Proverbs 5:1

Proverbs 5:1. My son attend, &c.— There being nothing to which youth is so prone as to give up themselves to their fleshly desires, and nothing so pernicious to them as to converse with harlots, the wise man renews his cautions against impure lusts, as destructive of true wisdom; and with repeated entreaties begs attention to so weighty an argument, which here he prosecutes more largely, and presses not only with singular elegance, but powerful reasoning. The principal things to be learned in this chapter are, not to believe every thing to be good for us which pleases the flesh for the present; but in the beginning of any pleasure to look to the end of it; to avoid the company of harlots; to use due care in the choice of a wife; to love her very tenderly; and to restrain ourselves from inordinate affections by the consideration of God's omnipresence. See Bishop Patrick.