sensual, devilish %" and such is that, by which too many, who profess godliness, are actuated.
1. " Their belly is their god" —
[By " the belly," we understand the sensual appetite b: and to make " a god" of it, is to yield ourselves up to its dominion. And must we go to heathen countries to find persons of this description ? are not " many" such to be found in the Christian Church ? Many, alas ! are addicted to glut- tony, to drunkenness, to whoredom : and among those who are free from these gross excesses, how many are there who have no higher end of life than to consult their own ease and plea- sure, and whose labours in all their younger years, are with a view to provide these very enjoyments for them in the decline of life! What is this but to put the gratification of their sensual appetite in the place of God, whose will should be the only rule, and whose glory, the ultimate end, of all their actions ?]
2. " They glory in their shame" —
[Whatever proceeds from a corrupt principle, whether it be approved or not among men, is really a ground of shame : yet how many will boast of their vilest excesses, perhaps, too, even of crimes which they have never committed ! How many will glory in the insolence with which they have treated their superiors ; the resentment they have shewn towards those who injured them; and the cunning they have exercised in a way of traffic ; when, if they viewed these things aright, they would rather blush for them as vile iniquities, and mourn over them in dust and ashes !
Perhaps the Apostle had a more especial reference to the Judaizing teachers, who sought to distract the Church of God, and gloried in the number of their proselytes. Such he justly calls "dogs, and evil workers0:" and too many such there are also in this day, whose whole delight is to spread some favourite notions of their own, and who care not how many of Christ's flock they scatter and destroy, if they can but increase their own party.
Now what is this but their sin and their shame ? and to glory in sin, of whatever kind that sin be, is the very spirit of Satan himself, who accounts himself happy in proportion as he can weaken the kingdom of Christ, and establish his own empire over the hearts of men.]
3. " They mind earthly things" —
[To a certain degree earthly things must be minded : but we are not to savour, to relish, or to set our affections upon
a Jam. hi. 15. b Rom. xvi. 18. c ver. 2.