assured this is the better
part: fear God, and, soon or late, the end will justify thy choice."

Beautiful and interesting it is thus to see man's unaided reason, his
own intelligence, carrying him to this conclusion: that there is
nothing better than to "fear God;" and surely this approves itself to
any intelligence. He has impressed the proofs of His glorious Being on
every side of His creature, man. "Day unto day uttereth speech;" and
the Sun, that rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race, voices aloud,
in his wondrous adaptations to the needs of this creation on which he
shines, His Being--His eternal power and godhead. Not only light but
warmth he brings, for "there is nothing hid from the heat thereof," and
in this twofold benevolence testifies again to his Creator, who is Love
and Light. Further, wherever he shines he manifests infinite
testimonies to the same truth. From the tiny insect that balances or
disports itself with the joy of life in his beams, to the grandeur of
the everlasting hills, or the majesty of the broad flood of
ocean--all--all--with no dissentient, discordant voice, proclaim His
being and utter His creative glory. Nor does darkness necessarily veil
that glory: moon and stars take up the grand and holy strain; and what
man can look at all--have all these witnesses reiterating day and
night, with ever-fresh testimonies every season, the same refrain,

"The Hand that made us is divine,"

and yet say, even in His heart, "There is no God!" Surely all reason,
all wisdom, human or divine, says "Fool!" to such.

Thus, step by step, human wisdom treads on, and, as here, in her most
worthy representative, "the king," concludes that it is most reasonable
to give that glorious Creator the reverence due, and to "fear" Him.

But soon, very soon, poor reason has to stop, confounded. Something
has come into the scene that throws her all astray: verse 14--

"'Tis vanity, what's done upon the earth; for so it is,
That there are righteous to whom it haps as to the vile;
And sinners, too, whose lot is like the doings of the just.
For surely this is vanity, I said."

Yes, man's soul must be, if left to the light of nature, like that
nature itself. If the sky be ever and always cloudless, then may a
calm and unbroken faith be expected, when based on things seen. But it
is not so. Storm and cloud again and again darken the light of nature,
whether that light be physical or moral; a