The Righteous and the Wicked

Solomon said that the righteous are like the sun that grows brighter and brighter until it comes to its full strength (Prov. 4:18). So the state of the godly grows more and more, from light to light, until he comes to full strength.
The state of the wicked is completely contrary. The state of the wicked is like the declining day. The sun goes down to twilight, and then to darkness, and then to utter darkness. Being dark in themselves, they grow from the darkness of misery and terror of conscience to eternal, dismal darkness in hell. But the state of the godly is like the course of the sun after midnight, which is going up and up still, until it comes to midday. The state of the godly is always a growing state; it is a hopeful condition. Let us be assured of eternal glory in the time to come, as we are sure of the beginnings of grace here.
See the main difference between the godly and others. Others grow backward, from worse to worse, till they end in utter desolation and destruction forever. But the godly rise by degrees until they come to that happiness that can admit no further degrees. If men were not spiritually mad, would they not rather be in a condition always growing more and more hopeful, than to be in a condition always declining? A spirit of glory lights and rests on God's children. It does not light upon them and then go away. It is not as a flash or a blaze of flax. But the Spirit rests and grows still upon them 'from glory to glory.' The state of a Christian soundly converted is comforted when he thinks, 'Every day brings me nearer my glory; every day I rise I am somewhat happier than I was the day before, because I am somewhat more glorious and nearer to eternal glory.’ Whereas a wretch that lives in sins against conscience may say, 'I am somewhat nearer hell, nearer eclipsing, and ebbing, and declining than before.’ So, every day brings comfort to the one, and terror to the other.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Glorious Freedom, pp. 144-45 [156-58]
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