The Cry of Wisdom
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chW place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scoruers delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?” — i. 20-22.
THE evil doers are not left without a warning. The warning is loud, public, authoritative. But who is this monitor that claims the submissive regard of men WISDOM. — Wisdom from above is the teacher: the lesson that follows is not after the manner of men. We recognise already the style of that Prophet who came in the fulness of time, speaking as never man spake. It was in this manner that Jesus, in the days of his flesh, stood and cried to the multitude — to the simple who loved simplicity, and the scorners who loved scorning — “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” Before He was manifested to Israel, His delights were with the sons of men. In the provisions of the well-ordered covenant, He had the means of sounding an alarm in human ears before He became incarnate. He found and used a willing messenger to preach righteousness to rebellious spirits in Noah’s days. Neither did He leave Himself without a witness in the time of Solomon. The eternal Son of God is not only wisdom in himself, He is “made unto us wisdom.” He who was seen by Abraham afar off was heard by Abraham’s seed in later days. In the beginning was the Word» and the Word was God. The Word and Wisdom of God made Himself known to men at sundry times, and in divers manners, before He took flesh and dwelt among us.
In the Scriptures, Wisdom cried to men. “They testify of me,” said Jesus. The prophets all spake of his coming, and prepared his way. The sacrifices offered year by year and day by day continually, proclaimed aloud to each generation the guilt of men, and the way of mercy. The history of Israel, all the days of old, (7)
was itself Wisdom’s perennial articulate cry of warning to the rebellious. The plains of Egypt and the Red Sea, Sinai and the Jordan, each had a voice, and all proclaimed in concert the righteousness and mercy that kissed each other in the counsels of God. The things that happened to them happened for ensamples and the things were not done in a corner. In the opening of the gates, in the city’s busiest haunts, the proclamation was made to unwilling listeners. The cry of Wisdom in those days of old, if it did not turn the impenitent, was sufficient to condemn them. It was so manifestly from God, and so intelligible to men, that it must have either led them out of condemnation, or left them under it without excuse.
But the wisdom of God is a manifold wisdom. While it centres bodily in Christ, and thence issues as from its source, it is reflected and re-echoed from every object and every event. There is a challenge in the prophets, “Oh, earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!” The receptive earth has taken in that word, and obediently repeats it from age to age. The stars of heaven and the flowers of earth, facing each other like the opposite ranks of a choral band, hymn, alternate and responsive, the wisdom of God. He hath made all things for Himself. He serves himself of criminals arid their crimes. From many a ruined fortune Wisdom cries, “Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.” From many an outcast in his agonies, as when the eagles of the valley are picking out his eyes, Wisdom cries, “Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long.” From many a gloomy scaffold Wisdom cries, “Thou shalt not kill.” Every law of nature, and every event in history, has a tongue by which Wisdom proclaims God’s holiness, and rebukes man’s sin.
But is there any prophet of the Lord besides these? Is there any other organ by which Wisdom cries to men? There is one. Giving force to all other intimations, there is a prophet of the Lord within every man — his own conscience. We are fearfully made. That witness within us is often feared and shunned more than armed men, more than gates and bars, more sometimes than the dungeon, the scaffold, and the drop. It is the case of the ancient king over again; he is a prophet of the Lord, “but I Late him, because he never prophesies good concerning me.”
Bur conscience proclaiming God’s anger against the man’s evil, has not power to make the man good. All the instincts of the transgressor’s nature are leagued in an effort to smother the disturber, and they generally succeed. It is the conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ that at once speaks peace and works purity.
Three classes of persons seem to be singled out here, and to each is administered an appropriate reproof: 1. The simple who love simplicity; 2. The scorners who delight in scorning; 3. The fools who hate knowledge.
1. The simple who love simplicity. Probably we would not be far from the truth if we should accept this term in the Proverbs as intended to indicate that class of sinners whose leading characteristic is the absence of good rather than positive activity in evil. The root of bitterness has not shot forth in any form of outrageous vice, but it remains destitute of righteousness. They do not blaspheme God, indeed, but they neglect his salvation, and they cannot escape. Their hearts by a law of inherent evil depart from Him; He in judgment lets them go, and gives them over.
The simple for time are always a numerous class. They cannot be intrusted with money, for it will all go into the hands of the first sharper whom they meet. They will let the day pass, with no provision for the night, and never think it needful until the darkness has fallen down. They will let the summer come and go without laying up a store for the time to come; and when the winter arrives they have neither house nor clothing, neither money nor food. Somehow they did not think of these things; the sunshine was pleasant while it lasted; they basked in its rays; and it did not occur to them that a cloud might soon darken the face of the sky.
But the simple for eternity are more numerous stilL While they have food and raiment they pass the time pleasantly, and never think of sin. As for righteousness, they do not feel the want of it, and form no high estimate of its worth. As to the judgment-seat of God, they have lived a long time, and have never seen it yet; they don’t trouble themselves with anticipations of evil. The great white throne has always kept out of their sight, and they keep out of its sight. How many simple ones are going fast forward to death, with no life to triumph over it! How many are drawing near the border in utter listlessness, as if there were no sin, and no judgment — no God, no Heaven, no Hell!
2. The scorners who love scorning. This is another feature of the fallen — another phase of the great rebellion. This class meet the threatening realities of eternity not by an easy indifference, but by a hardy resistance. They have a bold word ever ready to ward solemn thought away, — a sneer at the silliness of a saint, an oath to manifest courage, or a witty allusion to Scripture which will make the circle ring again with laughter.
There have been scorners in every age. There are not a few amongst us at the present day. They may be found on both the edges of society: poverty and riches become by turns a temptation to the same sin. It is not only the shop of the artisan that resounds with frequent scoffs: the same sound is familiar in the halls of the rich. Many of the young men who have been educated in affluence belong to this class. They have large possessions, and larger prospects; they wish to enjoy what they have. The triumph of grace in their hearts would dethrone the god of this world, and spoil his goods. The running fire of profane jests proceeds from advanced earth-works which Satan has thrown up around his citadel, in his earnestness not only to keep his goods in safety from the overthrowing power of conversion, but in peace from the troublesome assaults of conviction.
Scorners love scorning. The habit grows by indulgence: it becomes a second nature: it becomes the element in which they live. And what gives them confidence 1 Have they by searching found out that there is no God 1 or have they ascertained that He has no punishment in store for the wicked? No! they have not settled these questions at all, either to the satisfaction of mankind, or their own. These scoffs are generally parrying strokes to keep convictions away. These smart sayings are the fence to turn aside certain arrows which might otherwise fix their tormenting barbs in the conscience. The scorner is generally not so bold a man as he appears to be. He keeps the truth at arm’s length: he strikes at it vehemently before it gets near him. All this betrays a secret sense of weakness: he cannot afford to come into close contact with the sword of the Spirit. These violent gesticulations against the truth indicate the unerring instinct of the old man resisting that which advances to destroy him. “What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus; art thou come to torment us before the time?”
3. The fools who hate knowledge. By a comparison of various scriptures in which the term occurs, it appears that fools are those who have reached the very highest degrees of evil. Here it is intimated that they hate knowledge; and knowledge has its beginning in the fear of God. All the branches springing from that root, and all the sweet fruit they bear, are hateful to fools. The knowledge has c«me to men, in as far as to be presented to their minds, and pressed on their acceptance. Some, the simple, never think of it at all; and others, the scorners, bar its faintest approaches; but these fools, after it has made its way into the conscience, exclude it from their hearts. They have not been able to keep Truth’s heavenly form out of their minds, but they hate it when it comes in. Others only live without Christ, keeping Him at a distance; but these are against Him, after He has been revealed in majesty divine. The emphatic “No God” of the fourteenth psalm indicates, not the despair of a seeker who is unable to find truth, but the anger of an enemy who does not like to retain it. It is not a judgment formed in the fool’s understanding, but a passion rankling in his heart.
How long shall all this last?
“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?” God is weary of your indifference; how long will it cleave to you? How long will a man continue to be regardless of his soul? Till death? It will certainly be no longer. He who would not cry in hope for mercy to pardon his sin, did cry without hope for a drop of water to cool his tongue.
“How long will the scorners delight in their scorning 1” Will they not cease from blaspheming God, until God, ceasing to be gracious, stop their breath, and take them away 1 If you continue this scorning till your dying day, do you expect to continue itlonger? Will you make merry with the judgment-seat 1 Will you be able to argue against the wrath of the Lamb 1 “Depart from me, ye cursed” — that word will crush the scorning out of the boldest blasphemer. Would that the profane might make the discovery now; for it will be too late to make it when the day is epent.
. “How long shall fools hate knowledge?” Unless they learn to love it soon, they will hate it for ever. They might learn to love it now; for the same word that rebukes sin reveals mercy.
Well might the fool learn to love the knowledge which presents Christ crucified as the way of a sinner’s return; but if a man do not love knowledge revealing mercy, how shall he love it denouncing wrath 1 The only knowledge that can reach the lost is the knowledge that the door is shut. How long will they hate that knowledge ] Evermore.
& gebtbal.