f See Ps. cvi. 4, 5.
Ps. lxxiii. 16, 17. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me ; until 1 went 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 notions respecting them. Moreover, after that men are enlightened, they still are liable to be disconcerted and perplexed by the events which daily occur, in proportion 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 any more powerful instruments wherewith to assault the minds of Believers, than those which he derives from this source. The temptation with which he assaulted our first parents in Paradise, was furnished by the prohibition which God had given them 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 suffered 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 would instil into their minds hard thoughts of 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, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." He proceeds more fully 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 the most part " a poor and afflicted people3." They are objects of hatred and contempt to an un- godly world b, and they suffer much from the unkind treatment which they meet withc. Not unfrequently, " their greatest foes 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 d. It is necessary also, with a view to the accomplishment of God's purpose of love towards them, that they should, for the most part, " be in heaviness through manifold temptations e."
The wicked, on the contrary, frequently pass through life without any particular trials f: having nothing to humble them, they are lifted up with pride, (which they glory in as their brightest ornament8;) and are encompassed with violence, as
a Zeph. iii. 12. " John xv. 19. c 2 Tim. iii. 12.
d Heb. xii. (J— 8. • 1 Pet. i. 6. f ver. 4, 5.
b Dan. v. 29. with ver. G.
624. J sinners' prosperity not enviable. 7
their daily habit: they gratify their sensual appetites, " till their eyes stand out with fatness11:" they despise all restraint, whether human or divine1; and even atheistically question, Whether God notices and regards the conduct of his creatures k. These are the persons who generally get forward in life, and engross to themselves the wealth and honours of a corrupt world. Doubtless, in countries where the rights of individuals are secured by just laws and a righteous administration, this in- equality 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 attainment, not of spiritual, but of carnal minds ]