text,—"O, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!"
Permit me now, my brethren, to urge you forward in the glorious pursuit of true wisdom. Of all other inquiries, let this be the all-absorbing one—What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? How may I ensure a blissful immortality when my flesh and my heart shall fail? Get wisdom, but with all your getting, get understanding. See to it, that you lay up a good foundation against the time to come. Ignorance here, is fatal. Better be a way-faring man and a fool in other matters, so that you be wise unto salvation, than to stand upon the loftiest pinnacle of earthly wisdom, and be ignorant in heavenly things. The advantages of earthly wisdom are confined to this world; but the wisdom which is from above, leads us besides "the still waters" of comfort in this world, and introduces into that glorious
