Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man, who can find?
On goodness and fidelity
I. What are we to understand by “goodness” and a “faithful man”?--Goodness often means the Whole of a virtuous or religious temper. In Scripture it is sometimes limited to good affections, and the proper expression of them in our conduct. Goodness here is kindness; and a “faithful man” is one sincere and steady in goodness, who really feels benevolent affections, and is uniform and constant in the practical exercise of them.
1. He is “faithful in goodness,” whose general conduct is kind and beneficent. He is affable and courteous in his ordinary conversation, and never without necessity deliberately says that which may hurt or offend. He does not withhold his bounty till it is wrung from him by importunity. His friendly offices reach men’s spiritual necessities.
2. He is “faithful in goodness” whose goodness flows from an inward, a sincere, and a religious principle. Goodness sufficiently diffusive in its objects and exercises can only be the fruit of the Spirit of God.
3. The man “faithful in goodness” is steady, constant, and persevering in doing good. Important services to others often require much of diligence, self-denial, and disinterestedness. He does good, expecting nothing again.
II. What is suggested when it is said, “A faithful man, who can find”?
1. He reminds us that this is a character not to be found among unconverted sinners.
2. Faithfulness in goodness is uncommon.
3. Fidelity in goodness in a strict sense, and in full perfection, is not the character of the best saints on this side the grave.
III. Solomon’s maxim, that “most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” Men are prone to disguise their true characters under a deceitful mask, and profess sentiments and affections to which their hearts are utter strangers. There are some who, in proclaiming their own goodness, cannot be charged with gross hypocrisy. They are self-deluded. Let every one press after the fidelity in goodness, to which every false display of it is opposed. (John Erskine, D. D.)
Self-applause and self-consistency
I. The commonness of self-applause. See it in nations; in churches. Pursue the subject more personally.
1. The profane. These say they mean well; their hearts are good; they are liberal, etc.
2. The Pharisees. What attempts they make to recommend themselves to others!
3. The orthodox. Those who pride themselves on their orthodoxy.
4. The godly. These are often guilty in a measure.
II. The rareness of self-consistency. A man faithful--
1. In his civil concerns.
2. In his friendly connections.
3. To his trusts.
4. To his convictions.
5. To his religious professions.
Enough has been said--
(1) To make Christians thankful that they are not under the law, but under grace.
(2) To induce us to be diffident and humble.
(3) And to seek after the influence of Divine grace. (W. Jay.)
Subtle self-praise
Some, quite as vain, and as ambitious of commendation and praise, knowing that everything of the nature of ostentation is exceedingly unpopular, set about their object with greater art. They devise ways of getting their merits made known so as to avoid the flaw of ostentatious self-display. In company they commend others for the qualities which they conceive themselves specially to possess, or for the doing of deeds which they themselves are sufficiently well known to have done; and they turn the conversation dexterously that way; or they find fault with others for the want of the good they are desirous to get praise for; or they lament over their own deficiencies and failures in the very points in which they conceive their excellence to lie--to give others the opportunity of contradicting them; or, if they have done anything they deem particularly generous and praiseworthy, they introduce some similar case, and bring in, as apparently incidental, the situation of the person or the family that has been the object of their bounty. Somehow, they contrive to get in themselves and their goodness. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)
A prevalent vice and a rare virtue
I. A prevalent vice. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” Self-conceit--men parading their imaginary merits. It is seen in the religious world, in the way in which certain men get their subscriptions trumpeted in reports, and their charitable doings emblazoned in journals. It is seen in the political world.
1. This vice is an obstruction to self-improvement. The man who prides himself on his own cleverness will never get knowledge; who exults in his own virtue will never advance in genuine goodness. Vanity is in one sense the fruit of ignorance.
2. This vice is socially offensive. Nothing is more offensive in society than vanity.
3. This vice is essentially opposed to Christianity. What says Paul? “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” What says Christ? “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
II. A rare virtue. “But a faithful man, who can find?” What is faithfulness? The man who in this verse is called faithful is in the next represented as just, “walking in his integrity.” Each of the three terms represents the same thing.
1. Practically true to our own convictions. Never acting without or against them.
2. Practically true to our own professions. Never breaking promises, swerving from engagements. Now this is a rare virtue. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Self-laudation
It magnifies and multiplies matters. Loud was the lie which that bell told, hanging in a clock-house at Westminster, and usually rung at the coronation and funeral of princes, having this inscription about it:--
“King Edward made me,
Thirty thousand and three,
Take me down and weigh me,
And more you shall find me.”
But when this bell was taken down at the doom’s-day of abbeys, this and two more were found not to weigh twenty thousand. Many tales of fame are found to shrink accordingly. (W. Fuller.)