The Literatures of the Natural Man
W.J. Erdman's sermon explores Ecclesiastes as a profound reflection of the Natural Man's quest for meaning across various literatures and cultures.
W.J. Erdman preaches on how Ecclesiastes is a book that resonates with the natural man, as seen in the literature, poetry, ethics, and philosophies of various cultures throughout history. The questions, doubts, and reflections on the vanity of life expressed in Ecclesiastes are universal themes that echo in the hearts of people across different nations and time periods. The search for meaning, the struggle with despair, and the pursuit of the unknowable are all captured in the musings of Ecclesiastes, mirroring the sentiments found in the works of poets and thinkers worldwide.
Text
The different Literatures of the world are a Proof that Ecclesiastes is the book of the Natural Man.
It hears its echoes or finds its fullest expressions in the poetry and ethics and philosophies of Greece and Germany, Persia and France, India and England, China and America. The book of this Preacher and the books of sages, moralists and poets, match each other at every part and point, but there is no more redemptive power in the one than in the others. The wise questions and doubtful answers put forth by the soul of man in its pressing needs are common to both; likewise the reviews of fitful experience and the monotonous verdict "All is Vanity." The king and Preacher finds his counterparts in other nations and ages;- his ancient sermon discloses the seeds and germs of many modern reasonings on man and his destiny his " be-all and end-all," and on the unknowable, all-molding idea, of "the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." " The world" -- man, nature, history, time -- " is set in man's heart " now as then, and the natural man comes to the " Unknowable," feeling after God, and in his vain wisdom finding him not.
Here, too, are the sad musings of poets and sentimentalists, who clothe nature in the sack-cloth of their own melancholy; here the idealizing, the vacillation, the despair,. the fatalism, which are but enlarged in the soliloquies of a Hamlet or uttered in the disgust and mad resolve of a learned Faust. The very collections of confessions and sentiments, similar to these of Ecclesiastes, gathered by certain writers from the works of sages and moralists and poets of other ages and peoples, strongly confirm the statement, that this He brew Scripture is the Book of the Natural Man.
Sermon Outline
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I
- Introduction to the Literatures of the Natural Man
- Ecclesiastes as a reflection of human experience
- Comparison with global literary expressions
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II
- The echoes of Ecclesiastes in various cultures
- Philosophical and ethical parallels
- The theme of vanity in human existence
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III
- The quest for understanding and meaning
- The role of poets and philosophers
- The limitations of human wisdom
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IV
- The concept of the 'Unknowable'
- Human longing for God
- The futility of earthly pursuits
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V
- Literary reflections of despair and fatalism
- Influence of Ecclesiastes on modern thought
- Conclusion on the relevance of Ecclesiastes
Key Quotes
“The world is set in man's heart now as then.” — W.J. Erdman
“The natural man comes to the Unknowable, feeling after God, and in his vain wisdom finding him not.” — W.J. Erdman
“This Hebrew Scripture is the Book of the Natural Man.” — W.J. Erdman
Application Points
- Reflect on the universal questions of existence that resonate across cultures.
- Recognize the limitations of human wisdom in understanding divine truths.
- Embrace the search for meaning as a vital part of the human experience.