, and so little
|
|
satisfaction have they even in the gratification of them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He adds a terrible threatening to disobedient children
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
for warning to the first of those four wicked generations, that curse
|
|
their parents
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and shows here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Who they are that belong to that generation, not only those that
|
|
curse their parents in heat and passion, but,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Those that <I>mock</I> at them, though it be but with a scornful
|
|
eye, looking with disdain upon them because of their bodily
|
|
infirmities, or looking sour or dogged at them when they instruct or
|
|
command, impatient at their checks and angry at them. God takes notice
|
|
with what eye children look upon their parents, and will reckon for the
|
|
leering look and the casts of the evil eye as well as for the bad
|
|
language given them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Those that <I>despise to obey</I> them, that think it a thing
|
|
below them to be dutiful to their parents, especially to the
|
|
<I>mother,</I> they scorn to be controlled by her; and thus she that
|
|
bore them in sorrow in greater sorrow bears their manners.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What their doom will be. Those that dishonour their parents shall be
|
|
set up as monuments of God's vengeance; they shall be hanged in chains,
|
|
as it were, for the birds of prey to pick out their eyes, those eyes
|
|
with which they looked so scornfully on their good parents. The dead
|
|
bodies of malefactors were not to hang all night, but before night the
|
|
ravens would have picked out their eyes. If men do not punish undutiful
|
|
children, God will, and will load those with the greatest infamy that
|
|
conduct themselves haughtily towards their parents. Many who have come
|
|
to an ignominious end have owned that the wicked courses that brought
|
|
them to it began in a contempt of their parents' authority.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_23"> </A>
|
|
|
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<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Four Things Little and Wise.</I></FONT></TD>
|
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
|
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<P>
|
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<FONT SIZE=+1>18 There be three <I>things which</I> are too wonderful for me, yea,
|
|
four which I know not:
|
|
19 The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a
|
|
rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a
|
|
man with a maid.
|
|
20 Such <I>is</I> the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and
|
|
wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
|
|
21 For three <I>things</I> the earth is disquieted, and for four
|
|
<I>which</I> it cannot bear:
|
|
22 For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled
|
|
with meat;
|
|
23 For an odious <I>woman</I> when she is married; and an handmaid
|
|
that is heir to her mistress.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. An account of four things that are unsearchable, <I>too
|
|
wonderful</I> to be fully known. And here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The first three are natural things, and are only designed as
|
|
comparisons for the illustration of the last. We cannot trace,
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>An eagle in the air.</I> Which way she has flown cannot be
|
|
discovered either by the footstep or by the scent, as the way of a
|
|
beast may upon ground; nor can we account for the wonderful swiftness
|
|
of her flight, how soon she has gone beyond our ken.
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>A serpent upon a rock.</I> The way of a serpent in the sand we
|
|
may find by the track, but not of a serpent upon the hard rock; nor can
|
|
we describe how a serpent will, without feet, in a little time creep to
|
|
the top of a rock.
|
|
|
|
(3.) <I>A ship in the midst of the sea.</I> The leviathan indeed
|
|
<I>makes a path to shine after him, one would think the deep to be
|
|
hoary</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+41:32">Job xli. 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
but a ship leaves no mark behind it, and sometimes it is so tossed upon
|
|
the waves that one would wonder how it lives at sea and gains its
|
|
point. The kingdom of nature is full of wonders, marvellous things
|
|
which the God of nature does, <I>past finding out.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The fourth is a mystery of iniquity, more unaccountable than any of
|
|
these; it belongs to the depths of Satan, that deceitfulness and that
|
|
desperate wickedness of the heart which none can know,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+17:9">Jer. xvii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is twofold:--
|
|
|
|
(1.) The cursed arts which a vile adulterer has to debauch a maid, and
|
|
to persuade her to yield to his wicked and abominable lust. This is
|
|
what a wanton poet wrote a whole book of, long since, <I>De arte
|
|
amandi--On the art of love.</I> By what pretensions and protestations
|
|
of love, and all its powerful charms, promises of marriage, assurances
|
|
of secresy and reward, is many an unwary virgin brought to sell her
|
|
virtue, and honour, and peace, and soul, and all to a base traitor; for
|
|
so all sinful lust is in the kingdom of love. The more artfully the
|
|
temptation is managed the more watchful and resolute ought every pure
|
|
heart to be against it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The cursed arts which a vile adulteress has to conceal her
|
|
wickedness, especially from her husband, from whom she treacherously
|
|
departs; so close are her intrigues with her lewd companions, and so
|
|
craftily disguised, that it is as impossible to discover her as to
|
|
track an <I>eagle in the air.</I> She eats the forbidden fruit, after
|
|
the similitude of Adam's transgression, and then <I>wipes her
|
|
mouth,</I> that it may not betray itself, and with a bold and impudent
|
|
face says, <I>I have done no wickedness.</I>
|
|
|
|
[1.] To the world she denies the fact, and is ready to swear it that
|
|
she is as chaste and modest as any woman, and never did the wickedness
|
|
she is suspected of. Those are the works of darkness which are
|
|
industriously kept from coming to the light.
|
|
|
|
[2.] To her own conscience (if she have any left) she denies the fault,
|
|
and will not own that that <I>great wickedness</I> is any wickedness at
|
|
all, but an innocent entertainment. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:7,8">Hos. xii. 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus multitudes ruin their souls by calling evil good and out-facing
|
|
their convictions with a self-justification.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. An account of four things that are intolerable, that is, four sorts
|
|
of persons that are very troublesome to the places where they live and
|
|
the relations and companies they are in; the earth is <I>disquieted for
|
|
them,</I> and groans under them as a burden it cannot bear, and they
|
|
are all much alike:--
|
|
|
|
1. <I>A servant</I> when he is advanced, and entrusted with power, who
|
|
is, of all others, most insolent and imperious; witness Tobiah the
|
|
servant, the Ammonite,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:10">Neh. ii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. <I>A fool,</I> a silly, rude, boisterous, vicious man, who when he
|
|
has grown rich, and is partaking of the pleasures of the table, will
|
|
disturb all the company with his extravagant talk and the affronts he
|
|
will put upon those about him.
|
|
|
|
3. An ill-natured, cross-grained, <I>woman,</I> when she gets a
|
|
husband, one who, having made herself odious by her pride and sourness,
|
|
so that one would not have thought any body would ever love her, yet,
|
|
if at last she be married, that honourable estate makes her more
|
|
intolerably scornful and spiteful than ever. It is a pity that that
|
|
which should sweeten the disposition should have a contrary effect. A
|
|
gracious woman, when she is married, will be yet more obliging.
|
|
|
|
4. An old maid-servant that has prevailed with her mistress, by
|
|
humouring her, and, as we say, getting the length of her foot, to leave
|
|
her what she has, or is as dear to her as if she was to be her heir,
|
|
such a one likewise will be intolerably proud and malicious, and think
|
|
all too little that her mistress gives her, and herself wronged if any
|
|
thing be left from her. Let those therefore whom Providence has
|
|
advanced to honour from mean beginnings carefully watch against that
|
|
sin which will most easily beset them, pride and haughtiness, which
|
|
will in them, of all others, be most insufferable and inexcusable; and
|
|
let them humble themselves with the remembrance of the rock out of
|
|
which they were hewn.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Four Things Little and Wise.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>24 There be four <I>things which are</I> little upon the earth, but
|
|
they <I>are</I> exceeding wise:
|
|
25 The ants <I>are</I> a people not strong, yet they prepare their
|
|
meat in the summer;
|
|
26 The conies <I>are but</I> a feeble folk, yet make they their
|
|
houses in the rocks;
|
|
27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by
|
|
bands;
|
|
28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings'
|
|
palaces.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Agur, having specified four things that seem great and yet are
|
|
really contemptible, here specifies four things that are little and yet
|
|
are very admirable, great in miniature, in which, as bishop Patrick
|
|
observes, he teaches us several good lessons; as,
|
|
|
|
1. Not to admire bodily bulk, or beauty, or strength, nor to value
|
|
persons or think the better of them for such advantages, but to judge
|
|
of men by their wisdom and conduct, their industry and application to
|
|
business, which are characters that deserve respect.
|
|
|
|
2. To admire the wisdom and power of the Creator in the smallest and
|
|
most despicable animals, in an ant as much as in an elephant.
|
|
|
|
3. To blame ourselves who do not act so much for our own true interest
|
|
as the meanest creatures do for theirs.
|
|
|
|
4. Not to despise the weak things of the world; there are those that
|
|
are <I>little upon the earth,</I> poor in the world and of small
|
|
account, and yet <I>are exceedingly wise,</I> wise for their souls and
|
|
another world, and those <I>are exceedingly wise, wiser than their
|
|
neighbours.</I> Margin, <I>They are wise, made wise</I> by the special
|
|
instinct of nature. All that are wise to salvation are made wise by the
|
|
grace of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Those he specifies are,
|
|
|
|
1. The <I>ants,</I> minute animals and very weak, and yet they are very
|
|
industrious in gathering proper food, and have a strange sagacity to do
|
|
it in the summer, the proper time. This is so great a piece of wisdom
|
|
that we may learn of them to be wise for futurity,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+6:6"><I>ch.</I> vi. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the ravening <I>lions lack, and suffer hunger,</I> the laborious
|
|
ants have plenty, and know no want.
|
|
|
|
2. The <I>conies,</I> or, as some rather understand it, the Arabian
|
|
mice, field mice, weak creatures, and very timorous, yet they have so
|
|
much wisdom as to <I>make their houses in the rocks,</I> where they are
|
|
well guarded, and their feebleness makes them take shelter in those
|
|
natural fastnesses and fortifications. Sense of our own indigence and
|
|
weakness should drive us to him that is a <I>rock higher than we</I>
|
|
for shelter and support; there let us make our habitation.
|
|
|
|
3. The <I>locusts;</I> they are little also, and <I>have no king,</I>
|
|
as the bees have, but <I>they go forth all of them by bands,</I> like
|
|
an army in battle-array; and, observing such good order among
|
|
themselves, it is not any inconvenience to them that they <I>have no
|
|
king.</I> They are called God's <I>great army</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+2:25">Joel ii. 25</A>);
|
|
|
|
for, when he pleases, he musters, he marshals them, and wages war by
|
|
them, as he did upon Egypt. <I>They go forth all of them gathered
|
|
together</I> (so the margin); sense of weakness should engage us to
|
|
keep together, that we may strengthen the hands of one another.
|
|
|
|
4. The <I>spider,</I> an insect, but as great an instance of industry
|
|
in our houses as the ants are in the field. Spiders are very ingenious
|
|
in weaving their webs with a fineness and exactness such as no art can
|
|
pretend to come near: They <I>take hold with their hands,</I> and spin
|
|
a fine thread out of their own bowels, with a great deal of art; and
|
|
they are not only in poor men's cottages, but in <I>kings' palaces,</I>
|
|
notwithstanding all the care that is there taken to destroy them.
|
|
Providence wonderfully keeps up those kinds of creatures, not only
|
|
which men provide not for, but which every man's hand is against and
|
|
seeks the destruction of. Those that will mind their business, and
|
|
<I>take hold</I> of it <I>with their hands,</I> shall be <I>in kings'
|
|
palaces;</I> sooner or later, they will get preferment, and may go on
|
|
with it, notwithstanding the difficulties and discouragements they meet
|
|
with. If one well-spun web be swept away, it is but making another.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_32"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr30_33"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec6"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Four Things Majestic and Stately.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>29 There be three <I>things</I> which go well, yea, four are comely
|
|
in going:
|
|
30 A lion <I>which is</I> strongest among beasts, and turneth not
|
|
away for any;
|
|
31 A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom
|
|
<I>there is</I> no rising up.
|
|
32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if
|
|
thou hast thought evil, <I>lay</I> thine hand upon thy mouth.
|
|
33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the
|
|
wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of
|
|
wrath bringeth forth strife.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. An enumeration of four things which are majestic and stately in
|
|
their going, which look great:--
|
|
|
|
1. <I>A lion,</I> the king of beasts, because <I>strongest among
|
|
beasts.</I> Among beasts it is strength that gives the pre-eminence,
|
|
but it is a pity that it should do so among men, whose <I>wisdom</I> is
|
|
their honour, not their <I>strength</I> and <I>force.</I> The lion
|
|
<I>turns not away,</I> nor alters his pace, for fear of any pursuers,
|
|
since he knows he is too hard for them. Herein <I>the righteous are
|
|
bold as a lion,</I> that they <I>turn not away</I> from their duty for
|
|
fear of any difficulty they meet with in it.
|
|
|
|
2. <I>A greyhound</I> that is girt in the loins and fit for running;
|
|
or (as the margin reads it) <I>a horse,</I> which ought not to be
|
|
omitted among the creatures that <I>are comely in going,</I> for so he
|
|
is, especially when he is dressed up in his harness or trappings.
|
|
|
|
3. <I>A he-goat,</I> the comeliness of whose going is when he goes
|
|
first and leads the flock. It is the comeliness of a Christian's going
|
|
to go first in a good work and to lead others in the right way.
|
|
|
|
4. <I>A king,</I> who, when he appears in his majesty, is looked upon
|
|
with reverence and awe, and all agree that <I>there is no rising up
|
|
against</I> him; none can vie with him, none can contend with him,
|
|
whoever does it, it is at his peril. And, if <I>there is no rising
|
|
up</I> against an earthly prince, <I>woe to him</I> then <I>that
|
|
strives with his Maker.</I> It is intended that we should learn courage
|
|
and fortitude in all virtuous actions from the <I>lion</I> and <I>not
|
|
to turn away for any</I> difficulty we meet with; from the
|
|
<I>greyhound</I> we may learn quickness and despatch, from the
|
|
<I>he-goat</I> the care of our family and those under our charge, and
|
|
from <I>a king</I> to have our children in subjection with all gravity,
|
|
and from them all to <I>go well,</I> and to order the steps of our
|
|
conversation so as that we may not only be safe, but <I>comely, in
|
|
going.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. A caution to us to keep our temper at all times and under all
|
|
provocations, and to take heed of carrying our resentments too far upon
|
|
any occasion, especially when there is <I>a king</I> in the case,
|
|
<I>against whom there is no rising up,</I> when it is a ruler, or one
|
|
much our superior, that is offended; nay, the rule is always the
|
|
same.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. We must bridle and suppress our own passion, and take shame to
|
|
ourselves, whenever we are justly charged with a fault, and not insist
|
|
upon our own innocency: If we have <I>lifted up ourselves,</I> either
|
|
in a proud conceit of ourselves or a peevish opposition to those that
|
|
are over us, if we have transgressed the laws of our place and station,
|
|
we have therein <I>done foolishly.</I> Those that magnify themselves
|
|
over others or against others, that are haughty and insolent, do but
|
|
shame themselves and betray their own weakness. Nay, if we have but
|
|
<I>thought evil,</I> if we are conscious to ourselves that we have
|
|
harboured an ill design in our minds, or it has been suggested to us,
|
|
we must <I>lay our hand upon our mouth,</I> that is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) We must humble ourselves for what we have done amiss, and even lie
|
|
in the dust before God, in sorrow for it, as Job did, when he repented
|
|
of what he had said foolishly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+40:4"><I>ch.</I> xl. 4</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>I will lay my hand upon my mouth</I>), and as the convicted leper,
|
|
who <I>put a covering upon his upper lip.</I> If we have <I>done
|
|
foolishly,</I> we must not stand to it before men, but by silence own
|
|
our guilt, which will be the best way of appeasing those we have
|
|
offended.
|
|
|
|
2. We must keep the evil thought we have conceived in our minds from
|
|
breaking out in any evil speeches. Do not give the evil thought an
|
|
<I>imprimatur--a license;</I> allow it not to be published; but <I>lay
|
|
thy hand upon thy mouth;</I> use a holy violence with thyself, if need
|
|
be, and enjoin thyself silence; as Christ <I>suffered not the evil
|
|
spirits to speak.</I> It is bad to think ill, but it is much worse to
|
|
speak it, for that implies a consent to the evil thought and a
|
|
willingness to infect others with it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. We must not irritate the passions of others. Some are so very
|
|
provoking in their words and conduct that they even <I>force wrath,</I>
|
|
they make those about them angry whether they will or no, and put those
|
|
into a passion who are not only not inclined to it, but resolved
|
|
against it. Now this <I>forcing of wrath brings forth strife,</I> and
|
|
where that <I>is there is confusion and every evil work.</I> As the
|
|
violent agitation of the cream fetches all the good out of the milk,
|
|
and the hard <I>wringing of the nose</I> will extort blood from it, so
|
|
this <I>forcing of wrath</I> wastes both the body and spirits of a man,
|
|
and robs him of all the good that is in him. Or, as it is in <I>the
|
|
churning of milk and the wringing of the nose, that</I> is done by
|
|
force which otherwise would not be done, so the spirit is heated by
|
|
degrees with strong passions; one angry word begets another, and that a
|
|
third; one passionate debate makes work for another, and so it goes on
|
|
till it ends at length in irreconcilable feuds. Let nothing therefore
|
|
be said or done with violence, but every thing with softness and
|
|
calmness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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