Charles Bridges’ commentary on Ecclesiastes shows that this neglected book of Scripture is:

• Relevant for today. Our land needs to be awakened to the futility of seeking happiness without God.
• Clear when interpreted in the light of its overall theme.
• Suitable not merely for ‘the light-hearted and thoughtless’ but for ‘the most eminent saint of God’.
• Necessary. ‘On no account could we have spared this book from the canon. It has its own sphere of instruction and that of no common value’.
• Harmonious with the New Testament. ‘We cannot fully enforce and apply Ecclesiastes except by the aid of Gospel light’.
• Sanctifying. The message of the book is designed to bring men to complete consecration to God, as Bridges declares: ‘The men that we want are lively, warm, real men- men who have a daily contact with a personal living Saviour- men whose religion is the element in which they breathe, the principle by which they work- men who think of life as the seed time for eternity’.