14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave. They are
penned in within the gates of destruction. As sheep that follow their leader
without thought, so those who have chosen to make this world their all are
urged on by their passions, till they find themselves at their journey’s end,
the depths of Hades. Or if we keep to our own translation, we have the idea of
their dying peaceably, and being buried in quiet, only that they may wake up to
be ashamed at the last great day. Death shall feed on them. The
righteous are led by the Good Shepherd, but the ungodly have death for their
shepherd, and he drives them onward to hell. As the power of death rules them
in this world, for they have not passed from death to life, so the terrors of
death shall devour them in the world to come. The upright shall havedominion over them in the morning. Sinners rule till nightfall; in the
morning they find their position utterly reversed. The morning here intended
begins an endless, changeless day. What a vexation of spirit to the proud
worldling, when the Judge of all the earth holds his morning session, to see
the man whom he despised exalted high in heaven, while he himself is cast away!
And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
Whatever of glory the ungodly had shall disappear in the tomb. Their bodies
will dissolve. The beauty of the righteous is not yet revealed, but all the
beauty the wicked will ever have is in full bloom in this life; it will utterly
pass away. Who then would envy or fear the proud sinner?
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