As man is naturally given to boasting and gloriation in something (for the
heart cannot want some object to rest upon and take complacency in, it is
framed with such a capacity of employing other things), so there is a
strong inclination in man towards the time to come, he hath an immortal
appetite, and an appetite of immortality; and therefore his desires
usually stretch farther than the present hour, and the more knowledge he
hath above other creatures, the more providence he hath and foresight of
the time to come. And so he often anticipates future things by present joy
and rejoicing in them, as he accelerates in a manner by his earnest
desires and endeavours after them. Now, if the soul of man were in the
primitive integrity, and had as clear and piercing an eye of understanding
as once it had, this providence of the soul would reach to the furthest
period in time, that is, to eternity, which is the only just measure of
the endurance of any immortal spirit. But since the eye of man's
understanding is darkness, and his soul disordered, he cannot see afar
off, nor so clearly by far. He is now, as you say, sand blind,--can see
nothing at such a distance as beyond the bounds of time, can see nothing
but at hand.

"To-morrow!" This is the narrow sphere of poor man's comprehension, all he
can attain unto is to be provident for the present time. I call it ill
present, even that which is to come of our time, because, in regard of
eternity, it hath no parts, it hath no flux or succession, it is so soon
cut off as a moment, as the twinkling of an eye, and so, though a man
could see the end of it, it is but a short and dim sight, it is as if a
man could only behold that which is almost contiguous with his eye. These,
then, are the two great ruins and decays of the nature of man, he is
degenerated from God to created things, and seeks his joy and rest in
them, in which there is nothing but the contrary, that is, vexation. And
then he is fallen from apprehension of eternity, and the poor soul is
confined within the narrow bounds of time, so that now all his providence
is to lay up some perishing things for some few revolutions of the sun,
for some few morrows, after which, though an endless morrow ensue, yet he
perceives it not, and provides not for it, and all his glorying and
boasting is only upon some presumptuous confidence and ungrounded
assurance of the stability of these things for the time to come, which the
wise man