much the rather that long life and all the comforts of it if they be not sanctified and well improven are as empty of true Satisfaction as they are ineffectual in order to procuring true Happiness being but vanity ver 8. And 2. He doth more particularly press home this exhortation of tymous and serious preparation for Death on young men who ordinarly mind nothing less and are violent in pursuit of their lusts and pleasures ver 9.10 Where He offers to these young men 1. His Council spoken by an Irony which is a figure in a Holy manner mocking their sinful jovialty incident to youth ver 9. 2. He gives them a sad check to stay their sinful mirth by perswading them of the certainty Severity Strickness and Terribleness of a day of Judgement which allarum he gâ—ves them very hoâ—e and particular by Thou and Thee ver 9. And Thirdly He draweth a Conclusion from all ver 10. Wherein he presses the exhortation from several motives That in the end the neglect of it will be grief to the Heart hurtful to the Body and an evidence of great vanity intimating that as neglect of duty and sinful courses tho' pleasant will be grief to the Soul and trouble to the Body so youth is a very slippery time and obnoxious to many vain and foolish courses CHAP. XI Ver. 1. Cast thy Bread upon the Waters for thou shalt find it after many days 2. Give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the Earth IN the first part of this Chapter Solomon presseth the duty of Charity or Liberality to the Poor as one step of the way to true Felicity And this he doth First in borrowed Terms Cast thy Bread upon the waters whether we take the Metaphor or Similitude made use of in the words for clearing of the Duty to be borrowed from Merchants who adventure their Estates upon the Waters or the Sea expecting a rich In-come Isa 23.3 Or from the Husbandman who casts his Seed upon the Land so well watered that he seems to cast it upon the Water Deut. 11.10 11. Isa 32.20 in hope of a good Crop or Harvest under which Metaphor Charity is frequently prest in Scripture 2 Cor. 9.6 Gal. 6.8 Or by Waters understand the Poor because what is given to them seems to be lost as if it were cast into the Sea and we are to look upon them as Waters that pass away and never return to give us Thanks for our Charity it is all one as to the purpose in hand For it is clear that Charity and Beneficence to the Poor is the Duty here prest and the supply to be given them is called Bread because in Scripture all that is necessary for humane Life is ordinarly comprehended under that name Mic. 7.12 Mat. 6.11 And because Bread is most necessary for the Poor and most common among all to be distribute and this Bread must be properly their own who give it The First Reason whereby this Duty is pressed is taken from the gracious Reward promised to the Performers of it For saith he after many days thou shalt find it not as if the same very thing which is given in Charity would return again to the Giver but as the Husband-man is said to get his Seed again though he get not the same Grains which he did sow So the Lord doth assure liberal persons that they shall not be Losers by their Liberality but shall get their own with Increase either in the same kind if He see it fit to bring them to poverty or in a better seing they have lent to Him He will repay though He do not presently give the Harvest after the Seed time Ver. 1. Next He presseth the same Duty in more proper terms Give a portion to seven and also to eight where a definit number is put for an indefinit which is a form of Expression frequent in Scripture Job 5.19 Mica 5.5 and the meaning is that we must not be wearied out of our Charity by the multitude of the Poor while the Lord continues His Liberality to us only he calls it a Portion because it ought to be proportioned to the number of these that call for our Charity And he gives a second Reason to press the same Duty taken from the uncertainty of what Calamities may come Thou knowest not what evil may be upon the Earth The meaning whereof is thou knowest not how soon thou mayest be deprived of Ability or Opportunity to do good with what thou hast and put to live thy self upon the Charity of others Hence Learn 1. Though our Charity or Liberality to the Poor cannot merit any thing from the Lord seing we can only give what He hath first freely given to us 1 Chron. 29.16 Luk. 17.10 yet the same is a step of the way to Felicity wherein the Lord will have His People to walk And therefore he who would use the outward Blessings of this Life so as his true Happiness may be promoved thereby must not only have a Heart to use them liberally and cheerfully so far as may consist with Sobriety and Holiness for his incouragement in his Masters service but he must also have a Heart to give out a part thereof to others in necessity For Solomon having frequently prest the former in order to Mans Happiness he comes here to press the latter in order to the same end as is clear by referring this to his general Scope which is to direct miserable Man in the right way to his true Felicity Cast thy Bread upon the Waters 2. Though the Lords People have the only true Riches consisting in Knowledge Wisdom and the like yet the Lord sees it fit that many of them be very poor as to the World and destitute of outward Injoyments not having so much of their own often times as Bread to eat or Raiment to put on that He may try others Charity and respect to His Commands the faith and patience of his own and may evidence that these outward things are not his best Gifts For it is supposed in this Exhortation that there will be many very poor among His dearest people whose supply He mainly calls for here and promises largely to Reward while he saith Cast thy Bread upon the Waters and give a portion to seven and also to eight 3. The Lord doth not make all His people alike Poor at once in things worldly but while some want Bread and other Necessaries comprehended under it there are others who have the same and may spare some of it for the supply of others as is likeways supposed in this Exhortation Cast thy Bread upon the Waters 4. Though humane Laws do not ordinarly injoin Charity and so do not punish for neglect of it yet Gods holy Law doth such is His respect to His Poor that He pleads for them with the Rich and consequently will plead in displeasure against the Rich if they respect not this Command
in a special way present with them while they are Oppressed and suffering for Righteousness sake 1 Pet. 4.14 Yet in their sad condition they have often few or none among Men to be comfortable to them even of these whose Relations and Ingagements tye them most strictly thereunto Which flows from the want of the Fear of the Lord that puts Man to these Duties which Mans Law presseth not Job 6.14 Such as this is of sympathie and fellow-feeling and the expressions thereof and from the fear of Oppressours least respect to the Oppressed may bring themselves to their condition 1 Sam. 23.11 12. And likewise from the Lords Gracious purpose to try His own compleatly and make them seek after and set a great value upon Divine Consolations For to the mourning Oppressed there was no Comforter to wit among Men. 5. It is not only the duty of these that are Fellow-sufferers to sympathize with and be comfortable to one another but also and especially of those who are in Tranquillity to sympathize with these that are under Oppression and incite others to do the same For Solomon who was in much prosperity the most part of his time and while he was writting this Book Eccles 2.25 speaks here as a tender hearted Sympa hizer with the Oppressed and calls upon others to look on them with pity and to be comfortable to them while he saith Behold the tears of the oppressed and they had no Comforter and again They had no Comforter 6. The Lord is pleased not only to suffer cruel Oppressours to have external force at their Command and abundance of Furniture for accomplishing their cruel Designs but likewise to have strength of Body and vigour of natural Spirits for that end until His Work about His People be perfected by them and the Cup of their Iniquity be full For all these are in the signification of this Word Power which he saith Is on the side or in the hand as that other Word is of their Oppressours And upon the part of their Oppressours was Power 7. The consideration of all the Oppressions and Power of Oppressours under the Sun and the sad and comfortless case of the Oppressed which is the ordinary lot of the Church ought to wean Mens hearts from this Earth make them die to the delights thereof and banish the apprehension of finding Happiness in it where such usage is ordinary and make them long for that Morning when they shall have dominion over their Oppressours Ps 49.14 For that Country where Righteousness only dwells 2 Pet. 3.13 For the New Heavens where all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes Rev. 7.17.21 4. And for the heavenly Canaan where none of a cursed kind can be For in order to these ends Solomon describes the ordinary Tragedies that are acted upon the Stage of this World to alienat Mens hearts from the imagination of Happiness in it I considered all the oppressions under the sun and behold the tears of the Oppressed c. Verse II. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive III. Yea better is he than both they which hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the Sun THE Preacher here shews what effects the consideration of those grievous Oppressions mentioned in the former Words had upon him As 1. That he commended the state of them who have by Death escaped the sight of such Dishonour to God and the feeling of such Miseries as much to be preferred to their state who are pyning away under them and exposed to manifold Temptations of whom no better can be said than that they live and that is All. Yea 2. He preferred the state of him who is not yet born both to the state of them who have wrestled thorow these Miseries and them that are yet in their passage because such a one hath not seen or as the force of the Word is hath not felt the miseries nor been exposed to the Temptations that are in this World This seems to be the literal and safest sense of the Words and according to it these Objections which may arise from the Expressions may be easily answered As 1. If it be enquired How doth Solomon's praising of the Dead more than the Living agree with the Saints praising of the Living more than the Dead Isai 38.18 19 Ps 6.5 The Answer is In these places the state of the Dead as wanting opportunity of Praising and Glorifying God is compared with the state of the Living who have it and so this is preferred to that Here the state of the Dead considered as setting man above the reach of temporal Miseries and Temptations is compared with the state of the Living exposing them to both and so the preference may be contrary And 2. If it be again urged how can the state of him that is not yet born be preferred to the state of those that are Dead seing the Godly that are in Blessedness have escaped these Miseries and Temptations which he that is to be born is to be exercised with The Answer is the same in substance that he compares the state of not being at all with the state of being Miserable and exposed to Temptations abstracting as it were from the future and eternal state of Men that thereby he may express the holy Indignation and Grief he had at the sight of Gods dishonour and His Peoples Misery Doctr. 1. Although it cannot consist with right Reason much less with true Piety to desire Death or undervalue Life because of the Miserie 's incident to it seing a rational Life is one of the greatest of meer outward Blessings whereunto all the rest are subservient Mat. 6.25 and which may compense by the worth and good use which may be made of it all the Miserie 's incident to it Lam. 3.39 yet in order to the escaping of these great Evils the sight of God's Dishonour and His Peoples Misery the hazard of being assaulted and overcome with these Temptations which are worse than Death and in order to the obtaining of perfect freedom not only from Misery but from Sin and Temptations and of the full enjoyment of God's presence Phil. 1.22 Natural Life may be safely undervalued and Death praised and preferred to it In which sense we may safely conceive Solomon here to speak thus Wherefore I praised the Dead which are already Dead more than the Living c. 2. Mans life for the most part in regard of the Miserie 's incident to it and the sad Spectacles that are in it is but a begun Death a languishing and pining away a continual moâ—â—n toward Death so should living men look upon themselves that they may mind the certainty of Death and prepare for it For Solomon so compares the Dead and the Living as if the Living were a Dying I praised the Dead who are already Dead more than the Living who are yet alive And that is all 3.
considering that when Gods appointed time of calling for it comes he will have no Power over it to Retain it for this is an Argument for the study of Heavenly Wisdom and respect to Gods commands Man hath no Power over the Spirit to retain it 3. However Men of great natural Spirits especially such as are transported with the desire of esteem for magnanimity and Courage may seem to defy Death and not to fear it while they are not come to Combat with it yet so terrible is it to all that have not made their Peace with God and so made sure to themselves a better Life that when it draws neer they will have strong desires to Retain their Spirits a while longer and to have a Discharge from the Combat with Death they having nothing to comfort and strengthen them against the King of Terrours and the fear of the second Death which is at the back of the first for this is spoken to shake men out of their security who neglect the study of Heavenly Wisdom and preparation for Death no Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither is there any discharge in that War 4. It is the great Misery of wicked Men to be peremptorily called to render their Spirits and utterly unwilling to part with them to be called to Combat with the King of Terrours and to have neither Courage nor Comfort in entering the the Lists with him and this is the case of all who are destitut of saving Wisdom the consideration whereof should incite Men to study Reconciliation with God and an Holy Walk which breeds Willingness to Dy and Comfort in Death For as a proof of Mans Misery spoken of before this is brought in no Man hath Power to retain the Spirit it supposes Man very desirous to Retain it even when he must part with it 5. Mens Spirits that are now Rebellious against God and in a continual motion contrary to his revealed Will must when Death comes move at his Command they must flit out of the Body and sist themselves before the Judge to be at his disposal the consideration whereof should deter Men from their sinful Courses For no man hath Power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit 6. While Men have natural strength and vigour they should spend the same in these Exercises the remembrance whereof may comfort them in Death for when Death draws neer Man becomes impotent not only to resist Death but to prepare for it not only hath he no power to prosecute his Lusts farther but no power for these spiritual Exercises which he puts off to the Day of his Death for Solomon gives this as an Argument for the study of Heavenly Wisdom neither hath he Power in the day of Death 7. As every Man will have a sore Conflict and an hot Battel with Death so there is no Man with never so much Power or Policy not the greatest on Earth who can have a Discharge or Exemption from ingaging in the Combat with it Therefore Men had need to get the Breast plate of Faith and for an Helmet the hope of Salvation and to study a wise carriage in an evil World especially when they have to do with Wicked men in Power and Authority least by their miscarriage they ingage themselves needlessly in that War For there is no Discharge in that War 8. Mortal men can hardly be brought to have serious thoughts of the necessity of Death and the impossibility of shifting the Combat with it they live as if they could Retain their Spirits for ever and forget to take their Armour to them as if they were never to fight with the King of Terrours Therefore the necessity of it and impossibility of escaping it is here set forth by so many expressions No Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit no man hath power in the day of Death neither is there any Discharge in that War 9. When wicked Men have had success in their sinful Courses so far as by them to escape temporal hazards for a time they do them go on as confidently in them as if they would always deliver them as is imported in this threatning which contradicts Mens ordinary apprehension neither shall Wickedness deliver those that are given to it 10. Whatever be mens apprehensions of safety by their sinful Courses they shall be so far from delivering them at last that they shall bring total and terrible destruction upon them For such sparing expressions in Scripture spoken against wicked Men import much more than is exprest even the contrary affirmative in the Superlative degree neither shall Wickedness deliver those that are given to it importing no less than that it shall bring Vtter Destruction from which there shall be no escaping to all Eternity 11. However all unregenerat Men rise not to a like height of Wickedness yet all of them are restless in committing of the same they cannot Sleep unless they do Mischief or provoke others so to do as the word Wickedness signifies they are expert in Sin and wedded to their Lusts as if they had made a Marriage Covenant with them as the words Translated that are given to it signifie Wickedness shall not deliver those that are given to it 12. Though any degree of Wickedness continued in will bring Destruction upon Men yet of all Sinners there are least hopes of the Salvation of them who are become Restless and unwearied in Sinning and so pour out their affections upon their Lusts as if they were wedded to them for so are the words in the Original Wickedness or Turbulency and Restlessness in Sin shall not deliver them that are given or have Wedded or married themselves unto it Ver. 9. All this have I seen and applied my heart to every work that is done under the Sun there is a time wherein one man Ruleth over another to his own hurt HEre Solomon doth First confirm his former Doctrine from his own Experience that he had Seen all that he saith partly by his own Observation and partly by the Information of the Lords Spirit representing to his mind as in a Glass that he might represent the same to the Church the misery of them that want that Wisdom which is from above and the sweet Advantages of them that have it formerly mentioned Next He commends his Experience from the great pains he took in studying the Lords Dispensations he applied his heart his understanding and Affections were taken up how to profit in this study and the Book he read upon was a very large Volume all the works under the Sun whereby he means especially all the Dispensations of Gods Providence for the several kinds of them and so far as humane understanding elevated and illuminated as his was might reach them For though he was a great Student of the Works of Creation or nature 1 King 4.33 yet he speaks here mainly of the Works of Gods Providence or the carriage and issue of humane
attaining to what is prest in the former namely the removal of Sorrow from the Heart And put away evil from thy Heart 10. Men will never rightly reform the Ills of their practice especially Sins of their Youth till they be sensible of their Original Pollution which doth encline them to sinful Courses even from the very Morning of their Life or as the Word translated Youth signifies the breaking of the Day of their being in the World For Original Sinfulness is held forth in this Expression which is brought in as a Reason why Men should be serious in reforming their actual Transgressions For Childhood and Youth are vanity 11. The sinful Delights of Youth are transitory and those hot furious Motions of Passion Lust and the like will soon evanish the consideration whereof should move Men to the study of Mortification timously that they may leave their Lust ere their Lusts leave them For the Vanity here spoken of is mainly to be understood of the transitoriness and speedy evanishing of youthly Pleasures and the same is brought as an Argument for the study of Reformation For Childhood and Youth are vanity CHAP. XII THE ARGUMENT IN the First Part of this Chapter contained to the 8 Verse the Preacher continueth his purpose begun in the end of the last Chapter which is to stirr up Men to a serious and timous preparation for Death and Judgement And in order thereto doth 1 press the exercise of a Duty very fit and necessary for that end to Remember their Creator c. ver 1. where 1 we have the Duty it self which is to Remember a Word importing a clear up-taking of God and His Attributes an affectionat and cordial Trusting in Him and an Engagement to the Duties of New Obedience ver 1. 2. The season fittest for discharge of that Duty not only the present Now but the time of Youth ver 1. And 3. The Argument whereby he presseth this Duty taken from the sad Condition that every Man is to expect under Old Age with reference to the Trouble and Afflictions incident to it and the continuance of these Afflictions upon him and the Language that such will have at such a time far different from what they had in their Youth ver 1. 2. He doth negatively describe the fittest Opportunities for the performance of these Duties necessary in order to the preparing for Death as that it should not be deferred till the Miseriei of Old Age creep on nor till the frequent Returns of outward afflictions especially Diseases ver 2. In the dimness of the bodily Eyes the usefulness of external Lights and the fatling of the Reason held forthly the Allegories of the Sun Moon and Stars being darkned and in the continual succession as one Cloud or Shower after another cometh in time of Winter of one Trouble after another ver 2. 3. The Preacher positively evinceth the time of Old Age not to be so fit an Opportunity for making peace with God in order to preparation for Death as the time of Youth and Health an old Mans Body being so beset with Death as a beseiged Castle that the Arms and Hands called the Keepers of the House do shake the Legs and Thighs the strong Men grow feeble the Teeth the Grinders turn few loose and unfit for preparing Meat for the Stomach and the Eyes which took out at their Holes as Windows grow dim and weak ver 3. 4. He by several other Metaphors describeth the dissolution of this House of Clay or earthly Tabernacle as by the Shutting of the Doors in the Street importing the unfitness of the Mouth and Lips to speak or Throat which are the Doors of the Tabernacle to let down Meat By the low sounding of the Grinders holding out the small noise Old Men throw want or weakness of their Teeth make in their Eating by his rising at the Voice of the Bird thereby signifying the unsoundness of his Sleep and by the Daughters of Musick brought low thereby discovering the weakness of all these Organs of the Body made use of either in uttering or receiving of melodious Sounds ver 4. By Old and Dying Men their being afraid of that which is high and their Fears in the way insinuating their want of Strength and Courage by the flourishing of the Almond Tree holding forth the increase of Gray Hairs as a sore-runner of Death by the Grashoppers being a Burden shewing their Weakness to be such as that the weight of a Flie shall be a trouble to them And by the failing of the Desire both after lawful and unlawful Objects ver 5. The ground of all which is because Man is going to his unchangable Estate ver 5. and his Friends have given him over for dead and begun their mourning for him ver 5. By the loosing of the Silver Cord holding forth the decay of the natural Life and Spirits or Marrow of the Back-bone and Arteries of the Heart which thence convoy the Spirits to other places of the Body By the breaking of the Golden Bowl whereby is meant the Skin containing the Brain which having the Pores of it much opened to admit of what is prejudicial fortokeneth a Decay of the Body in old age By the Breaking of the Pitcher at the Fountain by which is meaned the obstruction of a Vein in the form of a Pitcher coming from the Liver here called the Fountain betokening Decay and Death ver 6. and by the Wheel broken at the Cistren by which is meant the Lungs which as a Wheel are in continual motion till by watry Humours and Flegm falling down in the Stomach they be impeded and so brings Decay and Death ver 6. All which drives the Preachers Scope in the ver 1. to prepare for Death in time before these things fall out by remembring their Creator in the days of Youth And 5. This First part of the Chapter is shut up in giving a short sum the Tabernacle being dissolved as is before described of Mans future state both as to the Body that it being Dust in its first original returns thereto till the Resurrection and also as to the Soul called here the Spirit because of their immaterial substance and resemblance to God that it shall return to God to be disposed of eternally by Him Which also may perswade to the Duty of preparing for Death ver 7. In the Second Part of this Chapter from ver 8. to the end the Preacher sums up this purpose and the whole Book wherein 1. He asserts as the substance of this Book the vanity and insufficiency of all humane Things for directing Man to true Happiness ver 8. 2. He commends the purpose contained in this Book 1. From the Preacher himself and his qualification of Wisdom ver 9. As from the Improvement he made of this for the good of the Church ver 9. As from his Diligence and Assiduity in his Work ver 9. As from his not resting in any measure attained but seeking out carefully
for more as from his Watchfulness and giving good heed ver 9. As from his orderly digesting of his matter ver 9. so from his dexterity in reducing Purposes to short and grave Sentences or Proverbs ver 9. 2. From the Qualities of the Doctrine by him delivered ver 10. viz. The desirableness of the words and matter ver 10. The approvableness and uprightness of the purpose ver 10. And the firmness and truth thereof ver 10. All which commend his Doctrine as being Desirable to move the Affection Upright to reform and direct the Practice and True to inform the Judgement and perswade Belief And 3. He commends the purpose of this Book 1. From the Efficacy of it with reference not only to the Doctrine revealed in this Book but to all Truth in general ver 11. As being powerful to excite as a Goad people to their Duty ver 11 and to establish and fix Men as Nails in the ways of God ver 11. And 2. From the authority of it as being given by and derived from Christ Jesus the one Shepherd ver 11. And 3. In the conclusion of this Book and Purpose he exhorteth to the right Improvement of it and the purposes therein ver 12. Wherein 1. He giveth his Readers a loving compellation of a Son thereby to insinuat upon their affections ver 12. 2 He shews the right use of these words and purposes even to be admonished by them ver 12. And 3. He presseth this by two Reasons the 1. is That if Men follow not these Directions they will be endless and fruitless as in writing many Books in their Inquiries after other things and ways And the 2 Reason is from the sad effect even to the flesh of these vain Imaginations and Enquiries ver 11. Yea 4 In this Conclusion of the Book he giveth the Scope of all this Doctrine delivered ver 13. which 1. He presseth on his own Heart and the Hearts of others ver 13. 2. He branches out the substance of his whole Doctrine in two Duties the 1. is the Fear of God The 2. is the Keeping of His Commandements ver 13. And 3. He presseth these Duties by two Arguments the first whereof is in this ver 13. As being the short summ of all that God requireth of and worketh in Man and wherewith they should be wholly imployed ver 13. The second Reason whereby the study of those great Duties is pressed is taken from the certainty terriblness and exactness of the last Judgement contained in ver last And therefore whoever design to be truly Happy should forbear the following of lying Vanities within time and give themselves to the study and exercise of â—earing God and keeping His Commandements wherein true preparation for Death and Eternity does consist CHAP. XII Ver. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw neigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them THe Scope of this Heavenly Preacher in the first part of this Chapter being to stir up Men to make timous preparation for Death and Judgement he doth in this verse First press that Exercise which mainly fits Men for appearing before their Judge in these words Remember thy Creator Whereby according to the frequent use of the word in Scripture is meant that Men should labour to intertain such clear thoughts of the properties of God particularly his power and terrour Neh. 4.14 His grace and love Cant. 1.4 as use to be blest for leading Men to Repentance Ps 22.27 drawing their hearts to trust in the Lord Ps 20 7. and ingaging them to his praise Ps 97.12 and to all duties of new obedience Deut. 8.11 and while he presseth this Exercise on Men he represents the Lord to them as Creator not to exclude other considerations of him as useful to be remembred by them but because under this consideration he is naturally known to Men and the same is very effectual for moving them to live to him from whom they have their being and constantly to depend upon him from whom they have their daily preservation which is to them a continued Creation Next He points out the season fittest for the discharge of of this duty and that is the present Now and especially the days of Mens youth not as if these who have never gone about this duty till Youth be past were not here spoken to but because the time of Mens Youth is of all other the fittest for that Exercise And Thirdly He presseth the present use making of this opportunity by a reason which is much inlarged in the following words taken from the sad times which every Man may expect under Sickness and Old Age and this he sets forth in two expressions The one is while the evil days come not whereby he means the days of Affliction which are called by that name elsewhere in Scripture Ps 49.5 The other is and the years wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them whereby is meant the time of the long continuance of trouble which every man should prepare for toward the evening of his Life in which neither sinful pleasures nor the most lawful earthly delight shall be sweet to men but they shall be forced to express as they shall be able their loathing of the same and therefore seing all men ought to expect such a time as this before them it is every mans Wisdom to study that which may yeild true pleasure and comfort to his heart in the worst times that can come and that is only Gods favour and fellowship to be found in the way of his fear and obedience afterward recommended Hence Learn 1. It is not the naked contemplation or bare notions of God and his properties that will prepare men rightly for Death or yeild them true comfort at that time but it is the Heart-affecting and practical meditation of him whereby men cherish such thoughts of him as draw forth their affections upon him and make them frame their walk to his Honour for that is the force of the original word both according to the propriety of the original language and the use of it in Scripture as was cleared in the Exposition Remember thy Creator 2. Though there be no consideration of God under which the Scripture holds him out which is not useful and profitable fore us yet these of his soveraignity and omnipotency which the Relation of a Creator offers to reasonable Creatures should be most frequently cherished especially by men who have strong passions and Lusts to be mortified and great discouragements to graple with in the way of their duty that so they may take him up as One able easily to subue these Lusts and make a new Creation upon their Souls or if they continue voluntary Slaves to them able to destroy them being their Creator and if they give themselves up to his obedience able to bear them thorow all difficulties 1 Pet. 4.19 and to creat
peace and comfort in their Spirits to make up the loss of any comfort they can renounce for his sake Isai 57.18.19 for which and the like reasons we may conceive the Lord as Creator recommended to the remembrance of Men who have strongest Lusts unsubdued and apprehend greatest difficulty in renouncing the pleasures of them Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth 3. It is not possible to get the Heart drawn from Earthly delights and so ingaged to the fear and obedience of the Lord unless it be stayed upon him and replenished with frequent thoughts of his properties which will bring in so much Holy aw of him and such apprehensions of sweetness to be bad in him that sinful pleasures will appear to be but Husks or Swins food in comparison thereof and the Soul will not dare to feed upon these Husks if it have clear and frequent thoughts of the soveraignity and power of God the Creator for having disswaded from carnal pleasures in the close of the former Chapter and being afterward in this to recommend to the study of living in the fear of obedience of the Lord as the only way to true Happiness he doth here press this Remember thy Creator as the best way to divert the Heart from the one and ingage it to the other 4. The time of Youth is the fittest time for the study of Reconciliation with God and walking in his fear and obedience then the wit and memory are ripest and the affections most vigorous and therefore should be spent in that study which only is worthy of them especially considering that it is but just with God to reject Men though they should offer themselves to him when they have given the flower of their time Wit Strength and affections to the service of Satan and their Lusts and that if he should accept of them the remembrance of their mis-spent Youth will be extreamly heavy and will readily occasion in the best fears of off-casting in old age compare Ps 25.7 with Ps 71.18 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth 5. As there is a natural propensitie in all to forget God and to shift serious thoughts of him and therefore all Men have need of a Remembrancer to mind them often of this great duty prest in the Text so of all others Young men are most apt to forget God and put off serious thoughts of him and their own Souls their Lusts being strongest and their Hearts most capable of the sweetness of Earthly delights so that the Ministers of Christ though they have often least hope of success in dealing with Wanton Proud Insolent and furious Youth yet must they press this Duty upon them and urge them in the name of the Lord to make use of the present opportunity for it Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth 6. However days of affliction Old Age and Infirmity be good Days to those who have made their Peace with God Hab. 3.17 Rom. 8 2â— yet are they evil Days in themselves and will prove no better than a begun Hell to them who still defer the study of making their Peace with God For so the Preacher describes the times of Affliction which befall Men especially toward Death calling the same evil Days while the evil days come not 7. While Men have Health and Strength and immunity from Trouble they should be forecasting evil Days and unpleasant years that so in the Summer and Harvest of Youth and Strength they may be making Provision for the Stormy Winter of Affliction and Old Age Prov. 10.9 by ensuring the pardon of their Sins thorow the Blood of Christ which else will readily compass them about as unpardoned in such times Psal 49.5 And so making clear their interest in God which is the only Consolation in Evil Days Hab. 3.17 For Solomon supposes here every Young Man to have Evil Days and Years of Trouble before him which he should forecast and thereby be moved to prepare timously for them Remember c. while the Evil Days come not and the Years c. 8. The Lord will once make Earthly Delights tastless and loathsome to Men before they go out of this Life he doth it to the Godly 2 Sam. 19.34.35 that divine Consolations may relish the better with them and they may long for the pleasures that are at his right hand And to the Wicked also Dan. 5 5.6 that they may see their Folly in satisfying themselves with these things only which cannot give them any comfort when they have most need of it And so often gains a Testimony from both good and bad that Earthly Delights are unworthy to be delighted in For Solomon supposes here that there is a time for every Man wherein he shall say I have no Pleasure in them 9. Christs Ministers should be so well acquainted with the Language of dying Men both by their daily observing of the case of such and their study of the Scriptures which will inform them of it Prov 5.11 1 Thes 5.3 that they may be able to inform Men who have least mind of Death what sentence they will pass in their own Conscience and what Language they shall readily utter to others concerning their sinful pleasures when they shall be drawing near to the Gates of Death that so they may the more effectually prevail with them to renounce in time these Sinful Pleasures For Solomon here represents to the voluptuous Young Man who is cheering up his Heart in his Sins and banishing the thoughts of Death what he shall say of his Youthly Pleasures when Sickness comes and Death draws near Thou shall say I have no Pleasure in them Ver. 2. While the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not darkened nor the Clouds return after the Rain THe Preacher doth here farther describe negatively the fittest opportunity for the study of Reconciliation and Peace with God and withal doth more particularly describe the Miserie 's incident to Old Age as to the loss of outward Comforts and frequent returns of Diseases at that time This being clear and generally agreed upon by Interpreters to be the Scope of this place we need not be very anxious concerning the particular application of the Allegories here made use of to set forth this purpose First By the Darkening of the Sun the Light the Moon and Stars may be safely understood the ecclipsing or withdrawing of all earthly Comforts seing the Scripture sets out a comfortless state this way and it may comprehend particularly 1. The darkening of the dying Mans bodily Eyes And so 2. Of all external Lights to him as to any Comfort he may reap from them As also 3. The decaying of his Reason and such Faculties of his Soul as are in a manner answerable to the Celestial Lights And likewayes 4. The failing of all outward Comforts both greater and lesser It is clear the loss of all these accompanies dying Men and so they may be
the Stomach By the third expression he shall rise up at the voice of the Bird is not meant that the Dying Man shall be able at all to rise but that his Weakness is such thorow the coldness and emptiness of his Stomach and the dryness of his Brain that he shall get no sound Sleep at all but the least noise suppose it were of some litle Bird shall put him off his Rest And by the fourth the Daughters of Musick shall be brought low is meant that all the Organs or Instruments of the voice and hearing whereby Men did either make Melody or pleasant Speech to others or did delight in such made by others shall be then so weakned that they shall neither hear others nor be heard by them Hence Learn 1. While Men are able to keep up Society with others to go out of Doors to them or admit them into their Houses and to speak to and hear one another they should labour to improve that correspondence for the advantage of their own and others Souls to Edify and be Edified by one another remembering that the Day is coming when they will love to have the Doors of their House that look to the Streets shut least their sinful Companions may come in to vex them though they were with them they will not be able to open the Doors of their Lips to correspond any more with them how comfortable will it then be to have Christ dwelling in the Heart by Faith and to be keeping up correspondence with him by Prayer and Praise which is the true preparation for this case when the Doors shall be shut in the Streets 2. It will be a great Affliction to men when they shall find themselves to stand in need of Creature-Comforts and have the same beside them and yet have no power to use them And therefore while they have as much Strength as to break their own Bread they should eat in Sobriety and with thankfulness imploy the Strength they recive by their Food in Gods service So shall they prepare for and have comfort in this time when the sound of the grinding shall be low 3. As sound Sleep without such distemper of Body or horrour of Conscience as marres the same is a great Mercy which the Lord bestows upon his own whensoever he sees it good for them Psal 117.2 and 84.11 So while Men Injoy it they should use it soberly and imploy all the refreshment they get by it in the service of the Giver labouring so to walk in the Day-time that their Sleep may be Sanctified their Reins may teach them in the night season they may rise early for Holy Exercises that whensoever they awake they may be still with God and if at any time Sleep depart from them they may then think upon and prepare for the case they shall be in when Death draws near For he speaks of this as a part of the Affliction of Dying Men and minds Men in Health of it that they may thus prepare for it when they shall rise up at the voice of the Bird. 4. As Mans Tongue is given him for Glorifying his Maker his voice and all the Organs of it for chearing his own and others Hearts in his Praises his ears to take in the joyful sound of the Gospel for refreshing of his Heart So while he hath the use of these Instruments his Tongue and Ears he should be careful so to imploy them he should often let the Lord hear his voice in Prayer and Praise seing the same is pleasant to him Cant. 2.14 He should be much in edifying discourses with others which are also sweet to the Lord Mal. 3.16 And nothing taken up with Carnal Mirth or musick that so when he shall not be able to speak to or hear others he may be making Melody to the Lord in his heart and may hear his Spirit speaking peace there For this is the true preparation comprehended under that direction Ver. 1 for such a case as this when all the Daughters of Musick shall be brought low Ver. 5. Also when they shall be affraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way and the Almond Tree shall flourish and the Grashopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail because man goeth to his long home and the Mourners go about the Streets HEre is a farther description of the case that Men shall be in when Death is drawing near unto them held forth in several expressions The first two they shall be affraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way are to the same purpose and do both signify the want of Strength and courage and the fearful apprehensions incident to Dying Men particularly by that which is high may be meant any step of their way which is higher than another and the least stumbling Block in their way which is to a crazy decayed Man such as Solomon here describes is matter of fear least it make him fall considering how hurtful a fall may prove to him and how hardly he would be set to his Feet again And so the words suppose the Dying Man yet able to step up and down as some will be till very near the time of their Removal Or by that which is high and the fears in the way may be meant the least Trouble were it but the weight of a hand above the Dying Person or any action about them which is to them terrible and makes them fear least it increase their pain Next by the flourishing of the Almond Tree may be meant the hastening of the persons Death so the allegory or similitude is used Jer. 1.11 because that Tree flourishes near the end of Winter and consequently it may signify also the Decay of their Strength whereof Gray Hairs which resemble in colour the Flourishes of the Almond Tree are a Sign As on the contrary this same Heavenly Writter doth set forth the vigour and Strength of Youth in a spiritual sense by the Temples where Gray Hairs first appear compared to a piece of Pomegranat which is Rudie and white Cant. 6.7 Or the similitude may have this sense which is to the same purpose that the Blood being now retired toward the Heart of the Dying Man the pale white Clay appears like the Flourishes of the Almond Tree The fourth Expression the Grashoper shall be a Burden Signifies also the great Decay of Strength in so much that the lightest thing were it but a Gnat or Grashopper lighting upon the Face of the Dying Man shall be a burden to him and yet he shall not be able to put it away The fifth is in more plain and proper Terms that Desire to wit after all Earthly Objects whether Lawful such as Meat Drink Marriage Delight and the like or Unlawful such as Revengeful Ambitious Lustful desires Reckoned out 1 Joh. 2.16 shall now cool and be quite extinguished To all which he subjoins a Reason because Man goet to his long Home
out the humane Body which hath a Fountain of natural Life and Spirits within it and so many excellent Instruments to convoy and impart the same to the several parts of the Body all which at Death will be loosed and broken to peices And though this general Sense might be satisfactory and useful as to the Scope which is to stirr up Men to Remember their Creator before these noble Parts be decayed and it may be thought safe to enquire no farther anent the Particulars intended by every part of the Similitude considering that it seems now to be very uncertain by what Names these noble Parts of the Body the Heart Brain Liver and the like were called and distinguished one from another among the Hebrews in Solomon's time and by what Similitudes they were set out which make great diversity among Interpreters in expounding and applying of them And considering also that there are several of these Parts which may be represented by diverse parts of this Similitude yet we shall mention what is most universally agreed upon to be pointed at by the particulars of the Allegory here made use of And First By the silver Cord is meant the Marrow of the Back-bone compared to a silver Cord because much of the strength of the Body lyeth in it in so much as without it Men would creep upon the Earth as Worms do and because in colour it resembles a silver Cord the loosing of it is the weakening of it when the Spirits withdraw from it it becomes cold and loses the force of it The Similitude may also signify some of the prime Arteries or Strings of the Heart which thence convey the Vital Spirits to the Liver and other parts of the Body Secondly The golden Bowl is taken from that yellow thin Skin containing the Brain within the Skull which is broken when the Pores of it are much opened to let in the Air as falls out near the time of Death Thirdly The Pitcher at the Fountain is thought to point out a great hollow Vein somewhat in form or figure like a Pitcher which doth receive from the Liver here called the Cistren Nutriment now turned by the Liver into Blood to be conveyed to the rest of the Members and this is broken when it is obstructed or the operation and office of it impeded near the time of Death Fourthly By the Wheel at the Cistren are meant the Lungs the prime Instruments of the Breath and Voice which are set out by this Similitude because like the Wheel of a Fountain they are still in motion drawing down and sending up the Breath again as the Wheel is still sending down or drawing up the Bucket This Wheel is broken at the Cistren when thorow the abundance of watry Humours or Phlegm filling the Stomach they cease from their motion and operation and so brings Death Now the first Words of the Chapter are to be knit with this as with all the former to this purpose Remember thy Creator before this Case come and timously make Peace with Him that thou mayest have peace in this day Doct. 1. Men should not despise humane Learning and the knowledge or science of natural Things were it for no more but to help them to understand the Fabrick of their own Bodies And although every Man's Gift is not to be laid aside as to the publick imploying thereof because he wants such and such a measure of humane Learning seing the Lord hath made eminent use of some who wanted it Act. 4.13 as he hath done also of others who have been eminently endued therewith Act. 7.22 and 22.3 yet every Mans short-sightedness therein should humble him and move him to bestow some of his time for attaining to it especially considering that Mans Body is so wonderful a peice of Artifice that without the help of these Sciences which describe the same hardly can such Scriptures as this be made clear Ere the silver Cord be loosed c. 2. The Lord hath wisely ordered that Death should assault and take down this Tabernacle of our Body by degrees and loose at leasure the several Pinns thereof first weakening the out-works and then setting upon the inward that every Stroak and Assault may be a Warning for a farther and that when Men find their Hands trembling or their Legs enfeebled their Eyes dim or their Ears dull of Hearing they may prepare for an Assault upon the Heart and other noble Parts For after Solomon hath described the dissolution of several other parts of the Body he comes here to the inmost and most noble parts thereof that Men may be stirred up to Remember their Creator at least Ere the silver Cord be loosed or the golden Bowl be broken 3. All the Organs of the Body especially the more noble parts thereof are very excellent pieces of Work and to be so esteemed of not so much for the substance of them as for the Divine Art which is manifested in the framing of them and the excellent uses they serve for And therefore both these and the Powers and Faculties of the Soul which reside in and act by these are to be used holily Mans strength here mainly held out by the silver Cord should be esteemed more precious than to be spent upon his Lusts he should beware of filling this golden Bowl his Brain wherein these excellent Faculties his Imagination and Memory have their prime Residence with unclean ambitious revengeful Speculations and such like Immoralities and by Intemperance and Excess to spoil this Pitcher corrupt this Cistren and break this Wheel his Liver Lungs and other parts which may be signified by these Similitudes and so do what he can to be his own Destroyer Therefore are these parts of the Body set out here by such elegant Metaphors or Similitudes borrowed from very precious things The silver Cord the golden Bowl c. 4. These parts of the Body which are most excellent and durable are to be looked upon as very brittle and fading and therefore a House not made with Hands to be ensured and this frail Body only so far respected and cared for as it may be the more instrumental in doing the Lord Service while we have it Therefore are the most noble Parts of the Body here represented by A golden Bowl a Pitcher and a Wheel 5. While Men have some measure of Health and Strength they should consider that it will be no fit time for making their Peace and Acquaintance with God in Christ when Death shall be loosing the last Pinns of their Tabernacle these Powers and Faculties of the Soul which are mainly active in Knowing Believing Loving and Praising the Lord being then a decaying And therefore they should think it their true Wisdom timously to remember their Creator in the days of their Youth and strength ere the silver Cord be loosed c. or the Wheel broken at the Cistren Ver. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto