Studies in Life from Jewish ProverbsElmslie, W. A. L. (William Alexander Leslie)
Religion
Studies in Life from Jewish Proverbs
Elmslie, W. A. L. (William Alexander Leslie)
Proverbs, Hebrew
Moreover it ought to be recognised that, properly regarded, morality is
never unimportant; moralisms being trifling only so long as they remain
mere words, not when they are translated into deeds. Act upon the good
that is found in these proverbs, and immense results would follow. But
just there is the crux: “It is a small matter to get right principles
recognised, the whole difficulty lies in getting them practised. We need
a power which can successfully, contend against the storm of our passion
and self-will.”[154]
Now there is one deeply significant fact which we have seen in our study
of the Jewish proverbs, but on which we have not yet laid sufficient
stress--the fact that they seemed to their authors to point beyond
themselves to a Divine Source. They were not fortuitous atoms gathered
no man knew whence or why, but part of a marvellous system inspired and
originated by God, sustained by His inexhaustible power, and governed by
His holy purposes. Whatever may be thought regarding particular
proverbs, no sensible person can imagine that Wisdom itself is idle or
unimportant talk. Wisdom remains wise even in such a war as this, though
the nations rage and the kingdoms are moved.
But is there a Divine Wisdom? Or is the aspiring faith of men only an
unsubstantial dream? From first to last the Jews believed that Wisdom is
a reality, and, far from weakening as the years went on, their
confidence even increased, and their thoughts of the wonder and glory of
the Heavenly Wisdom became, if possible, more sublime and yet no less
intimate. And high as they exalted Wisdom, her chiefest glory remained
this, that she was willing to dwell with men. Let us take as a last
quotation some beautiful and loving words from that late work, the
_Wisdom of Solomon_, to which reference was made in Chapter IX:
_Wisdom is an effulgence from everlasting light,
A stainless mirror of God’s working, and an image of His goodness.
And it, being one, hath power to do all things;
And remaining in itself, reneweth all things:
And from generation to generation passing into holy souls
It maketh men friends of God and prophets....
Wisdom is fairer than the sun, and above all the
constellations of the stars.
Being compared with light, it is found to be before it;
For to the light of day succeedeth night,
But against Wisdom evil doth not prevail_ (W.S. 7^{26-30}).
Is there this Heavenly Wisdom? Century by century, Life is accumulating
its patient answer to the question, building up its vast evidence that
the word of God endures, generation by generation confirming the
intuition that the visible is for man the least real and that it is the
unseen things that are eternal. But out of the midst of history there
has also come one finished and marvellous reply--the personality of
Jesus Christ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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