The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 61

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-9.-The conditions of religious lmowledge. The previous chapter having shown us in a variety of representations the necessity and the worth of wisdom, the question is now dealt with-How shall it be sought and attained? I. Co:tnlITIONS oN MAN'S SIDE. The enumeration is climactic, proceeding from the less strong to the stronger expressions. 1. Receptivity. The open mind and heart, ever ready to " adopt" true sentiments and appropriate them as one's own. The point is not to ask-Who says this? By what channel does it come to me ? But- Is it sound? is it true? If so, it is for me, and shall· be made my o'wn, Truth is common property. 2. .Attention, concentration, assimilation. "Keeping her com- mands with us." The thorough student finds it necessary to exercise his memory, and to help it by the use of note-books, where he hives his knowledge. So must we hive and store, aJTange and digest, our religious impressions, which otherwise "go in· at one ear and out at the other." Short germ-sayings may be thus kept in the memory; they will burst into fertility some day. 3. .Active application. In figurative language " bending the ear" and "turning the heart" in the desired direction. The mind must not be passive in religion. It is no process of "cramming;" but of personal, original, spiritual activity throughout. 4. Passionate craving and prayerfulness. "Calling Sen6e to one's side, and raising one's voice to Prudence "-to give· another rendering to ver. 3. We must invoke the spirit of Wisdom for the needs of daily conduct; thus placing ourselves in Jiving relation with what is oq.r true 03ture. Fra Angelico prayed before his easel; CromweJI, in bis tent on the eve of battle. So must the thinker in his study, the preacher in his pulpit, the merchant at his desk, if he would have the true clearness of vision and the only genuine success. True prayer is always· for the universal, not the private, good. 5. Persevering and laborious exertion. Illustrated by the miner's toil. The passage (Job xxviii.), of extraordinary pict_uresque power and interest, describing the miner's operations, may help us to appreciate the illustration. The pursuit of what i8 ideal is ·still more arduous than that of the nrnterial, as silver and gold. It is often said that the perseverance of the unholy Oil, II, 1-22,] THE PROVERBS. 47