The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 62

worker eh11mee the sloth of the spiritual tnan. But let us not ignore the other side. 'l'he toil in the spiritual region ie not obvious to the eye like the other, but is not the Ieee really practised in silence by thousands of faithful souls. We should reflect on the immense travail of soul it bas cost to produce the book which stirs ILq like a new force, though it may appear to flow with consummate ease from the pen. Such are the conditions of "understanding the fear of Jehovah," or, in modern language, of appropriating, making religion our own; "receiving the things of the Spirit of Go<l," in the language of St. Paul (1 Cor. ii. 14). It is the highest human possession, because permanent, inalienable, and preservative amidst life's ills. II. CONDITIONS ON THE BIDE OF Gon. lf religion be the union or identification of the sonl with God, he must be related to us in such a way as makes this possible. 1. He is wisdom's Source and Giver. He not only contains in himself that knowln1ge which, reflected in us, becomes prudence, sense, wisdom, piety; be is an active Will and a self-communicating Spirit. The ancients had a glimpse of this when they said that the gods were not of so grudging or envious a nature as not to reveal their good to men. God is self-revealing; "freely gives of his things" to us, that we may know, and in knowing, possess them. 2. His wisdom is saving. "Sound wisdom" (ver. 7) may be better rendered soundness, or salvation, or he,a,lth, or saving health. It seems to come from a root signifying the essential or actual. Nothing is essential but health for sensuous enjoyment; nothing but health, in the larger sense, for spiritual enjoyment. Let us think of God e.s himself absolute Health, and thus the Giver of all health and happiness to his creatures. 3. He is Protector of the faithful. The Hebrew imagina- tion, informed by constant scenes of war, delights to represent him as the Buckler or l:ihield of bis servants (Ps. xviii. 2; xxxiii. 20; lxxxix. ID). Those who "walk in innocence" seem to bear a charmed life. They "fear no evil," for he is with them. The vast sky is their tent-roof. They may be slain, but cannot be hurt. To be snatched from this world is to be caught to his arms. 4. He is eternal Justice. Being this in himseH, the "way of his saints," which is synonymous with human rectitude, cannot be indifferent to him. Right is the highest idea we can associate with God. It is exempt from the possible suspicion of weakness or misdirection which may cleave to the mere idea of goodness or kindness. It essentially includes might. Thus the soul :6.ods shelter beneath this vast and majestic conception and faith of its God. 'l'hese, then, a.re the conditions, Divine and human, of religion. That we may realize it in ourselves, "understand right, justice, and equity "-in a word, "every good way" of life and thought, uniting piety with morality-the conditions must be faithfully fulfilled. Perfect· bodily health may not be attainable; some of its conditions lie without the sphere of freedom, and within that of necessary law. Spiritual health is attainable, for it lies within the sphere of freedom. Then God is realized; it is the ether of the soul, and the region of love and light and blessedness.-J. Vers. 10-22.-The profit of religious knowledge. It is preservative a.midst the influences of evil example and of sensuous solicitation. I. THE WAY IN WHICH IT A0TB AS A PRESERVATIVE. 1. By taking np e. centrai place in the consciousness. " When wisdom enters thy heart, and knowledge is dear to thy soul." Not as a stranger or mere guest, but a beloved and confidential intimate. The heart denotes here, e.s elsewhere, "the centre and organic basis of the collective life of the soul, the seat of sentiment, the starting-point of personal self-determination." The soul, as used by Hebrew writers, denotes the entire assemblage of the p11ssive and active principles of the inner life. Delitzsch terms the he11rt, as used in the Bible," the birthplace of thought;" and this is true, because thought springs out of the dim chaos of feeling as the defined crystals from the chemical mixture. 2. Hy counteractfoe force, If the inmost thing we know and feel be e. sense of right and e. sease of God, a pure sentiment and' e. lofty idea, this must exclude the baser feelings, and displace the images of plea.sure and objects of desire which are unlawful and undivine. There is watch and ward in the fortress of Man-soul against the enemy and the intruder. The "expulsive force of a. new affection " opemtes. It is the occupied heart that a.lone is temptation-proof. "Discretion she.II watch over thee, prudence guard thee." The 1mind, direoted to what is without, and feeling for its course among uncertainties, thue appea.rs forearmed age.inst dangers. 4S THE PROVERBS. [011, II, 1-22,