be busie in observing what may be known of God that may draw their Affections to Him and engage them to His Service and after disappointment of desired success and darkness remaining must renew their endeavours in the use of one commanded mean after another For so was it with Solomon I applied my Heart or as the Original may be rendred I and my Heart went about together to search and seek out Wisdom what he could not find out by Searching he sought out which is one endeavour after another 7 They that would judge aright of the Lord's Dispensations must labour to see by the light of the Word and Spirit what Reasons there may be for them As for Example why the Lord suffers His people to be brought so low in the World even that He may humble them and prove them and do them good in the latter end Deut. 8.16 And why He suffers wicked Men to prosper even that if they will not by His Goodness be led to Repentance they may be the riper for Destruction Rom. 2.4 Ps 92.7 that so we may satisfie our own minds and be able to give a Reason to others of what we profess to know For this was one thing that Solomon made his study To know the reason of things 8 That which is truly good is more clearly seen when we consider the evil that is contrary to it The Beauty of Holiness and excellency of Saving Knowledge is illustrat and best seen when the deformity of Sin the madness and unreasonableness of these Courses which natural Men take to come at their imaginary Happiness are compared therewith For Solomon took this way He gave his Heart to know Wisdom and to know the wickedness of Folly even of Foolishness and Madness 9. As every Man who is not indued with Saving Wisdom is desperat in Wickedness and extremely Mad in following the course that will be his ruine So there is such a height of wickedness and perversity in his way that it is not easy to express the same For Solomon multiplies words to that purpose as if it had been difficult for him to express it while he calls it The wickedness of Folly even of Foolishness and Madness 10. The knowledge of the evil of Sin the madness and Folly that is in Sinners way the desperat wickedness that is in their Hearts while they are in pursuit of their Lusts is one part of Saving Wisdom which all should study that would be truly happy For this is it which Solomon endeavoured to know The wickedness of Folly even of Foolishness and Madness Ver. 26. And I find more bitter than Death the Woman whose Heart is Snares and Nets and her Hands as Bands whose pleaseth God shall escape from her but the Sinner shall be taken by her THis Wise Man having regrated the imperfection of his Knowledge notwithstanding of his most serious inquiry after it formerly mentioned he doth here and in the following words give instances of some success he had of his pains The First is concerning the Evil of sinful Pleasures particularly the satisfying of the Lusts of the Flesh And in setting forth this he doth First describe a Whorish Woman from two things The 1. is That her Heart is Snares and Nets the meaning whereof is That her Heart being under the power of her Lusts doth catch every Temptation to that Sin of Uncleanness which is explained by that Expression Ps 41.6 The Heart gathers iniquity to it self And likeways that her Heart is full of subtile Plots and Insinuations to insnare Men and draw them to her desires as Fowlers and Fishers have their Nets and Baits to entangle Birds and Fishes which are the Metaphores in the Words 2. That her Hands are as Bands whereby are meant her powerful Stratagems to hold Men fast Slaves to her and their own Lusts Next He giveth some Arguments to deterr the Hearts of all from being entangled with Temptations of this sort 1. That he himself had found in his own experience and did in part yet feel the bitterness of giving way to that Sin of Impurity which is so Bitter that Temporal Death is to be preferred to the base Slavery of it By which it seems very clear not only that Solomon was a true Penitent but that this Book hath been written after and in testimony of his Repentance seing at the writting hereof his Uncleanness was so bitter to him that he cannot express it but by calling it more grievous than Death it self to wit Temporal Death which only deprives Men of their Natural Life and the Comforts of it but these sinful Pleasures deprive them of Spiritual Life and the Comforts of Communion with God 2. That the Man who is Favoured of God in a special way shall escape such Temptations that is either he shall not be entangled with them or shall be mercifully rescued from them and consequently as himself expresses this same purpose Prov. 22 14. they must be Abhorred of God who are given up to them 3. That this Sin of Uncleanness is often the punishment of other Sins The Sinner saith he shall be taken by her By the Sinner is not meant every one that deserves that Name for then all should be taken but by the Sinner as is usual in Scripture when that Name is opposed to the Godly or the upright Person is meant One given up or giving himself up to Sin and making a Trade of living in it such a Man is justly left to fall into this most bitter and abominable Sin of Uncleanness Hence Learn 1. Whatever dissatisfaction sincere Students of Saving Knowledge may have with their measure they shall be sure to find success in that which tends most to their true Happiness and to the preventing of their Eternal Ruine For Solomon having regrated his short-coming in the study of Wisdom before cannot but acknowledge that he was not altogether unsuccesful And I find more bitter c. 2. To feel experimentally the bitterness of Sin and to have a lively representation of the hazard of living in it is not the least part of the success of Mens pains for Saving Knowledge For without this they can know nothing Savingly Therefore this is one Instance which Solomon expresseth as a Blessed Fruit of his pains that he found sinful Pleasures More bitter than Death 3. However Sinners apprehend much pleasure in Sin when they commit it yet there is a woful Sting afterward and much Bitterness in the latter end of it every Penitent finds it in mercy so Bitter to him when his Conscience is wakened that he would rather venture upon Temporal Death than enjoy his sinful Pleasures again And impenitent Sinners find it so in Wrath here sometimes by the Stings of an accusing Conscience especially while Poverty Disgrace and loathsome Diseases making their Lives Bitter are upon them Prov. 5.11 and always at Death and after it to Eternity Eccles 12.1 c. So that all that ever took pleasure in Sin shall be
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical OBSERVATIONS UPON THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES Written by Mr. ALEXANDER NISBET Minister of the Gospel at Irwin EDINBVRGH Printed by George Mosman and are to be Sold at his Shop in the Parliament Closs MDCXCIV To the much Honoured WILLIAM NISBET OF DIRLETON SIR THE Author of this Exposition having Named Sir John Nisbet of Dirleton for Patron of it as a Person of great worth whose Friendship had been very useful to him Upon the decease of that Eminent Lawyer That Title designed for him cannot with more Equity be Addressed to any than to you upon whom he hath entailed his opulent Estate And your having received a great part of your Education under him and that sincerely Devout Lady now his Relick a genuine Scion of a Noble and Religious Stock with the Evidences you have given of answering their expectation by an early Inclination to a Sober and Vertuous Life and a magnanimous Contempt of vain and sinful Pleasures These assure me you will intertain this New Heir-ship not as an idle Ornament to your Closet but as a notable Antidote against the Snares and Charms of these Honours to which your Vertue and the affluence of your Fortune seem to pave the way To prepare you for a cautious Encounter with these you have here an accurat Map of all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory thereof drawn originally by the Divinely-inspired Pen of Solomon a Wise King and a Judicious Preacher The Author only illustrates it with Doctrines and Uses Here you may survey these unfortunat Islands of Honour Wealth and Pleasure upon which many have made Shipwrack of their most Holy Faith And when you find this inferiour World too low a Situation for true Paradise and too barren a Soil to produce satisfaction to a Heaven-born Soul lift up your panting Heart to the undiscovered Glories of the higher House the Habitation of Angels and the Saints everlasting Rest where you will not need Commentaries upon a vain World and a deceitful Heart to Arm you against Mistakes and Disappointments For there the Preacher will turn Praiser Annotations will be silenced with Allelujahs and Vanity and Vexation of Spirit swallowed up in fulness of Joy and Pleasures at Gods Right Hand for ever That these may be your never-fading Inheritance after ye have tasted the greatest Happiness this World can afford is the unfeigned Prayer of SIR Your sincerely devoted Servant Ja Nisbet To the READER CHRISTIAN READER IF thou hast perused the former Labours of the Author of this ensuing Treatise thou wilt readily be convinced that this Peice of his needs no Letters of Recommendation these former Labours of his having been so universally acceptable and to my certain knowledge now much desiderat both at Home among our selves and also in our Neighbouring Nation And no wonder for whoever have seen and diligently perused these his Labours have therein had a proof of the Author 's great Judgement and singular dexterity in Opening and Expounding the Scriptute Yet Custom hath made an Epistle of this nature some way necessary and those concerned in the Publication have laid it upon me because for the present I labour in the same part of the Lord's Vineyard where the Reverend Author now with the Lord formerly laboured Therefore though I have had no small Aversation from this Undertaking partly from my own Unfitness and want of Qualifications sutable and partly from the sense I have how litle my Testimony can add to the Esteem of the Works of such a Man and partly also because such an Appearance is contrary to my own Genius and Inclination yet I have been necessitat to overcome this Aversation And my great Encouragement thereto is what I have already mentioned that the Author does not need my Recommendation his own Works Praise him in the Gate and his Praise is in all the Churches so far as his Works are known That therefore which I have mainly to do is to assure thee that the following Treatise is the genuine Work of the same Learned and Pious Mr. Alexander Nisbet who wrote the Exposition of the two Epistles of Peter And except the Arguments to the several Chapters was periected and made ready for the Press before his Death And had long since come abroad into the World if it had not been for some Assertions the Author hath upon Chap. 8.4 Concerning Obedience to supreme Powers which did not relish with the late Times wherein Supremacy and Absolute Power were screwed up to the greatest height And it may rationally be supposed that this Peice of his is not less Elaborat consequently will not be less Acceptable than the former seing it is his Second Essay of this nature and we usually say Secundae Cogitationes meliores And as Solomon is with good ground judged to have Writt this Book in his Old Age when he had taken a more serious View of his past Life so it is certain the Reverend Author wrote this his Exposition thereof in his Old Age at least in the latter part of his Days when he had taken a Review of his by past Life as he was indeed a very serious Observer both of his own Life and of the Passages of God's Providence about him yea and a recorder of both though he did this in a Character at that time known to none but himself And it is not improbable that his pains and labours upon this Subject through the Blessing of God did contribute not a little to that weanedness from the World and all its vain Pleasures and Delights to which in agreat measure the Author attained And which did so notably fit and prepare him for his great Change and made his passage from this Life to a better sweet easy and comfortable that I remember I have several times heard that eminently worthy and Pious Minister Mr. Gabriel Cunningham speak of it both with delight and admiration I do therefore perswade my self Reader that if thou be a person who wouldst gladly have thy Heart weaned from the World and be above the vain pleasures thereof and have thy Conversation in Heaven as a Stranger and Pilgrim in this Earth the consideration of this will have that influence upon thee as to make thee carefully peruse this piece and look to the Lord for his Blessing therewith that it may have the same effect with thee I am sure the Subject treated of is not only useful but highly necessary especially at such a time when notwithstanding of all that is through the whole Scriptures and particularly in the Book of Ecclesiastes held forth of the vanity and vexation of Spirit that is in all sublunary Contentments and delights And notwithstanding of all the pains of the Lords Servants in their Expositions on the Scripture and by Preaching to Rivet this Truth upon the Hearts of Men And notwithstanding of all the Experiences and Convictions Men have of this Truth by the many disappointments they meet with from the Creatures Yet
mentions this and often afterwards this alone as holding forth the chief consideration of Him that should gain Reverence and Acceptance to his Message and encourage himself in his Duty The Words of the Preacher 2. As these who have been very eminent for Office Grace and the like Qualifications may when the Lord is provocked to withdraw fall into such gross Abominations as might make them justly to be secluded from the Society of the Church So when the Lord vouchsafes Repentance upon them they will esteem their Reconciliation with the Church a great benefit and will be content to Preach their Sin and sorrow for Sin that GOD may be honoured and others waiâ—â—ed in which case they ought to be welcome to the Church again and the Lords Message sent by them received with no less respect than ever For Solomon in testimony of his grief that ever he separat from the Church and of his joy that he is admitted again to that sweet Society he calls himself here Ecclesiastes which according to the signification of the Word touched in the Exposition is as much as to say a penitent Soul reconciled to the Church called to Preach this penitential Sermon to the same and so was to be received not only as a Member thereof but a publick Preacher The Words of the Preacher 3. Although descent from wicked or obscure Parents ought to be no just ground of prejudice against their Godly Children who are by Faith served Heirs to the Father of the Faithful Gal. 3.7 Yet descent from Godly Parents is such an advantage to Godly Children as may be very comfortable to them in so far as it cleareth their right to such Promises as are made to the seed of the Upright Ps 37.26 And as it ought to be a strong motive to them to imitate their Parents and unto others also to accept the more heartily any message that such have from the Lord to them For which causes beside others mentioned in the Exposition we may judge Solomon here to commend the purpose of this Book from this that he was the Son of David 4. The Lord hath seen it fit to imploy some of all ranks of Men to be the Preachers and Pen-men of His Holy Word some obscure persons as Herd-men Amos 1.1 Fishers Mat. 4 8. and of other imployments Acts 18.3 That the glory of His Power and Grace may be the more conspicuous some Noble as Solomon Isaiah and others that Men may see his Truth worthy to take up the Spirits of the greatest and both sorts are chosen that all ranks of Men may meet with something in the stile of his Word sutable for them For here is a Book of Scripture written by the Son of David King in Jerusalem 5. The Greatest on Earth should think it no dispiragement to them nor inconsistent with the managing of the weightiest civil Affairs to spend some of their time and pains in using all means competent for them in their place to propogate the knowledge of the Truth and advance true Piety this being the best policy they can use for establishing their just power and making People dutiful to them Prov. 16.12 For though Solomon wrote this Book as an extraordinary Man yet in his study to edifie the Church and in his pains for acquiring much of that experimental knowledge communicate to the Church in it he acted as an ordinary Man and therein is a precedent to all especially Christian Magistrates painfully to improve their time and gifts by Writing or other wayes for the spiritual advantage of the Church and People of GOD The words of the Preacher King in Jerusalem 6. Although the Truth of GOD he worthy of all acceptation for its own excellency and usefulness Ps 119 97 98. even though it were delivered by Shepherds Luk. 2 17 18. yet these whom the Lord imployes as his Embassadors to carry his mind to the Church may make use of any external priviledge they have to make way for the more hearty acceptance of their Message among the People who are hardly moved to receive the Truth upon more pure and spiritual considerations providing the advantage of the Truth and not their own Vain-glory be their end in so doing For though Solomon's Calling to be a Preacher was alone sufficient to gain acceptance to his Message yet to add the more weight unto it he mentions also his Royal Birth and Dignity and this in a modest may omiting many other Titles of Honour which vain-glorious Men for inferiour to him delight to multiply to themselves The words of the Preacher the Son of David King in Jerusalem VERSE II. Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity THE scope of the spirit of GOD by this divine Preacher being to point out to miserable fallen Man the way to recover his lost Happiness he doth first proceed negatively to convince him wherein it cannot be found and for this end he propounds to be proven that All is Vanity whereby is meant that all the Creatures and all humane Endeavours about them are insufficient for yeilding any true contentment to Men or as the word signifies All is Nothing or empty of any vertue as to the forementioned effect and so this Expression All is Vanity is not to be understood of any thing that GOD hath made in respect of the Being of it all things that way considered being very good Gen. 1 13. nor of Mans right use and enjoyment of the Creatures so as to be led by them to his Maker and engaged to his fear and obedience for so all things are holy and good to the User Tit. 1.15 1 Tim. 4.4 Neither yet of a Mans lawful diligence and pains in his lawful Calling and Imployment as if that were Vain 1 Tim. 5.8 But it is to be understood first Of all created delights such as Riches Honours worldly Pleasures particularly instanced afterward as they are abused and subjected to Vanity Rom. 8.20 by Man seeking his chief Good and placing his Happiness in them neglecting withal the stupy of Reconciliation with GOD and of living in his Fear and Obedience recommended to him as the only way to true happiness Eccl. 12.23 And Next It is to be understood of all the pains a Man can take by vertue of any humane power or skill to make himself happy or contented whether in the contemplation or enjoyment of created things which is also instanced and proven to be vain in the following purpose All things of this nature he doth proclaim to be Vain in this sense unable to afford to Man any thing but disappointment and that in the highest degree for by this form of speech vanity of vanities the Hebrews use to express the superlative degree Gen. 9.25 Cant. 1.1 And to make this Truth take the deeper impression he propounds it by way of exclamation as it were wondering at and pitying the madness of the Children of Men who are so ravished with the apprehension of
God who gave it SOlomon having at length described the Dissolution of the earthly House of our Tabernacle after Death He giveth here a summ of Mans future State after Death in reference to the two principal parts whereof he is made up And First For his Body which he calls Dust because it was Formed out of the Dust Gen. 2.7 and being separat from the Soul is the most vile and loathsome piece of Dust of any other he saith it returns to the Dust because it is ordinarly laid there to remain till the Resurrection and because it is in effect the same substance with it And Next For his more noble Part his Soul called here the Spirit because of the immaterial substance thereof and its Resemblance to God the Father of Spirits it returns to him who gave it There is no Ground to think he speaks only of the Souls of the Godly but rather of the common state of the Spirits of all Men after Death neither is there any necessity to think that therefore every Soul must go to Heaven seing the Scripture is so clear to the contrary But every Soul is said to return to God because in the very moment of its separation from the Body it must sist it self before him the Supream Judge to be eternally disposed of according to his pleasure who will sentence it according to the state it shall be found in at Death And these considerations also have great influence in exciting Men timously to make their peace with God that he may favourablie intertain their Spirits at Death and they may lay down their Bodies in the dust in hope of a Glorious Resurrection And this is the reference which this verse hath to the Scope exprest in the first words of the Chapter Hence Learn 1. Although our Bodies have some Beauty and Majesty imprinted on them while the Soul resides in them and they are acted by it for which cause they were set out by these excellent similitudes formerly mentioned yet of themselves they are but Dust and will appear when the Soul is separat from them to be very loathsome Clay the thought whereof should keep Men from being Proud of their Bodily Strength or Beauty Jer. 9.23 it should make them admire the Lords condescending to have correspondence with such Dust Gen 28.27 his Marvelous Art and Power in framing so Beautiful a piece of Work as our Bodies of the Dust Ps 139.24 especially his assuming so frail a Being as a human Body in a personal union with the Diety Ps 8.4 c. It should be made use of as a ground of Confidence to obtain pity and help from him to frail Dust Ps 103.14 And of submission to hardest Dispensations Isai 45.9 it should make us careful to get the Ornament of his Grace which makes base Dust truly Beautiful 1 Pet. 3.4 It should banish the fear of all flesh which is but Dust like our selves Isai 51.7.8 and shoul make us long for the time wherein Christ shall change our vile Bodies and make them like his Glorious Body Philip. 3.21 all which are the uses the Scripture makes of this consideration that we are Dust the Dust c. 2. The Bodies of Men at Death go not as their Spirits to that state wherein they must be Eternally but as they were at first taken out of the Earth so they must go thither for a time the Lord hath so ordered that whereby he may prove and Exercise his peoples Faith concerning the Resurrection For saith he The dust shall return to the Earth as it was 3. The Souls of Men die not nor go to Corruption as their Bodies do but subsist after their separation from the Body which should make Men careful to see to the Eternal well-being of them for Solomon here supposing the body or Dust to be gone to the Earth he speaks of the Soul or Spirit as now subsisting whereby it appears that the immortality of the Soul hath been Preached to the ancient Churches The Spirit returns to God who gave it 4. Men receive not their Souls from their Parents as they do their Bodies nor are they formed of any preexistent matter as the Spirits are which Beasts have Gen. 1.20 but are Created of nothing and immediatly infused into the Body by the Lord For saith the Preacher the Spirit shall return to God who gave it 5. Our Spirits are Gods free gift and therefore all the powers and faculties thereof ought to be imployed to the Honour of the Giver Rom. 11.26 He is to be depended on and acknowledged for the preservation of them Job 10 12. And all Crosses upon Body or Spirit to be submitted unto Heb. 12.9 For saith he The Spirit returns to God who gave it 6. As the Spirits of Men even the greatest on Earth are in Gods hand to be moved by him while they are in the Body as he pleases Prov. 21.1 So when they go out of the Body they must sist themselves before him to be disposed of at his pleasure who will throw the Spirits of the Wicked into the Lake that flames with Fire and Brimstone and will bind up the Spirits of the Godly as his Jewels in the bundle of Life for in reference to both this is verified The Spirit shall return to God who give it Ver. 8. Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher all is Vanty IN this and the following Verses is contained the last part of the Chapter and the close of the whole Book wherein the Preacher doth briefly Summ up and by several Arguments commend the purpose contained in it which for Methods cause we may take up in four Articles or Heads of Doctrine The first which is in this Verse contains the Summ of the first Principal part of the Book namely that all Created things and human endeavours about them are vain or insufficient for leading a Man to his true Happiness And this having been frequently held out before is here necessarly Repeated that all may assent unto it as a Truth now abundantly proven and which the Preacher himself loved to meditate upon and writ again and again and with this Repeating of it he mentions his calling to be a Preacher as that which should gain weight to every Truth delivered by him and to this in particular Beside what hath been observed from this purpose before We may Learn 1. Necessary Truths must not be cast by after they are clear to us and sufficiently proven to be Truths by many Arguments neither will they become loathsome to a Holy Mind but ought to be intertained and meditate upon till we find motions sutable thereunto wakened in our Hearts and some Fruits in our practice answerable to them which may evidence we do truly know and believe them and the more clear such Truths are to a Gracious Sool the sweeter they will grow and the more delight will the Soul have to dwell upon them Therefore doth Solomon after he hath fully proven and cleared this Truth and