106 lines
6.6 KiB
XML
106 lines
6.6 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Ec.i" n="i" next="Ec.ii" prev="Ec" progress="88.90%" title="Introduction">
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<h2 id="Ec.i-p0.1">Ecclesiastes</h2>
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<hr/>
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<pb id="Ec.i-Page_979" n="979"/>
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<div class="Center" id="Ec.i-p0.3">
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<p id="Ec.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
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<h3 id="Ec.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
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<h4 id="Ec.i-p1.2">W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E
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R V A T I O N S,</h4>
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<h5 id="Ec.i-p1.3">OF THE BOOK OF</h5>
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<h2 id="Ec.i-p1.4">E C C L E S I A S T E S.</h2>
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<hr style="width:2in"/>
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</div>
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<p class="indent" id="Ec.i-p2">We are still among Solomon's happy men, his
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happy servants, that <i>stood continually before him to hear his
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wisdom;</i> and they are the choicest of all the dictates of his
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wisdom, such as were more immediately given by divine inspiration,
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that are here transmitted to us, not to be heard, as by them, but
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once, and then liable to be mistaken or forgotten, and by
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repetition to lose their beauty, but to be read, reviewed,
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revolved, and had in everlasting remembrance. The account we have
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of Solomon's apostasy from God, in the latter end of his reign
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(<scripRef id="Ec.i-p2.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.11.1" parsed="|1Kgs|11|1|0|0" passage="1Ki 11:1">1 Kings xi. 1</scripRef>), is the
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tragical part of his story; we may suppose that he spoke his
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<i>Proverbs</i> in the prime of his time, while he kept his
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integrity, but delivered his <i>Ecclesiastes</i> when he had grown
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old (for of the burdens and decays of age he speaks feelingly
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<scripRef id="Ec.i-p2.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.1-Eccl.12.14" parsed="|Eccl|12|1|12|14" passage="Ec 12:1-14"><i>ch.</i> xii.</scripRef>), and
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was, by the grace of God, recovered from his backslidings. There he
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dictated his observations; here he wrote his own experiences; this
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is what days speak, and wisdom which the multitude of years
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teaches. The title of the book and the penman we shall meet with in
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the <!-- <a href="MHC21001.HTM#Ec1_1" id="Ec.i-p2.3"> -->first verse<!-- </a> -->, and therefore
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shall here only observe,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ec.i-p3">I. That it is a sermon, a sermon in print;
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the text is (<scripRef id="Ec.i-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.1.2" parsed="|Eccl|1|2|0|0" passage="Ec 1:2"><i>ch.</i> i.
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2</scripRef>), <i>Vanity of vanities, all is vanity;</i> that is
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the doctrine too; it is proved at large by many arguments and an
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induction of particulars, and divers objections are answered, and
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in the close we have the use and application of all, by way of
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exhortation, to <i>remember our Creator,</i> to <i>fear him,</i>
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and to <i>keep his commandments.</i> There are indeed many things
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in this book which are dark and hard to be understood, and some
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things which men of corrupt minds <i>wrest to their own
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destruction,</i> for want of distinguishing between Solomon's
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arguments and the objections of atheists and epicures; but there is
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enough easy and plain to convince us (if we will admit the
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conviction) of the vanity of the world, and its utter insufficiency
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to make us happy, the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to
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make us miserable, and of the wisdom of being religious, and the
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solid comfort and satisfaction that are to be had in doing our duty
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both to God and man. This should be intended in every sermon, and
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that is a good sermon by which these points are in any measure
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gained. II. That it is a penitential sermon, as some of David's
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psalms are penitential psalms; it is a recantation-sermon, in which
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the preacher sadly laments his own folly and mistake, in promising
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himself satisfaction in the things of this world, and even in the
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forbidden pleasures of sense, which now he finds more bitter than
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death. His fall is a proof of the weakness of man's nature: <i>Let
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not the wise man glory in his wisdom,</i> nor say, "I shall never
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be such a fool as to do so and so," when Solomon himself, the
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wisest of men, played the fool so egregiously; nor <i>let the rich
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man glory in his riches,</i> since Solomon's wealth was so great a
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snare to him, and did him a great deal more hurt than Job's poverty
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did him. His recovery is a proof of the power of God's grace, in
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bringing one back to God that has gone so far from him; it is a
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proof too of the riches of God's mercy in accepting him
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notwithstanding the many aggravations of his sin, pursuant to the
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promise made to David, that if his children should commit iniquity
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they should be corrected, but not abandoned and disinherited,
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<scripRef id="Ec.i-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.7.14-2Sam.7.15" parsed="|2Sam|7|14|7|15" passage="2Sa 7:14,15">2 Sam. vii. 14, 15</scripRef>. Let
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him therefore that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall; and let
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him that has fallen make haste to get up again, and not despair
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either of assistance or acceptance therein. III. That it is a
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practical profitable sermon. Solomon, being brought to repentance,
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resolves, like his father, to teach transgressors God's way
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(<scripRef id="Ec.i-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.13" parsed="|Ps|51|13|0|0" passage="Ps 51:13">Ps. li. 13</scripRef>) and to give
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warning to all to take heed of splitting upon those rocks which had
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been fatal to him; and these were fruits meet for repentance. The
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fundamental error of the children of men, and that which is at the
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bottom of all their departures from God, is the same with that of
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our first parents, hoping to be as gods by entertaining themselves
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with that which seems good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and
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desirable to make one wise. Now the scope of this book is to show
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that this is a great mistake, that our happiness consists not in
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being as gods to ourselves, to have what we will and do what we
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will, but in having him that made us to be a God to us. The moral
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philosophers disputed much about man's felicity, or chief good.
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Various opinions they had about it; but Solomon, in this book,
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determines the question, and assures us that to fear God and to
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keep his commandments is the whole of man. He tried what
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satisfaction might be found in the wealth of the world and the
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pleasures of sense, and at last pronounced all vanity and vexation;
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yet multitudes will not take his word, but will make the same
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dangerous experiment, and it proves fatal to them. He, 1. Shows the
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vanity of those things in which men commonly look for happiness, as
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human learning and policy, sensual delight, honour and power,
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riches and great possessions. And then, 2. He prescribes remedies
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against the vexation of spirit that attends them. Though we cannot
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cure them of their vanity, we may prevent the trouble they give us,
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by sitting loose to them, enjoying them comfortable, but laying our
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expectations low from them, and acquiescing in the will of God
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concerning us in every event, especially by remembering God in the
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days of our youth, and continuing in his fear and service all our
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days, with an eye to the judgment to come.</p>
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</div2>
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