26 Chap. t8. v1n expofttion upon the ookof Jo E. Vert s Thirdly , Light makes us confpicuous ; we are feene what we are in the light. Thus outward profperity makes men ap_ peare. Poverty is joyned with obfcurity, what parts, or gifts, or abilities, or worth foever is in man, he isfcarce everfeeneabove- board, ifhe be under thefiraights of poverty andof iEtion. The l0 of the wickedfhall beput out. I have heretofore fpoken ofthe profpe'rity, and alto ofthe decayofwicked men ; therefore I fhall not infift upon it here. Note, onely firft, that The glory of wicked men, their excellency, their light /ball certainly come to nothing. Cum r nflt They shall be quenched as a fire ofthornes (Tfal. r t8- 12. ) °111x" & qi°` which any man may fuddenly quench, and if no man will, it cta eífe tniran firiwnvm will fuddenlyquench it felfe. Yet further theword which we tran- > dicere poP, flate to put out, is altive, or intranfitive; fo force render it here ; Jux impii ex.. The light ofthe wicked(hall put it felfe out. tingurt Hence note : Awickedman itufualy the caufèofhis owne ruin. He puts himfelfeout : Sometimes he makes hiaowue tongue to fall upon himfelfe ( Pfeil. 64.8.) his tongue undoes him, and he is buried under a heap, or prelïed to death under the weight ofhis owne words. Sometimes his owne ftrength undoes him ; fometirnes his wit and parts undoe him ; his great learn- ing, andabilities, prove his ruine;. hedyes as a foole dyes, be- saute he thought himfelfe wifer then any living. The profpe- rity ofthe wicked is not like the light of theSun, but like that of a Candle, which confumes it felfe; and that, not onelynaturally, as all worldly things doe, which will perifh with the ufing, how warily foever we ufe them, but violently by their vaine and un- wary ufing of it. In this the Juftice ofGod is eminent upon . wicked men : There wasfcarce a wicked man in theworld ever extinguifhed, but hebath contributed, not onely meritorioufly ( forfo all wicked men are wholly the caufe ofit) but inftru- mentally tohis owne extinç4ion. The wicked man is (felo defi) a murtherer, a. deftroyer, an extinguifher ofhimfelfe: If all men (hould forbeare him, or refolve to let him Hand, yet he would worke out hisown downfall here, as well as he doth his own dam- nation for ever. Again,,
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