The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-07
THE HEBREW PROVERBS
ANOTHER BOOK OF THE BIBLE RE
VIEWED BY DIR. LYMAN ABBOTT.
Proverbs "a Collection of Many Things,
but They DO Not Express Israef's
Ideal or Its Philosophy.
Brooklyn Ia gle.

Brooklyn Eagle.
The Book Of Proverbs was the subject
treated of by DR.. Abbott in the continue
ton. in Plymouth Church Sunday night. Of
his series of sermons on The Bible as
Literature" DIR. Abbott said:
There are two conceptions of the Bible
which stand in somewhat marked contrast
with each other. Both OF them recognize a
divine inspiration in the book and true
revealing of God through the book. One
questions. if it does not deny. differences
in inspiration and authority. According to
this view it is God who is speaking i'm all
these books and, God is one. the voice
must be one: as the authority is Gods the
authority is equal in all the books; there
is no difference. There is the same author
ity in the gospel of John and the book Of
Chronicles; the same voice IN the book OF
Proverbs and in the book of Psalms. All
these books stand on the same level. speak
with the same voice, express the same
authority. The other conception regards
the Bible literature, not, primarily. a
book; as a collection of voices. not. pri-
marily, one voice. 1t recognizes that God
has has spoken through men Of different tenn
who have discerned Him with different de-
grees of clearness and heard His voice and
interpreted &c with different degrees of ac-
curacy. According to this conception there
Is difference in the degree of inspiration
in different books, a difference in the clear
ness of revelation in the different books
and difference in the adaptation of differ
ent books TO different persons. One person
will find in one book the great strength and
inspiration of his life, and another person
OF different temperament will find greater
strength and inspiration in different book;
one person will rejoice in Paul, to another
Paul will be all enigmatical, a great in
solvable riddle, and he will read John; an
other will find John a mystic, whom he
cannot understand. and Mark will be his
favorite gospel; another will turn to the
Old Testament and find his inspiration in
the Psalms. while still another will accept
the Psalms because the rest of the church
does SO. but will really get his instruction
out of the book of Proverbs.
The second is the view which / entertain
and in the application of this view l am
carrying out this course of Sunday evening
| sermons. | am trying to show that there
are different voices in the Bible, different
degrees of inspiration, different measures
OF authority, different clearnesses of revela-
ton and different appeals to men and wom-
| en- of different temperatures.
| The. book of Proverbs which we are to
from that point of view. this difference.
| The book of Proverbs and the book of
Psalms come close together in the bound
volume, but they are perhaps the two types
/ or literature fartheSt removed from one an
| other in the collection of books regarded
ences appealing to different human expert
| ences. For our purpose tonight We may
consider knowledge as of three kinds.
| There is. in the first place scientific knowl-
| edge By this / mean that which comes
| 14rth from careful observation of the
phenomena OF life. comparison of those
q nd n IL ,otf1 Of h.
| laws which underie them, and of which
| they are exhibitions or manifestations
| This may be natural science. intellectual
science or moral science. But in every case
scientific knowledge is derived in the same
way. The scientist explores the phenomena
| of the material universe he compares the
falling of TIE apple with the circulation
| OF the planets and from all the various
| phenomena he deduces the law of gravita-
| ACTIVITY as II goes on in the brain. He
does this by physical tests. He examines
| Tor an impression TO pass from the eye to
| the brain. and for the will to transfer from
| the brain TO the finger tip. and by these
| physical tests he builds up the science of
| physiological psychology. Or he examines
| the phenomena of human consciousness
what 1T really Is. Two professors of psy-
| chology IN one OF our great universities
! have recently attempted such an eXamina-
| ton respecting religious phenomena. They
| ence They have inquired into conversion
| They have formed no theological theory 10
| start with but they have written to a large
| number of persons and have made a care
| full study of literature to ascertain what
| conversion was in the Individual instance
and then, tabulating the results of all
| these experiences they have endeavOred to
| deduce some laws governing this which is
| on the whole. the grandest and most vital
phenomenon i'm human experience. This is
| the sclentinc method. 1t may he applied
to material things or semi-materiaI expert
| ences, or purely psychological experiences
INTUITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
The second kind of knowledge is intui-
tlonal. Some men know some truths in
stantly- They simply perceive them The
evidence of those truths is within them
| selves. / think that we are all, to "A certain
| extent, intutionaists and that there are
| truths in human experience that do not re-
quire any outward demonstration or de-
| ferse. But whether this be true or not.
there certainly are poets and prophets who
are men of vision. When Browning saws.
! Thou. God, art love. / build my faith on
| that" he is not stating a scientific concIu-
| SON. on the contrary. he is stating an AK
| iom Trough you may. If you please call
| 1t an axiom of the heart. He sees love and
| on love he builds his philosophy. When
| Paul. who was peculiarly an intuitional-
| things work together for good to them that
| love God" he is not stating a scientific con-
| clusion; he does not reach this proposition
| by an examination of the phenomena of
| hfe-it flashes upon him: he somehow sees
| good IN everything: in far as he can he
| JustifieS his assertion by the examination
| OF phenomena, and then waits for further
| light. Professor Tyndall has shown that a
| science has made its advance through this
| intutional vision of truth: not by explora-
| tion-by vision. The scientist has seen as
| in vision some great truth and then has
steadily. patiently made an Investigation ia
| justify correct his vision.
| The third form of knowledge is that
| which is derived simply from observation
| or experience. 1t differs from the scientifiC
| In that IL does not trace back tue phe-
| nomena, the experience, to any general
| law IL differs from the intuitional In that
| IL IL wholly or almost wholly without the
element of vision. We know what we have
| seen and observed. We know what lies
| within the realm of our own experience
And this knowledge. which is often very
narrow and sometimes misleading cannot
edge which may be called the practical as
| opposed to the spiritual or intutional. or
the empirical as opposed 10 the scientific
this knowledge. not of truth. but of truths
this knowledge derived from our own OBJ
ServatiOn and experience, without any real
attempt To see what lies behind them finds
its expression in the worlds literature
expression of idealists: Proverbs are not
the expression of scientific thinkers; Pro-
verbs are the result of keen. close careful
observation. epitomized in brief and preg-
nant sentences.
The book of Proverbs is. then, a collec-
ton of apothegms, proverbial sentences
proverbial paragraphs. odes. sonnets, as we
Odes, or paragraphs, do not express the
ideal of lSIae They do not express its
hope or its expectation. They do not eX-
| press its philosophy. They do not express