"A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight. When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered."
It is common for a general sentiment to be conveyed under a limited form of expression; for an individual case to be selected, to illustrate and enforce a universal principle. Thus it is iii the first of these verses. The general affirmation is manifestly couched under a particular one, that all unjust dealing is "an abomination to the Lord;" while all righteous dealing is "his delight." The God of the Bible is-"the righteous Lord who loveth righteousness, and whose countenance doth behold the upright." And the pervading injunctions of his word are in harmony with this representation of his character. Under similar terms to those before us, the divine injunctions and prohibitions are frequent and strong,*1 and the violation of this maxim is one of the sins which we find complained of by the prophets, as amongst the causes of the divine judgments upon Israel.*2
*1 See Lev_19:35-36; Deu_25:13-16; Pro_16:11, &c.
*2 Hos_12:7; Amo_8:4-6; Mic_6:10-11, &c.
I speak to many who are men of business. Do not, pray, take the language literally, as if it had application only to such as, in their business, actually require the use of scales and weights? It involves the principle of all your mutual dealings. In all these, the eye of God is upon you.
Many are pleased at the dexterity with which they practise their deceptions. The fraud is undiscovered; and, being undiscovered, is unfelt by those on whom it is practised:-and what is never known and never felt, can be no harm. So they think. But God sees it; and He estimates the action on no such principle:-no; nor is it the principle on which you would estimate it, were you the party defrauded. You have no idea, in your own case, of admitting that what is not missed is not lost; or that the cleverness of the fraud is any palliation of it. You do not think the better of the merchant with his "balances of deceit," that the unfairness of the balance is ingeniously concealed. You do not regard it as a compensation for the property abstracted from your plundered house or warehouse, that the impression of your keys has been adroitly obtained, or the mode of entrance skillfully devised and expertly executed. You do not approve of the laws of ancient Sparta, which, to encourage cleverness and sleight of hand, rewarded instead of punishing the youthful thief who could steal without detection. Depend upon it, if you plume yourself on the dexterity with which you have contrived and executed a plan for cozening your neighbour, it will be no palliation with God, nor will any amount of such dexterity produce any abatement of His sentence of condemnation. It is the moral principle, or want of principle, in which the evil lies; and the very measure of thought and contrivance expended for the purpose of ensuring success in the contravention of God's law, instead of diminishing, will serve to aggravate your guilt in His sight. The "abomination" will be only the more loathsome.
Many are the subterfuges, many the quirks and evasions, to which men betake themselves, with a view to shelter their consciences and keep them easy in the practice of iniquity. And amongst others may be particularized the commonness of certain modes of deception and fraudulent dealing. Oh! say they, there is no man in the line by whom it is not more or less done; and if we do not conform to the custom, we shall be undersold by our neighbours, and may shut shop at once. Then, I reply, if you are Christians, do so. Run all risks, incur all losses, rather than offend God. What you do is not the less "abomination" to Him, that it is done by many as well as by you. That is only so much the more lamentable; and the stronger is the reason why Christians should, by their stern adherence to integrity, rebuke the prevalent practice, by acting as exceptions to it.-There are few departments, for instance, in which fraud is so little thought of, as when it is practised upon the revenue of the country. And yet there is nothing as to which the requisitions of the Bible are more peremptory, and which is more distinctly and strongly put under the regulation of a sensitive conscience. The difference between the man who cheats a single customer and the man who cheats the revenue is, that the former defrauds one, while the latter defrauds millions. Let not your question be, fellow-Christians, What is interest? but, What is duty? not, What will man think? but, What will God think? Shun every approach to what you know, from His word, to be "an abomination" to Him; and practise unvaryingly, in defiance of human opinions and of all apprehended consequences, that in which He delights;-for of all evils the worst is God's displeasure, and of all blessings the richest is God's favour. The latter is cheaply purchased by the loss of every earthly good; nor is there any amount of such good that can be a compensation for the former. Let it be the sentiment of every mind, and the feeling of every heart, that one frown of God is enough to annihilate every kind and degree of benefit that can arise from transgression.
If there is anything in which the phrase an honourable pride might be used with propriety, it is the case now mentioned of unbending, uncompromising integrity of principle. But the very next verse teaches us that pride, in every form, must be denied-" When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom." The entire Bible, from the beginning to the close, points against pride. All that is said in it of what man is; and all that is revealed of the way of salvation, both as it regards the ground of the sinner's hope, and as it regards the means of the believer's preservation to the end, has the same tendency-"to hide pride from man,"-to "lay him low, and keep him there." It is the avowed design of the gospel, that "the lofty looks of man should be humbled, and the haughtiness of man bowed down, and that the Lord alone should be exalted." Against pride shafts are aimed at every turn. God frowns upon it; and shows it to be His purpose throughout to mortify and humble it. It is the pervading maxim of the Divine word-"Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased." In the end, pride must bring "shame."
Perhaps, however, the reference in the words before us, may especially be to the influence of pride in our intercourse with men. And in this view of them, they are verified in different ways. For example-The manifestation of pride,-of supercilious loftiness and self-sufficiency, strongly tempts others to spy out defects, and to bring down the haughty man from his imaginary elevation. Every one takes a pleasure in plucking at him, and leaving the laurel-wreath which he has twined for his own brow, as bare of leaves as possible; and thus to cover him with "shame."
Another way in which it tends to "shame" is, that it leads him who is the subject of it to undertake, in the plenitude of his confident self-sufficiency, to fill stations for which he is incompetent; by which means, he ere long exposes himself to the derision or the pity of his fellows. He shortly finds himself in the position of those described in our Lord's parable who "choose for themselves the highest seats," but in the end, abashed and crest-fallen, "begin with shame to take the lowest rooms."*-That parable is a graphic commentary on the words before us.
* Luk_14:7-11.
On the contrary, "with the lowly is wisdom." In the highest departments this is true. The lowly, distrustful of themselves, ask wisdom of God, who "giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not." And wisely distrustful of their own strength as well as knowledge, they receive strength from above, and are "strong in the Lord." And moreover, the lowly act otherwise than has been described, in their intercourse with men. They remember the words of the apostle, "I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly."* The man of this character all are disposed to take by the hand-to respect, to encourage, and to put forward.
* Rom_12:3.
I have recommended a principle of unbending rectitude, as the principle which the God of truth and righteousness approves. I may further recommend it, as the best of all casuists,-our surest and most ready director in the right way. Such is the spirit of the third verse-"The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them."
Or even, in regard to "transgressors," suppose the contrary-so far as this life is concerned. Suppose them by their well-contrived and well-covered arts to succeed and to accumulate wealth-still, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death."*
* For further illustration of verses Pro_11:3-4, see Pro_10:2; Pro_10:9; Pro_10:13.
"The day of wrath" evidently means the day of judgment!* O my friends, what an affecting commentary will the transactions of that day read to an assembled world on the solemn question of our Lord,-"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mat_16:26.
* See Rom_2:5.
The same general sentiment-of the superior advantages of the righteous, both now and in the end, is expanded in the next two verses-"The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."
"The perfect" are those whose hearts are sincere, and undivided; given up in their dominant principles and affections, decidedly and unreservedly, to God. They are the same with the upright; whose uprightness, as before shown, "directs their way"-in safety, and to safety; while the wicked, by their worldly and crafty devices, often involve themselves as well as others in mischief. And while, in their progress through this world, they are many a time ensnared in the meshes of their own arts of deceit, their feet are entangled in a snare from which, in the end, there is no deliverance-the "snare of the devil." By him they are "taken captive at his will;" and, having abandoned God, have then-part with him and his angels. They "fall by their own wickedness"-fall beyond recovery. They are "taken"-taken finally and irretrievably, "in their own naughtiness." The frequent repetition of this truth should impress it on the memory and heart. Let it be indelibly impressed on yours. Nothing can be more certain than that lies, deceptions, breaches of promise, plans of doubledealing and artifice, however they may seem to prosper for a time, are the sure road to ruin. The man who has recourse to them is weaving the shroud for his reputation, and digging the grave for his interest here,-while he is fitting himself for destruction hereafter, "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath."
The same strain of thought is still followed in verse seventh-"When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish; and the hope of unjust men perisheth."*
* Comp. Pro_10:28.
There have been some who have questioned whether the doctrine of a future state was understood under the former dispensation. They have regarded that economy as to such an extent carnal, worldly, and temporary, as to have excluded from it all reference to that subject. I might show you, from many passages, the falsity of such a sentiment. In this verse we have one of them. Nothing can be clearer than that, were there not such a future state, the expectation and hope of righteous and wicked alike must perish together, and that the very distinction so evidently made here between the one and the other, proceeds upon the assumption of a state beyond the present. The maxim of wisdom would otherwise be-"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Such expressions, having evident reference to expectations and hopes entertained at the time of death, clearly evince that a future state was matter of full conviction with Solomon himself, and that its sanctions were by no means held back, but were pressed upon the people.
The next verse may be taken by itself, as expressing a frequently occurring case-"The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead."
This was a thing which Solomon had often observed; and which harmonized to such an extent with general observation as to have become marked and striking. The general state of things was then what it is now; * yet had it been frequently noticed, how singularly good men had been, by divine interposition, preserved from trouble, and delivered out of it,-and especially when the trouble had arisen from the conscientious exercise of principle; while the wicked, especially if in any way they had been the authors of the trouble, impending or suffered, have "come in their stead," and found their feet taken in their own snares. Thus was it in the case of Mordecai and Haman; and thus in the case of Daniel and his unprincipled accusers.
* Ecc_9:1-3.
But the verse naturally connects with the preceding verses to complete the antithesis between the righteous and the wicked occurring so regularly throughout the passage. When thus taken together, they may be considered as having reference to the same period-the period of death. "When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish; and the hope of unjust men perisheth: the righteous," when he dieth, "is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." This will express the same sentiment as that of the prophet, "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness," Isa_57:1-2. And while he is thus "taken away," the wicked, his enemy, succeeds to the trouble of which that enemy had been the cause; or, if not to it, to some other. Thus has it many a time been with blood-thirsty persecutors, when they have succeeded in their vindictive plots of death against God's servants. They have dismissed the saint from his sins and sorrows; but have themselves become the victims of divine visitation. Thus it was with Herod. Thus it was with the persecuting Jews, who "both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets," and pursued with the same unrelenting malignity the apostles of the Lamb.
But of true religion there is the semblance as well as the reality: and the semblance is worse than worthless. It avails not the professor himself, and is injurious to others:-verse Pro_11:9. "An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered."
This verse, indeed, may be understood with a reference to all insincere professions of friendship and good intentions-to all insinuating and nattering pretensions, adopted for the purpose of effecting a particular end. How many are there, who for objects of their own deceive others; no matter what the result may be to the deceived, provided the deceiver but accomplishes his selfish aim:-though even that is frequently lost to the hypocrite, injuring and destroying both his neighbour and himself,-the flattered and the flatterer alike suffering. In religion, the hypocrite has a purpose. His religion is not real. He assumes the cloak to cover some secret design. The verse itself suggests the design-the undermining of the principles of others. He makes great pretensions. He insinuates himself into confidence. He gets a character. The confidence increasing, he becomes by degrees more and more bold, till, by slow steps, he unsettles the principles, shakes the faith, dissipates the seriousness, and ruins the souls of others. Moreover, hypocrites are awful stumblingblocks. Full many has the detection of their true character hardened in sin and worldliness, and established in infidelity. Full many have they thus "destroyed."*
* The character of the hypocrite is given, Mat_7:15; 2Co_11:13-15. The tendency of it may be illustrated from such cases as that of the lying prophet in 1Ki_13:18, &c; 1Ki_22:6, &c.
"But by knowledge shall the just be delivered."-By general knowledge, the result of experience, and observation of character, and natural and acquired sagacity,-the just man is placed on his guard against false and flattering professions, and is enabled to detect and expose them, and to shun the consequences. And still further, by the knowledge of God's word, he is enabled to discern the symptoms of false professions of religion, and so to avoid the insinuations of the religious deceiver. He repels by his knowledge the assaults of " the wicked one," and of his crafty and malignant emissaries; as the Lord Jesus foiled Satan by the sword of the Spirit.
Observe in conclusion-
1. None can condemn hypocrisy more severely than the Bible itself does. What character is there that is branded in this Book with a broader and deeper brand of divine reprobation? But the same Bible which condemns and reprobates hypocrisy, recommends godliness, and affirms and urges its necessity. My friends, all would be well, if, agreeing with the Bible in the one sentiment, you agreed with it also in the other. The Bible is consistent. It proportions the vehemence of its reprobation of hypocrisy to its right estimate of the thing that is desecrated and dishonoured by the false assumption of it. Oh! that you would but show the genuineness of your hatred of hypocrisy by your admiration and love, your adoption and practice of the reality of which it is the semblance-TRUE RELIGION!
2. Fellow-Christians, see to it, that you let the world have no such cause of offence as the world are so disposed to find. Be honest. Be upright. Be consistent. "Give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." "Be sincere and without offence until the day of Christ!"
