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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E C C L E S I A S T E S
CHAP. III.
Solomon having shown the vanity of studies, pleasures, and business,
and made it to appear that happiness is not to be found in the schools
of the learned, nor in the gardens of Epicurus, nor upon the exchange,
he proceeds, in this chapter, further to prove his doctrine, and the
inference he had drawn from it, That therefore we should cheerfully
content ourselves with, and make use of, what God has given us, by
showing,
I. The mutability of all human affairs,
II. The immutability of the divine counsels concerning them and the
unsearchableness of those counsels,
III. The vanity of worldly honour and power, which are abused for the
support of oppression and persecution if men be not governed by the
fear of God in the use of them,
For a check to proud oppressors, and to show them their vanity, he
reminds them,
1. That they will be called to account for it in the other world,
2. That their condition, in reference to this world (for of that he
speaks), is no better than that of the beasts,
And therefore he concludes that it is our wisdom to make use of what
power we have for our own comfort, and not to oppress others with
it.
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1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and
a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a
time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time
to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time
of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he
laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of
men to be exercised in it.
The scope of these verses is to show,
1. That we live in a world of changes, that the several events of time,
and conditions of human life, are vastly different from one another,
and yet occur promiscuously, and we are continually passing and
repassing between them, as in the revolutions of every day and every
year. In the wheel of nature
sometimes one spoke is uppermost and by and by the contrary; there is a
constant ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning; from one extreme to the
other does the fashion of this world change, ever did, and ever
will.
2. That every change concerning us, with the time and season of it, is
unalterably fixed and determined by a supreme power; and we must take
things as they come, for it is not in our power to change what is
appointed for us. And this comes in here as a reason why, when we are
in prosperity, we should by easy, and yet not secure–not to be secure
because we live in a world of changes and therefore have no reason to
say, To-morrow shall be as this day (the lowest valleys join to
the highest mountains), and yet to be easy, and, as he had advised
(ch. ii. 24),
to enjoy the good of our labour, in a humble dependence upon God
and his providence, neither lifted up with hopes, nor cast down with
fears, but with evenness of mind expecting every event. Here we
have,
I. A general proposition laid down: To every thing there is a
season,
v. 1.
1. Those things which seem most contrary the one to the other will, in
the revolution of affairs, each take their turn and come into play. The
day will give place to the night and the night again to the day. Is it
summer? It will be winter. Is it winter? Stay a while, and it will be
summer. Every purpose has its time. The clearest sky will be clouded,
Post gaudia luctus–Joy succeeds sorrow; and the most clouded
sky will clear up, Post nubila Phoebus–The sun will burst from
behind the cloud.
2. Those things which to us seem most casual and contingent are, in the
counsel and foreknowledge of God, punctually determined, and the very
hour of them is fixed, and can neither be anticipated nor adjourned a
moment.
II. The proof and illustration of it by the induction of particulars,
twenty-eight in number, according to the days of the moon’s revolution,
which is always increasing or decreasing between its full and change.
Some of these changes are purely the act of God, others depend more
upon the will of man, but all are determined by the divine counsel.
Every thing under heaven is thus changeable, but in heaven there
is an unchangeable state, and an unchangeable counsel concerning these
things.
1. There is a time to be born and a time to die. These are
determined by the divine counsel; and, as we were born, so we must die,
at the time appointed,
Some observe that here is a time to be born and a time to die,
but no time to live; that is so short that it is not worth mentioning;
as soon as we are born we begin to die. But, as there is a time to
be born and a time to die, so there will be a time to rise again, a
set time when those that lie in the grave shall be remembered,
2. A time for God to plant a nation, as that of Israel in
Canaan, and, in order to that, to pluck up the seven
nations that were planted there, to make room for them; and at
length there was a time when God spoke concerning Israel too, to
pluck up and to destroy, when the measure of their iniquity was
full,
There is a time for men to plant, a time of the year, a
time of their lives; but, when that which was planted has grown
fruitless and useless, it is time to pluck it up.
3. A time to kill, when the judgments of God are abroad in a
land and lay all waste; but, when he returns in ways of mercy, then is
a time to heal what he has torn
to comfort a people after the time that he has afflicted them,
Ps. xc. 15.
There is a time when it is the wisdom of rulers to use severe methods,
but there is a time when it is as much their wisdom to take a more
gentle course, and to apply themselves to lenitives, not corrosives.
4. A time to break down a family, an estate, a kingdom, when it
has ripened itself for destruction; but God will find a time, if
they return and repent, to rebuild what he has broken down; there is
a time, a set time, for the Lord to build up Zion,
Ps. cii. 13, 16.
There is a time for men to break up house, and break off
trade, and so to break down, which those that are busy in
building up both must expect and prepare for.
5. A time when God’s providence calls to weep and mourn,
and when man’s wisdom and grace will comply with the call, and will
weep and mourn, as in times of common calamity and danger, and
there it is very absurd to laugh, and dance, and make merry
(Isa. xxii. 12, 13; Ezek. xxi. 10);
but then, on the other hand, there is a time when God calls to
cheerfulness, a time to laugh and dance, and then he expects we
should serve him with joyfulness and gladness of heart. Observe,
The time of mourning and weeping is put first, before that of laughter
and dancing, for we must first sow in tears and then reap in
joy.
6. A time to cast away stones, by breaking down and demolishing
fortifications, when God gives peace in the borders, and there is no
more occasion for them; but there is a time to gather stones
together, for the making of strong-holds,
v. 5.
A time for old towers to fall, as that in Siloam
(Luke xii. 4),
and for the temple itself to be so ruined as that not one stone
should be left upon another; but also a time for towers and
trophies too to be erected, when national affairs prosper.
7. A time to embrace a friend when we find him faithful, but
a time to refrain from embracing when we find he is unfair or
unfaithful, and that we have cause to suspect him; it is then our
prudence to be shy and keep at a distance. It is commonly applied to
conjugal embraces, and explained by
8. A time to get, get money, get preferment, get good bargains
and a good interest, when opportunity smiles, a time when a wise man
will seek (so the word is); when he is setting out in the world
and has a growing family, when he is in his prime, when he prospers and
has a run of business, then it is time for him to be busy and make hay
when the sun shines. There is a time to get wisdom, and
knowledge, and grace, when a man has a price put into his hand; but
then let him expect there will come a time to spend, when all he has
will be little enough to serve his turn. Nay, there will come a time
to lose, when what has been soon got will be soon scattered and
cannot be held fast.
9. A time to keep, when we have use for what we have got, and
can keep it without running the hazard of a good conscience; but there
may come a time to cast away, when love to God may oblige us to
cast away what we have, because we must deny Christ and wrong our
consciences if we keep it
and rather to make shipwreck of all than of the faith; nay, when love
to ourselves may oblige us to cast it away, when it is for the saving
of our lives, as it was when Jonah’s mariners heaved their cargo into
the sea.
10. A time to rend the garments, as upon occasion of some great
grief, and a time to sew, them again, in token that the grief is
over. A time to undo what we have done and a time to do again what we
have undone. Jerome applies this to the rending of the Jewish church
and the sewing and making up of the gospel church thereupon.
11. A time when it becomes us, and is our wisdom and duty, to
keep silence, when it is an evil time
(Amos v. 13),
when our speaking would be the casting of pearl before swine, or
when we are in danger of speaking amiss
(Ps. xxxix. 2);
but there is also a time to speak for the glory of God and the
edification of others, when silence would be the betraying of a
righteous cause, and when with the mouth confession is to be made to
salvation; and it is a great part of Christian prudence to know when to
speak and when to hold our peace.
12. A time to love, and to show ourselves friendly, to be free
and cheerful, and it is a pleasant time; but there may come a time
to hate, when we shall see cause to break off all familiarity with
some that we have been fond of, and to be upon the reserve, as having
found reason for a suspicion, which love is loth to admit.
13. A time of war, when God draws the sword for judgment and
gives it commission to devour, when men draw the sword for justice and
the maintaining of their rights, when there is in the nations a
disposition to war; but we may hope for a time of peace, when
the sword of the Lord shall be sheathed and he shall make wars to
cease
(Ps. xlvi. 9),
when the end of the war is obtained, and when there is on all sides a
disposition to peace. War shall not last always, nor is there any peace
to be called lasting on this side the everlasting peace. Thus in all
these changes God has set the one over-against the other, that we may
rejoice as though we rejoiced not and weep as though we wept
not.
III. The inferences drawn from this observation. If our present state
be subject to such vicissitude,
1. Then we must not expect our portion in it, for the good things of it
are of no certainty, no continuance
(v. 9):
What profit has he that works? What can a man promise himself
from planting and building, when that which he thinks is brought to
perfection may so soon, and will so surely, be plucked up and broken
down? All our pains and care will not alter either the mutable nature
of the things themselves or the immutable counsel of God concerning
them.
2. Then we must look upon ourselves as upon our probation in it. There
is indeed no profit in that wherein we labour; the thing itself,
when we have it, will do us little good; but, if we make a right use of
the disposals of Providence about it, there will be profit in that
(v. 10):
I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men,
not to make up a happiness by it, but to be exercised in it, to
have various graces exercised by the variety of events, to have their
dependence upon God tried by every change, and to be trained up to it,
and taught both how to want and how to abound,
Phil. iv. 12.
Note,
(1.) There is a great deal of toil and trouble to be seen among the
children of men. Labour and sorrow fill the world.
(2.) This toil and this trouble are what God has allotted us. He never
intended this world for our rest, and therefore never appointed us to
take our ease in it.
(3.) To many it proves a gift. God gives it to men, as the physician
gives a medicine to his patient, to do him good. This travail is given
to us to make us weary of the world and desirous of the remaining rest.
It is given to us that we may be kept in action, and may always have
something to do; for we were none of us sent into the world to be idle.
Every change cuts us out some new work, which we should be more
solicitous about, than about the event.
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11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he
hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out
the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to
rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the
good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever:
nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God
doeth it, that men should fear before him.
15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath
already been; and God requireth that which is past.
We have seen what changes there are in the world, and must not expect
to find the world more sure to us than it has been to others. Now here
Solomon shows the hand of God in all those changes; it is he that has
made every creature to be that to us which it is, and therefore we must
have our eye always upon him.
I. We must make the best of that which is, and must believe it
best for the present, and accommodate ourselves to it: He has made
every thing beautiful in his time
(v. 11),
and therefore, while its time lasts, we must be reconciled to it: nay,
we must please ourselves with the beauty of it. Note,
1. Every thing is as God has made it; it is really as he appointed it
to be, not as it appears to us.
2. That which to us seems most unpleasant is yet, in its proper time,
altogether becoming. Cold is as becoming in winter as heat in summer;
and the night, in its turn, is a black beauty, as the day, in its turn,
is a bright one.
3. There is a wonderful harmony in the divine Providence and all its
disposals, so that the events of it, when they come to be considered in
their relations and tendencies, together with the seasons of them, will
appear very beautiful, to the glory of God and the comfort of those
that trust in him. Though we see not the complete beauty of Providence,
yet we shall see it, and a glorious sight it will be, when the mystery
of God shall be finished. Then every thing shall appear to have been
done in the most proper time and it will be the wonder of eternity,
II. We must wait with patience for the full discovery of that which to
us seems intricate and perplexed, acknowledging that we cannot find
out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end, and
therefore must judge nothing before the time. We are to believe that
God has made all beautiful. Every thing is done well, as in creation,
so in providence, and we shall see it when the end comes, but till then
we are incompetent judges of it. While the picture is in drawing, and
the house in building, we see not the beauty of either; but when the
artist has put his last hand to them, and given them their finishing
strokes, then all appears very good. We see but the middle of God’s
works, not from the beginning of them (then we should see how admirably
the plan was laid in the divine counsels), nor to the end of them,
which crowns the action (then we should see the product to be
glorious), but we must wait till the veil be rent, and not arraign
God’s proceedings nor pretend to pass judgment on them. Secret
things belong not to us. Those words, He has set the world in
their hearts, are differently understood.
1. Some make them to be a reason why we may know more of God’s works
than we do; so Mr. Pemble: “God has not left himself without witness of
his righteous, equal, and beautiful ordering of things, but has set it
forth, to be observed in the book of the world, and this he has
set in men’s hearts, given man a large desire, and a power, in
good measure, to comprehend and understand the history of nature, with
the course of human affairs, so that, if men did but give themselves to
the exact observation of things, they might in most of them perceive an
admirable order and contrivance.”
2. Others make them to be a reason why we do not know so much of God’s
works as we might; so bishop Reynolds: “We have the world so much in
our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things,
and are so exercised in our travail concerning them, that we have
neither time nor spirit to eye God’s hand in them.” The world has not
only gained possession of the heart, but has formed prejudices there
against the beauty of God’s works.
III. We must be pleased with our lot in this world, and cheerfully
acquiesce in the will of God concerning us, and accommodate ourselves
to it. There is no certain, lasting, good in these
things; what good there is in them we are here told,
We must make a good use of them,
1. For the benefit of others. All the good there is in
them is to do good with them, to our families, to our
neighbours, to the poor, to the public, to its civil and religious
interests. What have we our beings, capacities, and estates for, but
to be some way serviceable to our generation? We mistake if we think we
were born for ourselves. No; it is our business to do good; it
is in doing good that there is the truest pleasure, and what is so laid
out is best laid up and will turn to the best account. Observe, It is
to do good in this life, which is short and uncertain; we have
but a little time to be doing good in, and therefore had need to redeem
time. It is in this life, where we are in a state of trial and
probation for another life. Every man’s life is his opportunity of
doing that which will make for him in eternity.
2. For our own comfort. Let us make ourselves easy, rejoice, and
enjoy the good of our labour, as it is the gift of God, and
so enjoy God in it, and taste his love, return him thanks, and make him
the centre of our joy, eat and drink to his glory, and serve
him with joyfulness of heart, in the abundance of all things. If
all things in this world be so uncertain, it is a foolish thing for men
sordidly to spare for the present, that they may hoard up all for
hereafter; it is better to live cheerfully and usefully upon what we
have, and let to-morrow take thought for the things of itself.
Grace and wisdom to do this is the gift of God, and it is a good
gift, which crowns the gifts of his providential bounty.
IV. We must be entirely satisfied in all the disposals of the divine
Providence, both as to personal and public concerns, and bring our
minds to them, because God, in all, performs the thing that is
appointed for us, acts according to the counsel of his will; and we are
here told,
1. That that counsel cannot be altered, and therefore it is our wisdom
to make a virtue of necessity, by submitting to it. It must be as God
wills: I know (and every one knows it that knows any thing of
God) that whatsoever God does it shall be for ever,
v. 14.
He is in one mind, and who can turn him? His measures are never
broken, nor is he ever put upon new counsels, but what he has purposed
shall be effected, and all the world cannot defeat nor disannul it. It
behoves us therefore to say, “Let it be as God wills,” for, how cross
soever it may be to our designs and interests, God’s will is his
wisdom.
2. That that counsel needs not to be altered, for there is nothing
amiss in it, nothing that can be am ended. If we could see it
altogether at one view, we should see it so perfect that nothing can
be put to it, for there is no deficiency in it, nor any thing
taken from it, for there is nothing in it unnecessary, or that can
be spared. As the word of God, so the works of God are every one of
them perfect in its kind, and it is presumption for us either to add to
them or to diminish from them,
It is therefore as much our interest, as our duty, to bring our wills
to the will of God.
V. We must study to answer God’s end in all his providences, which is
in general to make us religious. God does all that men should
fear before him, to convince them that there is a God above them
that has a sovereign dominion over them, at whose disposal they are and
all their ways, and in whose hands their times are and all events
concerning them, and that therefore they ought to have their eyes ever
towards him, to worship and adore him, to acknowledge him in all their
ways, to be careful in every thing to please him, and afraid of
offending him in any thing. God thus changes his disposals, and yet is
unchangeable in his counsels, not to perplex us, much less to drive us
to despair, but to teach us our duty to him and engage us to do it.
That which God designs in the government of the world is the support
and advancement of religion among men.
VI. Whatever changes we see or feel in this world, we must acknowledge
the inviolable steadiness of God’s government. The sun rises and sets,
the moon increases and decreases, and yet both are where they were, and
their revolutions are in the same method from the beginning according
to the ordinances of heaven; so it is with the events of
Providence
(v. 15):
That which has been is now. God has not of late begun to use
this method. No; things were always as mutable and uncertain as they
are now, and so they will be: That which is to be has already
been; and therefore we speak inconsiderately when we say, “Surely
the world was never so bad as it is now,” or “None ever met with such
disappointments as we meet with,” or “The times will never mend;” they
may mend with us, and after a time to mourn there may come a time to
rejoice, but that will still be liable to the common character, to the
common fate. The world, as it has been, is and will be constant in
inconstancy; for God requires that which is past, that is,
repeats what he has formerly done and deals with us no otherwise than
as he has used to deal with good men; and shall the earth be
forsaken for us, or the rock removed out of his place? There has no
change befallen us, nor any temptation by it overtaken us, but such
as is common to men. Let us not be proud and secure in prosperity,
for God may recall a past trouble, and order that to seize us and spoil
our mirth
(Ps. xxx. 7);
nor let us despond in adversity, for God may call back the comforts
that are past, as he did to Job. We may apply this to our past actions,
and our behaviour under the changes that have affected us. God will
call us to account for that which is past; and therefore, when
we enter into a new condition, we should judge ourselves for our sins
in our former condition, prosperous or afflicted.
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16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment,
that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness,
that iniquity was there.
17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the
wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for
every work.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of
men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that
they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts;
even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the
other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no
preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to
dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the
spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than
that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his
portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
Solomon is still showing that every thing in this world, without piety
and the fear of God, is vanity. Take away religion, and there is
nothing valuable among men, nothing for the sake of which a wise man
would think it worth while to live in this world. In these verses he
shows that power (than which there is nothing men are more ambitious
of) and life itself (than which there is nothing men are more fond,
more jealous of) are nothing without the fear of God.
I. Here is the vanity of man as mighty, man in his best estate, man
upon the throne, where his authority is submitted to, man upon the
judgment-seat, where his wisdom and justice are appealed to, and where,
if he be governed by the laws of religion, he is God’s vicegerent; nay,
he is of those to whom it is said, You are gods; but without the
fear of God it is vanity, for, set that aside, and,
1. The judge will not judge aright, will not use his power well, but
will abuse it; instead of doing good with it he will do hurt with it,
and then it is not only vanity, but a lie, a cheat to himself and to
all about him,
Solomon perceived, by what he had read of former times, what he heard
of other countries, and what he had seen in some corrupt judges, even
in the land of Israel, notwithstanding all his care to prefer good men,
that there was wickedness in the place of judgment. It is not so
above the sun: far be it from God that he should do iniquity, or
pervert justice. But under the sun it is often found that that
which should be the refuge, proves the prison, of oppressed innocency.
Man being in honour, and not understanding what he ought to do,
becomes like the beasts that perish, like the beasts of prey,
even the most ravenous,
Not only from the persons that sat in judgment, but even in the
places where judgment was, in pretence, administered, and
righteousness was expected, there was iniquity; men met with the
greatest wrongs in those courts to which they fled for justice. This is
vanity and vexation; for,
(1.) It would have been better for the people to have had no judges
than to have had such.
(2.) It would have been better for the judges to have had no power than
to have had it and used it to such ill purposes; and so they will say
another day.
2. The judge will himself be judged for not judging aright. When
Solomon saw how judgment was perverted among men he looked up to God
the Judge, and looked forward to the day of his judgment
(v. 17):
“I said in my heart that this unrighteous judgment is not so
conclusive as both sides take it to be, for there will be a review of
the judgment; God shall judge between the righteous and the
wicked, shall judge for the righteous and plead their cause, though
now it is run down, and judge against the wicked and reckon with them
for all their unrighteous decrees and the grievousness which
they have prescribed,”
With an eye of faith we may see, not only the period, but the
punishment of the pride and cruelty of oppressors
(Ps. xcii. 7),
and it is an unspeakable comfort to the oppressed that their cause will
be heard over again. Let them therefore wait with patience, for there
is another Judge that stands before the door. And, though
the day of affliction may last long, yet there is a time, a set
time, for the examination of every purpose, and every work done
under the sun. Men have their day now, but God’s day is coming,
With God there is a time for the re-hearing of causes,
redressing of grievances, and reversing of unjust decrees, though as
yet we see it not here,
II. Here is the vanity of man as mortal. He now comes to speak more
generally concerning the estate of the sons of men in this
world, their life and being on earth, and shows that their reason,
without religion and the fear of God, advances them but little above
the beasts. Now observe,
1. What he aims at in this account of man’s estate.
(1.) That God may be honoured, may be justified, may be
glorified–that they might clear God (so the margin reads it),
that if men have an uneasy life in this world, full of vanity and
vexation, they may thank themselves and lay no blame on God; let them
clear him, and not say that he made this world to be man’s prison and
life to be his penance; no, God made man, in respect both of honour and
comfort, little lower than the angels; if he be mean and
miserable, it is his own fault. Or, that God (that is, the world
of God) might manifest them, and discover them to themselves,
and so appear to be quick and powerful, and a judge of men’s
characters; and we may be made sensible how open we lie to God’s
knowledge and judgment.
(2.) That men may be humbled, may be vilified, may be
mortified–that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
It is no easy matter to convince proud men that they are but men
(Ps. ix. 20),
much more to convince bad men that they are beasts, that, being
destitute of religion, they are as the beasts that perish, as
the horse and the mule that have no understanding. Proud
oppressors are as beasts, as roaring lions and ranging bears.
Nay, every man that minds his body only, and not his soul, makes
himself no better than a brute, and must wish, at least, to die like
one.
2. The manner in which he verifies this account. That which he
undertakes to prove is that a worldly, carnal, earthly-minded man,
has no preeminence above the beast, for all that which he sets his
heart upon, places his confidence, and expects a happiness in, is
vanity,
v. 19.
Some make this to be the language of an atheist, who justifies himself
in his iniquity
(v. 16)
and evades the argument taken from the judgment to come
(v. 17)
by pleading that there is not another life after this, but that when
man dies there is an end of him, and therefore while he lives he may
live as he lists; but others rather think Solomon here speaks as he
himself thinks, and that it is to be understood in the same sense with
that of his father
(Ps. xlix. 14),
Like sheep they are laid in the grave, and that he intends to
show the vanity of this world’s wealth and honours “By the equal
condition in mere outward respects (as bishop Reynolds expounds it)
between men and beasts,”
(1.) The events concerning both seem much alike
(v. 19);
That which befals the sons of men is no other than that which
befals beasts; a great deal of knowledge of human bodies is
gained by the anatomy of the bodies of brutes. When the deluge swept
away the old world the beasts perished with mankind. Horses and men
are killed in battle with the same weapons of war.
(2.) The end of both, to an eye of sense, seems alike too: They have
all one breath, and breathe in the same air, and it is the general
description of both that in their nostrils is the breath of life
(Gen. vii. 22),
and therefore, as the one dies, so dies the other; in their
expiring there is no visible difference, but death makes much the same
change with a beast that it does with a man.
[1.] As to their bodies, the change is altogether the same, except the
different respects that are paid to them by the survivors. Let a man be
buried with the burial of an ass
and what preëminence then has he above a beast? The touch
of the dead body of a man, by the law of Moses, contracted a greater
ceremonial pollution than the touch of the carcase even of an unclean
beast or fowl. And Solomon here observes that all go unto one
place; the dead bodies of men and beasts putrefy alike; all are
of the dust, in their original, for we see all turn to dust
again in their corruption. What little reason then have we to be
proud of our bodies, or any bodily accomplishments, when they must not
only be reduced to the earth very shortly, but must be so in common
with the beasts, and we must mingle our dust with theirs!
[2.] As to their spirits there is indeed a vast difference, but not a
visible one,
It is certain that the spirit of the sons of men at death is
ascending; it goes upwards to the Father of spirits, who made
it, to the world of spirits to which it is allied; it dies not with the
body, but is redeemed from the power of the grave,
Ps. xlix. 15.
It goes upwards to be judged and determined to an unchangeable
state. It is certain that the spirit of the beast goes downwards to
the earth; it dies with the body; it perishes and is gone at death.
The soul of a beast is, at death, like a candle blown out–there is an
end of it; whereas the soul of a man is then like a candle taken out of
a dark lantern, which leaves the lantern useless indeed, but does
itself shine brighter. This great difference there is between the
spirits of men and beasts; and a good reason it is why men should
set their affections on things above, and lift up their souls to
those things, not suffering them, as if they were the souls of brutes,
to cleave to this earth. But who knows this difference? We
cannot see the ascent of the one and the descent of the other with our
bodily eyes; and therefore those that live by sense, as all carnal
sensualists do, that walk in the sight of their eyes and will
not admit any other discoveries, by their own rule of judgment have no
preëminence above the beasts. Who knows, that is, who
considers this?
Very few. Were it better considered, the world would be every way
better; but most men live as if they were to be here always, or as if
when they die there were an end of them; and it is not strange that
those live like beasts who think they shall die like beasts, but on
such the noble faculties of reason are perfectly lost and thrown
away.
3. An inference drawn from it
(v. 22):
There is nothing better, as to this world, nothing better to be
had out of our wealth and honour, than that a man should rejoice in
his own works, that is,
(1.) Keep a clear conscience, and never admit iniquity into
the place of righteousness. Let every man prove his own work,
and approve himself to God in it, so shall he have rejoicing in
himself alone,
Gal. vi. 4.
Let him not get nor keep any thing but what he can rejoice in. See
(2.) Live a cheerful life. If God have prospered the work of our hands
unto us, let us rejoice in it, and take the comfort of it, and not make
it a burden to ourselves and leave others the joy of it; for that is
our portion, not the portion of our souls (miserable are those that
have their portion in this life,
and fools are those that choose it and take up with it,
but it is the portion of the body; that only which we enjoy is ours out
of this world; it is taking what is to be had and making the best of
it, and the reason is because none can give us a sight of what shall
be after us, either who shall have our estates or what use they
will make of them. When we are gone it is likely we shall not see what
is after us; there is no correspondence that we know of between the
other world and this,
Those in the other world will be wholly taken up with that world, so
that they will not care for seeing what is done in this; and while we
are here we cannot foresee what shall be after us, either as to
our families or the public. It is not for us to know the times and
seasons that shall be after us, which, as it should be a
restraint to our cares about this world, so it should be a reason for
our concern about another. Since death is a final farewell to this
life, let us look before us to another life.
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