The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 93

• Ver. 14.-The purpose$ ef Providence. Different minds, observing and considering the same facts, are often very differently affected by them. The measure of previous experience aud culture, the natural disposition, the tone and temper with which men address themselves to what is before them,-all affect the conclusion at which they arrive. The conviction produced iu the mind of the Preacher of Jerusalem is certainly de,crving of attention; he saw the hand of God in nature and in life, where some see ody chance or fate. To see God's hand, to admire his wisdom, to appreciate his love, in our human life,-this is an evidence of sincere and intelligent piety. I. Gon's WORK IS PERFECT AND UNALTERABLE. "Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it." This cannot be said to be the general conviction; on the contrary, men are always finding fault with the constitution of things. If they had been consnlted in the creation of the universe, and in the management of huma.u affairs, all would have been far better than it is! Now, all depends upon the end in ,·icw. The scientific man would make an optical instrument which should serve as b,,th microscope and telescope-a far more marvellous construction than the eye. The pleasure-seeker would eliminate pa.in and sorrow from human life, and wnuld make it one prolonged rapture of enjoyment. But the Creator had no intention of making an instrument which should supersede human inventions; his aim was the production of a working, everyday, useful organ of vision. The Lord of all never aimed at making life one long series of gratification; he designed life to be a moral discipline, iu whlch suffering, weakness, and distress fulfil their own service of ministering to man's highest weUare. For the purposes intended, God's work needs no apology and admits of no improvement. II. Gon's WORK IB ETERNAL. All men's works a.re both unstable and transitory. Fresh ends are ever being approved and sought by fresh means. The laws of nature know no change; the principles of moral government a.re the same from age to age. When we learn to distrust our own fickleness, and to weary of human uncertainty and mutability, then we fall back upon the unchanging counsels of him who is from everlasting to everlasting. JI I. Goo's wonK HAS A PURPOSE WITH REFERENCE TO MAN. What God has done in this world he has done for the benefit of his spiritual family. Everything that is may be regarded as the vehicle of communication between the creating and the created mind. The intention of God is " that men should fear beforoi him," i.e. venerate and glorify him. Our human probation ancl education as moral and accountable beinas is his aim. Hence the obligation on our part to observe, inquire, and consider, to ;'everence, serve, and obey, and thus consciously and voluntarily secure the ends for which the Creator designed and fashioned us.-T. Vers. 16, 17.-Man's unrighteousness contrasted with God's righteousness. Every observant, judicial, and sensitive mind shares this experience. Human society, civil relations, cannot be contemplate,1 without much of disapproval, disappointment, and distn,ss. And who, when so affected by the spectacle which this world presents, can do other than raise his thonghts to that Beiug, to those relationships that a.re characterized by a moral excellence which corresponds to our highest ideal, our purest aspirations ? I. THE PREVALENCE OF WICKEDNESS UPON EARTH AND AMONG MEN. The observation of the wise man was naturally directed to the state of society in his own times and in hie own and of the neighbouring countries. Local and temporal peculiarities do not, how- ever, deRtroy the applicability of the principle to human life generally. Wickedness was an<l is discernible wherever man is found. Unconscious nature obeys physical laws, OH, Ill, 1-22.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 77