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Skilful is the hand of man. His researches are profound. He has digged deep into the earth. He tracks the vein of the silver and the place for the gold. He taketh iron out of the earth, and brass he melteth from the stone. He searcheth amidst the stones of darkness and the very shadow of death. His eye seeth what escapes the eye of the vulture, and he knoweth the path which no fowl knoweth. His power is over the hills, for he putteth his hand upon the rock, and overturneth the mountains by the roots. Rocks and rivers and flood are under his power, and the hidden things he bringeth to light. But with all his powers of research he is baffled in the pursuit of wisdom, and he knows neither the place nor the price of understanding. The perfect knowledge of the nature of things, and the high wisdom to guide in the proper use of' things, is not within the human grasp. Such knowledge is too high for him. It belongs unto God. It cannot be gotten for gold, nor purchased with the price of silver. This reflection may -

I. PROFITABLY TURN AWAY OUR HOPES OF GAINING WISDOM FROM MAN. We cannot gain it there; for "it is hid from the eyes of all living."

II. IT IS A BECOMING OCCASION FOR HUMILITY ON THE PART OF MAN. Vain man, who can do so much, is baffled here.

III. IT IS A MOTIVE FOR THANKFULLY RECEIVING THE TEACHINGS OF THE WISE. There are men to whom God has discovered the hidden springs of wisdom. Happy they, and happy all who learn of them.

IV. BUT ITS SUPREME LESSON IS TO DRIVE US IN OUR SEARCH FOR WISDOM TO GOD, to whom alone it appertains. "God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof" - even the wisdom that is "hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air." - R.G.

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KJV: Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

WEB: Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?