Wisdom
comprehends learning, but learning is often found where wisdom is
wanting. Wisdom is not accomplishment in study, or perfection in art, or
supremacy in poetry or eloquence. Learning is essential to wisdom, for
we cannot imagine a wise man who is not also a learned man; and the
extent and soundness of his learning may be a measure of his wisdom.
Wisdom must always have a basis of learning, but learning is not always
a basis of wisdom. Learning is a knowledge of particulars, of details;
wisdom is such a combination of these particulars as enables us to
harmonize our lives with the laws of nature and of God.
Learning is manifested in what we know; wisdom in what we are, based
upon what we know. Philosophy, even, is love for wisdom rather than
wisdom itself. The old philosophers defined wisdom to be "the knowledge
of things, both divine and human, together with the causes on which they
depend;" and in the proverb of Solomon, "The fear of the Lord is the
instruction of wisdom." Purity, truth, and justice, are also of its
foundation. Wise men of the Jewish and Pagan world built on this
foundation, and the Christian can build on none other. Having combined
learning with these essential virtues, a liberal, symmetrical,
comprehensive character may be built up. In the formation of such a
character, industry, powers of observation, strength of will and
intellectual humility, are requisite.
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