Vers. 22--36.- Wisdom in eterr.ity and in time. '!'his sublime view lifts us at one~ above the seeming contradictions of time, and suggests the solution of all its problems in Gnd. I. SHE IS OF THE DIVINE BEGINNINGS OR ELEMENTS. (Ver. 22.) An element in chemistry is the last simple substance we can reach in analysis. An element in thoul7ht i, the bist simple notion yielded by the dialectic of the understanding. WisdoX: is thus before the visible creation-the earth, the sea, the mountains. The verses do but repeat and iterate this one simple and sublime thought. We may in like manner vary it in an_v form of thought and expression familiar to us. She is the Divine a priori; the logic of nature and spirit; the last and first, the ground of all existence; the eternal reason, the transcendent cause, the alpha and omega of the cosmic alphabet. We are trying to express the inexpressible, utter the unutterable, define the undefinable, find out God to perfection, if we press beyond these poor forms of sp.eech and iguore the limit which separates the known from the unknowable, and reason from faith. ll. 'fEE CREATION PROCEEDING FROM THE DIVINE WISDOM FULFILS ITS COURSE BY WISDOM. (Ver. 27.) What we ierm in science the discovery of law is for religion the revelation of the mind of God in t.he world and in us. The cosmos is here conceived under the forms of the poetic imagination-the heavens and their outstretched circle or vault; tLe clouds as massive bags or skins; the springs on earth as set in motion by direct Divine activity; the sea as bounded by a positive fiat; the earth as fixed on_ firm pillars, by one act as it were of the Divine Architect. And then was Wisdom at his side as mistress of the work (ver. 30), and was in delight day by day (ver. 30), "playing before him always; playing on the circle of the earth, and I had my delight in men" (ver. 31). One of the best illustrations of the poetical force and sense of this passage is in the Wisdom of Sirach xxiv. : "I went forth from the mouth of .the Highest, and as a mi:;t I covered the earth. I pitched my tent in the heights, and my throne was as a pillar of cloud. The gyre of heaven I encircled alone, and in the depths of abysses I walked about. In the billows of the sea, and in all the earth, and amung every people and nation, I was busy" (vers. 3-6). III. W 1sooM's APPEAL AND PROMISES. (Vera. 32-36.) 1. The appeal. "Listen to me, listen to instruction!" Drink out of this spring of eternity, whose currents fiow through all the tracts of nature and of man. "Resist not 1" for to resist is to oppose the law of thinJ!;s and to invite destruction. Let them be so eager to listen and to know that they shall daily apply, daily stand as suppliants or visitors at her door! 2. The promises. Happiness is repeatedly foretold (ver8. 32, 34). Life !n all senses, intensive and extensive (ver. 35). Favowr with Jehovah (ver. 35). And 1t follows, as the night the day, th_at he who sins against Wisdom, whether by_ neglect or ~irect disobedience, is guilty of a 'TIWral suicide, and shows a contempt for hfe and happmess, a perverse preference for death (see on eh. iv.13, 22; vii. 27; cowp. Ezek. xviii. 21).-J.
Vere. 1-21.-The excellency of Divine wisdom: No. 1. In these verses w~ have portrayed to us the surpassing excellency of the wisdom of God. J. IT 1s AUDIBLE TO EVERY ONE. "Doth not Wisdom cry," etc.? (ver. 1; see homily on eh. i. 20---23). II. IT 1s URGENT AND IMPORTUNATE. (Vers. 2-4; see homily on eh. i. 20-23.) III. IT MAK.Es 1TB APPEAL TO UNIVERSAL MAN. (Vers. 4, 5.) "Unto you, 0 men, OH, VIII, 1-36.) THE PROVERBS. 177
I cnll," etc. There is nothing exclusive or partial in its addre~s. Its sympathies are wide as the human soul. It draws no Jines of latitude or longitude in any kinadom beyond which it does not pass. It appeals to man-Jew and Gentile, male and f;male: bond and free, learned and ignorant, wise and foolish (simple), moral and immoral (fools). IV. IT IS IN FULL HARMONY WITH ALL THAT IS BEST WITHIN us. Some voices that address us make their appeal to that which is lower or even lowest in our nature. Divine wisdom appeals to that which is highest and beRt. 1. To our Rense of what is right and good (vers. 6, 7). 2. To our love of that which is true (ver. 7). V. IT IB AN APPRECIABLE THING. (Ver. 9.) Though it takes high ground, not rooting itself in anything base, but making its appeal to that which is purest and noblest in our nature, it is still appreciable by all who can estimate anything at its true worth. To "him that understandeth," to the man who is capable of any discern- ment, the words of heavenly wisdom will be plain-they will "receive them gladly:" while to those who have reached any height in attainment, the teaching of wisdom will be recognized as the excellent thing it is. The students of law wm find in it thti illustration of all true order; the disciples of ethics will perceive in it all that is morally sound and satisfying to the conscience; those who admire "the beautiful" will recognize that which is exquisite, admirable, sublime. 'l'he teaching of Divine wisdom is "right to them that find knowledge." VI. IT IB INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH INTELLIGENT OBSERVATION. It consequently ?esults in useful contrivances (ver. 12). So far from heavenly wisdom being confined, in its principles and its results, to the realm of the abstract and unseen, it is most closely allied with, and is constantly found in the company of, simple, homely discretion, the careful, intelligent observation of all surrounding objects and passing incidents. It issues, therefore, in " witty inventions." VII. IT ISSUES IN, AND IS ILLUSTRATED BY, MORAL AND SPIRITUAL WORTH. (Ver.13.) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and the fear of the Lord is so intimately and essentially bound up with the hatred of evil, that they may be practically identified; we may say that "the fear of the Lord is to hate evil "-evil in all its forms, "pride, arrogancy," etc.-C.