Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.
Ver. 21. Evil pursueth sinners.] Hard at heels. Flagitium et flagellum, ut acus et filum. Sin and punishment are linked together with chains of adamant. Of sin we may say as Isidore doth of the serpent, Tot dolores, quot colores; so many colours, so many dolours. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." Rom 6:23 The same in effect with this sentence of Solomon.
But to the righteous good shall be repaid.] Or, He, that is, God, shall repay good. Now he is a liberal paymaster, and all his retributions are more than bountiful. Never did any yet do or suffer aught for God, that complained of a hard bargain. God will recompense your losses, - saith that thrice noble Lord Brook, a who lost his precious life in the recent unhappy wars at Litchfield, - as the king of Poland did his noble servant Zelislaus, having lost his hand in his wars, he sent him a golden hand. Caligula - Agrippa having suffered imprisomnent for wishing him emperor - when he came afterwards to the empire, the first thing he did was to prefer Agrippa, and gave him a chain of gold as heavy as the chain of iron that was upon him in prison. Those that lose anything for God, he seals them a bill of exchange of a double return; nay, a hundredfold here, and eternal life hereafter.
a Lord Brook's Discourse of Episcop.