each little different. "I perceived," said he, "that one event happeneth to them all" (ver. 14). "Ae it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" (ver. 15). This observation apparently had struck him with much force, ae he refers to it more than once (eh. viii. 14 ; ix. 2). It was not an original observation, as long before Job had remarked upon the seeming indifference with which providential allotments were made to the righteous and the wicked (Job ix. 22; xxi. 7). Nevertheless, it was and is a true observation that, so far as purely external circum- stances are concerned, it may be doubtful if the wise man fares better than the fool. 2. The onrush of oblivion. With pitiless maw this devours the wise and the fool alike (ver. 16). If the human heart craves after one thing more than another, it is all 11ssura1lce that name alld memory shall not quite perish from the earth whell one himself is gone. Such 11s are indifferent to a personal immortality beyond the grave in a realm of heavenly felicity, are often found to be supremely desirous of this lesser immortality which men call posthumous fame. For this the Egyptiall Pharaohs erected pyramids, temples, mausoleums; for this men strive to set themselves on pinnacles of power, fame, wealth, or wisdom before they die; yet the number of those who are remembered mally weeks beyond the circle of their immediate friends is small. Evell of the so-called great who have flourished upon the earth, how few are rescued from oblivion I "Their memory and their name are gone, Alike unknowing and unknown." Who beyond a few scholars knows allything of the Pharaohs who built the pyramiJ.<, or of Assurbanipal, the patron of learning in Assyria, of Homer, of Socrates, or of Plato? If Olle thinks of it, the amoullt of remembrance accorded to almost all the leaders of mankind consists in this-that their names will be found ill dictionaries. 3. The descent of death. 'l'he wise man might have derived consolation from the fact- had it beell a fact-that though after death his fate would be hardly distinguishable from that of the fool, nevertheless before and at death, or in the manner of dying, there would be a wide distinction. But even this poor scrap of comfort is denied him, according to the Preacher. "How doth the wise mall die? as the fool I" (ver. 16). 'l'o appearance, at least, it is so, because in reality a difference wide asunder as the poles separates the dying of" him who is driven away in his wickedness," alld "him who has hope in his death" (Prov. xiv. 32). But contemplating death from the out- si<le, as a purely natural phellomenon, it is the same exactly in the experience of the wise mall as ill that of the fool. In both the process culmillates ill the looselling of the silver cord and the breaking of the goldell bowl (eh. xii. 6). II. W1rnoM SUPERIOR TO FOLLY. As light excelleth darkness, so wisdom excels folly. Three grounds of superiority. 1. The path of wisdom a way of light; that of folly a way of darkness. That the latter is essentially a way of darkness, and there- fore of uncertaillty, difficulty, and danger, had beell declared by Solomon (Prov. ii. 13; iv. 19). The Preacher adds an explanatioll by likening the foolish man to a persou walkillg backwards, or" with his eyes behilld;" so that he knows neither whither he is goiug, nor at what he is stumbling, nor the peril illto which he is advancing. Ha,l the Preacher said nothing more thau this, he would have been entitled to special thanks. 'l'housands live ill the delusion that the way of pleasure, frivolity, dissipntioll, extrava- gallce, prodigality, is the way of light, wisdom, safety, felicity-which it is not. 'l'he tro.veller who would journey in comfort and security must walk with his eyes to the frollt, considering the direction ill which he moves, pondering the paths of his feet, and turning neither to the right hand nor to the left (Prov. iv. 25-27). In other words, the wise man's eyes must be in his head, exercising at once forethought, circum- spection, and attention. 2. The source of wisdom from above; that of folly froni beneath. As the light descends from the pure regions of the upper air, so this wisdom of which the Preacher speaks, like that to which Job (xxviii. 23), David (Ps. Ii. 6), Solomon (Prov. ii. 6), Daniel (ii. 23), Paul (1 Cor. i. 30), alld James (i. 5; iii. 15) allude, comes from God (ver. 26). As the darklless may be said to sprillg from the earth, so folly bas its birthplace ill the heart. The individual that turns away from the Iicrht of wisdom presented to him in the moral illtuitions of the heart, the revela- t10ns ~f Scripture, or the teachillgs of nature, by that act condemns his spirit to dwell 42 ECCLESIASTES; OR, 'l'RE PREACI-IEn. [en. 11. 1-26.
in darkness. 3. The end of wisdoin, safety; that of folly, destruction. Th'e light of wisdom illuminates the path of duty for the individual; the darkness of folly covers it with gloom. Specially true of heavenly wisdom as contrasted with wickedness and sin. Even with regard to ordinary wisdom, its superiority over folly is not to be d,,nied. The wise man has at least the satisfaction of knowing whither he is going, and of realizing the unsatisfactory character of the course he is pursuing. It may not be a great advantage which the wise man has over the fool, that whereas the fool is a madman and knows it not, the wise man cannot follow after wisdom (in itself and for itself) without discovering that it is vanity; but still it is an advantage-an advantago like that which a man has who walks straight before him, with his eyes in his head and directed to the front, over him who eit-her puts out his eyes, or blindfolds himself, or turns his eyes backward before he begins to travel. LESSONS. 1. Get wisdom, especially the best. 2. Eschew folly, more particularly that which is irreligious. 3. Learn to discriminate between the two; much evil will thereby be avoided.