Job 8:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,… Job's second friend appears as a pedant, quoting the authority of antiquity, and relying on the tradition of the ancients. His character is not extinct, and the mischief of his blunders is with us to-day. I. THE POWER OF THE PEDANT. This man bases his influence on certain good qualities. 1. Experience. It is to be supposed that this is of some value. The garnered wealth of experience should be a great test of truth. The rule that has stood the strain of time appears to be confirmed in value. Ideas may be very captivating when they first flash out in their novelty, but some hidden flaw may make them utterly worthless. But the mellow maxim, ripened by years, and enriched with the juices of manifold experiences, comes to us with great claims on our confidence. 2. Humility. ]t seems to be more humble to trust to those who are older than ourselves, than to set up our own wisdom as a rival of theirs. Who are we that we should pretend to question the wisdom of the ages? 3. Reverence. On the other hand, the associations of antiquity command our reverence. We show respect to grey hairs, and we are moved to similar feelings in view of all signs of age. Coming out of a dim past, hoary with the years, ancient things acquire a certain sanctity. The grand minster, the ruined castle, the worm-eaten cabinet, the rare old book, - these things stifle our impertinent modern presumptions by the silent weight of their years. "I love everything that's old," says Goldsmith; "old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine." II. THE FOLLY OF THE PEDANT. This reverence for antiquity may be abused, and it is abused by the pedant, who assumes that all modern requirements are to be settled by some musty rule of the ancients. There are many errors in such a position- 1. Lack of discrimination. Pope writes - "With sharpen'd sight pale antiquaries pore; Th' inscriptions value, but the rust adore: This the blue varnish, that the green endears - The sacred rust of twice ten hundred years." Time has brought down loads of rubbish on its stream as welt as some precious cargoes of ancient experience. Pedants mistake scum for cream. 2. Misinterpretation of the value of antiquity. The earlier times, as Bacon tells us, were really the childhood of our race, and we are the true ancients. It is absurd to bind the practice of the adult age by the tentative ideas of infancy. What has been tried through the centuries, and being in frequent use has stood the test of time, has thereby acquired a certain value. But mere antiquity only means an origin in more primitive and less advanced times. 3. The superstition of forms. The pedant delights in forms and rules and exact precedents. But there are no true precedents for scores of things. Indeed, no two occasions are exactly alike. Therefore no human maxims can be large enough to embrace all circumstances. Life cannot be bound by formal rules. We must learn to look facts in the face, and dare to discard ancient maxims when they are proved to be false. Antiquity is venerable, but truth is more venerable. God has given us consciences, and he has promised us the help of his Spirit. Our best guide is not an ancient rule, but the living Christ, who is ever in the midst of his people. - W.F.A. Parallel Verses KJV: Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, |
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