Proverbs 4:13

Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

The hold-fast religion

Faith may be well described as taking hold upon Divine instruction. To take “fast hold” is an exhortation which concerns the strength, the reality, the heartiness, and the truthfulness of faith, and the more of these the better. If to take hold is good, to take fast hold is better. The best instruction is that which comes from God: the truest wisdom is the revelation of God in Christ Jesus; the best understanding is obedience to the will of God, and a diligent learning of those saving truths which God has set before us in His Word.

I. The method of taking fast hold upon true religion. At the outset much must depend upon the intense decision which a man feels in his soul with regard to eternal things. This depends much on a man’s individuality and force of character. Many are truly religious, but are not intense about anything. Some who in other matters have purpose enough, and strength of mind enough, when they touch the things of God are loose, flimsy, superficial, half-hearted. If the religion of Christ be true, it deserves that we should give our whole selves to it. Our taking fast hold depends upon the thoroughness of our conversion. Another help to a fast hold of Christ is hearty discipleship. Another is a studious consideration of the Word of God. An established Christian is one who not only knows the doctrine, but who also knows the authority for it. An earnest seriousness of character will help towards maintaining a fast hold of Christ. If these things are in us and abound, there will grow around them an experimental verification of the things of God. And in the mode of taking fast hold upon the gospel practical Christianity, practical usefulness, has a great influence.

II. The difficulties of taking fast hold of instruction.

1. This is an age of questioning. Conceited scepticism is in the air.

2. This is an age of worldliness.

3. There is, and always has been, a great desire for novelty.

4. The worst difficulty of all is the corruption of our own hearts.

II. The benefits of taking fast hold. It gives stability to the Christian character to have a firm grip of the gospel. It will also give strength for service. It will bring joy. Persons of this kind are the very glory of the Church.

IV. The arguments of the text. They are three.

1. Take fast hold of true religion, because it is your best friend.

2. It is your treasure.

3. It is your life.

Mr. Arnot, in his book upon the Proverbs, tells a story to illustrate this text. He says that in the southern seas an American vessel was attacked by a wounded whale. The huge monster ran out for the length of a mile from the ship, and then turned round, and with the whole force of its acquired speed struck the ship and made it leak at every timber, so as to begin to go down. The sailors got out all their boats, filled them as quickly as they could with the necessaries of life, and began to pull away from the ship. Just then two strong men might be seen leaping into the water who swam to the vessel, leaped on board, disappeared for a moment, and then came up, bringing something in their hands. Just as they sprang into the sea down went the vessel, and they were carried round in the vortex, but they were observed to be both of them swimming, not as if struggling to get away, but as if looking for something, which at last they both seized and carried to the boats. What was this treasure? What article could be so valued as to lead them to risk their lives? It was the ship’s compass, which had been left behind, without which they could not have found their way out of those lonely southern seas into the high-road of commerce. That compass was life to them, and the gospel of the living God is the same to us. You and I must venture all for the gospel: this infallible Word of God must be guarded to the death. Men may tell us what they please, and say what they will, but we will risk everything sooner than give up those eternal principles by which we have been saved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Education the business of life

I. Education is the business of life. Begin with the infant, and observe how, from the very first breath, every stage in its growth is but the antecedent of another, its chief occupation being to get ready for the next. Infancy spreads out into childhood, etc. Thus obviously is life occupied with preparation for the future. To cause men to enter on that future with the best advantage is the purpose of education, in whatever form dispensed. Consisting thus in preparation for the future, it evidently implies three things--

1. The development of the faculties. These lie folded up in the child, unobserved and inactive. By assiduous culture they are to be unfolded in their true proportions, and to be made skilful by judicious exercise.

2. The acquisition of knowledge--without which one rushes upon the future like a blind man into a wilderness. Knowledge is safety, light, and power; ignorance is darkness, peril, and imbecility.

3. Special fitness for the special employment on which one is to enter. Education is not to be conducted at random, nor with a merely general intent. It has regard to the peculiar calling of the individual. It would fit him to act well his part in the precise sphere which he is destined to fill. This, then, is one sense in which education is the business of life. It is the business of every season to prepare for the next. But there is yet a higher sense. Life itself is but one period of existence, antecedent to another and final period. Life itself is but the childhood of the immortal spirit, getting ready for its future youth and eternal manhood. Life itself, therefore, is but one long school-day; its great purpose the discipline of the powers, the acquisition of knowledge, the fitting of the character, in preparation for that immortal action to which the grave introduces. The perfect man--he who is thoroughly furnished by the completest culture of all his powers, faculties, and affections--is educated for heaven. To stop short of this is to leave the Divine work incomplete. Made to reach indefinitely after wisdom, goodness, and happiness, in this world and the next, he can rightfully propose to himself no other end; and his education is in no just sense finished until this end is attained. Whence we observe there are two essential deficiencies in the common judgment: first that the cultivation of the intellect is limited to that small exercise of the mind which just fits for some one occupation; and second, that the cultivation of character is left almost altogether (in all formal education) to circumstance and accident.

II. By what method the desired result is to be effected. There are three processes--by instruction, by circumstances, by self-discipline.

1. Instruction; by which I intend all the express external means of human or of Divine appointment which are used in early or later life. This is sometimes spoken of as including the whole of education. But a little thoughtful observation convinces us that it is far from being so in fact; that in truth formal teaching is little more than offering favourable opportunities and excitements to the individual, which he may neglect, and so, with the best instruction, remain uneducated. Essential as direct instruction may be, if left to itself, unaided and alone, it can accomplish scarce anything. It needs the concurrence of circumstances, and of the will of the instructed.

2. Circumstances have more to do with the acquisition of knowledge and the formation of character than is often supposed. They make the atmosphere by which one is surrounded, the climate in which he resides. They make up that assemblage of invisible, intangible, indescribable influences which, in the moral world as in the natural, give a complexion, hue, constitution, character, to all who are subjected to it; influences to which they of necessity yield, and which they in vain seek to counteract. It is of the first importance m education to give heed to this consideration. Inattention to this is the cause of frequent ill-success in what appear to be the best arranged processes of instruction. Great pains have been taken, and expensive apparatus employed, with most unsatisfactory results. It was the wrong sort of pains. The controlling power of circumstances was overlooked. The influences of situation, companions, example, and social habits, were disregarded.

3. To these processes is to be added that of self-discipline. Without it nothing efficient can be done by force of teaching, or by the best arrangement of most favourable circumstances. The individual must have a desire to make progress, and must exercise his own powers in making it. It is when he cheerfully, with voluntary labour and watching, applies himself to learn and to become good, that success crowns the endeavour. The general uses of this subject are as obvious as they are important.

(1) It rebukes the prevalent misconceptions, which bind down the aim of intellectual effort to that drudgery of the world by which the body is supported; which account the rational and immortal spirit sufficiently taught, and well enough employed, when it has become skilful to answer the question, “What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?”

(2) It rebukes the negligence and self-indulgence of those who, possessing, as we possess, peculiar advantages for the highest intellectual progress, content themselves with the lowest, think mental toil a drudgery, repine at the requisites for improvement, and set the enjoyments of indolence above the solid honours of attainment.

(3) It rebukes the yet more common error of setting aside from our notions of education the progress of character, and establishment in virtue.

(4) It brings us to the great duty of man, the leading object of life; the self-discipline of the character by which preparation is made for eternity. (H. Ware, D. D.)

Take fast hold

It is only “instruction” that we must take fast hold of. There are some things that we must not even touch, much less must we try to grasp them. Take fast hold of the wonderful things that are contained in the Bible.

1. We take fast hold of instruction by praying over it. If we pray often over it we shall, of course, think much about it, and then we may understand it better. And if we truly do this we shall, without fail, strive to put the truth that we have thus taken hold of into practice.

2. It is a great help if we seek to impart what we have learned of Jesus. If we tell what we know, it will fix it upon our minds. If we do not thus take fast hold of instruction, we may lose it. (J. J. Ellis.)

Hold fast

I. Fast hold must be laid upon wisdom’s precepts.

1. Because many thieves lie in the way to rob us of what wisdom teacheth us--the devil, wicked men, the world, the flesh.

2. Because we may lose our wisdom ourselves--by negligence, by sinful courses.

II. Wisdom’s precepts must not be parted withal, but kept safe.

1. Because parting with it brings loss of other things, as of our safety and likewise of our comfort.

2. Because it brings much danger, and that to all that is dear to us.

III. Holding fast wisdom is the way to life. What thou losest of heavenly wisdom, so much thou losest of thy life. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)

Religious instruction

Instruction is not here used for acquisition of knowledge or intellectual enlargement. It is synonymous with wisdom, understanding, heavenly teaching. Note--

1. The extreme earnestness which the wise son of David displays in pressing his advice.

2. The text suggests the natural alienation of the heart from instruction. It does not receive it willingly. It does not retain it, if received, without difficulty.

3. The last clause of the text resolves the whole question into a simple and intelligible proposition. It brings the matter to a point. Dost thou desire to live--not the life that now is, the transient and ephemeral existence of a corruptible body--but in that never-ending state when a thousand years will be as one day? Then take fast hold of instruction--in obtaining her thou hast secured thy object, for she is thy life. There is, in that word life, a comprehensiveness which conveys the fulness of joy to the penitent soul. (Lord Bishop of Winchester.)

Vigorous steadfastness

The path of wisdom requires the most vigorous steadfastness. Hold the lessons of wisdom with a firm and unrelaxable tenacity; grasp them as the drowning man the rope that is thrown out for his rescue. “Firmness,” said Burns, “both in sufferance and exertion, is a character which I would wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint, and the cowardly, feeble resolve.” (David Thomas, D.D.)

A wise caution

I. We must take heed of falling with sin and sinners. Our teacher having, like a faithful guide, shown us the right paths (Proverbs 4:11), here warns us of the by-paths into which we are in danger of being drawn aside. Those that have been well educated, and trained up in the way they should go, let them not so much as enter into it, no, not to make a trial of it, lest it prove a dangerous experiment, and difficult to retreat with safety. “Venture not into the company of those who are infected with the plague, no, not though thou think thyself guarded with an antidote.”

II. If at any time we are inveigled into an evil way, we must hasten out of it. If, ere thou wast aware, thou didst enter in at the gate, because it was wide, go not on in the way of evil men. As soon as thou art made sensible of thy mistake, retire immediately; take not a step more, stay not a minute longer, in the way that certainly leads to destruction.

III. We must dread and detest the wax of sin and sinners, and decline them with the utmost care imaginable. (Matthew Henry.)

Popular amusements

This advice bears, in its practical relation, on two important features developed in practical affairs. It strikes at the way of the wicked--

1. As it is traced in those open violations of integrity which are condemned alike by the laws of man and the laws of God; and--

2. In that great class of sins which falls under the term “dissipation” in ordinary life, which is condemned by the laws of God, and too frequently tolerated by the laws of man, which is, in itself, in fact, too evanescent, too much a thing of the heart, sinks into too great triviality, is too personal in its character, involving too exclusively the sacrifice of a man’s own soul and life, and the dishonour of his Creator, to fall within the province of human legislation. Popular amusements bear directly upon both these classes of crime. They form a certain fascinating territory--a frontier lying between them and the practice of godliness. To allure the youth, the territories of criminality must be surrounded with a frontier of fascinating pleasures.

I. Every step you take in these forbidden gratifications is taken at your own cost. All the difficulties that will occur to you there are encountered at your own expense. In the very first principle of starting you forfeit all the protection, the guidance, and the help which man may expect at any time, in justifiable engagements, at the hand of God. God has designed that the whole of life should be conducted in a subjugation of the mind to His own teachings; and, in the path of these forbidden pleasures, amongst the allurements that awaken thoughtlessness of Him, and draw the heart from Him, there is no covenanted protection and guidance, and in that abandonment from God he has the elements of the final curse.

II. The popular amusements of our time are to be reprehended and forsaken because they are always attended with inducements to greater wrong. It is not merely the stealing and subtle influence that draws the heart away from God; it is not merely the dreadful effect which the fascination has in soothing down the mind into a state of self-gratification; it is not merely the fact that these delusive pleasures draw the mind away from everything distinctly religious; but they stand surrounded with inducements to drive the spirit home to the point in which it must break through the restrictions, not of Divine law only, but of human law also.

III. The direct influence of the habits formed in scenes of popular amusement is altogether opposed to the exercise of vital Godliness. In cases I have known, there was the declination of the habits of godliness, and the very gift of prayer had almost ceased; every element of piety was crippled. It is said that these popular amusements are patronised by religious people, and that they may at times be rendered subservient to virtue. The answer is that the peril in them wholly outweighs every advantage that can be derived from them. (Charles Stovel.)

Curiosity a temptation to sin

One chief cause of wickedness is our curiosity to have some fellowship with darkness, some experience of sin, to know what the pleasures of sin are like. Not to know sin by experience brings upon a man the laughter and jests of his companions. Curiosity brought about Eve’s fall; and a wanton roving after things forbidden, a curiosity to know what it was to be as the heathen, was one chief source of the idolatries of the Jews. This delusion arises from Satan’s craft. He knows that if he can get us once to sin, he can easily make us sin twice or thrice, till at length we are taken captive at his will. He sees that curiosity is man’s great and first snare. He therefore tempts men violently while the world is new to them, and hopes and feelings are eager and restless. The great thing in religion is to set off well, to resist the beginnings of evil; to flee temptation; and for these reasons--

1. It is hardly possible to delay our flight, without rendering flight impossible. Directly we are made aware of temptation we shall, if we are wise, turn our backs upon it, without waiting to think and reason about it; we shall engage our mind in other thoughts.

2. If we admit evil thoughts we shall make ourselves familiar with them. Our great security against sin lies in being shocked at it.

3. There is a tendency to repeat an act of sin once committed.

4. The end of sinning is to enslave us to it. Our safeguard lies in obeying our Lord’s simple but comprehensive precept, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” (Plain Sermons by Contributors to the “Tracts for the Times.”)

Breakers ahead

To the young it may be said, “Whatever be the evil course that tempts you, your only safety lies in determined refusal to take a single step in that direction, to tamper for a moment with the temptation”; and that this axiom may be as a nail fastened in a sure place. Solomon gives it six strong blows with the hammer, saying in regard to every such devious and sinful path, “Enter not, go not in it, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” Some of the courses against which we need to be warned.

1. The way of the fraudulent. If you cannot be rich without guile be content to be poor. To act or imply what is false is as bad as to utter a lie.

2. The way of the extravagant. Spending money you do not possess; against debt. Start in life as you mean to continue, and let this be one of your maxims, “Owe no man anything.”

3. The way of the gambler. This loathsome cancer is eating into the very vitals of English society. There is no evil course that is more insidious in its commencement, or more insatiable in the appetite it awakens.

4. The way of the drinker. Have the good sense to make a disaster impossible by simply refusing to touch the dangerous thing.

5. The way of the libertine. Shut your ear against every whisper of immodesty.

6. The path of the scoffer. This danger almost always springs from unwise companionships. One sceptic in an office may unsettle all his fellows. (J. Thain Davidson, D.D.)

Contamination of evil society

On the moors of Yorkshire there is a stream of water which goes by the name of the “Ochre Spring.” It rises high up in the hills, and runs on bright and sparkling for a short distance, when it suddenly becomes a dark and muddy yellow. What is the reason of this? It has been passing through a bed of ochre, and so it flows on for miles, thick and sluggish, useless and unpleasant. The world is full of such beds of ochre. .. Enter not in the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. (Church of England Teachers’ Magazine.)

The two paths

I. The path of the wicked. Bad men are here described in such terms as imply a very wretched state of society. They delight in acts of violence and plunder. Such men form the criminal classes. There are other evil-doers who are much more dangerous, because their evil-doing is not so criminal, is not usually of a sort that exposes them to the penalties of the law. One feature of bad men is pointed out. They cannot rest unless they do mischief to some one. There are men who take an intense pleasure in corrupting their juniors and making them as bad as themselves. One of the chief pleasures of sin lies in making others sinful, just as, on the other hand, one of the chief pleasures of goodness is making others good. The tempter prefers the form of the serpent, and does his evil work subtly, slyly, stealthily. Yet the wicked are blind, blinded sometimes by ignorance, sometimes by passion. They do not see what their true interest is.

II. The path of the just. “As the shining light.” By the “just” we are to understand the good man; not a man altogether free from sin, but one who, though far from faultless, sincerely desires and earnestly strives to live in all things according to the will of God. The word “just” signifies “commanded.” A just man is a commanded man, a man whom God commands, a man who acts according to God’s commandments. The just man is something more than a man who is true, honest, fair in his treatment of his fellow-men. The just man is he who, to the full extent of the knowledge of God’s will, obeys it, or does his best to obey it, and so is a commended man. The path of the just is the just man’s course of life. We have a description of a good man’s life in its character, its progress, its perfection. Light in Scripture bears several meanings. It means knowledge in relation to the mind, holiness in relation to the conscience, happiness in relation to the heart. The life of a just man is a life of growing knowledge, holiness, and happiness. “Unto the perfect day.” What is the perfect day? Never seen or experienced by Christians in this world. A poor idea of the perfect day that man must have who thinks that he has already attained to it. The difference between day and night is due to this, that the portion of the earth on which we live turns towards or from the sun. And it is the turning of our souls towards Him who is the Sun of Righteousness that makes our night of ignorance and sorrow turn into the day of knowledge and goodness and happiness. (Hugh Stowell Brown.)