"The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die. Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise."
Of "knowledge," as of wealth, the true value depends upon its use. Laid up, under lock and key, in the coffers of the miser, the largest amount of riches, in bags of rusting gold and silver, serves no good end. Its owner may please him, self with the thought of having it, and of being known to have it. He may take delight in opening his chests and gloating his eyes, from time to time, on his accumulating heaps; but how mean and pitiful such a gratification even to a reasonable, and how much more to a morally responsible being!-Yet, in a similar way a man may plume himself on the extent and variety of his "knowledge." He may feed his vanity in enumerating to himself its subjects and the amount of it on each. And the gratification arising from the possession of it-apart from the thoughts of vanity-may be of a far higher and more rational kind than that of the former; but if its possessor keeps it all hidden in the depths of his own mind,-shut up in the coffers of his memory, uncommunicated, unapplied to any useful purpose,-he bears the character of an intellectual miser.
"The lips of the wise disperse knowledge." The lesson was finely exemplified by Solomon himself-"Moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth," Ecc_12:9-10. Solomon's wisdom, we know, related to science, as well as to what are more properly called "the things of God." We need not doubt that he "taught the people knowledge" in various departments; but from the special mention here made of his proverbs, we are warranted in considering his teaching as having special reference to the truths most essential for their present and eternal well-being. Thus too it was with all the prophets and apostles. The treasure was put into these "earthen vessels," not to be kept there, as a personal and private deposit, but as one to be imparted-to be extensively diffused among mankind. "Their lips dispersed knowledge." And it is the incumbent duty of all whom God has made "wise unto salvation," with all zeal for God and compassion for fellow-creatures, to communicate the knowledge which may make others thus spiritually, substantially, eternally wise.
The antithesis in the verse-"but the heart of the foolish doth not so"-where we should naturally have expected the lips or the mouth-corresponds with that in the 20th verse of the tenth chapter (Pro_10:20), and the principle of explanation is the same. The knowledge dispersed by the lips of the wise, comes forth from "the treasures" that are in "the heart." But in the heart of "the foolish" the "knowledge" is not to be found:-and that which is not in the heart, cannot of course be "dispersed by the lips." If his lips disperse any thing, it must be folly.
Verses Pro_15:8-9. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness."
Between these two verses there is a very close and important connexion. The latter of the two may be considered as containing the reason of the former. It is said of Jehovah-"Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity," Psa_5:4-5. It is not their persons God hates; for He swears by himself-"I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." He hates their doings; hates their evil courses. These, as the second of the two verses states, are "an abomination" to Him, and so, therefore, are their religious services. Their persons are not accepted; and while they themselves are rejected, their offerings cannot be graciously received. This, brethren, is the true order of things. The sinner himself, believing the glad tidings of the gospel, is first "accepted in the Beloved;" and then, his person being accepted, and, on Christ’s account, in favour with God, his services are accepted also on the same ground. Intimations such as this, it has been said, might indicate to the then existing generation the approach of another economy, more pure and spiritual than the introductory and comparatively carnal one under which they lived. But this idea of the difference between the two dispensations has, at times, been pushed to an untenable and mischievous extreme. Why should such intimations be considered as only indicating a spiritual dispensation to come? Why not as indicating, or rather directly and pointedly expressing the necessity of spiritual worship-of heart-religion even then? I apprehend there never was a period, never a dispensation, when this was not required; or when any thing short of this was acceptable. What is the reason assigned by the Saviour himself for the necessity of spiritual worship?-"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth," Joh_4:23-24. The first of these two verses must not be understood as meaning that before that time the Father did not "seek such to worship him." Against any such interpretation we might plead the verse immediately before it-"Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews." That the Jews, as distinguished by their special revelation, "knew whom they worshipped," can mean nothing less than that Jehovah had been revealed to them in the character in which Jesus speaks of him, namely as a Spirit-in the essential spirituality of His nature. God was always a Spirit. The same reason, therefore, always existed for the necessity of spiritual worship. He was always the Searcher of hearts; and always required, and could not but require, the devotion of the heart. Bodily service-the religion of posture-the religion of the lips-the religion of mere outward act, irrespective altogether of the character or the state of the heart, never could be well-pleasing in His sight. The Psalmist surely understood this, when he said-"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." The service presented by one man and by another may be, in all that meets the view of fellow-creatures, undistinguishable. But if, in the all-perfect knowledge of God, the characters of the parties are different, the services will be regarded accordingly-the one accepted, the other refused. It is the wickedness of the wicked that renders the "sacrifice of the wicked an abomination." The bullock or the lamb might be the same. The rites observed in the offering of it might be the same; and all might be attended to with the same rigidly scrupulous exactness. Yet in the one case, it might be a sweet savour unto the Lord, and in the other "a trouble unto him which he was weary to bear." That such was the case then as well as now, we are not left to infer from such premises as those given us by our Lord in the passage referred to. It is plainly and explicitly declared.*1 And the sentiment suggested by the connexion between the two verses before us, is no other than that which is stated with greater expansion in the divine expostulation with Israel in the opening chapter of Isaiah's prophecy,*2 where in striking language the connexion between approved character and accept able worship is expressed with the utmost plainness, and with divine force. And the same is the sentiment, uttered, if possible, with even greater emphasis, in the language-"He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol."*3 I am aware that these expressions have been interpreted as meaning, that under the future dispensation all the existing and prescribed offerings would be abolished, and that it would be as much a sin to offer them as it was then a sin to withhold them. But I can see no sound reason for not interpreting the language as relating to the time then being. The connexion of the third and fourth verses brings out the same sentiment with that before us, that "the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." Why was the slaying of an ox in sacrifice as unacceptable to Jehovah as the murder of a man?-the offering of a lamb as the slaughter of an unclean dog?-the presenting a prescribed oblation as a libation of swine's blood?-the burning of the sweet incense, compounded according to divine prescription, as the blessing of an idol? The reason follows:-" Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations." Thus the different passages speak the same language. They remind Israel, not merely of a coming time when worship of a more purely spiritual character should be required by Jehovah from His people, but of the then existing obligation to give Him the homage of a devoted heart, and of a life of obedience in harmony with nominal and ceremonial distinction,-and of the aversion of Jehovah, the heart-searching God, to worship of a different description,-to worship "coming out of feigned lips," or unaccredited by a consistent life-that God has always looked, and could not but look to the principle within, and never would regard otherwise than with loathing "the sacrifice of the wicked." I state these things strongly, because I am persuaded that very false conceptions prevail about the difference, in this and in some other respects, between both the worship and the morality of the old and the new dispensations.
*1 See Deu_10:12-16. rr
*2 Isa_1:10-18.
*3 See Isa_66:3.
Let us remember that the sentiment before us is applicable now, in its full force, to all merely external acts and forms of worship. They can never be pleasing to the Lord. How should they? The principle of His dissatisfaction with them we feel in ourselves. If any of us were to receive a present, accompanied with many verbal professions of attachment, and we were afterwards to discover that the person from whom it came had been acting a part utterly at variance with all his professions, indicative of a heart that hated instead of loving us, and that the present with its accompaniments, was sent with no other view than to answer some selfish end of his own,-would not that which had at first gratified us be instantly loathed and cast away? Thus it is with God. No oblations, no acts of worship, no alms, can be acceptable in His sight, when He knows them to come from one whose heart, instead of being "right with Him," is in a state of alienation and enmity,-in hostility to His authority and grace. They are either offered without principle or consideration at all; or for the purpose of covering sin, or of compensating for past transgressions, or of obtaining indulgence to conscience for the future-as a kind of bribe to the supreme Judge. They can be regarded by Him in no other light than as an awful insult to His holiness and justice and truth!
Are ungodly men, then, some may be ready to ask, to be forbidden to pray?-Forbidden to pray! Who and where is the man that will be presumptuous enough to lay such an interdict? Forbidden to pray! The very thought is shocking. Who will come with such a prohibition between even the chief of sinners-the veriest wretch on earth-and his God? Prayer, if the duty of one, is the duty of all. Abstinence from prayer is positive sin. At the same time, it ought to be equally plain, that every duty presupposes, in the injunction of it, whatever is necessary to its right and acceptable performance. If the act of prayer cannot be acceptable without the spirit of prayer, then, when we affirm it every man's duty to pray, we affirm it every man's duty to have the spirit of prayer. If, in order to acceptable prayer on the part of a sinner, it behooves to be presented in the name of a Mediator, and in the exercise of faith in that name,-then, when we call upon a sinner to pray, meaning, as we must, that he should pray acceptably, we call upon him to exercise that faith which is necessary to acceptable prayer. This is clear. In calling a man to the discharge of any duty, we call him, of course, to whatever is included in the right discharge of that duty; and among other things, to the motive or principle from which the lawgiver requires it to be done. When an ungodly man prays, it is not the act of prayer that constitutes the sin; it is the want of a praying heart. The sin is in him, not in his prayer. The prayer in itself may be very good; but, as coming from him, it may be worse than worthless.
We might apply the same principle more generally, extending it to all duties whatever. They ought all, without exception, to be done from the principle of love to God-the elementary and pervading principle of the whole law. An ungodly man is rightly called upon to the fulfilment of the personal and the relative duties which the divine law inculcates. But it is, at the same time, right and necessary to remind him, that, so long as his heart continues in a state of enmity against God, there is not one of them that can be fulfilled acceptably to Him. The principle of all acceptable obedience is wanting. It is in some such sense as this that it is said-" The ploughing of the wicked is sin." And it is one of the most affecting circumstances in their condition, that there is nothing they can do that has the approval and acceptance of God! Are they therefore to be forbidden to perform these duties? No, assuredly. But they are to be faithfully reminded that the right discharge of them involves and requires the exercise of the right principle; and to be urged by this, and every other consideration fitted to excite a salutary alarm, to turn unto God. Such is the use *-e would make of the sentiment before us. Is it not an affecting thought to you, fellow-sinners, that while you continue impenitent and unbelieving, all your duties together-those even on the strict performance of which you may be most pluming yourselves-your very prayers-are "an abomination" to God! He invites you to come to Him, but not to come continuing in your evil ways. That is not coming to God; for coming to God is forsaking evil. To come to God, and to cleave to sin, is a contradiction in terms. The sinner who comes to God comes in prayer; and the sinner who comes in prayer must come in faith and in the renunciation of self and sin, to serve God thenceforward "in newness of life," with "his body and with his spirit which are God's."
Verse Pro_15:10. "Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die."
The word rendered correction is, on the margin, translated instruction; but the principle and spirit of the statement remain the same. Retaining the former translation there are two interpretations given of it.
1. The word "is" being supplementary, the rendering may be-"Severe correction to him that forsaketh the way;" that is, shall be to him that forsaketh the way. This again is capable of two meanings. It may either, on the principle of parallelism, be understood as of similar import with the second clause of the verse, and explained of the punishment of the impenitently wicked: or it may be understood in reference to present suffering or chastisement, as a means of bringing back from error to a right course. Then the second clause will mean, that if any who has appeared, walking in the right way, and has, through temptation, gone astray from it, shall, notwithstanding correction, persist in hating reproof and spurning the admonitions of Heaven, he shall die, and his blood shall be upon his own head. God has said-"The just shall live by faith;" but "if he draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
2. Understanding the word "grievous" in a sense quite familiar to our ear, the verse has been rendered-" Correction is irksome to him that forsaketh the way." The child that loves instruction, and is really attached to the ways of God, may err, and need correction. But to such a child it will not be irksome or "grievous." It will melt, and shame, and humble, and restore him. But if a child has submitted to instruction and to the ways of virtue by constraint rather than from principle and with a willing mind,-when for a time he has "run well," but has tired of the right course, and wilfully forsaken it, for ways of his own, more congenial with the real likings of his heart,-to that child correction will be irksome; it will fret and provoke, instead of reclaiming him; will render him sullen, stubborn, and passionate, instead of bringing him in tears of penitence and submission to the feet of the parent whose counsel he has for the time been disregarding. It will have such effects, just in proportion as conscience tells him he is in the wrong, while yet his heart continues to hate the right;--his inclinations resisting conscience, and cleaving to sin and the world.
And what has place in the family of a pious earthly parent has place among the professed children of God. In the heart of a true spiritual child, the heavy but kind corrective visitations of his heavenly Father will produce contrition, and all the meltings of penitential sorrow; and they will lay him prostrate before the footstool of the divine throne, with the humble prayer-" Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit," Psa_51:9-12.
But in him whose "heart departeth from the Lord," having never in the fulness of sincerity and truth, been given to Him, the effect will be very different. They will irritate and gall his spirit; drawing out the evil that is in the heart more and more, and occasioning the further and further spurning of the divine yoke,-the yoke of God's authority. The consequence of any one's "hating reproof"-and spurning the correction that is designed and fitted for his restoration, is death:-"he shall die." He shall suffer his due punishment, in that "second death" which is "the wages of sin."*
* See Pro_1:30-31; Pro_10:17.
In connexion with such truths as we have been considering from these verses, it is of importance for us ever to remember, that there is no imposing upon God by outward professions and appearances. Such is the lesson of the eleventh verse:-" Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more then the hearts of the children of men?"
Sheol, the word here rendered "hell," may sometimes, as well as its corresponding term Hades in Greek, signify the place of woe. Its general signification, however, is the unseen world-the state of the dead. The secrets of that invisible state, and especially of the prison-house of despair itself, are all "before the Lord," though hidden from the eye of man.
The original word for "destruction" here is Abaddon. The' designation is given to the wicked one, as the destroyer.* "The verse may denote," says Mr. Scott, "that the deepest machinations of the prince of hell. and of all his legions of fallen angels, are open to the Lord's inspection, and must end in their disappointment and deeper torment:-how, then, can man, who is so inferior in sagacity and subtlety, expect to hide his counsels from God, or to prosper in rebellion against him?"
* See Rev_9:11.
Verse Pro_15:12. "A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him; neither will he go unto the wise."
The "scorner," the despiser of God and divine things, cannot bear reproof; winces, with rising resentment, at every thing that touches and wakes his conscience; dislikes his faithful monitor-receiving him with sullen coldness, with disdainful smile, or with abusive contumely,-spurning his salutary advice, and possibly traducing and calumniating his character. He "will not go to the wise"-the truly wise who "fear God"-either through proud contempt, or the consciousness of being wrong, and inability to bear having the wrong exposed and condemned.* Alas! that this principle should be in our fallen nature so strong and inveterate!
Careless sinners, your aversion to the word of God, which you secretly feel to be living, powerful, penetrating; your dislike of sermons that are too searching, that come too close to the conscience, that lay open the secrets of the heart, that press upon you the spirituality and damnatory character of the divine law; and your disposition to pick faults, wherever you can find them, in the characters of the godly, because you are sensible that their example condemns you-are all traceable to this principle. O beware of it. It will ruin you. It will be death to you in the end. Listen to conscience. Listen to God. He speaks to you here-in the Bible. You may try to throw it aside, and to parry for the time its piercing thrusts. But in your conscience you know and feel that it is divine. O comply with its invitations, that you may escape the execution of its fearful threatenings. "BELIEVE AND LIVE."
