A Perilous Compromise
J. H. Jowett, M. A. Ecclesiastes 7:16-17 Be not righteous over much; neither make yourself over wise: why should you destroy yourself ?… That is most soothing and comforting counsel for the indolent soul. "Be not righteous overmuch." What an easy yoke! How mild the requirements! How delightfully lax the discipline! Why, the school is just a playground! Have we any analogous counsel in our own day? In what modern guise does it appear? Here is a familiar phrase: "We can have too much of a good thing." Such is the general application of the proverb. But the Word is stretched out to include the sphere of religion. The counsel runs somewhat in this wise; we require a little religion ii we would drink the nectar of the world, and we require a little worldliness if we would really appreciate the flavour of religion. To put the counsel baldly, we need a little devilry to make life spicy. That is one modern shape of the old counsel. Here is the old counsel in another dress: "We must wink at many things." We must not be too exactingly scrupulous. That is the way to march through life easily, attended by welcome comforts. Don't be too particular; "be not righteous overmuch." Here is a third dress in which the old counsel appears in modern times: "In Rome, one must do as Rome does." Our company must determine our moral attire. We must have the adaptability of a chameleon. If we are abstainers, don't let us take our scrupulosity into festive and convivial gatherings. Don't let us throw wet blankets over the genial crowd. If some particular expedient, some rather shaky policy be prevalent in your line of business, do not stand out an irritating exception. "Be not righteous overmuch." Now, let us pass from the Book of Ecclesiastes to another part of the sacred Word, and listen to a voice from a higher sphere. What says the prophet Isaiah? "Your wine is mixed with water." The people had been carrying out the counsel of Koheleth. They had been diluting their righteousness. They had been putting a little water into their wine. The prophet proclaims that God will not accept any dilutions. He will not accept a religion that is watered down. He despises a devotion which has been thinned into compromise. In many parts of the Old Testament this perilous compromise is condemned. "They have given their tears to the altar, and have married the daughter of a strange god." "They feared the Lord and served their own gods." This is the type of broken fellowship and of impaired devotion against Which the prophets of the Old Testament direct their severest indictments. Let us pass on now to the day when the light is come, and the "glory of the Lord" is risen upon us. Let us hear the counsel and command of "the Word made flesh." "Be ye perfect;" that is the injunction of the Master. We are to carry the refining and perfecting influences of religion into everything. Everywhere it is to be pervasive of life, as the blood is pervasive of the flesh. Everything in our life is to constitute an allurement to help to draw the world to the feet of the risen Lord. This all-pervasive religion, this non-compromising religion, is the only one that discovers the thousand secret sweets that are yielded by the Hill of Zion. It is the only religion that presses the juice out of the grapes of life, and drinks the precious essences which God hath prepared for them that love Him. "Be ye perfect;" sanctify the entire round, never be off duty, and life will become an apocalypse of ever-heightening and ever-brightening glory. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? WEB: Don't be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?