Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/150

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146
price in hand of the
[ser. vii.

And seeing no beauty in it, he has no ardent desires after it. His desires are strong for the perishable objects of time and sense. He can ardently exclaim:—"What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed?"[1] "But none saith, where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night."[2] Since ungodly men, with all the facilities kind Providence has given them to be wise, continue wretchedly foolish notwithstanding, the wise man enquires,—Wherefore is it that they have these advantages? The question implies, that these means of wisdom are unworthily placed,—that they are of no essential benefit to the possessor. Hence, he says, Wherefore is this? "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?"

We may answer, that this price is given—

  1. Matt. vi., 31.
  2. Job xxxv., 10.