The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 146

encrifice (ver.1), and (2) the repetition of devotional phrases. We may find a. Christian parallel in the reception of sacraments, and in the "prayers" and psalmody of the Church. We know that the purest spirituality may breathe in these, and may be nourished by these, but we know also (1) that they may fail to express any real anrl. pure devotion; (2) that in this case they also fail in winning the favour of God ; and (3) that they leave the soul rather the worse than the better, for in such futile worship there lll a dangerous delusiveness which· is apt to lead to a false and even fatal sense of security. II. AocEPTABLE SERVICE. Thie is threefold. 1. Reverence. This is strongly implied, especially in the second verse. Let the worshipper realize that he is in "the house of God," none other and no less than that (see Gen. xxviii. 17). Let him realize that" God is in heaven," etc.; that he is bowing before the Infinite One himself; that he is addressing him who, in his Divine nature and in bis unapproachable rank, is immeasurably removed above himself; that be is speaking to One who sees the actions of every life, and knows the secrets of all hearts, and who needs not, therefore, to be informed of what we do or what we feel. Let language be spa.red, let sacred thought and solemn feeling flow; let a sense of human littleness and of the Divine majesty silence all insincerity, and fill the soul with reverential awe. 2. Docility. "Be more ready [' draw nigh,' Revised Version] to hear," etc. There is much virtue in docility. Our Lord strongly commended the child-spirit as the condition of entrance into the kingdom; and was not this principally because the spirit of childhood is that of docility-eagerness to know, readiness to receive? We should draw nigh to God in his house, not that we may hear our favourite dogmas once more exalted or enforced, but that we may hear the mind and know the will of Christ better than we have done before; that we may "be filled with the knowledge of his will;" that it may become increasingly true that "we have the mind of Christ." To desire to part with our errors, our ignorance, our prejudices, our half-views, our misconceptions, and to have a closer vision of our Lord and of his Divine truth,-this is acceptable worship. 3. Obedience. "Keep thy foot;" "go to the house of God 'with a straight foot,' a foot trained to walk in the path of holy obedience." Go to the house of God as one that " has clean hands and a pure heart;" as one that "lifts up holy hands" unto God. To go up to "offer sacrifice,'' or "make long pre.yers," with the determination in the heart to continue a life of impurity, or intemperance, or dishonesty, or injustice, or harshness toward the weak and the dependent,-this is to mock our Maker; it is to grieve the Father of spirits, the Lord of holiness and love. But, on the other hand, to go up to his ea.actuary with a pure desire and real resolve to turn from our evil way, and to strive, against all outward hostility and all inward impulses;to walk in our integrity.- this is acceptable with God. "'l'o obey is better than sacrifice;" and it is the spirit of obedience rather than the overt act of correctness for which the righteous Lord is looking.-C. Vers. 4-6.-Vowing and paying. We may regard the subject of vows in two aspects. I. THEm CHARACTER, They may be of: 1. An entirely obligatory character. We may solemnly promise to God that which we may not withhold without sin. But this may be shortly summed up in one word-ourselves. We owe to him ourselves, all that we are and have, our powers and our possessions. And the first thing that becomes us all is to present ourselves before God in e. most solemn act of surrender, in which we deliberately resolve and undertake to yield to him our heart and life thenceforth and for ever. In this great crisis of our spiritual history we make the one supreme vow with which e.ll others are incomparable. It should be made in the exercise of all the powers of our nature; not under any kind of compulsion, but as freely as fully, as intelligently as heartily. It is one that is, of course, to be reoewed, and this both regularly, and also on all special occasions. It is a vow to be confirmed every time we bow in the sanctuary, and every time we gather at the table of the Lord. 2. Optimal. And of these vows which may be described as optional, there are (1) those that are conditional;. as wh_en a. 1;11a~ promise~ that if God gi~? him wealth he will devote a large proportion of 1t to his direct service (see Gen. xx vm. 22); or that if God restore his health he will consecrate all his time and all his possessions ECCLESIABTEII. S:  130 ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREAOHER. [OH, V, 1-20. ---------------------------~------- to the proclamation of bis tmth. (2) Those that are unconditional: as when (a) a man determines that thenceforth he will give a certain fixed proportion of bis inoome to the cause of Christ; or (b) when he pledges himself to abstain from some particular indulgence which is hurtful to himself or is a temptation to others. Il. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THEY SHOULD BE MADE AND FULFILLED. 1. With devout delilxwati'.on. It is a serious mistake for a man to undertake that which he fails to carry out. (1) It is offensive to God (ver. 4). (2) It is injurious to the tnan himself; he is in a distinctly worse spiritual position after failure than he would have been if he had not entered into an engagement (ver. 5). We should not promise anything in ignorance of ourselves, and then lose our self-respect by a humiliating withdrawal. 2. In a spirit of prompt and clieeiful obedience. What we vow to do we should do (1) without delay, "deferring not." There is always danger in delay. To-morrow we shall be further in t1me from the hour of solemn resolution, and its force will be lessened by the distance. Also (2) cheerfully; for we may be sure that God loveth a cheerful promise-keeper-one that does what he undertook to do, although it proves to be of greater dimensions or to be attended with severer effort than he at first- imagined it would. 3. With patient persistency; not allowing anything to come between himself and his honourable fulfilment. (1) Axe we fully redeeming our vows of Christian consecration in the daily life that we are living?- (2) Are we paying the. vows we made in some dark hour of need (see Ps. lxvi. 13, 14) ?-'-C. Vers. 8----16.-0omfort in C011juswn. In the time and the country t-0 which the text belongs there was a very large amount of injustice, rapacity, insecurity. Men could not count on enjoying the fruits of their labour; they were in serious danger, of being wronged, or even "done to death;" there were not the constitutional guards and fences with which we are familiar now and here. The political and social conditions of the age and of the land added much to the seriousness of the great problems of the morallit. But though he was perplexed, he was not without light and comfort.· There was that- ' • I. .AFFORDED BY BEASON AND EXPERIENCE, What i£i it were true that oppression was often to be witnessed, and, with oppression, the suffering of the weak, yet it was to be remembered that: 1. There was often an appeal to a higher authority, and the llilrighteous sentence was reversed (ver. 8). _2. There was always reason to hope that injustice and tyranny would be short-lived (ver. 9). The king was served_ by the field; he was by no means independent of those who lived by manual labour; he was as much their subject in fact and truth as they were his in fotin and in law; he could not afford to live in their disregard and disapproval. 8. Successful oppression was far from being satisfactory to those who practised it. (1) No avaricious roan was ever satisfied with the money he made; he was al ways coveting more; the thi.rst for gold lived on, and grew by what it gained (ver. 10). (2) The wealthy man ·found that he could not enjoy more than a fraction of what he acquired; he was. ~ompelled to see others partaking of that which his own toil had earned (ver. 11). The successful man was worried and burdened with hie own wealth i the fear of losing balanced, if it did not more than counterbalance, the enjoyment· of acquisition (ver. 12). (4) No rich man could be sure of the disposition of his hardly won and carefully stored treasure; his son might scatter it in sin and folly (vers.13, 14). (5) No man can take a solitary fraction of his goods beyond the boundary of life (vere.15, 16). 4. Obscurity is not without its own advantage. (1) It sleeps the sweet sleep of security; it ·has nothing to lose; it holds out no bait to the despoiler (ver. 12). (2) It enjoys the fruit of its labour, untroubled by the ambitions, unwearied with the excessive toils, unworried by the frequent vexations of those who aim at higher posts and move in larger spheres. II . .AFFORDED BY BEVELATION. The godly man, and more especially he to whom Jesus Christ has spoken, contents himself-so far as it is right and well to be contented in ibe midst of confusion and perversion-with the peace-b.ring/ng considerations: 1. 'fhat Infinite Wisdom is overruling, and will direct all things to a right issue. 2. 'l'ha.t it is not our ci.rcurustances, but our character, that should chiefly concern us. 'l'o ie pure, true, loyal, helpful, Christ-like, is immeasurably more than to have aud to bold any quantity of treasure, any place or rank whatsoever. 3. That we who travel OH, V, 1-20.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 131