h says, chap. lvii. 20) "are like the troubled sea, for
them there is no peace."

Lastly, we should especially note the passage in chap. ii. of Solomon's
proverbs which most clearly confirms our contention: "If thou criest
after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ... then
shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of
God; for the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and
understanding." These words clearly enunciate (1), that wisdom or
intellect alone teaches us to fear God wisely--that is, to worship Him
truly; (2), that wisdom and knowledge flow from God's mouth, and that
God bestows on us this gift; this we have already shown in proving that
our understanding and our knowledge depend on, spring from, and are
perfected by the idea or knowledge of God, and nothing else. Solomon
goes on to say in so many words that this knowledge contains and
involves the true principles of ethics and politics: "When wisdom
entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul,
discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, then
shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea every
good path." All of which is in obvious agreement with natural knowledge:
for after we have come to the understanding of things, and have tasted
the excellence of knowledge, she teaches us ethics and true virtue.

Thus the happiness and the peace of him who cultivates his natural
understanding lies, according to Solomon also, not so much under the
dominion of fortune (or God's external aid) as in inward personal virtue
(or God's internal aid), for the latter can to a great extent be
preserved by vigilance, right action, and thought.

Lastly, we must by no means pass over the passage in Paul's Epistle to
the Romans (i. 20), in which he says: "For the invisible things of God
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse, because, when they knew God, they glorified Him not
as God, neither were they thankful." These words clearly show that every
one can by the light of nature clearly understand the goodness and the
eternal divinity of God, and can thence know and deduce what they should
seek for and what avoid; wherefore the Apostle says that they are
without excuse and cannot plead ignorance, as they certainly might if it
were a question of supe