SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING

JSy the late RE V„

A. H. COLLINS

“THE WAY OF WISDOM,”

-The- fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understand-ing.”—-Proverbs 9. 10.

Trip book of Proverbs has not received th© attention it merits at the hands of preachers, notwithstanding the fact its chapters are a veritable mine of pulpit, wealth. The reason for this comparative neglect is probably twofold. Our cast of mind is speculative, and our form of speech is wordy. Truth which the ancients packed into a polished and pointed sentence we spread into a volume. Instead of “apples of gold, in pictures of silver” we have grains of gold in ponderous waggons, painted in gaudy colours. But the chief reason lies in the quality of the teaching. When you compare the book of Proverbs with, say, Saint John’s gospel or the great Pauline epistles, you feel that these New Testament books move on a higher plane of inspiration, and strike a deeper note. The Proverbs are shrewd, commonsense comments; wise and timely counsels on a great variety of everyday subjects, but you miss the diapason of the deep, the heart sobs and the lyric strains that sound in the Gospels and Epistles. The young man facing a business career turns to the Proverbs; the old man on the threshold of eternity flies for refuge to the fourteenth of St. John. This does not mean that the Proverbs are valueless. I can enjoy the simple melody of “Home Sweet Home,” though the' “'Hallelujah Chorus” stands in another category. TWO POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND. There are two other words I want to say of an introductory kind. The authorship of-this book is attributed to Solomon, but this must not be interpreted too literally. There are differences of literary style which make it practically certain that thia book is not the work of any one hand; while some .of the 'social and political allusions point to a later date than the life of David’s brilliant son. Just as the gradual accre; tions and developments of the Jewish law. are attributed to Moses, and just as the songs and lyrics of the Psalms are all credited to David, so the proverbial lore, and practical wisdom, of, the whole Jewish nation is, bound up in a book called “The Proverbs of Solomon.” The other word I wish to say relates to the literary form. Teaching, by proverbs is amongst the most, ancient in the world, and. the most effective. The Hebrew mind was not speculative or philosophical, but concrete. Where we should say ‘TFnity is. Strength” the Hebrew would say “With two dogs they killed a lion.” Our statement is abstract; theirs supplies a picture, ana the idea sticks. You see the two dogs attacking the forest .king and by- concerted ■ action getting the mastery. If we keep that in mind, it, will help us here. .<• ■ <■" : ' WISDOM, THE ART' OF LIFE. . By • “wisdom” the writer does not mean some secret doctrine about God, or the universe, or the soul, or the future life. By “wisdom” he means the art and science of . life; the business of. living which calls and enthralls every one Of us; the ability to “make the best of both worlds.” He is. dealing with our to-day’s task; trial, dilemma, struggle, opportunity. He want to teach us how to handle life; how to get p. grip ou this turbulent pompouud we call “self”; how to adjust ourselves to other men; how to meet and bear the inevitable frictions, disappointments, successes- and defeats of our three score and ten years, and fit ourselves for the life beyond. Now . that is something very real and iractical. That is what we all need to snow. We can get on a little longer without a complete and satisfactory solution of a good many questions about which a good deal of ink has been spilt and a lot of bad blood stirred; but we have to live, and we need to know how. You may not have-settled the question of free will in theory; but you have to. settle it 50 times a day in practice. In some- respects, the world we inhabit is ‘very different from that of the ,ancients', for they had no telephones, gramophones, motors, type-writers, aeroplanes and cablegrams; but Nature and human nature are the same. Our little fussed and fussing-lives are just short lengths cut from the same old fabric, .which Dame Nature has been , weaving and delivering adown the ages. We have the

same temptations, appetites, hopes and fears. THE PEAR OF TH® LORD. What the ancients needed to know is what we need to know, and it is this: On what terms is life to be lived ? By what principle is life to be regulated? How can we extract life’s highest good? How can we escape the things that maim and mar life, and make life “one grand sweet song?” That, I say, is not a trifling question. It cuts deep, and it soars high, and if you know any truer answer than this, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” you should tell it to the world. Meanwhile, I stand by this word which declares that a solemn, sincere, supremo regard for God is the open secret of life. The materialistic interpretation of life, which cries, “Come let us crown ourselves with rosebuds ere they wither,” ends in satiety and disgust, which wails, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” The primal condition of right living for men and nations, is reverence for God, which leads to submission “o his holy will. But when this ancient speaks of tile fear of the Lord,” what does he mean ? Let us trv to discriminate. There is a false fear,”' “a fear that hath torments,” a fear that unmakes-a man, and we need not mourn its decay. The modern man i does not feel that the appea i to fear is a high appeal. We do not think it a compliment to-say of a teacher that he rules his pupils “with a rod of iron.,” for that kind of discipline does not last, and the moment his eye is off the class' the scholars revolt. Men are not to- be frightened into We must take care that we do not degrade Jesus into “a coward’s refuge from a culprit’s doom.” . . REVERENCE AND AWE.'

There is, however, a true, wise, holy fear, which is. worlds away from dread of consequences, and that fear is the “beginning” and the end of “wisdom,” for without it the State is not stable and man is not great. I would rathercall it “reverence,” or, better still, “awe.” Dr. Dale talking to his friend one day, said in deep seriousness: “Berry, nobody is afraid of God now.” I know Dale tod well to misunderstand his meaning. He was not thinking of crude and materialistic representations of judgment, but of reverential awe of God, and his words are still true inside and outside church circles.

. “The souls of modern men need all their wings to enable them to fly as quickly as their fellows, and they have none left wherewith to cover their faces and their feet.” God is little more than a word of three letters. We mistake familiarity ■■ for friendship. There is a wide distinction between, fearing God and being afraid of God. The man in the parable said, “I was afraid,” and ,he said so because he thought, his Master “hard.” Was that.idea true? No, it was false; Why? Because it was partial. Is God severe ? No. Is severity on element in God’s character? Yes. Is a pure ray of light violet? No. Is violet on© of the seven colours in sunlight? Yes. Shall I pick out. the darker shades —justice, righteousness, w,rath.—and say “this is God?” No.’Shall I drop these and speak of meekness.and mercy? No. Why? Because either conception, is partial. THE BLENDING OF QUALITIES. What, then, I do? . Blend them. Think of a very beautiful face in which every feature contributes to the loveliness of• the ■ whole. Now lay that lovely face on the surgeon’s table and let him dissect it, feature from feature. What is the result? The beauty is turned to ghastliness. In thinking of God you must not mistake a feature for a face. We should know nothing of the base, the servile, the pagan fear of "a slave in the presence of a tyrant, but we should bow the. knee in the presence of the Holy Father, and show as much respect to God, and the things of God, as we would exhibit to the Mayor in his chair. We can never, love a mortal man unless we first learn to respect him, and in order to lov©. God,- we must reverence Him. '"They love Thee little,- if at all, “Who do. not fear Thee much.” . Our, need, our greatest; need is the vision of God—the august sight which Isaiah and Ezekiel saw. It will redeem worship and make it dignified and calm; it will redeem work and make it honest and. thorough; it will redeem the world and make commerce arid politics clean. Yes, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and “perfect love casteth out fear.”