20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?



Ver. 20. Thou fool, this night, &c.] This rich fool, when, like a jay, he was pruning himself in the boughs, came tumbling down with the arrow in his side; his hourglass had run out, when he thought it to be but recently turned. He chopped into the earth before he was aware: like as one that, walking in a field covered with snow, falleth into a pit suddenly. He was shot as a bird with a bolt, while he gazed at the bow. And this may be any man’s case. Which made Austin say he would not for the gain of a world be an atheist for one half hour; because he knew not but God might in that time call him.



Then whose shall those things be? &c.] As thy friends are scrambling for thy goods, worms for thy body, so devils for thy soul. We read of Henry Beaufort, that rich and wretched cardinal, bishop of Winchester, and chancellor of England in the reign of King Henry VI, that perceiving he must needs die, he murmured that his riches could not reprieve him. Fie, quoth he, will not death be hired? will money do nothing? No; it is righteousness only that delivereth from death. (Fox, Martyrol.)