Proverbs 3:27-28 - Homilies By E. Johnson

Promptitude in good actions

I. NEGATIVE UNKINDNESS . ( Proverbs 3:27 .)

1 . It consists in withholding good which it is in our power to impart.

2 . It is analogous to the refusal repay a just debt. Kindness is the "due" of our fellow men. This does not imply the giving to every beggar or borrower. No act is required which, under the show of kindness, involves no real benefit to another or actually involves an injustice to ourself or another. We must carry these precepts to the light of the heart and of the discriminating intelligence. Speaking generally, sullenness, unsociability, extreme taciturnity, self-absorption, are forms of the sin.

II. PROCRASTINATION CONDEMNED . ( Proverbs 3:28 .) Remember:

1 . That to give promptly is to give twice; that the deferred gift loses its bloom; that unnecessary delay is a fraud on the time and temper of others; that of everything we intend to do we had best make the beginning at once, which, the Roman poet says, is "half the deed."

2 . To defer a duty till tomorrow may be to defer it forever. A lost opportunity of doing good is a sad sting in the memory. These negative warnings infer the positive lesson of promptitude.