Homilist Ecclesiastes 4:2 Why I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. I. It is COMMON. We see it in the political, ecclesiastical, and domestic sphere. So it has become a proverb, that the best men must die ever to have their virtues recognized. Why is this? 1. The dead are no longer competitors. 2. Social love buries their defects. In all, the great Father of Love has put a deep fountain of sympathy. Death unseals it, melts it, and causes it to flow forth in such copious streams as drown all the imperfections of the departed. II. It is IMMORAL. 1. It is not right. Virtue should be recognized and honoured wherever seen; and more so in the duties and struggles of life than in the reminiscenees of departed worth. 2. It is not generous. That husband is mean and despicable who ignores the virtues of a noble wife while living. 3. It is unreal. To praise virtues in a man when dead, which were ever unnoticed when living, is hypocritical. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.WEB: Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive. |
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