sion does he make for himself? The same that he
makes for his horses and his oxen and his asses. Of course, as one has
pointed out, it was not foolish for him to make some provision for the
few years he might live here. He was a fool for refusing to make
provision for the eternity that he must live.

"Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many days. Eat, drink and be
merry." Did ever you hear words that were more stamped with moral
idiocy? You can see from them that his soul has not fared well up to
this time. You can easily tell from these words that his moral nature
has been starved and stunted. We can easily tell that all his gettings
have not satisfied him in the past. And yet he is vainly expecting
satisfaction in the future. Now it is obvious that the man who forgets
God, who turns aside to the worship of things, plays the fool.

So you see why the Master calls this shrewd farmer a fool. He began by
reckoning without God. He virtually said in his heart, "There is no
God." He went wrong in the very center of his nature. This put the
blight of moral imbecility on his whole life. He turned to his
possessions and sought to satisfy his soul with them. He received them
without gratitude and held them without any sense of obligation, for he
thought to possess was to own.

Now the Master, lest we should pull our skirts about us and thank God
that we are not as this man, forces the truth home upon our own hearts.
"So," He says, "is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not
rich toward God." That is, just the same kind of fool and just as big
a fool is that man to-day who reckons without God and lives only for
himself. If you are living your life in selfishness, however
respectable that selfishness may be, you are just the same kind of fool
and just as great a fool as is this rich man of the story.

Now the tragedy of this story, I take it, is that the foolishness of
this farmer was self-chosen. His riches might have been a blessing to
him here and a blessing through all eternity. In spite of the fact
that he was rich in this world's goods he might also have been, in the
truest sense, rich toward God. In fact, he might have been richer
toward God with his wealth than without it. With it he might have
exercised a far larger usefulness than he could have done without it.
But he chose to ignore God and to rob himself and thus brand himself a
fool now and evermore.

Don't forget that you and