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SPIRITUAL UTTERANCES,

66

Combining spiritual things with spiritual."

The weapons of the warfare of the Lord
Are not the gun, the javelin, the sword,

No, nor the words which men of deepest thought
Have in the schools with much brain-labour wrought
But the fresh speakings, set by fools at nought,
God by his Spirit hath to good men taught,
Quick as the lightning, strong as any fire,
Searching heart secrets, inflaming desire,
Refreshing as the dew upon the grass,
Reflecting heavenly things clearly as glass,

*

Such, I am confident, is the only proper rendering of πνευματικοῖς πνευματικὰ συγκρίνοντες, in I. Cor. ii. 13. Understand λóyous. It was a question not of comparison but of combination. 'What were the best words in which to preach the things of God'? The Apostle answers, Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." The subject was πVEνμаTIKά, the words should be so also. It is to be hoped that the Revisionists will set this passage right.

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Simple yet striking, gracious, winning, wise;
Such words belike they speak in Paradise,
'Tis not enough the way of truth to know;
If we would preach it, God must tell us how,
Lest peradventure, while we would combine
Words of man's wisdom with the things divine,
Truth, ill discharged, be reft of half its force,
And, like an arrow, fall short in its course.

THE WISDOM OF GOD.

"The world by wisdom knew not God."

Nature's great book lies open wide,
To all a spectacle, a guide;

The wondrous counsels from of old
And works of God it doth unfold;
What man has all its pages read,
Or characters deciphered?
For who can count the grains of sand
That bound the vast Atlantic strand?
Or comprehend the winds that blow?
Or tell the stars? or form the snow?
Enough if but a single page
Is mastered by declining age;
Enough if we have learnt to bow
Before the Almighty Author low:
And should we then of wisdom boast,
And pile up tomes at mighty cost,

And fill the midnight lamp with oil
Till reels the brain with senseless toil,
Seeking a standard and a rule

By which to live from human school,
While God's great book before our eyes
Teeming with truth unheeded lies?

A higher wisdom would we know,
Then needs we must to that book go,
That living record of the past,

That book which all books shall outlast,
Which tells, in words by God inspired,
How Eve the fatal fruit desired;
How man by disobedience fell,
Consenting to the Prince of Hell;
Next, how the great Redeemer met
The Tempter still on evil set,

And cast him down and overthrew,

And purged the world, and made it new. Such lofty themes might well engage

Our earliest and our latest age,

Too little known, too oft despised,
While human pedantry is prized.

What else can solace mortal woe?

What teach mankind themselves to know?

What kindle the celestial fire?

Reveal God's will, God's love inspire?
Transform the heart, the life renew,
And bid man dare be just and true?
They, who this knowledge have attained,
In the high school of God are trained,
Nor envy they, nor need, I trow,
The lore which schoolmen can bestow.
What boot to them the paltry prize
Dangled before the pupil's eyes ?
Their lofty souls have cast aside
The world, with all its pomp and pride:
Or what to them the frown, the nod,
The stroke of earthly master's rod?
Nor fire nor sword can make them swerve
From the high master whom they serve.
In sight of men they seem to die,
And vanish quick from memory,
But God their righteous souls will keep,
And wake their bodies out of sleep:

Their matchless deeds shall then be known;
Their place, in Heaven, a lofty throne ;
Their glory as the Sun shall shine;

They shall be called a seed divine,

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