HOMILIES BY V A.RIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-11.-The vanity of wealth, pleasure, and greatness. There is certainly a strange reversal here of the order of experience which is usual and e:1:pected. Men, disappointed with earthly possessions and satiated with sensual pleasures, sometimes turn to the pursuit of some engrossing study, to the cultivation of intelleolual tastes. But the case described in the text is different. Here we have a man, convince<l by experience of the futility and disappointing character of scientific and literary pursuits, applying himself to the world, and seeking ~atisfaction in its pleasures and distractions. Such experience as is here described is possible only to one in a station of eminence; and if Solomon is depicted as disappointed with the result of his experiment, there is no great encouragement for others, less favourably situated, to hope for better results from similar endeavours. I. THE WORLDLY MAN's AIM. This is to learn what the human heart and lire cnn derive from the gifts and enjoyments of this world. Man's nature is impulsive, acquisitive, yearning, aspiring. He is ever seeking satisfaction for his wauts and desires. He turns now hither and now thither, seeking in every direction that which he never finds in anything earthly, in anything termed "real." II. THE WORLDLY MAN's .MEANS TO THIS END. How shall satisfaction be found? The world presents itself in answer to this question, and invites its votary to acquisition and appropriation of its gifts. This passage in Ecclesiastes offers a remarkable aml exhaustive catalogue of the emoluments and pleasures, the interests and occupations, with which the world pretends to satisfy the yeaming spirit of man. '!'here are enumerated: 1. Bodily pleasure, especially the pleitsure of abundance of choice wine. 2. :Feminine society. 3. Uil'hes, consisting of silver and gold, of flocks and bcr,ls. ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. [orr. rr. 1-20,
4. Great works, as palaces, parks, etc. 5. Household magnificence. 6. Treasures of art, and especially musical entertainments. 7. Study and wisdom, associated with all diversions and distractions of every kind. It seems scarcely credible that one man could be the possessor of so many means of enjoyment, and it is not to be wondered at that "Solomon in all his glory" should be mentioned as the most amazing example of this world's greatness and delights. It needed a many-sided nature to appreciate so vast a variety of possessions and occupations ; the largeness of heart which is ascribed t.o the Hebrew monarch must have found abundant scope in the palaces of Jerusalem. It is instructive that Holy Writ, which presents so just a view of human nature, i,hould record a position so exalted and opulent and a career so. splendid as those of Solomon. Ill. THE WORLDLY MAN'S FAILURE TO SEOURE THE END BY THE UBE OF THE MEANS I>ESGRIBED. 1. All such gratifications as are here enumerated are in themselves insufficient to satisfy man's spiritual nature. There is a disproportion between the soul of man and the pleasures of sense and the gifts of fortune. Even could the wealth and luxury, the delights and splendour, of an Oriental monarch be enjoyed, the result would not be the satisfaction expected. There would still be "the aching void the world can never fill." 2. It must also be remembered that, by a law of our constitution, even pleasure is not best obtained when consciously and deliberately sought. To seek pleasure is to miss it, whilst it often comes unsought in the path of ordinary duty. 3. \Vhen regarded as the supreme good, worldly possessions and enjoyments may hide God from the soul. They obscure the shining of the Divine countenance, as the clouds conceal the sun that shines behind them. The works of God's hand sometimes absorb the interest and attention which are due to their Creator; the bounty and beneficence of the Giver are sometimes lost sight of by those who partake of his gifts. 4. 'l'he good things of earth may legitimately be accepted and enjoyed when received as God's gifts, and held submissively and gratefully "with a light hand." 5. Earth's enjoyments may be a true blessing if, failing to satisfy the soul, they induce the soul to turn from them to God, in whose favour is life.-T.
Vers. 12-17.-The romparison between wisdom and folly. To the ordinary observer the contrast between men's condition and circumstances is more expressive than that between their character. The senses are attracted, the imagination is excited, by the spectacle of wealth side by side with squalid poverty, of grandeur and power side by side with obscurity and helplessness. But to the reflecting and reasonable there is far more interest and instruction in the distinction between the nature and life of the fool, impelled by his passions or by the influence of his associations, and the nature and life of the man who considers, deliherates, and judges, anrl, as becomes a rational being, acts in accordance with nature and well-weighed convictions. Very noble are the words which the poet puts into the lips of Philip van Artevelde- " All my life long Have I beheld with most respect the man Who knew himself, and knew the ways before him: And from amongst them chose deliberately, And with clear foresight, not with blindfold courage: .And having chosen, with a stendfast mind Pursued hie purposes." L THE NATURAL CONTRAST BETWEEN WISDOM AND FOLLY. 1. The distinction is one founded in the very nature of things, and is similar to that which, in the physical world exists between light and darkness. This is as much as to say that God himself is the' All-wise, and that reasonable beings, in so far as they participate in his nature and character, are distinguished by true wisdom; whilst, on the other hand, departure from God is the same thing as abandonment to folly. 2. The distinction is brought out by the just exercise or the culpable misuse of human faculty. "The wise man's eyes are in his bead," which is a proverbial and figurative way of saying that the wise man uses the powers of observation and judgment with which he is endowed. The position and the endowments of the organs of vision is a plain indication that they were intended to guide the steps; the man who looks before him will not miss his way OU, II, 1-26.] ECCLESIASTES; on, THE PilEACHEl1. 45