1 Kings 11

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XI.—Lord, what is man! Is this Solomon—the beloved of the Lord—the miracle of wisdom—the man of prayer—the builder of the temple! How art thou fallen from heaven, O son of the morning! How ensnaring is the inordinate love of women! Every indulgence given to lewd desires only renders them more insatiable: and they, who give way to one wilful sin, never know when or where they shall stop. Indulgence of fleshly lusts makes the heart brutish, and stupifies the conscience: and even sumptuous fare too fearfully painpers our lusts. No present attainment of gifts or grace, without continued watchfulness, will secure us against the most shameful falls. How sad, how stumbling, when the old age of once famous saints becomes a long continued scene of profligacy! Alas! how Solomon’s inordinate love of horses issues in an inordinate love of base women; and this in a multiplication of abominable idols! How the aged saint is ensnared by youthful lusts! How the wisest sage is made an arrant fool by silly women! How the man, who so often warned others against levity and whoredom, turns out a monster of vileness! How the man, once so familiar with his God, is plunged into the vilest depths of fellowship with Satan and his most abominable agents! Let me then always suspect my corruptions, and depend on the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Let me never covet great prosperity, which hath so great snares attending it. Nay, if I have made a great profession of religion, let me take heed lest Satan render me a remarkable reproach to it. Never let me expect that base ingratitude and wilful disobedience will pass unpunished. But God never deals with his people in such severity as they deserve. For Jesus’ sake he defers his anger, and in wrath remembers mercy. But, alas! how sin turns peace into war! From the most abject and low condition God can raise up the most terrible instruments of his wrath: and when he intends to chastise he never wants a rod, but makes men’s sinful ambition the means of his just but awful rebukes. Diligence paves the way to advancement, and advancement inflames ambition. But hopeless is the case when God gives men kings in his anger: and it is impossible to keep down the scourge which the Lord stirs up. God generally renders sinners inexcusable by the fair warnings which he gives them of their danger. But it is shameful, and very depressing, when his people die under divine frowns. To what a tremendous length and degree God may carry the just chastisement of his dearest saints!