Aspiration

“In vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” — Proverbs I. 17.

The common interpretation is, “Even the bird is wiser than you; you fall into a net of temptation which the bird avoids.” I do not think this is the idea. I take the passage to be a poetic metaphor. I understand it to mean, “You will never avoid the perils of the net until you adopt the method of the bird.” What is that method? It is flight — flight not from the net, but above the net. Why does the bird in its progress not try to pass through the net? Because it has another road open to it — a road through the upper air. If it had only one road it might be tempted to try the net. But it is independent of the spot where the net lies; it can travel by a more excellent way. The only cure for temptation is aspiration. You cannot avoid the net by running away from it. The net is really in your heart and runs along with you. You can only avoid it by the wing — by soaring to something better. Are you covetous of earthly riches? You won’t escape by shutting the door of the treasury. You will only escape by the sight of a larger treasury — the unsearchable riches of Christ. Would you be free from the lust of the flesh; then must you fly on the wings of the spirit. To be unhurt on earth you must be a bird ot Paradise.

Rise on the wing, O my soul, and in vain the net shall be spread for thee! Rise on the wing, and thou shalt be above the miry clay! Thou shalt not be above it by shutting thyself in a cellar. What makes thee impure is the thought of the clay. Thou canst be a pauper and yet a miser, a profligate and yet an ascetic, a worldling and yet a recluse. Thou canst be a prodigal where there are no swine, a Judas where there is no bag from which to steal. Thou fleest not from the world by leaving the street. The world is not in the street; it is in thy study — the place where thou thinkest. It is thy spirit that must have wings. Nothing but a noble love can save thee from an ignoble love — not law, not prison, not stripes, not sight of hell — only the sight of beauty, only Christ. It is not rest thou requirest; it is wing. It is not abstinence thou needest; it is a higher luxury. It is not privation thou lackest; it is a nobler self-indulgence. Not the weaning but the winging of thy spirit is thy God’s goal for thee. Begin with the wing! Do not begin with little improvements! Do not start with the provinces! Come at once to the metropolis; rise, at a bound, to Christ! And His beauty will keep thee pure; His image will keep thee holy; His loveliness will keep thee aloft upon the mount of virtue. In vain the net is spread for the soul on wing to Jesus!