that receive them, charming their eyes, and power fully turning their affections to the giver; and their influence is almost universal, for they work upon the heart of the wise and the self-denied, as well as of the foolish and selfish.

It was a sign of Abigail's prudence to meet David with generous presents, as well as a persuasive speech, when he was coming in fierce resentment to extirpate her husband's family; and when Jacob met his incensed brother, he not only endeavoured to pacify him by submissive words, but also loaded him with noble gifts, which were perhaps the most effectual means, (next to Jacob's prayers), to regain his lost friendship.

Such is the efficacy of gifts, that God expressly forbids them to be received by judges from parties that have a cause to be decided by them, because they blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

What influence should the gifts of God have upon our hearts! They are more numerous than the hairs upon our head, and far more precious than pearls and diamonds. Surely they must have a constraining influence upon every heart that is not harder than the nether milstone.

Ver. 9. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

As we are required to love our neighbours as ourselves, so we ought to promote love in the world, and to seek the love of other men to ourselves. It is no piece of the self-denial that becometh the followers of Christ, to be unconcerned whether we are loved by our neighbours or not; for then we should be careless whether they obeyed God and performed their duty, or lived in the neglect of it. Whatso

ever things are lovely, are to be minded and practised by us; and nothing is more lovely than to cover

transgressions, as nothing is more hateful than the repeating of them.

To cover our own transgressions, like Adam, would be very dangerous, but we have the noblest examples to recommend to us the covering of other men's faults. How lovely was the behaviour of our Redeemer, when he excused the unfriendly behaviour of his three disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, and when he bestowed such high commendations on their fidelity in his discourse with them, and his prayers to his Father, although he knew that they would soon forsake him in his sufferings, and make the best shift they could for themselves! Nor was his goodness confined to his Apostles; he excused even his murderers, when he prayed to his Father for their forgiveness. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who covers our iniquities by his pardoning mercy, and removes them as far from us as the east is from the west! Surely the faith of his pardoning mercy must mightily persuade us to cover by the mantle of charity the offences of our fellowsinners.

Love covereth all sins *. Paul teacheth us how this is donet, and our self-love may give us much light and direction on this point. Had we a love to our neighbours like that which we bear to ourselves, we would not be ready to observe their faults, unless they were very glaring; we would make much allowance for the temptations that seduced them, and consider how liable we ourselves are to fall before temptation; we would not keep our eyes fixed upon their faults, but consider likewise what there is in them to provoke us to love; we would not be harsh in reproving, nor backward in forgiving them, nor would any consideration provoke us to cast in their teeth those old faults that seemed ta

be forgotten. By such a behaviour as this, love is sought and gained. Was it possible that Joseph's brethren, cruel as they had been, could refuse their love to him, after the apologies that he so kindly made for their faults * ?

But he that follows the contrary method of behaviour seeks hatred, and alienates the affections of the most cordial friends from one another. The censorious man, the tale-bearer, the person that revives old quarrels, is a mortal enemy to charity, a faithful servant of the accuser of the brethren, an enemy to him who is our peace with God and with one another. If such dreadful punishments are threatened to those who are destitute of love, what shall be the portion of those who scatter the seed of enmity and variance through a whole country, by the stories they tell, and by the lies and misrepresentations which they mingle with their idle tales !

The meaning of this proverb must not be stretched into a prohibition of punishments or censures necessary to be inflicted on offenders, or of friendly reproofs, all which are recommended in other places of this book.

Ver. 10. A reproof entereth more into a wise man, than an hundred stripes into a fool.

The wise man gives us many marks, by which fools may be distinguished from wise men; and does not insist more on any of them, than the different uses they make of rebukes and corrections. He not only tells us that the wise man hears rebuke, and the fool scorns it; but that one rebuke will have a better effect on a wise man, than an hundred stripes on a fool.

Fools have sometimes received correction, and made a good use of it; but they were fools no longer, for the rod and reproof gave them wisdom: but it is a sign

Gen. xlv. 8.

that folly is deeply ingrained, when an hundred rods leave men as great fools as they found them.

Wicked men have uncircumcised ears, and they cannot hear the word of the Lord; they have hard hearts, and the works of God, in which he speaks louder than in words, leave no impression. On the contrary, we often find them walking contrary unto God, and making their faces harder by those means that should have wrought the very opposite effect. Ahaz, in the time of his distress, trespassed yet more and more against the Lord. This was that king Ahaz. David was of a very opposite spirit; and when Nathan said unto him, "Thou art the man," he replied, "I have sinned against the Lord," and immediately composed the fifty-first psalm, to testify his deep repentance to the church, and to every generation of mankind.

We must not be so strict in trying other men by this mark of wisdom, as ourselves, for wise men are not wise in every piece of their behaviour. Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord his God all his days, and yet he was very angry with a prophet for giving him a just reproof in the name of the Lord. But such is not the ordinary temper of God's people, for God takes away from them the heart of stone, and gives them hearts of flesh, and they have the Spirit of God dwelling within them, who opens their ears to discipline, and seals their instruction.

It is good to have tender hearts, susceptible of impressions from reproof, and from the providence of God. As a lively faith will enable the Christian to bear the greatest trials, so a tender conscience will enable him to derive spiritual improvement from the gentlest afflictions, which are not to be despised, because they come to us on a message from God *.

* Prov. iii. 10.

This text likewise teaches us to make a difference, according to the dispositions of men, in the reproofs or chastisements that we are called to dispense unto men. Eli reproved his children with words, when they deserved an hundred stripes, if the law had allowed it; and some parents provoke their children to wrath, instead of reforming them, by their severities.

Ver. 11. An evil man seeketh only rehellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

Some of the wicked are very pestilent members of society, who, casting off all fear of God and the king, employ themselves in those wicked courses which expose them to the vengeance of the laws, so that the messengers of justice must be employed in their disagreeable task of punishment for the benefit and peace of society.

But others of the wicked have some fear of the king, although they have no fear of God before their eyes; and their corrupt dispositions take another course, which exposes them to equal danger, though from a different quarter. Their employment is to carry weapons against the King of the world, and they pursue their rebellious courses without intermission. There is much iniquity in their actions, there is a world of iniquity in their tongues, and the imaginations of the thoughts of their hearts are only evil continually. They are blind, and know not what they are doing; for whilst they think they are only gratifying their own dispositions, and making use of their liberty, they are provoking God, by a continued course of disobedience to his will.

A cruel messenger shall be sent against these rebels ; for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. God has innumerable messengers of justice, for every instrument of vengeance is at his command, and employed at his pleasure, to avenge his quarrel upon the breakers of his