or a family, or a nation, it must overflow into joy-it must take a more active form. (The subject of the first clause of this verse has been treated before. See on verse 5). OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. That deceit is in the heart of him who deviseth evil appears to be a platitude, for the devising is directed against a neighbour. But, in the first place, it says that the evil which a man hatches against another always issues in a fraudulent malicious deception of the same; and, secondly, it says, when taken into connection with the second clause, that with the deception he always at the same time prepares for him sorrow. The contrast denotes not those who give counsel to contending parties to conclude peace, but such as devise peace-viz., in reference to the neighbour, for the word means not merely to impart counsel, but also mentally to devise, to resolve upon, to decree. Hitzig and Zöckler give to peace the general idea of welfare, and interpret joy as the inner joy of a good conscience. But as the deception in the first clause is not self-deception, but the deception of another, so the joy is not that which men procure for others. Thoughts of peace for one's neighbour are always thoughts of procuring joy for him, as thoughts of evil are thoughts of deceit; and thus of procuring sorrow for him.-Delitzsch. Evil counsel most hurteth those that give it. By deceit is here meant a deceitful reward; or an issue of a matter deceiving a man's expectation. -Muffet. They shall have peace for peace; peace of conscience for peace of country; pax pectoris for pax temporis. They shall be called and counted the children of peace; yea, the children of God.-Trapp. First, no man can soundly seek to reconcile man to God, or one man to another, or give direction for his neighbour's welfare, unless he himself be reconciled to God, and peaceable towards men, and have Christian love in his heart, and these graces are never separated from holy comfort and glad ness. For the same sap that sendeth forth the one, doth in like manner also yield the other, as the apostle testifieth (Gal. v. 22; Rom. xiv. 17). Secondly, if their counsel be embraced and followed, the good effect thereof, with God's blessing, besides thanks and kinduess which the parties holpen by their counsel, will yield to them; as David to Abigail, and Naaman to Elisha, etc Thirdly, though their advice be rejected, yet, as Isaiah saith, their reward is with the Lord, and they shall be glorious in His eyes (Isa. xlix. 4, 5).-Dod. Deceit is in the heart (or cometh back to the heart) of them that imagine evil (or practise mischief). I. The persons are described. They are evildoers, but not every evil-doer, but the practiser, the trader, the artificer in evil, one wholly bent upon sin, not every bungler or beginner, but an expert workman, that can despatch more business of sin in one day than some other in a month or a year. Nor is every evil here aimed at, but evil against others-mischief. Many evil men are only greatest enemies to themselves, intent to serve and satisfy their own lusts; but these with whom we have now to do, always have evil in their hearts or hands, in their consultations and executions, whereby to hurt others. Again, this man in our text is subtle in evil; as he is a cunning workman and active in high designs of evil, so he carrieth his business as subtilely, for which the whole work carries in the original the name of deceit, pretending all fair weather, as still water is deepest and most dangerous, or like a waterman that looks one way and rows another. II. The condition of these persons. Their deceit returns to them that first hatched it; that is, brings unavoidable mischief on themselves. 1. There is no small unquietness in the heart, while it is plotting evil. 2. Whomsoever they deceive, they cannot deceive God, who will make them deceivers of themselves (See Job v. 12, 13). 3. Whereas sin is a sure paymaster, and the wages death, the sin of these men must needs slay them and play the part both of an officer to apprehend them, of a gaoler to hold them, and of an executioner to bring them to shameful death.-Thos. Taylor, 1650. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 21. ALL WORKING FOR THE GOOD OF THE RIGHTEOUS. The first clause cannot, of course, mean that nothing that appears evil-that no sorrow or loss happens to the just. Such an assertion would be contrary to other teachings of Scripture, as well as to experience and history. The righteousness of the first man who is called righteous (Luke xi. 51) led to his murder. If Joseph had been a less virtuous man, the iron of imprisonment would not have entered into his soul (Psa. cv. 18). If John the Baptist had been a timeserving godless man, he would not have had the bitter experience of the dungeon of Machaerus. To these men, and to all the noble ariny of martyrs, many of the things which happened were very evil in themselves. The Word of God likewise forewarns men that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, that through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of God (2 Tim. iii. 12; Acts xiv. 22). And every just man now living has had experience of evil befalling him in his health, his circumstances, or in some other form. But I. No evil shall really injure the godly man. It shall not hurt his better part, that which is the man himself-his spiritual nature, his moral character. The storms that cannot uproot a tree only make it take deeper root-hold, and so add to its strength. If it break some of the branches it makes it more fit to weather another tempest. So all the trials of the just man tend to strengthen his character by causing him to lay a firmer hold upon the things that are unseen and eternal. "Affliction then is ours; We are the trees whom shaking fastens more, While blustering winds destroy the wanton bowers, The true interpretation of the text is found in the inspired declaration of Paul, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom. viii. 28). Many elements work together to produce a good harvest at the appointed time. Winter winds and snow, summer breezes, gentle rain and noontide heat, all have a part in the work. One of these agencies alone would not bring forth one golden ear, but the "working together" will cover the land with fields of grain ready for the sickle. Many and various materials and agencies must be brought together to build a seaworthy ship. Iron and wood, fire and water, men skilled in many different arts must work together to bring about the required result. And so with the just man. Manifold experiences, failure and success, joy and sorrow, make up his earthly life. Not sorrow alone, nor joy alone, would fit him for his eternal inheritance-would fit him to be presented "faultless before the presence" of his Lord (Jude 24). But it is the combination of both, the many things "working together," that effect the desired good. And so no evil befals him, because all the evil shall work together with the good for his eternal wellbeing. II.--The wicked man shall likewise attain to a completion of character. "The wicked shall be filled with mischief" teaches (1) that wicked men are not so bad as they can be. Thorns and briars grow stronger year by year. Time is needed to trausform the blade into the full ear. As the present season of probation is but the beginning of man's life, we conclude that men can go on eternally progressing in the character which now belongs to them-that all their present habits of thought and feeling can become much stronger than they are at present. Therefore, a wicked man can grow worse than he is at present. (2) That wicked men are not so bad as they shall be. If a stone is set in motion down a hill it will keep on its course unless it is arrested by some opposing force. So, unless a godless man yields to a Divine influence, and so is brought to repentance, he shall "wax worse and worse" (2 Tim. iv. 13). No man can stand still in character; if he do not grow better, he must grow worse. And this "filling up" of the measure of wickedness is but the necessary re- action of his own actions. He is filled with his own mischief. As the just man's present actions go to strengthen and develop his spiritual nature, and to complete and perfect his character in goodness, so every act of the godless man is one more link of the chain of evil habit which binds him daily more tightly, and sinks him every day a little lower in the moral universe of God. OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. No "evil," or calamity; literally nothing worthless or empty. The root means nothingness, entire vacuity. The expression, too, is peculiar. There shall not happen to the righteous any nothingness at all." But as several of the nouns that mean evil, through a deep philosophy, trace to the same kind of root, "calamity," or actual evil, is the proper translated sense. No event that turns out an actual calamity can ever happen to the saint. And if anyone points to their tremendous agonies it is well enough to go back to the root, nothingness. Nothing worthless; that is, nothing that proves not so useful as to be better than present joy. Nothing not actually precious. In the whole course of their lives each is "filled" with "their own proper lot." The wicked, if he have joys, will find them sorrows; and the righteous, if he have sorrows, will find them, not nothings, but for his eternal joy.Miller. The word signifies evil as ethical wickedness, and although it may be used of any misfortune in general, it denotes especially such sorrow as is the harvest and produce of sin (chap. xxii. 8; Job iv. 8; Isa. lix. 4), or such as brings after it punishment (Hab. iii. 7; Jer. iv. 15). That it is also here thus meant the contrast makes evident. -Delitzsch. First, for evil of sin. God will not lead him into temptation; but will cut off occasions, remove stumbling-blocks out of his way; devoratory evils, as Tertullian calls them, he shall be sure not to fall into "That evil one shall not touch him (1 John v. 18) with a deadly touch; nibble he may at their heels, but cannot reach their heads, shake he may his chain at them, but shall not set his fangs in them, or so far thrust his sting into them as to infuse into them the venom of that sin unto death (1 John v. 17). Next, for evil of pain, though "many be the troubles of the righteous" (Ps. xxxiv. 19), and they "fall into manifold temptations" (Jas. i. 2), they go not in step by step into these waters of Marah, but "fall into" them, being, as it were, precipitated, plunged over head and ears, yet are bidden to be exceeding glad, as a merchant is to see his ship come laden in. Their afflic tions are not penal, but probational; not mortal, but medicinal. "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin (Isa. xxvii. 9). Look how the scourging and beating of a garment with a stick drives out the moths and the dust; so doth affliction corruptions from the heart; and there is no hurt in that; no evil thereby happens to the just. To treasure an up sin is to treasure up wrath (Rom. ii. 5). "Every bottle shall be filled with wine (Jer. xiii. 12); the bottle of wickedness, when once filled with those bitter waters, will sink to the bottom; the ephah of wickedness, when top full shall be borne "into the land of Shinar, and set there upon her own base" (Heb. v. 8, 11). He that makes a match with mischief shall have his bellyfull of it (Hosea iv. 17; Prov. xiv. 14); he shall have an evil, evil, an only evil" (Ezek. vii. 5), that is, judgment without mercy, as St. James expounds it (chap. ii. 13). Non surgit hic afflictior, as the prophet Nahum hath it (chap. i. 9); affliction shall not rise up the second time. God will have but one blow at him; he shall totally and finally be cut down at once. The righteous are smitten in the branches, but the wicked at the root (Isa. xxvii. 8); those he corrects with a rod; but these with a grounded staff (Isa. xxx. 32); and yet the worst is behind too. For whatever a wicked man suffers in this world is but hell typical; it is but as the falling of leaves the whole tree will one day fall on them. It is but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great storm; a crack forerunning the ruin of the whole building; it is but as paying the usemoney for the whole debt, that must be paid at last.-Trapp. The great principle of self-preservation implanted in our nature which puts us on our guard against the slightest inconvenience, and maketh us arm for the repelling of a single evil, fails to engage men in the pursuit of that which would powerfully protect us in the most difficult circumstances, and universally secure us against all manner of hazards. Piety alone is that armour of proof which renders those that wear it safe and invulnerable, and yet, as if the Christian were the only infidel, how few of us are so thoroughly convinced of this great truth as to pursue it with an eagerness proportionate to its value. The text assures us-That a religious life and conversation is the best security against all manner of evils. All evil to which we can be liable, may be reduced under three heads. I. Such as are inflicted immediately by God. Here it is necessary to distinguish between such afflictions as He vouchsafeth in mercy ard those with which He visiteth in judgment. The best of men are not exempted from the former, they are not always so intent upon their duty, but that they stand in need of a remembrancer, or it pleaseth God to afflict them for the trial of their faith, for the exercise of their patience, and to wean them from the world. But these are but like the more difficult talks of a discreet and loving tutor; which recommend the pupils to a higher applause and a more excellent advantage, and are, therefore, so far from doing them any harm that they ought to be looked upon as most valuable blessings. Those inflictions therefore of God, which may be justly entitled to the name of evils, are such only as He visiteth in judgment, and from such nothing can more effectually secure us than a godly life and conver sation. II. Such as are occasioned by ourselves. Many evils are the effect of sin and carelessness, and as it is the work and office of true piety to make us at the same time holy and considerate, it will evidently appear that none of these evils shall happen to the just. III. Such as are brought upon us by the malice of men or devils, These are only tolerated by God's connivance and permission. The devil, furious and malicious as he is, always drags his chain after him, by which he may be drawn back to his infernal dungeon, and therefore, unless He hatli some such favourable ends, as I formerly instanced in His own inflictions, He will certainly keep His own out of their ravenous jaws. Shall we then neglect the only means by which we may be defended against such numerous calamities? To be just is no more than to follow after the thing that is good, and good is desirable in its own nature; we have such an inward tendency towards it that nothing which is ill can debauch our affections, but by taking upon itself the appear ance of being good. If, then, a seeming good doth so allure us, how ought we to be enamoured of the real substances. Nicholas Brady. The wicked are hurt, wounded, or grieved, by every occurrence, and nothing turns to their profit.-A. Clarke. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 28. THE CONCEALMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE PROCLAMATION OF FOOLISHNESS. I. The concealment of knowledge is always a mark of self-control. It proves that a man has himself "well in hand." He is like a skilful workman whose tools are all arranged in order, so that he can select or reject them according to his need, or the need of others. Or he resembles a skilful rider who is thoroughly master of his steed, and can either arrest his course or urge him to put forth all his speed at any moment. If a man does not possess this power over himself he can never be a king among men, and even the possession of knowledge will not prove very serviceable either to himself or others. All the treasures of his mind ought to be under the lock and key of his will, and his will under that of his conscience, for, Men II. Under some circumstances the co cealment of knowledge is a mark of prudence. 1. It is so when to proclaim it would feed personal vanity. To reveal our knowledge from no other motive than to let others know that we know is to sin against ourselves by ministering to our pride. In such a case to conceal our knowledge is a means of grace to a man's own soul, and will carry with it the approbation of conscience. 2. It is also prudent to conceal knowledge when we know that it would not benefit others. It is not always seasonable to reveal even the most precious knowledge that we possess. are sometimes manifestly unprepared for its reception-unable to appreciate it. God concealed the gospel of salvation from the men of the early ages of the world because the "fulness of time" (Gal. iv. 4) had not come, by which we understand that the world then was not in a condition to profit by a revelation of it. Our Lord charged His disciples not to disclose what they had witnessed on the mount of transfiguration until "the Son of Man should be risen again from the dead" (Matt. xvii. 9). He exhorts them also not to "cast pearls before swine" (Matt. vii. 6). Hence we learn that concealment of knowledge is sometimes to be preferred to a revelation of it, and that a due regard must be had to the mental and moral condition of those to whom we would impart it. The revelation of scientific truth would only bewilder people of little education and small capacity, and the revelation of even moral truth would sometimes increase men's guilt. It would only lead them to blaspheme the God of Truth and scoff at His messengers, and thus harden them instead of enlightening them. And even when this is not the case men cannot always receive all kinds of moral truth. A parent conceals from his son when he is a boy a knowledge of things which he will reveal to him when he is a man. A wise teacher does not at once disclose to his pupil all that he desires him to learn. Both bring prudence into exercise, and give "line upon line, here a little and there a little " (Isa. xxviii. 10), following the example of the Great Father and Teacher in His dealings with His ancient people, and that of the Incarnate Son when He said to His disciples, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (John xvi. 12). All who are possessors of knowledge should always remember to bring prudence into exercise in proclaiming it, whether it be Divine or human truth that they have to reveal. III. The man who tells out all he knows without any regard to the fitness of time and circun stance proclaims only his foolishness. He is as much a |