November 15

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself.—Proverbs 22:8.

FAITH is the wisdom of the soul; and unbelief and sensuality are its blindess, folly, and brutishness. How short is the knowledge of the wisest unbelievers! They know not much of what is past, (and less they would know if histories were not of more credit with them than the word of God;) but alas! how little do they know of what is to come! Sense tells them where they are, and what they are now doing; but it tells them not where they shall be to-morrow. But faith can tell a true believer, what will be when this world is ended, and where he shall live to all eternity, and what he shall be doing, and what thoughts he shall be thinking, what affections shall be the temper and employment of his soul; what he shall see, and feel, and enjoy; and with what company he shall converse for ever. If the pretenders to astrological prediction could foretell the changes to men's lives, and the time and manner of their deaths, what resort would be to them! and how wise would they be esteemed! But what is all this to the infallible predictions of the all-knowing God, that hath given us a prospect into another world, and showed us what will be for ever, more certainly than you may know what a day may bring forth?

So necessary is foreknowledge in the common affairs of men, that without it the actions of the world would be but mad, tumultuary confusion. What would you think of that man's understanding, or how would you value the employments of his life, that looked no further in all his actions, than the present hour, and saw no more than the things in hand? What would you call him that so spends the day, as one that knoweth not there will be any night; and so passed the night, as one that looked not for the day? that knew not in the spring there would be a harvest, or in the summer that there would be any winter, or in youth that there would be age or death? The silly brutes that have no foreknowledge, are furnished with an instinct that supplieth the want of it, and also have the help of man's fore-knowledge, or else their kind would be soon extinct. The bees labor in summer, as if they foresaw the winter's need. And can that man be wise, that knoweth not his everlasting state? Indeed, he that knoweth not what is to come, hath no true knowledge of what is present; for the worth and use of present things, is only in their respects to things eternal; and there is no means, where there is no end. What wisdom then remains in unbelievers, when all their lives are misemployed, because they know not the end of life; and when all their actions are utterly debased, by the baseness of those brutish ends to which they serve and are referred? Nothing is truly wise or honorable that is done for small and worthless things. To draw a curious picture of a shadow, or elegantly write the history of a dream, may be an ingenious kind of folly; but the end will not allow it the name of wisdom: and such are all the actions of the world, (though called heroic, valiant, and honorable,) that aim at transitory trifles, and tend not to the everlasting end. A bird can neatly build her nest, but is not therefore counted wise. How contrary is the judgment of the world to Christ's! when the same description that he giveth of a fool, is it that worldlings give of a wise and happy man: "One that layeth up riches for himself, and is not rich towards God." Will you persuade us that the man is wise, that can climb a little higher than his neighbors, that he may have the greater fall? that is attended in his way to hell with greater pomp than others? that can sin more syllogistically and rhetorically than the vulgar; and more prudently and gravely run into damnation; and can learnedly defend his madness, and prove that he is safe at the brink of hell? Would you persuade us that he is wise, that contradicts the God and rule of wisdom, and that parts with heaven for a few merry hours, and hath not wit to save his soul? When they see the end, and are arrived at eternity, let them boast of their wisdom as they find cause: we will take them then for more competent judges. Let the eternal God be the portion of my soul; let heaven be my inheritance and hope; let Christ be my Head and the promise of my security; let faith be my wisdom, and love be my very heart and will, and patient, persevering obedience of my life; and then I can spare the wisdom of the world, because I can spare the trifles that it seeks.