[11] "Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? [Revised Version "iniquity at my heels", that is, enemies who would work iniquity.] They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth [faileth] for ever;) that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This, their way, is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings.--The upright shall not be ashamed in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Psalm 49. 5-13; and 37. 19 and 25)--"God hath fed me," says Scott, "all my life long. I die, but God can provide for my children, and children's children without me; I cannot without Him. I have not, since I came here, allowing for my house, cleared L100 a year: yet the Lord hath provided; and I live in plenty, and can give something, and, if more money were good for me, he would give it."--What he farther says, in speaking of the "carnal" anxiety of Parents for the temporal welfare of their children, though applied by himself to the clergy in particular, is equally applicable to the laity. "I often think what St. Paul would say to ministers in our days, on this ground; when of those in his days he says,--All seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ--(see my note on the passage.) I have long lamented that we cannot serve God by the day, and leave it to ham to provide day by day for us and ours" (Scott's Letters--London-1824; pages 296-7). [12] By wealthy, I mean those who have large incomes, as contrasted with those who have a bare subsistence from their labours, or those who have inheritances entailed upon them, so that they cannot enjoy the privilege of disencumbering themselves. [13] Now many may say, these commands are so clear that none could misunderstand them, but not so these under consideration; perhaps if we were to analyze a little deeper our hearts, we should find that the one owes its clearness to our freedom from any consequent burden on finding them clear; the other its indistinctness from the reverse, not having yet learnt the glorious liberty of depending on and yielding all to Christ. In heaven they are seen to be, I have no doubt, equally clear, equally commands, or rather privileges, of the saints of God.