their behalf, Mat. xviii. 10; and whose service God is pleased to use in the punishment of tyrants, and subversion of states, Isai. xxxvii. 36; Acts xii. 23.

9.

Moreover the profit of the earth is for all the king himself is served by the field.

Here he returns to the consideration of the vanity attendant upon all kinds of riches, amongst which, though some are preferable to others, as corn and cattle, which are the profits of the earth; yet all are alike unable to render their possessors happy. The words, however, may seem to have some relation to what was treated of before; namely, that God in his providence has so ordered events in the civil body, that "the head cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee:" the king himself wants the assistance, and cannot subsist without the labour of the poor, which circumstance ought to be a check to violence and oppression.

"The profit of the earth is for all," or "above all other profit." He commends husbandry, consisting in tillage and grazing, as superior to all other means of gain, as extending to the necessary supply of all men; for bread is the staff of life, Isai. iii. 1; Gen. xli.

55; Prov. xxvii. 23, 24. and xxxi. 16. Adam, even in innocence, was to dress the earth, Gen. ii. 15. There is an excellency or profit in the earth in or above all. The substantive is put for an adjective of the superlative degree, as Gen. xii. 2; Ps. xxi. 7. and lxxxviii. 9; Cant. v. 16.-"The king himself is served by the field;" or, the king himself is for the field; or, the king himself is served for the sake of the field; that under his protection men may quietly labour and eat the fruits of the earth: or, the king himself dresses his field, is as it were a servant to it, to order and cultivate it; it belongs to him to promote husbandry, that he and his people may be nourished. The most plain and obvious meaning of the expression is: That from the meanest to the greatest, the fruits of the ground are necessary for every man's support. Therefore Joseph reserved the fifth of the produce of the earth for Pharaoh, Gen. xlvii. 24; and it is recorded to the commendation of king Uzziah, that he was a lover of husbandry, 2 Chron. xxvi. 10.

10. He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this is also vanity.

This may be understood, either absolutely,

to represent the insatiable greediness of covetous wretches, whose desires are like the grave, and who never say, It is enough, Hab. ii. 5, 6, 8, 9; Isai. v. 8; or comparatively, in relation to what was said before. The earth yields a real profit and benefit to those who labour to till it; but money, however it may be increased, and how lovely soever it may appear, can never of itself satisfy any desire of nature: if a man be hungry, it cannot feed him; if naked, it cannot clothe him; if sick, it cannot recover him. As it is an instrument of traffic which answereth all things, Eccles. x. 19; so it may be a defence to a man, ch. vii. 12. as well as provide many other accommodations. But if God should withhold the fruits of the earth, and give it up to barrenness, abundance of wealth would be as useless as a heap of stones; since neither money, nor trade or commerce, can produce any further good, than as they assist us to purchase and manage the fruits of the ground. Some render the latter clause thus: "He that loveth it shall not have any increase by, or in, the abundance thereof." Increase here signifies the increase of the earth, such fruits as may be eaten but money is not fructus edulis, though it come out of the earth. The perfix set before the word abundance sometimes denoting the accusative case, and expressing the object of an action, we may

possibly render it as in our version, "he that loveth abundance," as Gen. xxxvii. 2; Prov. ix. 5 : multitude, or abundance, is here to be understood in the same sense as gathered wealth, as Ps. xxxvii. 16.

11. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

Having already pointed out the vanity of the love of money, he here shews that of husbandry and great possessions, amplifying the former proposition: "he that loveth abundance shall not be satisfied with increase;" because, as his wealth accumulates, his family, and charge, and friends, and retinue, must be proportionably augmented. The possessor can have no more real good or satisfaction from his great estate than his servants; many hands must be employed, consequently many mouths must be filled, and many bodies clothed; and all these have their real share in the things which he possesses as fully as himself. No person had more experience of this than Solomon, of whose numerous family and vast expence we read, 1 Kings iv. 22, 26. We have also an account of the great family of Abra

ham, Gen. xiv. 14.-"And what good," or profit, "is there to the owners thereof," ch.i. 3; ii. 14; and iii. 19-" saving the beholding them with their eyes?" that is, he has no advantage above others, excepting that he sees them eat that which is his own property, and this is some satisfaction; for it is more blessed to give than to receive, Acts xx. 35: or he can only please himself with looking upon his lands and money as his own, whilst the real benefit they yield, extends to others as well as to himself: so that if in one respect his eye possess any advantage above that of his servants, they have the superiority to him in another respect, being usually refreshed with sweet sleep, of which he is too often deprived by the anxiety connected with his multiplied business and possessions.

12. The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

"The sleep of a labouring man,” or of a servant, or of him that tilleth the ground, or is conversant about any painful trade and employment, Gen. iv. 2; 2 Sam. ix. 10; Prov. xii. 11; Isai. xix. 9-" is sweet, whether he eat little or much :" if he eat little, his labour se