Chapter 46 [XXIV.]—Understanding and Wisdom Must Be Sought from God.

Peruse attentively this treatise, and if you understand it, give God the praise; but where you fail to understand it, pray for understanding, for God will give you understanding. Remember what the Scriptures say: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.”317    Jas. i. 5. Wisdom itself cometh down from above, as the Apostle James himself tells us.318    Jas. i. 17, and iii. 17. There is, however, another wisdom, which you must repel from you, and pray against its remaining in you; this the same apostle expressed his detestation of when he said, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, . . . this is not the wisdom which descendeth from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For wherever there is envying and strife, there is also confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good works, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”319    Jas. iii. 14–17. What blessing, then, will that man not have who has prayed for this wisdom and obtained it of the Lord? And from this you may understand what grace is; because if this wisdom were of ourselves, it would not be from above; nor would it be an object to be asked for of the God who created us. Brethren, pray ye for us also, that we may live “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,”320    Titus ii. 12. to whom belong the honour, and the glory, and the kingdom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.

CAPUT XXIV.

46. Repetite assidue librum istum, et si intelligitis, Deo gratias agite: ubi autem 0912 non intelligitis, orate ut intelligatis: dabit enim vobis Dominus intellectum. Mementote scriptum esse: Si quis vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter et non improperat, et dabitur ei (Jacobi I, 5). Ipsa est sapientia desursum descendens, sicut ipse apostolus Jacobus dicit. Illam vero sapientiam repellite a vobis, et orate ut non sit in vobis, quam detestatus est, ubi ait: Quod si zelum amarum habetis, et contentiones in vobis sunt, non est ista sapientia desursum descendens; sed terrena, animalis, diabolica. Ubi enim zelus et contentio est, ibi inconstantia et omne opus pravum. Quae autem desursum est sapientia, primum quidem pudica est, deinde pacifica, modesta, suadibilis, plena misericordia et fructibus bonis, inaestimabilis, sine simulatione (Id. III, 14-17.) Quid boni ergo non habebit, qui hanc sapientiam postularit et impetrarit a Domino? Et hinc intelligite gratiam; quia si ex nobis esset ista sapientia, desursum non esset, nec ab ipso qui nos creavit Deo postulanda esset. Fratres, orate et pro nobis, ut temperanter et pie et juste vivamus in hoc saeculo, exspectantes illam beatam spem, et manifestationem Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi (Tit. II, 12, 13), cui est honor et gloria et regnum cum Patre et Spiritu sancto in saecula saeculorum. Amen.