Proverbs 8

Proverbs 8:1-21

LECTURE XVI.

Proverbs 8:1-21 .

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. 1 lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.”

The majority, if I mistake not, of those regarded as evangelical expositors, interpret what is said in this chapter by Wisdom as the words of the Second Person of the ever-blessed Trinity; by whom, in his character of Mediator, all divine communications have, from the beginning, been made to mankind,-THE ETERNAL UNCREATED WORD, ordained to his mediatorial office “before the foundation of the world.” In this view, indeed, the passage has even been adduced in evidence of the pre-existence and eternity of the Son of God. One nighly venerates the piety that seeks to find Christ everywhere; and would bear more readily with the mistake that finds him where he is not, than with the indifference, or the learned apathy, that finds him not where he is. At the same time, the only correct principle for guiding us in our exposition of the word of God, is the principle of being satisfied with no view of any part of it but that which there is reason to regard as the mind of the Spirit; by which I mean, not merely what is consistent with the general and pervading doctrine of the inspired volume, but what the Spirit intended to express in the particular passage. An interpretation may be quite in accordance with what is usually called “the analogy of faith,” and may even, in the spirit and substance and terms of it, be fitted to excite the emotions of piety, and yet may not be the true one. Nay, persons, by long-continued associations and habits of thought, may have a certain sense so attached to a particular passage, as to be in the habit of referring to it in proof of some important doctrine; and, every time they quote it, they may experience the excitement of devout affections, of a kind and in a degree such as to afford the sweetest satisfaction to their minds; and thus they may have become greatly disinclined to listen to any interpretation at all fitted to disturb those associations, and deprive them of their spiritual feast. But if the doctrines from which their holy pleasure has arisen, are to be found in other parts of the sacred volume, the source of that pleasure remains in reality untouched. And, at all events, we cannot relinquish the position, that the only emotions which are legitimate, when excited by any particular portion of God’s word, are those excited by its true sense-that is, by the sentiment in it which the Holy Spirit intended to convey.

Whatever, therefore, may have been the satisfaction experienced by many devout minds in reading this ch-apter, especially the latter part of it, as if it contained the words of Christ and evidence of his pre-existent divinity, and of his love from eternity, and his eternal purposes of mercy towards our fallen world, I dare not, on this account, withhold what I believe to be the true principle of interpretation. The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, ere he became flesh, when “in the beginning he was with God and was God,” are to my mind quite insuperable. For example:-

1. It should be noticed that the passage is not so applied in any part of the New Testament. You will misunderstand me, if you imagine that I adduce this consideration as any direct objection to the interpretation in question. It certainly does not follow, from the circumstance of a passage not being actually explained of Christ in the New Testament that it must not be so explained. What I mean is no more than this-that from its not being so explained there, we are relieved from any necessity of so explaining it. Had any New Testament writer expressly applied any part of the chapter to the Son of God, this would have been a key which we could not have been at liberty to refuse. Such necessity, then, being thus precluded, the direct objections may be allowed to have their full force. Observe, then-

2. Wisdom here is a female personage. All along this is the case.* Now under such a view the Scriptures nowhere else, in any of their figurative representations of “the Christ,” ever thus describe or introduce Him. The application, on this account, appears to me exceedingly unnatural.

• Proverbs 1:20-21 ; Proverbs 8:1-3 ; Proverbs 9:1-3 .

3. Wisdom does not appear intended as a personal designation, inasmuch as it is associated with various other terms, of synonymous, or at least of corresponding import.* Were it meant for a personal designation, like the Logos or Word in the beginning of John’s Gospel, this would hardly have been admissible.

• Proverbs 8:1 , Proverbs 3:19-20 .

4. That the whole is a bold and striking personification of the attribute of wisdom, as subsisting in Deity, appears further from what she is represented as saying in verse twelfth-" I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions." Here wisdom is associated with prudence; and the import of the association is, that wisdom “directs to the best ends, and to the choice of the best means for their attainment;” and prudence, or discretion, teaches to shun whatever might, in any way or degree, interfere with and impede or mar their accomplishment. This is precisely what wisdom, as an attribute or quality, does. And it is worthy of remark, that this association of wisdom with prudence, is introduced by the Apostle as characterizing the greatest of the divine inventions and works,-that of our redemption. Wisdom was associated with prudence in framing and perfecting that wonderful scheme.*

• Ephesians 1:7-8 .

5. It is very true, that there are many things here, especially in the latter part of the chapter-indeed through the whole-that are, in a very interesting and striking manner, applicable to the divine Messiah. But this is no more than might have been anticipated-that things which are true of a divine attribute should be susceptible of application to a divine person. This is not at all wonderful. And the question is, not whether particular expressions and representations are capable of being applied, and applied naturally and emphatically to the Eternal Word; but simply,-since they also admit of equally easy interpretation when applied to Wisdom as a personified attribute of Deity,-which, on other grounds, appears to have the strongest claims to preference? And in settling the question, we must be determined by such considerations as have been mentioned, and by the general scope of the passage and style of the Book.

Instead, however, of showing the application of this principle to the contents of the entire chapter, in which there are various things that stand in the predicament mentioned,-capable of application either in the one way or the other,-we shall rather leave these parts of the chapter to be explained on the principle of personification, when we come to them.

Verses Proverbs 8:1-5 . “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths: she crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors: Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.”

The words correspond with those of chapter first, verses Proverbs 1:20-22 . Wisdom’s address here, as there, is universal,-“Unto you, O men, I call.” Her counsels are suited to men of all nations, ranks, and characters. By All alike are they needed; and to All alike are they addressed. And her language is urgent, importunate, tender, persuasive; full of deep and anxious concern about the best interests of those to whom she speaks,-embracing every opportunity to warn, instruct, and entreat, with a pitying heart and a tearful eye. And by whomsoever divine Wisdom addresses men, this is the style and spirit of her address: whether it be in the person of Jehovah himself, of his Son, or of his servants.*

• Psalms 49:1-2 ; Romans 1:14-15 ; Colossians 3:11 ; Ezekiel 33:11 ; Matthew 23:37 ; Jeremiah 25:4-6 ; 2 Corinthians 5:20 .

The characters of the simple and the foolish, we have before had occasion to describe:-the former meaning the inconsiderate, the thoughtless; the latter, (since folly is the reverse of wisdom) those who do not choose “the fear of the Lord,"-that fear which is here, and throughout the Bible, pronounced true wisdom. Remember, it is not mental incapacity that prevents men from receiving the instructions of heavenly wisdom. That, as a natural obstacle, constituting a natural inability, would stand as a valid excuse, and acquit them of guilt. This was the sentiment of Jesus to the Pharisees, when he said, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.” And in the great day, many will there be by whom the veriest idiot, from whom it pleased God to withhold the capacity of understanding, will be envied. The guilt of men lies in their indisposition of heart to attend to divine counsels. It is this that warps, and prejudices, and blinds, and dupes the understanding.

The heart, as I have had occasion before to notice, 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.

This “understanding heart” you must have. Let not pride; let not worldliness; let not corrupt affections blind and mislead you to your ruin. That is “folly” to which there is no other comparable.

Readily, and with all attention will men listen, on any subject that has relation to their interests in the present world. And even as to the merest trifles, unworthy of a moment’s consideration, their ear and their interest may be gained, and gained without difficulty. But oh! the difficulty of obtaining any thing like a really earnest attention in regard to matters of everlasting and infinite moment!

To such things Divine Wisdom bespeaks attention:-verses Proverbs 8:6-7 . “Hear, for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.”

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 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. The seventh and eighth verses are an amplification of the more general position in the sixth. They contain the same general sentiment; and are fitted and designed to impress it the more strongly,-the truth, the purity, the righteousness, the beneficial tendency, of all without exception that comes from the lips of Divine Wisdom. And the terms may be applied, in all their emphasis and amount of meaning, to this blessed Book-the Bible. Here it is that Wisdom speaks; speaks in every part; and in every part with the same authority. And her words, coming as they do from the Infinite Reason, the Mind of the Universe, have nothing “froward or perverse in them.”

We have hinted at what keeps men from the clear apprehension of divine truths. The wise man says in verse Proverbs 8:9 . “They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.”

The first part of this verse wears very much the aspect of a truism. But it is not said, “They are all 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 correct and full acquaintance with principles or elements, or a willingness to apply the mind to its attainment. So it is 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 that word reveals. They who are thus “taught of God,” perceive with increasing clearness and fulness, the truth, the rectitude, the unalloyed excellence of all the dictates of divine wisdom.

All is “plain”-all “right.” The darkness that before brooded over the mind is dissipated. They “see all things clearly.” They “have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things,” 1 John 2:20 .

Wisdom then goes on to recommend her instructions, in terms very similar to those she had before used:-verses Proverbs 8:10-11 .* “Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.”

• Compare Proverbs 3:13-15 .

The first and second parts of the tenth verse are the same in meaning. The two things are supposed to be brought into competition. A choice is offered; a decision between them is to be made. And the instructions of wisdom are pronounced incomparably superior in real value to the most choice treasures of earth.

Wisdom next recommends herself and her instructions, by representing herself as the source of all useful and happy discoveries:-verse Proverbs 8:12 . “I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.”

We have already adverted to the following verse, as indicating that Wisdom is to be understood of a personified attribute-“I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.”

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

Verse Proverbs 8:13 . “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”-” Hating evil," is the practical result of “the fear of the Lord.” This is the sentiment; only by identifying the two,*-the principle with the practice,-the idea is more emphatically conveyed, that the one cannot subsist without the other. If evil is not hated, God is not feared. It is equally true, that if God is not feared evil is not hated: for, indeed, the absence of the fear of God is the greatest of all evil. It is “desperate wickedness;”-“enmity against God,” evinced in the neglect of those duties which men owe directly to God,-being necessarily a greater crime than any violation of the claims of fellow-creatures,-greater in the proportion in which the object of the one class of duties is greater than the object of the other.

• So in 1 John 5:3 , Job 28:28 .

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 to 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.”

eS module note: not sure why, but the rest of the chapter was set off by brackets “[]” in Wardlaw’s original work. They are not misprints.

[Wisdom continues to assert her exalted claims, verse Proverbs 8:14 :-" Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding; I have strength."-Her “counsel” is ever good. There is always “sound wisdom” in it-the wisdom which guides to right conclusions, both as to the course to be taken, and the means by which it is to be followed out. To appreciate “sound wisdom,” “understanding” is essential-a distinct apprehension of the truth and will of God. In “understanding and wisdom” there is “strength.” ( Ecclesiastes 7:10 ). “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.

To divine Wisdom, these spiritual treasures peculiarly belong. She alone is their centre and their source. The structure of the sentence is not uniform; but the language expresses this idea in the most absolute manner.

“Counsel” and “wisdom;” “understanding” and “strength” are needed by all; but to no class are they so indispensable as to those who hold the reins of authority, or occupy the seat of judgment. Hence the following verses-“By me kings reign and princes decree justice; by me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth."-Are all then who wield the sceptre or exercise judicial functions, guided by the dictates of wisdom? Alas! the history of the Church and of the world alike tell a very different tale. Too often among “kings and princes and judges of the earth,” Las there been but a slender measure of even ordinary wisdom-worldly discretion-and less by far of “the wisdom that cometh from above.” Full many a time have their deeds of oppression and wrong testified of their folly, and discovered their godless spirit-wringing tears of bitterness from many an eye, and groans of anguish from many a heart.

The language may be considered as implying, First,-that human government, in all its branches, is the appointment of Divine wisdom;-that, as the Apostle expresses it, “there is no power but of God;” that “the powers that be are ordained of God."-Secondly, that all who sustain positions of authority and power, should act habitually under the influence of divine Wisdom-” the fear of God” being the regulating principle of their entire procedure.-Thirdly, that no authority can be rightly exercised, and no judicial process successfully carried out,-so carried out as to promote the well-being of man, and the glory of God,-without the direction of Wisdom.-Fourthly, that divine Wisdom exercises control over all human agents in the administration of public affairs-from the monarch on the throne to the humblest official-all being alike “ministers of God”-and all their dealings being overruled for the ends which divine Wisdom has to accomplish, so that every act shall tend to further the purposes of Him whose prerogative it is to say, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”

In the verse which follows, Wisdom gives the gracious assurance of her tender regard for those in whose hearts sincere affection towards herself has a place. She reciprocates their love-“I love them that love me” is her solemn declaration: and none ever “seek her face in vain.” “They” says she, “who seek me early shall find me.” She loves not any for their rank or station:-not the great for their greatness; not the rich for their riches; not the noble for their nobility; not the mighty for their might; not the learned for their learning; not the prince more than the peasant; not the king on the throne more than “the beggar” in his rags: but all alike-“high and low, rich and poor together”-who love her-“them that love Me”-them that discern her beauty, that seek her favour, that court her presence, that submit to her will, that learn from her lips, that look to her for guidance, that rejoice in her smile and blessing.

And by ALL her smile and blessing may be “found.” From none does she hide herself. She waits to welcome all who come. She bids none from her presence. She proffers to all the hand of kindness. She extends to all the sceptre of her love. She “receives them graciously, and loves them freely:”-" They that seek me shall find me:" such is her promise. That promise must stand. It is sure as the word of eternal truth. But she must be “sought”-sought “early”-earnestly, and now.

How striking the contrast between the language of Wisdom here, and her utterance in the close of the opening chapter of this Book! Here her voice is that of mild benignity; there it is the voice of stern, unrelenting judgment. Here we have the voice of mercy; there the voice of insulted and offended majesty; here the breathing of tenderness and love, there the dread denunciations of destructive wrath. This is her language now, as she stands, in the attitude of condescending kindness, ready to welcome to her embrace the wayward and wandering-the guilty and perishing children of men; that is her language in the view of love rejected, of favour despised, of invitations scorned, of blessing proffered, but trampled in the dust by the spirit of ingratitude and pride. Then will cease for ever “the still small voice; of Mercy’s tender pleadings, and the ear be greeted only with the startling, thrilling accents of awakened justice. Then there are no more invitations, no more gracious promises, no kind assurances, no words of encouragement, no smile of benignity, no proffered hand of help. They “call on her” but she “hears not.” They “seek her”-seek her with the agonizing effort of despair-but they do not find her.”

While we cannot regard Wisdom as the Eternal Word, yet no language could be more in harmony with His utterances when, in “the days of his flesh,” as incarnate God, He addressed himself to perishing men-to “the lost” whom He came from heaven to earth to “seek and to save.” In these words, “I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me,” we seem to hear the voice of Him “who spake as never man spake,"-of Him “into whose lips grace was poured,"-of Hun who said, with all the deep affection and tender solicitude of a heart glowing with divine compassion, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest:” “him That Cometh Unto Me I Will In No Wise Cast Out."-And in the contrasted declaration-” They shall call on me, but I will not hear; they shall seek me earnestly, but shall not find me,” we hear, as it were, the voice of the same Jesus, when, as the Judge of all, He shall sit upon “the throne of his glory,” and having “separated the righteous from the wicked,” shall say to the latter, in these words of awful import-filling their trembling spirits with hopeless agony, “Depart From Me, Ye Cursed, Into Everlasting Fire.

To induce all to “seek” her, Wisdom anew unfolds the blessings she has to bestow-blessings of unequalled excellence and unending duration. Hear her words once more-“Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.”]

Proverbs 8:22-36

LECTURE XVII.

Proverbs 8:22-36 .

“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”

On the principles already explained, I consider the verses which follow to the thirty-first, as a beautiful and impressive amplification of the sentiment of the Psalmist, “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all,” Psalms 104:24 .

Verse Proverbs 8:22 . “The Lord possessed* me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.” There is no difficulty here. The attribute of infinite wisdom was possessed by Jehovah from everlasting. The “beginning of his way” evidently means the commencement of creation, when he 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 previously to the reduction of our globe to order, and to the creation of man upon it. These holy intelligences contemplated the six days’ work of divine wisdom and power in this part of the universe with devout and 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, nor any points of measurement, in eternity. The very same absurdity, therefore, remains, how far back soever you carry your conception of the first exercise of creative power. The intelligent beings who lived a few thousand years after the commencement of creation,-supposing that commencement millions of ages remote,-would have stood in the very same predicament as ourselves: seeing there was then a preceding eternity, as there is now, to the beginning of which we never get any nearer, beginning being as inconsistent with the very idea of eternity, as termination is. Go as far back, therefore, as imagination, or as numbers heaped on numbers, can carry you, there still remains the previous eternity, during which our speculating and presumptuous minds may wonder that divine power had not been put forth. Sooner and later are terms of no meaning in eternity. The unsearchable depths of the divine mind it is not ours to fathom. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for us: it is high; we cannot attain unto it.” The probability seems to be, that creation, whensoever it began, was progressive; nay even that it still continues so; that the will of omnipotence gives birth to new worlds, and new systems, and new orders and modes of being, from the exhaustless resources of what the apostle denominates “the manifold wisdom of God.”

• Others render created. So the Septuagint, εχτισε, the Chaldee and Syriac. This seems more in harmony with the Hebrew פבה .

The next verse-’” I was set up * from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was,” is usually explained of the pre-ordination from eternity of the Second Person in the Trinity to the mediatorial office, to be assumed and sustained by Him, at the needed juncture, in future time. But according to the view Ave take of wisdom as not a person but a personification, the meaning seems rather to be, that infinite wisdom directed all the divine counsels,-all the prospective plans of the Godhead being devised by it from everlasting, with unerring, with infinite skill. We are accustomed to speak of a man consulting Ids understanding, his judgment, his good sense and discretion. In the spirit of the figure employed, God, in like manner, is represented as, in the whole of his purposes and plans, “setting up” infinite wisdom to be consulted in every step.

• Or, I was anointed.

Amplifying still further, and the figure advancing in boldness, Wisdom proceeds-verses Proverbs 8:24-25 . “When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth.”

This is one of the very few passages adduced in support of their doctrine by the advocates of the eternal generation of the Son of God; that is, of his having been the Son of the Father from eternity, according to his divine nature alone-mysteriously and eternally begotten in the essence of Deity. But in the first place, there is evidently a previous question,-the question, namely, whether the Son of God in person be the speaker. Till this has been clearly and fully established, the words ought not to be quoted in evidence. And in my judgment, the considerations assigned in last lecture render this much more than doubtful. On the authority of the Holy Scriptures, I do firmly believe, that in the divine essence there has subsisted from eternity a threefold personal distinction; but how,-according to what mode, this distinction subsists, I do not think the Bible at all informs us. All that has been said and written, about the Father being the Fountain of deity, about the Son as “begotten but not proceeding,” and the Holy Spirit as “proceeding but not begotten,” has long appeared to me only as showing the eagerness of men to pry into the mysterious beyond the limits of revelation. Such expressions, there is ground to fear, convey no ideas. And yet-as not seldom happens,-the more remote the subject from all human comprehension, the more fiery has been the dogmatism of the different parties, by whom the most hair-splitting niceties of distinction, (distinction often without perceptible difference,) have been maintained and vindicated, as if each of them for himself had succeeded in “finding out God,” in “finding out the Almighty unto perfection.” Holding firmly the belief I have already stated, I do not believe it to be the doctrine of Scripture that any one of the Divine Three possesses divinity by communication. I am not for divesting our holy religion of any of the mysteries belonging to it, which have clear Bible authority to support them; but I am very hostile to making mysteries beyond what that authority evidently affirms. And I am strongly inclined to think that the doctrine now referred to is more than a mystery-that it is self-contradictory. I am unable to think of communication without the idea of previousness and posteriority, of supremacy and dependence, of inferiority as connected with derivation; nor can I think of such communication, or generation, as eternal, without a feeling of contradiction. It was anxiety to maintain the true, underived, independent divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that first led me to doubt the prevalent systematic doctrine about “generation and procession from eternity;” and the more I searched, the more I became convinced, that for the latter, the “eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son,” there is not one atom of Scripture evidence-the only text adduced in its support having no relation whatever to any such subject;*1 and that of the former the proofs are far from satisfactory. The proper Deity of the Son of God, eternal, underived, independent, is incomparably better sustained, and the mind freed of all its feelings of impossibility and contradiction, by regarding the title Son Of God as belonging to Christ according to the complex constitution of his mediatorial person, as “God manifest in the flesh,"-a sense quite peculiar to Himself, and of which the Scriptures abound in proofs.*2

*1 The passage alluded to is John 15:26 .

*2 For further discussion of this question the reader may consult Lects. 2, 3, and 4, Vol. 2 of Dr. Wardlaw’s “Systematic Theology.”

When a personification is introduced, and is with any degree of boldness and freedom maintained, we need not be surprised at the appearance, according to the different aspects under which the same thing may be viewed, of incongruity. Divine wisdom, belonging essentially to the nature of God, was from eternity. But as a person she here speaks of herself as “brought forth” previously to the commencement of creation and providence, with obvious reference to the application of her counsels in the purposes and plans of the Godhead. The language of figure is not, of course, to be interpreted literally and strictly.

At the period referred to here, creation was not yet actually framed and executed. It was only 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!

The phrase, “the highest part of the dust of the world,” is in the margin “the chief part;” and by some the phrase has been explained of man-whom God made of the “dust” of the earth, and who was the “chief” of his works in our world. This seems rather a straining. It does not hold its place naturally in the connexion in which it occurs, when so understood. The terms probably describe the loftiest parts of the “dry land,” when it had been separated from the waters, by their retiring, at the Creator’s word, to the beds of their future rest, as the vast and mighty ocean. And, in general, the objects selected appear to be those with which, as emblems, are associated the ideas of the greatest antiquity and the most stable permanence-“the depths;” “the everlasting mountains;” “the perpetual hills.”

And, according to verses Proverbs 8:27-30 , the same Wisdom that planned, superintended the execution of the whole, “When he prepared the heavens I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.”

We stop not to inquire whether by “the heavens” we should understand simply the circumambient atmosphere, producing the appearance of the blue concave by which the earth is surrounded-called in the account of the creation, the firmament, and forming the work of “the second day;” or that blue concave, considered as inclusive of the stars, with which it appears to be studded-the starry heavens. From a comparison with other passages, this is probably the meaning;*1 and the work is often connected with wisdom, as one of its most magnificent displays.*2

*1 Psa 33:6 .

*2 Jer 10:12 , Psalms 136:5 .

God’s “setting a compass on 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 previously to the beginning of the six days’ work, by which it was reduced to order, and fitted for and stocked with inhabitants.*

• Genesis 1:1-2 .

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 this centre, and defining the spherical limits of the world of waters. It is the same principle of gravity that pervades the universe, retaining all its movements in unerring harmony, without the deviation of a hair’s-breadth, or the error of a second in a millennium!

“When he established the clouds above:"-a most important part of the system; by which, through the medium of the solar influence, and the laws of evaporation, condensation, and gravity combined, the ocean is made to supply the land; and without which wonderful and beautiful arrangement, the world would soon become a desolate wilderness. “Establishing the clouds,” seems an incongruous expression, there being nothing lighter or more unstable than these collections of atmospheric vapour. They are the very emblems of instability and evanescence. But it is the law by which the clouds are produced that is established: and that law, like every other, is a proof of “the manifold wisdom of God.”*

• Comp. Proverbs 3:20 .

“When he strengthened the fountains of the deep.” This seems to mean, that God so ordered the internal structure of the earth (of which, after the most unremitting efforts of scientific research, reaching necessarily but a short way into the mere crust, we are so extremely ignorant), and the springs and reservoirs on its surface, as to provide a constant supply of waters for the great deep maintaining its regular complement; and, at the same time, preventing its internal reservoirs from bursting their confinement to overflow and deluge the earth.

Connected with this stands verse Proverbs 8:29 :-“When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth.” The sea is often, with much sublimity, alluded to in descriptions both of the power and wisdom of God-“Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?” Job 38:8-11 .* The ocean in a storm, rolling and tossing its proud waves on high, presents one of the most impressive views of the omnipotence of Him who “measures the waters in the hollow of his hand.” And the wonderful operation of that law, by which its swelling waters are restrained within their rocky boundary, (a law which may, perhaps, be most reasonably explained of the ever and everywhere present operation of his immediate and almighty energy,) brings before us both his wisdom and his goodness, preventing them from ever again overflowing the earth. “The waters could not pass his commandment,” while he laid his restraining charge upon them; and neither could they resist his commandment, when he gave them an order of judgment against an ungodly world. And now that we have God’s promise that they “shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh,” we are as sure as that God “cannot lie,” as sure as that there is no power that can counteract omnipotence, that they shall never pass their prescribed limits again.

• See also Psalms 33:7 ; Psalms 104:9 ; Jeremiah 5:22 .

“He appointed the foundations of the earth,” may be explained in two ways, according to the sense in which the word earth is understood. If it means the land as here distinguished from the waters, then it may refer to the appearance presented by the land, when it was separated from the seas-as if it had its basis in the floods from out of which it seemed to arise: as the Psalmist says in similar terms, “He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods,” Psalms 24:2 . If again the earth means the globe, the planet itself made for the residence of man and the inferior creatures, then its foundations may mean its centre, towards which all parts of its surface and substance directly gravitate,-all thus resting upon it, and held firmly together by their attraction towards it, as all the superior parts of a building, by the very same principle, when adjusted to the perpendicular by the plumb-line, rest on the foundation on which it is reared.

All these things were done by the power of God; and the power of God, in all its operations, was directed by God’s infinite wisdom; and all the results were a source of satisfaction to the mind of God, as we cannot but conceive the successful putting-forth of His infinite perfections ever to be. Such seems to be the general sentiment of verse Proverbs 8:30 -“Then I was by him as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” “Wisdom was the constant companion or associate of all God’s plans and all their execution,-inseparable from God in all he purposed and in all he did; and “was daily his delight.” I cannot but consider the word daily here, in the connexion in which it occurs, as having immediate reference to the successive days of the world’s creation. As the products of divine power and wisdom successively appeared on each of these days, the almighty and all-wise Creator delighted in the manifestation of his own perfections. Even God’s intelligent creatures have pleasure in putting forth their faculties, and in witnessing their successful results. God’s work is perfect, and His satisfaction correspondingly perfect. And what but this divine satisfaction can be meant when it is said-” God saw every thing that he had made; and behold it was very good?"-and afterwards that “God rested from all his work and was refreshed?”

The personification gets still bolder-“rejoicing always before him.” Wisdom, by her counsels, when carried into execution, advances the glory of God. And she is, in the figure, strikingly represented as rejoicing or exulting in this; rejoicing in His very presence,-there being nothing in the results of her counsels of which she has any reason to be ashamed. This amounts, in effect, to only a stronger expression of the same sentiment as in the preceding clause,-the satisfaction of Deity in all the products of His united wisdom and power. It corresponds with the brief but beautiful expression of the psalmist, “The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works,” Psalms 104:31 . It is added, as the consummation of Wisdom’s joy:-verse Proverbs 8:31 . “Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.” There can be no doubt that Divine Wisdom delighted, more than in all that had preceded it, in the last creative effort of the sixth day-

“In man the last, in him the best.

His Maker’s image stood confest.”

In the creation of this wonderful combination of matter and spirit-of matter in its finest and most exquisite mould, and its most beautiful, delicate, complicated and perfect adjustments; and of spirit, ethereal, intelligent, pure, and active, to control all the movements of the wonderful mechanism, in subserviency to the glory of the Maker and the advancement of the happiness of His creation, was a work fitted to impart the highest satisfaction of all to the Infinitely Wise. And when Eden was planted, and fitted up in every way that could render it a suitable habitation for the holy and happy creature, and man was placed in this “habitable part of the earth,” the joy of Divine Wisdom might naturally be regarded as perfect. And so it was. Yet, when I recollect how constantly the Bible, in speaking of the manifestation of the wisdom of God in reference to man, points to another work, the work of man’s recovery when fallen, I cannot help regarding the language of this verse as prospective: as intimating joy in anticipation of a still more glorious display of the wisdom and other perfections of God, of which this world was to be the theatre.

Wisdom was displayed in man’s creation; but wisdom was to be magnified still more in man’s redemption. The scheme by which this was to be effected should contain in it a display of wisdom unparalleled in any of the wonders of creative power and skill. It was to be a scheme of mercy to the last, in which all the perfections of the divine character should be shown-shining forth in blessed harmony, all equally glorified, all mutually illustrating each other,-providing for the honour, the unsullied honour of justice in the exercise of mercy; and saving the fallen creature, without the slightest infringement of the rights of Jehovah’s holy government, or the slightest abatement or sacrifice of the claims of His eternally righteous law:-nay more, not merely without infringement of the divine glory, but with such an augmentation of it as should fill eternity with the adoring homage of an intelligent universe. It was, we apprehend, especially on this account that Wisdom delighted here: not indeed with any complacency in the character of fallen man, but with joy in the anticipation of a temple being reared on the ruins of his apostate nature, in which higher notes of praise should sound to God, to the glory of his love and mercy, and justice “and purity, and truth and wisdom and power, than had ascended to him from Eden itself Jehovah as the God of man’s creation was glorious: Jehovah as the God of man’s salvation was to be still more glorious; and the delight of divine Wisdom was to be proportionally more elevated and exquisite.

Let the man of mere natural religion think of this. His thoughts are not in harmony with those of divine wisdom, when he is trying to discover the character of God in man as he now is. The two states in which man furnishes a true testimony to the character of God, are-as he was when created, and as he is when redeemed.

The remaining verses of the chapter may be considered as the practical improvement of the preceding statements:-verse Proverbs 8:32 . “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.”

“Therefore.” The word includes much. It associates with it, both what precedes and what follows it. Consider the dignity of Wisdom. Not only does she say, “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice;” but she appears as the directress of all the purposes, and plans, and works, and ways of the infinite God. Consider also the interest which Wisdom expresses in the “sons of men;” her very delight lying in the union of the glory of God with their present and eternal happiness. And consider further, the blessedness of those who do hearken to her counsels:-verses Proverbs 8:34-35 . “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord."-Shall “find life”-life eternal! and “obtain favour of the Lord!” The latter secures the former. “In His favour is life.” O what an acquisition-the smile and love of God! Without these, there is, there can be nothing for man that deserves the name of happiness. With these, there can be no misery in time or in eternity. Well might heavenly Wisdom say, “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.” Let no tempting Siren voice of the world draw your ear away from the voice of Wisdom. Mark her solemn and touching conclusion-” He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”

They that resist her entreaties and warnings, “wrong”-do violence to, “their own souls.” They are guilty-ah! how often-of self-destruction! They “love Death!” They wilfully take the sure way of making it their final portion. They wilfully render themselves obnoxious to it; so that were it their great aim they could not more effectually insure it; could not take a more certain road to perdition were they making it the great object of their search to find one!