Proverbs 17:4 A wicked doer gives heed to false lips; and a liar gives ear to a naughty tongue. Men's characters may be known by the conversations they most relish. The text enables us to see the kind of conversation that bad men like. I. THEY LIKE FLATTERY. "A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips." The flatterer is a man of false lips. The more corrupt men are, the more blindly credulous to everything that makes them appear better than they are. He who compliments them palliates their offences, gives them credit for virtues they possess not, is their favourite companion, and they ever "give heed" to his lips. One of the best things recorded of George III. is, that one of his first acts after his ascension to the throne was to issue an order prohibiting any of the clergy who should be called to preach before him from paying him any compliment in their discourses. His Majesty was led to this from the fulsome adulation which Dr. Thomas Wilson, Prebendary of Westminster, thought proper to deliver in the Chapel Royal, and for which, instead of thanks, he received from his royal auditor a pointed reprimand, his Majesty observing that he came to chapel to hear the praise of God, not his own. II. THEY LIKE CALUMNY. The liar is also the "wicked doer." The "naughty tongue," whilst it speaks flatteries and falsehoods of all kinds, speaks calumnies also. And the worse the man is the more welcome to his depraved heart are the reports of bad things concerning others. 1. Calumny gratifies the pride of evil men. It helps them to cherish the thought that they are not worse than others, perhaps better. 2. Calumny gratifies the malignity of evil men. The worse a man is the more malevolence he has in him; the more gratified he is at hearing bad things concerning other men. "If," said Bishop Hall, "I cannot stop other men's mouths from speaking ill, I will either open my mouth to reprove it or else I will stop mine ears from hearing it, and let him see in my face that he hath no room in my heart." (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.WEB: An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. |
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