SERMON II.--THE TEMPLE OF WISDOM



(Preached at Wellington College, All Saints' Day, 1866.)

PROVERBS ix. 1-5.

Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also
furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens; she crieth
upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in
hither: and to him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

This allegory has been a favourite one with many deep and lofty
thinkers. They mixed it, now and then, with Greek fancies; and
brought Phoebus, Apollo, and the Muses into the Temple of Wisdom.
But whatever they added to the allegory, they always preserved the
allegory itself. No words, they felt, could so well express what
Wisdom was, and how it was to be obtained by man.

The stately Temple, built by mystic rules of art; the glorious Lady,
at once its Architect, its Priestess, and its Queen; the feast spread
within for all who felt in themselves divine aspirations after what
is beautiful, and good, and true; the maidens fair and pure, sent
forth throughout the city, among the millions intent only on selfish
gain or selfish pleasure, to call in all who were not content to be
only a more crafty kind of animal, that they might sit down at the
feast among the noble company of guests,--those who have inclined