Simon Patrick on the Proverbs 1683
1. Whose loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish." It is an excellent sign that a man will be wise and good, who not only patiently bears with those that tell him of his faults, but loves and is thankful for reproof: which he who not only declines but hates, and is thereby in raged, gives way to such brutish passions and desires that there is little hope he should ever be a man.
2. "A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn." He that studies how to do good to others attracts the good will and blessing of the Lord upon himself: but he who contrives mischievous designs, under a specious show of religion and the public good, shall be judged by Him who knows the heart, to suffer what he deserves.
3. "A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved." For no man, though never so subtle or powerful!, shall be able to establish himself and his family who lays the foundation of his greatness in wickedness: but the righteous, like a tree that hath taken a deep root in the earth, though shaken with storms and tempests, shall remain unmovable in a flourishing estate.
4. "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." A wife that strenuously employs herself in her domestic affairs, and can prudently command her own passions and desires, is a singular ornament and honor to her husband, who may well glory in his happiness: but she whose laziness, or lasciviousness, or other infamous quality makes him down his head for shame, is an incurable grief and vexation, consuming him and all that he hath.
5. "The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit." The designs of good men are managed with exact justice and truth: but the contrivances of the wicked are carried on with fraud, dissimulation, and all manner of deceit.
6. "The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them." Nay (such is the height of their wickedness), they consult one with another, and lay plots to take away secretly the life of those who stand in the way of their designs: but men sincerely good give the best advice they can to deliver such innocent persons from their bloody snares.
7. "The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand." And God befriends them also, who not only defeats those wicked projectors in their designs, but so totally overthrows them and their families that no footstep of them remains: whereas He not only continues, but settles the just man's family in a durable succession (as I have often said), when they that assaulted them are quite extinct.
8. "A matt shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised." True prudence, directing a man to effect his ends by fair and honest means, will procure him the greatest esteem, and the most lasting praise: but he who contrives by fraud, and such like crooked ways, to attain his aim, shall fall into utter contempt, and be scorned by all as a foolish knave.
9. "He that is despised, and birth a servant, is better than he that honoreth himself, and Jacket!: bread." He is far happier who makes no skew in the world, but bath a competent estate; than he who appears in great splendor and pomp abroad, but wants bread to eat when he is at borne.
10. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the lender mercies of the wicked are crud." A good man takes care that his beast be well used, and have food and rest convenient for it; which is more than mere bent upon wickedness will do for their neighbors: for their very kindnesses, being treacherous, are a cruel cheat; nay, the highest expressions which they make of tenderness and compassion (whereby they induce others to repose a trust in them) are intended merely as a cover, for the mischief they mean more securely to do them.