4.12 Ezek. 14.5 Isa. 49.2 Ps. 45.5 Rev. 1.16 only his study is in this order first he searcheth and seeketh out wisdome as an antidote against the danger of his second studies to discover the wickedness folly and madness of sensual pleasures And therefore we shall observe that in the particular wickedness which he specifieth in the next verse namely the inticements of a whorish woman he doth often premise the Commendations of wisdome and the study of that as an effectual prevention of that mischief Prov. 2.10 19. 5.1 2 3. 6.6 20 24. Prov. 7.4 5. 9.10 13. V. 26. And I find more bitter than Death the woman whose heart is snares and nets c. He sheweth the discovery which he had made by his study to find out the wickedness of folly and foolishness of madness by instancing in one particular vanity of the wiles and subtilties of harlots which it was necessary for him to add to the former catalogue of vanities that he might give to the Church then and leave a record for all posterity to take notice of his special Repentance for those gross miscarriages which by that means he had been drawn into And here he gives 1. The Character of an whorish woman described 1. By her subtilty Her heart is snares and nets her cunning devices to deceive and intangle sensual persons are as gins laid to catch silly creatures who are entised with the bait but discern not the danger See Prov. 2.16 6.24 26. 7.5 9.16 17. 22.14 2. By her power her hands wherewith she catcheth holdeth embraceth him are as strong cords to hale simple fools as an oxe to the slaughter Prov. 7.13 21 22. Judg. 16.15 19.2 Here is the great danger of these nets and bands to the souls of men They are more bitter than death More pernitious and bring more heavy miseries with them We read of the bitterness of death 1 Sam. 15.32 and of a worse bitterness the end of a strange woman is bitter as wormwood and her steps take hold on hell Prov. 5.4 5. Death may be sweetned and sanctified made a welcome and desirable thing to a believer 1 Cor. 15.55 Phil. 1.23 Luke 2.29 30. But the bitterness of hell is incurable death may be honourable to dye in a good cause in a good old age to go to the grave in peace lamented desired with the sweet savour of an holy life and many good works to follow one Rev. 14.13 Phil. 1.21 Ps. 116.16 But to consume and putrifie alive under a Tabes of impure lâ—sts to perish as Tiberius did at Capreae quotidie perire me sentio to shipwrack a mans honour ruine his estate shorten his years consume his flesh put a hell into his conscience to bury his name his substance his soul his carkass in the bosome of an Harlot this is a bitterness beyond that of death Prov. 5.9 10 11. 6.26 33. 9.16 17 18. who so pleaseth God shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Here is intimated the great wrath of God against this sin It is a sin which he useth to give over reprobates and those whom he in special manner hateth unto a sin which few repent of to take hold of the paths of life again Prov. 2.19 22.14 Amos 7.17 Rom. 1.24 28. Eph. 4.18 19. A man is not preserved from the power of this temptation by his own wisdome or strength but only by the supernatural grace of God V. 27.28 Behold this I have found saith the Preacher c. This which he had spoken of vers 26. or which followeth vers 28. saith the Preacher This added 1. To give credit from his wisdome and experience to what he here affirms especially having made so distinct and accurate an inquiry weighing and comparing one by one to find out the account and to come to a determinate and clear judgement in the case and to make a certain conclusion 2. To testifie to the Church his repentance This have I found saith the soul which by sound repentance is returned unto the Congregation of Saints which was before ensnared in the nets and bands of seducing women and that upon serious sad recollected thoughts which he hath not yet given over but doth insist upon the same penitent inquiry still one man amongst a thousand have I found but a woman amongst all those have I not found The meaning is not to condemn one sexe rather than the other for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3.23 and Solomon had known good and wise women as well as men Prov. 18. 22. 19.14 Prov. 12.4 31.10 30. But he speaketh here of his observation according to his former sensual conversation with wanton women which seems to be the reason of the number here mentioned for Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines all strange women of the neighbour wicked nations which turned away his heart from the Lord unto idols Amongst all these thousand Solomon had not found one good one 1 Reg. 11.1 9 Or the sâ—btil counsels of one man amongst many may more easily be discerned than of any harlot because their flatteries and dalliances do steal away the heart and put out the eyes and judgement and infatuate a man so that he can look no further than the present delights wherewith they do bewitch him Hos. 4.11 Judg. 16.17 21. Prov. 7.21 22. 5.6 V. 29. Lo this only have I found that God hath made man upright but they have sought out many inventions This only He could not discover all the streams of wickedness and folly amongst men but the original and fountain of them all he doth discover namely the corruption of the heart of man by the fall this he found that their wickedness was not from God nor by creation but from themselves and their willing entertainment of the temptation of the serpent Some more subtilly expound these words as a confirmation of the former God made Adam Right and so he continued so long as he was alone but when the Woman was given unto him she tempted him and then they sought out many inventions Because the woman was first in the transgression 1 Tim. 2.14 But here he speaketh of both Sexes together under the name of man and sheweth that they were made without any of this sinful and subtle wisdom after the Image of God endowed with divine wisdom to discern the way unto true happiness and with perfect ability to pursue the same Gen. 1.26 Col. 3.10 But though he were made upright yet he was as a creature mutable so subject to be overcome by temptation and accordingly he did easily admit of the temptation of Satan and sought out many inventions of his own did not content himself with that way to happinesse which God had prescribed but fancied to himself an higher perfection and yielded to follovv those new wayes unto blessedness vvhich Satan and his own deceived heart did
be full of weariness and sorrow So Job complains of the length of his misery that he possessed moneths of vanity Job 7.3 and Ezekiah Isai. 38.12 13 15. The very strength of the years of an old man is all labour and sorrow Psal. 90.10 V. 2. While the Sun or the light or the Moon or the Stars be not darkned nor the clouds return after the rain These words may be understood either Literally or Allegorically as those that follow Literally the meaning is That unto old men by reason of the decay of their senses even the lightest bodies seem to be darkned they look upon the Sun at noon through the clouds and scales which are over their own eyes And whereas it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun Chap. 11.7 this shall minister no delight at all unto them Light is little worth unto a man that is in misery Job 3.20 23. Allegorically It is by some understood so as that the Sun Moon Stars Light may refer unto some parts in man signified thereby as the other parts of the Allegory ensuing do and thus First the Chaldee Paraphrase referreth it unto the face and eyes Before the glory and beauty of thy face be changed and the light of thine eyes be darkned and the comeliness of thy cheeks be abated and the Apples of thine eyes the Stars of thy countenance be extinguished and thine eye-lids drop down tears as Clouds after rain Secondly others understand it of the weakning of the inward vigour of the Soul and rational faculties Understanding Perspicacy Memory Judgment Fancy all which in the nature of man answer to the coelestial Lights Others by Sun Moon Starrs and Light understand the various sorts and degrees of prosperity and joy which men meet with in their younger years and so the sense to be Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth before those evil dayes come wherein all thy light shall be turned into darknesse all thy prosperity into sorrow before greater and lesser comforts do all fail thee and thy dayes and nights be full of trouble and darkness one calamity like storms in the Winter coming upon the neck of another Prosperity is usually in Scripture compared unto the Sun and to light Judg. 5.31 2 Sam. 23.4 and in greater prosperity then usual the light of the Moon is said to be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun seven fold Isai. 30.26 60.20 And on the other side when great afflictions such as swallow up all former joy and contentments come upon a man the Scripture expresseth it by the obscurity blackness and falling of the Sun Moon and Stars Isa. 13.9 10 11. 24.20 23. 34.3 4. Jer. 4.23 24. 15.9 Ezek. 32.7 8. Joel 2.10 3.15 Amos 8.9 Matth. 24.29 And this sense seemeth most genuine as expressing the reason why the days of old age are evil days and years wherein a man hath no pleasure because both day and night the life of such a man is full of darknesse and trouble Therefore mention is made of Sunne and of Moon and Starrs to note the incessant pains aches troubles weaknesses which this age is afflicted with Job 7.4 13 14 18 19. Psal. 32.4 nor the clouds return after rain This likewise may be understood generally of the troubles of old age in the former sense to noâ—e the continual returns of them day and night A proverbial speech expressing the constant succession of one grief pain disease calamity after another as when the Wether is set in to rain one cloud is no sooner blown over but another ucceeds and brings more rain Velut unda supervenit undae Others understand it of the Catarrhs and defluxions which by reason of natural weaknesse and want of heat to concoct them do still ascend from the stomack to the head and from thence fall down upon the breast and lungs so that the head is ever rainy never serene The former sense seems most pertinent because in this verse is a general description of the miseries of old age the particular specification whereof follows in the rest For as Usurers before the whole debt is paid do fetch away some good parts of it for the loan so before the debt of death be paid by the whole body Old age doth by little and little take away sometimes one Sense sometimes another this year one Limb the next another and causeth a man as it were to dye daily No Sun can dispel the clouds and sorrowes of old age but Christ who is the Sun of Righteousness and the bright Morning Star Mal. 4.2 Prov. 4.18 Rev. 22.16 V. 3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders cease because they are few and those that look out of the windows shall be darkned The Body is here compared to an House or Castle so elsewhere called Job 4.19 2 Cor. 5.1 〈…〉 watchmen and Keepers to 〈…〉 being broken open By these some understand the outward Senses which observe any danger approaching and give timely notice of it to have it prevented Others the inward Faculties of Memory Wisdome Providence which take speciall care of the common safety Others and the most The Hands and Arms which are the principal instruments which the Body useth in repelling any evil from it Others understand the Ribs whereby the vital parts are fenced and hedged in that danger may not easily come near them As the expression is Job 10.11 Though the Verb Tremble seem to carry the sense chiefly unto the Hands and Arms which are more subject unto palsies and shakings yet it is not amiss to take in many of the other The Head the seat of the Senses as the Watchman the Arms as the Souldiers in a Castle the Ribs as the Walls and Works which serve to defend it All which are much shaken and weakned in old age and the strong men shall bow themselves The Leggs and Thighs which were wont to carry the body upright shall now falter and shrink under their weight and buckle for feebleness Isai. 35.3 Or the Back which is the strongest part of the body 〈◊〉 bearing burdens shall bow and stoop under its own weight Symmachus rendreth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall perish or be corrupted the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be perverted shall as it were trip up and supplant one the other with crooked and unsteady motion The old Wife in the Comedian excused her slow and faltering pace because she carried a very heavy burden the weight of seventy four years Cajetan understandeth it literally when the strongest men that are do fail and stoop through weakness and the grinders cease because they are few Dentes molares the great jaw-teeth wherewith we grinde our meat shall cease and be unable to work because they are diminished and made few or because they do diminish their grinding being sluggish and dull both for want of strength in themselves
shall fail because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets These are further degrees of the infirmities of old age when it grows now more decrepit and neer unto the grave Also when they shall be afraid of that which is High Either to go up to any high place for fear of weariness or want of breath or giddiness of brain or disability to hold out or danger of falling from it or lest any thing that is over them should fall down upon them and hurt them and fears shall be in the way They shall go slowly and timorously lest they stumble at every stone or little bunch that is before them lest they be thrust and bruized by any that pass by them lest weariness sickness or some other infirmity come upon them and hinder them in their Journey lest any thing run against them and cast them down no way is so smooth and easie wherein there will not be something to afright them and the Almond-tree shall flourish This some take literally when the Almond flourisheth in the beginning of the spring when the grashopper is fat in the middle of the Summer then shall the desires and delights which in those seasons young men were wont to take fail them they shall find no pleasure in the most beautiful seasons of the year And so they make the spring to be described by the flowring of the Almond-tree which doth first bring forth blossoms Jer. 1.11 and the Summer by the fatness of the grashopper which then is most busie Others understand it of Aversation from sensual desires and from pleasant fruits as we find in Vatablus and Caietan Omnis Cibus suavis reprobabitur flocci faciet coitum ob multam debilitatem But he seemeth to carry on the Allegory and to compare the speed which old age makes to overtake a man unto the Almond-tree which thrusts out her blossoms before any other tree And as the flowers of the Almond are evident fore-runners of approaching Summer so is old age of death The most agreed sense is of Gray hairs which are here compared to the white flowers of an Almond-tree and are called flores Caemiterii So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Sophocles a white hoary head and the grashopper shall be a burthen The lightest hop of so little a creature shall be burthensome to him he is impatient of any the smallest weight Allegorically may be understood either the bowing down of his back and the sticking out of the vertebrae and bones thereof which shall be a heavy weight unto him Or the legs which in a young man were as nimble as the legs of a grashopper shall now be heavy and swell'd with gowts and evil humours so the Chaldee Paraphrase the former sense is most general And Desire shall fail The Desires of meat drink marriage other pleasures whatever is delightful to the eyes ears palate other senses shall all fail A man shall abhor those things which in youth his nature did greatly incline unto Symmachus rendreth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be dissolved so some understand it of the mutual Confederation between the soul and the body which will be loosned and broken The Septuagint read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word the Vulgar Latin retaineth being a shrub whose fruit Galen saith is good for a weak appetite and Avicen ad irritandam Venerem consonant whereunto is the Chaldee Paraphrase Athenaeus numbreth Capparis amongst other hot and salacious herbs Because man goeth to his long home Ad Domâ—m Mundi sui hic enim mundus non est suus So Caietan wittily though impertinently Domus Saeculi The Long Home is the Grave whence men are never more to return into this world any more It is called a mans own and proper house Isa. 14.18 They promise themselves Houses for ever here Ps. 49.12 but they have no abiding home but in the grave Job 7.10 The body is domus pernoctavionis but the Grave Domus aeternitatis and the mourners go about the streets Accompany the Herse unto the Grave Jer. 9.17 Or his friends that visit him go from him mourning and expecting his funeral So we read of wailing in all Streets Amos 5.16 Those hired mourners who with musick were wont to praise the party deceased whereunto alludeth the Evangelist Matth. 9.23 we read of in Varro lib. 6. de lingua latin vid. Scalig. ib. Now from these Infirmities we may be instructed to take care that amidst our own fears we may be guarded by Angels and led in our way and upheld by the Lords right hand who hath promised to give his Angels a charge to keep us in our waies and to make his way plain before our eyes that we may have plain paths for our feet to walk in and every high thing may be taken down Ps. 34.7 Gen. 48.16 Ps. 91.11 Ps. 37.24 Prov. 15.19 Ps. 27.11 Ps. 5.8 Heb. 12.13 Isa. 40.4 Luke 3.4 5 6. 2 Cor. 10.5 to be trees of Righteousness and then we shall bring forth fruit and flourish in old age Ps. 92.12 13 14. When we can bear no burthen our selves If the Lord be ours we may cast all our burthens on him who careth for us and will sustain us Ps. 55.22 And when All other desires fail Let us labour to be in such a preparation for death as that we may say with Old Simeon Lord now letrest thou thy servant depart in peace and with Paul I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.23 And since the grave is our longest home let our greatest care be to have that a House of Rest and of Hope unto us Christ by his lying in it hath sweetned it unto Believers Lastly let us so live as that we may dye without fear and they who bewail us may not mourn as they who have no Hope 1 Thess. 4.13 V. 6. Or ever the silver Cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel broken at the Cistern Some understand this verse literally 1. Of the ornaments 2. Of the more needful instruments of life whether they be more obvious and easie to come by as to draw water out of a Fountain with a pitcher or more remote which are not gotten without labour and cost as the drawing of water out of a deep Well with a wheel and a chain And so the meaning runs thus Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy Youth before God strip thee of thine ornaments wherein thou now rejoycest Thy plate chains rings jewels bracelets which will then be too heavy for thee to wear nec sufferre potes majoris pondera gâ—mmae 2. Before he spoyl thee of the other Helps and Commodities of life and make both thine extraordinary ornaments and thine ordinary utensils all useless unto thee or haply in this sense the former clause may relate unto rich men Let not thy silver and gold bewitch thee the later unto
meaner men Let not thy pitcher and thy wheel take thee off from minding the things of another and a better life Others carry on the Allegory making these things figurative and elegant expressions of death and of those evils which immediately forego it to wit the dissolution of those parts which are most vital for death as in the storming or battering of a Garrison doth first break and weaken the out-works the bodily limbs and outward senses and and after that sets upon the in-works and the Vitals He here compareth Life unto a Fountain or Well out of which men draw water with a Cord a bowl or bucket a pitcher and a wheel And as when these are broken we can draw water no more so when the Vital parts are decayed there is no hope longer to draw life into the body which is the Cistern This Life he compares for the pretiousness of it unto silver and gold for the weakness and fragility of it unto a pitcher and for the inâ—â—ability and unsetledness of it unto a wheel Now besides this general proportion between life and these things as the figures of it Interpreters do make the particulars here mentioned to answer unto some particulars in the vital parts of the body 1. By the silver Cord they understand the marrow or pith of the back continued from the brain as it were in a cord or string unto the bottom of the back-bones and for the white colour of it compared unto silver It may also be applyed unto all the other Sinews and Ligaments of the body which from the head as the Fountain convey sense and motion upon the other parts Hereby also may not unfitly be understood the chain and sweet harmony of the Elements and humors in the body which being preserved in its due proportion the body doth receive life from the Soul which is the Spring thereof but being once dissolved life presently faileth 2. By the Golden bowl they understand the Meninx or skin wherein the brain and vital powers thereof are contained as in a bowl Others understand the blood which is in the heart as in the pretious Fountain of life Schindler rendreth it Scaturigo Auri or aurea would have us thereby to understand the Law of God which is compared unto Gold but the word is elsewhere used to signifie a vessel Zach. 4.2 3. 3. By the fountain we may understand those principal parts from whence vital supplyes are drawn into the body as from the Head Sense and motion from the Heart spirits and heat from the liver blood 4. By the pitchâ—r and the wheel those Instrumental and subservient parts which from these convey those supplyes into the several vessels of the body as into a Cistern as the veins blood from the Liver the arteries spirits from the heart the Sinews motion and sense from the brain By all which we should learn to draw water of life out of the Wells of Salvation that out of our belly may flow rivers of living water through the continual supplyes of the Spirit of grace that all our springs may be in Christ and our life hidden with him in God Isa. 14.3 66.11 12. Zach. 13. 1. John 4.14 7.38 39. In the second Chapter Solomon had shewed us The many choice varieties of pleasure riches and other excellent outward blessings in which he had sought for contentment and in this Chapter he hath in a most elegant Allegory shewed us how quickly old age doth break them all and take away the comfort of them V. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it The Dust that is The body to shew the Original of it Gen. 2.7 The weakness of it dust is the weakest part of earth Ps. 103.14 The baseness and vileness of it Job 4.19 Phil. 3.21 Gen. 18.17 Job 30.19 Our Original from the dust Our Return unto the dust should humble us and make us vile in our own eyes and should warn us to make haste to secure a better life before this be ended and not to put off the endeavours towards it unto old age which haply we may never attain unto and if we do will bring it self work enough for us to do Death is swift and uncertain Sin the longer lived in doth the more harden Repentance is not in our Call or command when we please and it is a work of the whole man and the vvhole life The vvork deferred vvill be greater the time to do it in vvill be shorter the strength to do it by vvill be less bodily infirmities vvill disable spiritual actions God vvill have less honour and service from us and vve shall have more sorrovv and less comfort Therefore remember thy Creator before the Dust return to the Earth vvhence it came And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it The Soul is called a Spirit to note the Immaterial substance of it and its original It came from him who is the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 Gen. 2.7 shall return unto God that gave it Ut stet Iudicio ante Deum That it may appear before his Tribunal to be judged as the Chaldee well paraphraseth the place As certainly as the body goes unto the dust so certainly the Soul returneth unto God to be judged The godly are translated into Paradise into Abrahams bosome into the condition of Just men made perfect Luke 16.22 and 23.34 Heb. 12.23 The wicked into the prison of disobedient spirits reserved there in Hell unto the Judgement of the great day Luke 16.23 1 Pet. 3.19 V. 8. Vanity of Vanities saith the Preacher All is Vanity As Mathematicians having made their demonstration do then resume their principal conclusion with a quod erat demonstrandum so here the Wise man having made a large and distinct demonstration That the Happiness of man doth not stand in Any or in All the Contents which the World can afford both in regard of their disproportion unto him and their discontinuance with him He doth hereby conclude his discourse 1. With a confident affirming what he had in the beginning undertaken to prove 2. With a strong and solid vindication thereof from any Cavils which might yet arise in the minds of men against it 3. With a positive Conclusion containing the sum of the whole Book and the right means unto true Happiness indeed V. 9. And moreover because the Preacher was wise he still taught the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs V. 10. The Preacher sought to find out Acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth Here Solomon commendeth the doctrine taught in this Book 1. Because it was the doctrine of a penitent Convert for Repentance is an excellent means to discern and acknowledge spiritual truth 2 Tim. 2.25 James 1.21 2. Because he was indued with wisdome from God so that they came and sent from remote
apt to say if the dayes of darkness be so many let us not make them more then they are by denying our selves the pleasures of light but let us freely indulge to our selves all our delights and live to the length of our desires 1 Cor. 15.32 whereunto Solomon answereth in these words 1. By way of Concession 2. By way of sad and severe praemonition The Concession some would have to be real and serious as if he had said I would not discourage thee from the use of lawfull pleasures nor debar thee such contents as the flower of thine age do call for only I would have thee carefull not to exceed the bounds of temperance and moderation but by the vanity of things present and certainty of future judgement to compose thy mind to sobriety in enjoying and to a readiness to depart from these vain delights as Gal. 5.13 1 Pet. 2.16 enjoy pleasures but be not drowned in them use honest delights but be not a slave unto them Thou seest that all here is Vanity that the fashion of this world the power wealth honour pleasures strength health beauties thereof all vanish and pass away that all of us must be brought before Gods tribunal and all our actions undergo a severe tryal therefore let it be thy chiefest care to provide for that account But the place is much more Emphatical if we understand the Concession Ironically as 1 Reg. 18.27 22.15 Ezek. 28.3 4. Matth. 26.45 Since thou art wilfull and scornfull take thy course Rejoyce in thy youth or because thou art young strong healthfull and thy bones full of marrow Job 21.23 24. And let thine heart cheer thee Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it be wholly in good or in delights and walk in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes Do what thou pleasest let thy wanton and wandring eye enflame the lusts of thy heart and let thy sensual heart give law to thy whole man deny not thy self any thing which heart can wish or eye look on Numb 15.39 1 Joh. 2.16 2 Pet. 2.14 3.2 Ezek. 23.16 Josh. 7.21 Jer. 18.12 Psal. 81.12 Job 21.7 Thus sharply doth the Lord deride the pride and folly of young men in their career of Lust and Vanity and as it were give them over to their own hearts desires Prov. 1.24 28. Rom. 1.28 But know thou Though thou Endeavour to blind thine own eyes with sensual delights to smother thy conscience and to baffle those principles of fear and restraint which God hath planted in thee Though thou wouldst not see yet thou shalt see and know to thy cost Isa. 26.11 1 Reg. 22.25 2 Pet. 3.5 that for All these things For all the sins vanities and excesses of thy youth for all those things which are now so gratefull to thy senses though they please thine eye they will gnaw and sting thy conscience Job 13.26 Psal. 25.7 God whose Word and fear thou now despisest from whose eye thou canst not hide thy sins from whose Tribunal thou canst not withdraw thy conscience will bring thee Perforce whether thou wilt or no when thou shalt in vain call to Mountains and Rocks to hide thee Rev. 6.16 Luk. 23.30 into judgement The Judgement of the great day Jude vers 6. called the Terrour of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.10 Act. 17.30 the consideration whereof should abate the heat of lust and cause the heart of young men to tremble at the wrath to come V. 10. Therefore remove sorrow from thine heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity This is not to be understood Ironically as the former words of the verse foregoing nor in that sense but seriously as a seasonable precept unto young men who are of all other men by reason of the heat of their blood subject unto passions and unto pleasures the one seated in the heart the other in the flesh◠from both which he doth here forewarn them Remove sorrow or anger and indignation from thine heart If we read it sorrow then hereby is meant all those sinfull pleasures which though the deceitfull heart look on as matter of joy yet will certainly fill the heart with sorrow at the last Prov. 14.13 If Anger or Indignation then the meaning is that he should restrain all Inordinate passions and perturbations of mind especially take heed of swelling or storming at the will and wayes of God or at any serious advice minding him thereof James 1.19 Job 6.24 and put away evil sinfull lusts from thy flesh From thy bodily members Rom. 6.13 1 Cor. 6.15 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Pet. 2.11 2 Tim. 2.22 and so some understand the word flesh in the sense as it is used Ezek. 16.26 23.20 2 Pet. 2.10 Jude vers 23. for childhood and youth are vanity The reason of this advice drawn from the vanishing condition of youth and the pleasures thereof Youth is but as the Aurora or early morning of a day quickly gone from thence to noon and from noon to night therefore care should be used to spend it in such a manner as that we may have an abiding fruit and pleasure which will not vanish with the years which were consumed in the pursuance of it CHAP. XII IN this Chapter the Wise man proceedeth to demonstrate this Vanity of youth and old age which quickly run into Death And then concludeth the whole Book He had before by an Emphatical Ironie deterred Young men from those inordinate passions and sensual pleasures which that slippery age is most subject unto and that by the Consideration of that dreadfull account which in the last Judgement God will require of them And because that age of of all other is most apt to put the evil day far from them and to look on Death and Judgement as at a great distance as evil men use to do Ezek. 12.27 2 Pet. 3.3 4. Amos 6.3 therefore he doth by a Prolepsis prevent that shift Young men might be apt to say the things you press us unto are good but we shall have time enough before Judgement come to think of them old age will be a fit season to draw off from the world and to draw nigh to God Solomon here perswades from so dangerous a Resolution shewing the necessity of seeking and serving God in our youth in regard old age will be very unfit to begin so great a work in Whereupon he sheweth 1. The Vanity of Old age setting it forth by a large and an elegant Allegory and by other expressions Vers. 2 6. 2. He presseth the same duty by another argument from the approach of death which taketh away all means of Repentance and conversion vers 7. And having thus by an Induction of many particulars shewed the Vanity both of the Creatures here below and of the Condition of man under the Sun who were they never so excellent could not long enjoy them He doth conclude the whole book 1. With resuming his first conclusion vers