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

The life that breeds perpetual benediction.

I. THE KINDLY AND GENEROUS HEART ". ( Proverbs 28:27 .) This prompts the generous hand; gathers more than it sows; is not suffered to want any good thing. It stands out in bright colours and winning aspect against the dark background of the selfish, self-concentrated, hard hearted life Let us cultivate the open eye which drinks in the knowledge of all that concerns our fellows, and the open hand in harmony with it.

II. ITS WORTH IS HEIGHTENED BY CONTRAST . ( Proverbs 28:28 .) Men cower, their brows contract, their mien becomes depressed, their soul enslaved, their manhood unmanned, beneath the proud man's oppression and the wicked's scorn. Persecution drives the moral sunshine out of the world, and tends to depopulate its moral life. As the increase of goodness depends largely on sound social and political conditions, it must be an object of prayer and of endeavour with all good men to overthrow tyranny and abolish fraud, that "the fruits of righteousness may abound and increase on every hand."—J.