Here, as everywhere else, their testimony6 is a mingled7 one. The darkness, the error, the confusion of man’s heart, out of which he oftentimes[122] sees distortedly, and sometimes sees not at all, have all embodied8 themselves in his word. Yet still, as it is the very nature of the false, in its separate manifestations9, to resolve into nothingness, though only to be succeeded by new births in a like kind, while the true abides10 and continues, it has thus come to pass that we have generally in those utterances11 on which the stamp of permanence has been set, the nobler voices, the truer faith of humanity, in respect of its own destinies and of Him by whom those destinies are ordered.
I would not hesitate to say that the great glory of proverbs in this their highest aspect, and that which makes many of them so full of blessing12 to those who cordially accept them, is the conviction of which they are full, that, despite all appearances to the contrary, this world is God’s world, and not the world of the devil, or of those wicked men who may be prospering13 for an hour; there is nothing in them so precious as their faith that in the long run it will approve itself to be such: which being so, that it must be well in the end with the doer of the right, the speaker of the truth; no blind “whirligig of time,” but the hand of the living God, in due time “bringing round its revenges.” It is impossible to estimate too highly their bold and clear proclamation of this conviction; for it is, after all, the belief of this or the denial of this, on which everything in the life of each one of us turns. On this depends whether we shall separate ourselves from the world’s falsehood and evil, and do vigorous[123] battle against them; or acquiesce14 in, and be ourselves absorbed by, them.
Listen to proverbs such as these; surely they are penetrated15 with the assurance that one who, Himself being The Truth, will make truth in small and in great to triumph at the last, is ruling over all: A lie has no legs. and first, hear a proverb of our own: A lie has no legs; it is one true alike in its humblest application and its highest; be the lie the miserable16 petty falsehood which disturbs a family or a neighbourhood for a day; or one of the larger frauds, the falsehoods not in word only but in act, to which a longer date and a far larger sphere are assigned, which for a time seem to fill the world, and to carry everything in triumph before them. Still the lie, in that it is a lie, always carries within itself the germs of its own dissolution. It is sure to destroy itself at last. Its priests may prop4 it up from without, may set it on its feet again, after it has once fallen before the presence of the truth, yet this all will be labour in vain; it will only be, like Dagon, again to fall, and more shamefully17 and more irretrievably than before. [182] On the other hand, the vivacity18 of the truth, as contrasted with this short-lived character of the lie, is well expressed in a Swiss proverb: It takes a good many shovelfuls[124] of earth to bury the truth. For, bury it as deep as men may, it will have a resurrection notwithstanding. They may roll a great stone, and seal the sepulchre in which it is laid, and set a watch upon it, yet still, like its Lord, it comes forth19 again at its appointed hour. It cannot die, being of an immortal20 race; for, as the Spanish proverb nobly declares, The truth is daughter of God. [183]
Again, consider this proverb: Tell the truth, and shame the devil. It is one which will well repay a few thoughtful moments bestowed21 on it, and the more so, because, even while we instinctively23 feel its truth, the deep moral basis on which it rests may yet not reveal itself to us at once. Nay24, the saying may seem to contradict the actual experience of things; for how often telling the truth—confessing, that is, some great fault, taking home to ourselves, it may be, some grievous sin—would appear anything rather than shaming the devil; shaming indeed ourselves, but rather bringing glory to him, whose glory, such as it is, is in the sin and shame of men. And yet the word is true, and deeply true, notwithstanding. The element of lies is that in which alone he who is “the father of them” lives and thrives. So long then as a wrong-doer presents to himself, or seeks to present to others, the actual facts of his conduct different from what they really are, conceals25, palliates, denies them,—so long, in regard of that man, Satan’s kingdom stands. But so soon as the[125] things concerning himself are seen and owned by a man as they indeed exist in God’s sight, as they are when weighed in the balances of the eternal righteousness; when once a man has brought himself to tell the truth to himself, and, where need requires, to others also, then having done, and in so far as he has done this, he has abandoned the devil’s standard, he belongs to the kingdom of the truth; and as belonging to it he may rebuke26, and does rebuke and put to shame, all makers27 and lovers of a lie, even to the very prince of them all. “Give glory to God,” was what Joshua said to Achan, when he would lead him to confess his guilt28. This is but the other and fairer side of the tapestry29; this is but shame the devil, on its more blessed side.
Vox populi, vox Dei.
Once more;—the Latin proverb, The voice of the people, the voice of God, [184] is one which it is well worth our while to understand. If it were affirmed in this that every outcry of the multitude, supposing only it be loud enough and wide enough, ought to be accepted as the voice of God speaking through them, no proposition more foolish or more impious could well be imagined. But the voice of the people is something very different from this. The proverb rests on the assumption that the foundations of man’s being are laid in the truth; from which it will follow, that no conviction which is really a conviction of the universal humanity, but reposes30 on a true ground; no faith, which is[126] indeed the faith of mankind, but has a reality corresponding to it: for, as Jeremy Taylor has said: “It is not a vain noise, when many nations join their voices in the attestation31 or detestation of an action;” and Hooker: “The general and perpetual voice of men is as the sentence of God Himself. For that which all men have at all times learned, nature herself must needs have taught; and God being the author of nature, her voice is but his instrument.” (Eccles. Pol., b. i. § 8.) The task and difficulty, of course, must ever be to discover what this faith and what these convictions are; and this can only be done by an induction32 from a sufficient number of facts, and in sufficiently33 different times, to enable us to feel confident that we have indeed seized that which is the constant quantity of truth in them all, and separated this from the inconstant one of falsehood and error, evermore offering itself in its room; that we have not taken some momentary34 cry, wrung35 out by interest, by passion, or by pain, for the voice of God; but claimed this august title only for that true voice of humanity, which, unless everything be false, we have a right to assume an echo of the voice of God.
Thus, to take an example, the natural horror everywhere felt in regard of marriages contracted between those very near in blood, has been always and with right appealed to as a potent36 argument against such unions. The induction is so large, that is, the nations who have agreed in entertaining this horror are so many, oftentimes nations disagreeing[127] in almost everything besides; the times during which this instinctive22 revolt against such unions has been felt, extend through such long ages; that the few exceptions, even where they are of civilized37 nations, as of the Egyptians who married their sisters, or of the Persians, among whom marriages more dreadful still were permitted, cannot be allowed any weight; and of course still less the exception of any savage38 tribe, in which all that constitutes the human in humanity has now disappeared. These exceptions can only be regarded as violations39 of the divine order of man’s life; not as evidences that we have falsely imagined an order where there was none. Here is a true voice of the people; and on the grounds laid down above, we have a right to assume this to be a voice of God as well. And so too, with respect to the existence of a First Cause, Creator and Upholder of all things, the universal consent and conviction of all people, the consensus40 gentium, must be considered of itself a mighty41 evidence in its favour; a testimony which God is pleased to render to Himself through his creatures. This man or that, this generation or the other, might be deceived, but all men and all generations could not; the vox populi makes itself felt as a vox Dei. The existence here and there of an atheist42 no more disturbs our conclusion that it is of the essence of man’s nature to believe in a God, than do such monstrous43 births as from time to time find place, children with two heads or with no arms, shake our assurance that it is the normal[128] condition of man to have one head and two arms.
This last is one of the proverbs which may be said to belong to the Apology for Natural Religion. There are others, of which it would not be far-fetched to affirm that they belong to the Apology for Revealed. Thus it was very usual with Voltaire and other infidels of his time to appeal to the present barrenness and desolation of Palestine, in proof that it could never have supported the vast population which the Scripture44 everywhere assumes or affirms. A proverb in the language of the arch-scoffer himself might, if he had given heed45 to it, have put him on the right track, had he wished to be put upon it, for understanding how this could have been: As the man is worth, his land is worth. [185] Man is lord of his outward condition to a far greater extent than is commonly assumed; even climate, which seems at first sight so completely out of his reach, it is his immensely to modify; and if nature stamps herself on him, he stamps himself yet more powerfully on nature. It is not a mere46 figure of speech, that of the Psalmist, “A fruitful land maketh He barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” (Ps. cvii. 34.) God makes it barren, and ever less capable of nourishing its inhabitants; but He makes it so through the sloth47, the indolence, the short-sightedness of those that should have dressed and kept it. In the condition of a land may be found[129] the echo, the reflection, the transcript48 of the moral and spiritual condition of those that should cultivate it: where one is waste, the other will be waste also. Under the desolating49 curse of Mohammedan domination the fairest portions of the earth have gone back from a garden to a wilderness50: but only let that people for whom Palestine is yet destined51 return to it again, and return a righteous nation, and in a little while all the descriptions of its earlier fertility will be more than borne out by its later, and it will easily sustain its millions again.
How many proverbs, which cannot be affirmed to have been originally made for the kingdom of heaven, do yet in their highest fulfilment manifestly belong to it, so that it seems as of right to claim that for its own, even as it claims, or rather reclaims52, whatever else is good or true in the world, the seeds of truth wherever dispersed53 abroad, as belonging rightfully to itself. Proverb of Pythagoras.Thus there is that beautiful proverb, of which Pythagoras is reputed the author: The things of friends are in common. [186] Where does this find its exhaustive fulfilment, but in the communion of saints, their communion not with one another merely, though indeed this is a part of its fulfilment, but in their communion with Him, who is the friend of all good men? That such a conclusion lay legitimately54 in the words Socrates plainly saw; who argued from it, that since good[130] men were the friends of the gods, therefore whatever things were the gods’, were also theirs; being, when he thus concluded, as near as one who had not the highest light of all, could be to that great word of the Apostle’s, “All things are yours.”
Nor can I otherwise than esteem55 the ancient proverb as a very fine one, and one which we may gladly claim for our own: Many meet the gods, but few salute56 them. How often do the gods, (for I will keep in the language which this proverb suggests and supplies,) meet men in the shape of a sorrow which might be a purifying one, of a joy which might elevate their hearts to thankfulness and praise; in a sickness or a recovery, a disappointment or a success; and yet how few, as it must be sadly owned, salute them; how few recognise their august presences in this joy or this sorrow, this blessing added, or this blessing taken away. As this proverb has reference to men’s failing to see the Divine presences, so let me observe by the way, there is a very grand French one which expresses the same truth, under the image of a failing to hear the divine voices, those voices being drowned by the deafening57 hubbub58 of the world: The noise is so great, one cannot hear God thunder. [187]
Here is another proverb which the Church has long since claimed, at least in its import, for her own: One man, no man. [188] I should find it very hard indeed to persuade myself that whoever[131] uttered it first, attached to it no deeper meaning than Erasmus gives him credit for—namely, that nothing important can be effected by a single man, destitute59 of the help of his fellows. [189] The word is a far more profound one than this, and rests on that great truth upon which the deeper thinkers of antiquity60 laid so much stress—namely, that in the idea the state precedes the individual, man not being merely accidentally gregarious61, but essentially62 social. The solitary63 man, it would say, is a monstrous conception, so utterly64 maimed and crippled must he be; the condition of solitariness65 involving so entire a suppression of all which belongs to the development of that wherein the true idea of humanity resides, of all which differences man from the beasts of the field; and One man, no man in this sense One man is no man; and this, I am sure, the proverb from the first intended. Nor may we stop here. This word is capable of, and seems to demand, a still higher application to man, as a destined member of the kingdom of heaven. But he can only be in training for this, when he is, and regards himself, as not alone, but the member of a family. As one man he is no man; and the strength and value of what is called Church teaching is greatly this, that it does recognise and realize this fact, that it contemplates66 and deals with the faithful man, not as isolated67, but as one of an organic body, with duties which flow as[132] moral necessities from his position therein; rather than by himself, and as one whose duties to others are indeed only the exercise of private graces for his own benefit. And all that are called Church doctrines68, when they really understand themselves, have their root and their real strength in that great truth which this proverb declares, that One man is no man, that only in a fellowship and communion is or can any man be aught.
And then there is another proverb, which Plato so loved to quote against the sophists, the men who flattered and corrupted70 the nobler youth of Athens, promising71 to impart to them easy short cuts to the attainment72 of wisdom and knowledge and philosophy; and this, without demanding the exercise of any labour or patience or self-denial on their parts. But with the proverb, Good things are hard, [190] he continually rebuked73 their empty pretensions74; with this he made at least suspicious their promises; and this proverb, true in the sense wherein Plato used it, and that sense was earnest and serious enough, yet surely reappears, glorified75 and transfigured, but recognisable still, in the[133] Saviour’s words: “The kingdom of heaven is taken by violence, and the violent take it by force.” [191]
Witnesses for the truth.
This method of looking in proverbs for an higher meaning than any which lies on their surface, or which they seem to bear on their fronts; or rather of searching out their highest intention, and claiming that as their truest, even though it should not be[134] that perceived in them by most, or that which lay nearest to them at their first generation, is one that will lead us in many interesting paths. And it is not merely those of heathen antiquity which shall thus be persuaded often, and that without any forcing, to render up a Christian76 meaning; but (as was indeed to be expected) still more often those of a later time, even those which the world had seemed to claim for its own, shall be found to move in a spiritual sphere as their truest. Let me offer in evidence of this these four or five, which come to us from Italy: He who has love in his heart, has spurs in his sides;—Love rules without law;—Love rules his kingdom without a sword;—Love knows nothing of labour;—Love is the master of all arts. [192] Take these, even with the necessary drawbacks of my English translation; but still more, in their original beauty; and how exquisitely77 do they set forth, in whatever light you regard them, the free creative impulses of love, its delight to labour and to serve; how worthily78 do they glorify79 the kingdom of love as the only kingdom of a free and joyful80 obedience81. While yet at the same time, if we would appreciate them at all their worth, is it possible to stop short of an application of them to that kingdom[135] of love, which, because it is in the highest sense such, is also a kingdom of heaven? And then, what precious witness do these utterances contain, the more precious as current among a people nursed in the theology of Rome, against the shameless assertion that selfishness is the only motive82 sufficient to produce good (?) works: for in such an assertion the Romish impugners of a free justification83 constantly deal; evermore charging this that we hold, of our justification by faith only, (which, when translated into the language of ethics84, is at least as important in the province of morality as it is in that of theology,) with being an immoral85 doctrine69, and not so fruitful in deeds of love as one which should connect these deeds with a selfish thought of promoting our own safety thereby86.
Christian proverbs.
There are proverbs which reach the height of evangelical morality. “Little gospels” [193] the Spaniard has somewhat too boldly entitled his; and certainly there are many which at once we feel could nowhere have arisen or obtained circulation but under the influence of Christian faith, being in spirit, and often in form no less than in spirit, the outbirths of it. Thus is it with that exquisitely beautiful proverb of our own: The way to heaven is by Weeping-Cross; [194] nor otherwise with the Spanish: God never wounds with both hands; [195] not with [136] both, for He ever reserves one with which to bind87 up and to heal. And another Spanish, evidently intended to give the sum and substance of all which in life is to be desired the most, Peace and patience, and death with penitence88, [196] gives this sum certainly only as it presents itself to the Christian eye. And this of ours is Christian both in form and in spirit: Every cross hath its inscription;—the name, that is, inscribed89 upon it, of the person for whom it was shaped; it was intended for those shoulders upon which it is laid, and will adapt itself to them; that fearful word is never true which a spirit greatly vexed90 spake in the hour of its impatience91: “I have little faith in the paternal92 love which I need; so ruthless, or so negligent93 seems the government of this earth.” [197]
So too is it with that ancient German proverb: When God loathes94 aught, men presently loathe95 it too. [198] He who first uttered this must have been one who had watched long the ways by which shame and honour travel in this world; and in this watching must have noted96 how it ever came to pass that even worldly honour tarried not long[137] with them from whom the true honour which cometh from God had departed. For the worldly honour is but a shadow and reflex that waits upon the heavenly; it may indeed linger for a little, but it will be only for a little, after it is divorced from its substance. Where the honour from Him has been withdrawn97, he causes in one way or another the honour from men ere long to be withdrawn too. When He loathes, presently man loathes also. The saltless salt is not merely cast out by Him, but is trodden under foot of men. (Matt. v. 13.) A Louis the Fifteenth’s death-bed is in its way as hideous98 to the natural as it is to the spiritual eye. [199]
Sir Matthew Hale’s proverb.
We are told of the good Sir Matthew Hale who was animated99 with a true zeal100 for holiness, an earnest desire to walk close to God, that he had continually in his mouth the modern Latin proverb, We perish by permitted things. [200] Assuredly it is one very well worthy101 to be of all remembered, searching as it does into the innermost secrets of men’s lives. It is no doubt true that nearly as much danger threatens the soul from things permitted as from things unpermitted; in some respects more danger; for these being disallowed[138] altogether, do not make the insidious102 approaches of those, which, coming in under allowance, do yet so easily slip into dangerous excess.
Proverbs and Scripture.
It would be interesting to collect, as with reverence103 one might, variations on scriptural proverbs or sayings, which the proverbs of this world supply; and this, both in those cases where the latter have grown out of the former, owing more nearly or more remotely their existence to them, and in those also where they are independent of them,—so far, that is, as anything true can be independent of the absolute Truth. Some of those which follow evidently belong to one of these classes, some to the other. Thus Solomon has said: “It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling105 woman in a wide house;” (Prov. xxi. 9;) and again: “Better a dry morsel106 and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife107.” (Prov. xvii. 1.) With these compare the two proverbs, a Latin and Spanish, adduced below. [201] The Psalmist has said: “As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him.” (Ps. cix. 17.) The Turks express their faith in this same law of the divine retaliations: Curses, like chickens, always come home to roost; they return, that is, to those from whom they went forth, while in the Yoruba language there is a proverb to the same effect: Ashes always fly back in the face of him that throws them;[139] while our own, Harm watch, harm catch, and the Spanish, Who sows thorns, let him not walk barefoot, [202] are utterances of very nearly the same conviction. Our Lord declares, that without his Father there falls no single sparrow to the ground, that “not one of them is forgotten before God.” (Luke xii. 6.) The same truth of a providentia specialissima, (between which and no providence108 at all there is indeed no tenable position,) is asserted in the Catalan proverb: No leaf moves, but God wills it. [203] Again, He has said: “No man can serve two masters.” (Matt. vi. 24.) And the Spanish proverb: He who must serve two masters, must lie to one. [204] Or compare with Matt. xix. 29, this remarkable109 Arabic proverb: Purchase the next world with this; so shalt thou win both. He has spoken of “mammon of unrighteousness”—indicating hereby, in Leighton’s words, “that iniquity110 is so involved in the notion of riches, that it can very hardly be separated from them;” and this phrase Jerome illustrates111 by a proverb that would not otherwise have reached us; “that saying,” he says, [140]“appears true to me: A rich man is either himself an unjust one, or the heir of one.” [205] Again, the Lord has said: “Many be called, but few chosen;” (Matt. xx. 16;) many have the outward marks of a Christian profession, few the inner substance. Some early Christian Fathers loved much to bring into comparison with this a Greek proverb, spoken indeed quite independently of it, and long previously112; and the parallel certainly is a singularly happy one: The thyrsus-bearers are many, but the bacchants few; [206] many assume the signs and outward tokens of inspiration, whirling the thyrsus aloft; but those whom the god indeed fills with his spirit are few all the while. [207] With our Lord’s words concerning the mote104 and the beam (Matt. vii. 3, 5) compare[141] this Chinese proverb: Sweep away the snow from thine own door, and heed not the frost upon thy neighbour’s tiles.
Proverbs in sermons.
It has been sometimes a matter of consideration to me whether we of the clergy113 might not make larger use, though of course it would be only occasional, of proverbs in our public teaching than we do. Great popular preachers of time past, or, seeing that this phrase has now so questionable114 a sound, great preachers for the people, such as have found their way to the universal heart of their fellows, addressing themselves not to that which some men had different from others, but to that rather which each had in common with all, have been ever great employers of proverbs. Thus he who would know the riches of those in the German tongue, with the vigorous manifold employment of which they are capable, will find no richer mine to dig in than the works of Luther. And such employment of them would, I believe, with our country congregations, be especially valuable. Any one, who by after investigation115 has sought to discover how much our rustic116 hearers carry away, even from the sermons to which they have attentively117 listened, will find that it is hardly ever the course and tenor118 of the argument, supposing the discourse119 to have contained such; but if anything was uttered, as it used so often to be by the best puritan preachers, tersely120, pointedly121, epigrammatically, this will have stayed by them, while all beside has passed away. Now, the merits of terseness122 and point, which have caused other words to be remembered, are exactly those which signalize[142] the proverb, and generally in a yet higher degree.
It need scarcely be observed, that, if thus used, they will have to be employed with prudence123 and discretion124, and with a careful selection. Thus, even with the example of so grave a divine as Bishop125 Sanderson before me, I should hesitate to employ in a sermon such a proverb as Over shoes, over boots—one which he declares to be the motto of some, who having advanced a certain way in sin, presently become utterly wretchless, caring not, and counting it wholly indifferent, how much further in evil they advance. Nor would I exactly recommend such use of a proverb as St. Bernard makes, who, in a sermon on the angels, desiring to shew à priori the extreme probability of their active and loving ministries126 in the service of men, adduces the Latin proverb: Who loves me, loves my dog; [208] and proceeds to argue thus; We are the dogs under Christ’s table; the angels love Him, they therefore love us.
But, although not exactly thus, the thing, I am persuaded, might be done, and with profit. Thus, in a discourse warning against sins of the tongue, there are many words which we might produce of our own to describe the mischief127 it inflicts128 that would be flatter, duller, less likely to be remembered than the old proverb: The tongue is not steel, but it cuts. On God’s faithfulness in sustaining,[143] upholding, rewarding his servants, there are feebler things which we might bring out of our own treasure-house, than to remind our hearers of that word: He who serves God, serves a good Master. And this one might sink deep, telling of the enemy whom every one of us has the most to fear: No man has a worse friend than he brings with him from home. It stands in striking agreement with Augustine’s remarkable prayer “Deliver me from the evil man, from myself.” [209] Or again: Ill weeds grow apace;—with how lively an image does this set forth to us the rank luxuriant up-growth of sinful lusts129 and desires in the garden of an uncared-for, untended heart. I know not whether we might presume sufficient quickness of apprehension130 on the part of our hearers to venture on the following: The horse which draws its halter is not quite escaped; but I can hardly imagine an happier illustration of the fact, that so long as any remnant of a sinful habit is retained by us, so long as we draw this halter, we make but an idle boast of our liberty; we may, by means of that which we still drag with us, be at any moment again entangled131 altogether in the bondage132 from which we seemed to have entirely133 escaped.
In every language some of its noblest proverbs, such as oftentimes are admirably adapted for this application of which I am speaking, are those embodying134 men’s confidence in God’s moral government of the world, in his avenging135 righteousness,[144] however much there may be in the confusions of the present evil time to provoke a doubt or even a denial of this. Thus, Punishment is lame136, but it comes, which, if not old, yet rests on an image derived137 from antiquity, is good; although inferior in every way, in energy of expression, as in fulness of sense, to the ancient Greek one: The mill of God grinds late, but grinds to powder; [210] for this brings in the further thought, that his judgments138, however long they tarry, yet, when they arrive, are crushing ones. There is indeed another of our own, not unworthy to be set beside this, announcing, though with quite another image, the same fact of the tardy140 but terrible arrivals of judgment139: God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with iron hands. And then, how awfully141 sublime142 another which has come down to us as part of the wisdom of the ancient heathen world; I mean the following: The feet of the (avenging) deities143 are shod with wool. [211] Here a new thought is introduced,—the noiseless approach and advance of these judgments, as noiseless as the steps of one whose feet were wrapped in wool,—the manner in which they overtake secure sinners even in the hour of their utmost security. Who that has studied the history of the great crimes and criminals of the world, but will[145] with a shuddering144 awe145 set his seal to the truth of this proverb? Indeed, meditating146 on such and on the source from which we have derived them, one is sometimes tempted147 to believe that the faith in a divine retribution evermore making itself felt in the world, this sense of a Nemesis148, as men used to call it, was stronger and deeper in the earlier and better days of heathendom, than alas149! it is in a sunken Christendom now.
Proverbs not profane150.
But to resume. Even those proverbs which have acquired an use which seems to unite at once the trivial and the profane, may yet on closer inspection151 be found to be very far from having either triviality or profaneness152 cleaving153 to them. There is one, for instance, often taken lightly enough upon the lips: Talk of the devil, and he is sure to appear; or as it used to be: Talk of the devil, and his imps154 will appear; or as in German it is: Paint the devil on the wall, and he will shew himself anon;—which yet contains truth serious and important enough, if we would only give heed to it: it contains, in fact, a very solemn warning against a very dangerous sin, I mean, curiosity about evil. It has been often noticed, and is a very curious psychological fact, that there is a tendency in a great crime to reproduce itself, to call forth, that is, other crimes of the same character: and there is a fearful response which the evil we may hear or read about, is in danger of finding in our own hearts. This danger, then, assuredly makes it true wisdom, and a piece of moral prudence on the part of all to whom this is[146] permitted, to avoid knowing or learning about the evil; especially when neither duty nor necessity oblige them thereto. It is men’s wisdom to talk as little about the devil, either with themselves or with others, as they can; lest he appear to them. “I agree with you,” says Niebuhr very profoundly in one of his letters, [212] “that it is better not to read books in which you make the acquaintance of the devil.” And certainly there is a remarkable commentary on this proverb, so interpreted, in the earnest warning given to the children of Israel, that they should not so much as inquire how the nations which were before them in Canaan, served their gods, with what cruelties, with what abominable155 impurities156, lest through this inquiry157 they should be themselves entangled in the same. (Deut. xii. 29, 30.) They were not to talk about the devil, lest he should appear to them.
And other proverbs, too, which at first sight may seem over-familiar with the name of the great enemy of mankind, yet contain lessons which it would be an infinite pity to lose; as this German: Where the devil cannot come, he will send; [213] a proverb of very serious import, which excellently sets out to us the penetrative character of temptations, and the certainty that they will follow and find men out in their secretest retreats. It rebukes158 the absurdity159 of supposing that by any outward[147] arrangements, cloistral160 retirements161, flights into the wilderness, sin can be kept at a distance. So far from this, temptations will inevitably162 overleap all these outward and merely artificial barriers which may be raised up against them; for our great enemy is as formidable from a seeming distance as in close combat; where he cannot come, he will send. There are others of the same family, as the following: The devil’s meal is half bran; or all bran, as the Italians still more boldly proclaim it; [214] unrighteous gains are sure to disappoint the getter; the pleasures of sin, even in this present time, are largely dashed with its pains. And this: He had need of a long spoon that eats with the devil;—men fancy they can cheat the arch-cheater, can advance in partnership163 with him up to a certain point, and then, whenever the connexion becomes too dangerous, break it off at their will; being sure in this to be miserably164 deceived; for, to quote another in the same tone: He who has shipped the devil, must carry him over the water. Granting these and the like to have been often carelessly uttered, yet they all rest upon a true moral basis in the main. This last series of proverbs I will close with an Arabic one, to which not even this appearance of levity165 can be ascribed; for it is as solemn and sublime in form as it is profoundly deep in substance: The blessings166 of the evil Genii are curses. How deep a meaning the story of Fortunatus acquires, when taken as a commentary on this.
But I am warned to draw my lecture to an end. I have adduced in the course of these lectures no inconsiderable number of proverbs, and have sought for the most part to deduce from them lessons, which were lessons in common for us all. There is one, however, which I must not pass over, for I feel that it contains an especial lesson for myself, and a lesson which I should do wisely and well at this present time to lay to heart. When the Spaniards would describe a tedious writer, one who possesses the art of exhausting the patience of his readers, they say of him: He leaves nothing in his inkstand. The phrase is a singularly happy one, for assuredly there is no such secret of tediousness, no such certain means of wearing out the attention of our readers or our hearers, as the attempt to say everything ourselves, instead of leaving something to be filled up by their intelligence; while the merits of a composition are often displayed as really, if not so prominently, in what is passed over as in what is set down; in nothing more than in the just measure of the confidence which it shows in the capacities and powers of those to whom it is addressed. I would not willingly come under the condemnation167, which waits on them who thus leave nothing in their inkstand; and lest I should do so, I will bring now this my final lecture to its close, and ask you to draw out for yourselves those further lessons from proverbs, which I am sure they are abundantly capable of yielding.
The End
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1
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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abides
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| 容忍( abide的第三人称单数 )； 等候； 逗留； 停留 | |
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utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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prospering
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的现在分词 ) | |
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acquiesce
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| vi.默许，顺从，同意 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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conceals
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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reposes
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的第三人称单数 ) | |
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attestation
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| n.证词 | |
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induction
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| n.感应，感应现象 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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violations
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| 违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸 | |
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40
consensus
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| n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识 | |
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41
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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42
atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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43
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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44
scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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45
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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46
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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48
transcript
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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49
desolating
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| 毁坏( desolate的现在分词 )； 极大地破坏； 使沮丧； 使痛苦 | |
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50
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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51
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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52
reclaims
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| v.开拓( reclaim的第三人称单数 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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53
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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54
legitimately
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| ad.合法地；正当地，合理地 | |
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55
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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56
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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57
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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58
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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59
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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60
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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61
gregarious
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| adj.群居的，喜好群居的 | |
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62
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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63
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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65
solitariness
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| n.隐居；单独 | |
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66
contemplates
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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68
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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70
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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71
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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72
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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73
rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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75
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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worthily
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| 重要地，可敬地，正当地 | |
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79
glorify
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| vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化 | |
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80
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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81
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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82
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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84
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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87
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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loathes
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的第三人称单数 )；极不喜欢 | |
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loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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101
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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103
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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104
mote
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| n.微粒；斑点 | |
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105
brawling
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| n.争吵，喧嚷 | |
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106
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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108
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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109
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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110
iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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111
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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112
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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113
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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114
questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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115
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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116
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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117
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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118
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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119
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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120
tersely
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| adv. 简捷地, 简要地 | |
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121
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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122
terseness
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| 简洁，精练 | |
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123
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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124
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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125
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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126
ministries
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| （政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期 | |
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127
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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128
inflicts
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的第三人称单数 ) | |
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129
lusts
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| 贪求（lust的第三人称单数形式） | |
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130
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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131
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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132
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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133
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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134
embodying
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| v.表现( embody的现在分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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135
avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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136
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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137
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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138
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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139
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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140
tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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141
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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142
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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145
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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146
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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147
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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148
nemesis
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| n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手 | |
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149
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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150
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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151
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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152
profaneness
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| n.渎神，污秽 | |
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153
cleaving
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
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154
imps
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| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
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155
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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156
impurities
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| 不纯( impurity的名词复数 )； 不洁； 淫秽； 杂质 | |
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157
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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158
rebukes
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的第三人称单数 ) | |
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159
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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160
cloistral
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| adj.修道院的，隐居的，孤独的 | |
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161
retirements
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| 退休( retirement的名词复数 )； 退职； 退役； 退休的实例 | |
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162
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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163
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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164
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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165
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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166
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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167
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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