Then I beheld all the work of God. This is the apodosis to the first clause of Ecclesiastes 8:16. "God's work" is the same as the work that is done under the sun, and means men's actions and the providential ordering thereof. This a man, with his finite understanding, cannot find out, cannot thoroughly comprehend or explain (comp. Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ecclesiastes 7:23, Ecclesiastes 7:24). Because though a man labor to seek it out. The Septuagint has, ὅσα ἂν μοχθήσῃ, "Whatsoever things a man shall labor to seek;" Vulgate, Quanto plus laboraverit ad quaerendum, tanto minus inveniat. The interpreters waver between "how much so ever," and "wherefore a man labors." The latter seems to be best. Though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. It is the part of wisdom to determine to know all that can be known; but the resolution is baffled here (comp. Ecclesiastes 7:23). The two verses, with their repetitions and tautologous expressions, seem to denote perturbation of mind in the author and his sense of the gravity of his assertions. He is overwhelmed with the thought of the inscrutability of God's judgments, while he is forced to face the facts. An exquisite commentary on this passage is found in Hooker, 'Eccl. Pol.,' 1.2. § 2, quoted by Plumptre; and in Bishop Butler's sermon 'On the Ignorance of Man,' where we read, "From it [the knowledge of our ignorance] we may learn with what temper of mind a man ought to inquire into the subject of religion, namely, with what expectation of finding difficulties, and with a disposition to take up and rest satisfied with any evidence whatever which is real. A man should beforehand expect things mysterious, and such as he will not be able thoroughly to comprehend or go to the bottom of …. Our ignorance is the proper answer to many things which are called objections against religion, particularly to those which arise from the appearance of evil and irregularity in the constitution of nature and the government of the world Since the constitution of nature and the methods and designs of Providence in the government of the world are above our comprehension, we should acquiesce in and rest satisfied with our ignorance, turn our thoughts from that which is above and beyond us, and apply ourselves to that which is level to our capacities, and which is our real business and concern …. Lastly, let us adore that infinite wisdom and power and goodness which is above our comprehension (Ecclesiasticus 1:6).
The conclusion is that in all lowliness of mind we set lightly by ourselves; that we form our temper to an implicit submission to the Divine Majesty, beget within ourselves an absolute resignation to all the methods of his providence in his dealings with the children of men; that in the deepest humility of our souls we prostrate ourselves before him, and join in that celestial song, 'Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name?' (Revelation 15:3, Revelation 15:4) (comp. Romans 11:33).
HOMILETICS
A wise man's superiority-in what does it consist?
I. IN PENETRATION OF INTELLECT. He knoweth not merely things, but the interpretation thereof. Among the Chaldeans the interpretation of dreams was a special branch of wisdom professed by magicians and astrologers (Daniel 2:4-13). A wise man—using the term in its widest sense—has clearer insight than ordinary mortals into the essences of things. To him pertains the faculty of searching into and discovering the causes of events. In particular he has insight into:
1. The secrets of nature. He is qualified to understand and explain phenomena which to ordinary minds are mysterious and inscrutable.
2. The events of history. He is able frequently to trace the under-currents moving society, and bringing about occurrences which to common minds are inexplicable.
3. The wonders of revelation. He can discover in sacred Scripture truths veiled to unenlightened eyes.
4. The mysteries of grace. Possessed of an unction from the Holy One, he can understand all things (1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:27).
II. IN ELEVATION OF CHARACTER. "A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine." "It scarcely needs a proof that the countenance or front of the head is regarded in Scripture as the mirror of Divine influences upon the man—of all affections, and of the entire life of soul and spirit." "In the physiognomy is reflected the moral condition of the man". "Many a poet, and seer, and martyr, and reformer, and woman of the finest fiber has at times had a face that has looked like porcelain with a light behind it". The wise man's face shines because of three things:
1. The light of truth in his understanding. The wise man is essentially a child of light. A luminous intellect makes a radiant countenance.
2. The light of purity in his heart. There are faces which glow and beam with a soft silver sheen, as it' they had shed off all that was gross and material, animal and brutish, and were spiritualized into a fine ethereal essence; because they reflect upon their surface the pure, sweet, chaste, and holy emotions that stir the clear depths of their bosoms within.
3. The light of life in his conscience. In the wise man the moral faculty is not dead, torpid, dull, and besotted; but alive, bright, sensitive, and vigorous; and what Cook calls the solar look in a face "arises from the activity of the higher nature when conscience is supreme".
III. IN REFINEMENT OF MANNERS. "The hardness," or strength, "of a wise man's face is changed." "The coarse ferocity of ignorance" is in him "transformed by culture" (Plumptre). What Ovid says of human learning—it.
"Makes manners gentle, rescues men from strife"—
is true of heavenly wisdom, which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated," etc. (James 3:17). "Wisdom gives to a man bright eyes, a gentle countenance, a noble expression; it refines and dignifies his external appearance and his demeanor; the hitherto rude external, and the rude regardless, selfish, and bold deportment, are changed into their contraries" (Delitzsch). The change may be:
1. Gradual, as all moral transformations are slow, "from stage to stage," "first the blade and then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear;" but it must be:
2. Actual, otherwise there is no reason to suppose the individual has become possessed of wisdom; and it will eventually be:
3. Visible to all, so that all beholding him shall recognize in him the gentleness of one who has studied in wisdom's school. Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), was the highest impersonation the world ever witnessed of true gentleness and refinement.
Honor the king.
I. THE SUBJECT'S DUTY TOWARDS THE KING.
1. To keep the king's command. Unless conscience interposes with a clear and distinct veto, as in the cases of Moses' parents (Hebrews 11:23), Daniel and his companions in Babylon (Ecclesiastes 1:8; Ecclesiastes 3:16-18; Ecclesiastes 6:10), and the apostles before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:19, Acts 4:20), it is the duty of all to render obedience to the civil power, kingly or magisterial, even though the doing of this should entail suffering and hardship (Romans 13:1-7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-15).
2. To abide in the king's service. The subject should not be hasty "to go out of the king's presence," in the sense of either renouncing allegiance to the king's throne, or deserting the post of duty he has received from the king. The obligation to preserve one's loyalty, however, is not absolute. Times may come when insurrection is a duty, as in the revolution which overthrew Athaliah (2 Chronicles 23:15; 2 Kings 11:16). Nor can it be maintained that statesmen should never desert their sovereigns. When these embark on projects the consciences of their ministers cannot approve, it is incumbent on these ministers to leave them. Only nations should not resort to revolutionary practices without due consideration, and statesmen should not resign their portfolios in a fit of haste.
3. To preserve the king's favor. This the subject will usually do, if he "persist not in an evil thing," i.e. if he take no part in conspiracies against the king's power or person; as he certainly will lose the king's favor by acting otherwise.
II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THE SUBJECT'S DUTY RESTS.
1. The sanctions of religion. These as much bind the subject as if the subject had individually sworn an oath in God's presence. The relationship existing between king and people being of Divine appointment, the subject is practically bound as by a solemn covenant in God's sight to render obedience and loyalty to his sovereign (cf. 2 Chronicles 23:16; 2 Chronicles 36:13). Nor does religion exempt the subject from such obligation even when the king is unworthy and his rule oppressive (Jeremiah 29:7; Matthew 22:21).
2. The power of the king. This also a reason why the subject should not raise the standard of rebellion without just cause, or offer unreasonable resistance to the carrying out of royal commands, that the king, as representative of the supreme power of the state, is usually able to enforce obedience and loyalty at least of an external kind. "The king doeth whatsoever pleaseth him," etc. (verses 3, 4). The language applies to Oriental despots more than to constitutional monarchs.
3. The safety of the subject. Under arbitrary rule such as the Preacher alluded to, the way of submission was the way of safety. It might not, indeed, promise much good to the individual quietly to submit to a power he could not resist; but at least it would largely protect him against evil. Ideal rulers should be a fountain of blessing to their loyal as well as a force of repression to their disloyal subjects (Romans 13:3).
4. The dictates of wisdom. The subject who might feel impelled to rebellion and disobedience perceives that, as "to every purpose there is a time and judgment", since otherwise man's misery beneath the whips and scorns of time would become intolerable, so the oppression under which he groans will one day exhaust itself, come to an end, and be called up for judgment at the bar of the Supreme, if not in time and on earth, at least at the world's close, and in the unseen; and, perceiving this, the wise subject deems it better to keep the king's commandment, and maintain allegiance to the king's throne, than to enter on the dubious paths of insurrection and revolt.
Learn:
1. The superior honor due from man to him who is the King of kings.
2. The loftier grounds on which the Christian soul's allegiance to God and Jesus Christ is claimed.
3. The blessedness of those who are faithful subjects of the heavenly King.
4. The folly of attempting to elude God's presence, and the danger of persisting in an evil thing.
5. The high argument for patience supplied by the certain prospect of a future judgment.
The sorrowful tale of man's misery upon the earth.
I. NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. Neither himself can foresee, nor can any one inform him, either what shall be or how it shall be. Man's acquaintance with the future amounts at best to a "perhaps."
II. NO EXEMPTION FROM DEATH. This great truth stated in a threefold form.
1. No man can retain his spirit, or hold it back, when the hour strikes for it to be breathed forth, any more than he can hold back the winds of heaven when the moment has arrived for them to blow.
2. No man has power over the day of his dearly, to defer it, to remove it to a dim and distant future, or to hasten it to bring it near, any more than he has power over the day of his birth. His times both of coming into and of going out from the world are in God's hand.
3. No man can procure a discharge from the war with the king of terrors, either for himself or another, any more than a conscript could escape the battle when drawn for service by an Oriental despot. All without exception must go forth to the final conflict (Hebrews 9:27).
III. NO ESCAPE FROM RETRIBUTION. The wicked may hope that in some way or other it may be possible for them to evade the due reward of their transgressions; but such hope is taken from them by the fact that God will one day bring every secret thing into judgment, whether it has been good, or whether it has been evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
IV. NO IMMUNITY FROM OPPRESSION. Though it cannot be affirmed that all are oppressed—else where were the oppressors?—yet it cannot be guaranteed beforehand that any one will not be oppressed, since "there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt" (Esther 8:9).
LESSONS.
1. Leave the future with God, and live in the present.
2. Prepare for that day which will come on all like a thief in the night.
3. So live that the recompense of the future will be that which belongs to righteousness.
4. Avoid being an oppressor, and rather be oppressed.
Before, at, and after death; or, the wicked and the good-a contrast.
I. BEFORE DEATH. In the character of their lives. Each lives and acts in accordance with his character of soul.
1. The wicked acts wickedly. Spends his days
2. The righteous acts rightly.
II. AT DEATH. In the style of their funerals. Both come to the grave, the house appointed for all the living (Job 30:23), like Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16:22); perhaps after having lived respectively as these did—the wicked clothing themselves in fine linen and faring sumptuously every day; the good lying in rags and sores at the rich man's gate, and feeding on the crumbs from the rich man's table. But from this point their paths and experiences diverge.
1. The wicked have a burial. They are borne to the place of sepulture with pomp and pageantry, and in presence of assembled crowds are committed to the dust. Wealth and honor wait upon them to their last resting-places, and do the utmost to provide quiet and peaceful couches for their lifeless corpses. Oftentimes, if not always, is this the fortune of the ungodly who have defied the Almighty, despised religion, insulted morality, and yet increased in riches and grown great in power.
2. The good simply go away. They vanish from the scene of their sufferings and labors, no one knows when or how. Whether they nave a funeral no one cares. Certainly their departure is not marked by long trains of mourners going about the streets. Their obsequies, conducted by angels, are not observed by the passing crowds of busy men on earth. This also is a frequent lot of good men at death, though it must not be assumed that good men are never carried to their graves amid lamentations and tears (2 Chronicles 24:16; Acts 8:2).
III. AFTER DEATH. In the treatment of their memories. Both pass into the unseen, and have no more knowledge of what transpires on this side the veil. But their lots upon the other side are frequently as different from each other as before.
1. The wicked are remembered. Forgotten, it may be, and forsaken by God, but not by men who admired their splendor, and perhaps envied or feared their greatness when living.
2. The good are forgotten. Remembered indeed by God, but not by men, who suffer their names to pass into oblivion; as saith the poet—
"The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones."
('Julius Caesar,' act 3. sc. 2.)
LESSONS.
1. Study to live well by acting well.
2. Seek a lodging for thy soul when it must leave thy body.
3. Commit the care of thy memory to God and good men.
4. Envy neither the present nor the future lot of the wicked.
Solemn thoughts for serious moments.
I. A GREAT DISTINCTION IN THE CHARACTERS OF MEN. Between the righteous and the wicked (Ma 3:18), the sinner and the saint, the man that fears God and the soul that fears him not. This distinction eclipses all others. Other distinctions affect the externals, this the essentials of man's being. The fear of God the root of all goodness in the soul (Psalms 111:10).
II. A GREAT FACT IN THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. That sentence is already pronounced (Ezekiel 18:4), and will eventually be executed (unless intercepted by grace) on every evil work (Psalms 11:6; Psalms 34:21; Romans 1:18; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:21, Romans 6:23; James 1:15). A sermon on the certainty of future judgment. The principle of the Divine government is one of moral retribution. To each man according as his work shall be—evil to the evil, good to the good.
III. A GREAT DISPLAY OF DIVINE CLEMENCY. Though pronounced, yet is sentence not executed against every evil work. Sometimes in God's providence retribution follows swiftly upon the heels of crime. For the most part, however, the infliction of the sentence is deferred—to give the sinner space to repent, to reveal to him the greatness of his guilt, and to melt him by a personal experience of undeserved kindness. "Account the long-suffering of our God salvation" (2 Peter 3:15).
IV. A GREAT INSTANCE OF HUMAN IMPIETY. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." The abuse of clemency a sadder sign of depravity than the violation of commandment; to trample on God's mercy a greater wickedness than to break his Law.
V. A GREAT DIVERGENCE IN INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE. Between that of the long-lived and deeply-dyed sinner who defies the Divine Law and despises the Divine mercy, and that of the good man and humble who fears God and walks in his commandments and ordinances. The former, in spite of all his shameless audacity and boundless impiety, attains not to real happiness—"it shall not be well with the wicked," either here or hereafter (Isaiah 3:11). The former, notwithstanding his depressed condition, and perhaps brief life, is possessed of the secret of inward felicity—"it shall be well with them that fear God," both in this world and the next (Isaiah 3:10; 1 Timothy 4:8).
A misunderstood providence and a mistaken judgment.
I. THE MISUNDERSTOOD PROVIDENCE.
1. The providence is undeniable. "There be righteous men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked;" and "there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous." Of the former, Joseph, David, Job, Asaph, and Jeremiah were examples; as also the apostles and early Christians, the martyrs and confessors of the New Testament Church. Of the latter, Noah's sons, who, though not themselves righteous, were saved in the ark; Pharaoh's butler, who, though guilty of having conspired against the king's life, was nevertheless spared; Haman, who for a time at least flourished, though he was essentially a bad man—besides others—may be cited as examples.
2. The providence is inevitable. The constitution of the world being what it is, and the human family interlaced and interdependent as it is, it is impossible but that calamities should sometimes fall upon the righteous, and blessings descend upon the heads of the wicked, and that occasionally even wicked men should be deliberately treated as if they were righteous, and righteous men rewarded as if they were wicked. Good men often suffer the consequences of other people's evil deeds, and vice versa bad men reap the benefits of other people's good works.
3. The providence is mysterious. That such things should occur in a world presided over by an all-wise and all-powerful as well as holy and just God, who loves righteousness and. hates iniquity, is undoubtedly "hard to be understood," and for the full solution of the enigma it is more than likely the clearer light of the future must be awaited.
4. The providence is symbolic. At least it has its counterpart in the spiritual world—in the experience of Christ the Righteous One, who was numbered with transgressors (Mark 15:28), and made sin for us, though he knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); and in that of believers, who, though personally sinful and unrighteous, are yet accepted as righteous in God's sight, and treated as such on account of the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:25, Romans 3:26; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:6). May this not in part explain the occurrence of such phenomena in actual life? Nevertheless, it often happens that:
5. The providence is misunderstood. Men because of it rush to conclusions that cannot be sustained—as e.g. that there is no such thing as a providential government of the world, that the Supreme Being is indifferent to moral distinctions, that there is no profit in piety, and that no disadvantage follows on the practice of wickedness, and the like.
II. THE MISTAKEN JUDGMENT.
1. The judgment is wrong. It may not be wrong to affirm that a man, more especially if good and wise, should eat, drink, and be merry (Ecclesiastes 9:7), though such as do so are not always either good or wise (Luke 12:19); but it certainly is not right to say that a man has nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry. He who thinks so must have a low conception of both the nature and the destiny of man.
2. The reason is doubtful. That mirth will abide with a man in his labor all the days of his life. One fears this cannot be sustained as in perfect accord with experience. Inward happiness or joy in God may abide with a soul through every varying phase of external circumstances; it is not clear that so outward a thing as mirth, hilarity, satisfaction in creature-comforts, will abide with any to the close of life.
Learn:
1. To trust God even in the darkest and most mysterious providences.
2. To rejoice in God rather than in any of his creatures.
The business float is done upon the cattle.
I. IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. It is his work.
1. As to its plan." He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth" (Daniel 4:35). "He worketh all things after the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11).
2. As to its execution. Not directly, but indirectly—it being in him that men live and move and have their being (Acts 17:28). Not so that he is the Author of sin, or that in any way the freedom and efficiency of second causes are taken away; but so that while man freely acts and carries out his purposes, God also as freely acts in and through man and carries out his.
3. As to its characteristics. It is unsearchable and past finding out. As God's thoughts are deep, his works are vast and his ways inscrutable (Psalms 77:19; Romans 11:33).
II. Is ITS RELATION TO MAN. It is man's work also, he being the immediate agent engaged in its performance; and as such it is:
1. Incessant. It goes on day and night—work, work, work.
2. Laborious. So much so that multitudes are able to see sleep with their eyes neither day nor night.
3. Disappointing. Man labors on, and not only often makes little of his toil, but never comes to a clear perception of what the garment is he and others are weaving upon the loom of time.
LESSONS.
1. The duty of each man performing his appointed task with fidelity, leaving the ultimate issue in the hands of God.
2. The wisdom of recognizing that the business done upon the earth is after all only a means toward an end.
3. The greater propriety of laboring for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.
4. The limited extent of man's knowledge as to God's plan in the government of the world
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
The tokens of wisdom.
This book, and those which have affinity with it, both canonical and apocryphal, are in nothing more remarkable than in the stress they lay upon wisdom. This is the quality of the spirit which in its highest manifestation is godliness and piety, which in its ordinary manifestations distinguishes the ruler from the subject, the sage from the fool. The reader of Ecclesiastes cannot fail to admire the independence of the author of common human standards of well-being, such as wealth, prosperity, and pleasure; wisdom is with him "the principal thing." The signs of true wisdom are graphically portrayed in this verse.
I. WISDOM IMPARTS INSIGHT. Ordinary men are not even, as a rule, observant; but there are men who are observant of what strikes the senses, of the phenomena of nature, of external life, but who go no further. Now, it is characteristic of the wise that they are not satisfied to know what lies upon the surface. The first stage of wisdom is science; the scientific man notes resemblances and differences, antecedents and sequences; he arranges phenomena into classes and species and genera upon the one principle, and into physical causes and effects upon the other. He recognizes similarities and uniformities in nature, and terms these arrangements laws. The second stage of wisdom is philosophy, whose province it is not only to proceed to higher generalizations, but to discover in all the processes of nature and in all the activities of mind the presence and operation of reason. The third stage of wisdom is theology, or religion, i.e. the discernment of the ubiquitous presence in the universe of the Eternal Spirit, from whom all individual minds proceed, and whose language, by which he holds communion with those minds, is nature. The scientist, the philosopher, the theologian, are all men who possess wisdom, who are dissatisfied with superficial knowledge, who "know the interpretation of a thing." Their wisdom is limited indeed if they disparage one another's work and service, for the world has need of them all. And there is no occasion why, in a measure, one man should not partake all three characters.
II. WISDOM IMPARTS BRIGHTNESS. The stupid and brutal betray themselves by an expression of stolidity. The cunning and crafty often display their characteristic quality by a keen, designing, "underhand," and sinister glance. But the wise are bright; clearness of perception, width of judgment, decisiveness of purpose, seem written upon the brow, seem to gleam from the steady eye of the wise man. The entrance of a wise man into the council-chamber is like the rising of the sun upon a landscape,—when the mists are cleared away and the dark places are illumined.
III. WISDOM IMPARTS STRENGTH, BOLDNESS, CONFIDENCE. The wise man is prepared for difficulties and dangers, and because he is prepared he is not alarmed. He measures circumstances, and sees how they may be bent to his will, how their threats may be turned into favor. He measures his fellow-men, discerns the strength of the strong, the depth of the thoughtful, the trustworthiness of the firm, the incompetency of the pretender, and the worthlessness of the shifty. He measures himself, and neither exaggerates or underestimates his abilities and his resources. Hence the boldness, the hardness of his face, when he turns to survey his task, to encounter his adversary, to endure his test. His heart is not dismayed, for his trust is ever in his God and Savior.—T.
The ruler and the subject.
It is possible that some persons, living under a form of government very different from that presumed in the admonitions of this passage—under a limited monarchy or a republic instead of under an absolute monarchy of a special theocratic kind—may fancy that these verses have no special significance for them, no applicability to the practical conduct of their actual life. But reflection may show us that this is not so, that there are valuable principles of interest and import for the civil life of all men.
I. CIVIL AUTHORITY IS IN ITSELF OF DIVINE ORIGIN, AND POSSESSES DIVINE SANCTIONS. The king, the king's word, commandment, and pleasure, are all significant of order in society, of that great reality and power in human affairs—the state. "Order is Heaven's first law." Right does not, indeed, grow out of civil authority, but it is its Divine basis. That kingship has often become tyranny, and democracy mob-rule, that every form of government may be abused, is known to every student of history, to every reader of the newspapers. But law in itself is good, and its maintenance is the only security for public liberty. One of the first duties of a religious teacher is to impress upon the people the sacredness of civil authority, to inculcate reverence for law, to encourage to good citizenship. He is not called upon to flatter the great and powerful, to repress discussion, to enjoin servility. But that freedom which is the condition of the true development of national life, and which can only be preserved by reverence for rightful authority, for constitutional government, should be dear to every Christian, and should be held in honor by every Christian teacher and preacher. "The powers that be are ordained of God."
II. WISE PATRIOTISM LEADS TO CHEERFUL OBEDIENCE AND SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY. Law for the most part is designed to repress crime, to maintain peace and tranquility, to afford protection to the honest, industrious, and law-abiding. Therefore to commit wrong of any kind, whether theft, or slander, or violence, is both evil in itself and is transgression of the law. A man who simply contents himself with breaking no civil law may indeed be a villain, for civil law is not all; there is a Divine Law which the civil ruler is not bound to enforce. But the bad citizen cannot be a good Christian; to break the laws of the state is not likely to lead to obedience to the commandments of the King of kings. It is, indeed, not to be expected that a man should approve of every command of the king, of every law which is enforced in his country. But if every man were to refuse to obey every statute of which he disapproved, how could government be carried on? The wonderful word of Christ is decisive, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Where no Divine ordinance is violated by conforming to civil law, the duty of the subject, the citizen, is plain; be should obey. He is, of course, at liberty under a constitutional government to use means of an honorable kind to secure a change of law. It is a grand word of the Preacher, "Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing."
III. LOYALTY TO EARTHLY, HUMAN AUTHORITY IS SUGGESTIVE OF LOYALTY TO GOD. When submission is enjoined, it is supported by a religious motive—"and that in regard of the oath of God." It is evident that the authority of a parent or a ruler, the subjection of a child or a citizen, are intended to symbolize the even higher facts of the spiritual kingdom—the empire of the "King, eternal, immortal, and invisible," and the loyalty of those who by the new birth have entered "the kingdom of heaven."—T.
A hasty and foolish inference.
In the case of some this conclusion may be reached deliberately, but in that of others the process may be unconscious, or at all events without attentive consideration and reasoned purpose.
I. THE DATA. There is delay in retribution. When we perceive immediate punishment follow upon flagrant sin, we are surprised and startled. We often remark that the course of the wrongdoer who avoids collision with the civil government is a course of uninterrupted prosperity. We see families advanced to honor and wealth who are lacking in moral character. We read of nations persevering for years, and even for centuries, in paths of injustice, rapacity, and violence, and yet growing in power and acquiring renown. And we cannot doubt that many evil deeds wrought in secret remain unpunished. The facts must be admitted. But they are explicable, and may be reconciled with a firm belief in the righteous retribution, the perfect moral government, of God. Stress is to be laid upon the word "speedily." It must be remembered that with God "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day."
"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience he stands waiting, he exactly judgeth all."
Judgment deferred is not judgment abandoned. From the time of Job the facts here referred to have been a perplexity to the observer of human society.
II. THE ERRONEOUS INFERENCE. "The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them [is emboldened] to do evil." The supposition is that sin may be committed with impunity, and the conclusion is that those sins which yield pleasure should be committed, since they will entail upon the sinner no evil consequences. Of course, an upright, conscientious, and godly man does not reason thus. He does what is right from a conviction of the nobility and beauty of goodness, and from a desire to act in conformity with the will of God, and to enjoy the approval of God; he abstains from evil because his conscience condemns it, because it is contrary to the universal order, because it is a grief to his Savior's heart. But the self-seeking, pleasure-loving, base mind looks only to the consequences of actions, and does what affords pleasure, and evades painful duty. It is such a man who is referred to in 'this passage, whose heart is emboldened to sin by the foolish persuasion that no penalty will follow.
III. THE PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. The sinner should reflect upon the facts of the Divine government, and upon the express statements of the revealed Word of God. He may thence learn the certainty of retribution. "The wicked shall not go unpunished;" "The way of transgressors is hard;" "The wages of sin is death." The sentence may not be executed speedily; but it is passed, and it will in God's time be carried out.
2. The godly man should rest assured that, however he may be perplexed by the mysteries of Divine providence, however he may be unable to reconcile what he sees in society with his religious convictions, nevertheless the Lord reigneth, and it shall be well with those who fear, obey, and love him. And he may well think less of the consequences of conduct, and more of those principles by which conduct is governed, of those motives by which action is inspired. Loyalty and gratitude, devotion and sympathetic admiration, may well lead to such a life as shall be its own reward. However it may faro with a man in this life, he chooses the good part who hates that which is evil and loves that which is good, whose convictions are just, and whose life is in harmony with his convictions. For such a man all things work together for good.—T.
The certainty of retribution.