It has been asserted that Solomon was the wisest of all men; here I beg leave to differ, I humbly conceive he was not so wise as Adam, before the fell; nor perhaps so wise as the Apostle Paul: but when it is said he was the wisest of men, it must be considered merely in a political point of view; as God blest him with much natural wisdom, so that he was able to manage the affairs of the Nation without a Parliament, and to try all causes without a Bench of Judges; this was indeed a great work, and the Lord fitted him for it, by a spirit of wisdom and understanding, which he requested of the Lord. He was the wisest man, therefore, in natural things, that perhaps ever lived since the fall.—He collected and framed three thousand Proverbs, and a thousand and five spiritual Songs. He was well versed in, and well explained the nature of Herbs and Animals of every kind. Solomon had several books to study, the Book of the Ceremonial Law, which is often alluded to in the Proverbs, the Book of the Moral Law, out of which he was taught his need of a Mediator, and a better righteousness than his own, to justify him before God, the Book of all the scriptures that were then extant. Into these he was deeply led. He had the book of nature, and appeared to be a Master of all the Sciences of natural and spiritual Philosophy. He was well skilled in Astronomy, in Botany, and Anatomy; the last he shews his skill in, as this last chapter of the Preacher shews. This book was probably written in his old age, after his recovery from his fall, and God had healed his broken bones. Age and sorrow coming on him, he felt the decline of mortality, urges the necessity of spiritual knowledge and practice, while health lasts and God furnishes a man with opportunities, knowing that the mental faculties would soon decay, however bright they might have been. These are set forth in three verses. He then notices the decay of the human frame—its weakness, and how every limb and joint, every power and passion, every member and faculty is affected, either by age, sickness, or trouble. The Lord, indeed, sometimes sends for his dear people, suddenly. He snatches them away from the power of enemies, and the evil to come; but others are gently gathered, not hastily plucked. God takes down our tabernacle a pin at a time, and loosens the cords just as we are able to bear it; gives kind warnings, and then appears like a cloud of the latter rain. This gradual decay Solomon pays a particular attention to, he had noticed it in others, perhaps began to feel it himself; and having called the Body an House, he describes its timbers, its strong beams, its supporters; _in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble __and the strong men bow themselves_. The almost universally received opinion of these _Strong men_, _the keepers of the house_, is, that they signify the _Hands_ and _Feet_, which include the _Shoulders_,