_To everything there is a season._ TIMES AND SEASONS IN THE CHURCH The principle which Solomon asserts, and which is of extreme importance in all matters connected with our practical life in this world, is also of equal importance in religious matters. It is true of religion as of all other things,... [ Continue Reading ]
_A time to be born, and a time to die._ HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF LIFE (with Ecclesiastes 7:17):--The verse has two parts: “There is a time to be born; and a time to die”: and it seems as if man had as little control over the one as over the other--over the day of his death as over the day of his bir... [ Continue Reading ]
_A time to kill, and a time to heal _ SPIRITUAL TIMES AND SEASONS The work of grace upon the soul may be divided into two distinct operations of the Spirit of God upon the heart; the one is to break down the creature into nothingness and self-abasement before God; the other is to exalt the crucifi... [ Continue Reading ]
_A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together._ DECISION AND PERSEVERANCE NEEDED BY THE CHRISTIAN Perhaps the primary meaning may refer to the method in which an Eastern husbandman prepares to till his vineyard. These vineyards were often cultivated on the steep sides of the va... [ Continue Reading ]
_A time to keep silence._ SILENCE There is a proverb which says, Speech is silvern, silence is golden. Like all proverbs, this admits of qualification. There is a silence that means cowardice, sulkiness, and stupidity; and there is a speech that is more precious than any gold, triumphant over erro... [ Continue Reading ]
_What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?_ AUTUMN MUSINGS Autumn is a time which has its meaning, as well as its appropriate duties. Its deep suggestiveness is written upon the sombre grandeur of its sunsets, upon the awful death with which it smites the foliage and blasts th... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath made everything beautiful in His time._ BEAUTY How rich are the traits and manifestations of man’s creative genius! Think of the vast number and diversity of gorgeous and attractive forms, with which descriptive and imaginative talent has enriched the literature of all ages. And the fruits... [ Continue Reading ]
_I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life._ DOING GOOD AND REJOICING Solomon proposes two things to our practice, if we intend to live happily and comfortably in this world. First, that we do good; and, secondly, that we rejoice. I must invert the o... [ Continue Reading ]
_I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever._ THE ETERNITY AND PERFECTION OF THE DIVINE PURPOSES AND DOINGS Most important and consolatory truth is contained in these words. In it the Preacher seems to find refuge from the perplexity and uncertainty of human things; on it he seems to... [ Continue Reading ]
_That which hath been is now._ THE IMPOTENCY OF TIME; OR, THE ETERNALLY PERMANENT AMIDST THE CONSTANTLY FLUCTUATING “Impotency of time!” Why, time is anything but impotent! Is not its history a record of stupendous achievements? Are not the whole scene of our observation and sphere of our knowledg... [ Continue Reading ]
_God shall judge the righteous and the wicked._ THE REASONABLENESS AND EQUITY OF A FUTURE JUDGMENT I. It is reasonable and equal that there should be a future judgment. 1. Seeing all men come hither without any knowledge or choice, having their life, as it were, obtruded on them; and seeing ordin... [ Continue Reading ]
_For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts._ MAN AND BEAST It is difficult to determine the exact object of Ecclesiastes in instituting this comparison: partly because the Hebrew is capable, in one or two places, of different translations; and partly because it is possible to take v... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works._ WORLDLINESS: THE EPICUREAN GOSPEL These words seem to mean that a man had better get all he can, and then enjoy what he has gathered, for that is his share of the world’s good things, and as life is short it is best to spend... [ Continue Reading ]