people” (Deut. iv. 5, 6). To Joshua, also, He speaks thus: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success” (Jos. i. 8). By David also He says: “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm xix. 8). Finally, the Apostle bears witness “that every scripture inspired of God is profitable for teaching, etc., that the man of God may be complete” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). The wisest of men (by this I mean truly enlightened Christians) have made the same assertion. Chrysostom has said: “What it is needful to know, and what it is not needful to know, that we can learn from the Scriptures.” And Cassiodorus35 says: “The Scriptures are a heavenly school, a guide through life, the only true source of information. To search for the true meaning of them should occupy the student’s whole time, and leave him no leisure to be led astray by philology.”
6. God expressly forbade His chosen people to have anything to do with the learning or the customs of the heathen: “Learn not the way of the nations” (Jer. x. 2); and again, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the God of Ekron? (2 Kings i. 3); “Should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them” (Isaiah viii. 19, 20). And why? Surely because “all wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever. To whom else hath the root of wisdom been revealed?” (Ecclesiasticus i. 1, 6); “Although they have seen light and dwelt on the earth, the way of knowledge have they not known. Nor understood the paths thereof, etc. It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the authors of fables and searchers out of understanding, have not known the way
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