CHAPTER XX. Ver. 1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. WINE and strong drink are creatures of God, which are very useful to men when they are seasonably and moderately used, but by abusing them we sin against the goodness and law of God, and against our own souls and bodies. Wine deceives and mocks those that use it to excess, and punishes those that abuse it as an instrument of dishonour to him that gave it to men to cheer their hearts. It promises refreshment, but it steals away men's senses, till it makes them the objects of scorn to the sober. It made the venerable patriarch Noah a laughing-stock to his own son. It deprives men of their reason, and gives the government of the mind to the passions; and then those that were men of good behaviour in their sober moments, become insolent and outrageous. When the king of Israel was made drunk with bottles of wine, he forgot his dignity, and stretched out his hand with scorners *. Wine has been the beginning of many quarrels that have ended in wounds and blood; for it rouses the passions, it turns suspicions into certainties in the eye of the drunkard, and thus inflames resentments into irreconcileable animosities. It gives full range to all the hidden vices of the soul, and produces new vices of a dangerous kind. It destroys the power of reason, and infuses into the soul all the fury of a wild beast. Hos. vii. 5.. He that suffers himself to be deceived by it is not wise, for he wastes his memory and understanding, as well as his money; he wounds his conscience, he enslaves himself to a tyrant, and enters upon a course which, when it becomes habitual, will render him useless and miserable upon earth, and exclude him from the kingdom of heaven. When wine and strong drink are greedily swallowed down, they swallow the drunkard, and turn him into an unclean beast *. Wine had the honour of being used in the service of God under the law, and is still used in it under the gospel, and why should we use it in the service of Satan? It is not allowed by God but with moderation, to the greatest men on the greatest occasions. Neither birth days of kings, nor happy meetings of friends, nor the transacting of the most important businesses, will justify men in excess of wine t. We should remember, that the day of Christ is ap proaching, and take care that our hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness; we must remember from whom we receive the refreshments of life, and endeavour to glorify him in the use of them. We are called to the hope of drinking of the rivers of God's pleasures, and shall we fill ourselves with wine, wherein there is excess ‡? Ver. 2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. Solomon had probably seen too much evidence of a seditious disposition in that people over which he reigned, and therefore warns them again and again of the sin and danger of provoking kings to anger. Men have such a degree of self-will and pride, that they can scarcely be prevailed upon to submit to the necessary *Isaiah xxviii. 7. 8. + Hos. vii. 5. restraints of their liberty. Liberty is a valuable thing, but licentiousness is the ruin of nations. If the fear occasioned by the displeasure of a king is so intolerable, what must it be to encounter the wrath of Him whose voice is not only like the roaring of a lion, but like the sound of many thunders. His voice shakes the heaven and the earth, and neither men nor devils shall be able to endure the terrors of it. To sin against Christ is to sin not only against our lives, but against our immortal souls*. Ver. 3. It is an honour for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. It is an honour for a man to leave off strife before it be meddled with, and to overlook these things that might stir up angert. But when a man is engaged in contention, is it an honour for him to give it up? Will not the world say that we have a bad cause, or weak arguments, or a mean spirit, if we have not the last word? No matter what the world says, if the Spirit of God says other things. It is here declared to be honourable for a man to give up a debate for the sake of peace and quietness. By so doing we testify our humility and meekness, our obedience to God, and our aversion to sin. Christ did not strive, nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street, and surely it is a man's honour to imitate, as far as our weakness will allow, the meekness and gentleness of Christ. It was wise in Paul to make an acknowledgment of his error in speak. ing disrespectfully of the high priest, although that partial judge well deserved the sharpest reproof for his partiality and tyranny; and it would have been wise in Job's friends to have yielded to the force of his convincing arguments, rather than, by endeavouring to *Rev. i. 10-20. + Ch. xvii. 14. xix. 11. maintain their errors, to expose themselves to the displeasure of God, and to the just mortification of being obliged to have recourse to the intercessions of that good man whom they had so deeply injured. But every fool will be meddling; for a fool is so selfconceited, that he can bear no contradiction; so impertinent, that he will have a hand in every other man's business; so proud, that he cannot bear to be found in the wrong; and so stubborn, that he will have the last word, although his lips should prove his destruction. Amaziah was fairly warned of the danger of meddling with the king of Israel, but he would not hear reason, nor cease from strife, till he was brought with his kingdom to the verge of ruin. Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, entered into contention with the good prophet Micaiah, and had the insolence to strike that faithful servant of the Lord, but was soon after compelled to flee to an inner chamber to hide himself. This is one difference between wise men and fools: The former are for peace, the latter are ordinarily keen for battle. This may be illustrated from the difference between the behaviour of Nabal and David; Nabal had a very bad tongue, for as Nabal was his name, so folly was with him. He gave a very provoking answer to a very civil message from David, and thereby exposed himself and his family to ruin; David had human nature, and his passions were too fierce, but it was his honour that he was easily pacified, and although he did not leave off contention, as he should have done, before it was meddled with, yet he left it off before it came to a fatal extremity. Ver. 4. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold, therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. It is one plain evidence of sloth for a man to be dex Psalm cxx. 7. trous in finding excuses to shift off necessary work. If a small inconveniency be allowed as an apology for idleness, excuses will never be wanting. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold, and he will not sow because the ground is not in good order, and he will not weed his field because of the heat of summer, and he will not reap in harvest because he cannot endure to bend his back, and is afraid of an headache. But is there any other useful business that can suit him, since husbandry is so disagreeable? No, one business would oblige him to a sedentary life, another is attended with too much fatigue, a third is too mean for a gentleman, a fourth requires a man to rise early in the morning. He will sleep or lean on his elbow, or he will divert himself with any kind of sport, or he will talk till you are tired with him, or he will play at cards, for although he abhors business, he loves busy idleness. He will either do nothing, or what is worse than nothing. But he that will not work must beg, and this is surely a mean employment for a man that is able to work; but although he can conquer shame sufficiently to betake himself to it, his misery is, that nobody will give him any thing, for why should drones eat the labour of the bees? Even in harvest, when plenty smiles all around, and when the hearts of men are enlarged with joy, and bestow liberal quantities of food upon their beasts, the wretched sluggard finds that every man's bowels are shut against him. The industrious and disabled poor have then a good time, for the law of God requires the gleanings and leavings of the fields to be allowed them; but the same law requires that he who will not work should not eat. Spiritual sloth is discovered by this mark, and attended with the like misery. The careless Christian will not attend the house of God, by reason of the cold of winter, or the heat of summer; he will not keep up |