Christian paradoxes: How is happiness to be found in constant fear? Is fear to be the atmosphere or the spirit of a child of God?

The Scream (1893), an Expressionist painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch

Proverbs 28:14

Blessed is the one who always trembles before God,
    but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.

Charles Bridges, MA (1794-1869), preacher and theologian in the Church of England, explains:

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief

This Proverb fitly follows the last. Confession precedes, godly fear follows, the reception of mercy, as the end for which it is given, and the proof of its reception. (Ps. cxxx. 4.) It implies no uncertainty of our safety; but, by guarding us against fresh wounds of conscience, it more firmly maintains our confidence. If we believe and rejoice in the Lord as "our Sun," we would fear him alway as "a consuming fire." This fear is our security.

Faith without fear is self-confidence and self-delusion.  If he does not fear sin, there is no truth in his assurance


 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by Simeon Solomon, 1863.
The three confessors were bold before the Babylonish autocrat;
yet they so feared to offend against God, that "the burning fiery furnace"
was the better alternative in their eyes.

We may here profitably glance at some Christian paradoxes. How is happiness to be found in constant fear? Is fear to be the atmosphere or the spirit of a child of God? Where "love makes perfect," there can be no unquiet rollings or doubtings of heart. (1 John, iv. 18.) But godly fear preserves the sunshine, and seals our special acceptance. (Isa. lxvi. 2.) We walk with our Father in holy watchfulness and peace. Again--We readily conceive the happiness of trust. (Chap. xvi. 20.) How do we link with it the happiness of fear? So far from fear being contrary to faith, it is a component part of it, or at least its inseparable adjunct (Heb. xi. 7); the discipline, that preserves it from presumption. Faith without fear is self-confidence and self-delusion. Nay--the assurance of our "standing by faith" is balanced by an instant and most needful exercise of fear. (Rom. xi. 20.) Who grasped a more triumphant confidence than Paul? Yet without presuming upon a long and consistent profession, self-distrust, watchfulness and diligence established his confidence. 'If there be truth in the Christian's assurance, not sin itself can disappoint him, it is true. But it is no less true, that if he does not fear sin, there is no truth in his assurance.' Instead of being afraid to mix faith and fear, dread their separation. Again--the righteous is bold as a lion (Verse 1); yet he feareth alway. But Christian courage, though opposed to slavish, forms the very essence of godly fear. The three confessors were bold before the Babylonish autocrat; yet they so feared to offend against God, that "the burning fiery furnace" was the better alternative in their eyes.

Holy fear every way identified with happiness.  Live then in constant fear of yourself.



Moses before the Pharaoh,
a 6th-century miniature from the Syriac Bible of Paris.
Pharaoh's hardness of heart, and its consequences,
were but the bravery and ruin of the devil.

Thus is holy fear every way identified with happiness. It is a fear of reverence, not of bondage; of caution, not of distrust; of diligence, not of despondency. In proportion as we are raised above tormenting fear, we cherish a deep reverence of the majesty and holiness of God, a child-like fear of displeasure, a jealousy over our motives, desires, and the risings of our evil propensities, and an abhorrence and shrinking, not only from sin, but from the temptations and occasions of sin. Well does the Christian: know the value of this conservative principle; as far removed from legality as from presumption. One, whose mournful experience gives additional weight to his words, warns us, as "sojourners" in a world of evil, and with hearts so often betraying our steps, to "pass our time in fear." If we be surely, we are "scarcely, saved." (1 Pet. iv. 18.) Though there be no uncertainty in the end, there is appalling difficulty in the way--"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. x. 12.) The man who stands in his own security, requires the caution more than any. Guard against an unheeding confidence. Keep the sentinel at the door. Watch for the enemy at every turn. Suspect a snake in every path, a snare in every creature. "Feed with fear." "Rejoice with trembling." Yea-- "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." None are so established in grace, but in unwatchfulness they may fall into the greatest sin. Live then in constant fear of yourself. This godly fear proves self-knowledge, preserves from self-confidence, produces selfdistrust. In wariness against a fall we are most likely to stand. If weakness be our frailty, the consciousness of it is our strength. "When I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Cor. xii. 10.) The importance of this principle will be seen by the contrast with its opposite. Fear keeps the heart tender, and the soul safe. Security and presumption harden the sinner, and he falls into mischief. Pharaoh's hardness of heart, and its consequences, were but the bravery and ruin of the devil. When David's self-indulgence and carelessness had swept away his tenderness, fearfully did he fall into mischief (2 Sam. xi. 2.) The latter history of his wise son reads the same awful warning. (1 Kings, xi. 1-11.) Peter's fearlessness, though the fruit of ignorance rather than wilfulness, brought him to the very brink of destruction. (Matt. xxvi. 33-35, 41, 74.)

Be deeply sensible to sin

A deep sensibility of sin is a special mercy. To think what it is what it may be; that, indulged only in thought, if the Lord restrain not, it will end in apostasy--Oh! dare we trifle with it? The man, who presumes upon it, as too harmless for eternal punishment, and promises himself peace in the way of his own heart--a voice from heaven could scarcely describe the tremendous horrors of his case. Every word of God is a thunderbolt levelled at him. Scarcely less pitiable is the man, who makes light of his eternal state: living without prayer; so much better in his own eyes than his more ungodly neighbours; and fully satisfied with a mere external preparation for eternity. Forget not--Christian Professor--we may be strong in confidence, only because we are sleeping in delusion, or hardened in insensibility. From all the mischief of self-ignorance and hardness of heart, Good Lord, deliver us !

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 541 to 543.

Christians should be happy and smiling, experiencing hope, peace, and joy instead of being brooding, despondent, and sad, resulting in morbid depression or gloom

The Smiley Face

Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Charles Bridges, MA (1794-1869), preacher and theologian in the Church of England, explains:

22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Our Lord thus made a merry heart by his message of Divine forgiveness

Two laughing men by Hans von Aachen, circa 1574.

This is not true of all merriment. The wise man justly describes the loud and noisy mirth of fools to be, no medicine, but "madness;" a transient flash, not an abiding source of enjoyment. Probably this merriment here means nothing more than cheerfulness, which, in its proper measure, on proper subjects, and at a proper time, is a legitimate pleasure, especially belonging to religion. Our Lord thus made a merry heart by his message of Divine forgiveness (Matt. ix. 2-7); and this doubtless was a more healing medicine to the paralytic, than the restoration of his limbs. If I be a pardoned sinner, an accepted child of God, what earthly trouble can sink me? "Paul and Silas sang praises to God in the inner prison, with their feet made fast in the stocks." (Acts, xvi. 25.) The martyrs "glorified God in the fire.'' They were "tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." (Heb. xi. 35.) All earthly enjoyments are now doubly blest with heavenly sunshine. (Eccles. ix. 7-9.)

There is also the Christian flow of natural spirits. For when consecrated to the Lord, they become a means of enjoyment, not only to ourselves (Chap. xv. 13), but to those around us. Often has the mourning saint been encouraged, often also has the worldling been convicted, by a brother's cheerful words or looks. To the former it has been a medicine; to the latter a lesson.

A brooding spirit brings despondency

Melencolia I is a 1514 engraving by the
German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer.

A broken spirit in an evangelical sense is God's precious gift; stamped with his special honour, and always constituting an acceptable service. But here it describes a brooding spirit of despondency; always looking at the dark side; and, if connected with religion (which is not always the case), flowing from narrow and perverted views, a spurious humility centering in self. The influence drieth up the bones. The bodily system is sensibly affected. 'It contracts and enfeebles the animal spirits; preys on our strength; eats out the vigour of the constitution. The radical moisture is consumed; and the unhappy subject of this passion droops like a flower in the scorching heat of summer.’

Despondency leads to hard thought of God, no prayer, and unbelieving sadness

L'ennui (1893) by Gaston de La Touche

Not less baneful is its influence upon the spiritual system. Hard thoughts of God are induced, as if he had forsaken, neglected, or forgotten us. From doubting, the soul comes to chilling fear; thence to gloomy despondency. The power of the telescope fails in bringing distant objects nigh. Hence the present hold of the grand object is feeble. The hope of future enjoyment is dark. Distance too often lessens communication. Prayer is, less frequently or powerfully sent up. The answers therefore, and the supplies of cheering grace from this source, are more scanty. Thus we are not only weakened in comfort, but cut short in strength. The mind is clothed in sable. The chariot's wheels are taken off; so that we "drag heavily." Discontent, and a querulous unbelieving sadness, take possession of the soul, and wholly unfit us for the service of God.

Do not dwell in gloom

The Princess Who Never Smiled by Viktor Vasnetsov (1846-1926)

Most watchful therefore should we be against this withering influence. Allow not the imagination to dwell needlessly in gloom. Constitutional temperament will have its influence. External things act upon the body, and through the body upon the mind. We are some of us creatures even of weather, not the same on a misty as on a bright day. There is much in our physical economy rather within the province of the physician than the Minister; much perhaps that we may be inclined too hastily to censure in a brother, when a more accurate knowledge would open our sympathy. When outward and inward troubles unite, what wonder, if the vessel, like Paul's ship, "where two seas met" (Acts, xxvii. 41). give way? Yet, let it be remembered, that every indulgence increases the evil; and that allowed prevalence may end in a fixed melancholy.

Why am I not at this moment utterly overwhelmed with distress?

A Wistful Look, James Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917)

Turn and see what materials can be gathered for resistance to this ruinous evil, and inducing a well-regulated cheerfulness. ‘Why am not I at this moment utterly overwhelmed with distress? How seldom, if ever, am I in pain all over at the same time! How faithfully do our greatest supports combine with our greatest trials!' (2 Cor. i. 5.) Surely in these recollections some excitement of pleasurable feeling might be directed into the channel of gratitude to God! How many rays of collected mercy shine from the great centre of joy!

We must be humiliated to receive the gospel and its resulting hope, peace, and joy

Portrait of a Man with Beret and Scroll (1521) by Albrecht Dürer

But to come more immediately to the gospel—Unquestionably there is abundant matter for the deepest humiliation. No words can adequately describe the shame, that we ought to feel for our insensibility even on account of one single act of infinite love. Yet the gospel encourages humiliation, not despondency. It deals in the realities, not of woe and despair, but of hope, peace, and joy. Its life and glory is he that "bindeth up the broken-hearted" (Isa. lxi. 1), who "will not break the bruised reed" (Ib. xlii. 3), or crush under his feet "the prisoners of hope."

Christians should smile

Eduard von Grützner's Falstaff (1921)
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears
in three plays by William Shakespeare, as well as
in operas by Giuseppe Verdi and Otto Nicolai.

If then—Christian—you believe the gospel to be "glad tidings," shew that you believe it, by lighting up your face with a smile; not by "bowing down the head as a bulrush," and as it were "spreading sackcloth and ashes under you." (Ib. lviii. 5.) Shew that it is the daylight of your soul; that you really find its ways to be "pleasantness and peace" (Chap. iii. 17); that you believe their joys, not because you have read and heard of them, but because you have tasted them. If they are happy, be happy in them. "Lie not against the truth," by suffering your countenance to induce the belief, that religion is a habit of inveterate and incurable gloom. Joy is indeed a forbidden fruit to the ungodly. But let it be the adorning of thy profession. It is a sin against thy God to be without it. The gloom of the servant reflects unjustly upon the Master, as if thou "knewest him, that he was an hard man." Resist then all sorrow, that suggests such dishonourable thoughts of him. Disparage not his heavenly comfort, by laying unduly to heart his counter-balancing afflictions. No cloud can cover you, but the "bow may be seen in the cloud." And in all this world's afflictions, one beam of his love might scatter all the clouds, and fill the heart with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." "Let the Lord then be magnified, which hath pleasure," not in the misery, but in "the prosperity of his servants." (Ps. xxxv. 27.) He giveth liberty to be cheerful, ground to be cheerful, and he will give thee an heart. to be cheerful with animated gladness.

Christian joy is a deeply serious thing

The Love Letter by Federico Andreotti (1847–1930) 

After all, however,--let each be careful to cultivate a just and even balance. Liveliness needs a guard, lest it should degenerate into levity. Be much in secret with God. Cherish a solemn, reverential spirit before the throne of grace. Christian joy is a deeply serious thing. The froth and lightness that passes for it deserves not the name. The carnal element must be destroyed, to introduce the heaven-born principle, that comes from God, and maintains communion with him.

Resist a grave temperament lest you should sink into morbid depression or gloom

Newly commissioned officers celebrate their new positions by throwing their midshipmen covers into the air as part of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2011 graduation and commissioning ceremony.

Yet on the other a grave temperament must be resisted, lest it should sink into morbid depression. Gloom is not the portion, and ought not to stamp the character, of the children of God. It may often be a conflict with a man's own self, either in body or mind. But yet a little while, and, instead of the broken spirit which drieth up the bones, our spirits will be so high, that another body must be formed to contain them. Meanwhile Christian discipline on both sides will be the principle of enlarged happiness and steady consistency.

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 272-275.

When you think you're doing something wrong, is it a good idea to hide what you're doing?

Proverbs 28:13

    Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
        but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Charles Bridges (1794-1869), author of expositions on the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and The Christian Ministry, explains:

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

We hide sin, we put sin out of mind, we blame others for sin

Illuminated parchment, Spain, circa AD 950–955, depicting the Fall of Man, cause of original sin

God and man each cover sin; God in free unbounded grace (Ps. lxxxv. 2); man, in shame and hypocrisy. The sinners here contrasted are chargeable with the same guilt. But how opposite are the remedies adopted, and their several results! The contrast is not between great sins and small, but between sins covered, and sins confessed and forsaken. Whoso covereth the smallest sin, shall not prosper. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh the greatest, shall find mercy. "Love covereth" our neighbour's sins (Chap. x. 12); pride our own. The proud sinner naturally wishes to be; thought better than he is. His sin must have some cover. He must at least give it a good name. (Isa. v. 20.) He would cover it, if possible, from himself; putting it out of mind; banishing all serious thoughts; stifling conviction; and then trying to persuade himself that he is happy. To escape evil consequences, a lie is resorted to. Or if the facts are too plain to be denied; 'the worst part is unfounded. We were not in it so much as our neighbour.' Ignorance, good, or at least not bad, intentions, custom, necessity, strong temptation, sudden surprisal, the first offence; constitutional infirmity; even the decrees of God--one or more are pleaded in palliation. Or to save our honour--rather our pride--the blame must be shifted on another. Even God himself is made accountable--a secret but daring charge! carrying with it its own self-contradiction. Indignantly he challenges the proof, and lays the sin at the right door. (Isa. 1. 1. Jam. i. 13.) More commonly, but most wrongfully, it is laid upon Satan. The most of his power is, that he is a tempter. And no claim could he have ever established, had not we willingly sold ourselves to his service. Our father Adam--again--must bear the burden. 'Must our "teeth be set on edge" for the "sour grapes which he ate?" (Ezek. xviii. 2.) Must the unborn children be held responsible for the inheritance, which their father lost? 'But it was the nature that sinned, of which we are a component part. We "were in his loins" (Heb. vii. 10) at the time, and therefore we share his responsibility. Our own personal sin has ratified the deed by our own free and repeated consent. All these attempted transfers are vain coverings. Conscience bears witness to the truth, that no man takes harm but from himself.

We do good things in a vain attempt to offset our sin

But even this admitted--man with ceaseless ingenuity still attempts to frame a cover, for his sin. Some supposed good deeds are put forth as a compensation. (Mic. vi. 6, 7.) And by balancing good and evil respectively against each other, he hopes to establish some preponderance in his favour. Yet all these fig-leaf coverings (Gen. iii. 7) for his nakedness only shew his determination to hold his sin, and his pride of heart, which would rather hide it from God himself than submit to receive free mercy as a self-condemned sinner.

Omnisicent God sees sin and offended by sin


William Blake's color printing of God Judging Adam (1795).

These attempts however to cover sin shall not prosper. The voice of an offended God summoned Adam from his hiding-place to receive his sentence. (Gen. Ill. 9.) "The voice of Abel's blood cried from the ground," and the murderer became "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." (Ib. iv. 10-12.) Conscience lashed Joseph's brethren with the sin of bye-gone days. (Ib. xlii. 21.) Sauls covering his sin cost him his kingdom. "The leprosy of Naaman clave to Gehazi and his seed for ever." The proud accusers of their fellow-sinner were "convicted by their own conscience." "There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Their darkest deed is wrought in the open face of an all-seeing God, and "set in the light of his countenance," to "be proclaimed upon the house-tops" before the assembled world.

Covering up sin brings misery

Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime, 1808 oil-on-canvas by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon

This unsuccessful attempt to cover sin, while it adds to the guilt, is fraught with misery. The love of sin struggles with the power of conscience. The door of access to God is barred. Christian confidence is clouded; and, unless Sovereign mercy interpose, it must end in the sting of "the never-dying worm." The covering of the disease precludes the possibility of the cure. Only the penitent confessor can be the pardoned sinner.

There is victory and forgiveness in repentance


Mercy & Truth are shown together in a 13th-century representation of Psalms 85 (10)

Long indeed is the struggle, ere every false cover is cut off; ere the heartless general confession--'We are all sinners'--is exchanged for the deep-felt personal acknowledgment, "giving glory to God. Thus and thus" have I done. Behold I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." But glorious is the divine victory over pride and sullenness, when this first act of repentance, this first step of return (Luke, xv. 17, 18), is heartily accomplished. God needs not confession for his own information. But he demands it for our good. It brings no claim on his mercy. But it is a meetness for the reception of it. Christ has fully satisfied the claims of justice. But the claims must be acknowledged in the humble acceptance of the benefit. The mercy is ready; but the sinner must sue it out--"Only acknowledge thine iniquity." (Jer. iii. 13.) Our yearning Father is "waiting" for this moment, "that he may be gracious." There is no further keeping of anger. He shall have mercy, instant reconciliation. Words may be few while the heart is full. With David it was but a single sentence; but the closet workings of his heart witnessed to the enlargement and ingenuousness of his sorrow. Thus man confesses the debt; God crosses it out from his book; and sweet is the penitent's song--"Blessed is he, whose sin, is covered." (Ps, xxxii. l.) The dying thief confesses, and the condemned malefactor is crowned with life eternal. (Luke, xxiii. 43.)

Sin must be confessed and foresaken

But we must not overlook the distinctive feature of this confession. It is not that of Pharaoh, extorted on the rack; or of Saul and Judas, the stinging of remorse; or of the Pharisees and Sadducees, mere formal profession; or of the harlot, a cover for sin. Penitent faith confesses in the act of laying the hand upon the great sacrifice, and hence draws strength of purpose to forsake all that has been here confessed. For while the hypocrite confesses without forsaking, the hearty forsaking is here the best proof of tile sincere confessing.

Make confession of sins a daily habit

The confession, by Pietro Longhi, ca. 1750

And this first act of the penitent is matured into the daily habit of the saint. The further we advance, the deeper will be the tone of confession. The moment sin is seen to be sin, let it be laid on the Surety's Head. Every moment of unconfessed sin adds to its burden and guilt. The thought of a nature estranged from God; a heart full of corruption; sins of youth and age; before and after conversion; against light and conviction, knowledge and love; the sins of our very confessions, their defilement, coldness, and too often self-righteous tendency; all supply abundant material for abasing acknowledgment. Plead the greatness, not the smallness of our sin. Never deem any sin so trifling, as not to need the immediate application of the blood of atonement. Genuine conviction gives no rest, until by the believing apprehension of this remedy the peace of God is firmly fixed in the conscience. As Bunyan (John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress) so accurately pictured--not at the wicket-gate, but at the sign of the cross, did the Christian find the grave of sin. Here it is lost, forgotten, never found. (Jer. l. 20.)

Humiliation leads to godliness

William Pyne- The Costume of Great Britain (1805) - The Pillory

This evangelical humiliation lays the only solid ground for practical godliness. It is a sorrow full of joy, and not less full of holiness. No Achan will be reserved; no Agag spared; no right hand or right eye favoured. It will not be "the unclean spirit going out, and returning to his house with sevenfold influence;" or the man, who leaves his home, but forsakes it not, all his heart and joy being still there. Here the forsaking will be without the thought of returning; yea, with the fixed determination never to return. (Job, xxxiv. 32.) It will not be the exchange of one path in the broad road for another more attractive; but the relinquishment of the whole road with all its bye-paths. The inner principles as well as the outer walk; "the unrighteous thoughts," no less than "the wicked ways" will be forsaken heartily and for ever. (Isa. lv. 7.)

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 538-541.

What does the Bible mean when it says, "Hell and destruction are never full: so the eyes of man are never satisfied."?

Cornelis de Vos (1584 – 1651), The Anointing of Solomon .
King Solomon is the author of the Book of Proverbs and of three books of the Old Testament.

 Proverbs 27:20

Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
    and neither are human eyes.

Charles Bridges (1794-1869), author of expositions on the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and The Christian Ministry, explains:

Hell and destruction are never full: so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

All Is Vanity (1892) by Charles Allan Gilbert
Woman gazing into boudoir mirror forms shape of skull.

A striking picture of the two great devourers--hell and destruction (Chap. xv. 11)--never full! Hell--the grave--ever since Adam's sin has been insatiable. It has opened its mouth to receive countless millions; and still it yawns, craving for more.2 Generations have sunk into destruction, doing the work, and earning "the wages, of sin." Still the pit is not full. The broad mouth still opens for more.

All Souls' Day (1859) by William Bouguereau

Thus insatiable are the eyes--the desires (1 John, ii. 16)--of man, always requiring new gratification. "He enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied." His "eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor his ear filled with hearing."3 Curiosity, love of novelty, covetousness, ambition--all these desires, like thirst in the dropsy, are aggravated in their indulgence. (Eccles. vi. 7.) Man is always seeking for what he can never find, satisfaction in earthly things. He toils after his object, and when he has grasped it, he toils still; the possessor of abundance, not of happiness.* His best efforts only bring him a meagre enjoyment, not deserving the name. The summit of ambition, when reached, is not his resting-place; only the point, whence he stretches after something higher. All the affections of fallen man are filled with unquenched thirst. He may fancy his desires to be moderate. He may set bounds to them, and flatter himself, that he shall never overpass them. But give him a world, and, like the far-famed conqueror, he will weep for another, and sink at last into a wretched eternity of unsatisfied desires.

Still-Life with a Skull (1671) by Philippe de Champagne
A flower, a skull and an hourglass stand for Life, Death and Time.

Nor is this altogether the effect of his depravity. Corruption indeed leads us to seek rest in something short of God. But it is our nature not to find it. How can an immortal being quench his thirst but from an infinite source? The soul was originally created to find a suitable and infinite gratification in the love of its Creator. And now that it is turned aside by the fall, it has an immortal depth, that craves to be filled. Nor do we speak here of refined and educated minds. The most unlettered being, awakened to a sense of his consciousness, might breathe out Augustine's confession--'Thou hast made us for thyself; and our heart can have no rest, till it rests in thee.'* And here the gospel meets the case--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest." (Matt. xi. 28.) So often as the eager question starts up--"Who will shew us any good?" (Ps. iv. 6) --listen to the voice--"Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that cometh to me shall never thirst."1 Here our desires are at once increased and satisfied. A fountain of infinite fulness is at our door. We are bid welcome to a haven of rest, to a bosom of peace and love. And when new-created in the image of God, and made capable of communion with him in grace, and of enjoying him in glory, can our desires be satisfied with anything less, with anything beside? Is he not now our supreme delight, our satisfying object, never leaving us without complete satisfaction for a single moment? (Ps. xvi. 5. Lam. iii. 24.)

The Last Judgement, Hell (1431) by Fra Angelico

Now let me ask--Have I seen God, as that, which alone is sufficient for my soul? Have I made the important discovery, that all my uneasy cravings from morning to night arise from not seeking him as my only satisfaction? Let me sit down to the richest banquet of life, and every dish will be tasteless, and without nourishment, if he is not above all, and in all. To delight in anything independent of him (Ps. lxxiii. 25), is as if we cast him down from his throne. All is misery and delusion. Delighting in him, all ministers to our comfort, flowing from this great centre. At the grand consummation how will the satisfaction of the eyes and heart be complete!--The eternity of being will be an eternity of joy--"Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." (Isa. xxxiii. 17. Ps. xvii. 15.)


Lucifer - torturing souls as well as being tortured himself in hell.
Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry by the Limbourg brothers (1385 – 1416).

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 518-520.

King Solomon's warnings on the use of alcohol are as applicable today as they were 2,900 years ago when he reigned over Israel.

Russian icon of King Solomon depicted holding a model of the Temple.
18th century, iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia.

Proverbs 23:29-35
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaints?
    Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Those who linger over wine,
    who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup,
    when it goes down smoothly!
In the end it bites like a snake
    and poisons like a viper.
Your eyes will see strange sights,
    and your mind will imagine confusing things.
You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
    lying on top of the rigging.
“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt!   
    They beat me, but I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up
    so I can find another drink?”

Proverbs 31:3-7
Do not spend your strength on women,
    your vigor on those who ruin kings.
It is not for kings, Lemuel—
    it is not for kings to drink wine,
    not for rulers to crave beer,
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,
    and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
Let beer be for those who are perishing,
    wine for those who are in anguish!
Let them drink and forget their poverty
    and remember their misery no more.

Results of the ISCD 2010 study ranking the levels of damage caused by drugs,
in the opinion of drug-harm experts in the UK. When harm to self and others is summed,
alcohol was the most harmful of all drugs considered, scoring 72%.

34. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

The Drunkard's Progress: A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier
supporting the temperance movement, January 1846.

Charles Bridges (1794-1869) explains:

A warning was lately given against keeping company with sensualists. (Verses 20, 21.) Here it is enforced by the most graphical delineation of the sin in all its misery, shame, and ruin. It is the drunkard's looking-glass! Let him see his own face. Let it be hung: up in his cottage. Fix it in the alehouse. Could he go there? The picture is drawn with such a vividness of colouring! 'No translation or paraphrase can do justice to the concise, abrupt, and energetic manner of the original.' Drunkenness is a time of merriment. But what must be the stupifying insensibility, that can find a moment's joy, with such an accumulation of woe! Every sin brings its own mischief. But such woe! such sorrow! in all its multiform misery! who hath it? The brawls and contentions over the cup; the babbling words of pollution; the wounds, often to murder, without cause; the redness of eyes, shewing the effect of liquor on the countenance; the impure appetites that are kindled; the infatuation almost incredible--this is sensuality in all its wretchedness.


The Drunkenness of Noah by Giovanni Bellini, 1515.

Whence this world of woe and sorrow? It is the curse of indulged will. Not satisfied with their healthful refreshment, many will "add drunkenness to thirst." (Deut. xxix. 19.) They continue long, "from morning to night, till wine inflame them." (Isa. v. 11.) They go to seek the mixed wine, its strongest and most inebriating drink.

Wisdom's voice therefore is--Avoid the allurements of sin. Often has a look, harmless in itself, proved a fearful temptation. Look not therefore at the wine when it is red. Its very colour; its sparkling transparency in the cup; the relish with which it moves itself aright, 'or goes down pleasant'--all tend to excite the irregular appetite. Crush it in its beginnings, and prove that you have learnt the first lesson in the school of Christ--"Deny yourself." Whatever be its present zest, at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (Comp. chap. xx. 17.) Did it bite first, who would touch it? Did Satan present the cup in his own naked form, who would dare to take it? Yet it comes from his hand as truly, as if he were visible to the eyes. If poison was seen in the cup, who would venture upon it? Yet is the poison less dangerous, because it is unseen? The adder's sting is concealed, yet most fatal. The cup of sparkling wine becomes "a cup of fearful trembling in the hands of the Lord." (Comp. Joel, i. 5.)

USA Happy New Year postcard, 1912.

Seldom does any sensual indulgence come alone. One lust prepares the way for others. The first step is sure to lead onwards. The poor deluded victim cannot stop when he pleases. Drunkenness opens the door for impurity. The inflamed eye soon catches fire with strange women; and who knoweth what the end may be? Loathsome indeed is the heart of the ungodly laid bare. Drink opens it as far as words can do; and through the organ of the tongue it does indeed utter perverse things. 'Blasphemy is wit, and ribaldry eloquence, to a man that is turned into a brute.'

But the delirium is the most awful feature of the case. The unhappy victim, having lost all will and power to escape, sleeps quietly amid dangers as imminent, as lying down in the midst of the sea, or upon the top of the mast. Nay--even the senses seem to be stupified. Stricken and beaten he may be. But "his heart is as a stone," and he thanks his drunkenness, that he felt it not. Therefore "as the dog to his vomit, the fool returns to his folly," craving fresh indulgence--When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. More senseless than the brute who satisfies nature, not lust; so lost to shame; his reason so tyrannized over by his appetite, that he longs to be bound again, and only seeks relief from his temporary awakening to a sense of his misery, by yielding himself up again to his ruinous sin. (Jer. ii. 25.)

A drunken man, Georg Emanuel Opitz,1804.

Oh! how affecting is the thought of the multitude of victims to this deadly vice in every age and clime, and among all ranks of society! Perhaps there is no sin which has not linked itself with it; while the unconsciousness in the act of sin only serves, not to palliate the guilt, but to increase the responsibility.

While we see the whole nature so depraved in taste, so steeped in pollution--we ask--"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Praised be his name for a full deliverance from the captivity of sin, and of all and every sin, even from the chains of this giant sin. The mighty, though despised instrument is "Christ crucified; the power of God, and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor. i. 23-25.) It is this, which when vows, pledges, and resolutions-all have failed; works secretly, yet most effectually; imparting new principles, affections and appetites. The drunkard becomes sober; the unclean holy; the glutton temperate. The love of Christ overpowers the love of sin. Pleasures are now enjoyed without a sting (for no serpent, nor adder is here) and the newly implanted principle transforms the whole man into the original likeness to God--"Whatsoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."



Wine is a Mocker by Jan Steen, 1663/1664

3. Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine: nor for princes strong drink: 5. Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert (alter, marg.) the judgment of any of the afflicted, (all the sons of affliction, marg.) 6. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts (bitter of soul, marg.) 7. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

William Hogarth's Gin Lane, 1751.

Charles Bridges (1794-1869) explains:

Solomon has given us his father's wise counsels. (Chap. iv. 4.) Lemuel gives us his mother's. Both have an equal claim to reverence. (Chap. i. 8.) Filled with deep anxiety, the impassioned tenderness bursts out in this godly mother, as if some besetting enticements were imminent, perhaps already working poison in her beloved son. What! my son--the son of my womb--of my vows? My heart is full. I must give vent. Have I endured all this travail in vain? Beware--Give not thy strength unto women. What a beacon had Solomon set up! (Chap. ii. v. vii.) What a beacon had he himself become! (Neh. xiii. 26.) These forbidden gratifications were ways that destroy kings. Such was the judgment upon David. His kingly authority was shaken. (2 Sam. xii. 9, 10.) Solomon's sin destroyed his kingdom. (1 Kings, xi. 11.) The fruit of this sin is shame. The end of it, without repentance, is death.




William Hogarth, A Midnight Modern Conversation, 1731.

The anxious mother next warns against another cognate sin--intemperance. (Hos. iv. 11.) The vice that degrades a man into a beast, is shameful to all, specially unseemly for kings. They are "the city set upon a hill." Men look, or ought to look, to them for guidance and example. What a sight for kings to drink wine and strong drink--to be given to it! Witness Elah--Benhadad--Belshazzar--"the princes of Israel made sick with bottles of wine!" How was their high office and glory covered with shame! Sometimes it is pleaded as an excuse for sin. But if the drunken king forgets the law, and perverts the judgment, will he not be held responsible? Ahasuerus was doubtless responsible for his unseemly conduct to Vashti. Herod murdered the Baptist at an ungodly feast. Priest and prophet "err through strong drink." A wise veto therefore is set for the rulers of the Church--"not given to wine."

A monk-cellarer tasting wine from a barrel while filling a jug
(from an illuminated manuscript of the 13th century)

And yet the abuse of God's blessing does not destroy their use. Wine is the gift of God. " It maketh glad the heart of man." (Ps. civ. 14, 15.) Yea--by a bold figure of its refreshment--it is said to "cheer God" also. (Judg. ix. 13.) Yet it is not for kings--for their indulgences and sinful excitement, but for those that need it. As restoratives and refreshments cordials are seasonable in the hour of need. Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, as the Samaritan gave it to the wounded traveller (Luke, x. 34); as Paul prescribed it for "the infirmities" of his beloved son in the faith. (1 Tim. v. 23.) Many a sinking spirit may be revived, and forget his misery under a well-timed restorative. The rule therefore of love and self-denial is--Instead of wasting that upon thyself, in the indulgence of appetite, which will only debase thy nature; see that thou dispense thy luxuries among those, who really require them. Seek out cases of penury and wasting misery. Let it be an honour to thee to bring in the poor that is cast out into thine house, that he may forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. May not this remind us of the Messenger of love, dealing with those that are ready to perish? (Isa. lxi. 1,2. Matt. xi. 28.) Their conscience is loaded with guilt. Their hearts are heavy with a burden which they can neither bear nor be rid of. He tells them of God's love to sinners; the ransom found for them; the welcome assured to them. This is a cordial of strong drink, and wine such as they need. The heavy heart becomes "no more sad." (1 Sam. i. 18. Acts, xvi. 34.) The former poverty is forgotten, and his misery is remembered no more, and "the blessing of him that was ready to perish comes" upon him " that bringeth the good tidings." Happy minister, gifted like his divine Master, with the "tongue of the learned, that he should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." (Isa. 1. 4.)

Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek
by Dieric Bouts the Elder, 1464 - 1467.

Source: Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 442-444, 617.

Jesus transforming water into wine in
The Marriage at Cana,
a 14th-century fresco
from the Visoki Dečani monastery.

If corporal punishment is being criminalized around the world, why does the Bible say that if you spare the rod you hate your son? Charles Bridges (1794 - 1869) explains.

Solomon, the author of the Book of Proverbs, at his throne.
Painting by Andreas Brugger, 1777

Proverbs 13:24 - Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

Proverbs 23:13-14 - Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. Punish them with the rod and save them from death.

Proverbs 29:15 - A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.

Proverbs 29:17 - Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.



Medieval schoolboy birched on the bare buttocks.

Charles Bridges (1794 - 1869), a preacher and theologian in the Church of England, comments:



Charles Bridges (1794 - 1869) was educated at Queens' College,
Cambridge, was ordained in 1817, and served from 1823 to 1849
as vicar of Old Newton, Suffolk.

Prov 13:24 - He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him, chasteneth him betimes.

Painting by Georg Conrad (1827–1889)

Among the many modern theories of education, how often is God's system overlooked! Yet should not this be our pattern and standard? The rod of discipline is its main character; not harsh severity, but a wise, considerate, faithful exercise; always aiming at the subjugation of the will, and the humbling and purifying of the heart. Here however God and man are at issue. Man often spares the rod, because he loves the child. This at least he calls love. But is not our Father's love to his children inconceivably more yearning than that of an earthly parent? Yet does he not spare the rod—"What son is he, whom the Father chasteneth not?” (Heb. xii. 7.) Is the rod the proof of his hatred? "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." (Ib. verse 6. Deut. viii. 5. Rev. iii. 19.) Nay—he gives us his Divine judgment—He that spareth the rod, hateth the child. Does he not act at least as if he hated him; omitting a duty so necessary for his welfare; winking at the indulgence of vicious habits and a wayward will, so surely issuing in bitter sorrow? Is not this delivering him up to his worst enemy? Better that the child had been trained in the house of strangers, than that he should thus be the unhappy victim of the cruelty of parental love.

The discipline of our children must therefore commence with self-discipline. Nature teaches to love them much. But we want a controlling principle, to teach us to love them wisely. The indulgence of our children has its root in self-indulgence. We do not like putting ourselves to pain. The difficulties indeed can only be known by experience. And even in this school one parent cannot measure the trials of another. But all our children are children of Adam. "Foolishness is bound up in their hearts." (Chap. xxii. 15. Gen. viii. 21.) All choose from the first dawn of reason, the broad road of destruction. (Isa. liii. 6.) And can we bear the thought, that they should walk in that road? We pray for their conversion. But prayer without teaching is mockery, and Scripture teaching implies chastening. Discipline therefore must be. All need the rod, some again and again. Yet it must be the father's rod, yearning over his chastened child. (Ps. ciii. 13), even while he dares "not spare him for his crying." (Chap. xix. 18.) The rod without affection is revolting tyranny.

But often do we hear mourning over failure. And is not this the grand reason? We do not chastise betimes. (Ib.), Satan begins with the infant in arms! (Ps. lviii. 3. Isa. xiviii. 8.) The cry of passion is his first stir of the native corruption. Do we begin as early? Every vice commences in the nursery. The great secret is, to establish authority in the dawn of life; to bend the tender twig, before the knotty oak is beyond our power. A child, early trained by parental discipline, will probably preserve the wholesome influence to the end of life.

But fearful indeed is the difficulty, when the child has been the early master; to begin chastening, when the habit of disobedience has been formed and hardened; to have the first work to do, when the child is growing out of childhood, and when the unreserved confidence needs to be established. Rarely indeed does this late experiment succeed: while the severity necessary to enforce it is not less dangerous than painful. "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." (Lam. iii. 27.)

Proverbs 23:13 - Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

A Harper's Weekly cover from 1898
shows a caricature of school discipline

Christian parents do not always recognize the scriptural standard of discipline. "Foolishness is bound in the heart" of the parent, no less than "of the child." "The wild ass's colt" (Job, xi. 12) must always need its measure of correction. The rule therefore is, notwithstanding all the pleas of pity and fondness--withhold it not. Do the work wisely, firmly, lovingly. Persevere notwithstanding apparently unsuccessful results. Connect it with prayer, faith, and careful in instruction.

We admit that it is revolting to give pain, and call forth the tears of those we so tenderly love. But while hearts are what hearts are, it is not to be supposed that we can train without discipline. If it be asked--will not gentle means be more effectual? Had this been God's judgment, as a God of mercy, he would not have provided a different regimen. Eli tried them, and the sad issue is written for our instruction. 'Must I then be cruel to my child?’ Nay--God charges thee with cruelty, if thou withheld correction from him. He "goes on his own foolishness." Except he be restrained, he will die, in his sin. God has ordained the rod to purge his sins, and so deliver his soul from hell. What parent then, that trembles for the child's eternal destiny, can withhold correction? Is it not cruel love, that turns away from painful duty? To suffer sin upon a child, no less than upon a brother, is tantamount to "hating him in our heart." Is it not better that the flesh should smart, than that the soul should die? Is it no sin to omit a means of grace, as divinely appointed, as the word and the sacraments? Is there no danger of fomenting the native wickedness, and thus becoming accessory to the child's eternal destruction? What if he should reproach thee throughout eternity, for the neglect of that timely correction, which might have delivered his soul from hell? Or even if he be "scarcely saved," may he not charge upon thee much of his increasing difficulty in the ways of God?

Yet let it not be used at all times. Let remonstrance be first tried. Our heavenly Father never stirs the rod with his children, if his gentle voice of instruction prevail. Continual finding fault; applying correction to every slip of childish trifling or troublesome thoughtlessness, would soon bring a callous deadness to all sense of shame. Let it be reserved, at least in its more serious forms, for wilfulness. It is medicine, not food; the remedy for the occasional diseases of the constitution, not the daily regimen for life and nourishment. And to convert medicine into daily food, gradually destroys its remedial qualities.


This Punishment Book, from the school attended by
Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson (1867-1922)
is one of the earliest surviving examples of this type of record.

Some parents, indeed, use nothing but correction. They indulge their own passions at the expense of their less guilty children. Unlike our Heavenly Father, they afflict and grieve their children willingly;" to vent their own anger, not to subdue their children's sins. Self recollection is of great moment. 'Am I about to correct for my child's good?' An intemperate use of this Scriptural ordinance brings discredit upon its efficacy, and sows the seed of much bitter fruit. Children become hardened under an iron rod. Sternness and severity of manner close up their hearts. It is most dangerous to make them afraid of us. A spirit of bondage and concealment is engendered, often leading to a lie; sowing the seed of hypocrisy--nay, sometimes of disgust, and even of Hatred, towards their unreasonable parents. 'If parents,'--said a wise and godly father--'would not correct their children except in a praying frame, when they can "lift up their hands without wrath," it would neither provoke God nor them.'

Other parents freely threaten the rod, yet withhold it. It was only meant to frighten. It soon becomes all empty and powerless sound. This again contravenes our Great Exemplar. His threatenings are not vain words. If his children will not turn, they will find them faithful and true to their cost. This threatening play is solemn trifling with truth; teaching children by example, what they had learnt from the womb (Ps. lviii. 3), to "speak lies." Let our words be considerate, but certain. Let our children know, that they must not trifle either with them or with us. The firmness of truthful discipline alone can convey a wholesome influence. Any defect here is a serious injury.

We must learn however not to expect too much from our children; nor to be unduly depressed by their naughtiness. Yet we must not wink at their sinful follies. We must love them not less, but better. And because we love them, we must not withhold when needed correction from them. More painful is the work to ourselves, than to them. Most humbling is it. For since the corrupt root produces the poisoned sap in the bud, what else is it but the correction of our own sin? Yet though "no chastening for the present be joyous, but rather grievous" (Heb. xii. 11); when given in prayer, in wisdom, and in faith, the saving blessing will be vouchsafed. 'Lord, do thou be pleased to strike in with every stroke, that the rod of correction may be a rod of instruction.' 'It is a rare soul '--said good Bishop Hall--'that can be kept in constant order without smarting remedies. I confess, mine cannot. How wild had I run, if the rod had not been over me! Every man can say, he thanks God for his ease. For me, I bless God for my trouble.'

Proverbs 29:15 - The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

Spanking in Germany in 1935

Discipline is the order of God's government. Parents are his dispensers of it to their children. The child must be broken in to "bear the yoke in his youth." (Lam. iii. 27.) Let reproof be first tried; and if it succeed, let the rod be spared. (Chap. xvii. 10.) If not, let it do its work. Eli gave the reproof, "but spared the rod." The rod is evidently to be taken literally, not metaphorically; corporal, not spiritual chastisement.

Some give the rod without reproof, without any effort to produce sensibility of conscience. From this tyranny or caprice nothing can be expected. The combined influence not only "drives foolishness far away," but, as a positive blessing, gives wisdom. (Chap. xxii. 15.) God's own children grow wiser under correction. They see their folly, and in genuine shame turn from it, blessing him for his rod of faithfulness and love, and teaching us the folly of rejecting medicines because they are bitter.

But look at the child left to himself--without restraint. A more perfect picture of misery and ruin cannot be conceived. His evil tempers are thought to be the accident of childhood. 'They will pass away, as his reason improves. Time only can mend them.' But in fact time of itself mends nothing. It only strengthens and matures the growth of the native principle. This, being a decided bias to evil, must tend to deadly injury. The mother cannot conjecture the future stature, health, talents, or prospects of her new-born infant. But of one thing she may be absolutely certain--a corrupt and wayward will. The poison however does not appear at first. No special anxiety is excited. The child is not nurtured in wickedness, or under the influence of bad example. He is only left to himself. Left! The restive horse, with his rein loosened, full of his own spirit, plunges headlong down the precipice. The child, without government, rushes on under the impetuous impulse of his own will; and what but Almighty sovereign grace can save him from destruction? Many a hardened villain on the gallows was once perhaps the pleasing, susceptible child; only left to himself, to his own appetite, pride, and self-willed-obstinacy.

The sound discipline of heavenly guidance is our father's best blessing. His most fearful curse, is to be given up to our own ways, "to walk in our own counsels." (Ps. lxxxi. 12.) A child thus left is at the furthest point from salvation, in the very jaws of the devouring lion.

Turn we now from the ruined child to the disgraced, broken-hearted parent. The mother only is mentioned, as the chief superintendent of the early discipline; perhaps also as the most susceptible of the grievous error. For if the father's stronger character induces him to "provoke his children to wrath" (Col. iii. 21); to rule rather by command than by persuasion; does not the mother's softer mould tend to the opposite evil? And so far as she yields to mistaken indulgence, she bears the greater share of the punishment. It is not, that she is brought to trouble, or even to poverty; but to that, which is the most keenly-felt of all distress--to shame. Nowhere is God's retributive justice more strongly marked. The mother's sin is visited in the proportioned punishment. What greater neglect of obligation, than a child left to himself! What greater affliction, than the shame to which he bring her. Parental influence is lost. The reverence of authority is forgotten, as a by-gone name. (Chap. xix. 26.) The child rules; instead of being as a corrected child, in subjection. (Heb. xii. 9.) The parent fears, instead of the child; and thus virtually owns her own degradation. Instead of "the wise son, that maketh a glad father;" it is "the foolish son, that is the heaviness of his mother." The sunshine of bright prospects is clouded. The cup of joy is filled with wormwood. The father's mouth is dumb with the confusion of grief. The dearest object of the mother's tenderness, instead of being the staff and comfort of her age, bringeth her to shame. Truly children, thus left to themselves, will mingle the bitterest cup that man can ever have to drink, and stir up the saddest tears, that ever eyes can have to weep.

1839 caricature by George Cruikshank of a school flogging

This is not a trial, which, like many others, she might cover in her own bosom. Alas! the shame is too public to be concealed. What must have been the open dishonour upon Eli's name, when "the sins of his children made men abhor the offering of the Lord!" When the treason of David's sons brought him to shame in the sight of all Israel; surely his own conscience, must have brought his own perverted fondness to mind, as the cause of their ruin; both left to themselves--one palliated in the most aggravated sin; the other having been not even corrected by a word. (1 Kings, i. 5-9.) And if the shame before men be so bitter, what will be the overwhelming confusion at the great consummation, when the evil propensities, cherished with such cruel fondness in the parental bosom, shall produce their harvest "in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow!" (Isa. xvii. 11.)

Oh! as our children's happiness or misery, both for time and eternity, is linked with our own responsibilities; shall not we "watch and pray," and resist "the weakness of the flesh," in self-denying firmness? 'Take this for certain'--says Bishop Hopkins--'that as many deserved stripes as you spare from your children, you do but lay upon your own back. And those whom you refuse to chastise, God will make severer scourges to chastise you.' At whatever cost, establish your authority. Let there be but one will in the house. And let it be felt, that this will is to be the law. The child will readily discover, whether the parent is disposed to yield, or resolved to rule. But however trifling the requirement, let obedience be, in small as great matters, the indispensable point. The awe of parental authority is perfectly consistent with the utmost freedom of childlike confidence. Nay--it is the very foundation of it (for the child can hardly appreciate the kindness of a parent, whom he thinks afraid to strike), while it operates as a valuable safeguard against a thousand follies of uncontrolled waywardness. But ever let us put the awful alternative vividly before us. Either the child's will, or the parent's heart, must be broken: "Without a wise and firm controul, the parent is miserable; the child is ruined."

17. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

Time-out, painting by Carl Larsson

Once more the wise man returns to the subject of discipline. These repeated inculcations strongly shew its importance. The command is positive--Correct thy son. How can an upright judgment evade or explain away a plain, literal rule? This, book of Proverbs is not out of date. Like every other part of the Sacred Volume, it is the Book for every age; "given by inspiration of God; profitable for doctrine, and written for our learning." To try therefore more self-pleasing rules, is to set up our will in opposition to God's; reason or feeling in the stead of faith. It is making ourselves "wise above that which is written."

The measure and mode of correction indeed must depend upon the age, sex, temper of the child, the character, the aggravation, or the mitigated circumstances, of the fault. But let it be, like our gracious Father's discipline, never more than can be borne. Make due allowance for any marks of ingenuous confession. Yet with a wise application of the principle, there must be no exception to the rule. Different tempers, like different soils, require corresponding difference of treatment. But discipline there must be; not relaxed in fondness, not pushed on in harshness; but authority tempered with love. If a gentle hand cannot controul, a stronger hand must be applied.

We may take rest without correction; but such rest will bring trouble in the end. The true rest is that, which our child will give; and that he may give it, the rule is--Correct. We may be assured, that God would not have so insisted upon it, if a blessing was not with it. If Eli was rejected, it was because in this matter he "honoured his sons above God." Those then "that honour him" above their sons "he will honour." Pain is the present exercise both to parent and child, but the after blessing is secured. (Heb. xii. 11.) Ground well tilled, trees carefully pruned, bring forth more fruit."

Observe how the objection of parental weakness is anticipated. 'If I put my son to pain, will he not hate me?' No--when "left to himself," he was a deep and anxious trouble. Now he shall give thee rest. Before--he "brought thee to shame." (Verse 15.) Now he shall give delight to thy soul." The momentary feelings of the child under correction will give way to the conviction of the parent's wisdom and regard for his profit. (Heb. xii. 9.)


1888 Cartoon drawing of two students receiving the cane from Mr J. S. Kerr.
One boy has just been caned and sucks his fingers.
The other boy stretches out his hand for punishment.

Yet the rule against discouragement would not have been repeated, had there not been some parental evil to be corrected. "Provocation" revolts, transfers confidence to most unworthy associates, and brings into ruinous temptations. Children claim a considerate treatment. They must not be driven by brute force. Authority must be tempered with love. The grounds of extraordinary commands should be explained to them. What is good should be liberally commended. The best construction should be put upon defective efforts. The distinction should be carefully drawn between weakness and wilfulness, between heedlessness and obstinacy. Home should be gladdened with the invigorating joy of spring, and replete with every wholesome indulgence. Every attempt should be made to gain confidence, so that the child, instead of a cold trembling reserve, should run into our arms. But in this glowing atmosphere, forget not God's rule. The completeness of discipline is the father's firmness combined with the mother's tenderness; each infusing into the other the quality of each. A wise parent will put his seal to the testimony, that this well-disciplined education is the surest means of securing the children's affection, gratitude, and reverence.
In fine--on this important subject so often enforced--we are not taught to believe without promises, or to obey without precepts. The Book of Proverbs exhibits cause and effect--the certain consequence of a given course of action, whether good or evil. It sets out promise and obligation--promise fulfilled in the way of obligation. The promised blessing to godly parental discipline is written in beams of living light. If the grace of the promise be lost, it is only by unbelief in the promise, or by a presumptuous confidence in it (separating the end from the means) such as brings shame in the issue. It is not that God is untrue, but that we are unfaithful. God has given the promise. Man either slights, rejects or abuses it. He attempts to put aside the Scripture by an appeal to experience, instead of proving the faithfulness of God by "the obedience of faith." The commands--the directions--the promises--the blessing--all are the Lord's. Put his word to the test. The simplicity and perseverance of faith will be richly honoured in his own best time and way.

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 168-169, 429, 570-573, 574-576.