destination and election in time past, and (oomp. 2 Ohron. ::uxii. 5; Noh. ii. 13). To those concerning spiritualism and theurgy suoh a city is compared the man who puts in our own day (see Jeremy Taylor, • Cer- no restraint on his passions, desires, and tainty of Salvation,' iii. 176, edit. Heb. , and 0.ffeotions; he is always in danger of being • Holy Living,' eh. iii. § 5). This is the carried away by them and involved in sin view taken of the passage by St. Gregory and destruction ; he has no defence when (' Moral.,' xiv. 32), 'If the sweetness of temptation assaults him, having lost self- honey be taken in greater measnre than control (comp. eh. xvi. 32), The old there is occasion for, from the same souroe gnomes hold always true- whence the palate is gratified, the life of the 011µoii 1tpa.rijcra., ,,4.,.,e11µCa.s 1ta.ll.&11. eater is destroyed. The " searching into majesty " is also sweet , but he that seeks to " Desire and p0.ssion it is good to 111le." dive into it deeper than the cognizance of Ta._u,E,011 o.pET'ijs '""' cro,cppocr61171 µ0117/. human nature admits, finds the mere glori- onsness thereof by itself oppresses him, in "Virtue's trua storehouse is wise self-con• that, like honey taken in excess, it bursts trol." the sense of the searcher which is not A Chinese maxim says, "Who c0.n govern capable of holding it." And again (ibid., himself is fit to govern the world." Septua- xx. 18), " For the glory of the invisible gint, ".As a city whose walls are broken Creator, which when searched into with down and which is unwalled, so is a man moderation lifts us up, being dived into be- who does aught without counsel." St. yond our powers bears us down" (Oxford Jerome, by the addition of the words, in transl.). (Comp. Dent. xxix. 29; Ecclns. loquendo, applies the proverb to intem- iii. 21, etc.) Septuagint, "To eat much perance in language, "So is he who is not honey is not good, hut it behoves us to able to restrain his spirit in speaking." Com- honour glorious sayings." menting on this, St. Gregory (' Moral,' vii. Ver. 28.-A proverb like the last, con- 59) says, "Becausa it is without the wall of cerned with self-control. In the Hebrew it silence, the city of the mind lies open to the rnns thus (see on ver. 11): A oity that is darts of th\ enemy, and when it casts itself broken down without wall-a man on forth in words, it exhibits itself exposed to whose spirit is no restraint. " A city the adversary, 0.nd he gets the mastery of it broken down " is explained by the next without trouble, in proportion as the soul words, "without wall," and therefore un- that ha has to overcome combats against its defended ll.lld open to the first invader own self by much talking" (Oxford tmnsl.),
HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-..4.ncient lore. This superscription gives us a hint of a very interesting historical event of which we have no account elsewhere. It suggests a picture of the days of Hezekiah; we see his scribes busily engaged in ransacking the ancient libraries, and bringing together the long-forgotten sayings of his famous predecessor. I. A REVIVAL OF RELIGION SHOULD LEAD TO A REVIVAL OF LEARNING. The Renais- sance preceded the Reformation, and, because it had no deep spiritual basis, it threatened to degenerate into dilletantism and pedantry. But after the second movement hnd ta.ken hold of Europe, real, solid learning received a powerful impulse, because men -were then in earnest in the search for truth. It would seem that a similar result was produced in the days of Hezekiah. Then there was a religious reformation, and that was followed by a newly awakened interest in the national literature. Of course, this was the more natural among the Jews, because their national genius was.religious, and their literature was the vehicle of their religious ideas. The danger of a time of religious excitement is that it shall be accompanied by attenuated knowledge. But the ,more the religious feelings are roused, the more reason is there that ·they should be directed by truth. Revival preachers should be studious men if they wish their work not to be perverted into wrong and false courses thtough ignorance. II. IT lB WISE TO PROFIT BY THE THOUGHTS OF OTHER MEN. The men of Hezekiah were not above learning from Solomon, who bad left a reputation for unparalleled wisdom. But lesser lights have also their claims. It is a wistake to live on one's own thoughts without guidance or nourishment derived from the thoughts of other men, Private thinking tends to narrowness unless it is enlarged by the reception of a variety of ideas from external sources. The mind will ultimately starve if it is left to feed upon its own juices. We must judge for ourselves, and only accept whnt we honestly Lclie\o to be OJI, XXV, 1-28.] THE PROVERBS. (87
true-seek truth, and think out onr own convictions. But we .shall do those things the better if we also allow that others may have light to give us. Above all, the Christian thinker needs to found his meditations on tl1e Bible. Of the New Testament it may be said," A Greater than Solomon is here." H the men of Hezekiah did well to collect the proverbs of Solomon, much more is it desirable to treasure up the sayings of him who spake a9 never man spake. III. WE MAY LEARN LESSONS FROM ANTIQUITY. Nearly three hundred years had passed between the days of Solomon and the time of Hezekiah-a period equal to that which separates us from the great Elizabethan writers; so that Solomon was as far anterior to Hezekiah as the poet Spenser is to our own generation. He belonged to the antique age. Yet the glamour of the great Hezekiah did not blind men to the glory of the greater Solomon. In the splendid achievements of the present day we are threatened with an extinction of antiquity. The nineteenth century is the new image of gold that has been set up on our Plain of Dura for all men to worship. We shall suffer an irreparable loss, and our mental and spiritual life will be sadly stunted, if we fail to hearken to the teachings of our forefathers. We are not to be the slaves of the past. The new age may have its new truths, as well as its new needs and duties. But what was true in the past cannot cease to be so by simply going out of fashion; for truth is eternal. The very diversity of the ages may instruct us by widening our notions and correcting the follies of prevalent customs. The age of Solomon was very different from that of Hezekiah; yet the wisdom of the royal sage could profit the newer generation.