| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Ecclesiastes
Chapter Seven
Ecclesiastes 7
Chapter Contents
The benefit of a good name; of death above life; of
sorrow above vain mirth. (1-6) Concerning oppression
anger
and discontent.
(7-10) Advantages of wisdom. (11-22) Experience of the evil of sin. (23-29)
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:1-6
(Read Ecclesiastes 7:1-6)
Reputation for piety and honesty is more desirable than
all the wealth and pleasure in this world. It will do more good to go to a
funeral than to a feast. We may lawfully go to both
as there is occasion; our
Saviour both feasted at the wedding of his friend in Cana
and wept at the
grave of his friend in Bethany. But
considering how apt we are to be vain and
indulge the flesh
it is best to go to the house of mourning
to learn the end
of man as to this world. Seriousness is better than mirth and jollity. That is
best for us which is best for our souls
though it be unpleasing to sense. It
is better to have our corruptions mortified by the rebuke of the wise
than to
have them gratified by the song of fools. The laughter of a fool is soon gone
the end of his mirth is heaviness.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:7-10
(Read Ecclesiastes 7:7-10)
The event of our trials and difficulties is often better
than at first we thought. Surely it is better to be patient in spirit
than to
be proud and hasty. Be not soon angry
nor quick in resenting an affront. Be
not long angry; though anger may come into the bosom of a wise man
it passes
through it as a way-faring man; it dwells only in the bosom of fools. It is
folly to cry out upon the badness of our times
when we have more reason to cry
out for the badness of our own hearts; and even in these times we enjoy many
mercies. It is folly to cry up the goodness of former times; as if former ages
had not the like things to complain of that we have: this arises from
discontent
and aptness to quarrel with God himself.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:11-22
(Read Ecclesiastes 7:11-22)
Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
yea better. It
shelters from the storms and scorching heat of trouble. Wealth will not
lengthen out the natural life; but true wisdom will give spiritual life
and
strengthen men for services under their sufferings. Let us look upon the
disposal of our condition as the work of God
and at last all will appear to
have been for the best. In acts of righteousness
be not carried into heats or
passions
no
not by a zeal for God. Be not conceited of thine own abilities;
nor find fault with every thing
nor busy thyself in other men's matters. Many
who will not be wrought upon by the fear of God
and the dread of hell
will
avoid sins which ruin their health and estate
and expose to public justice.
But those that truly fear God
have but one end to serve
therefore act
steadily. If we say we have not sinned
we deceive ourselves. Every true
believer is ready to say
God be merciful to me a sinner. Forget not at the
same time
that personal righteousness
walking in newness of life
is the only
real evidence of an interest by faith in the righteousness of the Redeemer.
Wisdom teaches us not to be quick in resenting affronts. Be not desirous to
know what people say; if they speak well of thee
it will feed thy pride
if
ill
it will stir up thy passion. See that thou approve thyself to God and
thine own conscience
and then heed not what men say of thee; it is easier to
pass by twenty affronts than to avenge one. When any harm is done to us
examine
whether we have not done as bad to others.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:23-29
(Read Ecclesiastes 7:23-29)
Solomon
in his search into the nature and reason of
things
had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He
alone who constantly aims to please God
can expect to escape; the careless
sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the
evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty
the loving many strange
women
1 Kings 11:1. A woman thoroughly upright and
godly
he had not found. How was he likely to find such a one among those he
had collected? If any of them had been well disposed
their situation would
tend to render them all nearly of the same character. He here warns others
against the sins into which he had been betrayed. Many a godly man can with
thankfulness acknowledge that he has found a prudent
virtuous woman in the
wife of his bosom; but those men who have gone in Solomon's track
cannot
expect to find one. He traces up all the streams of actual transgression to the
fountain. It is clear that man is corrupted and revolted
and not as he was
made. It is lamentable that man
whom God made upright
has found out so many
ways to render himself wicked and miserable. Let us bless Him for Jesus Christ
and seek his grace
that we may be numbered with his chosen people.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes》
Ecclesiastes 7
Verse 1
[1] A
good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day
of one's birth.
Of death —
Seeing this life is so full of vanity
and vexation
and misery
it is more
desirable for a man to go out of it
than to come into it.
Verse 2
[2] It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of
feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his
heart.
The house —
Where mourners meet to celebrate the funeral of a deceased friend.
That —
Death.
The living —
Will be seriously affected with it
whereas feasting is commonly attended with
levity
and manifold temptations.
Verse 4
[4] The
heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the
house of mirth.
The wise —
Are constantly meditating upon serious things.
Verse 6
[6] For
as the crackling of thorns under a pot
so is the laughter of the fool: this
also is vanity.
Thorns —
Which for a time make a great noise and blaze
but presently go out.
Verse 7
[7] Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
A gift — A
bribe given to a wise man
deprives him of the use of his understanding. So
this verse discovers two ways whereby a wise man may be made mad
by suffering
oppression from others
or by receiving bribes to oppress others. And this also
is an argument of the vanity of worldly wisdom that is so easily corrupted and
lost.
Verse 8
[8]
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in
spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
The end —
The good or evil of things is better known by their end
than by their
beginning.
The patient —
Who quietly waits for the issue of things.
The proud —
Which he puts instead of hasty or impatient
because pride is the chief cause
of impatience.
Verse 10
[10] Say
not thou
What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for
thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.
Better —
More quiet and comfortable. For this is an argument of a mind unthankful for
the many mercies
which men enjoy even in evil times.
For —
This question shews thy folly in contending with thy Lord and governor
in
opposing thy shallow wit to his unsearchable wisdom.
Verse 11
[11]
Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see
the sun.
Good —
When wisdom and riches meet in one man
it is an happy conjunction.
By it — By
wisdom joined with riches there comes great benefit.
To them —
Not only to a man's self
but many others in this world.
Verse 12
[12] For
wisdom is a defence
and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge
is
that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.
Life —
But herein knowledge of wisdom excels riches
that whereas riches frequently
expose men to destruction
true wisdom doth often preserve a man from temporal
and always from eternal ruin.
Verse 13
[13]
Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight
which he hath made
crooked?
Consider —
His wise
and just
and powerful government of all events
which is proposed as
the last and best remedy against all murmurings.
For who — No
man can correct or alter any of God's works; and therefore all frettings at the
injuries of men
or calamities of times
are not only sinful
but also vain and
fruitless. This implies that there is an hand of God in all mens actions
either effecting them
if they be good
or permitting them
if they be bad
and
ordering and over-ruling them
whether they he good or bad.
Verse 14
[14] In
the day of prosperity be joyful
but in the day of adversity consider: God also
hath set the one over against the other
to the end that man should find
nothing after him.
Be joyful —
Enjoy God's favours with thankfulness.
Consider —
Consider that it is God's hand
and therefore submit to it: consider also why
God sends it
for what sins
and with what design.
God also —
Hath wisely ordained
that prosperity and adversity should succeed one another.
That — No
man might be able to foresee
what shall befal him afterwards; and therefore
might live in a constant dependance upon God
and neither despair in trouble
nor be secure or presumptuous in prosperity.
Verse 15
[15] All
things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth
in his righteousness
and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his
wickedness.
All —
All sorts of events.
My vanity —
Since I have come into this vain life.
Perisheth —
Yea
for his righteousness
which exposes him to the envy
anger
or hatred of
wicked men.
Wickedness —
Notwithstanding all his wickedness.
Verse 16
[16] Be
not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou
destroy thyself?
Be not —
This verse and the next have a manifest reference to verse 15
being two inferences drawn from the two
clauses of the observation. Solomon here speaks in the person of an ungodly
man
who takes occasion to dissuade men from righteousness
because of the
danger which attends it. Therefore
saith he
take heed of strictness
zeal
and forwardness in religion. And the next verse contains an antidote to this
suggestion; yea
rather saith he
be not wicked or foolish overmuch; for that
will not preserve thee
as thou mayest imagine
but will occasion and hasten
thy ruin.
Verse 18
[18] It
is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea
also from this withdraw not
thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.
Take hold of —
Embrace and practise this counsel.
Shall come —
Shall be delivered from all extremes
and from all the evil consequences of
them.
Verse 19
[19]
Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
Strengthen —
Supports him in
and secures him against troubles and dangers.
Verse 20
[20] For
there is not a just man upon earth
that doeth good
and sinneth not.
Sinneth not —
Who is universally and perfectly good.
Verse 21
[21] Also
take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse
thee:
Also — Do
not strictly search into them
nor listen to hear them.
Verse 23
[23] All
this have I proved by wisdom: I said
I will be wise; but it was far from me.
Proved — I
have found to be true
by the help of that singular wisdom which God had given
me.
I said — I
determined that I would attain perfection of wisdom.
But — I
found myself greatly disappointed.
Verse 24
[24] That
which is far off
and exceeding deep
who can find it out?
It — God's counsels and
works
and the reasons of them.
Verse 25
[25] I
applied mine heart to know
and to search
and to seek out wisdom
and the
reason of things
and to know the wickedness of folly
even of foolishness and
madness:
And seek — He
useth three words signifying the same thing
to intimate his vehement desire
and vigorous
and unwearied endeavours after it.
The reason —
Both of God's various providences
and of the counsels and courses of men.
The wickedness —
Clearly and fully to understand the great evil of sin.
Verse 26
[26] And
I find more bitter than death the woman
whose heart is snares and nets
and
her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner
shall be taken by her.
I find — By
my own sad experience.
Shall escape —
Shall be prevented from falling into her hands.
Verse 27
[27]
Behold
this have I found
saith the preacher
counting one by one
to find out
the account:
To find —
That I might make a true and just estimate.
Verse 28
[28]
Which yet my soul seeketh
but I find not: one man among a thousand have I
found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
Yet seeketh — I
returned to search again with more earnestness.
I find not —
That it was so
he found
but the reason of the thing he could not find out.
One man — A
wise and virtuous man.
A woman —
One worthy of that name; one who is not a dishonour to her sex.
Among — In
that thousand whom I have taken into intimate society with myself.
Verse 29
[29] Lo
this only have I found
that God hath made man upright; but they have sought
out many inventions.
Lo
this —
Though I could not find out all the streams of wickedness
and their infinite
windings and turnings
yet I have discovered the fountain of it
Original sin
and the corruption of nature
which is both in men and women.
That —
God made our first parents
Adam and Eve.
Upright — Heb.
right: without any imperfection or corruption
conformable to his nature and
will
after his own likeness.
They —
Our first parents
and after them their posterity.
Sought out —
Were not contented with their present state
but studied new ways of making
themselves more wise and happy
than God had made them. And we
their wretched
children
are still prone to forsake the certain rule of God's word
and the
true way to happiness
and to seek new methods of attaining it.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ecclesiastes》
07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-29
A good name is better than precious ointment.
The fragrance of moral worth
I. The elements of
a good name. It is something more than being “well spoken of
” for often “what
is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” It is not
even a good reputation
unless that be sustained by the good reality. Socrates
on being asked how one might obtain a good name
replied
“Study really to be
what you wish to be accounted.” “A good name” is enshrined in “whatsoever
things are honest
lovely
and of good report”--a “name” not only remembered on
earth
but “written in heaven.” It includes--
1. Piety.
2. Diligence.
3. Integrity.
4. Patriotism.
5. Benevolence.
6. Devotion.
II. The superior
value of a good name. “Better than precious ointment.”
1. It is rarer. Rare as some oriental unguents are
they are
plentiful compared with Scripture’s “good name” in this pretentious world.
2. It is more costly. Not a little did the alabaster box of ointment
poured by one on the Saviour
cost; but who shall estimate the expense at which
a rebel against God has been so changed in state and character as to have a
name
absolutely fragrant
not only in a sinful earth
but throughout a sinless
universe? The sufferings of Jesus and the influences of the Spirit indicate a
cost which no arithmetic can compute.
3. It is more enduring than ointment. The latter’s delectable
properties will soon evaporate
as if it had never been; but a “good name
”
earned in “doing the will of God
abideth for ever.” “The righteous shall be in
everlasting remembrance.”
4. Than ointment
such a “good name” is “better” for the individual
himself. It inlays the soul with satisfaction. “A good man shall be satisfied
”
not with
but “from himself.” He secures a signal luxury. “It is more blessed
to give than to receive.” Such “a good name” is “better” for society. It is
stimulating. Barnabas’s “good name” was a passport to Saul of Tarsus among the
Churches. Paul’s “good name” was all that was needed to secure large donations
for the poor saints at Jerusalem. Such a name is absolutely beneficial. What
woes have not fled before its odoriferous power! What songs has it not kindled
on lips unaccustomed to “the music of the spheres”! (A. M. Stalker.)
A well-grounded good name
The improving of our life in this world to the raising up a
well-grounded good name and savoury character in it
is the best balance for
the present for the vanity and misery attending our life
better than the most
savoury earthly things.
I. Some things
supposed in the doctrine.
1. There is a vanity and misery that is the inseparable attendant of
human life in this world. No man in life is free of it
nor can be (Psalms 39:6).
2. Every man will find himself obliged to seek for some allay of that
vanity and misery of life
that he may be enabled to comport with it (Psalms 6:6). This makes a busy world
every one seeking something to make his hard seat soft.
3. It is natural for men to seek an allay to the vanity and misery of
life in earthly things (Psalms 6:6).
4. But the best of earthly things will make but a sorry plaster for
that sore; they will not be able to balance the vanity and misery of life
but with
them all life may be rendered sapless
through the predominant vanity and
misery of it.
5. Howbeit
the improving of life to the raising a well-grounded good
name
will balance the vanity and misery of life effectually; so that he who
has reached that kind of living
has what is well worth the enduring all the
miseries of life for. There is an excellency and good in it that downweigh all
the evils attending life.
II. What is the well-grounded good
name that is the balance of the vanity and misery of human life?
1. It is the name of religion
and no less; for there is nothing
truly good separate from religion (Matthew 7:18).
2. It is raised on the reality of religion
and no less; for a mere
show of religion is but a vain and empty thing
which will dwindle to nothing
with other vanities. We may take up that good name in three parts.
III. What is the
improvement of life whereby that good name may be raised.
1. Improve your life by a personal and saving entering into the
covenant of grace
and uniting with Christ
by believing on His name.
2. Improve your life to a living a life of faith in this world.
3. Improve your life to the living of a life beneficial to mankind
profitable to your fellow-creatures
diffusing a benign influence through the
world
as ye have access; so that when you are gone
the world may be convinced
they have lost a useful member that sought their good; so shall ye have the
good name
“Useful to men” (Acts 13:36).
IV. Confirm the
point.
1. This improvement of life is the best balance for the present
for
the vanity and misery of life.
2. This improvement of life is better than the best and most savoury
earthly things.
A good name
There are a thousand men in our cities to-day who are considering
“What is the best investment that I can make of myself? What are the tools that
will cut my way in life best?” It sounds to them very much like old-fashioned
preaching to say that a good name is the best thing you can have. Now
let us
consider that a little. In the first place
what is included in a name? A man
that has a name has a character; and a good name is a good character; but it is
more than a good character; it is a good character with a reputation that
properly goes with character. It is what you are
and then what men think you
to be--the substance and the shadow both; for character is what a man is
and
what men think him to be; and when they are coincident
then you have the
fulness of a good name. In the world at large
what are the elements of conduct
which leave upon society a kind of impression of you? The first foundation
quality of manliness is truth-speaking. Then
perhaps
next to that is justice;
the sense of what is right between man and man; fairness. Then sincerity. Then
fidelity. If these are all coupled with good sense
or common sense
which is
the most uncommon of all sense; if these are central to that form of
intelligence which addresses itself to the capacity of the average man
you
have a very good foundation laid. Men used
before the era of steam
to wearily
tow their boats up through the lower Ohio
or through the Mississippi
with a
long line; and at night it was not always safe for them to fasten their boats
on the bank while they slept
because there was danger
from the wash of the
underflowing current
that they would find themselves drifting and pulling a
tree after them. Therefore they sought out well-planted
solid
enduring trees
and tied to them
and the phrase became popular
“That man will do to tie
to”--that is to say
he has those qualities which make it perfectly safe for
you to attach yourself to him. Now
not only are these foundation qualities
but they are qualities which tend to breed the still higher elements. If with
substantial moral excellence there comes industry
superior skill
in any and
every direction
if a man’s life leads him to purity and benevolence
then he
has gone up a stage higher. If it is found
not that the man is obsequious to
the sects
but that he is God-fearing in the better sense of the term fear
that he is really a religious-minded man
that he is pure in his moral habits
though he is deficient in his enterprise and endeavours
so that his
inspiration is not calculation
so that the influence that is working in him is
the influence of the eternal and invisible; if all these qualities in him have
been known and tested; if it is found that his sincerity is not the rash
sincerity of inexperience
and that it is not the impulse of an untutored and
untrained generosity; if it is found that these qualities implanted in him have
been built upon
that they have increased
that they have had the impact of
storms upon them
and that they have stood; if there have been inducements and
temptations to abandon truth and justice
and sincerity and fidelity
but the
man has been mightier than the temptation or the inducement--then he has built
a name
at least
which is a tower of strength; and men say
“There is a man
for you.” Now
how does a man’s name affect his prosperity? It is said that it
is better than precious ointment. Well
in the first place
it works in an
invisible way
in methods that men do not account for. It suffuses around about
one an atmosphere
not very powerful
but yet very advantageous
in the form of
kind feelings and wishes. Then consider how a good name
where it is real
and
is fortified by patient continuance in well-doing
increases in value. There is
no other piece of property whose value is enhanced more rapidly than this
because every year that flows around about a man fortifies the opinion of men
that it is not put on
that it is not vincible
that it is real and stable.
Then
a good name is a legacy. There is many and many a father that has ruined
a son by transmitting money to him. There is no knife that is so dangerous as a
golden knife. But there is no man that ever hurt his son by giving him a good
name--a name that is a perpetual honour; a name such that when it is pronounced
it makes every one turn round and say
“Ah
that is his son
” and smile upon
him. A good name is worth a man’s earning to transmit to his posterity. And
that is not the end of it
where men are permitted to attain a great name. Some
such we have had in our history. Some such appear in every age and generation
in European history--some far back over the high summits of the thousands of
years that have rolled between them and us. But some names there are in European
history
and some names there are in American history
that have lifted the
ideal of manhood throughout the whole world. So a good name becomes a heritage
not only to one’s children
to one’s country
and to one’s age
but
in the
cases of a few men
to the race. (H. W. Beecher.)
A good name
Hitherto the book has chiefly contained the diagnosis of the great
disease. The royal patient has passed before us in every variety of mood
from
the sleepy collapse of one who has eaten the fabled lotus
up to the frantic
consciousness of a Hercules tearing his limbs as he tries to rend off his robe
of fiery poison. He now comes to the cure. He enumerates the prescriptions
which he tried
and mentions their results. Solomon’s first beatitude is an
honourable reputation. He knew what it had been to possess it; and he knew what
it was to lose it. And here he says
Happy is the possessor of an untarnished
character! so happy that he cannot die too soon! A name truly good is the aroma
from virtuous character. It is a spontaneous emanation from genuine excellence.
It is a reputation for whatsoever things are honest
and lovely
and of good
report. To secure a reputation there must not only be the genuine excellence
but the genial atmosphere. There must be some good men to observe and
appreciate the goodness while it lived
and others to foster its memory when
gone. But should both combine
--the worth and the appreciation of worth
--the
resulting good name is better than precious ointment. Rarer and more costly
it
is also one of the most salutary influences that can penetrate society. For
just as a box of spikenard is not only valuable to its possessor
but
pre-eminently precious in its diffusion; so
when a name is really good
it is
of unspeakable service to all who are capable of feeling its exquisite
inspiration. And should the Spirit of God so replenish a man with His gifts and
graces
as to render his name thus wholesome
better than the day of his birth
will be the day of his death; for at death the box is broken and the sweet
savour spreads abroad. There is an end of the envy and sectarianism and
jealousy
the detraction and the calumny
which often environ goodness when
living; and now that the stopper of prejudice is removed
the world fills with
the odour of the ointment
and thousands grow stronger and more lifesome for
the good name of one. Without a good name you can possess little ascendancy
over others; and when it has not pioneered your way and won a prepossession for
yourself
your patriotic or benevolent intentions are almost sure to be
defeated. And yet it will never do to seek a good name as a primary object.
Like trying to be graceful
the effort to be popular will make you
contemptible. Take care of your spirit and conduct
and your reputation will
take care of itself. (J. Hamilton
D. D.)
The day of death than the
day of one’s birth.--
The day of the Christian’s death
This statement must be understood not absolutely
but
conditionally. It is applicable only to those who “die unto the Lord
” and none
can do so but those who are sincere believers in Christ
the sinner’s Savior.
I. The day of the
Christian’s death brings deliverance from all suffering and grief. The end of a
voyage is better than the beginning
especially if it has been a stormy one. Is
not then the day of a Christian’s death better than the day of his birth?
II. In the case of
the believer in Jesus
the day of death is the day of final triumph over all
sin
It is the day in which the work of grace in his soul is brought unto
perfection; and is not that day better than the day of his birth?
III. In the case of
Christ’s followers
the day of their decease introduces them into a state of
endless reward (Psalms 31:19; 1 Peter 1:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 3:21). (G. S. Ingram.)
The believer’s deathday better than his birthday
You must have a good name
--you must be written among the living
in Zion
written in the Lamb’s book of life
or else the text is not true of
you; and
alas
though the day of your birth was a bad day
the day of your
death will be a thousand times worse. But now
if you are one of God’s people
trusting in Him
look forward to the day of your death as being better than the
day of your birth.
I. First
then
our deathday is better than our
birthday: and it is so for this among other reasons--“Better is
the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” When we are born we begin life
but what will that life be? Friends say
“Welcome
little stranger.” Ah
but
what kind of reception will the stranger get when he is no longer a new-comer?
He who is newly born and is ordained to endure through a long life is like a
warrior who puts on his harness for battle; and is not he in a better case who
puts it off because he has won the victory? Ask any soldier which he likes
best
the first shot in the battle or the sound which means “Cease firing
for
the victory is won.” When we were born we set out on our journey; but when we
die we end our weary march in the Father’s house above. Surely it is better to
have come to the end of the tiresome pilgrimage than to have commenced it. Better is the day of
death than our birthday
because about the birthday there hangs uncertainty. I
heard this morning of a dear friend who had fallen asleep. When I wrote to his
wife I said
“Concerning him we speak with certainty. You sorrow not as those
that are without hope. A long life of walking with God proved that he was one of God’s
people
and we know that for such there remains joy without temptation
without
sorrow
without end
for ever and ever.” Oh
then
as much as certainty is
better than uncertainty
the day of the saint’s death is better than the day of
his birth. So
too
in things which are certain the saint’s deathday is
preferable to the beginning of life
for we know that when the child is born he
is born to sorrow. Trials must and will befall
and your little one who is born
to-day is born to an inheritance of grief
like his father
like his mother
who prophesied it as it were by her own pangs. But look
now
at the saint when
he dies. It is absolutely certain that he has done with sorrow
done with pain.
Now
surely
the day in which we are certain that sorrow is over must be better
than the day in which we are certain that sorrow is on the road.
II. The day of
death is better to the believer than all his happy days. What were his happy
days? I shall take him as a man
and I will pick out some days that are often
thought to be happy. There is the day of a man’s coming of age
when he feels
that he is a man
especially if he has an estate to come into. That is a day of
great festivity. You have seen pictures of “Coming of age in the olden time
”
when the joy of the young squire seemed to spread itself over all the tenants
and all the farm labourers: everybody rejoiced. Ah
that is all very well
but
when believers die they do in a far higher sense come of age
and enter upon
their heavenly estates. Then shall I pluck the grapes from those vines that I
have read of as enriching the vales of Eshcol; then shall I lie down and drink
full draughts of the river of God
which is full of water; then shall I know
even as I am known
and see no more through a glass darkly
but face to face.
Another very happy day with a man is the day of his marriage: who does not
rejoice then? What cold heart is there which does not beat with joy on that
day? But on the day of death we shall enter more fully into the joy of our
Lord
and into that blessed marriage union which is established between Him and
ourselves. There are days with men in business that are happy days
because
they are days of gain. They get some sudden windfall
they prosper in business
or perhaps there are long months of prosperity in which all goes well with
them
and God is giving them the desires of their heart. But
oh
there is no
gain like the gain of our departure to the Father; the greatest of all gains is
that which we shall know when we pass out of the world of trouble into the land
of triumph. “To die is gain.” There are days of honour
when a man is promoted
in office
or receives applause from his fellow-men. But what a day of honour
that will be for you and me if we are carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom!
Days of health are happy days
too. But what health can equal the perfect
wholeness of a spirit in whom the Good Physician has displayed His utmost
skill? We enjoy very happy days of social friendship
when hears warm with
hallowed intercourse
when one can sit a while with a friend
or rest in the
midst of one’s family. Yes
but no day of social enjoyment will match the day
of death. Some of us expect to meet troops of blessed ones that have gone home
long ago
whom we never shall forget.
III. The day of a
believer’s death is better than his holy days on earth. I think that the best
holy day I ever spent was the day of my conversion. There was a novelty and
freshness about that first day which made it like the day in which a man first
sees the light after having been long blind. Since then we have known many
blessed days; our Sabbaths
for instance. We can never give up the Lord’s day.
Precious and dear unto my soul are those sweet rests of love--days that God has
hedged about to make them His own
that they may be ours. Oh
our blessed
Sabbaths! Well
there is this about the day of one’s death--we shall then enter
upon an eternal Sabbath. Our communion days have been very holy days. It has
been very sweet to sit at the Lord’s table
and have fellowship with Jesus in
the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine; but sweeter far will it be to
commune with Him in the paradise above
and that we shall do on the day of our
death. Those days have been good
I am not going to depreciate them
but to
bless the Lord for every one of them. When we say that a second thing is
“better
” it is supposed that the first thing has some goodness about it. Aye
and our holy days on earth have been good; fit rehearsals of the jubilee beyond
the river. When you and I enter heaven
it will not be going from bad to good
but from good to better. The change will be remarkable
but it will not be so
great a change as thoughtless persons would imagine. First
there will be no
change of nature. The same nature which God gave us when we were
regenerated--the spiritual nature--is that which will enjoy the heavenly state.
On earth we have had good days
because we have had a good nature given us by
the Holy Spirit
and we shall possess the same nature above
only more fully
grown and purged from all that hinders it. We shall follow the same employments
above as we have followed here. We shall spend eternity in adoring the Most
High. To draw near to God in communion--that is one of our most blessed
employments. We shall do it there
and take our fill of it. Nor is this all
for we shall serve God in glory. You active-spirited ones
you shall find an
intense delight in continuing to do the same things as to spirit as you do
here
namely
adoring and magnifying and spreading abroad the saving name of
Jesus in whatever place you may be.
IV. The day of a
saint’s death is better than the whole of his days put together
because his
days here are days of dying. The moment we begin to live we commence to die.
Death is the end of dying. On the day of the believer’s death dying is for ever
done with. This life is failure
disappointment
regret. Such emotions are all
over when the day of death comes
for glory dawns upon us with its satisfaction
and intense content. The day of our death will be the day of our cure. There
are some diseases which
in all probability
some of us never will get quite
rid of till the last Physician comes
and He will settle the matter. One gentle
touch of His hand
and we shall be cured for ever. Our deathday will be the
loss of all losses. Life is made up of losses
but death loses losses. Life is
full of crosses
but death is the cross that brings crosses to an end. Death is
the last enemy
and turns out to be the death of every enemy. The day of our
death is the beginning of our best days. “Is this to die?” said one. “Well
then
” said he
“it is worth while to live even to enjoy the bliss of dying.”
The holy calm of some and the transport of others prove that better is the day
of death in their case than the day of birth
or all their days on earth. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Of the birthday and the dying-day
To one who has so lived as to obtain the good name
hie dying day
will be better than his birthday
quite downweighing all the vanity and misery
of life in this world.
I. Some truths
contained in this doctrine.
1. However men live
they must die.
2. The birthday is a good day
notwithstanding all the vanity and
misery of human life. It is a good day to the relations
notwithstanding the
bitterness mixed with it (John 16:21). And so it is to the party
too
as an entrance on the stage of life whereby God is glorified
and one may
be prepared for a better life (Isaiah 38:19).
3. The dying-day is not always so frightful as it looks; it may be a
good day too. As in scouring a vessel
sand and ashes first defiling it makes
it to glister; so grim death brings in a perfect comeliness. The waters may be
red and frightful
where yet the ground is good
and they are but shallow
passable with all safety.
4. Where the dying-day follows a well-improved life
it is better
than the birthday
however it may appear. There is this difference betwixt
them
the birthday has its fair side outmost
the dying day has its fair side
inmost; hence the former begins with joy
but opens out in much sorrow; the
latter begins with sorrow
but opens out in treasures of endless joy. And
certainly it is better to step through sorrow into joy than through joy into
sorrow.
5. The dying-day in that case is so very far better than the
birthday
that it quite downweighs all the former vanity and misery of life.
6. But it will not be so in the ease of an ill-spent life. For
whatever joy or sorrow they have been born to in this world
they will never
taste of joy more
but be overwhelmed with floods of sorrow when once their
dying-day is come and over.
II. In what
latitude this doctrine is to be understood.
1. As to the parties
those who have so lived as to obtain the good
name. It is to be understood of them--
2. As to the points in comparison
the birthday and the dying-day
it
is to be understood of them--
3. As to the preference
it stands in two points.
III. Demonstrate the
truth of this paradox
this unlikely tale
That the saint’s dying-day is better
than his birthday.
1. The day of the saint’s birth clothed him with a body of weak and
frail flesh
and so clogged him; the day of his death looses the clog
and sets
him free
clothing him with a house that will never clog him (2 Corinthians 5:1-8).
2. The day of his birth clogged him with a body of sin; the day of
his death sets him quite free from it
and brings him into a state morally
perfect (Hebrews 12:23).
3. The day of the saint’s death carries him into a better world than
the day of his birth did.
4. The day of his death settles him among better company than the day
of his birth did (Hebrews 12:22).
5. The day of his death brings him into a better state than the day
of his birth did.
6. The day of the saint’s death brings him to
and settles him in
better exercise and employment than the day of his birth did. He will spend his
eternity in the other world better than he did his time in this world
how well
soever he spent it (Revelation 4:8). (T. Boston
D.
D.)
Comparative estimate of life and death
What are those circumstances of the Christian which give
superiority to the time of death--which justify us in adopting the sentiment of
the text as our own?
I. There is an
essential difference in the condition of the Christian at the periods of his
earliest and latest consciousness. At the day of birth you cannot distinguish
the future king from the peasant; the hero from the coward; the philosopher
from the clown; the Christian from the infidel. There is a negation of
character common to them all; and the positive qualities of each are not to be
distinguished from the other. What is there to give value to the birthday of
such a being? We pass over the years of childhood and youth
during which the
human being is acquiring varied knowledge
to the period when character is more
fully developed. He feels his responsibility
and knows himself to be a sinner;
but his heart has never submitted to Divine authority
he has never sought for
the pardon of his sins
he is an utter stranger to the grace of the Gospel.
What reason has such a man to exult in the day of his birth? to commemorate it
as a joyous event? But imagine him spared by the goodness of God until he is
brought to repentance. He is in an essentially different position to that in
which he was on the day of his birth
not only by the enlargement of his
faculties
and the exercise of his affections
but they are directed to nobler
objects; he knows and loves the character of God
he aspires after the
enjoyment of Him
looks forward to enduring happiness with Him after the toils
and sufferings of earthly existence
and his faith becomes “the substance of
things hoped for
the evidence of things not seen.” On the day of his birth he
was the mere creature of flesh and sense
but now he is born of the Spirit
and
he lives by faith. Oh
let death come when it may to the Christian
his dying
day will be better than his birthday.
II. Life is a
period of probation
the successful termination of which is better than its
commencement. It requires the utmost circumspection and watchfulness--the
strictest examination of our motives and feelings
to preserve the evidences of
our Christian character bright and unclouded. There are few Christians
faithful to their own hearts
who have not had seasons of darkness and
gloominess
and been distressed with various doubts and fears. And when once
these arise in the mind
they impart a character of uncertainty to our personal
salvation. But as we draw nearer to the goal
our confidence increases; the
decline of a Christian’s life is ordinarily marked by greater stability of
mind--by a less wavering faith. God has been
in times past
better to us than
our fears; He has frequently perfected His strength in our weakness
and
carried us unexpectedly through deep waters of affliction; the ultimate issue
appears more certain; we are more habitually confiding on the arm of
omnipotence. And when we come to die
with our souls awake to our real
condition
conscious that we have been upheld to the last moment
a vigorous
faith may enable the Christian go say
with the apostle
in the near prospect
of death
“I have fought the good fight
” etc. We mean not to say that every
successful competitor has a feeling of triumph in the dying hour. The shout of
victory may not be heard on this side the stream of death; but
when he has
passed through its flood
and reached the opposite bank
his redeemed soul will
be attuned to a song of glorious and everlasting triumph.
III. If we consider
the evils to which the Christian is exposed in life
we shall see he has reason
to regard the day of death as better than the day of his birth. On this side
death there are bitter herbs for medicine
suitable to imperfect and diseased
conditions of life; but on the other side are the fruits of paradise
not to
correct the tendencies of an evil nature
but to feed the soul
to nourish it
up unto everlasting blessedness.
IV. The present
life is to the Christian a period of imperfect enjoyment. Here he is
at a
distance from home
from his Father’s house
in which there are many mansions;
here his graces are imperfect
and constitute very limited channels of
happiness to his spirit; here he cannot always enjoy God. His weak faith fails
to realize the loveliness and perfections of Jehovah. Here he cannot at all times hold
fellowship with the Saviour; it is interrupted by doubts and fears--by unworthy
suspicions and criminal feelings. Here he knows but in part
sees but through a
glass darkly
and this state of imperfection will continue until the period of
death. The better country which the Christian seeks is a heavenly country--it
is an incorruptible
undefiled
unfading inheritance
not to be realized in
mortal flesh not to be reached until the spirit
freed from the bonds of earth
ascends to God who gave it. (S. Summers.)
It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the
house of feasting.
On the benefits to be derived from the house of mourning
It is evident that the wise man does not prefer sorrow
upon its
own account
to mirth; or represent sadness as a state more eligible than joy.
He considers it in
the light of discipline only. He views it with reference to an end. The true
scope of his doctrine in this passage is
that there is a certain temper and
state of heart
which is of far greater consequence to real happiness
than the
habitual indulgence of giddy and thoughtless mirth; that for the attainment and
cultivation of this temper
frequent returns of grave reflection are necessary;
that
upon this account
it is profitable to give admission to those views of
human distress which tend to awaken such reflection in the mind; and that thus
from the vicissitudes of sorrow
which we either experience in our own lot
or
sympathize with in the lot of others
much wisdom and improvement may be
derived. I begin by observing
that the temper recommended in the text suits
the present constitution of things in this world. Had man been destined for a
course of undisturbed enjoyment
perpetual gaiety would then have corresponded
to his state; and pensive thought have been an unnatural intrusion. But in a
state where all is chequered and mixed
where there is no prosperity without a
reverse
and no joy without its attending griefs
where from the house of
feasting all must
at one time or other
pass into the house of mourning
it
would be equally unnatural if no admission were given to grave reflection. It
is proper also to observe
that as the sadness of the countenance has
in our
present situation
a proper and natural place; so it is requisite to the true enjoyment of pleasure.
It is only the interposal of serious and thoughtful hours that can give any
lively sensations to the returns of joy. Having premised these observations
I
proceed to point out the direct effects of a proper attention to the distresses
of life upon our moral and religious character.
1. The house of mourning is calculated to give a proper check to our
natural thoughtlessness and levity. When some affecting incident presents a
strong discovery of the deceitfulness of all worldly joy
and rouses our
sensibility to human woe; when we behold those with whom we had lately mingled
in the house of feasting
sunk by some of the sudden vicissitudes of life into the
vale of misery; or when
in sad silence
we stand by the friend whom we had
loved as our own soul
stretched on the bed of death; then is the season when
the world begins to appear in a new light; when the heart opens to virtuous
sentiments
and is led into that train of reflection which ought to direct
life. He who before knew not what it was to commune with his heart on any
serious subject
now puts the question to himself
For what purpose he was sent
forth into this mortal
transitory state: what his fate is likely to be when it
concludes; and what judgment he ought to form of those pleasures which amuse
for a little
but which
he now sees
cannot save the heart from anguish in the
evil day?
2. Impressions of this nature not only produce moral seriousness
but
awaken sentiments of piety
and bring men into the sanctuary of religion. Formerly we were
taught
but now we see
we feel
how much we stand in need of an Almighty
Protector
amidst the changes of this vain world. Our soul cleaves to Him who despises
not
nor abhors the affliction of the afflicted. Prayer flows forth of its own
accord from the relenting heart
that He may be our God
and the God of our
friends in distress; that He may never forsake us while we are sojourning in
this land of pilgrimage; may strengthen us under its calamities. The
discoveries of His mercy
which He has made in the Gospel of Christ
are viewed
with joy
as so many rays of light sent down from above to dispel
in some
degree
the surrounding gloom. A Mediator and Intercessor with the Sovereign of
the universe
appear comfortable names; and the resurrection of the just
becomes the powerful cordial of grief.
3. Such serious sentiments produce the happiest effect upon our
disposition towards our fellow-creatures
as well as towards God. It is a
common and just observation
that they who have lived always in affluence and
ease
strangers to the miseries of life
are liable to contract hardness of
heart with respect to all the concerns of others. By the experience of distress
this arrogant insensibility of temper is most effectually corrected; as the
remembrance of our own sufferings naturally prompts us to feel for others when
they suffer. But if Providence has been so kind as not to subject us to much of
this discipline in our own lot
let us draw improvement from the harder lot of
others. Let us sometimes step aside from the smooth and flowery paths in which
we are permitted be walk
in order to view the toilsome march of our fellows
through the thorny desert. By voluntarily going into the house of mourning; by
yielding to the sentiments which it excites
and mingling our tears with those
of the afflicted
we shall acquire that humane sensibility which is one of the
highest ornaments of the nature of man.
4. The disposition recommended in the text
not only improves us in
piety and humanity
but likewise assists us in self-government
and the due
moderation of our desires. The house of mourning is the school of temperance
and sobriety. Thou who wouldst act like a wise man
and build thy house on the
rock
and not on the sand
contemplate human life not only in the sunshine
but
in the shade. Frequent the house of mourning
as well as the house of mirth.
Study the nature of that state in which thou art placed; and balance its joys
with its sorrows. Thou seest that the cup which is held forth to the whole
human race
is mixed. Of its bitter ingredients
expect that thou art to drink
thy portion. Thou seest the storm hovering everywhere in the clouds around
thee. Be not surprised if on thy head it shall break. Lower
therefore
thy
sails. Dismiss thy florid hopes; and come forth prepared either to act or to
suffer
according as Heaven shall decree. Thus shalt thou be excited to take
the properest measures for defence
by endeavouring to secure an interest in
His favour
who
in the time of trouble
can hide thee in His pavilion. Thy
mind shall adjust itself to follow the order of His providence. Thou shalt be
enabled
with equanimity and steadiness
to hold thy course through life.
5. By accustoming ourselves to such serious views of life
our
excessive fondness for life itself will be moderated
and our minds gradually
formed to wish and to long for a better world. If we know that our continuance
here is to be short
and that we are intended by our Maker for a more lasting
state
and for employments of a nature altogether different from those which
now occupy the busy
or amuse the vain
we must surely be convinced that it is
of the highest consequence to prepare ourselves for so important a change. This
view of our duty is frequently held up to us in the sacred writings; and hence
religion becomes
though not a morose
yet a grave and solemn principle
calling off the attention of men from light pursuits to those which are of eternal
moment. (H. Blair
D. D.)
The house of mourning
Jesus
our Almighty Saviour
authoritative Teacher and perfect
Exemplar
attended houses of feasting sometimes
but ever seemed more ready to
go to
and more at home in
houses of mourning. His example suggests that while
it may be good to visit the former
it is better to visit the latter.
I. It is better to
go to the house of mourning
than to the house of feasting
because we can get
more good there. We may get less good for the body
but we shall get more good
for the soul. We may get less to minister to our present pleasure
but we shall
get more that will minister to our future well-being. It is a schoolroom in
which great moral and spiritual lessons are very lucidly and very impressively
taught.
1. There we may thoroughly learn the terrible evil of sin.
2. There we best learn the vanity of the creature.
3. There we may best learn the value of time.
4. There we may learn the present blessedness of true personal
religion.
II. It is better to
go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting
because we can do
more good there. Every man should be as much concerned about doing good as
about getting good. In fact
doing good is one of the most certain ways of
getting good. But
even apart from that
the man who has received great good
from God should endeavour to dispense good to his fellow-men
and we can
generally do more good in the house of mourning than we can in the house of
feasting. For in the latter men are so given over to the business of pampering
their bodies that they are usually little disposed to heed anything you may
venture to say about the salvation of their souls. But in the house of
mourning
where poverty
sickness or death has been busy
if you have shown an
unmistakable interest in the family’s temporal welfare
you will usually find
them disposed to listen to what you may have to say about their spiritual and
eternal welfare. Thus shall you scatter much sorrow and let in much peace and
comfort. Thus shall you benefit your fellow-creatures
enrich your own souls
and glorify that Christ who died for your salvation. (John Morgan.)
On the dangers of pleasure
Sensual pleasures are among the most dangerous enemies of virtue.
But
ardent and prone to excess
they require to be subjected to a prudent and
holy vigilance
and to be indulged with caution and circumspection.
I. Much indulgence
in pleasure tends to weaken that watchfulness and guard
which a wise and good
man will find it necessary always to maintain over himself. Pleasure seldom
admits wisdom of her party. The wand of truth which she carries
would destroy
all those unreal images and airy visions with which the deluded voluptuary is
surrounded. There the heart is thrown loose from restraint
and laid open to
the lively and warm impression of every seducing idea. Men abandon themselves
without suspicion to the sweet neglect
and through the unguarded avenues enter
a multitude of enemies
who were only lying in wait for this decisive moment.
II. Pleasure not
only impairs the guard which a wise man should constantly maintain over his
heart
but often lays it open to too strong temptations. Of this David affords
us an instructive and affecting example. How much more certainly will pleasure
corrupt those
who enter its purlieus without circumspection
and expose
themselves unguarded to all the dangerous force of its temptations in the house
of feasting! Here example
and sympathy
all the arts of seduction
all the
allurements of ingenuity
all the decorations that wit can give to vice
unite
their influence to betray the heart.
III. Scenes of
pleasure and indulgence tend to impair the sentiments of piety towards God. A
continual succession of pleasures is apt to efface from the mind that sentiment
of dependence upon the Creator
so becoming the state of man. The mind
humbled
by suffering
enjoys the smallest mercy with gratitude; while the greatest
by
proud prosperity
is first abused and then forgotten.
IV. High and
constant pleasures are unfriendly to the exercise of the benevolent affections.
They tend to contract and harden the heart. The importunities of want
the
sighs of wretchedness
are unwelcome intruders on the joyous festival. Who are
disposed to seek out the retreats of sorrow and distress
and to administer
there those consolations which the afflicted require? Are they not those who
have themselves been educated in the school of misfortune
and who have been
taught
by their own feelings
the claims of suffering humanity? Are they not
those who often turn aside from the prosperous course
which Providence permits
them to bold through life
to visit the receptacles of human wretchedness
and
to carry comfort into the habitations of penury and disease? Who learn there to
feel what is due to human nature? Pleasure is selfish. Attracting everything
into its own centre
it loosens the bonds of society. Hence it is that luxury
hastens the ruin of nations in proportion as it makes the love of pleasure the
reigning character of their manners.
V. Pleasures tend
to enfeeble the principle of self-government. Self-denial is necessary to
self-command. In the midst of moderate enjoyments and corrected appetites
the
sentiments of duty have opportunity firmly to root themselves
and to acquire
ascendancy among the other principles of the heart
unrestrained indulgence
corrupts them. And the passions
growing inflamed and ungovernable
hurry away
their weak captives over all the fences of prudence as well as of piety.
Moderation and self-denial are necessary to restore the tone of nature
and to
create the highest relish even of the pleasures of sense.
VI. Pleasure is
unfavourable to those serious reflections upon our mortal condition
and the
instability of all human things
so useful to prepare the soul for her immortal
destination. It is only when we recollect that we are united to this world by a
momentary tie
and to the next by eternal relations
that we shall despise
as
reasonable beings ought to do
the fantastic occupations of the dissipated and
the idle
and cultivate the solid and immortal hopes of piety. These are
lessons not taught in the house of seating. (S. S. Smith
D. D.)
Verse 3
Sorrow is better than laughter.
Sorrow better than laughter
Sorrow is set over against laughter; the house of mourning over
against the house of mirth; the rebuke of the wise over against the music of
fools; the day of death over against the day of birth: all tending
however
to
this
that trouble and grief have their bright side
and that giddy indulgence
and merriment carry a sting.
I. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because a great part of worldly merriment is no better
than folly. Here we take no extreme or ascetic ground. It would be morose and
unchristian to scowl at the gambols of infancy
or to hush the laugh of youth
on fit occasions. Cheerfulness is nowhere forbidden
even in adult life; and we
perhaps offend God oftener by our frowns than by our smiles. But you all know
that there is a merriment which admits no rule
confines itself by no limit
shocks every maxim even of sober reason
absorbs the whole powers
wastes the
time
and debilitates the intellect
even if it do not lead to supreme love of
pleasure
profligacy
and general intemperance and voluptuousness.
II. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because much of worldly merriment tends to no
intellectual or moral good. Worldly pleasures
and the expressions of these
do
nothing for the immaterial part. The utmost that can be pretended is that they
amuse and recreate. In their very notion they are exceptions
and should be
sparing. But there are a thousand recreative processes connected with healthful
exercise
with knowledge
with the study of beautiful nature
with the practice
and contemplation of art
and with the fellowship of friends
which unbend the
tense nerve and refresh the wasted spirits
while at the same time they
instruct the mind and soften or tranquillize the heart. Not so with the
unbridled joys which find vent in redoubled peals of mirth and obstreperous
carousal
or in the lighter play of chattered nonsense end never-ending giggle.
III. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because worldly mirth is short. In the Eastern countries
where fuel is very scarce
every combustible shrub
brush
and bramble is
seized upon for culinary fires. Of these the blaze is bright
hot
and soon
extinct. Such is worldly mirth. “For as the crackling of thorns under a pot
so
is the laughter of the fool.” It is noisy--more noisy than if there were
anything in it. But it soon ceases. Physical limits are put to gay pleasures.
The loudest laughter cannot laugh for ever. Lungs and diaphragm forbid and
rebel. There is a time of life when such pleasures become as difficult as they
are ungraceful; and there is not in society a more ridiculous object
even in
its own circle
than a tottering
antiquated
bedizened devotee of fashion.
Grief comes in and shortens the amusement. Losses and reverses shorten it. And
if there were nothing
else
pleasure must be short
because it cannot be extended to judgment and
eternity.
IV. Worldly mirth
is unsatisfying. “Vanity of vanities
all is vanity
” i.e.
emptiness and disappointment. The man wonders why the toys and rattles which
pleased him once please him now no more. They are vanity
and all is vanity;
and every day that he lives longer will make it more formidable vanity. Now
pray observe
the case is directly the reverse with regard to sound
intellectual and spiritual enjoyments; for which the capacity is perpetually
increasing with its indulgence.
V. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because sorrow breeds reflection. There can be no
contemplation amidst the riot of self-indulgence; but the house of mourning is
a meditative abode. Before they were afflicted
a large proportion of God’s
people went astray; and
if they live long enough
they can all declare that
the solemn pauses of their bereavement
illness
poverty
shame
and fear
have
been better to them than the dainties of the house of feasting.
VI. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because sorrow brings lessons of wisdom. Sufferers not
only think but learn. Many sermons could not record all the lessons of
affliction. It tells us wherein we have offended. It takes us away from the
flattering crowd
and from seducing charmers
and keenly reaches
with its
probe
the hidden iniquity. This is less pleasing than worldly joy
but it is
more profitable. The Bible is the chief book in the house of mourning--read by
some there who have never read it elsewhere
and revealing to its most
assiduous students new truths
shining forth in affliction like stars which
hays been hidden in daylight.
VII. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because sorrow amends the heart and life. Not by any
efficiency of good; of such efficiency
pain
whether of body or mind
knows
nothing; but by becoming the vehicle of Divine influences. The ways of
Providence are such
that troubled spirits
bathed in tears
are repeatedly
made to cry with a joy which swallows up all foregoing griefs
“Before we were
afflicted we went astray
but now have we kept Thy law!”
VIII. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because sorrow likens us to Him whom we love. You know
His name. He is the Man of Sorrows--the companion or brother of grief. His
great work
even our salvation
was not more by power or holiness than by
sorrows. He took our flesh that He might bear our sorrows. If we suffer with
Him
we shall also reign with Him.
IX. Sorrow is
better than laughter
because sorrow ends in joy. The very resistance of a
virtuous mind to adversity--the bracing of the frame--the breasting of the
torrent--the patience
the resignation
the hope amidst the billows
the high
resolve and courage that mount more boldly out of the surge of grief
the
silent endurance of the timid and the frail
when out of weakness they are made
strong--these
and such as these
increase the capacity for future holiness and
heavenly bliss. “These are they that have come out of great tribulation.” (J.
W. Alexander
D. D.)
The service of sorrow
I. Sorrow serves
to promote individualism of soul.
1. A deep practical sense of self-responsibility is essential to the
virtue
the power
and progress of the soul.
2. Social influences
especially in this age of combinations
tend to
destroy this and absorb the individual in the mass.
3. Sorrow is one of the most individualizing of forces. Sorrow
detaches man from all
isolates him
makes him feel his loneliness.
II. Sorrow serves
to humanize our affections. It helps us go feel for others; to “weep with those
who weep
” etc.
III. Sorrow serves
to spiritualize our nature. There are tremendous forces ever at work to
materialize. Sorrow takes us away into the spiritual; makes us feel alone with
God
and view the world as but a passing show.
IV. Sorrow serves
to prepare us to appreciate christianity. The Gospel is a system to “heal
broken hearts.” Who appreciates pardon
but the sorrowing penitent? Who values
the doctrine of a parental providence
but the tried? Who the doctrine of the
resurrection
but the bereaved and the dying? (Homilist.)
Verse 4
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.
The advantages of visiting the mansions of distress
For so valuable a purpose it is well worth while to bear with all
the gloominess of the house of mourning. For most useful lessons will the heart
of the wise be able to learn there; and excellent rules of conduct
with
respect to himself
to the memory of those who are deceased
and to such as
they have left behind them.
1. With respect to himself. “Death is the end of all men
and the
living will lay it go his heart.” It is because we do not lay it to our hearts
that we most of us go on just as if we imagined there was to be no end at all;
and though we do not
indeed
speculatively think so
yet we live and act upon
that supposition; and our knowing it to be a false one hath no manner of
influence for want of reflecting upon it as such. This could not be would we
but stop a little at the house of mourning; and make the most obvious of all
reflections there
from contemplating the end of others
how very quickly our
own end may come
and how soon it must. Such thoughts will enliven our
diligence in performing our duty here; in working
while it is day
the works
of Him that sent us. And as the thoughts of death are excellently fitted to
compose the vehemence of our other passions
so they are fitted particularly to
check that very sinful kind of vehemence
which we are exceedingly prone to
express
one against another. Another instruction
which the heart of the wise
will learn in the house of mourning
is
never to flatter himself with
expectations of any lasting good in a state so uncertain as this. You see
therefore
what improvement the heart of the wise may receive from a general
consideration of the end of all men. But the further view of the different ends
of different men is a subject of yet further advantage.
2. The heart of the wise
whilst it dwells in the house of mourning
will not only improve itself in a general sense of Christian piety
but also
more especially in such precepts of it as constitute a proper behaviour with
respect to the memory of those whose departure is at any time the object of our
thoughts. The dead
indeed
are out of our reach: our goodness extends not to
them
and our enmity can do them no harm. But for the sake of common justice
and humanity
we are bound to the amiable duties of stowing candour in regard
to their failings
and paying the honour which is due to their merit.
3. We may learn
from a considerate meditation on the examples of
mortality
very useful instructions for our behaviour
not only with respect to
the deceased
but those whom they have left behind any way peculiarly related
to them. The death of a wise and good
of a near and affectionate friend
is
unspeakably the greatest of all calamities. Whoever is capable of these
reflections
if he allows himself time to make them
will sincerely pity all
that have suffered such a loss
and equally esteem all that show they are
sensible of it. (T. Secker.)
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.
The new year
The text expresses the general principle or doctrine
that by the
condition of our existence here
if things go right
a conclusion is better
than a beginning. The fruit is better than the blossom; the reaping is better
than the sowing; the enjoyment than the reaping; the second stage of a journey
to the happy home is better than the first; the home itself than all; the
victory is better than the march and the battle; the reward is better than the
course of service; the ending in the highest improvement of means is better
than being put at first in possession of them. In all this we see it is conditionally
and
not absolutely
that “the end is better than the beginning.” Now let us
consider in a short series of plain particulars what state of the case would
authorize us at the end of the year to pronounce this sentence upon it.
1. It will easily occur as a general rule of judgment on the matter
that the sentence may be pronounced if
at the end of the year
we shall be
able
after deliberate conscientious reflection
to affirm that the year has
been
in the most important respects
better than the preceding.
2. The sentence will be true if
during the progress of the year
we
shall effectually avail ourselves
of the lessons suggested by a review of the preceding year.
3. At the close of this year
should life be protracted so far
the
text will be applicable
if we can then say
“My lessons from reflection on the
departed year are much less painful
and much more cheering than at the close
of the former”: if we can say this
without any delusion from insensibility
for the painfulness of reflection may
lessen from a wrong cause; but to say it with an enlightened conscience to
witness
how delightful! To be then able to recall each particular
and to
dwell on it a few moments--“that was
before
a very painful
consideration--now
. . .” “This
again
made me sad
and justly so--now
. . .!”
“What shall I render to God for the mercy of His granting my prayer for
all-sufficient aid? I will render to Him
by His help
a still better year
next.” And let us observe
as the chief test of the true application of the
text
that it will be a true sentence if then we shall have good evidence that
we are become really more devoted to God.
4. If we shall have acquired a more effectual sense of the worth of
time
the sentence
“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning
” will be
true. Being intent on the noblest purposes of life will itself in a great
degree create this “effectual sense.” But there may require
too
a special
thought of time itself--a habit of noting it--because it is so transient
silent
and invisible a thing. There may be a want of faith to “see this
invisible
” and of a sense of its flight. For want of this
and the sense
too
of its vast worth
what quantities reflection may tell us we have wasted in
past years--in the last year! How important to have a powerful habitual
impression of all this! And if
this year
we shall acquire much more of this
strong habitual sense--if we become more covetous of time--if we cannot waste
it without much greater pain--if we shall
therefore
lose and misspend much
lees--then the text is true.
5. It will again be true if
with regard to fellow-mortals
we can
conscientiously feel that we have been to them more what Christians ought--than
in the preceding year. “I am become more solicitous to act toward you in the
fear of God. I am become more conscientiously regardful of what is due to you
and set a higher importance on your welfare. I have exerted myself more for
your good. On the whole
therefore
I stand more acquitted towards you than I
have at the conclusion of any former season.”
6. Another point of superiority we should hope the end may have over
the beginning of the year
is that of our being in a better state of
preparation for all that is to follow. Who was ever too well prepared for
sudden emergencies of trial?--too well prepared for duty
temptation
or
affliction?--too well prepared for the last thing that is to be encountered on
earth?
7. It will be a great advantage and advancement to end the year with
if we shall then have acquired more of a rational and Christian indifference to
life itself. “My property in life is now less by almost
400 days; so much less
to cultivate and reap from. If they were of value
the value of the remainder
is less after they are withdrawn. As to temporal good
I have but learnt the
more experimentally that that cannot make me happy. I have
therefore
less of
a delusive hope on this ground as to the future. The spiritual good of so much
time expended I regard as transferred t
o eternity; so much
therefore
thrown
into the scale of another life against this. Besides
the remaining portion
will probably be
in a natural sense
of a much worse quality. Therefore
as
the effect of all this
my attachment to this life is loosening
and the
attraction of another is augmenting.” (John Foster.)
The end of a good man’s life is better than the beginning
I. At the end of
his life he is introduced into a better state.
1. He begins his life amidst impurity. The first air he breathes
the
first word he hears
the first impression he receives
are tainted with sin;
but at its end he is introduced to purity
saints
angels
Christ
God!
2. He begins his life on trial. It is a race--shall he win? It is a
voyage--shall he reach the haven? The end determines all.
3. He begins his life amidst suffering “Man is born to trouble.”
II. At the end of
his life he is introduced into better occupations. Our occupations here are
threefold--physical
intellectual
moral. All these are more or less of a painful
kind. But in the
state into which death introduces us
the engagements will be congenial to the
tastes
invigorating to the frame
delightful to the soul and honouring to God.
III. At the end of
his life he is introduced into better society. We are made for society. But
society here is frequently insincere
non-intelligent
unaffectionate. But how
delightful the society into which death will introduce us! We shall mingle with
enlightened
genuine
warm-hearted souls
rising in teeming numbers
grade above
grade
up to the Eternal God Himself. (Homilist.)
The patient in spirit is
better than the proud in spirit.--
The power of patience
The lion was caught in the toils of the hunter. The more he
tugged
the more his feet got entangled; when a little mouse heard his roaring
and said that if his majesty would not hurt him
he thought he could release
him. At first the king of beasts took no notice of such a contemptible ally;
but at last
like other proud spirits in trouble
he allowed his tiny friend to
do as he pleased. So one by one the mouse nibbled through the cords till he had
set free first one foot and then another
and then all the four
and with a
growl of hearty gratitude the king of the forest acknowledged that the patient
in spirit is sometimes stronger than the proud in spirit. And it is beautiful
to see how
when some sturdy nature is involved in perplexity
and by its
violence and vociferation is only wasting its strength without forwarding its
escape
there will come in some timely sympathizer
mild and gentle
and will
suggest the simple extrication
or by soothing vehemence down into his own
tranquillity
will set him on the way to effect his self-deliverance. Even so
all through the range of philanthropy
patience is power. It is not the water-spout
but the nightly dew which freshens vegetation. They are not the flashes of the
lightning which mature our harvests
but the daily sunbeams
and that quiet
electricity which thrills in atoms and which flushes in every ripening ear.
Niagara in all its thunder fetches no fertility; but the Nile
coming without
observation
with noiseless fatness overflows
and from under the retiring
flood Egypt looks up again
a garner of golden corn. The world is the better
for its moral cataracts and its spiritual thunderbolts; but the influences
which do the world’s great work--which freshen and fertilize it
and which are
maturing its harvests for the garner of glory
are not the proud and potent
spirits
but the patient
and the persevering; they are not the noisy and startling phenomena
but the
steady and silent operations. (J. Hamilton
D. D.)
Verse 10
Say not thou
What is the cause that the former days were better
than these?
Mistaken signs
On the whole we may confidently affirm that the world improves
and yet in certain moods we are apt to regard its conditions as increasingly
desperate. Thus is it sometimes with our religious life--we mistake the signs
of progress for those of retrogression
and through this mistake de injustice
to ourselves.
1. “I am not so happy as I once was
” is a lament from Christian lips with which
we are almost distressingly familiar. We look back to our conversion
to the
glittering joy which welled up in our soul in those days
and the memory moves
us to tears. Then “all things were apparelled in celestial light
the glory and
the freshness of a dream.” Then we turn to consider tile present phases of our
experience
and conclude sadly that we are not so happy now as then--all the
gold has changed to grey. Now
is this really so? We fully allow that it may be
so. Through unfaithfulness we may have lost the joy and power of the days when
first we knew the Lord. But may not the mournful inference be mistaken
and
what we regard as a diminished happiness be really a profounder blessedness?
The essence of religion is submission to the will of God
and that grave
tranquillity of mind which follows upon deeper self-renunciation
the chastened
cheerfulness which survives the strain and strife of years
is a real
although
not perhaps seeming
gain upon the first sparkling experiences of our devout
life.
2. “I am not so holy as I once was
” is another note of
self-depreciation with which we are unhappily familiar
and with which
perhaps
we are sometimes disposed to sympathize. When we first realized
forgiveness
we felt that there was “no condemnation” if the Spirit of God
seemed to hallow our whole nature; our heart was cleansed
and strangely glowed.
But it is not so now. We have not done all we meant to do
not been all we
meant to be
and have a consciousness of imperfection more vivid than ever.
With the lapse of years we have grown more dissatisfied with ourselves; and
this more acute sense of worldliness leads us to the conclusion that we have
lest the rarer purity of other days. Once more we admit that this may be the
case. There may be a very real depreciation in our life; we may have allowed
our raiment to be soiled by the world and the flesh. But may not this growing
sense of imperfection be a sign of the perfecting of our spirit? It may be that
we are not less pure than formerly
only the Spirit of God has been opening our
eyes
heightening our sensibility
and faults once latent are now discovered;
the clearer vision detects deformities
the finer ear discords
the pure taste
admixtures which were once unsuspected. It is possible to be growing in moral
strength and grace
in everything that constitutes perfection of character and
life
when appearances are decidedly to the contrary. Watch the sculptor and
note how many of his strokes seem to mar the image on which he works
rendering
the marble more unshapely than it seemed the moment before
and yet in the end
a glorious statue rises under his hand; so the blows of God
bringing us into glorious grace
often seem as if they were marring what little symmetry belonged to us
often
as if knocking us out of shape altogether.
3. “I do not love God as I once did
” is another sorrowful confession
of the soul. How glowing was that first level Your whole soul went out after
the Beloved! But it is not so now. The temperature of your soul seems to have
fallen
your love to your God and Saviour does not glow as in those memorable
hours when first it was kindled “by the spirit of burning.” Once again
it may
be so. The Church at Ephesus had “left” its “first love
” and we may not
cherish the same fervid affection for God which once filled and purified our
heart. But may we not misconceive the love we bear to God? Our more
dispassionate affection may be equally genuine and positively stronger. Our
love to God may not be so gushing
so florid in expression as it once was
but
in this it only bears the sober hue of all ripened things.
4. “I do not make the rapid progress I once did
” is another familiar
regret. Once we had the pleasing sense of swift and perpetual progress. Each day we went from
strength to strength
each night knew our “moving tent a day’s march nearer
home.” But we have not that sense of progress now
and this fact is to us
perhaps
a great grief. Our grief may be well founded; for those who “did run
well” are sometimes “hindered” and fall into slowest pace. Yet impatience with
our rate of progress is capable of another construction. Our first experiences
of the Christian life are in such direct and striking contradistinction to the
earthly life that our sense of progress is most vivid and delightful; but as we
climb heaven
get nearer God
traverse the infinite depths of love and
righteousness sown with all the stars of light
the sense of progress may well
be less definite than when we had just left the world behind. And in
considering our rate of progress
we must not forget that the sense of progress
is regulated by the desire for progress. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Vain thoughts concerning the past
What a softening power there is in distance; how often an object
on which you gazed with great delight while beheld afar off
will lose its
attractiveness when it is brought near. Every admirer of the natural landscape
is thoroughly conscious of this. Now
we are inclined to suppose that there is
much the same power in distance
with regard to what we may call the moral
landscape
which is so universally acknowledged with regard to the natural. We
believe that what is rough becomes so softened
and what is hard so mellowed
through being viewed in the retrospect
that we are hardly fair judges of much
on which we bestow unqualified admiration. If
however
it were only the
softening power of distance which had to be taken into the account
it might be
necessary to caution men against judging without making allowance for this
power
but we should scarcely have to charge it upon them as a fault
that they
looked so complacently on what was far back. But from one cause or another men
become disgusted with the days in which their lot is cast
and are therefore
disposed to the concluding that past days were better. Whence does it arise
that old people are so fond of talking of the degeneracy of the times
and referring
to the days when they were young
as days when all things were in a healthier
and more pleasing condition? If you were to put implicit faith in the
representations you would conclude that there was nothing which had not changed
for the worse
and that it was indeed a great misfortune that you had not been
born half a century sooner. And here comes into play the precept of our
text--“Say not thou
What is the cause that the former days were better than
these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.” To quote the words of
a brilliant modern historian: “The more carefully we examine the history of the
past
the more reason shall we find to dissent from those who imagine that our
ago has been fruitful of new social evils. The truth is
that the evils are
with scarcely an exception
old. That which is new is the intelligence which
discerns them
and the humanity which relieves them.” But we shall speak only
of the religious advantages of different times
in endeavouring to prove “that
the former days” were not “better than these.”
1. And first
it ought to be carefully observed in regard of human
nature that it did not grow corrupt by degrees
but became all at once as bad
as it was ever to be. The being who had been formed in the very image of his Maker
became instantly capable of the most heinous of crimes; and so far was human
nature from requiring long familiarity with wickedness
in order to the
learning to commit it in its most atrocious shapes
that well nigh its first
essay after apostatizing from God was one which still fills us with horror
notwithstanding our daily acquaintance with a thousand foul deeds. Sin was
never an infant; it was a giant in the very birth; and forasmuch as we should
have had precisely the same evil nature whensoever we had lived
it would be
very hard to show that any former period would have been better for us than the
present. You may fix on a time when there was apparently less of open
wickedness
but this would not necessarily have been a better time for individual
piety. The religion of the heart
perhaps
flourishes most when there is most
to move to zeal for the insulted law of God. Or you may fix upon a time when
there was apparently less of misery; but we need not say that this would not
necessarily have been a better time for growth in Christian holiness
seeing
that confessedly it is amidst the deepest sorrows that the strongest virtues
are produced. So that if a man regard himself as a candidate for immortality
we can defy him to put his finger on an age of the past
in which
as compared
with the present
it would necessarily have been more advantageous for him to
live.
2. Now
we are quite aware that this general statement does not
exactly meet the several points which will suggest themselves to an inquiring
mind; but we propose to examine next certain of the reasons which might be
likely to lead men to a different conclusion from that which seems stated in
our text. And here again we must narrow the field of inquiry
and confine
ourselves to points in which
as Christians
we have an especial interest.
Would any former days have been better days for us
estimating the superiority
by the superior facilities for believing the Christian religion
and acquiring the
Christian character? In answering such a question
we must take separately the
evidences and the truths of our holy religion. And first
as to the evidences.
There is a very common and a very natural feeling with regard to the evidences
of Christianity
that they must have been much stronger and much clearer
as
presented to those who lived in the times of our Lord and of His apostles
than
as handed down to ourselves through a long succession of witnesses. Many are
disposed to imagine that if with their own eyes they could see miracles
wrought
they should have a proof on the side of Christianity far more
convincing than any which they actually have
and that there would be no room
whatever for a lingering doubt if they stood by a professed teacher from God
whilst he stilled the tempest
or raised the dead. Why should such superior
power be supposed to reside in the seeing a miracle? The only thing to be sure
about is
that the miracle has been wrought. There are two ways of gaining this
assurance: the one is by the testimony of the senses
the other is by the
testimony of competent witnesses. The first
the testimony of the senses
is
granted to the spectator of a miracle; only the second
the testimony of
witnesses
to those who are not present at the performance. But shall it be
said that the latter must necessarily be less satisfactory than the former?
Shall it be said that those who have not visited Constantinople cannot be as
certain that there is such a city as others who have? The testimony of
witnesses may be every jot as conclusive as the testimony of your own senses.
Though
even if we were forced to concede that the spectator of a miracle has
necessarily a superiority over those to whom the miracle travels down in the
annals of well-attested history
we should be far enough from allowing that there
is less evidence now on the side of Christianity than was granted to the men of
some preceding age. Let it be
that the evidence of miracle is not so clear and
powerful as it was; what is to be said of the evidence of prophecy? Who will
venture to deny
that as century has rolled away after century
fresh witness
has been given to the Bible by the’ accomplishment of the predictions recorded
in its pages? The stream of evidence has been like that beheld in mystic vision
by Ezekiel
when waters issued out from the eastern gate of the temple. Yes
the Christian religion now appeals to mightier proofs than when it first
engaged in combat with the superstitions of the world. Its own protracted
existence
its own majestic triumphs
witness for it with a voice far more
commanding than that which was heard when its first preachers called to the
dead
and were answered by their starting into life. Away
then
with the thought that it would
have been better for those who are dissatisfied with the evidences of Christianity
had they lived when Christianity was first promulgated on earth. (H.
Melvill
B. D.)
Discontent with the present unreasonable
The matter in controversy is
the pre-eminence of the former times
above the present; when we must observe
that though the words run in the form
of a question
yet they include a positive assertion
and a downright censure.
1. That it is ridiculous to ask why former times are better than the
present
if really they are not better
and so the very supposition itself
proves false; this is too apparently manifest to be matter of dispute: and that
it is false we shall endeavour to prove.
2. I shall now take it in a lower respect; as a case disputable
whether the preceding or succeeding generations are to be preferred; and here I
shall dispute the matter on both sides.
3. That admitting this supposition as true
that the former ages are
really the best
and to be preferred: yet still this querulous reflection upon
the evil of the present times
stands obnoxious to the same charge of folly:
and
if it be condemned also upon this supposition
I see not where it can take
sanctuary. Now that it ought to be so
I demonstrate by these reasons.
Former things not better
As we grow older we are more prone to look back into the past. Our
best days and brightest hours are those which have long since passed away. Most
of the old poets have written and sung of a golden age. But it was away in the
distant past. They have pictured it near the world’s beginning
in the days
when the human race was yet in its youth. And so every nation has had its
fancied golden age. Dreamers have dreamed of its charms. A time of peace
and
love
and joy
when the earth yielded all manner of fruits and flowers
and all
nations lived together in harmony and peace. And the Bible
too
tells of a
golden age in the far distant past. As our thoughts go back to that blessed
time
we can scarcely refrain from asking bitterly
“What is the cause that the
former days were better than these?” But in our text the wise man cautions us
that we do not inquire wisely concerning this. The tree is beautiful when it is
covered with blossoms. But is it not a richer
though a different kind of
beauty
when in autumn it is loaded with delicious fruit? The morning is
beautiful when the rising sun bathes stream and flood
hill and dale with his
glorious beams. But is it not another and a higher kind of beauty when
at the
close of day
the sun is slowly sinking in the west
like a king dying on a
couch of gold
and the fading hues of even light up the whole heavens with a
glory that seems to have come down from the New Jerusalem! The field is
beautiful when the fresh green blades appear
like a new creation
life out of
death. But it is another and a higher order of beauty when
instead of the
fresh young blade
you have the rich golden harvest. The spring is beautiful
with all its stores of bloom and fragrance and song. But is it not a higher
beauty
a more advanced perfection when the bloom of spring has given place to
the golden sheaves and plentiful stores of autumn? Life’s opening years may be
beautiful
but its close may be glorious. You may have seen the raw recruit
fresh from his country home
setting out to join the war in a distant land. His
laurels are yet unsullied. The keen edge of his sword has never yet been
blunted. See him years afterward
when he comes home
after a long service in
some foreign land. His clothes are tattered and torn; his colours are in rags;
his steps are feeble and tottering; his brow is seamed and scarred; his sword
is broken. He seems but the wreck
the mere shadow of his former self. But in all that is
true
and noble
and unselfish
he is a braver and a better man. His courage
has been tried. The tinsel has been lost
but the fine gold all remains. And so
is it with the youthful Christian. In the first days of his profession
when he
has given his heart to Jesus for the first time
all his graces seem so fresh
and lovely All his being is filled with joy unspeakable. Years pass on. The
young professor grows into the aged Christian. His graces do not now seem so
fresh and beautiful as they did forty or fifty years ago. His feelings do not
flow out so steadily toward the Saviour whom he loves
nor do the tears come as
freely now as they did long ago when he sits down at the table of the Lord. You
would say that in his ease the former days were better than these. But you do
not inquire wisely concerning this. His last days are his best days. The
blossoms may have perished
but you have in their stead the mellow
luscious
fruit. The golden age of a nation is not always behind
lost in the myths of
its earliest existence. Years of conflict
ages of revolution
centuries of
daring and doing nobly
freedom’s battle bequeathed by bleeding sire to son
through long decades of stern resistance to all oppression and tyranny. It is
through such a fiery discipline as this that a nation becomes truly great in
all those qualities that ennoble them in the sight of God. When they stand up
as the champions of right
the defenders of the oppressed
then are they
entering on their true golden age
the perfection of their national existence.
Nor is it true in regard to the world that its former days were better than
these. Its golden age has not all passed away. A still more glorious golden age
awaits it in the ages that are to come. The curse of sin is to be fully and for
ever removed. The old earth is to pass away. The destroying fire will burn out
the footprints of evil And God will make all things new. A new heaven and a new
earth. (J. Carmichael
D. D.)
Verse 12
The excellency of knowledge is
that wisdom giveth life to them
that have it.
Religious education
The argument which I shall advance on behalf of this and of all
other institutions with which it is the happiness of our country now to abound
having a similar object in view--the supply of wholesome education for the
poor--is this
that
in providing instruction for the destitute
you confer on
them a much more precious gift than in giving them pecuniary supplies for the
relief of their outward and physical
necessities. To this mode of stating the case I have been led by observing the
remark of the wise man in the text--that “wisdom is a defence”--the possession
of solid
but more especially of religious knowledge
1. As the means of protecting a man from many dangers and many
calamities “and money
” too
“is a defence”--as the medium of procuring the
outward necessaries and comforts of life
it has the power of saving its
possessor from numerous and painful sufferings and fears--but yet
if we
compare these two defences with one another
“the excellency
” the advantage
will be found upon the side of knowledge or wisdom
for this reason
“that
wisdom giveth life to them that have it.”
1. The blessing of education is a more valuable gift of charity to
the poor than the direct relief of their physical necessities
even in the way
of supplying them with the resources of natural life. The gift of money will
no doubt
avail to procure the means of physical maintenance and enjoyment so
far as it goes
and so long as it lasts; but then it perishes in the using--it
has in it no self-preserving
no self-renewing power. What you give the poor man
to expend on food and raiment
clothes and supports him for a season; but then
food is consumed
and raiment waxes old
and it avails him no longer to
remember that he has been warmed
that he has been filled. He cannot feed on
the memory of food
nor yet array himself with that of clothing. But lay out
on the other hand
a comparatively trivial sum in bestowing on the indigent
child
otherwise the heir of hopeless ignorance
a sound and suitable
instruction
and then you bestow on him a source of support and comfort which
really is inexhaustible. “Knowledge is power
” and being personal is permanent
power. It is in a man
and therefore continues with him whatever changes may
occur in his outward estate to strip him of that which is not inherent but
attached--not in but about him; the gift of education gives him a means of
support which is not exhausted by being used--which
if it is useful to-day
was useful yesterday
and will be so to-morrow--which is self-preserving
self-strengthening
self-renewing. And while
as the giver of life to those who
have it
knowledge thus excels money in respect of permanence--no less does the
former surpass the latter in respect of its efficiency. In the degree in which
education is judiciously conducted does it give a human being the command of
what are the highest
the mightiest
the most productive of human powers--the
faculties of the rational and immortal mind--faculties which
whether acting by
themselves or co-operating with corporeal energies to the production of what is
needful for the support
the comfort
the refreshment
the convenience of the
present state
give at once an elevated character
and an enlarged efficiency
to all the individual’s exertions and pursuits. By implanting
too
and
conforming
the habit of thinking--prospective
serious
considerate
thinking--which is one great aim and effect of education
you put into the
hands of man or woman what has been well denominated “the principle of all
legitimate prosperity.” Not these habits alone
however
but all moral and
religious principles are nursed and cherished by such an education as that of
which we speak--the activity and temperance which are the parents of
health--the industry and integrity
the benevolence and magnanimity
the
prudence and public spirit
the rectitude and love
of which the progeny are
substance
reputation
influence
domestic and social comfort--the morality
which is connected by so general a law even with worldly prosperity--the
godliness which “hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to
come.”
2. While “wisdom” is a defence
and money is a defence
the
excellency of knowledge is
that wisdom giveth “intellectual” life to them that
have it. “It is of the nature of our intellectual
as of all our other powers
to rust through want of use; so that in him who has never been accustomed to
employ his mind
the very mind itself seems to fall into dormancy
and the man
to become
at length
a merely sentient rather than a rational being. Have you
never witnessed cases in which the spirit has seemed thus steeped in
lethargy--persons who could be kept awake only by the necessity of manual
labour and the stimulants of sensual excitement
and who deprived of these
seem to suffer the suspension of their whole spiritual existence
and sink
straightway into utter apathy and listlessness
finding no resources within
them to employ time
or keep alive attention
when the impulse from without has
disappeared--who employ their minds
such as they are
but as the slaves and
instruments of body
and have their whole being rightly defined
“of the earth
earthy”? Now
to prevent this death
as it may be called
of the intellectual
soul within its clayey dungeon--whether it expire in stupefaction or in
agony--the only means you can employ is to supply it with that knowledge
“the
excellency of which is
that it giveth life to them that have it.” The capacity
of intellectual exercise must be early provoked
and stimulated
and directed.
The taste for intellectual enjoyment must be early implanted
and nourished
and improved. In providing
then
the means of education for the else deserted
children of your city and your country
you are providing the only direct--the
absolutely necessary means of rendering them worthy of the name of rational and
intelligent creatures--of saving from being overborne and extinguished that
which defines them human beings. You may
peradventure
give the first impulse
to some master-mind which else might have remained for ever cramped and
fettered without command or consciousness of its latent powers
but which
let
loose by you
may mightily accelerate and advance the great march of human
improvement. You may
peradventure
kindle some luminous spirit which else must
have been finally absorbed amidst the gloom in which it had its birth
and
which shall stream far-darting and imperishable lustre to distant generations
and distant climes.
3. While we admit
in speaking of the case of our necessitous
fellow-creatures
“that money is a defence and wisdom a defence
” still we say
that “the excellency belongeth unto knowledge; because wisdom giveth
life”--life spiritual and eternal--“to those that have it.” It is “the key of
knowledge” that opens the kingdom of heaven; and if this be the constitution of
the Gospel
very plain it is that the state of a human soul abandoned to utter
ignorance is that of a soul devoted to inevitable death. Alas! what multitudes
are in this condition. But there is still another circumstance which darkens
and aggravates the view we are compelled to take of the spiritually deathful
power of ignorance
and it is this--that
especially amidst a condensed and
crowded population
those who grow up utterly uneducated are almost sure to
grow up openly profligate. The first and most direct consequence of their early
abandonment without the means of education is
that they are left to spend
their time in utter idleness. Led by idleness follows the twin-plague evil
company
under whose noxious breath every budding of thought or emotion
congenial to virtue grows sickly and expires
while every plant of deathful
odour and poisonous fruit expands into dense and overshadowing rankness. In
process of time such childish associations in childish folly and childish vice
ripen into combinations of licentiousness and leagues of iniquity. The means
are in your power of possibly
of probably averting so sad a catastrophe in a
multitude of cases. (J. B. Patterson
M. A.)
Christianity the guardian of human life
We may unhesitatingly charge upon heathenism
even if you keep out
of sight
its debasing effect upon morals
and think of it only as a system of
religious ceremonies and observances
the having a direct tendency to the
destroying men’s lives. It has not been merely amongst the more savage of
pagans
but also amongst those who have advanced far in civilization
that the
custom has prevailed of offering human sacrifices. The Grecians made great
progress in sciences and arts; yet it would seem to have been a rule with each
of their states to sacrifice men before they marched against an enemy. The
Romans
who emulated the Grecians in civilization
appear not to have been
behind them in the cruelties of their religion; even so late as in the reign of
Trajan
men and women were slain
at the shrine of some one of their deities. As to the heathenism of less
refined states
it would be easy to affix to it a yet bloodier character:
nothing
for example
could well exceed the massacres
connected with religious
rites
which appear to have been common among the nations of America: the
annual sacrifices of the Mexicans required many thousands of victims
and in
Peru two hundred children were devoted for the health of the sovereign. What a
frightful destruction of life[ But we should vastly underrate the influence of
Christianity in saving human life
were we merely to compute from the abolition
of the destructive rites of heathenism. The influence has been exerted in
indirect modes yet more than in direct. It has gradually substituted mild for
sanguinary laws
teaching rulers that the cases must be rare which justify the
punishing with death. And what but Christianity
giving sacredness to human
life
ever taught men to erect asylums for the sick and the aged? Add to this
the mighty advancings which have been made under the fostering sway of
Christianity in every department of science. And how wonderfully
in promoting
knowledge
has Christianity preserved life. The study of the body
of its
structure and diseases; acquaintance with the properties of minerals and
plants; skill in detecting the sources of pain
and applying remedies or
assuagements--all this would appear peculiar
in a great degree
to
Christian
nations; as if there could be only inconsiderable progress in medical science
whilst a land were not trodden by She alone Physician of the soul.. And need we
point out how knowledge of other kinds
cherished by Christianity
has
subserved the preservation of life? Witness astronomy
watching the mariner
lest he be bewildered on the waters. Witness chemistry
directing the miner
that he perish not by subterranean fires. Witness geography
with its maps and
charts
informing the traveller of dangers
and pointing him to safety. Witness
architecture
rearing the lighthouse on rooks
where there seemed no foundation
for structures which might brave the wild storm
and thus warning away navies
which must otherwise have perished. Witness machinery
providing for the
poorest what once the wealthy alone could obtain
the means of guarding against
inclement seasons
and thus preserving health when most rudely threatened. But
it were greatly to wrong Christianity as a giver of life
were we to confine
our illustrations to the bodies
in place of extending them go the souls of
men. We have higher evidence than any yet assigned
that Christianity is the
only wisdom which will answer the description contained in our text. It may be
said of the world
in every period of its history
“The world by wisdom knew
not God.” Our liability to punishment is discoverable by human wisdom
but the
possibility of our escaping it not without heavenly; and hence there is no
life-giving power in the former.
But the wisdom which the Holy Ghost continually imparts to such
as submit to His influence is
from first to last
a quickening
vivifying
thing. It makes the believer alive
in the sense of being energetic for God and
for truth; alive
as feeling himself immortal; alive
as having thrown off the
bondage of corruption; alive
as knowing himself “begotten again” “to an
inheritance that fadeth not away.” “I live
” said the great apostle
“yet not
I
but Christ liveth in me.” And life indeed it is
when a man is made “wise
unto salvation”: when
having been brought to a consciousness of his state as a
rebel against God
he has committed his cause unto Christ
“who was delivered
for our offences
and was raised again for our justification.” There is needed
only that
renouncing all wisdom of our own
we come unto God to be taught
and
we shall receive the gift of the Spirit
that Spirit which is breath to the soul
quickening it from the death of nature
and causing its torpid energies and
perverted affections to rise to their due use
and fix on their due end. And
the excellency of this knowledge is
that
having it
you will have life. You
cannot have it
except in the heart; for no man knows Christ who knows Him only
with the head. And having this knowledge in the heart
you have renewal of the
heart; and with renewal of the heart forgiveness of sin
and the earnests of
immortality. Are we not now
therefore
able to vindicate in all its extent the
assertion of our text? In the former part of the verse the wise man had allowed
that “wisdom is a defence
and money is a defence.” But “riches profit not in
the day of wrath
” and “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” But
they whose treasure has been above--they who have counted “all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ”--they shall have a defence
a
sure defence
when the rich man is destitute and the wise man speechless. They
have chosen that which cannot be taken away
and which
indeed
is then only
fully possessed
when everything else departs from human hold. As they soar to
inherit the kingdom obtained for them by Christ
and thus lay hold on an
immortality of joy through having acquainted themselves with Him as “the way
the truth
and the life
” there may be none to say that “money is a defence
and wisdom is a defence”--none to say it in the face of the confounding witness
of the elements melting with fervent heat
and of the shrinking away of those
who have been “wise in their own eyes
and prudent in their own sight”: but the
whole company of the redeemed shall be joined by the thousand times ten
thousand of the celestial host
in confessing and publishing that the excellency
of knowledge is
“that wisdom
” Christian wisdom
“giveth life to them that
have it.” (H. Melvill
B. D.)
In the day of prosperity be joyful
but in the day of adversity
consider.
Prosperity and adversity
The life of man is made up of prosperity and adversity
of
pleasure and pain
which succeed one another here below in an eternal rotation
like day and night
summer and winter. Prosperity and adversity usually walk
hand in hand. The Divine providence hath joined them
and I shall not put them
asunder
but offer some remarks upon them both.
I. I begin with
the latter part of the sentence; in the day of adversity consider. In the day
of adversity we should consider whether we can free ourselves from it. For it
happens sometimes that whilst we complain
we have the remedy in our own hands
if we had heart and the sense to make use of it; and then we cannot expect that
men or that God should assist us
if we are wanting to ourselves. But most
commonly adversity is of that nature
that it is not in our power to remove it;
and then we should consider how to lessen it
or how to bear it in the best
manner we can. We should consider that adversity
as well as prosperity
is
permitted or appointed by Divine providence. God hath so ordered the course of
things that there should be a mixture and a rotation of both in this world
and
therefore
we ought to acquiesce in it
and to be contented that God’s
will be done. Submission
patience and resignation are of a calm and quiet
nature
and afford
some relief
composure and peace of mind; but repining and reluctance only
irritate the pain
and add one evil to another. To tell an afflicted person
that it must be so
may be thought a rough and an overbearing argument
rather
fit to silence than to satisfy a man. Therefore we should add this
consideration
not only that adversity is proper because God permits it
but
that God permits it because it is proper. Perhaps we have brought the adversity
upon ourselves
by our own imprudence and misconduct. If so
it is just that
God should suffer things to take their course
and not interpose to relieve us
and we ought to submit to it
as to a state which we deserve. Nature
indeed
will dispose us in such a case to discontent and to remorse; but religion will
teach us to make a good use of the calamity. God may suffer us to fall into
adversity by way of correction for our sins. If so
sorrowful we should be for
the cause
and sorrowful we may be for the effect; but we have many motives to
patience
resignation and gratitude.
It is much better that we should receive our punishment here than hereafter;
and if it produce any amendment in us
it serves to the best of purposes
and
ends in peace and joy and happiness. God may visit us with adversity
by way of
trial
and for our greater improvement
that we may correct some frailties and
faults into which prosperity hath led us
or of which it could never cure us
that we may look upon the transitory vanities of the present world with more
coldness and indifference
and set our affections on things above
that we may
be humble and modest
and know ourselves
that we may learn affability
humanity and compassion for those who suffer
and likewise that we may have a
truer taste for prosperity when it comes
and enjoy it with wisdom and
moderation. Upon all these accounts adversity is suitable to us
and tends to
our profit.
II. One of the ends
of adversity is to make us better disposed and qualified to receive the favours
of God
when they come
with prudence and gratitude
and
as Solomon directs us
in the other part of the text
to rejoice in the days of prosperity.
1. We ought to be in such a temper as to be easily contented
and to
account our state prosperous whenever it is tolerable.
2. We ought to remember that prosperity is a dangerous thing
that it
is a state which often perverts the judgment
and spoils the understanding
and
corrupts the heart
that it is never sincere and unmixed
that it is also of a
precarious nature
and may leave us in an instant. By being sober and sedate
it will be more easily preserved
and the less liable to pass away
and to be
turned into sadness. The truest joy is an even cheerfulness
pleased with the
present
and not solicitous about the future.
3. We ought to consider what Solomon
who exhorts us to rejoice in
prosperity
hath represented as the most important point: Let us hear
says he
the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God
and keep His commandments; for
this concerns us all. This is what every man may do
and this is what every man
must do
and whosoever neglects it cannot be happy.
4. If we would rejoice in prosperity
we must acquire and preserve
cherish and improve a love towards our neighbour
an universally benevolent and
charitable disposition
by which we shall be enabled to take delight not only
in our own prosperity
but in that of others; and this will give us several
occasions of satisfaction
which selfish persons never regard or entertain.
III. This subject
which we have been discussing is considered in a very different manner in the
old testament and in the new. Solomon
as a wise man
recommends it to his
nation to be cheerful in prosperity and considerate in adversity. Further than
this the wisdom and religion of his times could not conduct a man. But St.
Paul
when he treats the subject
exhorts Christians to rejoice evermore
and
consequently in adversity as well as in prosperity; our Saviour commands His
disciples to rejoice and to be exceeding glad when they should be ill used for
His sake; and it is said of the first believers
that they were sorrowful
yet
always rejoicing
and that they had in all circumstances an inward serenity
of
which nothing could deprive them.
1. Christianity represents God as a God of love and goodness
and
removes all gloomy and superstitious apprehensions of Him.
2. It represents Him
indeed
as a God of perfect purity
holiness
and justice
which must raise in mortal minds a dread proportionable to their
imperfections and offences
that is
to those imperfections which are indulged
and to those offences which are wilful; but by the gracious doctrine of
forgiveness to the penitent it allays all tormenting terrors and excludes
despondence and despair.
3. It gives us rules of behaviour
which
ii carefully observed
have
a natural and necessary tendency to secure us from many sorrows
and enliven
our minds
and to set before us happy prospects and pleasing expectations.
4. It promises a Divine assistance under pressures and dangers
and
losses and afflictions
which shall raise the mind above itself and above all
outward and earthly things.
5. It promises an eternal recompense of well-doing
which whosoever
believes and expects must be happy
or at least contented in all times and
states: and without question
to a want of a lively faith
and of a reasonable
hope in this great point
and to a certain degree
more or less
of doubt and
diffidence
is to be principally ascribed the want of resignation and of
composure.
6. When to these Christian considerations are also added reflections
on the days of our abode here below
which are few
and on the world which
passeth away
a sedateness and evenness of temper will ensue
which as it is
patient and resigned under changes for the worse
so it is pleased with
prosperity
accepts it as a Divine blessing
and uses it soberly and
discreetly. (J. Jortin
D. D.)
Considerations
in adversity:--
I. The design of
the visitation. It includes--
1. Correction.
2. Prevention.
3. Trial or testing of character.
4. Instruction in righteousness.
5. Increased usefulness.
II. The relief
which God is ready to bestow.
1. Your afflictions are not peculiar. It is not “a strange thing that
has happened unto you.”
2. They happen not by chance. God’s wisdom plans
and His love
executes
them all.
3. They are not unmixed evil. “It is good for me that I have been
afflicted.”
4. They are not to endure always. Only for “a moment
” and then
heaven!
5. We are not asked to bear these afflictions alone. (Homiletic
Review.)
Compensations for a poor harvest
More than one person has said to me
in relation to the services
we hold to-day
“There is no harvest worth being thankful for this year.” We
are like children
ready enough to find fault with their parents’ arrangements
but not so ready to be thankful for the daily care and love around them in the
home. These they take for granted. There is
if we have only eyes to discern
it
a wonderful law of compensation running through all things. It may be
discerned even in the recent harvest
failure though it seems to be. We may see
this if we remember that what is usually called the harvest is
after all
only
a part of the harvest of the year. The autumn is not the only harvest time
though that may be specially the time of ingathering. All the year is
in
greater or less degree
productive. And this year
though a poor one in respect of the harvest of hay
and corn
is
if I mistake not
an exceptionally good one in respect of grass
and roots on which the cattle so largely depend for sustenance. There is
another aspect of the present year’s weather which should not be overlooked. We
have grumbled at the continuous downpour of rain; but let us not forget that
the rain which frustrated so many plans and caused so much anxiety
has
replenished the springs which
through the drought of last year
had become so
low that more than one English city came very near to a famine of water. And
this leads me to say that very often weather which is good for one part of tile
country
and for one kind of crop
is anything but good for another part and for another
kind of crop. And sometimes we must be content to suffer that others may
prosper
whilst when we prosper others must be content to suffer. We can’t have
it always our own way. Unbroken prosperity is not good for us men who are so
disposed to settle on our lees
and to cry
“I shall never be moved.” For let
us not forget that the Divine arrangements in the lower and material world have
reference to man’s higher nature. They are intended to be a means of moral and
spiritual discipline. And if it be so
and that it is
few who have carefully
observed life
will deny; then harvest disappointment will be often
counterbalanced by a more enduring spiritual gain. Ii earthly loss force us to
lift our eyes to the hills from whence cometh our help
then the gain is
greater than the loss. But this principle of compensation--that one thing is
set over against another--has wider applications. It seems to run through all
the Divine arrangements. It applies to the different positions and callings
among men--e.g. the rich seem to be the people to be envied; their lot
seems to have no drawbacks; they seem to have everything that heart can wish.
But riches do not ensure happiness; indeed
they too often lead men and women
to so purposeless a life
to such a neglect of work
that life becomes a
burden
and time hangs heavy on their hands. The poor man’s condition
on the
other hand
seems to be without any compensations--one utterly to be pitied.
But
as a matter of fact
except in extreme cases
the very necessity for
labour brings with it no small measure of happiness
for work has more of
pleasure in it than idleness. The happiest people are those who work
whether
such work be compulsory or voluntary. Nor is it otherwise with the different
callings of life. Those in which men have to work with the brain seem the
easiest and pleasantest
and those in which men have to work with their hands
the least to be desired. But work with the brain has its drawbacks. It develops
the nerves at the expense of the muscles. It brings a weariness of its own.
Whilst
on the other hand
work with the hand develops the muscles at the
expense of the nerves
and has its own kind of weariness. Then
too
the same
remark applies to the various ages. Youth longs for manhood
that it may escape
restraint; but when the restraint goes
responsibility begins. Manhood longs
for rest from toil; but when the time for rest comes
the vigour of life
usually wanes. In each season one thing must be set over against another--the
youth’s freedom from responsibility against the restraint under which he lives;
the vigour of manhood over against its toil; the rest of old age over against
its feebleness. There are very few conditions of life which have not their
compensations; and no estimate can be fair which does not take them into
account. Plato
in his “Gorgias
” says to Callieles
“I exhort you also to take
part in the grave combat
which is the combat of life
and greater than every
other earthly conflict.” And if it is to be that
it would not do for life to
be without drawbacks
disappointments
trials
changes. A life sheltered from
all these would
be a poor affair. But though these abound
yet there are always
or nearly
always
compensations
which show a gracious design even in the midst of the
discipline;that it is the order of One “who doth not afflict willingly
or
grieve the children of men.” The laws under which we live look stern and hard;
but in the heart of them is a loving purpose. (W. G. Herder.)
Hard times
“Hard times!” That is the cry we hear
all the week long
wherever
we go. And this
strange to say
in face of crops of unparalleled abundance!
1. We ask ourselves
what is the cause of these hard times? “Over-production
”
say some; others
“under-consumption.” One party blames a “high tariff”: the
other
“free trade.” I will not attempt to discues here the purely political or
economical aspects of the case. But there is a moral cause at work
which it is
the province of the pulpit to point out. At this moment
while commerce and
manufactures are nearly stagnant
the money market is glutted with funds that
cannot be used! Why? One answer is
for want of confidence. Monstrous frauds
disgraceful failures
outright robberies
and numberless rascalities
small and
great
have paralyzed credit
and made sensitive capital shrink into itself. We
want more plodding and patient industry
more incorruptible honesty. No man can
revolutionize a community. But every good man has a certain power
more
perhaps
than he thinks. It is the honest men who keep society from going to
pieces altogether.
2. Under cover of the proverb
“Desperate diseases require desperate
remedies
” certain wild proposals are put forward by professed “friends of the
working man
” who are really his worst enemies
whether they mean it or not.
Take
for example
the Socialist idea of abolishing private property in land or
anything else
making the State the universal proprietor and the universal employer
and all men’s conditions equal. It is only under the maddening pressure of
hunger that just and reasonable men can entertain such schemes. In dragging
down “bloated monopolists
” we bury the day-labourer in the common ruin. It is
like setting fire to the house to get rid of the rats!
3. What a light is east by our present condition on the Bible
sayings
“We are members one of another”: “No man liveth unto himself!” We live
in a vast system of cooperation and interdependence. And this
whether we wish it
or not. The ends of the earth are ransacked to furnish food and clothing.
Sailors cross the seas
miners delve in the earth
woodmen hew down the
forests
farmers sow and reap
mechanics ply their tools
merchants buy and
sell
physicians study diseases and remedies
teachers instruct
authors write
musicians sing
legislators make
judges administer and governors execute
laws--all for your benefit and mine. God has bound us up together
so many
wheels in a vast machine
different members of one body. You cannot break away
from it. It is as foolish as it is wicked to try to live apart
for ourselves
alone
to take and not to give
to expect good only
and to complain of
suffering through those around us.
4. That is a good time to “consider” what use we have made of past
times of “prosperity” in preparing for days of “adversity.” We must learn the
old-fashioned virtues of saving and “going without.” And these hard times are
sent
among other things
to drive that lesson home. Those who came from the
old and crowded lands of Europe are showing us examples in this that we should
be wise to follow.
5. We do well to ask ourselves at this time how far the words of God
by Malachi apply to our case: “Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed
Me.”. . . “Wherein? In tithes and offerings.”
6. Not all of us feel the full pressure of hard times. If you are not
thrown out of employment
if your pay is not reduced
if your investments yield
as much income
if your business is nearly or quite as profitable
what special
duties devolve upon you? First
great thankfulness to God. By the sharp sorrows
of your less fortunate neighbours learn how good He has been to you. Do not
think that if is because of your superior worth. One duly is to see that His
cause of the Gospel does not suffer--to give double because others can only
give one-half. Another is
to relieve the wants of deserving sufferers.
7. May I say a brotherly word to those who do feel the pressure of
the times? If is a hard discipline you are passing through
very hard. But
“your Father knoweth.” Money and goods are not everything. “A man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he poseesseth.” Your
character
your soul
is more to you than your earthly condition. That is what
God is training
and the wide sweep of this providential dispensation
affecting whole nations
also includes your individual case. Receive the
chastening. Submit without murmuring. Exercise your heart in the strong virtues
of patience and fortitude. “Hope thou in God.” “Walk by faith
not by sight.” (F.
H. Marling.)
Sunshine and shadow
I. First
concerning this twofold word of exhortation. “In the day of prosperity be
joyful.” Prosperity then is not in itself an evil thing. Undue prosperity is
not to be coveted. “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food
convenient for me.” But prosperity which is obtained in honest fashion
accepted with a thankful heart
and employed for the glory of God
is surely
one of the best boons that Heaven itself can send. Further
gladsomeness is by
no means to be prohibited. Alas! for those who would stop our laughter. God
Himself is glad
His Gospel is glad; it is the Gospel of the glory of the happy
God. Christ Himself is joyous. Let your hearts have their sacred outpourings;
let your souls rejoice before the Lord in the land of the living. “Be joyful in
the Lord.” Spiritual prosperity is best of all. Be thankful and bless His name.
But the other part of the exhortation is not less necessary
and is
perhaps
more appropriate to the most of my hearers. “In the day of adversity consider.”
What are we to consider? Not the adversity only. “Consider the work of God.” So
this adversity is the work of God. He may have employed agencies
but He is at
the back of them. Even the devil works in chains
and can do nought apart from
permission from the throne. “Consider the work of God.” Look away to first
causes
trace the stream to its source. When you think of this adversity as
being the work of God you come to the conclusion that it is all right
that it
is the best thing that could happen. It is better than prosperity if it is the
work of God.
II. Now we turn to
the second point
As observation. “God hath even made the one side by side with
the other.” Oh
what mercy there is here. If you had prosperity all the days of
your life it would be the ruin of you. He has woven our web of time with mercy
and with judgment. He has paved our path of life with mingled colours
so that
it is a mosaic
curiously wrought; sunshine and shadow have been our lot almost
from babyhood till now
and April weather has greeted us from the cradle
and
will be with us till the tomb. If this is true in daily life
it is true also
of religious experience. You must not be surprised that your way is up and
down. So far as we are responsible for it it should not be so. Spiritual
experience is of the switchback order after all
up towards heaven and down
into the deep
but it matters little if we are going onward all the time
and
upward to the glorious end. The Lord sets the one beside the other.
III. This word of
explanation as we end. Why has God allowed it thus to be? Why does He give us
joy to-day and grief to-morrow? It is that we may realize that His way is not
of a set pattern; that He works according to a programme of His own choosing; that
though He is a
God of order
that order may be very different from our order; that we may come
to no conclusion as to the probabilities of our experiences to-morrow
that we
may make no plans too far ahead; that we may not peer behind the curtain of
obscurity and futurity. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Be not righteous overmuch.
The “righteous overmuch”
When the worldling sees another anxiously caring for the things of
his soul or attending earnestly to the duties of religion
he is apt to refer
to this text
and to say
“Be not righteous overmuch.” At first sight one might
imagine
that of this warning in this wicked world there can be no special
need. And if we search among our kinsfolk
shall we find many of whom we can
say
that they are “righteous overmuch”? Do we remember ever having heard
or
ever having met the man who has said
“I have boon ruined because I went to
church too often--because I have engaged continually in meditation and prayer”?
People seem to think that some degree of religion is necessary
but while they
admit the fact that some degree of religion is necessary
and will take care of
what is the minimum of faith and good works which will save them from
damnation
they accuse other persons
who think it safer to obey the Gospel
injunction which says
“go on unto perfection
” of the sin of being “righteous
overmuch.” But look a little forward. A few years hence
the Lord Jesus will
come again into this world to be our Judge. Before the judgment-seat of Christ
Satan
the accuser of the brethren
will stand; by our side he will stand; and
when he says of any one
“I accuse him of being ‘righteous overmuch
’“ what think
you will be the decision of the Divine Judge? Will He say
“Oh
thou wicked
servant! thou hast been very scrupulous in thy conscience; thou hast prayed
seven times a day instead of twice; thou hast fasted sometimes as well as
prayed; thou hast gone to church every day
instead of confining thy devotions
to the Sunday; because of these things
on account of thy committing these
things
thou hast committed the great sin of being ‘righteous overmuch
’ and
therefore thou shalt be ‘cast into outer darkness
where there is weeping and
gnashing of teeth’; ‘depart from Me
’ ye ‘righteous overmuch
’ ‘into
everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels’”? The very thought of
such a judgment proceeding from the mouth of the all-righteous Judge is so
monstrous that we have only to state the case as I just have done
and by that
statement we show the folly as well as the iniquity of those who would lower
the tone of religion among us by this fear
lest their neighbours should commit
this imaginary sin of being “righteous overmuch.” It is said
again
that too
much religion makes men morose; and there are pretenders to religion both
censorious and morose. Some
perhaps a vast number of those who assume to
themselves the character of being religions
are like the Pharisees of old
mere hypocrites
men who deceive themselves by supposing that under the cloak
of religion they may freely indulge the worst and most malignant passions of
their nature. We frankly admit that they who preach against being “righteous
overmuch” have here their strongest ground. But deal fairly with this case
also--is it religion that has made these men what they are? Were they not
morose in temper before they pretended to be religious? Were they not crafty in
their dealings with the world before they became deceivers in things spiritual?
You do not know any one who
having been frank
generous
disinterested
noble-hearted before his conversion
has become morose because he has learnt to
love his God as well as his neighbour
and enthusiastically to labour for the
promotion of his Saviour’s glory. It is true
he takes a new view of the
amusements of the world; but is that of necessity a morose view? It is not
moroseness but advancement
that raises the true Christian above the things of
this world
which’ renders him independent of external things
while he can affectionately
sympathize with those who are now what he once was
and whom he hopes to see
ere long
by the mercy of God
even further advanced than he himself as yet may
be. For true Christianity rejoices in the spiritual progress of another.
Perhaps it may occur to some that in speaking thus I am speaking rather against
than for the text. But it is merely against a wrong interpretation of the text
that I am preaching. One part of our text shows at once that it is not to be
understood literally--that part which says
“make not thyself over-wise.” Now
they who are very fearful lest they should be over-righteous
are seldom
alarmed on the score of their being over-wise. I call upon you to dismiss from
your mind all idle fears lest you should become “righteous overmuch”: and in
the name of our God
I exhort you to take good heed
lest you become overmuch
wicked
and be not righteous enough. Oh! here is the real danger; this is the
sin against which we have really need to be warned. And
ask you
how are you
to know whether you are righteous enough? That is a question to which neither I
nor any one else can give an answer. What
then
is the conclusion but
this--“be as righteous as you possibly can; go on improving; seek to grow in
grace; attend to little things
as well as great; be always careful lest you
should not be righteous enough
if God were this day to require your soul of
you. Be very careful lest you should be overmuch wicked; let no man scare you
from your duty
in seeking to advance in the straight and narrow path
which
leadeth unto life
by their suggestions that ye be not “righteous overmuch.” (Dean
Hook.)
Strained piety
This text may fairly be taken as a warning against strained piety.
It is a common thing for religion to run wild; for goodness to be pushed on
wrong lines; for it to be strained
arbitrary
inharmonious
and exaggerated.
I. It sometimes
reveals itself in doctrinal fastidousness. Paul writes to Timothy
“Hold fast the
form of sound words
which thou hast heard of me
in faith and love which is in
Christ Jesus.” Hold fast the form
the pattern. The religion of Christ finds
expression in the definite
the concrete
the intelligible. But some of us are
not content until we have etherealized the great articles of our faith
made
our creed vague
intangible
and generally such as it is not possible for a man
to utter. De Quincey said of Coleridge
touching the poet’s endless refinements
and transcendentalisms
“He wants better bread than can be made with wheat.”
That is rather a common failure in our day
and especially with men of a
certain temper. They refine and sublimate their creed until they nearly lose
hold of the substantial saving verity.
II. It reveals
itself in morbid introspectiveness. There is
of course
such a thing as a just
introspection
that a man looks closely into his own heart and life. It is
indeed
a solemn duty that we should examine ourselves in the sight of God. And
yet this duty is often misconceived and pressed to false issues. Men sometimes
get morbid about the state of their health. For example
there are the people
who are always weighing themselves. Their feelings go up or down with their
weight; they are the sport of their gravity. We all feel that such solicitude
is a mistake; it is the sign of a morbid
miserable condition. But good people
are
not rarely
victims of a similar morbidity: jealous about their religious
state
curious about obscure symptoms
always with beating heart putting themselves
into the balances of the sanctuary. This habit may prove most hurtful. It makes
men morally weak and craven; it destroys their peace; it robs their life of
brightness.
III. It reveals
itself in an exacting conscientiousness. It was said of Grote that “he suffered
from a pampered conscience.” Many good people do. A fastidious moral sense. It
is a legal maxim that “the law concerneth not itself with trifles
” and the
court is specially impatient of “frivolous and vexatious” charges. But some of
us are evermore arraigning ourselves at the bar of conscience about arbitrary
frivolous
vexatious things. It is a great mistake. A true and noble conscience
is tender
quick
incisive
imperative; but it is also large
majestic
generous
as is the eternal law of which it is the organ. We cannot pretend to
go through life with a conscience akin to those delicate balances which are
sensitive to a pencil-mark; if we attempt such painful minuteness
we are
likely to be incapable of doing justice to the weightier matters of the law.
IV. This strained
piety not rarely reveals itself in the inordinate culture of some special
virtue. For some reason or other a man conceives a special affection for a
particular excellence; it engrosses his attention; it shines in his eye with
unique splendour. But this extreme love for any one virtue may easily become a
snare. A literary botanist says
“Most of the faults of flowers are only
exaggerations of some right tendency.” May not the same be said about the
faults of some Christians?
V. It reveals
itself in striving after impracticable standards of character. It is a fine
characteristic of Christianity that it is so sane
reasonable
practical
humane; it never forgets our nature and situation
our relations and duty. But
many think to transcend the goodness of Christianity; they are dreaming of
loftier types of character
of sublimer principles
of more illustrious lives
than Christianity knows. Fanciful ideals exhaust us
distort us
destroy us.
What sweet
bright
fragrant flowers God has made to spring on the
earth--cowslips in the meadow
daffodils by the pools
primroses in the woods
myrtles
wall-flowers
lavenders
pinks
roses to bloom in the garden
an
infinite wealth of colour and sweetness and virtue! But in these days we are
tired of God’s flowers
and with a strange wantonness we have taken to dyeing
them for ourselves: the world is running after queer blossoms that our fathers
knew not--yellow asters
green carnations
blue dahlias
red lilacs. And in the
moral world we are guilty of similar freaks. “Learn of Me
” says the Master.
Yes; let us go back to Him who was without excess or defect. Nothing is more
wonderful about our Lord than His perfect naturalness
His absolute balance
His reality
reasonableness
artlessness
completeness. With all His mighty
enthusiasm He never oversteps the modesty of nature. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The danger of being over-righteous or over-wise
There may be several accounts given of these words if we take them
as spoken by Solomon.
1. They seem to refer to the method of God’s dealing with good and
bad men in this world; of which he spake (Ecclesiastes 7:15). Be not too strict and
severe in passing judgment on God’s providence; be not more righteous and wise
than God is; do not think you could govern the world better than He doth; pry
not toe far into those mysteries which are too deep for you; why shoulder thou
confound thyself?
2. They may refer to religion; but then they are not to be understood
of what is truly and really so; but of what passes in the world for it; and men
may esteem themselves very much for the sake of it. For although men cannot
exceed in the main and fundamental duties of religion
in the belief and fear
and love of God; yet they may
and often do
mistake in the nature and measures
and bounds of what they account duties of religion.
3. They may be taken in a moral sense for that righteousness which
men are to show towards each other
both in judgment and practice; and for that
wisdom
which mankind is capable of
as a moral virtue; and in both these there
are extremes to be avoided; and so they are not to be righteous overmuch
nor
to make themselves over-wise.
4. The mischief they bring upon themselves
by being thus severe
towards others.
5. We may be righteous overmuch in the moral practice of
righteousness towards others.
6. To conclude all by way of advice as to the general sense of these
words--
Overmuch
Many a really good man has made enemies to himself by his rigid
adherence to
and unwise advocacy of
what might be called no more than a
mistaken scruple; while not a few who seemed to be running well have fallen
away altogether from the profession and practice of the truth
by mistaken
views of their own liberty. Hence
says this instructor
beware of both
extremes: “Be not righteous overmuch
neither make thyself over-wise”: or
in
other words
do not imagine that thou hast a monopoly of the wisdom of the
world. “Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?” But
on the other hand (I would
that our scoffer
would quote this too)
“Be not overmuch wicked
neither be
thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”
I. Look at those
things which this precept neither touches nor forbids.
1. It does not touch the idea that the whole man should be under the
power of the truth. This
in fact
is needful
to have anything which the Word
of God could call religion
or righteousness; for it is the heart that
determines what the action is
and not the action which gives its character to
the heart. The sulphurous spring
with its healing properties
takes its nature
from the strata in which it has its source; and he would be a fool who should
say that the water gave its properties to them. The fruit is determined by the
nature of the tree
not the nature of the tree by the fruit. I admit
indeed
nay contend
that the fruit evidences what the nature of the tree is; but it
does so only because the tree gives its nature to the fruit
and not the fruit
to the tree. Now
in perfect harmony with this principle that pervades nature
it is the heart of a man which gives its character to the man
and to the man’s
life; and hence
unless his heart be right with God
he has no religion worthy
of the name
and is not
in the Scripture sense
a righteous man. Let no one
who is unconverted
therefore
shelter himself under a false interpretation of
these words. Conversion is not being righteous overmuch; regeneration is not
too much of a good thing; but contrariwise. It is that one indispensable thing
without which there is no righteousness at all
and the soul is still in sin.
2. This text neither touches nor condemns the idea that a man should
be under the influence of the truth at all times; for
of course
if his heart
be under its power
he cannot but be so always. Nevertheless
it is of
importance enough to have a place by itself; for there are multitudes who have
here
too
the most fallacious opinions. Religion
they say
is for Sabbath.
Or
if they extend its province farther
and allow it to come into the week-day
at all
they are careful to confine it to the closet
and never by any chance
permit it to go farther. They write up on the door of their counting-room or
their workshop
“No admittance
except on business”: and as they conceive
Religion has no business there
she is unceremoniously shut out. “Everything
”
say they
“in its own place; and this is not the place for Religion.” And if
she is not suffered to enter the place of business
still less
if possible
is
she perturbed to make her appearance in the hall of pleasure. There is a time
for everything; is there? “Yes
” you answer
“so Solomon says.” But will you
please to turn to the passage
and see if
amid his exhaustive enumeration of
things for which there is a time
you will find this: “There is a time for
religion
and a time to have no religion.” You will look for that in vain; and
such an omission is of very great significance. No doubt you will say
“But
then we cannot always be engaged in religious exercises.” Ah! but you have
shifted your ground; religious exercises is not religion. There are many
so-called religious exercises
I will venture to say
in which there is no
religion at all; and there are many exercises
which are not so denominated
in
which there is a great deal. Would you confine the blood to the heart
and not
allow it to circulate to the extremities of the body? No more need you attempt
to confine religion to one place
or to imprison her into one day. She will not
be chained thus to one spot; she must
and she will
have free course; and if
in your view
it is being righteous overmuch
to seek always and everywhere to
serve God
then it is a sure sign that you have yet to learn wherein true
righteousness consists.
II. Now
consider
what this precept does forbid.
1. When other important duties are neglected for the purpose of
engaging in what are called
strictly speaking
religious meetings
such a case
comes clearly under the prohibition of the text. The multiplication of
religious meetings seems to me to be fast becoming one of the evils of the day.
I have often admired the answer of a working-man
who
being asked by his
neighbour one Monday morning why he did not come out a third time on the
previous day
when the minister preached an able sermon on family training
replied
“Because I was at home doing it.” Now
this reply will help you to
understand my meaning. I do not want the attendance on such meetings to
interfere with the “at home doing it.” Unless this be watched
the religion
will become a thing of mere spiritual dissipation
and thereafter it will
dwindle into a lifeless form
and entirely lose its power.
2. This prohibition fairly enough applies to those who
by their
religious fasting and asceticism
so weaken their bodies as to render them
incapable of attending to their proper work. God asks no man to starve himself
for His glory. He bids us rather attend to our bodily health
and spend our
strength by working in His service.
3. This prohibition touches and forbids the magnifying of small
points of religious opinion into essential importance
and the thinking of it a
matter of conscience and of duty to have no fellowship with those who do not
hold them.
4. The principle of my text touches and prohibits all trust in personal
righteousness for acceptance with God. Every man who thinks to work out his own
righteousness
is righteous overmuch. Indeed
I question very much if the idea
of working out something which may have merit in God’s sight
is not
in one
form or other
at the bottom of those things which I have enumerated. (W. M.
Taylor
D. D.)
Righteous overmuch
In considering the text we may
I apprehend
at once
with perfect
safety
decide what cannot be the true meaning of the inspired writer. It
cannot
in the first place
be his design to imply that our feelings of piety
and devotion towards God can strike into our hearts with too deep a root
or
can press upon us with too close and powerful an influence. In the second
place
it cannot be his intention to convey the idea that the sincere endeavour
of any human beings to secure the eternal salvation of their souls can be too
strong
too constant
or too earnest. Neither
in the third place
can we
possibly err
on the side of a faulty excess
in scrupulously endeavouring to
discharge all the duties of morality. If we love God
we must keep His
commandments. We cannot be too watchful against temptations
too guarded
against the seductions of sinful pleasure
too careful to check every
intemperate and irregular desire. Neither can we be too anxious to perform our
duties towards our fellow-creatures; too kind
beneficent
and merciful
too
just or honest in our dealings. It must
therefore
be perfectly clear that
when we are cautioned against “being righteous overmuch
” as well as against
making ourselves “over-wise
” we are cautioned
not against extremes in respect
to true righteousness
or true wisdom
but against mistakes in the pursuit of
both these excellencies
and false pretensions to them. A person may be said to
“make himself over-wise” when he mistakes the ends of true wisdom
or when he
follows false wisdom instead of true
or when he pretends to possess it in
matters where he is really deficient. And so
in a corresponding sense
he may
become “righteous overmuch
” when he professes to be more righteous than
others
and really is not so
wearing his religion merely on the outside
and
not inwardly in the heart; or when he mistakes the means of righteousness for
the end; or when
in some manner or other
he follows and exhibits a false kind
of righteousness instead of that which the Word of God
rightly understood
prescribes and enjoins. (G. D’Oyly
D. D.)
Be not righteous overmuch
1. In general
they are righteous overmuch who run into any excess in
the practice of those acts which are of a religious nature
which are good
and
absolutely necessary in a certain degree; such
for example
as prayer
contemplation
retirement
reading the Scriptures and other good books
frequenting the public worship of God
instructing others
abstinence
mortification
almsgiving
and religious conversation. These things are
overdone when the practice of any of them interferes with other necessary
duties
so as to cause them to be omitted
or when they are carried further
than the health of the body
or the attention of the mind
can accompany them
or the situation and circumstances of life can admit.
2. Over-righteousness consists also in everything that is properly
called will-worship--the invention and the practice of such expedients of
appeasing or of pleasing God as neither reason nor revelation suggest; and
which
since they are not contained in the law of nature
or in the law of God
must either be wicked
or at least frivolous and foolish.
3. Religious zeal
being naturally brisk and resolute
is a warmth of
temper which may easily run into excesses
and which breaks in upon the great
law of charity
when it produces oppression and persecution. The zealot pleads
conscience for his own behaviour
but never will allow that plea in those who
dissent from him: and what a perverse and saucy absurdity is this!
4. Over-righteousness hath conspicuously appeared in indiscreet
austerities
a solitary life
a voluntary poverty
and vows of celibacy. I join
all these together
because they have very often gone together.
5. This leads us to another instance of over-righteousness
which was
common amongst the ancient Jews or Hebrews
namely
making solemn vows to God
without duly considering the inconveniences which might attend them. Such vows
either ended in neglecting to perform them
which was perjury; or in performing
them with a slovenly sorrow and reluctance
and in offending God
who loveth a
cheerful giver.
6. Zeal
or righteousness
is carried beyond its bounds when men run
into unnecessary danger even for a good cause. The ancient Christians had a
laudable zeal for the Gospel; but it carried some of them into excessive
imprudence in provoking
insulting
and defying their Pagan enemies
and
seeking out martyrdom when they were not called to it. But it was observable
that several of these rash zealots
when it came to the trial
fell off
shamefully
and renounced their religion; whilst other Christians
who were
timorous and diffident
who fled and hid themselves
and used every lawful
method to shun persecution
being seized upon and brought forth to suffer
behaved
by the gracious assistance of God
with exemplary courage and
constancy.
7. Another instance of over-righteousness appears in a busy
meddling
intriguing forwardness to reform defects
real or supposed
in the
doctrines
discipline
or manners of the Christian community. Every one is not
qualified for the office of a reformer. He hath a call
he will say
but a call to be
turbulent and troublesome is not a call from God.
8. Lastly
a modest and a prudent man will not be over-righteous in
the following instances: he will not be forward to rebuke all evil-doers at all
times
and on all occasions
when the bad temper
or the high station of the
offenders may make them impatient of censure
and draw upon him for an answer
Who made thee a judge and a ruler over us? Mind thy own concerns
and mend thy
own manners. He will not be fond of disputing with every one who is in an
error. It may be observed that in almost all debates
even between civil and
polite contenders
the issue is
that each departs with the same sentiments
which he brought along with him
and after much hath been said
nothing is done
on either side
by way of conviction. This will make a wise man not over-fond
of the task of mending wrong heads. (J. Jortin
D. D.)
A perilous compromise
That is most soothing and comforting counsel for the indolent
soul. “Be not righteous overmuch.” What an easy yoke! How mild the
requirements! How delightfully lax the discipline! Why
the school is just a
playground! Have we any analogous counsel in our own day? In what modern guise
does it appear? Here is a familiar phrase: “We can have too much of a good
thing.” Such is the general application of the proverb. But the Word is
stretched out to include the sphere of religion. The counsel runs somewhat in
this wise; we require a little religion ii we would drink the nectar of the
world
and we require a little worldliness if we would really appreciate the
flavour of religion. To put the counsel baldly
we need a little devilry to
make life spicy. That is one modern shape of the old counsel. Here is the old
counsel in another dress: “We must wink at many things.” We must not be too
exactingly scrupulous. That is the way to march through life easily
attended
by welcome comforts. Don’t be too particular; “be not righteous overmuch.” Here
is a third dress in which the old counsel appears in modern times: “In Rome
one must do as Rome does.” Our company must determine our moral attire. We must
have the adaptability of a chameleon. If we are abstainers
don’t let us take
our scrupulosity into festive and convivial gatherings. Don’t let us throw wet
blankets over the genial crowd. If some particular expedient
some rather shaky
policy be prevalent in your line of business
do not stand out an irritating
exception. “Be not righteous overmuch.” Now
let us pass from the Book of
Ecclesiastes to another part of the sacred Word
and listen to a voice from a
higher sphere. What says the prophet Isaiah? “Your wine is mixed with water.”
The people had been carrying out the counsel of Koheleth. They had been
diluting their righteousness. They had been putting a little water into their
wine. The prophet proclaims that God will not accept any dilutions. He will not
accept a religion that is watered down. He despises a devotion which has been
thinned into compromise. In many parts of the Old Testament this perilous
compromise is condemned. “They have given their tears to the altar
and have
married the daughter of a strange god.” “They feared the Lord and served their
own gods.” This is the type of broken fellowship and of impaired devotion
against Which the prophets of the Old Testament direct their severest
indictments. Let us pass on now to the day when the light is come
and the
“glory of the Lord” is risen upon us. Let us hear the counsel and command of
“the Word made flesh.” “Be ye perfect;” that is the injunction of the Master.
We are to carry the refining and perfecting influences of religion into
everything. Everywhere it is to be pervasive of life
as the blood is pervasive
of the flesh. Everything in our life is to constitute an allurement to help to
draw the world to the feet of the risen Lord. This all-pervasive religion
this
non-compromising religion
is the only one that discovers the thousand secret
sweets that are yielded by the Hill of Zion. It is the only religion that
presses the juice out of the grapes of life
and drinks the precious essences
which God hath prepared for them that love Him. “Be ye perfect;” sanctify the
entire round
never be off duty
and life will become an apocalypse of
ever-heightening and ever-brightening glory. (J. H. Jowett
M. A.)
Ecclesiastes 7:18; Ecclesiastes 7:14
Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight which He
hath made crooked?
The power of God
and the duty of man
I. What we are to
understand by “the work of God.” This is an expression often used in the
Scriptures
and has different significations. In one place it refers to the two
tables of stone
containing the Ten Commandments
written by the finger of God
and given to Moses. In another to the reception of the Lord Jesus Christ by
faith (John 6:29-30). In a third to the progress
of the Gospel
and to the influence of the Holy Spirit in the heart
by which a
radical change is effected
and holy tempers produced (Romans 14:20). In the text it is
evidently used to point out to us the infinitely wise arrangement of all the
situations and circumstances of the sons of men: that the bounds of their
habitation are marked out by Him to whom all things in earth and heaven owe
their existence.
II. The
impossibility of altering or defeating the purposes of god. To prove this
might I not refer to the experience and observation of all people? Our fields
may be cultivated with all imaginable care--we may sow the best corn that can
be procured--but if the will of the Lord be so
we can reap nothing but
disappointment. If He designs to chastise a guilty people by sending a famine
upon them
lie can make a worm
or a dew
hail
storm
or lightning
to blast
man’s hope in a moment
and to teach him that except the Lord build the house
they labour in vain that build it; and that except the Lord keep the city
the
watchman waketh but in vain (Psalms 127:1). If it be His will to fill
a sinner with remorse of conscience
He can make him cry out with Cain
My
punishment is greater than I can bear--or with Joseph’s brethren
when they
imagined that vengeance was about to overtake them
We are verily guilty
concerning our brother--or with Judas
I have sinned
in that I have betrayed
the innocent blood. All hearts are in His hand; His power rules over all; none
can stay that hand or resist successfully that power.
III. The duty
incumbent on man to be satisfied with his lot. A sinner by nature and practice
man deserves no blessing from his Maker--he can lay no claim to a continuance
of present mercies
nor has he in himself any ground to hope for fresh ones--of
course everything he enjoys is unmerited. Is it for such a being as this to be
dissatisfied with what he possesses
because others possess more? Is it for him
to think that he is hardly dealt with
while oppressed by pain
sickness;
hunger or thirst--when a moment’s reflection ought to convince him that
anything short of hell is a blessing? The heart must be changed by the grace of
God before it can rejoice in tribulation--and testify that tribulation worketh
patience; and patience
experience; and experience
hope: and it is through the
belief of the Gospel that this change is effected.
IV. Consideration
is an important and plainly enjoined duty--and when we take into account the
character of man
and the distractions produced in his mind by visible things
its necessity is quite apparent. Let us then consider that we are not called
upon to account for the Lord’s dealings
or to make the vain attempt of
reconciling the seeming contrarieties in the Divine administration. If clouds
and darkness are round about Him
we may yet be sure that righteousness and
judgment are the habitation of His throne. His servants will one day
understand
as far as is necessary
everything which now appears dark and perplexing
and in the mean season they are called to live by faith--to “take no thought
for the morrow”--to “commit their ways unto Him
” and to be satisfied with the
assurance that “the Judge of all the earth does right.” (P. Roe
M. A.)
The crook in the lot
A just view of afflicting incidents is altogether necessary to a
Christian deportment under them: and that view is to be obtained only by faith
not by sense. For it is the light of the Word alone that represents them
justly
discovering in them the work of God
and consequently designs becoming
the Divine perfections. These perceived by the eye of faith
and duly
considered
one has a just view of afflicting incidents
fitted to quell the
turbulent motions of corrupt affections under dismal outward appearances.
I. Whatsoever
crook is in one’s lot
it is of God’s making.
1. As to the crook itself
the crook in the lot
for the better
understanding thereof these few things following are premised.
2. Having seen the crook itself
we are
in the next place
to
consider of God’s making it.
II. What crook God
makes in our lot
we will not be able to even.
1. Show God’s marring and making a crook in one’s lot
as He sees
meet.
2. Consider man’s attempting to mend or even that crook in their lot.
This
in a word
lies in their making efforts to bring their lot in that point
to their own will
that they may both go one way; so it imports three things.
3. In what sense it is to be understood
that we will not be able to
mend or even the crook in our lot?
4. Reasons of the point.
Inference
1. There is a necessity of yielding and submitting under the crook in
our lot; for we may as well think to remove the rocks and mountains
which God
has settled
as to make that part of cur lot straight which He hath crooked.
2. The evening of the crook in our lot
by main force of our own
is
but a cheat we put on ourselves
and will not last
but
like a stick by main
force made straight
it will quickly return to the bow again.
3. The only effectual way of getting the crook evened is to apply to
God for it.
Exhortation
1. Let us then apply to God for removing any crook in our lot
that
in the settled order of things may be removed.
2. What crook there is
that
in the settled order of things
cannot
be got removed or evened in this world
let us apply to God for suitable relief
under it.
3. Let us then set ourselves rightly to bear and carry under the
crock in our lot
while God sees meet to continue it. What we cannot mend
let
us bear Christianity
and not fight against God. So let us bear it--
Motives to press this exhortation.
1. There will be no evening of it while God sees meet to continue it.
2. An awkward carriage under it notably increases the pain of it.
3. The crook in thy lot is the special trial God has chosen for thee to
take thy measure by (1 Peter 1:6-7). Think
then
with
thyself under it. Now
here the trial of my state turns; I must
by this be
proven either sincere or a hypocrite. For--
4. The trial by the crook here will not last long (1 Corinthians 7:31).
5. If ye would
in a Christian manner
set yourselves to bear the
crook
ye would find it easier than ye imagine (Matthew 11:29-30).
6. If ye carry Christianly under your crook here
ye will not lose
your labour
but get a full reward of grace in the other world
through Christ
(2 Timothy 2:12; 1 Corinthians 15:58).
7. If ye do not carry Christianly under it
ye will lose your souls
in the other world (Jude 1:15-16).
III. Considering the
crook in the lot as the work of God is a proper means to bring one to carry
rightly under it.
1. What it is to consider the crook as the work of God.
2. How is it to be understood to be a proper means to bring one to
carry rightly under the crook?
3. I shall confirm that it is a proper mean to bring one to carry
rightly under it.
Crooked things
(with Isaiah 40:4):--These two passages contain
a question and the answer to it. We are taught therefrom that God
and God
alone
can make that straight which He has permitted to be made crooked--that
He alone can make that plain which He has allowed to become rough.
I. The
inequalities
or crookedness
of temporal things.
1. We must first of all grant that crooked things are not necessarily
evil things. Many of them are very beautiful--many very useful. If all the
limbs of a tree were straight
how curious would be our surroundings! If all
the fields were flat
how monotonous the landscape
and how unhealthy the
situation! It is when crookedness takes the place of that which ought to be
straight that the crookedness becomes an evil.
2. We must
secondly
bear in mind that these crooked things are made
so by God--“that which God hath made crooked.” There are many reasons why He
has done so
but He has not revealed all those reasons to us. Some
however
are so evident that we cannot but see them.
3. Let us now glance at some of these crooked things.
II. No human power
can put these things straight. How could we expect anything different? How can
man contravene the purposes of an almighty God? No more can we expect to
rectify things in this world than we could expect to create the world itself.
III. The grand
consummation referred to in our second text--“The crooked shall be made
straight.” Yes; but this is by God Himself
and not by man. God shall put
things straight by going down to the cause of their disorder. He will not
attack the details like man would when he finds a medicine to cure a pain; but
He will set the springs right
and then all the wheels will run with smoothness
and regularity. (Homilist.)
The crooked in life
I. What is here
implied. It is something crooked. What is this? It is not the same in all
but
it may easily be found.
1. It is sometimes found in the mind. One complains of the slowness
of his apprehension; another of a narrow capacity; another of a treacherous
memory.
2. It is sometimes found in the body. Some are defective in their limbs. Some are the
subjects of indisposition and infirmity.
3. It is sometimes found in our connections. Perhaps it is a bad
wife. Perhaps it is a brother. Perhaps it is a servant. Perhaps it is a
treacherous or a frail friend.
4. It is sometimes found in our calling or business. Bad times.
Untoward events. Dear purchases and cheap sales. Bad debts.
5. Sometimes it is found in our condition considered at large. Is the
man wealthy? In the midst of his sufficiency he is afraid of poverty. Has he
been crowned with success? There is some circumstance that tarnishes the
lustre
or mars the joy. Has he honour? This bringeth along with it defamation.
Has be exquisite pleasure? It soon cloys
and the repetition of the scene
becomes insipid.
II. What is
expressed--namely
that God is the author of this. There is no such thing as
chance in our world. Nothing can befall us without the permission and
appointment of the all-disposing providence of our Heavenly Father. Now
how
rational this is. Why
surely it is not beneath God to govern what it was not
beneath Him to create!
III. What is
enjoined. It is to “consider.”
1. So consider the work of God as to be led to acknowledge that
resistance to it is useless.
2. See and acknowledge the propriety of acquiescence.
3. So consider the work of God as to improve it and turn it to
advantage.
For there is not a just man upon earth
that doeth good
and
sinneth not.
Man’s inability to keep the law perfectly
Here is the undoubted character of all the human race
fixing
imperfection and sinfulness on the best of the kind in this world
and so
concluding all to be liable to sin
and under it.
I. What is legal
perfection
or perfect keeping of the commands. It is a perfect conformity of
heart and life to the commands of God; and implies--
1. A perfection of the principles of action (Matthew 22:37).
2. A perfection of the part
as of obedience. No part must be
lacking
every command of whatsoever nature must be kept (Galatians 3:10).
3. A perfection of degrees in every part (Matthew 22:37). Sincerity is not enough
in the eye of the law. In everything one must come to the highest pitch
or
there is no perfection.
4. A perfection of duration or continuance (Galatians 3:10). One bad trip after a
course of obedience will mar all.
II. The
attainableness of this perfection.
1. Adam before the fall was able to have kept the commands perfectly;
he might have attained it; for “God made him upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
2. The man Christ
who was not a mere man
but God-man
who was not
only able to keep the law perfectly
but actually did so.
3. The saints in heaven are able
and do actually perfectly obey
whatever God’s will to them is (Hebrews 12:23).
4. But since Adam fell
no mere man is able
while in this life
either of himself
or by virtue of any grace now given
to keep the commands
perfectly (James 3:2). This inability is owing to
the remains of corruption that cleaves to every one of them in this mortal
state (Romans 7:2)
III. How the saints
sin daily
and break the commands.
1. How many ways the commands may be broken.
2. In what respect the saints sin daily
in thought
word and deed.
3. How these failures of theirs break the commands
while they
sincerely endeavour to obey them. Why
the moral law is the eternal rule of
righteousness
and in whatever state the creature be
he is bound to obey his
Creator
whether in a state of nature or grace
glory or damnation. And though
perfection be not attainable in this life
yet it is the saints’ duty as well
as that of others. So every coming short of that perfection is their sin
needing to be taken away by Christ’s blood.
IV. Confirm the
point
that perfection is not attainable in this life.
1. The Scripture attests that there is no man without sin (1 Kings 8:46; James 3:2). If any man set up for it in
himself
the Spirit of God says he deceives himself (1 John 1:8). See an unanswerable
question (Proverbs 20:9).
2. The best have a corrupt as well as a gracious principle
making
the spiritual combat never ending till death give the separating stroke (Galatians 5:17).
3. We are taught always to pray for pardon
“Forgive us our debts”:
but sinless creatures need no pardons. This clearly shows that all sin
and so
come short of perfect obedience.
4. Consider the spirituality of the law and its extent with human
weakness
and you will see this clearly. (T. Boston
D. D.)
Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken: lest thou hear
thy servant curse thee.
Listeners hear no good of themselves
I. We should pay
some attention to what others think and say about us. What a force public
opinion is! We cannot see it
nor touch it; and yet it is a great factor in
shaping the character and actions alike of men and nations. Public opinion may
be utterly wrong; and then we must oppose it at any cost
even though we stand
alone. And some of us might do well to pay a little more attention than we do
to the tone of thought and feeling around us. If a man see that his acts and
life are giving pain to others
that he is a stumblingblock to his neighbours
even though it only be to those whom he would consider weaker brethren; and if
he go on his way recklessly
regardless of what men say or think
verily he
will not be able to free himself from guilt. By such thoughtlessness we are apt
to harden
to irritate
to mislead our fellows.
II. We should not
be too curious to know what other people think of us. Some men are selfish or
obstinate. They do what is pleasant; they follow the path which in their own
eyes seems right. Am I my brother’s keeper? they exclaim
in answer to every
remonstrance. We are all one family
closely united
and at every point we are
hurting or helping one another. There are thousands
however
who err on the
opposite side. They allow the opinion of the world
the fashion of the day
to
shape their life and character. There are many whose life is darkened for a whole
day because some one has said a severe word about them and the report of it has
reached their ears. It is foolish to make so much of the world’s opinion. For
think how much idle gossip is floating about everywhere. Sharp words are often
spoken in a passion
or under a misconception
and the speaker regrets them
bitterly afterwards. He is a wise man who is not anxious to hear too much.
III. We should
always be anxious to know God’s opinion of us
and to have his approval. Some
one may say
I do not mind what men say of me; but
oh
that I knew God’s
opinion of me I It is easy to know it. “The Father Himself loveth you
because
ye have loved Me.” Do you love Christ? Then you are loved by God.” He that
believeth not the Son . . . the wrath of God abideth on him.” Have you never
trusted Christ as your Saviour? Then God’s wrath has its resting-place upon
you. (W. Park
M. A.)
A woman among all those have I not found.
Solomon’s estimate of woman
This sentence of Solomon has been often quoted to show the utter
worthlessness of the female character. It is
however
an entirely worthless
conclusion as regards woman when placed in her legitimate and appropriate
sphere as the one sole companion of man’s life in love
cares and labours. As
well might the tyrant who
by cruelty
has alienated his subjects
complain
that he has failed to find loyal men
as the debauchee
who has subjected
hundreds to his lust
that he had found no noble
virtuous woman. It is not
thus that the commerce of love is carried on. Pearls are not to be exchanged
for pebbles. The law of love which God has established is heart for heart; and
the affections that are dissipated among a thousand objects must ever be
without return of that which yet the soul seeks--the undivided love. Of this
fact Solomon seems to have had a dim perception when he gives those
never-to-be-forgotten advises to the young man
to avoid the strange woman whose steps take
hold on hell
and to live joyfully with the wife of his youth. It was not given
to Solomon
wise as he was
to limn the picture of the virtuous woman
but to
another king whose wisdom was derived from the inspiration of his mother. The
words of Lemuel are well worthy of our attention
both as neutralizing the
false impression produced by Solomon’s philosophy
and as showing what the true
woman is (Proverbs 31:10-31). (J. Bennet.)
God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many
inventions.
Man in his original and in his lapsed stage
I. God made man
upright. Our text
then
teaches us that man was made in a state of perfect
conformity to some rule. If it is asked
what rule? I answer
the law of God
for this is the only perfect
immutable and eternal rule to which God requires
His creatures to be conformed
and in conformity to which rectitude or
uprightness consists.
1. A state of perfect conformity to the Divine law implies the
possession of an understanding perfectly acquainted with that law.
2. A state of perfect uprightness
or conformity to the Divine law
implies a memory which faithfully retains all its precept.
3. A state of perfect conformity to the Divine law implies a
conscience which always faithfully applies it.
4. A state of perfect conformity to the Divine law implies a heart
which perfectly loves that law.
5. A state of perfect conformity to the law of God implies a will
perfectly obedient and submissive to that law; or
in other words
to the
Divine government and authority.
6. There still remains one faculty possessed by man
which it is
necessary to consider--that which is usually called the imagination. When man
left the forming hand of his Maker
this faculty
like the others which we have
mentioned
was entirely free from moral imperfection. Instead of filling the
mind
as it now does
with vain thoughts
waking dreams
and worthless or
sinful fancies
it presented nothing but holy images of spiritual and heavenly
objects.
II. Though God made
man thus upright
they have sought out many inventions.
1. Men have sought out or invented many new ways in which to walk
forsaking
the good old way in which God originally placed them.
2. Men have forsaken the one living and true God
in whom they live
and move
and are
and sought out or invented innumerable false gods and
created idols
to which they give that homage and attention which are due to
Him alone.
3. Men have ceased to be conformed to the Divine law
and have sought
out many other rules--rules more agreeable to their present sinful
inclinations--by which to regulate and try their conduct. Some adopt for this
purpose the laws of their country; others the opinion of some human teacher; while a third
and more numerous class govern themselves by the maxims which pass currently in
the society of which they happen to be members. Thus
in various ways
men
measure themselves by themselves
and compare themselves among themselves
and
therefore are net wise; for while they follow these rules of human invention
they have lost all that uprightness
that conformity to the Divine law
which
has been described.
4. Notice
among the inventions of sinful man the innumerable
excuses
pleas and apologies which he has sought out to justify his conduct
and to make himself appear unfortunate
rather than criminal. (E. Payson
D. D.)
The original state of man
and the covenant of works
I. The natural
form or constitution of man
as man. The primitive bodies of our first parents
were not subject to the deformities and infirmities
the fatigues of labour
and the injuries of climates
or seasons
nor to distempers
violence and death
which we are now exposed to; and no doubt but they were built with various
beauties of due proportions
colour and form vastly superior to all that now
appear in the ruins of human nature. But the chief glory of the natural form of
man lies in his soul
which is an incorporeal
invisible and immortal
intelligent
free and active being
and so bears the natural image of God
as He is a Spirit. The
bands of union between soul and body
and the way of their influencing and
impressing one
another
lie among the unsearchable mysteries of nature of
which we have no ideas. But this we know
that by their union with each other
to constitute a human person
the glories of the upper and lower worlds are in
a sort epitomized and shadowed out in man.
II. His moral state
or condition as an upright man.
1. With respect to his rectitude.
2. With respect to his happiness.
III. The tenure by
which or the terms upon which he was to hold this moral state. It was not
entailed upon him by any absolute promise that he should continue in it; nor
was it put upon a mere act of Divine sovereignty whether he should hold or lose
it; the first would have left no room for a trial of his obedience
and the
last would have taken away a grand article of his encouragement to that
obedience and of his pleasure in it. But he was to hold it by a covenant of
works
upon condition of perfect obedience to the end of that state of
probation in which it became the wisdom of God to place him.
IV. The concern
that all mankind had therein. He whom God created after His own image is to be
considered as a public person
who was to hold or lose that happy state
not
only for himself
but for all his natural offspring. Had he creed
we had all
been blessed and confirmed in blessedness with him
as upon his fall
Scripture
and experience assure us
we lost it with him. Use:--
1. This shows what dreadful work sin has made in the world.
2. This shows that all good is from God
and all evil from ourselves.
3. Let us be deeply affected with the present state of human nature.
4. Let us turn our eyes to the better covenant and the better Head
which God has provided for our recovery. (J. Guyse
D. D.)
The state of innocence
I. The
righteousness of this state wherein man was created. “God made him upright.”
1. This supposes a law to which he was conformed in his creation; as
when anything is made regular
or according to rule
of necessity the rule
itself is presupposed. Whence we may gather that this law was no other than the
eternal
indispensable law of righteousness observed in all points by the
second Adam
opposed by the carnal mind
and some notions of which remain yet
among the Pagans
who
“having not the law
are a law unto themselves” (Romans 2:14).
2. From what has been said it may be gathered that the original
righteousness explained was universal and natural
yet mutable.
3. It was mutable; it was a righteousness that might he lost
as is
manifested by the doleful event. Let no man quarrel with God’s works in this;
for if Adam had been unchangeably righteous
he must have been so either by
nature or by free gift: by nature he could not be so
for that is proper to
God
and incommunicable to any creature; if by free gift
then no wrong was done
to him in withholding what he could not crave.
II. Some of those
things which accompanied or flowed from the righteousness of man’s primitive
state. Happiness is the result of holiness; and as this was a holy
so it was a
happy state.
1. Man was then a very glorious creature. There was no impurity to be
seen without; no squint look in the eyes
after any unclean thing; the tongue
spoke nothing but the language of heaven; and
in a word
“the King’s son was
all-glorious within
” and his “clothing of wrought gold.”
2. He was the favourite of Heaven. While he was alone in the world he
was not alone
for God was with him. His communion and fellowship were with his
Creator
and that immediately; for as yet there was nothing to turn away the
face of God from the work of His own hands
seeing sin had not as yet entered
which alone could make the breach.
3. God made him lord of the world
prince of the inferior creatures
universal lord and emperor of the whole earth. The Lord dealt most liberally
and bountifully with him--“put all things under his feet”: only He kept one
thing
one tree in the garden
out of his hands
even the tree of knowledge of
good and evil. But you may say
and did He grudge him this? I answer
Nay; but
when He had made him thus holy and happy
He graciously gave him this restriction
which was
in its own nature a prop and stay to keep him from falling. And this I say upon
these three grounds:--
4. As he had a perfect tranquillity within his own breast
so he had
a perfect calm without. His heart had nothing to reproach him with; conscience
then
had nothing to do but to direct
approve
and feast him; and
without
there was nothing to annoy him.
5. Man had a life of pure delight and unalloyed pleasure in this
state. God placed him
not in a common place of the earth; but in Eden
a place
eminent for pleasantness
as the name of it imports; nay
not only in Eden
but
in the Garden of Eden; the mast pleasant spot of that pleasant place; a garden
planted by God Himself
to be the mansion-house of this His favourite.
6. tie was immortal. He would never have died if he had not sinned;
it was in case of sin that death was threatened (Genesis 2:17)
which shows it to be the
consequence of sin
and not of the sinless human nature.
III. The doctrine of
the state of innocence applied.
1. For information.
2. This conveys a reproof to three sorts of persons.
3. Of lamentation. Here was a stately building; man carved like a
fair palace
but now lying in ashes: let us stand and look on the ruins
and
drop a tear. Ah
may we not now say
“0 that we were as in months past!” when
there was no stain in our nature
no cloud on our minds
no pollution in our
hearts! Had we never been in better case
the matter had been less; but they
that were brought up in scarlet do now embrace dunghills. Where is our
primitive glory now? (T. Boston
D. D.)
Man’s creation in a holy
but mutable
state
I. God endued the
nature of man
in his creation
with a perfect and universal rectitude.
1. All created rectitude consists in conformity to some rule or law.
2. The highest rule of all created rectitude is the will of God
considered as including most intrinsically an eternal and immutable reason
justice and goodness.
3. Any sufficient signification of this will
touching the reasonable
creature’s duty
is a law
indispensably obliging such a creature.
4. The law given to Adam at his creation was partly natural
given by
way of internal impression upon his soul; partly positive
given (as is
probable) by some more external discovery or revelation.
5. Adam was endued in his creation with a sufficient ability and
habitude to conform to this whole law
both natural and positive; in which
ability and habitude his original rectitude did consist.
II. Man’s defection
from his primitive state was merely voluntary
and from the unconstrained
choice of his own mutable and self-determining will.
1. The nature of man is now become universally depraved and sinful.
This Scripture is full of (1 Kings 8:46; Psalms 14:1; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12-13; Romans 5:17-19; 1 John 5:19
etc.)
and experience
and common observation put it beyond dispute.
2. The pure and holy nature of God could never be the original of man’s
sin. This is evident in itself. God disclaims it; nor can any affirm it of Him
without denying His very being (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 5:4; 3 John 1:11).
3. It is blasphemous and absurd to talk of two principles (as the
Manichees of old); the one good
and the cause of all good; the other evil
and
the cause of all evil.
4. It was not possible that either external objects
or the
temptation of the devil
should necessitate the will of man to sin.
5. The whole nature of sin consisting only in a defect
no other
cause need be assigned of it than a defective; that is
an understanding
will
and inferior powers
however originally good
yet mutably and defectively so.
6. Man
being created mutable as to his holiness
must needs be so as
to his happiness too. And that both upon a legal account (for the law had
determined that if he did sin he must die)
and also upon a natural; for it was
not possible that
his soul being once depraved by sin
the powers of it
vitiated
their order each to other and toward their objects broken and
interrupted
there should remain a disposition and aptitude to converse with
the Highest Good. (John Howe
M. A.)
Man’s fall
I. Man’s primitive
innocence.
II. Man’s acquired
sin.
1. It is striking to observe that “many inventions” is in the plural.
Righteousness is spoken of as oneness
singleness of heart. But the ways of sin
are many.
2. These ways are of man’s seeking--sought out. All men have followed
the example of Adam
seeking ways of happiness beyond what God has prescribed
for them. True happiness is only to be found in His service
and if man seeks
it elsewhere he will be disappointed.
III. Lessons.
1. The folly of palliating our condition
or assuming a character we
do not possess. A man’s character may possess much that is lovely
but the best
are fallen creatures.
2. The folly of casting the blame of our sinfulness on God. God
originally made man upright.
3. The folly of supposing that we can recover ourselves from the
fall.
4. The blessedness of comparing our own folly with the wisdom of God
and our present wretched condition with that which He has provided. He can
restore and recover us through the sacrifice of Christ
and His vicarious
atonement on our behalf. (Homilist.)
The fall
At first sight it would seem almost incredible that a being
endowed and circumstanced as was Adam
probably informed that not only his own
happiness
but that of an unnumbered posterity
depended on his obedience to a
single command
should have signally failed in his probation
and provoked a
curse which the least steadfastness might have averted. Our only business now
however
in examining this matter
is with the truth that “God made man
upright
” and that in making him upright He had done enough for His creature.
You may
indeed
say that God might have so constituted Adam that he should
have been incapable of falling
and you may ask
“Why was he not thus
constituted?” If you mean that human nature might have been such that to sin
would have been impossible
we believe you to assert what is altogether
incorrect. An incapacity of sinning is the property of no finite nature. The
archangel
sublime in his prowess
is nevertheless finite--and what is finite
may be measured and matched by temptation; add you must pass from the created
to the uncreated
and bow down before Him who is every way infinite
ere you
can find a being of whom to declare that he cannot sin because by nature
inaccessible to evil. But then you will say
“If not by nature
undoubtedly by
grace
our first parents might have been prevented from yielding; grace in sufficient
measure to maintain them in their obedience had been granted to many angels
and might
if God had seen fit
have been granted to man.” Yes
it might; but
grace
from its very nature
must be altogether free; God may give it or
withhold it
according to His pleasure; and if there was no flaw in the
original constitution of Adam
his powers having all that perfectness which
consisted with creatureship
it could not have been at variance with any
attribute of God to withhold that grace which should have kept him from
falling. That God should have placed His creature in a share of probation
the
trial being quite within the strength
and the reward of obedience unspeakably
magnificent
you can imagine nothing more equitable
nothing more worthy every way
of Deity; but there can be no probation where there is that prevention which
you think might have been extended to Adam; if you allow it worthy of God to
place His creature on trial
you make it indispensable that He should suffer
him to fall. But if there still lurk a feeling in your minds--a feeling not to
be met by argu-ment-that it was unlike a merciful God to permit His creature to
work out for himself a heritage of woe and of shame
why
then
we call upon
you to remember that
whilst allowing the evil
God had determined the
antidote. I doubt not the glory of an unfallen man
I question not the
splendour and loveliness of an unblighted paradise; very noble must Adam have
been
and beautiful amidst the surrounding creation
when God conversed familiarly
with man
and earth was as the shrine of its Maker; and sublime
indeed
would
have been the spectacle
and majestic our inheritance
had each of us been born
in the image of God
and secured against losing the resemblance; but I would
not exchange what I am
if linked by faith with the Mediator Christ
for what I
should have been bad Adam never transgressed. I know not what place would then
have belonged to our nature amongst the orders of creation
but this I know
that now it is associated with the Divine
and imagination itself fails to
measure its dignity. I know that by occupying my place
suffering and obeying
in my stead
the Son of God has done vastly more than reinstate me in my
forfeited possession: He has set me “far above principalities and powers”: He
has opened to me happiness which is not to be reached by aught else created; He
has brought me into a relationship with Deity
which could not have resulted
from creation. Oh! then
to murmur because Adam was allowed to destroy us by
his apostasy is to forget or deny that Christ redeemed us by His agony; to make
it matter of complaint that we were suffered to fall is to repine at being
placed unspeakably higher than we originally stood. It was not through any
fault in his original constitution that Adam fell away. That constitution was
indeed
mutable
because Adam was a creature
and no created nature
not the
very highest
can in itself be immutable. But there was no defect in Adam
unless you choose to reckon it a defect that he was finite. The understanding
could immediately distinguish truth from error; the will was prompt to follow
the verdict of the understanding; and the passions were all held in thorough
subordination; so that
comparing the circumstances and the endowments of Adam
you may see that he possessed sufficient power for passing successfully through
his probation
and that
having been created
he might
had he chosen
have
continued in uprightness. Just
then
and true
and merciful was God in His
dealings with the father of our race
for man could not have fallen had he not
of his own will “sought out inventions.” This brief description has been
applicable from the first. It was that they might “be as gods
” that they might
“know good and evil
” that they might advance themselves in the scale of
intelligence
for this it was that Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit
and set at nought the positive command. They tried the experiment
and
with
all the consequences of failure
bequeathed to their children the fatal wish to
invent good for themselves rather than seek it in God. The many inventions
which we seek out; the schemes
even where there is the light of revelation
for being ourselves the authors
either in whole or in part
of our own
deliverance
these are continued evidences that we are the children of those
who even in paradise planned their own exaltation and thought to be wiser than
God. We imitate our forefather
resolving to be ourselves the architects of our
greatness
and therefore building on the quicksand; neglecting
as he did
the
simple declarations of revelation
we take our own way of acquiring knowledge
and learn it by being lost. Oh! for the spirit of St. Paul--“I determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” I read the
history of human transgression and ruin. I read it in the pages of Scripture; I
read it in the throes and the convulsions of a disorganized world. I then turn
to the record of redemption. I find that God has graciously taken into His own
hands the work of my salvation. I learn that
though fallen
He is ready to
exalt me; though corrupted
He is willing to purify
though worthy of
condemnation
He offers me forgiveness and pardon. (H. Melvill
B. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》