Proverbs 3:14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. This Book of Proverbs is a manual of conduct. It is not intended to make its readers learned men, but to make them wise men. We begin to be wise when we fear God, and to fear Him is always the chief part of wisdom. Some parts of the book are specially intended for the young. Its authors saw clearly that character is largely formed in childhood and youth. Hence strong emphasis is placed on the importance of the firm and wise discipline of children and young people; and there are grave and repeated warnings against the sins to which the young are specially tempted. If we are to achieve any great and enduring reformation in the condition of this country, and of the world, there must be an intelligent, a serious, a persistent endeavour to give to children and young people true conceptions of the possible dignity of human life, the gracious sternness of duty, the freedom and blessedness which are to be found in the service of God. Children are the salvation of the race. There is a new world created every thirty or forty years. There lies our hope. What ought we to teach the children? I. WISDOM. What they need to know for the conduct of life: how to live. Our first duty is to make God known to them. And the Christian method of doing that is to bring home to them constantly the great truth that having seen Christ we have seen the Father. All that Christ was, all that He said, must be accepted as containing disclosures of the life of the Father. The Christian conception of life is founded on the Christian gospel. Wisdom consists in a clear and just estimate of what are the true ends of life, and in the power to determine how life should be ordered so as to secure those ends, but for this we must know what God's relations to us are. The great Christian truths have a direct relation to life; they determine the laws of life; they are the forces which enable us to fulfil those laws. II. UNDERSTANDING. This denotes the power of accurate discrimination between things which may seem to be alike; in this sense, understanding is one of the aids and instruments by which wisdom is able to direct conduct. In most men the perception of duty is often dim and uncertain. Men who mean to do right do wrong because they cannot clearly see the line by which right and wrong are separated. Therefore the plain duties of human life and relationship should be taught to children. The duties of industry, truthfulness, equal justice, temperance, patience, fortitude, good temper, courtesy, and modesty. Much more in the way of direct moral instruction, for securing a proper "understanding" of life and relations, could be done both in the school and in the family. (R. W. Dale, LL.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.WEB: For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold. |
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