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Expositor's Bible Commentary Proverbs 18:1 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. CHAPTER 19 THE EVIL OF ISOLATION "He that separates himself follows after his own desire, but against all sound wisdom he shows his teeth."- Proverbs 18:1 FROM the value of friendship there is a natural and easy transition to the evil of isolation. We must try to fathom the profound meaning which is hidden under this simple but striking proverb. To begin with, what are we to understand by "one that separates himself"? This same word occurs in 2 Samuel 1:23 concerning Saul and Jonathan, that "in their death they were not separated." Theirs was a togetherness which accompanied them to the grave. On the other hand, there are people who shun all togetherness in their lives, -they are voluntarily, deliberately separated from their kind, and they seem for the first time to blend with their fellows when their undistinguished dust mixes with the dust of others in the common grave. We are to think of a person who has no ties with any of his fellow creatures, who has broken such ties as bound him to them, or is of that morbid and unnatural humor that makes all intercourse with others distasteful. We are to think more especially of one who chooses this life of solitariness in order to follow out his own desire rather than from any necessity of circumstance or disposition; one who finds his pleasure in ignoring mankind, and wishes for intercourse with them only that he may vent his spleen against them; in a word, we are to think of a misanthrope. We must be careful in catching the precise idea because there are men who shut themselves off from their kind, rightly or wrongly, in order to seek the common welfare. A student or an inventor, sometimes even a teacher or a preacher, will find the solitude of the study or the laboratory the only condition on which he can accomplish the work to which he is called. The loss of domestic life or of social pleasures, the withdrawal from all the "kindly ways of men," may be a positive pain to him, a cross which he bears for the direct good of those whose company he forswears, or for the cause of truth, in whose service alone it is possible to permanently benefit his fellows. Such a "separation" as this-painful, difficult, unrewarded-we must exclude from the intention of our text, although possibly our text might convey a warning even to these benevolent hermits, that unless the heart is kept warm by human sympathies, unless the mind is kept in touch with the common cares and joys of our kind, the value of even intellectual work will be considerably diminished, while the worker himself must inevitably and perhaps needlessly suffer. But, on the whole, we must except these nobler instances of isolation, if we would feel the full force of the judgment which is pronounced in the text. The misanthrope is one who has no faith in his fellows, and shrinks into himself to escape them; who pursues his own private ends, avoiding all unnecessary speech with those who are around him, living alone, dying unobserved, except for the mischief which, consciously or unconsciously, he does to those who survive him. Such a one is aptly described as showing his teeth in an angry snarl against all the approaches of a true wisdom. Shakespeare might have had this proverb before him in that grim delineation of Richard the Third, who boasts that he has neither pity, love, nor fear. He was, he had been told, born with teeth in his mouth. "And so I was," he exclaims "which plainly signified that I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog." And then he explains his terrible character in these significant lines:- "I have no brother, I am like no brother: And this word Love, which greybeards call divine Be resident in men like one another, And not in me; I am myself alone." Yes, Love can only exist among men who are like one another; and no more damning indictment can be brought against a human being than this, that he is himself alone. The truth is that every man is not only a "self," a personality, but he is a very complex being made up of many relations with other men. He is a son, a brother, a friend, a father, a citizen. Suppose him to be stripped of all sonship, brotherhood, friendship, fatherhood, and citizenship; there is left, not a man, but a mere self, and that is his hideous condemnation. In the same way, a woman that is neither daughter, nor sister, nor wife, nor friend, nor ministrant, does not deserve the grand name of woman: she is a mere self, a point of exigent and querulous desires. The most appalling discovery in a great city is that multitudes have become mere selves- hungry, hollow, ravening, thirsty, shriveled selves. The father and mother are dead, or left far away, probably never known; no one is brother to them, they are brothers to no one. Friend has no significance to their understanding, or means only one who, from most interested motives, ministers to their craving appetites; they are not citizens of London, nor of any other city; they are not Englishmen, though they were born in England, nor have they any other nationality, -hideous, clamorous, esurient selves, nothing more. An old Greek saying declared that one who lives alone is either a god or a wild beast; while, as we have already seen, there are a few of the isolated ones who are isolated from noble and even Divine motives, the vast majority are in this condition because they have fallen from the level of humanity into the roving and predatory state of wild animals, that seek their meat by night and lurk in a lonely lair by day. The "sound wisdom" against which the isolated rage is nothing less than the kindly law which makes us men, and ordains that we should not live to ourselves alone, but should fulfill our noble part as members one of another. The social instinct is one of two or three striking characteristics which mark us out as human: a man by himself is only an animal, and a very poor animal too; in size he is far beneath the greatest of the creatures that inhabit land and sea; he is not as swift as the winged denizens of the air; his strength in proportion to his bulk is debility compared with that of the tiniest insects. His distinction in the creation, and his excelling dignity, are derived from the social relations which make him in combination strong, in the intercourse of speech and thought, wise, and in the loving response of heart to heart, noble. If by some unhappy accident a human being wanders early from his place into the forest, is suckled by wild beasts, and grows up among them, the result is an animal inconceivably repulsive, fierce, cunning, and ugly; vulpine, but without the wolf’s agile grace; bearish, but without the bear’s slow-pacing dignity. The "sound wisdom" is the wisdom of the Creator, who from the beginning determined that it is not good for men to live alone, and marked His conception of the unity which should bind them together by the gift of the woman to the man, to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. It becomes therefore a necessity to every wise human being to recognize, to maintain, and to cultivate all those wholesome relationships which make us truly human. "As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place." { Proverbs 27:8 } Sometimes when a great ship is far off in mid-ocean, a tired land-bird will fall panting and exhausted upon the deck: the wings can beat no longer; the eyes glaze; and the eager wanderer fails and dies. The true bird-life is the life of the woods, of the toilsomely-woven nest, of the mate and the brood and the fledglings. In the same way on those ocean steamers-ay, and in many a weary bye-path and lonely desert of the earth-may be found men who have broken away from the ties which formed their strength and their truer being, and now fall, faint and purposeless, to languish and to die. For true human life is the life of our fellows, of the diligent laborious house building, of the home, of the young, of the rising nestlings which are to form the next link in the long chain of the generations. Neighborliness is the larger part of life; we are not to go to our distant "brother’s house in the day of our calamity, for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off." { Proverbs 27:10 } Our life is rich and true and helpful just in proportion as we are entwined with those who live around us in bonds of mutual respect and consideration of reciprocal helpfulness and service, of intimate and intelligent friendship. It is hardly necessary to say that there is neighborliness and neighborliness. Our relation to our neighbors may be that of mere busybodies, tattlers, and whisperers; it may be devoid of tact and consideration: there is need therefore of a warning to "hold back thy foot from thy neighbor’s house; lest he be sated with thee, and hate thee." { Proverbs 25:17 } But this possible abuse does not affect the broad and salutary principle: we are meant to live in one another; our nature can realize itself, and accomplish its mission, only in generous and noble relations with those who are about us. The home is at the foundation of all; a good son or daughter will generally make a good man or woman, good brothers will prove good citizens, good sisters good ministrants and teachers to the poor and the ignorant; good fathers will be the best rulers in church and state. The home will be the preparation for the larger life of the town, or the social circle, or the state. And thus from the cradle to the grave no man should live alone, but everyone should be a member of a larger body, holding a definite place in a system or organism, depending on others, with others depending on him. Nerves should run through the body politic, motor nerves and sensory nerves; the joys and pains of a community should be shared, the activities of a community should be united. No one should live to himself; all should live, and rejoice to live, in the great cooperative society of the world, in which personal interests are mutual interests and the gains of each are the gains of all. But we can hardly probe to the depths of this Proverbial Philosophy without becoming aware that we are touching on an idea which is the mainspring of Christianity on its earthly and visible side. We seem to have detected in all the preceding discussion echoes, however faint, of the Apostolic teaching which gave practical shape and body to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The relation of Christ, as the Son of God, to the human race as a whole, immediately opened up the possibility of a world-wide society in which all nations, all classes, all castes, all degrees, all individualities, should be not so much merged as distinctly articulated and recognized in a complete and complex whole. The kingdom of heaven, while borrowing its terminology from earthly kingdoms, was unlike any one of them because it was to include them all. Into that kingdom all the peoples, nations, and languages should pass. The Catholic Church, was the first attempt to realize this grand idea, presented for a time a certain faint and wavering reflection of the image in the heavens. The fault of seeking the unity of the race in a priesthood instead of in the people was of course a fatal one to its own ultimate success, but at least one great service was rendered to humanity; the idea became familiar of a unity, in which the narrower unities of the family, the social circle, and the nation were to find their completion. And when the intelligence and the faith of men broke with the Catholic Church, it was not a breach with the Catholic idea, but merely a transition to a nobler and a more living realization of the idea. At present the idea is daily clearing and assuming vaster proportions; humanity is seen to be one; the Great-Father presides over a family which may be sundered, but cannot be really parted; over a race which is divided, but not actually separated. Strange and rapturous have been the emotions of men as they have entered into the realization of this idea, and the thrill of their vast fellowship has passed through their hearts. Sometimes they have turned away in bitterness of revolt from the Christian Church, which with harsh dogmatisms and fierce anathemas, with cruel exclusiveness and sectarian narrowness, seems rather to check than to further the sublime thought of the One Father, of whom all the family is named in heaven and in earth. But whatever justification there may be for complaint against the Church, we cannot afford to turn our thoughts from the Son of Man, who has redeemed the race to which we belong, and who, as the Divine Power, is alone able to carry out in effect the great conception which He has given us in thought. And now I am going to ask you for a moment to consider how the text reads in the light of the work and the presence and the person of Jesus Christ, who has come to gather together in one those that are scattered abroad. The person of Christ is the link which binds all men together; the presence of Christ is the guarantee of the union; the work of Christ, which consists in the removal of sin, is the main condition of a heart-unity for all mankind. When therefore you put your trust in Christ and your sinful nature is subdued, you are incorporated into a body of which He is the head, and you must pass out of the narrow self-life into the broad Christ-life; you can no longer live for yourself alone, because as the member of a body you exist only in relation to all the other members. "But," it is said, "am I not to seek my own salvation, and then to work it out with fear and trembling? am I not to withdraw from the world, and to labor hard to make my calling and election sure?" In a certain sense, the answer to that question is, Yes. But then it is only in a certain sense; for you make sure of your own salvation precisely in proportion as you are really incorporated into Christ, and are made a genuine member of the body: as St. John says, "We know that we are passed from death unto life because we love the brethren," and "if we walk in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." We work out our salvation therefore only by losing the self in others; we withdraw from the world and make our calling sure, just as our thoughts become identified with God’s thoughts, and as our lives are passed in cheerful and victorious service. If, then, on the ground of our humanity we are cautioned against separating ourselves, because by so doing we set our teeth against all sound wisdom, on the ground of our Christianity we must be warned not to separate ourselves, because that means to harden our hearts against the faith itself. When we say to ourselves, "We will live our Christian life alone," that is equivalent to saying, "We will not live the Christian life at all." We do not know what the life in heaven may be, -though from the casual glimpses we obtain of it, we should say that it is a great social gathering, at which we shall sit down with Abraham and all the saints of God, a kind of marriage festivity to celebrate the union of the Lord with His bride, -but it is plain that the Christian life, as it is revealed to us here, must be the life of a community, for it is likened to a vine, from which all dead branches are cut off, and plainly all cut-off branches are dead. "But," say many people amongst us, "we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; we trust to Him; why should you impose any further conditions?" Do they put their faith in Him? Does not faith imply obedience? Did He not require His disciples to be united in a fellowship, and did He not give His body and His blood as a symbol of this fellowship, and command them to take the symbols in remembrance of Him until He comes? Are these isolated believers obeying Him, or are they not cutting at the root of His glorious purpose of human fellowship in the Divine Head? And if they are thus breaking His expressed commandment, has He not warned them that he will say, "I never knew you, depart from Me." although they have taught in his name, and even cast out devils and done many wonderful works? And in thus reminding you of our Lord’s thought, I am not speaking only of what we call the fellowship of the Church; for there are many who are merely nominal members of the Church, and though their names are enrolled they "separate themselves" and live the life of unhallowed isolation, just as they did before they professedly entered into the Christian society. This is a larger question than that of Church membership; Church membership derives its vast importance from being a part of this larger question. Will you, therefore, let me close with a personal appeal addressed to each one of you? You know that the Son of Man would make men one; you know that He calls His disciples into a holy family of mutual love and service, so that men may know that they are His, and may recognize Him because they love one another. Are you venturing to disregard His commandment and to frustrate His will by separating yourself for your own desire? Have you fallen out of all relations with His family, so that the sonship, the brotherhood, the friendship, the fatherhood, the citizenship, of the heavenly kingdom are as good as meaningless to you? If so, may I say in the words of the text, you are setting "your teeth against all sound wisdom?" The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and inter-meddleth with all wisdom. Proverbs 18:1 The case of diversions stated J. Seed, M. A. Dull and insipid is every performance where inclination bears no part. Any one man's sense, however excellent, unless it mixes in society with that of others, always degenerates into singularity and caprice. I. HOW FAR ARE SOCIAL DIVERSIONS ALLOWABLE? 1. When there is no reason against any social pleasure there is always a reason for it, viz., that it is a pleasure. To suppose that the Deity would abridge us of any pleasure merely as such when it does not interfere with higher and nobler delights is a notion highly derogatory to His goodness. 2. Diversions are necessary to relieve the cares, sweeten the toils, and smooth the ruggedness of life. He who applies himself to his studies, or any other employment, with proper intervals of refreshment to recruit his spirits, will upon the whole do more good than he who gives unrelieved application. And diversions are necessary under afflictions. The first step towards a recovery of happiness is to steal ourselves gradually from a sense of our misery. 3. Diversions are necessary to endear us to one another. To comply with men's tastes as far as we innocently can in the little incidents of life, to bear a part in their favourite diversions — this knits men's hearts to one another and lays the foundations of friendship. 4. Diversions are requisite to enlarge the usefulness and influence of a good character. It would be worth while for the good to endear, by little compliances, their persons to the affections of mankind, that they might recommend their actions to their imitation. If it be asked, When do we exceed the bounds of reason in our diversions? it may be said if, after having made a party in some entertainments, the soul can recall her wandering thoughts and fix them, with the same life and energy as is natural to us in other cases, upon any subject worthy of a rational creature, it is plain that we have not gone too far. And things suitable enough in youth come with an ill grace in advanced years. The greatest hazard is that we should contract a habit of doing nothing to the purpose and should fool away life in an impertinent course of diversions. II. THE NECESSITY OF AN EARLY AND CLOSE APPLICATION TO WISDOM. It is necessary to habituate our minds, in our younger years, to some employment which may engage our thoughts and fill the capacity of the soul at a riper age. We outgrow the relish of childish amusements, and if we are not provided with a taste for manly satisfactions to succeed in their room we must become miserable at an age more difficult to be pleased. Nothing can be long entertaining, but what is in some measure beneficial, because nothing else will bear a calm and sedate review. There is not a greater inlet to misery and vices of all kinds than the not knowing how to pass our vacant hours. When a man has been laying out that time in the pursuit of some great and important truth which others waste in a circle of gay follies he is conscious of having acted up to the dignity of his nature, and from that consciousness there results that serene complacency which is much preferable to the pleasures of animal life. Happy that man who, unembarrassed by vulgar cares, master of himself, his time and fortune, spends his time in making himself wiser, and his fortune in making others happier. III. SOME REFLECTIONS WHICH HAVE A CONNECTION WITH THIS SUBJECT. 1. Let us set a just value upon and make a due use of those advantages which we enjoy. Advantages of a regular method of study (as at a university). Direction in the choice of authors upon the most material subjects. A generous emulation quickens our endeavours, and the friend improves the scholar. 2. It is a sure indication of good sense to be diffident of it. We then, and not till then, are growing wise when we begin to discern how weak and unwise we are. ( J. Seed, M. A. ) The stimulus of desire G. Harris. A person under the strong influence of desire is like a hound in pursuit of a deer, which he keenly and steadfastly follows when he has once caught the scent of it, and continues to track it through a herd of others, and for many a weary mile until he has hunted it down, although those which he has passed by may seem easily within his reach. ( G. Harris. ) Extracting knowledge Bp. Horne. There is no kind of knowledge which, in the hands of the diligent and skilful, will not turn to account. Honey exudes from all flowers, the bitter not excepted; and the bee knows how to extract it. ( Bp. Horne. ) Desire an excitement to diligence If we would get knowledge or grace we must desire it as that which we need and which will be of great advantage to us. We must separate ourselves from all those things which would divert or retard us in the pursuit, retire out of the noise of this world's vanities, be willing to take pains, and try all the methods of improving ourselves, be acquainted with a variety of opinions, that we may prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. ( Matthew Henry . ) The evil of isolation R. F. Horton, D. D. There are people who shun all togetherness in their lives; they are voluntarily, deliberately separated from their kind. We are to think of one who chooses a life of solitariness in order to follow out his own desire rather than from any necessity of circumstance or disposition; we are to think of a misanthrope. There are men who separate themselves for the common welfare, such as the student and the inventor. But the misanthrope is one who has no faith in his fellows, and shrinks into himself to escape them. Every man is not only a "self," a personality; he is a very complex being, made up of many relations with other men. He is a son, a brother, a friend, a father, a citizen. Stripped of these he is not a man, but a mere self, and that is his hideous condemnation. An old Greek saying declared that one who lives alone is either a god or a wild beast. The social instinct is one of two or three striking characteristics which mark us out as human. It becomes therefore a necessity to every wise human being to recognise, to maintain, and to cultivate all those wholesome relationships which make us truly human. Neighbourliness is the larger part of life. Our life is rich and true and helpful just in proportion as we are entwined with those who live around us in bonds of mutual respect and consideration, of reciprocal helpfulness and service, of intimate and intelligent friendship. The relation of Christ, as the Son of God, to the human race as a whole immediately opened up the possibility of a world-wide society in which all nations, all classes, all castes, all degrees, all individualities should be not so much merged as distinctly articulated and recognised in a complete and complex whole. The person of Christ is the link which binds all men together; the presence of Christ is the guarantee of the union; the work of Christ, which consists in the removal of sin, is the main condition of a heart union for all mankind. The Christian life must be the life of a community. ( R. F. Horton, D. D. ) Seeking wisdom R. Wardlaw, D. D. Two opposite views have been taken of this verse. One makes Solomon refer to a pursuit of knowledge and wisdom that is right and commendable; the other regards him as speaking of what is wrong and censurable. Schultens describes the intended character thus: "A self-conceited, hair-brained fool seeks to satisfy his fancy, and intermingleth himself with all things." Parkhurst thus: "The recluse seeks his own pleasure or inclination; he laughs at or derides everything solid or wise." Another thus: "A retired man pursueth the studies he delights in, and hath pleasure in each branch of science." I am disposed to think that our own translation gives the sense. "Through desire" — that is, the desire of knowledge — "a man, having separated himself" — that is, having retired and secluded himself from interruption by the intrusion of companions and the engagements of social life — "seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom." There is a contrast between the character in the first verse and the character in the second verse. The contrast is between the man that loves and pursues knowledge and the man who undervalues and despises it. ( R. Wardlaw, D. D. ) The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters. Proverbs 18:4 The importance of language Canon Diggle. Language is one of the principal tests and standards of civilisation. The study of language is one of the most naturally interesting and naturally elevating studies with which the human mind can occupy itself. I. IT IS OF GREAT INTELLECTUAL IMPORTANCE. Only through the instrumentality of language can the thoughts of the mind be revealed and displayed. Nothing bewrays more obviously the rustiness and disorganisation of the intellect than inaccuracy and dulness of language. II. THE MORAL IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE IS STILL GREATER. As a rule the relations between intellect and conscience are harmonious. When the intellect is illuminated it brightens the conscience; when the conscience is quickened it animates the intellect. Language is often a standard of morals. Exactitude of utterance is seldom compatible with great frequency of utterance. Modern writing and modern speech are impotent because they are slipshod. Language is also a great moral force in the world by reason of its variety. A world of one language would not be a very interesting world. III. THE GREAT RELIGIOUS IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE. The utmost solemnity is attached in the Bible to the use of language. What man can think that words are light and little things when he remembers that it is through the instrumentality of words inspired that God has made known His greatest revelations to mankind? ( Canon Diggle. ) The words of inspired wisdom Homilist. There are some who regard the two clauses of this verse as antithetic. The former indicating hidden depths of evil in the wicked man. "The words of his mouth are as deep waters." That is, he is so full of guile and deceit that you cannot reach his meaning. The latter indicating the transparent communications of the wise and the good. "The wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook." The communications of the one are guileful — the words conceal rather than reveal. The words of the other are honest and lucid. There are others who regard the two clauses as a parallelism. The character of the former clause is to be taken from the latter. The words of a man's mouth — that is, according to the second clause, of a wise man's mouth — are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. We shall use the words thus as a parallelism to illustrate the words of inspired wisdom which are "wise" in the highest sense. I. THEY ARE FULL. They are as "deep waters." The world abounds with shallow words, mere empty sounds. The words in the general conversation of society and in the popular literature of the day are empty, shells without a kernel, mere husks without grain. But the words of inspired men are full, brimful, full of light and full of power. 1. The greatest thinkers have failed to exhaust their meaning. 2. Every modern thinker discovers new significance. Every paragraph has a continent of thought. "There lie vast treasures unexplored, And wonders yet untold." II. THEY ARE FLOWING. "A flowing brook." The words of eternal truth are always in motion. They pulsate in thousands of souls every hour, and onward is their tendency. 1. They flow from the eternal wellspring of truth. 2. They flow through human channels. Divine wisdom speaks through man as well as through other organs. "Holy men spake as they were moved," etc. The highest teacher was a man, Christ, the Logos. The words of His mouth were indeed as deep waters. Since Heaven has thus made man the organ of wisdom, it behoves man —(1) Devoutly to realise the honour God has conferred upon his nature;(2) Earnestly to aspire to the high honour of being a messenger of the Eternal. Man should not only be the student, but the revealer of God. III. THEY ARE FERTILISING. They are here compared to "waters" and to "a flowing brook." What water is to all physical life the words of heavenly wisdom are to souls. They quicken and satisfy. 1. It is a perennial brook. It has streamed down these centuries, imparting life and beauty in its course. 2. It is an accumulating "brook." As brooks in nature swell into rivers by the confluence of contributory streams, so the brook of Divine truth widens and deepens by every contribution of holy thought. And never was it so broad and deep as now. ( Homilist. ) A fool's lips enter into contention. Proverbs 18:6-8 The speech of a splenetic fool Homilist. How frequently Solomon speaks of the fool! and the fool in his idea was not an intellectually demented man, but a morally bad man. I. IT IS QUERULOUS. "A fool's lips enter into contention." His ill-nature shows itself in his readiness to pick quarrels, to create frays. II. IT IS PROVOCATIONAL. "His mouth calleth for strokes." They irritate the men they speak to, and often prompt to acts of violence. III. IT IS SELF-RUINOUS. "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul." Such speech is indeed destructive. 1. It destroys the man's own reputation. A querulous man has no social respect or command; he is shunned. 2. It destroys the man's own social enjoyment. He has no loving fellowships, no lasting friendships. 3. It destroys the man's own peace of mind. IV. IT IS SOCIALLY INJURIOUS. "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly." The talebearer as a rule is a man with a splenetic temperament; he delights in mischief. ( Homilist. ) He also that is slothful in his work. Proverbs 18:9 Indolence Indolence is a stream which flows slowly on, but yet undermines the foundation of every virtue. It were as little hazard to be tossed in a storm as to lie thus perpetually becalmed; nor is it to any purpose to have within one the seeds of a thousand good qualities, if we want the vigour and resolution necessary for the exerting them. That the necessity of labour ought to be regarded as a punishment is a mean and sordid notion, invented by the effeminate, the lazy, and the vicious. On the contrary, if God had prohibited labour, such prohibition might justly have been deemed a token of His displeasure, since inaction is a kind of lethargy, equally pernicious to the mind and body. An effeminate Sybarite, we are told, thanked the gods very heartily that he had never seen the sun rise in his life. Can there be a more striking emblem of a narrow and unenlightened mind? — of a wicked and unprofitable servant? The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10 The security of those who trust in God J. Witherspoon, D. D. I. EXPLAIN WHAT IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY "THE NAME OF THE LORD." No particular virtue or charm attaches to the sound or pronunciation of the name. In a mistaken veneration for the name the Jews refused to pronounce it at all. But a rash profanation of the name of God is unspeakably more criminal. By the name of the Lord we are to understand the Lord God Himself — His nature, as it is discovered to us in all His glorious perfection, particularly in His power and goodness to save and deliver them that put their trust in Him. Three principal ways by which God hath discovered Himself to mankind. 1. The visible creation. 2. The written Word. 3. The daily administration of His providence. II. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE RIGHTEOUS RUNNING INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD AS A STRONG TOWER? The epithet "strong tower" conveys to the mind the idea of protection and defence. God's almighty providence is the surest and strongest defence against all enemies of whatever kind, let their art, their activity, their malignity be what they will. 1. Running into the name implies the lively exercise of faith both in the power and the willingness of God to protect. It is only by faith that we can go to an invisible God. Faith, in applying the power and promise of God, receives very much strength from the examples of His mercy, either towards ourselves or others. The name is recorded in every page of the history of providence. 2. The righteous "runneth into the name" by the exercise of fervent prayer. Praying is the immediate and direct means of imploring the Divine assistance and protection. Faith is the habitual principle, and prayer is the actual application of it. Though God knows all our wants perfectly, He requires that we implore His assistance by prayer. And prayer is the natural remedy to which all are ready to fly in extremity. 3. The righteous "runneth into the name" by diligence in his duty; which implies three things:(1) Diligence in all duties in general.(2) A watchful attention to his conduct in every time of trial or danger. Whether his danger arises from bodily distress, from worldly losses, from slander and reproach, the first and great care of the Christian should be to keep his conscience undefiled.(3) The diligent use of every lawful means for his protection and deliverance.(4) A renunciation of dependence on all created help. We run into the strong tower from everything else. III. THE PERFECT SECURITY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 1. Wherein does this safety consist? "Is safe" might be rendered "is exalted," "placed on high." God preserves them from dangers which they could not escape. They have the promise of strength and support in the time of trial. They are sure of deliverance in the end, and complete victory over all sufferings of every kind. 2. The certainty of it is based on the Divine perfections, on the faithful promises, and on the experience of the saints. Learn — (1) The sinfulness of distrust. (2) The remedy for distrust. ( J. Witherspoon, D. D. ) Two defences -- real and imaginary A. Maclaren, D. D. The two verses put side by side two pictures, two fortifications: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower"; that is so, whether a man thinks it or not; that is an objective truth and always true. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city," because "in his own conceit" he has made it so. So we have on the one side fact and on the other side fancy. The two pictures are worth looking at. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower." Now, of course, I need not remind you that "the name of the Lord," or "the name of Jesus Christ," means a great deal more than the syllables by which He is designated, which is all that we understand generally by a name. It means, to put it into far less striking words, the whole character of God, in so far as it is revealed to men. So we have to recognise in that great expression the clearest utterance of the two thoughts which have often been regarded as antagonistic, viz., the imperfection, and yet the reality, of our knowledge of God. His name is not the same as Himself, but it is that by which He is known. Our knowledge of Him, after all revelation, is incomplete, but it is His name — that is to say, it corresponds to the realities of His nature, and may be absolutely and for ever trusted. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower," which, translated into plain prose, is just this — in that revealed character there is all that shelterless, defenceless men can need for absolute security and perfect peace. We may illustrate that by considering either Him who defends or him that is defended. On the one hand, perfect wisdom, perfect love, perfect power, that endure for ever; and on the other hand, men weighed upon by sore distresses, crippled and wounded by many transgressions. These two, the defence and the defenceless, fit into each other like the seal to its impress, the convexity to the cavity. Whatever man needs, God is, and whatever dangers, dreads, pains, losses, sorrows, sins, attack humanity, in Him is the refuge for them all. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower." Do you believe that; and is it an operative belief in your lives? "The righteous runneth into it"; and what is that running into it? Neither more nor less than the act of faith. One of the words of the Old Testament which is frequently translated — and rightly so — "trust," has for its literal meaning to flee to a refuge. So, says our teacher, the way to get into the fortress, and to have the solemn battlements of that Divine name round our unarmed and else shelterless weakness, is simply to trust in Him. But the word suggests the urgency and the effort that will always go with faith. "The righteous runneth into it" — not dawdles in it — "and is safe." And that takes effort and means haste. Do not put off your flight. And stop in it when you are there, by that constant communion with the name of the Lord, which will bring you tranquillity. "In Me ye shall have peace." Stay behind the strong bulwarks. But there is a formidable word in this old proverb. "The righteous runneth into it." Does not that upset all our hopes? I need not say anything about the safety, except to make one remark. The word rendered "is safe " literally means "is high." The intention, of course, is to express safety, but it expresses it in a picturesque fashion which has its bearing upon the word in the next verse, viz., it sets before us the thought that the man who has taken refuge in the strong tower goes up to the top of it by the winding staircase, and high up there the puny bows of the foe below cannot shoot an arrow that will reach him. That is a truth for faith. We have to bear the common lot of humanity, but the evil that is in the evil, the bitterness that is in the sorrow, the poison that is in the sting, all these may be taken away for us. And now I need only say a word or two about the companion picture, the illusory imagination. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and a high wall in his own conceit." It is very hard to have, and to be concerned about, and to use, the external good without putting our trust in it. The Bible has no foolish condemnation of wealth. And we all know, whether in regard to money, or to earthly loves, or to outward possessions and blessings of all sorts, how difficult it is to keep within the limit, not to rely upon these, and to think that if we have them we are blessed. What can we do, any of us, when real calamities come? Will wealth or anything else keep away the tears? What will prevent the sorrows, deal with the sins, or enable us to be of good cheer in the face of death and disease, and to say, "You cannot touch me"? Ah! there is but one thing that will do that for us. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower." The other man has "a high wall in his own conceit." Did you ever see the canvas fortifications at some entertainments that they put up to imitate strong castles? — canvas stretched upon bits of stick. That is the kind of strong wall that the man puts up who trusts in the uncertainty of any earthly thing, or in anything but the living God. Let us keep ourselves within the Divine limits in regard to all external things. It is hard to do it, but it can be done. And there is only one way to do it, and that is by the same act by which we take refuge in the true fortress — viz., by faith and communion. When we realise that God is our defence, then we can see through the insufficiency of the others. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) The name of the Lord a strong tower J. R. Shurlock, M. A. It is essential that man's hopes should rest on a firm basis. I. THE NAME OF THE LORD IS A STRONG TOWER. Names have a twofold use — to distinguish and describe. Our names generally serve only to distinguish the individual. Sometimes, however, they describe as well as distinguish, and when this is the ease, their significancy is greatly increased. The name of God is descriptive; it describes the attributes of His character as revealed to us. What God is in Himself is implied in the name Jehovah, the existent. What the Almighty God is to His sinful and rebellious creatures is a matter of anxious inquiry. He is condescending, full of compassion, ready to forgive, slow to anger, yet by no means clearing the guilty. Such is the name of the Lord, which the text reminds us is a "strong tower." A tower is a place built for shelter and security. Its strength consists in the durability of the materials of which it is composed. God's name is called a strong tower, on account of the strength of the foundation on which they build who are sheltered within it. II. THE CONDUCT OF THE RIGHTEOUS. He "runneth into it." The real Christian is the one who is earnest in the pursuit of everlasting life. He is impelled by a sense of danger. He is animated by the hope of safety. III. THE SAFETY OF THE RIGHTEOUS WITHIN THE TOWER. He is safe from — 1. The assaults of the devil. 2. From the world. 3. From his own natural depravity. 4. From the accusations of the law. 5. From the accusations of conscience. 6. From the fear of death. ( J. R. Shurlock, M. A. ) On trust in God J. Grant, M. A. As a strong tower was considered, under the ancient system of warfare, to be a place of entire security from harm, this text is nothing else than a figurative manner of expressing the extreme importance of putting our whole trust in God. The reasonableness of this duty will appear if we consider the Divine perfections. 1. God's unlimited power. It is proclaimed by the heavens, the work of His fingers, and by the earth, which He has suspended upon nothing. Everything declares that He is at least fully competent to our preservation and deliverance. 2. His particular providence, as displayed in the government of the universe. Even things which we are wont to regard as casual and trivial are subjected to His perpetual control. 3. His beneficence. He is ever ready to relieve and to bless. He is not only competent, He is willing to promote our good. 4. His tried and approved veracity "God is faithful, who hath promised." In our intercourse with each other, experience is the basis of confidence, of mercantile credit, and of moral character. The same principle should lead us to place confidence in God. Two remarks to guard the subject from misconception.(1) God may sometimes appear unkind, and yet be not the less deserving of our full reliance.(2) A compliance with the Divine will is an indispensable requisite to a well-grounded confidence in the Divine favour. A right trust in God includes personal exertions towards attaining the objects of our desire. ( J. Grant, M. A. ) Our strong tower Weekly Pulpit. There are many war similes in the Bible. 1. Men mistake by resting satisfied with unstable and insecure bases. The sense of dependence is in every man so strong that no man can be happy quite alone, and leaning on nothing. Men try to satisfy themselves with one or other of three things.(1) Health. They assure themselves that if they were to lose all they possessed, their health and energy would enable them to make their way in the world again.(2) Friends. They say, "I have friends who are well off, and they will be sure to help me."(3) Money. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit." Neither of these "towers" can be safe trusting-places. Health is uncertain. Friends fail. Money takes wing. If they provide some little shelter from the common sorrows of life, they can provide none for those spiritual sorrows which are the real sorrows. 2. Men cannot be truly strong for life until they have God behind them. To know a man is to apprehend all that makes up his individuality, or to "know his name." So the " name of God" includes everything that spheres Him as God: a just apprehension of God and His relations — a true knowledge of God. To know God in covenant is a strong tower. The "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," is God known through relationships and tried by experience. That God can be our "tower." In Scripture, to know the name of any one implies familiarity and confidence; and to know God by name implies such confidence as makes Him to us a strong "tower." To do anything in the name of another is to carry with you their authority, as with the ambassador or the old prophet. The name of God is a storehouse of wealth and strength, from which all recurring needs can be supplied. Then comes the moral force needed to deal with — 1. The attacks of life. 2. The defences of life. 3. The retreats of life.Who can use this defence of God? Only the man whose purpose is to live the righteous life, and whose constant effort is to realise his purpose. ( Weekly Pulpit. ) The name of the Lord James Stewart. I. CHRIST IS A STRONGHOLD, FOR AS SUCH HE HAS BEEN APPOINTED AND ORDAINED BY GOD. Wisdom. II. CHRIST IS A STRONGHOLD, BECAUSE OF THE ABSOLUTE PERFECTION OF HIS OBEDIENCE, AND THE ENTIRE ADEQUACY OF HIS ATONEMENT. Holiness and justice. III. CHRIST IS A STRONGHOLD, BECAUSE GOD HAS ACTUALLY ACCEPTED OF HIS VICARIOUS WORK. Faithfulness. IV. CHRIST IS A STRONGHOLD, BECAUSE AS A KING HE HATH SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH. Power. V. THE TESTIMONY OF MEN — THOSE "WHO HAVE FLED FOR REFUGE." ( James Stewart. ) Our Stronghold Strong towers were a greater security in a bygone age than they are now. Castles were looked upon as being very difficult places for attack; and ancient troops would rather fight a hundred battles than endure a single siege. He who owned a strong tower felt, however potent might be his adversary, his walls and bulwarks would be his sure salvation. I. THE CHARACTER OF GOD FURNISHES THE RIGHTEOUS WITH AN ABUNDANT SECURITY. The character of God is the refuge of the Christian in opposition to other refuges which godless men have chosen; and as a matter of fact and reality. The purpose of God in our salvation is the glorifying of His own character, and this it is that makes our salvation positively sure; if every one that trusts in Christ be not saved, then is God dishonoured. His character is the great granite formation upon which must rest all the pillars of the covenant of grace, and the sure mercies thereof. His wisdom, truth, mercy, justice, power, eternity, and immutability, are the seven pillars of the house of sure salvation. This is true not only as a matter of fact but also as a matter of experience. Even when the Lord Himself chastens us, it is most blessed to appeal against God to God. II. HOW THE RIGHTEOUS AVAIL THEMSELVES OF THIS STRONG TOWER. They run into it. They do not stop to make any preparation. And the running implies that they have nothing to carry; and that fear quickens them. When a man enters a castle, he is safe because of the impregnability of the castle, not because of the way in which he entered into the castle. III. ENTERING THE STRONG TOWER IS A JOYOUS EXPERIENCE. For "is safe" the margin reads "is set aloft." 1. This is a matter of fact. He is safe, for who can hurt him? Who has power to reach him? What weapon is there that can be used against him? 2. This is a matter of experience. The believer in his high days (and they ought to be every day) is like an eagle perched aloft on a towering crag. Yonder is a hunter down below, who would fain strike the royal bird; he has his rifle with him, but his rifle would not reach one-third of the way. So the royal bird looks down upon him in quiet contempt, not intending even to take the trouble to stretch one of his wings, for he is quite safe, he is up aloft. Such is the faithful Christian's state before God. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) A place of refuge Chambers' Encyclopedia. In the ancient Greek states certain temples afforded protection to criminals, whom it was unlawful to drag from them, although the supply of food might be intercepted. As early as the seventh century the protection of sanctuary was afforded to persons fleeing to a church or certain boundaries surrounding it. In several English churches there was a stone seat beside the altar, where those fleeing to the peace of the church were held to be guarded by its sanctity. ( Chambers' Encyclopedia. ) The name of God a refuge H. G. Salter. The name of God is his harbour, where he puts in as boldly as a man steps into his own house when taken in a shower. ( H. G. Salter. ) Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. Proverbs 18:12 Honour and humility B. Beddome, M. A. I. EXPLAIN THE NATURE OF GENUINE HUMILITY. 1. It does not consist in a mean and servile state of mind, in anything that is unworthy of the man or the Christian. Humility dignifies human nature; a spirit of servility degrades it. Some persons are naturally timid and faint-hearted. But this is mere human weakness. 2. It does not consist in indulging a low and d

18:1 If we would get knowledge and grace, we must try all methods of improving ourselves. 2. Those make nothing to purpose, of learning or religion, whose only design is to have something to make a show with. 3. As soon as sin entered, shame followed. 18:4. The well-spring of wisdom in the heart of a believer, continually supplies words of wisdom. 5. The merits of a cause must be looked to, not the person. 6,7. What mischief bad men do to themselves by their ungoverned tongues! 8. How base are those that sow contention! and what fatal effects may be expected from small beginnings of jealousy! 9. Omissions of duty, and in duty, are fatal to the soul, as well as commissions of sin. 10,11. The Divine power, made known in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, forms a strong tower for the believer, who relies on the Lord. How deceitful the defence of the rich man, who has his portion and treasure in this world! It is a strong city and a high wall only in his own conceit; for it will fail when most in need. They will be exposed to the just wrath of that Judge whom they despised as a Saviour. 12. After the heart has been lifted up with pride, a fall comes. But honour shall be the reward of humility. 13. Eagerness, with self-conceit, will expose to shame. 14. Firmness of mind supports under many pains and trials. But when the conscience is tortured with remorse, no human fortitude can bear the misery; what then will hell be? 15. We must get knowledge, not only into our heads, but into our hearts. 16. Blessed be the Lord, who makes us welcome to come to his throne, without money and without price. May his gifts make room for him in our souls. 18:17. It is well to listen to our enemies, that we may form a better judgment of ourselves. 18. It was customary sometimes to refer matters to God, by casting lots, with solemn prayer. The profaning the lot, by using it in matters of diversion, or coveting what belongs to others, forms an objection to this now. 18:19. Great care must be taken to prevent quarrels among relations and those under obligations to each other. Wisdom and grace make it easy to forgive; but corruption makes it difficult. 20. The belly is here put for the heart, as elsewhere; and what that is filled with, our satisfaction will be accordingly, and our inward peace. 21. Many a one has caused his own death, or the death of others, by a false or injurious tongue. 22. A good wife is a great blessing to a man, and it is a token of Divine favour. 23. Poverty tells men they must not order or demand. And at the throne of God's grace we are all poor, and must use entreaties. 24. Christ Jesus never will forsake those who trust in and love him. May we be such friends to others, for our Master's sake. Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end; and we are his friends if we do whatever he commands us, Joh 15:14.