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Ecclesiastes
Chapter Six
Ecclesiastes 6
Chapter Contents
The vanity of riches. Also of long life and flourishing
families. (1-6) The little advantage any one has in outward things. (7-12)
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6:1-6
(Read Ecclesiastes 6:1-6)
A man often has all he needs for outward enjoyment; yet
the Lord leaves him so to covetousness or evil dispositions, that he makes no
good or comfortable use of what he has. By one means or other his possessions
come to strangers; this is vanity, and an evil disease. A numerous family was a
matter of fond desire and of high honour among the Hebrews; and long life is
the desire of mankind in general. Even with these additions a man may not be
able to enjoy his riches, family, and life. Such a man, in his passage through
life, seems to have been born for no end or use. And he who has entered on life
only for one moment, to quit it the next, has a preferable lot to him who has
lived long, but only to suffer.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6:7-12
(Read Ecclesiastes 6:7-12)
A little will serve to sustain us comfortably, and a
great deal can do no more. The desires of the soul find nothing in the wealth
of the world to give satisfaction. The poor man has comfort as well as the
richest, and is under no real disadvantage. We cannot say, Better is the sight
of the eyes than the resting of the soul in God; for it is better to live by
faith in things to come, than to live by sense, which dwells only upon present
things. Our lot is appointed. We have what pleases God, and let that please us.
The greatest possessions and honours cannot set us above the common events of
human life. Seeing that the things men pursue on earth increase vanities, what
is man the better for his worldly devices? Our life upon earth is to be
reckoned by days. It is fleeting and uncertain, and with little in it to be
fond of, or to be depended on. Let us return to God, trust in his mercy through
Jesus Christ, and submit to his will. Then soon shall we glide through this vexatious
world, and find ourselves in that happy place, where there is fulness of joy
and pleasures for evermore.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes》
Ecclesiastes 6
Verse 2
[2] A
man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth
nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to
eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil
disease.
Riches —
All sorts of riches.
To eat —
Because God gives him up to a base and covetous mind.
Verse 3
[3] If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days
of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he
have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
With good — He
hath not a contented mind and comfortable enjoyment of his estate.
Is better —
Which as it never enjoyed the comforts, so it never felt the calamities of
life.
Verse 4
[4] For
he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be
covered with darkness.
He — The abortive; of whom
alone, that passage is true, hath not seen the sun, verse 5.
Cometh —
Into the world.
In vain — To
no purpose; without any comfort or benefit by it.
Departeth —
Without any observation or regard of men.
His name —
Shall be speedily and utterly forgotten.
Verse 5
[5]
Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest
than the other.
More rest —
Because he is free from all those encumbrances and vexations to which the
covetuous man is long exposed.
Verse 6
[6] Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good:
do not all go to one place?
Tho' he live —
Wherein he seems to have a privilege above an untimely birth.
Seen — He
hath enjoyed no comfort in it, and therefore long life is rather a curse, than
a blessing to him.
All —
Whether their lives be long or short.
Go — To the grave.
Verse 7
[7] All
the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
Is — For meat.
And yet —
Men are insatiable in their desires, and restless in their endeavours after
more, and never say, they have enough.
Verse 8
[8] For
what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk
before the living?
More — In
these matters. Both are subject to the same calamities, and partakers of the
same comforts of this life.
The poor —
More than the poor that doth not know this. He means such a poor man as is
ingenious and industrious; fit for service and business.
Verse 9
[9]
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also
vanity and vexation of spirit.
The fight —
The comfortable enjoyment of what a man hath.
Than —
Restless desires of what a man hath not.
This —
Wandering of the desire.
Verse 10
[10] That
which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may
he contend with him that is mightier than he.
Is named —
This is added as a further instance of the vanity of all things in this life.
That which hath been (man, who is the chief of all visible beings) is named
already, by God, who, presently after his creation, gave him the following
name, to signify what his nature and condition was.
Man — A
mortal and miserable creature, as his very name signifies, which God gave him
for this very end, that he might be always sensible of his vain and miserable
estate in this world.
With him —
With almighty God, with whom men are apt to contend upon every slight occasion,
and against whom they are ready to murmur for this vanity, and mortality, and
misery.
Verse 11
[11]
Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
Seeing —
This seems to be added as a conclusion from all the foregoing chapters; seeing
not only man is a vain creature in himself, but there are also many other
things, which instead of diminishing, do but increase this vanity, as wisdom,
pleasure, power, wealth; seeing even the good things of this life bring so much
toil, and cares, and fears, with them.
The better — By
all that he can either desire or enjoy here?
Verse 12
[12] For
who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life
which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him
under the sun?
Who knoweth — No
man certainly knows what is better for him here, whether to be high or low,
rich or poor.
Vain life —
Life itself is a vain and uncertain thing, and therefore all things which
depend on it must be so too.
While —
While it abides, hath nothing solid, or substantial in it, and which speedily
passes away, and leaves no sign behind it.
For —
And as no man can be happy with these things while he lives, so he can have no
content in leaving them to others, because he knows not either who shall
possess them, or how the future owners will use or abuse them.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ecclesiastes》
06 Chapter 6
Verses 1-12
If a man live many years, so that the days of his years be many,
and his soul be not filled with good, I say that an untimely birth is better
than he.
The sorrows of old age
The wise Preacher supposes a man to have seen the utmost possible
limit of human existence. And then he estimates the worth of the whole of this
proud and protracted life, if it has passed without the acquisition of that
object which the Word of God proposes for the attainment of man.
I. What is the
great object of human life? It is that “the soul may be filled with good.” It
was to gain this that each one has been placed in his period of earthly
education. It is for this alone that Divine forbearance lengthens out to grey
hairs the life of man who has not yet secured it, to give to men the full
opportunity to be wise, and to think of the things which belong to their peace.
How, then, shall this soul be filled with good? Is there anything within the
limits of the gifts of this world, which can thus fill it? When he can sow
grace in the furrows of his field, or fill his barns with glory, when he can
plough up heaven from” the earth, and extract God from perishing creatures, the
world may fill his soul with good and furnish an adequate exchange for its
loss. But who does not see the utter disproportion between the desires of the
soul and all the fruits which earth produces? The sinner is descending where
his earthly glory cannot descend after him, and where, for a soul unredeemed,
all redemption ceaseth for ever.
II. The sorrows of
the man who has lived long without attaining this great object of life, whose
soul is not “filled with good.”
1. He has passed through a life, a reflection upon which gives him no
comfort. Every hour rises up as the accuser of a guilty conscience. The
remembrance of youth is a remembrance of convictions smothered, the Holy Spirit
resisted, and a Saviour’s love despised. The thoughts upon manhood present the
awful picture of the self-immolation of the sinner’s soul to the enemy of God
and man upon the altar of worldly gain. All the resolutions and plans which
were made for life have gone by unfulfilled. Every opportunity has been lost.
Every mercy has been abused. Oh, what sorrow for the aged sinner does such a
life produce!
2. He is pressing onward to a near eternity, for which he has no
preparation. How truly is that old age which has no such provision for
eternity, and to which “hope comes not, that comes to all” besides, an evil
day, in which man finds no pleasure!
3. He has experienced the vanity of the world, and has nothing which
can supply its place. They are thus left without a single source of comfort;
and while they are struggling thus with unconquerable despair, they feel that
the man who has not an interest in the Saviour, and a sure acceptance in His
redemption, has no hope, though he has gained, when God bakes away his soul. (S.
H. Tyng, D. D.)
Sorrows of old age without religion
Even with all the comforts and hopes of Christianity, old age is
not a desirable condition of being. We naturally desire to live; we shrink
instinctively from death--and yet many an aged one longs to lay down the
oppressive burden of life before the appointed time. If this be true, with all
the consolations and supports which true religion affords, how unutterably sad
and sorrowful must old age be to the aged pilgrim who has no home in the skies
to look forward to--no God and Saviour to light up the dark valley and welcome
him to an eternity of bliss! But why are the sorrows of an irreligious old age
so many and poignant?
1. A portion of them is natural and common alike to all. Nature will
decay; the system wear out. The organs of the body and the faculties of the
mind become impaired. We are out of touch with the life around us. Our
children, our friends, our neighbours, are gone from us. We are solitary,
desolate.
2. The retrospect of a godless life from the period of old age must
necessarily be a painful one, at least one destitute of rational comfort and
satisfaction. The day of activity, of passion, of recklessness, has gone by.
With old age come reflection, introspection, seriousness, and the monitions of
a coming judgment. O the bitterness of the retrospect of a life devoted to the
world--a life without God and without a serious purpose!
3. If such the bitterness of the retrospect, what shall we say of the
anticipation? Very few repent in old age. What a prospect! A misspent
probation, a hopeless death, a lost eternity! (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
Do not all go to one place?
All men’s place
Do you know
what the wise man means when he offers this question to your consideration, “Do
not all go to one place?” The thing, no doubt, here spoken of is death; the
place here spoken of, no doubt, is the grave. An amazing consideration! part of
the first sentence that the great and holy God ever denounced against fallen
man, to one and all, “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” But in
another case we may venture to contradict even Solomon: for ii we consider the words of our text in
another view, all do not go to one place; it is true, all are buried in the
grave either of earth or water, but then after death comes judgment; death
gives the decisive, the separating blow. Suppose, then, in our enlarging on the
text, we should confine the word “all” to the unregenerate; these, indeed, die
when they will, all go to one place. O awful thought I and yet it is n certain
truth, all on earth must go to one place; if we live like devils here, we must
go to, and be with them, when we die, for ever! A blessed minister of Christ,
in Scotland, told me a story he knew for truth, of a dreadful answer a poor
creature gave on her deathbed. This person when dying was asked by a minister,
“Where do you hope to go when you die?” Says she, “I do not care where I go.”
“What,” says he, ‘“do not you care whether you go to heaven or hell? No,” says
she; “I do not care whither I go.” “But,” says he, “if you were put to your
choice, where would you go?” Says she, “To hell.” To that he replied, “Are you
mad--will you go to hell?” “Yes,” says she, “I will.” “Why so?” says he. “Why,”
says she, “all my relations are there.” But I have another place to tell you
of, and another sort of people to speak of, who shall all, as well as those I
have spoken of, go to one place; blessed is it to live in God. When death
closes the eyes, an actual separation is made, and instead of hearing “Depart,
ye cursed,” they will hear, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” If you ask where that place
is? I answer, to heaven; if you ask to whom they shall go? I answer, to the
spirits of just men made perfect; and, what will be best of all, to Jesus
Christ, the heavenly inheritance. If we were not to go to Him, what would
heaven be? If we were not to see Him, what would glory be? (G. Whitefield,
M. A.)
That which hath been is
named already, and it is known that it is man.
Solomon’s dark ideas of
life
He says in effect--
I. Fate is fixed.
“That which hath been.” Everything is fate. Most men feel this at times. Do you
ever say, I must obey my destiny? It is no use contending with fate. Mine m an
unlucky star. There is some truth in this idea. Christ taught a preordination
in all events. But His fate was moral, not mechanical; not a blind destiny, but
a wise decree.
II. Man is feeble.
“Neither may he contend with Him that is mightier than he.” And Christless
humanity is a very feeble thing. His bodily frame is feeble. An insect’s sting
has been known to consign it to dissolution. Man’s intellect is feeble; still
the human intellect can do something great in connection with Christ.
III. Joy is futile (Ecclesiastes 6:11). What the better is man for all he has? What the better for his
wealth, his reputation, his philosophy?
IV. Life is
fleeting. It “is a vain life,” and all its days are a shadow. A shadow is the nearest thing to
anility. A cloud may catch the eye, and its changing views and figures may give
amusement for a few minutes--a shadow, who notes it or records it?
V. The future is
enigmatic. “Who can tell what shall be after him under the sun?” (J.
Hamilton, D. D.)
Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the
better?--
How is the adherent vanity
of every condition most effectually abated by serious godliness
I. Every condition
is clogged with vanity.
1. God never made the world, nor any condition in it, to be a place
of rest and satisfaction. And since sin hath so far marred the beauty of the
universe, there is a judicial vanity upon the whole creation (Romans 8:20).
2. We know but very little of the true nature of things, nor of
ourselves, nor of our temptations, nor of our interests (Job 8:9).
3. That little that we do know of anything, we come so droppingly to
the knowledge of it that, ere we can lay things together, so as to compare
them, and separate them, and sort them, and compound them, so as if to make a
judgment, either things themselves or our circumstances are altered, or upon
alteration.
II. All things on
this side religion, whereby men endeavour to get above vanity, increase it. The
multiplication of cyphers amounts to less than nothing. Can anything of the
world supply the soul with grace, satisfy the desires in so much as any one
thing, or fill any one faculty of the soul to satisfaction? Can the world fill
the mind with heavenly light, or the will with heavenly love, or the conscience
with that “peace that passeth understanding”?
III. It is only
serious godliness that can any whit really abate the vanity that cleaves to
every condition. To hate sin and love holiness; to live a life of faith, in
dependence upon God and resignation to Him; to live above the transports of
hopes and fears about things temporal; in short, to be blessings to the world
while we live, and to be blessed with God when we die: this is the business and fruit of serious
godliness; and this alone is that which at present can effectually abate the
vexatious vanities which every condition swarms with.
1. Serious godliness will make your present condition good for you,
be it what it will.
2. Serious godliness will make every change of condition good for us,
though the change shock both nature and grace.
3. Serious godliness will make relative afflictions (which of all
outward afflictions are the most
grievous) good for us; and nothing else can do it.
4. Serious godliness will make horror of conscience and Divine
desertions good for us.
5. Serious godliness will force something good out of the evil of
sin. The rising ground of a dunghill may help to raise thy flight towards
heaven.
6. Though to your own apprehension you have no faith at all to
believe any one word of all this, nor any skill at all to know what to do; yet
serious godliness will make all this good to thee.
Uses:--
1. Set your hears upon serious godliness.
2. Learn to be more than barely contented with your present
condition.
3. Make conscience of both sorts of duties,--religious and worldly;
and allot fit and distinct times for heavenly and worldly business. But with
this difference, let religion mix itself with worldly business, and spare not;
but let not the world break in upon religion, lest it spoil it.
4. Whatever you do for the bettering of your condition, follow God,
but do not go before Him. (S. Annesley, LL. D.)
Verse 12
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of
his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow?
for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
The known and the unknown
I. Our life which
we do know.
1. We do know something about our present life, and what we do know
about it should humble us in the presence Of God, for, first, it is very short.
Solomon here says nothing about the “years” of our life, he only counts it by
“days.” The older a man grows, the shorter his life seems to be; and it was
because Jacob was so old,
and had seen so many days, that he called them “few and evil.” Children and
youths appear to have lived a long while; men seem to have lived only a short
time; older men an even shorter period; but the oldest man reckons his days the
shortest of all. The calculations about time are very singular, for length
seems to turn to shortness. Well, then, since I am such an ephemeral creature,
the insect of an hour, an aphis creeping on the bay leaf of existence, how dare
I think of contending with Thee, my God, who wast long before the mountains
were brought forth, and who wilt be when mountains are gone for ever?
2. Our life, besides being very short, is singularly uncertain. Do
not let us forget this fact, for if the thought be unpleasant to us, it is
because there is something wrong within. The child of God, when he is right
with his Father, forgets the uncertainty, and remembers that all things are
certain in the eternal purpose of God, and that all changes are wisely
ordained, and therefore the uncertainty causes him no distress. Yet should this
truth make us live with much caution, and tenderness, and watchfulness.
3. Yet again, our life is not only short and uncertain, but, while we
have it, it is singularly unsubstantial. Many things which we gain for
ourselves with much care are very unsatisfying. Have you never heard the rich
man confess that it is so? Have you never heard the scholar, who has won many
degrees, and stood at the head of his profession, declare that the more he knew
the less he felt that he knew? “Verily, every man at his best state is
altogether vanity.” Now, look ye; it ill becomes us, whose lives are so uncertain,
and whose lives at the best are so unsubstantial, to begin to contend with Him
in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways. It were better far for
us at once to submit ourselves to Him, and to learn that in Him we live, and
move, and have our being. It were well for us also to give the Lord all this
poor life, be it what it may, to be used in His service, and to be spent for
His glory.
II. What is best
for us is not known to us. Suppose we ask the question, “Which is the better
for a man in this life--wealth or poverty?”--what will be the answer?
Wealth--the eye is dazzled with it; it brings many comforts and luxuries; yet
there is a passage of Scripture as true now as when the Master first uttered it, “How hard
is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.” Who
knows, then, that wealth is a good thing? Do any choose poverty? There is as
much to be said concerning the evils and the disadvantages of poverty as there is to be
said on the other side. He that lacks bread is often tempted to envy, and to
many other sins which he might not have committed if he had not been in that
state. It is not for you or for me to be able to balance the answer to this
question, “Who knoweth what is good for man in this life,--wealth or poverty?”
There was a wise man who said, “Give me neither poverty nor riches,” and he
seemed to have hit the golden mean. Now, take another question,--that of health
or sickness:
“What is good for man in this life?” It seems at first that it must be good for
a man to enjoy the best of health, and the most sprightly vigour, does it not?
We all wish for it, and we are allowed to do so. Nobody thinks that sickness and disease can
really be in themselves a blessing. Yet have I seen some gentle, holy, devout,
matured spirits that could not have come from any garden but that which was
walled around with disease, and grief, and woe. The graver’s best art has been
spent upon them, the graving tool has been very sharp, and the hammer has
smitten them very terribly. They had never been such marvels of the Master’s
grace if it had not been for their sorrows. Yet I doubt not that there are
other spirits who have been brought
nearer to God in their gladsomeness, saints who, for very gratitude to God for
their overflowing delights, and the mercies of this life, and the health of
their bodies, have been drawn and bound more closely to their God. So is it
with regard to publicity or obscurity. There are some persons whose graces are
best seen in public, and they minister for the good of others; they have to be
thankful that God has placed them in a position where they are seen, for it has
led them to watchfulness and carefulness. The vows of God have been upon them,
and they have been helped in their way to heaven by the very responsibilities
of their public position. But, sometimes, I have wished that I might be a
violet, that I might shed my perfume in some lowly spot hidden by leaves. Yet I
do not doubt that obscurity has its ills as well, and that many a man would
fain escape from it. “Who knoweth what is good for man in this life?” All
depends upon your being where God puts you. Any man is safe if he is where God
would have him to be, and if he trembles for his own safety, and clings to the
Strong for strength; but those who think that their position gives them
immunity from danger are in peril already from their fancied security. I
believe that the same question might be asked concerning Christian experience: “Who knoweth what is
good for man in this life?” It must be good to be full of high joys,--to rise
to the loftiest heights of holiness and blessedness, must it not? Yes, yes, but
it may be good to go down into the very deeps, and to know the plague of your
own heart, and to feel the scourging of your Father’s rod. “Who knoweth what is
good for man in this life?” A mixed experience may be better than one uniform
level either of height or depth.
III. The text
mentions another form of our ignorance, and it is this, what shall be after us
is not known to us:
“for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?”
1. The question may mean, “Who can tell a man what he will yet go
through in this life?” He is now well-to-do, he is prosperous, he is healthy;
but who can tell him what is yet to come to him? No one; therefore, let not the
rich man glory in the wealth which may take to itself wings and fly away. Let
not the man who is honoured by his fellows reckon that the applause of men is
any more substantial than a vapour.
2. But I think that the text has its main bearing on what will happen
after death. That we must leave in the Lord’s hands; it is not for us to know
what will be done when we are called away from the earth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The secret of a happy life
The question of the text has been repeated many a time since the
days of Solomon, and various replies have been given by teachers who have
claimed to be the leaders of men. The Stoic has replied,--“The chief good for
man in this life is to take everything just as it comes, and maintain stolid
indifference,--be like a cold, unmoved statue amid the storms or amid the
sunshine of life.” The Epicure replies,--“Eat and drink and be merry; indulge
your senses, and banish all thought and care about the future.” The Miser
replies,--“Get all you can, and give as little as you can; heap up riches, and
treasure up the choicest thing earth can yield--gold.” The Ascetic
says,--“Treat the world with disdain and scorn, retreat from it, and trample
upon all its associations and joys.” Let us answer the question of the text in the
light of the New Testament, and we shall see that it is good for man in this
life--
I. To experience
reconciliation to God. The prodigal could not be happy while away from his
father, while at variance with him; and man cannot be happy away from God, while
at variance with Him. Enmity in the heart is a disturber of joy; and for a man
to have enmity in his heart against God cannot be good, cannot conduce to joy.
It is good for a man to surrender himself, and be on the Lord’s side; then,
instead of discord, there will be harmony in his heart; instead of conflict,
there will be peace in his mind.
II. To exercise
resignation to God. A man cannot have a happy life who denies God, or who
harbours doubt about His goodness and wisdom, whose will runs counter to the
Divine will. This is the mind that was in Christ; He surrendered to the will of
His Father constantly and entirely.
III. To expect
restitution from God. We shall only find rest and joy by believing in the final
triumph of goodness, in the ultimate reconciliation of all the apparent
discrepancies of the now. These things comprise the good for man in this life,
and will make human existence not only tolerable, but happy. (F. W. Brown.)
On our ignorance of good and evil in this life
Let us inquire what account can be given of our present ignorance,
respecting what is good for us in this life; whether nothing be left, but only
to wander in uncertainty amidst this darkness, and to lament it as the sad
consequence of our fallen state; or whether such instructions may not be
derived from it, as give ground for acknowledging that by this, as by all its
other appointments, the wisdom of Providence brings real good out of seeming
evil.
I. Illustrate the
doctrine of the text. When we review the course of human affairs, one of the
first objects which everywhere attracts our notice is the mistaken judgment of
men concerning their own interest. The sore evil which Solomon long ago
remarked with respect to riches, of their being kept by the owners thereof to
their hurt, takes place equally with respect to dominion and power, and all the
splendid objects and high stations of life. We every day behold men climbing,
by painful steps, to that dangerous height which, in the end, renders their
fall more severe, and their ruin more conspicuous. But it is not to high
stations that the doctrine of the text is limited. Around us, we everywhere
behold a busy multitude. Restless and uneasy in their present situation, they are
incessantly employed in accomplishing a change of it; and as soon as their wish
is fulfilled, we discern, by their behaviour, that they are as dissatisfied as
they were before. Where they expected to have found a paradise, they find a
desert. The man of business pines for leisure. The leisure for which he had
longed proves an irksome gloom; and, through want of employment, he languishes,
sickens, and dies. The man of retirement fancies no state to be so happy as
that of active life. But he has not engaged long in the tumults and contests of the world,
until he finds cause to look back with regret on the calm hours of his former
privacy and retreat. Beauty, wit, eloquence, and fame, are eagerly desired by
persons in every rank of life. They are the parent’s fondest wish for his
child; the ambition of the young, and the admiration of the old. And yet in
what numberless instances have they proved, to those who possessed them, no
other than shining snares; seductions to vice, instigations to folly, and, in
the end, sources of misery?
II. The fact then
being undoubtedly certain that it is common for men to be deceived in their
prospects of happiness, let us next inquire into the causes of that deception. Let us
attend to those peculiar circumstances in our state, which render us such
incompetent judges of future good or evil in this life.
1. We are not sufficiently acquainted with ourselves to foresee our
future feelings. Our minds, like our bodies, undergo great alteration, from the
situations into which they are thrown, and the progressive stages of life
through which they pass. Hence, concerning any condition which is yet untried,
we conjecture with much uncertainty.
2. But next, supposing our knowledge of ourselves sufficient to
direct us in the choice of happiness, yet still we are liable to err, from our
ignorance of the connections which subsist between our own condition and that
of others.
3. Farther, as we are ignorant of the events which will arise from
the combination of our circumstances with those of others, so we are equally
ignorant of the influence which the present transactions of our life may have
upon those which are future.
4. Supposing every other incapacity to be removed, our ignorance of
the dangers to which our spiritual state is exposed would disqualify us for
judging soundly concerning our true happiness. Can you esteem him prosperous
who is raised to a situation which flatters his passions, but which corrupts
his principles, disorders his temper, and, finally, oversets his virtue? In the
ardour of pursuit, how little are these effects foreseen! And yet how often are
they accomplished by a change of condition! Latent corruptions are called
forth; seeds of guilt are quickened into life; a growth of crimes arises,
which, had it not been for the fatal culture of prosperity, would never have
seen the light.
III. Instead of only
lamenting this ignorance, let us consider how it ought to be improved; what
duties it suggests, and what wise ends it was intended by Providence to
promote.
1. Let this doctrine teach us to proceed with caution and
circumspection through a world where evil so frequently lurks under the form of
good.
2. Let our ignorance of what is good or evil correct anxiety about
worldly success.
3. Let our ignorance of good and evil determine us to follow
Providence, and to resign ourselves to God. Study to acquire an interest in the
Divine favour; and you may safely surrender yourselves to the Divine
administration.
4. Let our ignorance of what is good for us in this life prevent our
taking any unlawful step in order to compass our most favourite designs.
5. Let our imperfect knowledge of what is good or evil attach us the
more to those few things concerning which there can be no doubt of their being
truly good.
6. Let our ignorance of what is good or evil here below lead our
thoughts and desires to a better world. (H. Blair, D. D.)
Object of human life
What is the use, the meaning of my life? For what purpose was it
given? To what end shall it aim? Is life an instrument ministering to some
solid purpose, or a fleeting phantasmagoria, that leaves no lasting result?
Such, substantially, was the inquiry of the Preacher three thousand years ago,
and which demands an answer still from every new generation and living man.
Have any of you been willing to go on, without settling, or even starting, this
great query; willing to sail in this frail boat of our mortality down the
stream of years, without knowing whither, or desiring any port? If you reflect,
you cannot proceed in this ignorant and accidental way. “Commune with your own
heart,” and you will not be satisfied till some object rise broad as the
horizon before you, embracing all lesser occupations and pursuits in its
glorious compass, and enabling you, by clear and continual reference, to shape
every daily trifle and detail, otherwise worthless or perhaps unmeaning,
towards its accomplishment. To this single point I would hold your attention,
to decide whether such an object be yours; for in the want of it lies, if
anywhere, man’s great fault, fatal error, unpardonable sin. The principle may
be put into various forms of statement. You may recur to the old Preacher’s
language, or you may say with the modern catechism, that the “chief end of man
is to glorify God, and enjoy Him for ever.” You may speak in the phrase,
rightly understood, of the philosophy of our time, “Self-culture”: or in the phrase,
profoundly interpreted of the philanthropy of our time, “Reform.” All these
mean essentially the same thing, requiring in the analysis the same elements.
This solution of our problem carries us into no fanatical austerity, does not
abolish the minor callings and aims of activity, of study, or traffic, or
mechanical skill, in this world. It but leavens them with a higher spirit, and
turns them to a nobler influence. It polarizes the wandering and aimless
affairs of time and sense, makes all our dealings not only serve temporary
purposes, but, in their effects on our hearts, point to permanent results. It
puts a new question into our mouth, which the changeling slave of temporal
expedients and little ends does not think to ask,--a question that rightly
comes up with every transaction we engage in, every conversation we hold, every
plan we form, every measure we execute,--Are we promoting here in this very
thing, however great or trifling it may look, the object of life? If not
promoting, but defeating this object, it bide us beware and abstain. It does
not shut us up in a narrow place of hermit stiffness and seclusion, but goes
with us over the broad ocean of worldly business, only asking that it may stand
a Divine pilot at the helm. It lays no bar upon pleasure, tasted with an
innocent moderation, but it converts pleasure itself from the foe into the
friend and servant, as it well may be the true friend and faithful servant, of
virtue. It does not condemn the acquisition of wealth as a means which may
accomplish the very ends of religion; but it inquires with a searching whisper
at the very confessional of man’s spirit, and which, beside God, only the man
himself can hear, whether the heart is given to wealth, delighting in it, with
supreme habitual desire; or, on the contrary, as a steward regarding it as
God’s loan, as a worshipper proffering it for his sacrifice; while, on the
wings of its chief and ardent aspiration, itself ever rises to him as the
Infinite Good, takes the breath of His Spirit in return for the incense of its
praise, and, from the elevation of its prayer, brings down the counsels of His
majestic law upon its mortal conduct. (G A. Bartol.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》