Here is the description, 1. Of a weak man: Wisdom is too high for him;
he thinks it so, and therefore, despairing to attain it, he will take
no pains in the pursuit of it, but sit down content without it. And
really it is so; he has not capacity for it, and therefore the
advantages he has for getting it are all in vain to him. It is no easy
thing to get wisdom; those that have natural parts good enough, yet if
they be foolish, that is, if they be slothful and will not take pains,
if they be playful and trifling, and given to their pleasures, if they
be viciously inclined and keep bad company, it is too high for them;
they are not likely to reach it. And, for want of it, they are unfit
for the service of their country: They open not their mouth in the
gate; they are not admitted into the council or magistracy, or, if they
are, they are dumb statues, and stand for cyphers; they say nothing,
because they have nothing to say, and they know that if they should
offer any thing it would not be heeded, nay, it would be hissed at. Let
young men take pains to get wisdom, that they may be qualified for
public business, and do it with reputation. 2. Of a wicked man, who is
not only despised as a fool is, but detested. Two sorts of wicked men
are so:--(1.) Such as are secretly malicious. Though they speak
courteously and conduct themselves plausibly, they devise to do evil,
are contriving to do an ill turn to those they bear a grudge to, or
have an envious eye at. He that does so shall be called a mischievous
person, or a master of mischief, which perhaps was then a common name
of reproach; he shall be branded as an inventor of evil things (Rom. i.
30), or if any mischief be done, he shall be suspected as the author of
it, or at least accessory to it. This devising evil is the thought of
foolishness, v. 9. It is made light of, and turned off with a jest, as
only a foolish thing, but really it is sin, it is exceedingly sinful;
you cannot call it by a worse name than to call it sin. It is bad to do
evil, but it is worse to devise it; for that has in it the subtlety and
poison of the old serpent. But it may be taken more generally. We
contract guilt, not only by the act of foolishness, but by the thought
of it, though it go no further; the first risings of sin in the heart
are sin, offensive to God, and must be repented of or we are undone.
Not only malicious, unclean, proud thoughts, but even foolish thoughts,
are sinful thoughts. If vain thoughts lodge in the heart, they defile
it (Jer. iv. 14), which is a reason why we should keep our hearts with
all diligence, and harbour no thoughts there which cannot give a good
account of themselves, Gen. vi. 5. (2.) Such as are openly abusive: The
scorner, who gives ill-language to every body, takes a pleasure in
affronting people and reflecting upon them, is an abomination to men;
none that have any sense of honour and virtue will care to keep company
with him. The seat of the scornful is the pestilential chair (as the
LXX. calls it, Ps. i. 1), which no wise man will come near, for fear of
taking the infection. Those that strive to make others odious do but
make themselves so.