Ps. Ixxiii. 16, 17. When I thoufrht to know this, it was too pain- ful for me ; until I ivent into the sanctuary of God : then understood I their end.
TO unenlightened man, there are numberless things in the dispensations of Providence altogether dark and inexplicable : it is the light of Revelation only that enables us to form any just notion respect- ing them. Moreover, after that men are enlightened, they still are liable to be disconcerted and per- plexed by the events v^^hich daily occur, in propor- tion as they lean to their own understandings, and neglect to avail themselves of the means which are afforded them for the regulation of their judgment. Nor has Satan anymore powerful instrument where- with to assault the minds of Believers, than those which he derives from this source. The temptation with which he assaulted our first parents in Para- dise, was furnished by the prohibition which God had given Ihern to eat of a certain tree ; " Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ?" insinuating, that such a prohibition could never have proceeded from a God of love. In like manner, if God have seen fit to deny his people any particular comfort which he has vouchsafed to others, or suf- fered them to be afflicted in any respect more than others, Satan suggests to their minds. How can these dispensations consist with his professed regard for you as his own peculiar people ? Thus their subtle adversary v/ould instil into their minds hard thoughts o'f God, and a distrust of his providential care. It was in this way that he assaulted the author of the psalm before us, and, caused him almost to renounce his confidence in God. The Psalmist himself, (whether it were Asaph, or David, we cannot certainly declare,) tells us, how nearly he was overcome by this temptation : " As for me, my feet were almost gone ; my steps had well nigh slipped : for I was envious at the foolish, v/hen I
saw
387.] sinners' prosperity not enviable. 257
saw the prosperity of the wicked."' He proceed ^ more luHy to state the difficulty with which his mind was harassed, and the way in which the snare was broken : and as the subject is of universal interest, we will draw your attention to it, by stating,
I. The difficulty- It is frequently seen that the wicked prosper, whilst the godly are grievously oppressed —
[The godly are for tlie most part " a poor and afflicted peo- ple'*." They are objects of hatred and contempt to an ungodly world'', and they suffer much from the unkind treatment which t!iey meet with''. Not unfreciuently, " their greatest fo^^-s are those of their own household." From the hand of God also they receive many strokes of fatherly correction, from which the avowed enemies of God are in great measure exempt '^. It is necessary also, with a view to the accomplishment of God's pur- pose of love towards them, that they should, for the most part, " be in heaviness through manifold temptations'^."
The wicked, on the contrary, frequently pass through life without any particular trials'^: having nothing to humble them, they are lifted up with pride, (which they glory in as their brightest ornament^;) and are encompassed with violence, as their daily habit : they gratify their sensual appetites, " till their eyes stand out with fatness^:" they despise all restraint, whether human or divine'; and even atheistically question, Whether God notices and regards the conduct of his creatures''. These are the persons who generally get forward in life, and engross to themselves the wealth and honours of a corrupt world. Doubt- less, in countries where the rights of individuals are secured by just laws and a righteous administration, this inequality will be less apparent, than in places, where there is more scope afforded for the unrestrained exercise of fraud and violence : but in every ' place there is ample evidence, that worldly prosperity is the at- tainment, not of spiritual, but of carnal minds ]