‏ Proverbs 7

* Invitations to learn wisdom. (1-5) The arts of seducers, with

warnings against them. (6-27)

1-5 We must lay up God's commandments safely. Not only, Keep

them, and you shall live; but, Keep them as those that cannot

live without them. Those that blame strict and careful walking

as needless and too precise, consider not that the law is to be

kept as the apple of the eye; indeed the law in the heart is the

eye of the soul. Let the word of God dwell in us, and so be

written where it will be always at hand to be read. Thus we

shall be kept from the fatal effects of our own passions, and

the snares of Satan. Let God's word confirm our dread of sin,

and resolutions against it. 6-27 Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful

lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive

kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to

impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively and

plain a manner, the danger of even going near them? Then is he

as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock, when he

has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The

misery of self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's

blessed commands. We ought daily to pray that we may be kept

from running into temptation, else we invite the enemies of our

souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighbourhood of

vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They

are the more dangerous, because they most easily gain the heart,

and close it against repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well

considered the end of it. Were a man to live as long as

Methuselah, and to spend all his days in the highest delights

sin can offer, one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must

follow, would far outweigh them.