with too much speed from everlasting burnings, when our flight is directed, not, like that of the manslayer, to a place of banishment, but to the world of happiness and pleasure? Let us try ourselves by this mark of true wisdom. Do we mind earthly or heavenly things? If earthly things be the chief object of our regard, our way is below, and our names are written in the earth, because we forsake the fountain of living waters, If our affections be set on things above, then, when Christ our life shall appear, he will receive us into the celestial mansions, that where he is we may be also. David and Paul explain this character of the wise man, from their own example, compared with that of worldly men *. Ver. 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow. We have already heard how detestable pride is to the Lord, and how it provokes his vengeance. Here we are told that God destroys the dwellings and families of the proud, as well as their persons. Proud men value themselves upon their magnificent palaces, their great riches, and their prosperous families, and provoke the Lord to destroy those things which are turned by them into idols, and used as the pillars of that creature confidence which he abhors. Nebuchadnezzar prided himself in the splendour of his palace, and the magnificence of his royal city. But he was driven from it to dwell among the beasts; and some ages after his death, his family, which he had exalted by his ravages, was rooted out of the world, and great Babylon, which he had built for the honour of his majesty, became a monument of the triumphs of God's power over the haughtiness of worms. Haman boasted of his riches * Fṣal. xvii. 13, 14, 15, Phil, iii. 18, 19, 20. and the number of his children; but Haman and his ten children were soon hanged, and his riches given to his hated enemy. Let us never be vain of any thing, unless we wish to have it destroyed. God abhors pride even in them whom he dearly loves, and shews his resentment of it by humbling providences, that remove man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. David was proud of the vast numbers of his subjects, but God soon shewed him that great hosts save not a king, and that three days may greatly lessen the numbers of a people. Hezekiah's heart was lifted up, but he was soon obliged to humble himself, being assured that the treasures which he had so ostentatiously shewed to the Babylonish ambassadors, should be carried with his posterity to their own land, God is terrible to the proud, but he is gracious to the helpless and desolate. Proud men often attempt to aggrandize their houses, by removing the landmark of the widow and fatherless; but the Lord establisheth the border of the widow. Let dying husbands leave their fatherless children and widows in the hand of God *, and let widows trust in him. If they are desolate and weak, and liable to oppression, that should not be a discouragement, but a strong motive to them to commit themselves unto the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort †. There is often more meant than expressed in the words of God. Widows in this place are to be understood of those that are in desolate circumstances, and exposed to injuries of any kind. Their distressed situations make them proper objects of compassion, and infinite compassions are with God. He hath erected a throne of mercy, and the Redeemer sits upon it, and + Psal. x. 14. 1 Tim. v. 5, * Jer. xlvii. 1. is exalted, that he may have mercy upon the poor and destitute *. From the acts of terror and of grace here represented to us, we may take occasion to join in the song of the mother of our Lord: "He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree +." Ver. 26. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord; but the words of the pure are pleasant words. Solomon already told us that the way of the wicked is detestable to God; and here he tells us that his thoughts, no less than his words and actions, are abominable to him. Men see not the hearts of one another, and are too ready to imagine that they shall never be called to an account of what passes in their minds; but we must remember that the difference between God and man is infinite. Man looketh only on the outward appearance, and his rewards and punishments can reach no farther than his knowledge of the facts that deserve them. But it is the prerogative of the Father of spirits to search the hearts and to try the reins of the children of men, to render unto them according to their ways. The thoughts of the wicked are full of selfishness, impiety, pride, and impurity, and must be infinitely offensive unto the pure eyes of Jehovah ; and whenever wicked men are, by the convincing operation of the Spirit, made to discern the secrets of their own hearts, they become loathsome to themselves. Wicked men must forsake their thoughts, as well as their outward practices of wickedness; for what is the profit of making clean the outside of the cup and plat Psal. Ixxii. 4, 12, 13. + Luke i. 51, 52, 53. ter, whilst the inner part is full of impurity? God requires us to give him our hearts for his residence. A heart which should be God's habitation, if full of abominable thoughts, is like the royal chambers of Pharaoh filled with frogs. If the thoughts of the wicked are abominable to God, their words cannot be pleasant to him, for how can those that are evil speak good things? If the words should be good when the thoughts are vile, they are like potsherds covered over with silver dross. God desireth truth in the outward parts, and abhors those that flatter him with their tongues, or seek the applause of men by making their tongues the instruments of hypocrisy. But the thoughts of the pure are well pleasing to the Lord, and their words are pleasant in his ears. God is of pure eyes, and delights in those that are made pure by the blood and Spirit of his Son. Their hearts are cleansed from iniquity, and produce those holy thoughts and words which are acceptable in the sight of the Lord their God and Redeemer *. Their prayers and praises are a sweet odour in his nostrils. Their confessions are music to his ears t. Their common discourse, when it is seasoned with salt, and ministers grace to the hearers, is heard by him with delight. It is a solemn consideration, that God hears every thing that we say, and is pleased or displeased with it. He hearkens and hears what the wicked say, and his judgment of them is, that they speak not aright. When those that fear him speak one to another, he hearkens and hears, and a book of remembrance is written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think upon his name ||. What have we to Psal. xix. 14. + Jer. xxxi. 18. Jer. viii. 6, do on earth, but to labour that in our thoughts, and words, and ways, we may be accepted of him *? Ver. 27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. The counsel of the wicked shall cast him down, for he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. Instead of gaining what he expects by his iniquity, he exposes himself to those miseries which he most dreads, and that which he thought would be a shield to defend him, proves a killing sword. The covetous man is an instance of this truth. His heart is set upon gain, and he expects that it will render his life comfortable and happy. But he finds, by bitter experience, the truth of what he would not believe from the mouth of Christ, that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. He that is greedy of gain shall not live; so the wise man insinuates in the last part of the verse. He either shortens his days by his anxieties about the world, and those sinful methods which he takes to obtain the things on which he has placed his heart, or he embitters his life by his distracting cares. He designs to secure his family against want and contempt, and to raise it to eminence and honour; but he covets an evil covetousness to his house, and consults shame to it, whilst he sins against his own soul t. He kindles a fire in his dwelling, which shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. If men could obtain what they seek by sin, it would be a pitiful compensation for eternal misery; but the same Almighty God that punishes the wicked in hell, reigns by his providence upon earth; his face is ever against the wicked, and if they prosper and flourish for a while, like the grass, it is that they shall be destroyed |