Wesley Corpus

“IN the preceding verse Solomon had declared, how few wise and good persons he had found in the whole course of his life; but, lest any should blame the providence of God for this, he here observes, that these were not what God made man at first; and that their being what they were not was the effect of a wretched apostasy from God. The original words stand thus: Only see thou, I have found.” (Page 3.) “Only: This word sets a mark on what it is prefixed to, as a truth of great certainty and importance. See, observe, thou. He invites every hearer and reader, in particular, to consider what he was about to offer. I have found: I have discovered this certain truth, and assert it on the fullest evidence, ‘that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.’” (Page 4.) “The Hebrew word "ws which we render upright, is pro perly opposed to crooked, irregular, perverse. It is applied to things, to signify their being straight, or agreeable to rule; but it is likewise applied both to God and man, with the words and works of both. As applied to God, the ways of God, the word of God, it is joined with good; (Psalm xxv. 8;) with righteous; (Psalm crix. 137;) with true and good; (Neh. ix. 13;) where mention is made of ‘right judgments, true laws, good statutes. The uprightness with which God is said to minister judgment to the people, answers to righteousness: In a word,--God’s uprightness is the moral rectitude of his nature, infinitely wise, good, just, and perfect. The upright ness of man, is his conformity, of heart and life, to the rule he is under; which is the law or will of God. Accordingly, we read of uprightness of heart; (Psalm xxxvi. 10; Job xxxiii. 33) and uprightness of way, or conversation; (Psalm xxxvii. 14;) and often elsewhere. ‘The upright man,’ throughout the Scripture, is a truly good man; a man of integrity, a holy person. In Job i. 1, 8; ii. 3, upright is the same with perfect, (as in Psalm xxxvii. 37, and many other places,) and is explained by, one “who feareth God and escheweth evil. In Job viii. 6, it is joined and is the same with pure.