Proverbs 3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things you can desire are not to be compared to her. Virtue is beautiful and lovely in itself. Her dictates are founded on the nature of things. 1. The more accurate and perspicuous our knowledge of the principle which gives birth to a virtuous act, or on which it is performed, the greater is the value of it. 2. The more generous and pure the motives to our good actions, the greater is the value of them. 3. The more the virtues that we practise are contrary to our natural dispositions, to our constitution, or to our darling propensities, the more resplendent and excellent are they. 4. The value of our virtue is greatly enhanced by the outward obstacles we have to contend with in the exercise of it, or in proportion to the little encouragement we meet with in it. 5. The more considerable the privation we undergo for the sake of virtue, the more various and inevitable the hazards that attend it, the greater is its value. 6. The satisfaction, or the willingness with which a virtue is practised, contributes in like manner very much to heighten its beauty or its worth. 7. Constancy in virtue is also a circumstance which enhances the value of it. 8. The more benign the influence of our virtue is upon the public interest, the greater is its value. (G. J. Zollikofer.) Parallel Verses KJV: She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.WEB: She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her. |
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