(2.) There are some things in other parts of scripture, which give sufficient ground to conclude, that he was a true penitent, which plainly refer to that part of his life which was between his fall and his death. Thus, if we duly weigh several passages in Ecclesiastes, which none can deny that he was the inspired writer of, inasmuch as it is said, in the title or preface set before it, that they are _the words of the preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem_, we shall find many things in which he expresses the great sense of the vanity of his past life, when he says, _I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly_, Eccl. i. 17. where, by _madness and folly_, he doubtless intends that which was so in a moral sense, when he indulged his sinful passions, which respects the worst part of his life. And this he farther insists on; _Whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour_, Eccl. ii. 10. or in all things, which afterwards were matter of grief and uneasiness to me; in which he observes how he did, as it were, take pains to bring on himself a long train of miseries that troubled him afterwards; and then he plainly expresses his repentance, when he says, _All was vanity and vexation of spirit_, and there was _no profit under the sun_, ver. 11. as though he should say, I turned from God to the creature, to see what happiness I could find therein, but met with nothing but disappointment; he had no profit in those things, whereof he was now ashamed. It is probable, God shewed him the vanity thereof, by his chastening him, or visiting his transgressions with the rod, and his iniquities with stripes, as he had promised to do; and this ended in vexation of spirit, which is a plain intimation of that godly sorrow that proceeded from a sense of sin, which made him, beyond measure, uneasy; and this vexation or uneasiness was so great, that he says, _I hated life_, that is, I hated my past wicked life, and abhorred myself for it, _because the work that is wrought under the sun, is grievous unto me_; that is, the work that I have wrought, was such as gave me grief of heart; _for all is vanity and vexation of spirit_, ver. 17. that is, this is all the consequence thereof: it cannot be supposed that he was weary of his life for the same reasons that many others are, who are deprived of the blessings of common providence, and reduced to that condition that makes them miserable, as to their outward circumstances in the world; but it was the uneasiness he found in his own spirit, the secret wounds of conscience and bitterness of soul, which arose from a sense of sin, that made him thus complain.