_So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom._ WISDOM This is constantly connected with religion. A religious fear of God is the first step in true wisdom. He who would know God aright must love Wisdom and humbly and vigorously seek after her. Wisdom is spoken of as a virtue, as much as truthfulness... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, if thou criest after knowledge._ ALL KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD No kind of knowledge is to be despised. The bee gathers honey from every flower. What shore so bleak, what moor so barren, what rocks so naked from which we may not carry home some interesting object, in the shape of plant or mineral? So... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seekest her as silver._ SEARCH FOR HID TREASURES Even in Job, the oldest book in the world, we read that the bitter in soul dig for death more earnestly than for hid treasures (Job 3:21). There is not another comparison within the whole compass of human actions so vivid as this. I have heard of di... [ Continue Reading ]
_Find the knowledge of God._ THE BENEFITS OF RELIGION Religion, whether natural or revealed, has always the same beneficial influence on the mind. In youth, in health and prosperity, it awakens feelings of gratitude and sublime love, and purifies at the same time that which it exalts; but it is in... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Lord giveth wisdom._ THE FOUNTAIN OF WISDOM I. That God is the only fountain of all true wisdom. Men say that the Deity is not the only source of it, but that much of it may be attained by a converse with beings most opposite to Him, even with wicked and reprobate spirits. Such were the or... [ Continue Reading ]
_He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous._ GOOD MEN AND THEIR GOD I. The character of good men. 1. They are spoken of as the “righteous.” The moral code of the universe may be reduced to two words: “Be just.” Be just to yourselves, to others, and to God. Virtue, morality, and religion constit... [ Continue Reading ]
_Discretion shall preserve thee._ HUMILITY This is the first sought and last won of the Christian graces. Such are the difficulties in the acquisition of humility that it is but seldom really found. It is a common want of the present day. See the ordinary courtesy of modern society. See the specia... [ Continue Reading ]
_To deliver thee from the way of the evil man._ WICKEDNESS AND WISDOM, THE BANE AND THE ANTIDOTE I. A terrible description of wicked persons. 1. Their character. Their speech is corrupt. Their habit is corrupt. Their heart is corrupt. Their influence is corrupt. 2. Their peril. The spell of lust... [ Continue Reading ]
_To deliver thee from the strange woman._ SENSUAL TEMPTATION Gaze not on beauty too much, lest it blast thee; nor too long, lest it blind thee; nor too near lest it burn thee. If thou like it, it deceives thee; if thou love it, it disturbs thee; if thou hunt after it, it destroys thee. If virtue a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which forsaketh the guide of her youth._ THE PERIL OF TAKING LIFE INTO OUR OWN CONTROL We all shrink with horror from that lowest depth of human depravity here described; but we may not therefore lose the lessons of this solemn and masterly description. Forsaking and forgetting God is the one dang... [ Continue Reading ]
_Walk in the way of good men._ THE TRUE WAY OF WALKING Here is the general application of the counsels of the chapter for the good that will come to those that avoid the society of evil men and women. I. Men cannot walk in good ways unless they leave the bad ones. Because good and evil being cont... [ Continue Reading ]
_Transgressors shall be rooted out of it._ THE PRESENT PUNISHMENTS OF EVIL MEN The metaphor “rooted out” is taken from a tree. If a wild tree and offensive grow in a garden, and the gardener cut off the top of it, if it send forth new sprouts, as bad as the former, he digs up the root itself. So d... [ Continue Reading ]