Excerpt from An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes
Separate from Him, “the light that is in us is darkness” (Matt, vi. 23.)
The Author confesses that he has felt his measure of difficulty as to some of the statements of this Book. But the result of his inquiry into its Divine credentials has been solidly satisfactory. The conclusion therefore was natural, that a Book that ‘had God for its Author, ‘ must have ‘truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.’ Some of its maxims have indeed been too hastily supposed to countenance Epicurean indulgence. Nay – even Voltaire and his Monarch disciple have dared to claim detached passages as favouring their sceptical philosophy. But ‘all of them’ – as Mr. Scott observes – ‘admit of a sound and useful interpretation, when accurately investigated, and when the general scope of the book is attended to.’ If any difficulties still remain, as Lord Bacon remarks – ‘If they teach us nothing else, they will at least teach us our own blindness.’ Thus Pascal profoundly remarks on the Scriptures – ‘There is enough brightness to illuminate the elect, and enough obscurity to humble them. “All things work together for good” to the elect; even the obscurities of Scripture, which these honour and reverence on account of that Divine clearness and beauty, which they understand.’
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I used this book recently to study the Book of Ecclesiastes, alongside the Matthew Henry Commentary of the Bible. A phenomenal book with insights I don’t generally get to see in commentaries, now-a-days. If you are an active Bible studier, I would truly suggest finding Archive (dot org) and look up some of the older commentaries from years gone by. This one was written back around 1859, and some of the insights were just awesome, in my opinion!
Godspeed & Good Reads!
Doc Murf
Doc Murf's Corner Bookshelf 