because the rottenness of the trunk is less able to bear the mass of branch and leaf. Or the woodman may not wait for the inevitable result-he may deem it necessary for the health of the surrounding trees that the axe should interpose and so prevent the fall. He may see that such a tree is absorbing nourishment to minister to its own decay, that trees around would utilise to sustain their healthy life. And so to prevent the soil from being impoverished by a mere cumberer of the ground, the sound of the axe and the crash of falling timber may resound through the forest. Such a tree is an emblem of the man described in our text. To him may be addressed the words spoken to the proud King of Babylon: "The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou that art grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and become strong, and reacheth unto heaven," etc. (Dan. iv. 20-22). He has attained to a position of power and influence in the world, but, like Nebuchadnezzar, his greatness has only revealed a radical moral defect in his character. Like him he refuses to acknowledge that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men," and that it is by His favour alone that he has attained to such a height of prosperity. He holds within him the elements of his own destruction, and time will bring about his fall without any special interposition of the Divine hand. Pride grows upon what it feeds, and such a man will presume more and more upon his fancied security, until he falls by the working out of the ordinary laws which govern the moral universe. But God does not always wait for this issue. To prevent his continuing to rob humanity of their rights, the Almighty Governor of men may anticipate the natural result by applying the axe of a special judgment, and a "watcher and a holy one" from heaven may be heard saying, "Ilew the tree down and destroy it" (Dan. iv. 23), "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke xiii. 7.) All despots and tyrants must sooner or later succumb to the operation of natural social law; those whom they have wronged, goaded to desperation by their injustice, will rise up against them and overturn them. The King of all the earth often takes the work into His own hands, as he did in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, II. Those who are special objects of the Divine care. "He will establish the border (or landmark) of the widow." The widow is a type of all the needy and the sorrowful of the human race. Deprived of her natural provider and protector, and her dearest earthly relative, she, more than any other, is at the mercy of the proud and selfish, and stands in need of a helper and consoler. God by the very goodness of Ilis nature is drawn to take sides with such a one. He makes Himself known, again and again, as the judge of widows" (Psalm lxviii. 5). The Bible contains many laws for their protection and reproaches against those who wrong them (Deut. xxiv. 17, 19, 20, 21; Isa. i. 23; Matt. xxiii. 14). One of the main features of moral beauty in the Divine character is that He "delivereth the needy when he crieth," the poor also, and him that hath no helper (Psa. lxxii. 12), and the widow is here a type of all such. The sorrow of her who is "a widow indeed" is very deep and overwhelming, and sorrow takes away physical and mental strength. The strong and mighty God charges Himself with the care of all such spirits weakened by sorrow, and warns all the world who would take advantage of their weakness that in so doing thev enter the lists against Him. III. Because of such dealing God's kingdom will increase and strengthen. The champions of the weak, and the opposers of the tyrants, always gain the most influence in the end. Love is the strongest influence in the world, and those who can gain men's hearts are the real and mighty kings. While they live they wield a mighty power, and their influence is fe't sometimes even more CHAP. XV. powerfully after they have left the world. Those who never saw them in the OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. From the style of the antithesis we are naturally led to conceive a special allusion to the haughty oppressor of the desolate and unprotected-to the overbearing worldling, who insolently abuses his power in lording it over his . . . We may well poor dependents. tremble to think of promoting our own advantage in any way, or in any degree, at the expense of the widow or the fatherless. Woe to the man who does so! God will see to it. What is so acquired cannot be enjoyed with either a quiet conscience or the smile of heaven. It is an accursed thing. It is the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment, by which the blessing of righteousness and mercy is turned away.-Wardlaw. The house," ie., every interest (chap. xiv. 1). Destroy," or pull down; because even worldly men have noticed the precariousness of pride. "The widow:" even worldly eyes have noticed that these are wards of the Almighty. But Solomon adopts each proverb spiritually. "The proud" is the man too well satisfied in his own mind (chap. xxi. 24) to utter the good word, and have joy (ver. 23); and the "widow" is the poor in heart, who is ready with the availing answer, "Lord, I believe."-Miller. God abhors pride even in them whom He dearly loves, and shows His resentment of it by humbling providences, that remove man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. David was proud of the vast numbers of his subjects, but God soon showed him that great hosts save not a king, and that three days may greatly lessen the numbers of a people. Hezekiah's heart was lifted up, but he was soon obliged to humble himself, being assured. that the treasures which he had so ostentatiously showed to the Babylonish ambassadors should be carried with his posterity to their own land.Lawson. Did He not provide for sorrowing Naomi a staff in her faithful daughter, and ultimately establish her borders in Israel? Did He not supply the pressing need of the minister's widow (2 Kings iv. 1-7), and take up the Shunamite's oppression, and again establish her border? (2 Kings viii. 1-6). And shall we forget how He teaches the returning penitent to plead the gracious manifestation, "In Thee the fatherless findest mercy?" (Psa. xiv. 2, 3).—Bridges. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud. He will surely unroost him, unnest him, yea, though he hath set his nest among the stars, as he did proud Lucifer, who "kept not his first estate but left his habitation" (Jude 6), which, indeed, he could hold no longer. But He will establish the border of the widow. Not the rest of her goods only, but the very utmost border of her small possession. She hath commonly no great matters to be proud of, nor any patrons to stick to her. She hath her name in Hebrew of dumbness, because either she cannot 435 speak for herself, or, if she do speak, her tale cannot be heard (Luke xviii. 4).-Trapp. A young body is too often the house of the proud, where strength being the pillars of it, beauty the trimming, vanity the roof, fond conceit imagineth itself to be married to a long life, never minding the mud walls whereof it consisteth. But God, who was the builder of it, seeing so ill an inmate as pride received into it, pulleth down His own work to destroy the devil's work, and cutting the thread of life dissolveth the marriage knot, when expectation thought it to be strongest tied. On the other hand, where affliction hath humbled the heart of the widow, and may seem to have brought her to the border of her days, then doth God establish length of days, lifting up the light of His countenance upon her when lowliness of spirit hath virtuously cast her down.-Jermin. MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 26. WICKED THOUGHTS AND HOLY WORDS. I. A present power of the wicked man-he thinks. The ideas and purposes which fill his mind concerning himself, his fellow-men, and God, are the result of a mental process just as the potter's vessel is the result of a certain manipulating process. His thoughts are the result of the exercise of a Godgiven power, just as the potter's vessel is the result of a power which has been given to him by God. From the same source comes the power to think and the power to turn the wheel. But although the power to think comes from God, it rests with man as to what kind of thoughts shall be the outcome of that power. God holds him responsible for the use which he makes of the power given him. It would be useless for the potter to say that the vessel which leaves his hand took its form by chance-we hold him responsible for the shape which the clay assumes under his hands. And it is equally vain for a man to say that he has no power over his thoughts. God holds him guilty if he thinks thoughts of siu. II. The thoughts of the wicked are abhorred by God. 1. Because of the harm they do to his own soul. If the body is held bound under the sway of a deadly malady it becomes weak and unable to fulfil the end of its creation, and if it continues long under its influence it dies. So soul-disease and moral death are the result of the rule of evil thoughts to the man who thinks them. He becomes incapable of fulfilling the high spiritual destiny for which God called him into being. 2. Because of the misery they inflict upon others. All the evil words and deeds that have ever been done in the world were once thoughts. While they were only thoughts the harm they inflicted was confined to the thinker of them, but as soon as they became words or deeds the moral poison spread, and others became sufferers from them. God hates whatever will increase the misery of his creatures, and therefore the thoughts of the wicked-those fruitful germs of sin and suffering-must be an abomination to Him. 3. Because they are utterly at variance with God's thoughts and purposes. The thoughts of God towards the wicked themselves are opposed to the thoughts and purposes which they have concerning themselves. God's thoughts towards them are "thoughts of peace and not of evil" (Jer. xxix. 11). He desires that "the wicked forsake his way" and "return unto Him." He declares that His thoughts even concerning sinners are as much higher than their thoughts concerning themselves as " the heavens are higher than the earth" (Isa. lv. 7, 8). This is one ground of God's quarrel with the thoughts of the wicked, that they cross His gracious plans for redeeming them. But III. The words of the pure are pleasing to God. Likeness of character draws men together-the pure delight in those who are pure, and the words of a pure СНАР. ХУ. man are pleasant to the ear of another man of purity. Pure men are like God in character, and He must find pleasure in those who reflect His own image, and who are one with Him in sympathy. Delighting in them, their words are pleasant unto Him. He delights in them when they take the form of prayer (See Homiletics on verse 8, page 407). The "prayers of saints" are as sweet incense to Him (Rev. v. 8, viii. 3). They are well-pleasing when they take the form of praise. He has commanded men to render honour where honour is due (Rom. xiii. 7), and when it is rendered to Himself the most worthy to "receive honour and glory and blessing," it is a most acceptable sacrifice (Lev. vii. 12, Heb. xiii. 15). The words of the pure are pleasant to God when they are spoken to console and bless their fellow-creatures. (On this subject see Homiletics on chap. xii. 18, page 275.) OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS. (See Pleasant words are pure. Critical Notes.) This is the Scripture ethics. If we desire to know whether words are pure" (and, words here, for Eastern reasons, mean actions as well as words; nay, really mean the whole round of conduct; see Job. xx. 12; Isa. x. 7), if we wish to know whether a man's whole life is pure, all we have to ask is-Is it kind? It is the plans of mischief that are the abomination of Jehovah.-Miller. How lightly do most men think of the responsibility of their thoughts! as if they were their own, and they might indulge them without restraint or evil. One substantial sin appals men, who quietly sleep under the mighty mass of thinking without God without any for months and years, apprehension of guilt. But thoughts are the seminal principles of sin.— Bridges. "Words of pleasantness are pure"the gracious words that seek to please, not wound, are to Him as a pure acceptable offering, the similitude being taken from the Jewish ritual, and the word "pure" used in a half ceremonial sense, as in Mal. i. 11.-Plumptre. The words of the pure are pleasant words. Such as God books up, and makes hard shift to hear, as I may God seeth that Himself is not in all There is no need of company to draw them into villany, they have always a rout of mischievous thoughts on hand to give them entertainment. And as great is the pleasure which themselves take in them, so great is the abomination which God hath of them.-Jermin. MAIN HOMILETICS OF Verse 27. THE CURSE OF COVETOUSNESS. I. A definition of a covetous man. "He that is greedy of gain." He desires more than enough, and he desires it to the exclusion of the rights of others. It 437 is lawful and right to desire to possess some amount of substance in the world; he who was without such a desire would be hardly a man. It is good to ask for neither poverty nor riches, but for such an amount of the world's wealth as will prevent us from being harassed with care, and at the same time keep us free from the temptations and anxieties which accompany great riches. But when a man is consumed with a desire for more than sufficient for his necessities, he is 'greedy of gain," and is in moral danger. If a vessel finds enough water in the river to carry her on her voyage, all bids fair to be safe and prosperous; but if the water is so high that it pours over her deck and gets into the hold, she is in great danger of sinking. So a moderate desire after worldly gain is an impetus to a man's activity, and is a blessing both to himself and to the community; but an inordinate desire after riches is a dead weight upon his spiritual progress, and is often the cause of his going down in the moral scale. Desiring more than enough often leads to using unlawful means of satisfying the desire. The second clause of the verse seems to refer to the temptation of a judge to accept bribes. Men holding such an office, and possessed by this greed of gain, have been known, under its influence, to commit the enormous crime of knowingly acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent; and in all positions and stations of life the sin of covetousness is a fruitful source of other crimes. 'But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. vi. 9, 10). II. The evil effect of covetousness is not confined to the covetous man himself. "He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house." Many men try to excuse their covetousness by the plea that they only desire to make ample provision for their family, but it is upon the family that the curse of greediness falls most heavily. If the head is diseased the members must suffer. A covetous man is a selfish man, and those who are most nearly related to a man who is eaten up with a desire to grow rich feel most keenly the blighting influence of the passion upon all the joys of family life. And a man who is thus greedy of gain brings trouble upon his house by involving them in the curse of his sin. Those whom he has wronged by his injustice hate his children for the father's sin, and as we have before seen-"the wealth of the sinner"-of him who has grown rich by unfair dealing-is "laid up for the just" and his own children inherit only the misery of having had such a father. (See Homiletics on chap. xiii., 11-22, pages 307-332.) III. The man of opposite character, "the hater of gifts," shall live. 1. He does live now. Life and death are in a man's character. A leaf that has lost all its beauty and greenness is dead although it still exists. The leaf is there -the shape and outline exist-but all that made it lovely is gone, because all vitality is gone. A flower may still have all its petals upon the stalk, but if all fragrance and colour are gone we know that life is gone. The life or the death of the leaf or flower are states or conditions of its existence, and not the simple adherence or separation of its particles. So is it with a man. His life or his death is not existence or non-existence, but the condition of his spiritual nature. If he is destitute of righteousness he is dead-if he is a man of true integrity-such a man as is described in chap. xi. 3 (see on that verse) he is alive. God is the "living God" not simply because He has an eternal existence, but because He possesses moral life-in other words, because He is perfectly holy, just, and true. Now the man who "hates gifts"-who abhors every kind of unfair dealing-gives proof by his hatred that he is morally alive. 2. He shall live in the esteem of posterity. Nothing lasts like a good character. The memory of the just man is embalmed in the hearts of men long after his body is gone to dust." (See chap. x. 7.) 3. He shall live in the esteem of God. We are naturally disposed to regard with favour those who show us honour and |