Simon Patrick on the Proverbs
1683
Chapter 6:20-35PRO 6:20-35
20. "My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother" And here, my son, must remember thee of what I said in the beginning about a reverend regard unto thy parents; especially when they warn thee against such wickedness’s as these: do not make light of their admonitions; but observe the precepts of thy father, and let thy mother's commands be a law to thee.
21. "Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck." Fix them in thy mind, and link thy affections so fast to them, that they may not only be continually before thine eyes; but seem the greatest ornament to all thy words and actions, when they are ordered by their directions.
22. "When thou pest, it shall lead thee; when thou steepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Thou wilt find the benefit of giving early entertainment to such good counsel from thy parents, in every passage of thy whole life: for when thou goest about any business, it will guide thee to doe [do] it honestly and successfully; when thou liest down to sleep, it will make thee rest secure of the guardianship of the Divine Providence over thee; and, when thou awakest in the morning, suggest to thy thoughts how thou oughtest to behave thy self at home and abroad.
23. "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." In the darkest times and the most dubious cases, it will both direct and comfort thee: for every particular commandment of God (which they teach thee) is like a candle; and the whole law is like the light of the sun; to show thee thy way, and to exhilarate thy spirits, while thou walkest in it: nay, the severest reproofs, which correct thy errors and reduce thee to obedience, are the way to the greatest happiness.
24. "To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman." As those instructions and reproofs, for instance, ought to be accounted, which preserve thee from being deluded by the flattering speeches, and enticements of a lewd woman: from whom thou oughtest perfectly to estrange thy self, as from a sink of all wickedness.
25. "Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids." Let me advise thee again (though I have done it oft) not to gaze upon her beauty, or upon her fine attire; but suppress the very first desire, which a glance of her may have kindled in thy heart: do not consent to pursue it in the least; much less suffer thy self to be caught in the nets of her wanton eyes, and thereby drawn into her dangerous embraces.
26. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life." For such is the cunning of a harlot, that having got a silly youth into her toils, she will hardly let him go, till she have reduced him to the extremist beggary: and if she be another man's wife, a train [trap] is laid for that which is more precious by far than all the treasures he hath spent, namely, his dearest life; which he foolishly loses for the short pleasure of a sinful lust.
27. "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" He may think perhaps to enjoy his pleasure so privately, that none shall know it; but that's as unlikely, as that a man should take fire secretly into his bosom, and so conceal it that it shall not break out and burn his clothes.
28. "Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?" Who ever heard that fire will doe Idol no hurt, because it is closely lodged? or that anybody ever walked barefoot upon red-hot coals, and his feet escaped from being burnt?
29. "So he that goeth in to his neighbor's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent." Even so is it sottish folly to imagine that a man shall suffer nothing, who lies with his neighbor's wife: let him be who he will that commits that crime, he shall not escape unpunished.
30. "Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." For he is not a common thief, who only steals a man's goods, and that perhaps out of extreme necessity, merely to satisfy his hungry appetite, which he knows not otherwise how to fill: such an one we are apt to pity, and do not expose him to shame, by whipping him, and laying stripes upon his back.
31. "But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house." But when he is found out, he shall only make as complete a restitution as the law requires, though that perhaps may be no less than all that he is worth.
32. "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul." But the adulterer robs a man of his wife without any such necessity, there being other and honest ways to satisfy his desires: and therefore hath no excuse, but must be looked upon as a stupid fool void of common understanding; and when he is found out be punished, not merely in his estate, but with the loss of his life.
33. "A wound and dishonor shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away." And besides the quarrels and other troubles wherein this sin may engage him, his reputation shall receive a deadly wound; and it will make him infamous, as long as he lives and when he is dead: for while his name lasts it shall not be mentioned without reproach; but have a brand of disgrace set upon it, which shall never be blotted out.
34. "For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance." For no restitution can be made, or satisfaction given in this case, as there may be in the other; no prayers neither, or submissions shall prevail with the injured husband: whose justly provoked indignation rises up to a furious rage, which will not pity or spare the adulterer (though the public Justice should be asleep) when he finds an opportunity to be revenged.
35. "He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts."Though he may be willing to expiate his crime, and redeem his life at any rate, it will not be accepted; the largest gifts will be refused; and though greater and greater be still offered, they will not appease his wrath: which pursues the adulterer implacably, and never rests contented, but in his utter ruin.