422 L1FF. OF FAITH. competent judges. Let the eternal God be the portion of my soul ; let heaven be my inheritance and hope ; let Christ be my Head, and the promise my security; let faith be my wisdom, and love be my very heart and will; and patient, persevering obedience be my life; and then I can spare the wisdom ofthe world, because I can spare the trifles that it seeks, and all that they, are like to get by it. What abundance of complaints and calamity would foresight prevent! Had the events of this one year been (conditionally) foreseen, the actions of thousands would have been otherwise or- dered, and much sin and shame have been prevented. What a change would it make on the judgments of the world ! How many words would be otherwise spoken ; and how many deeds would be otherwise done; and how many hours would be other- wise spent, if the change that will be made by judgment and ex- ecution were well foreseen!, And why is it not foreseen, when it is foreshown? When the omniscient God, that 'will certainly per- form his word, bath so plainly revealed it, and so frequently and loudly warns you of it! Is he wise, that, after all these warnings, will lie down in everlasting - woe, and say, ' I little thought of such a day? I did not believe I should ever have seen so great a change.' Would the servants of Christ be used as,they are, if the mali- cious world foresaw the day when "Christ shall come with ten thousands of bis saints, to execute judgment on all that are un- godly?" Jude 14, 15. When he shall "come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that do believe;" 2 Thess. i. 10. When "the saints shall judge the world;" 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. and when the ungodly, seeing them on Christ's right hand, must hear their sentence on this account, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it (or did it not) to oneof the least ofthese, (my breth- ren,) you did it unto me;" Matt. xxv. Yet a few days, and all this will be done before your eyes but the unbelievingworld will not foresee it. Would malignant Cain have slain his brother, if he had foreseen thepunishment, which he calleth,afterwards intolerable? Gen. iv. 13. Would the world have despised the preaching of Noah, if they had believed the deluge? Would Sodom have been Sodom, if they lead foreseen that a hell from heaven would have consumed them? Would Achan have meddledwith his prey, if he had foreseen the stones that were his 'executioners and his tomb? Would Gehazi have obeyed his covetous desire, if he had foreseen the leprosy? Or Judas have betrayed Christ, if he had foreseen the hanging himself in his despair? It is foreseeing faith that saves those that are saved, and blind unbelief that causeth men's 'perdition.
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