Wicked Men Compared to Chaff

    WICKED MEN COMPARED TO CHAFF

    "The ungodly are not so, but are like the Chaff which the wind driveth away," Ps 1:4.

    "But he will burn up the Chaff with unquenchable fire," Mt 3:12.

    Wicked Men are compared to Chaff.

    SIMILE

    I. CHAFF, before it is separated from the wheat, cleaves close to it; and the wheat must be trod or threshed, before the one can be separated from the other.

    PARALLEL

    I. So some wicked men, I mean hypocrites, seem to cleave close to the saints, and to be in perfect union or oneness with them: and the godly must be trod upon, or threshed with the flail of persecution, before they, as sacred wheat, can he separated from the Chaff, viz., counterfeit Christians.

    SIMILE

    II. Chaff is of little worth or value to the wheat: "What is the Chaff to the wheat?" Jer 23:28. It is a low, mean, and contemptible thing; one bushel of Wheat is worth many bushels of Chaff.

    PARALLEL

    II. So wicked Men and hypocrites are of little worth and value in the sight of God; he esteems one true Christian worth thousands and ten thousands of hypocrites: "I give Egypt for thy ranrom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wert precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable," &c., Isa 43:3.

    SIMILE

    III. Chaff is light and airy; it is no ponderous thing, and therefore the wind carries it away with a blast.

    PARALLEL

    III. So the Wicked, whatever show they make of religion and piety, they are light as Chaff: they are not weighty, nor ponderous; their lightness and levity is discovered by their words and behaviour; and when the blast and tempest of persecution comes, it drives them away from the seeming zeal and religion they pretend to; and at last, the wind of God's wrath will drive them into the lowest hell, there to be burned with unquenchable fire.

    INFERENCES

    THIS shows what a great differences there is between the godly and the ungodly: also what the woeful condition of hypocrites is, and what will be their end.