Prov. vi. 6 — 10. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her tvags and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, 0 sluggard ? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep ? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep : so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
FORESIGHT in relation to temporal concerns, though not universally practised, is universally ap- proved ; and it is a ground of thankfulness that those classes of society who have hitherto scarcely known how to secure any little sums which they might save, have now, by the establishment of Provident Banks, encouragement to provide for themselves against the day of adversity ^ Happy would it be if a similar zeal were now exerted in relation to the concerns of eternity. But here, alas ! there is still a sad indif- ference amongst us. The wants which we are sure to feel in the eternal world are not anticipated ; nor is the importance of providing for them generally felt. In relation to these things, all around us are cast, as it were, into a deep sleep, from which they need to be roused by the most solemn warnings. This ad- dress therefore of Solomon to the sluggards of his day may well serve us as a foundation for a similar remonstrance with those who are yet sleeping in security and sin.
Addressing ourselves to persons of this description, we will speak,
I. In a way of humihating reproof —
Justly does Solomon observe, that " a sluggard is wiser in his own conceit, than seven men that can render a reason''." The more careless men are about their souls, the more confident they are of their future safety. But how confident soever they may be, they may go and learn wisdom of the meanest insect.
^ Preached the week before the establishment of a Provident Bank at Cambridge. ^ Prov. xxvi. 16.
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