1. The fool. The atheist
is the fool preeminently, and a fool universally. He would not deny God
if he were not a fool by nature, and having denied God it is no marvel that he
becomes a fool in practice. Sin is always folly, and as it is the height of sin
to attack the very existence of the Most High, so is it also the greatest
imaginable folly. To say there is no God is to belie the plainest evidence,
which is obstinacy; to oppose the common consent of mankind, which is
stupidity; to stifle consciousness, which is madness. If the sinner could by
his atheism destroy the God whom he hates there were some sense, although much
wickedness, in his infidelity; but as denying the existence of fire does not
prevent its burning a man who is in it, so doubting the existence of God will
not stop the Judge of all the earth from destroying the rebel who breaks his
laws; nay, this atheism is a crime which much provokes heaven, and will bring
down terrible vengeance on the fool who indulges it. The proverb says, “A fool cuts
his own throat,” and in
this instance it kills both soul and body forever: would to God the mischief
stopped even there, but alas, one fool makes hundreds, and a noisy blasphemer
spreads his horrible doctrines as lepers spread the plague. Ainsworth tells us
that the word here used is Nabal, which has the signification of fading,
dying, or falling away, as a withered leaf or flower; it is a title given to
the foolish man as having the last sap of wisdom, reason, honesty, and
godliness. Some translate it “the apostate,” and others “the wretch.” With what earnestness should we
shun the appearance of doubt as to the presence, activity, power and love of
God, for all such mistrust is of the nature of folly, and who among us would
wish to be ranked with the fool in the text? Yet let us never forget that all
unregenerate men are more or less such fools.
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