Chapter II: Introduction (1)

It is, comparatively speaking, so little a while since the Bible was the unfailing source of human comfort and inspiration, that the indifference with which, in recent years, it had come to be regarded by the many, must needs have brought disquieting thoughts to the few. In the days of our grandparents, and for five centuries before that, the Bible was, at once, the fount of divine wisdom, the sure depository of truth for the faithful, an impregnable rock; and so firmly was its influence established, that all the contrary efforts of the times could not weaken or diminish its power for strengthening and comforting the hearts and minds of believing men. Then, in perhaps a natural process--for reasons I will not in this connection endeavour to suggest, though they are evident enough to whosoever would seek them--the old power of the scriptures seemed gradually to fade. The Bible became less the personal companion, and more a sideboard ornament; if, indeed, it was not merely an impediment on the shelf of the forgotten. Then time again wrought change, a hopeful change. The scholarly study and criticism given to the book during the last twenty to thirty years, helped by well-organised and wonderfully well-rewarded archæological research, have had, with other tendencies, this effect. They re-established the authority of the scriptures, and reintroduced them to thoughtful minds; not quite, perhaps, as in the old uncritical days, but with the living force and authority of an immortal literature. The Bible became no longer--or should I say, not merely?--a mystical touchstone, a magical entity; but a rich collection of national writings, containing, as it does, a series of human documents of unsurpassable value--history, law, philosophy, politics, prophecy, poetry, proverbs, and allegories--which had for the centuries of its evolution and creation, and have for these days and the years to come, inspiration and messages which, when sought and realised, must inevitably rouse, raise, and instruct the energies and thoughts of mankind.

It is as such--as human documents reflecting the ideals and the philosophy of eastern wisdom--that this selection of two of the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament has been included in the “Wisdom of the East” series. Regarded as human documents, there can be no question of their great interest and value. _The Wisdom of Solomon_ and _Ecclesiasticus_ follow naturally after, and are not unworthy to range with, _The Proverbs_ and _Ecclesiastes_; although not for an instant would one claim for them equality of excellence with those accepted parts of the Canon. Nevertheless, the neglect of the Apocryphal writings has meant a loss, unjustifiable; for they carry on the literature, and generally illustrate the ethical attitude, of the Jews, during the gap of years which lapsed between the last books of the Old Testament and the Synoptic Gospels, and are in many respects unique.

For our purposes they have a necessary message. The truths they tell, the criticism of men and things they make, are as applicable to modern life as are the extremely acute generalisations of _The Proverbs_. They spur, chide, stimulate, promise reward to, and inspire, the wise and the prudent of these days, as they did the people of the times wherein they were written. The world is, after all, intensely conservative. The changes wrought by humanity inevitably work in cycles, and come back to points passed, days, years, ages before. There is, indeed--so we come to the over-quoted aphorism of Solomon--nothing new under the sun. Man in his vanities, his little pride, his temporary strength, his abundant weakness, is the same creature precisely--for what essential difference do modern rules and trappings really make?--as he was when the sun looked down on flocks and herds in the pleasant pastures of Palestine, where now are wearying rocks and blistering sand; as he was when the harp of David, the drums and trumpets of Sennacherib, the war-cries of the Maccabees, challenged the hills and valleys of Judæa for a little while, and then were still. Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, all is vanity! The unknown writer of _The Wisdom of Solomon_ in measure echoed and carried on that humbling, eternal truth; so, too, though with still slighter voice, did Jesus the Son of Sirach, who, sometime in the two to three hundred years preceding the dawn of the Christian era, wrote this generally neglected wisdom-book, _Ecclesiasticus_. But, besides the vanity of man, these sages also spoke, even though vaguely, of the hope which waited on him. That is not to be forgotten.

It is necessary before noticing the general message and appeal of these wisdom-books to revert briefly to the question of the particular place and value of the Apocrypha as compared with some of the canonical books of the Old Testament. This is not quite where it was. It is worth while to realise that. The higher criticism, as it is called, by subjecting the scriptures to the wholesome test of educated and scientific inquiry, has modified the comparative value of its component parts. Some it has illumined and strengthened; others it has proved to be of different value from that previously ascribed to them. Dreams and visions, allegories and parables, are the reasonable and helpful explanations of certain supernatural signs and wonders in the Old Testament, the literal truth of which, though hampering and perplexing to many believers of scriptural truth, would have been fiercely maintained and stoutly defended by the Bunyan type of religious warrior--and honour be to every man in that fighting company! Be that as it may, the results of the higher criticism have brought into prominence this fact, that the action of St. Jerome in shelving the Septuagint and retranslating the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, thereby excluding the Apocrypha from the place it had hitherto occupied with the canonical scriptures, entailed consequences which the translators of the Authorised Version, who followed in his steps, would, under cross-examination in these days, if such were possible, have found it hard to justify. Why, for example, I ask with profound respectfulness, should the story of the slaying of Sisera by Jael, who flagrantly broke the laws of eastern hospitality, have been accepted within the Canon, while the kindred but not so flagrant deed of Judith, the destroyer of Holofernes, was relegated to the Apocrypha? Why, too, should that beautiful poem _The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s_, have been accepted as “establishing doctrine,” while the wisdom-books in this volume were ignored--to be neglected ever since, unread and practically forgotten by the overwhelming majority of religious people. In any case, the criticism which has questioned and diminished the value of certain books or chapters in the Old Testament has by doing so revived interest in the Apocrypha. If, here and there, its history may be unreliable and its incidents fantastic, does that necessarily weaken the value of its better parts? Certainly not; otherwise the better parts of the canonical scriptures would be so weakened also.

It is, therefore, a good thing that the long-time neglect of this supplement to the Bible should be ended; and, as the wisdom-books here printed amply testify, humanity has lost through not having better acquaintance of them. Church-people have known something about them, for parts of _The Wisdom of Solomon_ and of _Ecclesiasticus_ are included in the Lectionary; but no such inadequate selection, no such casual fragments as are read in the churches, can give more than a slight idea of their particular value and importance. They hold ideals. The degree of the sublimity of those ideals is various, and depends, in measure, on the receptivity and character of the reader; but they are ideals, and uplifting, nevertheless; and at no time, in any civilisation, can ideals be dispensed with. Where no vision is, the people perish.

The idea “Wisdom” meant different things to the Jews as their history made progress, and has in these books various meanings and is differently applied as the supposed needs of the nation or the individual are illustrated. No simple definition of Wisdom as lauded by Ben Sira, his grandson, or the unknown author of _The Wisdom of Solomon_ (whose wisdom certainly it was not), can, therefore, be exact or adequate. To do justice to the word in all the circumstances of its use would require a many coloured catalogue; but, taking it in its larger sense and expressing the general idea in simple English, it meant duty--duty with the implied sacrifice of self, duty associated with submission to Jehovah, “the Lord.” Not always is the wisdom of Ben Sira worthy of this lofty description--Mr. Worldly Wiseman might often quote him comfortably--but, reading the books through, it may justly be said to mean that.

It was a wisdom based on centuries of hard experience. The Jews whose philosophy, Hellenised, is here expressed, had known the extremes, and pretty well all the conditions, of life; and every phase of their development--the slow pastoral age, the years of Egyptian bondage, the fighting days in Canaan, the periods of heroism, of kingship, of failure, of captivity, ending with the scattering of God’s Chosen, never to be gathered again into one local community--was remembered with burning memory, though it was not without balm. We have, then, in these books, the settled philosophy, characteristically eastern, which, while remembering the pain of the past, makes the best of present blessings.

Life, as shown in these wisdom-books, is a shadowy affair. We have the experienced patriarch’s view of it as a business to which, uninvited, man was put to be got through manfully. “We also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be”--how sombrely true are those words!--and “Our allotted time is the passing of a shadow.” Yes: but the snatched fragment of fleeting time contains an opportunity for knowing truth and practising wisdom. “My Soul,” says _Ecclesiasticus_, “prove thy soul in thy life.” There we find the kernel of all this philosophy. Existence on earth is the opportunity for duty: do it--now! Other passages, no doubt, could be quoted, giving a cruder meaning to the message of these books; but mine, I claim, is the truest. Wisdom calls for duty: duty necessitates discipline. Again and again that truth is asserted and that note struck. Sometimes Ben Sira carries the call for discipline to undue length, in connection with the upbringing of children, for example, as did Solomon the King when he advised that unsparing use of the rod which our fathers took too literally; but, justly, these writers, knowing the people of their and our days, insist on the absolute necessity of discipline in every walk of life. The writer of _The Wisdom of Solomon_--loftier and deeper was he than Ben Sira--goes further yet, for, after saying that Wisdom “is radiant and fadeth not away,” he proceeds to assert that “her true beginning is desire of discipline.” The pupil must wish and seek as well as the master teach; and then, the reward, “All the gold of the earth in her presence is a little sand,” and “in kinship with wisdom is immortality.” The immortality promised in the Apocrypha is, however, only a flicker and vague, yet is it something considering the time of the writing, for from the feeblest sparks may spring, as from those sparks there sprang, consuming flames and light, life-giving.

There is a side to the teaching of _Ecclesiasticus_ which is not to be ignored, as it represents the duller facets of the great jewels of eastern wisdom. Ben Sira abused woman badly. She was to him, as she is still to others not only in the unmoving orient, a chattel for degraded uses; a chattering burden; untrustworthy, mischievous; a hewer of wood and drawer of water for her generous master, man. He bluntly represents a woman’s wickedness as wickedness at its worst. His advice of how to treat a daughter is, to put it mildly, unpleasant. As for the nagging housewife--were the tents and habitations of Israel so heavily afflicted?--the nuisance inspired him to a simile, “As the going up of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is the wife full of words to a quiet man.”

To pass to lesser things, Ben Sira could not suffer fools gladly. The fact that so few Jews fail in the characteristics of shrewdness and practical common-sense must largely be due to the harsh, ironical things said of fools again, again, and ever again, in their much-studied literature. “The discourse of a fool is like a burden in the way.” One can almost hear the sage yawning at the close of a bout of boredom. “The life of a fool is worse than death.” This is final enough. So, also, of the man, too talkative. “Contend not with a man that is full of tongue, and heap not wood upon his fire.” The spirit and picture in those words--there are many such sayings in these ripe and stimulating books--are vivid: they fit these our times as they did the days of Jesus, son of Sirach. Indeed, there is nothing new! The ninny, the bore, the nagging wife, the man of empty tongue, Paul Pry, Sir Peter Pomposity--these and many others, a tiresome company, are of the eternal people, they who can never die. Ben Sira shows that he knew them well. So also--so alas!--do we.

Of various aspects of work he speaks: the dignity of labour was hardly realised in those very pre-Carlylean days. His advice to masters is shrewd--“Be not as a lion in thy house, nor fanciful among thy servants”--and (probably with the prototype of Jeames in his mind’s eye) contemptuous. “Fodder, a stick and burdens for an ass; bread, and discipline and work for a servant”--which is reminiscent of the sea-captain who, to keep his crew from grumbling in idleness, set them in spare hours to scrape the rust from the anchor-chains. There is, however, a broader spirit and more humanity in his consideration of the workers in the fields and their aristocratic brothers in industry, the artisan-artists, makers of the useful and beautiful, the graver, the smith, and the potter. Of them he points a contrast which indirectly exalts what we call the glory of the work. Here are words shrewd, pregnant with meaning, worthy to be noted and kept in remembrance:

“The wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of leisure, and he
that hath little business shall become wise.

“How shall he become wise that holdeth the plough, that glorieth in
the shaft of the goad, that driveth oxen and is occupied in their
labours, and whose discourse is of the stock of bulls?”

(Ecclus. xxxviii.).

I need quote no more of this passage, as it is to be read in the pages that follow. It is but one instance, of many, showing the insight and truth, applicable to all times, of Ben Sira’s philosophy.

In the small affairs of every day these sages can help us: and they--especially the writer of _The Wisdom of Solomon_--are not unmindful of the larger life, the lighted truths, the eternal verities. These wisdom-books taken together, as we are taking them, give helpful, strengthening counsel on the great and the little troubles, fears, comforts, questions which--all in a tangle and somehow--comprise human life.

Death these writers could contemplate with a resignation which challenges comparison with the attitude of Omar, who was, before all else, anxious to squeeze wine from the grapes and to take and give kisses while still the sun was shining; he knowing full well that in the emptiness and darkness to come there could be no joys of company, no laughter, wine, or love such as he lived for: a sorry delight wedded to a sorrier expectation, given to us, as it is, in verses so moving and sweet that they accentuate the sadness ever brooding. “Fear not the sentence of death, remember them that have been before thee and that come after,” is a far nobler appeal to those who tremble at the thought of the coming of the grey angel. And still there is God. “The Eyes of the Lord are ten-thousand times brighter than the sun.” He is omniscient and rules with beneficence; that confidence which the Jews in their religion created was not extinguished, despite past trouble and great national disappointments. As to the manner of travelling along the road of life, between the dim but certain gates of birth and death: “One praying and another cursing, whose voice will the Lord listen to?” These sayings show how well they view man in the individual and the abstract: for what always tells is character. “A man’s attire, and grinning laughter and gait shew what he is,” and--this to be remembered by the public man whose heart is breaking from the ingratitude of those he serves, whose shoulders are galled by the thankless burden which duty has compelled him to bear--“The man of low estate may be pardoned in mercy, but mighty men shall be searched out mightily.” On that true note--a strengthening message from the east to the duty-doers of all times--it is well to close.

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

=1= Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth, think ye of the Lord with a good mind, and in singleness of heart seek ye him;

Because he is found of them that tempt him not, and is manifested to them that do not distrust him.

For crooked thoughts separate from God; and the supreme Power, when it is brought to the proof, putteth to confusion the foolish:

Because wisdom will not enter into a soul that deviseth evil, nor dwell in a body that is held in pledge by sin.

For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will start away from thoughts that are without understanding, and will be put to confusion when unrighteousness hath come in.

For wisdom is a spirit that loveth man, and she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips; because God beareth witness of his reins, and is a true overseer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue:

Because the spirit of the Lord hath filled the world, and that which holdeth all things together hath knowledge of every voice.

Therefore no man that uttereth unrighteous things shall be unseen; neither shall Justice, when it convicteth, pass him by.

For in the midst of his counsels the ungodly shall be searched out; and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord to bring to conviction his lawless deeds:

Because there is an ear of jealousy that listeneth to all things, and the noise of murmurings is not hid.

Beware then of unprofitable murmuring, and refrain your tongue from backbiting; because no secret utterance shall go on its way void, and a mouth that belieth destroyeth a soul.

Court not death in the error of your life; neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands:

Because God made not death; neither delighteth he when the living perish:

For he created all things that they might have being: and the generative powers of the world are healthsome, and there is no poison of destruction in them: nor hath Hades royal dominion upon earth:

For righteousness is immortal:

But ungodly men by their hands and their words called death unto them: deeming him a friend they consumed away, and they made a covenant with him, because they are worthy to be of his portion.

* * * * *

=2= For they said within themselves, reasoning not aright, Short and sorrowful is our life; and there is no healing when a man cometh to his end, and none was ever known that gave release from Hades.

Because by mere chance were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been: because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and while our heart beateth reason is a spark,

Which being extinguished, the body shall be turned into ashes, and the spirit shall be dispersed as thin air;

And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall remember our works; and our life shall pass away as the traces of a cloud, and shall be scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the beams of the sun, and overcome by the heat thereof.

For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and our end retreateth not; because it is fast sealed, and none turneth it back.

Come therefore and let us enjoy the good things that now are; and let us use the creation with all our soul as youth’s possession.

Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes; and let no flower of spring pass us by:

Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds, before they be withered:

Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry: everywhere let us leave tokens of our mirth; because this is our portion, and our lot is this.

Let us oppress the righteous poor; let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the hairs of the old man gray for length of years.

But let our strength be to us a law of righteousness; for that which is weak is found to be of no service,

But let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is of disservice to us, and is contrary to our works, and upbraideth us with sins against the law, and layeth to our charge sins against our discipline.

He professeth to have knowledge of God, and nameth himself servant of the Lord.

He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.

He is grievous unto us even to behold, because his life is unlike other men’s, and his paths are of strange fashion.

We were accounted of him as base metal, and he abstaineth from our ways as from uncleannesses. The latter end of the righteous he calleth happy: and he vaunteth that God is his father.

Let us see if his words be true, and let us try what shall befall in the ending of his life.

For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.

With outrage and torture let us put him to the test, that we may learn his gentleness, and may prove his patience under wrong.

Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for he shall be visited according to his words.

* * * * *

Thus reasoned they, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them,

And they knew not the mysteries of God, neither hoped they for wages of holiness, nor did they judge that there is a prize for blameless souls.

Because God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own proper being;

But by the envy of the devil death entered into the world, and they that are of his portion make trial thereof.

=3= But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.

In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died; and their departure was accounted to be their hurt,

And their journeying away from us to be their ruin: but they are in peace.

For even if in the sight of men they be punished, their hope is full of immortality;

And having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good; because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of himself.

As gold in the furnace he proved them, and as a whole burnt offering he accepted them.

And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth, and as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.

They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; and the Lord shall reign over them for evermore.

They that trust on him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love; because grace and mercy are to his chosen.

* * * * *

But the ungodly shall be requited even as they reasoned, they which lightly regarded the righteous man, and revolted from the Lord;

(For he that setteth at nought wisdom and discipline is miserable;) and void is their hope and their toils unprofitable, and useless are their works:

Their wives are foolish, and wicked are their children;

Accursed is their begetting. Because happy is the barren that is undefiled, she who hath not conceived in transgression; she shall have fruit when God visiteth souls.

And happy is the eunuch which hath wrought no lawless deed with his hands, nor imagined wicked things against the Lord; for there shall be given him for his faithfulness a peculiar favour, and a lot in the sanctuary of the Lord more delightsome than wife or children.

For good labours have fruit of great renown; and the root of understanding cannot fail.

But children of adulterers shall not come to maturity, and the seed of an unlawful bed shall vanish away.

For if they live long, they shall be held in no account, and at the last their old age shall be without honour.

And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor in the day of decision shall they have consolation.

For the end of an unrighteous generation is always grievous.

=4= Better than this is childlessness with virtue; for in the memory of virtue is immortality: because it is recognised both before God and before men.

When it is present, men imitate it; and they long after it when it is departed: and throughout all time it marcheth crowned in triumph, victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled.

But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall be of no profit, and with bastard slips they shall not strike deep root, nor shall they establish a sure hold.

For even if these put forth boughs and flourish for a season, yet, standing unsure, they shall be shaken by the wind, and by the violence of winds they shall be rooted out.

Their branches shall be broken off before they come to maturity, and their fruit shall be useless, never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing.

For children unlawfully begotten are witnesses of wickedness against parents when God searcheth them out.

* * * * *

But a righteous man, though he die before his time, shall be at rest.

(For honourable old age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor is its measure given by number of years:

But understanding is gray hairs unto men, and an unspotted life is ripe old age.)

Being found well-pleasing unto God he was beloved of him, and while living among sinners he was translated:

He was caught away, lest wickedness should change his understanding, or guile deceive his soul.

(For the bewitching of naughtiness bedimmeth the things which are good, and the giddy whirl of desire perverteth an innocent mind.)

Being made perfect in a little while, he fulfilled long years;

For his soul was pleasing unto the Lord: therefore hasted he out of the midst of wickedness.

But as for the peoples, seeing and understanding not, neither laying this to heart, that grace and mercy are with his chosen, and that he visiteth his holy ones:--

But a righteous man that is dead shall condemn the ungodly that are living, and youth that is quickly perfected the many years of an unrighteous man’s old age;

For the ungodly shall see a wise man’s end, and shall not understand what the Lord purposed concerning him, and for what he safely kept him:--

They shall see, and they shall despise; but them the Lord shall laugh to scorn. And after this they shall become a dishonoured carcase, and a reproach among the dead for ever:

Because he shall dash them speechless to the ground, and shall shake them from the foundations, and they shall lie utterly waste, and they shall be in anguish, and their memory shall perish.

* * * * *

They shall come, when their sins are reckoned up, with coward fear; and their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.

=5= Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of them that afflicted him, and them that make his labours of no account.

When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the marvel of God’s salvation.

They shall say within themselves repenting, and for distress of spirit shall they groan, This was he whom aforetime we had in derision, and made a parable of reproach:

We fools accounted his life madness, and his end without honour:

How was he numbered among sons of God? and how is his lot among saints?

Verily we went astray from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness shined not for us, and the sun rose not for us.

We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction, and we journeyed through trackless deserts, but the way of the Lord we knew not.

What did our arrogancy profit us? and what good have riches and vaunting brought us?

Those things all passed away as a shadow, and as a message that runneth by:

As a ship passing through the billowy water, whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found, neither pathway of its keel in the billows:

Or as when a bird flieth through the air, no token of her passage is found, but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of her pinions, and rent asunder with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through, and afterwards no sign of her coming is found therein:

Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the air disparted closeth up again immediately, so that men know not where it passed through:

So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be: and of virtue we had no sign to shew, but in our wickedness we were utterly consumed.

Because the hope of the ungodly man is as chaff carried by the wind, and as foam vanishing before a tempest; and is scattered as smoke is scattered by the wind, and passeth by as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.

* * * * *

But the righteous live for ever, and in the Lord is their reward, and the care for them with the Most High.

Therefore shall they receive the crown of royal dignity and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand; because with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he shield them.

He shall take his jealousy as complete armour, and shall make the whole creation his weapons for vengeance on his enemies:

He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and shall array himself with judgement unfeigned as with a helmet;

He shall take holiness as an invincible shield,

And he shall sharpen stern wrath for a sword: and the world shall go forth with him to fight against his insensate foes.

Shafts of lightning shall fly with true aim, and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they leap to the mark.

And as from an engine of war shall be hurled hailstones full of wrath; the water of the sea shall be angered against them, and rivers shall sternly overwhelm them;

A mighty blast shall encounter them, and as a tempest shall it winnow them away: and so shall lawlessness make all the land desolate, and their evil-doing shall overturn the thrones of princes.

* * * * *

=6= Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand; learn, ye judges of the ends of the earth:

Give ear, ye that have dominion over much people, and make your boast in multitudes of nations.

Because your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High; who shall search out your works, and shall make inquisition of your counsels:

Because being officers of his kingdom ye did not judge aright, neither kept ye law, nor walked after the counsel of God.

Awfully and swiftly shall he come upon you; because a stern judgement befalleth them that be in high place:

For the man of low estate may be pardoned in mercy, but mighty men shall be searched out mightily.

For the Sovereign Lord of all will not refrain himself for any man’s person, neither will he reverence greatness; because it is he that made both small and great, and alike he taketh thought for all;

But strict is the scrutiny that cometh upon the powerful.

Unto you, therefore, O princes, are my words, that ye may learn wisdom and fall not from the right way.

For they that have kept holily the things that are holy shall themselves be hallowed; and they that have been taught them shall find what to answer;

Set your desire therefore on my words; long for them, and ye shall be trained by their discipline.

* * * * *

Wisdom is radiant and fadeth not away; and easily is she beheld of them that love her, and found of them that seek her.

She forestalleth them that desire to know her, making herself first known.

He that riseth up early to seek her shall have no toil, for he shall find her sitting at his gates.

For to think upon her is perfectness of understanding, and he that watcheth for her sake shall quickly be free from care.

Because she goeth about, herself seeking them that are worthy of her, and in their paths she appeareth unto them graciously, and in every purpose she meeteth them.

For her true beginning is desire of discipline; and the care for discipline is love of her;

And love of her is observance of her laws; and to give heed to her laws confirmeth incorruption;

And incorruption bringeth near unto God;

So then desire of wisdom promoteth to a kingdom.

If therefore ye delight in thrones and sceptres, ye princes of peoples, honour wisdom, that ye may reign for ever.

But what wisdom is, and how she came into being, I will declare, and I will not hide mysteries from you; but I will trace her out from the beginning of creation, and bring the knowledge of her into clear light, and I will not pass by the truth;

Neither indeed will I take pining envy for my companion in the way, because envy shall have no fellowship with wisdom.

But a multitude of wise men is salvation to the world, and an understanding king is tranquillity to his people.

Wherefore be disciplined by my words, and thereby shall ye profit.

* * * * *

=7= I myself also am mortal, like to all, and am sprung from one born of the earth, the man first formed,

And in the womb of a mother was I moulded into flesh in the time of ten months, being compacted in blood of the seed of man and pleasure that came with sleep.

And I also, when I was born, drew in the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth, uttering, like all, for my first voice, the selfsame wail:

In swaddling clothes was I nursed, and with watchful cares.

For no king had any other first beginning;

But all men have one entrance into life, and a like departure.

For this cause I prayed, and understanding was given me: I called upon God, and there came to me a spirit of wisdom.

I preferred her before sceptres and thrones, and riches I esteemed nothing in comparison of her.

Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem, because all the gold of the earth in her presence is a little sand, and silver shall be accounted as clay before her.

Above health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than light, because her bright shining is never laid to sleep.

But with her there came to me all good things together, and in her hands innumerable riches:

And I rejoiced over them all because wisdom leadeth them; though I knew not that she was the mother of them.

As I learned without guile, I impart without grudging; I do not hide her riches.

For she is unto men a treasure that faileth not, and they that use it obtain friendship with God, commended to him by the gifts which they through discipline present to him.

* * * * *

But to me may God give to speak with judgement, and to conceive thoughts worthy of what hath been given me; because himself is one that guideth even wisdom and that correcteth the wise.

For in his hand are both we and our words; all understanding, and all acquaintance with divers crafts.

For himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and the operation of the elements;

The beginning and end and middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of seasons,

The circuits of years and the positions of stars;

The natures of living creatures and the ragings of wild beasts, the violences of winds and the thoughts of men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots:

All things that are either secret or manifest I learned,

For she that is the artificer of all things taught me, even wisdom.

* * * * *

For there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, holy, alone in kind, manifold, subtil, freely moving, clear in utterance, unpolluted, distinct, unharmed, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,

Beneficent, loving toward man, steadfast, sure, free from care, all-powerful, all-surveying, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick of understanding, pure, most subtil:

For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all things by reason of her pureness.

For she is a breath of the power of God, and a clear effluence of the glory of the Almighty; therefore can nothing defiled find entrance into her.

For she is an effulgence from everlasting light, and an unspotted mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.

And she, being one, hath power to do all things; and remaining in herself, reneweth all things: and from generation to generation passing into holy souls she maketh men friends of God and prophets.

For nothing doth God love save him that dwelleth with wisdom.

For she is fairer than the sun, and above all the constellations of the stars: being compared with light, she is found to be before it;

For to the light of day succeedeth night, but against wisdom evil doth not prevail;

=8= But she reacheth from one end of the world to the other with full strength, and ordereth all things graciously.

* * * * *

Her I loved and sought out from my youth, and I sought to take her for my bride, and I became enamoured of her beauty.

She glorifieth her noble birth in that it is given her to live with God, and the Sovereign Lord of all loved her.

For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooseth out for him his works.

But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which worketh all things?

And if understanding worketh, who more than wisdom is an artificer of the things that are?

And if a man loveth righteousness, the fruits of wisdom’s labour are virtues, for she teacheth soberness and understanding, righteousness and courage; and there is nothing in life for men more profitable than these.

And if a man longeth even for much experience, she knoweth the things of old, and divineth the things to come: she understandeth subtilties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings: she foreseeth signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times.

I determined therefore to take her unto me to live with me, knowing that she is one who would give me good thoughts for counsel, and encourage me in cares and grief.

Because of her I shall have glory among multitudes, and honour in the sight of elders, though I be young.

I shall be found of a quick conceit when I give judgement, and in the presence of princes I shall be admired.

When I am silent, they shall wait for me; and when I open my lips, they shall give heed unto me; and if I continue speaking, they shall lay their hand upon their mouth.

Because of her I shall have immortality, and leave behind an eternal memory to them that come after me.

I shall govern peoples, and nations shall be subjected to me.

Dread princes shall fear me when they hear of me: among my people I shall shew myself a good ruler, and in war courageous.

When I am come into my house, I shall find rest with her; for converse with her hath no bitterness, and to live with her hath no pain, but gladness and joy.

When I considered these things in myself, and took thought in my heart how that in kinship unto wisdom is immortality,

And in her friendship is good delight, and in the labours of her hands is wealth that faileth not, and in assiduous communing with her is understanding, and great renown in having fellowship with her words, I went about seeking how to take her unto myself.

Now I was a child of parts, and a good soul fell to my lot;

Nay rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.

But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom except God gave her me (yea and to know by whom the grace is given, this too came of understanding), I pleaded with the Lord and besought him, and with my whole heart I said,

* * * * *

=9= O God of the fathers, and Lord who keepest thy mercy, who madest all things by thy word;

And by thy wisdom thou formedst man, that he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by thee,

And rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and execute judgement in uprightness of soul;

Give me wisdom, her that sitteth by thee on thy throne; and reject me not from among thy servants:

Because I am thy bondman and the son of thy handmaid, a man weak and short-lived, and of small power to understand judgement and laws.

For even if a man be perfect among the sons of men, yet if the wisdom that cometh from thee be not with him, he shall be held in no account.

Thou didst choose me before my brethren to be king of thy people, and to do judgement for thy sons and daughters.

Thou gavest command to build a sanctuary in thy holy mountain, and an altar in the city of thy habitation, a copy of the holy tabernacle which thou preparedst aforehand from the beginning.

And with thee is wisdom, which knoweth thy works, and was present when thou wast making the world, and which understandeth what is pleasing in thine eyes, and what is right according to thy commandments.

Send her forth out of the holy heavens, and from the throne of thy glory bid her come, that being present with me she may toil with me, and that I may learn what is well-pleasing before thee.

For she knoweth all things and hath understanding thereof, and in my doings she shall guide me in ways of soberness, and she shall guard me in her glory.

And so shall my works be acceptable, and I shall judge thy people righteously, and I shall be worthy of my father’s throne.

For what man shall know the counsel of God? or who shall conceive what the Lord willeth?

For the thoughts of mortals are timorous, and our devices are prone to fail.

For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthly frame lieth heavy on a mind that is full of cares.

And hardly do we divine the things that are on earth, and the things that are close at hand we find with labour; but the things that are in the heavens who ever yet traced out?

And who ever gained knowledge of thy counsel, except thou gavest wisdom, and sentest thy holy spirit from on high?

And it was thus that the ways of them which are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing unto thee; and through wisdom were they saved.

THE WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH

OR

ECCLESIASTICUS

=1= All wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever.

The sand of the seas, and the drops of rain, and the days of eternity, who shall number?

The height of the heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the deep, and wisdom, who shall search them out?

Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting.

To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed? and who hath known her shrewd counsels?

There is one wise, greatly to be feared, the Lord sitting upon his throne:

He created her, and saw, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his works.

She is with all flesh according to his gift; and he gave her freely to them that love him.

The fear of the Lord is glory, and exultation, and gladness, and a crown of rejoicing.

The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give gladness, and joy, and length of days.

Whoso feareth the Lord, it shall go well with him at the last, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.

To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and it was created together with the faithful in the womb.

With men she laid an eternal foundation; and with their seed shall she be had in trust.

To fear the Lord is the fulness of wisdom; and she satiateth men with her fruits.

She shall fill all her house with desirable things, and her garners with her produce.

The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom, making peace and perfect health to flourish.

He both saw and numbered her; he rained down skill and knowledge of understanding, and exalted the honour of them that hold her fast.

To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom; and her branches are length of days.

* * * * *

Unjust wrath can never be justified; for the sway of his wrath is his downfall.

A man that is longsuffering will bear for a season, and afterwards gladness shall spring up unto him:

He will hide his words for a season, and the lips of many shall tell forth his understanding.

A parable of knowledge is in the treasures of wisdom; but godliness is an abomination to a sinner.

If thou desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord shall give her unto thee freely:

For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and instruction; and in faith and meekness is his good pleasure.

Disobey not the fear of the Lord; and come not unto him with a double heart.

Be not a hypocrite in the mouths of men; and take good heed to thy lips.

Exalt not thyself, lest thou fall, and bring dishonour upon thy soul; and so the Lord shall reveal thy secrets, and shall cast thee down in the midst of the congregation; because thou camest not unto the fear of the Lord, and thy heart was full of deceit.

* * * * *

=2= My son, if thou comest to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation.

Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure, and make not haste in time of calamity.

Cleave unto him, and depart not, that thou mayest be increased at thy latter end.

Accept whatsoever is brought upon thee, and be longsuffering when thou passeth into humiliation.

For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.

Put thy trust in him, and he will help thee: order thy ways aright, and set thy hope on him.

* * * * *

Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; and turn not aside, lest ye fall.

Ye that fear the Lord, put your trust in him; and your reward shall not fail.

Ye that fear the Lord, hope for good things, and for eternal gladness and mercy.

Look at the generations of old, and see: who did ever put his trust in the Lord, and was ashamed? or who did abide in his fear, and was forsaken? or who did call upon him, and he despised him?

For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy; and he forgiveth sins, and saveth in time of affliction.

* * * * *

Woe unto fearful hearts, and to faint hands, and to the sinner that goeth two ways!

Woe unto the faint heart! for it believeth not; therefore shall it not be defended.

Woe unto you that have lost your patience! and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you?

They that fear the Lord will not disobey his words; and they that love him will keep his ways.

They that fear the Lord will seek his good pleasure; and they that love him shall be filled with the law.

They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and will humble their souls in his sight, saying,

We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men: for as his majesty is, so also is his mercy.

* * * * *

=3= Hear me your father, O my children, and do thereafter, that ye may be saved.

For the Lord hath given the father glory as touching the children, and hath confirmed the judgement of the mother as touching the sons.

He that honoureth his father shall make atonement for sins:

And he that giveth glory to his mother is as one that layeth up treasure.

Whoso honoureth his father shall have joy of his children; and in the day of his prayer he shall be heard.

He that giveth glory to his father shall have length of days; and he that hearkeneth unto the Lord shall bring rest unto his mother,

And will do service under his parents, as unto masters.

In deed and word honour thy father, that a blessing may come upon thee from him.

For the blessing of the father establisheth the houses of children; but the curse of the mother rooteth out the foundations.

* * * * *

Glorify not thyself in the dishonour of thy father; for thy father’s dishonour is no glory unto thee.

For the glory of a man is from the honour of his father; and a mother in dishonour is a reproach to her children.

My son, help thy father in his old age; and grieve him not as long as he liveth.

And if he fail in understanding, have patience with him; and dishonour him not while thou art in thy full strength.

For the relieving of thy father shall not be forgotten: and instead of sins it shall be added to build thee up.

In the day of thine affliction it shall remember thee; as fair weather upon ice, so shall thy sins also melt away.

He that forsaketh his father is as a blasphemer; and he that provoketh his mother is cursed of the Lord.

* * * * *

My son, go on with thy business in meekness; so shalt thou be beloved of an acceptable man.

The greater thou art, humble thyself the more, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord.

* * * * *

For great is the potency of the Lord, and he is glorified of them that are lowly.

Seek not things that are too hard for thee, and search not out things that are above thy strength.

The things that have been commanded thee, think thereupon; for thou hast no need of the things that are secret.

Be not over busy in thy superfluous works: for more things are shewed unto thee than men can understand.

For the conceit of many hath led them astray; and evil surmising hath caused their judgement to slip.

* * * * *

A stubborn heart shall fare ill at the last; and he that loveth danger shall perish therein.

A stubborn heart shall be laden with troubles; and the sinner shall heap sin upon sin.

The calamity of the proud is no healing; for a plant of wickedness hath taken root in him.

The heart of the prudent will understand a parable; and the ear of a listener is the desire of a wise man.

Water will quench a flaming fire; and almsgiving will make atonement for sins.

He that requiteth good turns is mindful of that which cometh afterward; and in the time of his falling he shall find a support.

* * * * *

=4= My son, deprive not the poor of his living, and make not the needy eyes to wait long.

Make not a hungry soul sorrowful; neither provoke a man in his distress.

To a heart that is provoked add not more trouble; and defer not to give to him that is in need.

Reject not a suppliant in his affliction; and turn not away thy face from a poor man.