Note, 1. Those that are honest are always safe. He that acts with
sincerity, that speaks as he thinks, has a single eye, in every thing,
to the glory of God and the good of his brethren, that would not, for a
world, do an unjust thing if he knew it, that in all manner of
conversation walks uprightly, he shall be saved hereafter. We find a
glorious company of those in whose mouth was found no guile, Rev. xiv.
5. They shall be safe now. Integrity and uprightness will preserve men,
will give them a holy security in the worst of times; for it will
preserve their comfort, their reputation, and all their interests. They
may be injured, but they cannot be hurt. 2. Those that are false and
dishonest are never safe: He that is perverse in his ways, that thinks
to secure himself by fraudulent practices, by dissimulation and
treachery, or by an estate ill-got, he shall fall, nay, he shall fall
at once, not gradually, and with warning given, but suddenly, without
previous notice, for he is least safe when he is most secure. He falls
at once, and so has neither time to guard against his ruin nor to
provide for it; and, being a surprise upon him, it will be so much the
greater terror to him.