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The frailty of our being; the certainty of our death; the shortness of the intervening period; these are ideas with which we are familiar; and yet, strange to say, they seldom influence us, either justly or constantly. We may use this knowledge, in order to add to stoical indifference; to give pathos and interest to poetry; to induce certain arrangements with respect to our property or our families: to augment, by contrast, the enjoyment of the passing hour; but these are not the essential purposes to which our knowledge of the shortness of life ought to be applied. In the midst of all these speculations we may fail to "apply our hearts unto wisdom."

I. THE BREVITY OF HUMAN LIFE. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Against this destiny no sagacity and no prosperity can build up a shelter.

II. OUR INDISPOSITION TO CONTEMPLATE WISELY THE RESULTS OF THAT BREVITY. That which follows death; the introduction to another world; responsibility; judgment to come; the vision of God; eternal weal or woe; the friendly or unfriendly mediation of Christ; the spiritual character which welcomes or opposes the celestial manifestations of truth and wisdom; these are the associations which properly belong to death. Yet from this view of death, men deliberately turn away!

III. Thus situated, thus exposed, thus beguiled, how palpable becomes the truth, THAT A WISE USE OF OUR CONVICTION OF MORTALITY IS THE GIFT OF GOD. Unless God shall deign to teach, we refuse to learn. The means of instruction are indeed abundant. Much knowledge is afloat in the world; and the daily events of life utter solemn accents, were we disposed to listen. But the machinery of instruction; the apparatus of revelation; the combination of events, are inadequate to make us wise. These are the means of wisdom, but they are not the disposition to be wise. The conversion of the heart is from God.

(G. T. Noel, M.A.)

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KJV: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

WEB: So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.