Conclusion
Conclusion
We would conclude with a brief summary of a few prominent points involved in the study of this most instructive book.
Let us observe the connection between inward principle and outward conduct. Never let it be forgotten that the exercises here described or inculcated suppose an internal source. It is the light within that shines without. The hidden life is manifested in this way. Religion, grounded in the heart, will regulate the outward conduct and put everything in its proper place and proportion.
Let us mark also the flow of true happiness throughout the whole sphere of godliness. Often has the wise man painted this connection with the most glowing interest (3:13-18; 4:4-13; 8:17-21, 32-36). It is most important to leave the impression on everybody's mind, especially on young readers, that religion is a joyful thing. With the world it is a matter to be endured, not to be enjoyed. But no reality is more certain than this: Holiness is happiness. This happiness is not the mirth of the fool, but it is the only thing that deserves the name of happiness. It is the only permanent principle of enjoyment.
"Happy the believer," as the eloquent preacher Saurin forcibly puts it, "who in his warfare with the enemies of his salvation is able to oppose pleasure to pleasure, delight to delight; the pleasures of prayer and meditation to the pleasures of the world; the delights of silence and retirement to those of parties of dissipation or of public amusement. Such a man is steady and unmoved in the performance of his duties; and because he is a man, and man cannot help loving what opens to him sources of joy, such a man is attached to religion by motives like those that lead men of the world to attach themselves to the objects of their passions, because they procure him unspeakable pleasure." In fact, the world's contracted vision little qualifies them to pass judgment on what they have never understood. They see our infirmities, not our graces; our cross, not our crown; our affliction, not the joy of the Holy Spirit, which compensates and pays infinitely more than all that we can endure.
It is of great importance to note the wise man's estimate of real good. Every particle of the chief good he centers on God. To find him is life (8:35). To fear him is wisdom (1:7). To trust him is happiness (16:20). To love him is substantial treasure (8:18-21). To neglect him is certain ruin (8:36). Man is naturally an idolater. He himself is the center, his object, his end. Instead of submitting to guidance, he guides himself. He disputes the sovereignty with God. He wants to change the laws of the great Lawgiver. But our true good is knowing God and being at peace with him. This privilege is worth ten thousand worlds. It satisfies us throughout eternity.
Let us study Christian completeness and consistency. The elements of this character will be brought out by a diligent and prayerful study of this important Book of Proverbs. We want religion to be to the soul what the soul is to the body—the animating principle. The soul operates in every part of the body. It sees in the eye, hears in the ear, speaks in the tongue, and animates the whole body with ease and uniformity, without ostentation or effort. Thus should religion direct and regulate every thought, word, and action. Never admit the maxims or habits of this world. Guard against everything that dampens vital spirituality, lowers the high scriptural standard, or slackens the energy of unremitting Christian watchfulness. Let our path be steadily balanced between compromising concession and needless singularity. Let the Christian only walk with God in the way of the Gospel. We must no more indulge an uncharitable spirit than a course of profligacy. An angry tone, glowering look, sharp retort, or disparaging word will cause grief to the conscience and will be visited by its rebuke as severely as those gross outbursts that disgrace our character before men. Walking before God in this way, not before men, is the path to Christian perfection (Genesis 17:1). God's eye is our restraint, his judgment our rule, his will our delight.
"Who is sufficient?" Child of God, let the trembling of insufficiency in yourself be stayed by the recollection of all-sufficiency in your God (2 Corinthians 2:16; 3:5; 12:9). What he demands from you, he works in you. His covenant secures your holiness no less than your acceptance— your holiness, not, as some would have it, as the ground but as the fruit of your acceptance. Let the one be primarily sought, and the other will assuredly follow.
"I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. . . . For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34).