Chapter VIII (2)

Verse 13. To fear retribution is not to hate sin. In most cases it is to love it with the whole heart. It is a solemn suggestion that even the _religion_ of dark, unrenewed men is in its essence a love of their own sins. Instead of hating sin themselves, their grand regret is, that God hates it. If they could be convinced that the Judge would regard it as lightly as the culprit, the fear would collapse like steam under cold water, and all the religious machinery which it drove would stand still.--_Arnot._

The godly avoid evil and do good--not merely from habit, education, the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment, but from hatred of evil and love of goodness.--_Cartwright._

The affection of hatred as having sin for its object is spoken of in Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion. It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished.--_Jon. Edwards._

Wisdom having shown where she dwelleth, she showeth likewise where she dwelleth not. . . . He that saith, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil," is Himself the Lord that hateth evil. And, doubtless, every one should hate that which He hateth, whom all must love. Now, in an evil way, there be some ringleaders, and such are "pride, arrogancy, and the froward mouth," for these draw many other after them. . . . And as for the Eternal Wisdom, how much He hateth them, His little regard of Himself showeth plainly and fully. For it was His hatred of Satan's pride, reigning in wickedness, as well as His love to man captivated by it, that made Him to become man; yea, a worm, and no man, and by His humility to destroy pride, which He so greatly hated.--_Jermin._

It is not only Divine _holiness,_ observe, that "hates evil," it is Divine _wisdom._ This conveys to us the important lesson that the will of God, along with his abhorrence of all that is opposed it, is founded in the _best of reasons._ All that is evil is contrary to His own necessary perfection, and, consequently, to "the eternal fitness of things."--_Wardlaw._

As it is impossible to hate evil without loving good; and as hatred to evil will lead a man to abandon the evil way, and love to goodness will lead him to do what is right in the sight of God, under the influence of that Spirit which has given the hatred to evil, and the love to goodness; this implies the sum and substance of true religion, which is here termed the fear of the Lord.--_Adam Clarke._

God's people partake of the Divine nature, and so have God-like sympathies and antipathies (Rev. ii. 6). They not only leave sin, but loathe it, and are at deadly feud with it. They purge themselves--by this clean fear of God (Psa. xix. 7)--from all pollutions, not of flesh only, worldly lusts, and gross evils, but of spirit also, that lie more up in the heart of the country, as pride, arrogancy, etc.--_Trapp._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 14-16.

THE SOURCE OF TRUE POWER.

+I. Moral wisdom is the strength of kings.+ "I have strength; by me kings rule." There is a kind of strength in all wisdom. The serpent's strength is in his subtlety. The strength of the kingdom of darkness consists in a kind of wisdom of which our Lord speaks, when He says, "The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light" (Luke xvi. 8). Many kingdoms have been founded and governed upon the basis of merely human sagacity. But in all such government there are elements of weakness. The foundation of all lasting, true government is to be found only in moral wisdom, in other words, in holiness. That king or ruler will in the long-run have the firmest hold upon his subjects who is himself ruled by Divine wisdom. His strength will be found in the fact, that he rules himself before he attempts to rule others. His personal character will be his chief strength. Christ Himself is strong to rule, because He is pre-eminently the "Holy One."

+II. Without moral wisdom there can be no righteous government.+ "By me princes decree justice." A man's laws will be the outcome of his character. He will not make righteous laws unless he has himself submitted to moral rule. We are assured that all God's decrees in relation to all His creatures are righteous, because we know Him to be altogether righteous. He was been declared by Him who knows Him best to be the "righteous Father" (John xvii. 25), therefore we know that only righteous laws can be decreed by Him. And it is only in proportion as rulers are influenced by Him, and partake of His character, that they rule in righteousness.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 14. Wisdom's life is a thing of system. It has an assured result. It is the card-building of the spirit. One card supports another. It builds out with a declared dependence to the very end.--_Miller._

The Son of God is a counsellor, as Isaiah calleth Him; for He is both of the privy council of His Father, and the adviser of His Church. Moreover, He hath strength in Him, being the arm of God to conquer sin, with hell and Satan, and is able to do whatsoever He will. Substance (sound wisdom, see Critical Notes), or the being of things, is likewise His, for He causeth all creatures to be and subsist.--_Muffet._

Direction how to act in all circumstances and on all occasions must come from wisdom: the foolish man can give no counsel, cannot show another how he is to act in the various changes and chances of life. The wise man alone can give this counsel, and he can give it only as continually receiving instruction from God: for this Divine Wisdom can say, substance, reality, essence, (see Critical Notes on Sound Wisdom), all belong to me: I am the fountain whence all are derived. Man may be wise, and good, and prudent, and ingenious; but these he derives from me, and they are _dependently_ in him. But in me all these are independently and essentially inherent.--_Adam Clarke._

Many things are done, but not having _counsel_ for the foundation of them, are weak and rotten and fall again to nothing. Many have _understanding_ what is to be done, and how to do it, but have not _strength_ to effect it: again many have _strength_ of effecting, but have not _understanding_ how to go about it. But the eternal wisdom hath all. It is no strength which by His strength is not supported, no understanding which by His understanding is not enlightened, no counsel which by His counsel is not guided.--_Jermin._

"Knowledge is power," and knowledge in union with wisdom--the ability to use knowledge aright--multiplies the power. In proportion as there is "understanding" and "wisdom," is there "strength"--moral and spiritual strength--strength to act and to suffer, to _do_ and to _bear._--_Wardlaw._

Verses 15, 16. The chief monarchs of the world come unto their sceptres by the power and permission of the Son of God. Lawgivers and counsellors, by His direction and inspiration, give advice and invent politic laws. Inferior rulers keep their places, countenance, and authority by His assistance, whereunto they also rise by His secret disposing of matters. Finally, judges and justices who used to keep courts and sit on benches, do by Him, from Him, and for Him, pronounce sentence, handle matters of state, execute laws, and finally determine all cases.--_Muffet._

Here is a Divine prophecy concerning Him who said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. xxiii. 18), and who has "on His head many crowns" (Rev. xix. 12), and "on his vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords" (Rev. xix. 16), and of whom it is written, "that by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" (Col. i. 16, 17).--_Wordsworth._

Kings are kings only as they are wise, that is, wise in the sense of holiness. It does not mean holiness as altogether distinct from virtue, but holiness as that moral right which belongs to all ranks of moral intelligences. The virtue that belongs to God, and the virtue that belongs to Gabriel, and the virtue that remains in man, and the virtue that is wrecked in hell, are not all different qualities of moral right, but are all identically the same. One moral quality inheres in all. Government being a moral work, the man that governs must have a moral heart. And, as there are no two sorts of virtue, he truly exercises his kingship just in proportion as he is holy, _i.e.,_ in the language of this inspired book, just in proportion as he is spiritually wise.--_Miller._

Every kingdom is a province of the universal empire of the "King of Kings." Men may mix their own pride, folly, and self-will with this appointment. But God's providential counter-working preserves the substantial blessing.--_Bridges._

This language may be considered as implying 1. That human government, in all its branches, is the appointment of Divine wisdom. 2. That all who sustain positions of authority and power should set habitually under the influence of Divine wisdom. 3. That no authority can be rightly exercised, and no judicial process successfully carried out, without the direction of Wisdom. 4. That Divine wisdom exercises control over all human agents in the administration of public affairs.--_Wardlaw._

"By me kings reign," not as if men did behold that book, and accordingly frame their laws, but because it worketh in them when the laws which they make are righteous.--_Hooker._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 17-21.

THE REWARD OF EARNEST SEEKERS.

+I. The mutual love which exists between Wisdom and her children.+ There is always a mutual love between a true teacher and a diligent, receptive pupil, and the love on each side has a reflex influence on both master and pupil, and renders it more pleasant to teach, and more easy to learn. When a child loves his parent, and the parent is teaching the child, love oils the wheels of the intellectual powers, and furnishes a motive power to conquer the lesson. And when the parent feels that he is loved by his child and pupil, the love is a present reward. There is such a love between Christ and His disciples. Peter appealed to Christ's consciousness of being loved by him when he said, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee" (John xxi. 17). And Christ loves His pupils. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you" (John xv. 9, 13). This mutual love imparts patience on the one side and perseverance on the other. It was Christ's "first love to us" that gave Him patience to "endure the cross and despise the shame" (Heb. xii. 2). And it is the responsive love of the disciple that enables Him to endure unto the end. It is the love that is born of the consciousness of being loved that stirs up to the _diligent seeking_ of the latter clause of the verse, which expresses--

+II. A certain success to the seekers of wisdom.+ In Holy Scripture earnest seeking and finding are complements of each other. The one does not exist without the other. Seeking ensures finding. Finding implies seeking. "If any man lack _wisdom,_ let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not" (Jas. i. 5). God's promise is absolute. It can only fail on one of three suppositions. 1. That when God made the promise He had no intention of keeping it, or--2. That unforeseen circumstances have since arisen which render Him unable to fulfil His word, or--3. That the conditions have not been fulfilled on the part of the seeker. We know that God's holiness and omnipotence render the first two impossible, and therefore, whenever there is no finding, we are certain that there has been no real, earnest seeking. For the promise is limited by the condition, "they that seek me early, or earnestly." If a traveller has a long journey to perform and many difficulties to overcome in the way, he shows his determination to arrive safely at his destination by setting out at early dawn. Those who are anxious to make a name, or a fortune, show their anxiety by rising early and sitting up late. There are degrees of earnestness in seekers after Divine wisdom as in all other seekers. But those whose seeking is the most earnest will receive the most abundant reward. The Syro-Phœnician woman who besought Christ to heal her daughter was a type of earnest seekers. She redoubled her efforts as the apparent difficulties increased. She _asked,_ she _sought,_ she _knocked._ And she received not only what she sought, but a commendation from the Lord for her earnest seeking (Matt. xv. 28).

+III. What those find who find God.+ The reward promised to those who seek God is God Himself. In finding Him they find 1. _The lasting riches of righteousness_ (vers. 18, 19). This a wealth which will _last._ However great the satisfaction, however many the blessings which may flow from the riches of the earth, "passing away" is written upon all. Yea, long before the end of life the riches may "make themselves wings" (chap. xxiii. 5). Among many other qualities that make moral wealth incomparably superior to material wealth, not the least is its _durability._ (See on vers. 10, 11; also chap. iii. 15, 16.) 2. _Guidance,_ ver. 20. (See on chap. iii. 6, etc.) 3. _Reality in opposition to shadow,_ ver. 21. The hungry man who dreams that he is feasting experiences a kind of pleasure. But the feast is only in vision. There is no power in it to appease his hunger, or nourish his frame. But, if on awaking, he finds a table really spread with food, he then has the substance of that of which in his dreams he had only the shadow. Worldly men walk, the Psalmist tells us, in a "vain show," _i.e.,_ in an "image," an "unreality" (Psa. xxxix. 6). "They walk," says Spurgeon on this verse, "as if the mocking images were substantial, like travellers in a mirage, soon to be filled with disappointment and despair." There are many who dream that they are being satisfied while they are morally asleep. But by and by they awake and find that they have been feeding on visions of the night, that they have been spending their money for "that which was not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not" (Isa. lv. 2). To all who are conscious of this soul-hunger, eternal wisdom here offers substantial heart satisfaction, "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 17. The philosopher could say, that if moral virtue could be seen with mortal eyes, she would stir up wonderful loves of herself in the hearts of the beholders. How much more, then, would "the wisdom of God in a mystery!" (1 Cor. ii. 7), that essential wisdom of God especially, the Lord Jesus, who is "altogether lovely," "the desire of all nations." "My love was crucified," said Ignatius, who "loved not His life unto the death" (Rev. xii. 11). Neither was there any love lost, or can be, for "I love them that love me." Men do not always reciprocate, or return love for love. David lost his love upon Absalom; Paul upon the Corinthians; but here is no such danger.--_Trapp._

+The characters whom Christ loves.+ _Christ loves those who love Him._ (1) _Because He has done and suffered so much for their salvation._ We naturally prize any object in proportion to the labour and expense which it cost us to obtain it. How highly, then, must Christ prize, how ineffably must He love His people. For this, among other reasons, His love for them must be greater in degree, and of a different kind from that which He entertains for the angels of light. (2) _Because they are united to Him by strong and indissoluble ties._ The expressions used to describe this union are the strongest that language can afford. The people of Christ are not only His brethren, His sisters, His bride, but His members, His body, and He consequently loves them as we love our members, as our souls love our bodies. (3) _Because they possess His Spirit, and bear His image._ Similarity of character tends to produce affection, and hence every being in the universe loves his own image when he discovers it. Especially does Christ love His own image in His creatures, because it essentially consists in holiness, which is of all things most pleasing to His Father and Himself. (4) _Because they rejoice in and return His affection._ It is the natural tendency of love to produce and increase love. Even those whom we have long loved become incomparably more dear when they begin to prize our love and to return it. If Christ so loved His people before they existed, and even while they were His enemies, as to lay down His life for their redemption, how inexpressibly dear must they be to Him after they become His friends.--_Payson._

Seeking wisdom early implies 1. That it engages our first concern and endeavour, while matters of an inferior consideration are postponed. 2. The constant use of the proper means to obtain it. If we see one continually practising any art, we judge that it is his intention to be master of it. 3. The using them with spirt and vigour. The superficial and spiritless performance of duty is as faulty as the total omission.--_Abernathy._

All fancy that they love God. But those who either do not seek God at all, or seek Him coldly, whilst they eagerly seek the vanities of the world, make it plain that they are led by the love of the world more than by the love of God.--_Fausset._

It is His love to us that makes us to love Him; and, doubtless, He that loves us so as to make us to love Him, cannot but love us when we do love Him.--_Jermin._

Seek early, as the Israelites went early in the morning to seek for manna (Exod. xvi. 21), and as students rise early in the morning and sit close to it to get knowledge. To seek the Lord early is to seek the Lord (1) _firstly;_ (2) _opportunely._ There is a season wherein God may be found (Isa. lv. 6), and if you let this season slip, you may seek and miss Him. (3) _Affectionately, earnestly_ (Isa. xxvi. 6). That prayer that sets the whole man a-work will work wonders in Heaven, in the heart, and in the earth. Earnest prayer, like Saul's sword and Jonathan's bow, never returns empty.--_Brooks._

Verse 18. Spiritual riches are durable. 1. Because they are gotten without wronging any man. Temporal riches are often gotten by fraud and violence, and, therefore, are not lasting. The parties wronged use all means to recover their own, and God punishes unjust persons. Spiritual riches no man can challenge from us. 2. They are everlasting riches, and therefore durable. That must needs last long which lasts ever. These are true, not transitory riches, which often change their masters. They will swim out of the sea of this world with us, out of the shipwreck of death. Neither fire nor sword can take them from us.--_Francis Taylor._

In the matters of rank and riches, the two strong cords by which the ambitious are led, the two reciprocally supporting rails on which the train of ambition ever runs,--even in these matters, that seem the peculiar province of an earthly crown, the Prince of Peace comes forth with long challenge and conspicuous rivalry. Titles of honour! their real glory depends on the height and purity of the foundation whence they flow. They have often been the gift of profligate princes, and the rewards of successful crime. And the best the fountain is low and muddy: the streams, if looked at in the light of day, are tinged and sluggish. Thus saith the Lord, "Honour is with me." He who saith it is the King of Glory. To be adopted into the family of God,--to be the son or daughter of the Lord Almighty,--this is honour. High born! We are all low-born until we are _born_ again, and then we are the children of a King.--_Arnot._

Verse 20. Christ guides infallibly by--1. _His Word._ It is all truth. 2. _His Spirit._ Men mistake and think they are guided by God's Spirit when they are guided by their own, or by a worse spirit. But certainly when Christ's Spirit guides He guides aright. 3. _His example._ All other men have their failings, and must be followed no further than they follow Christ. He is the original copy; others are but blurred abstracts.--_Francis Taylor._

"I lead in the way of righteousness," which is to say, I got not my wealth by right and wrong, by wrench and wiles. My riches are not the riches of unrighteousness, the "mammon of iniquity" (Luke xvi. 9); but are honestly come by, and are therefore like to be "durable" (ver. 18). St. Jerome somewhere saith, that most rich men are either themselves bad men or the heirs of those that have been bad. It is reported of Nevessan, the lawyer, that he should say, "He that will not venture his body shall never be valiant; he that will not venture his soul never rich." But Wisdom's walk lies not any such way. God forbid, saith she, that I, or any of mine, should take of Satan, "from a thread even to a shoelatchet, lest he should say, I have made you rich" (Gen. xiv. 23).--_Trapp._

Verse 21. The great "I AM" (Exod. iii. 14) is the only substantial reality to satisfy the disciples of Wisdom.--_Fausset._

The followers of Christ shall be no losers by Him. They shall not inherit the wind, nor possess for their portion those unsubstantial things, of which it is said, _they are not_ (chap. xxiii. 5), because they are not the true riches. It is not for want of riches to bestow, nor for want of love to His people, that He does not bestow upon every one of them crowns of gold and mines of precious metals.--_Lawson._

Here is no yawning vacuum, but a grand object to give interest to life, to fill up every vacancy in the heart--perfect happiness. All that we could add from the world would only make us poorer, by diminishing that enjoyment of God for the loss of which there is no compensation. There is one point--only one--in the universe where we can look up and cry with the saintly Martyn, "With Thee there is no disappointment."--_Bridges._

"I will fill their treasures." This is a great promise. It is made in a kingly style. There is no limit. It will take much to fill these treasures, for the capacity of the human spirit is very large. God moulded man after His own image, and when the creature is empty, nothing short of His Maker will fill him again. Although a man should gain the whole world, his appetite should not be perceptibly diminished. The void would be as great and the craving as keen as ever. Handfuls are gotten on the ground, but a soulful is not to be had except in Christ. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete (_i.e.,_ full) in Him."--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 22-31.

THE PERSONAL WISDOM OF GOD.

+I. The antiquity of the Personal Wisdom of God.+ Wisdom in the abstract must have existed before the creation of the world, because the world bears marks of wisdom. There must have been in Solomon the wisdom to design the temple before it took the form of beauty which made it so famous. There is skill hidden in the artist's mind before it is manifested upon his canvas--the very existence of the picture proves the pre-existent skill. The world is a temple of large proportions, the beauty of which man can but copy afar off, and its existence proves the pre-existence of wisdom resident in a pre-existent person. As the world bears evident marks of great antiquity it proclaims an All-wise Cause which must necessarily be older still. There is no person known to the human race who claimed to have an existence before the world except Jesus Christ. He claimed--and it is claimed for Him by those who bore witness to Him--to have been before the world was, and to have been conscious of His divinity before the foundation of the world. He claims to have been possessor of "a glory with the Father before the world was" (John xvii. 5), a glory which included intellectual and moral wisdom. And the claim of His apostle concerning the pre-existence of the "Word of God" is most unmistakable (John i. 3). The existence of other and inferior "sons of God" before the creation of this world is implied in Scripture (Job. xxxviii. 7), but we have no direct revelation concerning them. We feel that we could not apply to them, or to any creature, the words of the text, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way," etc. But, in the light of the New Testament revelation, if we give them a personal application, we must apply them to the Son of God, the Eternal Word, and to Him alone. The words point to an existence _distinct from_ God. "I was by Him," and "I was with Him." And yet the intimate relationship and fellowship described does not express _inferiority,_ but finds its fulfilment only in Him who not only "was in the beginning with God," but who "was God." (On this subject see note.)

+II. The Personal Wisdom of God the delight of the Eternal Father.+ "I was daily His delight" (verse 30). (1) Likeness in character is a foundation of delight. A man who is godly delights to see his own godly character reflected in his son. The recognition of moral likeness in the uncreated Son gave delight to the Eternal Father. Nothing gives God so much joy as _goodness_. Hence His joy in His only-begotten Son. (2) Equality of nature is a source of delight to the good and true. Fellowship with an equal gives joy. Christ, when on earth, ever claimed this equality with the Father. He claimed an _eternity of being._ "Before Abraham was, I am" (Exod. iii. 14; John viii. 58). _Omniscience_ is claimed for Him, and He gave evidence that He possessed it. "He knew what was in man" (John ii. 25). "And Jesus knowing their thoughts," etc. (Matt. ix. 4). _Divine energy._ "My Father worketh hitherto and I work" (John v. 17). _Independent existence._ "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself" (John v. 26). _Holiness._ "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" (John viii. 46). _Almighty power._ "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. xxviii. 18). In the eternal ages, before the creation of the world, the Father looked upon this "brightness of His glory and express image of His person" (Heb. i. 3), and this Divine Equal gave joy to the uncreated God (Isa. xlii. 1).

+III. The delight of the Personal Wisdom of God in the creation of the home of man.+ "Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth" (verse 31). The artist has joy in the thought of his completed work while it is in progress. He joys in that which _is not_ as yet in outward form, but which _is,_ in the completeness within his mind. The architect, who sees day by day the building being reared which he knows will be the wonder of coming ages and the means of yielding comfort to thousands, rejoices in the thought of the blessing that is to come out of his work. He experiences an emotion, with which a stranger cannot intermeddle (Prov. xiv. 10). And so Eternal Wisdom is here represented as regarding the future home of man. He saw its adaptability to the wants of the creatures who were to inhabit it--its inexhaustible resources for the supply of all man's physical and many of his intellectual wants, and the thought of the missions to whose happiness the earth's riches and beauties would minister throughout the ages gave Him joy. The best natures among human-kind delight when they are able to produce what will increase the happiness of their fellow-creatures. The poet rejoices when he feels that his thought will cheer the hearts of other men. The inventor is glad when he has made a discovery which he knows will be a boon to his race. And so the Eternal Wisdom of God looked with joy upon the earth which He had called into being for the habitation of the race whom He was about to create. The joy that would be theirs gave Him joy when He looked upon creation with their eyes.

+IV. The special delight of Personal Wisdom in man himself.+ "My delights were with the sons of men." 1. _His delight in man would arise from the fact that he was a creature different from all pre-existing creatures._ Man is a link between mind and matter. He is a compound of the animal and the angel, of the dust of the earth and the breath of God. The material creation was called into being before man. The angelic and spiritual creatures existed before man. Man was, as it were, the clasp which united the two, and his unique character, we may well believe, made him a special object of interest to his Creator. New combinations give joy to those who, by combining forces, or material, or thoughts for the first time, bring about a new thing in the earth. They create a power or an idea which would not have existed if these elements had remained separate. Man, as he came originally from the hand of God, was such a perfectly balanced compound of mind and matter, of body and spirit, that his Creator had joy in the contemplation of His work, and declared it to be "very good" (Gen. i. 31). If we apply the words of the text to the second person of the Godhead, we know, from Scripture testimony, that He was the Creator of man, for "without Him was not anything made that was made." He is as rich in invention as He is in goodness. 2. _The delight of Christ would be especially with men, because in His own nature God and man would meet in an eternal combination._ The commander who can pluck victory out of the jaws of defeat, by the combination of certain forces not yet brought upon the field with others which have been already defeated, is allowed to give evidence of the highest military skill. The statesman who, anticipating the defeat of one measure, reserved another method of tactics in the background which he knew would ensure an ultimate success, and who used the very means by which he had been defeated as a lever to establish a better law and a more lasting benefit, would be considered to display ability of the first degree, and to be a benefactor of his race. And the contemplation of such a victory beforehand must be an occupation of the deepest interest to the mind which originates the plan and carries it into action. Christ is, beyond all comparison, the leader of men. He saw beforehand that human nature would be defeated in its first conflict with evil. He knew that Satan would enter in and spoil this new principality of God. But He had already made preparation for this defeat, and He purposed, by means of the very human nature which would be thus defeated, in combination with His own divinity, to spoil the spoiler and lead captivity captive. By the eternal union of His own nature with the human He purposed to place man on a firmer standing ground, and gain for him the power of an endless life. Christ becoming the head of the race has defeated sin in the human nature that was itself defeated, and the grace which He has thus imparted to man has lifted him to a higher level than that in which he was created. And if the first edition of man, which was "of the earth, earthy" (1 Cor. xv. 47), gave joy to his Creator, how much more must He have rejoiced in the prospect of that second edition which was to be made after His own likeness, and to be the reward of "the travail of His soul" (Isa. liii. 11), although even then He knew at what a cost this work would be accomplished (1 Pet. i. 20).

NOTE ON THE RELATION OF THE SON OF GOD TO THE FATHER. (Verses 22-30, John i. 1). On this subject Dr. John Brown says, "That the Son is essentially and eternally related to the Father, in some real sense, as Father and Son; but that while _distinct_ in person (for 'the Word was with God'), He is neither _posterior_ to Him in time (for 'in the beginning was the Word'), nor _inferior_ to Him in nature (for 'the Word was God'), nor _separate_ from Him in being (for 'the same was in the beginning with God'), but _One Godhead_ with the Father;" this would seem to come as near to the full testimony of Scripture on this mysterious subject as can be reached by our finite understanding, without darkening counsel with words without knowledge.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 22. "The beginning of His way" evidently means the commencement of creation, when Jehovah set out in His course of creative and consequently of providential manifestation of His eternal perfections. _When_ this was we cannot tell. We may know the age of our own world, at least according to its present constitution. But _when_ the universe was brought into being, and whether by one omnipotent _fiat,_ or at successive and widely varying periods, it is beyond our power to ascertain. One thing we know for a certainly revealed fact, that there were angelic creatures in existence previous to the reduction of our globe to order and to the creation of man upon it. These holy intelligences contemplated the six days of work of Divine wisdom and power in this part of the universe with benevolent transport. "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." How many other creatures, and of what descriptions--how many other worlds, and how peopled, might have existed before man and his earthly residence we are unable to affirm. When men, indeed, begin to talk of its being absurd to suppose the universe so recent as to have been only coeval with our own globe, or our own system, they forget themselves. They do not speak considerately nor philosophically. There is no lapse of ages or any point of measurement in eternity. . . . Beginning is as inconsistent with the idea of eternity as termination is. Go as far back as imagination, or as numbers heaped on numbers, can carry you, there still remains the previous eternity, during which our speculative and presumptuous minds may wonder that Divine power had not been put forth.--_Wardlaw._

Verse 23. It was in the last times, that the Eternal Wisdom was set forth unto us, but it was _from everlasting,_ that He was set up to be a king over us. It was in the fulness of time that He offered Himself for us, but it was from the beginning that He was anointed to be priest unto us. It was upon the earth that His gracious lips taught us, but it was before the earth was that He was ordained to be a prophet for us. It is in Him that all are chosen who come unto eternity, and He Himself was chosen from eternity. From everlasting he was set up our King, to set us up an everlasting kingdom. From the beginning was He anointed our priest, to anoint us in a priesthood that shall never end. Before the earth was, He was ordained our prophet, to order our feet in that way which shall bring us from earth to heaven; He was chosen that we might be the chosen people of God.--_Jermin._

Verse 24. The order of creation corresponds to that which we find in Genesis i. Still more striking is the resemblance with the thoughts and language of the book of Job, chap. xxii., xxvi., xxxviii. A world of waters, "great deeps" lying in darkness--this was the picture of the remotest time of which man could form any conception, and yet the co-existence of the uncreated wisdom with the eternal Jehovah was before that.--_Plumptre._

At the period referred to here, creation was not yet actually framed and executed, it was only framed and planned; the whole being at once, in all its magnificence and in all its minuteness, before the eye of the omniscient mind, in its almost _infinite_ complexity, extent, and variety, yet without the slightest approach to confusion! All there, in one vast and complicated, yet simple idea!--_Wardlaw._

Verse 27. God's "setting a compass upon the face of the deep" seems to refer to His circumscribing the earth when in its fluid state, assigning to it its spherical form, and fixing the laws by which that form should be constantly maintained. I think it probable that this refers to the earth in the state in which it is described previous to the beginning of the six days' work, by which it was reduced to order, and fitted for and stocked with inhabitants. How was the fluid element held together in the spherical form? The answer is, God "set a compass upon the face of the deep, saying, This be thy just circumference, O World!" By the power of gravitation, affecting every particle, drawing it to the common centre, the equilibrium was maintained, the globular form effected and kept; which may here be meant by the poetical conception of sweeping a circle from the centre, and defining the spherical limits of the world of waters.--_Wardlaw._

Verse 29. Though great be the noise of the roaring of the sea, great the inconstancy of the tumbling waves, great the looseness of the flowing waters; yet the voice of God's decree is easily heard by them, constant is their obedience unto God's commandment, firmly do they keep the bounds of His law. But in the noise of our disorders, little is God's Word heard by us, in the lightness of our hearts, much is the will of God slighted, in the looseness of our lives every way doth a careless regard of God's law spread itself, which could not but drown us in a sea of God's wrath, did not He who was when the bounds of the sea were decreed, purchase by the red sea of His blood a gracious pardon for us. . . . Fitly is God said to appoint the foundations of the earth only; for that alone founded the whole earth, no more was needful for it. But how little doth God's appointment prevail with man, a little piece of earth. How often are God's purposes in the means of salvation disappointed by him. To lay firm the foundations of grace in man's heart, the Eternal Wisdom, who was when the foundations of the earth were appointed, came down from Heaven, and here was pleased to work out His life thereby to accomplish the work of our redemption. And shall not this, then, make us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling?--_Jermin._

Verse 30. To Wisdom the work was no laborious task. She "sported," as it were, in the exuberance of her strength and might.--_Plumptre._

Verse 31. What was it that here attracted His interest? Man had been created in the image of God--free to stand or fall. This freedom was the perfection of his nature. His fall was permitted as the mysterious means of his higher elevation. His ruin was overruled for his greater security. This _habitable earth_ was to be the grand theatre of the work that should fill the whole creation with wonder and joy. Here the serpent's head was to be visibly bruised, the kingdom of Satan to be destroyed, "precious spoil to be divided with the strong" (Isa. liii. 12). Here was the Church to be framed, as the manifestation of His glory, the mirror of His Divine perfections (Ephes. iii. 10, 21). Considering the infinite cost at which He was to accomplish this work, the wonder is that He should have _endured_ it; a greater wonder that, ere one atom of the creation was formed--ere the first blossom had been put forth in Paradise, he should have _rejoiced_ in it.--_Bridges._

Of all earthly creatures, Christ delights most in men. 1. Because man is the chief of God's creatures upon earth, made after God's image, and for whom all the rest were made. 2. Because He took on Him the nature of men, and not of angels (Heb. ii. 16). 3. He conversed most familiarly with men when He was incarnate. Men only had reason and wisdom to delight in Christ's company, and to give Him occasion to delight in theirs. 4. Because He gave His life for them, that they might live with Him for ever. It seems, then, that He took great delight in them, and means to do so for ever.--_Francis Taylor._

Did our Saviour, before His incarnation, rejoice in the habitable parts of the earth, and delight in visiting and blessing the sons of men? Then we may be certain that He still does so; for He is, yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the same. Still, He prefers earth to heaven; still, His chief delights are with the sons of men; and while, as man, He intercedes for them in Heaven, He still, as God, visits our world, to meet with and bless His people. . . . And how great will be our Saviour's happiness after the final consummation of all things! . . . If He loved, and rejoiced, and delighted in them before they knew and loved Him, how will He love and rejoice in them, when He sees them surrounding His throne, perfectly resembling Himself in body and soul, loving Him with unutterable love, contemplating Him with ineffable delight, and praising Him as their deliverer from sin, and death, and hell, as the author of all their everlasting glory and felicity.--_Payson._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 32-36.

EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON HUMAN OBLIGATIONS TO DIVINE WISDOM.

+I. Because Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, has manifested His sympathy with man, we are under obligations to come into sympathy with Him.+ A man who has manifested his sympathy with, and delight in, another's welfare by most substantial acts of benevolence and self-denial, has taken the most reasonable method of awakening an answering sympathy in the breast of him whom he has thus regarded. And the obligation on the part of the recipient is increased in proportion to the amount of self-sacrifice undergone on his behalf. If such a benefactor desires and asks for the friendship of him whom he has befriended, it would seem impossible that such an appeal could be made in vain. The eternal wisdom of God has gone to the utmost of even His infinite capacity of self-denial to show His delight in, and regard for the human race. This, coupled with His eternal existence and His almighty power, is here made the basis for an exhortation to men to listen to His words, "Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children!"

+II. Those who are thus drawn into sympathy with Eternal Wisdom come under conditions of life.+ Here is a repetition of an oft-repeated truth of revelation, that life and God's favour are inseparable--identical (ver. 35). We can see shadows of this truth in the intercourse of men with their fellow-creatures. If a poor outcast child, surrounded by influences of evil to which he must yield if left to fight them single-handed, is lifted out of his degradation into a godly home, the favour of the friend who thus raises him changes his miserable existence into something worth calling life in comparison. The child who, by wilfulness, has forfeited the favour of a good parent, feels his entire existence clouded, but forgiveness through reconciliation brings light and life back to his life. How much more is it so when we come into sympathy with Christ by hearkening to His voice and taking His yoke, and are by Him lifted out of a life of bondage to sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

+III. Those who refuse thus to come into sympathy with Eternal Wisdom are self-destroyers, because they are God-haters.+ He who refuses to drink of the Fountain of Life, must, of necessity, be left to soul-death. There is nothing that gives more sorrow to a human being than to know that the evil from which he is suffering is self-inflicted. If a man loses his sight through a wound which he receives from another, although he feels his blindness to be a terrible calamity, it lacks the element of bitterness which would be added to it if it had been brought about by his own wilfulness. The man who loses a limb in lawful battle looks upon his loss as an honour, because it was inevitable. But his feeling would be very different if he knew that he had been crippled for life by his own folly. It will be the main ingredient in the bitter cup of those who disregard the invitations of Divine Wisdom that they are moral suicides. The consciousness of this is a perpetual hell to the human spirit. And the mere neglect is sufficient to give the death-blow. It is not necessary to be in positive opposition to God and goodness. Not to listen is to refuse. Not to wait on God is to sin against Him--is to despise the provisions of His mercy.

_ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE_ 34.

Hovering about the avenues of a royal residence, there are in Eastern as well as in other countries, always to be seen groups of people, some of whom are attracted by the impulse of curiosity, others by the hope of obtaining some mark of royal favour. The assiduity and perseverance requisite for succeeding in their suit, and waiting the propitious moment of presenting themselves in the presence of their sovereign, is not, as may be easily supposed, at all times consistent with personal ease and convenience, and, accordingly, here and there may be observed individuals seated upon a stone, or reclining upon the grass, in anxious expectation for the appearance of the sovereign on his way to daily exercise. To sit at the gates of a king is a custom of great antiquity.--_Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture._

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Verse 32. O sweet courtesy! as if it were but a small matter that the Eternal Wisdom should become our Master, and teach us as His scholars; or that, being our Lord, He should teach us as His servants; or that, being God, He should teach us as men; yet greater is His love, and, as a Father He teacheth us as His children. And well may He call us His children, for it is He that teacheth us who, by adoption, hath made us to be His children, which by hearkening unto Him we show ourselves to be.--_Jermin._

Verse 34. Uriah watched at David's gate as a token of service (2 Sam. xi. 9). Lazarus watched at Dives' gate as a token of dependence (Luke xvi. 20). Courtiers at royal entrances for smiles of favour. Let the sinner do all these things.--_Miller._

Not watching awhile, and then going away if they be not let in presently, but waiting patiently till they be let in. Not only taking occasion of learning offered, but waiting to find occasions, as petitioners wait on great men till their causes be ended.--_Francis Taylor._

Wisdom here appears as a sovereign, separate and secluded, in the style of Oriental monarchs, so that only those know anything of her who diligently keep watch at her doors. Wisdom, who is universal in her call and invitation (verses 1-3), yet, in the course of communication in order to test the fidelity of her admirers, veils herself at times in a mysterious darknesss, and reveals herself only to those who never intermit their search (Matt. vii. 7).--_Von Gerlach, in Lange's Commentary._

There ought to be an expectation raised in us that the vital savour diffused in and by the Word may reach us; and many are ruined for not expecting it--not waiting at the posts of Wisdom's door.--_John Howe._

Verse 35. 1. _Natural life_ is found by it, not in regard to the beginning of it, but in regard of the comfort and continuance. 2. _Spiritual life,_ or the life of grace. Wisdom is the life of the soul, and what were the world worth if there were no light? 3. _Eternal life,_ or the life of glory. This is indeed the life that Christ, the wisdom of God, died to purchase for us, and lived among us to show us the way to it.--_Francis Taylor._

Verse 36. Doing without is a stupid misery; but hating wisdom is an insane marvel.--_Miller._

Not to love and earnestly seek Wisdom is to _sin against her._ To disregard her is to _hate_ her, and is virtually, though unconsciously, to love death; for it is loving things, which as being opposed to wisdom, bring with them death.--_Fausset._

What meaneth this _all_ where one would think there could be none? Can there be an all to hate Him who loveth all that is? But if it were not so, why do so many resist His holy will, despise His heavenly laws, rebel against His sacred pleasure? Are not these effects of hatred? Besides, so doth He challenge the _all_ of our affection, as not to hate all things for His sake, is to hate Him. Now they that hate Him, which can they love? Surely it must needs be _death,_ because in all things else He is. But that is the fruit of sin, and they that love the tree must needs love the fruit also. But to whom do we speak these things, or why do we speak them? Where shall we find open ears, or seeing eyes, when now almost men care not whom they look after, so that they do not look after themselves?--_Jermin._

A child or an idiot may kindle a fire which all the city cannot quench. In spite of their utmost efforts, it might destroy both the homes of the poor and the palaces of majesty. So a sinner, though he cannot do the least good, can do the greatest evil. The Almighty only can save him, but he can destroy himself.--_Arnot._

_Sin is a self-injury._ There are three facts implied in these words: Firstly, _That man is capable of sinning._ This capability distinguishes man from the brute, and belongs to all moral beings. . . . It is our glory that we _can_ sin; it is our disgrace and ruin that we do so. Secondly, _That sin is something directed against God._ All the laws of man's being--physical, organic, intellectual, and moral--are God's laws, and violating of them is rebellion against heaven. Thirdly, _That sin against God is a wrong done to our nature._ This is true of all sin, physical as well as spiritual. We cannot violate the laws of physical health, without losing at the same time something of the life, elasticity, and vigour of the mind. That sin injures the soul admits of no debate: it is a patent fact written on every page of history, and proclaimed by the deep consciousness of humanity. From this unquestionable fact we may fairly deduce three general truths. I. _That God's laws are essentially connected with the constitution of man._ From this fact two things follow. (1.) That all sin is unnatural. (2.) That an evasion of the penalties of sin is beyond the power of the creature. II. _That God's laws are the expression of benevolence._ We wrong our souls by not keeping God's laws. Obedience to them is happiness. The voice of all Divine prohibitions is, "Do thyself no harm," the voice of all Divine injunctions is, "Rejoice evermore." We infer from this _fact_--III. _That God's laws should be studiously obeyed._ (1.) Right requires it. All God's laws are righteously binding upon the subject, and disobedience is a crime. (2.) Expediency requires it. A life of sin is a life of folly, for it must ever be a life of misery.--_Dr. David Thomas._