"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. Through wisdom is an house builded, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war; and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. Wisdom is too high for a fool; he openeth not his mouth in the gate. He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. The thought of foolishness is sin; and the scorner is an abomination to men. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?"
The first verse of this chapter is very naturally connected with the close of the chapter preceding. Truly there is little room for "envy" of such characters as the one there so graphically depicted; and of all men on earth, they will be the last whose company will be "desired" by the wise and the good.-But the counsel before us may be taken more generally. Far be it that "evil men" of any stamp should be envied-either for their boasted freedom or their apparent prosperity. Their freedom is but the semblance of the blessing. It is the reality of bondage. They promise liberty, and are themselves the slaves of corruption. And their prosperity-O deem it not a mark of God's favour! It is all deceitful. It ends in ruin. "Desire not to be with them." How oft-repeated is this counsel! * And how often is the warning enforced by similar reasons!-"For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief."-Their designs of evil duly matured find utterance. They communicate their projects to others like-minded with themselves;-projects of fraud, peculation, robbery; or if, on such matters, there be a sense of social honour, and an adherence to the conventional morality of the world, there may be projects of impurity,-of lewdness and seduction; of drunken frolic and revel; of the snares of temptation for some simple but sober youth, whom it will be so excellent a joke to induce to join them in sin. All this, under what palliative epithets soever it may pass in the world, is "mischief" and "destruction."
* Pro_1:10; Pro_4:14-15.
Verses Pro_24:3-6. "Through wisdom is an house builded, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war; and in multitude of counsellors there is safety."-In these verses the tenses are, in the original, future: and by some are rendered, as the future tense in the Hebrew frequently is-"By wisdom let thy house be builded," &c. In all probability, such is the designed connexion. Envy at the prosperity of evil men might be a temptation to seek the furtherance of personal or domestic estate by improper, and thus emphatically foolish, means.
The "building of a house" indicates the advancement of family prosperity, and the "establishment" of it is the maintenance of that prosperity. "Wisdom," "understanding," and "knowledge," in this, as in other places, have much the same signification; and are not intended to be minutely analysed into their precise shades of difference. No doubt they imply ordinary prudence and discretion,-the management of everything on intelligent and well-examined principles, and in harmony with the maxims of a sound and judicious policy. Neither personal nor family estate can prosper without this. I am disposed, however, to think when I consider the sense in which these terms are generally used by the writer of this Book, that they mean here something more:-that they have more especial reference to the general tendency of the principles of true religion, when consistently carried out. When thus carried out in the intercourse of life, and the transactions of business, they lead to the uniform practice of all the social virtues. Now such a manifestation of the influence of these principles, as satisfies the world that he who is under their dominion may be trusted,-may be safely depended upon to any extent,-obviously has a tendency to the building, establishing, and ample storing and furnishing of the house,-that is, to the prosperity of personal and domestic interests. The blessing of God is upon the labours of those who thus honour Him by a consistent exhibition of the principles which have His approbation and sanction. Not that God engages by promise for the invariable success and prosperity of all they plan and do. He reserves to himself the prerogative of selecting, in this, as well as in any other department, the means of salutary and faithful discipline. And the man who sets a due value upon the divine blessing, and knows that that blessing can only be enjoyed in the way of consistent obedience,-even though his efforts should not be crowned with success, yea, though all on earth should fail him, will hold fast his integrity. Having faith in God, he will firmly trust that it is for some end in full harmony with the promises of His covenant, and subservient to their ultimate fulfilment, that He is pleased, instead of building, to stop or partially to pull down the rising house, to shake its stability, or to dismantle it of its furniture and diminish its stores. Never will he have recourse to any methods for the prevention of such results that are not in perfect accordance with the principles and precepts of God's Word; for well he knows that it is such riches only as are gotten in the fear of the Lord, in the spirit of dependence and the exercise of obedience, that can ever merit the appellation here given them, of "precious and pleasant riches," And "precious and pleasant" they are when enjoyed with a sense of God's love,-with His paternally gracious smile-when God is in them all.
"Wisdom" and "knowledge" are, in the fifth verse (Pro_24:5), represented as procuring, in addition to prosperity, influence and power:-"A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength." One great use of strength is the security of its possessor:-and this end is represented as still more effectually answered by wisdom. It has a tendency to this result by the respect which it commands, and by the confidence which it inspires. It holds proverbially true, as a general maxim, that knowledge is power; and especially knowledge in union with wisdom. Wisdom may, to a vast extent, supply the want of power; but not power the want of wisdom. And taking wisdom in the sense of true religion, it imparts security to its possessor, which no amount of power which mortal can enjoy is capable of yielding. By making God his confidence it imparts the security to be found in the combined wisdom and power of the Infinite.
In the sixth verse (Pro_24:6) the general principle and spirit of the passage is applied especially to kings:-"For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war; and in multitude of counsellors there is safety." This stands opposed to two cases,-that of the self-sufficient and self-willed monarch, on the one hand, who follows his own way, and will take no counsel at all:-and on the other that of the monarch who places his entire confidence in some single favourite, who, by flattery or otherwise, has gained an ascendency over him,-who gives himself up entirely to his counsel. To the subjects of the monarch, in both cases, there is danger; especially when, either by the haste and pertinacity of self-will, or by submission to the self-interested and flattering advice of a favourite minister and minion, they are induced to undertake rash and unrighteous wars-wars justifiable by no plea of necessity, which is the only plea of justice.*
* Compare Pro_20:18.
Since the kings of Israel and Judah may be considered as specially referred to, the former part of the verse might, with some plausibility, be regarded as having reference to tho counsel which the good kings solicited and obtained from the inspired and commissioned prophets, who on such occasions were either sent to them with express messages, or sent for by them to receive direction from the Lord. The latter part of the verse, however, appears rather to favour a more general interpretation; inasmuch as, when inspired prophets were consulted, the safety did not arise from "the multitude of counsellors.'' The voice of God by one, when well accredited, was as sure as if it had been by hundreds:-and one of the prophets of Jehovah was better than any number of others.* While the general principle holds true that in cases of importance it is well not to trust to any single judgment, yet is there room for exception and for caution:-for sometimes in "the multitude of counsellors" there is distraction and indecision-and all the evils consequent upon delay, or upon dubious, shifting, vacillating measures, measures adopted without confidence, and prosecuted without energy.
* Comp. 1Ki_22:10-30.
There is a war in which sinners are engaged, which all the created counsel in the universe, united in its support, would not only fail to justify in the principle of it, but could not free from the charge of madness in its utter hopelessness. "Wo to the man that striveth with his Maker!" O hearken to no counsellors that would encourage you in maintaining that war. All the counsellors in this Book, with one voice,-the voice of earnestness, authority, and affection, dissuade you from it. Here is a "multitude of counsellors;" and here is "safety." And yet the counsel of them all is but one. They all wrote by one Spirit, and their counsel is the counsel of God. Obey it and live.
In the verse following, we have first, a matter of fact,-"Wisdom is too high for a fool."-The fool in this verse is probably the same as the evil man in the first. He is the man of low, grovelling dispositions, desires, and pursuits,-who "minds earthly things;" seeks his enjoyment in the gratifications of sense; does not even cultivate his mind, far less aspire at the highest of all wisdom, "the wisdom that cometh from above,"-the illumination of heaven, the knowledge of God's word, and the course of life which is in accordance with its principles and directions.-Wisdom being too high for him, does not mean that it is of such difficult acquisition as to be beyond the reach of his natural powers; (were that the case he would not be blameworthy for the want of it) but that he has no desire after it, and therefore will put himself to no trouble to attain to it. The "price of wisdom" may be "in his hand," but he has "no heart to it," and therefore it lies neglected and remains as far from him as ever.
Then we have the natural consequence-"He openeth not his mouth in the gate." As "the gate" means the place of public assembly and judgment, the expression is evidently equivalent to-men never think of placing him in any situation of honour or of trust. They never consult him in difficulties; never choose him as an arbitrator or judge in any cause or controversy. He may be ready enough to "open his mouth;" he may have a sufficiently good opinion of what he has to say; the greater his folly, the more may be his self-conceit; the emptier of all that is worth having, the fuller is he of himself. But his opinion is never asked; and when he does put himself forward to give it ultroneously, all are impatient; he is put down, his judgment being held in contempt.
Verses Pro_24:8-9. "He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. The thought of foolishness is sin; and the scorner is an abomination to men."-The spirit of these two verses is the same, though the expression be different. There seems at first view in the former something like the tameness of a truism. To be sure, one might say, who should be called a mischievous person, if not the deviser of evil? Two remarks may place it in a correct light:-1. The deep designing villain, who hatches in secret his schemes of evil, may have art enough to draw, by his sly and insidious and plausible representations, the simple and unwary into participation,-and even, as his tools, to take the chief part-in their execution. In these circumstances, the verse teaches that the deviser of the evil should have the infamy, the guilt, the condemnation, the punishment. He is the "mischievous person;" not his unsuspecting and inexperienced dupe. And, when the facts of the case are discovered, and it comes to be known how it stands, so it will be. Men will generally have justice enough to lay the blame, and to affix the infamy and the stigma in their proper place.-2. Thus too it is in the estimate of God. The "deviser of evil" is, in His eyes, the "mischievous person;" and shall be held and treated, condemned and punished, as such, even although his devices should never be carried into execution at all, or should be executed by others than himself.-This, you perceive, brings the sentiment into a close affinity with the first clause of the following verse:-"The thought of foolishness is sin." But while this connexion may be recognised, the sentiment must be generalized. It holds true in the utmost latitude of application. Every foolish thought-every imagination, every wish, though never uttered to men, and never so much as indicated, even by a look,-is perfectly before the all-seeing, all-searching eye of God. And observe-it is not known only; it "is sin." If the thinker of the evil meant to be also the doer of it, and was prevented only by causes which he could not control, he will be regarded by the righteous Judge as if he had actually done it. It stands, in the book of God's remembrance, the same as if thus recorded against him.
How deeply solemn in this view the statement! O how much passes in the mind and heart, to which fellow-men are strangers,-to all of which God is privy! And how does this accumulate the amount of sin in the divine indictment against every one of us! And how should a consciousness of this shut us up to exclusive reliance on the mercy of the gospel! There is not one secret "thought of evil," that does not require for its forgiveness the virtue of atoning blood; and that does not require faith in that blood, confession, and supplication for mercy, in order to the sinner's obtaining the forgiveness! Well, then, may we exclaim, "If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand!"
We have, observe, in the phraseology of this part of the verse, the clearest evidence that foolishness means more than mere weakness, mere intellectual imbecility. It is here, manifestly, moral pravity.
In the latter part of the verse, "the scorner is an abomination to men,"-"the scorner" means, as in other cases, one who openly scoffs at all the restraints of divine authority, the precepts of law, and the principles of rectitude; by whom they are, in word and act, set at defiance; who not only devises evil, but does it, with a stubborn heart and a high hand. Such a character "is an abomination" amongst men; and he is "an abomination to men." He is so, as a matter of course, to the godly-whose minds are one with God's, and whose "hearts are right with Him." And he is so even to men in general, on the principles of that conventional morality, which it is found necessary to maintain, in order to the union and the wellbeing of society; for his pernicious influence is felt on the very bonds of social order. And were his principles and example followed, all would be mutual jealousy, distrust, injury, anarchy.
Verse Pro_24:10. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."-This also has the aspect of a truism-or at least of a very simple and self-evident truth. But simple truths are often the most important and useful: and such is this when duly weighed in its bearings.
We have seen (Pro_24:5) that true wisdom is strength.-Religion, when it occupies with presiding influence the mind and heart, will impart this strength in adversity. A man's strength-the vigour of his principles, is tried and tested by adversity. It is only then he is put to the proof. A tree or a house may stand firm in the calm and the sunshine, and to the eye present every appearance and promise of immovable stability; but when the clouds gather, and the tempest raves, the one may be uprooted and the other laid in ruins. What was said cruelly and unjustly of Job, is but too frequently verified in human experience-"Now it has come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled."-Further, in ourselves, we have no strength to bear adversity aright; and it is when a man is made to feel this-to feel, by his "fainting in the day of adversity," that "his strength is small," that he becomes truly strong, by being led to rely more on a power above his own.*-Adversity thus contributes, among other benefits, to the deepening of humility,-producing diffidence of ourselves, and confidence in God; while the measure of spiritual vigour,-the power of genuine principle-is drawn out and made apparent, for the advantage and encouragement of others.
* See 2Co_12:9-10.
We must beware of self-reliance. Boasted strength will ever be found weakness-ever, in the day when the trial comes, inefficient. Thus was it with Peter. He thought his strength great. O! there was not any thing for which it was not adequate. He was fit for every emergency. Nothing could shake, nothing could daunt him. Yet he "fainted in the day of adversity," and learned that "his strength was small." And the lesson, though dearly learned, was of eminent use to him all his days; and the record of it has been of use to many a soul since. Let us learn to place our reliance on the Lord. While in Him we have "righteousness," in Him too we must have "strength." All is from His infinite fulness.*
* Comp. Isa_40:28-31.
The two following verses bring before us an important duty and considerations enforcing it:-"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?"
The duty directly enjoined is evidently that of taking part with the oppressed. The case supposed and described is clearly that of a fellow-creature standing exposed to death, from unrighteous oppression, from false accusation, from malicious prosecution, or from persecution for conscience sake. And the duty incumbent upon us in such a case, whatever be its variety, is that of doing all that lies in our power to deliver such. We may by various causes be tempted to refrain from the discharge of this important duty. But it clearly comes under the comprehensive law of love:-"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." We may dread the vengeance of the imperious and self-willed despot, or the selfish and partial magistrate, or the unjust judge, or the interested and vindictive private prosecutor. We may be tempted by indolence, that cannot be troubled; by selfishness, that says, It is none of my business; by avarice, that shrinks from risk of loss. But let all such excuses be well weighed. They may serve to suppress the demands of conscience now, but they will not stand in the judgment.
The spirit of the duty may be illustrated by a few Scripture examples.-Obadiah fulfilled it, when, at the peril of his life, he took part with the prophets of Jehovah against Ahab and his bloody queen-hiding them from persecuting violence, and providing them with the means of life, when all the resources of royal power and fury were astir to discover and destroy them.-Jonathan fulfilled it, when he placed himself between his exasperated father and the unjustly pursued, the innocent David,-exposing himself, for the sake of his unoffending friend, with noble generosity and self-denial, to the unnatural execrations of an unreasonable and vengefully jealous parent, and to the point of the madman's javelin.-Esther fulfilled it, when, to save from impending massacre and extermination her own people, treacherously sold to the cruel caprice of the haughty, unprincipled, and mean-spirited Haman, she ventured into the presence of the king, uninvited, at the hazard of his fitful wrath and of her head, saying-"If I perish, I perish."-The midwives of Egypt fulfilled it, when on the ruthless edict of Pharaoh having gone forth to cast all the male children of the Israelites into the Nile the instant they were born, these women, "fearing God," disobeyed the royal mandate, and saved them alive.-Ebedmelech the Ethiopian fulfilled it, when taking part with the persecuted Jeremiah against the princes of Jerusalem that had accused him to king Zedekiah and demanded his life, and, when the king himself had given him up into their hands from pusillanimous dread of their power,-he went in boldly to the royal presence, protested against the prophet's accusers, charged them with wrong, obtained an order for his release from the dungeon into which they had cast him, and himself executed the order.-Saul’s guards fulfilled it, or acted at least in the spirit of it, when they disobeyed the command of their master to fall upon and slay the priests of the Lord-an order of most monstrous iniquity; while the time-serving, ungodly, and blood-thirsty Doeg violated it most flagrantly by instant compliance.-Aquila and Priscilla fulfilled it, when for Paul's sake "they laid down their own necks," jeoparding their own lives for the preservation of his.
It was in the full spirit of this lesson that all the measures were prosecuted for effecting the termination of the execrable system of slavery with all its horrors of unrighteousness and deadly cruelty; and it is in the spirit of the lesson still, that all possible means should be put in operation for accomplishing the abolition, throughout the world, of the accursed traffic in human flesh, and the breaking of every yoke, that the oppressed may go free,-that the "drawn unto death may live."
The condition of sinners may be regarded as here very aptly set forth. They are "drawn unto death"-seized, or apprehended for death, and "ready to be slain:"-and the death to which they are doomed,-O how unutterably fearful!
But you may naturally meet me with an objection here. In their condition there is no injustice; no unrighteous and cruel oppression. The sentence of death under which they lie is a divine sentence-in perfect accordance with all the principles of equity:-the sword with which they are ''ready to be slain" is the sword of divine justice itself. They deserve to die the death. To attempt to prevent it would be to arrest the hand of God. Ought not divine, and therefore unimpeachable, justice to have its course? The objection-otherwise irresistible-God has himself removed. Justice, infinite justice, had all its claims acknowledged and fulfilled on Calvary. On the ground of the sacrifice there offered,-the atonement there made,-the God of justice and mercy has called on sinners to accept pardon, in the name and for the sake of his Son. His call comes with authority. It is a command. It is in virtue of the satisfaction of justice in the atonement of Christ, that we ourselves enjoy our own deliverance from the death and destruction to which, in common with all. we were devoted. And the very same authority that commanded us to believe and be saved, enjoins on us to be agents in attempting the rescue of others. O! what should we not be ready to do, to sacrifice, to suffer, for such an end!-to effect such a rescue!
Turn we now to the considerations here enforcing the duty:-
1. It is a duty of which the very nature ought to render it agreeable. It is a duty of Benevolence. It ought, in every case, to be a pleasure to have, and to be able to put in operation, the means of doing good-and in a special manner, when the good is, not temporal and secular merely, but spiritual and eternal. Some duties, even of benevolence, are of a mingled character, partly pleasant, partly painful. There are at times contending, or seemingly contending interests;-so that, when we are doing good to one, we are not sure what the possible effects may be to others. But in the present case there is no such apprehension-no drawback. It is all pleasing. By the conversion of a sinner, the sinner himself is infinitely benefited; and what but benefit can accrue to any one else? Benefit to him is benefit to all who come within the sphere of his influence. There is no possible result but blessing. In delivering one who was "drawn unto death and ready to be slain," we raise up an agent for the deliverance of more. The benefit spreads,-spreads around; spreads onwards. The rescue of one may be the rescue of thousands; and to individuals, to families, to circles of kindred, to neighbourhoods, to cities, to kingdoms, to the world, it is all benefit,-all blessing; blessing for time, and blessing for eternity.-Still, notwithstanding all this, we are in danger of being tempted to the neglect of this duty. Let us bear in mind therefore-
2. That we have an account to render to God of the manner in which we have fulfilled it.
This is evidently the main point in the various awakening questions of the twelfth verse (Pro_24:12):-"If thou sayest, Behold we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" These questions all go to impress our minds with the light in which even the guilt of forbearing to succour and to seek the deliverance of the wronged and oppressed appears in God's eyes:-and how much more heinous must the guilt appear to Him of leaving fellow-sinners without even an attempt to rescue them, to perish for ever!
The blessed God has shown His estimate of the worth of human souls, and the value of salvation,-by the ransom He has paid for them. How criminal in His sight must be all indifference! What an affront to Him, to affect to make light of an object on which He has impressed, by the whole scheme of redeeming grace, in the incarnation, obedience, sufferings, and death of His Son, so high a value! We dare not plead indifference with Calvary before our eyes!-with the testimony there borne-borne by the infinite God, in the tears, and agonies, and blood of Immanuel, to the sinfulness of sin, to the fearfulness of the perdition to which it has doomed the sinner, and the unutterable preciousness of deliverance and life!-The expression here used might be interpreted as that of indifference-"Behold we knew it not!" intimating that they cared not to know it,-were at no pains to find it out. But the plea of indifference, on the part of a professed child of God, would be doubly inconsistent and strange. It would imply at once a supercilious disregard of the revealed judgment of God, and the absence of all right impression of the worth of his own soul; for such an impression it is impossible for any one to have, who feels not for the perdition of other souls as well as of his own. No sinner can be in a state of salvation himself, and think, and talk, and act with a spirit of cold-blooded heartlessness and unconcern, about that of his fellow-men!
But we cannot, at the bar of God, plead ignorance. We cannot plead it with regard to the worth of salvation, when God has, both by word and action, so plainly and impressively declared it; so neither can we plead it as to the fact of others requiring it. Many cases of oppression and wrong, of suffering and danger, may exist around us, without our "knowing" them, or being able, by any pains of ours, to discover them. But to say-with regard to-the guilt and misery, and exposure to perdition, of the mass of mankind among whom we daily live and move,-"Behold I knew it not," would be, and could not but be, the utterance of a lie,-an unblushingly presumptuous falsehood. To live anywhere on earth, where there are human beings, and not to know it, is impossible:-to live in a city like this, teeming with every variety of ungodliness to be found out of hell, and pretend not to know it, would be a plea only to be accounted for by the loss of reason. Thousands are perishing at our very doors, under our very eye, "without Christ, and without hope!" We see it; we know it. The frequency of it is so great,-the sight of it is so constant, that we are in danger of becoming so familiar with it as to lose all impression of the fearful fact. Against this we need to watch. But ignorance can never be our plea.
Further, every plea by which we would vindicate or palliate neglect, would argue ingratitude to God for his kindness and grace to ourselves. This seems to be the spirit of the expression-"He that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?" When applied to the case immediately referred to by Solomon-the case of temporal life exposed to hazard from malice, oppression, or persecution-the case of men thus "drawn unto death and ready to be slain,"-the expostulation, (taking the word soul in its frequent application to animal life) has its full spirit:-"He that keepeth thy life,"-sustaining it every moment, guarding it from the approach of ten thousand dangers,-without whom you could not draw a breath, and without whose bounty and beneficence life would be a curse instead of a blessing,-"doth not HE know it?"-know thy unfeeling neglect of the life of thy fellow-men? And "who maketh thee to differ?" Could not He at once reverse your respective circumstances? And how would you feel, and how would you wish, and what would you expect, were your circumstances theirs, and theirs yours? And has not God, by the law of mutual love, made you mutual guardians of each other's lives and well-being?-And is it becomingly grateful to Him who is the God and the guardian of your life, in whose hand your breath is, and from whom comes everything that in the slightest measure contributes to life's enjoyment, to be thus heartlessly unconcerned about the lives of others?-Let Christians apply the expostulation to higher interests. The life of your souls is in God's hands. He has given it; He sustains it. In Him you have your spiritual as well as your animal being, your heavenly as well as your earthly life. Is there, then, anything like becoming gratitude to the author and sustainer of that immortal life, when you are listless and heedless about souls that are dying and dead around you?-Remember the answer of God to the sullen question of the first murderer, "Am I my brother's keeper?" "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Remember too, that next to the murderer who directly takes away life, is the man who, with the means of life in his possession, suffers his fellow-creature to die. Remember still further, that this is true of the soul as well as of the body; true with an emphasis proportioned to the superior value of the soul's life to that of the body,-of the eternal to the temporal.
Finally, mark the principle on which the judgment of the great day will be conducted:-God will "render to every man according to his works." This implies, that by their world the principles of men shall be tested; and thus the two great classes separated from each other,-those who are placed on the right, and those who have their station on the left hand:-those who believed, and loved, and feared God, being proved to have been under the influence of these principles, by the "work of faith, the labour of love, and the patience of hope." And of all descriptions of works, none of the least distinctive of state and character will be such works as we have been describing; and foremost in rank the all-important work of caring for the souls of others. If this is not to be a distinguishing criterion, what else will? How, then, shall we find our place on the right hand of the Judge, if we have taken no interest in such matters?-if we have allowed souls to perish around us, without any concern to save them?-if we have failed to do either the much or the little that was in our power?-Have we not reason to put the question to ourselves, "with fear and trembling," whether will He whom we call Master and Lord in that day own us as his?-"Doth not He consider it?"-Yes; and we have seen the light in which He does consider it. O remember what He who is to be the Judge hath done for souls! And think how heavy, in His estimation, must be the guilt of neglecting them, and leaving them to perish! What evidence can they possibly produce, in vindication of their professed faith in him, who, in this essential point, so sadly fail of resemblance to him? Can they be Christ's, that leave souls to perish, when for souls Christ shed his blood? Can they be owned as disciples of Him who came "to seek and to save the lost," who can allow the lost to remain in their lost estate, with hardly a yearning wish or a faint effort for their recovery? It implies also that while the whole of the glory and blessedness of heaven will be the gift of grace, the Father will testify His love to the Son and satisfaction in His work, by proportioning the honour He confers for His sake to the amount of faithful service done to Him by those on whom the honour is bestowed. And that amount will be estimated, not absolutely but relatively-relatively to the amount of talent, opportunity, and means; so that, in many instances, the proportions will not be according to what appeared to men, but according to the righteous measure of divine knowledge. Thus "many that are first shall be last, and the last first." Ought we not then to be emulous to abound in acts of faithful and devoted service to our divine Master? Is it right in any servant of His, to satisfy himself with as much only as may just serve to prevent his being rejected? Would not the very exercise of a principle thus ungenerously selfish, be sufficient of itself to ensure, or at least to warrant his rejection? Should we not be solicitous to be able to say-"Thy pound hath gained ten pounds?"-not only not to wrap it in a napkin and let it lie unimproved altogether, but to put it forth to the best possible advantage for the credit of our Master and his cause?-And ought we not as a church, collectively as well as individually, to be zealous of good works; and to "consider one another," to stimulate to their multiplied performance?-that thus we may be mutually "helpers of one another's faith and joy," and contribute to brighten the gems of each other's crowns in the day of the Lord?
