which he had to reprove, was that of undue security, or of presuming on the success of our plans for future advancement, without any becoming reference to the shortness and uncertainty of life : and there being still but too much reason to complain of this habit in the Christian world, I shall distinctly mark,
I. The habit which is here censured —
The Apostle does not intend to condemn all fore- thought and contrivance ; for then we should all be as weak and foolish as children : nor indeed, if prospec- tive plans were unlawful, would any one branch of agriculture, or commerce, or even of liberal educa- tion, be carried forward. It is the proud reliance on our own wisdom, and the confident expectation of time to come, that is here condemned ; and this is,
1. A great evil —
[What is it but an entire forgetfulness of our dependence upon God ? For who is it that can give success to any plans, but God himself? And, if we could command success, who can tell whether that which we seek as a blessing, may not prove to us the greatest curse ? Even an unqualified desire of the things themselves, without a reference to the wisdom of God to choose for us, and his will to bestow them on us, is highly sinful. It contravenes that express command, " Thou shalt not covet," and is, in fact, an usurpation of God's prero- gative to direct and govern the affairs of men. Besides, such a confident expectation of life is of itself most offensive to God : for it is " he who holdeth our souls in life :" " in him we live, and move, and have our being :" and the contempla- tion of life, irrespective of his agency, is no other than practical atheism.]
2. A common evil — -
[We imbibe these atheistical sentiments from our earliest infancy. Scarcely any other ever meet our ears. Our very parents are constantly speaking to us of what is to be gained by us in future years in consequence of our own care and in- dustry. As we grow up, we buoy up ourselves with the same unqualified hopes and expectations : from youth to manhood, and from manhood to old age, we still continue to speak of future events as depending on ourselves, rather than on God ; and seldom, if ever, have any direct reference in our minds to the superintending and all-directing providence of God. Indeed, it is from hence that our exertions principally arise : aad so gratifying to onr minds is this corrupt habit,
that
1149.] THE FOLLY OF UNDUE SECURItr. 69
that our chief happiness in life arises from it : for it is a well- known fact, that the fond dreams of hope almost invariably exceed the pleasures of actual enjoyment.]
Such is the evil which the Apostle censured ia the words before us : which, however, lead us yet further to consider,
11. The folly of it- There is nothing in reality at our command, or under our controul. We cannot by any means secure,
1. The success of our labours —
[" We cannot tell what shall be on the morrow : " we cannot tell how soon circumstances may arise to make us view that as an evil, which we just before coveted as a good. The fact is, that there is scarcely a man living, who has not as much reason to bless God for the dispensations by which his desires have been thwarted, as for those by which they have been gratified. How foolish then is it to take the disposal of events out of God's hands, instead of committing it to him, whose wisdom cannot err, and whose power cannot be coun- teracted ! We may, like Israel, cause him " in wrath to give us" the object of our inordinate desires, and constrain him to inflict upon us the judgment denounced against his disobedient people; "I will curse their blessings."]