Psalms 73:4-14

He here draws the outlines of the prosperity of the wicked: they have all carnal enjoyments, the good things brought forth by the sun, and the precious things put forth by the moon: they have plenty of corn, and wine, and oil; they chant to the sound of the organ; they send forth their little ones to the dance, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Nay, what appeared to the prophet's view as still more astonishing, they seemed for the most part to die in peace; no bands, no pangs, no difficulties in their death: and though strangers to Christ, strangers to God's covenant love in him, strangers to the new-birth, and all the work of God the Spirit on their hearts; they died as much at ease as if all the promises of salvation were their own. This view puzzled and perplexed the prophet's mind, and for awhile he was at a loss to explain it. Reader! do the same things appear in the world now? Oh yes! Every day's experience demonstrates such things, and to an enlightened eye they carry their own reasoning and confirmation with them. What a striking picture hath Job drawn of such in his days: but after he hath drawn it to the life, and sketched their features to a nicety, he gives the finishing stroke when he describes them, after spending their days in wealth, as in a moment going down to the grave! Job 21:7. See also the prophet's representation of the same, Amos 6:3. When you have paid due attention to these scriptures, turn to the gospel, and read some of the unequalled words of Jesus and his apostles on the same subject; and if God the Holy Ghost be your teacher, you will rise to a degree of enjoyment unknown to all such worldly characters. Indeed, that one passage alone of Christ is a volume in point, John 14:18. To this subjoin the apostle's account of God's people, Hebrews 11:33, to the end.