mh_parser/vol_split/20 - Proverbs/0 - Introduction.xml

<div2 id="Prov.i" n="i" next="Prov.ii" prev="Prov" progress="72.21%" title="Introduction">
<h2 id="Prov.i-p0.1">Proverbs</h2>
<hr/>
<pb id="Prov.i-Page_789" n="789"/>
<div class="Center" id="Prov.i-p0.3">
<p id="Prov.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
<h3 id="Prov.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
<h4 id="Prov.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
<h5 id="Prov.i-p1.3">OF THE</h5>
<h2 id="Prov.i-p1.4">P R O V E R B S.</h2>
<hr style="width:2in"/>
</div>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.i-p2">We have now before us, I. A new author, or
penman rather, or pen (if you will) made use of by the Holy Ghost
for making known the mind of God to us, writing as moved by the
<i>finger of God</i> (so the Spirit of God is called), and that is
Solomon; through his hand came this book of Scripture and the two
that follow it, Ecclesiastes and Canticles, a sermon and a song.
Some think he wrote Canticles when he was very young, Proverbs in
the midst of his days, and Ecclesiastes when he was old. In the
title of his song he only writes himself <i>Solomon,</i> perhaps
because he wrote it before his accession to the throne, being
filled with the Holy Ghost when he was young. In the title of his
Proverbs he writes himself <i>the son of David, king of Israel,</i>
for then he ruled over all Israel. In the title of his Ecclesiastes
he writes himself <i>the son of David, king of Jerusalem,</i>
because then perhaps his influence had grown less upon the distant
tribes, and he confined himself very much in Jerusalem. Concerning
this author we may observe, 1. That he was a king, and a king's
son. The penmen of scripture, hitherto, were most of them men of
the first rank in the world, as Moses and Joshua, Samuel and David,
and now Solomon; but, after him, the inspired writers were
generally poor prophets, men of no figure in the world, because
that dispensation was approaching in the which God would choose the
<i>weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and
mighty</i> and the poor should be employed to evangelize. Solomon
was a very rich king, and his dominions were very large, a king of
the first magnitude, and yet he addicted himself to the study of
divine things, and was a prophet and a prophet's son. It is no
disparagement to the greatest princes and potentates in the world
to instruct those about them in religion and the laws of it. 2.
That he was one whom God endued with extraordinary measures of
wisdom and knowledge, in answer to his prayers at his accession to
the throne. His prayer was exemplary: <i>Give me a wise and an
understanding heart;</i> the answer to it was encouraging: he had
what he desired and <i>all other things were added to him.</i> Now
here we find what good use he made of the wisdom God gave him; he
not only governed himself and his kingdom with it, but he gave
rules of wisdom to others also, and transmitted them to posterity.
Thus must we trade with the talents with which we are entrusted,
according as they are. 3. That he was one who had his faults, and
in his latter end turned aside from those good ways of God which in
this book he had directed others in. We have the story of it
<scripRef id="Prov.i-p2.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.11.1-1Kgs.11.43" parsed="|1Kgs|11|1|11|43" passage="1Ki 11:1-43">1 Kings xi.</scripRef>, and a sad
story it is, that the penman of such a book as this should
apostatize as he did. <i>Tell it not in Gath.</i> But let those who
are most eminently useful take warning by this not to be proud or
secure; and let us all learn not to think the worse of good
instructions though we have them from those who do not themselves
altogether live up to them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.i-p3">II. A new way of writing, in which divine
wisdom is taught us by Proverbs, or short sentences, which contain
their whole design within themselves and are not connected with one
another. We have had divine <i>laws, histories,</i> and
<i>songs,</i> and now divine <i>proverbs;</i> such various methods
has Infinite Wisdom used for our instruction, that, no stone being
left unturned to do us good, we may be inexcusable if we perish in
our folly. Teaching by proverbs was, 1. An ancient way of teaching.
It was the most ancient way among the Greeks; each of the seven
wise men of Greece had some one saying that he valued himself upon,
and that made him famous. These sentences were inscribed on
pillars, and had in great veneration as that which was said to come
down from heaven. <i>A cœlo descendit,</i> <b><i>Gnothi
seauton</i></b>—<i>Know thyself is a precept which came down from
heaven.</i> 2. It was a plain and easy way of teaching, which cost
neither the teachers nor the learners much pains, nor put their
understandings nor their memories to the stretch. Long periods, and
arguments far-fetched, must be laboured both by him that frames
them and by him that would understand them, while a proverb, which
carries both its sense and its evidence in a little compass, is
quickly apprehended and subscribed to, and is easily retained. Both
David's devotions and Solomon's instructions are sententious, which
may recommend that way of expression to those who minister about
holy things, both in praying and preaching. 3. It was a very
profitable way of teaching, and served admirably well to answer the
end. The word <i>Mashal,</i> here used for a proverb, comes from a
word that signifies <i>to rule</i> or <i>have dominion,</i> because
of the commanding power and influence which wise and weighty
sayings have upon the children of men; he that teaches by them
<i>dominatur in concionibus—rules his auditory.</i> It is easy to
observe how the world is governed by proverbs. <i>As saith the
proverb of the ancients</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.24.13" parsed="|1Sam|24|13|0|0" passage="1Sa 24:13">1 Sam.
xxiv. 13</scripRef>), or (as we commonly express it) <i>As the old
saying is,</i> goes very far with most men in forming their notions
and fixing their resolves. Much of the wisdom of the ancients has
been handed down to posterity by proverbs; and some think we may
judge of the temper and character of a nation by the complexion of
its vulgar proverbs. Proverbs in conversation are like axioms in
philosophy, maxims in law, and postulata in the mathematics, which
nobody disputes, but every one endeavours to expound so as to have
them on his side. Yet there are many corrupt proverbs, which tend
to debauch men's minds and harden them in sin. The devil has his
proverbs, and the world and the flesh have their proverbs, which
reflect reproach on God and religion (as <scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.12.22 Bible:Ezek.18.2" parsed="|Ezek|12|22|0|0;|Ezek|18|2|0|0" passage="Eze 12:22,18:2">Ezek. xii. 22; xviii. 2</scripRef>), to guard us
against the corrupt influences of which God has his proverbs, which
are all wise and good, and tend to make us so. These proverbs of
Solomon were not merely a collection of the wise sayings that had
been formerly delivered, as some have imagined, but were the
dictates of the Spirit of God in Solomon. The very first of them
(<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.7" parsed="|Prov|1|7|0|0" passage="Pr 1:7"><i>ch.</i> i. 7</scripRef>) agrees with
what God said to man in the beginning (<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.28" parsed="|Job|28|28|0|0" passage="Job 28:28">Job xxviii. 28</scripRef>, <i>Behold, the fear of the
Lord, that is wisdom</i>); so that though Solomon was great, and
his name may serve as much as any man's to recommend his writings,
yet, behold, <i>a greater than Solomon is here.</i> It is God, by
Solomon, that here speaks to us: I say, to <i>us;</i> for these
proverbs were <i>written for our learning,</i> and, when Solomon
speaks to his son, the exhortation is said <i>to speak to us as
unto children,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.5" parsed="|Heb|12|5|0|0" passage="Heb 12:5">Heb. xii.
5</scripRef>. And, as we have no book so useful to us in our
devotions as David's psalms, so have we none so serviceable to us,
for the right ordering of our conversations, as Solomon's proverbs,
which as David says of the commandments, are <i>exceedingly
broad,</i> containing, in a little compass, a complete body of
divine ethics, politics, and economics, exposing every vice,
recommending every virtue, and suggesting rules for the government
of ourselves in every relation and condition, and every turn of the
conversation. The learned bishop Hall has drawn up a system of
moral philosophy out of Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The
<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.1-Prov.1.32" parsed="|Prov|1|1|1|32" passage="Pr 1:1-32">first nine chapters</scripRef> of
this book are reckoned as a preface, by way of exhortation to the
study and practice of wisdom's rules, and caution against those
things that would hinder therein. We have then the first volume of
Solomon's proverbs (<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Prov.10.1-Prov.24.34" parsed="|Prov|10|1|24|34" passage="Pr 10:1-24:34"><i>ch.</i>
x.-xxiv.</scripRef>); after that a second volume (<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Prov.25.1-Prov.29.27" parsed="|Prov|25|1|29|27" passage="Pr 25:1-29:27"><i>ch.</i> xxv.-xxix.</scripRef>); and then
Agur's prophecy (<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.9" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.1-Prov.30.33" parsed="|Prov|30|1|30|33" passage="Pr 30:1-33"><i>ch.</i>
xxx.</scripRef>), and Lemuel's (<scripRef id="Prov.i-p3.10" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.1-Prov.31.31" parsed="|Prov|31|1|31|31" passage="Pr 31:1-31"><i>ch.</i> xxxi.</scripRef>). The scope of all is one
and the same, to direct us so to order our conversation aright as
that in the end we may see the salvation of the Lord. The best
comment on these rules is to be ruled by them.</p>
</div2>