Chapter VIII (1)

CRITICAL NOTES.--+Places of the paths+ "in the midst of the highways." "These ways are roads, solitary paths, not streets in the city, and the delineation proceeds in such an order as to exhibit Wisdom; first, in verse 2, as a preacher in the open country, in grove and field, on mountains and plains, and then in verse 3, to describe her public harangues in the cities, and in the tumult of the multitudes" (_Zöckler_). +3. At the entrance of its doors,+ _i.e._ "standing on the further side of the gateway" (_Zöckler_) "at the entrance of the avenues" (_Stuart_). +4.+ The Hebrew words for men are different in the two clauses, "the first signifies men of high position, the second men of the common sort" (Psa. xlix. 2) (_Fausset_). +5. Wisdom.+ This is a different word from the one used in verse 1, and may be translated "subtilty," or "prudence," and though it is here used in a good sense, may, when the context requires it, be translated "artful cunning." +6. Excellent,+ literally "princely," generally rendered "plain," "evident," "obvious." +7. Mouth,+ lit. "palate." +Speak,+ literally "meditate;" the word originally meant "mutter," and grew to mean "meditate," because what a man meditates deeply he generally mutters about (_Miller_). +8. Froward,+ literally "distorted," or "crooked." +9.+ "Right to the man of understanding, and plain to them that have attained knowledge" (_Zöckler_). "To the men of understanding they are all to the point" (_Delitzsch_). +11. Rubies,+ "pearls." +12. Dwell with+ or "inhabit." +Witty inventions,+ "skilful plans" (_Stuart_), "sagacious counsels" (_Zöckler_). +14. Sound wisdom,+ the same word as in chap. ii. 7 (see note there). Stuart reads here, "As for me, my might is understanding;" Delitzch, "Mine is counsel and promotion." +17. Early,+ _i.e._, "earnestly" (see on ch. i. 28). +18. Durable.+ Zöckler thinks this rather signifies "growing." +21. Inherit substance,+ "abundance." +22. Jehovah possessed me.+ The signification of this verb has been the subject of much discussion; ancient expositors, believing Wisdom here to be the eternal Son of God, deemed it necessary to reject the translation of the Septuagint, etc., who rendered it _created_, as the text then became an argument with Arians against the eternal co-existence of the Son. But most modern commentators, whatever view they take of the signification of "Wisdom," agree in rejecting the reading of the Authorised Version. The majority render it, "created;" Delitzch reads, "brought me forth;" Wordsworth and Miller, "got possession of," or "acquired." Wordsworth says, "The word occurs about eighty times in the Old Testament, and in only four places beside the present it is translated 'possess;' viz., Gen. xiv. 19-22; Psa. cxxxix. 13; Jer. xxxii. 15; Zech. xi. 5; in the last two it may well have the sense of getting, and in the former of creating." +23. Set up,+ Stuart, Miller, and early expositors render "anointed;" Delitzch and Zöckler prefer the Authorised rendering. +26. Earth, etc.,+ "the land and the plains, or the beginning of the dust of the earth." +27. Set a compass, etc.,+ "marked out a circle," _i.e.,_ "when He fixed the vault of heaven, which rests on the face of the ocean." +30. As one brought up,+ "as director of His work," or, "as a builder at His side." +36. Sinneth against,+ "misseth," so Stuart, Delitzsch, and Miller.

NOTES ON THE PERSONIFICATION OF WISDOM.--There has been great discussion among expositors as to who, or what, is to be understood by this personification. Many modern and all ancient expositors consider that it refers exclusively to the Divine Word, the Eternal Son of God, others understand it as relating entirely to an attribute of the Divine nature. There is a middle view, which is thus put by Dr. John Harris in his sermon on verses 30-36: "Others, again reply that it refers exclusively to neither--but partly to that wisdom which begins in the fear of the Lord, partly to the Divine attribute of wisdom, and partly to the Son of God, the second person in the Godhead." We cannot do better than give the views of a few eminent expositors and writers. Delitzsch thus comments on verse 22: "Wisdom takes now a new departure in establishing her right to be heard and to be obeyed and loved by men. As the Divine King in Psa. ii. opposes to His adversaries the self-testimony: 'I will speak concerning a decree! Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee;' so Wisdom here unfolds her Divine patent of nobility; she originates with God before all creatures, and it the object of God's love and joy, as she also has the object of her love and joy on God's earth, and especially among the sons of men. (See his translation of the verb in this verse--Critical Notes). Wisdom is not God, but is God's; she has personal existence in the Logos of the New Testament, but is not herself the Logos; she is the world idea, which, once projected, is objective to God, and not as a dead form, but as a living spiritual image; she is the archetype of the world, which originating from God, stands before God, the world of the idea which forms the medium between the Godhead and the world of actual existence, the communicated spiritual power in the origination and the completion of the world as God designed it to be. This wisdom the poet here personifies; he does not speak of the personal Logos, but the further progress of the revelation points to her actual personification in the Logos. And since to her the poet attributes an existence preceding the creation of the world, he thereby declares her to be eternal, for to be before the world is to be before time. For if he places her at the head of the creatures, as the first of them, so therewith he does not seek to make her a creature of this world having its commencement in time; he connects her origination with the origination of the creature only on this account, because that _à priori_ refers and tends to the latter; the power which was before heaven and earth were, and which operated at the creation of the earth and of the heavens, cannot certainly fall under the category of the creatures around and above us." Wordsworth, in accordance with the principle of interpretation set forth in the note at the beginning of chapter vii. says, "We should be taking a very low, unworthy, and inadequate view of the present and following magnificent and sublime chapters. . . . If we did not behold Him who is essential wisdom, the co-eternal Son of God, and recognise here a representation of His attributes and prerogative." The arguments in favour of this view are thus summed up by Fausset: "Wisdom is here personal Wisdom--the Son of God. For many personal predicates are attributed to Him: thus, _subsistence by or with God,_ in verse 30; just as John i. 1 saith, 'The Word was with God,' which cannot be said of a mere attribute. Moreover, the mode of subsistence imparted is _generation_, verse 22, 24, 25 (see CRITICAL NOTES). In verse 22 God is said to have _possessed_ or _acquired_ wisdom, not by _creation_ (Psa. civ. 24), nor by adoption, as Deut. xxxii. 6, Psa. lxxiv. 2, but by _generation._ The same verb is used by Eve of her firstborn (Gen. iv. 1). Moreover, other attributes are assigned to Wisdom, as if she were not an attribute but a person--'counsel,' 'strength,' etc. Also, she has the feelings of a person (verse 17): 'I love them that love me.' She does the acts of a person. She enables kings to rule, and invests them with authority (verses 15, 16). She takes part in creation, as one brought up, or _nursed_, in the bosom of the Father, as the only-begotten of His love (John i. 18). She cries aloud as a person (verses 1-4), and her 'lips' and 'mouth' are mentioned (verses 6, 7). She is the _delight_ of the Father, and she in turn delights in men (verses 30, 31), answering to the rapturous delight into which the Father breaks forth concerning Messiah (Isa. xliii. 1; Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5; Eph. i. 6). She builds a house, prepares a feast, and sends forth her maidens to invite the guests (ch. ix. 1-3). All which admirably applies to Messiah, who builds the Church, as His house, upon Himself the rock (Matt. xvi. 8, etc.), and invites all to the Gospel feast (Luke xiv. 16, etc.). He is Wisdom itself absolute, and as the Archetype, from Him wisdom imparted flows to others. As such, He invites us to learn wisdom from Him who is its source, 'counsel' and 'sound wisdom' (ver. 14), are in Him as attributes are in their subject, and as effects are in their cause. The parallel (ch. i. 20, 23), 'I will pour out my spirit unto you' (see John vii. 38), conforms the personal view. The same truth is confirmed by the reproof (ch. i. 24), 'Because I have called,' etc., compared with Christ's own words (Matt. xi. 28, etc.) So Christ is called the Wisdom of God (Col. ii. 3). As Wisdom here saith 'I was set up,' or 'anointed from everlasting,' so the Father saith of Messiah, 'I have set' or 'anointed my king' etc. (Psa. ii. 6). As in verse 24, Wisdom is said to be 'brought forth' or _begotten_ by God before the world, and to have been _by Him in creating all things_ (verses 27-30), so Messiah is called the 'Son of God,' and is said to have been _with God in the beginning_, and to have _made all things_ (John. i. 1-3) and to have been begotten before every creature (Col. i. 15-17); and His _goings forth_ are said, in Mic. v. 2, _to have been from of old, from everlasting._" The argument for the opposite view is thus stated by Dr. Wardlaw: "The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, are, to my mind, quite insuperable. For example: (1) The passage is not so applied in any part of the New Testament. I do not adduce this consideration as any _direct objection_ to the interpretation in question. I mean no more than this, that from its not being so explained there, we are relieved from any _necessity_ of so explaining it. Such necessity, then, being thus precluded, the direct objections may be allowed to have their full force. Observe, then (2), Wisdom here is a _female personage._ All along this is the case. Now, under such a view, the Scripture nowhere else, in any of their figurative representations of 'the Christ,' ever thus describe or introduce Him. The application, on this account, appears to be exceedingly unnatural. (3) Wisdom does not appear intended as a _personal_ designation, inasmuch as it is associated with various other terms, of synonymous, at least, of corresponding import (verse 1, chap. iii. 19, 20). Were it meant for a _personal_ designation, like the _Logos_ or _Word_ in the beginning of John's Gospel, this would hardly have been admissible. (4) That the whole is bold and striking _personification_ of the attribute of Wisdom, as subsisting in the Deity, appears further from what she is represented as saying in verse 12: 'I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.' Here Wisdom is associated with prudence; and the import of the association is, that Wisdom directs to the best ends, and to the choice of the best means for their attainment; and _prudence,_ or _discretion,_ teaches to shun whatever might, in any way or degree, interfere with and impede, or mar their accomplishment. This is precisely what wisdom, as an attribute or quality, does. And it is worthy of remark, that this association of wisdom with prudence, is introduced by the Apostle as characterising the greatest of the Divine inventions and works--that of our redemption. Wisdom was associated with prudence in framing and perfecting that wonderful scheme (Ephes. i. 7, 8). (5) It is very true that there are many things here, especially in the latter part of the chapter--indeed through the whole--that are, in a very interesting and striking manner, applicable to the Divine Messiah. But this is no more than might have been anticipated, that things which are true of a _Divine attribute_ should be susceptible of application to a _Divine person._" We quote, in conclusion, the remarks of Dr. Aiken, the American editor and translator of this portion of Lange's Commentary: "The error in our English exegetical and theological literature with respect to our passage has been, we think, the attempt to force upon it more of distinctness and precision in the revelation of the mysteries of the Divine Nature than is disclosed by a fair exegesis. . . . If it be not unworthy of the Holy Spirit to employ a bold and graphic personification, many things in this chapter may be said of and by the personified Wisdom which these authors regard as triumphantly proving that we have here the pre-existent Christ, the Son of God. . . . We can, to say the least, go no farther than our author has done in discovering here the foreshadowings of the doctrine of the Logos. We are inclined to prefer the still more guarded statements, _e.g.,_ of Dr. Pye Smyth (_Scripture Testimony to the Messiah_), that this beautiful picture cannot be satisfactorily proved to be a designed description of the Saviour's person; or that of Dr. John Harris (Sermon on chap. viii. 30-36): 'At all events, while, on the one hand, none can _demonstrate_ that Christ is here directly intended, on the other, none can prove that He is not contemplated; and perhaps both will admit that, under certain conditions, language such as that in our text may be justifiably applied to Him. One of these conditions is, that the language be not employed _argumentatively,_ or in _proof_ of anything related to Christ, but only for the purpose of illustration; and another is, that when so employed, it be only adduced to illustrate such views of the Son of God as are already established by such other parts of Scripture as are admitted by the parties addressed.'"

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-3.

THE NATURE OF WISDOM'S CALL.

Even if we reject the direct Messianic interpretation of this chapter, and understand Wisdom here to be only a poetical personification of an abstract attribute of God, it would be impossible, we think, for any minister of the New Testament to teach from it, and not find his way to Him who was "in the beginning with God" (John i. 2), to the Christ who is the "Wisdom of God" (1 Cor. i. 24), "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 3). To say the least, the language is admirably adapted to set forth the Incarnate Son, the Saviour of the world. The introductory paragraph reveals _the intense desire of Wisdom to win disciples._

+I. From her taking the initiative.+ Wisdom addresses man first. When two persons have become estranged by the wrong-doing of one, he who is in the wrong will be slow to find his way back to the other to acknowledge his fault. Because he is in the wrong he may conclude, and in many cases would rightly conclude, that an advance on his side would be useless. But an advance from him who is in the right would be more likely to be successful; such a course of conduct on his part would carry with it a powerful magnetic force to draw the offender back, and would be a most convincing proof of the desire of him who had been rightly offended to effect a reconciliation. And if the offence had been committed, not once, but many times, the reluctance of the offender to face his offended friend would be increased in proportion to the number of times the act had been repeated, and if, notwithstanding these repeated offences, advances should continue to be made from the other side, the desire for reconciliation would be made more and more manifest. Wisdom is here represented in this light, and God in Christ did take the initiative in "reconciling the world unto Himself" (1 Cor. v. 19). The Incarnate Wisdom _came_ to men because men would not, and could not, by reason of their moral inability, come to Him first. In proportion to the distance men wander from God do they feel the impossibility of returning to Him unless they can receive from Him some encouragement to do so. This encouragement they have in the fact that "the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost" (Matt. xviii. 11), that, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v. 8).

+II. From the variety of places where Wisdom's voice is heard+ (verses 2 and 3). If a man has goods to sell, he seeks those places where he will be most likely to find buyers; if he has thoughts which he wishes to make public, he goes where he will find the most hearers. The pilot has wisdom which he wants to sell the less experienced ship-master, and he runs his cutter out into the highway of the channel. He is found at "the entrance of the gates" of the water-ways, at the mouths of the rivers; he places himself in the way of those who need his wisdom, and who will pay a good price for his skill. In proportion to a man's earnestness to obtain a market, or a hearing, will be his endeavour to seek out the places where he will most likely succeed. Wisdom is here represented as frequenting the most conspicuous places, the most crowded thoroughfares, to find buyers for that spiritual instruction which is to be had "without money and without price" (Isa. lv. 1). Christ was found imparting the treasures of His wisdom wherever men would listen to His words. He "went up into a mountain and taught" (Matt. v. 1). He was found in the streets of the cities, in the temple, at the publican's feast (Luke v. 27), in a boat on the shore of the lake. When multitudes were gathered at Jerusalem at the feasts, He was among them (John vii. 14 and 37). At other times "He went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. ix. 35). And thus He revealed His intense desire to give unto men those words which He declares to be "spirit and life" (John vi. 63).

+III. From the earnest tone of her call.+ "Doth not Wisdom _cry._" When the voice of Christ was heard upon earth it was in no indifferent tone He addressed His hearers. He was "moved with compassion" towards the multitudes who followed Him (Matt. xiv. 14). On the "great day of the feast He stood and _cried_, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink" (John vii. 37). With what earnestness must He have uttered His lament over Jerusalem: "If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace" (Luke xix. 42). A man's tone is more or less earnest to us in proportion as he gives proof that he is willing to follow up words by deeds. Judged in this light, how earnest must the call of Christ to men sound when they consider that He was willing to face Gethsemane and Calvary to give effect to His words. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. i. 20, 21.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 1. She crieth by the written word, by ministers, and by the dealings of Providence. Instead of the clandestine whisper of the adulteress in the dark, Wisdom "puts forth her voice" openly in the day, and in a style suitable to every capacity, so that all are left without excuse if they reject her, preferring darkness to light.--_Fausset._

The eternal Son of God gathers, plants, builds His church by a voice _i.e.,_ His Word. All true teachers of the Word are crying voices through which Christ calls. Out of Christ's school is no true wisdom. So long as Christ's wisdom is still speaking outside thee it avails thee nothing; but when thou allowest it to dwell in thee it is thy light and life.--_Egard._

We cannot promulgate as doctrine, but we think the last day will show that wisdom plied every art; that what was, "all things working together for good" in behalf of the believer, was something analogous in tendency in the instance of the sinner; that if the sinner thought his lot defeated repentance, he was mistaken; or that, could he have fared otherwise, his chances would have been improved: all this was largely error; moreover, that he will be held accountable at last for quite the opposite, and punished for a life singularly favoured and frequently adapted as the very best to lead him to salvation.--_Miller._

In her ministers, who are criers by office, and must be earnest (Isa. lviii. 1). See an instance in holy Bradford. "I beseech you," saith he, "I pray you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, through Christ, for Christ, for His name, blood, mercy, power, and truth's sake, my most entirely beloved that you admit no doubting of God's final mercies towards you." Here was a lusty crier indeed.--_Trapp._

This form of interrogation, which expects as its answer an assenting and emphatic "yes, truly," points to the fact clearly brought to view in all that has preceded, that Wisdom bears an unceasing witness in her own behalf in the life of men.--_Zöckler._

Verse 2. "Standeth" implies assiduous perseverance. Instead of taking her stand in dark places, in a corner, like the harlot (chap. vii. 9), she "standeth" in the top of high places.--_Fausset._

Wisdom is representing as haunting all human paths. Folly lives upon them, too. Wisdom does not claim them as her own; Folly does. Wisdom has but one path. And she haunts every other to turn men out of such diverse journeyings into the one great track of holiness and truth.--_Miller._

Verse 3. Thereby intending (1) to reach the whole concourse of the lost, and (2) to make human life at these great rallying places of men, speak its own lessons, and utter the loudest warnings against the soul's impenitence.--_Miller._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 4-9.

GOD'S SPEECH MEETING MAN'S NEED.

+I. Divine Wisdom has spoken because God's silence would be human death.+ When a man is lying in prison awaiting the execution of the extreme penalty of the law, after he has petitioned the monarch for a reprieve, the silence of the monarch is a permission that the sentence is to be carried out. His silence is a death-knell to the criminal who has asked for pardon. It is an anticipation of the steel of the executioner, of the rope of the hangman. He longs for the word that would bring pardon. There is _death_ in the _silence._ In the history of men's lives there are many other instances when the silence of those whom they desire to speak embitters their life. There are many who keep silence whose speech would fall upon the heart of those who long for it, as the dew and gentle rain falls upon the parched earth. A word or a letter would be like a new lease of life, but the silence brings a sorrow which is akin to death, which perchance is the death of all that makes life to be desired. A parent who has no word from his absent son goes down in sorrow to the grave. Jacob was thus going down mourning when the words of Joseph reached him. Then "his spirit revived" (Gen. xlv. 27), and the aged, sorrowful patriarch renewed his youth. The life of man--all that is worth calling life--depends upon God's breaking the silence between earth and heaven. His silence is that which is most dreaded by those who have heard His voice. Hence their prayer is, "Be not _silent_ unto me; let, if Thou be silent unto me, I become _like them that go down into the pit_" (Psa. xxviii. 1). If a man had been left without any communication from God, he must have remained spiritually dead throughout his term of probation. For he is by nature what is called in Scripture, "carnally-minded," which "is death" (Rom. viii. 5). Every man, if left to himself, forms habits of thinking and of acting that cause him "to be tied and bound with the chain of his sins." And if God had not spoken he must have remained in this condition, which is spiritual death. Therefore, God has broken this silence with an "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead" (Ephes. v. 14). The nations were walking in the darkness and the shadow of death when the "light shined" upon them (Luke i. 79), in the person of Him who is the Word and the Wisdom of God, who, Himself, declared "_The words that I speak unto_ you, they are spirit, and they are _life;_" "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John vi. 63, x. 10).

+II. Human nature needs the voice of Divine Wisdom because the soul cannot rest upon uncertainties+ (verses 6-8). If a man is in the dark upon any subject, he is in a condition of unrest; there is a desire within him to rise from the state of probability to one of certainty. If a boy works a sum and does not know how to prove that it is right, he does not feel that satisfaction at having completed his task that he would do if he could demonstrate that the answer was correct. After all his labour he has only arrived at a may-be. So the result of all efforts of man's unaided reasonings concerning himself and his destiny was but a sum unproved. There was no certainty after ages of labourious conjecture. There might be a future life and immortality, but it could not be positively affirmed. Although the sum _might be right_ there was a possibility that it was wrong. The world by wisdom arrived at no certain conclusions in relation to the Divine character and the chief end of man, and uttered but an uncertain sound on the life beyond the grave. "How can man be just with God?" "If a man die shall he live again?" were never fully and triumphantly answered until the Incarnate Word stood by His own empty grave and said, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John xx. 17). He brought "rest" to the weary and heavy laden (Matt. xi. 28), because His words were truth, and plainness, and certainty (see verses 6-8); before they had been only error, or obscurity, or conjecture.

+III. The wisdom of God is appreciated by those who have realised its adaptation to human needs.+ (Ver. 9.) There is a twofold knowledge, or "understanding," of Divine truth, as there is of much else with which we are acquainted. There is an acquaintance with the general facts of Divine revelation--a theoretical understanding of its suitableness to the needs of men, and there is a knowledge which arises from an experience of its adaptation to our personal need--a practical understanding which springs from having received a personal benefit. The chemist knows that a certain drug possesses qualities adapted to cure a particular malady, but if he comes to experience its efficacy in the cure of the disease in his own body, he has a knowledge which far surpasses the merely theoretical. It is then "plain" to him from an experimental understanding. The wisdom of God in the abstract, or in the personal Logos, is allowed by many to be adapted to the spiritual needs of the human race. They see the philosophy of the plan of salvation in the general, but its wonderful adaptation and "rightness" is only fully revealed when they have "found" the "knowledge" by an experimental reception of Christ into their own hearts. To him that thus "understands" all is "plain."

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 4. Christ offers Himself as a Saviour to all the human race. +I. The most awakening truth in all the Bible.+ It is commonly thought that preaching the holy law is the most awakening truth in the Bible, and, indeed, I believe this is the most ordinary means which God makes use of. And yet to me there is something far more awakening in the sight of a Divine Saviour freely offering Himself to every one of the human race. . . . Does it not show that all men are lost--that a dreadful hell is before them? Would the Saviour call so loud and so long if there was no hell? +II. The most comforting truth in the Bible.+ If there were no other text in the whole Bible to encourage sinners to come freely to Christ, this one alone might persuade them. Christ speaks to the human race. Instead of writing down every name He puts all together in one word, which includes every man, woman, and child. +III. The most condemning truth in all the Bible.+ If Christ be freely offered to all men, then it is plain that those who live and die without accepting Christ shall meet with the doom of those who refuse the Son of God.--_McCheyne._

They are called to repentance, they are called to the remission of their sins; they may and must repent, and they, by repentance, are sure of pardon for all their sins. The good angels have not sinned, the bad angels cannot repent; it is _man_ that hath done the one, it is _man_ that must do the other.--_Jermin._

"O men." Some render it, "O ye eminent men," (see Critical Notes), whether for greatness of birth, wealth, or learning. But "the world by wisdom knows not God" (1 Cor. i. 21); and "not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (verse 26). And yet they shall not want for calling, if that would do it. But all to little purpose, for most part. They that lay their heads upon down pillows cannot so easily hear noises. "The sons of men," _i.e.,_ to the meaner sorts of people. These, usually, like little fishes, bite more than bigger. "The poor are gospelised," saith our Saviour. Smyrna was the poorest, but the best of the seven churches.--_Trapp._

_Several ways whereby God addresses Himself to men._ How different the method which God uses towards the _rational_ from that which He uses towards the _material_ world. In the world of matter God has not only fixed and prescribed certain laws according to which the course of nature shall proceed, but He is Himself the sole and immediate executor of those laws. . . . It is to Himself that He has set those laws, and it is by Himself that they are executed. But He does not deal so with the world of _spirits._ He does not here execute the laws of _love,_ as He does there the laws of _motion._ He contents Himself to prescribe laws, to make rational applications, to _speak_ to spirits. He speaks to them because they are _rational,_ and can understand what He says, and He does _but_ speak to them because they are _free._ And this He does in several ways. 1. _By the natural and necessary order and connection of things._ God, as being the Author of nature, is also the author of that connection that results from it between some actions and that good and evil that follows upon them, and which must therefore not be considered as mere natural consequences, but as a kind of rewards and punishments annexed to them by the Supreme Lawgiver, God having declared by them, as by a natural sanction, that 'tis His will and pleasure that those actions which are attended with good consequences should be done, and that those which are attended with evil consequences should be avoided. Not that the law has its obligation from the _sanction,_ but these natural sanctions are _signs_ and _declarations_ of the will of God. 2. _By sensible pleasure and pain._ A thing which everybody feels, but which few reflect upon, yet there is a voice of God in it. For does not God, by the frequent and daily return of these impressions, continually put us in mind of the nature and capacity of our souls, that we are thinking beings, and beings capable of happiness and misery, which because we actually feel in several degrees, and in several kinds, we may justly think ourselves capable of in more, though how far, and in what variety, it be past our comprehension exactly to define. 3. _By that inward joy which attends the good, and by that inward trouble and uneasiness which attends the bad state of the soul._ This is a matter of universal experience. It is God that raineth this pleasure or this pain in us, and that thus differently rewards or punishes the souls of men, and thus, out of His infinite love, is pleased to do the office of a private monitor to every particular man, by smiling upon him when he does well, and by frowning upon him when he does ill, that so he may have a mark to _discern,_ and an encouragement to _do_ his duty.--_John Norris._

Verse 5. A man may be acutely shrewd and yet be a fool, and that in the very highest sense. Nor is this a mere mystic sense. He must be a fool actually, and of the very plainest kind, who gives the whole labour of a life, for example, to increase his eternal agonies.--_Miller._

The _heart_ is frequently used, simply for the mind or seat of intellect as well as for the affections; so that "an understanding heart" might mean nothing different from an _intelligent_ mind. At the same time, since the state of the heart affects to such a degree the exercise of the judgment, "an understanding heart" may signify a heart freed from the influence of those corrupt affections and passions by which the understanding is perverted, and its vision marred and destroyed.--_Wardlaw._

Verse 6. The discoveries of Wisdom relate to things of the highest possible _excellence_; such as the existence, character, works, and ways of God; the soul; eternity; the way of salvation--the means of eternal life. And they are, on all subjects, "_right._" They could not, indeed, be excellent themselves, how excellent soever in dignity and importance the subjects to which they are related, unless they were "right." But all her instructions are so. They are _true_ in what regards _doctrine,_ and "holy, just, and good" in what regards _conduct_ or _duty._ There is truth without any mixture of error, and rectitude without any alloy of evil.--_Wardlaw._

Right for each man's purposes and occasions. The Scriptures are so penned that every man may think they speak of him and his affairs. In all God's commands there is so much rectitude and good reason, could we but see it, that if God did not command them, yet it were our best way to practise them.--_Trapp._

The teaching is not _trifling,_ though addressed to _triflers._ "Right things"--things which are calculated to correct your false notions, and set straight your crooked ways.--_Adam Clarke._

Verse 9. If aught in God's Word does not seem to us right, it is because we, so far, have not found true knowledge. "To those who have bloodshot eyes, white seems red" (Lyra). He who would have the sealed book opened to him must ask it of the Lamb who opens the book (Rev. v. 4-9).--_Fausset._

The first part of this verse wears very much the aspect of a _truism._ But it is not said, "They are plain to him that understandeth _them;_" but simply to him that "_understandeth._" It seems to signify, who has the understanding necessary to the apprehension of Divine truth--spiritual discernment. "He who is spiritual _discerneth all things._" "They are all plain" to him who _thus_ understandeth. It may further be observed, how very much depends, in the prosecution of any science, for correct and easy apprehension of its progressive development to the mind, on the clear comprehension of its _elementary principles._ The very clearest and plainest demonstrations, in any department of philosophy, will fail to be followed and to carry conviction--will leave the mind only in wonder and bewildering confusion, unless there is a full and correct acquaintance with principles or elements, or a willingness to apply the mind to its attainment. So in Divine science. There are, in regard to the discoveries of the Divine Word, certain primary principles, which all who are taught of God know, and which they hold as principles of explanation for all that the Word reveals. They who _are_ thus "taught of God," perceive with increasing fulness the truth, the rectitude, the unalloyed excellence of all the dictates of Divine wisdom. All is "plain"--all "right." The darkness that brooded over the mind is dissipated. They "have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things" (1 John ii. 20).--_Wardlaw._

When a man gets the knowledge of himself, then he sees all the _threatenings_ of God to be _right_. When he obtains the knowledge of God in Christ, then he finds that all the _promises_ of God are _right_--yea and amen.--_Adam Clarke._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 10, 11.

WISDOM BETTER THAN WEALTH.

+I. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth because it belongs to a higher sphere.+ The wisdom by which men succeed in finding gold and silver reveals the superiority of mind over matter. The apparatus of the miner or digger reveals that his thought, by which he is enabled to find the precious metal, is more than the metal itself. The precious stones which the merchant gains by trading are inferior to the wisdom he puts in operation to gain them, even though it is a wisdom which is only devoted to gaining money. The mental power which he puts forth shows that he is possessed of intelligence, which, belonging to the region of mind, belongs to a higher sphere than material wealth. When the wisdom is that spoken of in the text, the wisdom which springs from the very Fountain of goodness, it is not only preferable because it is the offspring of mind, but because it belongs to the higher region of spiritual purity.

+II. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because it had an existence before wealth.+ The world, with all its precious stones, and rich mines of gold and silver, is but of yesterday compared with wisdom. The mental and spiritual wealth of God was before matter; upon that wisdom--as we learn in this chapter--depended the existence of the material (vers. 22-32; chap. iii. 19, 20). Mental wealth is eternal, material wealth belongs only to time. Gold had a beginning, because the earth had a birthday, but wisdom is as old as God.

+III. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because it is an absolute necessity to man's well-being, which gold is not.+ The first man, in his state of sinlessness, had no need of what men now call wealth, but wisdom--spiritual wisdom--was absolutely necessary to his continuation in a state of blessedness. Men need worldly, intellectual wisdom, even to make money. Many who inherit wealth lose it because they lack wisdom to use it rightly. But they can be blest without wealth, but not without the wisdom which leads to holiness. Wealth may bring pleasure with it, but to do so it must be united to true wisdom. Many who roll in riches have no pleasure in them; sometimes their very wealth adds to their unhappiness. Mental wealth enables men to extract some enjoyment from material wealth, but the riches of goodness makes gold and silver a means of increasing men's happiness.

+IV. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because the latter may be destructive to character, and the former is its constructive power.+ Many men have been morally destroyed by their riches. But true wisdom is that by which a holy character is formed, the sustenance of the spiritual life. Riches may ruin; the wisdom which God gives to those who seek it at His hand can but bless.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 10. Thou canst not make as thy chief aim the acquisition of silver and that of true wisdom at one and the same time, for those aims mutually conflict, and each claims the whole man (Matt. vi. 24). To accept the one involves the rejection of the other as the chief portion. He who lives for money is void of wisdom (Luke xii. 16, 20), and is called in Scripture a "fool."--_Fausset._

Had it been said, Receive silver, who would not have held out his hand to receive it? Had it been said, Receive gold, who would not have been forward and glad with both his hands to have taken it? But it is instruction and not silver, wherein, lest a worldly heart be afraid that the taking of silver were forbidden him, the next words show the meaning, that is but instruction _rather_ than silver, as it is knowledge _rather_ than gold. . . . He that seeketh gold and silver diggeth up much earth, but finds little of them, but he that receiveth instruction and knowledge, which are, indeed, of a golden nature, even in a little shall get and find much. Wherefore Clemens Alexandrinus saith, "It is in the soul that riches are, and they alone are riches whereof the soul alone is the treasure."--_Jermin._

The first warning uttered by this wisdom from above is the repetition of a former word. The repetition is not vain. Another stroke so soon on the same place indicates that he who strikes feels a peculiar hardness there. The love of money is a root of evil against which the Bible mercifully deals many a blow. There lies one of our deepest sores. Thanks be to God for touching it with "line upon line" of His healing Word. . . . A ship bearing a hundred emigrants has been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert island, far from the tracks of men. The passengers get safe ashore with all their stores. There is no way of escape, but there are means of subsistence. An ocean unvisited by ordinary voyagers circles round their prison, but they have seed, with a rich soil to receive, and a genial climate to ripen it. Ere any plan has been laid, or any operation begun, an exploring party returns to head quarters reporting the discovery of a gold mine. Thither instantly the whole company resort to dig. They acquire and accumulate heaps of gold. The people are quickly becoming rich. But the spring is past, and not a field has been cleared, not a grain of seed has been committed to the ground. The summer comes, and their wealth increases, but the store of food is small. In harvest they begin to discover that their stores of gold are worthless. A cart-load of it cannot satisfy a hungry child. When famine stares them in the face a suspicion shoots across their fainting hearts that their gold has cheated them. They loathe the bright betrayer. They rush to the woods, fell the trees, till the ground, and sow the seed. Alas! it is too late! Winter has come, and their seed rots in the soil. They die of want in the midst of their treasures. This earth is a little isle--eternity the ocean round it. On this shore we have been cast, like shipwrecked sailors. There is a living seed; there is an auspicious spring time; the sower may eat and live. But gold mines attract us; we spend our spring there--our summer there: winter overtakes us toiling there, with heaps of hoarded dust, but destitute of the bread of life.--_Arnot._

Verse 11. First, because everything else without it is a curse, and with it just what is needed; second, because it is necessary to all beings, and even to God himself, as the spring of action; third, because it is glory and wealth in its very nature.--_Miller._

Surely he that thinketh himself adorned with precious stones, showeth himself to be of less price than the stones are. To whom Clemens well applieth that saying of Apelles, who, when one of his scholars had painted Helena set out with much gold, said unto him, "Alas, poor young man, when thou could'st not draw her fair thou hast made her rich." for so, when many have neglected the jewel of the soul they seek to prank out the body with jewels.--_Jermin._

The wisdom of goodness, or virtue. 1. _Is absolutely and without any limitation good, absolutely and without any limitation useful and desirable._ It alone can never be misapplied, can never be criminal. This we cannot pronounce of any other good. Riches may be a snare, honours a burden, even the endowments of the mind may be a snare to us. 2. _It is far more unchangeable than the value of all other goods and endowments._ The value of riches is regulated by our wants and the wants of the society in which we live. The value of honour changes according to the opinions, the usages, the political institutions of mankind. The value of sensual pleasure depends much on our constitution, age, and health. Even the value of mental endowments is subjection to vicissitudes. The value of true wisdom alone is invariably the same. 3. _It is much more independent of station than any other good._ Riches would cease to be riches if all men lived in abundance. Honour would lose much of its value if it gave us no precedence over others. A great proportion of the value of sensual and mental pleasures would be reduced to nothing if every man possessed them, and each in the same degree. But no man loses anything if another be virtuous likewise, but if all were virtuous all would infinitely profit thereby. 4. _It has a pre-eminent value, by the effects it produces in us._ It renders us: (1) much better, (2) more useful, (3) more happy. 5. _It alone fits us for a better life._ It passes for as much in heaven as it does upon earth, and much more. It alone assimilates us with God. What we call riches, power, and knowledge, are poverty, weakness, and darkness, with Him.--_Zollikofer._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12, 13.

WISDOM AND PRUDENCE.

+I. Wisdom and prudence are here represented as dwelling together in express unity of action.+ Elster remarks upon this passage: "Prudence denotes here right knowledge in special cases, in contrast with the more comprehensive idea of intelligence in general; the practical realisation of the higher principle of knowledge found in wisdom." Prudence is as necessary to wisdom, as the hand is to the will. Prudence asks what is the best time, the best place, and the best manner in which to carry out what wisdom has designed. It has therefore been defined as "wisdom applied to practice." Wisdom decrees that a certain word is to be spoken. Prudence decides upon the best time, place, and manner in which to say it. Prudence must always dwell with wisdom, if the designs of a wise man are to be brought to a successful issue. In all God's plans both are always in operation. Consider their manifestation in the plan of redemption. The wisdom of God is manifested in the conception of plan. His prudence was shown in the choice of the _time,_ _place,_ and _manner_ of the manifestation. 1. The _time_ was "the fulness of time" (Gal. iv. 4), when all the streams of human wisdom and greatness which had been flowing through the world for ages, had converged into one head and were seen to be powerless to accomplish the regeneration of the world. Then "God sent forth His Son." 2. The _place_ of the manifestation. When the wisdom of a commander has decided that a battle must be fought, his prudence is called in to decide where it must take place, where all lawful advantage will be upon his side. Our world was chosen by Divine prudence as the scene of the battle between the powers of Good and Evil because, seeing that here the human race had been most shamefully defeated by the devil, it was most fitting that here the Prince of Darkness should be defeated by One in human form--that the victory should be won where the defeat had been sustained. 3. _The manner in which, or the means by which, man's redemption was accomplished._ The life of the Incarnate Son of God was adapted to influence the hearts of men. His death for their sins was calculated as probably no other event could have been, to beget within them a love which is powerful enough to make them new creatures. The fact that millions of men and women have been thus born to a new life through the cross of Christ is a revelation of its adaptation to human needs, and a manifestation that Divine wisdom dwelt with Divine prudence in the plan of redemption; that in this, as in all His other workings, there is no exhibition of "sagacious counsels" (see Critical Notes).

+II. Divine wisdom and prudence act in union for the promotion of moral ends+ (verse 13). There is a wisdom and prudence which do not act in concert for this purpose, but for the very opposite. There is a manifestation of prudence choosing the best time, place, and method in which to work out an evil design. The plan of the tempter to ruin our first parents was a great display of united wisdom and prudence. The _time,_ the _place,_ the _means_ chosen were all calculated to effect the purpose. But the wisdom and prudence of God unite to put down sin, to banish its evil influence from the universe. As we see the combination of wisdom and prudence in the Father's plan of redemption, so we see them combined in every act and word of the Son of God while He was manifest in the flesh. The means He used to silence His enemies, to instruct His disciples, to enlighten the ignorant multitude, were all revelations of His Divine wisdom and prudence.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 12. That is, this spiritual light, which the very first proverb (ch. i. 2, 3) says is holiness; takes possession of any _intellect; dwells in it;_ nay, _makes a dwelling in it;_ for holiness can dwell in nothing else; and that intellect, though it may be the very mind of God, is stirred up by nothing else to _do_ all that is grand in its total history (verses 22-30). Satan, with such splendid intellect, what is he but the universe's insanest fool? He toils for worse wages than anybody in the whole creation. But could wisdom get a lodging in that peerless intellect, what different results! She gets a lodging in our earthly faculties, and turns us about from sowing to our death, to a splendid harvest of eternal favour.--_Miller._

Wisdom, in the most comprehensive aspect, is to be regarded as giving origin to all arts and sciences, by which human life is improved and adorned; as by her inventive skill developing all the varied appliances for the external comfort and well-being of mankind; as planning the "wondrous frame" of universal creation, which, with all its varied beauty, fills us, in the view with astonishment and delight; and conceiving, in the depths of eternity, the glorious scheme--a scheme "dark with brightness all along"--which secures the happiness of man for ever, and in which she appears in her noblest and most attractive display, the whole, from first to last, discovering "the manifold wisdom of God."--_Wardlaw._

In the first address of Wisdom (ch. i. 22-33), her words were stern and terrible. The first step in the Divine education is to proclaim "the terrors of the Lord," but here she neither promises nor threatens, but, as if lost in contemplation, speaks of her own excellence. "Prudence." The subtilty of the serpent, in itself neutral, but capable of being turned to good as well as evil. Wisdom, high and lofty, occupied with things heavenly and eternal, does not exclude, yea, rather, "dwells with" the practical tact and insight needed for the common life of men.--_Plumptre._

Wisdom here beginneth to draw her own picture, and with her own pencil. . . . The force of the verse is, that Wisdom is there where there is a fitness of worth to entertain her.--_Jermin._

I draw all into practice, and teach man to prove by their own experience, what is "that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God" (Rom. xii. 2).--_Trapp._

All arts among men are the rays of Divine wisdom falling upon them. Whatsoever wisdom there is in the world, it is but a shadow of the wisdom of God.--_Charnock._

Prudence is defined, _wisdom applied to practice;_ so, wherever true wisdom is, it will lead to action. . . . The farther wisdom proceeds in man the more practical knowledge it gains, and, finding out the nature and properties of things, and the general course of Providence, it can contrive by new combinations to produce new results.--_Adam Clarke._