Ecclesiastes 7:10 ... in Scripture, they are called the "last days" and the "ends of the world," which are ennobled with his redemption. “Let a man examine himself:” and the Lord Jesus counsels the Ephesian Church. Many sorrowing souls know they are ready to die for Him whom they cannot love as they feel He ought to be loved. Seek for reconciliation with your offended God; and endeavour to walk in the light of his countenance. nasb (updated) text: ecclesiastes 10:1-4 1 Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor. God gives the gift of youth, so rejoice in it. I shall now take it in a lower respect; as a case disputable, whether the preceding or succeeding generations are to be preferred; and here I shall dispute the matter on both sides. But it is not so now. These distinctions being duly adverted to, we are prepared to see. However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. This text has a natural and deep connection with Solomon and his times. What is the inquiry which is here discouraged—, It is not every comparison of existing circumstances with the past, that is here reprobated—, [In many situation! Who will venture to deny, that as century has rolled away after century, fresh witness has been given to the Bible by the’ accomplishment of the predictions recorded in its pages? His courage has been tried. Now such things as these may be disputed in favour of the latter times beyond the former. The being who had been formed in the very image of his Maker became instantly capable of the most heinous of crimes; and so far was human nature from requiring long familiarity with wickedness, in order to the learning to commit it in its most atrocious shapes, that well nigh its first essay after apostatizing from God was one which still fills us with horror, notwithstanding our daily acquaintance with a thousand foul deeds. In the first days of his profession, when he has given his heart to Jesus for the first time, all his graces seem so fresh and lovely All his being is filled with joy unspeakable. (2) Such complaints of the evil of the times are irrational, because they only quicken the smart, and add to the pressure. (Ecclesiastes 7:8-10 ESV) In this section of Ecclesiastes there are proverbs, but with some expansion beyond just a brief statement. We are sojourners who know the Word of God and are familiar with how deeds … — More quiet and comfortable. Ecclesiastes 7:10 Context. Learn more. To every man this is a chequered scene. Therefore it was that Solomon hated all his labour that he had wrought under the sun, for all was vanity and vexation of spirit. for thou dost not, from wisdom, ask after this.” Cf. And so every nation has had its fancied golden age. It is the manner and humour of too many, saith another, (b) who would be thought wise to condemn the times in an impatient discontentment against them, especially if themselves do not thrive, or be not favoured in the times as they desire and as they think they should be. Exeter Presbyterian Church. for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. Every admirer of the natural landscape is thoroughly conscious of this. People often reminisce about "the good old days" 2. (2) The worship of the past springs out of man's deep and noble dissatisfaction with the present. Ecclesiastes 7:10; Romans 3:4). For this, and not the former, is the cause of most men’s murmurings against God’s providence. "In former times, say they, men might be more religious, use more self-denial, be more exemplary." “I do not make the rapid progress I once did,” is another familiar regret. Stephen C. Magee. But it was away in the distant past. Ecclesiastes 11. Today's sermon was, well, if there's a perfect birthday sermon, I feel like to day was it, for me anyways. We have not done all we meant to do, not been all we meant to be, and have a consciousness of imperfection more vivid than ever. [Acts 7:51] Or if there were any good heretofore more than is now, it may be said of these wise fools, as it was anciently of Demosthenes, that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of ancestors - not so at imitating of them. The value of difficult things over pleasant things. That it plays a very important part there can be no question; but looking at it as the one explanation, it is a fact that the past looms brighter in man’s memory than either the present or the future: there are always rays of glory trailing down the vistas of time. Why should such superior power be supposed to reside in the seeing a miracle? There is a danger in looking back at the past. (3) These censorious complaints of the evil of the times are irrational, because the just cause of them is resolvable into ourselves. The being who had been formed in the very image of his Maker became instantly capable of the most heinous of crimes; and so far was human nature from requiring long familiarity with wickedness, in order to the learning to commit it in its most atrocious shapes, that well nigh its first essay after apostatizing from God was one which still fills us with horror, notwithstanding our daily acquaintance with a thousand foul deeds. They are good when you look back, because you have forgotten the problems. ... Ecclesiastes. Browse sermons … And first, as to the evidences. The world cannot but be the worse for wearing; and it must needs have contracted much dross, when at the last it cannot be purged but by a universal fire. See him years afterward, when he comes home, after a long service in some foreign land. As our thoughts go back to that blessed time, we can scarcely refrain from asking bitterly, “What is the cause that the former days were better than these?” But in our text the wise man cautions us that we do not inquire wisely concerning this. Say not thou, what is [the cause] that the former days were better than these? That it is ridiculous to ask why former times are better than the present, if really they are not better, and so the very supposition itself proves false; this is too apparently manifest to be matter of dispute: and that it is false we shall endeavour to prove. We're doing a sermon series based on Ecclesiastes. But it is not so now. Previous Sermons Link Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:12 – Who wants to be a millionaire? We often heat' it affirmed, as the author of this book had heard it affirmed, that the former days were better than these. The very putting of the question argues that heavenly "wisdom" (margin) is not, as much as it ought, made the chief good with thee. for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." The Vulgate and Syriac, 'against Him' (cf. 3. II. We are neither to regret the past, nor rest satisfied in the present, but, like St. Paul, forgetting those things that are behind us, and reaching onward to those things that are before us, press forward each and all to the prize of our high calling in Jesus Christ. Though, even if we were forced to concede that the spectator of a miracle has necessarily a superiority over those to whom the miracle travels down in the annals of well-attested history, we should be far enough from allowing that there is less evidence now on the side of Christianity than was granted to the men of some preceding age. Seize the Day (9:10) “Say not: How comes it that the former times were better than these now? But if it was composed in the last century of the Persian domination, this dissatisfaction with the present times is explained, over against which Koheleth leads us to consider that it is self-deception and one-sidedness to regard the present as all dark and the past as all bright and rosy. Ecclesiastes 7:10 "Say not thou, What is [the cause] that the former days were better than these? 16 So don’t be too good or too wise! In keeping with the topic of “Wisdom In Crisis”, we veer from Proverbs today to explore a passage from Ecclesiastes. I. But you do not inquire wisely concerning this. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. We believe that what is rough becomes so softened, and what is hard so mellowed through being viewed in the retrospect, that we are hardly fair judges of much on which we bestow unqualified admiration. Otherwise a man may say this by way of prudent and pious inquiry, that by searching out the cause he may, as far as it is in his power, apply remedies to make them better. For thou [you] dost [do] not inquire wisely [out of wisdom] concerning this. Such querulous invectives against a standing government are like a stone flung at a marble pillar, which not only makes no impression upon that, but rebounds and hits the flinger in the face. “Wherefore were the former days better than these?” Yes: to examine into this matter is his bounden duty. March 2, 2003 . Years pass on. For months I had been planning a short sermon series on one of my all-time favorite books of the Bible—Ecclesiastes. For — This question shews thy folly in contending with thy Lord and governor, in opposing thy shallow wit to his unsearchable wisdom. Our more dispassionate affection may be equally genuine and positively stronger. 1. In relation to our own times and country, the very reverse of what is here assumed is true. 1. References: Ecclesiastes 7:11-29.—R. They forget how much the flavour of life depends on him who drinks it; and in their flush and hopeful youth they relished it better. 1. The Value of Wisdom. In a word, such is the increase of all that is good amongst us, and such the efforts making to extend it over the face of the whole earth, that, instead of looking to former times as better than our own, we may rather hail the approach of the millennial period, when the Messiah himself shall reign, and diffuse peace and happiness over the face of the whole earth. He must have feared lest the generation which was springing up should inquire into the reason thereof in a tone which would breed—which actually did breed—discontent and revolution. In former days men were wicked as they are now, and religion was unfashionable: God also is the same now as he was then; as just, as merciful, as ready to help: and there is no depravity in the age that will excuse your crimes, your follies, and your carelessness. The testimony of witnesses may be every jot as conclusive as the testimony of your own senses. Everything to come is meaningless. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. For they were not better than these. You may fix on a time when there was apparently less of open wickedness, but this would not necessarily have been a better time for individual piety. It is a vain inquiry, based on a mistake. This mode of speaking is not just, it is not the age that is corrupt, but the men of the age.". It is possible to be growing in moral strength and grace, in everything that constitutes perfection of character and life, when appearances are decidedly to the contrary. Others who will come after us will regard our age as we regard the ages that have passed away. It is notorious, that they who are most clamorous about the comparative excellence of former times, pass over all our present mercies as unworthy of notice. Expression: The good old days Location: Ecclesiastes 7:10 Verse: Say not thou [do not say], What is the cause that the former [good old] days were better than these? 2 A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left. And in considering our rate of progress, we must not forget that the sense of progress is regulated by the desire for progress. Now, is this really so? And the Bible, too, tells of a golden age in the far distant past. Ecclesiastes 7:10. His last days are his best days. ‘This is the outcry of every age. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Say not thou — Namely, by way of impatient expostulation and complaint against God, either for permitting such disorders in the world, or for bringing thee into the world in such an evil time and state of things: otherwise a man may say this by way of prudent and pious inquiry, that by searching out the cause, he may, as far as it is in his power, apply remedies to make the times better; What is the cause that the former days were better? (W. L. Certainly it is a great difficulty in the way of the evolution theory as the one explanation of man and of things. They forget how much the flavour of life depends on him who drinks it; and in their flush and hopeful youth they relished it better. But may not the mournful inference be mistaken, and what we regard as a diminished happiness be really a profounder blessedness? Nothing has any attraction for them, but some real or supposed evil. Most of the old poets have written and sung of a golden age. "Red-hot religion" has its place and value, but white-hot religion, the silent, intense force which acts without sparks, smoke or noise, is a diviner thing. It began the breach with Simon Magus, continued it with Arius, Nestorius, Eutyches, Aerius, some rending her doctrine, some her discipline; and what are the heresies that now trouble it, but new editions of the old with further gloss and enlargement? 10 Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" In those clays there were giants in sin, at well as sinners of the first magnitude, and of the largest size and proportion. ].” So that it is clear, that the prohibition respecting such inquiries is not universal, but must be limited to such occasions as Solomon had more especially in view. 2. Give to many. By feigning all prosperity and happiness to have belonged to a past age, they remove their fancies from the range of contradiction. But choose to do wrong strongest in its original ; and the truths our... 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