I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. (16) There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
If we read those aphorisms of the Preacher without looking for the explanations of them in the gospel, we shall be led to consider them rather as the melancholy effusions of a mind soured with life, than as the reflections of a wise and prosperous king, who, from the experience of carnal vanities, had formed those just conclusions, in order to lead the heart to the pursuit of better things. Nothing can be more evident, than that the Holy Ghost designed from the public confession of Solomon, on these interesting points, in which all men by nature are so eagerly engaged, to teach, that the whole is vanity. And from a full conviction; that all is vanity out of Christ, to make this a means in his Almighty hand, to lead the church to Christ. And these divine truths, when blessed to this end, become blessed indeed! We have a beautiful and comprehensive conclusion to this effect, in a verse of the Psalms. Psalms 119:96.