A Brief Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes, Commentary on Ecclesiastes · Verses 21 – Verses 22
Eccleſ. 3.14.
Verſe 14. I know that whatſoever God doth, it ſhall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doth it that men ſhould fear before him.
COherence ſee in verſe 10, 11.
Doct. What God himſelfe doth, that taketh place in every Age, without any addition to it, or taking ought from it by any creature.
The meaning of the words cannot be, that every work of God is everlaſting: For no work of God is ſo, but the Angels and ſoules of men, the higheſt Heavens, and the bodies alſo of men after the Reſurrection. But whatſoever God doth, that ſhall be for ever; to wit, It ſhall take place in every Age. It is not (to wit for the creature) to adde to it. It is not to take away from it, Pſalme 33.9, 10, 11. Eph. 1.11. Job 23.13, 14. Matth. 5.36. & 6.27. Prov. 19:21. & 29.26. John 19.10, 11. Some grant a generall concourſe of Gods providence to every thing done by the creature, ſeeing he ſuſtaineth all things in their Life, Motion, Being; but doe not acknowledge a ſpeciall concourſe to the producing of each particular act, as inclining to it, and determining of it, unleſſe the act be ſupernatural. But ſurely, as God inclineth and determineth the will by gifts of grace, by motions of the ſpirit (exciting and enlarging the heart) and good objects unto ſpiritual acts; ſo doth he incline natural agents of natural acts by natural diſpoſitions; and voluntary Agents to moral and civil acts by moral and civil Diſpoſitions, Motions, Objects, Exod. 12.36. And caſual Agents to caſual events by caſual occurrences.
Reaſon 1. From the nature of God; he is the firſt and univerſal cauſe, Eph. 1.11: Rev. 1.8. Rom. 11.36. and therefore concurreth to every effect. Adam under God is the firſt cauſe of all the ſonnes and daughters of men, Acts 17.26. But he is not the cauſe of all their actions; for he produceth them voluntary Agents: And therefore what they doe by choice of their own will, he is no cauſe of that, ſeeing he inclineth not, nor determineth their will to it, ſave onelyonly as he propagateth to them natural pravity; elſe he was not the cauſe of Cain's murder of Abel, which is more plaine in other parents; Cauſa cauſae is cauſa cauſati, holdeth in natural Agents, not voluntary. But God is the firſt cauſe, not onelyonly of all cauſes, but of all effects, Firſt, of good things per ſe, Jam. 1.17. Hoſ. 14.8. Secondly, of evill things, by accident or occaſion, Acts 4.27, 28. 2 Sam. 12.11, 12.
Reaſon 2. From the nature and condition of the creatures. They are all Gods inſtruments, Heb. 1.14. Iſay 10.5, 15. & 44.28. Joel 2.25. Matth. 8.8, 9.
Obj. 1. There …eatures may be ſaid to be Gods inſtruments, becauſe he may and doth uſe them when he will; not that he doth always uſe them.
Anſw: Yes alwayes when they work at all: The Devil himſelf, and all his inſtruments, are indeed but Gods inſtruments: So Faith beholdeth them, Job 1.21. Hence always Gods ends are more fulfilled then the ends which the inſtruments aymed at, Gen. 45.7, 8. with Ch. 37.20.
Obj. 2. Hoſ. 8.4.
Anſw. Its meant, Not of his Providence; See 1 Kings 12.24, But of his Ordinance.
Obj. 3. Zach. 1.15.
Anſ. They helped forward deſtruction beyond Gods approbation, but not beyond his providence.
Obj. 4. What need then of Counſels, Commandements, Rewards and Puniſhments?
Anſw. As if the wind need not blow, becauſe a windmill cannot move but in, and by the wind. Theſe Commandements and Counſels, &c. are the blaſts by which God moveth us.
Obj. 5. Thus you take away free will from the creature, not onelyonly in acts of ſpiritual grace, but even in morall and civill actions?
Anſw. No ſuch matter: For God determineth all actions, not by impoſing neceſſity upon the will, but by inclining it according to the nature and liberty of it; to wit,
1. In good actions, by, Firſt, infuſing good gifts, Exodus 12.36. Secondly, exciting by good motions. Thirdly, Propounding good objects.
2. In evill actions, by, Firſt, eliciting the evill within into outward act; Firſt, by leaving to Satan, and evill objects, John 13.2. Secondly, by propounding good objects, Pſalm 105.24, 25. Secondly, occaſioning the choyce of evill (as Adams fall.) Firſt, making the Subject mutable and declinable. Secondly, giving leave to inſtruments to tempt, as Satan in the Serpent. Thirdly, by propounding objects: Faire Fruit, Good Name.
Ʋſe 1. To teach us to feare before the Lord, Text, Phil. 2.12, 13. Jer 10.5, 6, 7. Our Saviour calleth us to feare him that can caſt both body and ſoule into Hell, Luke 12.4, 5. How much more to feare him that can caſt both body and ſoule into ſinne, which is worſe then Hell, and or himſelf moſt pure and holy in ſo doing, Iſay 6.3, 9, 10.
Ʋſe 2. In Gods fear to acknowledge him in all our ways, as thoſe who can doe nothing without him, and who worketh all our works for us, Prov. 3.5, 6, Pſalm 57.2. Iſay 26.12.
Ʋſe 3. To look higher then the creature in all things befalling us, which will traine us up to 1. Patience in evils. 2. Contentment in evills, Job 1.21. 2 Sam. 16.10. Pſalm 39.9. 3. Thankfulneſſe for that which is good, Gen. 33.10. Neh. 2.8. Ezra 7.27. 4. Fruitfulneſſe, or making a good uſe of all occurrences, whether good or evill, befalling us. If Gods hand be in every thing, ſurely good may be gathered out of it, Pſalm 116.16. Amos 4.6, 8, 9, 10, 11. 5. Courage in all approaching danger; All our hairs are numbred: A ſparrow falleth not to the ground without God, Mat. 10.29, 30.
Ʋſe 4. To teach us the vanity of all humane endeavours and purpoſes without God, James 4.13, to 16.
Eccleſ. 3.15.
15. That which hath been, is now: and that which is to be, hath already been, and God requireth that which is paſt.
COherence, ſee above verſe 10, 11.
Theſe words expreſſe the fourth obſervable thing in the changeable courſe of Gods providence about the ſonnes of men; to wit, That there is a ſetled order and conſtancy in that inſtability, as there is in the motions of the Heavens and heavenly bodies. There is great variety of changes in the Moone, yet great conſtancy in that variety; as it was in one monethmonth, ſo in another.
Solomon had ſuch a like ſpeech before, Eccleſ. 1.9, 10. but there he ſpake of the works of Creation, or of Nature, as Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, &c. but here he ſpeaketh of the work of providence.
That which hath been, is now, &c.] Not that the ſame individual things ſhall returne againe; for dead men ſhall returne no more into this world, Iob. 7.8, 9, 10. neither doth he ſpeake of Gods extraordinary and miraculous actions, whether of Judgement or Mercy, Exod. 10, 14. Deut. 4.32, 33. I…ſh. 10.12, 13, 14. 2 Kings 20.11. nor of the rare and ſingular inventions of men, as of Printing, or Guns. But he ſpeaketh of the works of Gods ordinary providence in diſpoſing of the variable changes of the eſtates and affairs of the ſons of men: which though they be carried with great variety, yet are they carried alſo with great ſtability and correſpondency, and ſutableneſſe one to another.
Doct. 1. The former wayes and workes of God in diſpoſing of the eſtates of the ſons of men, God bringeth them about againe from one generation to another, 2 Pet. 2.4, to 9. Rom. 11.21, Jer. 7.12, 14. Pſal. 48.8. 1 Cor. 10.11. Gods former dealings with the ſons of men in former times, are precedents of what he will doe in after Ages.
Reaſ. 1. From Gods nature which is ever like it ſelfe, Heb. 13.8, 10, 12, 28, 29. Mal. 3.6. 2. From the correſpondency of Gods workes to his word; every work of God fulfilleth either ſome promiſe in the word, or ſome threatning. Now the word is ever ſutable to it ſelfe, ſo is Gods worke, The examples of Gods dealings in Scripture would be of no uſe to us, if they were not precedents and patterns of the like to be performed, in like caſes in after times, 1 Cor. 10.11. Rom. 11, 21. Joſh. 1.5. with Heb. 13.5. Jam. 5.11, and verſe 17.18.
Ʋſe 1. Againſt Manichees who thinke one God to have governed in the old Teſtament, another in the new. But the ſutable carriage of all things now as then, argueth the ſame hand to rule both then and now, Heb. 12.29. It is alſo a refutation of fortune; for fortune is not ſtable, nor keepeth any certaine or proportionable courſe. 2. To lend both comfort and ſtay, and warning alſo to Gods people, from the courſe of Gods providence to his people of old, Pſal. 22.4, 5, & 77, 10, 11. yea from Gods former dealings with our ſelves, Pſal. 77.6. 1 Sam. 17, 34, to 37. warning alſo, Heb. 12.28, 29. Pſal. 99.6, 8. Beware of breaches in general Courts. It will preſage and produce like effects, as breach of Parliaments hath done in England. 3. To threaten to wicked men like judgements, which have befallen others for like ſinnes in former Ages, Dan. 5, 18, to 28, 2 Pet. 2.4, to 9. Iude 11. Iob. 4.8. 4. To teach the children of God to perſevere in like conſtancy, and to keep an holy correſpondency in all their actions and courſes, that we may be like to our heavenly Father.