Of the Wisdom of Being Religious
S. Clarke, D. D. Proverbs 9:11 For by me your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased. No desire is so deeply implanted in our nature as that of preserving and prolonging our life. Life and health are the foundation of all other enjoyments. The principal point of wisdom in the conduct of human life is so to .use the enjoyments of this present world as that they may not themselves shorten that period wherein it is allowed us to enjoy them. Temperance and sobriety, the regular government of our appetites and passions, are the greatest instances of human wisdom. Religion adds strength to these things by annexing the promise of God's immediate blessing to the natural tendency and consequences of things. "The fear of the Lord" and "the knowledge of the Holy" are two synonymous expressions, signifying "the practice of virtue and true religion." I. THE PRACTISE OF RELIGION IS, IN GENERAL, MAN'S TRUEST WISDOM. The whole tenor of Scripture concurs in setting forth the wisdom of being virtuous and religious. Compare with the wisdom in understanding the arts and sciences. Wisdom of men in being able to overreach and defraud each other; wisdom of political skill; wisdom in words and artful representations of things; wisdom in searching out the secrets of nature. The only wisdom that all men are capable of, and that all men are indispensably obliged to attain, is the practical wisdom of being truly religious. II. THE PRACTISE OF RELIGION TENDS TO PROLONG OUR LIFE AND LENGTHEN OUR DAYS. Promises of health and life are frequent in the Old Testament. See the fifth commandment with promise. There are threatenings of the wicked in the Old Testament, which declare their days shall be shortened. In the nature of things men destroy themselves and shorten their days by many kinds of wickedness. According to the same natural order and tendency of things, by peace and charity men are preserved from destruction; by temperance their bodies are maintained in health; by quiet of conscience and satisfaction of mind is a new life added to their spirits. In the positive appointment and constitution of Providence there was yet more assurance of the doctrine. The temporal promises of the Old Testament cannot now be applied with any certainty under the New, where eternal life is so much more clearly revealed. III. HOW IS THIS BLESSING TO BE DESIRED BY CHRISTIANS UNDER THE GOSPEL STATE. The gospel gives a mean notion of the present life and glorious representation of the happiness of that to come, so that a devout man may wish to be delivered from the miseries of this sinful world. But the best men need prolonged lives on earth for their own amendment and improvement; and if not for their own, for the sake of others. It may also be reminded that duties are entrusted to us, and we must not shirk them. And the longest life here is but a moment in comparison of eternity. We ought to make it the main care of our lives to secure our eternal happiness hereafter; only then do length of days become a blessing. (S. Clarke, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. WEB: For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased.