the exaltation of the wicked, and the almost universal depres- sion of the righteous, of whom it may be said, that " they are plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning p?"]
But the Psalmist, having stated his difficulty, gives us, II. The solution —
To the carnal mind the difficulty is insurmount- able : but " if we enter into the sanctuary of God," it will vanish instantly. There we shall see the lamentable state of the wicked in the midst of their prosperity ;
1. The danger of their way —
[" Their feet are set in slippery places," where it is, humanly speaking, impossible for them to stand. This may appear a strong assertion ; but it is not at all too strong : it is
the assertion of our Lord himself q Indeed, it is with
great justice said by Solomon, that " the prosperity of fools destroy eth them1 ;" for it almost universally generates those very dispositions which are so strongly depicted in the psalm before uss. If riches increase, we are immediately ready " to set our heart upon them *," and to trust in them rather than in Godu. They foster pride in the heart of the possessorx; and lead not unfrequently to an oppressive conduct towards the poory, and to the most daring impiety towards God3. Are they then to be envied, who are placed in such perilous circum- stances ? or are they to be^ envied, who, when running for their lives, have " their feet laden with thick clay ?" Be it so, that the rich have many comforts which the poor taste not of : but what enjoyment can that man have of a feast, who sees a sword suspended over his head by a single hair, and knows not but that it may fall and pierce him the very next minute ? So the man who knows his own weakness, and the force of the temptations to which he may be exposed, will be well satisfied to have such a portion only of this world as God sees fit to give him ; and will abundantly prefer the eternal welfare of his soul before all the gratifications that wealth or honour can afford him.]
2. The awfulness of their end —
[As God raised up Pharaoh to the throne of Egypt, with an intent to shew forth in him his wrathful indignation against sina; so he loads with temporal benefits many, who shall
v ver. 14. i Mark x. 23 — 27. r Prov. i. 32.
8 ver. 6 — 11. * Ps. lxii. 10.
u 1 Tim. vi. 17. Luke xii. 19. x Prov. xviii. 23.
y Jam. ii. 6. z Jam. ii. 7. a Rom. ix. 17.
624.1 sinners' prosperity not enviable. 9
finally be made objects of his heavy displeasure for their abuse of them. He bears with them for a season : but " their feet shall slide in due timeb;" and then " they will be cast down into everlasting destruction0." O how terrible is their trans- ition in a single instant, from a fulness of all earthly comforts to an utter destitution d even of " a drop of water to cool their tongue !" Think of the Rich Man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day : what a change did he experience the moment that his soul departed from the body ! The next thing we hear of him is, that " he was in hell, lifting up his eyes in torment," such as no words can describe, no imagination can conceive e. Lazarus, on the contrary, who in this world had not the most common neces- saries of life, was enjoying unspeakable and endless felicity in Abraham's bosom. Who that beholds the termination of their career, would not infinitely prefer the temporal estate of Lazarus, even though it should last a thousand years, before all the vanishing gratifications of the man of wealth ? If it should be thought that this rich man was more addicted to sin than others, the account we have of him suggests no ground for it whatever: on the contrary, it tells us, that his five surviving brethren, who inherited his wealth, were, like him, yielding to the sad influence of the temptations which it offered, and therefore were hastening to that same place of torment, to which he had been consigned f. Doubtless it is painful to reflect on the thoughtless security of millions, who, if not guilty of any flagrant enormity, have no conception of the predicament in which they stand. But the Scripture speaks