登陆注册
5214200000386

第386章

In this present time we learn to bear with equanimity the ills to which even good men are subject, and to hold cheap the blessings which even the wicked enjoy.And consequently, even in those conditions of life in which the justice of God is not apparent, His teaching is salutary.For we do not know by what judgment of God this good man is poor and that bad man rich; why he who, in our opinion, ought to suffer acutely for his abandoned life enjoys himself, while sorrow pursues him whose praiseworthy life leads us to suppose he should be happy; why the innocent man is dismissed from the bar not only unavenged, but even condemned, being either wronged by the iniquity of the judge, or overwhelmed by false evidence, while his guilty adversary, on the other hand, is not only discharged with impunity, but even has his claims admitted; why the ungodly enjoys good health, while the godly pines in sickness; why ruffians are of the soundest constitution, while they who could not hurt any one even with a word are from infancy afflicted with complicated disorders; why he who is useful to society is cut off by premature death, while those who, as it might seem, ought never to have been so much as born have lives of unusual length; why he who is full of crimes is crowned with honors, while the blameless man is buried in the darkness of neglect.But who can collect or enumerate all the contrasts of this kind? But if this anomalous state of things were uniform in this life, in which, as the sacred Psalmist says, "Man is like to vanity, his days as a shadow that passeth away,"(1)--so uniform that none but wicked men won the transitory prosperity of earth, while only the good suffered its ills,--this could be referred to the just and even benign judgment of God.We might suppose that they who were not destined to obtain those everlasting benefits which constitute human blessedness were either deluded by transitory blessings as the just reward of their wickedness, or were, in God's mercy, consoled them, and that they who were not destined to suffer eternal torments were afflicted with temporal chastisement for their sins, or were stimulated to greater attainment in virtue.But now, as it is, since we not only see good men involved in the ills of life, and bad men enjoying the good of it, which seems unjust, but also that evil often overtakes evil men, and good surprises the good, the rather on this account are God's judgments unsearchable, and His ways past finding out.Although, therefore, we do not know by what judgment these things are done or permitted to be done by God, with whom is the highest virtue, the highest wisdom, the highest justice, no infirmity, no rashness, no unrighteousness, yet it is salutary for us to learn to hold cheap such things, be they good or evil, as attach indifferently to good men and bad, and to covet those good things which belong only to good men, and flee those evils which belong only to evil men.But when we shall have come to that judgment, the date of which is called peculiarly the day of judgment, and sometimes the day of the Lord, we shall then recognize the justice of all God's judgments, not only of such as shall then be pronounced, but, of all which take effect from the beginning, or may take effect before that time.And in that day we shall also recognize with what justice so many, or almost all, the just judgments of God in the present life defy the scrutiny of human sense or insight, though in this matter it is not concealed from pious minds that what is concealed is just.

CHAP.3.--WHAT SOLOMON, IN THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES, SAYS REGARDING THE THINGS WHICH HAPPEN ALIKE TO GOOD AND WICKED MEN.

Solomon, the wisest king of Israel, who reigned in Jerusalem, thus commences the book called Ecclesiastes, which the Jews number among their canonical Scriptures: "Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities;all is vanity.What profit hath a man of all his labor which he hath taken under the sun?"(2) And after going on to enumerate, with this as his text, the calamities and delusions of this life, and the shifting nature of the present time, in which there is nothing substantial, nothing lasting, he bewails, among the other vanities that are under the sun, this also, that though wisdom excelleth folly as light excelleth darkness, and though the eyes of the wise man are in his head, while the fool walketh in darkness,(1)yet one event happeneth to them all, that is to say, in this life under the sun, unquestionably alluding to those evils which we see befall good and bad men alike.He says, further, that the good suffer the ills of life as if they were evil doers, and the bad enjoy the good of life as if they were good."There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked:

again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous.I said, that this also is vanity."(2) This wisest man devoted this whole book to a full exposure of this vanity, evidently with no other object than that we might long for that life in which there is no vanity under the sun, but verity under Him who made the sun.In this vanity, then, was it not by the just and righteous judgment of God that man, made like to vanity, was destined to pass away? But in these days of vanity it makes an important difference whether he resists or yields to the truth, and whether he is destitute of true piety or a partaker of it,--important not so far as regards the acquirement of the blessings or the evasion of the calamities of this transitory and vain life, but in connection with the future judgment which shall make over to good men good things, and to bad men bad things, in permanent, inalienable possession.

同类推荐
  • 佛说数经

    佛说数经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 更生斋文集

    更生斋文集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 黄草

    黄草

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 赞僧功德经

    赞僧功德经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明伦汇编闺媛典闺媛总部

    明伦汇编闺媛典闺媛总部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 世界第一情深

    世界第一情深

    某一天,沈先生脱掉一身白大褂,一跃成为某神秘集团的总裁,某女愣住了,“所谓无商不奸,我是不是被你算计了?”沈先生笑而不语。别人都说:沈先生很宠她,宠到宁为天下敌也只要她,沈先生一定疯了。二十四岁的沈先生不是第一次遭遇爱情,但却是第一次刻骨铭心的去爱一个人,怎能不一眼,就终生?
  • 钻石豪门首席太霸道

    钻石豪门首席太霸道

    醉后一夜,她失去人生最宝贵的东西。醉后一夜,花花大少奥拉克总裁江辰希迷恋上一双清澈如水的眸子。身世凄惨,残败的她如何配得上阳光暖男学生会长?唯有委屈自己狠心拒绝。当江辰希再次找到她,尽管她的眼睛里只有周文轩,不管是她的心是不是在周文轩那,还是有第三者的破坏,都不能阻止江辰希得到她的决心,只要是他江辰希想要的人,不仅是人,心也必须得到!
  • 好爸爸胜过好老师(全集)

    好爸爸胜过好老师(全集)

    也许您是财富多多的企业家,也许您是赫赫有名的作家,也许您是才华横溢的艺术家……可是,在所有的身份中,父亲这一职务最值得您去付出心血。从这个意义上说,父亲是孩子眼中的第一快乐天使。大量事实也证明,终其对孩子一生的影响,一个合格的爸爸,胜过100个优秀的老师!
  • 重生之食行天下

    重生之食行天下

    身为一名大家闺秀,顾瑶的人生却比常人的更为艰辛。——不仅父母突然离世后被青梅竹马的夫君夺家产、休出门,还经历过被淹死在西湖里的寒冷刺骨。重活一世顾瑶决定踹开渣男护好家人,再用美食为自己闯出一片天。但是那位战神级的将军,来找她好像不止是为了吃菜?情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 也是录

    也是录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 凤临九霄

    凤临九霄

    “孩子,天蓝,快醒一醒,孩子,你再这么睡下去,可就真的醒不了了!”
  • 异世基因掠夺者

    异世基因掠夺者

    尤格,一个天生基因缺陷的人,一个天生就短命的人,在神农架考察中,阴差阳错下激活了一个远古传送阵,来到了一个陌生的大陆。这个大陆,有着凶猛的魔兽,神秘的法师,当然也有人类的国度,这里遵循的一个法则就是:丛林法则。尤格刚出了传送阵,就被一头魔龙抓住,准备撕裂,后来,机缘巧合得以幸存,本来基因缺陷的人还融合了跳蚤,绿蚁,红龙的基因,不再是短命鬼,而且还获得了不可思议的能力,但是在这个大陆,他的能力还不能自保,故马上就被别人当作魔兽卖了……
  • 记忆中的旋律:似爱非爱

    记忆中的旋律:似爱非爱

    蒋之涵已经一段时间没有再在我家楼下等待了。偶尔我还是会忍不住从房间的窗户眺望,试图搜寻着那抹孤独而高挑的身影,然后看着那个他之前顽固站立着的地方,一阵空虚的发呆,随即,是一种轻松的感觉。
  • 名门嫡女

    名门嫡女

    穿越时空的冷若岚成为名门嫡女,可是美得冒泡的夫婿却冷漠的如山,所以……女儿当自强!美男乖乖来生娃吧!怎么?美男联合起来欺负人?哼,你们都给我等着,看我这异世凤凰如何让你们的世界翻天覆地!我冷若岚就要逆天!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 女扮男装闯江湖

    女扮男装闯江湖

    女扮男装。******江湖传言,天下第一公子,风华绝代,才貌双全。然,传言公子不恋凡尘,无事入眼。***