How far we should go in praising others, and in what spirit we should accept their praise, is a matter of no small importance in the conduct of life.
I. THE DUTY OF PRAISING OTHERS. "Let another man praise thee" can hardly be said to be imperative so far as he is concerned. But it suggests the propriety of another man speaking in words of commendation. And the duty of praising those who have done well is a much-forgotten and neglected virtue. I. It is the correlative of blame, and if we blame freely (as we do), why should we not freely praise the scholar, the servant, the son or daughter, the workman, etc.?
2. With many hearts, perhaps with moat, a little praise would prove a far more powerful incentive than a large quantity of blame.
3. To praise for doing well is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and of his apostles; it is to act as the most gracious and the most useful men and women have always acted.
4. It is to do to others as we would they should do to us. We thirst for a measure of approval when we have done our best, and what we crave from others we should give to others.
II. THE WISDOM OF ABSTAINING FROM SELF-PRAISE. The injunction of Solomon appeals to our common sense. Yet is it by no means unrequired. Many men are guilty of the unseemliness and the folly of praising themselves - their ingenuity, their shrewdness, their persuasiveness, their generosity, etc. Probably if they knew how very little they commend themselves by so doing, how very soon they weary their audience, how often their language becomes positively nauseous, they would abstain. Self-vindication under a false charge is a duty and even a virtue; a very minute modicum of self-commendation may be occasionally allowable; anything beyond this is, at least, a mistake.
III. THE NECESSITY OF TESTING PRAISE. "The ordinary interpretation makes the praise try the man, but the words... in the original make the man try the praise (Wardlaw). What the fining pot is to silver, that a man should be to his praise - he should carefully and thoroughly test it. For praise is often offered some part of which should be rejected as dross. The simple minded and the unscrupulous will praise us beyond the bounds of our desert, and to drink too much of this intoxicating cup is dangerous and demoralizing to us.
IV. THE PRACTICAL PROOF OF PRAISE. The duties and the difficulties that are before us will be the best possible proof of the sincerity and of the truthfulness of the praise we receive. We shall either be approved as the wise men we are said to be, or we shall be convicted of being less worthy than we are represented to be. Therefore let us be
(1) judicious as well as generous in our praise of others, remembering that they will be thus tested; and let us
(2) be contented with a modest measure of honour, realizing that we have to live up to the esteem in which we are held. But we may learn a valuable lesson from the common (if not the correct) interpretation, and consider -
V. THE TEST WHICH PRAISE AFFORDS. We stand blame better than praise; though it is right to recollect that we cannot stand more than a certain measure of blame, and few people are more objectionable or more mischievous than the scold. But much praise is a great peril. It elates and exalts; it puffs up." It too often undermines that humility of spirit and dependence on God which are the very root of a strong and beautiful Christian character.
1. Discourage all excess in this direction; it is dangerous.
2. Care more for the approval of an instructed and well-trained conscience.
3. Care most for the commendation of Christ. - C.
Sand weighty.
By a fool this book means, not so much intellectual feebleness as moral and religious obliquity, which are the stupidest things that a man can be guilty of. The proverb-maker compares two heavy things, stones and sand, and says that they are feathers in comparison with the lead-like weight of such a man's wrath. I want to make a parable out of the text. What is lighter than a grain of sand? What is heavier than a bagful of it? The accumulation of light things is overwhelmingly ponderous. Is there anything in our lives like that?
I. THIS REMINDS US OF THE SUPREME IMPORTANCE OF TRIFLES. The small things make life, and if they are small, then it is. We are poor judges of what is great or small. We have a very vulgar estimate of noise, notoriety, and bigness. We think the quiet things are the small ones. The most trivial actions have a knack of leading on to large results, beyond what could have been expected. These trivial actions make character. Men are not made by crises. The crises reveal what we have made ourselves by the trifles. We shape ourselves by the way we do small things.
II. THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF SMALL SINS. The accumulated pressure upon a man of a multitude of perfectly trivial faults and transgressions makes up a tremendous aggregate that weighs upon him. The words "great" and "small" should not be applied in reference to things about which "right" and "wrong" are the proper words to employ. Acts make crimes, but motives make sins. To talk about magnitude, in regard to sins, is rather to introduce an irrelevant consideration. Small sins, by reason of their numerousness, have a terribly accumulative power; a tremendous capacity for reproduction. All our evil doings have a strange affinity with one another. To go wrong in one direction leads to a whole series of consequential transgressions of one sort or another. Every sin makes us more accessible to the assaults of every other. If we indulge in slight acts of transgression, be sure of this, that we shall pass from them to far greater ones. An overwhelming weight of guilt results from the accumulation of little sins.
III. PLAIN, PRACTICAL ISSUES OF THESE THOUGHTS.
1. The absolute necessity for all-round and ever-wakeful watchfulness of ourselves.
2. This thought may take down our easy and self-complacent estimate of ourselves.
3. Should we not turn ourselves with lowly hearts to Him who alone can deliver us from the habit and power of these accumulated faults, and who alone can lift the burden of guilt and responsibility from off our shoulders?
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People
Abaddon,
SolomonPlaces
JerusalemTopics
Anger, Burden, Crushing, Fool, Foolish, Fool's, Greater, Heavier, Heavy, Provocation, Sand, Stone, Vexation, Weight, Weighty, WrathOutline
1. observations of self love5. of true love11. of care to avoid offenses23. and of the household careDictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 27:3 4306 minerals
4360 sand
Library
To-Morrow
A sermon (No. 94) delivered on Sabbath morning, August 25, 1856, by C. H. Spurgeon at Maberley Chapel, Kingsland, on behalf of the Metropolitan Benefit Societies' Asylum, Ball's Pond Road, Islington. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."--Proverbs 27:1. God's most holy Word was principally written to inform us of the way to heaven, and to guide us in our path through this world to the realms of eternal life and light. But as if to teach us that God is …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on ProverbsCheer for Despondency
A sermon (No. 3183) published on Thursday, February 3, 1910, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."--Proverbs 27:1. What a great mercy it is that we do not know "what a day may bring forth"! We are often thankful for knowledge, but in this case we may be particularly grateful for ignorance. It is the glory of God, we are told, to conceal a thing, and it most certainly is for the happiness of mankind that he should conceal …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs
The Best Friend
A Sermon (No. 2627) intended for reading on Lord's Day, June 18th, 1899, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. on Thursday evening, February 23rd, 1882. "Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not."--Proverbs 27:10. True friends are very scarce. We have a great many acquaintances and sometimes we call them friends, and so misuse the noble word "friendship." Peradventure in some after-day of adversity when these so-called friends have looked out for their …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs
The Honored Servant
A Sermon (No. 2643) Intended for Reading on Lord's Day, October 8th 1899, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington on Thursday Evening, June 22nd, 1882. "Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored."--Proverbs 27:18. In Solomon's day every man sat under his own vine and fig tree, and there was peace throughout the whole country. Then, God's law about dividing out the land among the people so that every man …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs
The Way to Honor
A Sermon (No. 1118) delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored."--Proverbs 27:18. If a man in Palestine carefully watched his fig tree and kept it in proper condition, he was sure to be abundantly rewarded in due season, for it would yield him a large quantity of fruit of which he would enjoy the luscious taste. So according to Solomon, good servants obtained honor …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs
Spiritual Appetite
A Sermon (No. 1227) delivered on Lord's Day Morning by C. H. Spurgeon, April 4th, 1875, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."--Proverbs 27:7. It is a great blessing when food and appetite meet together. Some have appetite and no meat, they need our pity; others have meat but no appetite, they may not perhaps win our pity but they certainly require it. We have heard of a gentleman who was accustomed to …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs
The Wandering Bird
A Sermon (No. 3453) published on Thursday, April 8th, 1915, delivered by C.H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place."--Proverbs 27:8. Solomon spoke from observation. He had seen certain persons of a vagrant kind, and he perceived that they seldom or never prospered. Moreover, he spoke from inspiration as well as from observation, hence the sagacity of the philosopher is in this case supported by the austerity …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs
To-Morrow
GOD'S MOST holy Word was principally written to inform us of the way to heaven, and to guide us in our path through this world, to the realms of eternal life and light. But as if to teach us that God is not careless concerning our doings in the present scene, and that our benevolent Father is not inattentive to our happiness even in this state, he has furnished us with some excellent and wise maxims, which we may put in practice, not only in spiritual matters, but in temporal affairs also. I have …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856
Epistle xxvii. To Anastasius, Bishop.
To Anastasius, Bishop. Gregory to Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. I have received through the hands of our common son the deacon Sabinianus the longed for letter of your most sweet Holiness, in which the words have flowed not from your tongue but from your soul. And it is not surprising that one speaks well who lives perfectly. And, since you have learnt, through the Spirit teaching you in the school of the heart, the precepts of life--to despise all earthly things and to speed to the heavenly country,--in …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great
Second Sunday Before Lent
Text: Second Corinthians 11, 19-33; 12, 1-9. 19 For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves. 20 For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face. 21 I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. 22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II
Of Suffering which must be Accepted as from God --Its Fruits.
Be content with all the suffering that God may lay upon you. If you will love Him purely, you will be as willing to follow Him to Calvary as to Tabor. He must be loved as much on Calvary as on Tabor, since it is there that He makes the greatest manifestation of His love. Do not act, then, like those people who give themselves at one time, and take themselves back at another. They give themselves to be caressed, and take themselves back when they are crucified; or else they seek for consolation in …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents
How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great
The Call of Matthew.
(at or Near Capernaum.) ^A Matt. IX. 9; ^B Mark II. 13, 14; ^C Luke V. 27, 28. ^c 27 And after these thingsa [after the healing of the paralytic] he went forth, ^a again by the seaside [i. e., he left Capernaum, and sought the shore of the sea, which formed a convenient auditorium for him, and which was hence a favorite scene for his teaching]; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14 And as he ^a Jesus passed by from thence, he saw ^c and beheld ^a a man, ^c a publican, named …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
The Poor in Spirit are Enriched with a Kingdom
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 Here is high preferment for the saints. They shall be advanced to a kingdom. There are some who, aspiring after earthly greatness, talk of a temporal reign here, but then God's church on earth would not be militant but triumphant. But sure it is the saints shall reign in a glorious manner: Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' A kingdom is held the acme and top of all worldly felicity, and this honour have all the saints'; so says our Saviour, Theirs is the …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12
An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man
THERE are not a few difficulties in the account, which Moses has given of the creation of the world, and of the formation, and temptation, and fall of our first parents. Some by the six days of the creation have understood as many years. Whilst others have thought the creation of the world instantaneous: and that the number of days mentioned by Moses is only intended to assist our conception, who are best able to think of things in order of succession. No one part of this account is fuller of difficulties, …
Nathaniel Lardner—An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man
Second Sunday after Easter
Text: First Peter 2, 20-25. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II
The Sixth Commandment
Thou shalt not kill.' Exod 20: 13. In this commandment is a sin forbidden, which is murder, Thou shalt not kill,' and a duty implied, which is, to preserve our own life, and the life of others. The sin forbidden is murder: Thou shalt not kill.' Here two things are to be understood, the not injuring another, nor ourselves. I. The not injuring another. [1] We must not injure another in his name. A good name is a precious balsam.' It is a great cruelty to murder a man in his name. We injure others in …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments
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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