The apostle instanceth in another discovery of the wicked
abuse of their riches, and that is sensual or delicate living, In matter of
charity, or giving the poor their due, they were sparing and tenacious enough,
but did easily and largely lavish out their substance upon pleasures and the
gratifications of the flesh; like that epicure in the gospel, that fared
deliciously every day, but denied a crumb to Lazarus the beggar, Luke xvi. 19.
Thus lusts, though they dispute every inch with grace, do easily give way to
succeeding corruptions.
Ye have lived in pleasure. - The word
signifieth indulging the delicacies and delights of the senses, in meats,
drinks, and apparel.
Obs. 1. A sin very natural to us. There were but two
common parents of all mankind, Adam the protoplast, and Noah the restorer, and
both miscarried by appetite; the one fell by eating, and the other by drinking.
We had need be careful. Christ saith, 'Take heed of surfeiting and drunkenness'
to his own disciples, Luke xxi. 34.
Obs. 2. The sin is natural to all, but
chiefly incident to the rich. There is, I confess, a difference in tempers;
wealth maketh some covetous, and others prodigal, but the usual sin in the rich
is luxury. Pride, idleness, and fulness of bread were the sins of Sodom, and
they are usually found in great men's houses; they should be the more wary.
Obs. 3. Though delicate living be a sin incident to wealthy men, yet their
abundance doth not excuse it. It is charged upon the rich man in the Gospel
that he fared deliciously every day, Luke xvi. God gave wealth for another
purpose than to spend it in pleasures. It is prodigious in poor men to guzzle
and drink away their days which should be spent in honest labour, but it is not
excusable in the rich; though God alloweth them to live more liberally
according to their condition and estate, yet not inordinately. Intemperance is
odious to God, be it in any whatsoever they be. God threatened them for their
delicacy that had beds of ivory, Amos vi. 4; so also the fat cows and kine of
Bashan, Amos iv.
Obs. 4. Luxury is living in pleasure, etrufèsate.
God alloweth us to use pleasures, but not to live in them; to take delights,
but not they should take us; to live always at the full is but a wanton luxury.
On earth; that is, say some, like beasts, which do prona spectare
terram, in the posture of their bodies look earthward; it is indeed their
happiness to live in pleasure, to enjoy pleasures without remorse. But in any
congruity of language you cannot thus interpret the apostle's speech. His
meaning is, that in this earthly life they placed all their happiness, and
their spirits did altogether run after earthly comforts and earthly
contentments, as having no higher abode. Note: -
Obs. That all the pleasure
that wicked men have is upon earth; here, and nowhere else: Luke xvi. 25,
'Remember that in thy lifetime thou receivedst thy good things.' Oh! it is sad
to outlive our happiness; when we come to live indeed, then to want our
comforts and joys: Mat. vi. 2, 'They have their reward.' Your heaven is past.
It is the folly of worldly men to be merry only in the place of their
banishment and pilgrimage; they live in pleasure here, where they are absent
from God: Job xxi. 13, 'They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go
down to the grave.' Alas! then their best days are past; here they laugh, and
there they howl. Ah, fondness! to sell the birthright for a mess of pottage,
and let go heaven for a little earthly contentment! How should this sour your
carnal joys, when you remember all this is only upon earth, it cannot be for
ever! There will be a time when we shall go down to the grave, and then we may
with Adrian sadly warble it out to our own souls, Oh! poor soul, whither dost
thou now go? thou shalt never jest it more, spoil it more! These things were
upon earth, but into what a gulf am I now falling! The earth is a place of
labour and exercise; we were not put into it, as leviathan into the sea, to
take our fill of pleasure.
And are wanton, espatalèsate. - The
same word is used of the carnal widow, hè de spataloosa zoosa
tethnèke, 1 Tim. v. 6. We translate, 'she that liveth in pleasure is
dead while she liveth.' The word signifieth such a delicacy as bringeth a brawn
softness and deadness upon the spirit, and therefore we translate it well by
wanton. So that this part of the charge implieth: -
Obs. 1. That luxury is
always accompanied with carnal security and contempt of God: Deut. xxxii. 15,
Israel waxed fat, and kicked with the heel: Hosea xiii. 6, 'According to their
pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart is exalted;
they have forgotten me.' Through too much fatness and plenty the soul becometh
wanton and untamed.
Obs. 2. That a fulness of pleasures bringeth us to a
wantonness, and contempt of ordinary provisions. Lustful Israel desired quails.
First we contemn God, and then his creatures. It is a great sign sensuality
hath prevailed upon you when the soul desireth dainty food. Nature itself is
not wanton and delicate till it be made so by constant use. It is strange to
see how nature degenerateth by degrees, and desires increase with use. At first
we are pleased with what is plain and wholesome, but afterwards we must have
curious mixtures. Sea and land will scarce yield bits dainty enough for a
gluttonous appetite. Cleopatra must have a draught of dissolved pearls,
&c.;
Ye have nourished your hearts. - What is that? Indulgere genio,
to rear up lust, rather than to satisfy nature. It is the same which the
apostle Paul expresseth by poiountes pronoian, 'making provision for the flesh
to fulfil the lusts thereof,' Rom. xiii. 14. The heart is the seat of lusts and
desires; so it chiefly signifieth in theology. Now to nourish the heart is to
offer fuel to our lusts, to take in by excess that we may unlade and put it out
again in lust. Observe hence: -
Obs. Pleasures nourish the heart, and
fatten it into a senseless stupidity: nothing bringeth a dulness upon it more
than they. Plutarch observeth of the ass, which is of all creatures the
dullest, that it hath the fattest heart. Thence that expression in scripture,
'Go make their hearts fat;' that is, gross and dull. There is a fish which they
call onos, the ass-fish, which hath its heart in its belly; a fit emblem of a
sensual epicure. The heart is never more dull and unfit for the severities and
masculine heights of religion than when burdened with luxurious excess;
therefore Christ useth that expression, Luke xxi. 36, 'Let not your hearts be
overcharged,' &c. Ah! do but consider how many reasons we have to be wary
in our pleasures. Will the inconveniences they bring to your estates move you?
Prov. xxiii. 21, 'He that loveth corn, and wine, and oil, shall be poor.' How
often hath the belly brought the back to rags? Or will the mischiefs they bring
upon the body move you? Lust, which is but the last end and consummation of all
pleasures, sucketh the bones, and, like a cannibal, eateth your own flesh,
Prov. v. 11. Ah! but chiefly think of the inconveniency which your precious
souls sustain; your hearts will be nourished and fattened. Pleasure infatuateth
the mind, quencheth the radiancy and vigour of the spirit: wine and women take
away the heart, Hosea iv. 11; that is, the generous sprightliness of the
affections. So the apostle speaketh of persons given to pleasures, that they
are past feeling, Eph. iv.; they have lost all the smartness and tenderness of
their spirits. Oh! that men would regard this, and take heed of nourishing
their hearts while they nourish their bodies. You should starve lust when you
feed nature; or, as Austin, come to your meat as your medicine, and use these
outward refreshments as remedies to cure infirmities, not to cause them; or, as
Bernard, refresh the soul when you feed the body, and by Christian meditations
on God's bounty, Christ's sweetness, the fatness of God's house, &c., keep
the heart from being nourished whenever you repair nature.
As in a day
of slaughter, en hèmerai sfagès. - Some say, as Brixi-anus, that
the meaning is, they did but fatten themselves for the slaughter; but that is
forced. Beza rendereth, as in a day of feast, which Heinsius taxeth with some
undue rigour. Certainly there is an allusion to the solemn festivals of the
Jews. Their thanksgiving-days were called days of slaughter, wherein many
beasts were killed for sacrifice and food; for, in thank-offerings, a great
part was reserved for the use of the worshipper: Lev. ii. 15, they were to
carry it home and to eat it with their friends. Thence that expression, Prov.
xvii. 1, 'Better is a dry morsel, than an house full of sacrifices with
strife;' that is, of good cheer, as was usual in the time of peace or
thank-offering. So also that other, Prov. vii. 14, 'I have peace-offerings with
me this day;' that is, the flesh of thank-offerings, wherewith to feast and
entertain thee. Now the fault wherewith these sensualists are charged, is
double: -
1. That they made every day festival.
Obs. It is a wanton
luxury to make every day a day of slaughter: Luke xvi., 'He fared deliciously
every day;' that is an aggravation, that he made it his constant practise. Some
men do nothing but knit pleasure to pleasure; their lives are nothing else but
a diversion from one carnal pleasure to another: Eccles. iii., 'There is a time
to feast and a time to mourn.' Such men disturb the order of seasons. Nature is
relieved with changes, but clogged with continuance; frequency of pleasures
begetteth a habit; and besides, this putteth men upon novel curiosities, when
ordinary pleasures by common use grow stale; pleasure itself must have pleasure
to refresh it, accustomed delights becoming our clog and burden.
2.
That they gave that to their lusts which was due only upon special occasions to
religion.
Obs. Usually this is the vanity of men, to bestow the allotments
of worship upon their lusts, and by a cursed sacrilege to serve god the belly,
Phil, iii. 19, as zeal serveth the great God of heaven and earth. No music will
serve the epicures in the prophet but temple music: Amos vi. 5, 'They invent to
themselves instruments of music like David.' As choice and excellent as David
was in the service of the temple, so would they be in their private feasts.
Belshazzar's draughts are not half so sweet in other vessels as in the utensils
of the temple: Dan. v. 2, 'He commanded to bring forth the golden and silver
vessels, that were taken out of the house of God.' So the Babylonian humour is
pleased with nothing so much as with one of the songs of Zion; not an ordinary
song, but 'Sing us one of your songs of Zion.' Ps. cxxxvii. 3. No jest
relisheth with a profane spirit so well as when scripture is abused, and made
to lackey upon their sportive jollity. Vain man thinketh he can never put
honour enough upon his pleasures, and scorn enough upon God and holy
things.
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