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that the creating word went forth. Neither these decrees, nor any others which He has made, shall be set aside for ever: they are absolute and immutable. These decrees also comprehend, not only the issues of all events, but the means by which every end is wrought.
Let not this be forgotten, said Eber; nor that He has made the connection certain between the progress and the issues of events, between the end and the means by which that end is wrought; and that He has made known this certainty unto man. If the olive should yield its fruit in plenty, whether it were fixed in the midst of a stream, or on a barren rock, or amidst a rich soil, man would but waste his care in tending it: but because it is not so, it would be folly to expect fruit where there has been no culture. In like manner, if knowledge were given without being sought, and wisdom came like the manna of the wilderness, none knowing whence or how, men might hope to become sages by sporting or sleeping all the day. But since it is not so; since wisdom can only be gained by much toil, and thought, and self-denial; a thoughtless man can no more hope to be a sage, than one who toils after knowledge can fear to be, in the end, altogether a fool. —
