TOL. I. B b
886 THE ungodly's misery,
same end ? All wicked men that delight in the company one of another here, are brethren in evil, and shall he like a company of tares, all cast into hell-fii'e together hereafter. It is pity they should be severed then that will not be severed now. Those men's courses, therefore, which we follow here, of their judgment we shall participate eternally afterwards.
Use. Let this admonish us to have nothing to do with sinful persons, nor to be troubled with their seeming prosperity. ' They stand in slippery places,' Ps. Ixxiii. 18. God lets them alone for a while, but their pleasure will end in bitterness at last ; all their riches shall end in poverty and beggary. * They shall not have a drop of water to cool their tongues,* Luke xvi. 24, 25. All their honour and greatness shall end in confusion and shame, and lie in the dust ere long. Indeed, we should rather pity them, if we consider their latter ends. Alas, what shall become of them ere long ! The fall of these wretches shall be so terrible, that Peter could not set it down, but leaves it to the admiration of the reader, What shall the end of such be ! &c.
One diiference betwixt a wise man and a fool is, that a wise man con- siders his end, and frames his life suitable thereunto. Therefore if we would be truly wise, let us consider the end of those things in this world, which wicked men offend God for, and set so light by heaven and everlasting happiness for the procurement of. Alas, whatsoever is here, shall have an end ! A Christian should frame his course answerable to eternity, that when his happiness shall end in this world, it may begin in the world to come, else we may outlive our happiness.
Present happiness a/jigrai'ates future and eternal misery. This is the misery of wicked men, that their souls are eternal, but their happiness is deter- mined in this life. Here that ends ; but then misery is infinite, and hath no end at all. Look what degree of excellency any creature hath, if it be good ; the same degree of misery it hath if it be evil. What made the angels worse than other creatures when they sinned, but only this ? they were most excellent creatures, and therefore when they became evil, their excellency did but help them to subsist and be more capable of punishment. A wise man understandeth his misery. Sapiens miser plus miser. Now the angels when they fell became more miserable, because they were more capacious, and sensible of it, being spirits.
So man being sinful and evil, his end will be more miserable than any inferior creature, because he was more happy. His happiness helps him to more misery. How should this stir up every one to look about him, and not to prize himself by any outward excellency whatsoever ! The more excellent thou art, the more miserable if thou sin against God. It is of all xinhappiness the most unhappy thing, for a man to live happily here a while, and be eternally miserable afterwards ; for our former happiness tends to nothing else but to make us more sensible of future miseries. What is all the felicity of great persons, when they die and leave this world ? Alas, it soon comes to nothing, and serves but to make them apprehensive of more misery than meaner persons are capable of: what shall the end of such be ? &c.
Ois.3. The endless miseries of the uicked should warn us from the love of their present pleasures and profits. From this, that the apostle leaves the punishment of all sinful wretches to admiration and wonderment, rather than to expression, for indeed it is above expression, we may learn — vhen we are tempted to any sin or unlauful course, to consider thus tvith ourselves • Shall I, for a pleasure that will end, have a judgment that shall neve>- end?
THE ungodly' S MISERY. 387
for the favour of men that will fail, shall I lose the perpetual favour of God, whose wrath is a conswninf/ fire, and burns to hell? shall I for a little j^^'ofit, lose my soul eternally ? Beloved, as the good things of a Christian, even in this Hie, are admirable beyond expi-ession, ' peace that passeth all under- standing,'Philip, iv. 7, and' joy unspeakable and glorious,' 1 Pet. i. 8, &c., so when God awakens our consciences, those giipes and pangs and teiTors of soul, which follow after sin committed, are unutterable and inconceivable. I beseech you therefore, whenever you are solicited to sin, for profit or pleasure, &c., set before your eyes the fading and perishing condition of these things, and the evcrlastingness of that judgment which attends upon them. Oh that we were wise this way !
Obs. 3. I come now to the third particular ; Those that obey not the gospel, wherein we have —
1. A desciiption of the thiny.
2. And then of the j^ersons.
The thing is the gospel of God ; the persons are ivicked men. God is the author of the gosj)el. It comes out of his breast, sealed with authority. "Whence learn this, by the way, that in refusing the blessed gospel, ire have to deal with God himself. It is God's word and gospel. Therefore when you reject it, you reject God ; in receiving it, you receive God. You deal with God himself, when you deal with the ministers of his word. Therefore whenever you partake of the ordinances, say, with good Cornelius, ' We are now in the presence of God, to hear what he will say,' Acts x. 33.