Every man has, down in the depths of his own being, a wisdom much greater than the wisdom of the life which he is living, or of the thoughts which he is already thinking.
I. There is a conscience, there is a light, there is a view of truth, there is a spirit, in every one, however he may speak and however he may act, which had he cultivated and obeyed, he would have been a better and a happier man than he is. The great power of our Saviour's teaching often lay in drawing out the latent good which was in every man that came in contact with Him; and he is wise who believes it in himself and recognises it in every man with whom he has to do.
II. Wisdom is in all the experience of life. It is in every mind with whom you converse. It is in every providence. It is in every language of nature. All life is a lesson-book of wisdom.
III. Wisdom is a revelation. No mind, though it be of the highest order, ever was, or ever can be, independent of revelation. The storehouse of wisdom is the word of God. But God has given us more than a book; He has given us an embodiment, a visible reality. A Person, and a living Person, is much more than all the words. The words are the framework of the Man, and that Man is the Lord Jesus Christ.
J. Vaughan, Sermons,10th series, p. 133.
Reference: Job 28:12. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions,p. 212.
Man's interests and activities find their highest inspiration in culture and religion. The relations which these sides of human action may bear to each other can never be of slight importance. Some maintain that they are antagonistic. It is said, the ages of faith are not the times of intelligence; learning causes religion to dwindle. If this be so, it is indeed strange that history should furnish us with repeated illustrations of what we may almost term a law of the development of the human race, namely, that the epochs of man's progress, when there is a larger force and a more vigorous vitality, are marked by stimulus, not only to the intelligence and learning of the human mind, but also to the faith and corresponding character of the human heart. When man has awakened from the sleep which often overtakes him in the midst of a thick night of gloom, he has not only exhibited a fresh interest in objects of mental research, but he has also raised his eyes once more to the stars that shine in heaven, and stretched his hands with a more vigorous grasp towards the Power and the Person who are only revealed to his spiritual nature.
I. Observe, first, that religion is itself a means of mental discipline. The objects of study which religion furnishes are (1) the nature of the human soul; (2) the progress of Christian doctrine and the development of the Church; (3) the nature of God and His relationship to man. Where will you find a discipline so high, so severe, so perfect, as in the objects of thought which religion can supply?
II. The other side of the relation which religion bears to mental cultivation is that protective and meditative influence which it can exert so as to guard against or remedy the evils in peril of which an exclusively mental exercise always lies. (1) Religion corrects the tendency of culture to ignore the limits of man's power. (2) Religion teaches us the lesson of humility. Faith, and worship, and adoring love for ever keep the human heart in the ready and loyal acknowledgment of its God. (3) A learning that is nothing but intellectual tends to make us forget our brotherhood. There is nothing more selfish than culture. It withdraws us to a narrow circle. It makes us members of a set. For this fault the only corrective is religion. In- her courts we stand upon a common ground. Here we find an altar whereon the choicest mental endowments shall be too poor an offering, and here we may gain the inspiration of that example which forms the highest pinnacle of human attainment.
L. D. Bevan, Christ and the Age,p. 333.