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life If the Word of the Lord dwelt in us richly (Col. 3:16).—Sel. r. 9. Write them upon th e posts. Reference may have been made to a custom borrowed from the Egyptians who had the lintels and imposts of their doors inscribed with sentences indica tive of favorable omen. Moses intended to supercede this by substituting sent ences of the law.—-Wilkinson. Prov. 3:13. Wisdom. This is sum marized in the passage above: “My son, forget not my law but let thine jj heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace shall they add to thee.” Mercy and truth are the primary requirements of wisdom. “Lean not upon thine own understanding. In all thy ways ac knowledge Him and He| shall direct thy p a t h s .—Exp. Bible. The heart is wiser than the intellect.—Holland. Wisdom no more consists in science than happiness in wealth.—Bouflers. v. 14. Better than silver and gold. This noble and conclusive depreciation of material wealth in comparison with true wisdom which is not merely in tellectual but rests on the fear of the Lord and is goodness as well as under standing, never needed preaching with more emphasis than in our day when more and more the commercial spirit invades every religion of. life and rich men are th e Aristocrats and envied types of successor—Maclaren. In all the wealth of the world is not to be found a taste of that transcendent happiness which is gained in Christ in whom are stored the treasures of wisdom which consist in the knowledge and love of God,—Sum. Bible. v. ' 15. More precious than rubies. “Knowledge is power” is a proverb which is universally commended bu t we are not now talking of the wisdom of letters and the understanding of books and theories, but wisdom which leads the soul to God and understanding which grasps the scheme of Providence and the reality of the philosophy of life, its responsibilities and most righteous judgment. The spiritual leaders who have it seem to have the key of worlds and to be able to open gates which fall back upon infinite space.—Parker. All things thou canst desire. It is not only a surer but a more gainful merchandise to trade for wisdom, for Christ and | grace and spiritual blessings, than for silver and gold and rubies. All the richbs of the world could not make a man half so happy. Heavenly wisdom
alone procures true happiness for us.— Henry. m Subject Illustration.—The Training of the Jewish boy. Canon F arrar says: At five he would begin to study the Bible with his parents a t home; and even earlier than this he LESSON w o u l d doubtless ILLUSTRATIONS have learned the W. H. Pike Shema and the Hal- lel Psalms 113-118 .in whole or in part. At six he would go to his “vineyard” as the later Rabbi’s called their schools. At ten he would begin to study those earlier and simple developments of the oral law, after ward collected in the Mishna. At th ir teen he would, by a sort of “Confirma tion,” become a “Son of the Command ment.” At fifteen he would be trained in yet more minute and burdensome halachoth analogous to those which ul timately filled the vast mass of the Gemara. At twenty, or earlier, like every orthodox Jew, he would marry. During many years he would be reck- •oned among the “pupils of the wise,” and be mainly occupied with “ the tra dition of the Fathers.” One educator says, “The ministry of culture has for its ends (1) To accumu late information. I n - f o r m a t i o n is knowledge put into us and taking a symmetrical form. (2) Education, which is educating latent power, bring ing out what is in the man. When a father objected to Arnold-’s teaching his son Latin, because he did not see what the boy could do with it, Arnold replied, that it was not for the sake of what the boy would do with Latin, but for what Latin would do with the boy. (3) The development of character, mental, moral, and spiritual, in beautiful pro portion and symmetry. The Athenians used to say th a t if one should set a slave to teach his boy he would finally have two slaves. (4) To fit one for the highest, best, and noblest form of
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