mh_parser/vol_split/21 - Ecclesiastes/Chapter 6.xml

<div2 id="Ec.vii" n="vii" next="Ec.viii" prev="Ec.vi" progress="91.90%" title="Chapter VI">
<h2 id="Ec.vii-p0.1">E C C L E S I A S T E S</h2>
<h3 id="Ec.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ec.vii-p1">In this chapter, I. The royal preacher goes on
further to show the vanity of worldly wealth, when men place their
happiness in it and are eager and inordinate in laying it up.
Riches, in the hands of a man that is wise and generous, and good
for something, but in the hands of a sordid, sneaking, covetous
miser, they are good for nothing. 1. He takes an account of the
possessions and enjoyments which such a man may have. He has wealth
(<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.2" parsed="|Eccl|6|2|0|0" passage="Ec 6:2">ver. 2</scripRef>), he has children to
inherit it (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.3" parsed="|Eccl|6|3|0|0" passage="Ec 6:3">ver. 3</scripRef>), and
lives long, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.3 Bible:Eccl.6.6" parsed="|Eccl|6|3|0|0;|Eccl|6|6|0|0" passage="Ec 6:3,6">ver. 3, 6</scripRef>. 2.
He describes his folly in not taking the comfort of it; he has no
power to eat of it, lets strangers devour it, is never filled with
good, and at last has no burial, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.2-Eccl.6.3" parsed="|Eccl|6|2|6|3" passage="Ec 6:2,3">ver.
2, 3</scripRef>. 3. He condemns it as an evil, a common evil,
vanity, and a disease, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.1-Eccl.6.2" parsed="|Eccl|6|1|6|2" passage="Ec 6:1,2">ver. 1,
2</scripRef>. 4. He prefers the condition of a still-born child
before the condition of such a one, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.3" parsed="|Eccl|6|3|0|0" passage="Ec 6:3">ver.
3</scripRef>. The still-born child's infelicity is only negative
(<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.4-Eccl.6.5" parsed="|Eccl|6|4|6|5" passage="Ec 6:4,5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>), but that of
the covetous worldling is positive; he lives a great while to see
himself miserable, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.6" parsed="|Eccl|6|6|0|0" passage="Ec 6:6">ver. 6</scripRef>. 5.
He shows the vanity of riches as pertaining only to the body, and
giving no satisfaction to the mind (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.7-Eccl.6.8" parsed="|Eccl|6|7|6|8" passage="Ec 6:7,8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>), and of those boundless desires
with which covetous people vex themselves (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.9" parsed="|Eccl|6|9|0|0" passage="Ec 6:9">ver. 9</scripRef>), which, if they be gratified ever so
fully, leave a man but a man still, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.10" parsed="|Eccl|6|10|0|0" passage="Ec 6:10">ver. 10</scripRef>. II. He concludes this discourse of
the vanity of the creature with this plain inference from the
whole, That it is folly to think of making up a happiness for
ourselves in the things of this world, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.11-Eccl.6.12" parsed="|Eccl|6|11|6|12" passage="Ec 6:11,12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. Our satisfaction must be in
another life, not in this.</p>
<scripCom id="Ec.vii-p1.13" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6" parsed="|Eccl|6|0|0|0" passage="Ec 6" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ec.vii-p1.14" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.1-Eccl.6.6" parsed="|Eccl|6|1|6|6" passage="Ec 6:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Eccl.6.1-Eccl.6.6">
<h4 id="Ec.vii-p1.15">The Miseries of
Covetousness.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ec.vii-p2">1 There is an evil which I have seen under the
sun, and it <i>is</i> common among men:   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 <i>is</i> vanity,
and it <i>is</i> an evil disease.   3 If a man beget a hundred
<i>children,</i> and live many years, so that the days of his years
be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also <i>that</i>
he have no burial; I say, <i>that</i> an untimely birth <i>is</i>
better than he.   4 For he cometh in with vanity, and
departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
  5 Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known <i>any
thing:</i> this hath more rest than the other.   6 Yea, though
he live a thousand years twice <i>told,</i> yet hath he seen no
good: do not all go to one place?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p3">Solomon had shown, in the close of the
foregoing chapter, how good it is to make a comfortable use of the
gifts of God's providence; now here he shows the evil of the
contrary, having and not using, gathering to lay up for I know not
what contingent emergencies to come, not to lay out on the most
urgent occasions present. This <i>is an evil which</i> Solomon
himself saw <i>under the sun,</i> <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.1" parsed="|Eccl|6|1|0|0" passage="Ec 6:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. A great deal of evil there is
<i>under the sun.</i> There is a world above the sun where there is
no evil, yet God <i>causes his sun to shine upon the evil</i> as
well as upon <i>the good,</i> which is an aggravation of the evil.
God has lighted up a candle for his servants to work by, but they
bury their talent as slothful and unprofitable, and so waste the
light and are unworthy of it. Solomon, as a king, inspected the
manners of his subjects, and took notice of this evil as a
prejudice to the public, who are damaged not only by men's
prodigality on the one hand, but by their penuriousness on the
other. As it is with the blood in the natural body, so it is with
the wealth of the body politic, if, instead of circulating, it
stagnates, it will be of ill consequence. Solomon as a preacher
observed the evils that were done that he might reprove them and
warn people against them. This evil was, in his days,
<i>common,</i> and yet then there was great plenty of silver and
gold, which, one would think, should have made people less fond of
riches; the times also were peaceable, nor was there any prospect
of trouble, which to some is a temptation to hoard. But no
providence will of itself, unless the grace of God work with it,
cure the corrupt affection that is in the carnal mind to the world
and the things of it; nay, when <i>riches increase</i> we are most
apt to set our <i>hearts upon them.</i> Now concerning this miser
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p4">I. The abundant reason he has to serve God
with joyfulness and gladness of heart; how well God has done for
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p5">1. He <i>has given</i> him <i>riches,
wealth, and honour,</i> <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.2" parsed="|Eccl|6|2|0|0" passage="Ec 6:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>. Note, (1.) <i>Riches</i> and <i>wealth</i> commonly
gain people <i>honour</i> among men. Though it be but an image, if
it be a <i>golden</i> image, <i>all people, nations, and
languages,</i> will <i>fall down and worship it.</i> (2.)
<i>Riches, wealth, and honour,</i> are God's gifts, the gifts of
his providence, and not given, as his rain and sunshine, alike to
all, but to some, and not to others, as God sees fit. (3.) Yet they
are given to many that do not make a good use of them, to many to
whom God does not give wisdom and grace to take the comfort of them
and serve God with them. The gifts of common providence are
bestowed on many to whom are denied the gifts of a special grace,
without which the gifts of providence often do more hurt than
good.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p6">2. <i>He wants nothing for his soul of all
that he desires.</i> Providence has been so liberal to him that he
has as much as <i>heart could wish,</i> and <i>more,</i> <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.7" parsed="|Ps|73|7|0|0" passage="Ps 73:7">Ps. lxxiii. 7</scripRef>. He does not desire
grace for his soul, the better part; all he desires is enough to
gratify the sensual appetite, and that he has; his <i>belly</i> is
<i>filled with</i> these <i>hidden treasures,</i> <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.14" parsed="|Ps|17|14|0|0" passage="Ps 17:14">Ps. xvii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p7">3. He is supposed to have a numerous
family, to <i>beget a hundred children,</i> which are the stay and
strength of his house and as a <i>quiver full of arrows</i> to him,
which are the honour and credit of his house, and in whom he has
the prospect of having his name built up and having all the
immortality this world can give him. <i>They are full of
children</i> (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.14" parsed="|Ps|17|14|0|0" passage="Ps 17:14">Ps. xvii.
14</scripRef>), while many of God's people are written childless
and stripped of all.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p8">4. To complete his happiness, he is
supposed to <i>live many years,</i> or rather many <i>days,</i> for
our life is to be reckoned rather by days than years: <i>The days
of his years are many,</i> and so healthful is his constitution,
and so slowly does age creep upon him, that they are likely to be
many more. Nay, he is supposed to <i>live a thousand years</i>
(which no man, that we know of, ever did), nay, <i>a thousand years
twice told,</i> a small part of which time, one would think, were
enough to convince men, by their own experience, of the folly both
of those that expect to find all good in worldly wealth, and of
those that expect to find any good in it but in using it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p9">II. The little heart he has to use this
which God gives him, for the ends and purposes for which it was
given him. This is his fault and folly that he <i>renders not again
according to the benefit done unto him,</i> and <i>serves not the
Lord God</i> his benefactor, <i>with joyfulness and gladness of
heart, in the abundance of all things.</i> In the day of prosperity
he is not joyful. <i>Tristis es, et felix?—Art thou happy, yet
sad?</i> See his folly: 1. He cannot find in his heart to take the
comfort of what he has himself. He has meat before him; he has
wherewith to maintain himself and his family comfortably, but he
has <i>not power to eat thereof.</i> His sordid niggardly temper
will not suffer him to lay it out, no, not upon himself, no, not
upon that which is most necessary for himself. He has not power to
reason himself out of this absurdity, to conquer his covetous
humour. He is weak indeed, who has not power to use what God gives
him, for <i>God gives him not</i> that <i>power,</i> but withholds
it from him, to punish him for his other abuses of his wealth.
Because he has not the will to serve God with it, God denies him
the power to serve himself with it. 2. He suffers those to prey
upon him that he is under no obligation to: <i>A stranger eateth
it.</i> This is the common fate of misers; they will not trust
their own children perhaps, but retainers and hangers-on, that have
the art of wheedling, insinuate themselves into them, and find ways
of devouring what they have, or getting it to be left to them by
their wills. God orders it so that <i>a stranger eats it. Strangers
devour his strength,</i> <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.9 Bible:Prov.5.10" parsed="|Hos|7|9|0|0;|Prov|5|10|0|0" passage="Ho 7:9,Pr 5:10">Hos.
vii. 9; Prov. v. 10</scripRef>. This may be well called <i>vanity,
and an evil disease.</i> What we have we have in vain if we do not
use it; and that temper of mind is certainly a most wretched
distemper which keeps us from using it. Our worst diseases are
those that arise from the corruption of our own hearts. 3. He
deprives himself of the good that he might have had of his worldly
possessions, not only forfeits it, but robs himself of it and
throws it from him: <i>His soul is not filled with good,</i>
<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.3" parsed="|Eccl|6|3|0|0" passage="Ec 6:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He is still
unsatisfied and uneasy. His hands are filled with riches, his barns
filled, and his bags filled, but <i>his soul is not filled with
good,</i> no, not with that good, for it is still craving more. Nay
(<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.6" parsed="|Eccl|6|6|0|0" passage="Ec 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), <i>he has not
seen good;</i> he cannot so much as please his eye, for that is
still looking further and looking with envy on those that have
more. He has not even the sensible good of an estate. Though he
looks not beyond the things that are seen, yet he looks not with
any true pleasure even on them. 4. <i>He has no burial,</i> none
agreeable to his rank, no decent burial, but <i>the burial of an
ass.</i> Through the sordidness of his temper he will not allow
himself a fashionable burial, but forbids it, or the strangers that
have eaten him up leave him so poor, at last, that he has not
wherewithal, or those to whom he leaves what he has have so little
esteem for his memory, and are so greedy of what they are to have
from him, that they will not be at the charges of burying him
handsomely, which his own children, if he had left it to them,
would not have grudged him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p10">III. The preference which the preacher
gives to an untimely birth before him: <i>An untimely birth,</i> a
child that is carried from the womb to the grave, <i>is better than
he.</i> Better is the fruit that drops from the tree before it is
ripe than that which is left to hang on till it is rotten. Job, in
his passion, thinks the condition of <i>an untimely birth</i>
better than his when he was in adversity (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.16" parsed="|Job|3|16|0|0" passage="Job 3:16">Job iii. 16</scripRef>); but Solomon here pronounces it
better than the condition of a worldling in his greatest
prosperity, when the world smiles upon him. 1. He grants the
condition of <i>an untimely birth,</i> upon many accounts, to be
very sad (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.4-Eccl.6.5" parsed="|Eccl|6|4|6|5" passage="Ec 6:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>):
<i>He comes in with vanity</i> (for, as to this world, he that is
born and dies immediately was born in vain), and he <i>departs in
darkness;</i> little or no notice is taken of him; being an
abortive, he has no <i>name,</i> or, if he had, it would soon be
forgotten and buried in oblivion; it would <i>be covered with
darkness,</i> as the body is with the earth. Nay (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.5" parsed="|Eccl|6|5|0|0" passage="Ec 6:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), <i>he has not seen the
sun,</i> but from the darkness of the womb he is hurried
immediately to that of the grave, and, which is worse than not
being known to any, he has not <i>known any thing,</i> and
therefore has come short of that which is the greatest pleasure and
honour of man. Those that live in wilful ignorance, and know
nothing to purpose, are no better than <i>an untimely birth</i>
that <i>has not seen the sun nor known any thing.</i> 2. Yet he
prefers it before that of a covetous miser. <i>This</i> untimely
birth <i>has more rest than the other,</i> for <i>this</i> has some
rest, but <i>the other</i> has none; <i>this</i> has no trouble and
disquiet, but <i>the other</i> is in perpetual agitation, and has
nothing but trouble, trouble of his own making. The shorter the
life is the longer the rest; and the fewer the days, and the less
we have to do with this troublesome world, the less trouble we
know.</p>
<verse id="Ec.vii-p10.4">
<l class="t1" id="Ec.vii-p10.5">'Tis better die a child at four,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ec.vii-p10.6">Than live, and die so at fourscore.</l>
</verse>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p11">The reason he gives why <i>this has more
rest</i> is because <i>all go to one place</i> to rest in, and this
is sooner at his rest, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.6" parsed="|Eccl|6|6|0|0" passage="Ec 6:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. He that <i>lives a thousand years</i> goes to the
same place with the child that does not live an hour, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.20" parsed="|Eccl|3|20|0|0" passage="Ec 3:20"><i>ch.</i> iii. 20</scripRef>. The grave is the
place we shall all meet in. Whatever differences there may be in
men's condition in this world, they must all die, are all under the
same sentence, and, to outward appearance, their deaths are alike.
The grave is to one, as well as another, a land of silence, of
darkness, of separation from the living, and a sleeping-place. It
is the common rendezvous of rich and poor, honourable and mean,
learned and unlearned; the short-lived and long-lived meet in the
grave, only one rides post thither, the other goes by a slower
conveyance; the dust of both mingles, and lies undistinguished.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ec.vii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.7-Eccl.6.10" parsed="|Eccl|6|7|6|10" passage="Ec 6:7-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Eccl.6.7-Eccl.6.10">
<h4 id="Ec.vii-p11.4">The Insatiableness of
Desire.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ec.vii-p12">7 All the labour of man <i>is</i> for his mouth,
and yet the appetite is not filled.   8 For what hath the wise
more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before
the living?   9 Better <i>is</i> the sight of the eyes than
the wandering of the desire: this <i>is</i> also vanity and
vexation of spirit.   10 That which hath been is named
already, and it is known that it <i>is</i> man: neither may he
contend with him that is mightier than he.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p13">The preacher here further shows the vanity
and folly of heaping up worldly wealth and expecting happiness in
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p14">I. How much soever we toil about the world,
and get out of it, we can have for ourselves no more than a
maintenance (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.7" parsed="|Eccl|6|7|0|0" passage="Ec 6:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>):
<i>All the labour of man is for his mouth,</i> which <i>craves it
of him</i> (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.26" parsed="|Prov|16|26|0|0" passage="Pr 16:26">Prov. xvi. 26</scripRef>);
it is but <i>food and raiment;</i> what is more others have, not
we; it is all <i>for the mouth. Meats</i> are but <i>for the belly
and the belly for meats;</i> there is nothing for the head and
heart, nothing to nourish or enrich the soul. A little will serve
to sustain us comfortably and a great deal can do no more.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p15">II. Those that have ever so much are still
craving; let a man labour ever so much <i>for his mouth, yet the
appetite is not filled.</i> 1. Natural desires are still returning,
still pressing; a man may be feasted to-day and yet hungry
to-morrow. 2. Worldly sinful desires are insatiable, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.10" parsed="|Eccl|5|10|0|0" passage="Ec 5:10"><i>ch.</i> v. 10</scripRef>. Wealth to a
worldling is like drink to one in a dropsy, which does but increase
the thirst. Some read the whole verse thus: <i>Though all a man's
labour fall out to his own mind (ori ejus obveniat—so as to
correspond with his views,</i> Juv.), just as himself would have
it, <i>yet his desire is not satisfied,</i> still he has a mind to
something more. 3. The desires of the soul find nothing in the
wealth of the world to give them any satisfaction. <i>The soul is
not filled,</i> so the word is. When God <i>gave</i> Israel
<i>their request</i> he <i>sent leanness into their souls,</i>
<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.15" parsed="|Ps|106|15|0|0" passage="Ps 106:15">Ps. cvi. 15</scripRef>. He was a fool
who, when his barns were full, said, <i>Soul, take thine
ease.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p16">III. A fool may have as much worldly
wealth, and may enjoy as much of the pleasure of it, as a wise man;
nay, and perhaps not be so sensible of the vexation of it: <i>What
has the wise more than the fool?</i> <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.8" parsed="|Eccl|6|8|0|0" passage="Ec 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Perhaps he has not so good an
estate, so good a trade, nor such good preferment as the fool has.
Nay, suppose them to be equal in their possessions, what can a wise
man, a scholar, a wit, a politician, squeeze out of his estate more
than needful supplies? and a half-witted man may do this. A fool
can fare as well and relish it, can dress as well, and make as good
a figure in any public appearance, as a wise man; so that if there
were not pleasures and honour peculiar to the mind, which <i>the
wise man has more than the fool,</i> as to this world they would be
upon a level.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p17">IV. Even a poor man, who has business, and
is discreet, diligent, and dexterous, in the management of it, may
get as comfortably through this world as he that is loaded with an
overgrown estate. Consider <i>what the poor has</i> less than the
rich, if he but <i>knows to walk before the living,</i> knows how
to conduct himself decently, and do his duty to all, how to get an
honest livelihood by his labour, how to spend his time well and
improve his opportunities. <i>What has</i> he? Why, he is better
beloved and more respected among his neighbours, and has a better
interest than many a rich man that is griping and haughty. <i>What
has</i> he? Why he has as much of the comfort of this life, has
<i>food and raiment,</i> and is <i>therewith content,</i> and so is
as truly rich as he that has abundance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p18">V. The enjoyment of what we have cannot but
be acknowledged more rational than a greedy grasping at more
(<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.9" parsed="|Eccl|6|9|0|0" passage="Ec 6:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Better is
the sight of the eyes,</i> making the best of that which is
present, <i>than the wandering of the desire,</i> the uneasy
walking of the soul after things at a distance, and the affecting
of a variety of imaginary satisfactions. He is much happier that is
always content, though he has ever so little, than he that is
always coveting, though he has ever so much. We cannot say,
<i>Better is the sight of the eyes than the</i> fixing <i>of the
desire</i> upon God, and the resting of the soul in him; it is
better to live by faith in things to come than to live by sense,
which dwells only upon present things; but <i>better is the sight
of the eyes than the</i> roving <i>of the desire</i> after the
world, and the things of it, than which nothing is more uncertain
nor more unsatisfying at the best. <i>This wandering of the desire
is vanity and vexation of spirit.</i> It <i>is vanity</i> at the
best; if what is desired, be obtained, it proves not what we
promised ourselves from it, but commonly <i>the wandering
desire</i> is crossed and disappointed, and then it turns to
<i>vexation of spirit.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p19">VI. Our lot, whatever it is, is that which
is appointed us by the counsel of God, which cannot be altered, and
it is therefore our wisdom to reconcile ourselves to it and
cheerfully to acquiesce in it (<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.10" parsed="|Eccl|6|10|0|0" passage="Ec 6:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>That which has been,</i> or
(as some read it) <i>that which is,</i> and so likewise that which
shall be, <i>is named already;</i> it is already determined in the
divine foreknowledge, and all our care and pains cannot make it
otherwise than as it is fixed. <i>Jacta est alea—The die is
cast.</i> It is therefore folly to quarrel with that which will be
as it is, and wisdom to make a virtue of necessity. We shall have
what pleases God, and let that please us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p20">VII. Whatever we attain to in this world,
still we are but men, and the greatest possessions and preferments
cannot set us above the common accidents of human life: <i>That
which has been,</i> and is, that busy animal that makes such a stir
and such a noise in the world, <i>is named already.</i> He that
made him gave him his name, <i>and it is known that it is man;</i>
that is his name by which he must know himself, and it is a
humbling name, <scripRef id="Ec.vii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.2" parsed="|Gen|5|2|0|0" passage="Ge 5:2">Gen. v. 2</scripRef>. He
<i>called their name Adam;</i> and all theirs have the same
character, <i>red earth.</i> Though a man could make himself master
of all the treasures of kings and provinces, yet he is a man still,
mean, mutable, and mortal, and may at any time be involved in the
calamities that are <i>common to men.</i> It is good for rich and
great men to know and consider that they are <i>but men,</i>
<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.9.20" parsed="|Ps|9|20|0|0" passage="Ps 9:20">Ps. ix. 20</scripRef>. <i>It is known
that</i> they are but men; let them put what face they will upon
it, and, like the king of Tyre, <i>set their heart as the heart of
God,</i> yet the Egyptians are men, and not gods, and it is known
that they are so.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p21">VIII. How far soever our desires wander,
and how closely soever our endeavours keep pace with them, we
cannot strive with the divine Providence, but must submit to the
disposals of it, whether we will or no. If <i>it is man, he may not
contend with him that is mightier than he.</i> It is presumption to
arraign God's proceedings, and to charge him with folly or
iniquity; nor is it to any purpose to complain of him, for <i>he is
in one mind and who can turn him?</i> Elihu pacifies Job with this
incontest able principle, That <i>God is greater than man</i>
(<scripRef id="Ec.vii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.12" parsed="|Job|33|12|0|0" passage="Job 33:12">Job xxxiii. 12</scripRef>) and
therefore <i>man may not contend with him,</i> nor resist his
judgments, when they come with commission. A man cannot with the
greatest riches make his part good against the arrests of sickness
or death, but must yield to his fate.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ec.vii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.6.11-Eccl.6.12" parsed="|Eccl|6|11|6|12" passage="Ec 6:11-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Eccl.6.11-Eccl.6.12">
<h4 id="Ec.vii-p21.3">The Insatiableness of
Desire.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ec.vii-p22">11 Seeing there be many things that increase
vanity, what <i>is</i> man the better?   12 For who knoweth
what <i>is</i> good for man in <i>this</i> 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?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ec.vii-p23">Here, 1. Solomon lays down his conclusion
which he had undertaken to prove, as that which was fully confirmed
by the foregoing discourse: <i>There be many things that increase
vanity;</i> the life of man is vain, at the best, and there are
abundance of accidents that concur to make it more so; even that
which pretends to increase the vanity and make it more vexatious.
2. He draws some inferences from it, which serve further to evince
the truth of it. (1.) That a man is never the nearer to true
happiness for the abundance that he has in this world: <i>What is
man the better</i> for his wealth and pleasure, his honour and
preferment? What remains to man? What residuum has he, what
overplus, what real advantage, when he comes to balance his
accounts? Nothing that will do him any good or turn to account.
(2.) That we do not know what to wish for, because that which we
promise ourselves most satisfaction in often proves most vexatious
to us: <i>Who knows what is good for a man in this life,</i> where
every thing is vanity, and any thing, even that which we most
covet, may prove a calamity to us? Thoughtful people are in care to
do every thing for the best, if they knew it; but as it is an
instance of the corruption of our hearts that we are apt to desire
that as good for us which is really hurtful, as children that cry
for knives to cut their fingers with, so is it an instance of the
vanity of this world that what, according to all probable
conjectures, seems to be for the best, often proves otherwise; such
is our shortsightedness concerning the issues and events of things,
and such broken reeds are all our creature-confidences. We know not
how to advise others for the best, nor how to act ourselves,
because that which we apprehend likely to be for our welfare may
become a trap. (3.) That therefore our life upon earth is what we
have no reason to take any great complacency in, or to be confident
of the continuance of. It is to be reckoned by <i>days;</i> it is
but a <i>vain life,</i> and we spend it <i>as a shadow,</i> so
little is there in it substantial, so fleeting, so uncertain, so
transitory is it, and so little in it to be fond of or to be
depended on. If all the comforts of life be vanity, life itself can
have no great reality in it to constitute a happiness for us. (4.)
That our expectations from this world are as uncertain and
deceitful as our enjoyments are. Since every thing is vanity,
<i>Who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?</i> He
can no more please himself with the hopes of <i>what shall be after
him,</i> to his children and family, than with the relish of what
is with him, since he can neither foresee himself, nor can any one
else foretel to him, <i>what shall be after him.</i> Nor shall he
have any intelligence sent him of it when he is gone. <i>His sons
come to honour, and he knows it not.</i> So that, look which way we
will, <i>Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.</i></p>
</div></div2>