Bad will it be for them that shall eat of it; and yet due will it be to them to eat of it, because it is their own. . . . It is not said they shall _gather_ the fruit of their ways, which were some expression of their misery, but they shall _eat_ it, it shall enter into them, and be made, as it were, their very substance. This it is that _filleth up_ the misery, filling is of their own devices, that it is, that maketh it be pressed down.--_Jermin._ Verse 32. When Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked (Deut. xxxii. 15). Thus the objection is met, that sinners often prosper now. Yes, replies wisdom; but that very prosperity proves their curse, and accelerates the judgment of God. It is they who are "settled on their lees that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil" (Zeph. i. 12).--_Fausset._ Prosperity ever dangerous. 1. Because every foolish or vicious person is either ignorant or regardless of the proper ends and rules for which God designs the prosperity of those to whom He sends it. 2. Because prosperity, as the nature of man now stands, has a peculiar force and fitness to abate men's virtues and heighten their corruptions. 3. Because it directly indisposes them to the proper means of amendment and recovery.--_South._ Because they are fools, they turn God's mercies to their own destruction; and because they prosper, they are confirmed in their folly.--_Baxter._ When sinners are moved a little by wisdom and _turn away_, it is deadly; it is worse than if they had never listened. _Prosperity_ or _tranquillity_ (see "Critical Notes"). The mere doing nothing of impenitent men is carrying them downward.--_Miller._ Bernard calls prosperity a mercy that he had no mind to. What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it? A man may miscarry upon the soft sands as soon as upon the hard rocks.--_Trapp._ Not outward prosperity, but the temper which it too often produces; the easy going indifference to higher truths is that which destroys.--_Plumptre._ Verse 33. He shall enjoy genuine security. His mind will enjoy unmoved tranquillity amidst all the turmoils and all the vicissitudes of this life (Phil. iv. 6, 7). And he shall be quiet from the fear of ultimate evil. The season of the impenitent sinner's last alarm shall be to him the season of peace, and hope, and joy.--_Wardlaw._ Be it so, that some fits of fear, like grudgings of an ague, in the midst of fiery temptations, begin sometimes to cause the faithful to quake a little, yet the grace of God's Spirit will drive them out in time, and put them all to flight in such manner at the end, that instead of timorousness, stoutness; of unquietness, peace; of bashfulness, boldness; of shrinking, triumph will arise. O, the valiant courage and unterrified heart of the Christian knight and spiritual champion, who is furnished with the whole armour of God (Eph. vi.), and fighteth under the banner of Divine wisdom, his renowned lady and mistress!--_Muffet._