Ecclesiastes 11

This sight of God will be very glorious: As when a king on his coronation day, shows himself in all his royalty and magnificence. 2. We shall corporeally behold the glorified body of Jesus Christ: And if it be a pleasant thing to behold the sun (Ecclesiastes 11:7), then how bles…

Why Nilus should overflow in summer, when by the course of nature the waters are lowest. How the bones grow in the womb (Ecclesiastes 11:5). If these things pose us, how may the infinite mystery of the deity transcend our most raised intellectuals.

Resp. Two ways. 1. By the suffrage of Scripture (Ecclesiastes 11:9, 12:14): For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing (Psalm 96:13). For he comes, for he comes to judge the earth.

This kingdom of heaven is adorned and bespangled with light (1 Timothy 6:16). Light is the glory of the creation (Ecclesiastes 11:7). The light is sweet: Hell is a dark dungeon (Matthew 22:13).

The sword of God's justice hangs over a sinner; and when the slender thread of life is cut asunder, the sword falls upon him. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth (Ecclesiastes 11:9). But know you for all these things God wi…

As on the contrary, light, because it is so pleasant a thing to behold, is put for comfort. And that so it is taken here is evident by that which is opposed in the next verse: 'Walk you in your light, yet you shall lie down in sorrow' (Ecclesiastes 11:7). But fourthly, of what k…

And this is not for a moment or a few years, but forever. You who spend your days in pleasure here and rejoice in them all — 'Remember the days of darkness, for they are many,' says Solomon (Ecclesiastes 11:8) — many indeed, days of eternal night that shall know no end, which no…

This implies these two things, 1. A distinct aggravating of sin, when a man not only looks on himself as a sinner, but looks on his sin by reason of several aggravating circumstances as being above and beyond the sin of others, and abhors and loathes himself as the chief of sinn…

Assertion 1. The particular exact knowledge of the Lord's manner of drawing of sinners, may be unknown to many that are drawn. 1. In the very works of nature, the growing of bones in the womb, is a mystery; far more the way of the Spirit (Ecclesiastes 11:5). Do you know the bala…

3. Will you not read bloody justice pursuing sin on the blue stripes and scarlet wounds, on innocent Jesus' back and sides, his head and hands and feet? Will you, young men (Ecclesiastes 11:9), laugh and sin, and must Christ weep and shout and cry for pain, when he suffers for s…

For though we imagine that we labor in vain, and spend our strength in vain (as the Prophet speaks) yet our work is with the Lord, and our labor with our God (Isaiah 49:4). And albeit we may seem to ourselves and others to cast away our goods in being beneficial to some, and (as…

The Manner of the Spirit's proceeding in them that are born of the Spirit, is very often exceeding mysterious and unsearchable: We, as it were, hear the Sound of it, the Effect of it is discernable; but no Man can tell whence it came, or whither it went. And 'tis oftentimes as d…

And this was the case of Job, chap. 6:11 he had given up all expectation of better days, and yet this man lived to see a resurrection of all his lost comforts with an advantage. Think how that change and unexpected turn of Providence affected his soul: it is with our hopes and p…

If one, or two, or three, or many means we use, fail, we ought to try still, never despair of the end while the work is good and the means are fair; In the morning sow your seed (says the Preacher) and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not whether shall prosper…

Youth is oftentimes a time of great vanity and unmindfulness of God; many stains and spots are therein usually brought upon the consciences of men. Childhood and youth are vanity, Ecclesiastes 11:10. Not because they soon pass away, but because they are usually spent in vanity,…

1. They are bushy, or curled, not such as old men have, hairs here and there, but his are bushy, thick and handsome, such as young men in the flower and vigor of their youth use to have. 2. They are black; and that, 3. as a raven: black hair in these times and places was comely…

The king's daughter that is espoused to Christ is all glorious within (Psalm 45:13). The working of grace in the soul is often represented as a regeneration, or being begotten again; and perhaps when this good work is called the hidden man of the heart, there may be some allusio…

(1.) To enlighten and direct us. Light is pleasant, says Solomon; it's a good thing to behold the Sun with our eyes (Ecclesiastes 11:7). If light natural be pleasant, what is light spiritual?

3. Consider the cursed issue of these things, of letting loose your eye and heart to vanity. When you please the eye you wound the heart, and make you unfit for your great account (Ecclesiastes 11:9). Rejoice O young man in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of…

Men are wicked because they are inconsiderate; there are arguments enough against sin, if they would but pause and weigh them seriously; but we do not think of heaven, and hell, and therefore they do not work upon us. Remember that for all these things God will bring you to judg…

Avoid the sins proper to this age (2 Timothy 2:22), flee youthful lusts, or the lusts of youth; there are some lusts almost peculiar to youth, as, 1. Ambition, vain glory, pride (1 Peter 5:5), which much appears in their odd, fantastic garbs and flaunting behaviors (as that text…

Even in laughter the heart is sad, it is not only at the end of laughter, but in it, while at it (Proverbs 14:13). While men are taking the pleasures of sin, they hear a "But remember you must die, and go to judgment," which chills and cools their heat (Ecclesiastes 11:9). We li…

This seems to be clear enough; yet because truths are seldom well improved till they be believed and are seldom believed till they are well proved, I shall therefore make this out more fully, that sin is worse than suffering, first by this argument in general: because sin is all…

Alas, what is it to have religion in your Bible, in your head and tongue, and yet have none in your heart and life! Do but think what you will say or do when you come to judgment, as Solomon tells the young man (Ecclesiastes 11:9). Take the course which you can own, and justify…

Thus the secure sinner counted the Lord's patience a kind of connivance, and allowance of him in ungodly ways: I held my tongue and you thought wickedly that I was such a one as yourself, that God could wink at wickedness, look aside at the slips and swervings of the ungodly, an…

There is (a good pleasure, as the original has it) a season for every thing (Ecclesiastes 2:1), and this seems to be the fittest time for this work whether we respect man or God. A man at this age has better materials, as I may so say, wherein, or whereupon the frame of conversi…

Oh! that we [illegible] wise to consider these things, and because our [illegible] is short, and passes away, we would take hold [illegible] the opportunity present. But the young man replies: it is a good thing [reconstructed: for] the eye to behold the sun (Ecclesiastes 11:7).…

Fourth, consider how quickly the balance of Providence may turn; we ourselves may be brought to poverty, and then it will be no small comfort that we relieved others while we were in a capacity to do it. Ecclesiastes 11:2: Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you do n…

How the bones grow in the womb? Ecclesiastes 11.5. What is the reason of all occult qualities?

Why Nilus should overflow in summer, when by the course of nature waters are lowest; why the lodestone should incline to the pole star; why the Sea should be higher than the earth, yet not drown it. How the bones grow in the womb, Ecclesiastes 11. 5. Many of these things are rid…

Solomon saith truly the light is sweet. Ecclesiastes 11:7. But we can say, truly the Word is sweet, We have tasted Christ in a Promise, the Word hath caused an exuberancy of joy, Psalm 19:8.

It is kept all the year long. It bears the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity (Psalm 62:9); and also because all that is there sold, or that comes there, is vanity; as is the saying of the wise, “All that comes is vanity” (Ecclesiastes…

2. The Law of God is a light that shines in a dark place, 2 Peter 1.19. It is our pole-star to guide us to heaven; it was David's candle and lantern to walk with, Psalm 119.105 now, light is sweet, Ecclesiastes 11.7. It is sad to want this light; those heathen who have not the k…

Godliness: Young man, believe me, those pleasures and delights which your heart is so much set upon, are brutish and very hateful to God, and do also debase your noble soul, which is of a sublime extraction. In fact, furthermore hear what wise Solomon says, Rejoice, O young man,…

I owe you nothing. And it's faith's word of answer (Ecclesiastes 11:9), But know you, that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. 3. Faith puts the soul in that condition, that self may be plucked from self, without great violence, as an apple full of the tree, and…

David intimates that a man can never heartily pray against fixing his affections on earthly things, till he be really and experimentally convinced of the vanity of them. This rule Solomon observes to withdraw the desires of young men, who have strongest affections and smallest e…

Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Counsellor, hath taught Him? Ecclesiastes 11:5. As thou knowest not what is the Way of the Spirit; nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child; so thou knowest not the Works of GOD, who maketh All.