p. 124 | Vanity of Vanities

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 19, 1867

Vanity of Vanities.

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” Eccl. i, 2.

THE finest comment on this aphorism, vanity of vanities, &c., a man of the world, the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield, has unintentionally furnished, in the volume of his Letters published by Dr. Maty, in one of which, written not long before his death, he thus complains:—

“I have run the silly round of business and pleasure, and have done with them all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and consequently know their futility, and do not regret their loss. I appraise them at their real value, which is, in truth, very low; whereas those that have not experienced, always overrate them. They only see their gay outside, and are dazzled with their glare; but I have been behind the scenes: I have seen all the coarse pullies and dirty ropes which exhibit and move the gaudy machine; I have seen and smelt the tallow candles which illuminate the whole decoration, to the astonishment and admiration of an ignorant audience. When I reflect back upon what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry, and bustle, and pleasure of the world had any reality; but I look upon all that has passed, as one of those romantic dreams, which opium commonly occasions, and I do by no means desire to repeat the nauseous dose, for the sake of the fugitive dream.”

“Shall I tell you that I bear this melancholy situation with that meritorious constancy and resignation which most people boast of? No; for I really cannot help it: I bear it because I must bear it, whether I will or no: I think of nothing but of killing time the best I can, now that he is become mine enemy. It is my resolution to sleep in the carriage during the remainder of the journey.” Horne's Sermons, Vol. IV, p. 34.

What a frightful picture does the gloomy conclusion exhibit, of a dying libertine, whose god was this world, its fashions, its follies, its principles, and its practices; whom he served so zealously in his youth, but who deserted him in his old age! If he looked forward to futurity, and backward to that time which he murdered, and which, therefore, was become his enemy; he must have had little disposition to sleep in his carriage. How bitterly must he have regretted that he had not feared God, and kept his commandments! If he believed a future judgment, must he not have “trembled,” like another Felix, for the violation of the duties of righteousness and temperance? How different the cheering conclusion of the apostolic preacher to all true believers:

“I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which THE LORD, THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, will give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing,” [at his second advent in glory]. 2 Tim. iv, 6–8.”—Dr. Hales.