Ecclesiastes 12

• [f. Ver. G; Imitating the husbandman (with which metaphor he began this discourse, and now concludes it), who, not knowing which will prosper, sows both early corn and late. So Symmachus understands this verse to be an allusion to those that sow some very forward seed; which perhaps may hit, when that which is sown at the ordinary time doth not: or, perhaps, both may succeed and bring forth fruit, to their great enriching. Others take morning and evening, only to signify all times. [g] He continues his advice to young men (begun in the two last verses of the foregoing chapter), wishing them to season their minds with such an early sense of God, and of their. obligations to him, that it might govern them in all their ways; and be a comfort to them in old age, which (by a long description of it) he shews will be a melancholy time at best. After which discourse, he concludes the book, with a brief sum of the scope and design of it; inserting something concerning the author, which might dispose the reader to attend the more heedfully, unto the conclusion of the whole matter. him up to be a man: do not defer this weighty business, till thou art sick, or all thy faculties so broken by the infirmities of old age, that though it last several years, yet they shall prove flat and dull, irksome and tedious, to thee: and no pleasure at all left in them, but only the remembrance of a well-spent life; without which, instead of thanking God, thou wilt be apt to do nothing but complain, or groan, under the weight of one evil or other that falls upon thee. See Annot. [a] - (_CHAP. XII, whioh, that not only tho present age, but posterity also, might reap the benefit, I have gathered together, and aptly disposed and fitted to all capacities, abundance of excellent pithy sentences for instruction in wisdom and virtue, (I Kings iv. 32.) See Annot. [f] Ver. lQ.The Preacher sought to find out acceptable tvords; and that which was written was upright, even wdrds of truth.] Thus I, that preach these things, have employed my pains, in seeking (with no lessdiligcnce’than covetous men do for money) both the most pleasant, and the most useful, and most certain knowledge: and having found what I sought, I may safely affirm, that nothing is said by me but what ought to be most acceptable, being apt to give the greatest contentment and delight: nothing written by me, but what I found in the Divine writings, or is so exactly agreeable thereunto, that it is a straight arid faithful rule of life: there is nothing frivolous or doubtful in them; but they contain tho most solid wisdom, as sure and true as truth itself. See Annot. _k] as they have any strength remaining in them. Which old age takes away, the nerves, tendons, and ligaments so flagging, that these keepers quiver and shake (tremble wc render it), nnid grow so useless, that we can no way help ourselves or others with them. And then he compares the thighs, legs, and feet, to strong men: they being the supporters and pillars, as it were, of the whole fabric, which hold it up; till old age quite disables them for this office, and makes the knees bend under the burden of the body alone. The reason of which follows; in that the grinders fail, &c. in which metaphor he compares the teeth in the jaws, above and below, to the upper and nether millstone. For they, by cutting, breaking, and chewing of the meat, prepare it to be dissolved in the stomach, and turned into nourishment (as the corn is ground between those stones into meal, and so prepared for making bread, and other suchlike uses); but in time drop out of their sockets, or arc broken, so that they can grind no longer. And the like decay we find in the sight of the eyes; which he means by those that look out of the windows. All those coats, humoitrs, and nerves, that make up the eyes: which are set in two holes (as the word is), or hollotv places in the forehead (like the windows in the house), and have a round hole also in the midst of them, called the pupil of the eye (like a casement), through which all things are transmitted to the inwaTd sense of seeing. Until the skins, and the humours also, grow too thick; and the very figure of the. eye, as some have observed, be changed, by the dryness of the crystalline humour: and then the house is darkened. Aristotle, in his Problems, (sect.31.quasst. 14.) expresses it thus, in short, ot 7rp£<7J3ureu ovk 6%v opwat, koi yap rwv ytpovto)v <7KXi7joo&pjua, &c. when men grow into years, their sight grows dull; because, in the eyes of old men, the skin is both hard and also rugged, so that their sight is obscured. [rf] Ver. 4* This verse hath a greater difficulty in it, especially in the beginning; And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low. But the LXX. suggest an unexceptionable sense of this passage, in my opinion, which is, that they are shut out of all public meetings, because of the lowness of their voice, which formerly was as loud as a mill. And there is little reason to doubt, but by doors are meant the lips (it being a frequent expression in Scripture), and by the lowness of the sound of grinding, the lowness of the voice, from the loss of teeth, or the weakness of respiration; in short, from the defect there is in the organs of speech. Nor do I sec why Maldonatc’s translation may not bo allowed, w T hich is still more simple (and therefore I have taken notice of it in my Paraphrase); The lips are shut without (so pWD may be translated foris, extrinsecus), that is, they sink and arc compressed; when the voice grows weak and tremulous, because of those that grind; that is, by the falling of the teeth. Thus he. But it may more exactly be translated thus, by the falling low of the voice, of which the teeth are principal instalments. And the whole, I have sometimes thought, may not incongruously be translated in this manner: His lips are shut in his mouth (for the mouth is the street or highway into this house of which Solomon is speaking) by thefalling down of the voice of grinding; i. e. the voice that is made by. grinding the air, as it were, between the teeth and the roof of the mouth, &c.’ It might be referred to the eaHng meat, seldom, because of his bad digestion (the meat being ground in the. stomach as in a mill), if the word voice or sound would agree to this. Which renders Dr. Smith’s interpretation very difficult, in my judgment: who by doors understands all the inlets and outlets of the body; and by streets, the open ways and passages in the body; in which the matter of nourishment is conveyed, and passeth, without let or molestation: and by shutting these doors, the ceasing from their use: and by grinding, the digestions and concoctions in the stomach, bowels, mesentery, glandules, &c.(all which is well enough, though, perhaps, too philosophical): and by the voice of these concoctions, the natural symptoms, significa-. tive of digestions; all those indications which demonstrate the work of nature is to proceed aright. Which seems to me very farfetched, and too great a straining of the word voice or sound: however, I have here mentioned it, that they who are pleased with it may follow that interpretation, which is very ingenious. The next passage in this verse is easier; though itistmccrtain whether he mean that the chirping of the least bird wakes him; or that he wakes early, when the birds do. For tzippor signifies all kindof birds, great and small; and may be interpreted of the cock, as well as any other: and the meaning be, he gets up at the cock-crowing. This last seems most probable, because, being thick of hearing (as the next passage signifies), it cannot be supposed that the least noise disturbs him. Though I confess the meaning may be, that a small noise tuakes him sooner, than thunder would have done in his young days. The daughters of music, if it refer to the parts of the body, I take not to be those organs of it which made music; but which receive it, being made. For the Hebrews call that the son of a thing, which is fitted or designed for that of which it is said to be the son. Thus an arrow is called the son of the bow, or quiver, (Isa. xli. 19. Lam. iii. 13.) and wheat called the son of the thrashing-floor; (Isa. xxi. 18.) and so the daughters of music may be those parts where music is entertained. Yet there is one objection against this, which lies in the word all: which cannot properly be applied to the ears; because there arc but two of them: and we never say all the ears, but both the ears. Which makes some think, that hereby we are rather to understand all sorts of music, which are made either by instruments or voice. But to these it may be answered, that the word all refers to the several parts of the car, in which the sound is formed: both the winding channels in the outward part, and the tympanum, and the three cavities, and as many little bones in the inward part, together with the auditory nerve itself. All which arc manifestly contrived on purpose to receive sounds: which are born here, and so may be called their daughters: which in youth are brisk and sprightly; but arc humbled (as the LXX. translate it) and flat in old age. There is no necessity, I acknowledge, of interpreting this passage thus (though it seem most agreeable to the rest of thedescription), because it may be translated, the daughters of a song: that is, singing-women are not valued at all by old men: they account them nothing worth; and would not give, as wc say, a farthing for them. Old Barzillai confesses this imperfection, 2 Sam. xix.’ 35. which place, St. Jerome, thinks, may very well explain this. [e] Ver. h. And it is attended with a greater, which is the passion of fear: unto which old age is very subject^ from dcfeet of spirits, weakness of imagination, as well as of.bodily organs; which arc unable to “resist any dangers; which old men also are apt to apprehend greater than they really are. For as their heads turn giddy, if they ascend to any high place, so they tremble, in the plain way; 4 for fear of a stone, a clod, a hole, any unevenness, by the rising or depression of the earth (for so Grotius thinks the words may be expounded, though the ancient interpreters do not favour it, He is afraid to stumble at the rising or falling of the earth); or he fears he may be pushed down by others, if he do not fall of himself; in a word, he knows not what he may meet withal, and therefore fears. Or it may be expounded, as Maldonate takes it, He never thinks himself safe, though he be in a high fortress: Or, dreads a high wall, though never so firm, lest it should fall upon him. There are some that expound the first words of this verse thus, He is afraid of spirits, and separate souls: of those excellent beings which’ dwell in the regions above. That is, he is superstitious; whidh I look upon as forced. The next part of this description, which we translate almond-tree flourish, most interpreters take for his head growing hoary, or white, like the blossoms of the almond-tree. Which though it make an old man look venerable,’ yet brings the tidings of approaching death: and is as certain an indication of it, as the almond-tree’s blossoming is of the spring; or (as others will have it) of its speedy production of fruit: for it flow r ered, they say; in February, and showed f its fruit in March; and thence had the name of shached in Hebrew; from its forward blooming, and hasty ripening into fruit. And, to strengthen* this interpretation, some have observed that an almond was aneiently called by the Greeks Kapi)vov, that is, the head: from some resemblance “which that fruit had to it. What that resemblance’ should be, I do not understand; unless it be in the figure of the brain: which, the skull being removed; appears like the shell of the almond, when the husk, wherein it is enclosed,‘is peeled away. From thence Hcrodianus of Alexandria (as I find in Atheha3us, lib. ii. cap. 12.) derives the common Greek word’AjuvySaAi? for an almond; because next to the green rind, <L<x7rtptl «/uux«c?x« ™AAac, it hath, as it were, a great many clefts, and looks as if it were scarified. I sec no apter interpretation than this, unless it be that which I shall mention below (when I, have explained the rest of this verse), or We understand it, as St. Jerome saith some did, of the huckle-bone; which, bythe wasting away of the flesh of the buttocks, appears, nay thrusts out itself; and makes their very sitting or lying down uneasy to them. And I find an Arabic word of this sound, which signifies a kind of boat; and may possibly be the original of the Latin word scapha. And this would agree well with the next words, the grasshopper shall be a burden; which seem to be a description of his stooping under the burden of old age; his shoulders, hips, and back, all bunching out; which is a load great enough for him, without any other. In short, he can scarce bear himself, as Mclancthon expounds it: which Avcnarius thinks is a literal translation of the words, the grasshopper (or locust) shall burden itself; that is, saith he, his gibbous back. Which js better than their gloss, who vol. in. * * made it to signify, he can scaree bear the weight of a grasshopper or locust. The LXX. translate it, the loctist shall be made fat / i.e. swell, bunch out, or be burdensome: which aptly denotes the knotting of the joints (like those of the locust)/ and the rising up of -the vertebrae (or any such thing in the body of man), which make his back resemble that of a locust. And so Jo. Forstcrus excellently translates it, “Ut in eurvo incedat dorso, sicut cicada;” that he goes crooked in the back, like a grasshopper. Luther, also, had this in his mind (though he did not fully explain it) when he thus glossed upon these words: Such an old man is like a locust: for his bones stick out, and his body is shrunk up; so that he is a mere image of death. • And then the next signifies no more than this, That the greatest bodily pleasures fail; and the member that serves those pleasures is relaxed and flags. For the word haavijonah (which we. translate desire) signifies either the fruit -of a shrub, which the LXX. take to be capers (though avjonath signifies the berries of laurels, myrtles, and,indeed, of all the lesser sort of trees), or that desire which it is supposed (according to Avicenna) to excite; or that knob in us, which something resembles that fruit.- There is one interpretation of these three last clauses which seems to me not at all constrained,/but apt enough (only it doth not make all relate to the parts of the body, as the rest do), which is that of Dc Dieu; from whom -Juniiisbcfore him did not much differ. It is this, Though the almond-tree flourish, and the locust be ladened with fat (i. e. though the pleasures of the spring, appear and come on apace, making all things else to swell with joy), it doth not invigorate his blood, nor make it rise, to stir up his de-‘sire, &c..’, >. The reason is, he is just upon the point of leaving all things here, and going to his long home. • Which signifies either the place to which all men go (domum secnli,.the house of the whole world, whither all mankind have ever gone, and must go), or the place from whence he came; as Forsterus expounds domum secidi sui, his old house, out of which he first came forth; (thus we translate the word olam, Jer. vi. 16.) or that where they must long abide, even till the resurrection of the dead,. .- • For their friends there leave them; and can do nothing more but motirn for them: as it follows here, the mourners go about the streets. That is; are preparing for the funeral, ready to accompany the hearse: or, they already bewail him as a dead corpse, rather than a living man: or, when he is dead, can only give him a solemn funeral, and openly bewail him; not only at home, but in the streets. For which purpose they sometimes hired mourning-men and women; who are the minstrels we read of, Matt. ix. 23. For Josephus saith (lib. iii. cap. 15. of the Wars of the Jews), that when Joppa was taken, and he reported to be slain, ttXucftovq. /xttrSf’ovtrtrOat avXrirag, &c. there icere many minstrels hired at Jerusalem; who began to makclamentations in a doleful tone. But Gicrus, in his treatise of the Mourning of the Hebrews, (p. 320.) thinks Solomon doth not here mean tho mourning of those that accompanied the corpse to the grave,’nor their walking about in mourning apparel; but the sad lamentations which their grief sometimes moved them to make in the.very streets: when they. were weary with’mourning at home, or put thereby into an extravagant passion; like that which the Jews supposed Mary the sister 3B of Lazarus to fall into, when she roso up hastily and went r ( out of the house, (John xi. 31.) * [/] Vcr. G. Now wo are come to the most difficult verse of all; in which the wise man describes this houso as falling down: that is, enumerates the evils which immediately forego death; of which he would have us think frequently, while the house is in good condition: for those words, Remember thy Creator, St. Jerome thinks, are here again to be repeated; or ever, that is, before death seizo on thee, and pull down this earthly tabernacle, and lay it in the dust. First, by loosening the silver cord. Which somo fancy signifies all the humours of the body; which arc, as it were, the thread of life; which the destinies were said to spin out, for a certain time, and then cut off: others understand by it, the string of the tongue: and Gasper Sanctius, (upon Cant. vii. 5.) the urine; whose stream, he fancies, resembles a silver thread, which is then broken, when it distils by drops, as it frequently doth in old men. But the best of the Hebrew writers by this cord understand the spinal marrow (that is, the pith of the backbone); others, the nerves; others, the outward coats of the nerves, &c. And there is little reason to doubt but the marrow down the back continued from the brain, as it were, in a string or cord, unto the very bottom of it; together with the nerves arising from it; and the filaments, fibres, and tendons, that proceed from them, aro the thing here intended. Which Melancthon saw long ago: the nerves (saith he) and ligaments are here meant; which have literally the power of cords, both to unite and tie together, and also draw. But nobody, that I know of, hath explained this so well as our Dr. Smith (in his rnpoKopta Ba<nX<K7j), who hath also solved that doubt, why they are expressed in the singular number; because, though there be many of them, yet they are the continuation of one and the same thing (the fibres being nothing else but the nerves divided and dispersed; and the nerves nothing else but tlfc marrow in like manner separated, as so many arms and branches of the same tree); they arc all one in their original, the brain; they are all one in their continuation, for. a long space in the spine; all one in their use, to convey the animal spirits, and to be the instruments of motion. This cord is called silver, because of its colour; being not only white, but also shining bright and resplendent; and that when it is taken out of the body, after death. I omit other reasons. It is loosened (shrunk up, or contracted, or removed, as others translate it) when it is no longer full of spirits: and so the body becomes void of sense and motion, either in part or in whole. The second step to a dissolution is by breaking the golden bowl: and as the former related to the rivulets, as one may say, of sense and motion, so this to the fountain, viz. the head, and all contained in it: the membranes, for instance, especially that which the ancients, from the great esteem and reverence they had for it, called Pia mater. Which is that part which, deeply insinuating itself into all the anfractuous passages of the brain (as Dr. Smith speaks), and being firmly annexed thereunto, keeps every part thereof in its proper place, and due texture: so that whatsoever is performed within the whole compass of the brain (whether the making animal spirits, their exercise therein, or their distribution therefrom), is principally done by the help of this membrane. Which therefore may bo called gullath; that part of the head which is the spring of all the motion that comes from thence. And so we translate the plural of this word, Josh. xv. 19. and both Forstorus and Avcnarius understand the singular here. And it is called golden bowl (like that, Zech. iv. 2, 3. from whence the oil was conveyed by pipes unto the lamps), for such reasons as gave the other the name of silver cord. For instance, in respect of the colour, not only because that most precious and deep-coloured liquor of life is abundantly contained in the vessels of this membrane, but chiefly because the membrane itself is somewhat of a yellowish colour, and tends more towards that of gold than any other part whatsoever doth. But especially in respect of its excellency and universal use: for it being the instrijment that doth depurate the best of blood, charifies and exalts the vital spirits, and so prepares them for animality (as they speak), to what should it be likened, but to that most perfect, best concocted, and most exalted mineral of gold? Now the breaking of this bowl is its losing its use; not being able to retain its liquors (as a bowl is useless when it is broken); or, as Dr. Smith explains it, in the extremity of extreme old age, it can no longer continue its continuity; but by reason cither of its natural dryness, shrivelling into itself, or of preternatural moisture, imbibing cxcrcmcntftious humours, till it be overfull; it ofttimes snaps asunder, and so recurs (L e. runs back, as the Hebrew word signifies) into itself; from whence the brain must necessarily subside, and all the part serving unto animal motion be suddenly and irrecoverably dashed in pieces. So Avenarius judiciously translates this passage, That yellow mem brane which contains the brain be trodden doion. The third step is, the breaking of the pitcher at the fountain. Which is variously interpreted; some understanding hereby, the inability of the bladder to retain the urine; others by fountain understand the liver; and by the pitclier, the bladder of gall; or the veins; which is the most common opinion. But Dr. Smith rather takes it for the heart: w T hich is indeed the fountain of life; and hath two distinct cavities, the right and the left: out of which proceed those veins and those arteries which carry the blood through the whole body, and bring it back again to the heart, in a perpetual circulation. And if by pitcher we understand the veins, which arc the receptacle of the blood, (and the Hebrew word signifies any containing vessel, particularly the widow’s barrel in which was her meal, 1 Kings xvii. 14. 1G. as well as a barrel of wafer in the next chapter, xviii. 33.) then by the fountain must be peculiarly understood the right ventricle of the heart, which is the original from whence the veins hate their rise. For so the Hebrew word signifies, not only a fountain, but a spring; from which waters bubble up and burst forth (as we translate it, Isa. xxx. 7. xlix. 10.) in a running stream: and therefore is so to be translated here, the spring or original, viz. of the veins which proceed from thence. Which induced commentators to takethc/o/infam here for the liver; which they would not have done, had they understood, as we do now, that the veins do not arise from thence as their first original; but from the right ventricle of the heart. And they arc spoken of in the singular number (as the nerves were before), because they are all of one and the same nature, original, and use. Now the breaking of this pitcher into shivers (as the Hebrew word signifies) is the utter failing of the veins; their ceasing quite from their natural action and use. When they can no longer carryback, nor conveniently convey unto the heart that liquor which they properly contain: but the little blood which remains in the cold body of man near his end is congealed, and stagnates in his veins. And so I proceed to the last thing, the wheel broken at the cistern. Adhere by the wheel some understand the lungs; which, by their continual motion, do thrust out the breath from them, and draw it in again to them: resembling the wJieel of a well, now drawing up the bucket to itself, anon letting it down again into the well. Melancthon, by cistern understanding the stomach (the word signifying, saith he, a profound cavity), takes the wheel for the guts adjoining thereunto, which are wrapped about one another in a kind of circular form; and make the mesentery look like a wheel. Which Grotius seems also to have had in his mind. But, taking it for granted, that a wheel, being an instrument of circulation, is the hieroglyphic of something that goes, and makes a round in us, I think Dr. Smith’s conjecture is most probable; that hereby is meant the great artery with all its branches: which is the great instrument of rotation or circulation in the body of man; and so evidently thrusts the blood forward, that we perceive its pulses forcing the blood along its cavity, in the wrists, the temples, and other parts of the body. Without which instrument to compel it, the blood that naturally tends home to the heart would go no farther. And then the cistern from whence this wheel forces the liquor, and conveys it through all the parts, is the left ventricle of the heart: to which this great artery is annexed, and from whence it arise th. For a cistern is a vessel made on purpose to receive a due proportion of water, and to keep it till the time of use, and then conveniently to pass it into vessels that are prepared to receive it from thence. And such is the left ventricle of the heart; which in its diastole, as they call it, receives the blood that is brought into it from the lungs; and then, keeping it there a little, doth in its systole pass due proportions thereof into the great artery, to be dispensed as was said before. And, for this end, there are little valves, or falling doors, placed at the entrance and at the going out of this cistern, which are like cocks, to let in and to let out; and, by their opening or shutting, give convenient passage or stoppage to the liquor, which continually runs that way. * And so the breaking or shaking in pieces (as Forsterus translates the word) of this wheel, is the ceasing of the pulse; so he in another place translates it, trodden doivn, i. c. suppressed by the decay of the instruments of pulsation, which can no longer perform that work. Which being absolutely necessary for the preservation of life, the ceasing of it is death. [g] Vcr. 7. And so the body, made of a mouldering substance, being no longer a fit habitation for the spirit (and therefore deserted by it), which held the parts of it together, shall crumble again into the earth, out of which it originally came, according to that sentence passed upon Adam in the beginning: Dust thou art, and unto dust shall 4hou return, (Gen. iii. 19.) This body was no better in its first principles: and though now we arc very fond of it, ap if it were some goodly thing, yet, when the spirit leaves it, it will appear to be indeed but dust. But the spirit, the nobler part of man, being of a higher original, shall return to God, who sent it into the body, to be disposed of by him, according to the sentence that he should pass upon it. For the Chaldee paraphrase’s explication of the latter part of this verse is very apposite: It shall return, that it may stand in judgment before. God* For Elohim (the word here for God), in the Hebrew language, signifies a judge. As in the place abovementioned, 1 Sam. xxviii. 9. There is a sentence not much unlike to this, I have observed in Plutarch’s Consolatory Discourse to Apollonius upon the death of his son: where he alleges, amongst a great many others, this saying of Epicharmus, ^vvtKpi^n kcu SntcpiSri, kcli aVi)X&£v o5ev fj$£ 7rd\iv, ya fxlv ug yav, Ttvevfia S’ avw. • •” [A] a great satisfaction to himself, but lie saw little or no success of it in others, who would not be governed by his advice, &c. [k] [m]

Ecclesiastes 12:1

HeMEMBER now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shall say, I have no pleasure in than. The best counsel, therefore, that I can give every man is this, That he would awaken, and preserve in mind perpetually, an awful sense of God; unto whom he is so deeply indebted, that he received his very being from him; and, therefore, let him apply himself faithfully and affectionately to his service, in his most vigorous age, as soon as ever he can consider that he is not his own, but God’s, who formed him in. his mother’s womb, took him thence, and brought From the consideration of what he had said in the conclusion of the foregoing chapter, that youth is attended with folly, and folly attended with destruction (as Greg. Thauinaturgus excellently explains those words), he begins this with the most weighty lesson: which ought to be perpetually inculcated, and tteaten into the mind and memory of young men; viz. that they would reflect so far as to consider who gave them their being; and what, upon that accdunt, they owe unto him: who, as he is the sole author of all things that give us any delight; so he is of all the abilities and faculties which make us capable to take pleasure in them’: and the sole disposer, likewise, ef all opportunities that bring us. and those delights together. All this may well be comprehended in the word Creator; (if this place be compared with Isa. xl. 28.xlv. 7. 18.1xv. 17, 18.) which being in the Hebrew a word of the plural nhmber, some from thence draw the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which I cannot certainly say’is here intended, because it is very ordinary in the Scripture to put the plural for the singular; especially when God is spoken of. Thus when the Israelites had made the golden calf, they, say > Tlieseare thy gods, O Israel, &c. (so we.translate it, Exod. xxxii. 4.) as if there had been more gods than one in that calf. But it should be translated, This is thy god, O Israel; as appears by what follows, which brought thee, out of the land bf Egypt: signifying they worshipped in this image him, who had wrought that great deliverance for them. And thus Jonathan there understands it; and Theodoret upon the first book of Kings, quest. 10. More places, like to this, are observed by Bochartus, (lib. ii. dc Animal. Sacr. cap. 34. par. i.) in whom the learned reader may find many such Latin words, that arc only of the plural, not singular number. And I will only mention one remarkable, (which he might have added, 1 Sam. xxviii. 9.) where the woman says, she saw gods ascending out of the earth: and Saul thereupon asks her, What form is he of? understanding she saw a single person. But whatever becomes of this, we Christians (to whom this mystery is now’plainly revealed) ought, when we read such places as these, to think of the obligations we. have unto God the Father, God the Son, and God’the* Holy Ghost, into whose name we are baptized. And not only to consider such things as arc abdvementioned; but to be moved and affected with them (for that is here included in Digitized byMicrosoft ® CHAP. XII.) ECCLESIASTES. the word remember), according unto their weight and importance.. And to do thisbetime, the first thing we-do; because the days of our youtli are our best and choicest days (as the^vord in the Hebrew signifies; whence in 2 Sam. vi. 8. where David is said to gather all the chosen men, the- LXX. hath viaviav, the young men in Israel), in which we are apt to. take the greatest delight in ourselves, or in any thing truly “delightful: our spirits <bcing then most fresh, lively, and vigorous. So that the measure of our delight, whether in ourselves or in any thing without us, being then truly taken, it would constrain us unto an equal delight in him, who is the.author of both, and unto a correspondent gratiilation for them. Whereas, if we deferthis remembrance till old age come upon us, when lifo grows a burden, and the wonted delights of it are either irksome or insipid (unpleasant, or without all taste or relish), our thankfulness for them will be but faint; our gratulation worthless; our devotion cold and lumpish: as Dr. Jackson excellently glosses upon these words, (book xi. upon the Creed, chap. 33.) Which he had expressed long before, more briefly, in his treatise of Faith, chap. 8. p. 125. thus: " The inventory of what we have received from Goii in our creation, should be taken in those days wherein we most delight; because then the characters of his blessings bestowed upon us, and their true worth, are most fresh and sensible in all our faculties: well knowing, that if we defer this survey “till old age, in which life itself becomes a burden, our return of thanks for fruition of it, and the unpleasant appurtenances, will be but wearyish.” And plainer still in his second book upon God’s Attributes, chap. 11. p. 95. ** Then the prints of God’s creative power are tolofct fresh in our nature 1; and might transmit a fairer copy, and trudr estimate of the Creator’s goodness unto old age, than old age can take any,” &c. Which \ have repeated thd oftencr, in several forms of speech, in hope that one’ or, other of them may touch the he&rt of young men, arid excite them by frequent reflection upon the present’eomfortS of health arid strength/upon the activity of their body, the quickness of their sense and spirit, to engross them deeply in their memory; before the evil days come* So Solomon calls our decrepit old age: both because they rtre void of all pleasure, as he saith in the following words; and because they are attended likewise with so many inconveniences and miseries, that it is hard to number them. But he gives us some account of them, in his admirable descriptibri of decrepit age, (ver. 2—6.) which abundantly confirms that speech of Cicero in his book de Senectutc^ that old age proves so odious unto most men, <f ut onus se yEtna graviusdicant sustinerc,” that they complain ofaload that lies heavier than Mount JEtna upon them. [ft]

Ecclesiastes 12:2

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not dt ~kened,nor the clouds return after the rain. For what joy can a man have, or what misery can he be without (and therefore what folly is it not to think of God before that time), when the natural heat and vigour are quite spent, and all the powers and faculties of soul and body in such a languishing condition, that he is altogether unfit for the offices of piety; particularly for the acknowledgment of God’s benefits, the very remembrance of which is slipped out of his mind, or be hath but a dull perception of them; being no more sensible of the benefit of the sun itself, when it gives the brightest light, than he is of the moon or stars; but the day is as sad, and as full of pains and heaviness to him as the night; and there is no end of.them, no intermission: but they succeed one another, as the clouds do in a rainy season, whenone is no sooner emptied, but another is gathered, and ready to discharge itself in showers. See Annot. [6] These infirmities he demonstrates to be very great, because decrepit age consists in the universal decay of the whole frame of nature: which I take to be the meaning of the sun, the light, the moon, and stars, being darkened. For as, in a body-politic, the extinction or falling down of thesesighifies, in the prophetical language, the subversion of that frame of government; (as, to omit abundance of other places, may be seen’ in what Isaiah saith concerning Babylon, xiii. 10. and Ezekicl concerning Egypt, xxxii. 7, 8.) so the darkening of these in the natural body of man, signifies, in my judgment, its total decay and nearness to a dissolution: the tumbling (as we speak) of an old man into his grave; like a ruinous old house which can stand no longer: for so the metaphor is carried on, (ver. 3.) And then the return of clouds after the rain, refers to the dismal condition a man is in at that time: when’one trouble treads upon the heels of another; which is no sooner gone, but the like, or a new one, comes in its room. And so the words may be translated, The clouds return, and after that the rain: that is, there is a succession of misery, of grief, pain, or weakness, drawing on one another. There are some who apply the darkening of sun, moon, and stars, to the mind of man (as one would think, indeed,’ he should say something of that; and all the following description belonging wholly to the body, we must find it here or not at all); but still I conceive that he intends only, in general, to signify the failing of the mind in all its faculties and powers; without a respect to some particular distinct faculty in each of these words. But they who think the inward powers are here intended, are not content to rest in such a general meaning; but will have something in particular signified, by every one of them. And then they do but guess, which gives me the liberty to interpose my conjectures also: that by the sun may be meant the soul itself; by the light, its understanding; by the moon, the will; by the stars, all the notions in the mind and memory, with all the affections and passions in the will; just as sun, moon, and stars, in Joseph’s dream, signified his father, and mother, and brethren. And so the sense of this verge is, the mind of man grows feeble in all its powers; the understanding dim-sighted; the memory forgetful;* the reason weak arid.childish (giving such a feeble light, that it can neithet direct ourselves nor others); the will listless in all its desires, dull about our greatest concerns, wavering and in-, constant in all its resolutions, &c. But I judge it more reasonable, as I said; to restin the interpretation first mentioned (which I am sure is agreeable to the holy language in other places); that hereby is only represented, in general, the universal decay of the faculties of the upper part of man, his soul. Which sense I have comprehended together with the other in my.Paraphrasc: and not neglected this, in which others acquiesce, that these words signify the miseries an old man feels, both night and day. As for those who hereby understand the dimness of the eyes, it being expressed afterward; (ver. 3.) I have taken notico of their sense: but another there is, which is worth mentioning. For the meaning may be, there is nothing but darkness, i. e. a most uncomfortable condition; like that, when the heavens are clouded day and night, (as they were in St. Paul’s voyage, Acts xxvii. 20.) and when one cloud hath spent itself in the tempest, another immediately succeeds it. [c]

Ecclesiastes 12:3

In the day when the. keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened.] Is this a proper time to be allotted to the service of God, when a man cannot serve himself? his hands being struck with a palsy, and made unable cither to feed or defend his body; his feet bending under the weight of it, having lost their power to support him; his teeth likewise so rotten, or worn away,* or fallen out, that they cannot chew his meat; and the sight of his eyes, which were wont to shew him things at a great distance, now so failing him, that he cannot know one man from another, though they stand hard by him: See Annot. [c] Ver. 4: And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low; and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird; and all the daughters of music shall be brought low.] Is this the time to gain acceptance with God, when he is despised by men; and excluded the public assemblies, because his voice is so low, that nobody can hear him? Nay, his lips look as if they were closed, and fall so inward, that he can but mumble; by reason of the loss of his teeth, the weakness of his lungs, and the defect of other instruments of speech: nor can he recruit himself as he was wont by rest; for sound sleep departs from his eyes, and he awakes eariy as the birds, but is not pleased at all with their songs: his hearing being so dull and flat, that he is not moved by the best music in the world; though he listen and incline his ears unto it with never so much, diligence. See Annot. [d] * As in the foregoing verse he gave a general description of the decay of the whole body (and of the internal faculties of the mind together therewith), so here he enters into the particulars. And conceiving the body to be like a house or tabernacle (unto which it is frequently compared, not only in the Scripture, but all other authors); he resembles the shoulders, arms, and hands, to the keepers of the house: because by them we defend ourselves from dangers; administer both food and physic; exercise all manner of arts and manufactures (as wo call them), as long

Ecclesiastes 12:5

Also when they shall be afraid of that ivhich is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fcul; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.] For joy and all such pleasant passions being fled away, melancholy fear alone remains; which makes him scarce dare to tread inthe highway, much less (his head is so giddy) to go up a pair of stairs; nay, he thinks himself unsafe in the strongest fortress: such is the feebleness of old age, which looks venerably by its gray hairs, but they are an etfrly’sign of approaching death, and are made contemptible by his crumpled shoulders, hips, and back: which, as they are of themselves a sufficient load, so are relieved and supported by no bodily pleasures, the very desires of which i now fail him: for there is but a very short step between him and his grave; unto which if he be carried with the usual solemnities, it is all his friends can do for him. See Annot. [e]

Ecclesiastes 12:6

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Remember therefore > thy’ Creator, while the noble faculties of sense and’motion remain entire, and strong and lively; for the time will come (and that will be very unfit for this, or indeed any other business) when they will be totally disabled: the nerves, for instance, will shrink up and be dispirited; the brain itself, and all those precious vessels wherein it is contained, be of no use at all unto thee: for the very fountain of life, the heart, will fail, and the veins and arteries no longer carry the blood round the body; but the motion will cease, by the decajf of that power, which now thrusts it forward in a continual circulation. See Annot. [f]

Ecclesiastes 12:7

I have continued this verse with the foregoing, and supposed (what all interpreters do in the third and fourth verses) thattho comparison is imperfect: there being only the 7rpo7a<nc (as Hermogcncs speaks), the proposition of the sentence, and the aVoSotnc (that which answers unto it) left to he made by the reader: which I have supplied from the sense of the whole foregoing discourse in this chapter; _ Others think anew discourse here begins for the conclusion of the whole book; and that after all he had said of.happiness, he advises every one to think of another life, and not expect to find it in this. Or, as some understand him, his’meaning is, Now you have seen wherein happiness doth not, and wherein it doth consist; therefore do not either imagine there is none at all here in this world, or that it is greater than really it is: but take a middle course, which I have shewn yon, and look upon this life as having pleasure in it, but not absolutely perfect; yet such as our condition will permit: begun here, and to be completed in another world.. [h] TJten shall the dust return to the earth as it was; " and the spiritshall return unto God who gave it.] And then what remains, but that the soul and body being parted, they go to their several original? The body, though now so fair a fabric, to the earth out of which it was taken’ (according to that ancient doom passed upon it, Dust thou art, andunto dust thotishalt return); but the soul unto God, to be judged by him, according to what it hath done in the body since he sent it thither. See Annot. [g]

Ecclesiastes 12:8

The beginning of this verse I have expounded according to the Hebrew, where the words run thus, as St. Jerome himself translates them: If a man live many years, let him rejoice in all these things, &c. And the latter part of the verse, 1 have supposed, contains two motives to moderation in our present enjoyments, and to make us think of doing some good with them, as the highest pleasure of all. Because they will have an end, when we can no longer enjoy them; and because, while wc have them, they run away apace, as all that follows will do, and leave us empty and dissatisfied, unless we have made a good use of them: upon which we may reflect, when they are gone, with some pleasure., [i] Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.] And if this be the conclusion of all our labours, I have reason to conclude this book as I began it; and listen, I beseech you again, to him who proclaims nothing to you but what he hath proved in this discourse; that there is no solid satisfaction to be found in any thing here below,: where all things are both full of care and trouble, as well as uncertain and perishing: and therefore it is the height of folly to take great thought for this present life, and to lay" up nothing for the life to come. See Annot. [h] And now having thus demonstrated his first proposition, he elegantly repeats the exordium, or entrance of his book, as is here observed by St. Jerome, whose words arc so significant, that I cannot but translate them; as an excellent gloss upon this verse: For.since all the labour of mortal man (of which Solomon hath disputed in this whole book) amounts to this, That the dust returns to its earth, and the soul returns thither from whence it teas taken: it is an excess of vanity to labptir for this world; and to gather nothing for the future: where he’is to live for ever, and to be judged according to his behaviour here. This only may be added, that here he enters upon the conclusion of his discourse; and divides it into two parts, as he had done the foregoing book. First, he sums up what he had said in the six first chapters, concerning the false ways men take to happiness, in this verso: which he backs by several serious considerations, in those that follow, unto ver. 13. Where, secondly, he sums up what he had said from chap. vii. to this place, concerning the true way to happiness; which lies-only in a due regard to God and his commandments.; [i] Vcr. 9. The first word of this verse is variously translated: and the whole verse applied by interpreters, cither to confirm what was said before concerning the false methods men take to happiness (as if he had said, — I have done when I have told you, that you may believe me; who afm sufficiently able to inform you, and not think to meet with better information, from other men’s writings, or from your own experience), or as an introduction to what he intends to say, (vcr. 13, 14.) concerning the right method to be happy. Which he prepares the reader to attend unto, and receive into his mind: first, by asserting his own great authority in this verse (who the wiser he was, the more desirous he was both to teach and to learn). And then, the weighty doctrine which he taught, (ver. 10.) and the great usefulness of it; (vcr. 11.) the like to which they would find no where else, (vcr. 12.) It is not very material which of these ways we take; but I have had respect to both, in my Paraphrase: where I have expressed the sense so fully, Tthat I cannot think fit to enlarge any farther upon this verse. But only note, that Luther, and he alone, I think, expounds the first words thus (not absurdly, nor disagreeing with the Hebrew text): There remained nothing to the Preacher, but that he was wise, &c. He understood tod taught aright, and took a great deal of pains; which *as 3H2

Ecclesiastes 12:9

To those motives, he here adds the most considerable thing of all.: which is expounded two ways by interpreters. Some taking these words as a permission, under such restraints as he mentions in the end of the verse;.others, as ironically and sarcastically (as the Greek phrase is) spoken, by way of mockagc and bitter scoff. The two first phrases (rejoice, and let thy heart dice? thee) incline to the former way, being commonly used in a good sense: the two last (walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes) unto the other way, being commonly used in a bad. Therefore the scope of the place, and the coherence, must determine it. And as the LXX. and St. Jerome go the first way, so it agrees best, in my opinion, with what went before; and therefore so I have paraphrased it. And considering that they arc two different words in the beginning of the verse, which we translate as if they were the same (viz. young man and youth), I have not done amiss, I think, but expressed them more significantly by these words, childish youth. • And so they are distinguished in the last verse; where that word which here we translate youth, we more truly translate cMldhood: which yet goes before youth. [k] And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed,’- and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.] Perhapsyou may still think otherwise; and therefore, I have this now to add (and so shall sum up all I have said), that I am: as likely to judge aright as another man; being endued with wisdom from above, by an extraordinary gift of God/ (1 Kings iii.12. iv. 30, &c.) whose goodness also I have imitated, in communicating my knowledge freely unto others: nay (knowing that by sloth* or envy the greatest wisdom may be lost), the more I understood, the more diligent I was in informing others; nor did Divine illuminations make me either neglect ray own studies, or other men’s inventions, but I listened unto all from whom I might hope to learn any thing; and both weighed what they said, and also made an exact search into things myself: • of

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Hero I have followed the judgment of St. Jerome; who, under anger (or grief) comprehends all the perturbations of the mind: and under evil of the flesh, all the hurtful pleasures of the body. And accordingly I have expounded the.whole verse, with respect to the danger youth is in, by the fiery motions of both sorts: the former of which incline men to imitate the wild beasts; the other sink them into the condition of the dullest brutes. The word we here translate youth signifies the peep of day; in our language, the appearing of the morning: and therefore “is to be understood of our entrance upon the most pleasant time of our life. Which, as well as childhood, is but vanity; that is, presently vanishes (as some.will have it), and will be soon gone: or rather, childhood and youth, signifying all that is done in that age of our life: the meaning is, it is an age of great levity, folly, and indiscretion, &c. And, therefore, as Luther observes,.the great care of mankind should be to season youth with right opinions and a good sense of things; and then it is not to bo denied all pleasures, of which it is very desirous; much less shut up from the very sight of them, for it abhors solitude. And this is to begin at the wrong end of education; which must be applied first to.the mind, not to the body: and when the mind is well tinctured, the body will be easily governed. That is, neither follow filthy pleasures, nor be carried away with furious passions, &c. the benefit of which will be unspeakable: for they that live pleasantly and quietly in youth, are likely to arrive at and enjoy a comfortable old age. Some begin the twelfth chapter at this verse, and others begin it with the foregoing: but I have followed our translation, and the most interpreters. This verse runs thus, word for word, in the Hebrew, The Preacher carefully sought to meet with desirable tcords; and the ivriting of uprightness; and the words of truth. Where writing may refer both to what he read in others, whether Divine or human authors; and -to what he wrote himself (and so I have expounded it in the Paraphrase), which he commends from three heads, pleasure, or delight, usefulness, and certainty. Some fancy that Solomon wrote a book called Catub Jascher(the writing of uprightness), or Jascherdibre enieth (the upright words of truth): of which, as thcrc.is no certainty, so I see no probable grounds to assert it. Only we know he wrote a great many more books than we have, (1 Kings iv. 32, 33. 2 Chron. xxxv. 4..and sec Joscphus, lib. viii. Antiq. cap. 2.).,,-,.,.., [7].

Ecclesiastes 12:11

TTie words of the wise are as goads, and as vails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. And there is the same power in them (as. there is wont to be in all the acute sayings of those that are wise and good) to excite and stir up.the minds of slothful men to the practice of virtue; that there is in a goad to prick the dull ox forward, to draw the plough: nor do they only sting and move the mind for the present; but are apt to stick as fast in the memory, as nails do when they are driven into aboard: and to collect also the thoughts, affections, and resolutions unto one -certain end; especially when they are fastened by the skilfulhand ofthosfewho rule the assemblies of God’s people; and are ruled them– selves by one and the same’supreme Governor, whose Holy Spirit directs them all. See Annot. [f) Ver* 12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many.books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.] Therefore, my son (or whosoever thou art that shall read these things, whose happiness I wish as my own), be advised by me, and not only believe these things, but rest contented, with such, useful knowledge; and do not trouble thyself, either in composing or reading many books: for all that is needful to instruct men how to be happy, may be comprised in a few wise precepts; and if thou extendest thy desires beyond this, thou mayest turn over infinite volumes, which are increasing continually, and serve only to distract thy mind, and tire thy spirits, and impair thy health; but yield little profit, after, the expense of a great deal of pains and time. See, Annot. [m] Some connect, this with the foregoing verse in this manner, Hie Preacher sought to find out the words of the wise, &c. And so the words run exactly in the Hebrew. But we may take this verse by itself, supplying the word are, as we do in our translation; and look upon it as a commendation of these wise words: which doth not in the least alter the? sense. I have had respect to both; and • comprehended also, Jn my Paraphrase, two of the interpretations” which one difficult phrase is capable of; viz. masters of the assemblies.’’ Which may be translated divers ways, more literally out of the Hebrew than we do; who add the word by before -them, which is notjn the original.. For the last words, which w r e translate masters of assemblies, may be attributed to nails, in this manner: As nails fastened, whereby things are joined together (nails being the instruments of gathering or bringing those things together, which were separate); or thus, retaining the words of our translation, the masters of assemblies are as fixed nails: or the masters of collections, such judicious authors 2 as make excellent collections of apophthegms and smart sayings, stick in the mind as nails do in planks. Or the principal, the choice collections, viz. of wise men (mentioned in the beginning of the verse), are as, &,c. or it may, in the same sense, be connected (not with nails, but) with the words following; the masters, or authors, that collect wise and pithy sayings, have their gifts from one and the same shepherd. So ungrounded is the fancy of Grotius; who from hence.conjectures, that there were several persons appointed by Zerubbabel (whom he takes for this one pastor) to collect. the sentences of this book, and put them out under tho name of Solomon.. Who, himself, may rather be thought to be this one pastor, or king: who employed (if we interpret the words this way) many persons to make collections: q( which he afterward made use as he saw cause. This seems to be certain, that he here gives the reason of this concise.and sententious way of writing: because $uch acute sayings, not only stir up and quicken slothful minds for the present (as a goad stimulates the dull ox’to Jabour), but penetrate deep, and stick fast in the memory; - collecting also the thoughts, affections, and resolution, to.pne certain point or scope, and gathering together a great deal of sense into a few words. As those words, baale a syppoth, masters of assemblies, or authors of collections, may, I have sometimes thought, be understood. Such a collector was that great man Julius Caesar, who gathered a book of apophthegms; and shewed by that, he thought it more honourable unto him, if he changed himself, as it were, into tables and codicils, in which the prudent and grave sayings of others were registered, than to have his own words hallowed like oracles, as some vain princes, corrupted by flattery, have affected. Though divers of his own speeches, as the Lord Bacon observes, (lib. i. de Augm. Scient. cap. 7.) are truly, such as those which Solomon here describes, full of vigour and efficacy; insomuch, that by one word alone he appeased a mutiny in his army. But, after all that may be said on this subject, since I find not only the Vulgar, but the LXX. making out the sense by adding the word per and?rapa (as we do the word by in our translation), before masters of assemblies; I have in the Paraphrase followed that interpretation also. [mi]

Ecclesiastes 12:12

And in this verse have adhered to the same translation, which understands the first words, as if he had said, Beyond these things do not trouble thyself. For so they may be translated exactly, And what is above, or more than them (that is, the ivords of the wise, beforementioncd), my son, be teamed, or’ be enlightened: observe these well, and trouble thyself no farther. Be content with a few; good precepts of the wise, and do not involve thyself in many books. For what is necessary may be learnt, without much labour, out of a short book: if men will be wiser than they need, they will but trouble themselves to no purpose. There being no certainty of most things; no satisfaction when we go beyond the known or acknowledged principle and precepts of virtue: but what one man asserts, another confutes; and when we think we have written excellently, another writer starts up and discovers abundance of errors: and so volumes are multiplied without end; and we arc led into long disquisitions/ without any satisfaction to the mind, but with much weariness to the body, and great loss of precious time; which had better be spent in digesting and practising such short, useful, and necessary instructions as these. He doth not absolutely condemn many books, for there are not a few of the Divine writings, and about the same thing: but books about needless things, and that dilate too much upon things necessary; rather tiring, than instructing. * And he condemns the levity of those that are always reading, but never meditating: running over such a book as this presently, and then going to another not so profitable, and never returning to this again. So I take it in short, Content thyself with this book, and such-like; and do not turn over many authors, to learn hoiv to be happy. For goodness and truth are included in certain bounds; but wickedness and lies, sine fine sunt, are vtithout end, as St. Jerome here notes. Who observes also, that, perhaps, he adviseth us to study brevity; and to mind the sense more than the words: directly contrary to the philosophers and doctors of the world, who, to assert their false opinions, used abundance and great variety of words; but the Divine Scripture, brevi circulo coarctata est, is confined to a small circle; and as much contracted m words, as it is dilated in sense. The Hebrew word bahag, which we translate study, Abcn Ezra says, in the neighbouring languages, signifies reading; and so we translate it in the margin.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Let us draw up all, then, that can be said in this matter, into as small a compass as is possible; if thou wouldest be happy, preserve in thy mind such “an awful sense of God, as to have a greater regard to him, both as thy creator and governor, and as thy judge, than to any thing in this world; and dreading his displeasure, not only worship him religiously, but observe all his commandments: for, as unto this all men are bound, so in this consists all their duty, and their whole happiness; and therefore they ought to make this their main business, and employ their best endeavours in it. See Annot. [n] Vet. 14. For God shall bring every tvork into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.] As they would with all seriousness, did they but believe and remember what is most certainly true, that, though now the wicked and the good sometimes fare alike, yet there will be a notorious distinction one day made between them ) when God (whose knowledge nothing can escape, and out of whose memory nothing can slip), will pass an exact sentence upon every thing we do here in this world, though never so secret and known to nono.but himself: and then no evil thing, though only designed, and never’ actually committed, shall go unpunished; and no good thing, though only heartily intended for want of power to accomplish it, shall be unrewarded. See Ann6t/[o] ANNOTATIONS. [a] To teach us to contract our labours into as small a compass as we can, he sums up, in a few words, the sense of his whole discourse in this book; which he calls the conclusion or end of the matter; of all that can be said on this subject: the whole sense of the sermon sue-’ cinctly delivered; unto which, therefore, every one should confine his endeavours. IHsthis, — to work his soul unto such a due regard of the Divine Majesty (standing in awe of him as his Lord, overseer, and judge), that he take care to observe all his commandments: without which all religion is vain and fruitless. And these t\to things (the fear of God, or devotion and obedience) he commends from two arguments: the first of which is in this Yerse; that they arc things which concern all mankind, one as well as another; of which if they be careful, they have done enough to make themselves immortally happy. For those words, this is the whole, or the all of man, may be expounded four several ways: cither, this is all the duty of man, or the duty of all men; or the whole happiness of all men; or their whole business; unto which therefore they should devote their whole selves; that is, all their strength. Por, according as St. Jerome understands it, to’this man was born:.That he understanding God is his Creator should worship him with fear and honour, and observance of his commands.. And the fear of God being implanted in our minds, we shall not fail to worship him, and call upon him, and expect all good things from him, and give him thanks for them: and, as the best expression of our thankfulness, keep his commandments, and be obedient to all his precepts: both in subduing our sinful appetites ahdpassions, and in exercising charity towards our neighbours. Which will make us true in word and deed; faithful in all our contracts; liberal to the poor; observant of our governors; in short, make us observe all the directions of this book, in order to our happiness. [o]

Ecclesiastes 12:14

Here is the second argument, why we should seriously intend these things; because the Lord and Judge of the world will one day call us to an account for what we do here; and pass an impartial sentence upon every action of our life, even against every secret (as some expound these words, al col alam), or upon all secret as well as open actions. Which are all known to him, though now he seem to take no notice of them; and shall then not only be brought to light, but with an apparent distinction between good and evil: the difference of which shall be certainly and notoriously manifested; by the severe punishment of the one, and the bountiful remuneration of the other. I will imitate therefore (saith Melancthon) the example of Solomon; and, in the conclusion, recite the sum of this book. " He intended to assert Divine providence, and to refute the objections against it: which are these; There are great confusions in human life; a vast multitude of ungodly men, and but few that acknowledge and fear God: and, which is worse, the wicked flourish in honour and riches; but the pious are afflicted, and ofttimes killed by the worst of men, &c, therefore all things seem to be carried by chance.” Unto which Solomon answers; Though, for the most part, such be the confusion of things, yet be thou ruled by God’s wordj and hold the opinion of his providence with a firm faith. Do’notfall from God, because of these scandals; nor cast away his fear, or thy confidence in him, nor desert thy vocation: but oppose these two things to these confusions; There will come a judgment, when God will take away these confusions and make an exact distinction: for the wicked shall be thrown into everlasting punishment; but it shall be wcllfor ever with the righteous. And in this life, also, God moderates these confusions: for he punislies heinous wickedness, supports government, preserves governors, and order, and politics in the world. Nay, this is a testimony ofGod’s presence, that when the infirmity of human nature is so great, and so manyarc no botter than mad and furious, yet God preserves his church." And, I mayadd, we have such good books as these for our direction into truth,‘arid encouragement in piety.’