saith that the devil in those parts did use to give money to witches which at first did appear to be good and current coin, but after a while it turned to dry leaves. Ah, sirs, all duties and ordinances to a man that wants holiness, will be found at last to be but as dry leaves, to be sapless and lifeless, and heartless and comfortless to him. Now if without holiness no man can have any spiritual communion or fellow- ship with God here, then certainly without holiness no man can have a glorious communion with God hereafter : if without holiness God will not take us into his arms on earth, then undoubtedly without holiness God will never put us into his bosom in heaven. But to proceed.
6. Unholy persons are fools ; and what should such do in the pre- sence of God, who is wisdom itself? The fool and the ungodly man are synonymous words, signifying the same thing, in Scripture : Ps. xiv. 1, ' The fool' {i.e., the wicked, the unholy person) ' hath said in his heart. There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abom- inable works, there is none that doeth good ; ' Jer. iv. 22, ' For my people are foolish, they have not known me ; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding : they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge ;' Prov. i. 7, ' Fools despise wisdom and instruction ; ' that is, wicked and ungodly men despise wisdom and instruction. And to shew that the world is full of such fools, he uses the word in the plural no less than sixteen times in this book of the Proverbs. I shall open this truth a little more to you, by proving that they have all the characteristical notes and properties of fools ; so that one face is not more like another than a fool is like a wicked man, or than a wicked man is like a fool ; for,
(1.) First, A fool prefers toys and trifles before things of greatest worth, Prov. i. 29. He prefers a brass counter before a piece of gold, a fine baby^ before a rich inheritance, an apple that pleaseth the eye before a pearl of greatest price ; so wicked and ungodly men, they prefer their lusts before the Lord : Isa. Ixv. 12, ' Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer ; when I spake, ye did not hear ; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.' Upon choice, they preferred the honours, the riches, the bravery, and glory of the world, above their own souls and the great concern- ments of another world. 2 Such fools were Laban and Nabal, in the Old Testament, (whose names by inversion of letters are the same, and the latter signifies a fool,) and such were the two rich fools in the New Testament, Luke xii. 16-22, and xvi. 19-31. I have read of the foolish people of the East Indies, in the isle Ceylon, who preferred a consecrated ape's tooth above an incredible mass of treasure. Such fools are all unholy persons, who prefer the toys, the trifles of this world before the pleasures and treasures that be at God's right hand, Ps. xvi. 11, and Mat. vi. 19, 20. The world is full of such fools. Si ad mores hominum respicias, mundum universum stidtorum domum judicabis, saith one : If thou beholdest the manners of men, thou wilt judge the whole world to be a house of fools. Ah, friends ! what
^ Such a one was Cardinal Borbonius, who professed he would not leave hii part in Paris for a portion in paradise. [As before. — G.]
56 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
folly to that of men's spending their time, their strength, their lives, their souls in getting the great things of this world, and neglecting that one thing necessary, the salvation of their souls ! Mat. xvi. 26. Oh, what vanity is it to prefer a smoke of honour, a blast of fame, a dream of pleasure, a wedge of gold, a Babylonish garment, and such like transitory trifles and trash, before a blessed eternity !
(2.) Secondly, Fools make no improvement of advantages and oppor- tunities that are put into their hands: Prov, xvii. 16, ' Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it ? ' ^ It is to no purpose to put a price into the hand, if folly be bound up in the heart. If a man had as much wealth as would buy all the grace, all the peace, all the comforts, and all the wisdom in the world ; yet if he hath neither wit nor will to make an improvement of his wealth, what good would his wealth do him ? To what purpose is the market open, and good pennyworths put into the buyer's hands, if the buyer hath neither wisdom nor heart to buy ? Unholy persons are such spiritual fools : though they have a price, an opportunity put into their hands, which if improved might make them for ever ; yet they have no heart to make an improvement of the means and advan- tages that might do them good to all eternity. 2 Ah, what oppor- tunities have unsanctified persons to get changed hearts, renewed natures, purged consciences, reformed lives, to get an interest in Christ, to obtain the favour of God, to procure pardon of sin, to make pro- vision for their immortal souls ! But they have no hearts to improve these opportunities, and so by neglecting of them they cut the throat of their own souls. And this will be the worm that will lie gnawing of them to all eternity, that they have let slip the opportunities of grace, that they have trifled away the seasons of mercy. Ah, sirs, there is no fool to that fool that hath an opportunity put into his hand to make himself for ever, and yet hath no heart to improve it. The hottest place in hell will be the portion of such fools. Mat. xi. 21, 22. The little bee, so soon as flowers appear, goes abroad, views the gay diapery,3 and the diversity of the flowery fields, sucks the sweetest of them, freights her thighs, makes a curious comb, and so betimes hoards up honey in summer against winter. And so the little busy ant in summer provides food for winter, Prov. vi. 6-8 ; the stork, the crane, and the swallow know their seasons and opportunities, Jer. viii. 7. All these poor little creatures are not so much below man in nature, as they are above sinful man in worth, wisdom, and work. These improve their summer seasons, their harvest hours; and 'yet such spiritual fools are wicked men, that they let slip such seasons of gi-ace and mercy, that cannot be redeemed with ten thousand worlds. Ah, how is man fallen from his primitive nobility and glory, that these little busy creatures are propounded as a pattern of diligence and wisdom unto him ! The ancients painted Opportunity with a hairy fore-
1 Like grasshoppers, they sing and sport away their precious time and opportunities of mercy, &c.
2 Prov, i. 20, seq. ; Isa. liii. 1 ; Iv. 1, 2 i Mat. xxv. 3, 6, 10 ; xxiii. 37 ; Luke xix. 41, 42, &c. That great conqueror vainly feared that his father Philip's victories would deprive the son of an opportunity to improve his magnanimity.