Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/794



We are still among Solomon's happy men, his happy servants, that stood continually before him to hear his wisdom; and they are the choicest of all the dictates of his wisdom, such as were more immediately given by divine inspiration, that are here transmitted to us, not to be heard, as by them, but once, and then liable to be mistaken or forgotten, and by repetition to lose their beauty, but to be read, reviewed, revolved, and had in everlasting remembrance. The account we have of Solomon's apostacy from God, in the latter end of his reign, (1 Kings xi. 1.) is the tragical part of his story; we may suppose that he spake his Proverbs in the prime of his time, while he kept his integrity, but delivered his Ecclesiastes when he was grown old, (for of the burthens and decays of age he speaks feelingly, ch. xii.) and was, by the grace of God, recovered from his backslidings: there he dictated his observations, here he wrote his own experiences; this is what days speak, and wisdom which the multitude of years teaches. The title of the book and the penman we shall meet with in the first verse, and therefore shall here only observe,

I. That it is a sermon, a sermon in print; the text is, (ch. i. 2.) Vanity of vanities, all is vanity; that is the doctrine too; it is proved at large, by many arguments, and an induction of particulars; and divers objections are answered; and, in the close, we have the use and application of all, by way of exhortation, to remember our Creator, to fear him, and to keep his commandments. There are indeed many things in this book which are dark, and hard to be understood, and some things which men of corrupt minds wrest to their own destruction, for want of distinguishing between Solomon's arguments and the objections of atheists and epicures; but there is enough easy and plain to convince us (if we will admit the conviction) of the vanity of the world, and its utter insufficiency to make us happy, the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make us miserable, and of the wisdom of being religious, and the solid comfort and satisfaction that are to be had in doing our duty both to God and man; this should be intended in every sermon, and that is a good sermon by which these points are in any measure gained.

II. That it is a penitential sermon, as some of David's psalms are penitential psalms; it is a recantation sermon, in which the preacher sadly laments his own folly and mistake, in promising himself satisfaction in the things of this world, and even in the forbidden pleasures of sense, which now he finds more bitter than death. His fall is a proof of the weakness of man's nature; Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor say, "I shall never be such a fool as to do so and so," when Solomon himself, the wisest of men, played the fool so egregiously; nor let the rich man glory in his riches, since Solomon's wealth was so great a snare to him, and did him a great deal more hurt than Job's poverty did him. His recovery is a proof of the power of God's grace, in bringing one back to God that had gone so far from him; it is a proof too of the riches of God's mercy in accepting him, notwithstanding the many aggravations of his sin, pursuant to the promise made to David, that if his children should commit iniquity, they should be corrected, but not abandoned and disinherited, 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15. Let him therefore that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall; and let him that is fallen, make haste to get up again, and not despair either of assistance or acceptance therein.

III. That it is a practical, profitable, sermon. Solomon, being brought to repentance, resolves, like his father, to teach transgressors God's way, (Ps. li. 13. ) and to give warning to all to take heed of splitting upon those rocks which had been fatal to him; and these were fruits meet for repentance. The fundamental error of the children of men, and that which is at the bottom of all their departures from God, is the same with that of our first parents, hoping to be as gods, by entertaining themselves with that which seems good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. Now the scope of this book is to show that this is a great mistake, that our happiness consists not in being as gods to ourselves, to have what we will, and do what we will, but in having Him that made us to be a God to us. The moral philosophers disputed much about man's felicity, or chief good, various opinions they had about it, but Solomon, in this book, determines the question, and assures us, that to fear God and keep his commandments, is the whole duty of man. He tried what satisfaction might be found in the wealth of the world, and the pleasures of sense, and at last pronounced all vanity and vexation; yet multitudes will not take his word, but will make the same dangerous experiment, and it proves fatal to them. He, 1. Shows the vanity of those things in which men commonly look for happiness, as