"The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water: but a man of understanding will draw it out. Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? 'The just man walketh in his integrity; his children are blessed after him. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes. Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"
On the first of these verses it is unnecessary to dwell.* "The fear of a king," is evidently here put for that in a king, or in sovereign authority, which causes fear. Jacob is said to have sworn "by the fear of his father Isaac"-that is, by the object of his fear, and those attributes, considered as belonging to that object, from which reverence and dread arose. That in a king which subjects have reason to fear, is his power, and consequently his displeasure, when his laws are broken, or his will is thwarted,-when that power is clothed with judicial vengeance. Then, as "the roaring of a lion"-his roaring after his prey when famished with hunger,-agitates the bosom of the traveller with terror, so may the offender quake before the authority, the power, and the anger of royalty. In this our sinful world there is a necessity for government. It is the "ordinance of God;" and, like all His ordinances, for good.-The less of punitive threatening and coercion that can be made to answer the ends of salutary rule, so much the better; and the sounder the wisdom and the principle by which the system is constructed. But alas! in all communities there are ever to be found, "evil men,"-wicked, turbulent, unprincipled, rapacious characters, of whose hearts no hold can be got by measures of gentleness, who can be held in check only by fear, and by the strong arm of law. The terror of punishment requires to be held over them. I enter not into questions about its nature and degrees. I am persuaded that in no case but that of murder should death be resorted to; but we have at present nothing to do with such inquiries. All we have now to say is, that laws without punitive sanctions deserve not the name. A law that may be violated with impunity is no law.-By the "king," in such passages is to be understood the government, or supreme judicial and executive authority, whether vested in one or in more; whether it be a monarchy, an aristocracy, a democracy, or, as in our own favoured and happy country, (for favoured and happy it is, in comparison with most other nations of the earth, notwithstanding all its occasional and even heavy sufferings,) a mixture of the three. Under every government there must be /ear. Love is Jehovah's universal law; but when men have thrown off the bonds of love, and refused the subjection of their hearts and lives to it, they must be assailed by fear. And under the government of God himself, "his wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;" and-" "Who knoweth the power of his anger?" Under every human administration, the seditious and treasonable, the enemies of subordination, the selfish violators of the rights and privileges, the liberty and property of others, require to be sternly coerced. The public weal demands it. The man, therefore, who, by his conduct, brings upon himself the legal and judicial "wrath of the king"-that is, of the Government,-"sinneth against his soul;" or, rather, against his life. He may endanger and forfeit life itself-forfeit it to law, and to the general good.
* See Pro_16:14; Pro_19:12.
There is a sense, indeed, in which the word soul may be retained. The man who rebels against the government and salutary laws of his country, sins against God,--and in so doing he "sins against his soul,"-all sin, of every kind, bringing upon it guilt, and exposing it to the threatened consequences.*-If "the fear" of an earthly king is "like the roaring of a lion,"-how fearful must the fear be of the "King of kings, and Lord of lords!" One glance of the lightning of those "eyes which are as a flame of fire," will shake the soul of the conscious sinner with the very terrors of death.
* Sec Rom_13:1-5.
Verse Pro_20:3. "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling."-There may be some connexion between this verse and the preceding. If "the wrath of the king is like the roaring of a lion," then if a man's strife is with the king, it is at least safety to cease from it; and it is also "an honour."-But the words must be taken more generally. Strife is best let alone altogether-"left off before it be meddled with." But suppose, in any case, strife begun:-is it an honour still to cease from it? Solomon says it is. This is not the world's view of the matter;-not the view which human nature,-that nature, as it exists and operates, whether fully or in conflict with a better, in every one of us,-is disposed to like or to dictate. Quite the contrary. When we have started a controversy,-how trivial soever the matter in debate may be,-O how fond we naturally are to have the last word! To let our adversary have it is the keenest mortification. When it is affirmation against affirmation,-if he persists in repeating his, we persist in repeating ours. We feel as if the victory depended on who should say it last! We get impatient:-our voice rises; our face flushes; our eyes kindle; and our utterance is choked with passion:-or, on the contrary, knowing the temper of our opponent, we keep ourselves provokingly calm; and by our very calmness, cool and scornful, stir up, with secret delight, all his hasty passions,-all the fuel of his fiery spirit. If a man of the world's honour has sent a challenge, he is bound to stand to the very last upon every punctilio which the law of that honour has fixed, and to fight it out, till the honour of the last shot is determined by the fall of his adversary or himself. The man of a litigious spirit, having once instituted his process, and begun his suit, feels himself bound in honour (not the honour of high principle towards another, but a jealous and proud determination to maintain his own) to prosecute to the utmost; to go from the lowest court up to the highest, never resting short of the last appeal. No matter what the value of the litigated object may be-though a mere trifle-he must risk all that he is worth, rather than give in,-be ruined, rather than yield; because to yield, is dishonour: so his pride and folly think. How different-how opposite, the principles and maxims of the Bible!" It is an honour to a man to cease from strife." This is just saying, what, after all, must find the assent of every sound and calmly-thinking judgment,-that it is "an honour" to a man to have the command of his own passions;-that it is "an honour" to a man not to tamper selfishly and recklessly with the passions of others;-that it is "an honour" to a man to keep his ear candidly open to reason, and, when convinced, to yield to truth; that it is "an honour" to a man, not only to shun quarrels, but when,-in spite of the apostle's warning, "if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, five peaceably with all men,"-he has unhappily been unable to avoid falling into one, to look at the cause of it with fairness, to admit the equity of every equitable claim, and the reasonableness of every reasonable explanation,-and, when an opponent discovers an indomitable spirit of stubbornness, passion, and pride with which there is obviously no dealing, and which there is no hope of bringing to anything like calm and fair settlement,-instead of persisting, quietly to leave him to himself, rather than, by imitating his spirit, to make matters worse; that it is "an honour" to a man never to go unjustly or even needlessly to law with others; and, when obliged to have recourse to it, never to persist further in a process than is necessary to ascertain with clearness what the law of the case is; never either to institute a plea, or to maintain and urge it on, for pleading's sake, and in the spirit of reckless and resentful pride, but to be rather the last to begin, and the first to give up. In a word, the spirit of peace and love and concord is the Bible spirit of honour. And it is the spirit of wisdom too; for in the second clause of the verse it is added-"But every fool will be meddling." These are pithy words. They afford another exemplification of the identity of human nature in Solomon's days and in our own. How many such fools there are still!
"Meddling" means meddling with other people and other people's concerns-so as to provoke quarrel with himself,-and still further to excite and foment them between others. In the former case, they often "meddle" to their own hurt; picking quarrels, and suffering by them. Amaziah, the king of J in lull, was one of these meddling fools; and he "meddled to his hurt."*1 Abraham presents a fine example of the opposite spirit-the spirit of "meekness of wisdom."*2 How many prying and officious fools are there!-who are ever peering into matters with which they have nothing to do,-and obtruding their sage advice where it is not wanted, and provoking people to say-What business is it of yours? And then these same fools will put in their word or their finger in other people's quarrels. Even when the adversaries might, if left to themselves, "cease from strife," the "meddling" of these fools will keep it up and foment it to greater violence. They say this to one, and that to the other,-by which they stimulate the passions of both, inflame their pride and resentment, and confirm their alienation. The whole matter might have been settled but for them. O how much have such intermeddling fools to answer for! They may call themselves friends; but they are the enemies of the parties, and the enemies of mankind, and their own enemies to boot.
*1 See 2Ch_25:8-14. rr
*2 Gen_13:7-9.
Verse Pro_20:4. "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing." How very frequently has the character of the sluggard come before us! In the present occurrence of it, there are two particulars which may be noticed:-
1. How fertile sloth ever is in excuses! On all occasions it is so-proverbially so. It finds its excuses for inactivity in the very considerations that are fitted to produce exertion. Thus it is here. Cold, sharp, bracing weather is the very weather which, in seed-time, the husbandman looks for; and the very weather which renders labour the least exhausting. And yet this is the sluggard's plea for inexertion:-"the sluggard will not plow try reason of the cold." The same indolence, which finds an apology in the cold of seed-time, will readily find an apology for doing nothing, equally good, in the heat of summer. It is never, indeed, at a loss. Silence one plea,-another is ready; and with each one of them, "the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason."
2. The consequence of indolence thus indulged:-"Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing." This is the consequence that might be anticipated from the nature of things. The man who, from indolence, will not plow, and will not, therefore, sow, cannot expect to reap. And it is, moreover, the just consequence. "He receives," I was going to say, "the due reward of his deeds." I should rather say of his no-deeds.
I am disposed to think that the two expressions "he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing" do not mean the same thing,-namely, that, as the result of his indolence, he shall then be in a state of destitution,-he shall "have nothing" signifying the same as he shall "beg"-be reduced to beggary. Observe, it is not said, He shall have nothing, and shall beg; but he shall beg, and have nothing. He shall beg of others, from his fields yielding him no subsistence; and, his claim to sympathy not being admitted,-there being no justice in it, and his own egregious folly shutting up the bowels of compassion towards him,-he shall "have nothing" even by his beggary. He shall be in the condition of the prodigal son, when "no man gave unto him."-Harvest is the time of reaping and ingathering. It is a joyous time. They who have held the plough, and scattered the seed, and covered it with the harrow, and cleaned their fields, and looked for "the early and the latter rain," then cut down the waving crops, and gather them into the barn;-they have a gladsome harvest-home. And while all this busy toil and festive mirth is going on around him, the wretched sluggard has nought whereon to look but his bare fields-from which "the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom." He may sigh at length over the sad result, and wish the seed-time back again; but the fault is his own, and wishes and regrets are alike vain. And no one pities him; or, if any do, it is a pity at once condemnatory and scornful. Again, then-and again, I say unto you-"NOTHING WITHOUT LABOUR."
Verse Pro_20:5. "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water: but a man of understanding will draw it out." We have the power of communication; but not the power of intuitive acquaintance with each other's thoughts and purposes, or the views which our minds respectively take of particular subjects. But there are ways of getting at the minds of others:-just as there are ways of getting at water though the well is deep. In the latter case, we apply the windlass and the bucket; and from many a fathom down, where the spring bubbles in silence and darkness, we bring the water to the surface for our use.-The verse may be taken as referring to the man of deep, designing policy; who exercises a firm control over his bps; cherishes his plans and purposes in the inaccessible secret places of his own mind; keeps his counsel; never blabs; all depth and mystery:-or to the reserved man-the man of deep and shrewd sagacity, but of modest diffidence and of few words,-thinking much and well, but saying little.
Taken in reference to the former of these two characters,-the meaning will be, that the "man of understanding" will "draw it out," in order that he may be upon his guard, and put others upon theirs. His object is, the detection of hidden counsels,-of deeply concealed designs, that he may take precautions against them, so as to shun and evade the threatened evil. The sagacity, which marks symptoms and circumstances, and by the study of human nature and of peculiarities of character, forms its shrewd guesses, and then, by direct or indirect inquiries, put with a penetrating eye upon the countenance, converts these guesses into certainty, worming out from the mind of the man of policy, ere he is himself aware, his most secret intentions,-may, in many cases, be eminently advantageous. Exercised in prudence and in benevolence, not in mere curiosity, and far less in malice, it is a very valuable power. The skilful general, who has studied the tactics of his opponent, is often able more than to guess what his movements, in any given circumstances, will be,-how solicitous soever he may be to keep them secret,-and will make his own precautionary arrangements, or plan his mode of attack accordingly; keeping quiet, advancing, retreating, changing position, or at once giving battle, as the case may be. And so may a sagacious statesman dive into the secret counsels of a political adversary; shrewdly surmising the course which, in certain circumstances, his principles or his views of political expediency will suggest. Thus, in ordinary life, in daily intercourse, may the man of sagacity, in many instances, more than guess the thoughts and purposes of others, in a way that may be of essential service to him, for the guidance of his own movements.-There is, at the same time, it should be observed, a per contra side of this view of the case. There may be times and circumstances, when it is particularly necessary for us that we keep our own counsel; that we reserve what is in our own minds; that we do not allow our secret purposes prematurely to discover themselves; when such discovery would bring the risk of frustration to plans on which much depends;-and when, therefore, we behoove to be on our guard against "the man of understanding" who would "draw out our counsels." There are the curious and the prying, as well as the self-interested, who, by side insinuations, and seemingly far off and incidental questionings, put with an assumed simplicity, are trying to worm out our secrets,-letting down buckets in the dark. It may be our duty to see to it, that their buckets come up empty.
As to the other case, that of the reserved man,-there is great and valuable art in "drawing out" his mind. The counsel which it contains may be sound and precious; but, unless skilfully elicited, it will remain where it is, and be lost. The discovery of it is worth the pains. But all have not the art. It requires peculiar tact. Even of the reserved the characters vary; and there is need for accommodation to the particular turn of each, in order to success. What would a thirsty man do, who had nothing to draw with, and the well was deep? Necessity, if he was a man of understanding, would be the mother of invention. He would set his wits to work, to construct some mechanical means of reaching the water. And thus will the intelligent and discriminative man find his way into the mind of the backward and reserved, and draw out for use its secret counsels. But for such a power and skill, a great deal of valuable wisdom might be lost for any practical purpose in society:-and to the man who draws it out, and puts it upon record, or brings it into use, society is not a little indebted.
And ere I pass to another verse, does not the observation force itself upon your notice,-if any such value attaches to "counsel in the heart of man," as to render it worth pains to "draw it out,"-O at what pains should we be to understand the counsel of God,-the counsel of the infinite Mind! That is counsel, which we cannot "draw out." It must come spontaneously; it must be graciously revealed; for who hath known the mind of the Lord? And it has been. It is in his word-made known to his "holy apostles and prophets, by his Spirit." * And by them it has been communicated to us. What is necessary to salvation is to all simple and easily accessible. "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." This is not deep water, which it is difficult to reach. All may reach it; and all freely partake of it. But there is much in the Bible which does require investigation and pains;-water, and living water too, which must be brought from the deep well. "We should earnestly seek spiritual understanding, that we may be able, by diligent pains of study, to "draw it out."
* 1Co_2:9-12; 1Co_2:16.
Verse Pro_20:6. "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?" The Apostle Paul, with much emphasis, delivers the following admonition:-"For 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, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Human nature has been ever characterised by a tendency to over-estimate its own worth-and a propensity to let that worth be known. There are men, indeed, who "glory in their shame;" who proclaim their vices; their intemperance, their lewdness, their quarrels, their revenge; who, instead of making a secret of these, make them their open boast, and laugh to scorn the tameness of virtue. But, as Solomon here expresses it-"Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness." By some the word is taken here in its more restricted sense-a sense in which, without doubt, it is often used, as meaning kindness, benevolence, generosity. But there is nothing in the spirit or principle of the statement, that at all requires its restriction. "What is true respecting goodness in the restricted, is true respecting goodness in the general sense. But the manner in which men make known what they account their goodness, is very various. Some are open with it. They almost literally "proclaim" it, upon the housetops. To every individual, and in every company, they speak of it,-of what they are, of what they have said, of what they have done, of what they think, and of what they wish and intend to do. And O! if they had but the means! what would they not accomplish!
Some there are who are quite as vain, and as ambitious of commendation and praise, who, knowing that everything of the nature of ostentation is exceedingly unpopular, and lets a man down, and tempts others to pluck his feathers from him,-set about their object with greater art. They devise ways of getting their merits made known so as to avoid the flaw of ostentatious self-display. In company, they commend others for the qualities which they conceive themselves specially to possess, or for the doing of deeds which they themselves are sufficiently well known to have done; and they turn the conversation dexterously that way; or they find fault with others for the want of the good they are desirous to get praise for; or they lament over their own deficiencies and failures in the very points in which they conceive their excellence to lie-to give others the opportunity of contradicting them; or, if they have done anything they deem particularly generous and praise-worthy, they introduce some similar case, and bring in, as apparently accidental and unintentional a way as possible, the situation of the person or the family that has been the object of their bounty. In a thousand ways, as it may happen, they contrive to get in themselves and their goodness.
As an exemplification of the anxiety to have what they do known and to get the credit of it-I might instance liberality or charity. Our Saviour enjoined unostentatious privacy:-"Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." * But what a rarity is this! And how exceedingly apt are we, even so far to impose upon our deceitful hearts, as to try to unite what, in principle, never can be united;-and to do the thing in such a way as to ensure its being known, while at the same time the charge of ostentation is avoided!-so as that we may get commendation both for the act and for the manner of it! This is the hypocrisy of selfproclamation, that keeps self out of view; for the very purpose of putting self forward. It is on the same principle that we can satisfy ourselves with giving less to a collection for any object,-where the individual is lost in the aggregate,-than we should put down for the same object, in a subscription paper,-where each appears singly and in favourable or unfavourable comparison. O! we do grudge so much doing anything that is really creditable without getting the credit for the doing of it! Let us cultivate more simplicity of principle-more singleness of eye; and let us not forget, that, according to our Saviour's words, in proportion as we admit into the motives by which we are actuated the "love of the praise of men," we in the same proportion deduct from the approbation and "praise of God,"-the God who "trieth the hearts." O that we had grace to set a greater value on Gods own judgment of us, and less on that of men; that so "our Father who seeth in secret may reward us openly!"
* Mat_6:1-4.
"The Scriptures declare," says Dr. Lawson on this passage, "that a truly good man is rarely to be found; and yet, if men's own word could be taken, there is scarcely a bad man to be found." This is a true saying. Even those who boast of what others call their vices, are, at the same time, ever ready with an offset of redeeming virtues. They are no rarities who speak well of themselves, and defend themselves from the imputation of evil; which, when they can not entirely disown, they palliate, and balance with compensatory good.
"But a faithful man who can final?"-A faithful man seems here to mean, a man thoroughly and conscientiously faithful to principle-who in heart and in life is true to men, and true to God. He is one whom fellow-men can implicitly and fearlessly trust; who deals not in talk, in promise and protestation, the verbiage of goodness; but who considers and weighs his words, and says nothing, but what he verifies in action;-who carries resolutely out, in all things, the principle of the royal law; and of whom, therefore, all have the satisfactory assurance, that he will not be less regardful of the characters and interests of others, than he is of his own. He is one too who, in regard to himself, is jealous of the tendencies of which we have been speaking; keeps within the limits of sober truth, and keeps self in the back ground, except where duty to character, to usefulness, and to the cause to which he is devoted, requires self-vindication and self-eulogy. For such occasions there are. Paul felt this. He was falsely charged, and his apostolic authority questioned; his usefulness was thus injured; and the cause of the gospel, and of the church, and of his Master, was involved in danger; and it became indispensable for him to speak of himself, and to state and give prominence to facts which he had long kept secret; and which, but for the operation of these circumstances, might have died with him. We almost feel indebted to his adversaries, for having thus drawn from him, in terms of dignified eloquence, what we should not otherwise have known, and our ignorance of which would have deprived us of a valuable example. Paul, in all this, acted the part of a "faithful man," not to himself alone, but to the Lord whom he served. Which leads me to the higher point, that "a faithful man" is one who is always unswervingly true to God. To Him he has to give his account. He is aware of the principles of action which Ho approves; and, without regard to the fear or the favour, the smiles or the frowns of men, or the seeming temptations of present self-interest, he seeks grace to adhere to these principles,-the only principles, he knows, that will be looked to in the judgment; foregoing, it may be, present eclat and present advantage, satisfied that "the day will declare it," and that "his Father who seeth in secret will reward him openly !"-r-O well may we say-regarding the character in this high and holy light, "A faithful man who can find!"
The first clause of the following verse-"The just man walketh in his integrity,"-has by some been rendered-" He that walketh in his integrity is a just or righteous man." And this will correspond precisely with New Testament statements.* There is no man who is in state just before God, who is not under the predominant and habitual influence of the principles of righteousness. "Walking in his integrity" means this:-means his maintaining a regular, steadfast, persevering course of obedience; abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is good."
*...; Joh_3:7; Rom_8:1.
"His children are blessed after him,"-in the benefits derived from his instructions and example; not blessed it may be in an inheritance of worldly wealth, but in an inheritance of principles; and in the promise of God's covenant realized in their happy experience, "I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee." *
* Comp. Psa_103:17-18.
Verse Pro_20:8. "A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes."-The subject, under other forms of expression, and in other points of light, has been repeatedly before us.*
* Pro_16:14-15; Pro_19:12; Pro_20:2.
To "sit in the throne of judgment" must evidently be understood as meaning to occupy that seat in righteousness; and to dispense judgment from it according to right principles. On any other supposition, it would cease to be the throne of judgment, and become the throne of iniquity-"framing mischief by a law." Thus marked by righteousness was Solomon's judicial administration, in the outset of his reign.* Our kings do not now occupy personally the judgment-seat. But the principle of the words is applicable to all judges. The seat they occupy is one of deep and solemn responsibility-one of lofty dignity-one of commanding authority. The sentiments, and feelings, and manner, with which it is occupied, ought to correspond with its character and the nature of its functions. There must be no levity,-no littleness of self-satisfaction,-no obliquity of principle,-no partialities, and predilections, and prejudices; but the calm majesty of truth and justice. In the very looks, there ought to be the condemnation of all evil and guilt, and the assurance of protection and favour to innocence. The judge's glance should make offenders quail. He should thus "scatter away evil with his eyes"-putting it out of countenance,-covering it with shame,-frowning it away from him by merited severity, or subduing it to penitence by the searching eye of tenderness.
* See 1Ki_3:28.
The words may justly be applied, in the spirit of them, to the court of royal personages. There, their "eyes should scatter away evil." Everything indecent and indecorous should make the eye of majesty flash rebuke, and banish the offence.
But the difficulties which surround even the most upright and best-intentioned princes, are not small, by reason of the universal corruption of our fallen nature; a corruption in which their subjects and themselves are alike involved. Those who are most aware of this,-of the imperfection common to rulers with all others,-and of the vast amount of varied materials of evil with which they have to do, will be most disposed,-as far as is consistent with fidelity to the public good,-to make charitable allowances for the errors and failures into which the very soundest and best disposed of rulers may at times fall. Possibly something of this kind may be the association of suggestion that connects the ninth verse with this:-"Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"-This question may be viewed in various lights.
We may apply it in regard to original sin-the hereditary taint of our apostate nature:-That there is such a taint-such an absence of the right and only principle of all true goodness,-such an innate tendency to defection from God, and to what is evil,-might, on philosophical principles, be demonstrated from the facts of the case,-from the absolute impossibility of accounting reasonably for the universality of sin in the whole species, and in every individual of every generation,-on any other hypothesis. And that such is the representation of Scripture, might be shown, from the pervading tenor of the whole Bible, and from many explicit passages.* This universal inherent sinfulness of nature was, I cannot doubt, in Solomon's mind, when he wrote the words before us. 2. They proceed too on the universally Scriptural assumption, that all that is truly and spiritually good in the heart of man is the product of divine operation-of the renewing influence of God’s Spirit: "Who can say," that is, say with truth-" I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"If the position of the apostle be a true one, that " the carnal mind is enmity against God," there can hardly be a greater absurdity than is involved in the idea of spontaneously originating self-change-self-conversion; of enmity changing itself into love-choosing to love the object of its hatred!
* See Job_14:4; Job_15:14; Psa_51:4; Joh_3:6; Rom_8:7.
3. The words more than imply,-under the form of a question they strongly affirm,-that the purification of the heart is in no man perfect here. There is a purity of heart ascribed to God's people, and characteristic of them. God's children are "renewed in the spirit of their mind." But still-" Who shall say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"-There have been some who have presumed to say it. But what is the truth? It is easy to say it; but it will not be easy to make it good, in direct contradiction of the explicit affirmations of Scripture.* We may be perfectly sure, that the idea of sinless perfection in any case is a delusion. Were it in any one case realized, it would cease to be true, that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." And to the question in the text-"Who can say, I am pure from my sin?"-it might, in that case, be answered-I am. It must, therefore, be either a melancholy proof of the power of self-deception,-or a shocking manifestation of the extravagance of hypocritical pretension. It is a characteristic of God's children, that they see, as they advance heavenward, more and more reason for self-abasement;-not that they sin more; for they become holier-but their views, at the same time, of the purity of God become fuller and stronger. The glass in which they view themselves becomes clearer and more faithful. Little sins, to minds growing in holiness, become more loathsome. Yet "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
