The Advantages of the Virtuous for the Enjoyment of External Good
A. Gerard, D. D. Psalm 37:16-20 A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.… I. A GOOD MAN HAS GREATER ENJOYMENT, PURER AND MORE SOLID SATISFACTION, FROM A LITTLE, THAN THE WICKED CAN HAVE FROM THE LARGEST FORTUNE. 1. Vice produces a temper which is very unfavourable to our enjoyment. It destroys the constitution, and breaks the vigour of the soul. It subjects it to the most uneasy feelings and the most painful passions (Isaiah 1:5, 6). The fiercest shocks of thunder, winds, and rains cannot produce more dreadful convulsions in the frame of nature, than those into which tumultuous, exorbitant, and jarring passions throw the soul: they ravage all its enjoyments. 2. On the other hand, virtue establishes a temper in the soul, which fits us for taking pleasure in whatever we possess. It dispels the black clouds which overcast the vicious heart, and intercept the comfort which might arise from outward things: they are scattered b.y. its brightness; they fly away before it as the shadows of the night before the rising sun. A virtuous temper lays the mind open to every satisfaction that comes in its way, prepares it for embracing and enjoying it; and it renders the man so well disposed, so happy in himself, that almost every object throws some satisfaction in his way. II. His ENJOYMENT IS MORE DURABLE. 1. As bodily distemper, from small beginnings, increases till it prove mortal, as one disease neglected is the cause of many others; so the vices of the depraved heart daily acquire new strength by indulgence; they propagate many more; they infect the temper and disorder the constitution with a growing multitude of tormenting passions; they root guilt, remorse, and terror deeper in the soul. Whatever good qualities he once possessed, they will be gradually choked by his spreading vices; they will wither and decay; his capacity of enjoyment will be blasted in the same proportion. The man who never thinks of rectifying the depravities of his temper, but goes on to indulge them without control, must at last become abandoned, and insusceptible of genuine satisfaction. 2. The enjoyment of the good man is in every respect the reverse. Like his practice, it is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. His virtue does not merely secure the continuance of that relish which he has for true pleasure; it improves his relish in proportion as itself is, by careful practice, strengthened and refined. By daily progress in holiness, he will be more and more possessed of that heavenly serenity of soul, which, by giving him the full enjoyment of himself, prepares him for deriving high and solid satisfaction from every agreeable circumstance in his worldly condition. III. BUT A STRONG OBJECTION SEEMS TO ARISE FROM EXPERIENCE: the wicked, it may be urged, have actually a greater, and the righteous a less degree of enjoyment than we have asserted. We admit the fact; if the wicked were so totally destitute of enjoyment as we have represented them to be, their life would be insupportable: but we maintain that, when this fact is examined, instead of weakening our argument, it will confirm it. We have hitherto supposed the character to be purely virtuous, or purely vicious, that by viewing virtue and vice separately, we might the better discover the genuine tendency of both: but every human character is mixed, composed of some virtues and some vices; and the actual enjoyment of every human creature is affected by each of the ingredients which enter into the composition. Every abatement to which the good man's enjoyment is liable in this mixed state, is to be placed to the account of vice and whatever degree of enjoyment the world can convey to the wicked, is to be ascribed to their imperfect virtues. 1. If these things be so, need we be surprised that so few are really happy? Is it not rather surprising that so many find life tolerable? 2. Need we be concerned that outward things are distributed so promiscuously, or so unequally? It is in the power of every man, by the assistance of God's grace, to cultivate a virtuous and holy temper: and this is infinitely more important to his enjoyment than the gaudiest distinctions of external state. 3. Would we be truly happy? Let us be virtuous. It is not more our duty than it is our interest. (A. Gerard, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. WEB: Better is a little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked.