languid minds nre the least touched by affliction. In these adjustments, love is still revealed. 6. Suffering must be viewed under the analogy of the parental and filial relation. Let these words once become clear, Father, son, in their application to God's relation to ue, and ours to him, and the theory of sufferini is mastered (comp. Deut. viii. 5; Ps. cxviii. 18; Lam. iii. 31-33). II. THE RELIGIOUS TEMPER UNDER BUFFERING. 1. Humi1ity. No indignant ques- tioning, scornful recalcitration, proud efforts of stoical fortitude. These will but defeat or delay the end. The medicine benefits not if the patient sets his mind against it as unneeded. 2. Patient endurance. Perseverance in a passive, receptive, attitude is far more difficult than perseverance in activity. vVe haste to snatch at good. But God is never in haste. His processes are slow. And to receive their benefit we must learn the wisdom of the word "wait." While we are thus waiting, things are not a.t a. standstill; God is working, producing a sp:.ritual shape out of the passive materia.l. "Maker, remake, complete, I trust what thou aha.It do!" (R. Browning's noble poem, 'Rabbi Ben Ezra.') J. Vers. 13-18.-Wisdom the 'best investment. I. WISDOM COMPARABLE WITH THE MOST PRECIOUS THmGs. Silver, gold, precious stones, everything eagerly coveted and warmly prized by the senses and the fancy, may illustrate the worth of the pious intelligence. Every object in the world of sense has its analogy in the world of spirit. The worth of the ruby is due to the msthetic light in the mind of the observer. But wisdom is the light in the mind itself. II. WISDOM INCOMPARABLE WITH ALL PRECIOUS THINGS. For by analogy only can we put wisdom and precious minerals side by side, on the principle that mind is reflected in matter. But on the opposite principle, that mind is diverse from matter, rests the incomparableness of wisdom. Mere matter call breed nothing; spiritual force only is generative. When we talk of "money breedillg money," we use a figure of speech. It is the mind which is the active power. III. WISDOM MAY BE VIEWED AS THE DEST LIFE INVESTMENT. All the objects which stimulate human activity to their pursuit are derivable from this capital. Life in health and ample and various enjoymeut, riches and honour, pleasure and inward peace; blessings tha.t neither money nor jewels can purchase, are the fruit, direct or indirect, of the cultivation of the spiritual field of enterprise, the whole-hearted venture on this Divine speculation, so to say. For religion is a speculation; faith is a specn- lat.ion in the sense that everything cannot be made certain; some elements in the calculation must ever remain undefined. (For further, see the early part of the chapter; and on ver. 17, South's' Sermons,' vol. i. ser. 1.) The summary expression," a tree of life," seems to symbolize all that is beautiful, all that is desirable, all that gives joy and intensity to living (comp. eh. xiii. 12; xv. 4).-J. VerR. 19, 20.- Wisdom the principle of the creation. Perhaps the mention of the tree of life has reminded the writer of the early account of the creation in Gen. i., ii. He thus traces the visible world and its order to its spiritual root in the mind of God. He give8 a brief sketch of the construction of the cosmos, according to the ancient mode of thought. Both heaven and earth are fixed and made fast; and the water- masses divided into those above and those below the" firmament;" the consequence of which is the gushing forth of the clouds in rain. The modern scientific knowledge of the world may be used to impart a rich context to these simple conceptions of the early imagination. I. 'l'HE WORLD xs AN ORDER. The Greeks expressed this idea in the beautiful word "cosmos." It includes symmetry, beauty, variety, harmony, adaptation of means to ends. To :recognize these in the visible world is an intellectual delight, and a motive to the purest reverence. II. Tms ORDER IB REDUCIBLE TO A UNITY. Formerly we looked upon the world as e. collection of independent forces. Science showed us the correlation, interdepen- 76 THE PROVERBS. [en. II1, 1-35.
dence, interaction of these forces. Now she bas risen to the grand conception of the unity of :ill force; and thus arrives at the same goal with religious thought. III. THAT UNITY OF FORCE rs Goo. It is often forgotten that the generalizations of science are but logical distinctions-cause, law, force, etc. What are these without Being, Personality, as their ground? Empty names. Religion fills these forms with life, and where the scientific man speaks of law, she bows before the living God. IV. _Scm:-.cE AND RELIGION ARE AT ONE. When we talk of their opposition, we are usmg a figure of speech. What they represent, these names is two different directions of the spiritual activity of man. What needs to be cured ls narrowness and partialism on the side of both scientific and religious men. For there is no real cleft in the nature of our knowledge. All genuine knowledge is essentially a knowled"e of God, of the Infinite revealed in and through the finite.-J. "
Vers. 21-26.-Confidence and the sense of security in tlie ways of God. In rich variation the religious habit of mind is presented. What has been spoken of as worthy to be hung about the neck as precious is now referred to as to be kept continually before the eyes of the mind. The designation of wisdom or its attributes is also varied, viz. '' thoughtfulness and circumspection" (ver. 21). In the next, former modes of statement recur (comp. ver. 3, sqq.). I. RELIGION STRENGTHENS AND STEADIES THE PERCEPTION, (Ver. 23.) Perfect unconsciousness of danger, as in the child, the somnambulist, etc., is often seen to be a condition of security in walking in dangerous places. And so may the mind be unconscious of danger through the full enfolding in God. But better is the safe step which is given by the perfect knowledge both of danger and the resources against it. 'Jhis is found in religion. We know what is against us, still more who is for us, and so pass on with head erect and footstep firm. II. RELIGION CONTROLS THE IMAGINATION. (Vers. 24, 25.) The indefinable in space and time continually besets the fancy, and, especially in certain temperaments, fills it with images of gloom and terror. The timid heart forebodes some sudden "tempest of the wicked," some onrush of malice and violence out of the dark. What a chapter of " imaginary terrors" could be filled from the experience oF many such a. one! But faith fortifies the imagination, preoccupying it with the thought of the almighty Defender (compare the beautiful Ps. xci.).-J.