*From The Excellent Woman of Proverbs 31 written in 1847 by Anne Pratt (1806-1893)
FAVOR IS DECEITFUL, AND BEAUTY IS VAIN:
BUT A WOMAN THAT FEARETH THE LORD, SHE SHALL BE PRAISED.
BUT A WOMAN THAT FEARETH THE LORD, SHE SHALL BE PRAISED.
Proverbs 31:30
That worldly favor is vain indeed, we scarcely need the Scriptures to tell us: experience of the world attests it; and the philosopher, and, still more frequently, the poet, have again and again lamented the worthlessness of the favor of this world. For a little while, the man who rises in general favor is loved and honored, his presence welcomed, his opinion valued; but soon some new favorite takes his place, and general adulation is directed to the rising sun.
How frequently does the young and trusting heart swell with emotion on the discovery of the deceitful nature of worldly favor!
Perhaps there is scarcely a woman who has not listened to the voice of flattery; and though the coarse praise of a flattering tongue would disgust the pious, and displease too the cultivated and refined, yet most have been sometimes beguiled by its more delicate and skilful application. There is a self‐love in every human heart to which such praise can appeal; and even the woman who knows the commendation to be undeserved, will sometimes be pleased, as she believes that such at least is the opinion of those who utter it. But time comes, and truth comes with him, and with rude hand tears away the veil from falsehood, and the deceived spirit learns at length the lesson that favor is deceitful.
Men may praise those whom God disapproves. They may hold that to be good which God abhors; and even when they have the right standard of holiness, yet they may so little know the hearts of others as to mistake in their estimate of good and evil.