Proverbs 16:16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! This is really a mental contrast instituted between the respective values of the two sides of man's nature — the mind and the body, the soul and the senses. In imagination wisdom is made to stand for the one, and gold, the most coveted of earthly possessions, for the other. What to Solomon did "wisdom" mean? What was its warp and woof? what its mental form? There are elements in wisdom that are older than the foundations of the world, nay, that are coeval with the eternal existence of God Himself. There are elements in even human wisdom, as found in every race that has thought and risen to morality and virtue, which are as imperishable as right and as unalterable as the laws of nature. The root of the word "wisdom" is "weis," to know, or to think, clearly. It reappears in the word "wit." Nimbleness in the mental perception of congruity and incongruity is the essence of wit. Wisdom should mean a quick, clear, vivid perception of the true and right relations of every kind of knowledge. A sophist is a man who seeks to gain his ends quite regardless of the means employed. He aims, not at right judgment, but at the triumph of a purpose. True wisdom is the instinctive and resolute right using of knowledge. Knowledge, taken by its naked and unaided self, instead of ennobling a man's character, may even be the most powerful instrument in degrading it. The very core of wisdom is conscience. Wisdom in its broadest aspect is the outcome of manhood, trained, disciplined, and cultured to its highest. It is human nature in equilibrium, the body harnessed, and the soul with a calm grip upon the reins. There are some who banish wisdom from the personal sanctuary of noble spiritual life. They tell us that wisdom is of the head, the intellect — a secular not a sacred quality. Ignore the distinction. A soul without reverence may become learned, but can never become wise. The reverent, the worshipful faculty is of all others the one that lifts man most above the level of the brute. Reverence is human, and it is so because in a high and noble sense humanity is Divine. The retaining this upwardness, this sense of reverence in the soul, is the first and highest duty of every man. This reverence we are in danger of losing. The very greatness of manhood is that wrong-doing and wrong-being are possible to us all, and possible to us always. Right can only be where wrong would have been a possible alternative. "Know thyself" is a maxim of supreme value. We can penetrate into the depths of ourselves, and discover our weakness or strength. No influence is more powerful in our destiny than the formation of habit. "Sow an acts and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character." The chief hindrance to the getting of wisdom is the early formation of habits. They may morally imprison and slay us. You are responsible before God and man for your character. (W. H. Dallinger, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! |
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