He who keeps a commandment preserves his soul, but he who is careless in his ways will die. Sermons
I. THE WORTH OF INTELLIGENCE. 1. It is self-conservative (ver. 8). We all love our own soul or life in any healthy state of body and mind. We all want to live as long as possible. It is natural to desire to live again beyond the grave. Then let us understand that there is no way to these ends except that of intelligence, in the highest and in every sense. 2. It is the source of happiness. (Ver. 8.) The truth is very general and abstract, like the truth of the whole of these proverbs. It does not amount to this - that good sense will in every case procure happiness, but that there is no true happiness without it. II. SOME MAXIMS OF INTELLIGENCE. 1. The sorrow that falsehood brings. (Ver. 9.) It is certain. Many a lie is not immediately found out in the ordinary sense of these words; but it is always found in the man's mind. It vitiates the intelligence, undermines the moral strength. The rest must follow in its time - somewhere, somehow. 2. Vanity stands in its own light. (Ver. 10.) Those who have given way to over weening self-esteem and arrogance of temper - like Rehoboam, or like Alexander the Great, or Napoleon - become only the more conceited and presumptuous in success. The opposite of vanity is not grovelling self-disparagement, but the sense which teaches us to know our place. 3. The prudence of toleration and of conciliation. (Vers. 11, 12.) Socrates was a noble example of these virtues in the heathen world. We who have "learned Christ" should not at least fall behind him. To bear our wrongs with patience is the lower degree of this virtue. Positively to "overcome evil with good" stands higher. Highest of all is the Divine art to turn persecutors into friends (1 Peter 2:19; Matthew 5:44, sqq.). 4. The arcana of domestic life. (Vers. 13, 14.) (1) The foolish son. "Many are the miseries of a man's life, but none like that which cometh from him who should be the stay of his life." "Write this man childless" would have been a boon in comparison. (2) The tiresome spouse. Wearing the heart that is firm as stone by her continual contentions. (3) The kind and good wife. No gift so clearly shows the tender providence of God. 5. The inevitable fate of idleness. (Ver. 15.) (1) It produces a lethargy in the soul. (Ch. 6:9, 10.) The faculties that are not used become benumbed and effete. (2) Thus it leads to want. Although these are general maxims of a highly abstract character, still how true on the whole - if not without exception - they are to life! "He that will not work, neither let him eat." 6. The wisdom of attention to God's commands. (Ver. 16.) (1) To every man his soul is dear; i.e. his life is sweet. (2) The great secret, in the lower sense of self-preservation, in the higher of salvation, is obedience to law. (3) Inattention is the chief source of calamity. In the lower relation it is so. The careless crossing of the road, the unsteady foot on the mountain-side seems to be punished instantly and terribly. And this is the type of the truth in higher aspects. 7. The reward of pity and benevolence. (Ver. 17.) Sir Thomas More used to say there was more rhetoric in this sentence than in a whole library. God looks upon the poor as his own, and satisfies the debts they cannot pay. In spending upon the poor the good man serves God in his designs with reference to men. - J.
But he that despiseth his ways shall die. I. THE SINNER'S FALL AND RUIN. "He shall die." There is a death that is common to all mankind. That is the general effect of sin. But there is a death which is the particular lot of impenitent sinners. This is —1. A spiritual death, which is, being cut off from all communion with God. 2. An eternal death. This is but the perfection of the former. This second death is a real thing, and a fearful thing, and it is very near to all who are going on still in their trespasses. II. THE SINNER'S FAULT AND FOLLY WHICH BRINGS HIM TO THIS RUIN. "Despising his own ways." When may we be said to despise our own ways? When we are altogether unconcerned about the end of our ways. When we are indifferent about the rule of our ways, and the measures by which we govern ourselves in them. Those certainly despise their ways who walk at all adventures, and live at large when they should walk circumspectly and live by rule. God has given us the Scriptures to be the guide of our way. He has appointed conscience to be a monitor to us concerning our way. When we are wavering and unsettled in the course and tenor of our ways, then we despise them. If we do not apply ourselves to God in our ways, and acknowledge Him, we despise our own soul. When we are careless of our past ways and take not the account we ought to take of them. When we are heedless and inconsiderate as to the way that is before us, and walk at all adventures. If we are in no care to avoid sin, or to do our duty. III. THE FOOLISHNESS AND DANGER OF DESPISING OUR OWN WAYS. 1. The God of heaven observes and takes particular notice of all our ways. 2. Satan seeks to pervert our ways. 3. Many eyes are on us that are witnesses to our ways. 4. According as our ways are now, it is likely to be ill or well with us to eternity.Application: 1. Caution not to be rigid and severe in our censures of other people's ways. 2. Let it charge us to look well to our own ways.Be strict in your inquiries concerning your present ways. Be impartial in your reflections upon your past ways. Be very circumspect and considerate as to the particular paths that are before you. ( Matthew Henry.) People Isaiah, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Careless, Command, Commandment, Conduct, Contemptuous, Death, Despises, Despiseth, Despising, Die, Dieth, Fate, Guards, Instructions, Keepeth, Keeping, Keeps, Law, Note, Soul, TakesOutline 1. Life and ConductDictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 19:16Library 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 the Impatient and the Patient are to be Admonished. Second Journey through Galilee - the Healing of the Leper. The Kingdom of God Conceived as the Inheritance of the Poor. "Boast not Thyself of to Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. " The Wrath of God The Unity of God Man's Misery by the Fall Covenanting According to the Purposes of God. The Ninth Commandment The Knowledge of God Christian Meekness The Third Commandment Proverbs Links Proverbs 19:16 NIVProverbs 19:16 NLT Proverbs 19:16 ESV Proverbs 19:16 NASB Proverbs 19:16 KJV Proverbs 19:16 Bible Apps Proverbs 19:16 Parallel Proverbs 19:16 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 19:16 Chinese Bible Proverbs 19:16 French Bible Proverbs 19:16 German Bible Proverbs 19:16 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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