1 Samuel 2:3-4 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogance come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge… Men forget their sinfulness in their prosperity. If the soldier wins the battle he concludes that his cause was right; if the politician wins his election he concludes that his policy is right; if the merchant accumulates a fortune he considers that heaven has endorsed his principles, whatever they may be. And yet this line of argument may be, and often is, utterly false. A man may be a conqueror, and yet his glory be his shame; he may attain honour, and his scarlet robe be the firing sign of his scarlet sins; he may grow rich, and every coin in his coffers witness against him; he may possess every means of happiness, and yet have forfeited all right to happiness itself. "His honour rooted in dishonour still." Many a man has a certain sense of self-respect who ought to have none, for his self-respect is based on his wealth and position, not on his personal merit; on his clothes, not on his character. So by various methods men disguise their sins from themselves and from others; villains before heaven, they are gentlemen, moralists, salts before their fellows. In Venice, Quinet was shown a helmet of studied beauty, constructed to crush the heads of the accused. "Thus," the philosopher remarks, "Venice was artistic even in her tortures." How many men are artistic in their sins. Cleverly disguised as sin may be, it will inevitably suffer detection. (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. |
    |