Ecclesiastes 11:1 This text is generally regarded as an exhortation to charity, in that restricted sense of the word in which it is equivalent to almsgiving. But it is plainly capable of a far wider extension. It represents by a very striking figure the duties and the consequent hopes of every one... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 8:16-12 I. The Preacher commences this section by carefully defining his position and equipment as he starts on his last course. (1) His first conclusion is that wisdom, which of all temporal goods still stands foremost with him, is incapable of yielding a true content. Much as it can d... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 11:3 I. In the first proverb in chap. xi. "Cast thy bread upon the waters," etc. do we not see, no less than in the parable of the sower, the common work of man as a tiller of the ground turned into the symbol and token of his life as an heir of God's kingdom? The words of the Preacher... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 11:6 This text lays a general command upon us all that each in his vocation and calling should, as part of the work of every day, watch for and make use of every possible opportunity of helping those around him in the way to godliness, and, like St. Andrew in the early times of the Gos... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 11:7 I. Good-temper is the result of a well-ordered character, in which each quality is so tempered as to act well with the rest, and to minister to the rightful and easy activity of the whole. It may be born with a man in whom the elements are kindly mixed; but for the most part it ha... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 11:7 To most men there is something very hopeless about these words, a hopelessness with which too many of us are familiar. The tone is like that of some clever, old, hardened, unloving man of the world, who says to the young, and the aspiring, and the sanguine, "Ah, it is all very wel... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 11:7 I. Notice the reality of the contrasts presented in life. Full as life is of pathetic meanings, we are often strangely insensible to them. We may not regard them with indifference, but we fail to realise them. Life is made up of the endless play and vicissitude of circumstance, oft... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 11:9 _(with Philippians 4:4)_ We may accept these words as in very deed the counsel of the Preacher, as embodying the wisdom which he had learned from God. As such they assert a truth in which all of us, whether young or old, have some share. I. They tell those who are called to the... [ Continue Reading ]