The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 224

Ver. lL-A hasty and foolish inference. In the case of some this conclusion may be reached deliberately, but in that of others the process may be unconscious, or at all events without attentive consideration and reasoned purpose. L THE DATA, There is delay in retribution. When we perceive immediate punish- ment follow upon flagrant sin, we are surprised and startled. We often remark that the col!l'se of the wrong-doer who avoids collision with the civil government is a course of uninterrupted prosperity. ,ve see families advanced to honour and wealth who are lacking in moral character. We read of nations persevering for years, and even for centuries, in paths of injustice, rapacity, and violence, and yet growing in power aad acquiring reno~. And we cannot doubt that many evil deeds wrought in secret rem.a.in unpunished. The facts must be admitted. But they are explicable, and may be reconciled with a firm belief in the righteous retribution, the perfect moral govern- ment, of God. Stress is to be laid upon the word "speedily." It must be remembered that with God " one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one da.y.n "Thongh the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding smo.11; Though with patience he stands waiting, he exactly judgeth all." Judgmrnt deferred is not judgment abandoned. From the time of Job the facts here referred to have been a perplexity to the observer of human society. II. THE ERRONEOUS INFERENCE, "Tbe heart of the sons of men is fully set in them [is emboldened] to .do evil." The supposition is that sin may be committed with impunity, and the conclusion is that those sins which yield pleasure should be committed, since they will entail upon the sinner no evil consequences. Of course, an upright, conscien- tious, and godly man does not reason thus. He does what is right from a conviction of tbe nobility and beauty of goodness, and from a desire to act in conformity with the will of God, and to enjoy the approval of God; he abstains from evil because his con- science condemns it, becaU.Be it is contrary to the universal order, because it is a grief to his Saviour's heart. But the self-seeking, pleasure-loving, base mind looks only to the consequences of actions, and does what affords pleasure, and evades painful duty, It is such a man who is referred to in this passage, who1:1e heart is emboldeqeq to sin b1 tLc foolish !1ersua•ion t)lat no pcµalty will follc;>V(, CIH, vm.1-i7.] ECCLESIASTES ; OR, THE PREACHER. 218