So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind. Sermons
I. THE POSSESSION AND EXERCISE OF WISDOM. 1. This implies natural ability, as a foundation; and, if this be absent, eminence is impossible. 2. It implies also good opportunities. There are doubtless many endowed with native powers, to whom are denied the means of calling forth and training those powers, which accordingly lie dormant throughout the whole of life. 3. It implies the diligent cultivation of natural powers, and the diligent use of precious opportunities. 4. It implies prolonged experience - "years that bring the philosophic mind." II. THE LIMITATION OF HUMAN WISDOM. To the view of the uncultivated and inexperienced, the knowledge of the accomplished student seems boundless, and the wisdom of the sage almost Divine. But the wise man knows himself too well to be thus deluded. The wisest man is aware that there are (1) problems he cannot solve; (2) errors he cannot correct; (3) evils he cannot remedy. On every side he is reminded how limited are his speculative and his practical powers. He is often all but helpless in the presence of questions that baffle his ingenuity, of difficulties that defy his endeavors and his patience. III. THE DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISTRESS OF WISDOM. 1. One erroneous inference from the considerations adduced must be carefully guarded against, viz. the inference that folly is better than wisdom. The wise man may not always come to a just conclusion as to belief and practice, but the fool will usually he misled by his folly. 2. The wise man is gradually disillusioned regarding himself. He may start in life with the persuasion of his power and commanding superiority; but his confidence is perhaps by slow degrees undermined, and he may end by forming a habit of self-distrust. 3. At the same time, the wise man becomes painfully conscious that he does not deserve the reputation which he enjoys among his fellow-men. 4. But, above all, he feels that his wisdom is folly in the presence of the all-wise God, to whose omniscience all things are clear, and from whose judgment there is no appeal. 5. Hence the wise man acquires the most valuable lesson of modesty and humility - qualities which give a crowning grace to true wisdom. The wise man assuredly would not exchange with the fool, but he would fain be wiser than he is; and he cherishes the conviction that whatever light illumines him is but a ray from the central and eternal Sun. - T.
I communed with mine own heart. "I communed with mine own heart." Solomon, by self-communion, by questioning his own consciousness, and by contemplating the facts of his career, guided by the Spirit of his God, evolved a theory of morals concerning the highest good for man. This royal genius, and genius royal, gives us a list of all his experiences undertaken in the search after "What was that good for the sons of men which they should do." "I communed with mine own heart." Yes, and he communicated the result of his self-communings for the benefit of mankind. Like all who approach him nearest in genius he was communicative and not secretive. A cunning man would have hidden his experiences as the hypocrite hides his sin; but this man was too wise to be cunning. Solomon's self-communing was not of the sort of one of your hermit philosophers, who write about a world with which they have little consorted, and whose throbbing life-pulse they have seldom felt; who are busy dissecting the body of its dead past while the living present is dying before them. His self-communing was not the brooding pessimism and acrid egotism of the lonely, self-isolated cynic: his chair of study was the seat of judgment; his college, the thronged courts of royalty; his books, the men and women of his time. He was a philosopher who was a man of affairs and busy, not with theories and truisms alone, but with the political and social commerce of his epoch. He stood in the eye of the world, and the world lay open to his eye; and this man, who with largest outsight could look abroad upon the world, could also look with keenest insight upon the world within himself. These powers of prospection and introspection lifted him, and according to the degree in which we possess them, lift us out of the dust of mere animal existence: they are the motor of our will's responsibility. Self-introspection, self-communion, is as a mirror, wherein the ego beholds the reflection of itself, and plays the spy upon the secret movements of the soul; it is the keenest detector of furtive faults, and the severest monitor of sly sins. Commune with your own heart frequently, if you would learn to know your own self truly. Commune with your own heart, and you will learn the necessity of its closer communion with Sod, in order that you may gain from Him the wisdom and knowledge necessary to reform and renew its sad estate. Do you ever commune with your own hearts, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate in the kingdom of Jesus Christ; — lo, that kingdom which, if it be not, should be within you? Are you able to say, in the words of the text, "Yea, my heart hath great experience of wisdom and knowledge" — experience of Him who is the Wisdom of God and the First Fruits of knowledge? Have your hearts this experience, this knowledge? If you have, you shall obtain your allotted part in the freehold of a spiritual estate unencumbered by vanity and vexation of spirit, to which you are called to be heirs in the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.(C. R. Panter, LL. D.) My heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge In order to realize the goodness or badness of a thing, there is nothing like experience: not simply under favourable circumstances alone, but under unfavourable ones; not now and then, by mere fits and starts, but uniformly so. Now, we do not hesitate to affirm that the general experience of a careless and sinfully-disposed person is, on the whole, one of a most unsatisfactory character: for, while such an individual may appear to the eye of others free from all alarm of danger, and under the most pleasurable excitements, yet, as long as the conscience is not absolutely deadened, and there is any impressive idea of God's existence and power, and an apprehension of a future retribution, the soul of such an individual cannot be otherwise than restless, and far from peaceful. On the other hand, the upright, honest, sincere, and trustful Christian, although struggling against his own corrupt tendencies, and daily striving to obtain a mastery over himself, experiences within his own heart the unspeakable satisfaction of knowing that he is on the path of duty and of safety. That path, we all know, is sometimes a troubled one: yet, withal, the Christian is more substantially and lastingly happy than the ungodly and reckless, be their outward circumstances ever so flourishing, and their aspect ever so imposing. And this fact is palpably and unmistakably so, when the test of experience is brought to the bar of death.I. THE EXPERIMENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIFE WHICH IS TEMPORAL. 1. With respect to wisdom, the word has various meanings in Scripture. Thus it is put for prudence and discretion, which enables us to perceive what is fit to be done, at the right time, in the right place, and by the right person. The word "wisdom" is taken for the faculty of invention, skill, and ingenuity, as when God told Moses He had filled with wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge, Bezaleel and Aholiab; to invent several sorts of work for completing the tabernacle. Wisdom is used for craft or subtilty — as when Pharaoh said, "Come on, let us deal wisely with the Israelites." It is also taken for doctrine, learning, and experience. There can be no doubt about the excellency of this wisdom, when judiciously, or rather legitimately employed. We do not blame the artisan for his skill, the man of science for his discoveries, the politician for his conscientious part in legislation, the tradesman for his forethought, industry and skill of management, and the housewife for her careful economy. No; but the evil of worldly wisdom is when it is exercised in the pursuit of worthless objects; when it schemes and plans for the mere gratification of some fleshly passion; when it wraps itself up in disguise, in order to lead astray the innocent, and to entrap wickedly the virtuous; when it plans only for time, without a due reference to eternity: when all its superstructures bear the character of earth, and have written upon their portals, "Ichabod": their glory vain, perishable, and passing away. 2. And then, with respect to the knowledge of Solomon: he was well acquainted with the various principles, and passions, and objects, and pursuits, and tendencies of human nature. This royal king, gifted with a large and capacious intellect, well versed in the affairs of human life, as they apply to human character and station, raised to a throne in his day among the greatest seats of royal power, fed with every dainty the earth could produce, and constantly encircled with the charms of beauty, and all the enchanting glory of a rich and prosperous princedom, was nevertheless a stranger to the sweet peace of the humble-minded, of the Divinely trustful and obedient — a peace which sometimes passes by the couch of the palace, and rests softly and sweetly upon the hard pillow of the cottage. II. CONSIDER EXPERIENCE AS IT APPLIES ITSELF TO THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHRISTIAN. 1. Here also is a knowledge which is experimental, that is to say, not a mere thing of hearsay or of theory, but something which is felt; realized as a daily matter-of-fact truth. It is not altogether a knowledge gathered from books, or from intercourse with man, but it is a Divinely communicated knowledge. It is a light from above, revealing new and striking aspects of God, as He stands related to us under the titles of Father, Saviour, Friend. 2. The experimental fact of Christian wisdom is very strikingly illustrated in the conduct of the five wise virgins waiting at midnight for the coming of the bridegroom; and it is practically exemplified in the daily life and character of the man who acts in strict accordance with the laws of God, and with the dictates of conscience. Wisdom, in this instance, is the very opposite of folly. It is not seen to build upon the sand of earthly trust, but upon the rock of Divine faith. It is not seen in the midst of widely built up barns, but in the calm of patience, and in the endurance of hope. (W. D. Horwood.) People David, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Applied, Chasing, Desire, Folly, Foolish, Getting, Heart, Learned, Madness, Mind, Myself, Perceived, Realized, Spirit, Striving, Understanding, Vexation, Wind, WisdomOutline 1. the preacher shows that all human courses are vain4. because the creatures are restless in their courses 9. they bring forth nothing new, and all old things are forgotten 12. and because he has found it so in the studies of wisdom Dictionary of Bible Themes Ecclesiastes 1:174019 life, believers' experience 5028 knowledge, God source of human Library Two views of Life'This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man, to be exercised therewith.--ECCLES. i. 13. 'He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.'--HEBREWS xii. 10. These two texts set before us human life as it looks to two observers. The former admits that God shapes it; but to him it seems sore travail, the expenditure of much trouble and efforts; the results of which seem to be nothing beyond profitless exercise. There is an immense activity and nothing to show for it at the end … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture What Passes and what Abides The Past and the Future Eusebius' Birth and Training. His Life in Cæsarea Until the Outbreak of the Persecution. Introduction to vita S. Antoni. "And Hereby we do Know that we Know Him, if we Keep his Commandments. " Literature. Temporal Advantages. Of the Imitation of Christ, and of Contempt of the World and all Its Vanities The Order of Thought which Surrounded the Development of Jesus. Messiah's Easy Yoke How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, for Growth in Knowledge. Joy Ecclesiastes Links Ecclesiastes 1:17 NIVEcclesiastes 1:17 NLT Ecclesiastes 1:17 ESV Ecclesiastes 1:17 NASB Ecclesiastes 1:17 KJV Ecclesiastes 1:17 Bible Apps Ecclesiastes 1:17 Parallel Ecclesiastes 1:17 Biblia Paralela Ecclesiastes 1:17 Chinese Bible Ecclesiastes 1:17 French Bible Ecclesiastes 1:17 German Bible Ecclesiastes 1:17 Commentaries Bible Hub |
    |