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Expositor's Bible Commentary Proverbs 4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. CHAPTER 5 EDUCATION: THE CHILD’S THOUGHT OF THE PARENT "Wisdom doth live with children round her knees." - Wordsworth. "He taught me, and said unto me," etc. Proverbs 4:4 THIS chapter begins with a charming little piece of autobiography. Unhappily the writer is unknown. That it was not Solomon is plain from the fact that an only son is speaking, and we know from 1 Chronicles 3:5 that Solomon was not an only son of his mother. But the naiveté and beauty of the confession are the same, whoever was the speaker. The grateful memories of a father’s teaching and of a mother’s tenderness give point and force to the exhortations. "Do I urge upon you, young people, the claims of Wisdom?" the author seems to say. "Well, I speak from experience. My parents taught me her wholesome and pleasant ways. Though I was an only son, they did not by a selfish indulgence allow me to be spoiled. They made me bear the yoke in my youth, and now I live to thank them for it." There is a great temptation to spoil art only child, a temptation which few are able to resist. Parents can deny themselves everything for their idol, except the pleasure of making the child a despot; they can endure any pain for their despot, except the pain of resisting him and instructing him. And accordingly they have sometimes to experience the shame and anguish of their children’s curses, like that Carthaginian mother, of whom it is related that her son, a convicted criminal, passing to execution, requested that he might whisper something to her, and, coming near, bit off her ear, saying that it was his revenge because she had brought him up so badly. Very different are the feelings of our author; he owes much to his parents, and is eager to acknowledge what he owes. God has no kinder gift to give us than a hallowed home, the memory of lessons from the lips of father and mother, the early impressions of virtue and wisdom, the sacred streams which rise from that fountainhead, and that alone, and run freshening and singing and broadening all through our lives. With this happy example of good home influence before our eyes, we will come to consider briefly two points which are suggested by it: first, the importance of these early impressions; second, the main features of the discipline presented in the chapter. I. Not without reason has a great cardinal of the Roman Church said that if he may have the children up to the age of five, he will not mind in whose hand they may be afterwards; for it is almost impossible to exaggerate the permanent effects of those first tendencies impressed on the soul before the intellect is developed, and while the soft, plastic nature of the child is not yet determined in any particular direction. Things which we learn we can more or less unlearn, but things which are blended with the elements of our composition, made parts of us before we are conscious of our own personality, defy the hand of time and the power of conscious effort to eradicate them. John Paton, that noble missionary to the New Hebrides, has given us a vivid picture of his early home. It was a plain lowland cottage, with its "hut and hen," and between the two a small chamber with a diminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. To this room the children saw the father retire oftentimes a day, and shut to the door; they would occasionally hear the pathetic pleadings of the voice that prayed, and they learnt to slip past the door on tiptoe. They got to understand whence came that happy light upon their father’s face: they recognized it as a reflection from the Divine presence, in the consciousness of which he lived. Let a child draw his first breath in a house which possesses a sanctuary like that; let him come to know by his quick childish perceptions that there is in his home a ladder set up from earth to heaven, and that the angels of God go up and down on it; let him feel the Divine atmosphere in his face, the air all suffused with heavenly light, the sweetness and the calm which prevail in a place where a constant communion is maintained, -and in after years he will be aware of voices which call and hands which reach out to him from his childhood, connecting him with heaven, and even the most convincing negations of unbelief will be powerless to shake the faith which is deep as the springs of his life. We learn to love, not because we are taught to love, but by some contagious influence of example or by some indescribable attraction of beauty. Our first love to Wisdom, or, to use our modern phrase, Religion, is won from us by living with those that love her. She stole in upon us and captured us without any overpowering arguments; she was beautiful and we felt that those whom we loved were constantly taken and held by her beauty. Just reflect upon this subtle and wonderful truth. If my infancy is spent among those whose main thought is "to get" riches, I acquire imperceptibly the love of money. I cannot rationally explain my love; but it seems to me in after life a truism, that money is the principal thing; I look with blank incredulity upon one who questions this ingrained truth. But if in infancy I live with those whose love is wholly centered upon Religion, who cherish her with unaffected ardor and respond to her claims with kindling emotion, I may in after life be seduced from her holy ways for awhile, but I am always haunted by the feeling that I have left my first love, I am restless and uneasy until I can win back that "old bride-look of earlier days." Yes, that old bride-look - for religion may be so presented to the child’s heart as to appear for ever the bride elect of the soul, from whose queenly love promotion may be expected, whose sweet embraces bring a dower of honor, whose beautiful fingers twine a chaplet of grace for the head and set a crown of glory on the brow. { Proverbs 4:8-9 } The affections are elicited, and often permanently fixed, before the understanding has come into play. If the child’s heart is surrendered to God, and molded by heavenly wisdom, the man will walk securely; a certain trend will be given to all his thoughts; a certain instinctive desire for righteousness will be engrafted in his nature; and an instinctive aversion will lead him to decline the way of the wicked. { Proverbs 4:14 } The first thing, then, is to give our children an atmosphere to grow up in; to cultivate their affections, and set their hearts on the things eternal; to make them associate the ideas of wealth and honor, of beauty and glory, not with material possessions, but with the treasures and rewards of Wisdom. II. But now comes the question: What is to be the definite teaching of the child? For it is an unfailing mark of the parents who themselves are holy that they are impelled to give clear and memorable instruction to their children. And this is where the great and constant difficulty emerges. If the hallowed example would suffice we might count the task comparatively easy. But some day the understanding will begin to assert itself; the desire to question, to criticize, to prove, will awake. And then, unless the truths of the heart have been applied to the conscience in such a way as to satisfy the reason, there may come the desolate time in which, while the habits of practical life remain pure, and the unconscious influence of early training continues to be effective, the mind is shaken by doubt, and the hope of the soul is shrouded in a murky cloud. Now the answer to this question may, for the Christian, be briefly given, Bring your children to Christ, teach them to recognize in Him their Savior, and to accept Him as their present Lord and gracious Friend. But this all-inclusive answer will not suffer by a little expansion on the lines which are laid down in the chapter before us. When Christ is made unto us Wisdom, the contents of Wisdom are not altered, they are only brought within our reach and made effectual in us. Bringing our children to Christ will not merely consist in teaching them the doctrine of salvation, but it will include showing them in detail what salvation is, and the method of its realization. The first object in the home life is to enable children to realize what salvation is. It is easy to dilate on an external heaven and hell, but it is not so easy to demonstrate that salvation is an inward state, resulting from a spiritual change. It is very strange that Judaism should ever have sunk into a formal religion of outward observance, when its own Wisdom was so explicit on this point: "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." { Proverbs 4:20-23 } The Greek version, which was very generally used in our Lord’s time, had a beautiful variation of this last clause: "In order that thy fountains may not fail thee, guard them in the heart." It was after all but a new emphasis on the old teaching of the book of Proverbs when Jesus taught the necessity of heart purity, and when He showed that out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, and all the things which defile a man. { Matthew 15:19 } Yet this lesson of inwardness has always been the most difficult of all to learn. Christianity itself has always been declining from it and falling into the easier but futile ways of externalism; and even Christian homes have usually failed in their influence on the young chiefly because their religious observances have fallen into formalism, and while the outward conduct has been regulated, the inner springs of action have not been touched. All conduct is the outcome of hidden fountains. All words are the expression of thoughts. The first thing and the main thing is that the hidden fountains of thought and feeling be pure. The source of all our trouble is the bitterness of heart, the envious feeling, the sudden outbreak of corrupt desire. A merely outward salvation would be of no avail; a change of place, a magic formula, a conventional pardon, could not touch the root of the mischief. "I wish you would change my heart," said the chief Sekomi to Livingstone. "Give me medicine to change it, for it is proud, proud and angry, angry always." He would not hear of the New Testament way of changing the heart; he wanted an outward, mechanical way-and that way was not to be found. The child at first thinks in the same way. Heaven is a place to go to, not a state to be in. Hell is an outward punishment to fly from, not an inward condition of the soul. The child has to learn that searching truth which Milton tried to teach, when he described Satan in Paradise, - "… within him hell He brings, and round about him, nor from hell One step, no more than from himself, can fly By change of place Which way I fly is hell, cries the miserable being," "myself am hell; And in the lowest deep, a lower deep, Still threatening to devour me, opens wide, To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven." We are tempted in dealing with children to train them only in outward habits, and to forget the inward sources which are always gathering and forming; hence we often teach them to avoid the lie on the tongue, to put away from them the froward mouth and perverse lips, { Proverbs 4:24 } and yet leave them with the lies in the soul, the deep inward unveracities which are their ruin. We often succeed in bringing them up as respectable and decorous members of society, and yet leave them a prey to secret sins; they are tormented by covetousness which is idolatry, by impurity, and by all kinds of envious and malignant passions. There is something even ghastly in the very virtues which are sometimes displayed in a highly civilized society like ours. We perceive what appear to be virtues, but we are haunted by an uncomfortable misgiving that they are virtues only in appearance; they seem to have no connection with the heart; they never seem to bubble up from irrepressible fountains; they do not overflow. There is charity, but it is the charity only of the subscription list; there is pity, but it is the pity only of conventional humanitarianism; there is the cold correctness of conduct, or the formal accuracy of speech, but the purity seems to be prudery because it is only a concession, to the conventional sentiments of the hour, and the truthfulness seems to be a lie because its very exactness seems to come, not from springs of truth, but only from an artificial habit. We are frequently bound to notice a religion of a similar kind. It is purely mimetic. It is explained on the same principle as the assimilation of the colors of animals to the colors of their environment. It is the unconscious and hypocritical instinct of self-preservation in a presumably religious society, where not to seem religious would involve a loss of caste. It may be regarded then as the first essential lesson which is to be impressed on the mind of a child, -the lesson coming next after the unconscious influences of example, and before all dogmatic religious teaching, -that righteousness is the condition of salvation, righteousness of the heart; that the outward seeming goes for nothing at all, but that God with a clear and quiet eye gazes down into the hidden depths, and considers whether the fountains there are pure and perennial. The second thing to be explained and enforced is singleness of heart, directness and consistency of aim; by which alone the inward life can be shaped to virtuous ends: "Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Make level the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left." { Proverbs 4:25-27 } As our Lord puts it, If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. This precept has frequently been given in the interests of worldly wisdom: The boy is told that if he means to get on he must concentrate his thoughts and refuse to let any of the seductions around him divert his attention. Singleness of eye may be the most ruinous of evils-if a man has only a single eye to his own advantage, and pursues nothing but his own pleasure. The precept is given here however in the interests of heavenly wisdom, and there is much to be said for the view that only the truly religious mind can be quite single-eyed. Selfishness, though it seems to be an undivided aim, is really a manifold of tumultuous and conflicting passions. He only, strictly speaking, has one desire, whose one desire is God. The way of wisdom is, after all, the only way which has no bifurcations. The man who has a single eye to his own interest may find before long that he has missed the way: he pushes eagerly on, but he flounders ever deeper in the mire; for though he did not turn to the right hand nor to the left, he never all the time removed his foot from evil. { Proverbs 4:27 } The right life then is a steady progress undiverted by the alluring sights and sounds which appeal to the senses. "Look not round about thee," says Ecclesiasticus, { Sir 9:7 } "in the streets of the city, neither wander thou in the solitary places thereof." We are to learn that the way goes through Vanity Fair, but admits of no divergences into its tempting booths or down its alluring alleys; the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the vainglory of life, are not to distract the mind which has but one purpose in view. The path is to be kept level; { Proverbs 4:26 } as we should say, an even tenor is to be preserved; we are to follow the plain unexciting path of duty, the beaten track of sober rightness. For while it is the mark of all unhallowed ways that they plunge up and down from despondency to wild elation, from giddy raptures to heartstricken depression, it is the sure sign of God’s hand in our life when the paths are made level. { Proverbs 5:21 } Ah those tempting ways, on which shine the false lights of imagined duty, of refined selfishness, or of gilded sensuality. Surely it is the result of Wisdom, the gift of God’s grace, to keep the eyes "looking right on." But it is time to sum up. Here is a great contrast between those whose early training has been vicious or neglected, and those who have been "taught in the way of wisdom, led in paths of uprightness." It is a contrast which should constantly be present to the eyes of parents with a warning and an encouragement. The unfortunate child whose infancy was passed in the midst of baleful example, whose heart received no instruction from parents’ lips, grows up like one stumbling in the dark, and the darkness deepens as he advances; observers cannot tell-he himself cannot tell-what it is at which he stumbles. { Proverbs 4:19 } There is the old ingrained vice which comes out again and again after every attempted reformation; there is the old shuffling habit; there is the old unhallowed set of the thoughts and the tastes; there is the old incurable pharisaism, with its tendency to shift all blame on to other people’s shoulders. It is all like the damp in the walls of an ill-built house. In dry weather there are only the stains, but those stains are the prophecy of what will be again when the wet weather returns. The corrupt ways have become a second nature; they are as sleep and food to the wretched creature; to abstain from iniquity creates the restlessness of insomnia; if he has not been spreading an influence of evil and leading others astray, he feels as if he had been deprived of his daily food, and he is consumed with a fiery thirst. { Proverbs 4:16-17 } Even when such a one is genuinely born again, the old hideous habits will appear like seams in the character; and temptations will send the flush along the tell-tale scars. On the other hand, the life which starts from the sweet examples of a hallowed home, and all its timely chastisements and discipline, presents a most entrancing history. At first there is much which is difficult to bear, much against which the flesh revolts. The influences of purity are cold like the early dawn, and the young child’s spirit shrinks and shivers; but with every step along the leveled road the light broadens and the air becomes warmer, -the dawn shines more and more unto the perfect day. { Proverbs 4:18 margin} As the character forms, as the habits become fixed, as the power of resistance increases, a settled strength and a lasting peace gladden the life. The rays of heavenly wisdom not only shine on the face, but suffuse the very texture of the being, so that the whole body is full of light. Eventually it begins to appear that truth and purity, pity and charity, have become instinctive. Like a well-disciplined army, they spring at once into the ranks, and are ready for service even on a surprise. The graces of holy living come welling up from those untainted inner springs, and, be the surroundings ever so dry, the fountains fail not. The habit of single-eyed devotion to right avails even where there is no time for reflection; more and more the seductions of the senses lose their point of attack in this disciplined spirit. There is a freedom in the gait, for holiness has ceased to be a toilsome calculation, -the steps of the spiritual man are not straitened. There is a swiftness in all action, -the feet are shod with a joyous and confident preparation, for the fear of stumbling is gone. { Proverbs 4:12 } With daily growing gratitude and veneration does such a one look back upon the early home of piety and tenderness. CHAPTER 10 TWO VOICES IN THE HIGH PLACES OF THE CITY Proverbs 9:1-18 , Proverbs 20:14 with Proberbs 3, and Proverbs 20:16 with Proverbs 4:1-27 AFTER the lengthened contrast between the vicious woman and Wisdom in chapters 7 and 8, the introduction of the book closes with a little picture which is intended to repeat and sum up all that has gone before. It is a peroration, simple, graphic, and beautiful. There is a kind of competition between Wisdom and Folly, between Righteousness and Sin, between Virtue and Vice; and the allurements of the two are disposed in an intentional parallelism; the coloring and arrangement are of such a kind that it becomes incredible how any sensible person, or for that matter even the simple himself, could for a moment hesitate between the noble form of Wisdom and the meretricious attractions of Folly. The two voices are heard in the high places of the city; each of them invites the passers-by, especially the simple and unsophisticated-the one into her fair palace, the other into her foul and deadly house. The words of their invitation are very similar: "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him:" but how different is the burden of the two messages! Wisdom offers life, but is silent about enjoyment; Folly offers enjoyment, but says nothing of the death which must surely ensue. First of all we will give our attention to the Palace of Wisdom and the voices which issue from it, and then we will note for the last time the features and the arts of Mistress Folly. The Palace of Wisdom is very attractive; well-built and well furnished, it rings with the sounds of hospitality; and, with its open colonnades, it seems of itself to invite all passers-by to enter in as guests. It is reared upon seven well-hewn marble pillars, in a quadrangular form, With the entrance side left wide open. This is no shifting tent or tottering hut, but an eternal mansion, that lacks nothing of stability, or completeness, or beauty. Through the spacious doorways may be seen the great courtyard, in which appear the preparations for a perpetual feast. The beasts are killed and dressed: the wine stands in tall flagons ready mixed for drinking: the tables are spread and decked. All is open, generous, large, a contrast to that unhallowed private supper to which the unwary youth was invited by his seducer. { Proverbs 7:14 } There are no secret chambers, no twilight suggestions and insinuations: the broad light shines over all; there is a promise of social joy; it seems that they will be blessed who sit down together at this board. And now the beautiful owner of the palace has sent forth her maidens into the public ways of the city: theirs is a gracious errand; they are not to chide with sour and censorious rebukes, but they are to invite with winning friendliness; they are to offer this rare repast, which is now ready, to all those who are willing to acknowledge their need of it. "Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled." { Proverbs 9:5 } We were led to inquire in the last chapter how far our Lord identified Himself with the hypostatic Wisdom who was speaking there, and we were left in some doubt whether He ever consciously admitted the identity; but it is hardly a matter of doubt that this passage was before His mind when He spoke His parable of the Wedding Feast. And the connection is still more apparent when we look at the Greek version of the LXX, and notice that the clause "sent forth her bond-servants" is precisely the same in Proverbs 9:3 and in Matthew 22:3 . Here, at any rate, Jesus, who describes Himself as "a certain king," quite definitely occupies the place of the ancient Wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and the language which in this passage she employs He, as we shall see, in many slight particulars made His own. Yes, our Lord, the Wisdom Incarnate, has glorious ideas of hospitality; He keeps open house; His purpose is to call mankind to a great feast; the "bread and the wine" are prepared; the sacrifice which furnishes the meat is slain. His messengers are not commissioned with a mournful or a condemnatory proclamation, but with good tidings which they are to publish in the high places. His word is always, Come. His desire is that men should live, and therefore He calls them into the way of understanding. { Proverbs 9:6 } If a man lacks wisdom, if he recognizes his ignorance, his frailty, his folly, if he is at any rate wise enough to know that he is foolish, well enough to know that he is sick, righteous enough to know that he is sinful, let him approach this noble mansion with its lordly feast. Here is bread which is meat indeed; here is wine which is life-giving, the fruit of the Vine which God has planted. But now we are to note that the invitation of Wisdom is addressed only to the simple, not to the scorner. { Proverbs 9:7 } She lets the scorner pass by, because a word to him would recoil only in shame on herself, bringing a blush to her queenly face, and would add to the scorner’s wickedness by increasing his hatred of her. Her reproof would not benefit him, but it would bring a blot upon herself, it would exhibit her as ineffectual and helpless. The bitter words of a scorner can make wisdom appear foolish, and cover virtue with a confusion which should belong only to vice. "Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." { Proverbs 23:9 } Indeed, there is no character so hopeless as that of the scorner; there proceeds from him, as it were, a fierce blast, which blows away all the approaches which goodness makes to him. Reproof cannot come near him; { Proverbs 13:1 } he cannot find wisdom, though he seek it; { Proverbs 14:6 } and as a matter of fact, he never seeks it. { Proverbs 15:12 } If one attempts to punish him it can only be with the hope that others may benefit by the example; it will have no effect upon him. { Proverbs 19:25 } To be rid of him must be the desire of every wise man, for he is an abomination to all, { Proverbs 24:9 } and with his departure contention disappears. { Proverbs 22:10 } They that scoff at things holy, and scorn the Divine Power, must be left to themselves until the beginnings of wisdom appear in them-the first sense of fear that there is a God who may not be mocked, the first recognition that there is a sanctity which they would do well at all events to reverence. There must be a little wisdom in the heart before a man can enter the Palace of Wisdom; there must be a humbling, a self-mistrust, a diffident misgiving before the scorner will give heed to her invitation. There is an echo of this solemn truth in more than one saying of the Lord’s. He too cautioned His disciples against casting their pearls before swine, lest they should trample the pearls under their feet, and turn to rend those who were foolish enough to offer them such treasure. { Matthew 7:6 } Men must often be taught in the stern school of Experience, before they can matriculate in the reasonable college of Wisdom. It is not good to give that which is holy to dogs, nor to display the sanctities of religion to those who will only put them to an open shame. Where we follow our own way instead of the Lord’s, and insist on offering the treasures of the kingdom to the scorners, we are not acting according to the dictates of Wisdom, we get a blot for that goodness which we so rashly offer, and often are needlessly rent by those whom we meant to save. It is evident that this is only one side of a truth, and our Lord presented with equal fullness the other side; it was from Him we learnt how the scorner himself, who cannot be won by reproof, can sometimes be won by love; but our Lord thought it worthwhile to state this side of the truth, and so far to make this utterance of the ancient Wisdom His own. Again, how constantly He insisted on the mysterious fact that to him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken what he hath, precisely in the spirit of this saying: "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning." The entrance into the kingdom, as into the house of Wisdom, is by humility. Except a man turn, and become as a little child, he cannot enter. Wisdom is only justified of her children: until the heart is humble it cannot even begin to be wise; although it may seem to possess a great deal, all must be taken away, and a new beginning must be made-that beginning which is found in the fear of the Lord, and in the knowledge of the Holy. { Proverbs 9:10 } The closing words in the invitation of Wisdom are entirely appropriate in the lips of Jesus, and, indeed, only in His lips could they be accepted in their fullest signification. There is a limited sense in which all wisdom is favorable to long life, as we saw in chapter 3, but it is an obvious remark, too, that the wise perish even as the fool; one event happens to them both, and there appears to be no difference. But the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, was able to say with a broad literalness, "By Me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased." With Him the outlook widened; He could speak of a new life, of raising men up at the last day; He could for the first time give a solution to that constant enigma which has puzzled men from the beginning, How is it that Wisdom promises life, and yet often requires that her children should die? How is it that the best and wisest have often chosen death, and so to all appearance have robbed the world of their goodness and their wisdom? He could give the answer in the glorious truth of the Resurrection; and so, in calling men to die for Him, as He often does, He can in the very moment of their death say to them with a fullness of meaning, "By Me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased." And then how entirely is it in harmony with all His teaching to emphasize to the utmost the individual choice and the individual responsibility. "If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself: and if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." There can be no progress, indeed no beginning, in the spiritual life, until this attitude of personal isolation is understood. It is the last result of true religion that we live in others; but it is the first that we live in ourselves: and until we have learnt to live in ourselves we can be of no use by living in others. Until the individual soul is dealt with, until.it has understood the demands which are made upon it, and met them, it is in no position to take its rightful place as a lively stone in the temple of God, or as a living member in the body of Christ. Yes, realize this searching assurance of Wisdom, let us say, rather, of Christ: if you are like the wise virgins in the parable, it is for your own everlasting good, you shall enter into the hall with the Bridegroom; but if you are like the foolish virgins, no wisdom of the wise can avail you, no vicarious light will serve for your lamps; for you there must be the personal humiliation and sorrow of the Lord’s "I know you not." If with scornful indifference to your high trust as a servant of the Master you hide your talent, and justify your conduct to yourself by pleading that the Master is a hard man, that scorn must recoil upon your own head; so far from the enlarged wealth of the others coming to meet your deficiencies, the misused trifle which you still retain will be taken from you and given to them. Men have sometimes favored the notion that it is possible to spend a life of scornful indifference to God and all His holy commandments, a life of arrogant self-seeking and bitter contempt for all His other creatures, and yet to find oneself at the end entirely purged of one’s contempt, and on precisely equal terms with all pious and humble hearts; but against this notion Wisdom loudly exclaims; it is the notion of Folly, and so far from redeeming the folly, it is Folly’s worst condemnation: for surely Conscience and Reason, the heart and the head, might tell us that it is false; and all that is sanest and wisest in us concurs in the direct and simple assurance, "If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." Such is the invitation, and such the warning of Wisdom; such is the invitation, and such the warning, of Christ. Leave off, ye simple ones, and live. After all, most of us are not scorners, but only very foolish, easily dazzled with false lights, easily misled with smooth utterances which happen to chime in with our own ignorant prejudices, easily seduced into by-paths which in quiet moments we readily acknowledge to be sinful and hurtful. The scorners are but a few; the simple ones are many. Here is this gracious voice appealing to the simple ones, and with a winsome liberality inviting them to the feast of Wisdom. At the close of verse 12 ( Proverbs 9:12 ) the LXX give a very interesting addition, which was probably translated from a Hebrew original.

The instruction of a father. Proverbs 4:1 A religious home David Thomas, D.D. I. THE LOVE OF A RELIGIOUS HOME. Two kinds of love for the offspring. 1. The natural love. 2. The spiritual love, which has respect to the spiritual being, relations, and interests of the children. II. THE TRAINING OF A RELIGIOUS HOME. 1. The parent's teaching is worth retaining. 2. The parent's teaching is practical. 3. The parent's teaching is quickening to all the powers, intellectual and moral. III. THE INFLUENCE OF A RELIGIOUS HOME. 1. The susceptibility of childhood. 2. The force of parental affection. Religious homes are the great want of the race. ( David Thomas, D.D. ) Paternal exhortation J. Parker, D. D. Doctrine and law form the staple of this appeal. By "law" understand "direction," for life is an ever-bisecting course, and full of points that must bewilder inexperienced travellers. Do not venture upon great sea voyages without proper instruments and without being taught how to use them. So in life. Be enriched with doctrine or wisdom, and cultivate that tender filial spirit which gratefully yields itself to direction. It is at once wise and lovely for youth to consult the aged, and to avail themselves of accumulated experience. Any other spirit is vain, self-conceited, frivolous, and unworthy. Why should the father be anxious to instruct and direct the son? Because he has seen more of life, more of its mystery, its peril, its tragedy; therefore his heart yearns to preserve the young from danger. The father's position is one of moral dignity and supreme benevolence. Having suffered himself, he would save his children from pain. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Attend to know understanding Knowing understanding Francis Taylor, B.D. I. YOUNG MEN HAVE NEED OFTEN TO BE CALLED UPON TO GET TRUE KNOWLEDGE. 1. Because of their own backwardness to the work. 2. The impediments and diversions from attaining true wisdom. 3. There are many things to be believed, beyond the power of corrupted reason to find out. 4. There are many practical things to be learned, else they can never be done. 5. There are many faculties of the soul to be reformed. 6. There are many senses and members of the body to be directed to many particular actions, and each to its own.Uses: 1. To blame young men that think their parents and teachers over-diligent. 2. To urge children to attend to their parents instructing them in piety. 3. To persuade parents and teachers not only to instruct, but also to incite to attention. II. EVERY YOUNG MAN HAS NEED TO BE CALLED ON TO LOOK AFTER TRUE KNOWLEDGE. 1. Because there is no disposition to this wisdom in the best by nature. 2. There is much averseness, because the principles of faith are above nature, and of practice against nature. ( Francis Taylor, B.D. ) The invitation I. LET OUR OWN CHILDREN RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS. This charity must begin at home. II. LET ALL YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE PAINS TO GET KNOWLEDGE AND GRACE. They are in the learning stage. III. LET ALL WHO WOULD RECEIVE INSTRUCTION COME WITH THE DISPOSITION OF CHILDREN. Let prejudices be laid aside. Let them be dutiful, tractable, and self-diffident. ( Matthew Henry . ) For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. Proverbs 4:3, 4 The religious education of Solomon James Peddie, D.D. Solomon in these words gives us two pieces of his own private history, in order to account for the zeal he shows in this book for the welfare of the rising generation. The first is, that in early life he had a large share in the affections of his parents; and the second, that he received the first rudiments of that wisdom, for which he became afterwards so eminent, from their early instructions. The affection of his father David did not, by excessive indulgence, stand in the way of his education, as does the ill-regulated affection of many foolish parents, who cannot cross the inclination of their children, nor employ the authority to compel the attention of their light and unstable minds to what is for their lasting benefit. His mother, Bathsheba, took her share with her husband, David, in the delightful task of instructing young Solomon in the things of God. Of this Solomon says nothing in the text. Though he speaks of the affection of both his parents, he mentions only his father's care of his education. But in another passage of this book we find him referring to his mother's instructions, and styling them "the prophecy which his mother taught him." And it gives us a most comfortable proof of the genuine piety of both David and Bathsheba, and of the sincerity of their repentance for their grievous sin which they had committed. I. WHAT KIND OF EDUCATION DID SOLOMON'S PARENTS GIVE HIM WHEN HE WAS YOUNG? We cannot entertain a doubt that David would give his favourite son, to whom he looked as his successor on the throne, the best education which Israel, in his time, could afford. A man of talent and information himself, and possessed of the amplest means, he would certainly grudge no labour or expense to make him acquainted with whatever could serve to fit him for his future station in life. The schools of the prophets were for the instruction of the youth of Israel. Whatever value we may attach to other branches of education, and however important and useful instruction in those arts and sciences which serve the purposes of this present life may be supposed to be, the knowledge of the principles of religion is unquestionably far more valuable, important, and useful. For as the soul is more valuable than the body, and eternity than time, so the knowledge which fits us for spending life as becomes rational, immortal, and accountable creatures, and which, through the blessing of God, may train us up for spending eternity in happiness and joy, must be inconceivably more valuable than what refers merely to this present vain and transitory world. We cannot, indeed, insure that our children, however carefully instructed in the fear of God, will profit by our care so as to serve God in their generation; but early instruction is the probable means of their future and eternal benefit — a means which God has enjoined parents to use, and which He has promised in ordinary eases to bless. Let the means be conscientiously employed, and let the fear that all may be unavailing rather excite to greater diligence than repress exertion, and to earnestness for the Divine blessing on the means of Divine appointment. II. IN WHAT MANNER DID THEY CONDUCT THE BUSINESS OF HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION? 1. They did not confide it entirely to others. There were good men about David's court, some of whom probably had a particular charge of Solomon's education, and in whom, as being prophets of God, David might have reposed the most entire confidence for ability and fidelity. But Solomon's parents do not seem to have considered this as exempting them from the obligation of the law of God to watch over their young charge themselves. They wished to see with their own eyes, and to hear with their own ears, the progress that he made, and to add their own diligence to that of his teachers, in order to promote his spiritual benefit. A king and queen taking so much pains for the religious instruction of their son is a pleasant sight, and must certainly silence and shame multitudes of persons in private life, who either neglect this duty altogether, or satisfy themselves entirely with the diligence of others, to whose care they entrust it. You have no time, you say. But will you not find time to die? and why should you so involve yourselves in the affairs of the world as not to have time for doing those things which are necessary for your dying well? If you have little leisure on working days, as perhaps many of you have, what deprives you of time on the first day of the week? 2. They adapted their instructions to his years. If we wish to be useful to the young our language must be plain and familiar; we must address ourselves to the imagination even more than to the judgment, must confine ourselves chiefly to first principles, and frequently repeat the same instructions, that they may take the firmer hold on the memory. 3. They instructed him in the most affectionate, serious, and winning manner. They showed by their manner that they felt the importance of the instructions they gave him, and that in the pains they took they were prompted by the sincerest love. Perhaps it is owing in some degree to a harshness and ungraciousness of manner employed by some pious parents, that so little advantage is gained by their children, from all the anxious pains taken on them; and perhaps, in other instances, to a want of due seriousness of manner when instruction is given. III. THE MOTIVES BY WHICH THEY WERE INDUCED TO DEVOTE THEIR ATTENTION TO THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF THEIR SON. 1. The warmth of their affection for their son. Did the affection of his pious and penitent parents, think you, expend itself in the endearments of parental fondness? in endeavours to gratify the passions of their darling child, and to anticipate, were it possible, every foolish and preposterous wish of his heart? Was it the only effect of it that they spoiled his temper by indulgence, and neglected his education by their aversion to cross his humour or subject him to necessary restraint? Such is the effect of the foolish fondness of many parents; they do their children the greatest injury by the injudicious manner in which they show their regard; they "doat too much," as saith the poet, "and spoil what they admire." Not so the parents of Solomon. Love to their son excited them to labour for his welfare. And what does a good man or woman consider as best for their children? Doubtless what they consider as best for themselves — the knowledge of God, the fear of God, the enjoyment of God. When parents neglect the religious education of their children, I can account for their negligence only in one of two ways — either they do not really love their children, or they do not themselves believe the truth and necessity of religion. The first I am reluctant to admit; for bad as the world is, the instances of parents who do not love their children are few, and natural affection shows itself, not unfrequently, very strong in the conduct of the most abandoned of men. To be "without natural affection" is to be worse even than the brutes. I will not say, then, that those parents who do not educate their children in the fear of God are destitute of natural affection: the truth is, that they do not really believe the religion which they profess; for did they believe it, they love their children so well that they would use every conceivable means within their power to make them acquainted with it, and so put them in possession of its inestimable advantages. Did you believe the gospel yourselves, you could not indolently look on and see your beloved children perish. You would "travail in birth till Christ were formed in their hearts." You would, like the parents of Solomon, teach your children, while they are yet young, "the things which belong to their peace." 2. The example of their godly ancestors excited them to educate their child in the fear of God. And why should not we also follow the commendable practices of our godly forefathers? We are sufficiently prone to follow customs which we have "received by tradition from our fathers," which, perhaps, can scarcely be justified; and must it not much more be our wisdom and honour to imitate them in what is so praiseworthy? What evidence do we give that we belong to the family of God, if the customs and manners of the family are not adopted by us — if, instead of "bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," that they may be "a seed which shall serve Him, that shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation," we shall suffer them to continue ignorant of the first principles of religion, and a ready prey to every temptation? 3. The positive injunction of the law of God, though last mentioned, must have been first in its force on the conscience of Solomon's parents, exciting them to see to his religious education. And this law is still obligatory. It is not one of those things peculiar to the old dispensation, which have passed away, but part of that law by which we are bound, under the dispensation of the gospel. Our obligation to attend to the religious education of our offspring is inseparable from our relation to them as our children. When God gives a person the blessing of children, He unites duty with privilege, the duty of educating them for God with the privilege of enjoying them as His gift. IV. THE USE WHICH SOLOMON MADE OF HIS PARENTS' INSTRUCTIONS. Here I can only remark, in general, that it appears, from the text, that he had profited by them. His parents, who had instructed him with such pious care in his youth, at least his father David, were many years dead before he wrote this book; but we find that, at the time he wrote it, they still lived in his affectionate remembrance of them and their pious care; and, in token of this, he quotes some of their early instructions, and, in imitation of them, enforces on his son attention to the same duties. And good reason had he to cherish a grateful recollection of them; for, in thus training him, they had done him the greatest kindness — a kindness for which he could never repay them, and which it would have been the highest ingratitude if he should ever have forgotten. ( James Peddie, D.D. ) Let thine heart retain my words Education: the child's thought of the parent R. F. Horton, D. D. This chapter begins with a charming little piece of autobiography. The grateful memories of a father's teaching and of a mother's tenderness give point and force to the exhortations. I. THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY IMPRESSIONS. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the permanent effects of those first tendencies impressed on the soul before the intellect is developed, and while the soft, plastic nature of the child is not yet determined in any particular direction. We learn to love, not because we are taught to love, but by some contagious influence of example, or by some indescribable attraction of beauty. Our first love to religion is won from us by living with those that love her. The affections are elicited, and often permanently fixed, before the understanding has come into play. The first thing is to give our children an atmosphere to grow up in; to cultivate their affections, and set their hearts on things eternal; to make them associate the ideas of wealth and honour, of beauty and glory, not with material possessions, but with the treasures and rewards of wisdom. II. WHAT IS TO BE THE DEFINITE TEACHING OF THE CHILD? The first object in the home life is to enable children to realise what salvation is, as an inward state, resulting from a spiritual change. We are tempted in dealing with children to train them only in outward habits, and to forget the inward sources which are always gathering and forming; hence we often teach them to avoid the lie on the tongue, and yet we leave them with the lies in the soul, the deep inward unveracities which are their ruin. We bring them up as respectable and decorous members of society, and yet leave them a prey to secret sins; they are tormented by covetousness, which is idolatry, by impurity, and by all kinds of envious and malignant passions. The second thing to be explained and enforced is singleness of heart, directness and consistency of aim, by which alone the inward life can be shaped to virtuous ends. The right life is a steady progress undiverted by the alluring sights and sounds which appeal to the senses. Here, in the passage, is a great contrast between those whose early training has been vicious or neglected, and those who have been "taught in the way of wisdom, led in paths of uprightness." It is a contrast which should constantly be present to the eyes of parents with a warning and an encouragement. ( R. F. Horton, D. D. ) Wisdom is the principal thing. Proverbs 4:7 The principal thing J. Stewart. I. IF WE CONSIDER MAN'S SPIRITUAL STATE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. II. IF WE CONSIDER MAN'S PRESENT HAPPINESS. The true happiness of man has its foundation in wisdom. I go on the supposition of Christ that a "man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth." Happiness depends on the state of the mind. It is religion only which enlightens the understanding, which influences the heart, and which brings into the favour of high heaven. Man cannot be happy, because he is subject to passions and tempers which perplex and disturb him. 1. Religion brings us into a state of mind which is calculated to make us happy. 2. It gives a blessing to all around, and inspires contentment in every state. III. IF WE CONSIDER THE IMPERISHABLE NATURE OF THIS BLESSING. True religion accompanies us in life; it lives with us in death; it goes with us into eternity. IV. IF WE CONSIDER ITS SOVEREIGN AND PECULIAR INFLUENCE IN IMPROVING THE WORLD. This true wisdom shall one day produce such a change that heaven shall come down to earth and dwell among men. ( J. Stewart. ) The "summum bonum" D. Thomas, D.D. A modern author says the "chief good must unite the following qualities: It must be intellectual, or adapted to the higher and nobler part of our nature; attainable by all, of whatever sex, age, or mental conformation; unimpaired by distribution; independent of the circumstances of time or place; incapable of participation to excess; composed essentially of the same elements as the good to be enjoyed in a future state." I. "SUMMUM BONUM" DESCRIBED. 1. Consists in the possession of the highest knowledge. 2. In the application of the highest knowledge. II. "SUMMUM BONUM" SOUGHT. 1. Attentively. 2. Constantly. 3. Lovingly. 4. Supremely. III. "SUMMUM. BONUM" ENJOYED. It will be three things to us. 1. A guardian. 2. A patron. 3. A rewarder. ( D. Thomas, D.D. ) The principal thing J. H. Evans, M.A. I. WHAT THIS WISDOM IS. Sometimes the word refers to our blessed Lord Himself. It also means that religion of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the sum and substance. 1. He is a wise man who knows himself. Till a man knows God he knows not himself. God is, in that sense, a glass, in which a man sees himself, and the nearer he comes to that glass the more he discerns himself. A man knows himself when, as a law- condemned sinner, as a sin-condemned sinner, and as a self-condemned sinner, he stands before the eye of God. Then there is self-acquaintance — not till then. He now reads the hardest book in the world. There is no book so hard as the book of a man's own heart. 2. He is a wise man who draws near to God in Christ. He is a wise man who, under a sentence of condemnation as in himself deserved, can in Christ know how to meet the holy Lord God with humble confidence. 3. He is a wise man who, in the midst of the crookedness of this world, is led to walk straightly with God. 4. He is a wise man who knows how to meet the trials of life. II. WHY IS THIS WISDOM CALLED THE PRINCIPAL THING? That is the principal thing which is the only abiding thing. True wisdom, like its source, is perennial, unchanging, everlasting. And it is the only satisfying thing. It comes from God; it leads to God. It comes from above; it leads to above. It is a principle of immortality, and it trains the soul and educates it for immortality. III. THE EXHORTATION, "GET WISDOM." Get it; then it is to be got. It is to be got in the way of seeking. For a man to feel his lack of wisdom is the beginning of wisdom. 1. Do not mistake a counterfeit for wisdom. 2. Avoid first declensions. 3. Make a conscience of secret prayer. 4. Avoid dangerous associations. 5. Take heed as to your books. 6. Study to show religion at home as well as abroad. 7. Live upon Christ.As your soul is under the constraint of His love it weakens the world, it makes sin hateful, it raises above self, it purifies the motives, and brings a man to walk nearly, closely with God. ( J. H. Evans, M.A. ) Divine wisdom Francis Taylor, B. D. Divine wisdom only deserves the name of wisdom. 1. Because it converseth in the highest things. 2. Because it seeks to approve itself to God. 3. Because it is both the mother and guide, or chariot-driver, of all virtue, and guides it aright. 4. It is the greatest gift God ever gave man, for it directs him to Jesus Christ, the wisdom of the Father, without whom is no salvation, and therefore no true nor lasting gain by any other wisdom. Use: To reprove such as boast much of human sciences, but make no account of heavenly wisdom. ( Francis Taylor, B. D. ) Grace is wisdom, and wisdom is the principal thing William Strong. I. THE COMMENDATION OF WISDOM. By wisdom is meant Christ the Wisdom of God; and grace, which is the only wisdom in a man. This can be shown in two ways. 1. The Lord counts nothing wisdom but godliness, and this He doth everywhere style "wisdom." 2. In God's account all things are folly without grace. The heathen were the greatest artists and philosophers of the world, those that most inquired into the secrets of nature, as in Athens and Corinth, which were universities and places far more famous than any other for knowledge, tongues, and all abilities. Take the greatest statist and politician in the world, which hath also a great show and name for wisdom. Let him be without a principle of grace, and his own policies will prove his own snare. Take the greatest men in the world, and they are wise in their own conceits, yet is their life a vanity. Wisdom acts by the highest principles. According to a man's principles are the rules of his actions. These are some of the high and excellent principles that godliness lays in the soul. (a) That the chief beauty of the creature is holiness. (b) The happiness of the creature consists in communion with God. (c) Sin is the greatest evil in the world. (d) It is better to suffer than to sin. (e) Things seen are but temporal. II. AN EXHORTATION TO GET THIS WISDOM. 1. The excellency of grace lies in a conformity unto God. 2. From this conformity there ariseth a communion. 3. Grace fits a man for the service of God. 4. Grace turns all that a godly man enjoyeth into a blessing. 5. Grace fills the soul with all spiritual excellences. 6. Grace will preserve a man from all evil. ( William Strong. ) The principal thing Essex Remembrancer. Wealth, power, ease, pleasure, intellectual greatness are thought by different persons to be the principal thing. God says, "Wisdom is the principal thing." I. IN WHAT DOES TRUE RELIGION CONSIST? It embraces three things — regeneration, justification, and sanctification; and secures a fourth — glorification. Regeneration is a change of heart; justification a change of state; sanctification a change of character; glorification is the union and consummation of all other changes. II. WHY IS TRUE RELIGION THE PRINCIPAL THING? 1. Because it more exalts our nature and character than anything else can possibly do. 2. It puts man in possession of more solid and lasting enjoyment than anything else possibly can. 3. It provides for the whole scope of man's being, for soul and body, for time and eternity, for earth and heaven. III. THE APPLICATIONS OF THE SUBJECT. Get true religion — by forsaking everything previously sought as the principal thing; by repenting of the past, by coming to Christ in faith and prayer, by seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit; by imbuing the mind with gospel truths, submitting to its doctrines and precepts, and conforming the character to all its requirements. How great the happiness of those who have true religion! ( Essex Remembrancer. ) Religion is wisdom George Clayton. Mankind is constantly in search after happiness; they seek it in various ways of their own contrivance. I. TRUE RELIGION IS THE SOUNDEST WISDOM. Real religion, when it takes possession of the human bosom, always produces in its possessor a true concern for his everlasting salvation. II. THIS WISDOM IS THE "PRINCIPAL THING," AND THEREFORE WORTHY OF OUR EARNEST PURSUIT. If a man consult his own safety and happiness he will seek it in religion. Our safety and security are only in God. Religion opens to us enjoyments not to be found elsewhere. Religion adds to every man's relative usefulness. Only that usefulness which springs from religious principles will be lasting. Religion will be found to be "the principal thing" at the hour of death and at the day of judgment. ( George Clayton. ) Religion man's only wisdom William Curling,M.A. I. THE OBJECT THAT IS SET BEFORE US. We are to pursue "wisdom" and "understanding." These words relate to that state of the human mind, when it is brought to apprehend Divine truths, and to apply those truths to the course of human action. A wise man is one who has gained, and who has taken home to his heart, the knowledge essential to the right guidance of his steps towards heaven. A man of understanding is one whose mind has been enlightened to a clear perception of right and wrong, and who has within him those just and holy principles of the law of God which lead him to pursue the good and to avoid the evil. The object pointed out to you is, the application of the science of religion to man in his present state, leading him to the discharge of duties which he owes to God, himself, and his fellow-creatures. There is no motive like a religious motive to insure the performance of a right action. There is no law equal to the law of God as a guide to what is good, and a check to what is evil. When this law reaches the heart, and becomes the governing principle of a man's conduct, it produces effects which you will look for in vain from the purest precepts of mere morality. Knowledge enlightens a man, and so great is its influence in this way, that many at the present day are actually making it the object of idolatry. We must not mistake the character of knowledge, or overrate her influence. She does much for a nation to civilise and polish it, but she does not teach us our duty to God, nor lead us to practise it. What is human knowledge compared with the knowledge of religion? Our main object through life should be to acquaint ourselves with the things of God, and to gain for our mind that Divine illumination that shall enable us to pass in safety through the varied temptations of the present world, and to reach the happiness of the next. II. THE SUPREME IMPORTANCE OF THIS HEAVENLY WISDOM. The hearts of the fallen race of Adam are naturally fond of sensible objects. We are like little children, pleased with trifles; baubles amuse us; when, as beings destined for eternity, we ought to be contemplating heaven's august realities. What have the men who have been most given to the things of the world gained even here by this earthliness? Surely, nothing that deserves the name of satisfaction. The possession of religion more than makes amends for whatever losses, or trials, or anxieties, we may experience in obtaining it. Religion is so incalculably important that we cannot estimate its value. It is "profitable unto all things." III. THE DILIGENCE WITH WHICH WE SHOULD APPLY OURSELVES TO THE ATTAINMENT OF IT. ( William Curling,M.A. ) The worth of wisdom J. Fletcher, M.A. I. ITS SACRED NATURE. Even in the ordinary concerns of life we feel the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is not limited to prudence in relation to the ordinary concerns of this life. Nor does it consist in science, however exalted its flight; nor in philosophy, however ennobling the vantage-ground on which it stands. Wisdom is the fear of God, the knowledge of God, the love of God, a right state of heart before God. The wisdom proper for man as a fallen being concerns the questions how he may obtain the favour of God, escape the punishment due to sin, obtain glory, honour, and immortality. Wisdom is connected with salvation. II. ITS SUPREME IMPORTANCE. 1. Its superiority above all other objects to which you can possibly direct your attention. Pleasure is a great attraction to the youthful mind, but happiness is often sought where it is not to be found. That alone deserves the name of happiness which will bear reflection. Wisdom, thought of as religion, is superior to fame, or wealth, or knowledge. 2. Its beneficial effects should be considered. Observe the character thus formed; its influence on conduct and practice, and its relation to the future. III. THE SCRIPTURAL METHOD OF OBTAINING TRUE WISDOM. 1. There must be a deep conviction of the necessity of this wisdom. 2. A diligent study of God's Word. 3. Fervent and habitual prayer. 4. A believing application to Jesus Christ. 5. Habitual retirement for meditation. 6. Practical carrying out of good principles in all the relations of life. ( J. Fletcher, M.A. ) Therefore get wisdom D. J. Burrell, D. D. The desire of knowledge is common to all human kind. All knowledge is worth the having, but far more desirable, and infinitely above all, is the knowledge of spiritual things. To this is given the name Wisdom. I. IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET WISDOM. We are living in an age of weak convictions, of guesses as distinguished from beliefs, of opinions rather than established views. The most popular phase of thought in these times is known as Agnosticism. The original agnostic was Pyrrho of Ells. He was the universal sceptic, whose philosophy was merely an interrogation point. But it is possible to know respecting spiritual things. We have the faculty wherewith to apprehend them. This faculty or spiritual sense is the link binding us to God. We have it as a Divine inheritance; it belongs to us by reason of our Divine birth. We are environed by spiritual facts. I do not say that we can exhaust all or any spiritual truth. II. IT IS OUR MAGNIFICENT PRIVILEGE AND PREROGATIVE TO INFORM OURSELVES CONCERNING SPIRITUAL THINGS. We are Divine and immortal. In reaching out for spiritual truth we give distinct evidence of our descent from God. The lowest attitude which men can assume towards truth is that of credulity. A step higher and we reach the doubters. Doubt is nobler than credulity. A sceptic is a better man than an unthinking bigot. But the sceptic is not a learned man, for true learning implies conviction. He is a half-educated man, and a little learning is ever a dangerous thing. Doubt is always something to move away from. There are two kinds of doubt as there are two twilights. The higher thing is belief. Faith is substance resting on evidence; the substance of spiritual things resting on evidence which appeals to the moral sense. The character of any man is measured by his creed. III. IT IS OUR BOUNDEN DUTY, THEREFORE, TO HAVE SOUND CONVICTIONS AS TO SPIRITUAL TRUTH. We have no right to allow the great problems to go by default. If there is a God it behoves us to know it. How shall we get wisdom? ( James 1:5 ). God is light; open the windows, and let God shine in. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Bow down at the mercy-seat and ask God to illuminate the dark chambers of your soul. Get wisdom from God. ( D. J. Burrell, D. D. ) The attainment of true wisdom Bp. John Wilkins. I. SHOW THE NATURE OF WISDOM, WHAT IT IS, AND WHEREIN IT CONSISTS. 1. The description of its nature and causes. calls it that intellectual virtue whereby we are directed in our manners and carriage, to make choice of the right means in the prosecution of our true end. Tully describes it as ars vivendi. Aquinas as the skill of demeaning a man's self aright in practical affairs. In Proverbs 14:8 , we read, "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way." The philosophers call four of the virtues "cardinal," because all the rest turn upon them as upon their hinges. These are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Prudence, or wisdom, consists of three parts, A sagacity of judgment to make a true estimate of things, persons, times, and events. A presence of mind to obviate sudden accidents, to meet every emergency. Experience and observation of the most usual and probable consequences of things. 2. The several kinds and distinctions of it. One is a grace, or virtue, the other is not. There is a wisdom that cometh from above. There is a wisdom which is from beneath, earthly, sensual, devilish. There is a distinction in wisdom according to the several ends which men propose to themselves and the means whereby these several ends are to be attained; the gratifying of carnal appetite; peace and contentment of mind; or spiritual blessedness. So wisdom may be carnal policy, moral prudence, or spiritual wisdom. 3. The proper effects of wisdom. It directs to the right end, such as may be perfective of our nat

4:1-13 We must look upon our teachers as our fathers: though instruction carry in it reproof and correction, bid it welcome. Solomon's parents loved him, therefore taught him. Wise and godly men, in every age of the world, and rank in society, agree that true wisdom consists in obedience, and is united to happiness. Get wisdom, take pains for it. Get the rule over thy corruptions; take more pains to get this than the wealth of this world. An interest in Christ's salvation is necessary. This wisdom is the one thing needful. A soul without true wisdom and grace is a dead soul. How poor, contemptible, and wretched are those, who, with all their wealth and power, die without getting understanding, without Christ, without hope, and without God! Let us give heed to the sayings of Him who has the words of eternal life. Thus our path will be plain before us: by taking, and keeping fast hold of instruction, we shall avoid being straitened or stumbling. 4:14-27 The way of evil men may seem pleasant, and the nearest way to compass some end; but it is an evil way, and will end ill; if thou love thy God and thy soul, avoid it. It is not said, Keep at a due distance, but at a great distance; never think you can get far enough from it. The way of the righteous is light; Christ is their Way, and he is the Light. The saints will not be perfect till they reach heaven, but there they shall shine as the sun in his strength. The way of sin is as darkness. The way of the wicked is dark, therefore dangerous; they fall into sin, but know not how to avoid it. They fall into trouble, but never seek to know wherefore God contends with them, nor what will be in the end of it. This is the way we are bid to shun. Attentive hearing the word of God, is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart, and a good means of carrying it on. There is in the word of God a proper remedy for all diseases of the soul. Keep thy heart with all diligence. We must set a strict guard upon our souls; keep our hearts from doing hurt, and getting hurt. A good reason is given; because out of it are the issues of life. Above all, we should seek from the Lord Jesus that living water, the sanctifying Spirit, issuing forth unto everlasting life. Thus we shall be enabled to put away a froward mouth and perverse lips; our eyes will be turned from beholding vanity, looking straight forward, and walking by the rule of God's word, treading in the steps of our Lord and Master. Lord, forgive the past, and enable us to follow thee more closely for the time to come.