which they sought shall be awarded to them, and shall be enjoyed by them in a degree, of which, whilst here, they had no conception. "Peace" also, even a perfect freedom from all those conflicts which so often troubled them in this world, will be theirs in full and everlasting possession. Whilst they were here, their " peace passed all understanding, and kept their hearts and minds as in a citadel," out of the reach of all their enemies : but in the future world, their reconciliation with God will be so perfect, and their rest in God so com- plete, that their peace will flow down like a river, with ever- increasing amplitude and abundance to all eternity.]
In perfect contrast with the foregoing are, II. The character and end of the ungodly —
Their character is the very reverse of that before considered —
[It might be thought that an obedience to the Gospel was not intended to be included in the " well-doing" of the godly : but here the want of it is particularly marked as a leading feature of the ungodly. In fact, " the souls of men can only be purified by obeying the truth through the Spirit a ;" and all who are born again of the Spirit, that is, all the children of God, are so purified. But the ungodly are averse to the truth ; they are " contentious, and will not obey it :" and this arises, not from any want of evidence in the truth itself, but from the predominance of some unrighteous principle, towards which they feel a decided preference, and to which they yield a willing subjection. Some, through the pride of their hearts, reject the principles of the Gospel : whilst others, through the love of this present evil world, or through the prevalence of unmortified lusts, refuse submission to its precepts : the prin- ciples are too humiliating; the precepts too difficult and self- denying. It is not necessary that a person, in order to be numbered with the ungodly, should commit such crimes as are reprobated by the world around him: he may be blameless as to his external conduct in the sight of men, and yet be very ungodly in the sight of God : his aversion to " the truth as it is in Jesus" constitutes him a most flagrant sinner before God, and subjects him to God's heaviest displeasure15.]
Their end will be more awful than either language can express, or heart conceive —
[They dream of being in the favour of God : but they are objects of his " indignation and wrath." They persuade them- selves that they shall be happy in the eternal world : but
a 1 Pet. i. 22. i> 2 Thess. i. 8. and 1 Pet. iv. 17.