h This ſeems to be added to prevent this Obje&ion, There are many new Inventions and Enjoyments unknown to former Ages. To this he anſwers, This Objettion is grounded only upon our ig- norance of ancient times and things, which is very great,and which if we did exat'y know or remember, we ſhould eaſily find Pzrallels ro all preſent Occurrences in former Ages. c This Clauſe tends both to illuſtrare and co:rrm the former. The Senſe is, There are many thouſands of remarkable Speeches and AQtons done in this andthe following Ages which neither are,nor ever will be,putinto the publick Records or Hiſtories, and conſequently they muſt un- avoilably be forgotten and loſt unto ſucceeding Ages ; and there- fore its juſt and reaſonable to believe the ſame concerning former Ages ; ſeing the ſame Cauſes are moſt likely to produce the ſame effeQs,
12I the preacher was king over Iſrael inJeruſalem4.
d This Verſe isa Preface to the following Diſcourſe,that by the confierarion of the quality of the Speaker they might be induced tos give more Attention and reſpe@ to his words: Having aſſerted the Vanity of a/l rhings in the general, he now comes to prove his Aſſertion in all thoſe Particulars wherein Men commonly ſeek and witi greateſt probability expe ro find true Happineſs, He begins with {ecular Wiſdom. And to ſhew how competent a Jndge he was of this matter, he lays down his CharaQter,that he was thePreacher, whicl: implies eminent Knowledge and Ability to teach orhers, or, the Convert, who had lerrt by dear bought experience what he now taught them ; and a King. who therefore had all imaginable Opporrunities and Advantages for the Attainment of Happineſs,and
acticularly for the gerting of Wiſdom, by conſulting” all ſorts of
| Books and Men, by tryi:1g all manner of Experiments, and many 6 other ways ; and no ordinary King, but King ever Iſrael, God's own and only beloved People, a wile and an happy People, Dent.4;6, 7:
Gr,
ECCLESIASTES,
thered from v.
|
bl || :
'Chap. 1 |
"rh 13 #7 4 i i}
to you: 0 And not only unſatisfying, but alfo troubleſom.and 2 affliction or breaking to a mans ſpirit or mind. O ancient and modern Tranſl itors, render it, s feeding uptn wind, . as. theſe very words, (ſave only that there is the verb NO which this noun ſeems moſt prey deduced, ) are rendretl; Hof: 12: 1: where | alſo it ſignifies a fruitleſs or loſt Iabour," and a+ diſappointment of their hopes and deſires of ſatisfaftion, And fo this is a repetition o = _ thing in other words, accerding to the manner of theſe 4 EE hits ©. aa*49 | any iy
, I5 * That which is crooked cannot be made ſtreight * p : andF that which is wanting 9 cannot be numbred 7. ? All our knowledge ſerves only ro diſcover our diſeaſes and/mi. ſeries, bur is oft it ſelf utterly inſufficient to heal or remove themz 1r cannot reftifie thoſe confutons and diſorders which are either in ourown Heartsand Lives, or in the'men and.things in the world; q To wit,in our knowledge,and in order ro mans compleit ſatisfaQic on and felicity. . r We know little of whar . we: ſhould or might * know, or did know in the ſtate of Innocency, or ſhall know in the furureLife. .... ., *-. : WE Ee ==
16 I communed with mine own heart s, faying,Lo, I I am come to great eſtate t, and have gotten « * more wiſdom than all they that hath been before me x inJe-
ruſalem y : yea, my heart f had great experience z of wiſdom and knowledge a. - 8 4 5 I conſider within my telf in what condition I was, and: degrees of knowledge I had gained, and whether norance that made me unable to reQifie thoſe errours, and ſupoly thoſe wants,and wiſer Men could do it.tchough I could nor. : Heb 7 am grown great,to wit, in Wiſdom: Or, 1 have magnified, or greatly enlarged. u Heb. have added, As T have a large ſtock of Wiſtom infuſed into me by God, 1 Kings 3; 12:& 4: 29.:ſo I have greatly improved it by Converſation, and Stadie,and Experience. . x Whe= ther Governeurs, or Prieits, or private Perſons: Which was no vain boaſt. but a known and confeſſed truth, ' and profeſſion hereof was neceſſary to demonſtare his aſſertion. - y Which was then the moſt eminent place in theWorld for Wiſdom and Knowled ge. zHeb» had ſeen much ; which intimates that his Knowledge was clear, and certain, and experimental, as that is which we have from our own eye-ſight. « Two words ſignifying the ſame thing, : as may be ga« 18: and from the promiſcuous uſe of them in this Book, and in the Proverbs, and elſewhere,and implying all manner of knowledge, divine or humane, ſpeculative or prattical, political or philoſophical, - * | 17 *AndI L- my heart to know wiſdom, and to « (y...... know madneſs and folly 5 : I perceived that this alſo is 87:23 _ | vexation of ſpirit c. | je = 6 That I might throughly underſtand the natureand difference of Truth and Errour,of Virtue and Vice, all things being beſt unders ſtood by Contraries, and might decern if there were any Opinicn or Praftice amongſt Men which would give him full ſatisfaction. c Or, feeding upon wind, 259. 14. : | Wo 18 Forin much wiſdom is much || grief d: and be that encreaſeth knowledge encreaſeth forrow e. | 4 Or, maignation, or diſpleaſure within himſelf,. and againſt his preſent condition, e Which he doth many ways, partly becauſe he gets his Knowledge with hard and weariſome Labour, both of Mind and Body, with the Conſumption of his Spirits, and ſhortning and imbitterment of his Life ; part)y becauſe he is oft deceived with Knowledge falſly ſo called,and oft miſtakes Errors for Truths and is perplexed with manifold Doubts,fromwhich ignorant men are whol-' ly free;partly becauſe he foreſees,and conſequently feels the terror of many Miſeries which are, or are like ro come to paſs, which
Or, as others, both:
Ch.q:133| + Hev.ces |
fee.
I Kings || 30: & 188 || 7, 23- 'N t Heb:had || TRE Jeen mich. H what W it wasnor my Ig-
- *-,,
|| Or, ins dignatinn. >.4
and 33; 29. whoſe King he was by God's {ſpecial and gracious Ap=
pointmentz and furniſhed by God with fiagular Wiſdom for the ,