"Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth. The foolishness of man perverteth his way; and his heart fretteth against the Lord."
The fool, being here opposed, not only to him "that walketh in his integrity," but to "the poor" that so walketh,-is evidently intended to be regarded as occupying a superior station-as wealthy. The sentiment, then, is, that the pious and upright poor man "is better" than the perverse and foolish rich Man_1:1. He "is better"-as a man. He is so, because more truly estimable and honourable. It should be a settled maxim-and with all that are wise it is-that character is the true dignity of man, and the want of it his true* disgrace. He is to be estimated, not by what he has, but by what he is. That which is merely extraneous is not the man. Moral and spiritual excellence dignifies human nature, and ennobles the possessor of it, with whatever external condition it be found in union. An enlightened mind and a renewed heart are the true glory of our nature-"the best style of man:"-and the poorest, with these, is "better," in real respectability and solid worth, than the richest without them.
He "is better," also as a man, because more truly happy. He carries the constituent elements of happiness within him. They are, as it were, a part of himself. They cannot, therefore, be alienated. They are like the "treasures in heaven," which "no thieves can break through to steal." They lie in the heart, and no "stranger" can "intermeddle" with them. His inward peace and satisfaction, incomparably surpass, both as to intrinsic value and abiding security, all that wealth and rank and worldly honour can ever yield.
2. He is better-as a member of society. He is more useful, and therefore more valuable. The "perverse" and "foolish" exert an influence most pernicious and lamentable. The tendency of their example is to corruption and degradation; and thus to all that is fitted to prevent, instead of promoting true happiness. And the higher his station, and the more commanding his wealth, the contagion of his character becomes only the more diffusive and the more virulent. "Better"-far better, in this respect, "is the poor that walketh in his integrity"-diffusing around him, in the sphere in which his lot is cast, an antiseptic virtue, counteracting evil and promoting good. And, as the stability, prosperity, and happiness of a nation depend so much on the character of the working classes,-who form, as it were, the extended base of the social pyramid,-he is the best patriot who most effectually advances the knowledge, the religion, and the virtue of these classes;-who most effectually contributes to multiply the number of those who, in the lower departments of life, "walk in their integrity." The "perverse lips" and the perverse life of the unprincipled fool do incomparably more harm to society, than his wealth can ever do it good. An augmentation of wealth is not always, either to individuals or to nations, an augmentation of happiness. Too often has it proved the very reverse-the sapping and undermining of the individual's and the nation's well-being,-instability and downfall having many a time dated their commencement, and graduated their progress, from the entrance and accumulation of unwonted wealth and luxury.
Ye upright and godly poor, "hold fast your integrity!"-O let nothing prevail with you to forfeit your inward peace! Stoop not to the use of any means to better your situation, by which you would be deprived of this. How great soever your success, your loss would be far greater than your gain. Poverty is no disparagement; dishonesty is. Cost, then, what it may, keep your character; keep your honour; keep your conscience; keep your assurance of God's love; keep your hope of God's glory. "Cast not away," for any earthly consideration, "your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."
Verse Pro_19:2. "Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth."-The connexion of the two clauses of this verse has led critics to attach different senses to the word knowledge in the former, and has given rise to various translations, to convey what each has conceived to be the sense:-"It is not good for the soul to be without caution; for he that hasteth with his feet sinneth:"-"Quickness of action, without prudence of spirit, is not good; for he that hasteth with his feet sinneth:"-"Fervent zeal, without prudence, is not good; for he that hasteth with his feet sinneth:"-"Ignorance of one's-self is not good; and he that is hasty of foot sinneth."-These various free renderings (for such they are) express, respectively, correct sentiments,-truths, and truths of practical value. But there does not appear the least necessity for any alteration of the received version. It is quite sufficiently confirmed by experience, that the tendency, not of self-ignorance alone, but of ignorance in general, is to produce that "hastiness of foot"-that imprudent precipitation,-which the latter part of the verse associates with the commission of sin, as being its natural and frequent cause. The haste of ignorance or superficial knowledge, has marred many an experiment in science-deprived the world of its possibly valuable results; and has prompted to conduct which has laid up for the agent the bitterness of regret, the sighs of penitential sorrow.
Considered as a general maxim, the former clause of the verse is a very important one.-A "soul" is a rational and intelligent spirit:-and what is such a spirit "without knowledge?" It seems as if there were, in the supposed case, the absence of an essential property. It is reason, with nothing on which, and nothing by which reason can work;-intellect, without what intellect is given to acquire;-powers, without instruments;-faculties, without means of putting them to profitable account;-mind, in destitution of that without which it might as well be matter. "Knowledge" is the soul's very element,-in which alone it can "live and have its being."
When man came, in his purity, from the creative hand of his Maker, his soul was put in possession directly of "knowledge." This was the great good of his soul. It was capable of enjoying, and did enjoy-clearly and amply, we have every reason to believe, the best of all knowledge-the knowledge of God himself,-that wonderful Being from whom he had received his sensitive and his rational existence,-the infinite concentration of all greatness and all goodness, of all purity and of all love; and the knowledge of the works of God, as brought under his immediate or more remote cognizance; and of the character of God as manifested in them, to his observant and delighted mind;-those works on which, when they were finished, with man as their rational superintendent, and as God's high-priest amongst them, to present to Him, on their behalf, the incense of their praise,-the eye of the Maker looked, and pronounced them all "very good."
There was introduced by sin a description of knowledge which it had been for the soul's good to have continued without-the experimental knowledge of evil. This was what man obtained by listening to the temptation which held out to him the deceitful promise of such an augmentation of knowledge as would place him, in a manner, on a parity with the Most High. Such was the temptation presented by the artful seducer. It was not,-as some malignant minds have alleged, and some weak minds have inconsiderately believed,-the fruit, but the promised results of the eating of it: "Ye shall be As God, knowing good and evil." The temptation was thus no little, trivial, contemptible one, but one of the highest apparent excellence and worth. Man, however, was, by the experiment, a fearful loser. His moral dispositions became perverted and opposed to God,-and, in the things of God, his understanding became, by this very means, obscured. "He did not like to retain God in his knowledge," and the knowledge of God was lost. This was emphatically "not good." And from that day to this, in every age and in every clime, has the truth of the words before us been sadly experienced.
There is now a "knowledge of God"-in the same character as before the fall. but manifested in a relation and in works more appropriate to man's fallen condition,-to which, with peculiar emphasis, the language must apply-the knowledge of God in the great work of redemption. This is the knowledge which it is the main design of revelation to impart. And what says He respecting it, who is himself the Word and Wisdom of God?-"This is LIFE ETERNAL, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."* O! can it, then, be "good" that the soul be without this knowledge? Let men of science say what they will, we must claim for it the very first place. Graduate, as you will, the scale of the comparative value of all other descriptions of knowledge, we demand the highest point for this. Though a human soul were able to embrace, and did embrace, the entire circle of knowledge comprehended in all its other departments,-yet, without this knowledge and its appropriate influence, it would have no more than the character of Satan, as expressed by a poet of our own, shortly but well-"Intellect without God."
* Joh_17:3.
Yet even to general knowledge may the words before us be applied. It is good;-and "that the soul be without it is not good." It gives better occupation to time; and, in various ways, contributes to fit its possessor for usefulness, preventing, both as to ourselves and others, that "hasting with the feet" which leads to sin. But still, even to render general knowledge truly available for a man's usefulness, in the highest sense and degree, it must be associated with the knowledge of God. To that it must all be subordinated,-and by that it must be hallowed. General knowledge must be principled by divine knowledge, and by it directed in its application. Without right principle to guide the use of it, it may be (and in many instances, without question, it has been) only the means of enabling a man to be the cleverer villain,-endowing him with powers of evil,-with resources and arts of fraud and mischief. And, although I am very far from saying or thinking that, even without religion, thus is always the effect of such knowledge,-yet it is a consideration which should put Christians on the alert, that, while means so various are in requisition for the diffusion of science and literature, there be efforts made to maintain a corresponding diffusion of valuable religious instruction; that so, as far as lies in them, the imparting of the power may be accompanied with the imparting of the principle that shall insure the right and beneficial use of it.
Verse Pro_19:3. "The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord."-We have, in Scripture, many exemplifications of the state of mind which this verse describes. How frequently does it appear in the history of the dealings of Jehovah with Israel! To themselves-to their own folly and sin,-they owed all their judicial sufferings; yet how incessantly do they "fret against the Lord," and throw the blame of them on Him!-saying in their impatient petulance, "The way of the Lord is not equal?" Even when, in serving idols, they were indebted to the patient and long-suffering forbearance of God for the good they continued to enjoy, they ungratefully, and in the spirit of fretful murmuring, impute this good to the false gods they were criminally worshipping! And at a later day-when, in consequence of their rejecting the Messiah, the judgments of God began to come down upon them,-how did they, to the very last, instead of humbly "accepting the punishment of their sins," persist in "fretting against the Lord!" *1-In Ahab, when he was reproved for letting Benhadad escape;*2 in Asa when he was wroth with the faithful seer who reproved him in the Lord's name;*3 and in Jehoshaphat, in his treatment of Micaiah the son of Imla*4-we have, as in many more, individual exemplifications of the spirit.
*1 See 1Th_2:15-16. rr
*2 1Ki_20:42-43. rr
*3 2Ch_16:9-10. rr
*4 2Ch_18:25-26. with Pro_19:7. rr
We shall endeavour to apply the principle of the verse to a few of its various manifestations, both in regard to temporal, and in regard to spiritual things.
In the former, the error reprehended is exceedingly common. We meet with it every day:-and alas! our own hearts are all sadly prone to it.
A man, for example, undertakes a business for which he is in no way qualified either by nature or by education, by talent, temper, or habit:-or he conducts the business which he has undertaken, with inconsiderate carelessness and indolent negligence:-or he adopts hasty and rash steps, on the suggestion of some fool like himself, or on the sudden and sanguine thought of the moment-it strikes him, it takes his fancy, and it is done:-or he deliberately enters into speculations that are at best doubtful, problematical and perilous, depending on many chances, and ruinous if unsuccessful:-he goes perhaps still further aside by the adoption and prosecution of measures that are in their nature unprincipled and wrong; or by following out projects, in themselves sufficiently clear of objection, by means that cannot be justified. In these, and other descriptions of conduct, "the foolishness of a man perverteth his way." His schemes and pursuits fail; and disappointments and losses, difficulties, privations, and distresses, necessarily follow.
In these circumstances, the man's heart too often "fretteth against the Lord." His lips may or may not give utterance to his fretfulness:-no matter, the sin is the same. The evil lies in the heart; and there the "Searcher of hearts" sees it. But the fretfulness is sadly misplaced. The blame lies with himself; and to "fret against the Lord" is at once unreasonable and impious.
I believe that both Satan on the one hand, and Providence on the other, get a great deal of blame that does not belong to them: Satan, in regard to men's conduct, and Providence in regard to their circumstances. We are fond of shifting the blame off ourselves. "The serpent beguiled me, and I did cat," was the first apology for sin. And with far less reason has the apology been often made since. Satan, even with all his hosts, cannot be the author of all the evil men do;-and I fear he gets the blame many a time that should lie with men's own corrupt hearts. They "pervert their way," and they accuse Satan:-they fail and suffer, and they accuse God. The depravity of our nature renders us much more prone to impute the evil that befalls us to Providence than to trace to the same source the good which we acquire. With regard to the latter, we are ever disposed, in the pride of our self-sufficiency, to say-"By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent."-But the very same principle makes us very averse to ascribe the former to ourselves. We fondly look for causes that will save our own credit, and throw the reflection upon anything rather than upon our own folly or our own sin. As Providence does superintend and control everything, nothing can be more convenient, as an off-get from any imputation against ourselves. The foolish heart of the unsuccessful man finds it so: he "fretteth against the Lord." All fretting is fretting against the Lord,-for the reason just assigned, that the providence of the Lord does exercise an universal control over events. Men may not in so many words direct their complaint against the Lord. They may foolishly talk of their bad fortune; they may curse their ill luck. But these are only other modes of "fretting against" Him. They are only the more foolish, that terms are used expressive of what has no existence. They are, in expression, atheism; but, in spirit, they are fretful murmurings against what is actually the ordering of God.
This "fretting against the Lord" is often exemplified, when a man sees others succeed in schemes which he looked upon, and perhaps with justice, as foolish and most unpromising. In such case, the more successful man frets the more. He has "perverted his way," and brought his troubles on himself; but another, whose way was in his estimation still more perverse, has succeeded; and why should not he succeed too?-But success to folly and perverseness is the exception; and nothing can bo more unreasonable, surely, than for a man to "fret against the Lord," because He has not, in his case, reversed the natural tendencies of things!
There is one case in which the tendency to "fret against the Lord," rather than to acknowledge His kindness, is strikingly apparent. It is every man's duty to "acknowledge God in all his ways." He who neglects or despises this, "perverteth his way and sinneth." He violates every dictate of gratitude, of sound reason, and of Scripture. This "perversion of his way" may be the very cause why he has not obtained the object of his desire; arid yet his heart "frets against the Lord," as the author of the evil that comes upon him, although he would not at all own Him in the pursuit of the good on which he had set his heart! There is something very shocking in this:-when a man never thinks of God, as it were, but with a curse; never thinks of Him but as bringing evil! When in the full pursuit of wealth and pleasure, "God is not in all his thoughts," to own his dependence upon Him. When he succeeds and prospers, "God is not in all his thoughts" to bless Him for his kindness. But whenever he fails; whenever misfortune crosses his path; whenever evil comes upon him-then he thinks of God; but only to "fret against" Him and accuse Him of partiality. How unjust and ungenerous this spirit!
Another of the ways in which the principle of the text is exemplified is in the pursuit of happiness. A man seeks it in various ways, but he does not find it. Still there is remaining vexation of spirit; still an aching void; still some Mordecai, on whose account all else avails him nothing; still some "dead fly" that spoils the odour of the precious ointment; still something "crooked which cannot be made straight, something wanting which cannot be numbered." He acquires wealth; but wealth does not bring him the satisfaction he anticipated from it. There is still some annoyance; something that does not go to his mind; something that galls his spirit; something which he finds riches cannot do for him. He gets learning; he gets honour; he gets fame; but it will not do. There is a want. He cannot, perhaps, tell how; but, somehow or other, he is not happy. "His heart frets" to find it so. But the truth is,-he is foolishly "perverting his way." He is taking all ways to find happiness but the right way. He is seeking it, and expecting to find it, without making God himself his Chief Good. If, instead of vainly "fretting," he would only be persuaded to come to Him, he would then find what would effectually fill the void; what would settle the disquietude; what would put a perpetual end to the discontent and the felt but unknown want. He has been "hewing out to himself broken cisterns that can hold no water," and "fretting" that he cannot get his thirst quenched. Would he but cease thus to "pervert his way," and come to "the Fountain of living water," to which he is graciously invited, he should drink and thirst no more. To everything here below which yields at the best but a temporary gratification, and leaves behind a feeling of its insufficiency, it may be said, in the language of the Saviour respecting the water of the well of Sychar-"Whoso drinketh of this water must thirst again:"-but when a man once drinks of the "fountain of living water," he shall "never thirst:" that water becomes in him "a well of water springing up into everlasting life!"
There is another way in which this principle operates-another department in which it displays itself-I mean in regard to the prohibitory laws of God, and the dictates of conscience when they are violated. "The foolishness of a man perverteth his way." He follows the world. He chooses evil rather than good. He is quite sensible he is doing wrong. Conscience remonstrates, and reproaches, and sharply stings him. He is uneasy, and sometimes when alone, very unhappy. Solitude is irksome to him; for it is then, when other voices are still, that she most effectually makes herself heard. He is disquieted and restless. He frets,-but alas! it is often "against the Lord." He is displeased with the law. Why should it be so very strict? Why not allow a little more indulgence? He is sullenly displeased, at the stinging reproofs of the inward monitor. Why cannot he do as he will, but conscience must be pricking and tormenting him? Can't it let him alone?-He frets too at the penalty annexed to sin. Why so heavy a punishment? Why such fearful threatenings-of the "undying worm" and the "unquenchable fire?" Why cannot he take his indulgence, but hell with its fiery gulfs must yawn before him? Why, in a word, are there so many things that keep him from having peace in sin?-Or, still further-Why is his nature what it is? He throws the blame on his Maker for giving him, as he alleges in the bitterness of a fretful spirit, such passions, and then damning him for the indulgence of them. He cannot believe He will. If He does, He must be a tyrant!
Vain and fool-hardy sinner!-how reckless the presumption that would throw the charge of thy sins on that "God who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all!" Be considerate and humble. Think, ere you venture to speak, on what regards existing and incontrovertible facts in the administration of the infinite God! Presume not to imagine you can sound the depths of His counsels.-If you will go on in sin, and make your fallen nature your excuse, and expose your immortal soul to the jeopardy of damnation because you cannot solve all the difficulties, and unravel all the mysteries, connected with the origin of evil and the mode of the transmission of a sinful and tainted nature, and the grounds of a fallen creature's responsibility:-there is no help for you. "Your hearts may fret against the Lord," for not having prevented the entrance of sin, and kept man in his first estate. But this is not wise. You are in "foolishness perverting your way." Your wisdom is, instead of puzzling yourselves with fruitless metaphysical perplexities about how the disease originated, and why it was permitted, humbly and thankfully to embrace the remedy which God, in love, has provided:-instead of "fretting against Him," to "come to Him that you may have life." You are acting an ungrateful, an unworthy, an infatuated part, in "fretting" at your fallen state, and refusing the means of recovery. But the plain truth is, there is guile in your very fretfulness: it is not with your fallen nature that you are dissatisfied. You are in love with it:-you have no desire to part with it; no desire to be freed from its existing propensities:-your "fretting" is, not that you are possessors of such a nature, but that you cannot get it indulged with impunity. Again:-men seek peace to their consciences by various means; and in this respect too "the foolishness of a man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord." He tries to find it in ways of his own devising:-he thinks he may make a compromise for the indulgence of some sins by abstinence from others:-he thinks he may do with a partial, if it be, as he fancies, a sincere obedience:-he imagines he may atone for his sins by penances, and pilgrimages, and charities :-by these and other means he tries it; but still he fails.-When he thinks of God and of God’s law, the peace which at times he fancies he has found will not abide the test. The foundation on which it rests will not stand scrutiny in the light of Heaven. He is still subject to misgivings and fears, and distracting forebodings, and questions that cannot be answered to the mind’s satisfaction. Peace still flees from him: the worm still gnaws-conscience still brings its charges; and there is a distressing feeling that they cannot be satisfactorily met, nor its remonstrances duly pacified. He wonders why he should not have peace. He "frets" because he cannot find it. But why should he fret? and above all why should he "fret against the Lord?" He is "perverting his way." He is not seeking peace in God’s way. There is peace for every sinner through the blood of the cross. This is the only way in which the peace can be enjoyed consistently with the mutual relations between the sinner and God;-the only way in which the sinner is duly humbled and God duly glorified, If any poor presumptuous creature’s spirit shall "fret against the Lord," because he cannot have peace and salvation in a way more flattering to human nature,-more palatable and gratifying to his pride of heart,-let him remember, that, as a sinner, his pride is unseemly and impious; that his "fretting" on such a ground is infatuation and presumption alike without a name. The pride of the sinner, who thus frets against sovereign mercy, must be his ruin; and he will have brought it upon himself. His heart must be broken down to the acceptance of a gratuitous salvation, through the blood of the cross. If he cannot bring himself to this; if he persists in spurning it-in "fretting" against it,-he must continue to try for himself, and to "fret" at the felt failure of every successive trial. The God with whom he has to do cannot alter His measures, infinitely wise and honourable to Himself, as well as kind and merciful to His creatures, to suit and to please the proud spirit of unsubdued rebellion? If you will not have life on His terms, is the infinite God to surrender the glory of his name and government, to gratify the humour of an ungrateful and haughty despiser of it?-of a perverse spirit that frets in discontent at what ought to fill it with "joy unspeakable" and gratitude such as his heart cannot contain?-O the folly of a poor sinner, "fretting against the Lord," when He offers him-just what he needs-mercy! "Refuse it!" He might well say, "fret against it!-is such a thing possible?" Alas! it is more than possible. Many, in pride of spirit, refuse to bow to mercy, and, by thus "perverting their way," sink into perdition: and thus perishing, they will through eternity have cause to "fret," not against God but against themselves!
Once more: let no sinner "fret against the Lord," because the grace that pardons sin associates inseparably with pardon, holiness of heart, and life. The scheme of mercy could not be from God, were it otherwise. There can be no "perverting of our way" more strange and fearful than that which "turns the grace of God into licentiousness," and "frets against the Lord" because, instead of saving us from our sins, He does not save us in our sins! The scheme of God is a scheme of salvation: and a salvation that comes from God must be a salvation from what exposes to hell as well as from hell itself-a salvation from Sin. No other would be His. It is perfect. It cannot be broken into parts. It must be accepted as a whole, and its blessings enjoyed in their inseparable union.
