1 approRched by those who grope after it in difficult research. But more simple truth may be wrapped in enigmatic phrases for the express purpose of testing the genuineness of the. desire to possess it, exciting interest, exercising the powers of thought in the learner, and becoming itself a more intelligible and more valuable thing when it is once found (see Matt. xiii. 10-17). Let no man think that the best treasures of thought are scatt.ered prodigally on the surface of life for swine to trample underfoot. They lie deep, and must often be sought with toil and anguish of soul. Yet to the honest seeker after light, if only he follow the Light of the world, it will surely dawn, though for a se83on "The intellectual power, through words e.nd things, Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way." IV. THE_ PROVERBS TREAT_ OF mrnAN CONDUCT.. 1. Next to theology, the highes\. knowledge 1s that of _human life an~ duty. The triumphs of physics.I discovery seem to have thrown us mto the opposite extreme from that to which Socrates tended. Surely whatever other studies we may pursue, "the proper study of mankind is man." No other topic is more profoundly interesting, none requires so much light, none is so replete with practical issues. 2. The wisdom of the proverbs is practical. It deals with conduct-which, as Mr. Matthew Arnold says, "is three-fourths of life." What we know is of service to us chiefly as it affects what we do. 3. This wisdom concerns itself with the moral and religious guides to practice. We find here no Machiavellian maxims of dishonest expediency, no mere worldly advice in the school of Lord Chester- field, no Jesuistic casuistry. Righteousness among men and the fear of God are the leading principles set forth. The least exalted precepts are pure and honest. The highest reach the level of Christian ethics. Though much of the Book of Proverbs falls short of the lofty requirements of the New Testament, many passages in it read like anticipations of the Sermon on the Mount. Thus are we taught that the highest wisdom is one with the purest morality and the noblest religion. V. THE PROVERBS ORIGINATED IN WISDOM, AND NEED WISDOM FOR THEIB INTERPRE- TATION. They are words of the wise. Inspiration does not dispense with intelligence; it quickens it. Wisdom is itself a gift of the Spirit of God (Jas. i. 5), The most simple truth is often the product of the most difficult thinking which has triumphed in thus ma.king plain what was previoasly obscure. Let us see, however, that the clear utterance is a word of the wise; for there is a tendency to accept a saying because ' of its neat and apt form, without regard to its truth or falseness. Wisdom is therefore needed in understanding proverbs and in "discerning spirits." It is not enough that the grammarie.n explains the words. Higher wisdom is necessary to see where the isolated truth fits into other truths, by what it is qualified, and how it is to be applied; for it is one of the disadvantages of the proverb that its very terseness gives to it an unnatural isolation, and excludes the addition of counterbalancing truths.
Ver. 1.-The 'l'ilatwn, of religi(}'II, to knowledge. 11 The fear of the Lord" being tne most common Old Testament name for religion, we must take it here in its; large and general sense, and understand that religion in all its relations is set forth as the true basis of knowledge; though it may well be that awe and reverence for the majesty and mystery of God have a special prominence in regard to the pursuit of truth. L RELIGION IS AN IMPORTANT REQUISITE FOR THE A0QUISITION OF ALL KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE. Religion-not theology-claims this position. The progress of science was arrested for a thousand years by the claims of theology to dominate all regions of inquiry. Theology, or human speculations about Divine things, is the most difficult, and therefore in many respects the most uncertain, of all the sciences. When the school.men made the dogmatic assumptions of patristic theology, combined with elaborate deductions from Aristotelian philosophy, the touchstone of all truth, they set up an impenetrable barrier before the investigation of nature. Even when theological dicta are absolutely true, it is irrelevant to bring these to bear upon physical science. Unquestionably Ba.oon did a great service to t~e cause o_f ~ruth in ~anishi_ng final causes from the science of nature. But the relahon of rehg10n to science 1s of a totally different nature. That relation consists in the influence that religious experience, religious character, religious feelings and motives, must necessarily have upon scientifia OH, I, 1-33.] THE PROVERBS. 19