Chapter 5
Chapter V.
Second, a remedy is given against foolish speech, which occurs in a threefold manner.
Do not rashly speak anything. Here he gives a remedy against foolish or disordered speech. Now speech is disordered either because it is inconsiderate; or because it is false, and this he prohibits there: If you have vowed anything, etc.; or because it is erroneous, and this he prohibits there: Do not give your mouth, so as to cause to sin, etc.
Regarding inconsiderate speech, he prohibits rashness and adds the reason and provides confirmation by example.
(Verse 1.) He therefore prohibits rashness; whence he says: Do not rashly speak anything, that is, inconsiderately; Sirach 9: "He who is rash in his speech will be hateful"; and again Sirach 28: "Make a balance for your words and a bridle for your mouth." And because a man who is hasty cannot deliberate, therefore he adds: Nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word, indeed one ought to deliberate at length; whence Proverbs 29: "Have you seen a man hasty in his speech? Folly is to be expected rather than his correction." Whence there ought to be a distance between mouth and heart; against which Sirach 21: "In the mouth of fools is their heart." Whence it is said in James 1: "Let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak"; and Seneca: "I want you to be slow of speech."
And the reason is added, namely the divine judgment, which sees all things; therefore he says: For God is in heaven, supply: seeing all things; whence in the Psalm: "The Lord looked from heaven upon the earth"; and you are upon earth, placed in plain sight before Him, so you do not escape His notice; Sirach 23: "The eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, looking round about all the ways of men." Therefore let your words be few, because namely you speak before God, because He Himself will demand an account of all things; Matthew 12: "Of every idle word that men shall have spoken, they shall render an account thereof on the day of judgment."
And it can scarcely be that he who speaks much does not displease God. Whence he makes this clear by example and similitude, saying: Dreams follow many cares, and therefore it is foolish to attend to them; Sirach 34: "Dreams have led many astray." And in many words folly is found; Sirach 20: "He who uses many words injures his own soul"; and Proverbs 10: "In much speaking sin will not be lacking"; but on the contrary, below in chapter 10: "The fool multiplies words."
(Verses 3-4.) If you have vowed anything, etc. Here secondly he prohibits false speech, by which namely that is promised which is not fulfilled.
He therefore exhorts one to fulfill what has been promised: whence he says: If you have vowed anything to God, that is, you have promised by a vow: do not delay to render it: whence in the Psalm: "Vow, and render to the Lord your God, all you who round about him bring gifts"; and the Gloss says: "To vow is voluntary, but to render is necessary," because otherwise a man is false in his promise; whence he adds: For an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases God: unfaithful, in which there is no truth: foolish, in which there is no judgment, because a foolish promise is not to be kept: whence Isidore says: "In evil promises, break faith; in a base vow, change your decree." Therefore he adds that truth is to be kept in a promise, when he says: But whatever you have vowed, render it, without wavering; Leviticus twenty-seven: "A clean animal that can be sacrificed, if anyone has vowed it, shall be holy and cannot be changed, neither for better nor for worse."
Otherwise it would have been better not to vow: therefore he says: And it is much better not to vow, that is, it is less evil, because without fault: than after a vow not to render what was promised: Second Peter two: "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of truth than after knowing it to turn back"; because Luke nine: "No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God."
(Verse 6). Do not give your mouth etc. Here thirdly he prohibits erroneous speech: and he dissuades from error of speech, and then adds the reason, and afterward reveals the root of the error.
He dissuades from error of speech, saying: Do not give your mouth to cause your flesh to sin, that is, do not speak erroneous speech by which you may be cast headlong into sins. And he specifies what kind of speech he means, adding: Neither say before the Angel: There is no providence, that is, do not say it, neither in secret nor in hidden places, because in hidden places the Angels hear, who are appointed for guardianship; whence below in chapter ten: "Do not detract from the king in your thought, and in the secret of your bedchamber do not curse the rich, for the birds of the sky will carry your voice." And the reason for the exhortation is added: Lest perhaps the Lord, being angry, destroy your works, that is, render them useless: angry, not through a disturbance of the soul, but through a rigid punishment of fault. So he was angry over the words
of Rabshakeh and destroyed all the works of the kings of the Assyrians through an Angel by night: Isaiah thirty-seven: "If only the Lord your God would hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians sent to blaspheme the living God"; Proverbs twenty: "A wise king scatters the wicked" etc.
And the origin of this speech is added: because it does not arise from right reason, but from the illusion of dreams; on account of which he says: Where there are many dreams, there are very many vanities, because a dream is vanity: Isaiah twenty-nine: "The hungry man dreams and eats, and afterwards, when he has awakened, his soul is empty." And innumerable words, which follow upon dreams, because nothing certain can be known from them: because Ecclesiasticus thirty-four: "Divination of error and lying auguries and dreams of evildoers are vanity." And therefore one should not be concerned with such things, but with God: whence he adds: But you, fear God, because he alone is the one who can destroy and save us, not dreams, not auguries: Luke twelve: "I will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell."
Third, a remedy is given against erroneous thinking.
(Vers. 7. 8.) If you see the oppressions, etc. Here thirdly he draws back from erroneous thinking, namely so that from seeing the malice of men one should not believe that providence is lacking: whence he says: If you see the oppressions of the needy: above in chapter four: "I saw the oppressions that are carried on under the sun, and the tears of the innocent." And violent judgments, which he saw, above in chapter three: "I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, wickedness." And justice overturned in the province: which he had similarly seen above in chapter three: "I saw in the place of justice, iniquity." From this consideration, I say, one should not wonder, as though there were no one who governs nor who corrects: whence he says: Do not wonder at this matter, as though there were no one who governs, because there is one orderer of all things: whence he adds: Because one higher than the high watches over, and there are others yet more eminent above these: whence in Matthew eight the centurion said: "I am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this one: Go, and he goes."
And moreover the king of all the earth commands one who serves him: although therefore they do not serve one another and are not ordered through themselves, they are nevertheless ordered by God, who knows how to use evils well: in Genesis forty-one it is signified: "I am Pharaoh; without your command no one shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Whence it is said in Revelation nineteen: "He had written on his garment and on his thigh: King of kings and Lord of lords." And he himself perverts nothing: whence it is said in Deuteronomy ten: "The Lord our God, he is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the Lord great, mighty, and terrible, who does not accept persons nor gifts: he executes judgment for the orphan and the widow"; and therefore, if he commands, justice is not perverted.
QUESTIONS.
I. Here a question arises concerning what he says: Whatever you have vowed, pay it: whether one who has vowed indiscreetly is bound, supposing that he intends to obligate himself: because, if not:
Then he gains an advantage from his own indiscretion
2. Likewise, one is bound to practice truth: but he who does not do what he promised does not practice truth, indeed he lies: therefore such a person is bound to do what he vowed.
3. Likewise, Jephthah vowed indiscreetly and fulfilled it, and he is commended by the Apostle in Hebrews 11: therefore we ought to pay and fulfill indiscreet vows.
On the contrary: 1. What is indiscreet to say is indiscreet to do: if therefore he who vows thus, by the very fact that he says it, is indiscreet, if he does it he is much more indiscreet and sins more greatly: therefore by omitting it he does well.
2. Likewise, a preceding evil does not excuse a following one: therefore if someone vowed something foolish and does it, he is no less blameworthy than if he did it without a vow: nor is the vow less blameworthy than if he did not fulfill it: therefore etc.
3. Likewise, Isidore says: "In evil promises break faith, in a shameful vow change your resolve": therefore etc.
I respond: it must be said that one is not bound: indeed, if he does it, he adds sin upon sin: whence Jephthah too, by fulfilling his vow, sinned more than if he had not fulfilled it; because in vowing he was foolish and in fulfilling he was impious, as Augustine says.
3. To the objection that he is commended: it must be said that he is commended neither for his vow nor for the fulfillment of his vow, because the Apostle commends there faith, and commends the faith of Jephthah, namely that he believed he would triumph over his enemies by the Lord's help.
1. To the objection that it brings advantage: I say that this is false; because immediately in the vow itself he sins and is worthy of punishment.
2. To the objection concerning truth, it must be said that truth lays judgment beneath itself: because therefore he vowed without judgment, he cannot fulfill it with truth: and for this reason there cannot be truth in such a vow, and therefore there is no obligation.
II. It is asked whether one can commute a vow.
That one cannot seems to be shown by that passage in the last chapter of Leviticus: It cannot be changed, neither for worse nor for better.
But that one can seems to be shown: because it is permitted to make the Lord's portion better: therefore, even if it is not permitted to change for the worse, it is nevertheless permitted to change for the better.
I respond: it must be said that there is changing a vow entirely for the worse, and there is changing it for the better in a way that includes the original, as when one who vowed to enter a less perfect religious order enters a more perfect one that encloses the former within it. There is also changing it for the better in a way that does not include the original, as changing a pilgrimage to Rome into a journey overseas.
The first is in no way permitted, but is prohibited: the second is permitted of itself: the third is permitted, but not without the authority of a superior. For because I am obligated to the Lord, I cannot change it except at his discretion: and because he does not speak to me except through his minister, who holds his place, I cannot change it without the authority of a superior, unless the Lord himself most certainly inspires it interiorly. And thus that passage is clear.
III. It is also asked concerning what he says: Do not say before the Angel: There is no providence.
On the contrary: it seems that there is no providence:
I. First, because providence gives due order to things; but this order does not exist in the world, below in the tenth chapter: I saw servants on horses and princes walking upon the earth like servants.
2. Likewise second: because providence gives due recompense, but this does not exist in the world, below in the ninth chapter: The same things happen to all.
3. Likewise third: because it gives due duration; but this simply does not exist in the world, below in the seventh chapter: The impious man lives a long time in his impiety.
But that it is necessary to posit providence is shown:
I. Because it belongs to the wise man to provide for his household; therefore much more so to the supremely wise.
2. Likewise, it belongs to the wise artisan not only to make but also to preserve; thus God preserves and governs; but he is wise, and the wise man governs everything that he governs through providence; therefore, etc.
3. Likewise, because God is supremely wise, he cannot fail to see our evils; therefore, since he is supremely just, he cannot fail to punish evils and reward good things; therefore there is recompense for all things, and therefore also providence.
IV. Likewise it is asked who sins more: whether he who denies providence, or he who criticizes divine providence.
It seems that he who denies sins more, because he who believes that providence exists, by the very fact that he believes, does well; therefore he has something of good; but he who simply denies has nothing; therefore he is more blameworthy.
On the contrary: Jerome says that he who posits providence and accuses God sins more than he who simply denies providence.
I respond to the first point that providence exists.
1. To what is objected concerning due order, the response is that order is twofold, namely particular and universal: something can be deprived of particular order, but not of universal order, as Boethius says. Universal order embraces all things; whence he who falls from the order of nature falls into the order of punishment; just as Augustine's example is of the cloud, in which there is a whirlwind and a turning that is disordered in itself, but ordered toward the breaking of the earth; so the wicked rule over the good for the exercise of the good and the punishment of the wicked.
2. Similarly concerning recompense it must be said that in the present life good things come to the wicked in a just manner, so that they may be rewarded here and eternally tormented in the future; and evil things come to the good, so that they may be purified here and eternally rewarded.
3. To what is objected concerning life, it must be said that the wicked live long for the aforesaid reason, but the good die; because it is said of Enoch that he was taken away, lest wickedness should change his understanding. Since therefore the divine judgments are hidden in the present life for the testing of men, and since the simple and unlearned do not perceive hidden things, it seems that all things are disordered; and therefore Ecclesiastes teaches us to look to him under whom all things are ordered.
To what is asked, who sins more greatly: I respond that it must be said that to deny providence can be twofold: in one way, because we believe God to be ignorant, or because we believe that He does not care about the deeds of mortals. Likewise, to accuse is also twofold: either because He does not care, or because He perverts. In both ways, to accuse providence is worse, because one not only errs but indeed reviles and blasphemes God; and thus one sins more greatly absolutely speaking, and knowledge there does not excuse but rather aggravates.
Art. 2. On the remedy against the vanity of avarice, since riches are to be despised for a threefold reason.
The covetous man shall not be filled with money. Above he set forth the remedy against the vanity of malice; here he adds secondly the remedy against the vanity of avarice. Now the remedy against avarice is contempt of earthly goods; therefore here he urges contempt of riches. And he does this indeed by a threefold reason: for first he shows that riches are not to be desired, because they do not enrich their possessors; second, because they are not frequently transmitted to posterity, at the passage: There is another grievous evil; third, because they frequently devolve to strangers, at the passage: There is also another evil which I have seen under the sun, etc.
First, riches are to be despised because they do not enrich their possessors, and this for a threefold reason.
First, therefore, he detests avarice, because the riches that are desired neither help nor enrich their possessors, because they do not suffice; second, because they do not profit; third, because they afflict.
(Verse 9.) Riches are therefore to be detested and spurned, because they do not suffice for the covetous man, and this is what the covetous man first desires, namely sufficiency. Therefore he says: The covetous man shall not be filled with money: Sirach 14: "The eye of the covetous man is insatiable." Whence Jerome: "The miser lacks both what he has and what he does not have"; and Seneca: "If you wish to make yourself rich, you must not add to your money but subtract from your desire."
(Vers. 9. 10.). And he who loves riches etc. Here secondly he dissuades from the love of riches, because they do not profit. Therefore he says: And he who loves riches shall not reap fruit from them, and thus they do not profit: Sirach 10: "There is nothing more wicked than to love money. For such a one has his soul for sale"; and thus riches profit the miser nothing, because he gives his soul for money: whence Matthew 16: "What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, yet suffer the loss of his own soul"? as if to say: nothing. And from this he infers the vanity of loving them: And this therefore is vanity, both of fault and of punishment: concerning the first, the Psalm: "Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart" etc.; concerning the second, the Psalm: "Their days were consumed in vanity" etc. The Psalm: "Behold the man who did not make God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and prevailed in his vanity." And he shows that riches profit the possessor nothing: because they are consumed, and the master has nothing more than the servant: therefore he says: Where there are great riches, many also are those who consume them: thus all things are consumed. Whence Seneca: "Wolves follow corpses, flies follow honey: that crowd follows the prey, not the man"; Job 39: "Its young ones lap up blood, and wherever there is a carcass, it is immediately present"; because, according to what is said in Proverbs 19, "many honor the person of the powerful and are friends of the one who gives gifts." And what does it profit
the possessor, except that he beholds his riches with his eyes? as if to say: nothing more for himself than for others, because any one of the others eats as much as he alone: and thus he has no fruit above others, but rather loss, because he has more sin; whence Sirach 11: "If you are rich, you will not be free from sin. If you pursue it, you will not overtake it" etc.
(Vers. 11.). Sweet is sleep. Here thirdly he shows that riches are to be spurned, because they afflict and do not permit a man to rest: whence they take away the sleep of quiet. Therefore he says: Sweet is the sleep of the worker, whether he eats little or much. And thus the worker and laborer sometimes rests: Sirach 31: "The sleep of health is in a frugal man: he will sleep until morning, and his soul will delight in him." But on the contrary concerning the rich man: he does not rest: whence he adds: But the fullness of the rich man does not permit him to sleep:
. Or, because he has many riches, he has many cares, which take away sleep: Job 15: "The sound of terror is always in his ears, and when there is peace, he suspects treachery"; whence above in chapter two: "All his days are full of labors and sorrows, nor does his mind rest through the night." Or also, because he eats and drinks much and does not labor, therefore he does not rest: whence Sirach 31: "Sleeplessness and bile and gripping pains are for the intemperate man," and thus on account of surfeit he does not rest.
QUESTIONS.
But a question is raised concerning what he says, that riches do not profit the possessor.
1. For below in chapter seven: Wisdom is more useful with riches, and it profits more those who see the sun.
2. Likewise, Proverbs thirteen: The redemption of a man's soul is his riches: therefore they avail for redeeming the soul.
On the contrary: 1. Everything which it is simply better to relinquish than to retain is simply useless, because if the absence of something is useful, its presence is harmful: therefore if relinquishing riches is good, retaining them is useless.
2. Likewise, all usefulness is measured according to its ordering toward the ultimate end: therefore what furnishes an impediment to arriving at the end is not useful but useless; but riches are of this kind, because it is impossible for one who loves riches to enter heaven, and it is difficult to have them and not love them: therefore the possession of riches impedes: therefore they do not profit but hinder.
I respond to this that, as Bernard says, "these temporal things are of themselves neither good nor evil, whose use is good, abuse evil, anxiety over them worse, and the pursuit of gain from them most base." If therefore it is asked whether riches are useful or useless, I say that to one using them well they are useful, but to one hoarding them they are useless, and to one using them badly they are harmful; whence it is said below in the same book: Riches kept to the hurt of their owner; but to one using them well they avail, namely when he distributes them in works of piety.
For thus they avail for the redemption of guilt: Daniel four: Redeem your sins with almsgiving. They avail for the increase of grace: First Timothy four: Exercise yourself unto piety, etc. They avail for the attainment of glory: Luke sixteen: Make for yourselves friends from the mammon of iniquity, so that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles.
1. To the objection that they are useless because it is good to relinquish them: it must be said that to relinquish is to give to God, and this is to use riches well; whence they are useful for relinquishing, for giving to the poor, for purchasing the kingdom.
2. To the objection that it is difficult to have and not to love: I respond that from this it does not follow that they impede, because every virtue concerns what is difficult, and yet virtue does not impede but assists. Nevertheless, the more useful and safer practice is to relinquish everything at once rather than to give little by little, on account of avoiding the dangers that arise.
Second, riches are to be despised because they are frequently not transmitted to posterity.
There is also another infirmity, etc. Above he showed that riches do not enrich their possessors; here he adds secondly that they are to be despised because they are frequently not transmitted to posterity; and indeed he does this in the following order. First is noted the consideration of future poverty in one's offspring. Second, from this he denounces the toilsome anxiety of acquiring money. Third, in denunciation of this, he commends the enjoyment of present gladness, adding that this is a gift of divine generosity.
(Vers. 12. 13. 14. 15.). He considers therefore first the future destitution in the offspring of the rich man, because, when they are preserved for a long time by the father, they do not remain for the son. Therefore he says: There is also another most grievous infirmity, which I saw under the sun, another, namely, from the aforementioned one, which, I say, is in the possession of riches: whence he says: Riches kept to the hurt of their owner, because they cannot be gathered without the evil both of punishment and of fault: Ecclesiasticus thirty-one: "Blessed is the man who is found without blemish, and who has not gone after gold nor hoped in the treasures of money. Who is this? and we shall praise him: for he has done wonderful things in his life." Or: to the hurt, for they make a man come into the evil of punishment; James five: "Come now, you rich, weep and howl in your miseries which shall come upon you." Of their owner, nay rather in reality of their slave, because avarice makes the avaricious man a slave: whence Ephesians five: "Avarice, which is the service of idols." - These, I say, perish in the worst affliction, because it is necessary that he relinquish them with sorrow: Job twenty-seven: "The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall take nothing with him." Nor are they only left behind by their owner, but they are also lost by the son, whence he adds: He has begotten a son, who shall be in the utmost destitution. There is an utmost destitution, and this is of all goods, concerning which Proverbs six: "Want shall come upon you like a traveler" etc.
And thus riches that are preserved are not left to the heir, nor can they be carried away by the possessor: whence he adds: As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, not into the womb, but into the earth. And he shall take nothing with him of his labor: Job one: "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither." - And this is greatly to be lamented: whence he adds: A most miserable infirmity indeed: as he came, so shall he return: whence 1 Timothy last chapter: "We brought nothing into this world, and there is no doubt that neither can we carry anything away."
(Vers. 15. 16.). What then does it profit? Here secondly he reproves the solicitude of increasing money by consideration of the destitution that is to come: whence he infers as if from the aforesaid things that it is vain to afflict oneself with such great labors in the acquisition of things. Therefore he says: What then does it profit him, namely the avaricious rich man, that he labored into the wind? that is, in vain, if it is so that "as he came forth naked from the womb, naked shall he return," both he himself and his son, as if to say: nothing. Therefore in the Psalm: "O sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek after lying?" Riches are compared to wind on account of their vanity: whence Ecclesiasticus thirty-four: "As one who grasps at a shadow and pursues the wind, so is he who attends to lying visions"; he labored therefore into the wind, when he labored for acquiring riches.
And he adds the magnitude of the toil: All the days of his life he eats in darkness, on account of loneliness; and in many cares, on account of anxiety; and in distress, on account of the scantiness of expenditures; and sadness, on account of the necessity of expenditures. For he is saddened because he must eat something: Ecclesiasticus 14: "The wicked and envious eye will not be satisfied with bread, and the needy one will be in sadness at his own table." Riches cause a man to be in cares and distresses, because Matthew 13: "The anxiety of this world and the deceitfulness of riches chokes the word."
(Vers. 17. 18. 19.). This therefore seemed good to me. Here thirdly he commends the enjoyment of gladness in detestation of the affliction of avarice. For since the miser afflicts himself, and nothing profits him, therefore it seemed good to him to eat; and for this reason he says: This therefore seemed good to me, that one should eat and drink, as regards exterior pleasantness; and enjoy gladness from his toil, with which he has toiled under the sun: gladness, as regards interior pleasantness; and this, while he can; whence he also adds: The number of the days of his life, which God has given him, as if he should not expect another time. And this is his portion. Concerning all these things, Isaiah 22: "Behold joy and gladness, slaying rams, eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die," as if that were one's portion.
And he approves this consideration, as though it pleases God; whence he also adds: And to every man to whom God has given substance and riches: for these things are from God; whence Ecclesiasticus 11: "Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and honor are from God." And has given him power to eat thereof, delighting outwardly; and to enjoy his portion, resting in these things; and to rejoice in his toil, joyfully expending what has been acquired. This is the gift of God, for this power is from God, because John 15: "Without me you can do nothing." And he shows that it is a great gift, because the torment of cares and anxieties, which are great punishments, are tempered through delights. Therefore he adds: rightly do I say that it is the gift of God, insofar as it frees from the torments of avarice.
For he will not much remember the days of his life, that is, he will not be much afflicted by cares that pertain to life, because God occupies his heart with delights, not spiritual ones, concerning which in Song of Songs 7: "How beautiful you are and how graceful, dearest, in delights!" but carnal ones, concerning which it was said above in chapter 2: "I made for myself singers, both men and women, and the delights of the sons of men."
QUESTIONS.
I. But here a question arises first concerning what he says: This seemed good to me, that one should eat.
Against: 1. Below in chapter 10: Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning: therefore he contradicts himself.
II. Furthermore, he says: And let him rejoice.
On the contrary: 1. Below in chapter seven: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, and again: The heart of the wise is where sorrow is.
2. Likewise, Truth itself says in Luke 6: Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall weep; therefore it is evil to rejoice, and all of Scripture condemns the joy of the flesh: what then does it mean that he commends it here?
To this one responds by means of the manner of proceeding in this book, which is singular among all the books of Sacred Scripture. For he speaks as a preacher weaving together his disputation, in which diverse opinions are brought forward according to diverse persons in whose character he speaks: whence he speaks one way in the person of the carnal man, as here, and another way in the person of the wise man, as below: It is better to go, etc. But afterward he speaks in his own person, where he says: Let us all hear together the end of the discourse, where he as it were renders judgment upon those whose case he had previously examined: Fear God, and that God will judge all things. Whence whatever is read in the book that opposes that judgment is annulled by that judgment; and such are all the things said in commendation of present pleasure; and thus by one solution all objections are answered.
Otherwise it can be said that Ecclesiastes himself, whatever he says, says in his own person; but nevertheless, to understand the things he says, two things must be attended to, namely the reason for speaking and the manner. The manner of speaking varies in two ways: for some things he says truly, and some ironically; truly, as that passage: Cast your bread upon the passing waters, below in chapter eleven; ironically, as that passage: Rejoice therefore, O young man, in your youth. And this is clear from what follows: And know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment, below in chapter eleven.
Another variation is noted in manner, because some things he says by way of approving: Do not rashly speak anything, etc.; and some things by way of recounting that he himself did thus, as he said above in chapter two: I did not restrain my heart from enjoying every pleasure, etc. This he does not approve, but recounts that he did thus, just as the Apostle also says of himself that he was a blasphemer. Similarly, some things he says by way of recounting that he thought thus, as when he said above in chapter two: Is it not better to eat and drink, etc. And he uses this kind of speech frequently in this little book, as though narrating his temptations; whence this book was as it were a certain meditation of Solomon. And just as a man falls from one meditation into another according to diverse considerations, as when someone thinks this to be good and afterward falls into another estimation, so Solomon narrates in this book as well.
As for the reason for speaking, it should be noted that some things he says simply for their own approval, but certain things he says not in approval, but in comparison with and detestation of other things, just as one who wished to censure avarice would praise prodigality: so also in this book he praised the dead in comparison with the living, and pleasure in respect to avarice, because in avarice there is both punishment and guilt. He did this, however, in order to call back from the one, not to attract to the other.
Furthermore, as for the reason for speaking, it should be noted that some things he says to all, and some to certain persons who presuppose something, and from their presupposition he argues against them, as he said above, that there is no memory of the wise man as of the fool. He said this to those wise men who placed their entire reward in the praises of men.
This rule, therefore, is to be generally observed in his words: that what he says truly and approvingly, he says by commending in itself, he says to all—that is, truly and assertively, universally and absolutely—and these things are indeed to be adduced as authoritative. But what he says ironically and what he says by way of recitation, he says for the detestation of other things, or from some presupposition, or toward the contrary. That statement, therefore, was spoken not assertorily, but by way of recitation: for he recites his own trial, which he intends to narrate.
Or it was said not absolutely, but for the detestation of avarice.
III. Likewise, there is a question about what he says, that it is a gift of God that one should enjoy riches: but this is sin: therefore, etc.
IV. Likewise, he says that God occupies the heart with delights in life: but this again is sin.
I respond: it must be said that the goods of fortune, of nature, and also of grace are all gifts of God: but those of fortune are the least, those of nature are intermediate, and those of grace are the best. Among the gifts of nature are counted health and strength; among the goods of fortune, prosperity and tranquility. For God gives riches to some, to whom he does not give health or tranquility, and these do not enjoy their goods; to some he adds in addition tranquility and health, and such persons have the power of enjoying them; and because those things are gifts of God, so also is the power; but furthermore, the evil misuse of that power—this is not from God.
III. As to the question that God is said to occupy his heart with delights: it must be answered that certain things God does mercifully, and certain things by just judgment in abandoning, just as he is said to hand over the wise of the world to a reprobate mind: so also he is said to occupy the heart with delights by permitting, through just judgment, it to be occupied and to forget eternal things.