And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Ver. 23. And then well I profess unto them, I never knew you] No, not when you professed most love to me, and did me (to see to) greatest service. I knew you well enough for "black sheep," or rather for reprobate goats; I knew you for hirelings and hypocrites, but I never knew you with a special knowledge of love, delight, and complacency. I never acknowledged, approved, and accepted your persons and performances. See Psalms 1:6; Romans 11:2. God's sharp nose doth easily discern, and is offended with the stinking breath of the hypocrite's rotten lungs, though his words be never so scented and perfumed, though his deeds be never so mantled and masked with shows of holiness. God utterly disowns and disavows all such, for if "any man have not the Spirit of God," saith Paul, the same "is none of his," Romans 8:9; be he whose he will be. And whereas he naturally delights in mercy, yet he will by no means clear the guilty; yea, he will "mock at their destruction, and laugh when their fear cometh." He will "spew them out of his mouth." Ah, he will ease him of his adversaries; and be as well paid thereof, as a man is that hath ridden his stomach of the surfeit or sick matter that clogged it, Proverbs 1:16. Quod Deus loquitur cum risu, tu legas cum fletu. Aug. Revelation 3:16; Isaiah 1:24 .
Depart from me] Oh direful and dreadful sentence! such as shall make their very heartstrings crack (not their ears tingle only), and their hearts fall asunder in their bosoms, like drops of water. a Surely if the gentle voice of God in the "cool of the day" (in aura diei), Genesis 3:8, were so terrible to our first parents; and if his sweet voice in the preaching of the gospel of grace be so formidable to the wicked, that Felix trembled, and the stoutest are quailed, the edge of their fury is rebated, their hearts often ache and quake within them; what will they do when the Lion of the tribe of Judah shall roar out upon them this fearful Discedite Depoart, that breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, stings and horrors, woe and, alas, seas of vengeance, and the worm that never dieth, torments without end, and past imagination? The desperate soldiers (that would not have dreaded to dare the devil to a duel) fell before him to the ground, when, in the state of his humility, he said but, "I am he;" how will the wicked stand before him in his majesty? If Gideon's torches and trumpets so daunted the proud Midianites, how shall these abide the terror of the last day?
Ye workers of iniquity] Ye that make it your trade and task, that do "wickedly with both hands earnestly," that are wittily wicked, and can act out iniquity; that dig in the devil's mines, row in his galleys, grind in his mill, and are not wearied; that live by your sins, as the labourer doth by his trade; and esteem it as the means of a happy life. b Ye that, although ye cannot be charged with any crying crime, but have Lord, Lord, in your mouths, and a show of holiness in your lives, yet regard iniquity in your hearts; and when you seem most of all highflown, have a leering eye upon some beloved sin, as the eagle hath upon her prey below when she soareth highest. Your very preaching in Christ's name (if not for his name) is with God a work of iniquity, and shall have the "wages of sin," which is death, when Christ comes to judgment. c Then they that would not obey those sweet commands, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy household," &c., shall have no other commandment left them to obey, but this horrible "Depart ye;" which imports an utter separation from the beatifical vision and fruition of God; and this is the very hell of hell, &c. Meanwhile, whereto serves the world's Euge, well done, when they are sure of Christ's Apage? be off.
a Dicetur reprobis, ite; venite, probis. It will be said to the wicked, Go, to the godly Come.
b Latini medicinam et argentariam facere dicunt. Beza.
c Our works must be works of God, wrought from God for God, in God, according to God, else they are but shining sins. Mr Harris at Paul's Cross.