Chapter XVI (4)

Two things are necessary to the opening and flow of well-springs--deep rendings beneath the earth's surface, and lofty risings above it. There must be deep veins and high mountains. The mountains draw the drops from heaven; the rents receive, retain, and give forth the supply. There must be corresponding heights and depths in the life of a man ere he be charged as a well-spring of life from above. Upward to God and downward into himself the exercises of his soul must alternately penetrate. You must lift up yourself in the prayer of faith, and rend your heart in the work of repentance; you must ascend into heaven to bring the blessing down, and descend into the depths to draw it up. Extremes meet in a lively Christian. He is at once very high and very lowly. God puts all His treasures in the power of a soul that rises to reach the upper springs, as the Andes intercept water from the sky sufficient to fertilise a continent. And when the Spirit has so descended like floods of water, the secret places of a broken heart afford room for his indwelling, so that the grace which came at first from God rises within the man like a springing well, satisfying himself and refreshing his neighbours.--_Arnot._

Verse 23. 1. That which a wise man utters is _in itself_ good--instructive, edifying, "profitable to direct." The streams bear analogy to the fountain. 2. The wise man uses the understanding imparted to him for the benefit of others. The wisdom that is in his heart passes to his lips. 3. His self-knowledge, his experience of his own heart, his incessant self-inspection, . . . his knowledge both of the "old man" and of the "new man" in their respective principles and influences as they exist and contend within himself, all qualify him for wisely and judiciously counselling others, according to their characters and situations. 4. The truly wise man will, in his wisdom, accommodate the _manner_ of his instructions and counsels to the varying characters and tempers of his fellow-men. A vast deal depends on this. The end is often lost, not for want of wisdom in the lesson itself, but for lack of discretion in the _mode_ of imparting it. A thorough knowledge of anatomy is necessary to a judicious and successful practice in the operations of surgery. Ere he venture to make his incision, the surgeon ought to understand all about the region where it is to be made--what arteries, veins, glands, nerves, lie in the way of his instrument; and should be fully aware of the peculiarities of the case under his treatment. In like manner an intimate acquaintance with the _anatomy of the heart_ is necessary to discriminative and successful dealing with _moral cases_--to the suitable communication of instruction and advice. Without the surgical knowledge mentioned, a practitioner may inflict a worse evil than the one he means to cure. And so, through the ignorance of _moral_ anatomy, may the injudicious adviser, who treats all cases alike, and makes no account of the peculiarities of character and situation with which he has to do.--_Wardlaw._

Who does not know the difference between one who speaks of what he has read or heard, and one who speaks of what he has felt and tasted? The one has the knowledge of the Gospel--dry and spiritless. The other has the _savour_ of this knowledge (2 Cor. ii. 14)--fragrant and invigorating. The theorist may exceed in the quantum (for Satan--as an angel of light--is a fearful proof how much knowledge may be consistent with ungodliness); but the real difference applies, not to the extent, but to the character of knowledge; not to the matter known, but to the mode of knowing it. . . . It is not, therefore, the intellectual knowledge of Divine truth that makes the divine. The only true divine is he who knows holy things in a holy manner; because he only is gifted with a spiritual taste and relish for them. . . . And this experimental knowledge gives a rich unction to his communications. Divinity is not said by rote. _The heart teacheth the mouth.--Bridges._

Every wise man is both a master and scholar, and that unto himself; as a master he sitteth in the chair of his heart, and giveth thence lessons to his several scholars, that are within the school of his own person, of his own life. His hands he teacheth what to do, and how to work; his feet he teacheth whither to go, and how to walk; his ears what to hear, and how to listen; his eyes what to see, and how to look; his mouth what to say, and how to speak. And that being an unruly scholar, and like a wild youth, much care he hath, and much pains he taketh to instruct it well and to keep it in good order.--_Jermin._

Verse 24. The words express the twofold idea of _pleasantness_ and of _benefit._ Many things have the one quality which have not the other. Many a poison is like honey, sweet to the taste; but instead of being _health_ to the bones, it is laden with _death._ So it may be in regard to their present effect, and their ultimate influence with _words._ Harshness and severity never afford pleasure, and seldom yield profit. If they were, in any case, requisite to the latter, we should be under the necessity of giving it the preference, for profit must ever take precedence of mere pleasure. But it will be usually found that _both_ are united. _Pleasant_ words, however, must be distinguished from _flattering_ words. The latter may be at times palatable, but they can never be otherwise than injurious; for they are not words of _truth.--Wardlaw._

Verse 25 is a repetition of chap. xiv. 12, for which see Homiletics.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

These words concern not so much the course of the open sinner as of the mistaken and self-deceived man. . . . The practice of sin seems expedient, seems pleasant, seems unavoidable, but it does not seem _right._ Those who live in the open practice of it are in the ways of death, and they know it. They are blinded, infatuated, intoxicated, if you will, but they are not _mistaken._ There is, however, a very different class of persons, to whom the text directly applies, and to whom the warning is very solemn; persons whose course lies just short of that degree of divergence from right where the conscience begins to protest, and yet is sure, as every divergence must if followed, to lead very far from it at last. . . . It is this sort of travellers wherewith, in our day, the downward road is lavishly crowded; men who walk not with the sinful multitude, but on convenient embankments so contrived as to make the great broad road appear immensely distant and precipitous beneath, and the narrow path comfortably near and accessible above. . . . It does not say of these apparently right ways that they _are_ themselves ways of death, but that they _end_ in ways of death. And this is important; for nothing is so common as for the man, when warned, to vindicate himself by endeavouring to show, and often by successfully showing, that there is nothing destructive in his present course. . . . The ways are mainly of two kinds--errors in practice and errors in doctrine. . . . There is (1) _A life not led under the influence of practical religion._ . . . Improbable as it may seem that this correct man, this blameless and upright liver, should perish at last, it is but a necessary consequence from his having rejected the only remedy which God has provided for the universal taint of our nature. (2) _Those believing from the heart yet notoriously and confessedly wanting in some of the main elements of the Gospel._ Or, (3) _Those who, while professing zeal for religion in general, nourish some one known sin or prohibited indulgence._ . . . And regarding errors of doctrine, there is nothing in life for which we are so deeply and solemnly accountable as the formation of our belief. It is the compass which guides our way, which, if it vary ever so little from the truth, is sure to cause a fatal divergence in the end.--_Alford._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 26.

THE MAINSPRING OF HUMAN INDUSTRY.

+I. God intends every man to be a labourer.+ Adam in Paradise was required to dress and keep the Garden of Eden, so that the labourer's patent of nobility dates from before the fall. The Son of God, in human flesh, laboured with His own hands for the supply of His daily wants, and thus for ever sanctified the ordinary toil of life. (On the profitableness of labour, see on chap. xiv. 23.)

+II. God has taken means to ensure the continuance of labour.+ He has so created man that if the majority do not labour neither can they eat, nor can those eat who do not labour. There must be always a large proportion of workers in the great hive of human creatures, or both they and the drones would starve. It is hunger that keeps the world in motion, and it is the craving of man's mouth that builds our cities and our ships, that stimulates invention, and sends men abroad in quest of fresh fields of industry. It is this necessity to eat that keeps all the members of the human family in a state of ceaseless activity, and prevents them from sinking into a state of mental stagnation and bodily disease. It is a noteworthy fact that those nations who have to work hard to supply their physical wants are more intellectually and spiritually healthy than those who live in lands where the needs of life are satisfied with little labour. God has promised that "while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest shall not cease" (Gen. viii. 22); but He has also, by the constitution of man, ordained that he must be unceasingly active upon the face of the earth; and He has so ordained because of the many blessings which flow from this necessity.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Since that which causes us to labour and trouble becomes a means of our subsistence, it in turn helps us to overcome labour and trouble, for this very thing, by virtue of God's wise regulating providence, becomes for us a spur to industry.--_Von. Gerlach._

A man's industry in his calling is no sure sign of virtue, for although it is a duty commanded by God, and necessary to be practised, yet profit and necessity may constrain a man to labour, who has no regard either to God or man. But this proves that idleness is a most inexcusable sin. It is not only condemned in the Scripture, but it is a sign that a man wants common reason as well as piety, when he can neither be drawn by interest, nor driven by necessity, to work. Self-love is a damning sin where it reigns as the chief principle of action; but the want of self-love where it is required is no less criminal.--_Lawson._

To labour is man's punishment, and that man laboureth for himself is God's mercy. For as it is painful to labour, so it is made more painful when another reapeth the fruit thereof; but when ourselves are comforted with the fruit thereof, the labour is much eased in the gathering of it. God himself does not look for any benefit from our labour, it is all for ourselves, whatever we do. And therefore as God doth command labour, so the mouth of our benefit doth call for it.--_Jermin._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 27-30.

DIFFERENT SPECIES OF THE SAME GENUS.

+I. Human depravity manifests itself in a variety for forms.--+There may be many lawless children in a family, but they may not all sin against the same law--they may all rebel against what is true and good, but some may be pre-eminent transgressors in one way and some in another. One son may be a notorious liar and another may be a slave to ungovernable passion, while a third may be addicted to another and different vice. It is so in the great human family--all unregenerate men are transgressors against God's good and righteous law, but their transgressions may take different forms.

+II. But all ungodliness is subversive of human happiness.--+If a man sets at nought the law of God, he will be a curse to those around him. There are many such men who seem to delight in increasing the misery of mankind, they make it their business to "dig up evil," they work diligently to bring to light that which it is most desirable should be hidden and forgotten, and so they are like a scorching, consuming fire to the peace of many of their fellow creatures. And if they are not so openly and manifestly bad, if they are untruthful men, they must sow around them seeds of suspicion and discord which hinder men from being bound together in bonds of friendship or break such bonds when they have been formed.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 27. _"A worthless man."_ This is the farthest an impenitent moralist will go in condemning himself. He may be a worthless man (a man of Belial, _i.e.,_ of no profit), but he is not a harmful man. . . . Solomon calls this mild gracelessness a digging up of evil. Recurring to the potency of the tongue, he says, "The _lips_ of such men, sweet as they may seem, fairly scorch and burn."--_Miller._

In the expression "diggeth up evil" two ideas may be included:--1. _Taking pains to devise it._ We dig or search for treasure in a mine, or where we fancy it lies concealed: thus the wicked man does in regard to evil. It is his treasure--that on which he sets his heart; and for it, as for treasure, he "digs" and "searches"--ay, often deep and long. His very happiness seems to depend on his reaching and finding it. He is specially laborious and persevering when anyone chances to have become the object of his pique or malice. Marvellous is the assiduity with which he then strains every nerve to produce mischief,--plodding and plotting for it,--mining and undermining,--exploring in every direction, often where no one could think of but himself,--and with savage delight exulting in the discovery of aught that can be made available for his diabolic purpose. 2. _Taking pains to revive it after it has been buried and forgotten._ He goes down into the very graves of old quarrels; brings them up afresh; puts new life into them; wakes up grudges that had long slept; and sets people by the ears again who had abandoned their enmities, and had been for years in reconciliation and peace. As to "evil," whether old and new, "the son of Belial" is like one in quest of some mine of coal, or of precious metal. He examines his ground, and wherever he discovers any hopeful symptoms on the surface he proceeds to drill, and bore, and excavate. The slightest probability of success will be enough for his encouragement to toil and harass himself night and day until he can make something of it. The persevering pains of such men would be incredible were they not sadly attested by _facts--"They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep"_ (Psalm lxiv. 6).--_Wardlaw._

Whisperers are like the wind that creeps in by the chinks and crevices of a wall, or the cracks in a window, that commonly proves more dangerous than a storm that meets a man in the face upon the plain.--_Trapp._

Verse 28. The idea is, sin cannot keep silence. In its quiet hour it speaks, _rolling out_ (literally) articulate influences. The very idea is terrible. It _separates friends._ That is, the world being knit together by the law of love, the impenitent separate it asunder. They separate man from his race, and destroy that highest friendship that he might have with the Almighty.--_Miller._

Verse 29. Yet though a wicked man be never so violent, he cannot compel thee to his ways, he can but _entice_ thee, he can but _lead_ thee; it is still in thine own power whether thou wilt follow him or no. Wherefore though it agree to his violence to lead, let it be thy care to keep back from his ways.--_Jermin._

Unbelief can hardly be libelled, and Solomon's very thought is to show how _violent_ it is! It is the match even of hell, for it derides it! It is the robber even of God, for it thieves from Him. It takes life without paying for it. It assaults the Maker upon His throne. It stares broadly at the truth each Sunday when it listens, and flouts it as though never heard. Unbelief is _"violence;"_ and yet, as though it were the most seductive charm it "seduces" _(entices)_ one's neighbour.--_Miller._

These sons of Belial are also _tempters of others._ A fearful employment--a fearful delight! Yet the employment would not be followed were there not pleasure in it. The pleasure is fiendish--laying plans and putting every vile art into practice, to seduce the virtuous and unsuspecting youth from the way of rectitude! . . . As there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, so there is a malicious _joy in hell_ when such tempters succeed in turning any from the right to the wrong, from the narrow to the broad way. This is the joy of fiends, the other of angels.--_Wardlaw._

Verse 30. Wicked men are great students; they beat their brains and close their eyes that they may revolve and excogitate mischief with more freedom of mind. They search the devil's skull for new devices, and are very intentive to invent that which may do hurt; their wits will better serve them to find out a hundred shifts or carnal arguments, than to yield to one saving truth.--_Trapp._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 31.

A CROWN OF GLORY.

+I. Hoary heads may be found which are not in the way of righteousness.+ A hoary head in the way of ungodliness is one of the saddest sights that a thoughtful mind can look upon. 1. _Because in such a man the tendency towards evil has been strengthened by the habits of a long life._ In childhood there is a condition of comparative innocency to start with, and there is hope that this freedom from actual transgression may develop into a tried virtue in the passage from youth to old age. But when childhood has passed away, the condition of comparative innocence has passed away too, and if the evil tendencies of human nature are not resisted they grow stronger as the man grows in years, and old age finds him more under the dominion of sinful habit than any former period of his life. An ungodly man is more ungodly when he is old than he has ever been before, and is therefore a sadder object of contemplation then than he was in his youth or in his prime. Such a hoary-headed sinner often wishes that it was now as easy to do right as it was in his youth, but he finds that it is not so. "To will" may be "present" with him (Rom. vii. 18), but he finds that by reason of his long indulgence in sinful habits it is less easy now to perform that which he will than it was when his locks were black and his form unbent. The man whose limbs are palsied by age finds that they do not move in obedience to his will so readily as they did in the days of his health, and the aged man finds also that his moral actions are not so easily controlled as they were when he was young--the vessel does not answer to her helm so quickly as it did then. It is always sad to look upon a slave, even upon one who is only a slave in body. But it is far sadder to see a man who is in spiritual bondage--one who is "taken captive by the devil at his will" (2 Tim. ii. 26), and we look upon such an one whenever we look upon a hoary head in the way of ungodliness. 2. _Because such a man is growing old in soul as well as in body._ When he was a child the seeds of perpetual youth were implanted within him; if he had then given himself up to holy influences old age would have found him as young in heart as when he was a boy, because although the outer man of all men perishes daily, the inner man of the godly is renewed day by day (2 Cor. iv. 16). But ungodliness deprives a man of the blessedness of being for ever young--of retaining to the latest hour of life the freshness of feeling which characterises the young, and of leaving the world with a certainty that all his mental and spiritual powers will be renewed throughout eternity. His soul sympathises with his body, and the weakness and decay of the shell is a symbol of what is going on within. 3. _Because he is nearing the mysterious exodus from this world which must be accomplished by all without being prepared for it._ All men are near to death--men of all ages are uncertain whether they will be here on the morrow, but the old man knows certainly that his race is almost run--that he must shortly put off this tabernacle. And there is nothing more depressing to a man than to feel that he is utterly unprepared to meet the demands of a great crisis in his life which is near--that he has soon to meet a person who holds his destines in his hand and that he has nothing to hope, but everything to fear from him--that he has to embark on a voyage to a distant land without any knowledge of what shall befall him when he arrives there. And if a long course of ungodliness has blunted his capability of seeing his own true position, it is clear to thoughtful onlookers, and the sight fills them with sadness.

+II. But a hoary head in the way of righteousness is a kingly head.+ There is nothing kingly in old age considered in itself. An old man's body is not such a kingly object to look upon as a young man's--it does not give us the idea of so much power and capability. And an ungodly old man--as we have seen--is not a king but a slave--a slave to sinful habits, to the infirmities of age, and to the fear of death. But the hoary head of a righteous man--1. _Tells a tale of conquest._ It speaks of many temptations met, and wrestled with, and overcome. His passions are not his masters, but his servants--he has learned to bring into subjection even his thoughts; he reigns as king over himself, and so his hoary hairs are a symbol of his kingship. 2. _It is a sign of spiritual maturity._ In all the works of God we expect the best and the most perfect results at the last. There is a glory and a beauty in the field covered with the green blades of early spring, but the period of its perfection is not in the spring, but in the autumn, when the full corn in the ear stands ready for the sickle. The mind of the youthful philosopher may be mighty in its power, but its capabilities are greater when he has spent a long life in developing them. It is in harmony with all the methods of God's working that all that is of real worth in a man should be nearer perfection the longer he lives, and it is so with all those who are willing to bring their lives into harmony with the Divine Will. If an old man is a godly man, he is more like God in his character and disposition in his old age than he ever was before, and this spiritual maturity invests him with a kingly dignity. 3. _It is an earnest of a brighter crown which is awaiting him._ To him death is not an welcome visitor, and God is a Being in whose presence he expects to realise "fulness of joy" (Psa. xvi. 11), and the country beyond the grave a place to which he often longs to depart. All such hoary-headed servants of God can adopt the language of the aged Paul, and say, _"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day"_ (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8). To all such it is especially fit that kingly honours should be paid. _"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man"_ (Lev. xix. 32).

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

We honour them whose heads have been encircled with crowns by the hands of men, and will we refuse honour to those whom God himself hath crowned with silver hairs?--_Lawson._

The word _if_ is a supplement. The verse may be read, "The hoary head is a crown of glory: _it shall be_ found in the way of righteousness." Two things are implied:--The conduciveness of righteousness to _the attainment of old age,_ and its conduciveness to the _respectability and honour of old age._--_Wardlaw._

The hoary head is the old man's glory and claim for reverence. God solemnly links the honour of it with His own fear (Lev. xix. 32). "The ancient" are numbered with "the honourable" (Isa. ix. 15). The sin of despising them is marked (Isa. iii. 5), and, when shown towards His own prophet, was awfully punished (2 Kings ii. 23, 24). Wisdom and experience may be supposed to belong to them (Job xii. 12), and the contempt of this wisdom was the destruction of a kingdom (1 Kings xii. 13-20). But the diamond in the _crown_ is, when it is found in the way of righteousness. Even a heathen monarch did homage to it (Gen. xlvii. 7-10); an ungodly nation and king paid to it the deepest respect (1 Sam. xxv. 1; 2 Kings xiii. 14). The fathers of the Old and New Testament reflected _its glory._ The one died in faith, waiting the Lord's salvation; the other was ready to "depart in peace" at the joyous sight of it (Luke ii. 28, 29). Zacharias and Elizabeth walked in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless; Anna "a widow indeed," in the faith and hope of the Gospel; Polycarp, with his fourscore and six years, in his Master's service. Crowns of glory were their hoary heads, shining with all the splendour of royalty. Earnestly does the holy Psalmist _plead_ this _crown_ for usefulness to the Church (Psa. lxxi. 18); the Apostle, for the cause of his converted slave (Philemon 9).--_Bridges._

The old age is to be reverenced most which is white, not with gray hairs only, but with heavenly grace. Commendable old age leaneth upon two staves--the one a remembrance of a life well led, the other a hope of eternal life. Take away these two staves, and old age cannot stand with comfort; pluck out the gray hairs of virtues, and the gray head cannot shine with any bright glory. . . . The gray head is a glorious ornament, for, first hoary hairs do wonderfully become the ancient person, whom they make to look the more grave, and to carry the greater authority in his countenance; secondly, they are a garland or diadem, which not the art of men, but the finger of God, hath fashioned and set on the head.--_Muffet._

Hoariness is only honourable when found in a way of righteousness. A white head, accompanied with a holy heart, makes a man truly honourable. There are two glorious sights in the world: the one is a young man walking in his uprightness, and the other is an old man walking in the ways of righteousness. It was Abraham's honour that he went to his grave in a good old age, or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, with a good grey head (Gen. xxv. 8). Many there be that go to their graves with a grey head, but this was Abraham's crown, that he went to his grave with a good grey head. Had Abraham's head been never so grey, if it had not been good it would have been no honour to him. . . . When the head is as white as snow, and the soul is a black as hell, God usually gives up such to scorn and contempt. . . . But God usually reveals Himself most to old disciples, to old saints: "With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding" (Job xii. 12). God usually manifests most of Himself to aged saints. They usually pray most and pay most, they labour most and long most after the choicest manifestations of Himself and of His grace, and therefore He opens His bosom most to them, and makes them of His cabinet council. "And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do," etc. (Gen. xviii. 17-19). Abraham was an old friend, and therefore God makes him both of His court and council. We usually open our hearts most freely, fully, and familiarly, to old friends. So doth God to His ancient friends.--_Brooks._

Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling of the fresh life within that withers and bursts the husk.--_George Macdonald._

Aged piety is peculiarly honourable. 1. It hath long continued. When it is said "If it be _found,_" etc., intimates that such a one has been long walking in that way. 2. It is founded on knowledge and experience. They are well acquainted with the suitableness and sufficiency of the Redeemer. They have made many useful observations on the methods of providence towards themselves, their families, and the Church of God. They know much of the evil of sin, of the nature of temptations, and of the many devices of Satan. 3. It is proved and steadfast. The aged Christian is "rooted in the faith," grounded and settled, his habits of piety are become quite natural. 4. It is attended with much usefulness. The piety of an aged Christian is much to the glory of God, as it shows especially the Gospel's power to bear the Christian on through difficulties and temptations. And aged saints are very _useful to mankind._ Their steadfast piety puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men who complain of the restraints of religion as unreasonable and intolerable, and of the Redeemer's laws as impracticable. They are living witnesses to mankind to the kindness of God's providence and the riches of His grace.--_Job Orton._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 32.

TAKING A CITY AND RULING THE SPIRIT.

+I. A man who takes a city may do a good work.+ When Solomon says that the man who rules his spirit does a better work than he who takes a city, he by no means implies that the taking of a city is a wrong action. In the records of God's dealings with the nations of old, we find that He sometimes laid it as a duty upon His chosen servants to take a city. The overthrow of a city is sometimes necessary for the preservation of the morality of the human race, and it is as indispensable for its well-being as the amputation of a diseased limb is for the health of the individual man. Large cities are favourable to the development and increase of crime, and sometimes become such moral pest-houses that God, out of regard for His human family, causes them to be wiped from off the earth, and sometimes uses His own servants to do the work. It was He who commanded Joshua to take the city of Jericho and the other cities of Canaan, and they were destroyed because of the sin of those who dwelt in them. Or the overthrow of a city may be the downfall of a tyrant, and the deliverance of the oppressed, and then we also know that it is well-pleasing to God. The Bible has it in many songs of praise to God for His overthrow of those who held their fellow-men in bondage--songs which were not only acceptable to Him, but which were the fruit of the inspiration of His Spirit, and therefore we know that the taking of a city which was followed by such a result might in itself be a righteous and praiseworthy act.

+II. A man may do a good work in taking a city, and yet be under the dominion of sinful habits.+ Many a man has acquired vast power over others without ever learning how to master his own evil passions--many a city has been taken by him, and good may have been the outcome of some of his conquests, and yet he has been ever an abject bondslave to his own evil impulses. Many a conqueror of cities has been himself brought more and more into captivity to the vices of the mind as his conquests advanced, and though God may have used him to further His wise and beneficent purposes to the race, he may, by his inability to rule himself, have lived and died a miserable victim of sin--in greater bondage to himself than any of those whom he conquered could ever be to him.

+III. Self-rule is nobler than the possession of rule over others.+ 1. _This conquest is over spirit and the other may only be over flesh._ We cannot rule over the whole of our fellow-man by physical force; if circumstances make us masters over his body, there is a spiritual part of him which we cannot enslave without his consent. A "city" and a man's "spirit" belong to entirely different regions, and the latter cannot be ruled by the same weapons as the other. But "spirit" is far higher than matter, and when a man has learned to rule his own inner man he has made a conquest which is far more difficult, and therefore nobler, than he who "takes a city." The man who can check a lawless thought or desire, must be as much greater than he who can only subdue men's bodies, as mind is greater than matter, and he must do a more glorious work because he lessens the power of sin in the universe. It may sometimes be a necessary and good thing to drive the sinner out of the world, but it is infinitely better to kill sin, and this is what he who rules himself is always doing. 2. _It requires the exercise of greater skill and is a more complete victory._ If there is a spiritual part of a man which cannot be subdued to our will without his consent, this consent can only be obtained by the exercise of weapons which require more skilful handling than the sword of steel. God never attempts to conquer the human spirit by physical force; He has created it to bow only to spiritual forces, and it is by these that He brings men into obedience to His will. A city may be surprised into submission, but dominion over the soul must be gained step by step. And the man who rules his own spirit uses these spiritual weapons, and achieves his conquest little by little. But if the weapons are more difficult to wield, and if the victory is more slowly won, the conquest is much more complete. For when the spirit is ruled the entire man is ruled. 3. _The battle is fought and the victory won in silence and in secret._ When men take a city they are as conscious that the eyes of many are upon them, and that the news of their victory will be spread throughout half the world, and that thus they will acquire great renown among their fellow-creatures. And this nerves them to the conflict. But the man who fights upon the battle-ground of his own heart fights in secret, and his victories bring him none of that renown which falls to him who takes a city. No eye looks on but the omniscient eye of God, and although Divine approval is infinitely beyond the praise of a world of finite creatures, yet it has not always such a conscious influence as that of our fellow-men. 4. _The conflict and victory works nothing but good._ Even when the taking of a city ends in the good of the majority, there must be suffering for some who are innocent. But the bringing of the spirit under dominion to that which is good and true bring blessings on the man who wins the victory, and works no ill to anyone, but is a source of good to many. 5. _The glory of self-rule will last much longer than the glory of any material conquest._ Alexander of Macedon took many cities, but the glory that once shed a halo around his name has died away as the world has grown older. And even if the fame of an earthly warrior could last to the end of time, it would last no longer if it rested only on his military achievements. But the glory of self-rule is the glory of goodness which will never grow dim, but shine with increasing brightness as the ages roll.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Now the Lord has made so glorious a conquest over these proud enemies that rose up against you, I beseech you consider, of all conquests the conquest of enemies within is the most honourable and the most noble conquest; for in conquering those enemies that be within, you make a conquest over the devil and hell itself. The word that is rendered "ruleth," signifies to "conquer," to "overcome." It is this conquest that lifts a man up above all other men in the world. And as this is the most noble conquest, so it is the most necessary conquest. You must be the death of your sins, or they will be the death of your souls. Sin is a viper that does always kill where it is not killed. There is nothing gained by making peace with sin but repentance here and hell hereafter. Every yielding to sin is a welcoming of Satan into our very bosoms. Valentine the emperor said upon his deathbed, that among all his victories, one only comforted him; and being asked what that was, he answered, "I have overcome my worst enemy, mine own naughty heart." Ah, when you shall lie upon a dying bed, then no conquest will thoroughly comfort, but the conquest of your own sinful hearts. None were to triumph in Rome that had not got five victories; and he shall never triumph in heaven that subdueth not his five senses, saith Isidorus. Ah, souls! what mercy is it to be delivered from an enemy without, and to be eternally destroyed by an enemy within?--_Brooks._

To follow the bent and tendency of our nature requires no struggle, and being common to all, involves no distinction. But to keep the passions in check--to bridle and deny them; instead of letting loose our rage against an enemy, to subdue him by kindness--this is one of the severest efforts of a virtuous or of a gracious principle. The most contemptible fool on earth may send a challenge, and draw a trigger, but "not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good," demands a vigour of mind and decision of character, far more difficult of acquiring than the thoughtless courage that can stand the fire of an adversary.--_Wardlaw._

The _taking of a city_ is only the battle of a day. The other is the weary, unceasing conflict of a life. . . . But the magnifying of the conflict exalts the glory of the triumph. Gideon's _rule over his spirit_ was better than his victory over the Midianites (Judges viii. 1-3). David's similar conquest was _better_ than could have been the spoils of Nabal's house (1 Sam. xxv. 33). Not less glorious was that decisive and conscious mastery over his spirit when he refused to drink the water of Bethlehem, obtained at the hazard of his bravest men; thus condemning the inordinate appetite that had desired the refreshment at so unreasonable a cost (2 Sam. xxiii. 17). . . . To rule one's spirit is to subdue an enemy that has vanquished conquerors. . . . Meanwhile victory is declared, before the conquest begins. Let every day then be a day of triumph. The promises are to _present_ victory (Rev. ii. 7, etc.). With such stirring, stimulating hopes, thou shall surely have rule if thou darest to have it.--_Bridges._

It may be harder to keep from toppling over a precipice, than to lift, by sheer strength, our body over a wall. The reason is obvious. A feather might keep our balance, so we could lean and be safe; but the difficulty is where to get it. We have strength enough if we only had wherewithal it could be applied. The difficulty of _ruling our spirits_ is, that they are _ourselves._ The difficulty of an inebriate in resisting a desire, is--that it is his desire. What can he resist it with? It might be far slighter, and yet, if there be nothing to oppose, like the slight weight that topples one upon the Alps, it is as sure to ruin him as a thousand tons.--_Miller._

Such an one is more excellent than he that is strong of body; for he can bear reproaches, which are more intolerable burdens than any that are wont to be laid upon the backs of the strongest.--_Muffet._

Therein stands the office of a king,
His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise,
That for the public all this weight he bears;
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king;
Which every wise and virtuous man attain;
And who attains not, ill aspires to rule
Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,
Subject himself to anarchy within,
Or lawless passions in him which he serves.--_Milton._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 33.

THE LOT AND ITS DISPOSER.

+I. There is a special Providence of God in the midst of His universal government.+ In nature there is a manifestation of a universal Providence ruling over all God's creatures. But the individual is not lost in the multitude--each bird of the air and every blade of grass in the field is under the special supervision of its Creator. And God is Ruler in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, but He does not deal with either angels or men in the mass as human rulers must do, but knows, and cares for, and guides the destines of the individual man--the disposal of the lot of each one is from the Lord.

+II. The special Providence of God works through human instrumentality.+ Reference is here doubtless made to the ancient custom of casting lots to ascertain the Divine Will. This was done at the division of the land of Canaan among the children of Israel, on the occasion of the election of their first king, and in choosing the apostle who took the place of Judas among the twelve. In all these cases it was recognised that there was no chance in the disposal of the lot--that the decision in each case was from the Lord Himself--but in each case human instrumentality was used by Him to make known His Will. This linking of human instrumentality with Divine sovereignty is found in all God's dealings with men. He has promised that seedtime and harvest shall not cease while the earth continues, but he requires men to sow the grain to bring about the harvest. The "casting of the lot" is symbolic of the part that human effort takes in the government of the world--although God is above and behind it, He does not work without it.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

One general principle regarding the employment of the _"lot"_ is sufficiently manifest, that it should never be introduced except in cases where reason and evidence are incompetent to decide. And we may, I think, safely go so far as to affirm that in cases of importance and of extremity--that is, where other means of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion or a harmonious agreement have failed--there does not appear to be anything in Scripture by which such an appeal can be considered as interdicted. . . . Still, if there is nothing interdictory of the use of it, there is nothing that makes it _obligatory_ in any specified circumstances; and it is clear that, if used at all, it should be used seriously and sparingly. It is very wrong, and the reverse of truth, to speak of any matter whatever as being in this way referred to _chance._ There _is_ no such thing. Chance is nothing--an absolute nonentity. It is a mere term for expressing _our ignorance._ Every turn of the dice in the box is regulated by certain physical laws, so that, _if we knew_ all the turns, we could infallibly tell what number would cast up. Besides, in no case is there a more thorough disavowal of chance than in the use of _the lot._ It is the strongest and most direct recognition that can be made of a particular providence--of the constant and minute superintendence of an omniscient, overruling mind.--_Wardlaw._

Everything is a wheel of Providence. Who directed the Ishmaelites on their journey to Egypt at the very moment that Joseph was cast into the pit? Who guided Pharaoh's daughter to the stream just when the ark, with its precious deposit, was committed to the waters? What gave Ahasuerus a sleepless night, that he might be amused with the records of his kingdom?--_Bridges._

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