Accomplices in Sin

Accomplices in Sin

(No. 3055)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1907.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
30, 1873.

"Neither be partaker of other men's sins." 1 Timothy 5:22.

WE have all abundant reason to look at home and see about our own sins.
Nothing can be more absurd than for a man to take his hoe and weed
everybody else's garden–and leave all the thorns and thistles to
flourish on his own plot. The old parable of the man who carried two
bags, one behind and one in front, and who put other people's faults
into the one in front, and his own into the one at his back, is a very
correct representation of the folly of those who have their eyes wide
open to see the faults of their neighbors, but are totally blind to
their own imperfections. If, as our proverb puts it, "Charity begins at
home," so should criticism–and criticism concerning character had
better stop there. There is so much dirty linen in our own house
needing to be washed that none of us need to take in our neighbor's
washing. "Mind your own business," is a command that might have been
spoken by Solomon, himself, and the Apostle Paul was inspired to write
to the Thessalonians, "Study to be quiet and to do your own business."
And he and Peter very sternly condemned those who were "busybodies in
other men's matters."

So it is not my intention to bid any of you to cease to look to your
own affairs, but at the same time, I want to remind you that we cannot,
in this world, live altogether to ourselves. He who is most bent upon
minding his own business cannot help knowing that his next door
neighbor has something to do with his garden. Even if he looks
diligently after his own plot, thistle seeds from the left and the
right may blow over into his garden and trouble will come to him from
the very fact that he has neighbors! Our dwelling places in this life
are not all detached–many of us have to live on streets and if our
neighbor's house is on fire, it is not at all unlikely that the flames
may spread to our dwelling. Let us never be so concerned about our own
interest as to be selfish, for even if we try to be wholly wrapped up
in ourselves, we shall be compelled to notice the actions of others
with whom we are more or less intimately linked– whether we wish to do
so, or not. Hence, the message of the text is necessary, not to take us
away from our own duty, but to help us to make sure that we are not
"partakers of other men's sins."

The connection in which this text stands must be noticed. Timothy was
exhorted by Paul to "lay hands suddenly on no man." There were certain
upstarts who wrongly thought that they could preach–and there were
others who thought that they could rule in the churches. These persons
probably gained a few or many partisans to support their claims. There
were some of their relatives in the church who thought a great deal of
their sons, or brothers, or uncles, or cousins, or there were friends
who heard some man speak on a certain occasion with considerable
fluency and, being unwise, they judged him to be man of master-mind and
would have put him into the front rank of the army at once if the power
to do so had rested with them! Paul tells Timothy, whom he had sent to
exercise a general oversight over the officers and members of the
church, not to be in a hurry to lay his hands upon these men, so as to
endorse their claim, but to let them wait awhile until they were tried
and tested–because if he allowed them to take office in the church and
they committed faults or follies, he would be responsible for them and
everybody would say, "We wonder that Timothy should have sent out such
men as these." So he was bid to be cautious lest he should become, in
any way, "a partaker of other men's sins." None of us are exactly in
Timothy's position so we are not likely to fall into the fault against
which Paul warned him– at least not in precisely the same form. Yet
the text has a message to us and we may say to one another, "Be not
partakers of other men's sins."

I. I shall first try to show you HOW WE CAN BE PARTAKERS OF OTHER MEN'S
SINS and, in doing that, I am afraid that the various ways in which we
can do this will seem to be very many. And that if I am not very
careful, you will think that my sermon is like Ezekiel's valley of
vision in which the bones were "very many" and "very dry." I will not
be more wordy than I can help, but at the same time I must deal with
the subject somewhat in detail.

As to how we can become accomplices in other people's sins–the
preacher must first say to himself that he will be such a man if he is
not true to his trust If he shall teach false Doctrine, or if, teaching
the true Doctrines, he shall teach them erroneously–if he shall keep
back unpalatable Truths of God–if he shall allow sin to pass without
reproof–if he shall see a great deficiency of spiritual life and
service and not point it out–if, in brief, he shall be an unfaithful
servant of Christ and his hearers shall thereby be kept in a low state
of Divine Grace, inconsistent with their profession–and the
unconverted shall be hindered from coming to Christ, he will become a
partaker in other men's sins. Indeed, I know of no man who is more
likely to fall into the fault indicated in the text than a minister of
the Gospel is! Oh, what Grace we need and what help from on high lest
if we fail in faithfulness to God and our hearers, the doom of souls
should be laid at our door and we should be partakers of other men's
sins! Brothers and Sisters, pray for us that this may not be our
unhappy lot–

"'Tis not a cause of small import The pastor's care demands, But what
might fill an angel's heart And filled a Saviors hands! They watch for
souls for which the Lord Did heavenly bliss forego, For souls which
must forever live In raptures or in woe. May they that Jesus, whom they
preach, Their own Redeemer see– And watch YOU daily over their souls,
That they may watch for THEE." That piece is especially intended for
myself and my Brother ministers. The rest of my discourse will be for
you as well as myself. So next I must remind you that we can, all of
us, be partakers of other men's sins by willfully joining with them in
any act of sin and doing as they do–like those sinners mentioned by
Solomon in the Book of Proverbs, who said, "Cast in your lot among us;
let us all have one purse." We must have nothing to do with such men!
God forbid that we should! If we sin alone, it is bad enough, but if we
sin in company, we have not only to answer for our own sins, but also
for the sins of others, at least in part. If hand joins with hand in
sin, there is a multiplication of its guilt, for each man who has
helped to lead a fellow creature into iniquity will have his own
transgression increased by the transgression of that other sinner. By
their combination, the two will become capable of even greater guilt
than they would have committed individually. God save us all from being
accomplices in the sins of others by uniting with them in their sinful
acts and deeds!

Further, we may be partakers in other men's sins by tempting them to
sin. This is a most hateful thing and makes the man who practices it to
become the devil's most devoted drudge, servant and slave. I have known
such tempters of others–old men who, from their youth up, had sinned
in such a shameful way that their very looks were full of lechery.
There was a leer about their eyes that was almost enough to destroy all
chastity that came beneath their glance. And their speech was full of
the double entendre, insinuations and innuendoes which were almost
worse than open profanity. I have known one such walking mass of
putrefaction defile a whole parish–and when I have seen a boy walking
with such a demon incarnate, or sitting down with him in the
public-house, I knew that the boy's character would be ruined if that
vile doctor in devilry could only instruct him in the vices with which
he is, himself, so shamefully familiar. There are such fiends in London
and we could almost wish to have them all buried straightaway, for they
are Satan's servants spreading wickedness all around them! I do not
suppose I am addressing one such dreadful creature, yet I know that
some great sinners of that sort do come within these walls and they
will, of course, be very angry because of my allusion to them. Yet I
never knew a thief who was fond of a policemen and I do not expect or
wish to secure the approval of scoundrels whose evil character I am
exposing. If, Sir, I have described you and you will not repent of your
sin, I tell you that the hottest

place in Hell is reserved for you, for you have led young men to the
alehouse and taught them to drink the devil's drugs and to repeat your
foul blasphemies and to imitate your scandalous lasciviousness! Yet
before it is too late, I beseech you to repent of your sin, that it may
be blotted out by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which
cleanses from all sin! But if not, "other men's sins" will cry out
against you for judgment at the bar of the Almighty! I solemnly charge
all of you who have not committed this iniquity, to never do so–take
care that you never say a word which might stain the innocence of a
child's mind and that you never let fall an expression which might, in
any way, be the means of leading another person into sin–for it is an
easy thing for us to become partakers of other men's sins by tempting
them to commit iniquity.

If there is any evil worse than that, I think it is that of employing
others to sin. It was one of the basest parts of David's great sin that
when he wanted to have Uriah killed, he did not slay him, himself, but
got Joab to expose him in a position where he was certain to be killed.
It is horrible when a man is determined to be dishonest, yet gets
someone else to commit the sin for him! It is a shameful thing that
there are professedly "religious" employers who try to get their young
men to say across the counter what they know is not according to truth.
Are there not some of these so-called "Christian" employers who want
young men who are not "too particular"? Do I not hear, every now and
then, of young men who have been found to be too scrupulous and who
have been told that they had better get situations somewhere else? They
objected to describe the goods as their employer wanted them to do
because they knew it would be a lie. They were told, "It is the custom
in the trade and, therefore, must be so here." That is to say because
other persons were liars and cheats, these young men must be
knaves–and their master must make money by their lying to his
customers! Now, if I meant to thieve or deceive, I would do it
myself–I would not employ young men and women, or old ones either, to
lie and cheat for me! If any of you have done so, I pray God that He
may lead you to repent of such abominable wickedness, for the sin is
not one-half theirs and the other half yours–it is partly theirs, but
it is far more yours if they are doing wrong at your bidding! God save
us all from being "partakers of other men's sins" in that way!

Some commit this great crime by driving other men into sin by the fears
which they have inspired, or by oppressing them in their wages, or by
setting them to do what must involve them in sin. I remember the case
of a man who was employed where it was well known that some of the
parcels which he collected on his way and carried to their destination
would never be booked by him, but the price paid for the carriage would
be secretly dropped into his own pocket. The man's wages were so small
that nobody, unless an idiot, ever believed that he lived on them, so,
tacitly, the understanding was that the man would be sure to pilfer on
his own account, so his wages were cut down below the point at which he
could earn an honest living. I fear that there are many men who are
dishonest for this reason–I will not excuse them, but I hope that if
they are ever sent to prison for stealing, their masters will be sent
with them, for they are equally guilty!

Yet again, we may become partakers of the sins of others by a misuse of
our position over them. This is especially the case with parents. When
a father is a man of loose habits, if his son follows his evil example,
who is to blame? If a drunken father sees his child become a drunkard,
whose fault is it? If he is a swearer and his son uses profane
language, who taught the boy those oaths? Is not the guilt of that
swearing largely the father's? "Oh!" some of you say, "we would not
teach our children either drunkenness or profanity." Yet you are not,
yourselves, Christians–you may be moral and truthful, and so on, but
you are not Christians. And if your children are not converted, will
they not say, "Our father was never converted, so why should we be?"
"But we always take them to a place of worship." I know you do. And
your children say, "Father goes to a place of worship, but he does not
believe in Christ and he never prays." So if they grow up in the same
way, who is to blame? You say that you trust they will not do so–then
ask the Lord to make you a Christian, for then it will be more likely
that your children will also be Christians. When you blame your
children for wrongdoing, you ought to blame yourselves even more, for
after all, what are they doing but what you yourself are doing?

Plato, the philosopher, one day saw a boy in the street behaving in a
very shameful manner, so he walked straight into the house where the
boy's father lived and began to beat him. When he said to Plato, "Why
do you beat me?" the philosopher replied, "I found your boy doing
wrong. I did not beat him, but I beat you, for he must have learned it
from you, or else it was your fault because you did not exercise proper
discipline upon him at home." Have you never felt, when you have seen
the faults of your own children, that you ought to lay the rod on your
own back because, in some way or other, you were an accomplice in your
children's sins? How much of the ruin of many children's souls lies at
their Volume 53 www.spurgeongems.org 3

parents' door! How sad it is that in many cases the influence of the
mother and father is damning to their children! Men and women who have
boys and girls at home who are very dear to you–can you bear the
thought that you may, one day, have to say, "Our unchristian example
has ruined our own children"?

"Oh, but we are members of the Church," say some. Yes, I know you are,
yet I speak to you as well as to others, for there are some of you who
are bringing up your children in an improper manner. I do not see how
they can be expected to love religion when they see your own household
ordered so badly, or not ordered at all. The professor of religion who
does not live consistently with his profession does more injury to the
cause of Christ than a non-professor does! There are some who hang out
the sign of, "The Angel," but the devil keeps the inn! Someone has
truly said that many a man's house is like Noah's ark in that it is
pitched within and without with pitch. There is pitch in the
dining-room–gluttony and drunkenness. And pitch in the
bed-chamber–lasciviousness and wantonness. Pitch in the
drawing-room–talk which is not even fit for the stables. And pitch in
the shop, for much that is "dirty" goes on there. How can anyone expect
good children to come out of such a house as that? May none of us, like
Eli, be accomplices in our children's sins through neglecting to rebuke
them, or like David, through our evil example leading them into sin! On
the contrary, let us pray for them, as Abraham cried to the Lord, "O
that Ishmael might live before You!" I like to present to God the
petitions and pleas which are so well worded in that hymn in "Our Own
Hymn Book" which is attributed to Rowland Hill–

"You, who a tender Parent are,

Regard a parent's plea–

Our offspring, with an anxious heart,

We now commend to Thee.

Our children are our greatest care,

A charge which You have given–

In all Your Graces let them share,

And all the joys of Heaven.

If a centurion could succeed,

Who for his servant cried,

Will You refuse to hear us plead

For those so near allied?

On us You have bestowed Your Grace,

Be to our children kind–

Among Your saints give them a place,

And leave not one behind."

The injunction of the text of course applies, in a measure, to the
teacher of a class as well as to the parent of a family. If the teacher
is inconsistent and his scholars imitate him, the guilt of their
wrong-doing will, at least in part, rest upon the teacher. The same
principle applies to all persons who are in positions of influence in
the land. If I were preaching to the House of Commons and the House of
Lords, I would probably have to say some things which they would not
wish to hear again. Certain "honorable gentlemen" and "noble lords"
talk very glibly about the necessity for the nation to be religious,
yet their lives are not remarkably religious, so their talk is all
hypocritical and great sin lies at their door! God will certainly
punish princes and so-called "nobles" if their example is not such as
the common people can safely follow.

But even though we may not be of royal or exalted rank, all of us will
become "partakers of other men's sins" if we set them bad examples. If
they can quote us as having done certain wrong things which they have
imitated, we must share in the guilt of their sin. Yet it is always a
bad thing to follow a bad example. If I see anyone's example to be bad,
it ought not to be a temptation to me–and I am a partaker of that
man's sins if, knowing that he has done amiss–I also do amiss simply
because he has done so first. If I know that his course is wrong, I
ought to shun the rock on which his boat has been wrecked.

We can also be "partakers of other men's sins" by countenancing them
and there are many ways in which that may be done–for instance, by
associating with ungodly men as though we did not think there was much
harm in them. And worst of all, by laughing at and with them when their
mirth is not pure fun. I fear that many a wicked man has been hardened
in his sin because a professing Christian has laughed at his filthy
jests.

We may also be "partakers of other men's sins" by joining a church that
holds unscriptural doctrines, or that does not act according to
Apostolic precedent Some people say, "We belong to such-and-such a
church, but we don't approve

of its teaching or its practice." What? You belong to it and yet you do
not approve of its principles? Out of your own mouth you are condemned!
If I unite with a church whose creed and catechism I do not believe,
and whose ordinances I do not practice, I am guilty of my own share in
all the error that is there! It is no use for me to say, "I am trying
to undo the mischief"–I have no business to be there! If I join a
pirate's crew, I shall be responsible for all that is done by the whole
crew. I have no business to be on that vessel at all and I must get off
it at the first opportunity, or even fling myself into the sea rather
than have a share in the pirates' wrongdoing!

But supposing you have joined a church whose doctrines are Scriptural,
you may be "partakers of other men's sins" if the discipline of the
church is not carried out as it should be. If we know that members are
living in gross sin and do not deal with them either by way of censure
or excommunication in accordance with the teaching of Christ and His
Apostles, we become accomplices in their sin. I often tremble about
this matter, for it is no easy task where we count our members by the
thousands. But may we never wink at sin, either in ourselves or in
others! May you all, Beloved, exercise a jealous oversight over one
another and so help to keep one another right! And let each one pray
Charles Wesley's prayer which we have often sung–

"Quick as the apple of an eye,

God, my conscience make! Awake, my Soul, when sin is near, And keep it
still awake."

Further, we may be "partakers of other men's sins" by not rebuking them
for sinning if it is our duty to do so, or by not doing all we can
towards their conversion. For instance, by living in a certain
neighborhood and never trying to bring the Gospel to the people in that
neighborhood, or by not maintaining our consistent Christian walk as
the separated people of God. In brief, let each one sing, from the
heart, the rest of that hymn from which I began to quote just now–

"I need a principle within Of jealous godly fear. A sensibility of sin,
A pain to feel it near!

1 need the first approach to feel Of pride, or fond desire

To catch the wandering of my will,

And quench the kindling fire.

That I from You no more may part,

No more Your goodness grieve–

The filial awe, the fleshy heart,

The tender conscience give.

If to the right or left I stray,

That moment, Lord, reprove

And let me weep my life away,

For having grieved Your love.

Oh may the least omission pain

My well-instructed soul

And drive me to the blood again,

Which makes the wounded whole!" II. I must not say more upon this part
of the subject lest I should weary you. So I pass on to ask, in the
second place, WHY SHOULD WE SEEK TO AVOID BEING PARTAKERS OF OTHER
MEN'S SINS?

This will be a sufficient answer–Because we have more than enough sins
of our own and cannot also carry other people's. And also because if we
are partakers in their sins, we shall also partake in their plagues.
And because we do other men an injury by being accomplices with
them–we steel and harden them in their sins. The weightiest reason of
all is this–we should not be "partakers of other men's sins" because,
by so doing, we should grieve our holy and gracious God–and no true
lover of Christ ought ever to do that! Remember what Paul wrote to the
saints at Ephesus, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are
sealed unto the day of redemption."

III. My next question is–HOW CAN WE AVOID BEING PARTAKERS IN OTHER
MEN'S SINS?

And I reply–Only by the help of God's Spirit! First, be very jealous
about other men's sins. I wish all parents acted as wisely as Job did
concerning his children. They went to one another's houses and feasted,
so Job "rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings
according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my
sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." O parents, do
likewise, for that is the way to keep yourselves from participation in
your children's sins!

Next to being thus jealous with a holy jealousy, be always on the watch
lest you should be "partakers in other men's sins. "The man who wants
to avoid certain diseases will take care not to go to an infected
house. So, go not where sinners go, lest you should catch the infection
of their sin. Remember how careful Abraham was not to take anything
from the King of Sodom, "from a thread even to a shoelace," even though
it was his lawful share of the spoils of war. Be you equally careful
concerning even the least sin.

The next way to keep from being an accomplice in sin is by prayer.
Augustine used to offer a short prayer which I commend to you all, "O
Lord, save me from my other men's sins!" Put this down among your other
confessions, "O Lord, I confess unto you my other men's sins! I mourn
over my other men's sins, I repent of my other men's sins, I grieve on
account of my participation in other men's sins." This will be a good
way of keeping from committing them.

I think I had better close by saying that I do not think we have, any
of us, escaped from the meshes of this sermon. If we have done so, it
is either my fault or the fault of our own consciences. I have tried to
fire red-hot shot in all directions, not omitting myself–and most of
us have felt that there was a shot specially meant for us. What had we
better do then? I will call to your minds a verse which we often sing
and which we will again sing almost immediately–

"There is a Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins–
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains!"

We are all stained with at least splashes from other men's sins as well
as our own, so let us all go to the Fountain and wash. Let us renew our
faith in the precious blood of Jesus, for if we never had any faith in
it before, may God graciously grant it to us now! If we had rebelled
against the Queen and had been at last subdued by force–and if there
had been an Act of Oblivion passed for all who wished to claim an
interest in it–perhaps some would say to themselves, "We do not know
that we took any great part in the rebellion, yet it may be that we
did–and the safest thing for us all to do is to put down our names and
so secure the benefit of the Act of Oblivion." So I, as one of the
guilty ones, confessing that it is so, desire to say to the great King,
"My Lord, I am guilty of sins of my own, sins of my children, sins of
my servants, sins of my neighbors, sins of my Church and sins of my
congregation–but You have said, 'I, even I, am He that blots out your
transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember your sins.' You
have promised to blot out all sin from those who believe in Jesus
Christ, Your Son. Lord, I believe in Him, so I claim the benefit of
that Act of Oblivion."

Dear Hearer, will not you say the same? Will you not now obey that
Divine command, "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the
earth"? Though you have gone to the ends of the earth, yet God says to
you, "Look unto Me, and be you saved." Look! Look! LOOK! It is little
that you have to do! Indeed, it is nothing that you have to do, for God
gives you Grace to do all that He requires of you. So trust in Him,
rest in Him–the Lord help you to do so and then, whatever your sins
may have been, though they may have been "as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow." Though they may have been "red like crimson, they shall
be as wool." God bless you and save you, for His name's sake! Amen. Now
let us all sing the verse that I quoted just now–

"There is a Fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel's veins–

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains"– and let all who can sing it from the
heart join in the well-known chorus–

"Ido believe, I will believe,

That Jesus died for me!

That, on the Cross, He shed His blood

From sin to set me free!"

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 73.

You may have noticed that the 73rd Psalm and the 37th Psalm are on the
same subject. It will help you to recall this fact if you remember that
the figures are the same, only reversed.

Verse 1. Truly God is good to Israel Settle that matter in your hearts.
Whatever doubts may distress or disturb your mind, fix this point as
certain– "Truly God is good to Israel."

I, 2. Even to such as are of a clean heart But as for me, my feet were
almost gone; my steps had well near slipped.He was a good man, one of
the leaders in Israel, yet he had to make this confession, "My feet
were almost gone; my steps had well near slipped."

3, 4. For I was envious at the foolish, when Isaw the prosperity of the
wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is
firm. Many of them have so stifled conscience that it does not trouble
them even in that last dread hour–and they pass into eternity with
blinded eyes, self-deluded to the last.

5. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like
other men. They are not the children of God– and that is why they
escape the rod of God. The rod is not for strangers, but for the
children of the family. Yet the Psalmist began to envy these people
because, said he, "they are not in trouble as other men; neither are
they plagued like other men."

6. Therefore pride compasses them about as a chain. They wear it gladly
and think it to be an ornament.

6-9. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with
fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and
speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens.As though they would blow them down, as
the wind blows the clouds that are full of rain.

9. And their tongue walks through the earth. Like the ravening lion of
the pit, seeking characters that they may destroy or devour. There is
no end to the mischief that such people can do. If they are not in
trouble, they make much trouble for other people and while they set
themselves on so high a pinnacle, they are mean enough to slander the
characters of the good.

10. Therefore his people return here: and waters of a full cup are
wrung out to them. They have to drink of the bitter cup again and
again–it seems to them to be always full. And the wicked have their
full cup–filled, as it seems, with the juice from the very finest
fruit!

II. And they say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most
High?They admit that there is a God, but they ask, "What does He know,
and how does He know?"

12-14. Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they
increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed
my hands in innocence. For all day long have I been plagued, and
chastened every morning. It was one of his greatest sorrows that the
more holy he was, the more troubled he seemed to be–and the more
closely he endeavored to follow his God, the more it seemed as if God
only frowned upon him. Yet the Psalmist's was no exceptional case, of
which there is only one in all history–there have been many such and
there are many such to this day!

15. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the
generation of your children. You know that some people have made up a
kind of proverb like this, "If you think it, you may as well speak it."
But it is not so. Bad thoughts should never be spoken! If a man has a
bottle of whisky in his house, or in his pocket, that is bad enough,
but if the cork is never taken out, it will do no very great hurt to
anybody. So if a man has evil thoughts but does not utter them, the
mischief will not be so great as if he were to make them known to
others.

16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. He could
not bear the thought of offending God's children, but at the same time,
the problem itself, concerning the righteous and the wicked, until he
could solve it, was too painful for him.

17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God. When he went into God's
holy place–when he began to understand God's purposes and plans and
looked beyond the present life into the dreadful future of the ungodly,
he could say.

17. Then I understood their end. And understanding their end, his
difficulty ceased, his puzzling problem was solved!

18. Surely You did set them in slippery places. As if they stood upon a
ridge of ice from which they must slip down–who wishes to be lifted up
upon an Alp of prosperity from which he may be dashed down at any
moment? If you knew that there was a man standing on the top of the
Cross of St. Paul's at this moment, I do not suppose that any of you
would envy him–certainly I would not. Let him have a patent for
standing there and let nobody else ever attempt it. And an ungodly man,
in the elevated places of prosperity, is in such a perilous position
that we need not envy him.

18. You cast them down into destruction. Down they go! If not in this
life, yet in the next, and who will envy them

then?

19, 20. How they are brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are
utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, O Lord,
when You awake, You shall despise their image. When a man wakes up, the
image that was before his mind, in his dream, is gone. And when God
wakes up to judgment, these wicked men who were but as images in a
night dream, shall pass away.

21. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. In the
most tender and most vital parts of his being, he felt an inward and
terrible pain.

22. So foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast before You. Judging
as the beast judges that can only see the little grass around itself,
and fattens itself, knowing nothing of the shambles and of the
butcher's knife that is being sharpened to kill it there. "So," says
the Psalmist, "I was like that, I forgot about the future, I did not
judge as an immortal being should judge concerning the infinite and the
eternal, but I judged things as a beast might judge by the narrow
compass of its little grazing ground.

23. Nevertheless.This phrase is most delightful, coming in connection
with his previous confession, "I was as a beast before you.
Nevertheless."

23. I am continually with You: You have held me by my right hand. That
is your portion also, Christian! However few your pounds, however short
your supplies, you are continually with God and He holds you by your
right hand. Will you envy the ungodly after that?

24. You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to
Glory. There is where your chief possession lies, locked up in that
which is marked, "Afterward." Not today, possibly not tomorrow, but,
"afterward," is your inheritance! "Afterward You will receive me to
Glory."

25. Whom have I in Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I
desire beside You. Here is the Christian's heavenly and earthly portion
and treasure. He has his God, both here and hereafter–and this is
better than all that can fall to the lot of the worldling!

26. 27. My flesh and my heart fails; but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever For, lo, they that are far from You
shallperish: You have destroyed all them that go a whoring from You.
That is, setting their hearts on unlovely things and forgetting to love
God.

28. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in
the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works.The Psalm ends
jubilantly, as it began, though part of it had been in a minor key.