The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 165

OF EXPERIENCE. 1. The occupations and enjoyments of the present are proved to be productive of vanity. "Many things increase vanity." Man "spendeth his vain lifo as a shadow." The several objects of human pursuit agree only in their failure to afford the satisfaction that is desired and sought. Yet the path which one has nbnndoned another follows, only to be misled like those who have gone before, only to be put further than ever from the destination desired. The objects which excite human ambi- tion or cupidity remain the same from age to age; and they have no more power to gi,,e satisfaction than in former periods of human history. 2. The future is felt to be clouded by uncertainty. ",vho can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?" This element of uncertainty occasioned perplexity and distress in former times, a.snow. What shall be a man's reputation after his decease? Who shall inherit his estates? and what use shall be made of possessions accumulated with toil and difficulty? These and similar inquiries, made but not satisfactorily answered, disheartened even the energetic and the prosperous, and took the interest and joy out of their daily life. The present is unsatisfactory, and the future uncertain; where, then, shall we look for the true, the real good? III. A QUESTION WHICH IS SOLVED ONLY BY FAITH. As long as we confine our attention to what can be apprehended by the senses, we cannot determine what is the real good in life. For that, in the case of rational and immortal natures, lies outside of the province in which supreme good must be sought. Good for man is not bodily or temporal good; it is something which appeals to his higher nature. The enjoyment of God's favour and the fulfilment of God's service--this is the good of man. This renders men independent of the prosperity upon which multitudes set their hearts. "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us:" such is the desire and prayer of those who are emancipated from the bondage to time and sense, who see all things as in the light of Heaven, and whose thoughts and affections are not called away from the Giver of life and happiness by the gifts of his bounty, by the shadow of the substance that endures for ever. "Thy loving-kindness is better than life."-T. Vers. 1-6.-The insufficiency of circumstance. The Preacher recurs to the same strain as that in which he spoke before (see eh. ii. 1-11). We have to face the same thoughts again. L .AJir IMAGINARY E1''RICIDIENT. Let a man have, by supposition: 1. All the money that be can spend. 2. All the honour that waits on wealth. 3. All the luxuries that wealth can buy of every kind, material and mental (ver. 2). 4. Let him have an unusual measure of domestic enrichment and affection; let him be the recipient of all possible filial affection and obedience (ver. 3). 5. Let his life be indefinitely prolonged (ver. 6), so that it extends over many ordinary human lives. Give to a man not only what God does give to many, but give him that which, as things are, is not granted to the most favoured. of our race; and what then? What is- ll. THE PROBABLE RESULT. It will very likely end in simple and utter dissatisfaction. "God giveth him not the power to eat thereof;" "His soul is not filled with good; " he gets so little enjoyment out of all that he has at command, that "an untimely birth is better than he; " he feels that it would have been positively better for him if he had never been born. Subtract the evil from the good in his life, and you have nothing left but "a negative quantity." This is quite in accord with human experience. As much of profound discontent is found within the walls of the palace as under the cottage roof. The suicide is quite as likely to be found to be a "well- dressed man," belonging to "good society," as to be a man clad in rags and penniless. III. ITs EXPLANATION. The explanation of it is found in the fact that God has made us for himself, that he has "set eternity in our hearts" (eh. iii. 11), and that we are not capable of being satisfied with the. sensible and the transient. Onlr t~e love ancl service of God can fill the heart that 1s made for the eternal and the D1v1ne (see humily on eh. i. 7, 8). IV. lTs CHRISTIAN ooRRE0TION. There need never live a man who has known Je8us Christ of whom so sad a statement as this has to be made. For a Christian life: 1. Even when spent in poverty and obscurity, is filled with a holy_ contentment;_ it includes Ligh and sacred joys; it is relieved by very pr~ious consolations. 2. qontams and trans111il11 a valuable inftuence on others. 3. Constitutes an excellency which God Oil, VI, 1-12.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, 'l'HE PREACHER. 131