6. For to every purpose there is a (certain) time and order; Though the afflictions of man multiply upon him: 7. Though he knoweth not that which shall be ; For when it shall be who will tell him? If we were left to ourselves in the wilderness of this world, we had certainly every reason to despair and tremble at every step we make in the dangerous journey of life. Our weakness, our darkness, our hesitations, the changes of times, subjects, objects, and circumstances, the trials and troubles which overtake us, the snares and stumbling-blocks put in our way by Satan and his emissaries, all would combine to make us miserable, and to lead us to destruction. But, blessed be God, this is not the case; for He has not left us without guides, without light, or without instruction how to behave, and how to proceed on our journey. His holy commandments are so many brilliant lamps to our feet, to enlighten our steps, and to lead us in the path of righteousness. If the law of God be our rule and guide, and if we are so enlightened by the wisdom of God as to discern the times and orders of things, and foresee all the changes to which they and we are liable, and thus be always armed and ready to meet whatever come, then no evil shall befall us. Though the afflictions, calamities, vicissitudes, and disorders multiply daily upon us-though we are too shortsighted to know and foresee exactly how and when they shall take such like a precept in the Word of God, surely even as an uninspired king, Solomon could never think to recommend what was supposed by commentators that he did recommend in the passage before us. The fact of the matter is that the whole passage refers not to mortal kings, but to the great King of Glory, and to the obedience that we owe unto His commandments. It is the Almighty Lord of Hosts, who doeth as he pleaseth in heaven and on earth, and unto whom no man, no angel, no seraph may say, What doest thou? place, or how we should provide and prepare antidotes against them, still if the Lord is our refuge, and His wisdom our guide, we have nothing to fear even should all the orders of this globe change, and the mountains be removed into the depth of the ocean. The Lord our God knows these changes well; for He orders them beforehand to come, and He it is likewise who calls by name all the hosts of heaven, who numbereth the stars, and also the hairs of our head; it is therefore certain that He will cause all things to turn out for the best for those that fear Him. If there are anv who have reason to tremble at the changes of life and time, these are the wicked who live without God and without the precepts of His wisdom, and whom the least storm may overturn and cast into a gulf of destruction. But they that fear the Lord and live in Him are under His omnipotent protection-change world, change time, change circumstances, our God never changes; His promises never fail. He shall never leave us and never forsake us, until He has taken us from the midst of a tumultuous world of changes and dangers into the stable and unchangeable world of eternal peace and unmingled happiness. 8. As there is no man that has power over the wind to restrain it, So there is no power against the day of death ; Neither shall wickedness deliver those that practise it. The wind blows where it listeth, and no man can restrain it or change its torrent; no more can a man restrain the torrent of death, or prolong his stay on earth by a single day. The same it is in war, where no one knows who will fall, and whose destiny it is, fall he must, as the arrows of the enemy make no distinction between the men that fill the ranks and lines. As long as human breasts are of flesh, and arrows of sharp iron, there will be no discharge (or distinction) in war; the king's or the general's breast may be pierced by an arrow of no more worth than that which fatally wounds a common soldier. These three messengers, tempest, death, and war, sweep and carry everything before them, without distinction of persons; nor will the riches accumulated by violence and unrighteousness deliver their wicked owners when their time comes to perish. While the death of the righteous is a triumph unto them, as they go over from a world of changes and trials into one of peace and happiness, that of the wicked is a beginning of never-ending misery and agony. While the fear and wisdom of God affords comfort, counsel, and peace in time, shields against the sting of death, and carries victory in eternity, wickedness absorbs peace, and multiplies fear and sorrow in time, heaps agonizing horrors at the hour of death, and opens the door of hell and everlasting torments for those that practise it. 9. All this have I seen, and applied my heart Unto every work that is done under the sun : There is a time wherein man ruleth over man to his own ruin. 10. And thus I saw wicked men buried and gone ;* Even from the holy place they departed, And were forgotten in the city, because they behaved thus. This also is vanity. * "And gone," such is the signification here of the word Na (Vavau), they had gone, they went down and disappeared, as (Uva Hashamesh), “and the sun goeth down," ceases to shine, and disappears, so the wicked when once dead and buried disappear along with their names, which are execrated, and none minds them, nor cares to remember their existence, which was the source of sighs and tears to many. Having stated in verse 8 that the wickedness of the wicked will afford them no shelter, no defence, when their turn comes to perish, the inspired king says in verse 9 that during the course of his attentive observations of all the works that are done under the sun, he saw examples of it-he saw wicked men lifted up to rule over their fellow-men, not only to the harm and sufferings of the ruled, but to their own destruction and ruin. In verse 10 Solomon gives us some particulars, saying that he saw wicked men buried and gone, viz., who in the very midst of their progress, power, authority, renown, and violence, were suddenly cut off. These wicked men, far from dying a natural death, were obliged to depart for their grave even from the holy place, viz., whither they fled for refuge. Such was the dismal end of the wicked and violent Joab, the murderer of the two princes of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he treacherously assassinated. Though he escaped punishment during the reign of David, though he fled for refuge into the holy place of the Lord's temple, and laid hold on the horns of the altar, still there he perished (as the sanctuary was no refuge for a wilful murderer-see Exod. xxi. 14); and from that very sanctuary he was carried off to his untimely grave. His name, his power, and his acts, which were execrated during his life, were soon forgotten even at Jerusalem, and all disappeared and dissolved like a shadow in the very city which he once filled with authority and crime. Nor was the miserable end of Joab a solitary instance of the dreadful punishment which often overtakes the wicked even in this world, and of the astonishing quickness with which their names and acts are forgotten among their survivors, and their very names are blotted out from the memory of their fellow-citizens. It is not so with the good man, for the name he leaves behind him resounds melodiously from many lips, who deeply and for many years lament his departure; he is remembered by thousands of his fellow-citizens with sighs and tears, even when grass covers already the sepulchre of his earthly remains, and even when the latter are already reduced to ashes and mingle with their native dust. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, Therefore is the heart of the sons of man emboldened in them to do evil. Had the wicked Joab received his sentence for the murder committed on Abner, he could not have taken the life of the brave Amasa, nor practised violence any more. But the ways of God are no less wise than mysterious, and no less righteous and scrupulously exact because they often seem unto us (short-sighted creatures of a day) too long delayed. The great Jehovah has mysterious plans to be carried out, complicated purposes to be served, which we cannot comprehend nor penetrate. But one thing is sure and clear as day, that the Lord is righteous, and that He will surely punish the wicked sooner or later. When the day of retribution arrives, their power, their riches, and their authority can no more defend them than they could restrain the wind in its course. Many Israelites might have thought it strange that Abner's murderer should be left unpunished, and thus opportunity afforded him to commit other crimes. But the heavenly tribunal passed sentence, to be executed in a time and manner the more fearful, the more conspicuous. The hour arrived, and all the influence of the old general, all his authority in the army, all the terror at the gray |