There is, then, a certain paradox in the life of wisdom which no ingenuity can avoid. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, but we may not seek them because they are pleasant, for other ways are pleasant too, or seem to be so for a while. All her paths are peace, but we do not enter them to gain peace, for the peace comes often under the stress of a great conflict or in the endurance of a heavy chastening. A thousand temporal blessings accompany the entrance into the narrow way, but so far from seeking them, it is well-nigh impossible to start on the way unless we lose sight and care of them altogether. The Divine Wisdom gives us these blessings when we no longer set our hearts on them, because while we set our hearts on them they are dangerous to us. Putting the truth in the clearest light which has been given to us, the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called upon to give up everything in order to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and when we are absorbed in that as our true object of search everything is given back to us a hundredfold; we are called upon to take up our cross and follow Him, and when we do so He bears the cross for us; we are called upon to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him, and immediately we take it--not before--we find that it is easy. The wise, loving only wisdom, find that they have inherited glory; the fools, seeking only promotion, find that they have achieved nothing but shame.[52] FOOTNOTES: [32] Prov. ii. 21, 22. [33] Prov. i. 31-33. [34] Prov. ix. 12, 18. [35] _Cf._ xxviii. 26, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered." [36] Prov. iii. 1-10. [37] Luke xviii. 29, 30. [38] The Hebrew word שִׁקּוּי in iii. 8_b_ is the same as that which is translated "my drink" in Hosea ii. 6. The LXX. render it "marrow," but it means the moisture which in a natural and healthy state keeps the bones supple, as opposed to the dryness which is produced by senility or disease. [39] _Si ton Dieu veut ta mort, c'est déjà trop vécu._ [40] Prov. iii. 29. [41] Prov. iii. 33. [42] _Cf._ xii. 8, "A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart, shall be despised." [43] Prov. iii. 27, 28. [44] Prov. iii. 6. [45] Matt. vi. 22. [46] Prov. iii. 13-15. [47] Prov. iii. 18. [48] Prov. iii. 16. [49] Prov. iii. 8. [50] Prov. iii. 31. [51] Prov. iii. 12. [52] Prov. iii. 35. IV. _EDUCATION: THE CHILD'S THOUGHT OF THE PARENT._[53] "Wisdom doth live with children round her knees." WORDSWORTH. "He taught me, and said unto me," etc.--PROV. iv. 4.