“Qui bonus est hauriet gratiam a Domino ; qui autem confidit in cogitationibus suis impie agit.”
“A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.”
“The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.”
“A good man shall obtain favor from Yahweh, but he will condemn a man of wicked devices.”
“A good man shall obtain favor of Jehovah; But a man of wicked devices will he condemn.”
But. Hebrew, “and he will condemn the man of devices,” (Mont.[Montanus?]; Haydock) or, “the man of thoughts doth wickedly,” (Calmet) as he trusts in them, rather than in God. (Menochius)
We are here taught to try whether we have grace or no by enquiring how we stand affected to the means of grace. 1. Those that have grace and love it will delight in all the instructions that are given them by way of counsel; admonition, or reproof, by the word or providence of God; they will value a good education, and think it not a hardship, but a happiness, to be under a strict and prudent discipline. Those that love a faithful ministry, that value it, and sit under it with pleasure, make it to appear that they love knowledge. 2. Those show themselves not only void of grace, but void of common sense, that take it as an affront to be told of their faults, and an imposition upon their liberty to be put in mind of their duty: He that hates reproof is not only foolish, but brutish, like the horse and the mule that have no understanding, or the ox that kicks against the goad. Those that desire to live in loose families and societies, where they may be under no check, that stifle the convictions of their own consciences, and count those their enemies that tell them the truth, are the brutish here meant.