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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Ecclesiastes IV].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E C C L E S I A S T E S</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IV.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Solomon, having shown the vanity of this world in the temptation which
those in power feel to oppress and trample upon their subjects, here
further shows,
I. The temptation which the oppressed feel to discontent and impatience,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
II. The temptation which those that love their case feel to take their
case and neglect business, for fear of being envied,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:4-6">ver. 4-6</A>.
III. The folly of hoarding up abundance of worldly wealth,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:7,8">ver. 7, 8</A>.
IV. A remedy against that folly, in being made sensible of the benefit
of society and mutual assistance,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:9-12">ver. 9-12</A>.
V. The mutability even of royal dignity, not only through the folly of
the prince himself
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:13,14">ver. 13, 14</A>),
but through the fickleness of the people, let the prince be ever so
discreet,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:15,16">ver. 15, 16</A>.
It is not the prerogative even of kings themselves to be exempted from
the vanity and vexation that attend these things; let none else then
expect it.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ec4_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prevalence of Oppression.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are
done under the sun: and behold the tears of <I>such as were</I>
oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their
oppressors <I>there was</I> power; but they had no comforter.
&nbsp; 2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than
the living which are yet alive.
&nbsp; 3 Yea, better <I>is he</I> than both they, which hath not yet been,
who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Solomon had a large soul
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+4:29">1 Kings iv. 29</A>)
and it appeared by this, among other things, that he had a very tender
concern for the miserable part of mankind and took cognizance of the
afflictions of the afflicted. He had taken the oppressors to task
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:16,17"><I>ch.</I> iii. 16, 17</A>)
and put them in mind of the judgment to come, to be a curb to their
insolence; now here he observes the oppressed. This he did, no doubt,
as a prince, to do them justice and <I>avenge them of their
adversaries,</I> for he both <I>feared God and regarded men;</I> but
here he does it as a preacher, and shows,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The troubles of their condition
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>);
of these he speaks very feelingly and with compassion. It grieved him,
1. To see might prevailing against right, to see so much <I>oppression
done under the sun,</I> to see servants, and labourers, and poor
workmen, oppressed by their masters, who take advantage of their
necessity to impose what terms they please upon them, debtors oppressed
by cruel creditors and creditors too by fraudulent debtors, tenants
oppressed by hard landlords and orphans by treacherous guardians, and,
worst of all, subjects oppressed by arbitrary princes and unjust
judges. Such <I>oppressions are done under the sun;</I> above the sun
righteousness reigns for ever. Wise men will <I>consider these
oppressions,</I> and contrive to do something for the relief of those
that are oppressed. <I>Blessed is he that considers the poor.</I>
2. To see how those that were wronged laid to heart the wrongs that
were done them. He <I>beheld the tears of such as were oppressed,</I>
and perhaps could not forbear weeping with them. The world is a place
of weepers; look which way we will, we have a melancholy scene
presented to us, <I>the tears of</I> those that are <I>oppressed</I>
with one trouble or other. They find it is to no purpose to complain,
and therefore mourn in secret (as Job,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:20,30:28"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 20; xxx. 28</A>);
but <I>Blessed are those that mourn.</I>
3. To see how unable they were to help themselves: <I>On the side of
their oppressors there was power,</I> when they had done wrong, to
stand to it and make good what they had done, so that the poor were
borne down with a strong hand and had no way to obtain redress. It is
sad to see power misplaced, and that which was given men to enable them
to do good perverted to support them in doing wrong.
4. To see how they and their calamities were slighted by all about
them. They wept and needed comfort, but there was none to do that
friendly office: <I>They had no comforter;</I> their oppressors were
powerful and threatening, and therefore <I>they had no comforter;</I>
those that should have comforted them durst not, for fear of
displeasing the oppressors and being made their companions for offering
to be their comforters. It is sad to see so little humanity among
men.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The temptations of their condition. Being thus hardly used, they
are tempted to hate and despise life, and to envy those that are dead
and in their graves, and to wish they had never been born
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>);
and Solomon is ready to agree with them, for it serves to prove that
<I>all is vanity and vexation,</I> since life itself is often so; and
if we disregard it, in comparison with the favour and fruition of God
(as St. Paul,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+20:24,Php+1:23">Acts xx. 24, Phil. i. 23</A>),
it is our praise, but, if (as here) only for the sake of the miseries
that attend it, it is our infirmity, and we judge therein after the
flesh, as Job and Elijah did.
1. He here thinks those happy who have ended this miserable life, have
done their part and quitted the stage; "<I>I praised the dead that are
already dead,</I> slain outright, or that had a speedy passage through
the world, made a short cut over the ocean of life, dead already,
before they had well begun to live; I was pleased with their lot, and,
had it been in their own choice, should have praised their wisdom for
but looking into the world and then retiring, as not liking it. I
concluded that it is better with them than with <I>the living that are
yet alive</I> and that is all, dragging the long and heavy chain of
life, and wearing out its tedious minutes." This may be compared not
with
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:20,21">Job iii. 20, 21</A>,
but with
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:13">Rev. xiv. 13</A>,
where, in times of persecution (and such Solomon is here describing),
it is not the passion of man, but the Spirit of God, that says,
<I>Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.</I>
Note, The condition of the saints that are dead, and gone to rest with
God, is upon many accounts better and more desirable than the condition
of living saints that are yet continued in their work and warfare.
2. He thinks those happy who never began this miserable life; nay, they
are happiest of all: <I>He that has not been is happier than both
they.</I> Better never to have been born than be born to <I>see the
evil work that is done under the sun,</I> to see so much wickedness
committed, so much wrong done, and not only to be in no capacity to
mend the matter, but to suffer ill for doing well. A good man, how
calamitous a condition soever he is in in this world, cannot have cause
to wish he had never been born, since he is glorifying the Lord even in
the fires, and will be happy at last, for ever happy. Nor ought any to
wish so while they are alive, for while there is life there is hope; a
man is never undone till he is in hell.</P>
<A NAME="Ec4_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prevalence of Oppression.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that
for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This <I>is</I> also vanity
and vexation of spirit.
&nbsp; 5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own
flesh.
&nbsp; 6 Better <I>is</I> a handful <I>with</I> quietness, than both the hands
full <I>with</I> travail and vexation of spirit.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here Solomon returns to the observation and consideration of the vanity
and vexation of spirit that attend the business of this world, which he
had spoken of before,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+2:11"><I>ch.</I> ii. 11</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. If a man be acute, and dexterous, and successful in his business, he
gets the ill-will of <I>his neighbours,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
Though he takes a great deal of pains, and goes through <I>all
travail,</I> does not get his estate easily, but it costs him a great
deal of hard labour, nor does he get it dishonestly, he wrongs no man,
defrauds no man, but by <I>every right work,</I> by applying himself to
his own proper business, and managing it by all the rules of equity and
fair dealing, yet <I>for this he is envied of his neighbour,</I> and
the more for the reputation he has got by his honesty. This shows,
1. What little conscience most men have, that they will bear a grudge
to a neighbour, give him an ill word and do him an ill turn, only
because he is more ingenious and industrious than themselves, and has
more of the blessing of heaven. Cain envied Abel, Esau Jacob, and Saul
David, and all for their right works. This is downright diabolism.
2. What little comfort wise and useful men must expect to have in this
world. Let them behave themselves ever so cautiously, they cannot
escape being envied; and <I>who can stand before envy?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+27:4">Prov. xxvii. 4</A>.
Those that excel in virtue will always be an eye-sore to those that
exceed in vice, which should not discourage us from any right work, but
drive us to expect the praise of it, not from men, but from God, and
not to count upon satisfaction and happiness in the creature; for, if
<I>right works</I> prove <I>vanity and vexation of spirit,</I> no works
<I>under the sun</I> can prove otherwise. But for <I>every right
work</I> a man shall be accepted of his God, and then he needs not mind
though he be <I>envied of his neighbour,</I> only it may make him love
the world the less.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. If a man be stupid, and dull, and blundering in his business, he
does ill for himself
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
<I>The fool</I> that goes about his work as if <I>his hands</I> were
muffled and <I>folded together,</I> that does every thing awkwardly,
<I>the sluggard</I> (for he is a fool) that loves his ease and <I>folds
his hands together</I> to keep them warm, because they refuse to
labour, he <I>eats his own flesh,</I> is a cannibal to himself, brings
himself into such a poor condition that he has nothing to eat but his
own flesh, into such a desperate condition that he is ready to eat his
own flesh for vexation. He has a dog's life--hunger and ease. Because
he sees active men that thrive in the world envied, he runs into the
other extreme; and, lest he should be envied for his right works, he
does every thing wrong, and does not deserve to be pitied. Note,
Idleness is a sin that is its own punishment. The following words
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
<I>Better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full with
travail and vexation of spirit,</I> may be taken either,
1. As the sluggard's argument for the excuse of himself in his
idleness. He <I>folds his hands together,</I> and abuses and misapplies
a good truth for his justification, as if, because <I>a little with
quietness is better than</I> abundance with strife, therefore a little
with idleness is better than abundance with honest labour: thus <I>wise
in his own conceit</I> is he,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+26:16">Prov. xxvi. 16</A>.
But,
2. I rather take it as Solomon's advice to keep the mean between that
<I>travail</I> which will make <I>a man envied</I> and that
slothfulness which will make a man <I>eat his own flesh.</I> Let us by
honest industry lay hold on the handful, that we may not want
necessaries, but not grasp at both the hands full, which will but
create us vexation of spirit. Moderate pains and moderate gains will do
best. A man may have but a handful of the world, and yet may enjoy it
and himself with a great deal of <I>quietness,</I> with content of
mind, peace of conscience, and the love and good-will of his
neighbours, while many that have both their hands full, have more than
heart could wish, have a great deal of travail and vexation with it.
Those that cannot live on a little, it is to be feared, would not live
as they should if they had ever so much.</P>
<A NAME="Ec4_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vanity of Human Wishes.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.
&nbsp; 8 There is one <I>alone,</I> and <I>there is</I> not a second; yea, he
hath neither child nor brother: yet <I>is there</I> no end of all his
labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither <I>saith
he,</I> For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This <I>is</I>
also vanity, yea, it <I>is</I> a sore travail.
&nbsp; 9 Two <I>are</I> better than one; because they have a good reward
for their labour.
&nbsp; 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe
to him <I>that is</I> alone when he falleth; for <I>he hath</I> not another
to help him up.
&nbsp; 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can
one be warm <I>alone?</I>
&nbsp; 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and
a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here Solomon fastens upon another instance of the vanity of this world,
that frequently the more men have of it the more they would have; and
on this they are so intent that they have no enjoyment of what they
have. Now Solomon here shows,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. That selfishness is the cause of this evil
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>):
<I>There is one alone,</I> that minds none but himself, cares for
nobody, but would, if he could, be placed alone in the midst of the
earth; <I>there is not a second,</I> nor does he desire there should
be: one mouth he thinks enough in a house, and grudges every thing that
goes beside him. See how this covetous muckworm is here described.
1. He makes himself a mere slave to his business. Though <I>he has</I>
no charge, <I>neither child nor brother,</I> none to take care of but
himself, none to hang upon him, or draw from him, no poor relations,
nor dares he marry, for fear of the expense of a family, <I>yet is
there no end of his labour;</I> he is at it night and day, early and
late, and will scarcely allow necessary rest to himself and those he
employs. He does not confine himself within the bounds of his own
calling, but is for having a hand in any thing that he can get by. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+127:2">Ps. cxxvii. 2</A>.
2. He never thinks he has enough: <I>His eye is not satisfied with
riches.</I> Covetousness is called <I>the lust of the eye</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+2:16">1 John ii. 16</A>)
because the <I>beholding of it with his eyes</I> is all that the
worldling seems to covet,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+5:11">Eccl. v. 11</A>.
He has enough for his back (as bishop Reynolds observes), for his
belly, for his calling, for his family, for his living decently in the
world, but he has not enough for his eyes. Though he can but see it,
can but count his money, and not find in his heart to use it, yet he is
not easy because he has not more to regale his eyes with.
3. He denies himself the comfort of what he has: he <I>bereaves his
soul of good.</I> If our souls are bereaved of good, it is we ourselves
that do bereave them. Others may bereave us of outward good, but cannot
rob us of our graces and comforts, our spiritual good things. It is our
own fault if we do not enjoy ourselves. Yet many are so set upon the
world that, in pursuit of it, they <I>bereave their souls of good</I>
here and for ever, make shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience,
bereave themselves not only of the favour of God and eternal life, but
of the pleasures of this world too and this present life. Worldly
people, pretending to be wise for themselves, are really enemies to
themselves.
4. He has no excuse for doing this: <I>He has neither child nor
brother,</I> none that he is bound to, on whom he may lay out what he
has to his satisfaction while he lives, none that he has a kindness
for, for whom he may lay it up to his satisfaction and to whom he may
leave it when he dies, none that are poor or dear to him.
5. He has not consideration enough to show himself the folly of this.
He never puts this question to himself, "<I>For whom do I labour</I>
thus? Do I labour, as I should, for the glory of God, and that I may
have to give to those that need? Do I consider that it is but for the
body that I am labouring, a dying body; it is for others, and I know
not for whom--perhaps for a fool, that will scatter it as fast as I
have gathered it--perhaps for a foe, that will be ungrateful to my
memory?" Note, It is wisdom for those that take pains about this world
to consider whom they take all this pains for, and whether it be really
worth while to bereave themselves of good that they may bestow it on a
stranger. If men do not consider this, it <I>is vanity, and a sore
travail;</I> they shame and vex themselves to no purpose.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. That sociableness is the cure of this evil. Men are thus sordid
because they are all for themselves. Now Solomon shows here, by divers
instances, that <I>it is not good for man to be alone</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:18">Gen. ii. 18</A>);
he designs hereby to recommend to us both marriage and friendship, two
things which covetous misers decline, because of the charge of them;
but such are the comfort and advantage of them both, if prudently
contracted, that they will very well quit cost. Man, in paradise
itself, could not be happy without a mate, and therefore is no sooner
made than matched.
1. Solomon lays this down for a truth, That <I>two are better than
one,</I> and more happy jointly than either of them could be
separately, more pleased in one another than they could be in
themselves only, mutually serviceable to each other's welfare, and by a
united strength more likely to do good to others: <I>They have a good
reward of their labour;</I> whatever service they do, it is returned to
them another way. He that serves himself only has himself only for his
paymaster, and commonly proves more unjust and ungrateful to himself
than his friend, if he should serve him, would be to him; witness him
that <I>labours endlessly</I> and yet <I>bereaves his soul of good;</I>
he has no <I>reward of his labour.</I> But he that is kind to another
has <I>a good reward;</I> the pleasure and advantage of holy love will
be an abundant recompence for all the <I>work and labour of love.</I>
Hence Solomon infers the mischief of solitude: <I>Woe to him that is
alone.</I> He lies exposed to many temptations which good company and
friendship would prevent and help him to guard against; he wants that
advantage which a man has by the countenance of his friend, as iron has
of being sharpened by iron. A monastic life then was surely never
intended for a state of perfection, nor should those be reckoned the
greatest lovers of God who cannot find in their hearts to love any one
else.
2. He proves it by divers instances of the benefit of friendship and
good conversation.
(1.) Occasional succour in an exigency. It is good for two to travel
together, <I>for if</I> one happen to <I>fall,</I> he may be lost for
want of a little help. If a man fall <I>into sin,</I> his friend will
help to <I>restore him with the spirit of meekness;</I> if he fall into
trouble, his friend will help to comfort him and assuage his grief.
(2.) Mutual warmth. As a fellow-traveller is of use (<I>amicus pro
vehiculo</I>--<I>a friend is a good substitute for a carriage</I>) so
is a bedfellow: <I>If two lie together, they have heat.</I> So virtuous
and gracious affections are excited by good society, and Christians
warm one another by <I>provoking one another to love and to good
works.</I>
(3.) United strength. If an enemy find a man alone, he is likely to
<I>prevail against him;</I> with his own single strength he cannot make
his part good, but, if he have a second, he may do well enough: <I>two
shall withstand him.</I> "You shall help me against my enemy, and I
will help you against yours;" according to the agreement between Joab
and Abishai
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+10:11">2 Sam. x. 11</A>),
and so both are conquerors; whereas, acting separately, both would have
been conquered; as was said of the ancient Britons, when the Romans
invaded them, <I>Dum singuli pugnant, universi vincuntur--While they
fight in detached parties, they sacrifice the general cause.</I> In our
spiritual warfare we may be helpful to one another as well as in our
spiritual work; next to the comfort of communion with God, is that of
the communion of saints. He concludes with this proverb, <I>A threefold
cord is not easily broken,</I> any more than a bundle of arrows, though
each single thread, and each single arrow, is. Two together he compares
to <I>a threefold cord;</I> for where two are closely joined in holy
love and fellowship, Christ will by his Spirit come to them, and make
the third, as he joined himself to the two disciples going to Emmaus,
and then there is <I>a threefold cord</I> that can never be <I>broken.
They that dwell in love, dwell in God, and God in them.</I></P>
<A NAME="Ec4_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Ec4_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Advantages of Society.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>13 Better <I>is</I> a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish
king, who will no more be admonished.
&nbsp; 14 For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also <I>he that
is</I> born in his kingdom becometh poor.
&nbsp; 15 I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with
the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
&nbsp; 16 <I>There is</I> no end of all the people, <I>even</I> of all that have
been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in
him. Surely this also <I>is</I> vanity and vexation of spirit.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Solomon was himself a king, and therefore may be allowed to speak more
freely than another concerning the vanity of kingly state and dignity,
which he shows here to be an uncertain thing; he had before said so
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+27:24">Prov. xxvii. 24</A>,
<I>The crown doth not endure to every generation</I>), and his son
found it so. Nothing is more slippery than the highest post of honour
without wisdom and the people's love.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. A king is not happy unless he have wisdom,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:13,14"><I>v.</I> 13, 14</A>.
He that is truly <I>wise,</I> prudent, and pious, though he be
<I>poor</I> in the world, and very young, and upon both accounts
despised and little taken notice of, <I>is better,</I> more truly
valuable and worthy of respect, is likely to do better for himself and
to be a greater blessing to his generation, <I>than a king, than an old
king,</I> and therefore venerable both for his gravity and for his
dignity, if he be <I>foolish,</I> and knows not how to manage public
affairs himself nor <I>will be admonished</I> and advised by
others--<I>who</I> knows not to <I>be admonished,</I> that is, will not
suffer any counsel or admonition to be given him (no one about him
dares contradict him) or will not hearken to the counsel and admonition
that are given him. It is so far from being any part of the honour of
kings that it is the greatest dishonour to them that can be not to be
<I>admonished.</I> Folly and wilfulness commonly go together, and those
that most need admonition can worst bear it; but neither age nor titles
will secure men respect if they have not true wisdom and virtue to
recommend them; while wisdom and virtue will gain men honour even under
the disadvantages of youth and poverty. To prove the <I>wise child
better than the foolish king</I> he shows what each of them comes to,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
1. <I>A poor</I> man by his wisdom comes to be preferred, as Joseph,
who, when he was but young, was brought <I>out of prison</I> to be
<I>the second</I> man in the kingdom, to which story Solomon seems here
to refer. Providence sometimes <I>raises the poor out of the dust, to
set them among princes,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+113:7,8">Ps. cxiii. 7, 8</A>.
Wisdom has wrought not only the liberty of men, but their dignity,
raised them from the dunghill, from the dungeon, to the throne.
2. <I>A king</I> by his folly and wilfulness comes to be impoverished.
Though he was <I>born in his kingdom,</I> came to it by inheritance,
though he has lived to be old in it and has had time to fill his
treasures, yet if he take ill courses, and <I>will no more be
admonished</I> as he has been, thinking, because he is old, he is past
it, he <I>becomes poor;</I> his treasure is exhausted, and perhaps he
is forced to resign his crown and retire into privacy.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. A king is not likely to continue if he have not a confirmed
interest in the affections of the people; this is intimated, but
somewhat obscurely, in the last
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:15,16">two verses</A>.
1. He that is king must have a successor, a <I>second,</I> a <I>child
that shall stand up in his stead,</I> his own, suppose, or perhaps that
<I>poor and wise child</I> spoken of,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:12"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
Kings, when they grow old, must have the mortification of seeing those
that are to jostle them out and stand up in their stead.
2. It is common with the people to adore the rising sun: <I>All the
living who walk under the sun</I> are <I>with the second child,</I> are
in his interests, are conversant with him, and make their court to him
more than to the father, whom they look upon as going off, and despise
because his best days are past. Solomon considered this; he saw this
to be the disposition of his own people, which appeared immediately
after his death, in their complaints of his government and their
affectation of a change.
3. People are never long easy and satisfied: <I>There is no end,</I> no
rest, <I>of all the people;</I> they are continually fond of changes,
and know not what they would have.
4. This is no new thing, but it has been the way <I>of all that have
been before them;</I> there have been instances of this in every age:
even Samuel and David could not always please.
5. As it has been, so it is likely to be still: <I>Those that come
after</I> will be of the same spirit, and <I>shall not</I> long
<I>rejoice in him</I> whom at first they seemed extremely fond of.
To-day, <I>Hosanna</I>--tomorrow, <I>Crucify.</I>
6. It cannot but be a great grief to princes to see themselves thus
slighted by those they have studied to oblige and have depended upon;
there is no faith in man, no stedfastness. <I>This is vanity and
vexation of spirit.</I></P>
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