The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 200

yet, hoping in God and seeking his aid, we must address ourselves courageously anr intelligently to these crooked things until they are made straight. There is nothing that so strongly appeals to, and that will so richly reward, our aspiration, our ingenuity, our energy, our patience. Ill. THE DUTY OF BUDMITTING, There are some things in regard to which we have to acknowledge that the evil thing is a "work of God," something he has "made crooked." This is to be accepted as the ordering of his holy will, as something that is balanced and overbalanced by the good things which are on the other side. It may be slenderness of means, lowliness of position, feebleness of intelligence, exclusion from society in which we should like to mingle, incapacity to visit scenes we long to look upon, the inaccessibility of a sphere for which we think ourselves peculiarly fitted, the advance of fatal disease, the reduction of resources or the decline of power, the break- ing up of the old home and the scattering of near relatives, the loosening of old ties with the_formation of new ones, etc. Such things as these are to be calmly and con- tentedly accepted. 1. To strive against the inevitable or irremediable is (1) to strive against God and be guilty; (2) to court failure and be miserable; (3) to waste energy that might be happily and fruitfully spent in other ways. 2. To submit to the will of God, after considering his work, is (1) to please him; (2) to have the heart filled with pure and elevating contentment; (3) to be free to do a good if not a great work "while it is day."-0, Vera. 15-22.-The lowe1· and the higher standard. The Preacher is not now in bis noblest mood; be offers us a morality to which he himself at other times rises superior, and which cannot be pronounced worthy by those who have heard the great Teacher and learnt of him. We will look at-- -L THE LOWER STANDARD HERE HELD UP, 1. His view of sin. And here we find three things with which we are dissatisfied. (1) Sin is not represented to us as in itself an intolerable thing (ver. 17). We are allowed to think of it as something that would be allowable if indulged within certain limits, and if it did no serious injury to our life or to our health. But we know that, apart from its fatal consequences, all wickedness is "an abominable thing which God hates," an essentially evil thing. (2) The iuvariable penalt.y of sin is overlooked. We are not reminded that wickedness always makes us suffer, in spirit if not in health, in soul if not in circumstance. (3) We are likened to one another rather than with the Holy One (vers. 20-22). The strain is this: we need not be much troubled by the presence of some sin in our hearts and lives; all men are guilty, and we are only like our fellows; if there be those who are reproaching us, we are censuring them in return; we are standing on the same level, though it may be a common condemnation. 2. His view of righteousness. The Preacher sees two unsatisfactory feature8 in righteousness. (1) It does not always prolong life and secure success (ver. 15). (2) It leads the best men into a painful loneliness. "Why shouldest thou be desolate Y" (ver. 16, marginal reading); i.e. why be so honest and so pure and so true that thou canst not associate with the unscrupulous, whose standard is lower than thine own? Be content with that measure of righteousness which comes up to the common standard. Such is the Preacher's counsel in this mood of his. But we who have learnt of a Greater and Wiser than he, of him who was not only the wise1,t of men but "the Wisdom of God," cannot be satisfied with this; we a.spire to something loftier and worthier; we must rise to- II. THE filGIIER STANDARD. Taught of Jesus Christ, we: 1. Have a truer vz"ew of sin. We regard it as a thing which is only and utterly evil, offensive to God, con- stantly and profoundly injurious to ourselves, to be hated and Hhunned in every sphere, to be cleansed from heart and life. 2. Have a truer conception of rz"ghteoiisness. ·we look upon it as (1) that which is in itself precious beyond all price ; (2) that which allies us to God in nature and character; (3) that which is to be cherished and pursued at all costs whatever; (4) that which makes our present life beautiful and noble, and leads on to far greater excellence and far deeper joy hereafter.-0. Vera. 23-28.-Degradation and elevatz"on. Tho words of the Preacher painfully remind us of the familiar story of Diogenes and his lantern. Whether we are to ascril,e this pitiful conclusion respecting woman to his own infirmity or to the actu:u 188 ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACliER. [on. vn. 1-29,