Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth.
ILLUSTRATIONS
OF THE
BOOK OF PROVERBS.
BY THE
REV. WILLIAM ARNOT,
ST. PETER'S FREE CLIMB, GLASGOW.
First Series.
Vol. 1.
LONDON;
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
MDCCCLXIII.
TO THE READER.
THESE illustrations of the Proverbs are not critical, con-
tinuous, exhaustive. The comments, in imitation of the
text, are intended to be brief, practical, miscellaneous,
isolated. The reader may, however, perceive a principle
of unity running through the whole, if he takes his stand
at the outset on the writer's view point—a desire to
lay the Christian System along the surface of common
life, without removing it from its foundations in the
doctrines of Grace. The authority of the instructions
must be divine: the form transparently human. Al-
though the lessons should, with a pliant familiarity, lay
themselves along the line of men's thoughts and actions,
they will work no deliverance, unless redeeming love be
everywhere the power to press them in. On the other
hand, although evangelical doctrine be consistently main-
tained throughout, the teaching will come short of its
purpose unless it go right into every crevice of a corrupt
heart, and perseveringly double every turn of a crooked
path. Without "the love wherewith He loved us" as
our motive power, we cannot reach for healing any of the
deeper ailments of the world: but having such a power
within our reach, we should not leave it dangling in the
air; we should bring it down, and make it bear on every
iv TO THE READER.
sorrow that afflicts, and every sin that defiles humanity.
The two extremes to be avoided are, abstract unpractical
speculation, and shallow, powerless, heathen morality; the
one a soul without a body, the other a body without a
soul—the one a ghost, the other a carcass. The aim is
to be doctrinal without losing our hold of earth, and
practical without losing our hold of heaven.
Most certain it is that if the Church at any period, or
any portion of the Church, has fallen into either of these
extremes, it has been her own fault; for the Bible, her
standard, is clear from both imputations. Christ is its
subject and its substance. His word is like Himself.
It is of heaven, but it lays itself closely around the life
of men. Such is the Bible; and such, in their own
place and measure, should our expositions of it be.
Had our object been a critical exposition of the Book,
it would have been our duty to devote the larger share of
our attention to the more difficult parts. But our aim from
first to last has been more to apply the obvious than to
elucidate the obscure, and the selection of texts has been
determined accordingly. As there is diversity of gifts,
there should be division of labour. While scientific
inquirers re-examine the joints of the machine, and
demonstrate anew the principles of its construction, it
may not be amiss that a workman should set the machine
a-going, and try its effects on the affairs of life.
W. A.
CONTENTS.
Page
I. THE PREACHER9
II. THE BOOK—PROVERBS15
III. THE ROOT OF KNOWLEDGE19
IV. THE FAMILY25
V. FILIAL LOVE A BLOSSOM OF BEAUTY30
VI. THE FOE AND THE FIGHT34
VII. FILTHY LUCRE57
VIII. THE CRY OF WISDOM64
IX. A REVIVAL72
X. SOWING DISOBEDIENCE, REAPING JUDGMENT78
XI. SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND88
XII. PERILS IN THE DEEP 97
XIII. THE MEANS OF SAFETY104
XIV. A GOOD MEMORY106
XV. THE ART OF PRINTING110
XVI. TRUST116
XVII. THE HEALTH OF HOLINESS121
XVIII. CAPITAL AND PROFIT 123
XIX. A FATHERLY WORD ON FATHERLY CORRECTION126
XX.TREASURES FOR THE TAKING 134
XXI. GAINFUL MERCHANDISE136
XXII. LENGTH OF DAYS IN THE HAND OF WISDOM139
XXIII. A PLEASANT PATH142
vi CONTENTS.
Page
XXIV. WISDOM MAKING AND MANAGING WORLDS 144
XXV. CONFIDENCE IN GOD THE TRUE SAFEGUARD FROM
TEMPTATION 147
XXVI. THE RIGHT THING DONE AT THE RIGHT TIME152
XXVII. THE CURSE AND THE BLESSING UPON THE HOUSE158
XXVIII. PRECEPT AND EXAMPLE161
XXIX. HOLD FAST163
XXX. THE PATH OP THE JUST166
XXXI. THE FOUNTAIN AND ITS STREAM171
XXXII. FAMILY JOYS179
XXXIII. THE METHOD OP PROVIDENCE FOR RESTRAINING EVIL 185
XXXIV. SEVEN HATEFUL THINGS188
XXXV. MOTHER'S LAW190
XXXVI. THE WORTH Or WISDOM 197
XX XVII. HATE EVIL200
XXXVIII. RANK AND RICHES202
XXXIX. THE REDEEMER ANTICIPATING REDEMPTION 205
XL. THE MARRIAGE SUPPER FOR THE KING'S SON200
XLI. REPROOF 213
XLII. THE TALENT AND ITS PRODUCT219
XLIII. THE PLEASURES OF SIN221
XLIV. THE PLACE AND POWER OF A SON229
XLV. DILIGENT IN BUSINESS234
XLVI. POSTHUMOUS FAME236
XLVII. THE WISE TAKE ADVICE: FOOLS ONLY GIVE IT238
XLVIII. THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY240
XLIX. THE WELL OF LIFE242
L. EXPERIENCE KEPT FOR USE245
LL THE MONEY POWER247
LII. THE LIPS AND TONGUE251
LIII. THE BLESSING OF THE LORD MAKETH RICH254
LIV. A FOOL'S SPORT261
CONTENTS. vii
Page
LV. FILM REALIZED, AND HOPES FULFILLED263
LVI. THE PAINING WHIRLWIND AND THE SURE FOUNDATION 273
LVII. THE GREATNESS OF LITTLE THINGS274
LVIII. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY279
LIX. ASSORTED PAIRS285
LX. DIPLOMACY288
LXI. THE DESTROYER OF A NEIGHBOUR290
LXII. A TALEBEARER292
LVIII. DEBTS AND SURETIES294
LXIV. VIRTUE ITS OWN REWARD 303
LXV. EVERY SEED BEARS FRUIT OF ITS OWN KIND 305
LXVI. GOD'S PEOPLE ARE GOD'S DELIGHT 307
LXVII. A JEWEL ILL SET 308
LXVIII. THE DESIRE OF THE RIGHTEOUS312
LXIX. SCATTERING TO KEEP, AND KEEPING TO SCATTER315
LXX. THE WATERER IS WATERED319
LXXI. RAISING THE MARKET—THE PRACTICE AND THE
PENALTY323
LXXII. THE TREE AND ITS BRANCH 327
LXXIII. THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS333
LXXIV. A BITTER BUT HEALTHFUL MORSEL 336
LXXV. A HUSBAND'S CROWN340
LXXVI. THE TENDER MERCIES OP THE WICKED343
LXXVII. LIES, THE SNARE THAT LIARS ARE CAUGHT IN 345
LXXVIII. HOPE DEFERRED 347
LXXIX. GOD'S WORD THE PRESERVER OF NATIONS350
LXXX. THE HARD WAY 352
LXXXI. THE CHOICE OF COMPANIONS355
LXXXII. THE FATHER WHO HATES HIS SON 359
LX XXIII. SECULARISM367
LXXXIV. FLIGHT, THE SAFETY OF THE WEAK 373
LXXXV. SYMPATHY375
viii CONTENTS.
Page.
LXXXVI. A MAN ISRESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BELIEF378
LXXXVII. THE BACKSLIDER384
LXXXVIII. THE TRUSTFUL AND THE TRUTHFUL388
LXXXIX. THE FOOL'S CONFIDENCE 392
XC. WITNESS396
XCI. THE PLACE OF REFUGE 401
XCII. ENVY, THE DISEASE AND THE CURE406
XCIII. THE MERCIFUL410
XCIV. THE TWO DEPARTURES—THE HOPEFUL AND THE
HOPELESS 417
XCV. THE TRUTH IN LOVE424
ILLUSTRATIONS
OF THE
BOOK OF PROVERBS.
I.
THE PREACHER
"The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel."—i. 1.
GOD'S word is like God's world: it combines unity of
pervading principle, with endless variety in detail. The
whole Bible, considered as one book, stands entirely apart
from all other writings; and yet every several portion of
it is distinguished from every other portion, as much as
one merely human writing is distinguished from another.
This combination results from the manner in which it has
pleased God to make known his will. One Divine Spirit
inspires; hence the unity of the whole. Men of diverse
age, taste, and attainments write; hence the diversity of
the parts. Although the books are written by Moses,
David, Solomon, they are all alike the word of God:
therefore they exhibit a complete separation from all
other writings, and a perfect consistency among them-
selves. Again, although they are all one as being the
word of God, they are as much the genuine product of
different human minds, as the ordinary writings of men
are the work of their authors: therefore there is in matter
10 THE PREACHER.
and manner, an unconstrained, natural, life-like diversity.
It was God who "spake unto the fathers," but it was "by
the prophets" that he spoke; not by their tongues only,
but their understandings, memories, tastes; in short, all
that constituted the men. There is as much individuality
in the books of Scripture as in any other books. There
is as much of Moses shining through the Pentateuch, as
of Gibbon in the Decline and Fall. As are the articulat-
ing lips to the soul whose thoughts they utter, so are the
prophets to the Holy Spirit, whose mind they reveal.
Every writer was chosen by God, as well as every word.
He had a purpose to serve by the disposition, the acquire-
ments, and the experience of each. The education of
Moses as one of the royal race of Egypt was a qualifica-
tion necessary to the leader of the exodus, and the writer
of the Pentateuch. The experience of David, with its
successive stages, like geologic strata, touching each other
in abrupt contrast, first as a shepherd youth, then as a
fugitive warrior, and last as a victorious king, was a quali-
fication indispensable to the sweet singer of Israel. God
needed a human spirit as a mould to cast consolation in,
for every kindred in every age. He chose one whose ex-
perience was a compound of meekness and might, of deep
distress and jubilant victory. These, when purged of
their dross, and fused into one by the Spirit's baptism of
fire, came forth an amalgam of sacred psalmody, which
the whole church militant have been singing ever since,
and "have not yet sung dry."
Solomon did not, like David, pass his youth in pastoral
simplicity, and his early manhood under cruel persecution.
THE PREACHER. 11
Solomon could not have written the twenty-third psalm-
"The Lord is my Shepherd;" nor the fifty-seventh—A
psalm of David when be fled from Saul in the cave. His
experience would never have suggested the plaintive strains
of the ninetieth psalm—A prayer of Moses the man of
God—"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place." But,
on the other hand, Solomon went through a peculiar ex-
perience of his own, and God, who in nature gives sweet
fruit to men through the root sap of a sour crab, when a
new nature has been engrafted on the upper stem, did not
disdain to bring forth fruits of righteousness through
those parts of the king's experience that cleaved most
closely to the dust. None of all the prophets could
have written the Proverbs or the Preacher; for God is
not wont, even in his miraculous interpositions, to make
a fig-tree bear olive berries, or a vine figs: every crea-
ture acts after its kind. When Solomon delineated
the eager efforts of men in search of happiness, and
the disappointment which ensued, he could say, like
Bunyan, of that fierce and fruitless war, "I was there."
The heights of human prosperity he had reached: the
paths of human learning he had trodden, farther than any
of his day: the pleasures of wealth and power and pomp
he had tasted, in all their variety. No spring of earthly
delight could be named, of whose waters he had not deeply
drunk. This is the man whom God has chosen as the
schoolmaster to teach us the vanity of the world when it
is made the portion of a soul, and He hath done all things
well. The man who has drained the cup of pleasure can
best tell the taste of its dregs.
12 THE PREACHER.
The choice of Solomon as one of the writers of the
Bible, at first sight startles, but on deeper study instructs.
We would have expected a man of more exemplary life
a man of uniform holiness It is certain that in the main;
the vessels which the Spirit used were sanctified vessels.
"Holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost." But as they were all corrupt at first, so there
were diversities in the operation whereby they were called
and qualified for their work. There were diversities in
the times, and degrees of their sanctification. Some were
carried so near perfection in the body, that human eyes
could no longer discern spot or wrinkle; in others the
principle of grace was so largely overlaid with earthli-
ness, that observers were left in doubt whether they had
been turned to the Lord's side at all. But the diversity
in all its extent is like the other ways of God; and He
knows how to make either extreme fall into its place in
the concert of his praise. He who made Saul an apostle,
did not disdain to use Solomon as a prophet. Very
diverse were the two men, and very diverse their life
course; yet in one thing they are perfectly alike. To-
gether in glory now they know themselveselves to have been
only sinners, and agree in ascribing all their salvation to
the mercy of God.
Moreover, although good men wrote the Bible, our
faith in the Bible does not rest on the goodness of the
men who wrote it The fatal facility with which men
glide into the worship of men may suggest another reason
why some of the channels chosen for conveying the mind
of God were marred by glaring deficiencies. Among
THE PREACHER. 13
many earthen vessels, in various measures purged of their
filthiness, may not the Divine Administrator in wisdom
select for actual use some of the least pure, in order by
that grosser argument to force into grosser minds the con-
viction that the excellency of the power is all of God?
If all the writers of the Bible had been perfect in holiness
—if no stain of sin could be traced on their character,
no error noted in their life, it is certain that the Bible
would not have served all the purposes which it now serves
among men. It would have been God-like indeed in
matter and in mould, but it would not have reached down
to the low estate of man—it would not have penetrated
to the sores of a human heart. For engraving the life
lessons of his word, our Father uses only diamonds: but
in every diamond there is a flaw, in some a greater and
in some a less; and who shall dare to dictate to the Omni-
scient the measure of defect that blinds Him to fling the
instrument as a useless thing away?
When God would leave on my mind in youth the
lesson that the pleasures of sin are barbed arrows, he uses
that same Solomon as the die to indent it in. I mark
the wisdom of the choice. I get and keep the lesson, but
the homage of my soul goes to God who gave it, and not
to Solomon, the instrument through which it came. God
can make man's wrath to praise him, and their vanity too.
He can make the clouds bear some benefits to the earth,
which the sun cannot bestow. He can make brine serve
some purposes in nature which sweet water could not
fulfil. So, practical lessons on some subjects come better
through the heart and lips of the weary repentant king,
14 THE PREACHER.
than through a man who had tasted fewer pleasures, and
led a more even life.
Two principles cover the whole case. "All things are
of God;" and "All things are for your sakes." We can
never be sufficiently familiar with these two: (1.) The
universality of God's government; and (2.) The special
use for his own people to which he turns every person
and every thing. All Solomon's wisdom, and power,
and glory and pleasure were an elaborate writing by the
finger of God, containing a needful lesson to his children.
The wisdom which we are invited to hear is Divine wis-
dom; the complicated life-experience of Solomon is the
machinery of articulation employed to convey it to the
ears of men. In casting some of the separate letters, the
king may have been seeking only his own pleasure, yet
the whole, when cast, are set by the Spirit so that they
give forth an important page of the word of truth.
The thought recurs, that the king of Jerusalem was not
from his antecedents, qualified to sit in the chair of autho-
rity and teach morality to mankind. No, he was not:
and perhaps on that very account the morality which he
taught is all the more impressive. Here is a marvel;
NOT A LINE OF SOLOMON'S WRITINGS TENDS TO PALLIATE
SOLOMON'S SINS. How do you account for this? The
errors and follies were his own; they were evil. But out
of them the All-wise has brought good. The glaring im-
perfections of the man's life have been used as a dark
ground to set off the lustre of that pure righteousness
which the Spirit has spoken by his lips.
THE BOOK—PROVERBS. 15
II.
THE BOOK—PROVERBS.
"To understand a proverb, and the interpretation;
the words of the wise, and their dark sayings."—i. 6.
IT is safer and better to assume that all men know what
a proverb is, than to attempt a logical definition of it.
As a general rule, the things that are substantially best
known are hardest to define.
Proverbs are very abundant in all languages, and
among all peoples. Many of them, though they seem
fresh and full of sap on our lips to-day, have descended