My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have struck your hand with a stranger,
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Hand. Agreements were made by shaking hands, Isaias lxii. 8. (Xenophon, Anab. iii.)
Stranger. Septuagint, "enemy. "He will presently be such, or thy friend's creditor will soon lay hold on thee. By standing surety for another, we expose ourselves to be ruined by his negligence. (Calmet)
The Persians had a horror chiefly of lying and debts. (Herodotus i. 138.)
All sureties are not condemned, but only such as are inconsiderate. (Menochius)
A diligent compliance with engagements is commended. (Worthington)
To be surety for a friend is to take charge of the soul of another on the guarantee of your own conduct. You are in charge of a responsibility which did not exist before. Your hand is bound fast to another’s. One is ensnared with the words of his own mouth and caught with his own words. While he is obliged to speak what is good to those under his charge, he must first himself observe the matters of which he speaks. He is, therefore, ensnared with the words of his mouth, in that he is constrained by the exigency of right reason not to allow his way of life to be relaxed in a way that does not accord with his teaching. In other words, in the presence of the strict Judge he is constrained to accomplish in his own conduct what he clearly prescribes in words to others. .
