The wise and penitent preacher is here closing his sermon; and he
closes it, not only lie a good orator, but like a good preacher, with
that which was likely to make the best impressions and which he wished
might be powerful and lasting upon his hearers. Here is,
I. An exhortation to young people to begin betimes to be religious and
not to put it off to old age
(Ecclesiastes 12:1),
enforced with arguments taken from the calamities of old age
(Ecclesiastes 12:1-5)
and the great change that death will make upon us,
Ecclesiastes 12:6,7.
II. A repetition of the great truth he had undertaken to prove in this
discourse, the vanity of the world,
Ecclesiastes 12:8.
III. A confirmation and recommendation of what he had written in this
and his other books, as worthy to be duly weighed and considered,
Ecclesiastes 12:9.
IV. The whole matter summed up and concluded, with a charge to all to
be truly religious, in consideration of the judgment to come,
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
The Infirmities of Old Age; The Effects of Death.
1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say,
I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be
not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and
the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease
because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be
darkened,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of
the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the
bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and
fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish,
and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail:
because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the
streets:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the
spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Here is,
I. A call to young people to think of God, and mind their duty to him,
when they are young: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth. This is,
1. The royal preacher's application of his sermon concerning the vanity
of the world and every thing in it. "You that are young flatter
yourselves with expectations of great things from it, but believe those
that have tried it; it yields no solid satisfaction to a soul;
therefore, that you may not be deceived by this vanity, nor too much
disturbed by it, remember your Creator, and so guard yourselves
against the mischiefs that arise from the vanity of the creature."
2. It is the royal physician's antidote against the particular
diseases of youth, the love of mirth, and the indulgence of sensual
pleasures, the vanity which childhood and youth are subject to; to
prevent and cure this, remember thy Creator. Here is,
(1.) A great duty pressed upon us, to remember God as our
creator, not only to remember that God is our Creator, that he
made us and not we ourselves, and is therefore our rightful Lord
and owner, but we must engage ourselves to him with the considerations
which his being our Creator lay us under, and pay him the honour and
duty which we owe him as our Creator. Remember thy Creators; the
word is plural, as it is
Job 35:10,
Where is God my Makers? For God said, Let us make man,
us, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
(2.) The proper season for this duty--in the days of thy youth,
the days of thy choice (so some), thy choice days, thy choosing
days. "Begin in the beginning of thy days to remember him from whom
thou hadst thy being, and go on according to that good beginning. Call
him to mind when thou art young, and keep him in mind throughout all
the days of thy youth, and never forget him. Guard thus against the
temptations of youth, and thus improve the advantages of it."
II. A reason to enforce this command: While the evil days come not,
and the years of which thou shalt say I have no pleasure in
them.
1. Do it quickly,
(1.) "Before sickness and death come. Do it while thou livest, for it
will be too late to do it when death has removed thee from this state
of trial and probation to that of recompence and retribution." The days
of sickness and death are the days of evil, terrible to nature,
evil days indeed to those that have forgotten their Creator.
These evil days will come sooner or later; as yet they
come not, for God is long-suffering to us-ward, and gives
us space to repent; the continuing of life is but the deferring
of death, and, while life is continued and death deferred, it concerns
us to prepare, and get the property of death altered, that we may die
comfortably.
(2.) Before old age comes, which, if death prevent not, will come, and
they will be years of which we shall say, We have no pleasure in
them,--when we shall not relish the delights of sense, as Barzillai
(2 Samuel 19:35),
--when we shall be loaded with bodily infirmities, old and blind, or
old and lame,--when we shall be taken off from our usefulness, and our
strength shall be labour and sorrow,--when we shall
either have parted with our relations, and all our old friends, or be
afflicted in them and see them weary of us,--when we shall feel
ourselves die by inches. These years draw nigh, when all that
comes will be vanity, the remaining months all months of
vanity, and there will be no pleasure but in the reflection of a
good life on earth and the expectation of a better life in heaven.
2. These two arguments he enlarges upon in the following verses, only
inverting the order, and shows,
(1.) How many are the calamities of old age, and that if we should live
to be old, our days will be such as we shall have no pleasure
in, which is a good reason why we should return to God, and make
our peace with him, in the days of our youth, and not put it off
till we come to be old; for it will be no thanks to us to leave the
pleasures of sin when they have left us, nor to return to God when need
forces us. It is the greatest absurdity and ingratitude imaginable to
give the cream and flower of our days to the devil, and reserve the
bran, and refuse, and dregs of them for God; this is offering the
torn, and the lame, and the sick for sacrifice; and, besides, old
age being thus clogged with infirmities, it is the greatest folly
imaginable to put off that needful work till then, which requires the
best of our strength, when our faculties are in their prime, and
especially to make the work more difficult by a longer continuance in
sin, and, laying up treasures of guilt in the conscience, to add to the
burdens of age and make them much heavier. If the calamities of age
will be such as are here represented, we shall have need of something
to support and comfort us then, and nothing will be more effectual to
do that than the testimony of our consciences for us that we begin
betimes to remember our Creator and have not since laid aside the
remembrance of him. How can we expect God should help us when we are
old, if we will not serve him when we are young? See
Psalms 71:17,18.
[1.] The decays and infirmities of old age are here elegantly described
in figurative expressions, which have some difficulty in them to us
now, who are not acquainted with the common phrases and metaphors used
in Solomon's age and language; but the general scope is plain--to show
how uncomfortable, generally, the days of old age are. First,
Then the sun and the light of it, the moon and
the stars, and the light which they borrow from it, will be
darkened. They look dim to old people, in consequence of the decay
of their sight; their countenance is clouded, and the beauty and lustre
of it are eclipsed; their intellectual powers and faculties, which are
as lights in the soul, are weakened; their understanding and memory
fail them, and their apprehension is not so quick nor their fancy so
lively as it has been; the days of their mirth are over (light is often
put for joy and prosperity) and they have not the pleasure either of
the converse of the day or the repose of the night, for both the
sun and the moon are darkened to them. Secondly, Then
the clouds return after the rain; as, when the weather is
disposed to wet, no sooner has one cloud blown over than another
succeeds it, so it is with old people, when they have got free from one
pain or ailment, they are seized with another, so that their distempers
are like a continual dropping in a very rainy day. The end of
one trouble is, in this world, but the beginning of another, and deep
calls unto deep. Old people are often afflicted with defluxions of
rheum, like soaking rain, after which still more clouds return, feeding
the humour, so that it is continually grievous, and therein the body,
as it were, melts away. Thirdly, Then the keepers of the
house tremble. The head, which is as the watch-tower, shakes, and
the arms and hands, which are ready for the preservation of the body,
shake too, and grow feeble, upon every sudden approach and attack of
danger. That vigour of the animal spirits which used to be exerted for
self-defence fails and cannot do its office; old people are easily
dispirited and discouraged. Fourthly, Then the strong men
shall bow themselves; the legs and thighs, which used to support
the body, and bear its weight, bend, and cannot serve for travelling as
they have done, but are soon tired. Old men that have been in their
time strong men become weak and stoop for age,
Zechariah 8:4.
God takes no pleasure in the legs of a man
(Psalms 147:10),
for their strength will soon fail; but in the Lord Jehovah there is
everlasting strength; he has everlasting arms. Fifthly, Then
the grinders cease because they are few; the teeth, with which
we grind our meat and prepare it for concoction, cease to do their
part, because they are few. They are rotted and broken, and
perhaps have been drawn because they ached. Some old people have lost
all their teeth, and others have but few left; and this infirmity is
the more considerable because the meat, not being well chewed, for want
of teeth, is not well digested, which has as much influence as any
thing upon the other decays of age. Sixthly, Those that look out of
the windows are darkened; the eyes wax dim, as Isaac's
(Genesis 27:1),
and Ahijah's,
1 Kings 14:4.
Moses was a rare instance of one who, when 120 years old, had good
eye-sight, but ordinarily the sight decays in old people as soon as any
thing, and it is a mercy to them that art helps nature with spectacles.
We have need to improve our sight well while we have it, because the
light of the eyes may be gone before the light of life. Seventhly,
The doors are shut in the streets. Old people keep within doors,
and care not for going abroad to entertainments. The lips, the doors of
the mouth, are shut in eating, because the teeth are gone and the
sound of the grinding with them is low, so that they have
not that command of their meat in their mouths which they used to have;
they cannot digest their meat, and therefore little grist is brought to
the mill. Eightly, Old people rise up at the voice of the
bird. They have no sound sleep as young people have, but a little
thing disturbs them, even the chirping of a bird; they cannot rest for
coughing, and therefore rise up at cock-crowing, as soon as any body is
stirring; or they are apt to be jealous, and timorous, and full of
care, which breaks their sleep and makes them rise early; or they are
apt to be superstitious, and rise up as in a fright, at those
voices of birds, as of ravens, or screech-owls, which soothsayers
call ominous. Ninthly, With them all the daughters of
music are brought low. They have neither voice nor ear, can
neither sing themselves nor take any pleasure, as Solomon had done in
the days of his youth, in singing men, and singing women, and
musical instruments,
Ecclesiastes 2:8.
Old people grow hard of hearing, and unapt to distinguish sounds and
voices. Tenthly, They are afraid of that which is high,
afraid to go to the top of any high place, either because, for want of
breath, they cannot reach it, or, their heads being giddy or their legs
failing them, they dare not venture to it, or they frighten themselves
with fancying that that which is high will fall upon them.
Fear is in the way; they can neither ride nor walk with
their former boldness, but are afraid of every thing that lies in their
way, lest it throw them down. Eleventhly, The almond-tree
flourishes. The old man's hair has grown white, so that his head
looks like an almond-tree in the blossom. The almond-tree blossoms
before any other tree, and therefore fitly shows what haste old age
makes in seizing upon men; it prevents their expectations and comes
faster upon them than they thought of. Gray hairs are here and there
upon them, and they perceive it not. Twelfthly, The grasshopper is
a burden and desire fails. Old men can bear nothing; the lightest
thing sits heavily upon them, both on their bodies and on their minds,
a little thing sinks and breaks them. Perhaps the grasshopper
was some food that was looked upon to be very light of digestion (John
Baptist's meat was locusts), but even that lies heavily upon an
old man's stomach, and therefore desire fails, he has no
appetite to his meat, neither shall he regard the desire of
woman, as that king,
Daniel 11:37.
Old men become mindless and listless, and the pleasures of sense are to
them tasteless and sapless.
[2.] It is probable that Solomon wrote this when he was himself old,
and could speak feelingly of the infirmities of age, which perhaps grew
the faster upon him for the indulgence he had given himself in sensual
pleasures. Some old people bear up better than others under the decays
of age, but, more or less, the days of old age are and will be evil
days and of little pleasure. Great care therefore should be taken
to pay respect and honour to old people, that they may have something
to balance these grievances and nothing may be done to add to them. And
all this, put together, makes up a good reason why we should
remember our Creator in the days of our youth, that he may
remember us with favour when these evil days come, and his
comforts may delight our souls when the delights of sense are in a
manner worn off.
(2.) He shows how great a change death will make with us, which will be
either the prevention or the period of the miseries of old age. Nothing
else will keep them off, nor any thing else cure them. "Therefore
remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, because death is
certainly before thee, perhaps it is very near thee, and it is a
serious thing to die, and thou shouldst feel concerned with the utmost
care and diligence to prepare for it."
[1.] Death will fix us in an unchangeable state: Man shall then
go to his long home, and all these infirmities and decays of age
are harbingers of and advances towards that awful remove. At death
man goes from this world and all the employments and enjoyments
of it. He has gone for good and all, as to his present state. He has
gone home, for here he was a stranger and pilgrim; both soul and
body go to the place whence they came,
Ecclesiastes 12:7.
He has gone to his rest, to the place where he is to fix. He has gone
to his home, to the house of his world (so some), for this world
is not his. He has gone to his long home, for the days of his
lying in the grave will be many. He has gone to his house of
eternity, not only to his house whence he shall never return to
this world, but to the house where he must be for ever. This should
make us willing to die, that, at death, we must go home; and why
should we not long to go to our Father's house? And this should quicken
us to get ready to die, that we must then go to our long home,
to an everlasting habitation.
[2.] Death will be an occasion of sorrow to our friends that love us.
When man goes to his long home the mourners go about the
streets--the real mourners, and those, as now with us,
distinguished by their habits as they go along the streets,--the
mourners for ceremony, that were hired to weep for the dead, both to
express and to excite the real mourning. When we die we not only
remove to a melancholy house before us, but we leave a melancholy house
behind us. Tears are a tribute due to the dead, and this, among other
circumstances, makes it a serious thing to die. But in vain do we go
to the house of mourning, and see the mourners go about the
streets, if it do not help to make us serious and pious mourners in
the closet.
[3.] Death will dissolve the frame of nature and take down the earthly
house of this tabernacle, which is elegantly described,
Ecclesiastes 12:6.
Then shall the silver cord, by which soul and body were
wonderfully fastened together, be loosed, that sacred knot
untied, and those old friends be forced to part; then shall the
golden bowl, which held the waters of life for us, be
broken; then shall the pitcher with which we used to fetch
up water, for the constant support of life and the repair of its
decays, be broken, even at the fountain, so that it can
fetch up no more; and the wheel (all those organs that serve for
the collecting and distributing of nourishment) shall be broken,
and disabled to do their office any more. The body shall become like a
watch when the spring is broken, the motion of all the wheels is
stopped and they all stand still; the machine is taken to pieces; the
heart beats no more, nor does the blood circulate. Some apply this to
the ornaments and utensils of life; rich people must, at death, leave
behind them their clothing and furniture of silver and
gold, and poor people their earthen pitchers, and the
drawers of water will have their wheel broken.
[4.] Death will resolve us into our first principles,
Ecclesiastes 12:7.
Man is a strange sort of creature, a ray of heaven united to a clod of
earth; at death these are separated, and each goes to the place whence
it came. First, The body, that clod of clay, returns to
its own earth. It is made of the earth; Adam's body was
so, and we are of the same mould; it is a house of clay. At death it is
laid in the earth, and in a little time will be resolved into
earth, not to be distinguished from common earth, according to the
sentence
(Genesis 3:19),
Dust thou art and therefore to dust thou shalt return.
Let us not therefore indulge the appetites of the body, nor pamper it
(it will be worms' meat shortly), nor let sin reign in our mortal
bodies, for they are mortal,
Romans 6:12.
Secondly, The soul, that beam of light, returns to that
God who, when he made man of the dust of the ground, breathed
into him the breath of life, to make him a living soul
(Genesis 2:7),
and forms the spirit of every man within him. When the fire consumes
the wood the flame ascends, and the ashes return to the earth
out of which the wood grew. The soul does not die with the body; it is
redeemed from the power of the grave
(Psalms 49:15);
it can subsist without it and will in a state of separation from it, as
the candle burns, and burns brighter, when it is taken out of the dark
lantern. It removes to the world of spirits, to which it is allied. It
goes to God as a Judge, to give account of itself, and to be
lodged either with the spirits in prison
(1 Peter 3:19)
or with the spirits in paradise
(Luke 23:43),
according to what was done in the body. This makes death terrible to
the wicked, whose souls go to God as an avenger, and comfortable to the
godly, whose souls go to God as a Father, into whose hands they
cheerfully commit them, through a Mediator, out of whom sinners may
justly dread to think of going to God.
The Conclusion of the Whole.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught
the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out,
and set in order many proverbs.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that
which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened
by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one
shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many
books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the
flesh.
Solomon is here drawing towards a close, and is loth to part till he
has gained his point, and prevailed with his hearers, with his readers,
to seek for that satisfaction in God only and in their duty to him
which they can never find in the creature.
I. He repeats his text
(Ecclesiastes 12:8),
1. As that which he had fully demonstrated the truth of, and so made
good his undertaking in this sermon, wherein he had kept closely to his
text, and both his reasons and his application were to the purpose.
2. As that which he desired to inculcate both upon others and upon
himself, to have it ready, and to make use of it upon all occasions. We
see it daily proved; let it therefore be daily improved: Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity.
II. He recommends what he had written upon this subject by divine
direction and inspiration to our serious consideration. The words of
this book are faithful, and well worthy our acceptance, for,
1. They are the words of one that was a convert, a penitent, that could
speak by dear-bought experience of the vanity of the world and the
folly of expecting great things from it. He was Coheleth, one
gathered in from his wanderings and gathered home to that God from whom
he had revolted. Vanity of vanities, saith the penitent. All
true penitents are convinced of the vanity of the world, for they find
it can do nothing to ease them of the burden of sin, which they
complain of.
2. They are the words of one that was wise, wiser than any, endued with
extraordinary measures of wisdom, famous for it among his neighbours,
who all sought unto him to hear his wisdom, and therefore a
competent judge of this matter, not only wise as a prince, but wise as
a preacher--and preachers have need of wisdom to win souls.
3. He was one that made it his business to do good, and to use wisdom
aright. Because he was himself wise, but knew he
had not his wisdom for himself, any more than he had it from himself,
he still taught the people that knowledge which he had
found useful to himself, and hoped might be so to them too. It is the
interest of princes to have their people well taught in religion, and
no disparagement to them to teach them themselves the good knowledge
of the Lord, but their duty to encourage those whose office it is
to teach them and to speak comfortably to them,
2 Chronicles 30:22.
Let not the people, the common people, be despised, no, not by the
wisest and greatest, as either unworthy or incapable of good knowledge:
even those that are well taught have need to be still taught,
that they may grow in knowledge.
4. He took a great deal of pains and care to do good, designing to
teach the people knowledge. He did not put them off with any
thing that came next to hand, because they were inferior people, and he
a very wise man, but considering the worth of the souls he preached to
and the weight of the subject he preached on, he gave good heed
to what he read and heard from others, that, having stocked himself
well, he might bring out of his treasury things new and old. He
gave good heed to what he spoke and wrote himself, and was
choice and exact in it; all he did was elaborate.
(1.) He chose the most profitable way of preaching, by proverbs or
short sentences, which would be more easily apprehended and remembered
than long and laboured periods.
(2.) He did not content himself with a few parables, or wise sayings,
and repeat them again and again, but he furnished himself with many
proverbs, a great variety of grave discourses, that he might have
something to say on every occasion.
(3.) He did not only give them such observations as were obvious and
trite, but he sought out such as were surprising and uncommon;
he dug into the mines of knowledge, and did not merely pick up what lay
on the surface.
(4.) He did not deliver his heads and observations at random, as they
came to mind, but methodized them, and set them in order that
they might appear in more strength and lustre.
5. He put what he had to say in such a dress as he thought would be
most pleasing: He sought to find out acceptable words, words of
delight
(Ecclesiastes 12:10);
he took care that good matter might not be spoiled by a bad style, and
by the ungratefulness and incongruity of the expression. Ministers
should study, not for the big words, nor the fine words, but
acceptable words, such as are likely to please men for their
good, to edification,
1 Corinthians 10:33.
Those that would win souls must contrive how to win upon them with
words fitly spoken.
6. That which he wrote for our instruction is of unquestionable
certainty, and what we may rely upon: That which was written was
upright and sincere, according to the real sentiments of the
penman, even words of truth, the exact representation of the
thing as it is. Those are sure not to miss their way who are guided by
these words. What good will acceptable words do us if they be
not upright and words of truth? Most are for smooth things, that
flatter them, rather than right things, that direct them
(Isaiah 30:10),
but to those that understand themselves, and their own interest,
words of truth will always be acceptable words.
7. That which he and other holy men wrote will be of great use and
advantage to us, especially being inculcated upon us by the exposition
of it,
Ecclesiastes 12:11.
Here observe,
(1.) A double benefit accruing to us from divine truths if duly applied
and improved; they are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, and instruction in righteousness. They are of use,
[1.] To excite us to our duty. They are as goads to the ox that draws
the plough, putting him forward when he is dull and quickening him, to
amend his pace. The truths of God prick men to the heart
(Acts 2:37)
and put them upon bethinking themselves, when they trifle and grow
remiss, and exerting themselves with more vigour in their work. While
our good affections are so apt as they are to grow flat and cool, we
have need of these goads.
[2.] To engage us to persevere in our duty. They are as nails to
those that are wavering and inconstant, to fix them to that which is
good. They are as goads to such as are dull and draw back, and
nails to such as are desultory and draw aside, means to
establish the heart and confirm good resolutions, that we may not sit
loose to our duty, nor even be taken off from it, but that what good
there is in us may be as a nail fastened in a sure place,
Ezra 9:8.
(2.) A double way of communicating divine truths, in order to those
benefits:--
[1.] By the scriptures, as the standing rule, the words of the
wise, that is, of the prophets, who are called wise men,
Matthew 23:34.
These we have in black and white, and may have recourse to them at any
time, and make use of them as goads and as nails. By them we may
teach ourselves; let them but come with pungency and power to the soul,
let the impressions of them be deep and durable, and the will make
us wise to salvation.
[2.] By the ministry. To make the words of the wise more
profitable to us, it is appointed that they should be impressed and
fastened by the masters of assemblies. Solemn assemblies for
religious worship are an ancient divine institution, intended for the
honour of God and the edification of his church, and are not only
serviceable, but necessary, to those ends. There must be masters of
these assemblies, who are Christ's ministers, and as such are to
preside in them, to be God's mouth to the people and theirs to God.
Their business is to fasten the words of the wise, and drive
them as nails to the head, in order to which the word of God is
likewise as a hammer,
Jeremiah 23:29.
8. That which is written, and thus recommended to us, is of divine
origin. Though it comes to us through various hands (many wise
men, and many masters of assemblies), yet it is given by
one and the same shepherd, the great shepherd of Israel,
that leads Joseph like a flock,
Psalms 80:1.
God is that one Shepherd, whose good Spirit indited the scriptures, and
assists the masters of the assemblies in opening and applying
the scriptures. These words of the wise are the true sayings of
God, on which we may rest our souls. From that one Shepherd all
ministers must receive what they deliver, and speak according to the
light of the written word.
9. The sacred inspired writings, if we will but make use of them, are
sufficient to guide us in the way of true happiness, and we need not,
in the pursuit of that, to fatigue ourselves with the search of other
writings
(Ecclesiastes 12:12):
"And further, nothing now remains but to tell thee that that
of making many books there is no end," that is,
(1.) Of writing many books. "If what I have written, serve not
to convince thee of the vanity of the world, and the necessity of being
religious, neither wouldst thou be convinced if I should write ever so
much." If the end be not attained in the use of those books of
scripture which God has blessed us with, neither should we obtain the
end, if we had twice as many more; nay, if we had so many that the
whole world could not contain them
(John 21:25),
and much study of them would but confound us, and would rather be a
weariness to the flesh than any advantage to the soul. We have as
much as God saw fit to give us, saw fit for us, and saw us fit for.
Much less can it be expected that those who will not by these be
admonished should be wrought upon by other writings. Let men write ever
so many books for the conduct of human life, write till they have tired
themselves with much study, they cannot give better instructions than
those we have from the word of God. Or,
(2.) Of buying many books, making ourselves master of them, and
masters of what is in them, by much study; still the desire of learning
would be unsatisfied. It will give a man indeed the best entertainment
and the best accomplishment this world can afford him; but if we be not
by these admonished of the vanity of the world, and human
learning, among other things, and its insufficiency to make us happy
without true piety, alas! there is no end of it, nor real benefit by
it; it will weary the body, but never give the soul any true
satisfaction. The great Mr. Selden subscribed to this when he owned
that in all the books he had read he never found that on which he could
rest his soul, but in the holy scripture, especially
Titus 2:11,12.
By these therefore let us be admonished.
The Conclusion of the Whole.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,
and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
The great enquiry which Solomon prosecutes in this book is, What is
that good which the sons of men should do?
Ecclesiastes 2:3.
What is the true way to true happiness, the certain means to attain our
great end? He had in vain sought it among those things which most men
are eager in pursuit of, but here, at length, he has found it, by the
help of that discovery which God anciently made to man
(Job 28:28),
that serious godliness is the only way to true happiness: Let us
hear the conclusion of the whole matter, the return entered upon
the writ of enquiry, the result of this diligent search; you shall have
all I have been driving at in two words. He does not say, Do you
hear it, but Let us hear it; for preachers must themselves
be hearers of that word which they preach to others, must hear it as
from God; those are teachers by the halves who teach others and not
themselves,
Romans 2:21.
Every word of God is pure and precious, but some words are worthy of
more special remark, as this; the Masorites begin it with a capital
letter, as that
Deuteronomy 6:4.
Solomon himself puts a nota bene before it, demanding attention
in these words, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Observe here,
I. The summary of religion. Setting aside all matters of doubtful
disputation, to be religious is to fear God and keep his
commandments.
1. The root of religion is fear of God reigning in the heart, and a
reverence of his majesty, a deference to his authority, and a dread of
his wrath. Fear God, that is, worship God, give him the honour
due to his name, in all the instances of true devotion, inward and
outward. See
Revelation 14:7.
2. The rule of religion is the law of God revealed in the scriptures.
Our fear towards God must be taught by his commandments
(Isaiah 29:13),
and those we must keep and carefully observe. Wherever the fear of God
is uppermost in the heart, there will be a respect to all his
commandments and care to keep them. In vain do we pretend to fear
God if we do not make conscience of our duty to him.
II. The vast importance of it: This is the whole of man; it is
all his business and all his blessedness; our whole duty is summed up
in this and our whole comfort is bound up in this. It is the concern of
every man, and ought to be his chief and continual care; it is the
common concern of all men, of their whole time. It is nothing to a man
whether he be rich or poor, high or low, but it is the main matter, it
is all in all to a man, to fear God and do as he bids him.
III. A powerful inducement to this,
Ecclesiastes 12:14.
We shall see of what vast consequence it is to us that we be religious
if we consider the account we must every one of us shortly give of
himself to God; thence he argued against a voluptuous and vicious life
(Ecclesiastes 11:9),
and here for a religious life: God shall bring every work into
judgment. Note,
1. There is a judgment to come, in which every man's eternal state will
be finally determined.
2. God himself will be the Judge, God-man will, not only because he has
a right to judge, but because he is perfectly fit for it, infinitely
wise and just.
3. Every work will then be brought into judgment, will
be enquired into and called over again. It will be a day to bring to
remembrance every thing done in the body.
4. The great thing to be then judged of concerning every work is
whether it be good or evil, conformable to the will of God or a
violation of it.
5. Even secret things, both good and evil, will be brought to
light, and brought to account, in the judgment of the great day
(Romans 2:16);
there is no good work, no bad work, hid, but shall then be made
manifest.
6. In consideration of the judgment to come, and the strictness of
that judgment, it highly concerns us now to be very strict in our
walking with God, that we may give up our account with joy.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Ecclesiastes' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
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