The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 47

remind the antiquary of a magnificent empire now Ion" passed away." And so tho process goes on. Everything passes. A few years ago~ ano we were not; a hundred years hence, and there may be none who ever heard our names. And a day will come when • The cloud-ce.pp'd towers, the gorgeous pe.l&cea, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, &11 which it inherit, shall dissolve; And . . . leave not a rack behind. We are such stuft' As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep." Abundant material, then, had the Preacher, the son of David, for sombre meditation; abundant material for contemplation does he suggest to us. And if we cannot get much further on in speculation than he did, if since his time very little new light has been cast upon the problems which he discusses, we may still refuse to be depressed by melancholy like his. Granted that all is vanity, that restlessness and monotony mark everything in the world, and that its glories soon pe.ss away and are forgotten; still it is not our home. It may dissolve and leave us no poorer. The tie that binds together soul and body may be loosened, and the place that knows us now may soon know us no more. Our confidence is in him, who has promised to take us to himself, that where he is we may be also. " God is our Refuge and Strength, ... therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed." In contrast with the Preacher's desponding, despairin"' words about the fruitlessness of life, its monotony and its brevity, we may set th: hopeful, triumphant utterance of Christ's apostle : "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: he □ ceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."--J. ,v. Vers. 12-18.-Speculative stud,y cf the world. Solomon bas made serious allegations concerning human life, and he now proceeds to substantiate them, He has declared that it yields no permanent results, that it is tedious beyond expression, and that it is soon overtaken by oblivion. "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!" The monotony of things in the natural world-the permanence of the earth in contrast with the changes in human life, the mechanical routine of sunrise aod sunset, the ceaseless agitation of 1be atmosphere, the constant course of rivers to the sea, aud so on-bad not been the sole ground for his conclusions. He had considered also" all the works that are done under the sun," the whole range of human action, and found in them evidence justifying his allegations. Both in natural phenomena and in human efforts and attainments he found that all was vanity and vexation of spirit. He had, he tells us (ver. 12), all the resources of a great monarch at bis command-riches, authority, capacity, and leisure; and he applied himself,-be gave his heart to discover, by the aid of wisdom, the nature of earthly pursuits, and found that they were fruitless. He concentrated all bis meutnl energy upon the course of investigation, and continued in it until the conclusion was forced upon him that" in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth know- ledge increaseth sorrow." So different is the estimate of wisdom and knowledge formed by the Jewish king from that held by other great philosophers and sages, that it is worth while to inquire into the cause of the difference. The explanation is to be found in ver. 15, "That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." It was a practical end that Solomon had in view-to remedy evils and to supply deficiencies. He did not engage in the pursuit of wisdom and know- ledge for the sake of the pleasure yielded by intellectual activity. In the case of ordinary philosophers and scientists the aim is a different oae. '' A truth, once known, fa.Us into comparative insignificance. It is now prized, less on its own account than as opening up new ways to new activity, new suspense, new hopes, new discoveries, new self-gratulation. It is not knowledge, it is not truth, that the votary of science principally seeks; he seeks the exercise of his faculties and feelings. Absolute certainty and absolute completion would be the paralysis of any study; and the last worst c;ahtmi ty that could hi>.iall man, as he is at present con8titutcd, would be that full and (JH, 1, 1 -18,J ECOLESIAS'l'ES; OR, THE PRE.A.CHER. 29