_If thou be surety for thy friend._ SOCIAL SURETYSHIPS The principles of domestic, social, and political economy in the Bible are far more wise, as well as righteous, than can be found in human book or periodical. I. Suretyship as an evil to be deplored. “If thou be surety”; as if he had said, “I... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise._ LITTLE PREACHERS AND GREAT SERMONS There is a twofold revelation of God--in the Bible and in nature. In relation to this revelation, men divide into three classes-- 1. Those who study neither. Their intellects are submerged in animal... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler._ OVERSEERS NEEDED When I began to employ workmen in this country (Palestine), nothing annoyed me more than the necessity to hire also an overseer, or to fulfil this office myself. But I soon found that this was universal and strictly necessary. Without a... [ Continue Reading ]
_How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?_ when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? THE SLEEPER AROUSED The various authors of Scripture are accurately acquainted with the human character. Among numerous defective habits and characteristics of our nature, which Solomon points out and condemns, is that... [ Continue Reading ]
_A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth._ A BAD MAN I. The portrait of a bad man. 1. He is perverse in speech. He has no regard for truth or propriety. False, irreverent, impure, audacious. 2. He is artful in his conduct. “Winketh with his eyes,” etc. He expresses his base... [ Continue Reading ]
_He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers._ SECRET WAYS OF SPEAKING The wicked man not only his abuseth big mouth, but also his eyes, feet, and fingers. When he is ashamed, or wants power to utter his mind as he would in words, he makes it known by signs; sh... [ Continue Reading ]
_These six things doth the Lord hate._ THE SEVEN ABOMINABLE THINGS A catalogue of evils specially odious to the Infinite One. I. Haughty bearing. “A proud look.” Pride is frequently represented in the Bible as an offence to the Holy God. Haughtiness is an abomination, because it implies-- 1. Sel... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother._ WORDS OF COUNSEL TO SCHOOLBOYS While your recollections of home are fresh I am anxious to direct your thoughts to one or two matters to which those recollections may possibly give a weight and a force which they might... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou goest, it shall lead thee._ THE COMFORT OF THE THOUGHT OF GOD’S GUIDANCE IN AFTER-LIFE OF THOSE BROUGHT UP IN HIS FEAR AND LOVE Who is there who has never felt in his heart a wish for some one to advise, direct, and help him? There is an Adviser, a Helper, promised to us, able, powerful... [ Continue Reading ]
_The law is light _ THE LAW IS LIGHT The fitness and beauty of this comparison of the law of God with fight are seen immediately. If we consider the nature of law we find that it is like the nature of sunlight. There is nothing so pure and clean as light, and there is nothing so pure and stainless... [ Continue Reading ]
_To keep thee from the evil woman._ THE SIN OF UNCLEANNESS 1. One great kindness God designed men in giving them His law was to preserve them from this sin. 2. The greatest kindness we can do ourselves is to keep at a distance from this sin. Arguments urging this caution are-- (1) It is a sin th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?_ THE DANGER OF PLAYING WITH ENTICEMENTS TO SIN The law of the acquisition of knowledge is that the mind knows the unknown through the known. It gets at the distant through the near, and at the near through the nearer. It ascends to t... [ Continue Reading ]
_If he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry._ THEFT THROUGH NECESSITY The deceitful and perverting influence of sin requires careful consideration. While as yet it is only a principle in the mind, and not ripened into an external action, it draws into its service the various powers of imagin... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul._ THE SUICIDE OF THE SOUL Lovely as maiden purity is, and crowned with benedictions though it is by Christ, we have here to learn its excellence and fear its loss, by the sad, stern picture of impurity and shameless sin. In these sad proverbs of purity the... [ Continue Reading ]