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to this Solomon intimates, that what is given is not thrown away, but, like corn, is fent on a voyage, which in return will 2 richly repay the merchant. Give a portion to feven, and alfo to eight; give in a very liberal manner, and take in as many objects as poffible; for thou knoweft not what evil fhall be upon the earth, how foon you may want the affiftance of others; and you may expect their help and the 3 peculiar care of providence if you have been charitable. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty [themfelves] upon the earth; providence intended they should do fo; and God gives us money, not to hoard up, but to do good with: and if the tree fall toward the fouth, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it fhall be, and there is no hopes of its bringing forth any more fruit. Thus fhall we foon be cut down, and whether we have been fruitful or barren, (as oppofite characters as north and fouth) none can raise us up to the exercife of charity any more. Let us not frame excufes for neglecting liberality; for 4 He that obferveth the wind, left it should blow away his feed, fhall not fow; and he that regardeth the clouds, who is afraid of a little rain, shall not reap, and will make poor work of his husbandry; fo he that withholds his charity till every objection can be answered, will never beftow it, 5 As thou knoweft not what [is] the way of the fpirit, or wind, [nor] how the bones [do grow] in the womb of her that is with child: even fo thou knoweft not the works of God who maketh all, thou knowest not what will be in future; how he may profper or impoverish thee therefore be not anxious about futurity, do thy duty, and 6 leave the event to God. In the morning fow thy feed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knoweft not whether fhall profper, either this or that, or whether they both [fhall be] alike good; in youth and age, in profperity and adverfity, be always doing good, and depend upon God for the issue.

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Truly the light [is] fweet; and a pleasant [thing it is] for the eyes to behold the fun; life and the comforts 8 of it are very agreeable: But if a man live many years, [and] rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, adverfity and forrow, especially death;

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for they shall be many. All that cometh [is] vanity; therefore be not too fond of earthly things, but labour to do all the good you can, which will afford the most comfortable 9 reflections. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the fight of thine eyes; this is generally understood ironically, as if he had faid, Indulge all the pleasures to which your corrupt affections or natural inclinations lead: but know thou, be affured of this, that for all these [things] God will bring thee into judgment; let this ftrike an awe upon thy fpirits, so and engage thee to be religious. Therefore remove forrow, or indignation, in allufion to the pride and haughtiness of youth in defpifing the religious advices of their friends, from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; the indulgence of irregular appetites and fleshly lufts: for childhood and youth [are] vanity; expofed to many strong temptations, very precarious, and may foon come to a period; therefore by ferious religion remove evil and forrow from thee, and remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt fay, I have no pleasure in them.

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REFLECTION S.

ET us cultivate and manifeft that liberal dif pofition, which Solomon in this chapter recommends by fuch weighty arguments. Let us abound in acts of kindness, according to the abilities God has given us, and not think that loft which is given away: tho' its return may be flow, yet it will be fure and happy. We know not what evil is before us. Covetous people think this a ftrange argument for charity; they urge it for faving, I may want myfelf;' but this is no wisdom in Solomon's opinion, for by charity we fecure fomething, and may expect the kindness of men, but particularly the care of providence in future calamities. We fhould obferve the clouds, they do not hoard up their stores and grow bigger and bigger, but empty themselves and make the earth fruitful. Our opportunities will foon be over, and our

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future ftate fixed: and our being charitable or covetous will have a great influence upon it. Let us not therefore plead those idle excufes which are fo common in the mouths of worldly men, but do good to all that we can, and trust providence with every future event; let us not be weary in well doing, for in due time we shall reap if we faint

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2. Let all, especially the young, feriously think of and prepare for death and judgment, for they are moft ready to forget it. However pleasant your path may be, and tho' light may shine around you on every fide, yet remember the days of darkness; you must expect your share of trouble and forrow. Do not raife your expectations too high, but be moderate in your purfuits and enjoyments; affliction and death will certainly come; and after death the judgment. Young people should recollect the vanity of childhood and youth; what dangerous temptations furround them, and how uncertain life is; and fhould confider the future judgment to correct their love of pleasure, and keep them from fenfual mirth. But if they will defpife the advice of their friends, and walk in the way of their own hearts, they will bring evil upon their flesh and sorrow upon their fouls, and will have a dreadful account to give at laft. Let us all therefore, feeing we look for fuch things, be diligent, that we may be found of him in peace at his appearing.

CHA P. XII.

Solomon here recommends piety to young people, from a view of the infirmities of approaching age, and the profpect of fudden death; and urges a regard to what he had been faying from his own wisdom and care, and the excellency of fuch kind of writings: and concludes with recommending religion as what was abfolutely necessary to come off well in the future judgment. This chapter is improperly divided from the former, the laft verfe of which is connected with the beginning of this; the most effectual method to put away evil and forrow, and to relieve the vanity of childhood and youth, is what he here, exhorts to.

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I REMEM

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EMEMBER now thy Creator, think of him, fear, and ferve him, in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, that is, the days of old age, which are full of trouble and forrow, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt fay, I have no pleasure in them; 2 While the fun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, before the comforts of life are obfcured by the dulnefs of the fenfes; nor the clouds return after the rain; when one infirmity being removed, or a little abated, 3 another fucceeds, or the former returns: In the day when the keepers of the house, the hands, fhall tremble, and the strong men, the legs, fhall bow themfelves, and the grinders cease because they are few, the teeth be loosened, and drop out, and those that look out of the windows be 4 darkened, that is, the fight be decayed; And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the mouth can hardly be opened to eat or speak, when the found of the grinding is low, the digeftion weak and difordered; and he fhall rife up at the voice of the bird, be easily awakened by every little noise, and rife early becaufe his reft is broken, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low, the ear and voice fball fail, fo that he can neither fing himself, nor take 5 pleasure in the mufick of others; Alfo [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [fhall be] in the way, when the fpirits being broken, men grow timorous; dare not venture on high places, ftumble at every clod, and fear where no fear is; and the almond tree shall flourish, the hair fhall grow white, and the grafhopper fhall be a burden, if it but leap on them it shall put them into a fright, or out of humour; and the defire fhall fail, all appetite or relifh for former pleasures be loft: because man goeth to his long home, is just dying, and the mourners go about the streets, every funeral reminds him of his own: the next verfe does not refer to the confequences of old age, but is another argument for early piety, viz. that even in youth 6 death may come fuddenly: Or ever the filver cord, the white nervous fubftance on the back bone, on which the motion of the lower parts depend, be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, that is, the brain, efpecially its yellow coverings of the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel

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broken at the cistern, that is, the vital motion of the heart and lungs (fo neceffary to the circulation of the blood) ceafe: fo curious is the contexture of the human frame, that its life is as easily and as fuddenly destroyed as the motion of fome complex machine is stopped, by loofing a cord, or breaking a 7 bowl, or difordering a fingle wheel. Then fhall the duft return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it, to be fixed in its proper everlasting abode. This is the end of human life, and thus have I largely demonftrated the propofition I fet out with.

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Vanity of vanities, faith the preacher; all [is] vanity. 9 And moreover, because the preacher was wife, he ftill taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and fought out, [and] fet in order many proverbs; this difcourfe is not a hafty performance, but the refult of deep 10 reflection and careful obfervation. The preacher fought to find out acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was] upright, [even] words of truth; he de11 figned to pleafe as far as he could confiftent with truth. The words of the wife [are] as goads, and as nails fastened [by] the mafters of affemblies, the words of the preacher are not only true but affecting; like goads quickening us to duty; or like nails that take faft hold, and leave an abiding impreffion upon the mind, when driven by the mafters of aflemblies, the preachers of truth, [which] are given from one shepherd; an allufion to the master fhepherd, who gives a goad to him that drives the plough, or a nail to him that is to repair a building; fo God, the great fhepherd, has teachers and officers under him; no goads, no nails, are like his word. 12 And further, by thefe, by what has been said already, my fon, be admonished: of making many books [there is no end; I could easily write large volumes of these matters, but that is needlefs, feeing things neceffarily lie in a narrow compass; and much study [is] a wearinefs of the flesh; a man may tire himself, and wafte his strength and fpirits in fearch of natural knowledge, but never arrive at full fatisfaction.

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Let us hear the conclufion of the whole matter, my great defign and the most important end of all I have faid,

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