xi. 28), because His words were truth, and plainness, and certainty
(see verses 6-8); before they had been only error, or obscurity, or conjecture.
+III. The wisdom of God is appreciated by those who have realised its adaptation to human needs.+ (Ver. 9.) There is a twofold knowledge, or "understanding," of Divine truth, as there is of much else with which we are acquainted. There is an acquaintance with the general facts of Divine revelation--a theoretical understanding of its suitableness to the needs of men, and there is a knowledge which arises from an experience of its adaptation to our personal need--a practical understanding which springs from having received a personal benefit. The chemist knows that a certain drug possesses qualities adapted to cure a particular malady, but if he comes to experience its efficacy in the cure of the disease in his own body, he has a knowledge which far surpasses the merely theoretical. It is then "plain" to him from an experimental understanding. The wisdom of God in the abstract, or in the personal Logos, is allowed by many to be adapted to the spiritual needs of the human race. They see the philosophy of the plan of salvation in the general, but its wonderful adaptation and "rightness" is only fully revealed when they have "found" the "knowledge" by an experimental reception of Christ into their own hearts. To him that thus "understands" all is "plain."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 4. Christ offers Himself as a Saviour to all the human race. +I. The most awakening truth in all the Bible.+ It is commonly thought that preaching the holy law is the most awakening truth in the Bible, and, indeed, I believe this is the most ordinary means which God makes use of. And yet to me there is something far more awakening in the sight of a Divine Saviour freely offering Himself to every one of the human race. . . . Does it not show that all men are lost--that a dreadful hell is before them? Would the Saviour call so loud and so long if there was no hell? +II. The most comforting truth in the Bible.+ If there were no other text in the whole Bible to encourage sinners to come freely to Christ, this one alone might persuade them. Christ speaks to the human race. Instead of writing down every name He puts all together in one word, which includes every man, woman, and child. +III. The most condemning truth in all the Bible.+ If Christ be freely offered to all men, then it is plain that those who live and die without accepting Christ shall meet with the doom of those who refuse the Son of God.--_McCheyne._
They are called to repentance, they are called to the remission of their sins; they may and must repent, and they, by repentance, are sure of pardon for all their sins. The good angels have not sinned, the bad angels cannot repent; it is _man_ that hath done the one, it is _man_ that must do the other.--_Jermin._
"O men." Some render it, "O ye eminent men," (see Critical Notes), whether for greatness of birth, wealth, or learning. But "the world by wisdom knows not God" (1 Cor. i. 21); and "not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (verse 26). And yet they shall not want for calling, if that would do it. But all to little purpose, for most part. They that lay their heads upon down pillows cannot so easily hear noises. "The sons of men," _i.e.,_ to the meaner sorts of people. These, usually, like little fishes, bite more than bigger. "The poor are gospelised," saith our Saviour. Smyrna was the poorest, but the best of the seven churches.--_Trapp._
_Several ways whereby God addresses Himself to men._ How different the method which God uses towards the _rational_ from that which He uses towards the _material_ world. In the world of matter God has not only fixed and prescribed certain laws according to which the course of nature shall proceed, but He is Himself the sole and immediate executor of those laws. . . . It is to Himself that He has set those laws, and it is by Himself that they are executed. But He does not deal so with the world of _spirits._ He does not here execute the laws of _love,_ as He does there the laws of _motion._ He contents Himself to prescribe laws, to make rational applications, to _speak_ to spirits. He speaks to them because they are _rational,_ and can understand what He says, and He does _but_ speak to them because they are _free._ And this He does in several ways. 1. _By the natural and necessary order and connection of things._ God, as being the Author of nature, is also the author of that connection that results from it between some actions and that good and evil that follows upon them, and which must therefore not be considered as mere natural consequences, but as a kind of rewards and punishments annexed to them by the Supreme Lawgiver, God having declared by them, as by a natural sanction, that 'tis His will and pleasure that those actions which are attended with good consequences should be done, and that those which are attended with evil consequences should be avoided. Not that the law has its obligation from the _sanction,_ but these natural sanctions are _signs_ and _declarations_ of the will of God. 2. _By sensible pleasure and pain._ A thing which everybody feels, but which few reflect upon, yet there is a voice of God in it. For does not God, by the frequent and daily return of these impressions, continually put us in mind of the nature and capacity of our souls, that we are thinking beings, and beings capable of happiness and misery, which because we actually feel in several degrees, and in several kinds, we may justly think ourselves capable of in more, though how far, and in what variety, it be past our comprehension exactly to define. 3. _By that inward joy which attends the good, and by that inward trouble and uneasiness which attends the bad state of the soul._ This is a matter of universal experience. It is God that raineth this pleasure or this pain in us, and that thus differently rewards or punishes the souls of men, and thus, out of His infinite love, is pleased to do the office of a private monitor to every particular man, by smiling upon him when he does well, and by frowning upon him when he does ill, that so he may have a mark to _discern,_ and an encouragement to _do_ his duty.--_John Norris._
Verse 5. A man may be acutely shrewd and yet be a fool, and that in the very highest sense. Nor is this a mere mystic sense. He must be a fool actually, and of the very plainest kind, who gives the whole labour of a life, for example, to increase his eternal agonies.--_Miller._
The _heart_ is frequently used, simply for the mind or seat of intellect as well as for the affections; so that "an understanding heart" might mean nothing different from an _intelligent_ mind. At the same time, since the state of the heart affects to such a degree the exercise of the judgment, "an understanding heart" may signify a heart freed from the influence of those corrupt affections and passions by which the understanding is perverted, and its vision marred and destroyed.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 6. The discoveries of Wisdom relate to things of the highest possible _excellence_; such as the existence, character, works, and ways of God; the soul; eternity; the way of salvation--the means of eternal life. And they are, on all subjects, "_right._" They could not, indeed, be excellent themselves, how excellent soever in dignity and importance the subjects to which they are related, unless they were "right." But all her instructions are so. They are _true_ in what regards _doctrine,_ and "holy, just, and good" in what regards _conduct_ or _duty._ There is truth without any mixture of error, and rectitude without any alloy of evil.--_Wardlaw._
Right for each man's purposes and occasions. The Scriptures are so penned that every man may think they speak of him and his affairs. In all God's commands there is so much rectitude and good reason, could we but see it, that if God did not command them, yet it were our best way to practise them.--_Trapp._
The teaching is not _trifling,_ though addressed to _triflers._ "Right things"--things which are calculated to correct your false notions, and set straight your crooked ways.--_Adam Clarke._
Verse 9. If aught in God's Word does not seem to us right, it is because we, so far, have not found true knowledge. "To those who have bloodshot eyes, white seems red" (Lyra). He who would have the sealed book opened to him must ask it of the Lamb who opens the book (Rev. v. 4-9).--_Fausset._
The first part of this verse wears very much the aspect of a _truism._ But it is not said, "They are plain to him that understandeth _them;_" but simply to him that "_understandeth._" It seems to signify, who has the understanding necessary to the apprehension of Divine truth--spiritual discernment. "He who is spiritual _discerneth all things._" "They are all plain" to him who _thus_ understandeth. It may further be observed, how very much depends, in the prosecution of any science, for correct and easy apprehension of its progressive development to the mind, on the clear comprehension of its _elementary principles._ The very clearest and plainest demonstrations, in any department of philosophy, will fail to be followed and to carry conviction--will leave the mind only in wonder and bewildering confusion, unless there is a full and correct acquaintance with principles or elements, or a willingness to apply the mind to its attainment. So in Divine science. There are, in regard to the discoveries of the Divine Word, certain primary principles, which all who are taught of God know, and which they hold as principles of explanation for all that the Word reveals. They who _are_ thus "taught of God," perceive with increasing fulness the truth, the rectitude, the unalloyed excellence of all the dictates of Divine wisdom. All is "plain"--all "right." The darkness that brooded over the mind is dissipated. They "have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things" (1 John ii. 20).--_Wardlaw._
When a man gets the knowledge of himself, then he sees all the _threatenings_ of God to be _right_. When he obtains the knowledge of God in Christ, then he finds that all the _promises_ of God are _right_--yea and amen.--_Adam Clarke._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 10, 11.
WISDOM BETTER THAN WEALTH.
+I. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth because it belongs to a higher sphere.+ The wisdom by which men succeed in finding gold and silver reveals the superiority of mind over matter. The apparatus of the miner or digger reveals that his thought, by which he is enabled to find the precious metal, is more than the metal itself. The precious stones which the merchant gains by trading are inferior to the wisdom he puts in operation to gain them, even though it is a wisdom which is only devoted to gaining money. The mental power which he puts forth shows that he is possessed of intelligence, which, belonging to the region of mind, belongs to a higher sphere than material wealth. When the wisdom is that spoken of in the text, the wisdom which springs from the very Fountain of goodness, it is not only preferable because it is the offspring of mind, but because it belongs to the higher region of spiritual purity.
+II. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because it had an existence before wealth.+ The world, with all its precious stones, and rich mines of gold and silver, is but of yesterday compared with wisdom. The mental and spiritual wealth of God was before matter; upon that wisdom--as we learn in this chapter--depended the existence of the material (vers. 22-32; chap. iii. 19, 20). Mental wealth is eternal, material wealth belongs only to time. Gold had a beginning, because the earth had a birthday, but wisdom is as old as God.
+III. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because it is an absolute necessity to man's well-being, which gold is not.+ The first man, in his state of sinlessness, had no need of what men now call wealth, but wisdom--spiritual wisdom--was absolutely necessary to his continuation in a state of blessedness. Men need worldly, intellectual wisdom, even to make money. Many who inherit wealth lose it because they lack wisdom to use it rightly. But they can be blest without wealth, but not without the wisdom which leads to holiness. Wealth may bring pleasure with it, but to do so it must be united to true wisdom. Many who roll in riches have no pleasure in them; sometimes their very wealth adds to their unhappiness. Mental wealth enables men to extract some enjoyment from material wealth, but the riches of goodness makes gold and silver a means of increasing men's happiness.
+IV. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because the latter may be destructive to character, and the former is its constructive power.+ Many men have been morally destroyed by their riches. But true wisdom is that by which a holy character is formed, the sustenance of the spiritual life. Riches may ruin; the wisdom which God gives to those who seek it at His hand can but bless.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 10. Thou canst not make as thy chief aim the acquisition of silver and that of true wisdom at one and the same time, for those aims mutually conflict, and each claims the whole man (Matt. vi. 24). To accept the one involves the rejection of the other as the chief portion. He who lives for money is void of wisdom (Luke xii. 16, 20), and is called in Scripture a "fool."--_Fausset._
Had it been said, Receive silver, who would not have held out his hand to receive it? Had it been said, Receive gold, who would not have been forward and glad with both his hands to have taken it? But it is instruction and not silver, wherein, lest a worldly heart be afraid that the taking of silver were forbidden him, the next words show the meaning, that is but instruction _rather_ than silver, as it is knowledge _rather_ than gold. . . . He that seeketh gold and silver diggeth up much earth, but finds little of them, but he that receiveth instruction and knowledge, which are, indeed, of a golden nature, even in a little shall get and find much. Wherefore Clemens Alexandrinus saith, "It is in the soul that riches are, and they alone are riches whereof the soul alone is the treasure."--_Jermin._
The first warning uttered by this wisdom from above is the repetition of a former word. The repetition is not vain. Another stroke so soon on the same place indicates that he who strikes feels a peculiar hardness there. The love of money is a root of evil against which the Bible mercifully deals many a blow. There lies one of our deepest sores. Thanks be to God for touching it with "line upon line" of His healing Word. . . . A ship bearing a hundred emigrants has been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert island, far from the tracks of men. The passengers get safe ashore with all their stores. There is no way of escape, but there are means of subsistence. An ocean unvisited by ordinary voyagers circles round their prison, but they have seed, with a rich soil to receive, and a genial climate to ripen it. Ere any plan has been laid, or any operation begun, an exploring party returns to head quarters reporting the discovery of a gold mine. Thither instantly the whole company resort to dig. They acquire and accumulate heaps of gold. The people are quickly becoming rich. But the spring is past, and not a field has been cleared, not a grain of seed has been committed to the ground. The summer comes, and their wealth increases, but the store of food is small. In harvest they begin to discover that their stores of gold are worthless. A cart-load of it cannot satisfy a hungry child. When famine stares them in the face a suspicion shoots across their fainting hearts that their gold has cheated them. They loathe the bright betrayer. They rush to the woods, fell the trees, till the ground, and sow the seed. Alas! it is too late! Winter has come, and their seed rots in the soil. They die of want in the midst of their treasures. This earth is a little isle--eternity the ocean round it. On this shore we have been cast, like shipwrecked sailors. There is a living seed; there is an auspicious spring time; the sower may eat and live. But gold mines attract us; we spend our spring there--our summer there: winter overtakes us toiling there, with heaps of hoarded dust, but destitute of the bread of life.--_Arnot._
Verse 11. First, because everything else without it is a curse, and with it just what is needed; second, because it is necessary to all beings, and even to God himself, as the spring of action; third, because it is glory and wealth in its very nature.--_Miller._
Surely he that thinketh himself adorned with precious stones, showeth himself to be of less price than the stones are. To whom Clemens well applieth that saying of Apelles, who, when one of his scholars had painted Helena set out with much gold, said unto him, "Alas, poor young man, when thou could'st not draw her fair thou hast made her rich." for so, when many have neglected the jewel of the soul they seek to prank out the body with jewels.--_Jermin._
The wisdom of goodness, or virtue. 1. _Is absolutely and without any limitation good, absolutely and without any limitation useful and desirable._ It alone can never be misapplied, can never be criminal. This we cannot pronounce of any other good. Riches may be a snare, honours a burden, even the endowments of the mind may be a snare to us. 2. _It is far more unchangeable than the value of all other goods and endowments._ The value of riches is regulated by our wants and the wants of the society in which we live. The value of honour changes according to the opinions, the usages, the political institutions of mankind. The value of sensual pleasure depends much on our constitution, age, and health. Even the value of mental endowments is subjection to vicissitudes. The value of true wisdom alone is invariably the same. 3. _It is much more independent of station than any other good._ Riches would cease to be riches if all men lived in abundance. Honour would lose much of its value if it gave us no precedence over others. A great proportion of the value of sensual and mental pleasures would be reduced to nothing if every man possessed them, and each in the same degree. But no man loses anything if another be virtuous likewise, but if all were virtuous all would infinitely profit thereby. 4. _It has a pre-eminent value, by the effects it produces in us._ It renders us: (1) much better, (2) more useful, (3) more happy. 5. _It alone fits us for a better life._ It passes for as much in heaven as it does upon earth, and much more. It alone assimilates us with God. What we call riches, power, and knowledge, are poverty, weakness, and darkness, with Him.--_Zollikofer._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12, 13.
WISDOM AND PRUDENCE.
+I. Wisdom and prudence are here represented as dwelling together in express unity of action.+ Elster remarks upon this passage: "Prudence denotes here right knowledge in special cases, in contrast with the more comprehensive idea of intelligence in general; the practical realisation of the higher principle of knowledge found in wisdom." Prudence is as necessary to wisdom, as the hand is to the will. Prudence asks what is the best time, the best place, and the best manner in which to carry out what wisdom has designed. It has therefore been defined as "wisdom applied to practice." Wisdom decrees that a certain word is to be spoken. Prudence decides upon the best time, place, and manner in which to say it. Prudence must always dwell with wisdom, if the designs of a wise man are to be brought to a successful issue. In all God's plans both are always in operation. Consider their manifestation in the plan of redemption. The wisdom of God is manifested in the conception of plan. His prudence was shown in the choice of the _time,_ _place,_ and _manner_ of the manifestation. 1. The _time_ was "the fulness of time" (Gal.