with which such indulgences are menaced in our text. The text is, in fact, an ironical remonstrance, similar to that which Elijah uttered, when he condemned the worshippers of Baal ; " Cry aloud ; for he is a God*^ : " and that by which Micaiah reproved the impolicy of Ahab ; " Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper^. " By this kind of irony Solomon intended to convey an idea, that young men are bent on such indulgences ; that they projuise themselves security in the midst of them ; and that they tvill not be prevailed on by more temperate re- proof: and, in this view, his words may be thus paraplu'ased : ' You will, notwithstanding all that I can say to dissuade you from it, go on in the ways of sin, persuading yourselves that nothing but happiness awaits you : and therefore go on ; and follow the bent of your own inclinations : but know, that in the end you will find yourselves grievously disappointed.' Severe as such a remonstrance is, it is perfectly just : for, who that considers what the great end of our being is, can doubt the wickedness of living to the world and to the flesh ? or who that sees how contrary such conduct is to that of Christ and his apostles, can doubt what the issue of such a life shall be ? Verily, " if we mind earthly things, we are enemies to the cross of Christ, and our end will be destruction^;" for, what- ever may be said or thought to the contrary, " to be carnally- minded is death '\"]
To this is annexed,
II. A solemn warning —
There is a day of judgment fast approaching —
[God will most assuredly "judge the world in righteous- ness by that man whom he hath ordained, even by his Son, Jesus Christ." Before his tribunal we must all appear : the young, as well as the old, shall then give up their account to him ; and the things which we did in the earlier part of life shall be brought forth for judgment, as well as those which were done at a more advanced age. The book of God's remem- brance shall be opened ; and every thing that was recorded in it, from the first moment of our existence to the latest breath we drew, shall be adduced as illustrative of our true character, and as the ground of God's final sentence.]
Then shall the things which are now done receive their proper reward —
[The judgment of God will not then be regulated by our views, but by his own unerring wisdom. We may palliate a life of vanity and worldhness now ; but he will view it as
^ 1 Kings xviii. 27. ^ 1 Kings xxii. 15.
g Phil. iii. 18, 19. i> Rom. viii. 6.