WISDOM: HER CRY. A COMMENTARY ON PROVERBS I. 20-33. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof : I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Such are the "WISDOM CRIETH WITHOUT." words with which the passage opens that I have chosen for this exposition; and as the Prophet inquired, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah," and got his answer direct from God, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save;" and as the Psalmist asked, “Who is this King of glory?" and at once was inspired to say, "The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory," so will I begin my little book with the inquiry, "Who is this Wisdom that crieth, and why does she cry without?" May the same Spirit that taught Isaiah and David the answer to their questions, teach me to reply Scripturally to mine, and may my answer be, as their's have been, to the benefit of many. Who is this Wisdom that crieth? Oh that we all knew, by the power of the |