There is a kinship between all vices as between all virtues. All sins spring from a disturbance of our true relations to God, as all virtues rest upon the deep consciousness of that relation.
I. THE SIN OF PRIDE. (Ver. 4.) Its aspect - the lofty eyes, the haughty glance - and its principle in the heart are struck by the Divine rebuke. The meaning of the second clause is not quite clear; probably it is, "The light of the wicked is only sin," i.e. his haughty and overweening temper is compared to a flaming or a lurid light, contrasted with the mild serene ray that seems to stream from a good man's life.
II. THE VICE OF COVETOUSNESS. (Ver. 5.) Shown by an eager and selfish haste to obtain the wealth which Providence has apportioned only as the reward of painstaking toil. Religion teaches us moderation, measure in all things. "Unhasting, unresting," expresses the measure of diligence in all our life business.
III. THE USE OF DISHONEST MEATS. (Ver. 6.) This can never lead to aught but a seeming success (see the exegesis of this passage). "Man is a shadow's dream," said Pindar. "What shadows we are! and what shadows we pursue!" said a great Englishman. But of none is the word more true than of him who seeks gain at the expense of inner truth, profit by the loss of the soul!
IV. VIOLENT DEEDS. (Ver. 7.) All violence recoils upon the perpetrator. The desolation which godless men bring upon others finally carries away themselves. No one who persistently sets himself against right can stand, can abide, for right is the very foundation and constitution of things in the order of God. And so of criminality or impurity in general (ver. 8). It is a crooked way, a twisted web. Perplexities, miserable intricacies of doubt, are generally to be traced to the fault of the will; and the straightforward man is he who walks by the light of a pure heart.
V. THE CONTENTIOUS TEMPER. (Ver. 9.) It unfits for society. It makes the home intolerable. The vexing, captious, irritable temper makes a solitude around it, and calls it peace. The very idea of the Christian household is peace. Wherever struggle may be necessary, it is certainly out of place there. Let us seek the "things that make for peace" - these first and foremost. Every wife, mother, daughter, should be in reality, if not in name, a "Salome!" ("a peaceful one"). - J.
There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.
One of the most formidable methods of attacking religion is to exhibit it as a contrivance fit for narrow geniuses and mean souls. One of the most proper means to establish irreligion is to represent it as suited to great and generous minds.
I. CONSIDER THE TEXT IS REGARD TO WORLDLY GRANDEUR. We sometimes see those who are called grandees in the world resist God, pretend to compel Him by superior force, or by greater knowledge. How often is grandeur even now in our times a patent for insolence against God!
II. WORLDLY POLICY IS A SECOND OBSTACLE WHICH SOME MEN SET AGAINST THE LAWS OF HEAVEN. We sometimes see men forget that they are Christians, when they deliberate on the public good.
III. THE VOLUPTUOUS RESIST GOD. One of the most inviolable laws of God is, that felicity should be the reward of virtue, and misery the punishment of vice. What does a voluptuous man oppose against the execution of this law? Noise, company, diversions, the refinements of lasciviousness. Examine the system of the voluptuary at the bar of reason, and at the bar of conscience. Consider it in the declining time of life, and in view of death and punishment.
IV. A STOICAL OBSTINACY IS AN OBSTACLE WHICH SOME PLACE AGAINST THE PURPOSES OF GOD. Hath Zeno any disciples now? Yes, there are yet people who, under another name, maintain the same sentiments, affect an unshaken firmness, and glory in preserving their tranquillity under all the extremes of fortune.
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People
SolomonPlaces
JerusalemTopics
Breadth, Evil-doer, Haughty, Heart, Lamp, Loftiness, Lofty, Plowing, Pride, Proud, Sin, Tillage, WickedOutline
1. The king's heart in the hand of the LordDictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 21:4 5016 heart, fallen and redeemed
5149 eyes
5961 superiority
8302 love, abuse of
8803 pride, evil of
Library
Definition of Actual Grace
1. GENERAL NOTION OF GRACE.--The best way to arrive at a correct definition of actual grace is by the synthetic method. We therefore begin with the general notion of grace. Like "nature,"(3) grace (gratia, {GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA}) is a word of wide reach, used in a great variety of senses. Habert(4) enumerates no less than fourteen; which, however, may be reduced to four. a) Subjectively, …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and HabitualEpistle xxi. To Constantina Augusta .
To Constantina Augusta [1593] . Gregory to Constantina, &c. Almighty God, who holds in His right hand the heart of your Piety, both protects us through you and prepares for you rewards of eternal remuneration for temporal deeds. For I have learnt from the letters of the deacon Sabinianus my responsalis with what justice your Serenity is interested in the cause of the blessed Prince of the apostles Peter against certain persons who are proudly humble and feignedly kind. And I trust in the bounty …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great
Epistle Cvi. To Syagrius, Ætherius, virgilius, and Desiderius, Bishops .
To Syagrius, Ætherius, Virgilius, and Desiderius, Bishops [65] . Gregory to Syagrius of Augustodunum (Autun), Etherius of Lugdunum (Lyons), Virgilius of Aretale (Arles), and Desiderius of Vienna (Vienne), bishops of Gaul. A paribus. Our Head, which is Christ, has to this end willed us to be His members, that through the bond of charity and faith He might make us one body in Himself. And to Him it befits us so to adhere in heart, that, since without Him we can be nothing, through Him we may …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great
How the Slothful and the Hasty are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 16.) Differently to be admonished are the slothful and the hasty. For the former are to be persuaded not to lose, by putting it off, the good they have to do; but the latter are to be admonished lest, while they forestall the time of good deeds by inconsiderate haste, they change their meritorious character. To the slothful therefore it is to be intimated, that often, when we will not do at the right time what we can, before long, when we will, we cannot. For the very indolence of …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great
How those are to be Admonished who Desire not the Things of Others, but Keep their Own; and those who Give of their Own, yet Seize
(Admonition 22.) Differently to be admonished are those who neither desire what belongs to others nor bestow what is their own, and those who give of what they have, and yet desist not from seizing on what belongs to others. Those who neither desire what belongs to others nor bestow what is their own are to be admonished to consider carefully that the earth out of which they are taken is common to all men, and therefore brings forth nourishment for all in common. Vainly, then, do those suppose …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great
The Heavenly Footman; Or, a Description of the Man that Gets to Heaven:
TOGETHER WITH THE WAY HE RUNS IN, THE MARKS HE GOES BY; ALSO, SOME DIRECTIONS HOW TO RUN SO AS TO OBTAIN. 'And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.'--Genesis 19:17. London: Printed for John Marshall, at the Bible in Gracechurch Street, 1698. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. About forty years ago a gentleman, in whose company I had commenced my …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
"And the Life. " How Christ is the Life.
This, as the former, being spoken indefinitely, may be universally taken, as relating both to such as are yet in the state of nature, and to such as are in the state of grace, and so may be considered in reference to both, and ground three points of truth, both in reference to the one, and in reference to the other; to wit, 1. That our case is such as we stand in need of his help, as being the Life. 2. That no other way but by him, can we get that supply of life, which we stand in need of, for he …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
An Analysis of Augustin's Writings against the Donatists.
The object of this chapter is to present a rudimentary outline and summary of all that Augustin penned or spoke against those traditional North African Christians whom he was pleased to regard as schismatics. It will be arranged, so far as may be, in chronological order, following the dates suggested by the Benedictine edition. The necessary brevity precludes anything but a very meagre treatment of so considerable a theme. The writer takes no responsibility for the ecclesiological tenets of the …
St. Augustine—writings in connection with the donatist controversy.
Paul's Departure and Crown;
OR, AN EXPOSITION UPON 2 TIM. IV. 6-8 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR How great and glorious is the Christian's ultimate destiny--a kingdom and a crown! Surely it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what ear never heard, nor mortal eye ever saw? the mansions of the blest--the realms of glory--'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' For whom can so precious an inheritance be intended? How are those treated in this world who are entitled to so glorious, so exalted, so eternal, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament
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