"My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man."
A Surety is one who becomes security for a debt due by another, in case of the insolvency of the original debtor. In different countries, the customary or legal forms have been different, by which such suretiships are undertaken, and are rendered valid. In the first verse, allusion is made to the practice of the surety confirming his engagement by giving his hand to the creditor, in presence of witnesses-" My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger."
Solomon, on different occasions, condemns the practice of suretiship (See Pro_11:15. and Pro_22:26). The condemnation is general. It does not follow, however, that what he says is to be taken as an absolute unqualified prohibition, to which there are no circumstances that can constitute an exception. There are cases in which it is unavoidable; and there are cases in which the law requires it; and there are cases in which it is not only in consistency with law, but required by all the claims of prudence, and justice, and charity. These, however, are rare. And it may be laid down as a maxim regarding the transactions of business, and all the mutual dealings of man with man, that the less of it the better. In such cases as the following, it is manifestly inadmissible, and may even, in some instances, involve a large amount of moral turpitude:-
1. It is wrong for a man to come under engagements that are beyond his actually existing means-beyond his ability to pay, in case of need. Such a course is not one merely of imprudence! There is in it a threefold injustice. First, to the creditor for whom he becomes surety; inasmuch as the security is fallacious, not covering the extent of the risk. Secondly, to his family, if he has one, to whom, in case of the security being required, and the payment called for, the requisition must bring distress and ruin. And thirdly, to those who give him credit in his own transactions, with the risks of his own trade: for in thus undertaking suretiships, he involves himself, without their knowledge, in the risks of other trades besides his own, and thus exposes them to hazards of which, in the outset, they were not aware.
It may be thought that a person may always be justified in becoming a surety, provided he retains as much clear as is sufficient for the payment of his own obligations, and, at the same time, do justice to his family. But it ought not to be forgotten amidst what uncertainties we live-the incessant liability to fluctuations and reverses. We "know not what shall be on the morrow." In trusting to what we now have, we may be "setting our eyes on that which is not." All may be quite square, and to every appearance prosperous, to-day; and to-morrow all may be ruin. So that, if in giving his security, a man goes to the limit of his means, without taking into account the risks of his own business, he does wrong; and his own calamity, and that of others associated with him, may come speedily.
2. The same observations are applicable to the making of engagements with inconsideration and rashness. The case here supposed, is evidently that of suretiship for a friend to a stranger. And the rashness and haste may be viewed in relation either to the person or to the case.
First, as to the person. The partiality and warmth of friendship, may be a temptation to agree precipitately and without reflection to what both prudence and equity forbid: and especially when the friend presents and presses his suit on the very ground of friendship. That is very trying. How can we refuse an old, attached, and valued friend, or one, it may be, to whose kindness we have been more than once indebted! If a man stands alone, out of business, and without a dependent family, and has, at the same time, abundance of which to dispose, he may be quite at liberty to make such sacrifices to friendship as he pleases. But suppose the reverse of all this-then the claims of justice to others must take precedence of the claims of kindness to the friend. The friend, in such cases, must be regarded, not merely in his capacity as a friend, but in his capacity as a man of business. If, for example, he is known to us as a man who is indolent and careless, incorrect and improvident, profuse and extravagant; then, whatever may be our feelings, they must on no account be allowed to supersede, in the slightest, the demands of justice. These demands lie against their indulgence, on the part of family and of creditors; whose rights, in such a case, would be clearly and egregiously violated. In such circumstances, it is very wrong in your friend to urge you; but, let the urgency be ever so great, and the pain to which you are put ever so excruciating, right ought to prevail, even if the forfeiture of friendship should be the penalty. Men, when they feel the generous impulse of friendly emotion, and say at once while under it, "I'll be his surety," are exceedingly apt to think at the moment only of themselves, as if the risk were all their own; and to forget, that in thus hastily "striking hands," they are making creditors and family securities, without asking their consent, or making them aware of their risks.
In the case of the person in whose behalf we bring ourselves under the obligation being "a stranger," the culpability is indefinitely augmented. The young, naturally warm, inexperienced, unsuspecting, and credulous, are very apt to allow themselves to be drawn away by their juvenile ardour, and to commit themselves fast and fondly to new and open-hearted companions. Suretiships "for strangers" are accordingly laid under special condemnation:-" He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure." "Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman," Pro_11:15; Pro_20:16. The force of the latter passage is, "If he is your debtor who has come under suretiship for a stranger, you had better see sharply to payment.’Take his garment' for your debt. He will soon come to it; will soon have nothing more to pay; take in pledge whatever you can get." In the verses before us the case is different. It is the case of becoming surety, not for a stranger, but, as was formerly noticed, to a stranger for a friend.
In regard to all such cases, it should be recollected, that, although we may have a confidence in our friend that is in the main well-founded, we can never be sure in what speculations he may be tempted to embark, or what new courses in business he may be induced to pursue. The practice is elsewhere condemned as that of indiscretion and folly:-" A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend," Pro_17:18. The words, "in the presence of his friend," may mean, being swayed and overcome by the influence of friendship-his friend being before him in distress, needing and seeking his aid: a situation which every man of sensibility will feel it very difficult to withstand. Or, it may mean, complying with the request hastily, on the instant, ere the friend who pleads for the favour has left his presence.
It is very far wrong in any man to avail himself of the claims of friendship to bring another into a situation which, his conscience tells him, is one into which he would not like himself to be drawn; or to induce the friend to do what he knows is either in principle faulty, or in tendency and possible results injurious. This is the very opposite of friendship. It is selfishness betraying friendship, and making it available for its own ends. He who, in business, makes such a use of friendship, exposes himself to just suspicion that all is not right; that he is trying unwarrantable means to prop up a false credit, and to gratify a haste to be rich. It is very natural for us, no doubt, to wish to make our own bargains as secure as possible. But does any man like to be security for the bargains of others? If this is what none like, should any tempt others to do it? Should any one, for the sake of making all sure for himself, seek to place others in circumstances by which their security may be affected? Here, as in every case, comes in the golden rule, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." If we cannot trust a man ourselves, so as to transact business with him, would it not be better to forego our bargain, even though it may seem a tempting one, and to decline dealings with him, than to accomplish our purpose by bringing others into a situation we ourselves dislike?
I may further ask, whether, in the spirit, and to no small extent in the letter of it, what has just been said does not bear application to the whole system of what is known, in modern business, under the term Accommodation. Is not that a system which, on the principles stated, ought to be denounced and put down? Some say it is impossible to transact business without it. It may be well, however, to inquire how far this alleged impossibility does not arise from the very modes of transacting business which modern usage has introduced? I allude to the unrighteous, lying, ruinous method of speculation without capital; of extensive risks on a baseless credit; of what may be called the lottery plan of business, where wealth to ourselves, or ruin both to ourselves and others, are put upon the cast of a die. If the credit is baseless, the business is base. All are, in theory, of one mind, that the accommodation system, as it has been carried on, is a false, treacherous, hollow, ruinous system; a system of utter delusion, stamped throughout with lies. Christian men of business should set their faces decidedly against it, doing what they can to fix on it the stigma of dishonour, and to oust it from the mercantile world.
But while Solomon condemns suretiship, he at the same time intimates that when an engagement has once been made, it is binding. Such seems the import of the second verse-"Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth."
This is one of the very considerations by which previous caution and forethought are rendered necessary. You may wish, after the thing has been done, that it had not been done, or that it could be undone. But truth and honour may now tie you down to your promise. The case may come under that feature of the acceptable worshipper in God's courts-" He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." You have brought yourself into a snare, and by your own word, in speech or in writing, have placed yourself in the power of others. What, then, is to be done? Solomon's counsel is-Extricate yourself, if you can; that is, if by any means consistent with the principles of truth and honour, it is at all in your power. He exhorts you to the very humblest concessions:-verse Pro_6:3. "Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend."
The closing words seem to mean, as in the margin, "Humble thyself that thou mayest prevail with thy friend." The object is, to induce him, by all equitable and self-denying concessions, to pay the money himself, or to prevail with the creditor to dispense with the security,-to discharge your obligation. There is a pride sometimes which, after a man has committed himself, even how strongly soever he may see and feel afterwards his error, both as it affects himself and others, will not allow him to stoop to any means whatever of disentangling himself. The principle, to a certain extent, is one which we cannot but admire. But it may be carried too far; especially when we find that we have been implicating others as well as ourselves. What will it profit to add pride and pertinacity to folly and wrong?
Solomon, observe, treats it as a matter of most urgent exigency:-verses Pro_6:4-5. "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler."
The urgency of the case will of course correspond in degree with the extent of the obligation and the risk. It is here supposed to be one of magnitude and importance. But the principle comprehends all cases, though applicable with various measures of force. There is a correspondence between the figure in these verses and that which had been used in the second: "Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth,"-" Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." The hunter and the fowler catch their prey for their own purposes, not for the benefit of the roe or the bird. So you have suffered yourself to be snared and caught by others, not for your profit, but for theirs. If they, then, have caught you for theirs, for your own you should seek escape.
It is evident, however, that the language implies, If, with all your efforts, you are unsuccessful in obtaining your discharge, you must stand to your engagement. Treachery would be a much greater loss in character, than would be compensated by evading, or attempting to evade, the loss of property; and, even were you able to keep your money, while you would lose caste in the world, you would lose "peace with God" and "the answer of a good conscience."
This, then, is one of the ways in which a man may bring himself into straits, and even reduce himself to beggary. It is not the first nor the second time that a man has beggared himself by suretiships. We may commend his generous and accommodating kindness; but we cannot praise the prudence with which it has been exercised: and if others are connected with him, and involved in his downfall, the error has been one of principle as well as of prudence.
In the verses which follow, Solomon brings before us another way in which straits and poverty may be induced. It is Sloth. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."
The indolent and improvident are addressed; and they are sent to the inferior creation for a lesson: and not to the greatest and the noblest of animals, but to one of the least and most insignificant of insects. Of the Ant there are various species even in the same country; and some that are peculiar to their respective climates and regions of the earth. They differ in size, in colour, and in some particulars both of their structure and of their instinctive habits. All are remarkable for their industry. It is indeed astonishing; and the results of their united labours are no less so, when the diminutiveness of the agents is considered. Of some of the species the abodes-the ant-hills as they are usually termed-are of great size, exceeding the height of a man; and they are constructed with wonderful regularity and skill, the result of labours that would seem incredible were they not thus ascertained in their effects. They are in the form of a conical mount, with roads winding through every part of the settlement; and all their granaries for food, and their depositories for their young (in their care of which they are most singularly assiduous and exemplary) are arranged in suitable positions, and in due order. Their travels and exertions in procuring provisions are not less amazing than their habitations, and the order of their community. These expeditions in quest of food are sometimes made solitarily, and sometimes in bands; and it would appear as if individuals, when they fall in with any article of public utility, but too bulky for their unaided efforts to remove, have methods of communicating the intelligence, and leading off swarms of assistants, to accomplish by numbers what could not be done by strength. They go in these troops to very considerable distances, and repeat their journeys till they have got all secured. Ants may be seen pushing on before them grains of corn which they are unable to carry. It is further said (and it is previously likely, and seems to be sufficiently authenticated) that, to prevent the grain in their deposits from growing, they instinctively gnaw off the germ from the extremity. The little white substances, resembling very small peas, which appear in such numbers at times on the surface or when the surface is at all displaced, are not their food; nor are they their eggs, but their young at a particular stage of their progress. These are the first objects of their attention; and when the settlement is disturbed and thrown into alarm by any foreign invasion, whether from the foot of man or otherwise, the eagerness, the toil, and the rapidity with which all instantly set about and effect their removal, are not less instructive than they are surprising.
On the subject of the other particular, the providence of the ant, it has, by some naturalists, been questioned. It has been alleged that during winter they are, like some other insects, in a state of torpidity, and therefore need not the precaution ascribed to them in the eighth verse, of "providing their meat in the summer, and gathering their food in the harvest." On this we may observe-
1. If the fact of their laying up provisions be ascertained, all analogy more than warrants the conclusion that it is for some end. We do not find these extraordinary instincts operating to no purpose. Nature, or more properly, the God of nature, does nothing of this kind in vain.
2. "Whereas it has been said, the stock thus laid up is not for winter, but for the sustenance and nourishment of the community, at a period when the young come to need the almost undivided attention of the whole, and when, consequently, they have not leisure for their predatory excursions;-I need not say that, as a proof of providence, even were it admitted, this comes to the very same thing. But observe-
3. The assertion that the laying up of provisions is a mistake, is, even by those who make it, confined to the ants with which we are acquainted in England or in Europe, while it does not extend with certainty even to all of them. It is granted by these sceptical naturalists themselves, to be more than probable in regard to the ants of other and warmer climates. "What has been said with exaggeration" says one of them, "of the European ant, is, however, true if asserted of those of the tropical climates. They build an ant-hill with great contrivance and regularity; they lay up provisions; and, as they probably live the whole year, they submit themselves to regulations entirely unknown among the ants of Europe." * There is often no little amount of uncertainty respecting the instinctive customs of these minute creatures. Such uncertainty is apparent even in the terms used in this extract-"exaggeration" and "probably." But the admission it contains is itself quite enough. If there were ants of the kind described, known in the time and country of Solomon, we need not carry our inquiries further. Not a few fabulous extravagances, as might be expected, have been asserted, both respecting this and other creatures of a similar description; but when all that is fabulous has been deducted, there remains enough, in the well-ascertained facts, to excite our astonishment and call forth our praise.
* Buffon.
But the lesson for which these little wonders of sensitive creation are here introduced is of a different kind. It is a lesson of reproof and shame to the slothful, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard."
The language of the seventh verse is far from being intended to convey the idea that these creatures have no regular subordination among themselves in their little settlements. For although here, in a special manner,-under the influence of a fancy enamoured of the subject, and addicted to the marvellous, fond itself of wondering and making others wonder,-fabulous things have been imagined to have been observed and have been recorded among the facts of their natural history; yet, as in the case of the Bee and other insects, there is no reason to doubt, but good ground for believing, that they have a government-a regular system of subdivision into castes, or peculiar occupations, and of rule and subjection and social operation. But the ants, as a community, are here spoken of; and the meaning is, that they have no creature of superior intelligence to teach them what to do and how to do it; to inform them of their future necessities, and direct them in what way to provide against them. It is in their nature,-impressed there in a way that is full indeed of mystery, yet full of the wisdom of Him, all whose works are perfect.
The lesson is, that Industry is the duty of man, as it is the practice of the ant. Even in paradise, man was not to be idle, though his occupation was to have nothing in it of toil fatigue, or disappointment. He was placed in the garden "to dress it and to keep it." And on men now, numerous are the inculcations of this duty in the Word of God.*
* See, for example, Rom_12:11. 1Ti_5:8. 1Th_4:11-12. 2Th_3:6-14.
We may mention three grounds of the duty, as indicated in Scripture. The first is, that persons may not be a burden on society, or on the church. On this point, indeed, the apostle's language is strong even to seeming harshness; but it is the language of God's Spirit, and shows the light of severe reprehension in which He regards the idle. He interdicts support to them--prohibits charity, "If any will not work, neither should he eat." A further reason is, that they may be out of the way of temptation; there being many temptations in idle habits, and in the want to which they lead, from which the industrious are free; temptations to dishonesty, and pilfering, and extorting by false pretexts, living by lying.* The third is, that they may have wherewith to assist others, whose need, from unavoidable causes, may be greater than their own. This motive is strongly inculcated by the apostle, "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth," Eph_4:28.
* Comp. 1Th_4:12.
It is characteristic of sloth, as of some other dispositions, that it is ever growing. Give it any measure of indulgence, and it demands more. The indolent man is ever seeking apologies for keeping his bed or his easy chair. When these fail, he still pleads for a little-were it but ever so little-just another half-hour-just one minute more! Solomon in the next verses sounds the alarm, "How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." How graphically descriptive of the yawning sloth; the useless piece of lazy lumber in society!-
"Like the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,
Moves his sides and his shoulders, and his heavy head."
And how forcibly is he warned of the natural tendency, and the inevitable consequence! Poverty may make slow, but they are sure, advances. "It comes as a traveller." And when it arrives, the habit of inaction has become so powerful and inveterate, that it proves "as an armed man." All resistance is vain. The very effort of prevention, if it can be called such, is that of indolence, and proves fruitless; and the poor sluggard, thoroughly mastered by arms which himself has furnished, becomes a prey to all the wretchedness of pinching penury; and is doomed to endure it without any portion of that soothing sympathy which is ever extended to the diligent but unfortunate-or let us rather say providentially unsuccessful labourer; who will always find a place in the compassion and the practical charity of others.
The passage suggests the following among other important reflections:-
1. The great importance of Christians exemplifying in all their transactions with the world, what may be denominated business virtues,-integrity, prudence, and diligence. Remember, fellow-Christians, the men of the world, while they may scorn, or affect to scorn, your piety,-in regard to the business of life, and the principles by which it ought to be reciprocally regulated, are, in many respects, acute and discriminating judges. T’s; and they have the eyes of lynxes upon Christian professors, to detect whatever is inconsistent with uprightness and honour, and even with industry and discretion. Oh! it is a sad thing when those who "name the name of Christ,"-who profess the faith of his truth and subjection to his will, and from whom all that is exemplary is naturally and justly expected, are found failing in these palpable and every-day duties of life; when they not only give occasion to the world to say of them, What do ye more than others?-but even to point to them as falling short of the world's standard! The Christian does not look for spirituality and devotion in the man of the world; but the man of the world looks, and justly looks, for uprightness and diligence and honour in the Christian. It is melancholy when devotion is divorced from. practical righteousness; when a man appears affecting unwonted sanctity; makes long prayers and long faces; talks much about religion, and takes a prominent part in all Bible, and Missionary, and Tract, and Sabbath-School Societies; and by his transactions in business, by his hardness, by his chicanery, by his false credit and mean shifts, gives the world reason for its favourite nicknames, the utterance at once of contempt and indignation, of a canting, psalm-singing hypocrite!
2. Let Christian parents in every station train their children to habits of industry as well as of incorruptible honesty. It is said to have been the rule and practice of the Jews to teach all their children some handicraft employment, to which they might be able to have recourse in all circumstances. The principle of the rule was excellent. Idleness not only tends to "clothe a man with rags," but as before noticed, is the inlet to numberless temptations. It is one of the Highways To Vice. Young friends, if you would be virtuous, be busy. If you would be vicious, be idle.
3. Spiritual service,-all that regards religion and the divine life in the soul, no less than the interests of the present world, requires, in order to prosperity, "all diligence." Without it there can be no spiritual acquisitions any more than temporal; no riches in the things of God, any more than in the things of the world.
Thus we apply the admonition to the cultivation of personal godliness. We apply it also to the duties of parents in the instruction of their families. We apply it to the labours of pastors and deacons in the church. We apply it to the whole course of Christian duty, in zeal for God, and benevolence to men. In regard to all, "whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
The first thing to which the ungodly are called is faith in Christ. If you are expecting or attempting to get pardon and heaven in any other way-never was there a more hopeless undertaking. Many an airy speculation has been gone into in this world's business, and gone into with a confidence in the direct ratio of its unsubstantiality and unsoundness. But never was there a speculation surer of failure than this. You are trading without a capital. You are trying to force credit, where you have none, and where you never can get it. You are not merely bankrupt. Bankrupts may make a composition, paying a smaller or a larger proportion of their debts. But yours is a case-as is that of every sinner on earth-of absolute destitution. You have nothing to pay. The question-"What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" is a question which admits but of one answer, what can he give who has nothing? O my friends, there is but One Surety who, in this exigency, can stand between you and ruin, Jesus will answer for you; and none else in heaven or earth can. If you come to Him, with a sense of your own destitution, He will undertake for you. If you believe in Him, you will find the full amount of your debt to God paid in the ransom of his precious blood. Whatever you have owed, it will be frankly and for ever cancelled. And then you will set out anew, "working the works of God," on a new principle and new credit; with a stock, not of fancied merit, but of real grace. Receiving from Christ's fullness, while you rely upon his mercy, you will trade with the talents committed to you for the interests of his kingdom and the glory of his name, and he will say to you at last with the smile of approving love-" Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make the ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"
