This is the second and final installment of selections from Bill Bradfield’s The Book of Ancient Wisdom. But this time the selections were made by Ouida. When I suggested she do this, she was less than enthusiastic, but once into the book she made her way through all of it, not just the area I suggested she draw from. She found it "interesting and inspiring." She kidded me about the last selection from under "Philosophy," saying I might want to veto it!

As we conclude this brief and superficial study of ancient wisdom, we are to remember that Jesus was an ancient, and he gives us heaven’s description of the wise man. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount – where he discussed values and virtues – he said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock."

This is wisdom as seen by the Christ of God –- building one’s house of life upon a rock. Then when the storms of life bear down on that house it stands. By contrast it is the fool who builds his house on the sand, which gives way under difficulties.

Those values and virtues that provide a "rock" foundation for life Jesus makes clear in the Sermon – forgiveness, mercy, yieldingness, self- renunciation, heavenly treasures over earthly, love even for enemies, non-resistance. In that Sermon there is a kind of definition of wisdom: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you."

Wisdom is reverence for God and respect for human dignity.

Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other. --Euripides

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is love. -- Sophocles

All loves should be simply stepping-stones to the love of God. So it was with me; and blest be his name for his great goodness and mercy. -- Plato

It is our care for the helpless, our practice of loving kindness, that brands us in the eyes of our opponents. "Look," they say, "how these Christians love one another. See how they are prepared to die for one another." --Tertullian

Let no young man delay the study of philosophy, and let no old man become weary of it, for it is never too early or too late to care for the well-being of the soul. The man who says that the season for this study has not yet come

or is already past is like the man who says it is too early or too late for happiness --Epicurus

Socrates became perfect, improving himself by everything, following reason alone. And though you are not yet a Socrates, you ought, however to live as one seeking to be a Socrates. --Epictetus

My advice to you is to get married. If you find a good wife, you’ll be happy. If not, you’ll become a philosopher. –Socrates

The gods plant reason in mankind, of all good gifts the greatest. --Sophocles

Reason is a light that God has kindled in the soul. -- Aristotle

The soul of man is divided into three parts: intelligence, reason, and passion. Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals, but reason by man alone. –Pythagoras

Do not consider painful what is good for you. -- Euripides

The gods help those that help themselves. -- Aesop

If men live decently, it is because discipline saves their very lives for them. -- Sophocles

Serenity

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. -- Marcus Aurelius

Order your soul; reduce your wants; live in charity; associate in Christian community; obey the laws; trust in Providence. -- Augustine

Truth

Unless you expect the unexpected you will never find (truth), for it is hard to discover and hard to attain. -- Heraclitus

It would be wrong to put friendship before the truth --Aristotle

To be absolutely sure of the truth of matters concerning which there are many opinions is an attribute of God not given to humans. -- Plato

A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth. -- Aesop

Wisdom comes only through suffering. -- Aeschylus

Wisdom outweighs any wealth. -- Sophocles

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil, -- Cicero

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. – Epictetus

Due to gall bladder surgery last week, with complications, I cancelled my next two appointments, the ACU Lectures and a trip to Minnesota. There is a question that I could have made it to Abilene anyway, at least on time. The day we planned to leave west Texas was iced in!

I recalled what the late LeMoine Lewis, longtime prof at ACU (we were at Harvard together) would say during many a Lectureship. Standing together under the big tent, flapping furiously in the storm, he said, "Lectureship weather!"