Prov. x.x.xi.
HER RELIGION.
I. The secret of her many excellencies here portrayed.
It did not consist in _beauty_. Verse 30. A pretty face often leads to ruin. Prov. xi. 22. Ezek. xxviii. 17.
Never make much of a child"s beauty.
But it was this, she was a _religious_ woman, actuated in all she did by the _fear of the Lord_. Verse 30.
The woman who fears the Lord.
1. Hates evil. Prov. viii. 13.
2. It is her moving principle, "all the day long." Prov. xxiii. 17.
3. She is happy, though poor. Prov. xv. 16.
4. It is her confidence and refuge in trial. Prov. xiv. 26.
5. It is _well_ with her. Eccles. viii. 12.
II. She shows her love to Christ, by her love to His people. Verse 20.
Acts, ix. 36. Heb. xiii. 16.
You need not be _rich_ to be _charitable_.
The poorest may give. 2 Cor. viii. 2.
G.o.d looks not at the size, or value of the gift, but the motive from which it springs. 2 Cor. viii. 12.
The widow"s mite. Mark, xii. 42, 44.
The cup of cold water. Matt. x. 42; xxv. 35.
Nursing a sick neighbour. 1 Tim. v. 10.
IX. THE EXCELLENT WOMAN.
Prov. x.x.xi.
HER REWARD.
I. Her children regard her with grateful love, and look back with thankfulness to her care and teaching. Verse 28. _e.g._ Timothy, 2 Tim.
i. 5, and David, Ps. lx.x.xvi. 16; cxvi. 16.
II. Her husband confides in her, blesses her, honours her. Verse 28.
Eph. v. 25, 31. 1 Pet. iii. 7.
III. She reaps the fruit of her labours. Verse 31. Deut. iv. 40.
Prov. xx. 7; xxii. 6; xxix. 17. 2 John, 4.
IV. She shall rejoice in time to come. Verse 25.
Not only in this world (Ps. cxviii. 15), but in the life to come.
In the future kingdom, will not her children, for whom she prayed and laboured, be to her, as St. Paul says his spiritual children will be to him, "Her joy, her crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" 1 Thess. ii. 19.
Let this cheer the faint-hearted and discouraged Christian mother; she sows perhaps now with bitter tears, but she shall "reap in joy."
X. HOW TO SPEND SUNDAY.
"Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."
Mothers can effect much by domestic arrangement, and forethought.
I. Make Sat.u.r.day a "day of preparation." "Bake that which ye will bake to-day," &c. Exod. xvi. 5, 23. Mark, xv. 42. Luke, xxiii. 54.
II. Endeavour to make the Sunday
1. A _holy_ day.
Exod. xx. 10, 11. Deut. v. 12. Gen. ii. 3.
To sanctify, signifies to set apart for a holy purpose. Thus in the New Testament the Sabbath is called "the Lord"s day." Rev. i. 10, because a day devoted to His service.
2. A _resting_ day.
Gen. ii. 3. Lev. xxiii. 3. Matt. xxiii. 56.
Called "the Sabbath of _rest_." Lev. xxiii. 3. And "the _rest_ of the holy Sabbath." Exod. xvi. 23. _Sabbath_ signifies _rest_, and heaven, of which it is a type, is called, "the keeping of a _Sabbath_." Heb.
iv. 9.
3. A _happy_ day.
It is a _gift_, a _privilege_, not a task.