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FRUITS OF WISDOM

II. QUAR., LESSON VII., MAY 14, PROV. 12:1-15

Golden Text—”The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.”—Prov. 11:30

The simple teachings of these proverbs are so plain as to need no explanation; but they are worthy of careful and prayerful pondering. They suggest a series of questions for self-examination which every child of God would do well to propound to himself in the quiet retreat of his accustomed place of prayer. Let him not ask himself, Am I perfect in every thought, word and deed, knowing that none of the fallen are so; but let him ask (verse 1), Do I love instruction and knowledge? am I seeking for it daily in the line of God’s Word and providences? and am I ready to consider and heed reproof rather than to spurn and resent it? VERSE 2. Are the purposes of my heart all pure and upright, bringing with them a constant sense of the Lord’s favor? VERSE 3. Am I rooted and grounded in the principles of righteousness, so that I will not swerve and cannot be moved? VERSE 4. Am I faithfully acting my part in my station in life—in my relationships to my fellow-men and my family?

VERSE 5. Am I keeping a vigilant guard over my thoughts, that they stray not into forbidden paths? VERSE 6. Am I ever ready to defend the righteous against the snares of the wicked? In these days when the wicked are devising perverse doctrines to overthrow the faith of the righteous, am I zealous in my endeavors to establish them in the right ways of the Lord? VERSES 7 and 8 are precious promises to the righteous. VERSE 9. “He that is despised and laboreth for himself is better than he that aimeth after honor and lacketh bread.” How true!

VERSE 10. The truly righteous extend their tender mercies to the lower creation, as well as to human kind. VERSE 11. The true child of God is no idler or visionary dreamer. VERSES 12-14. The rewards of virtue and the penalties of wrong-doing are sure to follow, sooner or later, and every act will meet its just deserts in due time.

VERSE 15 cannot be too carefully considered—”The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.” Herein is the danger of an evil course: it is deceptive to those who take it: the wrong-doer, having succeeded in justifying himself, finds the downward course smooth and slippery, until the retracing of his steps becomes almost impossible. “But he that hearkeneth unto the counsel of the Lord is wise.”

The Golden Text is very suggestive. A righteous life may indeed be compared to a tree of life of whose virtues others may partake and live. And blessed are those whose wise and righteous course of life becomes a constant incentive to virtue, winning others away from the path of sin and ungodliness to righteousness, peace, faith and trust in God.

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— April 15, 1893 —