The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 94

brute nature obeys automatic and instinctive impulse, But man is a memher of a rntional and spiritual system, whose principles be often violates in the pursuit of lower ends, In the earliest ages "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." A remedial system bas checked and to some extent counteracted these evil tendencies ; yet to how large an extent is the same reflection just I II. WICKEDNESS, IN THE FOilM OF INJUSTIOE, PREVAILS EVEN WHERE JUSTICJ,: SHOULD BE IMPARTIALLY ADMINISTERED. It is well known that in every age complaints have been made of the venality of Eastern magistrates. In the Old Testament references are frequent to the "gifts," the bribes, by which suitors sou~ht to obtain decisions in their favour. Corruption here is worse than elsewhere, for it is discouraging to uprightness, and lowers the tone of public morals. We may be grateful that, in our own land and in our own day, such corruption is unknown-that our judges are above even temptation to bribery. But the fact bas to be faced that injustice, whether from motives of malice or from motives of avarice, has existed widely in human communities. III. THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT OF A RIGHTEOUS Goo. The atheist has no rcfnge from such observations and reflections as those recorded in ver. 16. But the godly man turns from earth to heaven, and rests in the conviction that there is a Divine and righteous Judge, to whose tribunal all men must come, and by whose just decisions every destiny must be decided. 1. All characters, the righteous ar,d the wicked alike, will be judged b_y the Lord of all. Has the unjust escaped the penalty due from a human tribunal? He shall not escape the righteous judgment of God. Has the innocent been unjustly sentenced by an earthly and perhaps corrupt judge? There is for him a court of appeal, and his righteousne~s shall shine as the noonday. 2. All kinds of works shall meet with retribution; not only the acts of private life, but also acts of a judicial and governmental kind. The unjust judge shall meet with his recompense, and the wronged and persecuted shall not be unavenged.-T. Vers. 18-21.-The common destiny of death. The double nature of man has been recognized by every student of human nature. The sensationalist and materialist lays stress upon the physical side of our humanity, and endeavours to show that the intellect and the moral sentiments are the outgrowth of the bodily life, the nervous structure and its susceptibilities and its powers of movement. But such efforts fail to convince alik<l the unsophisticated and the philosophic. It is generally admitted that it would be more reasonable to resolve the physical into the psychical than the psychical into the physical. The author of Ecclesiastes was alb·e to the animal side of man's nature; and if sotne only of his expressions were considered, he might be claimed as a supporter of the baser philosophy. But he himself supplies the counteractive, The attentive reader of the book is convinced that the author traced the hnman spirit to its Divine original, and looked forward to its immortality. I. THE COMMUNI'l'Y OF Ml':N WITH BEASTS IN THE ANIMAL NATURE AND LIFE. If we look upon one side of our humanity, it appears that we are to be reckoned among the brutes that perish. The similarity is obvious in: 1. 'l'be corporral, fleshly constitution with which man and brute are alike endowed, 2. The brevity of the earthly life appointed for both without distinction. 3. The resolution of the body into dust. II. THE SUPERIOnITY OF MEN OVER BEASTS IN THE POSSESSION OF A SPIRITUAL AND IMPERISHABLE NATURE AND LU'E, It is difficult for us to treat this subject without bringing to bear upon it the knowledge which we have derived from the fuller and more glorious revelation of the new covenant. "Christ has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light by the gospel." We cannot possibly think of such themes without taking to their consideration the convictions and the hopes which we have derived from the incarnate Son of God. Nor can we forget the sublime speculations of philosophers of both ancient and modern times. 1. In bis spiritual nature man is akin to God. Physical life the Creator imparted to the animal organisms with which the world was peopled. But a life of quite another order was conferred upon man, who participates in the Divine reason, who is able to think the thou"hts of God himself, and who ha~ intuitions of moral goodness of which the brut; creation is for ever incapable, Insttad of rnan's mind being a function of 78 ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREAOHER. [OH, III, 1-22,