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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
P S A L M S
PSALM XLIX.
This psalm is a sermon, and so is the next. In most of the psalms we
have the penman praying or praising; in these we have him preaching;
and it is our duty, in singing psalms, to teach and admonish ourselves
and one another. The scope and design of this discourse is to convince
the men of this world of their sin and folly in setting their hearts
upon the things of this world, and so to persuade them to seek the
things of a better world; as also to comfort the people of God, in
reference to their own troubles and the grief that arises from the
prosperity of the wicked.
I. In the preface he proposes to awaken worldly people out of their
security
(ver. 1-3)
and to comfort himself and other godly people in a day of distress,
II. In the rest of the psalm,
1. He endeavours to convince sinners of their folly in doting upon the
wealth of this world, by showing them
(1.) That they cannot, with all their wealth, save their friends from
death,
(2.) They cannot save themselves from death,
(3.) They cannot secure to themselves a happiness in this world,
Much less,
(4.) Can they secure to themselves a happiness in the other world,
2. He endeavours to comfort himself and other good people,
(1.) Against the fear of death,
(2.) Against the fear of the prospering power of wicked people,
In singing this psalm let us receive these instructions, and be
wise.
| A Call to Attention. | |
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To the chief musician. A psalm for the sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
world:
2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my
heart shall be of understanding.
4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark
saying upon the harp.
5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the
iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
This is the psalmist’s preface to his discourse concerning the vanity
of the world and its insufficiency to make us happy; and we seldom meet
with an introduction more solemn than this is; for there is no truth of
more undoubted certainty, nor of greater weight and importance, and the
consideration of which will be of more advantage to us.
I. He demands the attention of others to that which he was about to say
(v. 1, 2):
Hear this, all you people; hear it and heed it, hear it and
consider it; what is spoken once, hear twice. Hear and give ear,
Ps. lxii. 9, 11.
Not only, “Hear, all you Israelites, and give ear all the inhabitants
of Canaan,” but, Hear, all you people, and give ear, all you
inhabitants of the world; for this doctrine is not peculiar to
those that are blessed with divine revelation, but even the light of
nature witnesses to it. All men may know, and therefore let all men
consider, that their riches will not profit them in the day of death.
Both low and high, both rich and poor, must come
together, to hear the word of God; let both therefore hear this with
application. Let those that are high and rich in the world hear of the
vanity of their worldly possessions and not be proud of them, nor
secure in the enjoyment of them, but lay them out in doing good, that
with them they may make to themselves friends; let those that are poor
and low hear this and be content with their little, and not envy those
that have abundance. Poor people are as much in danger from an
inordinate desire towards the wealth of the world as rich people from
an inordinate delight in it. He gives a good reason why his discourse
should be regarded
(v. 3):
My mouth shall speak of wisdom; what he had to say,
1. Was true and good. It is wisdom and understanding; it will make
those wise and intelligent that receive it and submit to it. It is not
doubtful but certain, not trivial but weighty, not a matter of nice
speculation but of admirable use to guide us in the right way to our
great end.
2. It was what he had himself well digested. What his mouth spoke was
the meditation of his heart (as
it was what God put into his mind, what he had himself seriously
considered, and was fully apprized of the meaning of and convinced of
the truth of. That which ministers speak from their own hearts is most
likely to reach the hearts of their hearers.
II. He engages his own attention
(v. 4):
I will incline my ear to a parable. It is called a
parable, not because it is figurative and obscure, but because
it is a wise discourse and very instructive. It is the same word that
is used concerning Solomon’s proverbs. The psalmist will himself
incline his ear to it. This intimates,
1. That he was taught it by the Spirit of God and did not speak of
himself. Those that undertake to teach others must first learn
themselves.
2. That he thought himself nearly concerned in it, and was resolved not
to venture his own soul upon that bottom which he dissuaded others from
venturing theirs upon.
3. That he would not expect others should attend to that which he
himself did not attend to as a matter of the greatest importance. Where
God gives the tongue of the learned he first wakens the ear
to hear as the learned,
Isa. l. 4.
III. He promises to make the matter as plain and as affecting as he
could: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. What he learned
for himself he would not conceal or confine to himself, but would
communicate, for the benefit of others.
1. Some understood it not, it was a riddle to them; tell them of the
vanity of the things that are seen, and of the reality and weight of
invisible things, and they say, Ah Lord God! doth he not speak
parables? For the sake of such, he would open this dark saying, and
make it so plain that he that runs might read it.
2. Others understood it well enough, but they were not moved by it, it
never affected them, and for their sake he would open it upon the harp,
and try that expedient to work upon them, to win upon them. A verse
may find him who a sermon flies. Herbert.
IV. He begins with the application of it to himself, and that is the
right method in which to treat of divine things. We must first preach
to ourselves before we undertake to admonish or instruct others. Before
he comes to set down the folly of carnal security
(v. 6),
he here lays down, from his own experience, the benefit and comfort of
a holy gracious security, which those enjoy who trust in God, and not
in their worldly wealth: Wherefore should I fear? he means,
Wherefore should I fear their fear
the fears of worldly people.
1. “Wherefore should I be afraid of them? Wherefore should I fear in
the days of trouble and persecution, when the iniquity of my
heels, or of my supplanters that endeavour to trip up my heels,
shall compass me about, and they shall surround me with their
mischievous attempts? Why should I be afraid of those all whose power
lies in their wealth, which will not enable them to redeem their
friends? I will not fear their power, for it cannot enable them to ruin
me.” The great men of the world will not appear at all formidable when
we consider what little stead their wealth will stand them in. We need
not fear their casting us down from our excellency who cannot support
themselves in their own excellency.
2. “Wherefore should I be afraid like them?” The days of old age and
death are the days of evil,
Eccl. xii. 1.
In the day of judgment the iniquity of our heels (or of our
steps, our past sins) will compass us about, will be set in order
before us. Every work will be brought into judgment, with every
secret thing; and every one of us must give account of
himself. In these days worldly wicked people will be afraid;
nothing more dreadful to those that have set their hearts upon the
world than to think of leaving it; death to them is the king of
terrors, because, after death, comes the judgment, when their sins will
surround them as so many furies; but wherefore should a good man fear
death, who has God with him?
Ps. 23:4.
When his iniquities compass him about, he sees them all pardoned, his
conscience is purified and pacified, and then even in the judgment-day,
when the hearts of others fail them for fear, he can lift up his head
with joy,
Note, The children of God, though ever so poor, are in this truly
happy, above the most prosperous of the children of this world, that
they are well guarded against the terrors of death and the judgment to
come.
| The Vanity of Worldly Riches; The End of the Wicked. | |
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6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the
multitude of their riches;
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him:
8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it
ceaseth for ever:)
9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the
brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall
continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all
generations; they call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like
the beasts that perish.
13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve
their sayings. Selah.
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on
them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the
morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their
dwelling.
In these verses we have,
I. A description of the spirit and way of worldly people, whose portion
is in this life,
It is taken for granted that they have wealth, and a multitude of
riches
(v. 6),
houses and lands of inheritance, which they call their own,
God often gives abundance of the good things of this world to bad men
who live in contempt of him and rebellion against him, by which it
appears that they are not the best things in themselves (for then God
would give most of them to his best friends), and that they are not the
best things for us, for then those would not have so much of them who,
being marked for ruin, are to be ripened for it by their prosperity,
A man may have abundance of the wealth of this world and be made better
by it, may thereby have his heart enlarged in love, and thankfulness,
and obedience, and may do that good with it which will be fruit
abounding to his account; and therefore it is not men’s having riches
that denominates them worldly, but their setting their hearts upon them
as the best things; and so these worldly people are here described.
1. They repose a confidence in their riches: They trust in their
wealth
(v. 6);
they depend upon it as their portion and happiness, and expect that it
will secure them from all evil and supply them with all good, and that
they need nothing else, no, not God himself. Their gold is their hope
(Job xxxi. 24),
and so it becomes their God. Thus our Saviour explains the difficulty
of the salvation of rich people
(Mark x. 24):
How hard is it for those that trust in riches to enter into the
kingdom of God! See
2. They take a pride in their riches: They boast themselves in the
multitude of them, as if they were sure tokens of God’s favour and
certain proofs of their own ingenuity and industry (my might, and
the power of my hand, have gotten me this wealth), as if they made
them truly great and happy, and more really excellent than their
neighbours. They boast that they have all they would have
(Ps. x. 3)
and can set all the world at defiance (I sit as a queen, and shall
be a lady for ever); therefore they call their lands after their
own names, hoping thereby to perpetuate their memory; and, if their
lands do retain the names by which they called them, it is but a poor
honour; but they often change their names when they change their
owners.
3. They flatter themselves with an expectation of the perpetuity of
their worldly possessions
(v. 11):
Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for
ever, and with this thought they please themselves. Are not all
thoughts inward? Yes; but it intimates,
(1.) That this thought is deeply rooted in their minds, is rolled and
revolved there, and carefully lodged in the innermost recesses of their
hearts. A godly man has thoughts of the world, but they are his outward
thoughts; his inward thought is reserved for God and heavenly things:
but a worldly man has only some floating foreign thoughts of the things
of God, while his fixed thought, his inward thought, is about the
world; that lies nearest his heart, and is upon the throne there.
(2.) There it is industriously concealed. They cannot, for shame, say
that they expect their houses to continue for ever, but inwardly they
think so. If they cannot persuade themselves that they shall continue
for ever, yet they are so foolish as to think their houses
shall, and their dwelling-places; and suppose they should, what good
will that do them when they shall be no longer theirs? But they will
not; for the world passes away, and the fashion of it. All things are
devoured by the teeth of time.
II. A demonstration of their folly herein. In general
(v. 13),
This their way is their folly. Note, The way of worldliness is a
very foolish way: those that lay up their treasure on earth, and set
their affections on things below, act contrary both to right reason and
to their true interest. God himself pronounced him a fool who
thought his goods were laid up for many years, and that they would be a
portion for his soul,
And yet their posterity approve their sayings, agree with them in the
same sentiments, say as t hey say and do as they do, and tread in the
steps of their worldliness. Note, The love of the world is a disease
that runs in the blood; men have it by kind, till the grace of God
cures it. To prove the folly of carnal worldlings he shows,
1. That with all their wealth they cannot save the life of the dearest
friend they have in the world, nor purchase a reprieve for him when he
is under the arrest of death
(v. 7-9):
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, his brother
worldling, who would give counter-security out of his own estate, if he
would but be bail for him: and gladly he would, in hopes that he might
do the same kindness for him another time. But their words will not be
taken one for another, nor will one man’s estate be the ransom of
another man’s life. God does not value it; it is of no account with
him; and the true value of things is as they stand in his books. His
justice will not accept it by way of commutation or equivalent. The
Lord of our brother’s life is the Lord of our estate, and may take both
if he please, without either difficulty to himself or wrong to us; and
therefore one cannot be ransom for another. We cannot bribe death, that
our brother should still live, much less that he should live for ever,
in this world, nor bribe the grave, that he should not see corruption;
for we must needs die, and return to the dust, and there is no
discharge from that war. What folly is it to trust to that, and boast
of that, which will not enable us so much as for one hour to respite
the execution of the sentence of death upon a parent, a child, or
friend that is to us as our own soul! It is certainly true that the
redemption of the soul is precious and ceaseth for ever; that is,
life, when it is going, cannot be arrested, and when it is gone it
cannot be recalled, by any human art, or worldly price. But this looks
further, to the eternal redemption which was to be wrought out by the
Messiah, whom the Old-testament saints had an eye to as the Redeemer.
Everlasting life is a jewel of too great a value to be purchased by the
wealth of this world. We are not redeemed with corruptible things,
such as silver and gold,
1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
The learned Dr. Hammond applies the
expressly to Christ: “The redemption of the soul shall be
precious, shall be high-prized, it shall cost very dear; but, being
once wrought, it shall cease for ever, it shall never need to be
repeated,
And he (that is, the Redeemer) shall yet live for ever, and shall
not see corruption; he shall rise again before he sees corruption,
and then shall live for evermore,”
Christ did that for us which all the riches of the world could not do;
well therefore may he be dearer to us than any worldly things. Christ
did that for us which a brother, a friend, could not do for us, no, not
one of the best estate or interest; and therefore those that love
father or brother more than him are not worthy of him. This
likewise shows the folly of worldly people, who sell their souls for
that which would never buy them.
2. That with all their wealth they cannot secure themselves from the
stroke of death. The worldling sees, and it vexes him to see it, that
wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish,
v. 10.
Therefore he cannot but expect that it will, at length, come to his own
turn; he cannot find any encouragement to hope that he himself shall
continue for ever, and therefore foolishly comforts himself with this,
that, though he shall not, his house shall. Some rich people are wise,
they are politicians, but they cannot out-wit death, nor evade his
stroke, with all their art and management; others are fools and brutish
(Fortuna favet fatuis–Fools are Fortune’s favourites); these,
though they do no good, yet perhaps do no great hurt in the world: but
that shall not excuse them; they shall perish, and be taken away by
death, as well as the wise that did mischief with their craft. Or by
the wise and the foolish we may understand the godly and the wicked;
the godly die, and their death is their deliverance; the wicked perish,
and their death is their destruction; but, however, they leave their
wealth to others.
(1.) They cannot continue with it, nor will it serve to procure them a
reprieve. That is a frivolous plea, though once it served a turn
(Jer. xli. 8),
Slay us not, for we have treasures in the field.
(2.) They cannot carry it away with them, but must leave it behind
them.
(3.) They cannot foresee who will enjoy it when they have left it; they
must leave it to others, but to whom they know not, perhaps to a fool
(Eccl. ii. 19),
perhaps to an enemy.
3. That, as their wealth will stand them in no stead in a dying hour,
so neither will their honour
(v. 12):
Man, being in honour, abides not. We will suppose a man advanced
to the highest pinnacle of preferment, as great and happy as the world
can make him, man in splendour, man at his best estate, surrounded and
supported with all the advantages he can desire; yet then he abides
not. His honour does not continue; that is a fleeting shadow. He
himself does not, he tarries not all night; this world is an inn, in
which his stay is so short that he can scarcely be said to get a
night’s lodging in it; so little rest is there in these things; he has
but a baiting time. He is like the beasts that perish; that is,
he must as certainly die as the beasts, and his death will be as final
a period to his state in this world as theirs is; his dead body
likewise will putrefy as theirs does; and (as Dr. Hammond observes)
frequently the greatest honours and wealth, unjustly gotten by the
parent, descend not to any one of his posterity (as the beasts, when
they die, leave nothing behind them to their young ones, but the wide
world to feed in), but fall into other hands immediately, for which he
never designed to gather them.
4. That their condition on the other side of death will be very
miserable. The world they dote upon will not only not save them from
death, but will sink them so much the lower into hell
(v. 14):
Like sheep they are laid in the grave. Their prosperity did but
feed them like sheep for the slaughter
(Hos. iv. 16),
and then death comes, and shuts them up in the grave like fat sheep in
a fold, to be brought forth to the day of wrath,
Job xxi. 30.
Multitudes of them, like flocks of sheep dead of some disease, are
thrown into the grave, and there death shall feed on them, the second
death, the worm that dies not,
Job xxiv. 20.
Their own guilty consciences, like so many vultures, shall be
continually preying upon them, with, Son, remember,
Luke xvi. 25.
Death insults and triumphs over them, as it is represented in the fall
of the king of Babylon, at which hell from beneath is moved,
Isa. xiv. 9,
&c. While a saint can ask proud Death, Where is thy sting? Death
will ask the proud sinner, Where is thy wealth, thy pomp? and
the more he was fattened with prosperity the more sweetly will death
feed on him. And in the morning of the resurrection, when all that
sleep in the dust shall awake
(Dan. xii. 2),
the upright shall have dominion over them, shall not only be
advanced to the highest dignity and honour when they are filled with
everlasting shame and contempt, elevated to the highest heavens when
they are sunk to the lowest hell, but they shall be assessors with
Christ in passing judgment upon them, and shall applaud the justice of
God in their ruin. When the rich man in hell begged that Lazarus might
bring him a drop of water to cool his tongue he owned that that upright
man had dominion over him, as the foolish virgins also owned the
dominion of the wise, and that they lay much at their mercy, when the
begged, Give us of your oil. Let this comfort us in reference to
the oppressions which the upright are now often groaning under, and the
dominion which the wicked have over them. The day is coming when the
tables will be turned
and the upright will have the dominion. Let us now judge of things as
they will appear at that day. But what will become of all the beauty
of the wicked? Alas! that shall all be consumed in the grave from
their dwelling; all that upon which they valued themselves, and for
which others caressed and admired them, was adventitious and borrowed;
it was paint and varnish, and they will rise in their own native
deformity. The beauty of holiness is that which the grave, that
consumes all other beauty, cannot touch, or do any damage to. Their
beauty shall consume, the grave (or hell) being a habitation to every
one of them; and what beauty can be there where there is nothing but
the blackness of darkness for ever?
| Privilege of the Godly. | |
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15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for
he shall receive me. Selah.
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of
his house is increased;
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory
shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will
praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall
never see light.
20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the
beasts that perish.
Good reason is here given to good people,
I. Why they should not be afraid of death. There is no cause for that
fear if they have such a comfortable prospect as David here has of a
happy state on the other side death,
He had shown
(v. 14)
how miserable the dead are that die in their sins, where he shows how
blessed the dead are that die in the Lord. The distinction of men’s
outward condition, how great a difference soever it makes in life,
makes none at death; rich and poor meet in the grave. But the
distinction of men’s spiritual state, though, in this life, it makes a
small difference, where all things come alike to all, yet, at and after
death, it makes a very great one. Now he is comforted, and thou art
tormented. The righteous has hope in his death, so has David here
hope in God concerning his soul. Note, The believing hopes of the
soul’s redemption from the grave, and reception to glory, are the great
support and joy of the children of God in a dying hour. They hope,
I. That God will redeem their souls from the power of the grave, which
includes,
(1.) The preserving of the soul from going to the grave with the body.
The grave has a power over the body, by virtue of the sentence
(Gen. iii. 19),
and it is cruel enough in executing that power
but is has no such power over the soul. It has power to silence, and
imprison, and consume the body; but the soul then moves, and acts, and
converses, more freely than ever
it is immaterial and immortal. When death breaks the dark lantern, yet
it does not extinguish the candle that was pent up in it.
(2.) The reuniting of the soul and body at the resurrection. The soul
is often put for the life; that indeed falls under the power of the
grave for a time, but is hall, at length, be redeemed from it, when
mortality shall be swallowed up of life. The God of life, that
was its Creator at first, can and will be its Redeemer at last.
(3.) The salvation of the soul from eternal ruin: “God shall redeem
my soul from the sheol of hell
(v. 15),
the wrath to come, that pit of destruction into which the wicked shall
be cast,”
It is a great comfort to dying saints that they shall not be hurt of
the second death
(Rev. ii. 11),
and therefore the first death has no sting and the grave no
victory.
2. That he will receive them to himself. He redeems their souls, that
he may receive them.
Into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou has redeemed it. He
will receive them into his favour, will admit them into his kingdom,
into the mansions that he prepared for them
those everlasting habitations,
II. Why they should not be afraid of the prosperity and power of wicked
people in this world, which, as it is their pride and joy, has often
been the envy, and grief, and terror of the righteous, which yet, all
things considered, there is no reason for.
1. He supposes the temptation very strong to envy the prosperity of
sinners, and to be afraid that they will carry all before them with a
high hand, that with their wealth and interest they will run down
religion and religious people, and that they will be found the truly
happy people; for he supposes,
(1.) That they are made rich, and so are enabled to give law to all
about them and have every thing at command. Pecuniæ obediunt
omnes et omnia–Every person and every thing obey the commanding
influence of money.
(2.) That the glory of their house, from very small beginnings, is
increased greatly, which naturally makes men haughty, insolent, and
imperious,
Thus they seem to be the favourites of heaven, and therefore
formidable.
(3.) That they are very easy and secure in themselves and in their own
minds
(v. 18):
In his life-time he blessed his soul; that is, he thought
himself a very happy man, such a one as he would be, and a very good
man, such a one as he should be, because he prospered in the world. He
blessed his soul, as that rich fool who said to his soul, “Soul,
take thy ease, and be not disturbed either with cares and fears
about the world or with the rebukes and admonitions of conscience. All
is well, and will be well for ever.” Note,
[1.] It is of great consequence to consider what that is in which we
bless our souls, upon the score of which we think well of ourselves.
Believers bless themselves in the God of truth
and think themselves happy if he be theirs; carnal people bless
themselves in the wealth of the world, and think themselves happy if
they have abundance of that.
[2.] There are many whose precious souls lie under God’s curse, and yet
they do themselves bless them; they applaud that in themselves which
God condemns, and speak peace to themselves when God denounces war
against them. Yet this is not all.
(4.) They are in good reputation among their neighbours: “Men will
praise thee, and cry thee up, as having done well for thyself in
raising such an estate and family.” This is the sentiment of all the
children of this world, that those do best for themselves that do most
for their bodies, by heaping up riches, though, at the same time,
nothing is done for the soul, nothing for eternity; and accordingly
they bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhors,
Ps. x. 3.
If men were to be our judges, it were our wisdom thus to recommend
ourselves to their good opinion: but what will it avail us to be
approved of men if God condemn us? Dr. Hammond understands this of the
good man here spoken to, for it is the second person, not of the wicked
man spoken of: “He, in his life-time, blessed his soul, but thou
shalt be praised for doing well unto thyself. The worldling
magnified himself; but thou that dost not, like him, speak well of
thyself, but do well for thyself, in securing thy eternal welfare, thou
shalt be praised, if not of men, yet of God, which will be thy
everlasting honour.”
2. He suggests that which is sufficient to take off the strength of the
temptation, by directing us to look forward to the end of prosperous
sinners
“Think what they will be in the other world, and you will see no cause
to envy them what they are and have in this world.”
(1.) In the other world they will be never the better for all the
wealth and prosperity they are now so fond of. It is a miserable
portion, which will not last so long as they must
(v. 17):
When he dies it is taken for granted that he goes into another
world himself, but he shall carry nothing away with him of all
that which he has been so long heaping up. The greatest and wealthiest
cannot therefore be the happiest, because they are never the better for
their living in this world; as they came naked into it, they shall go
naked out of it. But those have something to show in the other world
for their living in this world who can say, through grace, that though
they came corrupt, and sinful, and spiritually naked, into it, they go
renewed, and sanctified, and well clothed with the righteousness of
Christ, out of it. Those that are rich in the graces and comforts of
the Spirit have something which, when they die, they shall carry away
with them, something which death cannot strip them of, nay, which death
will be the improvement of; but, as for worldly possessions, as we
brought nothing into the world (what we have we had from
others), so it is certain that we shall carry nothing out, but leave it
to others,
They shall descend, but their glory, that which they called and
counted their glory, and gloried in, shall not descend after
them to lessen the disgrace of death and the grave, to bring them
off in the judgment, or abate the torments of hell. Grace is glory that
will ascend with us, but no earthly glory will descend after us.
(2.) In the other world they will be infinitely the worse for all their
abuses of the wealth and prosperity they enjoyed in this world
(v. 19):
The soul shall go to the generation of his fathers, his worldly
wicked fathers, whose sayings he approved and whose steps he trod in,
his fathers who would not hearken to the word of God,
He shall go to be there where they are that shall never see light,
shall never have the least glimpse of comfort and joy, being condemned
to utter darkness. Be not afraid then of the pomp and power of wicked
people; for the end of the man that is in honour, if he be not wise and
good, will be miserable; if he understand not, he is to be pitied
rather than envied. A fool, a wicked man, in honour, is really as
despicable an animal as any under the sun; he is like the beasts
that perish
(v. 20);
nay, it is better to be a beast than to be a man that makes himself
like a beast. Men in honour that understand, that know and do their
duty and make conscience of it, are as gods, and children of the Most
High. But men in honour that understand not, that are proud, and
sensual, and oppressive, are as beasts, and they shall perish, like the
beasts, ingloriously as to this world, though not, like the beasts,
indemnified as to another world. Let prosperous sinners therefore be
afraid for themselves, but let not even suffering saints be afraid of
them.
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