Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. The sentence may be read, "Sin is the poverty, depression, or sinking of any people." 1. It is the nature of sin to lessen and diminish a people. The most populous nations have been reduced to a handful by the prevalence of vice — Israel, Greeks, Romans. 2. It is the nature of sin to sink and depress the spirits of a people. A people confirmed in the habits of vice, have no heart to labour, to think, to form, or to execute any virtuous designs. Their genius withers, their exertions languish, their hopes, their honours, their virtues perish. 3. It is the nature of sin to destroy the wealth of a nation, and subject them to all the evils and reproaches of poverty. Some species of fraud may, for a time, advance a person or people in wealth and grandeur. Yet vice, according to its natural course, will eventually involve them in poverty and shame. 4. It is the nature of sin to deprive a people of the blessings of freedom, and involve them in the misery and meanness of slavery. Vice has the same effect upon the body politic that sickness has upon the natural body. Vice destroyed the liberties of Greece. Vice subverted the freedom of Rome. 5. It is the nature of vice to provoke the displeasure of God, and draw down His judgments, which complete the ruin of a people. (D. Emmons, D.D.). Parallel Verses KJV: Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.WEB: Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. |
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