'The desire of the righteous is only good.'—Proverbs 11:23
'The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.'—Proverbs 10:24
This book of the Proverbs is so called because it is such as containeth hard, dark, and pithy sentences of wisdom, by which is taught unto young men knowledge and discretion (1-6). Wherefore this book is not such as discloseth truths by words antecedent or after the text, so as other scriptures generally do, but has its texts or sentences more independent; for usually each verse standeth upon its own bottom, and presenteth by itself some singular thing to the consideration of the reader; so that I shall not need to bid my reader go back to what went before, nor yet to that which follows, for the better opening of the text; and shall therefore come immediately to the words, and search into them for what hidden treasures are contained therein.
[First.] The words then, in the first place, present us with the general condition of the whole world; for all men are ranked under one of these conditions, the wicked or the righteous; for he that is not wicked is righteous, and he that is not righteous is wicked. So again, 'Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous, spoil not his resting-place.' I might give you out of this book many such instances, for it flows with such; but the truth hereof is plain enough.
The world is also divided by other general terms, as by these—believers, unbelievers; saints, sinners; good, bad; children of God, and children of the wicked one, &c. These, I say, are general terms, and comprehend not this or that sect, or order of each, but the whole. The believer, saint, good, and child of God, are one—to wit, the righteous; the unbeliever, the sinner, the bad, and the child of the devil, is one—to wit, the wicked; as also the text expresses it. So that I say, the text, or these two terms in it, comprehend all men; the one all that shall be saved, the other all that shall be damned for ever in hell-fire (Psa 9:17, 11:6). The wicked; who is he but the man that loves not God, nor to do his will? The righteous; who is he but the man that loveth God, and his holy will, to do it?
Of the wicked there are several sorts, some more ignorant, some more knowing; the more ignorant of them are such as go to be executed, as the ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; that is, as creatures whose ignorance makes them as unconcerned, while they are going down the stairs to hell. But, alas! their ignorance will be no plea for them before the bar of God; for it is written, 'It is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour' (Isa 27:11; Prov 7:22).
Though, I must confess, the more knowing the wicked is, or the more light and goodness such a one sins against, the greater will his judgment be; these shall have greater damnation: it shall be more tolerable at the judgment for Sodom than for them (Luke 10:12, 20:47). There is a wicked man that goes blinded, and a wicked man that goes with his eyes open to hell; there is a wicked man that cannot see, and a wicked man that will not see the danger he is in; but hell-fire will open both their eyes (Luke 16:23). There are that are wicked, and cover all with a cloak of religion, and there are that proclaim their profaneness; but they will meet both in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; 'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God' (Psa 9:17).
There are also several sorts, if I may so express myself, of those that are truly righteous, as children, young men, fathers, or saints that fear God, both small and great (Rev 11:18; 1 John 2). Some have more grace than some, and some do better improve the grace they have than others of their brethren do; some also are more valiant for the truth upon the earth than others of their brethren are; yea, some are so swallowed up with God, and love to his word and ways, that they are fit to be a pattern or example in holiness to all that are about them; and some again have their light shining so dim, that they render themselves suspicious to their brethren, whether they are of the number of those that have grace or no. But being gracious they shall not be lost, although such will at the day of reward suffer loss; for this is the will of the Father that sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, 'That of all which he had given him he should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day' (John 6:37-39; 1 Cor 3:15).
[Second.] In the next place, we are presented with some of the qualities of the wicked and the righteous; the wicked has his fears, the righteous has his desires. The wicked has his fears. 'The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.' Indeed, it seems to the godly that the wicked feareth not, nor doth he after a godly sort; for he that feareth God aright must not be reputed a wicked man. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, declareth that he feareth not God aright, because he doth not graciously call upon him; but yet for all that, the wicked at times are haunted, sorely haunted, and that with the worst of fears. 'Terrors,' says Bildad, 'shall make him afraid on every side.' And again, 'His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors' (Job 18:11-14).
A wicked man, though he may hector it at times with his proud heart, as though he feared neither God nor hell, yet again, at times, his soul is even drowned with terrors. 'The morning is to them even as the shadow of death; if one knew them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death' (Job 24:14-17). At times, I say, it is thus with them, especially when they are under warm convictions that the day of judgment is at hand, or when they feel in themselves as if death was coming as a tempest, to steal them away from their enjoyments, and lusts, and delights; then the bed shakes on which they lie, then the proud tongue doth falter in their mouth, and their knees knock one against another; then their conscience stares, and roars, and tears, and arraigns them before God's judgment-seat, or threatens to follow them down to hell, and there to wreck its fury on them, for all the abuses and affronts this wicked wretch offered to it in the day in which it controlled his unlawful deeds. O! none can imagine what fearful plights a wicked man is in sometimes; though God in his just judgment towards them suffers them again and again to stifle and choke such awakenings, from a purpose to reserve them unto the day of judgment to be punished (2 Peter 2:7-9).
