"A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it; whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love: but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord."
Two views may be taken of the first of these verses. It may refer to the person who receives the gift, or to the person who has it to bestow.
1. In the former view of the words, they may be explained in this way:-A gift is a mark of regard, of approbation, of confidence, of honour. It gives the recipient of it credit and consequence. It thus contributes to obtain for him further favour. Wherever it comes to be known, it operates for his benefit. A modest man will not be disposed to puff it off;-but in proportion as he rather conceals it, or says nothing of it, the more effectually does it tell in his behalf when it is known. And this will be still more the case, if the gift has been bestowed by a person of eminence,-high in station, or high in character and in public esteem. The man also of a different disposition,-the artful, insinuating, self-sufficient man-may, in a variety of ways, turn a gift to good account,-so that it shall tell for his advantage. He knows where the character and the influence of the giver are highest; and there he makes the most of it. "Whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth."
2. Viewed in the other light, (which is the more likely sense of the words) as referring to the person who confers the gift, or has it to bestow,-we may notice first, that the reference may be to the man who is known to have something to bestow which all covet. In this case, every one desires his favour, strives to oblige him, tries every means of insinuation into his good graces. A man who has any skill in maneuvering may, in this way, render what he has to confer a capital instrument for pushing forward his own prosperity; keeping all in expectation,-cherishing hope,-making his desired and coveted gift look first one way, then another, then a third; perhaps partially bestowing, and still reserving enough to hold expectants hanging on, so as to have them available for his own ends. Secondly:-On the part of those who have gifts to bestow, uses may be made of them that are honourable and prudent,-quite consistent, not with mere self-interest, but with right principle. They may be employed to avert threatened evil, and for the more sure attainment of desired good. Such was Jacob's gift to his brother Esau; when, in setting it apart, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward will I see his face." Such was the gift of the same patriarch, at a later period, to "the man the lord of the country," when he sent his sons the second time to Joseph in Egypt.-Thirdly:-The verse is generally, and probably with justice, understood of gifts that have the character and the object of bribes, the idea being that "a gift" is as tempting, as irresistible as a precious jewel;-that the man who has it and is disposed to give it, can seldom be at a loss to find another equally willing to receive it;-that such is its power that it "prevails over all men, dispatches all business, carries all causes, and effects whatever a man desires." (Bp. Patrick.) Alas! for human nature, if this account of it be true. And, although there are not a few honourable exceptions from the inculpation,-yet wonderful it is to what an extent a gift, sufficiently tempting, and artfully managed, may be made to accomplish all that is thus ascribed to it; how many evasions and plausibilities men discover to satisfy their consciences, or rather to hoodwink and blind them, in accepting what no consideration can reconcile with common honesty. To what a fearful extent have these observations been verified in the system of parliamentary electioneering, and in all the varieties of public jobbing!-no matter whether by whig or tory. It is no business of mine to balance accounts between them. In either the one or the other, the practice is equally odious, and ought to be branded with public execration.*
* "A bribe, if accepted, will influence in many ways, even without a consciousness of its power, on the part of the receiver. Turn he which way he will, the influence of it will follow him." So Stuart, but the language seems hardly susceptible of such an interpretation, however true the sentiment.
Verse Pro_17:9 "He that covereth a transgression seeketh love: but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends." We have, in this verse, a new aspect of a sentiment formerly under notice.* The verse before us may be applied to offences committed against ourselves, or to those committed against others.
* Pro_10:12; Pro_16:28.
As to the former:-we should be slow to take offence. We should throw the veil of concealment, in the spirit of the love which the verse before us inculcates, over everything that can be passed by without violating the precept of "not suffering sin upon our brother."-Then, further, when, in consequence of our dealing, the wrong has been confessed, and forgiveness for it extended, it must be buried; there must be no "repeating" of it to others,-no recalling of it to mind and to notice on future occasions. This is extremely hurting to the feelings of the offender, when he has confessed and been forgiven; and is the sure way to renew the breach, and to make it wider and more hopeless than ever. If we are to confirm attachment and give permanence to reconciliation, we must be silent as the grave as to the past.
With regard to trespasses against others:-there are many little things which we may come to know of, as having been said or done by one friend respecting another,-said or done, perhaps, without any evil intention whatever,-yet of such a nature, that, if told to the person, are fitted to produce in his mind an unpleasant impression. The very repetition of them invests them with an importance that does not belong to them. It makes him to whom they are reported, think much more of them than he would have done, had he heard or seen them himself. These, then, charity and discretion alike demand that we hide in our bosoms.
Then with regard to cases of serious importance, observe-
First:-If we alone are privy to the fact, our first business is with the offender; just as much as if the trespass had been one against ourselves. We should represent his conduct to him in love-the inconsistency of it with the claims of friendship-and try to bring him to a sense of his error. If we succeed in effecting this, let not the friend against whom the evil has been said or done, but who is in entire ignorance of it, be ever informed of the matter at all. Let it be as though it had not been; except as to the offender's disabusing the minds of others on whom he may have made a similar impression.
Secondly:-If it be a case in which the aggrieved party must be informed; the information must be imparted with a faithfully, and carefully minute adherence to truth; without exaggeration; without irritating representations; in the evident spirit of sincere regret and love. When we succeed in making up the breach,-which, in every case, ought to be our great end,-then the same rule as before must be followed; we must never "repeat" the matter,-either to the one or to the other of the parties, or to any neutral persons. That might only tear open the recent wounds, make them bleed afresh, and perhaps fester into incurable sores.
Thirdly:-Let another lesson be remembered, which we are exceedingly apt to forget; namely, that all unnecessary repetition even of real faults comes under the category of scandal, and is sinful and mischievous. You may fancy you are within the limit of blameworthiness, when you are telling no more than what is true:-but, if you are telling even truth needlessly, for no good and laudable end, you are chargeable with the offence. Some people have a strange delight in repeating grievances. They are ever coming out with-"What do you think such a person did?" and, "What do you think such another person said?" They gather up every idle rumour-catching it from the passing wind;-giving to every evil report an additional pair of wings. Sometimes they pretend to be very confidential. What they have heard they tell to you alone,-" and remember," say they, (putting their finger significantly on their lips,) "it is a profound secret." Generally, however, such persons will be found selecting for their confidants those whom they well know to be incapable of keeping a secret to themselves. And thus it finds its way at last to the quarter where the mischief was intended: the schemer of it, all the while, wearing the mask of friendship-all kindness, all regret, all sympathy.
O these "tattlers and busy-bodies, speaking things which they ought not!"-they are the very pests and vermin of social life,-as despicable as they are annoying and noxious.
Verse Pro_17:10. "A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool."
The "wise man" understands aright his own interest. The knowledge of truth and of duty is the object of his sincere and earnest desire. He is thankful to be freed from his own errors, instead of being doggedly tenacious of them, when he can obtain truth instead; and readily relinquishes whatever practices he has been accustomed to follow, when made to discern their inconsistency with the claims either of God or man. The "fool" clings pertinaciously to whatever is his own-his own thoughts, his own projects, his own ways,-simply because they are his own. He possesses neither a genuine love of truth, nor a candid and humble solicitude to know and to do what is right.
Now "a reproof," or even the simple intimation of his fault unaccompanied by any direct rebuke,-a mere look of disapprobation-"entereth more" into the former "than an hundred stripes" into the latter. It affects him, that is, more deeply, with conviction, compunction, shame and sorrow; and produces more of practical effect in the way of "confessing and forsaking."* Even taking wisdom in its lower sense, as relating to a man's discreet understanding of his temporal advantage, he who possesses it will keep his ear and mind open to intimations of error and danger, even though conveyed in the form of sharp reflection on his own prudence, rather than ruin himself by a headstrong and selfwilled opinionativeness.
* Comp. Pro_9:7-9.
The spirit of the verse may be applied to the influence of the word of God and the providence of God. A simple notification of evil, coming from the word of God, will "enter more into the wise man," who "trembleth at that word," than a hundred of the sharpest strokes of His providential rod will into the ungodly and the froward. The latter, indeed, without divine grace accompanying the strokes, will be provoked by them, rather than subdued. And even amongst the children of God themselves, there are great diversities of temper; some requiring harder dealing than others to bring them down, and to reclaim them from their follies: as is the case often with children in the same family. A word, or a look, will go with melting and heart-breaking power to the very soul of one; while the severest correction, and oft-repeated, will fail to bring down the stubborn and fractious spirit of another. O for more of the spirit of Job, and less of the spirit of Jonah!-for more of that truly child-like disposition, which gives way before every divine admonition, which melts into penitence under the eye of an offended God, and looks up with a child's submission at the slightest touch of his corrective rod!
Verse Pro_17:11. "An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him."
This rendering accords with that of the Septuagint. By others it is inverted:-"A rebellious man seeketh only evil or mischief:"-and others still understand the verse as meaning-"A seditious man shall surely fall into mischief." In the general effect, different renderings bring out much the same sentiment. The character appears to be one which, in the experience of Solomon, as well as of other princes, had often occasioned great trouble;-that namely, of an unprincipled, discontented, intractable, indomitable spirit-ever seeking to disturb the public peace, to stir up and foment broils and insurrectionary tumults; whose element is strife; who loves it for its own sake; and who seeks by it, not the ultimate attainment of the public good, but the adoption of some empirical nostrum of his own political quackery;-who is reckless of consequences, regardless of the sufferings of all who stand in his way. "A cruel messenger shall be sent unto him." This seems to mean, the inexorable executioner of the sentence of the law. Such is generally the end of the turbulent man of mischief and wrong. He brings upon himself the punishment required for the protection of the lives and property, the liberty and well-being of others, of the community at large.
O my friends, let the reproofs of God's word, and the corrections of God's providence, be attended to and obeyed now; for "who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath prospered?" "A cruel messenger" shall be at last sent unto him. Death shall be such a one to you-"ye that forget God," and love evil;-for death will summon you to the bar of the Eternal. O take warning. "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."God now sends a merciful messenger, to testify to you the riches and freeness of his grace, and his willingness to save. He speaks to you by his own Son, and prays you to be reconciled to himself. If this gracious Messenger be rejected, he shall be succeeded by a messenger of vengeance that shall shut you up in the prisonhouse of everlasting darkness and despair. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"
Verse Pro_17:12. "Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly."
A strong expression!-but, when the subject of it is rightly understood, not a whit too strong. The reference is, not to the mere teasing and vexatious talk of the loquacious, emptyheaded, and self-conceited pedant or coxcomb. In that there is more of the troublesome and annoying than of the dangerous. But the comparison before us expresses, and is designed to express, real danger. And the danger intended does not seem to be the murderous rage of the infuriated fool or wicked man,-when stung by resentment, and, under the impetuous power of his headstrong passions, ready for all mischief:-although I would not say that this idea is to be excluded; for "a bear robbed of her whelps" is no unapt comparison for an unprincipled man in a passion. But in harmony with the frequent warnings of this Book, the reference is most probably to the spiritual danger arising from the society of foolish and wicked men. The bear, in all the fury of its disappointment and privation, can do no more than kill and lacerate and tear in pieces the body. The "fool." if he succeed in his unprincipled attempts, especially on unsuspicious and simple-hearted youth, will murder the soul-seducing it from virtue and from God, and consigning it to the death that never dies. A "bear robbed of her whelps" seems anything but an appropriate emblem of him, in regard to temper and kindly pretensions. But this only augments the danger. The very smoothness and flattery of his manners is the peril.
O my young hearers, beware of "the fool in his folly"-of the unprincipled libertinism of the licentious, with all their fascinating temptations! Would you flee from the rage of an infuriated wild beast-from the paw and jaws of the lion and the bear?-flee with still greater terror from the company of the wicked.
Verse Pro_17:13. "Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house." On this subject the Bible takes high ground. Good for evil is the Bible law from first to last.* It has been said very truly-"To render evil for good, is devil-like; to render evil for evil, is man-like; to render good for evil, is godlike." The ungrateful forgetfulness of favours, is bad; but the requital of good with evil is the very utmost stretch of depravity. Yet alas! even this is far from being a rarity. Selfishness is the besetting sin of our fallen nature. It reigns paramount. It sets aside the claims of both God and man. Selfish men receive the good bestowed upon them, merely for its own sake. They have no consideration for the giver, further than as conveying the benefit to them. They feel no attachment on account of the principle by which the bestowment of it has been prompted,-though to a generous spirit that is a gift's chief value. They snatch the good, and, in the enjoyment of it, never think more of the hand from which it came. What is that to them? Their own interest is promoted:-and, should the interest of the kind friend from whose bounty it has come ever stand in the way of theirs, they laugh at the thought of obligation, and sacrifice it without a scruple. Every man for himself, is their base and sordid maxim.-O shun selfishness. Cultivate the generous and forgiving spirit of the Bible. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
All persecution of good men, in return for the affectionate zeal with which they set themselves to promote the best interests of others,-their spiritual and eternal good,-comes fully under the condemnation of this verse. That is indeed "rewarding evil for good." How writes the poet of Whitefield?-and what is true of him is but a portraiture of every genuine servant of God:-
"He loved the world that hated him: the tear
That dropp'd upon his bible, was sincere.
Assail'd by scandal and the tongue of strife,
His only answer was-a blameless life;
And he that forged and he that threw the dart
Had each a brother's interest in his heart."
And when this fraternal interest,-animating to self-denying earnestness of effort to impart the very best of blessings, is requited with reviling, and persecuting, and casting out the name as evil-what a melancholy manifestation of the tendencies of our fallen nature to render evil for good!-and how awfully was this displayed in the person of the blessed Redeemer himself! All that he did and suffered was for men; yet men, instead of requiting him with grateful love, "pierced and nailed him to the tree."
The temper of mind, and the conduct proceeding from it, that are here condemned, are very displeasing to God. They are contrary to His nature, contrary to His example, contrary to His commands. Many a time in retributive righteousness has God testified to this; and how often-as in the case of Saul for his persecution of David, which was from first to last a "rendering of evil for good"-has the closing denunciation been realized-"Evil shall not depart from his house."
Verse Pro_17:14. "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with."
"When in the embankment of a canal, a river, or a reservoir of water, a very slight fissure is made,-the water at the first only oozes through, and comes by drops; but by degrees the opening widens; the mound is gradually sapped and weakened; and. at length it gives way, and the bursting inundation sweeps everything before it. So, from what trivial beginnings have discords the most extensive, distressing, and ruinous, often originated!-Thus we find it among children:-and in this respect, as in some others, "Men are but children of a larger growth." A single word, the motion of a finger, the glance of an eye, happens to be noticed; and being interpreted as conveying a certain meaning, is resented;-the measure of the retaliation is of course excessive, and it provokes a return; the quarrel rises; the breach is widened; irreconcileable alienation ensues; and the alienation of the individuals spreads to families, to circles of friends, to neighbourhoods, to communities!
In Scripture, an evil is sometimes condemned and reprobated in itself; and at other times, on account of its consequences. The latter is the case here. "Strife" is in itself an evil, and as such to be shunned. But it is the more to be shunned, that its tendencies and effects are as here described. "Leave it off before it be meddled with," is a strong way of conveying the admonition to have nothing at all to do with it. Rather let the offence pass than risk the consequences. "When the fissure in the embankment appears, let the first drop of oozing water be the signal to stop the leak, and prevent the threatening flood.
And nowhere is the maxim or the counsel more appropriately or more strongly applicable, than in the churches of Christ. The contention of two individuals may soon embroil a whole church. Let each feel the duty, then, of selfcontrol. If one word has passed their lips, let them beware of a second; for a second will lead to a third, and a third still more certainly to a fourth. He who is able to return bitter with sweet, will be most approved by the divine Master. Look at the consequences; and "leave it off before it be meddled with." And where the fissure of passion has unhappily, to any degree, widened, let all unite in throwing in the materials of love, and stopping up the gap.
There is one kind of strife, which of all possible descriptions, it is wisdom to "leave off before it be meddled with,"-with which indeed there can be no greater infatuation than to meddle at all:-it is the strife of sinners with their God. Sinner! God has a controversy with you. It will be well for you to submit in time,-to submit in humble selfcondemnation. Persist not in a strife so unequal and so hopeless. If you spurn at your sentence, and return the holy frown of an offended God with the proud look of sullen rebellion,-you are widening the breach; you are "provoking the Lord to anger." That anger is in the meanwhile suspended; but in the end it will infallibly burst forth, like an overwhelming flood, and sweep all his enemies away. "Behold," He says, "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place," Isa_28:16-17.
Verse Pro_17:15. "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord."-To "justify the wicked"-is to take part with him, in opposition to evidence,-and, though the evidence condemns, to make the sentence one of acquittal. To "condemn the just" is, of course, the counterpart of the same crime; pronouncing sentence, contrary to, or unsustained by evidence, against the innocent. There may be various motives, by which individuals are tempted to this crime:-the fear of evil from the power and influence of the wicked man, or the hope of benefit from his favour; self-interest, in one or other of its various forms:-and in the other case, spite and envy; malicious dislike of principles or of conduct by which their own are condemned; revenge of fancied injury; considerations of expediency; and others of a similar kind. How fearfully was the motive of expediency exemplified in the case of perfect innocence and righteousness, in the person of the Son of God!*
* Joh_11:47-50.
No consideration can ever, in any case, warrant the act.*1 The judgment of God is denounced against all who are guilty of it.*2
*1 See Exo_23:7; Deu_25:1. rr
*2 Isa_5:23; Eze_22:27-29; Amo_5:12.
And yet, manifest and universally admitted as is the evil here declared to be "an abomination to the Lord" there are those who would have the Lord himself to set the example of it. Men are sinners. They have broken God's law. That law has condemned them. This of course is the same thing with their being condemned by the Lawgiver-by God himself. If they are condemned justly,-that is, if they have sinned and are wicked, he never can justify them in the sense in which the word is used in this verse. That would be to contradict himself,-to condemn and acquit,-declare guilty and declare innocent-at the same time. It would be to take part with sin. It would be to give false judgment, and to do that himself, which He pronounces "abomination" in his creatures. This God cannot do, any more than He can pass sentence of perdition on an innocent angel,-or than He would have inflicted death on man while he continued to "hold fast his integrity"-continued without sin. God could not condemn man in innocence; neither can He acquit man in his guilt. In the one case, He would "condemn the righteous;" in the other, He would "justify the wicked."
And yet God does justify-and justify the ungodly. It is the very purpose of the gospel to provide for this being done in a way consistent with truth, and with all the claims of righteousness and law. How is it done? The answer is-that sinners are condemned on their own account, but justified on account of the merits and mediation of another-even of Him whom Jehovah has appointed as the atoning and interceding Redeemer. In so justifying the ungodly, the divine righteousness stands as unimpeachably clear as the divine mercy; "mercy and truth meeting together, righteousness and peace embracing each other."
Let two closing reflections suffice.
1. As in the administration of justice,-in the world or in the church,-so in the official declaration of doctrine and of duty,-faithfulness is the first and most essential qualification. No "gift," no bribe, no love of gain,-or, in the apostle's phrase, "greed of filthy lucre," must ever be allowed to corrupt "the man of God," and tempt him either to pervert or to keep back the truth,-to "shun to declare" any part of "the counsel of God," or to utter a single sentiment but what he believes to be a lesson of God's word,-a divinely authorised message. For a minister of Christ either to say what is false or to withhold what is true, from a wish to please those on whom he may feel himself dependent, is as unworthy of him as for a judge on the civil bench to pervert justice; and may be to others unspeakably more mischievous. The decisions of the latter can affect only what is temporary; the effects of the former's unfaithful temporizing may extend to eternity. The guilt of the former, therefore, may be greater than that of the latter, in the proportion of the value of the soul to the body, of eternity to time. There must be no bribery and corruption here. O to be able to say with Paul-"I AM CLEAR FROM THE BLOOD OF ALL MEN!"
2. How vast the benefit, were the precepts of Christ, especially on the subject of offences, regarded and followed out with a more conscientious and practical strictness! And on this particular subject, O never fancy yourselves at liberty, in any one case, to dispense with any one of His directions. I speak the experience of thirty-eight years of pastoral superintendence, when I say, that in no single instance has departure from the prescribed course failed of producing the most pernicious results. The rules of Christ are the rules of Him who "knoweth what is in man." And an incalculable amount of the discord and trouble, which are ever and anon occurring in the churches, would be prevented, were His people only to follow with scrupulous exactness the prescriptions of those rules.
