I. When we consider by whom these words were spoken, and when we also think steadily of what is contained in them, they are, I think, altogether one of the most solemn passages to be found in the whole of the Scriptures. For they declare of an immortal being that it would have been good for him if he had never been born. Now consider what immortality is, and it will be plain that if it were good for a man that his never-ending being should never have been begun, it can only be because it will be to him a being of never-ending misery. For, let the misery last ever so long, yet if it has any end at all, the eternity of happy existence which follows that end must make it not bad, but infinitely good, for us to have been born. Thousands on thousands of years of suffering, if that suffering is to end at last, must be infinitely less to an immortal being, infinitely more vain, infinitely more like a dream at waking, than one single second of suffering compared to threescore years and ten of perfect happiness.
II. There is no occasion to dwell on the particular sin of him of whom the words in the text were spoken; for we know that except we repent we shall all likewise perish. The state on which this fearful doom was pronounced Was the state of one who, with many opportunities long offered to him, had neglected all; who had brought himself to that condition that he might despair, but could not repent. Now, if this condition were wholly ours, then it were vain to speak of it; if we had so long and so obstinately hardened our hearts that there was no place for repentance; then, indeed, we might sit down and cross our arms as helplessly as the boatman, when he feels himself within the sure indraught of the cataract and that no human aid can save him from being swept down the fearful gulf. But if the boat be not so surely within the grasp of the current; if yet, though it be fast hurrying downwards, it may by a vehement effort be rescued; if the shore of certain safety be not only near, but by possibility accessible; who cannot conceive the energy with which we should struggle under such circumstances? who cannot feel of what intense efforts we would then be capable, when on the issue of a few moments of greater or less exertion, life or death were hanging?
T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. vi., p. 149.
Reference: Mark 14:21. G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Marlborough College,p. 497.