Proverbs 8 commentary

The will of God is made known by the works of creation, and by the consciences of men, but more clearly by Moses and the prophets. The chief difficulty is to get men to attend to instruction. Yet attention to the words of Christ, will guide the most ignorant into saving knowledge of the truth. Where there is an understanding heart, and willingness to receive the truth in love, wisdom is valued above silver and gold.

Wisdom, here is Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it is Christ in the word, and Christ in the heart; not only Christ revealed to us, but Christ revealed in us. All prudence and skill are from the Lord. Through the redemption of Christ's precious blood, the riches of his grace abound in all wisdom and prudence. Man found out many inventions for ruin; God found one for our recovery. He hates pride and arrogance, evil ways and froward conversation; these render men unwilling to hear his humbling, awakening, holy instructions. True religion gives men the best counsel in all difficult cases, and helps to make their way plain. His wisdom makes all truly happy who receive it in the love of Christ Jesus. Seek him early, seek him earnestly, seek him before any thing else. Christ never said, Seek in vain. Those who love Christ, are such as have seen his loveliness, and have had his love shed abroad in their hearts; therefore they are happy. They shall be happy in this world, or in that which is beyond compare better. Wealth gotten by vanity will soon be diminished, but that which is well got, will wear well; and that which is well spent upon works of piety and charity, will be lasting. If they have not riches and honour in this world, they shall have that which is infinitely better. They shall be happy in the grace of God. Christ, by his Spirit, guides believers into all truth, and so leads them in the way of righteousness; and they walk after the Spirit. Also, they shall be happy in the glory of God hereafter. In Wisdom's promises, believers have goods laid up, not for days and years, but for eternity; her fruit therefore is better than gold.

The Son of God declares himself to have been engaged in the creation of the world. How able, how fit is the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it! The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work. Does he delight in saving wretched sinners, and shall not we delight in his salvation?

Surely we should hearken to Christ's voice with the readiness of children. Let us all be wise, and not refuse such mercy. Blessed are those who hear the Saviour's voice, and wait on him with daily reading, meditation, and prayer. The children of the world find time for vain amusements, without neglecting what they deem the one thing needful. Does it not show contempt of Wisdom's instructions, when people professing godliness, seek excuses for neglecting the means of grace? Christ is Wisdom, and he is Life to all believers; nor can we obtain God's favour, unless we find Christ, and are found in him. Those who offend Christ deceive themselves; sin is a wrong to the soul. Sinners die because they will die, which justifies God when he judges.

CHAPTER 8

Pr 8:1-36. Contrasted with sensual allurements are the advantages of divine wisdom, which publicly invites men, offers the best principles of life, and the most valuable benefits resulting from receiving her counsels. Her relation to the divine plans and acts is introduced, as in Pr 3:19, 20, though more fully, to commend her desirableness for men, and the whole is closed by an assurance that those finding her find God's favor, and those neglecting ruin themselves. Many regard the passage as a description of the Son of God by the title, Wisdom, which the older Jews used (and by which He is called in Lu 11:49), as Joh 1:1, &c., describes Him by that of Logos, the Word. But the passage may be taken as a personification of wisdom: for, (1) Though described as with God, wisdom is not asserted to be God. (2) The use of personal attributes is equally consistent with a personification, as with the description of a real person. (3) The personal pronouns used accord with the gender (feminine) of wisdom constantly, and are never changed to that of the person meant, as sometimes occurs in a corresponding use of spirit, which is neuter in Greek, but to which masculine pronouns are often applied (Joh 16:14), when the acts of the Holy Spirit are described. (4) Such a personification is agreeable to the style of this book (compare Pr 1:20; 3:16, 17; 4:8; 6:20-22; 9:1-4), whereas no prophetical or other allusions to the Saviour or the new dispensation are found among the quotations of this book in the New Testament, and unless this be such, none exist. (5) Nothing is lost as to the importance of this passage, which still remains a most ornate and also solemn and impressive teaching of inspiration on the value of wisdom.

1-4. The publicity and universality of the call contrast with the secrecy and intrigues of the wicked (Pr 7:8, &c.).

5. wisdom--literally, "subtilty" in a good sense, or, "prudence."

fools--as Pr 1:22.

6. excellent things--or, "plain," "manifest."

opening ... things--upright words.

7. For ... truth--literally, "My palate shall meditate," or (as Orientals did) "mutter," my thoughts expressed only to myself are truth.

wickedness--specially falsehood, as opposed to truth.

8. in righteousness--or, "righteous" (Psa 9:8,11:7).

froward--literally, "twisted," or contradictory, that is, to truth.

9. plain ... understandeth--easily seen by those who apply their minds.

that find--implying search.

10. not silver--preferable to it, so last clause implies comparison.

11. (Compare Pr 3:14, 15).

12. prudence--as in Pr 8:5. The connection of "wisdom" and "prudence" is that of the dictates of sound wisdom and its application.

find ... inventions--or, "devices," "discreet ways" (Pr 1:4).

13. For such is the effect of the fear of God, by which hatred to evil preserves from it.

froward mouth--or, "speech" (Pr 2:12; 6:14).

14. It also gives the elements of good character in counsel.

sound wisdom--(Pr 2:7).

I ... strength--or, "As for me, understanding is strength to me," the source of power (Ec 9:16); good judgment gives more efficiency to actions;

15-16. of which a wisely conducted government is an example.

17. early--or, "diligently," which may include the usual sense of early in life.

18. durable riches ... righteousness--Such are the "riches," enduring sources of happiness in moral possessions (compare Pr 3:16).

19. (Compare Pr 8:11; 3:16).

20-21. The courses in which wisdom leads conduct to a true present prosperity (Pr 23:5).

22-31. Strictly, God's attributes are part of Himself. Yet, to the poetical structure of the whole passage, this commendation of wisdom is entirely consonant. In order of time all His attributes are coincident and eternal as Himself. But to set forth the importance of wisdom as devising the products of benevolence and power, it is here assigned a precedence. As it has such in divine, so should it be desired in human, affairs (compare Pr 3:19).

possessed--or, "created"; in either sense, the idea of precedence.

in the beginning--or simply, "beginning," in apposition with "me."

before ... of old--preceding the most ancient deeds.

32-36. Such an attribute men are urged to seek.

Doth not wisdom cry? - Here wisdom is again personified; but the prosopopoeia is carried on to a greater length than before, and with much more variety. It is represented in this chapter in a twofold point of view:

1. Wisdom, the power of judging rightly, implying the knowledge of Divine and human things.

2. As an attribute of God, particularly displayed in the various and astonishing works of creation.

Nor has it any other meaning in this whole chapter, whatever some of the fathers may have dreamed, who find allegorical meanings every where. The wise man seems as if suddenly awakened from the distressful contemplation which he had before him, - of the ruin of young persons in both worlds by means of debauchery, - by the voice of wisdom, who has lifted up her voice in the most public places, where was the greatest concourse of the people, to warn the yet unsnared, that they might avoid the way of seduction and sin; and cause those who love her to inherit substance, and to have their treasuries filled with durable riches.

In the places of the paths - בית נתיבת נצבה beith nethiboth nitstsabah, "The constituted house of the paths." Does not this mean the house of public worship? the tabernacle or temple, which stands a center to the surrounding villages, the paths from all the parts leading to and terminating at it? In such a place, where the holy word of God is read or preached, there in a particular manner does wisdom cry, and understanding lift up her voice. There are the warnings, the precepts, and the promises of eternal truth; there the bread of God is broken to his children, and thither they that will may come and take the water of life freely.

She crieth at the gates - This might be well applied to the preaching of Jesus Christ and his apostles, and their faithful successors in the Christian ministry. He went to the temple, and proclaimed the righteousness of the Most High: he did the same in the synagogues, on the mountains, by the sea-side, in the villages, in the streets of the cities, and in private houses. His disciples followed his track: in the same way, and in the same spirit, they proclaimed the unsearchable riches of Christ. God's wisdom in the hearts of his true ministers directs them to go and to seek sinners. There are, it is true, temples, synagogues, churches, chapels, etc.; but hundreds of thousands never frequent them, and therefore do not hear the voice of truth: wisdom, therefore, must go to them, if she wishes them to receive her instructions. Hence the zealous ministers of Christ go still to the highways and hedges, to the mountains and plains, to the ships and the cottages, to persuade sinners to turn from the error of their ways, and accept that redemption which was procured by the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ.

Unto you, O men - אישים ishim, men of wealth and power, will I call; and not to you alone, for my voice is אל בני אדם al beney Adam, "to all the descendants of Adam;" to the whole human race. As Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, so the Gospel proclaims salvation to all: to You - to every individual, my voice is addressed. Thou hast sinned; and thou must perish, if not saved by grace.

O ye simple - פתאים pethaim, ye that are deceived, and with flattering words and fair speeches deluded and drawn away.

Ye fools - כסילים kesilim, ye stupid, stiffnecked, senseless people. That preaching is never likely to do much good, that is not pointed; specifying and describing vices, and charging them home on the consciences of transgressors. Where this is not done, the congregation is unconcerned; no man supposes he has any thing to do in the business, especially if the preacher takes care to tell them, "These were the crimes of Jews, Romans, Greeks, of the people at Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Laodicea, and of heathens in general; but I hope better things of you, who have been born in a Christian land, and baptized in the Christian faith." Thus he arms their consciences in double brass against the good effects of his own teaching.

Hear; for I will speak of excellent things - נגידים negidim, things which are preeminent, and manifestly superior to all others. The teaching is not trifling, though addressed to triflers.

The opening of my lips shall be right things - מישרים meysharim, things which are calculated to correct your false notions, and set straight your crooked ways. Hence she declares,

My mouth shall speak truth - Truth, without falsity, or any mixture of error, shall be the whole matter of my discourse.

All the words - are in righteousness - בצדק betsedek, in justice and equity, testifying what man owes to his God, to his neighbor, and to himself; giving to each his due. This is the true import of צדק tsadak.

There is nothing froward - נפתל niphtal, tortuous, involved, or difficult.

Or perverse - עקש ikkesh, distorted, leading to obstinacy. On the contrary,

They are all plain - נכחים nechochim, straight forward, over against every man, level to every capacity. This is true of all that concerns the salvation of the soul.

To them that find knowledge - When a man gets the knowledge of himself, then he sees all the threatenings of God to be right. When he obtains the knowledge of God in Christ, then he finds that all the promises of God are right - yea and amen.

Receive my instruction, and not silver - A Hebrew idiom; receive my instruction in preference to silver.

Wisdom is better than rubies - See on Pro 3:15 (note).

I wisdom dwell with prudence - Prudence is defined, wisdom applied to practice; so wherever true wisdom is, it will lead to action, and its activity will be always in reference to the accomplishment of the best ends by the use of the most appropriate means. Hence comes what is here called knowledge of witty inventions, דעת מזמות אמצא daath mezimmoth emtsa, "I have found out knowledge and contrivance." The farther wisdom proceeds in man, the more practical knowledge it gains; and finding out the nature and properties of things, and the general course of providence, it can contrive by new combinations to produce new results.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil - As it is impossible to hate evil without loving good; and as hatred to evil will lead a man to abandon the evil way; and love to goodness will lead him to do what is right in the sight of God, under the influence of that Spirit which has given the hatred to evil, and inspired the love of goodness: hence this implies the sum and substance of true religion, which is here termed the fear of the Lord.

Counsel is mine - Direction how to act in all circumstances and on all occasions must come from wisdom: the foolish man can give no counsel, cannot show another how he is to act in the various changes and chances of life. The wise man alone can give this counsel; and he can give it only as continually receiving instruction from God: for this Divine wisdom can say, תושיה Tushiyah, substance, reality, essence, all belong to me: I am the Fountain whence all are derived. Man may be wise, and good, and prudent, and ingenious; but these he derives from me, and they are dependently in him. But in me all these are independently and essentially inherent.

And sound wisdom - See above. This is a totally false translation: תושיה tushiyah means essence, substance, reality; the source and substance of good. How ridiculous the support derived by certain authors from this translation in behalf of their system! See the writers on and quoters of Proverbs 8 (note).

I have strength - Speaking still of wisdom as communicating rays of its light to man, it enables him to bring every thing to his aid; to construct machines by which one man can do the work of hundreds. From it comes all mathematical learning, all mechanical knowledge; from it originally came the inclined plane, the wedge, the screw, the pulley, in all its multiplications; and the lever, in all its combinations and varieties, came from this wisdom. And as all these can produce prodigies of power, far surpassing all kinds of animal energy, and all the effects of the utmost efforts of muscular force; hence the maxim of Lord Bacon, "Knowledge is power," built on the maxim of the tushiyah itself; לי גבורה li geburah, Mine Is Strength.

By me kings reign - Every wise and prudent king is such through the influence of Divine wisdom. And just laws and their righteous administration come from this source. In this and the following verse five degrees of civil power and authority are mentioned.

1. מלכים melachim, Kings.

2. רזנים rozenim, Consuls.

3. שרים sarim, Princes, Chiefs of the people.

4. נדיבים nedibim, Nobles. And

5. שפטים shophetim, Judges or Civil Magistrates\\

All orders of government are from God. Instead of שפטי ארץ shophetey arets,"judges of the earth," שפטי צרק shophetey tsedek, "righteous judges," or "judges of righteousness," is the reading of one hundred and sixty-two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., both in the text and in the margin, and of several ancient editions. And this is the reading of the Vulgate, the Chaldee, and the Syriac, and should undoubtedly supersede the other.

I love them that love me - Wisdom shows itself; teaches man the knowledge of himself; shows him also the will of God concerning him; manifests the snares and dangers of life, the allurements and unsatisfactory nature of all sensual and sinful pleasures, the blessedness of true religion, and the solid happiness which an upright soul derives from the peace and approbation of its Maker. If, then, the heart embraces this wisdom, follows this Divine teaching, and gives itself to God, his love will be shed abroad in it by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus we love God because he hath first loved us and the more we love him, the more we shall feel of his love, which will enable us to love him yet more and more; and thus we may go on increasing to eternity. Blessed be God!

And those that seek me early shall find me - Not merely betimes in the morning, though he who does so shall find it greatly to his advantage; (see on Psa 4:1-8 (note)); but early in life - in youth, and as near as possible to the first dawn of reason. To the young this gracious promise is particularly made: if they seek, they shall find. Others, who are old, may seek and find; but never to such advantage as they would have done, had they sought early. Youth is the time of advantage in every respect: it is the time of learning, the time of discipline; the time of improvement, the time of acquiring useful, solid, and gracious habits. As the first-fruits always belong to God, it is God's time; the time in which he is peculiarly gracious; and in which, to sincere youthful seekers, he pours out his benefits with great profusion. "They that seek me early shall find me."

Hear, ye young, and ye little ones! God offers himself now to you, with all his treasures of grace and glory. Thank him for his ineffable mercy, and embrace it without delay.

Riches and honor are with me - Often the wise, prudent, and discreet man arrives literally to riches and honor; but this is not always the case. But there are other riches of which he never fails; and these seem to be what Solomon has particularly in view, durable riches and righteousness; the treasure deposited by God in earthen vessels.

I lead in the way of righteousness - Nothing but the teaching that comes from God by his word and Spirit can do this.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way - Wisdom is not acquired by the Divine Being; man, and even angels, learn it by slow and progressive degrees; but in God it is as eternally inherent as any other essential attribute of his nature. The Targum makes this wisdom a creature, by thus translating the passage: אלהא בראני בריש בריתיה Elaha barani bereish biriteiah, "God created me in the beginning of his creatures." The Syriac is the same. This is as absurd and heretical as some modern glosses on the same passage.

I was set up from everlasting - נסכתי nissachti, "I was diffused or poured out," from נסך nasach, "to diffuse, pour abroad, as a spirit or disposition," Isa 29:10. See Parkhurst. Or from סך sach, "to cover, overspread, smear over, as with oil;" to be anointed king. Hence some have translated it, principatum habui, I had the principality, or was a ruler, governor, and director, from eternity. All the schemes, plans, and circumstances, relative to creation, government, providence, and to all being, material, animal, and intellectual, were conceived in the Divine mind, by the Divine wisdom, from eternity, or ever the earth was. There was no fortuitous creation, no jumbling concourse of original atoms, that entered into the composition of created beings; all was the effect of the plans before conceived, laid down, and at last acted upon by God's eternal wisdom.

When there were no depths - תהמות tehomoth, before the original chaotic mass was formed. See Gen 1:2.

I was brought forth - חוללתי cholalti, "I was produced as by laboring throes." Mr. Parkhurst thinks that the heathen poets derived their idea of Minerva's (wisdom's) being born of Jupiter's brain, from some such high poetic personification as that in the text.

The highest part of the dust of the world - ראש עפרות תבל rosh aphroth tebel, "the first particle of matter." The prima materia, the primitive atom. All these verses (verses 3-29) are a periphrasis for I existed before creation, consequently before time was. I dwelt in God as a principle which might be communicated in its influences to intellectual beings when formed.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there - For there is no part of the creation of God in which wisdom, skill, contrivance, are more manifest, than in the construction of the visible heavens.

When he set a compass upon the face of the depth - Does not this refer to the establishment of the law of gravitation? by which all the particles of matter, tending to a common center, would produce in all bodies the orbicular form, which we see them have; so that even the waters are not only retained within their boundaries, but are subjected to the circular form, in their great aggregate of seas, as other parts of matter are. This is called here making a compass, בחקו חוג bechukko chug, sweeping a circle; and even this on the face of the deep, to bring the chaotic mass into form, regularity, and order.

The clouds above - שחקים shechakim, "the ethereal regions," taking in the whole of the atmosphere, with all its meteors, clouds, vapours, etc.

When he gave to the sea his decree - When he assigned its limits, adjusted its saltness, and proportioned the extent of the surface to the quantity of vapors to be raised from it, for the irrigation of the terrene surface.

The foundations of the earth - Those irreversible laws by which all its motions are governed; its annual and diurnal rotation, and particularly its centrifugal and centripetal forces; by the former of which it has its annual motion round the sun like all other planets; and by the latter all its particles are prevented from flying off, notwithstanding the great velocity of its motion round its own axis, which causes one thousand and forty-two miles of its equator to pass under any given point in the heavens in the course of a single hour! These are, properly speaking, the foundations of the earth; the principles on which it is constructed, and the laws by which it is governed.

Then I was with him, as one brought up - אמון amon, a nursling, a darling child. Wisdom continues its parable, says Calmet; and represents itself as a new-born child which is ever near its parent, and takes pleasure to see him act, and to sport in his presence. This is poetical and highly figurative; and they who think they find the deity of Jesus Christ in these metaphors should be very cautious how they apply such terms as these; so that while they are endeavoring to defend the truth, they may do nothing against the truth, in which most of them unhappily fail.

Rejoicing always before him - All the images in this verse are borrowed from the state and circumstances of a darling, affectionate, playful child; as any one will be convinced who examines the Hebrew text.

Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth - There God displays especially his wisdom in ordering and directing human beings, and in providing for their wants. The wisdom of God is in an especial manner manifested in his providence.

My delights were with the sons of men - This Divine wisdom, as it delighted in the creation of man, so it continues to delight in his instruction. Hence it is represented as offering its lessons of instruction continually, and using every means and opportunity to call men from folly and vice to sound knowledge, holiness, and happiness. It is to man that God especially gives wisdom; and he has it in the form of reason beyond all other creatures; therefore it is said, "My delights are with the sons of men;" to them I open my choicest treasures. They alone are capable of sapience, intelligence, and discursive reason.

Now therefore - Since I delight so much in conveying instruction; since I have the happiness of the children of Adam so much at heart, hearken unto me; and this is for your own interest, for blessed are they who keep my ways.

Watching daily at my gates - Wisdom is represented as having a school for the instruction of men; and seems to point out some of the most forward of her scholars coming, through their intense desire to learn, even before the gates were opened, and waiting there for admission, that they might hear every word that was uttered, and not lose one accent of the heavenly teaching. Blessed are such.

Whoso findeth me - The wisdom that comes from God, teaching to avoid evil and cleave to that which is good; findeth life - gets that knowledge which qualifies him to answer the purposes for which he was made; for he is quickened with Christ, and made a partaker of the Divine life. Christ dwells in his heart by faith; he lives a new life, for Christ liveth in him; the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes him free from the law of sin and death. And shall obtain favor of the Lord. The more he walks after the Divine counsel, the more he obtains of the Divine image; and the more he resembles his Maker, the more he partakes of the Divine favor.

Wrongeth his own soul - It is not Satan, it is not sin, properly speaking, that hurts him; it is himself. If he received the teaching of God, sin would have no dominion over him; if he resisted the devil, the devil would flee from him.

Love death - They do it in effect, if not in fact, for as they love sin, that leads to death, so they may be justly said to love death, the wages of sin. He that works in this case, works for wages; and he must love the wages, seeing he labors so hard in the work.

I Have gone through this fine chapter, and given the best exposition of it in my power. I have also, as well as others, weighed every word, and closely examined their radical import, their connection among themselves, and the connection of the subject of the chapter with what has gone before, and with what follows after; and I cannot come, conscientiously, to any other interpretation than that which I have given. I am thoroughly satisfied that it speaks not one word either about the Divine or human nature of Christ, much less of any eternal filiation of his Divinity. And I am fully persuaded, had there not been a preconceived creed, no soul of man, by fair criticism, would have ever found out that fond opinion of the eternal sonship of the Divine nature, which so many commentators persuade us they find here. That it has been thus applied in early apes, as well as in modern times, I am sufficiently aware; and that many other portions of the Divine records have been appealed to, in order to support a particular opinion, and many that were false in themselves, must be known to those who are acquainted with the fathers. But many quote them who know nothing of them. As to the fathers in general, they were not all agreed on this subject, some supposing Christ, others the Holy Spirit, was meant in this chapter. But of these we may safely state, that there is not a truth in the most orthodox creed, that cannot be proved by their authority, nor a heresy that has disgraced the Romish Church, that may not challenge them as its abettors. In points of doctrine, their authority is, with me, nothing. The Word of God alone contains my creed. On a number of points I can go to the Greek and Latin fathers of the Church, to know what they believed, and what the people of their respective communions believed; but after all this I must return to God's word, to know what he would have Me to believe. No part of a Protestant creed stands on the decision of fathers and councils. By appealing to the Bible alone, as the only rule for the faith and practice of Christians, they confounded and defeated their papistical adversaries, who could not prove their doctrines but by fathers and councils. Hence their peculiar doctrines stand in their ultimate proof upon These; and those of Protestantism on the Bible. Some late writers upon this subject, whose names I spare, have presumed much on what they have said on this subject; but before any man, who seeks for sober truth, will receive any of their conclusions, he will naturally look whether their premises be sound, or whether from sound principles they have drawn legitimate conclusions. They say this chapter is a sufficient foundation to build their doctrine on. I say it is no foundation at all; that it never has been proved, and never can be proved, that it speaks at all of the doctrine in question. It has nothing to do with it. On this conviction of mine, their proofs drawn from this chapter must go with me for nothing. I have been even shocked with reading over some things that have been lately written on the subject. I have said in my heart, They have taken away my Eternal Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. I cannot believe their doctrine; I never did; I hope I never shall. I believe in the holy Trinity; in three persons in the Godhead, of which none is before or after another. I believe Jehovah, Jesus, the Holy Ghost to be one infinite, eternal Godhead, subsisting ineffably in three persons. I believe Jesus the Christ to be, as to his Divine nature, as unoriginated and eternal as Jehovah himself; and with the Holy Ghost to be one infinite Godhead, neither person being created, begotten, nor proceeding, more than another: as to its essence, but one Trinity, in an infinite, eternal and inseparable Unity. And this Triune God is the object of my faith, my adoration, and my confidence. But I believe not in an eternal sonship or generation of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ. Here I have long stood, here I now stand, and here I trust to stand in the hour of death, in the day of judgment, and to all eternity. Taking the Scriptures in general, I find a plurality in the Divine nature; taking the grand part mentioned, Mat 3:16, Mat 3:17, I find that plurality restrained to a trinity, in the most unequivocal and evident manner: Jesus, who was baptized in Jordan; the Holy Ghost, who descended upon him who was baptized; and the Father, manifested by the Voice from heaven that said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And how that person called Jesus the Christ, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, could be called the Son of God, I have shown in my note on Luk 1:35.

Some writers, in their defense of the doctrine above, which I venture to say I do not believe, have made reflections, in real or pretended pity, on the belief of their Trinitarian brethren, which have very little to do with candor: viz., "How the supporters of this hypothesis can avoid either the error of Tritheism on the one hand, or Sabellianism on the other, is difficult to conceive." Now, the supporters of the doctrine of the underived and unbegotten eternity of Christ's Divine nature might as well say of them: How the supporters of the eternal sonship of Christ can avoid the error of Arianism on the one hand, and Arianism on the other, it is difficult to conceive. But I would not say so; for though I know Arians who hold that doctrine, and express their belief nearly in the same words; yet I know many most conscientious Trinitarians who hold the doctrine of the eternal sonship, and yet believe in the proper deity, or eternal godhead, of Jesus Christ. After all, as a very wise and excellent man lately said: "While we have every reason to be satisfied of the soundness of each other's faith, we must allow each to explain his own sentiments in his own words: here, in the words used in explanation, a little latitude may be safely allowed." To this correct sentiment I only add: -

Scimus; et hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim. - Horace. "I grant it; and the license give and take."

I have passed the waters of strife, and do not wish to recross them: the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. I will have nothing to do with ill-tempered, abusive men; I wish them more light and better manners.

And while I am on this subject, let me add one thing, which I am sure will not please all the generation of his people; and it is this: that Jesus Christ, having taken upon him human nature, which was afterwards crucified, and expired upon the cross, did by those acts make a full, perfect, and sufficient offering, sacrifice, and atonement for the sin of the whole world. That he died, paid down the redemption price, for every soul of man, that was ever born into the world, and shall ever be born into it. That all who lay hold on the hope set before them shall be saved; (and all may thus lay hold); and none shall perish but those who would not come to Christ that they might have life. And that men perish, not because they were not redeemed, but because they would not accept of the redemption.

To conclude on this subject, it will be necessary to refer the reader to the remarkable opposition that subsists between this and the preceding chapter. There, the prostitute is represented as going out into the streets to seek her prey; and the alluring words of carnal wisdom to excite the animal appetite to sinful gratification, which she uses: here, heavenly wisdom is represented as going out into the streets, to the high places, the gates of the city, to counteract her designs, and lead back the simple to God and truth.

These personifications were frequent among the Jews. In the Book of Ecclesiasticus we find a similar personification, and expressed in almost similar terms; and surely none will suppose that the writer of that Apocryphal book had either the Christian doctrine of the Trinity or the sonship of Christ in view.

I will give a few passages: - "Wisdom shall glory in the midst of her people; in the congregation of the Most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power. I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth as a cloud. I dwelt in the high places; I alone compassed the circuit of the heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep, in the waves of the sea, and in all the earth. He created me from the beginning, before the world; and I shall never fail. I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope. I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him. Come unto me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. I also came out as a brook from a river, and a conduit into a garden," etc., etc., Ecclesiasticus 24:1, etc. This kind of personification of wisdom we have had in the preceding chapters; and in the following chapter we shall find the figure still kept up.

Wisdom - It is a great question what this wisdom is. Some understand it of the Divine wisdom; others of the second person in the Godhead: and it cannot be denied that some passages best agree to the former, and others to the latter opinion. Possibly both may be joined together, and the chapter may be understood of Christ considered partly in his personal capacity, and partly in regard of his office, which was to impart the mind and will of God to mankind.

High place - Where she may be best seen and heard. Paths - Where many paths meet, where there is a great concourse, and where travellers may need direction.

Gates - The places of judgment, and of the confluence of people. The entry - To invite passengers at their first coming and to conduct them to her house. The doors - Of her house.

O men - To all men without exception.

Ye simple - Who want knowledge, and experience. Fools - Wilful sinners.

To him - Whose mind God hath enlightened. To them - That are truly wise.

And not silver - Rather than silver.

I dwell - My inseparable companion is prudence to govern all my actions, and to direct the actions of others. Find out - I help men to find out. Inventions - Of all ingenious contrivances for the glory of God, and for the good of men.

Wisdom - All solid and substantial and useful wisdom is assential to me.

By me - They rule their kingdoms wisely and justly, by my counsel and assistance. Their injustice is from themselves, but all the good they do, they owe to my conduct.

I love - I do not despise their love, but kindly accept it and recompence it with my love and favour. Early - With sincere affection and diligence, which he mentions as the evidence of their love.

Substance - Substantial happiness: opposed to all worldly enjoyments, which are but mere shadows.

Possessed me - As his son by eternal generation, before the beginning. Of old - His works of creation.

Set up - Heb. anointed, constituted to be the person by whom the Father resolved to do all his works, to create, to uphold and govern and judge, to redeem and save the world. From the beginning - Before which, there was nothing but a vast eternity. The earth - Which together with the heaven, was the first of God's visible works.

No depths - No abyss or deep waters. Brought forth - Begotten of my father.

The earth - The dry land called earth after it was separated from the waters Gen 1:10. Fields - The plain and open parts of the earth distinguished from the mountains. Dust - Of this lower part of the world which consists of dust.

I was there - As co - worker with my Father. Depth - Of that great abyss of water and earth mixed together, which is called both earth and water and the deep, Gen 1:2, when he made this lower world in the form of a globe.

Strengthened - When he shut up the fountains in the cavities of the earth, and kept them there as it were by a strong band. The deep - Which have their original from the deep, either from the sea, or from the abyss of waters in the bowels of the earth.

My delights were - To uphold them by my power and providence, to reveal myself and my Father's will to them from age to age, to assume their nature, and to redeem and save them.

Waiting - As servants or clients, wait at the doors of princes or persons of eminency.

1. DOth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice !

It is a great Question what this Wisdom is, of which Solomon discourseth so largely and profoundly in this Chapter. Some understand it of that attribute or perfection of the Divine nature which is called Wisdom, whereby God perfectly knoweth all things, and maketh known to men what he judgeth necessary, or expedient for them to know. Others understand it o[illegible: 1+ letters] the second Person in the Godhead, the Son of God, who is called the Wisdom of God, Luk. 11. 49. And it cannot fairly be denied that some passages do best agree to the former, and others to the latter Opinion. Possibly both may be joined together, and the Chapter may be understood of Christ considered partly in his Per[illegible: 1+ letters]onal capacity and partly in regard of his Office which was to impart the mind and will of God to Mankind, which he did, 1. by revealing it to, and writing it upon the mind of Man, at his first Creation; for it was Christ who then gave being, and life, and [illegible: 1+ letters]ight to Mankind, as is undeniably evident from Ioh. 1. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. 2. By publishing it unto the holy Patriarchs and Prophets in the time of the Old Testament; for it was Christ who spake and discovered things to them from time to▪ time, as is manifest from 1 Pet. 1. 11. & 3. 18 19, 20. and from many other Scriptures both of the Old Testament, as I have formerly noted in their proper places, and in the New Testament, as we shall see hereafter. 3. By declaring it from his own mouth and by his Apostles and Ministers under the Gospel.

Clearly and audibly instruct men how to avoid those fleshly lusts? He opposeth the inviting words of VVisdom to the seducing speeches of the Harlot.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 20.

2. She standeth in the top of high places : by the way in the places of the paths .

VVhere she may be best seen and heard, not in corners and in the dark, as the Harlot did.

VVhere many paths meet, where there is a great concourse, and where Travellers may need direction.

3. She crieth at the gates , at the entry of the City , at the coming in at the doors .

The places of Judgment, and of the confluence of People.

To invite Passengers at their first coming, and to conduct them to her House.

To wit, of her House, as the Harlot stood at her Door to invite Lovers.

4. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men .

To all men without exception, even to the meanest, who are thus called, Psal. 49. 2.

Marginal references: Or, O great men. Ps. 62, 9.; Or, to mean men.

5. O ye simple , understand wisdom; and ye fools , be ye of an understanding heart.

VVho want knowledge and experience, and are easily deceived.

Wilful and obstinate Sinners.

Marginal references: Heb. subtilty.

6. Hear, for I will speak of excellent things ; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

Heb. of Princely things: worthy of Princes to learn and practice them. Or, such as excel common things as much as Princes do ordinary Persons.

Marginal references: Heb. princely things.

7. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips .

Heb. shall meditate, i. e. shall speak not rashly, and hastily, but what I have well considered and digested.

I hate to speak it; therefore you may be assured that I shall not deceive you.

Marginal references: Heb. the abomination of my lips.

8. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness, there is nothing froward or perverse in them .

All my Precepts, Promises, Threatnings, &c.

Not the least mixture of vanity, or error, or folly in them, as there is in the words of the wisest Philosophers, &c.

Marginal references: Heb. wreathed.

9 They are all plain to him that understandeth , and right to them that find knowledg .

Evident and clear to their minds▪ or, right, just and good

Either to him who with an honest mind applies himself to the study of them in the diligent use of all the means appointed by God to that end: or to him whose mind God hath enlightned by his Spirit, though they seem otherwise to ignorant and carnal-minded men.

That are truely wise and discerning Persons and taught of God.

10. Receive my instruction, and not silver ; and knowledg rather than choice gold.

i. e. Rather than Silver, as such negative expressions are understood, Gen. 45. 8. Exod. 16. 8. Ier. 7. 22. & 16. 14, 15. and in many other places. Though withal he seems to intimate the inconsistency of these two studies and designs, and the great hinderance which the love of Riches gives to the study of Wisdom.

12. I wisdom dwell with prudence , and find out knowledg of witty inventions .

I do not content my self with high Speculations, but my unseparable Companion is Prudence to govern all my own actions and to direct the actions of others, by good counsels. This he saith, because some Persons have much wit and knowledge, and nothing of discretion.

i. e. I know them as clearly and certainly as if I had found them out by diligent searching. Or, I find out, is put for I help men to find out, as the Spirit is said to intercede, Rom. 8. 26. when it helpeth us to do so.

Of all ingenious designs and contrivances for the service and glory of God, and for the good of our selves and others. But why may it not be rendred, of wicked devices, as this very word is translated, Prov. 12. 2. & 14. 17. & 24. 8. For surely this is one great work of Prudence to discover and so avoid all evil counsels or devices, and the effects of them But this I propose with submission, because I have not the concurrence of any Interpreter in this Exposition.

Marginal references: Or, subtilty.

13. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil ; pride and arrogancy, and the evil way , and the froward mouth do I hate.

Which he had before noted to be the beginning of Wisdom Ch. 1. 7.

It consists in a careful abstinence from all sin, and that not from carnal or prudential Motives, but from a true dislike and hatred of it.

Which he mentions first as that which is most hateful to God, and most opposite to true Wisdom and to the fear of God, which constantly produce humility.

All wicked actions, especially sinful customs and courses.

False Doctrines, and bad Counsels and Deceits.

14. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom : I am understanding , I have strength .

All solid and substantial and usefull, yea essential Wisdom is natural and essential to me, for the word properly signifies essence.

By my nature and essence, as was now said. Or, I am the Author of Understanding; as Iob. 17. 3. This is life Eternal i. e. this is the cause or means of it.

Courage and resolution to execute all my Counsels and to conquer all difficulties.

Marginal references: Heb. strength is mine.

15. By me kings reign , and princes decree justice .

Either 1. They get their Kingdoms by mine appointment and providence. Or rather 2. they rule their Kingdoms wisely, and justly, and happily by my counsel and assistance. For this best suits with the next Clause.

Their injustice or wickedness is from themselves, but all the just and good things which they do, they owe to my conduct.

Marginal references: Dan. 2. 21. Rom. 13. 1.

17. I love them that love me , and those that seek me early shall find me.

I do not despise their love, though it be but a small and inconsiderable thing to me, but I kindly accept it and will recompence it with my love and favour.

i. e. With sincere affection, and great diligence, and above all other persons or things in the world. VVhich he mentions as the effect and evidence of their love: for otherwise all men pretend to love God.

Marginal references: Jam. 1. 5.

18. Riches and honour are with me: yea, durable riches and righteousness .

Which he mentions here either 1. as the best and surest way to get and to keep Riches, for Estates unjustly gotten quickly vanish, as is manifest both from Scripture and from common observation. Or 2. to signifie that this Wisdom gives both Worldly, and Spiritual or Heavenly Blessings together to its followers, whereas God gives Riches alone to ungodly men, and they are to expect no other Portion.

Marginal references: Ch. 3. 16.

20. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment .

Keeping at an equal distance from both extreams, and from the very borders of them: which is called a putting away iniquity far from us, Job 22. 23.

Marginal references: Or, walk.

21. That I may cause those that love me, to inherit substance : and I will fill their treasures.

Substantial, and true, and satisfying happiness: which is here opposed to all worldly enjoyments, which are said not to be, Prov. 23 5. which are but meer shadows and dreams of felicity.

22. The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way , before his works of old.

As his Son by Eternal Generation, who was from Eternity with him, as is said, Ioh. 1. 1. and in him as he also was in me, Joh. 14▪ 10.

Yea and before the beginning, as it is largely expressed in the following Verses.

Either 1. of his counsels or decrees. Or rather 2. of his works of Creation, as it follows.

23. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning , or ever the earth was.

Heb. anointed, ordained or constituted to be the Person by whom the Father resolved to do all his works, first to create, and then to uphold and govern and judge, and afterwards to redeem and save the world; all which works are particularly ascribed to the Son of God, as is manifest from, Ioh. 1. 1. &c. Col. 1. 16, 17. Heb. 1. 3. and many other places, as we may see hereafter in their several places.

Before which there was nothing but a vast Eternity.

Which he mentions because this together with the Heaven, was the first of God's visible works.

24. When there were no depths , I was brought forth : when there were no fountains abounding with water.

No abyss or deep Waters either mixed with the Earth, as they were at first, or separated from it.

Begotten of my Fathers Essence.

25. Before the mountains were settled ; before the hills, was I brought forth.

Or, fixed by their Roots in the Earth.

Marginal references: Heb. sunk.

26. While as yet he had not made the earth i, nor the fields , nor the highest part of the dust of the world .

The plain and open parts of the Earth distinguished from the Mountains and Hills, and the Valleys inclosed between them.

Or, the first part▪ or beginning: or, the best part, Heb. the Head: that which exceeds other parts in riches or fruitfulness: which he seems to distinguish from the common Fields.

Of this lower part of the World which consisteth of dust.

z i. e. The dry Land called Earth after it was separated from the Waters, Gen. 1. 10.

Marginal references: Or, open place; Or, the chief part. Heb. head.

27. When he prepared the heavens, I was there : when he set a compass upon the face of the depth :

Not as an idle Spectator, but as a co-worker with my Father.

i. e. Of that great and deep abyss of Water and Earth mixed together, which is called both Earth and Water and the deep, Gen. 1. 2. When he made this lower World round, or in the form of a Globe agreeable to the form of the upper World.

Marginal references: Or, a [illegible: 1 word]

28. When he established the clouds above; when he strengthned the fountains of the deep :

Heb. strengthned, by his Word and Decree, which alone upholds the Clouds in the Air, which of themselves are thin and weak Bodies and would quickly be dissolved or dispersed.

When he shut up the several Fountains in the Cavities of the Earth, and kept them there as it were by a strong hand for the use of Mankind.

Which have their Original from the deep, either from the Sea, or from the Abyss of Waters in the Bowels of the Earth.

Marginal references: Heb. the skies.

29. When he gave to the sea his decree , that the waters should not pass his commandment : when he appointed the foundations of the earth .

Or, his bound or limits, to wit, those parts of the Earth which border upon it.

i. e. Not overflow the Earth.

Or, laid.

Either, 1. the Center of the Earth: Or, 2. the Earth it self which is the Foundation of the World: Or rather, 3. the firm standing of the Earth upon its Foundations notwithstanding all the Assaults which the Waters of the Sea or within the Earth make against it: which is a singular work of God's Providence.

Marginal references: Gen. 1. 9, 1[illegible: 1+ letters] Job 38. 1[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1+ letters]1. Ps. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]4. 9. Jer. 5. 22.

30. Then I was by him , as one brought up with him : and I was daily his delight, rejoycing always before him :

Conversant with him, and united to him, as was said before.

As one tenderly and dearly beloved by him.

He and I had constant and intimate and sweet converse together.

Marginal references: Joh. 1. 1.; Or, a [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ing.

31. Rejoycing in the habitable part of his earth , and my delights were with the sons of men .

In contemplating the wonderful wisdom and goodness of God in the making and ordering of all his Creatures, and of Man especially.

To uphold them by my Power and Providence, to reveal my Self and my Fathers mind and will to them from Age to Age, to assume their Nature and to redeem and save them, which I would not do for the fallen Angels.

Marginal references: Heb. spor[illegible: 1+ letters] ing.

32. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.

Seeing I have such a true love to you, and seeing I am so thoroughly acquainted with my Fathers mind, and so excellently qualified to be your Counseller and Ruler.

Marginal references: Ps. 119. 1. [illegible: 1+ letters] & 128 1. Luke 11. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]

33. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not .

Or, do not make it void, or unprofitable to you by your own sloth or wilfulness.

34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors .

As Servants and Clients, and others wait at the doors of Princes or Persons of eminency for place, or power, or wisdom, that they may be admitted to speak or converse with them.

36. But he that sinneth against me , wrongeth his own soul : all they that hate me , love death .

By the neglect or contempt of, or rebellion against my commands.

Is guilty of self murder and of Soul murder.

i. e. Who reject and disobey my counsels and live wickedly, which in God's account is an hating of him, as is here implyed and elsewhere, as Exod. 20. 5. Deut. 7. 10. & 32. 41.

Not directly or intentionally, but by consequence, because they love those practices which they know will bring certain destruction upon them.

Pro 8:1-3

The author has now almost exhausted the ethical material; for in this introduction to the Solomonic Book of Proverbs he works it into a memorial for youth, so that it is time to think of concluding the circle by bending back the end to the beginning. For as in the beginning, Pro 1:20., so also here in the end, he introduces Wisdom herself as speaking. There, her own testimony is delivered in contrast to the alluring voice of the deceiver; here, the daughter of Heaven in the highways inviting to come to her, is the contrast to the adulteress lurking in the streets, who is indeed not a personification, but a woman of flesh and blood, but yet at the same time as the incarnate ἀπάτη of worldly lust. He places opposite to her Wisdom, whose person is indeed not so sensibly perceptible, but who is nevertheless as real, coming near to men in a human way, and seeking to win them by her gifts. 1 Doth not Wisdom discourse,    And Understanding cause her voice to be heard? 2 On the top of the high places in the way,    In the midst of the way, she has placed herself. 3 By the side of the gates, at the exit of the city,    At the entrance to the doors, she calleth aloud.

As הנּה points to that which is matter of fact, so הלא calls to a consideration of it (cf. Pro 14:22); the question before the reader is doubly justified with reference to Pro 1:20. With חכמה, תבונה is interchanged, as e.g., Pro 2:1-6; such names of wisdom are related to its principal name almost as אלהים, עליון, and the like, to יהוה. In describing the scene, the author, as usual, heaps up synonyms which touch one another without coming together.

Pro 8:4-9

Now begins the discourse. The exordium summons general attention to it with the emphasis of its absolute truth: 4 “To you, ye men, is my discourse addressed,    And my call is to the children of men! 5 Apprehend, O ye simple ones, what wisdom is;    And, ye fools what understanding is. 6 Hear, for I will speak princely things,    And the opening of my lips is upright. 7 For my mouth uttereth truth,    And a wicked thing is an abomination to my lips. 8 The utterances of my mouth are in rectitude,    There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. 9 To the men of understanding they are all to the point,    And plain to those who have attained knowledge.”

Hitzig rejects this section, Pro 8:4-12, as he does several others in chap. 8 and 9, as spurious. But if this preamble, which reminds us of Elihu, is not according to every one’s taste, yet in respect of the circle of conception and thought, as well as of the varying development of certain fundamental thoughts, it is altogether after the manner of the poet. The terminology is one that is strange to us; the translation of it is therefore difficult; that which is given above strives at least not to be so bad as to bring discredit on the poet. The tautology and flatness of Pro 8:4 disappears when one understands אישׁים and בּני אדם like the Attic ἄνδρες and ἄνθρωποι; vid., under Isa 2:9; Isa 53:3 (where אישׁים, as here and Psa 141:4, is equivalent to בּני אישׁ, Psa 49:3; Psa 4:3). Wisdom turns herself with her discourses to high and low, to persons of standing and to the proletariat. The verbal clause 4a interchanges with a noun clause 4b, as frequently a preposition with its noun (e.g., Pro 8:8) completes the whole predicate of a semistich (Fl.).

Pro 8:10-12

Her self-commendation is continued in the resumed address: 10 “Receive my instruction, and not silver,      And knowledge rather than choice gold! 11 For wisdom is better than corals,      And all precious jewels do not equal her. 12 I, Wisdom, inhabit prudence,      And the knowledge of right counsels is attainable by me.”

Instead of ולא־כּסף influenced by קחוּ, is ואל־כסף with תּקחוּ to be supplied; besides, with most Codd. and older editions, we are to accentuate קחוּ מוּסרי with the erasure of the Makkeph. “Such negations and prohibitions,” Fleischer remarks, “are to be understood comparatively: instead of acquiring silver, rather acquire wisdom. Similar is the old Arabic 'l-nâr w-l'-'l-'âr, the fire, and not the disgrace! Also among the modern Arabic proverbs collected by Burckhardt, many have this form, e.g., No. 34, alḥajamat balafas wala alḥajat alanas, Better to let oneself be cut with the axe then to beg for the favour of another” 10b is to be translated, with Jerome, Kimchi, and others: and knowledge is more precious than fine gold (נבחר, neut.: auro pretiosius); and in view of Pro 16:16, this construction appears to be intended. But Fleischer has quite correctly affirmed that this assertatory clause is unsuitably placed as a parallel clause over against the preceding imperative clause, and, what is yet more important, that then Pro 8:11 would repeat idem per idem in a tautological manner. We therefore, after the Aramaic and Greek translators, take כסף נבחר together here as well as at Pro 8:19, inasmuch as we carry forward the קחו: et scientiam prae auro lectissimo, which is also according to the accentuation. Equally pregnant is the מן in מחרוּץ of the passage Pro 3:14-15, which is here varied.

Pro 8:13

Far remote is the idea that 13a is dependent on אמצא (I acquire) (Löwenstein, Bertheau). With this verse begins a new series of thoughts raising themselves on the basis of the fundamental clause 13a. Wisdom says what she hates, and why she hates it: 13 “The fear of Jahve is to hate evil;      Pride and arrogancy, and an evil way      And a deceitful mouth, do I hate.”

If the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Pro 9:10; Pro 1:7), then wisdom, personally considered, stands before all else that is to be said of her in a relation of homage or reverence toward God corresponding to the fear of God on the part of man; and if, as the premiss 13a shows, the fear of God has as its reverse side the hatred of evil, then there arises what Wisdom says in שׂנאתי (I hate) of herself. Instead of the n. actionis שׂנאת (hatred), formed in the same way with יראת, which, admitting the article, becomes a substantive, the author uses, in order that he might designate the predicate as such (Hitzig), rather the n. actionis שׂנאת as מלאת, Jer 29:10. קראת, Jdg 8:1, is equivalent to שׂנאת like יבּשׁת, the becoming dry, יכלת, the being able; cf. (Arab.) shanat, hating, malât, well-being, ḳarât, reading (Fl.). The evil which Wisdom hates is now particularized as, Pro 6:16-19, the evil which Jahve hates. The virtue of all virtues is humility; therefore Wisdom hates, above all, self-exaltation in all its forms. The paronomasia גּאה וגאון (pride and haughtiness) expresses the idea in the whole of its contents and compass (cf. Isa 15:6; Isa 3:1, and above at Pro 1:27). גּאה (from גּאה, the nominal form), that which is lofty = pride, stands with גּאון, as Job 4:10, גבהּ, that which is high = arrogance. There follows the viam mali, representing the sins of walk, i.e., of conduct, and os fullax (vid., at Pro 2:12), the sins of the mouth. Hitzig rightly rejects the interpunctuation רע, and prefers רע. In consequence of this Dechî (Tiphcha init.), וּפי תהפּכת have in Codd. and good editions the servants Asla and Illuj (vid., Baer’s Torath Emeth, p. 11); Aben-Ezra and Moses Kimchi consider the Asla erroneously as disjunctive, and explain וּפי by et os = axioma meum, but Asla is conjunctive, and has after it the ת raphatum.

Pro 8:14-16

After Wisdom has said what she hates, and thus what she is not, she now says what she is, has, and promises: 14 “Mine is counsel and promotion;      I am understanding, mine is strength. 15 By me kings reign,      And rulers govern justly. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles -      All judges of the earth.”

Whoever gives anything must himself possess it; in this sense Wisdom claims for herself counsel, promotion (in the sense of offering and containing that which is essentially and truly good; vid., concerning תּוּשׁיּה, Pro 2:7), and energy (vid., Ecc 7:19). But she does not merely possess בּינה; this is much rather her peculiar nature, and is one with her. That Pro 8:14 is formed after Job 12:13, Job 12:16 (Hitzig) is possible, without there following thence any argument against its genuineness. And if Pro 8:15., and Isa 32:1; Isa 10:1, stand in intentional reciprocal relation, then the priority is on the side of the author of the Proverbs. The connection gives to the laconic expression its intended comprehensiveness. It is not meant that Wisdom has the highest places in the state to give, but that she makes men capable of holding and discharging the duties of these.

Pro 8:17-21

The discourse of Wisdom makes a fresh departure, as at Pro 8:13 : she tells how, to those who love her, she repays this love: 17 “I love them that love me,      And they that seek me early find me. 18 Riches and honour are with me,      Durable riches and righteousness. 19 Better is my fruit than pure and fine gold,      And my revenue (better) than choice silver. 20 In the way of righteousness do I walk,      In the midst of the paths of justice. 21 To give an inheritance to them that love me      And I fill their treasuries.”

The Chethı̂b אהביה (ego hos qui eam amant redamo), Gesenius, Lehrgeb. §196, 5, regards as a possible synallage (eam = me), but one would rather think that it ought to be read (יהוה =) 'אהבי ה. The ancients all have the reading אהבי. אהב (= אאהב, with the change of the éě into ê, and the compression of the radical א; cf. אמר, תּבא, Pro 1:10) is the form of the fut. Kal, which is inflected תּאהבוּ, Pro 1:22. Regarding שׁחר (the Graec. Venet. well: οἱ ὀρθρίζοντές μοι), vid., Pro 1:28, where the same epenthet. fut. form is found.

Pro 8:22

Wisdom takes now a new departure, in establishing her right to be heard, and to be obeyed and loved by men. As the Divine King in Psa 2:1-12 opposes to His adversaries the self-testimony: “I will speak concerning a decree! Jahve said unto me: Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee;” so Wisdom here unfolds her divine patent of nobility: she originates with God before all creatures, and is the object of God’s love and joy, as she also has the object of her love and joy on God’s earth, and especially among the sons of men: “Jahve brought me forth as the beginning of His way,

As the foremost of His works from of old.”

The old translators render קנני (with Kametz by Dechî; vid., under Psa 118:5) partly by verbs of creating (lxx ἔκτισε, Syr., Targ. בּראני), partly by verbs of acquiring (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Venet. ἐκτήσατο; Jerome, possedit); Wisdom appears also as created, certainly not without reference to this passage, Sir. 1:4, προτέρα πάντων ἕκτισται σοφία; 1:9, αὐτὸς ἕκτισεν αὐτήν; 24:8, ὁ κτίσας με. In the christological controversy this word gained a dogmatic signification, for they proceeded generally on the identity of σοφία ὑποστατική (sapientia substantialis) with the hypostasis of the Son of God. The Arians used the ἔκτισέ με as a proof of their doctrine of the filius non genitus, sed factus, i.e., of His existence before the world began indeed, but yet not from eternity, but originating in time; while, on the contrary, the orthodox preferred the translation ἐκτήσατο, and understood it of the co-eternal existence of the Son with the Father, and agreed with the ἔκτισε of the lxx by referring it not to the actual existence, but to the position, place of the Son (Athanasius: Deus me creavit regem or caput operum suorum; Cyrill.: non condidit secundum substantiam, sed constituit me totius universi principium et fundamentum). But (1) Wisdom is not God, but is God's; she has personal existence in the Logos of the N.T., but is not herself the Logos; she is the world-idea, which, once projected, is objective to God, not as a dead form, but as a living spiritual image; she is the archetype of the world, which, originating from God, stands before God, the world of the idea which forms the medium between the Godhead and the world of actual existence, the communicated spiritual power in the origination and the completion of the world as God designed it to be. This wisdom the poet here personifies; he does not speak of the person as Logos, but the further progress of the revelation points to her actual personification in the Logos. And (2) since to her the poet attributes an existence preceding the creation of the world, he thereby declares her to be eternal, for to be before the world is to be before time. For if he places her at the head of the creatures, as the first of them, so therewith he does not seek to make her a creature of this world having its commencement in time; he connects her origination with the origination of the creature only on this account, because that à priori refers and tends to the latter; the power which was before heaven and earth were, and which operated at the creation of the earth and of the heavens, cannot certainly fall under the category of the creatures around and above us. Therefore (3) the translation with ἔκτισεν has nothing against it, but it is different from the κτίσις of the heavens and the earth, and the poet has intentionally written not בּראני, but קנני. Certainly קנה, Arab. knâ, like all the words used of creating, refers to one root-idea: that of forging (vid., under Gen 4:22), as ברא does to that of cutting (vid., under Gen 1:1); but the mark of a commencement in time does not affix itself to קנה in the same way as it does to ברא, which always expresses the divine production of that which has not hitherto existed. קנה comprehends in it the meanings to create, and to create something for oneself, to prepare, parare (e.g., Psa 139:13), and to prepare something for oneself, comparare, as κτίζειν and κτᾶσθαι, both from kshi, to build, the former expressed by struere, and the latter by sibi struere. In the קנני, then, there are the ideas, both that God produced wisdom, and that He made Himself to possess it; not certainly, however, as a man makes himself to possess wisdom from without, Pro 4:7. But the idea of the bringing forth is here the nearest demanded by the connection. For ראשׁית דּרכּו is not equivalent to בּראשׁית דרכו (Syr., Targ., Luther), as Jerome also reads: Ita enim scriptum est: adonai canani bresith dercho (Ep. cxl. ad Cyprian.); but it is, as Job 40:19 shows, the second accusative of the object (lxx, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion). But if God made wisdom as the beginning of His way, i.e., of His creative efficiency (cf. Rev 3:14 and Col 1:15), the making is not to be thought of as acquiring, but as a bringing forth, revealing this creative efficiency of God, having it in view; and this is also confirmed by the חוללתי (genita sum; cf. Gen 4:1, קניתי, genui) following. Accordingly, קדם מפעליו (foremost of His works) has to be regarded as a parallel second object. accusative. All the old translators interpret קדם as a preposition [before], but the usage of the language before us does not recognise it as such; this would be an Aramaism, for קדם, Dan 7:7, frequently מן־קדם (Syr., Targ.), is so used. But as קדם signifies previous existence in space, and then in time (vid., Orelli, Zeit und Ewigkeit, p. 76), so it may be used of the object in which the previous existence appears, thus (after Sir. 1:4): προτέραν τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ (Hitzig).

Pro 8:23

A designation of the When? expressed first by מאז (Isa 48:8, cf. Isa 40:21), is further unfolded: “From everlasting was I set up,

From the beginning, from the foundations of the earth.”

That נסּכתּי cannot be translated: I was anointed = consecrated, vid., at Psa 2:6. But the translation also: I was woven = wrought (Hitzig, Ewald, and previously one of the Greeks, ἐδιάσθην), does not commend itself, for רקּם (Psa 139:15), used of the embryo, lies far from the metaphorical sense in which נסך = Arab. nasaj, texere, would here be translated of the origin of a person, and even of such a spiritual being as Wisdom; נסדתּי, as the lxx reads (ἐθεμελιωσέ με), is not once used of such. Rightly Aquila, κατεστάθην; Symmachus, προκεχείρισμαι; Jerome, ordinata sum. Literally, but unintelligibly, the Gr. Venet. κέχυμαι, according to which (cf. Sir. 1:10) Böttcher: I was poured forth = formed, but himself acknowledging that this figure is not suitable to personification; nor is it at all likely that the author applied the word, used in this sense of idols, to the origin of Wisdom. The fact is, that נסך, used as seldom of the anointing or consecration of kings, as סוּך, passes over, like יצק (הצּיק), צוּק (מצוּק, a pillar), and יצג (הצּיג), from the meaning of pouring out to that of placing and appointing; the mediating idea appears to be that of the pouring forth of the metal, since נסיך, Dan 11:8, like נסך, signifies a molten image. The Jewish interpreters quite correctly remark, in comparing it with the princely name נסיך [cf. Psa 83:12] (although without etymological insight), that a placing in princely dignity is meant. Of the three synonyms of aeternitas a parte ante, מעולם points backwards into the infinite distance, מראשׁ into the beginning of the world, מקּדמי־ארץ not into the times which precede the origin of the earth, but into the oldest times of its gradual arising; this קדמי it is impossible to render, in conformity with the Hebr. use of language: it is an extensive plur. of time, Böttcher, §697. The מן repeated does not mean that the origin and greatness of Wisdom are contemporaneous with the foundation of the world; but that when the world was founded, she was already an actual existence.

Pro 8:24-26

This her existence before the world began is now set forth in yet more explicit statements: 24 “When there were as yet no floods was I brought forth,      When as yet there were not fountains which abounded with water; 25 For before the mountains were settled,      Before the hills was I brought forth, 26 While as yet He had not made land and plains,      And the sum of the dust of the earth.”

The description is poetical, and affords some room for imagination. By תּהומות are not intended the unrestrained primeval waters, but, as also Pro 3:20, the inner waters, treasures of the earth; and consequently by מעינות, not the fountains of the sea on this earth (Ewald, after Job 38:16), but he springs or places of springs (for מעין is n. loci to עין, a well as an eye of the earth; vid., Gen 16:7), by means of which the internal waters of the earth communicate themselves to the earth above (cf. Gen 7:11 with Gen 49:25). נכבּדּי־מים(abounding with water) is a descriptive epitheton to מעינות, which, notwithstanding its fem. plur., is construed as masc. (cf. Pro 5:16). The Masora does not distinguish the thrice-occurring נכבדי according to its form as written (Isa 23:8-9). The form נכבּדּי (which, like בּתּים, would demand Metheg) is to be rejected; it is everywhere to be written נכבּדּי nettirw  (Ewald, §214b) with Pathach, with Dagesh following; vid., Kimchi, Michlol 61b. Kimchi adds the gloss מעיני מים רבים, which the Gr. Venet., in accordance with the meaning of נכבד elsewhere, renders by πηγαῖς δεδοξασμένων ὑδάτων (as also Böttcher: the most honoured = the most lordly); but Meîri, Immanuel, and others rightly judge that the adjective is here to be understood after Gen 13:2; Job 14:21 (but in this latter passage כבד does not mean “to be numerous”): loaded = endowed in rich measure.

Pro 8:27

But not only did her existence precede the laying of the foundation of the world; she was also actively taking part in the creative work: “When He prepared the heavens, I was there,

When He measured out a circle for the mirror of the multitude of waters.”

Again a sentence clothed with two designations of time. The adv. of place שׁם is used, chiefly poetically, for אז, eo tempore (Arab. thumm, in contradistinction to thamm, eo loco); but here it has the signification of place, which includes that of time: Wisdom was there when God created the world, and had then already long before that come into existence, like as the servant of Jahve, Isa 48:16, with just such a שׁם אני, says that He is there from the time that the history of nations received a new direction, beginning with Cyrus. הכין signifies to give a firm position or a definite direction. Thus Job 28:27 of Wisdom, whom the Creator places before Himself as a pattern (ideal); here, as Jer 10:12; Psa 65:7, of the setting up, restoring throughout the whole world. In the parallel member, חוּג, corresponding to שׁמים, appears necessarily to designate the circle or the vault of the heavens (Job 22:14), which, according to the idea of the Hebrews, as in Homer, rests as a half-globe on the outermost ends of the disc of the earth surrounded with water, and thus lies on the waters. Vid., Hupfeld under Psa 24:2. This idea of the ocean girdling the earth is introduced into the O.T. without its being sanctioned by it. The lxx (καὶ ὅτε ἀφώριζε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θρόνον ἐπ ̓ ἀνέμων) appears to understand תהום of the waters above; but תהום never has this meaning, ים (Job 9:8; Job 36:30) might rather be interpreted of the ocean of the heavens. The passage in accordance with which this before us is to be expounded is Job 26:10 : He has set a limit for the surface of the waters, i.e., describing over them a circle setting bounds to their region. So here, with the exchange of the functions of the two words; when He marked out a circle over the surface of the multitude of waters, viz., to appoint a fixed region (מקוה, Gen 1:10) for them, i.e., the seas, fountains, rivers, in which the waters under the heavens spread over the earth. חקק signifies incidere, figere, to prescribe, to measure off, to consign, and directly to mark out, which is done by means of firm impressions of the graver’s tools. But here this verb is without the Dagesh, to distinguish between the infinitive and the substantive חקּו (his statute or limit); for correct texts have בּחקו (Michlol 147a); and although a monosyllable follows, yet there is no throwing back of the tone, after the rule that words terminating in o in this case maintain their ultima accentuation (e.g., משׂמו אל, Num 24:23). Fleischer also finally decides for the explanation: quum delinearet circulum super abysso, when He marked out the region of the sea as with the circle.

Pro 8:28-31

In Pro 8:28, Pro 8:29, these two features of the figure of the creation of the world return (the beginning of the firmament, and the embankment of the under waters); hence we see that the discourse here makes a fresh start with a new theme: 28 “When He made firm the ether above,      When He restrained the fountains of the waters; 29 When He set to the sea its bounds,      That the waters should not pass their limits      When He settled the pillars of the earth; 30 Then was I with Him as director of the work,      And was delighted day by day,      Rejoicing always before Him, 31 Rejoicing in His earth,      And having my delight in the children of men.”

We have, with Symmachus, translated שׁחקים (from שׁחק, Arab. shaḳ, to grind, to make thin) by αἰθέρα, for so the fine transparent strata of air above the hanging clouds are called - a poetic name of the firmament רקיע. The making firm עמּץ is not to be understood locally, but internally of the spreading out of the firmament over the earth settled for continuance (an expression such as Psa 78:23). In 28b the Masora notices the plur. עינות instead of עינות with לית as unicum (cf. Michlol 191a); the transition of the sound is as in גּלית from galajta. The inf. עזוז appears on the first look to require a transitive signification, as the lxx and the Targ., the Graec. Venet. and Luther (da er festiget die Brünnen der tieffen = when He makes firm the fountains of the deep) have rendered it. Elster accordingly believes that this signification must be maintained, because בּ here introduces creative activity, and in itself is probably the transitive use of עזז, as the Arab. 'azz shows: when He set His עז against the מים עזּים (Isa 43:16). But the absence of the subject is in favour of the opinion that here, as everywhere else, it is intransitive; only we may not, with Hitzig, translate: when the fountains of the flood raged wildly; but, since 28b, if not a creative efficiency, must yet express a creative work, either as Ewald, with reference to מעוז, fortress: when they became firm, or better as Fleischer, with reference to מים עזים: when they broke forth with power, with strong fulness. Whether the suff. of חקּו, 29a, refers back to the sea or to Jahve, is decided after the parallel פּיו. If this word is equivalent to its coast (cf. Psa 104:9), then both suffixes refer to the sea; but the coast of the sea, or of a river, is called שׂפה, not פּה, which only means ostium (mouth), not ora. Also Isa 19:7 will require to be translated: by the mouth of the Nile, and that פי, Psa 133:2, may denote the under edge, arises from this, that a coat has a mouth above as well as below, i.e., is open. Thus both suff. are to be referred to God, and פיו d is to be determined after Job 23:12. The clause beginning with ומים corresponds in periodizing discourse to a clause with ut, Ewald, §338. בּחוּקו is the same form, only written plene, as Pro 8:27, בּחקו = בּחקּו = בּחקקו.One might regard it as modified from בחקקו; but that שׁוּרי, Psa 102:12, is modified from שׁררי, or הורי, Gen 49:26, from הררי, is by no means certain.

Pro 8:32

After that Wisdom has shown in Pro 8:22-31 how worthy her fellowship is of being an object of desire from her mediating place between God and the world, she begins with this verse (as Pro 7:24; Pro 5:7) the hortatory (paränetische) concluding part of her discourse: “And now, ye sons, hearken unto me,

And salvation to those who keep my ways!”

The lxx omits Pro 8:33, and obviates the disturbing element of ואשׁרי, 32b, arising from its ו, by a transposition of the stichs. But this ואשרי is the same as the καὶ μακάριος, Mat 11:6; the organic connection lies hid, as Schleiermacher (Hermeneutik, p. 73) well expresses it, in the mere sequence; the clause containing the proof is connected by ו with that for which proof is to be assigned, instead of subordinating itself to it with כּי. Such an exclamatory clause has already been met with in Pro 3:13, there אדם follows as the governed genitive, here a complete sentence (instead of the usual participial construction, שׁמרי דרכי) forms this genitive, Gesen. §123, 3, Anm. 1.

Pro 8:33-36

The summons 32a, and its reason 32b, are repeated in these verses which follow: 33 “Hear instruction, and be wise,      And withdraw not. 34 Blessed is the man who hears me,      Watching daily at my gates,      Waiting at the posts of my doors! 35 For whosoever findeth me has found life,      And has obtained favour from Jahve; 36 And whosoever misseth me doeth wrong to himself;      All they who hate me love death.”

The imper. וחכמוּ, 33a (et sapite), is to be judged after Pro 4:4, וחיה, cf. the Chethı̂b, Pro 13:20; one sees this from the words ואל־תּפרעוּ which follow, to which, after Pro 15:32, as at Pro 4:13, to אל־תּרף, מוּסר is to be placed as object: and throw not to the winds (ne missam faciatis; vid., regarding פרע at Pro 1:25), viz., instruction (disciplinam).

The Invitation of Wisdom.

1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? 2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. 3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. 4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. 5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. 6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. 7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. 9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. 10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

The will of God revealed to us for our salvation is here largely represented to us as easy to be known and understood, that none may have an excuse for their ignorance or error, and as worthy to be embraced, that none may have an excuse for their carelessness and unbelief.

I. The things revealed are easy to be known, for they belong to us and to our children (Deut. xxix. 29), and we need not soar up to heaven, or dive into the depths, to get the knowledge of them (Deut. xxx. 11), for they are published and proclaimed in some measure by the works of the creation (Prov. xix. 1), more fully by the consciences of men and the eternal reasons and rules of good and evil, but most clearly by Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. The precepts of wisdom may easily be known; for, 1. They are proclaimed aloud (v. 1): Does not Wisdom cry? Yes, she cries aloud, and does not spare (Isa. lviii. 1); she puts forth her voice, as one in earnest and desirous to be heard. Jesus stood and cried, John vii. 37. The curses and blessings were read with a loud voice by the Levites, Deut. xxvii. 14. And men's own hearts sometimes speak aloud to them; there are clamours of conscience, as well as whispers. 2. They are proclaimed from on high (v. 2): She stands in the top of high places; it was from the top of Mount Sinai that the law was given, and Christ expounded it in a sermon upon the mount. Nay, if we slight divine revelation, we turn away from him that speaks from heaven, a high place indeed, Heb. xii. 25. The adulterous woman spoke in secret, the oracles of the heathen muttered, but Wisdom speaks openly; truth seeks no corners, but gladly appeals to the light. 3. They are proclaimed in the places of concourse, where multitudes are gathered together, the more the better. Jesus spoke in the synagogues and in the temple, whither the Jews always resorted, John xviii. 20. Every man that passes by on the road, of what rank or condition soever, may know what is good, and what the Lord requires of him, if it be not his own fault. There is no speech nor language where Wisdom's voice is not heard; her discoveries and directions are given to all promiscuously. He that has ears to hear, let him hear. 4. They are proclaimed where they are most needed. They are intended for the guide of our way, and therefore are published in the places of the paths, where many ways meet, that travellers may be shown, if they will but ask, which is the right way, just then when they are at a loss; thou shalt then hear the word behind thee, saying, This is the way, Isa. xxx. 21. The foolish man known not how to go to the city (Eccl. x. 15), and therefore Wisdom stands ready to direct him, stands at the gates, at the entry of the city, ready to tell him where the seer's house is, 1 Sam. ix. 18. Nay, she follows men to their own houses, and cries to them at the coming in at the doors, saying, Peace be to this house; and, if the son of peace be there, it shall certainly abide upon it. God's ministers are appointed to testify to people both publicly and from house to house. Their own consciences follow them with admonitions wherever they go, which they cannot be out of the hearing of while they carry their own heads and hearts about with them, which are a law unto themselves. 5. They are directed to the children of men. We attend to that discourse in which we hear ourselves named, though otherwise we should have neglected it; therefore Wisdom speaks to us: "Unto you, O men! I call (v. 4), not to angels (they need not these instructions), not to devils (they are past them), not to the brute-creatures (they are not capable of them), but to you, O men! who are taught more than the beasts of the earth and made wiser than the fowls of heaven. To you is this law given, to you is the word of this invitation, this exhortation sent. My voice is to the sons of men, who are concerned to receive instruction, and to whom, one would think, it should be very welcome. It is not, to you, O Jews! only, that Wisdom cries, nor to you, O gentlemen! not to you, O scholars! but to you, O men! O sons of men! even the meanest." 6. They are designed to make them wise (v. 5); they are calculated not only for men that are capable of wisdom, but for sinful men, fallen men, foolish men, that need it, and are undone without it: "O you simple ones! understand wisdom. Though you are ever so simple, Wisdom will take you for her scholars, and not only so, but, if you will be ruled by her, will undertake to give you an understanding heart." When sinners leave their sins, and become truly religious, then the simple understand wisdom.

II. The things revealed are worthy to be known, well worthy of all acceptation. We are concerned to hear; for, 1. They are of inestimable value. They are excellent things (v. 6), princely things, so the word is. Though they are level to the capacity of the meanest, yet there is that in them which will be entertainment for the greatest. They are divine and heavenly things, so excellent that, in comparison with them, all other learning is but children's play. Things which relate to an eternal God, an immortal soul, and an everlasting state, must needs be excellent things. 2. They are of incontestable equity, and carry along with them the evidence of their own goodness. They are right things (v. 6), all in righteousness (v. 8), and nothing froward or perverse in them. All the dictates and directions of revealed religion are consonant to, and perfective of, the light and law of nature, and there is nothing in them that puts any hardship upon us, that lays us under any undue restraints, unbecoming the dignity and liberty of the human nature, nothing that we have reason to complain of. All God's precepts concerning all things are right. 3. They are of unquestionable truth. Wisdom's doctrines, upon which her laws are founded, are such as we may venture our immortal souls upon: My mouth shall speak truth (v. 7), the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, for it is a testimony to the world. Every word of God is true; there are not so much as pious frauds in it, nor are we imposed upon in that which is told us for our good. Christ is a faithful witness, is the truth itself; wickedness (that is, lying) is an abomination to his lips. Note, Lying is wickedness, and we should not only refrain from it, but it should be an abomination to us, and as far from what we say as from what God says to us. His word to us is yea, and amen; never then let ours be yea and nay. 4. They are wonderfully acceptable and agreeable to those who take them aright, who understand themselves aright, who have not their judgments blinded and biassed by the world and the flesh, are not under the power of prejudice, are taught of God, and whose understanding he has opened, who impartially seek knowledge, take pains for it, and have found it in the enquiries they have hitherto made. To them, (1.) They are all plain, and not hard to be understood. If the book is sealed, it is to those who are willingly ignorant. If our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are lost; but to those who depart from evil, which is understanding, who have that good understanding which those have who do the commandments, to them they are all plain and there is nothing difficult in them. The way of religion is a highway, and the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein, Isa. xxxv. 8. Those therefore do a great wrong to the common people who deny them the use of the scripture under pretence that they cannot understand it, whereas it is plain for plain people. (2.) They are all right, and not hard to be submitted to. Those who discern things that differ, who know good and evil, readily subscribe to the rectitude of all Wisdom's dictates, and therefore, with out murmuring or disputing, govern themselves by them.

III. From all this he infers that the right knowledge of those things, such as transforms us into the image of them, is to be preferred before all the wealth of this world (v. 10, 11): Receive my instruction, and not silver. Instruction must not only be heard, but received. We must bid it welcome, receive the impressions of it, and submit to the command of it; and this rather than choice gold, that is, 1. We must prefer religion before riches, and look upon it that, if we have the knowledge and fear of God in our hearts, we are really more happy and better provided for every condition of life than if we had ever so much silver and gold. Wisdom is in itself, and therefore must be in our account, better than rubies. It will bring us in a better price, be to us a better portion; show it forth, and it will be a better ornament than jewels and precious stones of the greatest value. Whatever we can sit down and wish for of the wealth of this world would, if we had it, be unworthy to be compared with the advantages that attend serious godliness. 2. We must be dead to the wealth of this world, that we may the more closely and earnestly apply ourselves to the business of religion. We must receive instruction as the main matter, and then be indifferent whether we receive silver or no; nay, we must not receive it as our portion and reward, as the rich man in his life-time received his good things.

The Advantages of Wisdom.

12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. 13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. 18 Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. 19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. 20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: 21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

Wisdom here is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it is Christ in the word and Christ in the heart, not only Christ revealed to us, but Christ revealed in us. It is the word of God, the whole compass of divine revelation; it is God the Word, in whom all divine revelation centres; it is the soul formed by the word; it is Christ formed in the soul; it is religion in the purity and power of it. Glorious things are here spoken of this excellent person, this excellent thing.

I. Divine wisdom gives men good heads (v. 12): I Wisdom dwell with prudence, not with carnal policy (the wisdom that is from above is contrary to that, 2 Cor. i. 12), but with true discretion, which serves for the right ordering of the conversation, that wisdom of the prudent which is to understand his way and is in all cases profitable to direct, the wisdom of the serpent, not only to guard from harm, but to guide in doing good. Wisdom dwells with prudence; for prudence is the product of religion and an ornament to religion; and there are more witty inventions found out with the help of the scripture, both for the right understanding of God's providences and for the effectual countermining of Satan's devices and the doing of good in our generation, than were ever discovered by the learning of the philosophers or the politics of statesmen. We may apply it to Christ himself; he dwells with prudence, for his whole undertaking is the wisdom of God in a mystery, and in it God abounds towards us in all wisdom and prudence. Christ found out the knowledge of that great invention, and a costly one it was to him, man's salvation, by his satisfaction, an admirable expedient. We had found out many inventions for our ruin; he found out one for our recovery. The covenant of grace is so well ordered in all things that we must conclude that he who ordered it dwelt with prudence.

II. It gives men good hearts, v. 13. True religion, consisting in the fear of the Lord, which is the wisdom before recommended, teaches men, 1. To hate all sin, as displeasing to God and destructive to the soul: The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, the evil way, to hate sin as sin, and therefore to hate every false way. Wherever there is an awe of God there is a dread of sin, as an evil, as only evil. 2. Particularly to hate pride and passion, those two common and dangerous sins. Conceitedness of ourselves, pride and arrogancy, are sins which Christ hates, and so do all those who have the Spirit of Christ; every one hates them in others, but we must hate them in ourselves. The froward mouth, peevishness towards others, God hates, because it is such an enemy to the peace of mankind, and therefore we should hate it. Be it spoken to the honour of religion that, however it is unjustly accused, it is so far from making men conceited and sour that there is nothing more directly contrary to it than pride and passion, nor which it teaches us more to detest.

III. It has a great influence upon public affairs and the well-governing of all societies, v. 14. Christ, as God, has strength and wisdom; wisdom and might are his; as Redeemer, he is the wisdom of God and the power of God. To all that are his he is made of God both strength and wisdom; in him they are laid up for us, that we may both know and do our duty. He is the wonderful counsellor and gives that grace which alone is sound wisdom. He is understanding itself, and has strength for all those that strengthen themselves in him. True religion gives men the best counsel in all difficult cases, and helps to make their way plain. Wherever it is, it is understanding, it has strength; it will be all that to us that we need, both for services and sufferings. Where the word of God dwells richly it makes a man perfect and furnishes him thoroughly for every good word and work. Kings, princes, and judges, have of all men most need of wisdom and strength, of counsel and courage, for the faithful discharge of the trusts reposed in them, and that they may be blessings to the people over whom they are set. And therefore Wisdom says, By me kings reign (v. 15, 16), that is, 1. Civil government is a divine institution, and those that are entrusted with the administration of it have their commission from Christ; it is a branch of his kingly office that by him kings reign; from him to whom all judgment is committed their power is derived. They reign by him, and therefore ought to reign for him. 2. Whatever qualifications for government any kings or princes have they are indebted to the grace of Christ for them; he gives them the spirit of government, and they have nothing, no skill, no principles of justice, but what he endues them with. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king; and kings are to their subjects what he makes them. 3. Religion is very much the strength and support of the civil government; it teaches subjects their duty, and so by it kings reign over them the more easily; it teaches kings their duty, and so by it kings reign as they ought; they decree justice, while they rule in the fear of God. Those rule well whom religion rules.

IV. It will make all those happy, truly happy, that receive and embrace it.

1. They shall be happy in the love of Christ; for he it is that says, I love those that love me, v. 17. Those that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity shall be beloved of him with a peculiar distinguishing love: he will love them and manifest himself to them.

2. They shall be happy in the success of their enquiries after him: "Those that seek me early, seek an acquaintance with me and an interest in me, seek me early, that is, seek me earnestly, seek me first before any thing else, that begin betimes in the days of their youth to seek me, they shall find what they seek." Christ shall be theirs, and they shall be his. He never said, Seek in vain.

3. They shall be happy in the wealth of the world, or in that which is infinitely better. (1.) They shall have as much riches and honour as Infinite Wisdom sees good for them (v. 18); they are with Christ, that is, he has them to give, and whether he will see fit to give them to us must be referred to him. Religion sometimes helps to make people rich and great in this world, gains them a reputation, and so increases their estates; and the riches which Wisdom gives to her favourites have these two advantages:— [1.] That they are riches and righteousness, riches honestly got, not by fraud and oppression, but in regular ways, and riches charitably used, for alms are called righteousness. Those that have their wealth from God's blessing on their industry, and that have a heart to do good with it, have riches and righteousness. [2.] That therefore they are durable riches. Wealth gotten by vanity will soon be diminished, but that which is well got will wear well and will be left to the children's children, and that which is well spent in works of piety and charity is put out to the best interest and so will be durable; for the friends made by the mammon of unrighteousness when we fail will receive us into everlasting habitations, Luke xvi. 9. It will be found after many days, for the days of eternity. (2.) They shall have that which is infinitely better, if they have not riches and honour in this world (v. 19): "My fruit is better than gold, and will turn to a better account, will be of more value in less compass, and my revenue better than the choicest silver, will serve a better trade." We may assure ourselves that not only Wisdom's products at last, but her income in the mean time, not only her fruit, but her revenue, is more valuable than the best either of the possessions or of the reversions of this world.

4. They shall be happy in the grace of God now; that shall be their guide in the good way, v. 20. This is that fruit of wisdom which is better than gold, than fine gold, it leads us in the way of righteousness, shows us that way and goes before us in it, the way that God would have us walk in and which will certainly bring us to our desired end. It leads in the midst of the paths of judgment, and saves us from deviating on either hand. In medio virtus—Virtue lies in the midst. Christ by his Spirit guides believers into all truth, and so leads them in the way of righteousness, and they walk after the Spirit.

5. They shall be happy in the glory of God hereafter, v. 21. Therefore Wisdom leads in the paths of righteousness, not only that she may keep her friends in the way of duty and obedience, but that she may cause them to inherit substance and may fill their treasures, which cannot be done with the things of this world, nor with any thing less than God and heaven. The happiness of those that love God, and devote themselves to his service, is substantial and satisfactory. (1.) It is substantial; it is substance itself. It is a happiness which will subsist of itself, and stand alone, without the accidental supports of outward conveniences. Spiritual and eternal things are the only real and substantial things. Joy in God is substantial joy, solid and well-grounded. The promises are their bonds, Christ is their surety, and both substantial. They inherit substance; that is, their inheritance hereafter is substantial; it is a weight of glory; it is substance, Heb. x. 34. All their happiness they have as heirs; it is grounded upon their sonship. (2.) It is satisfying; it will not only fill their hands, but fill their treasures, not only maintain them, but make them rich. The things of this world may fill men's bellies (Ps. xvii. 14), but not their treasures, for they cannot in them secure to themselves goods for many years; perhaps they may be deprived of them this night. But let the treasures of the soul be ever so capacious there is enough in God, and Christ, and heaven, to fill them. In Wisdom's promises believers have goods laid up, not for days and years, but for eternity; her fruit therefore is better than gold.

Wisdom Eternal and Divine.

22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; 31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

That it is an intelligent and divine person that here speaks seems very plain, and that it is not meant of a mere essential property of the divine nature, for Wisdom here has personal properties and actions; and that intelligent divine person can be no other than the Son of God himself, to whom the principal things here spoken of wisdom are attributed in other scriptures, and we must explain scripture by itself. If Solomon himself designed only the praise of wisdom as it is an attribute of God, by which he made the world and governs it, so to recommend to men the study of that wisdom which belongs to them, yet the Spirit of God, who indited what he wrote, carried him, as David often, to such expressions as could agree to no other than the Son of God, and would lead us into the knowledge of great things concerning him. All divine revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, and here we are told who and what he is, as God, designed in the eternal counsels to be the Mediator between God and man. The best exposition of these verses we have in the first four verses of St. John's gospel. In the beginning was the Word, &c. Concerning the Son of God observe here,

I. His personality and distinct subsistence, one with the Father and of the same essence, and yet a person of himself, whom the Lord possessed (v. 22), who was set up (v. 23), was brought forth (v. 24, 25), was by him (v. 30), for he was the express image of his person, Heb. i. 3.

II. His eternity; he was begotten of the Father, for the Lord possessed him, as his own Son, his beloved Son, laid him in his bosom; he was brought forth as the only-begotten of the Father, and this before all worlds, which is most largely insisted upon here. The Word was eternal, and had a being before the world, before the beginning of time; and therefore it must follow that it was from eternity. The Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way, of his eternal counsels, for those were before his works. This way indeed had no beginning, for God's purposes in himself are eternal like himself, but God speaks to us in our own language. Wisdom explains herself (v. 23): I was set up from everlasting. The Son of God was, in the eternal counsels of God, designed and advanced to be the wisdom and power of the Father, light and life, and all in all both in the creation and in the redemption of the world. That he was brought forth as to his being, and set up as to the divine counsels concerning his office, before the world was made, is here set forth in a great variety of expressions, much the same with those by which the eternity of God himself is expressed. Ps. xc. 2, Before the mountains were brought forth. 1. Before the earth was, and that was made in the beginning, before man was made; therefore the second Adam had a being before the first, for the first Adam was made of the earth, the second had a being before the earth, and therefore is not of the earth, John iii. 31. 2. Before the sea was (v. 24), when there were no depths in which the waters were gathered together, no fountains from which those waters might arise, none of that deep on which the Spirit of God moved for the production of the visible creation, Gen. i. 2. 3. Before the mountains were, the everlasting mountains, v. 25. Eliphaz, to convince Job of his inability to judge of the divine counsels, asks him (Job xv. 7), Wast thou made before the hills? No, thou wast not. But before the hills was the eternal Word brought forth. 4. Before the habitable parts of the world, which men cultivate, and reap the profits of (v. 26), the fields in the valleys and plains, to which the mountains are as a wall, which are the highest part of the dust of the world; the first part of the dust (so some), the atoms which compose the several parts of the world; the chief or principal part of the dust, so it may be read, and understood of man, who was made of the dust of the ground and is dust, but is the principal part of the dust, dust enlivened, dust refined. The eternal Word had a being before man was made, for in him was the life of men.

III. His agency in making the world. He not only had a being before the world, but he was present, not as a spectator, but as the architect, when the world was made. God silenced and humbled Job by asking him, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who hath laid the measures thereof? (Job xxxviii. 4, &c.). Wast thou that eternal Word and wisdom, who was the prime manager of that great affair? No; thou art of yesterday." But here the Son of God, referring, as it should seem, to the discourse God had with Job, declares himself to have been engaged in that which Job could not pretend to be a witness of and a worker in, the creation of the world. By him God made the worlds, Eph. iii. 9; Heb. i. 2; Col. i. 16. 1. When, on the first day of the creation, in the very beginning of time, God said, Let there be light, and with a word produced it, this eternal Wisdom was that almighty Word: Then I was there, when he prepared the heavens, the fountain of that light, which, whatever it is here, is there substantial. 2. He was no less active when, on the second day, he stretched out the firmament, the vast expanse, and set that as a compass upon the face of the depth (v. 27), surrounded it on all sides with that canopy, that curtain. Or it may refer to the exact order and method with which God framed all the parts of the universe, as the workman marks out his work with his line and compasses. The work in nothing varied from the plan of it formed in the eternal mind. 3. He was also employed in the third day's work, when the waters above the heavens, were gathered together by establishing the clouds above, and those under the heavens by strengthening the fountains of the deep, which send forth those waters (v. 28), and by preserving the bounds of the sea, which is the receptacle of those waters, v. 29. This speaks much the honour of this eternal Wisdom, for by this instance God proves himself a God greatly to be feared (Jer. v. 22) that he has placed the sand for the bound of the sea, that the dry land might continue to appear above water, fit to be a habitation for man; and thus he has appointed the foundation of the earth. How able, how fit, is the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it!

IV. The infinite complacency which the Father had in him, and he in the Father (v. 30): I was by him, as one brought up with him. As by an eternal generation he was brought forth of the Father, so by an eternal counsel he was brought up with him, which intimates, not only the infinite love of the Father to the Son, who is therefore called the Son of his love (Col. i. 13), but the mutual consciousness and good understanding that were between them concerning the work of man's redemption, which the Son was to undertake, and about which the counsel of peace was between them both, Zech. vi. 13. He was alumnus patris—the Father's pupil, as I may say, trained up from eternity for that service which in time, in the fulness of time, he was to go through with, and is therein taken under the special tuition and protection of the Father; he is my servant whom I uphold, Isa. xlii. 1. He did what he saw the Father do (John v. 19), pleased his Father, sought his glory, did according to the commandment he received from his Father, and all this as one brought up with him. He was daily his Father's delight (my elect, in whom my soul delighteth, says God, Isa. xliii. 1), and he also rejoiced always before him. This may be understood either, 1. Of the infinite delight which the persons of the blessed Trinity have in each other, wherein consists much of the happiness of the divine nature. Or, 2. Of the pleasure which the Father took in the operations of the Son, when he made the world; God saw every thing that the Son made, and, behold, it was very good, it pleased him, and therefore his Son was daily, day by day, during the six days of the creation, upon that account, his delight, Exod. xxxix. 43. And the Son also did himself rejoice before him in the beauty and harmony of the whole creation, Ps. civ. 31. Or, 3. Of the satisfaction they had in each other, with reference to the great work of man's redemption. The Father delighted in the Son, as Mediator between him and man, was well-pleased with what he proposed (Matt. iii. 17), and therefore loved him because he undertook to lay down his life for the sheep; he put a confidence in him that he would go through his work, and not fail nor fly off. The Son also rejoiced always before him, delighted to do his will (Ps. xl. 8), adhered closely to his undertaking, as one that was well-satisfied in it, and, when it came to the setting to, expressed as much satisfaction in it as ever, saying, Lo, I come, to do as in the volume of the book it is written of me.

V. The gracious concern he had for mankind, v. 31. Wisdom rejoiced, not so much in the rich products of the earth, or the treasures hid in the bowels of it, as in the habitable parts of it, for her delights were with the sons of men; not only in the creation of man is it spoken with a particular air of pleasure (Gen. i. 26), Let us make man, but in the redemption and salvation of man. The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work, 1 Pet. i. 20. A remnant of the sons of men were given him to be brought, through his grace, to his glory, and these were those in whom his delights were. His church was the habitable part of his earth, made habitable for him, that the Lord God might dwell even among those that had been rebellious; and this he rejoiced in, in the prospect of seeing his seed. Though he foresaw all the difficulties he was to meet with in his work, the services and sufferings he was to go through, yet, because it would issue in the glory of his Father and the salvation of those sons of men that were given him, he looked forward upon it with the greatest satisfaction imaginable, in which we have all the encouragement we can desire to come to him and rely upon him for all the benefits designed us by his glorious undertaking.

Wisdom's Exhortation.

32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord . 36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

We have here the application of Wisdom's discourse; the design and tendency of it is to bring us all into an entire subjection to the laws of religion, to make us wise and good, not to fill our heads with speculations, or our tongues with disputes, but to rectify what is amiss in our hearts and lives. In order to this, here is,

I. An exhortation to hear and obey the voice of Wisdom, to attend and comply with the good instructions that the word of God gives us, and in them to discern the voice of Christ, as the sheep know the shepherd's voice.

1. We must be diligent hearers of the word; for how can we believe in him of whom we have not heart? "Hearken unto me, O you children!" v. 32. "Read the word written, sit under the word preached, bless God for both, and hear him in both speaking to you." Let children age, and what they hearken to then, it is likely, they will be so seasoned by as to be governed by all their days. Let Wisdom's children justify Wisdom by hearkening to her and show themselves to be indeed her children. We must hear Wisdom's words, (1.) Submissively, and with a willing heart (v. 33): "Hear instruction, and refuse it not, either as that which you need not or as that which you like not; it is offered you as a kindness, and it is at your peril if you refuse it." Those that reject the counsel of God reject it against themselves, Luke vii. 30. "Refuse it not now, lest you should not have another offer." (2.) Constantly, and with an attentive ear. We must hear Wisdom so as to watch daily at her gates, as beggars to receive an alms, as clients and patients to receive advice, and to wait as servants, with humility, and patience, and ready observance, at the posts of her doors. See here what a good house Wisdom keeps, for every day is dole-day; what a good school, for every day is lecture-day. While we have God's works before our eyes, and his word in our hand, we may be every day hearing Wisdom, and learning instruction from her. See here what a dutiful and diligent attendance is required of all Christ's disciples; they must watch at the gates. [1.] We must lay hold on all opportunities of getting knowledge and grace, and must get into, and keep in, a constant settled course of communion with God. [2.] We must be very humble in our attendance on divine instructions, and be glad of any place, even the meanest, so we may but be within hearing of them, as David, who would gladly be a door-keeper in the house of God. [3.] We must raise our expectations of these instructions, and hearken to them with care, and patience, and perseverance, must watch and wait, as Christ's hearers, that hanged on him to hear him, as the word in the original is (Luke xix. 48) and (ch. xxi. 38) came early in the morning to hear him.

2. We must be conscientious doers of the work, for we are blessed only in our deed. It is not enough to hearken unto Wisdom's words, but we must keep her ways (v. 32), do every thing that she prescribes, keep within the hedges of her ways, and not transgress them, keep in the tracks of her ways, proceed and persevere in them. "Hear instruction and be wise; let it be a means to make you wise in ordering your conversation." What we know is known in vain if it do not make us wise, v. 33.

II. An assurance of happiness to all those that do hearken to Wisdom. They are blessed, v. 32, and again v. 34. Those are blessed that watch and wait at Wisdom's gates; even their attendance there is their happiness; it is the best place they can be in. Those are blessed that wait there, for they shall not be put to wait long; let them continue to knock awhile and it shall be opened to them. They are seeking Wisdom, and they shall find what they seek. But will it make them amends if they do find it? Yes (v. 35): Whoso finds me finds life, that is, all happiness, all that good which he needs or can desire. He finds life in that grace which is the principle of spiritual life and the pledge of eternal life. He finds life, for he shall obtain favour of the Lord, and in his favour is life. If the king's favour is towards a wise son, much more the favour of the King of kings. Christ is Wisdom, and he that finds Christ, that obtains an interest in him, he finds life; for Christ is life to all believers. He that has the Son of God has life, eternal life, and he shall obtain favour of the Lord, who is well-pleased with all those that are in Christ; nor can we obtain God's favour, unless we find Christ and be found in him.

III. The doom passed upon all those that reject Wisdom and her proposals, v. 36. They are left to ruin themselves, and Wisdom will not hinder them, because they have set at nought all her counsel. 1. Their crime is very great; they sin against Wisdom, rebel against its light and laws, thwart its designs, and by their folly offend it. They sin against Christ; they act in contempt of his authority, and in contradiction to all the purposes of his life and death. This is construed into hating Wisdom, hating Christ; they are his enemies, who will not have him to reign over them. What can appear worse than hating him who is the centre of all beauty and fountain of all goodness, love itself? 2. Their punishment will be very just, for they wilfully bring it upon themselves. (1.) Those that offend Christ do the greatest wrong to themselves; they wrong their own souls; they wound their own consciences, bring a blot and stain upon their souls, which renders them odious in the eyes of God, and unfit for communion with him; they deceive themselves, disturb themselves, destroy themselves. Sin is a wrong to the soul. (2.) Those that are at variance with Christ are in love with their own ruin: Those that hate me love death; they love that which will be their death, and put that from them which would be their life. Sinners die because they will die, which leaves them inexcusable, makes their condemnation the more intolerable, and will for ever justify God when he judges. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself.

CHAP. VIII. Verſ. 1. Doth not Wiſdome cry?]

ANd ſhall a Harlot bee ſooner heard than ſhee? Shall men prefer droſs before gold, acorns before wheat, a ſwine-ſty before a Sanctuary? dirty delights and ſenſual pleaſures, before peace that paſſeth all underſtanding,Xenophon. joy unſpeakable and full of glory? Heathen ſtories tell how Hercules (when hee was young) was courted by Vertue on the one hand, and Pleaſure on the other; But Pleaſure loſt her ſweet words upon him, hee hearkned to Vertue rather: Shall not wee to Wiſdome?

Put forth her voyce] In her Miniſters, who are Cryers by office, and muſt bee earneſt, Iſa. 58.1. See an inſtance in holy Bradford; I beſeech you, ſaith Hee, I pray you, I deſire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart; I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue, and minde; in Chriſt, through Chriſt, for Chriſt,Act. & Mon. 1490. for his Name, Blood, Mercy, Power, and Truths ſake, my moſt intirely beloved, that you admit no doubting of Gods final mercies toward you, &c. Here was a luſty Cryer indeed. And ſuch another was Mr. Perkins, of whom it is ſaid, that in expounding the Commandements (when hee was Catechiſt of Chriſts Colledge) hee applied them ſo home to his hearers,Mr. Fullers Holy-ſtate, p 90. that hee made their very hearts fall down, and their hairs ſtand upright.

Verſ. 2. Shee standeth in the top of high places] That is, ſaith an Interpreter, in the lofty Oracles of the Patriarchs and Prophets.

Verſ. 3. At the entry of the City] Heb. At the mouth; for as words go out of the mouth,Rod. Bain. ſo do men out of the City; onely men go and come at their pleaſure, Sed volat emiſſum ſemel irrevocabile verbum. A word once uttered cannot bee recalled.

At the coming in at the doors] Every where Chriſt offereth himſelf; hence ariſeth this phraſe, My ſalvation is gone forth, but to little purpoſe, through mens ſingular perverſneſs. Indeed if the Lord would ſet up a Pulpit at the Ale-houſe door, they would hear oftner. But ſith hee doth not, they will run to hell as faſt as they can; And if God cannot catch them, they care not, they will not return.

Verſ. 4. Unto you, O men, I call] O viri praeſtantes (ſo ſome render it) O yee eminent men, whether for greatneſs of birth wealth, or learning. The Phariſees and Philoſophers for their learning are called the Princes of this world, 1 Cor. 2.8. Sed ſapientes ſapienter in infernum deſcendunt, ſaith one, & potentes potenter t[illegible: 1 letter]rquebuntur, ſaith another. But the world by wiſdome knows not God, 1 Cor. 1.21. and not many wiſe men, not many mighty, not many noble are called, verſ. 26. And yet they ſhall not want for calling, if that would do it; for unto you, O mighty men I call. Sed ſurdo plerunque fabulam, but all to little purpoſe, for moſt part. They that lay their heads upon down-pillows cannot ſo eaſily hear noyſes. Courts and great places prove ill air for Zeal. Divitibus ideo pietas deeſt, quia nihil deeſt. Rich mens wealth proves an hindrance to their happineſs.

And my voyce is to the Sons of men] i. e. To the meaner ſort of people. See Pſal. 49.2. Theſe uſually, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. like little fiſhes, bite more than bigger. The poor are Gospellized, ſaith our Saviour. Smyrna was the pooreſt, but beſt of the ſeven Churches. Certain it is, that many of the meaner ſort hold that they are not bound to look after Scripture-matters, but that it is for rich men and Scholars onely to do ſo. Wee have nothing, ſay they, to live by, but theſe hands. How can day-labourers, [non-Latin text not transcribed]; Chryſoſt. Hom. 22. ad Pop. Antioch. and poor Craftſmen intend ſuch things? The baſer ſort of people in Swethland do alwayes break the Sabbath, ſaying, that it is only for Gentlemen to keep that day. See Jer. 5.4. Joh. 7.49. But Paul (a poor Tent-maker) could ſay, Our converſation is in heaven, and Gods people are afflicted and poor, yet they truſt in the Name of the Lord, Zeph. 3.12. Who ever richer than Adam in Paradiſe? Poorer than Job on the dunghill? yet in Paradiſe Satan foiled Adam, on the dunghil Job foiled Satan. Think not that poverty can excuſe from duty: Poor men alſo muſt liſten to wiſdomes voyce, or it will bee worſe with them; there is yet but a beginning of their ſorrows.

Verſ. 5. O yee ſimple] If yee bee not ſet in ſin, reſolved of your way, as good as yee mean to bee: If yet there bee any place left for perſwaſion. See the Note on Chap. 1.4.

And yee fools] Yee that have already made your concluſion, and are wiſer in your own conceit, than ſeven men that can render a reaſon.

Ver. 6. I will ſpeak of excellent things] [non-Latin text not transcribed] Ruling-caſes, Maſter-ſentences, Axiomes of ſtate, principles for Princes. I have written for them the great things of my Law, Hoſ. 8.12. Solomon calls the Scriptures, Lords of Collections, as ſome ſenſe that Text, Eccleſ. 12.11.

Shall hee right things] Right for each mans particular purpoſes and occaſions.Athan[illegible: 1 letter]ſ. The Scriptures are ſo pe[illegible: 4 letters]l, that every man may think they ſpeak de ſe, in re ſua, of him, and his [illegible: 1 word]. In all the Commandements of God there is ſo much rectitude, and good reaſon (could wee but ſee it) that if God did not command them, yet it were our beſt way to practiſe them.

For my mouth ſhall speak truth] Heb. Shall meditate truth, i. e. I will neither ſpeak falſely nor raſhly, but upon due deliberation, and undoubted certainty, See my True treaſure, pag. 122.

Verſ. 8. All the words] The Rabbine have a ſaying, That there is a mountain of ſenſe hanging upon every tittle of the Scriptures.

There is nothing froward or perverſe in them] Some places of Scripture may ſeem to croſs other places, but they do only ſeem ſo. Men may think they are like the accuſers of Chriſt, never a one ſpeaking like the other; but thoſe that underſtand them, ſhall finde them like Nathan and Bathſheba, both ſpeaking the ſame things. The old Rabbins could not reconcile Eccleſiaſtes (ſome paſſages in it) to the reſt of the holy Scriptures, and had therefore ſome thoughts to conceal it from the people. But this was their weakneſs,Kabuenaki. and would have been their wickedneſs.

Verſ. 9. They are all plain to him that underſtandeth] Plain in things neceſſary to ſalvation; for as all duties, ſo all truths, do not concern all men. God doth not expect or require that every man ſhould bee a Doctor in the chair; but thoſe points that direct to duty here, and ſalvation hereafter, are clear, expreſs, and obvious to them that deſire to underſtand them; for ſome there are,Bern. qui ut liberius peocent, libenter ignorant. It was a ſmart anſwer which Mr. Durant a witty and learned Miniſter of the Reformed Church of Paris, gave to a Lady of ſuſpected chaſtity, and now revolted. When ſhee pretended the hardneſs of the Scripture: Why? ſaid hee, Madam, what can bee more plain, than Thou ſhalt not commit Adultery. Had ſhee not been failing in the practice of what ſhee could not but know, ſhee had found no cauſe to complain of the difficulty of that, which ſhee could not know.

Verſ. 10. Receive mine inſtruction, and not money] That is, Rather than mony, as, I will have mercy, and not ſacrifice, that is, rather than ſacrifice. Knowledge of the Scriptures is the greateſt riches, Col. 3.16. Let the word of Chriſt[illegible: 1 letter] dwell richly in you, 1 Cor. 1.5. The Corinthians were inriched in all knowledge. Plato gave three hundred flourens for a Book that hee liked.Called Sophron. Dionyſius ſaid, that Ariſtippus was alwayes craving mony of him; but Plato deſired nothing but Books. What ſpending of money, and laviſhing out of the bag is there for humane learning? And yet Ariſtotle himſelf could ſay, that a little knowledge, though but conjectural, about heavenly things, is to bee preferred above much knowledge, though certain, about inferiour things.

Verſ. 11. For Wiſdome is better than Rubies] See the Note on Chap. 3.15.

Verſ. 12. I Wiſdome dwell with Prudence] I draw all into practice, and teach men to prove by their own experience, what that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God is. Of the moſt that would bee held knowing men, it may well bee ſaid, as Tully ſayes the Proverb went of the Athenians; that they uſed their wiſdome, as men do artificial teeth, for ſhew onely: And that they did ſcire quae recta ſunt, ſed facore nolle, know what was right, but had no minde to do accordingly. Socrates ſaid, there was no difference between [non-Latin text not transcribed] & [non-Latin text not transcribed], Wiſdome, and Prudence or Moderation; Xenoph. de dictis & factis Socrat. Sith hee that knows good things to do them, and evil things to avoid them, is to bee held a wiſe man, and none elſe.

And finde out knowledge of wit[illegible: 1 letter]y inventions] Tending to piety; Not thoſe toylſome toyes, ſophiſmata, quae nec ignoranti nocent, nec ſci[illegible: 1 letter]ut en[illegible: 1 letter] juvant, Seneca. that are hard to come by, but of no uſe or worth, proof or profit: Theſe are but laborious loſs of time, as Ariſtotle hath it, like an Olive, of Date-ſtone, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Ariſt. hard to crack the one, or cleave the other, but nothing, or nothing worth ought, when crackt or cloven within either. Wiſdome findes her Scholars ſomewhat elſe to do, than to bee ſo buſily idle. Witty ſhee allows them to bee, but not wittily wicked, not wiſe to do evil, inventers of [illegible: 1 word] or idle things. Walk circumſpectly, ſaith ſhee, not as fools, but as wiſe, [illegible: 2 letters]ing the times, underſtanding what the will of the Lord is, and putting it in ſpeedy execution.Eph. 5.[illegible: 1 letter]5, 16, 17. Keep therefore and do it, for this is your wiſdome, &c. Deut. 4.6. (See the Note there) this will ſpeak you far more witty than thoſe Wits of the World, who ſeek out many inventions, Eccleſ. 7.28. but all to no purpoſe, and become vain in their imaginations, their fooliſh heart being darkned, [illegible: 2 letters]m. 1.21.

Verſ. 13. The fear of the Lord] Which is an high point of heavenly wiſdome (Chap. 1.7.) to the praiſe whereof this therefore appertaineth. There are that make this verſe an explanation of the former, thus; I finde out the knowledge of witty inventing, ſuch as are the fear of the Lord, the hatred of evil, yea, of inward evils, as Pride, Arrogancy, &c. Odi faſtum iſtius Eccleſiae. I hate the pride of that Romiſh Church, ſaid Baſil long ſince. I hate vain thoughts, But thy Law do I love, Pſal. 119.113. I hate and abhor lying, verſ. 163. Yea, I hate every falſe way, both in my ſelf, and others, verſ. 104. Thou hateſt the works of the Nicolaitans, which I alſo hate, Rev. 2. Gods people partake of the Divine nature, and ſo have God-like both ſympathies and antipathies; they not only leave ſin, but loath it, and are at deadly feud with it. They purge themſelves (by this clean fear of God, Pſal. 19.7.) from all pollutions, not of fleſh onely, worldly luſts, and groſs evils, but of ſpirit alſo, that lye more up in the heart of the Country, as Pride, Arrogancy, &c. ſo Perfecting holineſs in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7.1. There may bee ſome kinde of pride in ſincerity, and of humility in hypocriſie. But hypocriſies humility is followed with pride, and ſincerities pride with humility: This latter humility is the better. And here onely it is ſeemly for vertue to come behinde vice. Hypocriſie is proud, becauſe it is humble; Sincerity is humble, becauſe it is proud.

And the evil way] That is, Cuſtome of committing ſin. Viam pro frequentatione accipiunt Hebraei. And this the godly man doth, not that hee may appear to do ſo,Velleius. ſed quia aliter facere non potuit, (as one falſly and flatteringly ſaid of Cato) but becauſe having his heart ſeaſoned with this holy fear, hee can do no otherwiſe.

Verſ. 14. Counſel is mine, &c.] Chriſt is wiſe in heart, and mighty in ſtrength, Job 9.4. his Churches both Counſellor, Iſa. 9.6▪ and Champion, Iſa. 37.23, 24. And though ſhee bee but a Virgin daughter of Zion, yet ſhee deſpiſeth her adverſary, and laughs him to ſcorn, verſ. 22. becauſe ſhee hath one that is in love with her, and will fight her quarrel, who is, De Achille Homeurs. De Achille C[illegible: 1 letter]ullus. Tho 2.2. q. 10. a[illegible: 1 letter]t. 10. [non-Latin text not transcribed], Heſ. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hom. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hoſtibus hand tergo ſed forti pectore notus.

Verſ. 15. By mee Kings reign] How then can the School-men defend Thomas Aquinas in that Paradox, Dominium & praelatio introducta ſunt ex jure humano, Dominion and Government is of man? This croſſeth the Apoſtle, Rom. 13.1, 2. and the wiſeſt of the Heathens.

Verſ. 16. And Nobles] So called in the original, from their liberality and bounty. Hence Luke 22.25. This word is expreſſed by [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Bountiful, or Benefactors, ſuch as are ingenuous, free, munificent, indued with that free Princely ſpirit, Pſal. 51.14.

Even all the Judges of the earth] Though haply they bee reckoned in the rank of bad men, but good Princes; ſuch as was Galba, and our Richard the third,Plin Secund. Dion. Caſſ. and Trajan, much magnified for a good Emperour, and yet a Drunkard, a Baggerer, and a cruel Perſecutor.

Verſ. 17. I love them that love mee] The Philoſopher could ſay, that if moral vertue could bee ſeen with mortal eyes, ſhee would ſtir up wonderful loves of her ſelf in the hearts of the beholders. How much more then would the Wiſdome of God in a Myſtery? 1 Cor. 2.7. that eſſential wiſdome of God eſpecially, the Lord Jeſus, who is totus deſiderabilis, altogether lovely, Cant. 5.16. the deſire of all Nations, Hag. 2.7. whom whoſoever loveth not, deſerves to bee double accurſed, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 1 Cor. 15.22. My love was crucified, ſaid Ignatius, who loved not his life unto the death, Rev. 22.11. Neither was there any love loſt, or can be; For I love them that love mee. And if any man love mee, my Father will love him, and I will love him, and will manifeſt my ſelf unto him, and wee will come unto him, and make our abode with him, Joh. 14.21, 23. Men do not alwayes reciprocate, nor return love for love. For my love, Pſal. 109.4, 5. they are mine adverſaries; Yea, they have rewarded mee hatred for my love. David loſt his love upon Abſolom. Paul upon the Corinthians. Old Andronicus the Greek Emperor upon his graceleſs Nephew of the ſame name. But here is no ſuch danger, it ſhall not bee eaſie for any man to out-love Wiſdome.

For whereas ſome one might reply, You are ſo taken up with States, Ob. and have ſuch great Suters, Kings, Princes, Nobles, Judges, as verſ. 15, 16. that it is not for mean men to look for any love from you.

Not ſo, ſaith Wiſdome, for I love them that love mee, Sol. bee they never ſo much below mee. Grace bee with all them that love the Lord Jeſus inſincerity. Tantum velis, & Deus tibi praeoccurret, ſaith Nazianzen. Ambulas, ſi amas: Eph. 6.23. Non enim paſſibus ad Deum, ſed affectibus curritur, ſaith Auguſtin, Thou walkeſt if thou loveſt; Thou acteſt if thou affecteſt.

They that ſeek mee early] As Students ſit cloſe to it in the morning. Aurora muſis amica.

Verſ. 18. Riches and honour are with mee] I come not unaccompanied, but bring with mee that which is well worth having. The Muſes (though Jupiters daughters, and well deſerving) yet are ſaid to have had no Suters, becauſe they had no portions. Our Henry the eighth, when hee dyed,Engl. Eliſ. gave his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, but ten thouſand pounds apeece. But this Lady is largely endowed, and yet (ſuch is mens dulneſs) ſhee is put to ſollicit Suters, by ſetting forth her great wealth. See the Note on Matth. 6.33.

Verſ. 19. My fruit is better than gold] This Wiſdome is as thoſe two golden Pipes, Zach. 4. through which the two Olive-branches do empty out of themſelves the golden oyles of all precious graces, into the Candleſtick, the Church; Hence grace is here called fruits, and Cant. 4.16. Pleaſant fruits, and fruits of the Spirit, Gal. 6.22.

Verſ. 20. I lead in the way of righteouſneſs] Which is to ſay, I got not my wealth per fas atque nefas, by right and wrong, by wrench and wile. My riches are not the riches of unrighteouſneſs, the Mammon of iniquity, Luke 16.9. but are honeſtly come by, and are therefore like to bee durable, v. 18. or (as others render it) antient. St. Hierom ſomewhere ſaith, that moſt rich men are either themſelves bad men, or heirs of thoſe that have been bad. There is a prophane Proverb amongſt us, Happy is that childe, whoſe Father goes to the Devil. It is reported of Neveſſan the Lawyer, that hee ſhould ſay, Hee that will not venture his body, ſhall never bee valiant; hee that will not venture his ſoul, never rich. But Wiſdomes walk lyes not any ſuch way. God forbid, ſaith ſhee, that I, or any of mine ſhould take of Satan,Gen. 14.23. from a thread even to a ſhoo-latchet, leſt hee ſhould ſay, I have made you rich.

Verſ. 21. To inherit ſubſtance] Heb. That that is, [non-Latin text not transcribed] that that hath ſome tack or ſubſtance in it, ſome firmity, or ſolid conſiſtency. Wilt thou ſet thine eyes upon that which is not? Outward things are not, but onely in opinion, in imagination: In ſemblance, not in ſubſtance. The pomp of this world is but a fancy, Act. 25.33. the glory of it a conceit, Matth. 4. the whole faſhion of it a meer notion, 1 Cor. 7.31. Riches get them great Eagles wings,Prov. 23.5. they flye away without once taking leave of the owner, leaving nothing but the print of their talons in his heart, to torment him. When wee graſp them moſt greedily, wee imbrace nothing but ſmoke, which wrings tears from our eyes, and vaniſheth into nothing. Onely true grace is durable ſubſtance; the things above outlaſt the dayes of heaven, and run parallel with the life of God, and line of eternity.

Verſ. 22. The Lord poſſeſſed mee] Not created mee, as the Arrians out of the Septuagint preſſed it, to prove Chriſt a creature. [non-Latin text not transcribed].

Before his works of old] Heb. Ante opera ſuo, ante tunc, id eſt, priuſquam quis dicere poteſt, tunc, before there was any either now or then, before all time, therefore from all eternity▪ For whatſoever was before the world and time (that was created with the world) muſt needs bee eternal.

Verſ. 23. I was ſet up] Coronata ſum, I was crowned, ſo ſome render it. Inuncta fu[illegible: 1 letter], I was anointed ([illegible: 1 letter]o others) for King, Prieſt, and Prophet of my Church. And to this high honour I grew not up by degrees, but had it preſently from before all beginnings.

Verſ. 24. When there were no depths] In mentioning Gods works of Creation, ſome obſerve here, that wiſdome proceeds from the lower elements to the ſuperiour and heavenly bodies: Shee begins with the earth, verſ. 23. goes on here to the waters, and ſo to the air called Streets (rendred Fields) verſ. 26. that is, the vaſt element of the air; which compared with the far leſs elements of earth and water, muſt needs ſeem exceeding large, ſpacious, and open, as ſtreets, or fields. Laſtly, by the higheſt part of the duſt of the world, the Hebrew Doctors underſtand the element of fire, Judicium ſit penes Lectorem. Let the Reader judge.

Verſ. 25. Was I brought forth] Or, begotten: Thus Wiſdome deſcribes her eternity in humane words and expreſſions, for our better apprehenſion. Which while Arrius either knew not, or weighed not, hee here hence took occaſion to oppoſe the Deity of our Saviour, and to propagate that damnable errour in the Eaſtern Churches, to the ruine of many ſouls. This Archheretick Arrius ſitting on the ſtool to eaſe nature at Conſtantinople, voided there his entrails. And now Mahometiſme is there as the excrement of Arrius.

Verſ. 26. Nor the fields, nor the higheſt] See the Note on verſ. 24.

Verſ. 27. When hee prepared the heaven] Or cauſed them to bee prepared, took order to have it done, viz. by mee, who was with him, and by whom hee made the worlds,Joh. 3.35. Heb. 1.3. Joh. 1.3. Col. 1.16. For the Father loveth the Son, and hath put all things into his hand.

When hee ſet a compaſs] Or, drew a circle round about the earth, meaning the Out-ſpread firmament of heaven, Gen. 1.6. Howbeit the Hebrews underſtand it of the world of Angels, called by them the third world, or the third heaven; whereunto St. Paul alſo ſeems to allude, 2 Cor. 12.2.

Verſ. 28. When hee eſtabliſhed the clouds above] That they might bee kept there, as it were in Tuns and Bottles, till hee would have them to pour down their dew, or rain.

Verſ. 29. When hee appointed the foundations] That it ſhould remain unmoveable, though it hang in the air, as it were by Geometry.

Ovid.Terra pilae ſimilis nullo fulcimine nixa, A[illegible: 1 letter]re ſuspenſo tam grave pendet [illegible: 1 letter]nus.

Verſ. 30. Then I was by him] Accurſed then for ever bee that blaſphemous aſſertion of the Arrians, [non-Latin text not transcribed], There was a time when hee was not. This Scripture ſo much abuſed by them, makes utterly againſt them. But Hereticks pervert the Scriptures, ſaith St. Peter, 2 Pet. 3.15. A metaphor from thoſe who put a man upon the rack, and make him ſpeak that which hee never thought. Tertullian calls Marcion the Heretick, Mus Ponticus, becauſe of his arroding and gnawing the Scripture, to make it ſerviceable to his errours.

[non-Latin text not transcribed]. As one brought up with him] Or, as a nouriſher; that is, as a maintainer and upholder of that his excellent workmanſhip of Creation, Heb. 1.3. The Septuagint render it, I was with him making all fine and trim, Eram apud cum aptans; ſo Irenaeus.

More pueri qui alatur, & riſum captans ac concilians. Mercer. Rejoycing alwayes] Or, laughing with him. This (as the very Jews are forced to confeſs) doth notably ſet forth that unſpeakable ſweetneſs and joy that the bleſſed God findeth in the apprehenſion of his own wiſdome, which (ſay they) is one and the ſame with God himſelf.

Verſ. 31. Rejoycing in the habitable part] That is, In the humane nature, wherein the fulneſs of the God-head dwelt bodily, by means of the hypoſtatical union. Or in the Saints, whoſe hearts the Lord Chriſt inhabiteth by faith. Or in the work of Creation, which Chriſt did without either tools or tool.

Verſ. 32. Now therefore hearken unto me[illegible: 1 letter]] Audite ſenem juvenes, ſaid Auguſtus to his ſeditious Souldiers, and had audience: And ſhall not Wiſdome, that is ſo ancient, as before the Creation, ſo eminent, as to make and conſerve a world, ſo gracious with the Father, &c. ſhall not ſhee bee hearkened to?

For bleſſed are they] And bleſſedneſs is the mark that every man ſhoots at.

Verſ. 33. Hear inſtruction, and bee wiſe] This way wiſdome enters into the ſoul. Hear therefore: For elſe there is no hopes; Hear howſoever. Auſtin coming to Ambroſe to have his ears tickled, had his heart touched.

Verſ. 34. Waiting at the poſts of my doors] At the Schools and Synagogues, ſay the Hebrews, where men ſhould come in with the firſt, and go forth with the laſt, as door-keepers do, which was the office that David deſired, Pſal. 84.

Verſ. 35. For who ſo findeth mee, findeth life] Leſt any man ſhould hold it too hard a task to wait at Wiſdomes gates (as Princes guards, or as the Levites did in the Temple) ſhee tells them what they ſhall have for ſo doing.

And ſhall obtain favour] Which is better than life; Gods favour is no empty favour; It is not like the Winters Sun, that caſts a goodly countenance when it ſhines but gives little heat or comfort. As air lights not without the Sun, nor wood heats without fire, ſo neither can any thing yeeld comfort without Gods favour.

Verſ. 36. Wrongeth his own ſoul] Rapit animam ſuam. Hee plunders his own ſoul of its happineſs: yea, hee cruelly cuts the throat thereof, being ambitious of his own deſtruction.