(1.) Riches are apt to breed atheism and contempt of God.
(2.) They are not so broken-hearted as others, to see their need of Christ.
(3.) If they take to the serious profession of religion, they cannot hold it.
(4.) It makes men apt to take up their rest here.
(5.) They are apt to wax proud, and scornful, and impatient of reproof.
(6.) They grow wanton and sensual.
(7.) The more rich they are, the more they are wedded to a worldly prosecution. [See Serroon on Mark x. 23].
2. At death. The approach of it openeth our eyes, and maketh our
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vain conceits vanish. Our imaginary happiness is soon at an end, and as we are entering into the other world, our mirth beginneth to be marred ; and though formerly we only thought these to be the good things, and desired these things, and delighted in these things, and placed all our confidence in these things, yet we now see they cannot stead us in our extremity. All our worldly advantages will afford us no solid hope, when death coraeth upon us : Job xxvii. 8, 'What is the liope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul ? ' If the carnal designs of wicked men succeed, and God answers them according to the idol of their hearts, whatever presump- tuous dreams they had before, approaching death is the great touchstone of men's hopes. He is not really willing to die, but God taketh away his soul by force : Luke xii. 20, ' This night thy soul shall be required of thee ; ' Jer. xvii. 11, ' He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool ; ' that is, he shall appear to be so in the judgment of his own heart. Well, then, if you choose wealth, ease, pleasure, credit, for your portion and happiness, you are not sure to get it ; but if you do get it, you are sure to leave it. All that the world can afford you shall be taken from you ; you must go naked out of the world, as you came naked into it. The world will cast you off in your extremity, and the despairing soul must bid a sad farewell to all the comforts you doated upon, and laboured for, and delighted in. All your cup of pleasures is now drunk up, and there is no more left. Honour, and company, and sports, and pomps are all gone, and you must fall into the hands of an unreconciled God, to answer for the abuse of these things.
3. After death, then the misery will appear indeed. If you have gotten so much hardness of heart that you did not apprehend God's anger against you, nor see any hazard upon the back of death, yet then you enter into your eternal misery, and one moment puts an end to all your joy for ever. When the saints, who having chosen God for their portion, are comforted, you are tormented. Their condition may be sad here in the world, but yours is sad for ever. Three things torment the wicked, and they are all in this parable —
[1.] There is memoria prceteritorum, the remembrance of our former good estate in the world, and the ill use we made of it, ' Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things.' Where are now his fine garments, stately houses, and sweet odour of his fragrant oint- ments, his lustful meats, and dainty, rich, and sprightly wines, and artificial sauces, with all the costlyaccommodations of his pomp and pleasure ? The things are gone, but the remembrance of them is a sting to his soul for ever.
[2.] There is sensus prmsentium, a sense of his present misery : ver. 25, ' I am tormented in this flame.' There is a bitter sense of the wrath of God, and nothing to allay it, or divert the mind from it.
[3.] There is metus faturorum, a fear of what is to come : ver. 26, ' Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.' They are in iermino, in their final state, and there must abide ; there is no passing from death to life more : nothing remaineth but a ' fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,' Heb. x. 27.
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Use 1. Information to teach us —
1. What little reason the people of God have to envy wicked men their portion. We should rather pity them. Alas ! this is all they get ; they have this and no more, this and everlasting destruction at the back of it. God suffereth them to clamber up to the height of wealth and honour, that their fall may be the more terrible. Worldly wealth and prosperity is not of so much worth and excellency as many think. If it were the conduit wherein God conveyeth his special love, it were another matter (though we should be satisfied in God's order- ing), but it is not so. If it were so, it would be dispensed otherwise than it is ; the wicked would not have so much of it, nor the godly want it so much. The godly want it the rather, because they think so highly of it, and God is more gracious than to give it to them when they are in a frame so ready to abuse it.