The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 300

him, is commended. to ue. •. With all the repugnanco of a healthy mind, our author recoils from that narrow 81Dd self-righteousfana.timsm which has done so much to deepen the gloom of life, ,and to turn religion into an oppressive yoke. He docs not, however, go to the other extreme; bnt while.he bids the young to enjoy the morning of life, he at the same time admonishes them in all things to have the fear of God before their eyes. . Y·outh and mnnhood are vanity ; their joys are fleeting, and will soon be past. Must we, tberefore; neglect them, and indulge in equally vain and fleeting regrets 1 No; but rather- put away all morose repining, and spare ourselves all unnecessary pain, and cultivate a cheerful contentedness with our lot. If the morning will soon be past, let~ enjoy its light while it lasts, mindful of him who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. The thought of him will not dull any innocent happiness, for he has made us capable of joy, and given us occasions of experiencing it. That no fears need be felt about the application of this teachiug to-actual life is abundantly proved by the words that follow, in the solemn and stately passage with which the twelfth chapter opens. The idea all through is that piety should be bound up with the whole life- with the buoyancy and gaiety of youth, a.s well as with the decaying hopes and failing strength of age. That religion is not merely a consolation to which we may betake when all other things fail, but all through the food by which the soul is nour",shed. The fa.et is put very strongly. If in youth God is not remembered, it will be difficult in age, when the faculties begin to lose their vigour, to think of him for the first time, and consecrate one's self to him. The mere accumulation of the weaknesses, both physical and mental, whioh attend the close of life will absorb the attention and crowd out other thoughts. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." And then he goes on to draw a picture, full of pathos and solemnity, of the gradual dissolution of human life with the advance of age, of the decay and death into which the strongest fall, even if they endure for many years. One cannot make out all the successive images with equal clearness, but the evident purpose of the whole passage is clear enough. In the evil days the light of the sun, moon, and stars is darkened, and the sky is time after time overcast with returning clouds. The light of youth ha.s fled, and with it the self-confidence and strength by which the hfe was sustained. Like some household in Egypt when the plague of ,larkness came down upon it and put an end to all tasks and pleasures, and filled every heart with a paralyzing t~rror, so is the state of man " perplexed with fear of change." "The keepers of the house tremble, the strong men bow themselves, the terrified servants cease their labour, none look out of the windows, the street doors are shut, the sound of human bustle and activity dies away, the shrill cry of the storm-bird is heard without, anJ all the daughters of music are hushed and silent." And then, in language still more enigmatical, other of the humiliating characteristics of old age are set forth-its timidity and irresolutiou, the blanched hair, the failing appetite. These signs accumulate rap:dly; for man goes to his long, his eternal home, and the proces.ion of mourners is already moving along tho street. "Remember," he says," thy Creator ere the day of death; ere the silver coru be loosened which lets fall and shivers tho golden bowl that feeds with oil the flame of life; ere the pitcher be shattered by the spriug, and the fountain of lifo can no longer be replenished; ere the wheel set up with care to draw up from the depths of earth the cool wators give way aud fall itself into the well. Therefore remember thy God, and p1·epare while here to meet him, before that the dust shall return upon the earth dust as it was; for the spirit shall then return to God who gave it." "It was a gift from him, that spirit. To him it will return. More he says not. Its absorption, the re-eutering of the human unit into the eternal and unknown Spirit, would be a thought, it would seem, alien to a Hebrew. But we must not press his words too far. As just now ho spoke of a judgment, but gave us no picture of the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left, so here he has no more to say, no clear and dogmntic assertion of o. conscious and separate future life. 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit,' said the trustful psalmist. 'Father, into thy hands I commtind my spirit,' said he who bowe,l his head upon the cross, who tasted death for our sakes. Our Preacher leaves the spirit with its God-that is a.II, and that is much. 'God will call us to judgment,' he has said, and now he a.dJs, 'The body moulders, tho spirit passes back to the God who gave it'" (Bradley). Many are the reasons which might be adduced to give weight to tho 296 EOCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. [OB. XII, 1-14,