Who, then, is wise? The
one who has experience, or the one who has it not? Nothing can be wise without
knowledge; but where is knowledge? If men search in the rudimental, what experience
do they find of the celestial? Where is the spirit who has reversed the order
of progression, who has exchanged the celestial for the rudimental. And could
such a spirit be found, where is the wisdom of that spirit? In the change? No;
nor in the condition of the change. Change is alteration. Alteration
contemplates improvement, and improvement denotes wisdom. All change,
accompanied with wisdom, improves the thing changed—the reverse is folly.
When change does
good—makes the thing changed better—more in harmony with the will of the
occupant or possessor—more agreeable to desire—it is wise. Or, when change
produces more enjoyment to individuals interested in the change, it is wise;
and what is wise is a work of wisdom. All changes, however, are not wise. It
was not wise for men to depart from the spirit and faith of the seers and
prophets of eternal truth. It was not wise for men to be overcome by
idolatry—the work of pagan and infidel hands. It was not wise for men to
chancre a condition which was favorable to wisdom, by inversing that condition
and subverting the mediums of communication with spirits—a position enjoyed by the primitive church
of Jesus. Neither is it wise for men to dispute, that what has been done, may be
done again. Hence, when men become
wise, when conditions are the same, wisdom will appear, and gladden the earth with all the manifestations
demanded by the change contemplated.
Wisdom is wise in the adaptation of means
to ends. It never betrays its trust. It never conceals its object, when that object
is sought. It never proffers assistance, when it is not needed. It never justifies what the voice
of nature condemns; it never palliates what it censures—all of which wisdom constantly sanctions. It sanctions only
good. It sanctions the means which
are necessary to control the conditions for good. When means will not control
a result, they are false, unwise, and useless; but when means work a result
beneficial to the mind that is interested, no matter what they may be, it is wise to employ
them. Thus, we learn what is folly, and what is wisdom.
Wise men seek wisdom, but fools bate
knowledge. Who, then, are fools? Who are wise in this generation? Hear
instruction, my son, and forsake not the counsel of a father. We are the
fathers, the mothers, who speak from experience the wisdom of a superior
sphere. We come to you in the light which you comprehend not. We come in the
robe which you have not worn. We come in garments you have not made. We visit
you in wisdom which is from heaven, in mercy not of earth, in love which
mortals have never found with mortals. We come with glad tidings on our
tongues, with the rainbow of promise over our heads, with the cup of salvation
in our hands, with the wine of consolation to the mourner, and the balm of
healing to the sorrow-stricken and despondent. How have you treated this
message? How have you learned wisdom? Where have your hours of mirth, your
days of vexation, your nights of discontent, been squandered or wasted to no
profit? Wisdom asks, where? Where,
we ask, have you sought and not found? Where have you gathered but where you have sown? and where have you
found—where have you not found the
object for which you toiled? Alas! vanity of vanities, all is vanity, but the
wisdom of heaven. Vanity has been
found, as it has been sought. Wisdom has been found only as it has been
sought. Can men gather what they have not sown? We find men
gather what they sow. If they sow to the flesh, they will reap what the flesh yields; but, if they listen to the spirit, they
will receive the inspiration which
is from heaven.
Who, then, are wise? Who
are foolish? Judge ye. Ours is not a mission of judgment; for we find judgment rather than mercy where darkness reigns.
But, we ask, who are wise? who are
unwise? The man who seeks wisdom is wise. The man who hates knowledge, who
shuns the light because his deeds are evil, who misimproves his opportunities
without investigating the truth from wisdom's holy temple, who hears the voice
of messengers from the Jerusalem which is above, but heeds it not; who spurns
the message from his presence because it contradicts his ignorance, his
selfishness, his popularity, his worldly-minded ambition, his dogmatical
assumptions his official authority and power to rule those not under his
supervision and watch-care, his
voluntary contempt of things which he has not the courage to examine, nor the
manhood to overthrow, his unfounded
calumnies against the acts and doings of those whose benevolence and
self-sacrifice he has reason to envy; and above all, and worse than all, his
consorting with the vile to injure the innocent, is the unwise man who builds
his house on the sand; and we verily know the day is not distant when the fall
thereof shall be great. We know that "not every one who saith, Lord, Lord, shall
enter" the holy city, but he who doeth the will of God, who bears instruction
from the messengers of his mercy, who listen to the wisdom of a purer and
holier life of godliness, shall gain what will fill his soul with delight, and
chancre the well-springs of no water into fountains of joy.
We have seen the man,
clothed in robes of official authority, leave the rudimental for the celestial sphere. We
have seen his empty boasts of charity torn in fragments by the
piercing ray of divine light and all his vain pretensions scattered to the
oblivion of the past. We have seen the wise man come in the meekness of a
lamb, with the robe of righteousness surrounding his whole soul; and the
conducting messenger of pure wisdom escorting him to courts of collossal greatness and
glory. Then, we said, behold the wise man who received instruction, and the
unwise man who hated knowledge. Then, we said, who among us is wise? Who among
us seeks knowledge? Who seeks for
knowledge where it is not found? And we turned our eyes to the rudimental, and
saw men, and women, yea, and little children, rioting on the decayed fragments
of a half pagan theology, torturing their bodies for the good of their souls, and wasting their
money for that which satisfieth not. And lo! we went to their relief.
Wisdom is not justified
by the unwise. Men are what they are. Men are children. Men will be children,
till they are made men. We gave Them instruction, but they hated our reproof.
We offered them advice, but they rejected our counsel. We told them our
mission but they spurned our offering. We gave them good counsel, but they
despised the words of fathers. Then, we said, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity"
but the wisdom of God.
Wisdom is wisdom. All is not wisdom. All is
not folly. Wisdom wills good. Folly
wills otherwise. One is right. One is wrong. Wisdom will do right. Folly
will do wrong. He that is wise, let
him take heed. He who is unwise, let him get wisdom. And let him get it where
it is to be found. Let him not seek for it in the folly of fools, but in men
of understanding, in spirits commissioned by God to give light to those who
grope in darkness. Let him cast off the shackles, tear asunder the false
robes, rend the galling chains, and burst the bonds that enslave his captive
soul. Let him
launch his mind into the stream of wisdom
flowing from the mountain of God,
and bathe in the limpid waters, that he may be healed.
Wisdom is not selfish.
Wisdom is not partial. Human wisdom is both. Men are considered wise, but
their wisdom is comparatively foolishness. Men are wise only as they gain knowledge. Men are unwise
when they neglect what they need to make them wise. Men are wise when they do
good—unwise when they do evil. Men are wise in what they know—unwise in what
they do not know. Knowledge of God is wisdom. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is
good. Knowledge will save. Knowledge will cure. Knowledge will do what
ignorance can not do. Hence knowledge of God is the wisdom of God, the power
of God, and the goodness of God. Neither could wisdom exist without God.
Wisdom is sometimes
misunderstood. It is what wise men will see. It is what unwise men reject.
When men do that which is a perversion of the laws of God, which govern mind
and control matter, it is unwise. When they do that which is in harmony with
the laws of God, it is wise. Harmony is union. Harmony is happiness. When,
therefore, harmony shall prevail, disorder and unhappiness will be overcome.
This is wise. This is our mission. This is our commission. This is our will,
and the will of God. Hence, we are messengers of God to work a work which will
ever redound to the glory of God, because it will fill the universe with his
praise, all souls with his wisdom, all minds with his truth, and all hearts with his
love. And yet the unwise bate knowledge
But wisdom employs means. Wisdom seeks what
is good. Wisdom justifies what will do good. Folly opposes it. Folly will
oppose it, but wisdom must prevail, because it is the power of God. Folly must
yield, because it is the power of fools.
