V ers, 7-9.- Warnings against refusal. So, in connection with the preceding section, we mav take these words. I. EVERY REFUSAL OF WISDOM IMPLIES THE PREFERENCE OF THE OPPOSITE, lt implies that the associations of folly are more cougenial than those of sound seose (ver. 6), which is a preference of death to life, in its effect. II. 'fBE SCOFFING HABIT IS AN INDICATION OF FOLLY, (Ver. 7.) Under the general head of fouls come scoffers and wicked men of every degree. 'l'he cynic may prefer to speak of evil men and actions BBjools and folly-" worse than a crime, a blunder" -and he utters more truth in this thau he intends. III. THE SCOFFER IS ABUSIVE, AND THIS IS SIGNIFICANT OF HIS TEMPER, (Vers. 7, 8; comp. Exo,l. v. 16; Ps. cxv. 7.) 1. He neither has nor desires to have ~elf-know, ledge, and therefore hates the teacher who holds the mirror up to nature, and makes him see himself as he is. 2. He is the foil to the wise man, who is thank[ul for corrections, because he is set upon improvement and progress; and therefore loves the corrector, holding him creditor of his thanks, and recognizing the loyalty of the hand which wounds. 3. The great distinction of thP. wise man from the foul i, that the former has fr.definite capacity of progress; the latter, qua fool, none. 4. As there is an indissoluble connection between fully and wickedness, so are wisdom and rectitude at one (ver. 9).--J. Vers. 10-12.-Recurrence to first principles. Life is made up of circles. We are ever coming back to whence we started. As history ropfats itself, so must morality and religion. '!'he shinin~ points of wisdom appear and reappear with the regularity of the heavenly bodies. 'l'he vault of heaven has its analogue in the star-besprinkled vault of the moral relations. Iteration and repetition of first principles are con- i;tantly necessary, ever wholesome, peculiarly characteristic of Semitic thought. Wherever life is bounded to a small circle of i:Qtereste, the same truths must be insiste~. on "aver and aver again," 190 THE PROVERBS. [oa. 1x. 1-18,
I. RELIGIO:s A FIRST rmNCIPI.E. 1. Religion characterized. The fear of Jeliovalt. In ot.her words, r1werence for the Eternal One. We may unfold the definition, but can we substitute a better for it? It is a relation to the eternal nnd unseen, to a snporsensual order, as opposed to that which is visible and transient. It is deop-eeatod in feeling. Reverence is the ground-tone in the scale of religions feelina • we descend from it to awe and terror, or rise to joy and ecstasy. It is a. relation, not 'to ourselves, or a projection of ourselves in fancy, bnt to a personal and holy Being. 2. Its con- n~ction with intellig~nce firmlr insisted on .. It is tJ1e. beginning, or root-principle, of wisdom, and "acquaintance_ ~1th_ the Holy 1s true _10s1ght" (ver. 10). 'l'be que$tion, often discussed, whether rehg10n 1s a matter of feeling, knowledge, or will, arises from a fallacy. We may distinguish these functions in thought; but in act they are one, because the consciousness is a unity, not a bundle of things, a collocation of organs. In feeling we know, in knowledge we feel, and from thia interaction arise will, acts, conduct. Hence so far as a man is soundly religious, he is likewise soundly int~lligent. In the truest conception religion and wisdom are identical. II. WISDOM A FIRST PRINCIPLE. (Ver. 11.) Here we come down from the region or spe-<:u_lation to that of practical_ tr?th .. ~- The " wil~ to live'.' is the very spring of our act1v1ty. 2. Only second to 1t m ongrnal power 1s the WlSh to be well, i.e. to have fulness, energy of life, consciousness. The extensive form of this wish is naturally the earlier, the more childlike-to enjoy many years, to live to a green old age, etc. The intensive form is later, and belongs to the more reflective stage of the mind. "Non vivere, sed valere, est vita" (Martial). 'Tis "more life and fuller that we want" (Tennyson). "One hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name." This view comes more home t.o the modern mind than to that of the monotonous East, where the likefulne.ss of interest was not possible. We say," Better twenty years of Europe than a c_l'cle of Cathay." III. PERsOKALI'IT A FIRST PRINCIPLE. (Ver.12.) 1. We have a distinct individual consciousness. "I am I, and other than the things I touch." I know what my acts are as distinguished from my involuntary movements, my thoughts as distinct from the passive reflection of perceptions and phantasies unbegotten of my will. 2. Our wisdom or folly is our own affair, both in origin and consequences. We begot the habit, and must reap as we sow, bear the brunt of the conflict we may have provoked. 3. Neither our wisdom can enrich nor our folly impoverish God (Job xxii. 2, 3; xxxv. 6-9; Rom. xi. 35; Rev. xxii. 11, 12). (1) It is a solemn thought; the constitution of our being reveals the decree of God, and may be thus interpreted: "Let him alone ! " \Ve are not interfered with. We are suffered to develop in the air and sun. Woe to us it we pervert the kindly gifts of God, and tum his truth into a lio I (2) "Take heed to thyself." The effects of our acts may extend to others, but we cannot make others answer for them in the end.-J. Vers. 13-18.-The invitation of Folly. The picture to be taken in contrast with that at the beginning of the chapter. I. THE TEMPER OF FoLLY. 1. She is excitable and passionate (ver. 13), and may be fitly imaged as the harlot, the actress and mask of genuine feeling. 2. She iR irrational, and knows not what is what. True love is not blind, either as to self or its objects. 3. She is like the harlot again in her shamelessness (ver. 14). Folly does not :mind exposure, and rushes on publicity. 4. She is solicitous of company (ver. 15). Must have partners in guilt, and companions t.o keep her in countenance. Fools cannot be happy in solitude, cannot enjoy the sweet and silent charms of nature. Wisdom finds good both in the forest and the city, in the cloister or amidst the " busy hum of men." 5. Folly is gregarious. Wherever there is a crowd, there is something foolish going on (ver. 16). , It may be safely said of habitual gatherings in taverns an_d such places, "mostly fools. ' T~e wise man goes apart to _recover and stren~then his Individuality; the fool plunges rnto the throng to forget himself. 6. Folly 1s sly and secretive (ver. 17). The secret feast is here the illicit pleasure (cf. eh. xxx. 20). The fact that people like what they ought not to like all the more because they ought not, is a complex phenomenon of the soul. The sweetness of liberty recovered is in it, and forms its good eide. Liberty acids a perfume and epice to every pleasure, no matter what the pleasure may be, Augustine tella how he robbe4 l!.ll orchard aa I\ boy, QH, IX, 1-18.] THE PROVERBS, 191