Chapter VIII: The Excellent Woman

Prov. xxxi.

HER RELIGION.

I. The secret of her many excellencies here portrayed.

It did not consist in _beauty_. Verse 30. A pretty face often leads
to ruin. Prov. xi. 22. Ezek. xxviii. 17.

Never make much of a child’s beauty.

But it was this, she was a _religious_ woman, actuated in all she did
by the _fear of the Lord_. Verse 30.

The woman who fears the Lord.

1. Hates evil. Prov. viii. 13.

2. It is her moving principle, ‘all the day long.’ Prov. xxiii. 17.

3. She is happy, though poor. Prov. xv. 16.

4. It is her confidence and refuge in trial. Prov. xiv. 26.

5. It is _well_ with her. Eccles. viii. 12.

II. She shows her love to Christ, by her love to His people. Verse 20.

Acts, ix. 36. Heb. xiii. 16.

You need not be _rich_ to be _charitable_.

The poorest may give. 2 Cor. viii. 2.

God looks not at the size, or value of the gift, but the motive from
which it springs. 2 Cor. viii. 12.

The widow’s mite. Mark, xii. 42, 44.

The cup of cold water. Matt. x. 42; xxv. 35.

Nursing a sick neighbour. 1 Tim. v. 10.