The Psalms were full of devotion and rapture; this book, of instruction for our conduct. Both must unite; the fire of devotion, and the grace received in prayer must quicken and strengthen us for the practice of duty. In this chapter we have, 1. The title of the book, showing the general scope and design of it, vers. 1—6. 2. The first principle of it recommended to our serious consideration, vers. 7—9. 3. A necessary caution against bad company, vers. 10—19. 4. A faithful and lively representation of wisdom's reasoning with the children of men, and the certain ruin of those that turn a deaf ear to those reasoning, vers. 20—33. 1 Kings in 3x Chap. 1. 1. &6xx. 2. Exlief. III. 3. Heb. Equitas. b Chap. ix. 9. Or, also your speech. 1. THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding; 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4. To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning: and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The book of Proverbs opens with an introduction, informing us, 1. Who was the author of them: Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel; the wise son of a wise father; a king, who thought it no disparagement of his dignity to be a teacher of the ignorant; and the type of him, who in the fulness of time should arise to reign over the Israel of God. 2. What was the author's design. He fought not fame by his works, but to make men wise unto salvation. To know wisdom, the system of divine truth revealed from God; and in- struction, the method of attaining it ourselves, and communicating it to others. To perceive the words of understanding; to distinguish truth from error, having this infallible test to appeal to. To receive the instruction of wisdom, even the wisdom of God, the dictates of the spirit of truth, teaching us justice, judgment, and equity, in all our concerns among men; to render to all their due, according to the obligations, connections, and relation we stand in towards them. To give subtlety to the simple; the instructions here given are level to the meanest capacities; and the most illiterate, who receive them, will become wise as serpents; wise in the best sense, even unto salvation. To the young man, whose inexperience wants a guide, and his resources a check, knowledge and discretion, or thought; how to think and act alight, and in these dangerous days to demean himself according to the rules prescribed in God's blessed word. A wise man will hear; not only the young and simple may find instruction, but there is here what the wise may attend with profit, and their attention hereunto will prove the reality of the wisdom they possess, and will increase learning; for those who have made the highest attainments, are at best defective. There are treasures of wisdom and knowledge in the book of God far, very far beyond all we have yet reached. None may think themselves too wise to learn, and too old to be taught: and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels; the counsels of God, the mysteries of his gospel, wherein the wisdom of God is most eminently displayed; and being himself instructed, he will be enabled to affix others with his advice: shall possess the helm, as the words may be rendered, whether as a teacher in the church of God, or as the pilot of the state. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation, or, the elegance; both able to resolve the truth intended to be conveyed, and point out the beauty of the manner and expression in which it is couched: the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. To a natural man, the greatest truths of scripture are enigmatical, and often in his account foolishness; yet are they the words of the wise, even of the all-wise God; and when he gives an enlightened understanding. Chap. 1. Before Christ standing, then, like a mathematical problem solved, what seemed confusion and nonsense to the unskilful, appears evident, clear, and striking. 7. ¶ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despite wisdom and instruction. 8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9. For * they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. More true wisdom is contained in one maxim of God's word, than in all the volumes of philosophers. 1. The fear of the Lord is the beginning, or summit, of knowledge. This is the first principle to be laid down and received by all who would be truly wise. God must be the object of our fear; not as dreading his wrath, but with reverential and affected before him, with holy jealousy careful not to offend him, and as all his worship and ways subsistence to please him. But fools despite wisdom and instruction. They may profess themselves to be wise, but their contempt of God's word, and of divine teaching, shews their folly as great as their problems. 2. Next to the fear of God is the honour and attention due to our parents. My son, hear the instruction of thy father. That fathers will take pains to instruct their children in the good ways of God, is presumed; for they are unnatural monthers, who can suffer their children to grow up in ignorance, and whose wicked examples embolden them to sin. And to the instructions of a good father a dutiful son will lend an attention ear: and forsake not the law of thy mother; for we owe the same respect to both our parents; and he is equally a disobedient child, who rejects the advice of the one as of the other. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck; in God's sight of great price, in whose eyes shall duty and early piety is infinitely more ornamental, than in ours the collar studded with jewels, or the pendant chains of gold. 10. ¶ My son, if sinners entice thee, confest thou not. 11. If they say, Come with us, let us say wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14. Calt in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. 15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path. 16. For their feet run to evil, and make haite to shed blood. 17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18. And they lay wait for their own blood, they lurk privily for their own lives. 19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain: which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. a. 10—19. Among the sick and most dangerous soares for young persons is bad company: to shun this, they can never enough be cautioned; and as this wicked world is full of company, we must watch indeed, if we would keep ourselves unipotted from them. 1. Their character is strongly drawn. Sinners will notice that from attending to the advice of aged, whom they call doating parents; will represent the paths of vice in every pleasing colour; and promising plenty and impunity, solicite thy content to join in their destructive ways. Come, joy they, with us; let us go soon for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause, or, with impunity; to rob the harmless traveller, and, if he resists, take his blood as well as his money. Nor should they fear a discovery: Let us swallow them up alive at the grave, and which in those that go down into the pit; to that no traces of the blood shall remain, and in the pit they can roll no talos, so that we shall be false from accusation. We shall find all precious substance, earned thus without toil: we shall fill our houses with spoil, and not in the affluence. Come, celt in thy lot with us, and be happy; or, then shall celt thy lot with us, welcome to share all our gains. Let us all have one purse, or we will, and live jovially together on the prey we have taken. Note, (1.) Evil companions are ever ready to proffer their friendship, which the prudent and pious are cautious with whom they are so neutral. (2.) The hope of feast is the great embodiment, argument to sin. (3.) Gain appears to be precious substance in a werbbling eye; but it is dearly bought at the price of the food's carcass rum. (4.) They who once give way to sin, never know to what lengths they shall run. (5.) The love of money is the root of all evil. 2. The caution given is, Confess thee not to their solicitation. My son, wake not thou in the way of them, to associate with them, or follow their dangerous steps. Refrain thy foot from their path, when tempted thereunto, and to which current nature is to prove: for their feet run to evil, offensive to God, and hurtful to mankind; and make haite to shed blood, the ven- grance due to which will shortly bring down the heaviest judgments upon them. Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird: they no sooner perceive the share, than they fly away; but the sinner, more infatuated, fees the devil spread his tools, knows the end of their or murder must be fatal to his body, and is affured, that hell must be his portion, yet rather into the tolls, and madly courts his ruin. They lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. Blood will cry in spite of all their care to conceal it, and their deeds of darkness come to the light, and pull down destruction on their heads. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; so lurk to him, body and soul, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof: either the robber musters the possessor of it, to obtain his wealth; or the goods he hath stolen are found upon him, and produced as evidences to take away his life. Note, (1.) If we would keep from the deeds of the wicked, we must shun their feast. (2.) What is said of robbery or murder is equally true of every other sin, that it will prove the damnation of the sinner at half. (3.) What folly, what madness is in the human heart, that can for a perishing world destroy an immortal soul, and for a momentary phasire plunge into everlasting burning? 20. ¶ Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city of the untruth her words, saying, 22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the sororers delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23. Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24. ¶ Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded it. 25. But ye have set at noogles all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26. I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; 27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and auguish cometh upon you. 28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29. For that they hastened knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30. They would none of my counsel: They despised all my reproof. 31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32. For the turning away of the simple shall stay them, and the prophecy of fools shall destroy them. 33. But whoo hearkneth unto me, shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. As diligently as we are warned to fly the enticements of sinners, as earnestly are we admonished to attend the calls and warnings of God. We have, 1. The voice of wisdom crying in the streets, in the places of greatest concourse, and in the gates, that all who will may hear the divine admonitions. This wisdom, or wisdom in the original, may be interpreted of the divine revelation in general, or rather signifies Chaith Jesus, who is the person here speaking in the words of his everlasting gospel; rebuking the wickedness of those to whom he preached, and furnishing their dreadful doom. And this voice is still heard in the public manifestation of the word, and these warnings are to us full equally needful, and the danger of neglecting them equally fatal. Note, They that perish under a preached gospel, are less peculiarly without excuse. 2. The words which wisdom utters. [1.] He expeditates, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? Indulge your own vain notions, and (post in) your own detestations, in hopes of mercy unsupported by God's word, and in ways of folly which must end in misery: and forerest delight in fternity; scoffing at serious godliness, and counting it high humour and wit to turn things sacred into ridicule; constraining religion as a mean, love thing, as the Scribes and Pharisees did the great Author of it: and fools hate knowledge; averle to hear the gospel word, and chasing darkness rather than light. With such, with many such, God bears long. He delighteth not indeed in the death of a sinner, and therefore, [2.] He exhorts them earnestly not to worry not his patience, or provoke his wrath. Turn ye at my reproof; attend to the calls of my word; and most encouraging is the invitation. Behold, sinner, and wonder, after all thy provocations, at the grace recorded in Jesus Christ, who hath gifts even for the rebellious; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, or upon you; upon Jesus, or death, if others continued impunity, and would not hear. I will make known my words unto you; in general to all, in the preaching of the gospel, so as to leave them unavoidable who repels it; and in a special manner to marry, by enabling them to receive the truth in the light and in the love of it. [3.] He upbraids them The first time with their impenitence and hardness of heart: I have called, and of refuled; as the Jews rejected his word, and finners continue to do; either by withdrawing from the place of hearing, or by their inattention there, or by their obituary nonwithstanding every warning, perishing in their sins. I have stretched out my arm, and no man regarded; as Jesus did in the temple, John v. 11, and as his zealous ministers do in their importunate discourses, but to many with small effect; they continue a disobedient and guinlaying people. To have set at weight of my counsel; the gospel of their salvation, which the Jews despised, and which the self-righteous and the careless finner Bill reject: and would have none of my reproof; would neither hear nor obey it; may, they hated knowledge, ver. 29. and did not check the fear of the Lord, but rather preferred the perverse ways of their own hearts. [4]. He therefore denounces their doom, which had a prelate fulfilment in the destruction of the Juville people, and will most eminently be accomplished in the day of the final perdition of ungodly men. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will want when your fear cometh: come it will; vain and festerly will seize on their bodies, and terrors on their guilty souls. When your fear cometh as a defalcation, overwhelming as a flood; and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, sudden and irresistible; when distress and anguish cometh upon you, as was terribly felt in the lungs of Jerusalem, and in the day of wrath will more fearfully overtake the impenitent sinner; then, instead of the least compaition, God, angels, and saints will mock at their torrents, and aggravate their wretchedness. Too late then it will be to cry for mercy, when the door is shut. Now prayer can avail, and God will hear the cries of the miserable; but this, I say, they shall call upon me, but I will not answer; deaf to their cries, though it were but for a drop of water to cool their flaming tongue. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; all their importunity is vain; the sentence is gone forth, the decree irrevocable, their damnation eternal. And this accord, by the strictest justice: they chose their own delusions, and were impenetrably hardened, v. 29, 30. Therefore they shall not of the fruit of their own way. Sin and suffering are inseparable: they who chuse the one, must expect the other; and be filled with their own devices, in the ruin they have courted. Thus the Jews, who crucified Christ, were themselves miserably crucified, till trees were wanting to hang them on. For the turning away of the simple shall stay them: they who depart from Christ must perish; or, the rest of the simple, &c. whilst they cry, Peace, peace, I claim destruction cometh upon them; and the prosperity of full shall destroy them; their possessions enabling them to give a loose to the gratifications of their appetites, and begetting that fatal security which is the prelude to ruin. Let sinners read these awful lines, and tremble. Reader, whoever thou art, may they never be fulfilled in thee. [5]. He declares the blissedness of those who hear and obey the reproofs of God's word. Whois harkneath unto me, to Christ and his gospel, and yields up his heart to him, shall dwell safely: no enemy shall approach to hurt him, neither Satan, sin, nor death. Sprinkled with the blood, and clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, his peace on earth is secured, and in heaven shall his abode for ever be: and shall be quiet from fear of evil; entered into that eternal rest, which nothing can disturb, and which remaineth sure to all the people of God. Lord, may this be my lot and portuon. 14. The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD, shall fall therein. Vol. I. 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Natural and deep-rooted is the corruption of the fallen heart; it is born with us, and what is thus bred in the bone, will not easily come out of the flesh. Early abolitioners therefore, when sin and folly begin to bud, is absolutely necessary; and nothing but this can cut off the shoots, which, each moment they are spared, will grow more luxuriant. 16. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. They who are in haste to be rich, often take those methods that most effectually disappoint their own designs. The fruits of oppression are gotten with a curly, and in expensive entertainments of the rich, or bribes to obtain their protection, are quickly wafted, and that want they thus wickedly fought to shun, in all its misery overtakes them. 17. Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 19. That thy truth may be in the LORD, have made known to thee this day, even to thee. 20. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge? 21. That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee. The inspired penman here changes his title, and, as in the beginning, addresses himself to his son in a way of exhortation; and what he saith unto him, he saith unto all who are called upon to hear and learn. Diligent attention, and heart-application, are necessary, v. 17. If we would come to the knowledge of the truth, and understand the words of the wise, those inspired writers, whom God hath employed to communicate to us his mind and will. And in order hereunto, various arguments are suggested to engage our minds in the pursuit. 1. It is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; for heart-religion only, not formality, can bring us to raise the comforts of true godliness; and they who are most faithful, will be most happy, and find that joy a stranger intermediate not with. 2. It will be highly becoming. They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, or, be spared by thy lips; spoken to as to muslites grace to the hearers, and gain their regard and reverence. 3. Hereby our hearts will be established to faith and confidence in God, v. 19. This being the blessed effect of his word, and the great end for which it was written, and is preached; and when we are enabled to trust, we shall for the great salvation of God. 4. The matter is clear, the subject infinitely important, and highly excellent, designed to promote our eternal blessings, written to convey perpetual instruction, and particularly addressed to us by name: to thee, reader, come to thee; therefore to-day, whilst it is called to-day, may the word of gospel-grace sounding in thine ears, sink down into thine heart, as an engorged word, able also to save thy soul! 5. The truths are certain, v. 21. not seemingly devised fables, but delivered by the inspiration of God; and by the perusal of them, with fervent prayer, we shall arrive at the full assurance of understanding; shall have an evidence of the certainty of the objects of our faith, strong as that of our being, so that not a doubt remains. 6. They will enable us to give an answer to every one that attends us a reason of the hope that is in us, and out of the good treasure of our heart to communicate to them the lessons we have been taught of God. 22. Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppresseth the afflicted in the gate. 23. For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. v. 22, 23. Poverty should plead for compassion: it is doubly cruel to take advantage of their distress to oppress the needy, by vexations law-suits, in which they have not ability to defend themselves; by impositions levied on their necessities, or by perverting their judgment in the gate, and, through bribes or 9 F favour, favour, Zech. vii. 10. Joh. xxi. 11. Psal. 1610. 9. 20. ¶ My son, keep thy father's commandment, and fortake not the law of thy mother. 21. ¶ Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. 22. ¶ When thou goeth, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepeth, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakeeth, it shall talk with thee. 23. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. 24. ¶ To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. 25. ¶ Lull not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eye-lids. 26. ¶ For thy means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. 27. ¶ Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt? 28. ¶ Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt? 29. ¶ So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife: whosoever toucheth her, shall not be innocent. 30. ¶ Nor do not defipite a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry: 31. But if he be found, he shall restore seven fold, he shall give all the substance of his house. 32. But who so commitreth adultery with a woman, lecketh understanding: he that doth it, destroyeth his own soul. 33. A wound and dishonour shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. 34. For jeal, lofty is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 35. He will not regard any man from; neither will he rest content, though thou giveth many gifts. We have here, 1. A repeated exhortation to attend the lessons of instruction, that as a wife and careful parent, this father inculcated on his son, v. 20. They should be engraved on the fleshly tables of hearts, and worn as the best ornaments, v. 21. and the blessed effects of so doing will be experienced in the direction, protection, and comfort which they will manifest, guiding us in the right way: when we sleep, preserving us from fears and terror; and when we walk, affording sweet subject for confluent meditation, v. 22. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; the world is a dungeon, without the light of God's word and spirit, and but for this, we must for ever be stumbling on the dark mountains of ignorance, error, and unbelief; but by this bright guide, we both for the way of truth, are cheered and comforted in walking therein; discover the flares and stumbling blocks of sin and temptation, and escape them; and find the reproofs of instruction to be the soap of life, of our spiritual and happy life on earth, and our eternal life in heaven. 2. A particular warning is again given, to guard against the wiles of the wanton, and to preserve the temple of our bodies in purity and chastity; for against this generally believing sin of uncleanness, too frequent and solemn cautions cannot be given. To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman, whose lips are more poisonous than the venom of a serpent, and her words deceitful and enfouring. Lull not after her beauty in thine heart, for God accounts a ludicrous look, or impure desire, adultery committed in the heart; therefore turn away thine eyes from the tempest's face, and let her not take thee with her eye-lids, with those amorous glances that kindle the raging fire of breeder's, and bind our passions with cords stronger than links of iron. To deter us from this dreadful finer. 3. The dire consequences are inflicted upon: let him that reaeth, understand. (1.) Beggary attends her. By means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread, as was the prodigal son, and many others; who, enslaved by such a wretch, to gratify her extravagance, have ruined their families and themselves. (2.) Death is in her path. The adulteress will hunt for the precious life; either leading a man into courses, which end in an ignominious death, by the hand of the civil magistrates; or to rid herself of him, when tired of his company, and able to get no more out of him, she gets him poisoned or afflicted. (3.) It will kindle a flame of guilt in his conscience, that unless prevented by grace, will burn to all eternity. As impossible as it would be to take live coals into our bosom, and not be burnt, to impossible is it to commit adultery, and not kindle in our fools the fire of hell. Why, every distant approach must be avoided, as we would than the sparks from the furnace; for whatever reached for in wanton influence, or with impure desires, shall not be innocent, or free; he contracts guilt to burden his conscience, or the sinful liberties he take, will be discovered to his infamy and disgrace. Now, They who would guard their hearts, must keep their eyes, their hands, their lips. Truth not, to the not; the first approaches to sin must be avoided, or, like the rolling stone on a declivity, each revolution accelerates the motion, and all the powers of restraint are lost. 4. The infamy and punishment due to it, are greater than to theft. If a man steal, driven by hunger, we do not despise, but pity the miserable object: nay, if he have no need, but steals out of pure knavery, the law provides he shall make full restitution. He shall give all the substance of his house, nay, might be sold, if he had not wherewithal to pay; but more villainous and infamous is the thief that steals the affections of a wife, that robs his neighbour of his honour, and by introducing into his family a spurious brood, commits the most atrocious kind of theft, for which there can be no restitution. He lecketh understanding, for otherwise he never would add so madly: he that doth it, destroy his own soul, his goods cannot repair the damage, his life is forfeited to justice, John will, s. or his soul in torment eternal must pay the penalty. A wound and dishonour shall be set; some punishment inflicted by the secret hand of God, or by man, and dishonour that will make him despicable in the eyes of all men of virtue and religion; and his reproach shall not be wiped away; the brand of it on his reputation is indelible, even though the blood of Christ should have washed the guilt from his conscience. 5. The jealous husband will not fail to take condign vengeance for the injury done him. His rage is not to be pacified with interstices, or to be bribed by gifts; he will spare no pains Before Christ to profecute the fair, and bring to public infamy and suffering the robber of his honour; or perhaps he will become the executioner of his own revenge, and take away, in bitter rage, the life of a wretch, that hath so justly forfeited it to divine justice. Be wise, ponder these things, and dread every approach that would lead to such a fearful end. Excellens is the adviser here given. May we be enabled to follow it. 1. We must be confident to our duty, because that is the way to be happy, ver. 1-4. 2. We must live a life of dependance upon God, because that is the way to be life, ver. 6, 7. 3. We must keep up the fear of God, because that is the way to be healthful, ver. 7, 8. 4. We must serve God with our statutes, because that is the way to be rich, ver. 9, 10. 5. We must bear afflictions well, because that is the way to get good by them, ver. 11, 12. 6. We must take pains to obtain wisdom, because that is the way to gain her, and to gain by her, ver. 13-20. 7. We must always govern ourselves by the rules of wisdom, because that is the way to be always safe, ver. 21-26. 8. We must do all the good we can, and no hurt to our neighbour, because according as men are just or unjust, charitable or uncharitable, humble or haughty, accordingly they shall receive of God, ver. 27-35. By all which it appears what a tendency religion has to make men both blessed and blessed. MY son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments; a. For length of day, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4. So shalt thou find favour, and good understandings in the light of God and man. 5. Truth in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. To be truly religious is not only our bounden duty, but our highest interest, as appears in the threefold blessedness here promised thereupon. 1. My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments, store them up in thy memory, cleave to them with hearty affection, obey them with unrelieved surrender, and with that delight and love which flamps the obedience genuine, and childlike. For length of days, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee: on earth a life of usefulness, continued to old age, with God's peace, and the comfortable enjoyment of his favour; in honour, a life endearing through the ages of eternity, and perfection of peace and blessedness shall be the everlasting portion of the faithful soul. 2. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, shew every kindness to men's bodies and souls, compassionate their disbeliefs, and believe to relieve them. In truth let every word be spoken; and to the gospel-word steadially adhere: bind them, the commandments and doctrines of wisdom, about thy neck, as the richest ornament, write them upon the table of thine heart to deep, that the divine impecition may never be erased. So shalt thou find favour, or grace, and good understanding, or beauty, in the light of God and man; God will approve and delight in the work of his own hands; for all good cometh from him, and the children of God will with pleasure behold these tokens of genuine wisdom, and give the right hand of fellowship, wishing thee prosperity in the name of the Lord. 3. Truth in the Lord, rejecting all other dependance and false confidence, trust him at all times, in every disloyalty, for the accomplishment of all that Father, Son, and Spirit have engaged to do for their redeemed, in the everlasting covenant of grace; trust him with all thine heart, unfeignedly and universally, and lean not unto thine own understanding, but on his wisdom, grace, and providence, to direct and guide us; without which, all our contrivances will disappoint us, and our understanding be foolishness. In all thy ways acknowledge him, consult his word, set him ever before thee; by prayer commit thy ways to him, ascribe to him the success of every undertaking, and submit with entire resignation to his corrections, and he shall direct thy path, so that the end of it shall be peace: he will guide us here by his counsel, and afterwards bring us to his glory. 7. ¶ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. 9. Ho-nour the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase. 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. 11. ¶ My son, despite not the chastising of the LORD: neither be weary of his correction. 12. For whom the LORD loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son, to whom he delighteth. Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life which now is, as well as of that which is to come. We have here the best counsel, and the strongest motives to attend thereto. 1. Be not wise in thine own eyes, passed up with a vain conceit of our own abilities; presuming to be wise above what is written, and flighting the advice of others; fear the Lord, in true humility depending upon him, reverencing his word, and sub-misture to his will, and depart from evil, from sin, from the appearances of it, keep at the greatest distance possible, as from the abominable thing which God hases. It shall be health to thy navel, and morrow to thy bones; it will contribute to the health of body as well as soul, to have God's fear upon our hearts, and sin far removed; temperance and connofure of mind being the best preservatives. 2. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase, supporting the ministers of the sanctuary and the cause of truth, affecting the industrious, and giving liberally, and according to our abilities, to the poor and needy. The only true enjoyment of worldly wealth is thus to employ it for the glory of God, and the good of mankind. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine; for he that lendeth to the Lord, shall never be a loser; what he layeth out, it shall be paid him again, often overpaid in kind, always in comfort. 3. My son, despite not the chastising of the Lord, which the Apostle quotes, Heb. xii. 5. and intimates that the exhortation is addressed to every child of God. Prosperity has been spoken of above as their lot, but sometimes God sees it for their good, to make them feel the rod of correction; and under all their trials, of whatever kind, his hand must be acknowledged. It is the rod of parental tenderness, not to be despised, however light it falls, or to be pulled over with a disability or insurrection: neither be weary of his correction, murmuring under the weight or continuance of the afflictions, debarring of their removal, or impatiently led to take undue methods to extricate ourselves from them. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, and and that is the most powerful argument for our patient fulmin. It is a love, not wrath, which directs the stroke; it is intended purely for our good, it is the proof of God's paternal heart towards us, even as a father the son, in whom he delighteth, and wilson therefore to remove whatever would render him unamukta, or make him more pleading, as those fruits of righteousness do, which grow out of patient suffering. Let no child of God therefore disloes himself with fears, selling from the weight, or severity of his trials; rather let him take comfort from them, as marks of God's regard, and evidences of his adoption. 13. ¶ 7. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that geteth understanding. 14. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 15. She is more precious than nature; and all the things thou can't desire, are not to be compared unto her. 16. 7. Length of days is in her right hand: and in her left hand riches and honour. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasanter, and all her paths are peace. 18. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retameth her. 19. The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. The unpeakable advantages of true wisdom are here returned, and the happiness of the man asserted who geteth understanding, or draweth it out from the well of the scriptures, where this living water flows. 1. Wilson is the most valuable acquisition; silver, gold, you, even rubies, and all the delights of the sons of men cannot compete with her: these are perfusing, that endures to everlasting ages. The spiritual merchant, who, in the scriptures, hath found and embraced by faith the Lord Jesus, is made partake of his unfeasible riches of grace and glory; compared with which, the brightest jewels are but dunge. 2. As a queen, she fits distributing her bounties to her subjects. Length of days are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour, temporal blessings, such as are generally most esteemed; at least, so much of them, as God knows will be good for his people: or eternal blessings, a glorious immortality, treasures in the heaven that never gerish, and the transcendent honour of fitting down with Jesus on his throne. Her ways are ways of pleasanter, and all her paths are peace. Gloomy and melancholy as the ways of godliness are represented by the enemy of souls, and his servants, who, like the lying spots, would bring up an evil report on the good land; they who have made the experiment can testify, that in the sense of God's love and favour, is the most substantial delight; in his service, the truest freedom; and in the paths of his truth, that peace to be found which poseth all understanding; and if such be the way, how unutterably excellent then must the end be, to which these paths of wisdom conduct us! 3. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, alluding to Gen. xi. 9. for as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all, who believe, be made alive, and be restored to the privileges forfeited by one man's disobedience. Yea, they shall eat, and live for ever, and know no second death: and happy is every one that retameth her, no holes for faith, who, by faith, cleaves to the Lord Jesus, and steadily perseveres in the profession and practice of his gospel, which will issue in his eternal blessedness. 4. The excellence of wisdom is seen in all the creation. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by his Son, his essential wisdom; by understanding hath he established the heavens, with the vast orbs that roll in the immensity of space, where all is harmony and order: by his knowledge the depths are broken up, and a place provided for the swelling flood, and the clouds drop down the dew, formed by his power, and falling at his command. If we then are partakers of his wisdom, and joined to this Lord in one spirit, then all things are ours, since we are Christ's, and happiness present and eternal our assured portion. ¶ 21. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep found wisdom and discretion. 22. So shall they be his unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. 23. Thee shall thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. 24. When thou left down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt be down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. 26. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Solomon had declared those happy who walked in wisdom's ways. And he here, 1. Exhorts us to persevere in so doing. My sin, let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them ever in thy view, the words of the Lord, which our Father Christ and his gospel, on which our hearts must abidingly be freed: keep found wisdom and discretion, maintain found principles, and adorn them by a suitable practice. 2. Our labour will not be in vain in the Lord. Wilson will be the life of our soul; when we were dead in trespass and sin, by this were we quickened, and hereby in the midst of every trial are we carried safe to the life of glory: it will be grace to our neck, the nobler ornament of the soul; by this secured, we are enabled to walk without stumbling in the midst of snares, v. 23. to keep unshattered with guilt or fear, v. 24. And whatever vengeance overtakes the ungodly, we shall be preserved, as Noah, amidst the desolation that suddenly swings away the sinner from the earth; and all this because God is our strength and hope. For the Lord shall be the confidence, and under his wings we shall be safe from fear of evil, either of sin, or of suffering, and he shall keep thy foot from being taken in the steps, which Satan, the world, and his lay for us, and from which we never could escape, unless these everlasting arms were under us, and the power and grace of our covenant God engaged for our support. 27. ¶ Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. 28. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. 29. ¶ Devile not evil against thy neighbour, seeing the dwelleth securely by thee. 30. ¶ Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. 31. ¶ Envy thou not it the oppression, and choose none of his ways. 32. For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous. 33. ¶ The curle of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he beleste the habitation of the just. 34. ¶ Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the howy. 35. The wife shall inherit glory, but shame § shall be the promotion of fools. The conscientious discharge of our duty towards our neighbour, is among the best proofs of our being possessed of the wisdom which cometh from above. Many excellent instructions in that behalf are here laid down. 1. We must do justice, and love mercy. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, tribute to magistrates, debts to creditors, wages to servants, or alms to the poor, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it, and therefore to withhold it would shew abhorred covetousness; nor delay till to-morrow the good that may be done to-day: our time is short and precarious, and need be redeemed: Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee; but what thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. 2. We must do him no evil, in body, name, or good: do wife not, or plow not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwells securely by thee, his confidence in us lays forth obligations upon us to answer the good opinion he hath conceived of us, and doubly criminal would it be to take advantage of that, to injure him. 3. Avoid all litigious suits. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm, never quarrel about trifles; suspect not that affronts or injuries were meant, where none were intended; or if no real harm be done, it is malicious to take any advantage to harass others: nay usually it is better fit down by some considerable loss, than fly to the law for relief: the remedy here is often won't than the disease. 4. Envy thou not the oppression, great and prosperous as he may be in his iniquity, and cheap none of his ways, by covetousness, rapine, or injustice, to increase thy store; for unnumbered worlds would be dearly earned at the loss of an immortal soul, and the condition of the poorest professed taint of God is infinitely preferable to that of his proud oppression. For the froward is abomination to the Lord; they who walk thus contrary to him, he will walk contrary to them, and make them feel his vengeance: but his secret is with the righteous, he makes them know the designs of his grace and love towards them, and the end he purposes in his providences; and admits them into sweet communion with himself, as a man talking with his friend. The curle of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, all he hath is under wrath, his possessions are embittered by it, and his comforts are turned into guilt and wormwood: but he delights the habitation of the just, and that can make a cottage a palace, and a dry craft (like the paths of the three children) afford a more delicious meal, than all the luxuries of the great; no reason, therefore, have they to envy them their deceitful meat. Surely he scorneth the scorners; those who treat religion with contentment shall themselves meet with bitterer scorn, when he that sitteth on the heavens shall have them to desolate: but he giveth grace unto the lawful; it was by his grace they became so, and where this is improved, he increaseth his gifts, and addeth more grace. The wife shall inherit glory; it is as there to them as an inheritance. Before Christ and whatever shame and disgrace they may be exposed to here, this eternal honour God will put upon them, shall abundantly incomparable their suffering; but shame shall be the promotion of souls; they hoped for great things, and flattered themselves with the fancies of their future honours; but lo! the fœme is changed, death lays them in the doft, in order to awake in a judgment day to shame, and everlasting contempt. When the things of God are to be taught, precept must be upon precept, and line upon line. Here is, 1. An earnest whoreline to the study of wisdom, that is, of true religion and godliness, bereaved from the good instructions which his father gave him, and enforced with many unfeasible arguments, vers. 1—13. 2. A necessary caution against bad company, and all fellowship with the unfruitful work of darkness, vers. 14—19. 3. Particular directions for the attaining and preserving of wisdom, and bringing forth the fruits of it, vers. 20—27. So plainly, je presingle, is the safe said before us, that we shall be for ever inexcusable, if we perish in our folly. a Chap. I. 2. 1. HEAR, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2. For I give you good doctrine, forsake you not my law. 3. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the fight of my mother. 4. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. 5. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6. Forsake her not, and the shall preserve thee: love her, and the shall keep thee. 7. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. 8. Exalt her, and the shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou doft embrace her. 9. She shall give to thine head: an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. 10. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings: and the years of thy life shall be many. 11. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom: I have led thee in right paths. 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be strained, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life. Nothing too great can be said in the commendation of divine wisdom. 1. Solomon earnestly exhorts his children, and all like them of a teachable spirit, to attend the lessons of instruction he was about to deliver. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding; fathers are bound to use every method to inculcate on their children the knowledge of divine things, and they are in duty bound to pay all deterrents and attention to their advice; but whether they hear, or forbear, it will be a parent's comfort to have done his best: for I give you good doctrine, which, if received, will make you both wise and holy; forsake you not my law. 2. He communicated to them what he had received from his father, and by experience had proved to be excellent. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the fight of my mother, the darling son, Jeremiah, beloved of the Lord, and therefore beloved of them; for in this case, parental partiality may be admitted without a crime. He taught me also; though a king, not too great to be a teacher, and the impression of his instructions, we find, was deep and abiding: and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words, treasure them up in thy memory, as the most invaluable riches; keep my commandments, and live, his obedience to them would, according to the promise, prolong his days on earth, or his fidelity to the inspired instructions of his father, would lead him to life eternal. For his psalms were full of Christ, whom to know is everlasting life. Get wisdom, Christ the sum and substance of it, and the knowledge of his grace, revealed in the word of truth: get understanding, in the diligent use of all instituted means; for though it is the gift of God, that doth not make our diligence the less needful, but rather engages us to exert it, in confidence of success from God: forget it not, whatever measure is attained, neither decline from the words of my mouth, for when once we deviate but a step from the paths of righteousness, we know not where we shall stop. Principals abide, restrain the first wandering, is the grand maxim and only security. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee from the soares and temptations that surround us; love her, as the most desirable object, and she shall keep thee from sin, from sorrow, from every evil way. Wisdom is the principal thing; either Christ, who is the head of all principalities and power, and the prince of the kings of the earth; or his word, the knowledge of which is the highest wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding; for this, of all gain, will most amply recompense our toils. An interest in Christ, and acquaintance with his truth, are the grand acquisitions. Enalt her, ascribe to Jesus the honour due unto his excellent name, and highly value and esteem the glorious truths of God, and she shall promote thee, she shall bring thee to honour, when thou doft embrace her, the highest honour and promotion, even that of being sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, to which all, who by faith apprehend Christ, shall be advanced. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee; not like earth's fasting ornament, orcorruptible crowns, but ornaments that age will never tarnish, and crowns of glory incorruptible, eternal in the heaven. 3. Solomon himself seconds the instructions his father had given him with his own. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many, when here, as itself hereafter life eternal will be the reward. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, I have led thee in right paths, and therefore if he turned aside from them, he must be inexcusable: soa against light and conscience, are doubly sinful. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be strained, but in the glorious liberty of the sons of God, thine heart shall be enlarged with love, and every obstruction removed; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble, so as to fall or perish, through any soares laid by the enemy of souls. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, hang upon her as thy guide and support, and let nothing separate them from Christ and his ways; keep her, by faith maintain a sure interest in him, for she is thy life, the author of the life of grace now, and the bestowers of the eternal life of glory, which all who are faithful to him will shortly enjoy with him. 14. ¶ Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. 16. For they sleep not except they have done mischief: and their sleep is taken away useless they cause some to fall. 17. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19. The way of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble. 1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee: 2. So that thou incline thine our unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding: 3. Yea, if thou cried after knowledge, and lifeth up thy voice for understanding: 4. If thou seekest her as silver, and searched for her as for hid treasures: 5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7. He layeth up found wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity: yea, every good path. Vol. I. v. 1—q. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore by all means to be fought after. 1. The way prescribed is threefold: (1.) Serious attention to, and meditation upon the word of God. (2.) Fervent and importunate prayer, the best guide to the knowledge of the careless of God. (3.) The diligent use of every appointed means, being as eager in the search, as those whose hearts are set upon riches, are in discovering the golden mines, and transcribing the precious ore, v. 1—q. 2. Success will crown these labours, when persevered in. Then shalt thou understand that capital point, the fear of the Lord, wherein it consists, and how it is to be evidenced in the conversation: and find the knowledge of God, of his grace and glory, particularly as manifested in the face of Jesus Christ, whom to know is everlasting life: and this is the gift of God, v. 6. not acquired by the exercise of our rational faculties, but communicated by the Spirit of truth, out of whose mouth cometh knowledge and understanding; in the scriptures, which he hath caused to be written for our learning, in which are hold all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: not the shew of it, but the reality, found wisdom; and laid up there for the righteous, those who by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ are so accounted of God, and whose hearts and ways are by the Spirit renewed in righteousness and true holiness. He is a leader to them that walk uprightly, who make God's word their rule, and being under the divine protection, the shield of almighty land is stretched over them, that sin, Satan, and the world may not come near to hurt them. He keepeth the path of judgment; doeth what is right himself in the dispensations of his providence and grace; and preserveth the way of his saints, that they may never perish, but with perseverance continue in the path of everlasting glory. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment; distinguish truth from error; know how to act with justice in all thy dealings, and what is the duty of every Nation and relation; and equity: yea, every good path, whether respecting God or man: and thus the man of God shall be perfect, thoroughly furnished for every good work. 10. ¶ When wisdom entreth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh forward things. 13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness: 14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked. 15. Whois ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths. 16. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words: 17. Which forskeeth the guide of her youth, and forgeteth the covenant of her God. 18. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 19. Now: that go unto her, return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. 20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. The unbearable advantages of wisdom are here enlarged upon. It is the great preservative from sin, the guide into the way of righteousness, and life or death eternal hang upon our choice or neglect of it. 1. Wisdom will be a preservative from the ways and miseries of sin. When wisdom entreth into thine heart, when Christ takes possession of the heart by his grace, and his gospel effectually influences the conscience; and knowledge is plagued to thy soul; the knowledge of God reconciled in Christ, and of the great and precious promises of the word, sweeter than honey and the honey-comb; descretion shall preserve thee, and understanding shall keep thee; watchful against the Snares laid for our souls, and careful to avoid the temptation and the tempters, whether wicked men, or abandoned women, both of which are here mentioned. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, whose principles are as corrupt, as his practice is abominable; and the character of such is strongly marked, that we may take knowledge of them, and shun them. They bind forward things, ridiculing whatever is caused; pointing their wit against the glorious truths of God; forking with impious blasphemy to bring religion and its precepts into contempt; and dressing up vice in harmlessness and innocence. They leave the paths of uprightness; apostates from the truths they once professed, and these ever gave the most abandoned; to walk in the ways of darkness; wilfully blind, hating the light, and being from it, and hurrying downward into the regions of eternal darkness. Who rejoice to do evil, finding without remorse, and glorying in their shame; and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; they not only love sin themselves, but 8 X have have pleasure in those who commit it; hear their profanates with satisfaction, and laugh at mischief, especially pleased when those who made profusion of religion are drawn into iniquity. Who's ways are crushed, and they forward in the path; ever turning from the first path of truth, obstinately determined in impenitence, and displeased and impatent under every rebuke or warning they may meet. From such men and such ways good Lord deliver us! Yet greater shares remain; shares, from which nothing but this divine wisdom can preserve the soul to deliver thee from the strange woman, the adulteress, who flattereth with her words, enticing with lift blandishments, and pretending warm affection, when meaning nothing but the lute gratification of lawless lust. Which forbeareth the guide of her youth, treacherously leaving the husband the abode, and sacrificing every sacred tie of duty, honour, and conscience, to be full gratification: and forgeteth the covenant of her God, her plighted vows, which this all-Seeing and all-righteous God was called to witness, and with perjured guilt rafting into another's arms. Weak youth, beware! Believe not her hypocritical smiles, nor hope to find sweetness in these stolen waters; there is poison in the cup, dash it to the ground. For he body inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead, or rephaine, the giants of the old world, who perished in the flood: for by these vile affections and indulgences the soul is mortally wounded, the body often diseased, and hailened hereby to the grave, and both body and soul in the high road to eternal predation, where, for a momentary pleasure, everlasting pain must be the punishment of the damned sinner. None that go unto her, return again; at least few, very few, recover from this scare; the confidence grows callous, the soul is enslaved, and recovery (if not impossible) yet most improbable: neither take they hold of the parts of life, returning with shame and remorse to Jesus Christ, who could yet have to the uttermost; but they continue hardened in sin, and disulfing perish in their impenitence. Super interpreters have applied this to the great whore, the mystical Babylon, against whole idolatries and adulteries, we have so many warnings in the book of Revelations. 2. Weldom will teach us not only to eschew the evil, but to chuse the good. That thou mayst walk in the way of good men, such as the saints of God have trodden of old, and proved by blessed experience to be ways of pleasantries; and hop the paths of the righteous, steadily persevering therein, which will bring a man peace at the left. 3. The blessedness of the good ways of our God will be great. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it; the faithful and sincere shall not be cut off as the sinner, by an untimely death, but have a comfortable and peaceable abode here on earth; or rather shall have his eternal rest in the better land of the heavenly Canaan, and dwell therein for ever. 4. Ruin will overtake the wicked. They shall be cut off from the earth, by death, or the sword of civil justice, and the transgressors shall be rested out of it; neither branch nor root of them shall remain in that new earth, where dwelleth rightensheets, but they shall be destroyed with an everlasting destruction, and cast as tares into the fire that never shall be quenched. The way to keep from evil, is to shun temptation. 1. The caution here given is weighty, and strongly urged. Enter not into the path of the wicked, the least familiarity or compliance with them is dangerous; when we take one wrong step, we know not where to stop: and go not in the path of evil men; if for a moment thou hast yielded to their solicitations, hasten to retire from the deadly way. Avoid it, as you would the plague, pass not by it, as you would shun an infected house, turn from it, and pass away, keep at the greatest possible distance: we can never be too far from sin. 2. He enforces the warning, by pointing out, (1.) The sin and danger of the way of the wicked. For they sleep not, unless they have done mischief; it is their business, their delight, to lead others into sin or suffering, and are uneasy and restless, if their malicious designs are frustrated: and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall unto their soares, for they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence, the spoils of fraud or oppression, on which they regale themselves, rejoicing in the fruits of their iniquities. Such as these how carefully should we shun? for their end will be according to their works. The way of the wicked is as darkness; they walk in darkness, in ignorance, in error, in unbelief, and the issue of it will be outer darkness, where there is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. They know not at what they stumble, they are ignorant of their wretched state, and when stumbling into the dreadful pit of rum, see not their danger, till too late in torments they lift up their eyes. 2. The comfort and blessedness of the way of righteousness, as much as the one is miserable and to be avoided, the other is desirable, and to be sought. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day; their character is the just, or justified, who, by faith in Christ Jesus, are righteous before God. Their path is Christ himself, they walk in him, supported by his grace, and led by his word and spirit, their shining light; and as the beams of day first break through the darkness, then in the horizon deep the rising sun appears, till at the last, attending to his menelian heights, his brightest glories are displayed, so increasing with the increase of God, the awakened soul grows more and more enlightened with divine truth, enlivened with divine warmth, till perfected in holiness, the full blaze of glory comes, and in eternity, without a cloud, we shall enjoy the transforming and beautiful vision of our God. Blessed therefore, and happy are they, who walk in this way. 20. ¶ My Before God soon. a. Mat. v. 1st. Phil. 2. 1st. a. Sam. 1st. 4. a. Ex. 1st. p. Jer. 2nd. 11. John Chill 1. Chap. ii. 2. Chap. iii. 3. Chap. iv. 4. Chap. v. 5. Chap. vi. 6. Chap. vii. Or all thy were thrift moved aright. Don. v. Is. &revil. 1. Jud. 2. 20. ¶ My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21. Let them not depart from thine eyes: keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23. ¶ Keep thy heart? with all diligence: for out of it are the issues of life. 24. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. 25. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee. 26. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. The way of the just being so excellent, we are here exhorted and directed to walk in it. 1. He exhorts us to diligent attention, v. 20. for unless we are heartily engaged, we shall never make any considerable proficiency in whatever we take in hand. We must keep the path of duty ever in our eye, and the love of wisdom warm upon our hearts, v. 21. 2. He gives a weighty reason to second his advice. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh; they are the means of spiritual life, the way to eternal life; by them the corrupt affections of our souls are mortified, and the deep diseases of our fallen nature cured. 3. He gives full directions for our conduct, and begins. (1.) With the heart, the fountain head, from whence good or evil flows. Keep thy heart with all diligence, deceitful it is above all things, and by nature desperately wicked, and all our watchfulness and care will be little enough; yea, infufficient, unless we are looking up to God for greater strength than our own, to preserve our understanding from error, our affections from concupiscence, our confidence from guilt: or, keep their heart above all keeping, whatever care other things deserve, this is the one thing needful, and demands the chief solicitude; for as that is kept or neglected, all goes well or ill; for and if it are the issues of life, it is the seat of spiritual life, from thence all our actions spring, as dreams from the fountain; and if the heart be kept in the love of God, then it will be a well of living waters, springing up into everlasting life. Lord, do thou keep it for me, and then it shall be well kept! (2.) Our lips must be under restraint. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee, let no profane, passionate, proud, false, rash, corrupt communication proceed from them, but take heed to every sentence that drops, knowing that there is not so much as an idle word, but we must give an account for it in the day of judgment. (3.) Our eyes must be kept from wandering; fixed on the one object Christ and glory; on the strait path of truth, never to be diverted from it, though this world's vanities, the pomp, the pleasures, the glittering toys and visionary beauties around follicle to our attention. The eye is the nearest inlet to the heart; they who would preserve the castle from the enemy, must bar the gate against intruders. (4.) We must ponder the path of our feet, weigh it in the balances of the sanctuary; consider the path, examine the present path of duty; and proving all things, hold fast that which is good, determining stately, and putting it steadily: let all thy ways be established in one uniform tenor of fidelity, according to the pattern of the divine word. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, to formality or profaneness, to superstition or infidelity: remove thy feet from evil, from the evil of sin, which leads to the evil of suffering; yea, abtrain from all appearances to evil, the farther removed from it, the safer: our care here can never be excessive. Among the most dangerous and fatal forms that lie in the way of the sons of men, must be reckoned the inordinate love of women. Solomon, to his cost, proved it by bitter experience; and wise are they who learn from his example and falls, that they may not bitterly be convinced of the truth of it by their own. 1. He gives a general exhortation to his Son, and all whose youthful blood beats high, to curb their passions with the bridle of enlightened reason, and divine understanding; for which purpose, he exhorts them duly to attend, and deeply mediate upon the lessons of instruction he read, that their conduct might be discreet, and their words flow unturned with wisdom and grace, from a heart well principled in the school of Christ. 2. He draws a lively picture of a wicked and abandoned woman, the danger of yielding to her solicitations, and the misery that must enlist. (1.) Her character is drawn. Her lips drop at an honeycomb; soft blandishments, filled with every endearing word of soft address; her carettes fatally insinuating, and from her killing, unperceived, the sweet poison deep infests the soul: and her mouth is smoother than oil, promising every joy in her embrace, and with the guise of innocence vanishing the shocking guilt. Her ways are movable, cunning to defray the method to please, and artful to perishme the temper, manners, ways, the most engaging; that thou canst not know them, discover the cheat, or extricate thyself from the winding mutes of her wiles: loath thou shouldst ponder the way of life, and firm resist her snares, or break from her fatal chain, sensible of the danger, and wisely taught to reject a momentary pleasure, bought at the lusts of eternal bliss, and the path of everlasting burnings. (2.) The issue of her ways is dreadful. Her end is bitter as wormwood, infamy, poverty, and often disease attack the body; bitter remorse, horror, and dread seize the soul, and, sharp as a two-edged sword, every reflection pierces. Her feet go down to death, temporal and eternal; her steps take hold on hell, all who follow them are in the broad road thicker, and the breath in their nostrils only separates them from exchanging the bed of whoredom and adultery, for a bed in flames unquenchable. 3. A solemn caution is given to abstain from these fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, and happy they who ponder these words of wisdom. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, especially ye children of God, who would be kept from the ways of the disloper, and depart not from the words of my mouth, call them not grave lessons, or morose restraints, but hear and cleave to them, as the only means of solid comfort. Remove thy way far from her, avoid the forearms, refrain the most distant approaches, never be alone with her, or admit the least familiarities; fly for thy life, for flight is often the only safety, and resolute absence the only method of deliverance: and come not nigh the door of her house; our hearts are vile and corrupt, they are tinder that easily kindles with the spark of impure desire, struck from the eyes of wanton beauty; no resolutions are to be trusted, nor can we stop, if but one step is taken, one desire entertained, deviating from the path of purity. Shun, therefore, the place of her abode, as the infected house, the distant approach to which may prove fatal. 4. He supports his warning with weighty arguments. Let thou give thine honour unto others, trusting it with a wretch that will betray thee; or, as a course of lewdness seldom is concealed, thy name will become contemptible, and branded with infamy; and thy years unto the cruel, the harbor, whose cruelty is often raging as her lusts, and having plundered the substance, hunts for the precious life, or the cruel sin, that murders the immortal soul. Strangers shall riot on thy wealth, and the fruit of thy labours, v. 10. whilst in poverty steeped to the lips, thou shalt feel, with bitterness, the loss of that wealth to profusely squandered on the covetousness of such an extravagant, more infuriate than the grave. The consequence of which will be, that thou wilt mourn at last, when it is too late, or near as a lion, in pangs of distress, and horrors of guilt unutterable, in the rage of disfavor, not of repentance, for the suffering, not for the sins. When thy flesh and thy body are consumed by the indulgence of their hurtful lusts, the constipation broken, the body emaciated, and disease rendering thee loathsome to others. 8 Y and The way of the just being so excellent, we are here exhorted and directed to walk in it. 1. He exhorts us to diligent attention, v. 20. for unless we are heartily engaged, we shall never make any considerable proficiency in whatever we take in hand. We must keep the path of duty ever in our eye, and the love of wisdom warm upon our hearts, v. 21. 2. He gives a weighty reason to second his advice. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh; they are the means of spiritual life, the way to eternal life; by them the corrupt affections of our souls are mortified, and the deep diseases of our fallen nature cured. 3. He gives full directions for our conduct, and begins. (1.) With the heart, the fountain head, from whence good or evil flows. Keep thy heart with all diligence, deceitful it is above all things, and by nature desperately wicked, and all our watchfulness and care will be little enough; yea, infufficient, unless we are looking up to God for greater strength than our own, to preserve our understanding from error, our affections from concupiscence, our confidence from guilt: or, keep their heart above all keeping, whatever care other things deserve, this is the one thing needful, and demands the chief solicitude; for as that is kept or neglected, all goes well or ill; for and if it are the issues of life, it is the seat of spiritual life, from thence all our actions spring, as dreams from the fountain; and if the heart be kept in the love of God, then it will be a well of living waters, springing up into everlasting life. Lord, do thou keep it for me, and then it shall be well kept! (2.) Our lips must be under restraint. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee, let no profane, passionate, proud, false, rash, corrupt communication proceed from them, but take heed to every sentence that drops, knowing that there is not so much as an idle word, but we must give an account for it in the day of judgment. (3.) Our eyes must be kept from wandering; fixed on the one object Christ and glory; on the strait path of truth, never to be diverted from it, though this world's vanities, the pomp, the pleasures, the glittering toys and visionary beauties around follicle to our attention. The eye is the nearest inlet to the heart; they who would preserve the castle from the enemy, must bar the gate against intruders. (4.) We must ponder the path of our feet, weigh it in the balances of the sanctuary; consider the path, examine the present path of duty; and proving all things, hold fast that which is good, determining stately, and putting it steadily: let all thy ways be established in one uniform tenor of fidelity, according to the pattern of the divine word. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, to formality or profaneness, to superstition or infidelity: remove thy feet from evil, from the evil of sin, which leads to the evil of suffering; yea, abtrain from all appearances to evil, the farther removed from it, the safer: our care here can never be excessive. CHAP. V. The steps of this chapter is much the same with that of chap. ii. To write the same things in other words ought not to be grievous, for it is safe, Phil. iii. 1. Here is, 1. An exhortation to get acquaintance with, and submit to the laws of wisdom in general, ver. 2. A particular caution against the sin of unheeded, ver. 3-14. 3. Remedies prescribed against that sin. (1.) Conjugal love, ver. 15-20. (2.) A regard to God's omniscience, ver. 21. (3.) A dread of the miserable end of wicked people, ver. 22. 23. And all little enough to arm young people against their fleshly lusts, which were against the soul. † Chap. i. † Is. &vi. † 1. Jud. † 2. Jud. † 3. Phil. iv. † 4. Jud. iv. † 5. Jud. vii. † 6. Chap. vii. 1. MY Son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding. 2. That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. 3. ¶ For the lips of a stranger woman drop at an honey-comb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. 4. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6. Let thou shouldst pon-Vot. I. der the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them. 7. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 8. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house; 9. Let thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel. 10. Let strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours in the house of a stranger. 11. And thou remove at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. 12. And say, How have I heard instruction, and my heart despised reproof? 13. And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me? 14. I was almost in all evil, in the midst of the congregation and assembly. Sensuality is, in many, a fore besetting sin; directions are therefore laid down how to behave when at the great man's table, where delicacies of meat and drink of every kind invite to indulge the appetite; the more tempting to those who are less used to such dainty fare. 1. Consider diligently what is before thee; the company, that nothing may offend them: the table; what is most proper, not what is most luxurious: especially consider whose eye is there, that, whether we eat or drink, we may do all to the glory of God. 2. Put a knife to thy throat; refrain from all excess, as being mortally dangerous: the more temptations are before us, the more watchful need we be. And this is especially needful, if thou be a man given to appetite, and naturally inclined to indulge, and relishing highly these delicacies; deny thyself, and mortify the cravings of inordinate appetite. 3. Be not desirous of his dainties; culling every nice bit, and eating to pamper lull, not to relieve hunger; for they are deceitful meat. Sweet as they are to the table, they will turn four on the stomach. By them men are betrayed to divulge their secrets; and, what is worse than all the other evils, they steal away the heart from God, sensualize the soul, and render it utterly unfit for the service or the enjoyment of God. 4. Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. 5. Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, they flee away as an eagle towards heaven. v. 4, 5. Covenants is as common and as dangerous as sensuality; and to be overcharged with the cares of this life, is equally pernicious to the soul, as to be overcharged with surfeating and drunkenness. Earnestly therefore Solomon diffuses from inordinate love of money: Labour not to be rich; eager in the purifier, till weary and out of breath, as the word implies. A diligent care for a family is commendable, and to grow rich by honest industry, far from criminal; but as make wealth our object and first concern, and for the sake of it to be so immersed in the world, as to be disqualified for caring for the soul, this is fatal. Cause therefore from thine own wisdom; regard not the acquisition of riches, as the proof of wisdom; depend not on thy own schemes and contrivances; cease from all anxious and disquieting thoughtfulness and delusitude; for it is lost labour to rise up early, and lie down late, unless God give success to the undertaking. Two things he urges to support his exhortation: 1. The vanity of riches, when they are gotten. Why will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? Cilitating as they appear in the eye of sense, they are really mere nothings; can neither ease an aching head, much less relieve a wounded heart. They can no more satisfy the cravings of an immortal soul, than the husks could relieve the prodigals hunger; and as they daily perish in the using, at death they vanish as a dream. 2. They are highly precarious; for riches certainly make themselves wings; by a thousand methods the providence of God may deprive us of them: scarce have we exalted our eyes upon them, ere they take flight as an eagle towards heaven, suddenly, hastily, irrecoverably, and leave those who, like Micah, make them their god, to lament their misery, destitute of all other confolation. 6. Eat not thon the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty means. 7. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. 8. The morsel which thou hast eaten, shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. This world is full of deceit; many are very free of their compliments, who never mean to have their professions put to the proof. 1. The person is described. One who pretends to give the heartiest welcome, invites you to eat and drink freely, and affects to entertain you with the highest politeness, yet eyes every morsel; and, however his lips speak fair, his nigger heart grudges the entertainment; and, whilst he affects liberality, his covetousness does penance to his pride. 2. The admonition given. Eat not his bread, neither desire his dainties: refuse his invitations, nor sit down at his table; for if thou dost, his insincernity and fondness will appear, and embitter the entertainment. The consciousness of being an unwelcome guest will make the stomach nauseate the food, and thou wilt grieve to have thrown away so many thanks for his civilities, when they are found to be utterly insincere, and mere unmeaning compliments. 9. Speak not in the ears of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. When we have proved a man profane, and a scotter at godliness, the wisest admonitions are useless, and our pearls not to be cast before such swine: so far from knowing their value, they will trample them under their feet. 10. Remove not the old land-mark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless. 11. For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee. v. 10, 11. They who are most helpless should be treated with tenderest compassion. It is aggravated guilt to oppress the fatherless, incouch on their property, trespass on their lands, or plunder their substance. Nor shall it be done with impunity, unable as they are to defend themselves; their Redeemer is mighty, yea, almighty; he shall plead their cause with thee, and woe to those against whom he rises up in judgment. 12. Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. 13. Withhold not correction from the child: for of thou beartst him with the rod, he shall not die. 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. 15. Chap. xix. In this chapter we have, 1. A caution against rafts forethship, ver. 1—5. 2. A rebate to forethylness, ver. 6—11. 3. The character and fate of a malicious misdecreous man, ver. 12—15. 4. An account of seven things which God hates, ver. 16—19. 5. An exhortation to make the word of God familiar to us, ver. 20—23. 6. A repeated warning of the pernicious consequences of the sin of subverdom, ver. 24—35. And we are here defended from sin, very much by arguments increased from our secular interests, for it is not only represented as damning in the other worlds but as impercepting in this. 1. MY son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hath stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art feared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. 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. 4. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor sumber to thine eye-lids. 5. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. vi. 1—5. God's word teaches us wisdom in our temporal, as well as our eternal concerns. Nothing is more dangerous than forethship; against this therefore, we are here admonished: To engage for a stranger, were madness; to be bound, even for a friend, is dangerous; if therefore as any time over-perfused, or thoughtful, we have fallen into the inare, we cannot be in too great halls to get out of it. Go humble thyself, speak the creditor fair, and if possible obtain a release, and make sure thy friend, hasten him to discharge the debt, or to give thee an indemnification, and this without delay; for delays are dangerous, vi. 4. Struggle as the roe in the hunter's inare, or the bird in the fowler's net, to get free, vi, so not indeed but there may be circumstances, in which it would be our duty to assist our friends, but it never should be done unconditionally, or for those, whose necessitous circumstances render their case defperate, and never for more than we are able or willing to pay, without hurting our family, or disabling us from the discharge of those duties we owe to others. 6. ¶ ¹ Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise: 7. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8. Provided her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 9. How long with thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. 11. So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man. vi. 6—11. Solomon is here the sluggard's monitor; rafts engagements may undo a man at once, doth operate as a flow poison, and ruins by degrees. 1. He seeks the idler to the busy ants for instruction, that with such ceaseless diligence, without an overseer, improve the days of harvest, assist each other in their toil, lay up the needful provision against the winter; and in their cells enjoy, in that bleak season, the fruits of their summer's toil. Taught by their example in our worldly concerns, we are called upon with prudent forefight to provide for the days of old age, to labour diligently in our vocation and calling, and with wisdom to improve the opportunities Providence affords us. And especially in the concerns of our souls, to look to the approaching eternty, and give diligence to make our election turn, working whilst it is day, and obeying the exhortations of God's ministers our overseers. Should we, with all our peculiar advantages, be found idle, how inexcusable should we be? 2. He calls upon the sluggard to awake. How long wilt thou sleep, when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? beds of doth are fatal inares; there time is squandered, opportunities lost; whilst early filling is profitable for health, wealth, and godliness. Sinner, how long wilt thou sleep in sin? awake! left the flames of hell furround thee, and too late thou open thine eyes in torment. 3. The sluggard stands for a little indulgence. To quit his warm bed he is very loth, he will rise by and by, it is time enough yet; a little more sleep, or at least a little slumber, to doze awhile, or, if no more, a little folding of the hands to sleep, to stretch, and 12. ¶ A naughty person, a wicked man walketh with a froward mouth. 13. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. 14. Frowardness is in his heart, he devifeth mischief continually, he foweth discord. 15. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. 16. ¶ Thele fix things doth the LORD hate; yea, feven are an abomination; unto him: 17. ¶ A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18. An heart that devifeth wicked imagination, feet that be swift in running to mischief; 19. A false witness that speaketh lies, and him that foweth discord among brethren. The character of the foothful is bad, but here is our that exceeds him in wickedness. 1. We have his description. A naughty person, a man of Belial, of his father the devil, a wicked person, a man of iniquity, which habitual temper and confluent practice is his; frowardness is in his heart, and out of the abundance of that his mouth (speaketh) he tips the wink, when mischief is to be done, or filly sneering, ridicules the infirmities of others. His very feet speak, gently pressing to give a hint, or furiously flamping to express his rage; and his fingers communicate his thoughts artful, defying; others subject not the plot which is formed against them: he devifeth mischief continually, it is his business, his delight; he foweth discord, seeking to separate very friends, and blow the coals of thrift into a flame. 2. His end shall be according to his works. Therefore, as the righteous punishment of his iniquity, shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy; unexpected, terrible, eternal, irreparable, will be his destruction; for the damnation of such flumbereth not. 3. From the evil of this son of Belial, warning is given us of seven sins that are God's abomination; and which, making us like the wicked, must expose us to the wrath denounced against them. Those for things doth the Lord hate; yea, feven are an abomination unto him: sin of every kind is odious in the light of God, his very nature abhors it, and all who practice it must be the objects of his desertion. But some iniquities have in them greater aggravations than others. (1.) A proud look; pride is at the root of all sin: by pride, the angels fell from heaven; by pride, man lost his happy state; by pride elated, in high conceit of our own importance or righteousness, we provoke God's wrath against us, and assuredly these high looks of the proud will be brought low. (2.) A lying tongue, hateful to God, and most injurious to man. (3.) Hands that shed innocent blood in passion, revenge, or through false notions of honour, the name given to Satanical pride. (4.) An heart that devifeth wicked imaginations, fudde and crafty in the contrivance of wickedness, as daring or cruel in the execution of it; and the more art is used to compels evil, the more malignity is in the sin. (5.) For that he fought in running to mischief, the eagerness to accomplish which, shews how the heart is bent upon it. (6.) A false witness that speaketh lies, either perjured in judgment, or that invents and propagates calamities, to the hurt of his neighbour, against which, no innocence is a protection. (7.) And him that foweth discord among brethren; the mark of the son of Belial before described, who encourages factions in the state; seeks to widen the breaches of ecclesiastical dissension, or to make mischief between the nearest relations and friendly neighbours. It is amazing there should be such a character, and yet dire experience daily teaches us what abominations dwell in this fallen nature. 8, 20. Heb. Gochased ingother. op. 24. There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise; 26. 'The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their most in summer; 26. 'The comes are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; 27. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; 28. The foster * taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings palaces. The meanest creatures have much in them worthy of imitation. Four things are inflamed, deplorable in our eyes, but yet shewing a wisdom those who deprize them are strangers to: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their most in the summer; more provident than many a long-gard, who neglects to provide for the concerns of time, and is careful about eternity. The comes, or muscular ants, are but a feeble folk, and therefore they seek a shelter, and make their houses in the rocks, where they cannot be pursued, to teach us, who have so many spiritual enemies, so much stronger than we are, to contend with, to fly to Jesus the rock of ages, that under his shadow we may be false. The haunts have no king, yet they go forth all of them in hands, nicely marshalled by implanted in-thisid; or gathered together, united among themselves: an emblem of that unity and concord Christians should maintain, and which conduces so greatly both to their mutual comfort and support. The goats taketh hold with her hands; untaught, but with exceeds what the finest wheel ever spun, and disposed with an exactness equal to the rule and planum, and is in kings palaces; whatever care is taken to keep them nicely swept, the will still find admittance; and though often destroyed, renews again her noth. They who imitate her diligence, are fit to stand before kings. 29. There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going: 30. A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneeth not away from any, 31. A gory-bound, an he-goat also, and a king? against whom there is no rising up. 6. &10. 15. 26. Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. 27. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? v. 26, 27. Many cautions we have had against rash suretieship, and more are necessary to deter us from it. We must have nothing to do with those extravagants, who, having ruined themselves, seek to maintain their credit a little longer, by engaging others to be bound for them. It were so fully to strike hands with such, if we have any thing to lose; and if we have not, then it were the height of injustice; for it is the viles of all knavery, when we know our own insolvency, to run in debt ourselves, or give our word for another, in order to defraud the creditor, who is unacquainted with our desperate circumstances. Provoked by such imposition, no marvel he should be severe, and not spare even the bed we lie on. Deut. xix. 14. &xviii. 17. Chap. vix. xx. 2 Or, bound. 28. Remove not the ancient land-mark which thy fathers have set. The boundaries of property are sacred, and never to be entrenched upon, by open violence or secret fraud. Ancient customs claim prescription, and the settled constitution of the government, established by our forefathers, we should maintain inviolate. 16th. the obliure. 29. Seeft thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. Diligence, attention, and dispatch in business, are the great commendation to wise rulers, and the way to rise; for he that is active and faithful in the improvement of a little, shews he is fit to be entrusted with more; such therefore they chuse to employ. In our spiritual concerns this will be also eminently verified: the King of kings will advance those who have born faithful in that which is least, commend their diligence, and cause them to enter into his everlasting presence and joy. C H A P. XXIII. 1. WHEN thou fittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee. 2. And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 3. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. The majesty and flatelines of these four things are remarkable: A lion, which is strongest among haunts, and conscious of his might, turneeth not away from any: such should every christian be in the way of duty, never dismayed at any danger or difficulty, knowing he hath the strength of Omnipotence engaged for him. A grey-bound; or an horse, as others rather interpert the words, which signify gier in the sons, which must needs be reckoned among the most noble animals. An he-goat-able, who heads the flock: And a king, against whom there is no rising up; his majesty confounda, his power cruises those who would rise up against him. How will rebel sinners then be confounded, when the King of kings, clothed in terrible majesty, shall arise to judgment? 32. If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, * lay thine hand upon thy mouth. 33. Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife. v. 32, 33. Nothing needs a severer restraint than that anger which is so easily kindled in our bosom: we are here cautioned to restrain it, especially if we have to do with superiors offended; to quarrel with whom, is only to punish ourselves: If therefore thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, vainly conceited, or perversely resisting those who had the rule over thee; or if thou hast thought evil, and it hath not yet broke forth, lay thy hand upon thine mouth, suppress the rising evil, and take shame for what hath foolishly been said or done; for else damage and hurt may ensue: for as surely as the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose violently bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife; one hot would bringe on another; men's passions are inflamed, and the weakest are sure to be worried. Note, (1.) As sinners before God, we need ever lay our hand on our mouths, and our mouth in the dust, taking shame to ourselves for our sin and folly in daring to contend with our maker. (2.) Thoughts not uttered, though evil, are our sin alone: if a loose be let to the tongue, the poison becomes diffused, the mischief endless. (3.) They who are wise, will ever give way. Nothing is just by quarrels and passionate opposition, but bloodshed and damage. On this fatal rock of youthful light, so many have made shipwreck of their seals, that repeated admonitions are most necessary. In this chapter we have, 1. A general exhortation to get our minds principled and governed by the word of God, as a favoring: accident against this sin, ver. 1—5. 2. A particular representation of the great danger which wears young men are in, of being unmighty unto this same, ver. 6—23. 3. A serious caution inferred from them in the ship, to take heed of all approaches towards this sin, ver. 24—27. We should all pray, Lord, lead us not into this temptation. MY son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2. Keep my commandments, and live: and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3. Bind them upon the fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sifter; and call understanding thy kinfwoman. 5. That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. The way of life is only to be found in the word of God, and therefore Solomon inculcates on his son the necessity of treasoning up God's commandments in his heart, v. 1. tender of them, and jealous of every thing that would lead him to offend, as he guards the apple of his eye, v. 2. Bind them upon thy fingers, as a memorial ever in view; or as an ornament the most graceful: write them upon the table of thine heart, en-gravet there in characters indelible. Say unto wisdom, thou art my sifter, and call understanding thy kinfwoman, delight in it, love it, cultivate the most intimate acquaintance therewith: and this shall be the best preservative from the wiles of the adulteress, and detect the falsehood and flatteries of the harlot's words, v. 5. 6. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7. And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8. Puffing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9. In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10. And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and fiddle of heart. 11. (She is loud and stubborn, and her feet abide not in her house. 12. Now is she without, now in the streets, and loth in wait at every corner) 13. So she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14. I have peace-offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 15. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 16. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us folate ourselves with loves. 19. For the good man is not at home, he is gone a long journey; 20. He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 21. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22. He goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks: 23. Till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hafteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Example often proves more prevalent and effectual, than mere precept or reasoning. To enforce, therefore, the advice he had given, he produces a striking influence of a harlot's willet, and of an unhappy youth betrayed into the Snare. And whilst as a magistrate he sat at his window, to observe the manners of his people, and bring transgressors to shame, as a prophet he writes to set us on our guard, and to make us wise by others harms. We have, 1. The unhappy victim; a youth, whose inexperience exposed him the more easily to the Snare, void of understanding, untutored in the principles of wisdom, among the simple men, the companion of weak and silly youth like himself; puffing through the street, idly sauntering and looking round him, or walking, as the word implies, with a toppish air, to attack notice, near her corner, where she used to take her stand to pick up her gallants; and he went the way to her house, led on by his corrupted appetite, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night, to prevent discovery, and when he flattered himself with the thought, that no eye forth me. Read, thoughtless youth, and he wise I shun idleness, shun temptation, shun the deeds of darkness; there is an eye forth thee brighter than the sun. 2. The wily tempter. Behold with astonishment, indignation, and abhorrence hear the tale; there met him a woman, a wise, diverted of all that brightest ornament of woman, modesty, with the attire of an harlot, haunting, lords, grudge; befpeaking in her dress the lewdness of her mind; fiddle of heart, that knew each whetelling art, or reserved, pretending corpses and modest distance (for they who are most destitute of modesty, dare not know it) yet flying only to be pursued. She is loud and stubborn; at home that voice, that to her paramour breathes now the softest accents of pretended love, is heard with thrilled note, and her turbulent, headstrong, and self-willed temper makes her house the scene of noise, strife, and dispute. Her feet abide not in her house; her home, in her eyes, is her prison; visiting, company, and an eternal round of disfigurement engage all her thoughts; for ever padding abroad, now she is without, to take the air, pay morning visits, or idle round the shops; now in the streets and public places, seeking some object to inveighs, and such in wait at every corner, to catch, with her amorous glances, the incautious weak gallant. Let every woman tremble at the distant approach to such a character. 3. The Snare spread. With barefaced lewdness, that stayed not to be wooed, she caught him in her arms, and kissed him, to inflame impure desire; and with an impudent face, as if the darkness had extinguished modesty, and that it was daylight only which made sin; she said unto him, I have peace-offerings with me, her house afforded all plenty, she wanted not hire, but his company; and having that day payed her vows, might begin another score of sins: sad commutation where the force of prayers, sacraments, and profession of glory can last aggravate the guilt and damnation of the hypocrite. Therefore I came forth to meet thee, to partake of her delicacies, her heart wholly taken up with him, and unable to refill the entertainment, if his presence graced not the table: diligently to seek thy face; to her, as she pretends, the loveliest object, and I have found thee; with a transport she speaks it, as if her life depended on it, and Providence had kindly favoured her design. Nor does she conceal her foul intentions; but with alluring invitations courts him to her bed, adorned with tapestry, nicely carved, spread with the finest linen of Egypt, perfumed with the richest spices, to gratify every sense. Came, says she, drawing him nearer to her, came, let us take our fill of love, or be insinuated with it till morning, let us folate ourselves with love; horrid abufe of that sacred name, prostituted to cover bethal appetite: miserable solace! So shone-lived the joy, so ensless the sorrow which succeeds it; and least the fear of discovery, or interruption, might beget reluctance in her gallant, she takes care to let him know that the man, (for husband she will not call him) the good man of the house is not at home, he is gone a long journey; hath taken a large sum with him to trade, or bear his reprocer, and will make a considerable stay, till the day appointed for his return, which is yet at a distance; so that they have nothing to apprehend: that he is not at home, and the fools of the people are urged to emboldden the foolish youth to sin. 4. Her wiles at last prevailed. Probably at first he startled at the crime, for conscience will remonstrate; but, vanquished by her fond and flattering tongue, with her much fair speech she caused him to yield; his corruptions filtered his convictions, and present pleasure overcame the fears of future pain; with the flattering of her lips she forced him, bound in the chains of her enticing words, and surrendering himself her slave. 5. The youth is undone. He goeth after her straightway, or suddenly, at all hazards resolved to gratify his lusts, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, senseless of his danger, when led by the butcher to the fatal ax, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, who, in his drunken fit, is not aware of the shame or punishment: Till a dart strike through his liver, a mortal blow, aimed by the enraged husband, by the executioner of justice, or some fatal disease contracted by his sin; and the arrows of divine and eternal vengeance are ready on the string to pierce him through: as a bird hafteth to the Snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life, caught with the flattering bait, and heedless of the danger; and too late perceives the irremediable ruin, where the immortal soul is drowned in perdition and destruction. May his fearful state be our warning! 24. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 25. Let not shine heart decline to her ways: go not affray in her paths: 26. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 27. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. 9. &10. 4. Many affeeth to be wise who scorn divine teaching, and take reason, instead of revelation, for their guide. No marvel therefore, that their inferences are fruitless, and they never come to the knowledge of the truth ; indeed he is impossible The application of the story is here made, and we are called to hearken to the words of wisdom before it is too late, and attend to these divine admonitions, v. 24. Let me these heart decline to her ways; suppress the first wandering of courage defies, and never, but with abhorrence, think for a moment of deviating from the path of purity. Go not astray; let nothing prevail with thee to do it, for ruin is before thee. Thousands have been undone by those fatal tempters; wounded in their character with infamy, in their bodies with disease; but, above all, in their souls with guilt and honour. You, even many strong men have been slain by her; as Sampson, brought to a miserable death; and those who have been strong in grace, as David, have scarce escaped with life. Who need me then tremble for himself, when such have so loudly fallen? Her laugh is the way to hell, going down to the chamber of death. The fire of lust will kindle the fire of hell, and a short life of guilty pleasure be exchanged for an eternity of never-ending pain. Who is wise will ponder these things. This chapter is the voice of Christ, the wisdom of God. It contains, 1. The highest commendations of wisdom, vers. 1—21. 2. The glory of the eternal Logos, the divine Redeemer, is set forth, vers. 22—23. And then it concludes with a repeated charge to the children of men, diligently to attend to God's word. 1. 'D OTH not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? 2. She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. 3. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. 4. 'Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. 5. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. 6. Hear, for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. 7. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness, there is nothing forward or perverse in them. 9. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. 10. 'Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11. For 'wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be defied, are not to be compared to it. When Jesus came to teach poor mortals the way to life eternal, a voice from the Excellent Glory proclaimed, This is my beloved Son; hear him. Let therefore every ear attend the divine instructions he understands to give. 1. His words are publicly proclaimed in the places of chief concourse, that whosoever will, may come and learn of him. Thus Jesus in the days of his first preached openly on mountains, in the city, at the gates of the temple; and his prophets of old, his apostles and evangelists, wont forth publishing his word and gospel through the land. All are addressed; high and low, rich or poor; and the fools and simple, the fallen sinful sons of men, whose understanding is darkened, are invited to come, and find wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption in him. Note, The gospel excludes none who do not exclude themselves. If sinners perish for luck of knowledge, it is because they would not come to him, that they might have life. 2. The importance of the subject demands our most serious attention. The things spoken of are excellent; the doctrines of grace, the person, offices, and undertaking of the Redeemer, and the inestimable blessings obtained thereby; the knowledge of God and an eternal world, with all the glories there provided for wisdom's children. They are right, most becoming God to command, must sit for us to obey. They are doctrines of truth, v. 7. they concern him who is the truth, and cannot deceive; for WICKERNESS is an abomination to his lips: and as lying is his abhorrence, it should be also ours. All his words are in righteousness, vers. 8. perfectly corresponding thereunto; or, concerning righteousness, the necessity and nature of that one divine righteousness, which can only be our title to eternal life. There is nothing forward or perverse in them, but the most entire harmony and suitableness in them. They are plain, and easy to be understood by all whose minds are spiritually enlightened, and really desire without prejudice to come to the sacred oresties of truth for information; though to the wisest ideal, a stranger to divine teaching, they are foolishness and darkness; and right to them that find knowledge, who readily submits to the dictates of wisdom, and approve of the perfect path God's word points out to them. They are preferable to the riches of both the Indies, more desirable than gold and silver, or rubies, and all the delights of the sons of men, v. 10, 11. And in proportion as we have learned Christ, and been taught of him, in such measure will our hearts be weaned from all inordinate delight in earthly things, and count them along and loth, compared with the excellency of the knowledge of him and his truth. 12. I wisdom dwell with + prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. 13. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance, and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate. 14. Counsel is mine, and found wisdom: I am understanding, I have strength. 15. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16. By me princes rule, and nobles, I love me, and I those that seek me early shall find me. 17. I love them that I love me, and I those that seek me early shall find me. 18. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. 19. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice is silver. 20. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: 21. That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures. Thus speaks he, like unto whom never man spake. His own glory and excellence is the subject, and we may truly say, He is the chief of ten thousand, and altogether lovely. 1. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I wisdom, the essential wisdom, the all-wise God, dwell with prudence, possess it in all its fullness, and find out knowledge of witty inventions; either detect the devices of the earth, and search into the hearts of the children of men; or the inventions here spoken of relate to the admitting continuance of the covenant of grace, wherein all the perfections of God, his sovereign grace, and inexorable justness inviolable truth, and boundless mercy, are to eminently displayed, and to highly magnified; and wherein the miserable sinner beholds in Jesus Christ a holy God, righteous and just in forgiving his Son. 2. He hath a perfect hatred of sin, and all who are taught of him abhor the thing which is evil. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; this is the constant effect produced wherever that fear is implanted, and this because God hates it. Pride and arrogance, high thoughts of our vile selves and sinful services, and conceit of our own righteousness, he abhors. The evil way, sin of every kind, and the forward mouth, that speaks in violence or rage, or propagates the doctrines of error, do I hate; and so must we. If we are spiritually proud, and our passions and forwardness unmortified, we are not wisdom's children, but of our father the devil. 3. In him resides all wisdom and strength in perfection for the government of all things, and out of his fulness must we in every station receive wisdom and power for all the work and duty to which he calls us, v. 14. By him ordained, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, his vicegentists upon earth, kings, princes, and judges are commissioned to bear rule; and resistance against their lawful authority is rebellion against God. He endless them with capacities for their high liaison, and they then rule well, when their own hearts are brought under the guidance and government of his word and spirit. 4. He will have all affection and honour to those who love and seek him. I love them that love me; and they that seek me early, with eagerness, or in the morning of youth, the accepted time, shall find me, and therewith every blessing of grace and glory. 5. He hath all rides and honour to bestow, v. 18. as much as is for their good in this world, and with that peculiar satisfaction, that they are got in righteousness under the divine blessing. But rather the riches of grace, and the honour that cometh from God only are intended: riches that are durable, not like the perishing substance of earth, but incorruptible in the heavens; and honours transcendently great, and abiding to eternity; possessed in virtue of the divine righteousness of Jesus, the great meritorious cause of all our pretext and eternal happiness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than much fine gold; the fruits of his undertaking for us; such as redemption, reconciliation, adoption, &c. the fruits of his Spirit in us, love, joy, peace, &c. Compared with these, the glittering tinted of this world's wealth vanishes into nothing, and is left than nothing and vanity. 6. He guides his followers in the paths of righteousness, in the midst of the path of judgment; neither deviating from it to the right hand or the left, that he may bring them to an inheritance in glory; and gives those that love him, manfrom in the skies, filled with all the treasures of immortal bliss. Happy, for ever happy, the soul whom he leads in these blessed paths, and brings, as inheritors of his kingdom, to the thrones provided for them in heaven. 8 Z 22. The VOL. I. Before Christ come. = Rethes note. 9. John i. 1. = Pf. ii. 6. = PC. xx. 6. Or, eyes please. Or, circle. Gen. i. 9. 10. Job excited. 10. 11. PC. xx. = Jer. x. xx. xx. 12. 27. Col. i. 15. Hoh. Sporting grandy. 22. "The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23. "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24. When there were no depths, I was brought forth: when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25. "Before the mountains were settled; before the hills was I brought forth: 26. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27. When he prepared the heavens I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28. When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29. When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 30. "Then I was by him, at one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him: 31. Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delight were with the sons of men. That not a quality but a person is here meant, is evident; for to such alone can these properties be ascribed, and that person is the eternal Son of God. Compare John i. 1—4. We have, 1. His eternal co-existence with the Father. In person distinctly, in silence the same. In the beginning, before the earth had a being, before ever the mountains rose, or the waters retired to the bosom of the deep, the Lord possessed me, in that mysterious union which subsists between the divine persons in the Godhead. I was set up from everlasting; appointed in the eternal counsels, or unnamed, designed for, and invested with, the office of Mediator. 2. His agency in the creation of all things; for by him God made the worlds, and without him was not any thing made that was made, Eph. iii. 9. Hoh. i. 2. In each day's work he was present, not as a spectator merely, but as the great agent, and was first the Creator of all things, before he became incarnate for the redemption of sinners, v. 27—30. 3. He was his Father's delight; brought up with him; from everlasting the relation subsisted, co-eternal, and co-equal; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; which may refer to the fulness of delight subsisting mutually between the sacred persons in the ever-bleshed Trinity; or to the complacency of the Father in the Son, and of both in the work of creation, whereof they expressed their approbation, Gen. i. 31. or, to their satisfaction in the counsel of peace between them, respecting man's redemption, God the Father being well-pleased in the Saviour's undertaking, and God the Son rejoicing to fulfil the work the Father had given him to do. 4. Towards the sons of men he entertained the most enlarged affections, rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth, bestowing upon all in rich profusion the bounties of his providence; and his delights were with the sons of men; those whom he had chosen in a courtroom of everlasting love to be to the pride of his glory, in whose hearts he purposed to take up his abode, and for whose sake he was content to take our nature upon him, and, through a scene of the most astonishing sufferings, with chearfulness accomplished our salvation, satisfied to see at last in us his redeemed people the travel of his soul. What amazing love and grace! how are we bound to praise him, trust him, love him with all our hearts! Christ and sin are rivals for the soul of man, and here we are told how they both make their court to it. 1. Christ, under the name of wisdom, invites us to accept of his entertainment, and is in enter into acquaintance and communion with him, ver. 1—6. And having foretold the different family of his institution, ver. 7—9. he shows, in short, what he requires from us, ver. 10. And what he designs for us, ver. 11. And then leaves it to our choice what we will do, ver. 12. 2. Sin, under the character of a foolish woman, enters us to accept of her entertainment, ver. 13—16. Pretends it is very charming, ver. 17. But Solomon tells what the reckoning will be, ver. 18. And now chuse you this day whom you will follow. 1. Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. 2. She hath killed her beasts, the hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. 3. She hath sent forth her maidens, the criers upon the highest places of the city. 4. Who is simple, let him turn in his/her: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him. 5. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. 6. For sale the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7. He that reproveeth a scarver, geteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man, geteth himself a blot. 8. Keprove not a scarver, lest he hate thee: "rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. 9. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will yet be wise: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. 10. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. 12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou korneth, thou alone shalt bear it. When in the days of his flesh the wisdom of God appeared upon earth, he chose for the most part to convey his divine instructions by parables, a method which he had used of old, to communicate the mysteries of his gospel. 1. A rich entertainment is provided in a sumptuous palace for wisdom's guests. She hath builded her house, the church of the redeemed on earth, founded on Christ, the rock of ages, and gloriously adorned with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit therein abundantly dispensed; or the heavenly mansions provided for the faints everlasting rest, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. She hath hewn out her seven pillars; intimating the stability and perpetuity thereof, seven being the number of perfection; or referring to the constant provision of wise and able ministers, qualified with gifts and graces for the edifying of the body of Christ, and the support of the interests of his church and people. She hath killed her beasts, or her sacrifice; she hath weighed her wine; she hath also furnished her table. The sacrifice is a crucified Jesus, offering himself upon the cross for sinners. The wine is his blood, the richest cordial to the guilty soul. The table is furnished with all the blessings of grace, pardon, righteousness, peace, strength, con- Refuse Christ 1000. Mat. xii. 12. Mat. xiii. 5. 6. Her killing, in law. 5. Ver. 5. Rom. x. 11. 10.