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<p>The scope of these verses is to show, 1. That we live in a world of changes, that the several events of time, and conditions of human life, are vastly different from one another, and yet occur promiscuously, and we are continually passing and repassing between them, as in the revolutions of every day and every year. In the <i>wheel of nature</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Jas.3.6" href="/passage/?search=Jas.3.6">Jas. 3:6</a>) sometimes one spoke is uppermost and by and by the contrary; there is a constant ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning; from one extreme to the other does the <i>fashion of this world change</i>, ever did, and ever will. 2. That every change concerning us, with the time and season of it, is unalterably fixed and determined by a supreme power; and we must take things as they come, for it is not in our power to change what is appointed for us. And this comes in here as a reason why, when we are in prosperity, we should by easy, and yet not secure—not to be secure because we live in a world of changes and therefore have no reason to say, <i>To-morrow shall be as this day</i> (the lowest valleys join to the highest mountains), and yet to be easy, and, as he had advised (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.2.24" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.2.24">Eccl. 2:24</a>), <i>to enjoy the good of our labour</i>, in a humble dependence upon God and his providence, neither lifted up with hopes, nor cast down with fears, but with evenness of mind expecting every event. Here we have,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. A general proposition laid down: <i>To every thing there is a season</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.3.1" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.3.1">Eccl. 3:1</a>. 1. Those things which seem most contrary the one to the other will, in the revolution of affairs, each take their turn and come into play. The day will give place to the night and the night again to the day. Isa. it summer? It will be winter. Isa. it winter? Stay a while, and it will be summer. Every purpose has its time. The clearest sky will be clouded, <i>Post gaudia luctus—Joy succeeds sorrow</i>; and the most clouded sky will clear up, <i>Post nubila Phoebus—The sun will burst from behind the cloud</i>. 2. Those things which to us seem most casual and contingent are, in the counsel and foreknowledge of God, punctually determined, and the very hour of them is fixed, and can neither be anticipated nor adjourned a moment.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. The proof and illustration of it by the induction of particulars, twenty-eight in number, according to the days of the moon’s revolution, which is always increasing or decreasing between its full and change. Some of these changes are purely the act of God, others depend more upon the will of man, but all are determined by the divine counsel. Every thing <i>under heaven</i> is thus changeable, but in heaven there is an unchangeable state, and an unchangeable counsel concerning these things. 1. There is <i>a time to be born and a time to die</i>. These are determined by the divine counsel; and, as we were born, so we must die, at the time appointed, <a class="bibleref" title="Acts.17.26" href="/passage/?search=Acts.17.26">Acts 17:26</a>. Some observe that here is <i>a time to be born and a time to die</i>, but no time to live; that is so short that it is not worth mentioning; as soon as we are born we begin to die. But, as there is <i>a time to be born and a time to die</i>, so there will be a time to rise again, a set time when those that lie in the grave shall be remembered, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.14.13" href="/passage/?search=Job.14.13">Job 14:13</a>. 2. <i>A time</i> for God <i>to plant</i> a nation, as that of Israel in Canaan, <i>and</i>, in order to that, <i>to pluck up</i> the seven nations <i>that were planted</i> there, to make room for them; and at length there was a time when God spoke concerning Israel too, to <i>pluck up and to destroy</i>, when the measure of their iniquity was full, <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.18.7,Jer.18.9" href="/passage/?search=Jer.18.7,Jer.18.9"><span class="bibleref" title="Jer.18.7">Jer. 18:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Jer.18.9">9</span></a>. There is <i>a time</i> for men <i>to plant</i>, a time of the year, a time of their lives; but, when <i>that which was planted</i> has grown fruitless and useless, it is <i>time to pluck it up</i>. 3. <i>A time to kill</i>, when the judgments of God are abroad in a land and lay all waste; but, when he returns in ways of mercy, then is <i>a time to heal</i> what <i>he has torn</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Hos.6.1,Hos.6.2" href="/passage/?search=Hos.6.1,Hos.6.2"><span class="bibleref" title="Hos.6.1">Hos. 6:1</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Hos.6.2">2</span></a>), to comfort a people after the time that he has <i>afflicted them</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.90.15" href="/passage/?search=Ps.90.15">Ps. 90:15</a>. There is a time when it is the wisdom of rulers to use severe methods, but there is a time when it is as much their wisdom to take a more gentle course, and to apply themselves to lenitives, not corrosives. 4. <i>A time to break down</i> a family, an estate, a kingdom, when it has ripened itself for destruction; but God will find <i>a time</i>, if they return and repent, to rebuild what he has broken down; there is <i>a time</i>, a set time, for the Lord <i>to build up Zion</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.102.13,Ps.102.16" href="/passage/?search=Ps.102.13,Ps.102.16"><span class="bibleref" title="Ps.102.13">Ps. 102:13</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ps.102.16">16</span></a>. There is <i>a time</i> for men <i>to break up</i> house, and break off trade, and so <i>to break down</i>, which those that are busy in <i>building up</i> both must expect and prepare for. 5. <i>A time</i> when God’s providence calls <i>to weep and mourn</i>, and when man’s wisdom and grace will comply with the call, and will <i>weep and mourn</i>, as in times of common calamity and danger, and there it is very absurd to <i>laugh, and dance</i>, and make merry (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.22.12,Isa.22.13,Ezek.21.10" href="/passage/?search=Isa.22.12,Isa.22.13,Ezek.21.10"><span class="bibleref" title="Isa.22.12">Isa. 22:12</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Isa.22.13">13</span>; <span class="bibleref" title="Ezek.21.10">Ezek. 21:10</span></a>); but then, on the other hand, there is a time when God calls to cheerfulness, <i>a time to laugh and dance</i>, and then he expects we should <i>serve him
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<p class="tab-1">III. The inferences drawn from this observation. If our present state be subject to such vicissitude, 1. Then we must not expect our portion in it, for the good things of it are of no certainty, no continuance (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.3.9" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.3.9">Eccl. 3:9</a>): <i>What profit has he that works</i>? What can a man promise himself from planting and building, when that which he thinks is brought to perfection may so soon, and will so surely, be plucked up and broken down? All our pains and care will not alter either the mutable nature of the things themselves or the immutable counsel of God concerning them. 2. Then we must look upon ourselves as upon our probation in it. There is indeed no profit <i>in that wherein we labour</i>; the thing itself, when we have it, will do us little good; but, if we make a right use of the disposals of Providence about it, there will be profit in that (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.3.10" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.3.10">Eccl. 3:10</a>): <i>I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men</i>, not to make up a happiness by it, but <i>to be exercised in it</i>, to have various graces exercised by the variety of events, to have their dependence upon God tried by every change, and to be trained up to it, and taught both <i>how to want and how to abound</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Phil.4.12" href="/passage/?search=Phil.4.12">Phil. 4:12</a>. Note, (1.) There is a great deal of toil and trouble to be seen among the children of men. Labour and sorrow fill the world. (2.) This toil and this trouble are what God has allotted us. He never intended this world for our rest, and therefore never appointed us to take our ease in it. (3.) To many it proves a gift. God gives it to men, as the physician gives a medicine to his patient, to do him good. This travail is given to us to make us weary of the world and desirous of the remaining rest. It is given to us that we may be kept in action, and may always have something to do; for we were none of us sent into the world to be idle. Every change cuts us out some new work, which we should be more solicitous about, than about the event.</p>
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