"Love of justice is the fear of suffering injustice." 66 "The public! How many fools does it take to make the public?" Celebrity is the advantage of being known to people who do not know you." Cynicism involves contempt for man and generally contempt for the common virtues, and neither contempt for man nor contempt for the common virtues is to be found in the Book of Proverbs. Even the satire of the Hebrew Proverbs is a kindly satire; they are pervaded by a spirit of cheerfulness and good-fellowship; they are keyed to a high standard of ethics; among them are maxims which in their spirit suggest, though they do not equal, those of the New Testament. Compare, for example, these counsels of the Hebrew wise men with the later counsel of Christ. They are almost identical, not only in the advice given, but in the prudential foundation on which the advice is based. THE HEBREW WISE MAN "Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king And stand not in the place of great men ; For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; Than that thou shouldst be put lower in the presence of the prince, Whom thine eyes have seen." CHRIST "When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him. And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend go up higher; then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee." Or again compare the ethical instruction of Paul with that of the Book of Proverbs from which he quotes it: PROVERBS "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, And the Lord shall reward thee." PAUL "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." The counsel is the same; but the Wise Man in the Proverbs promises a reward to those who follow it; Paul promises nothing; and Christ who calls to his followers to give a like treatment to their enemies, summons to love as well as to service, and for motive appeals to the highest "That ye aspirations of the soul: may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven." God speaks to us with many voices. To men whose conscience is alert he speaks through the law, saying, "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other Gods before me;" to the men whose imagination is receptive he speaks through poetry, declaring that in his temple everything saith "Glory; to the man of broad observation he speaks in history, showing in the course of Israel's history how Jehovah is revealed in his dealing with the sons of men; to the man who is a ceremonialist he speaks through the Levitical code, pointing out justice on the one hand and mercy on the other; and to the man whose horizon is limited by this world, who has no clear hope beyond the grave and no clear vision of the Eternal Father, he speaks through the Book of Proverbs, saying in effect. If there were no God, if there were no life to come, still sin would be folly and virtue would be wisdom. |