of himself, to correct what in him is faulty. The la.tter returns again and again to examine himself in the faithful glass, for the purpose of removing those stains which it may show are upon him. 'l'his reverence of manner and spirit and this love of righteousness a.lone give value to worship; omission of them through thoughtleBBness is a positive offence against God.-J. W. Vers. 2, 3.- Vanity in reUgion: 2. Rash prayers. From an admonition as to the spirit in which we should enter the house of God, our author proceeds to counsel us as to the religious exercises we engage in there. Our utterances in prayer are to be calm and deliberate. A multitude of wishes may fill our hearts, and, unless we take care, find expression in a. volume of ill-considered words. But we are to remember that only some of our wishes can be lawfully turned into prayers, and that an appropriate expression of the requests we feel we can offer, is due from us. The counsel here given is twofold: (1) it relates to our words, which often outrun our thoughts, and (2) to our hearts or minds, which are often the homes of vain imaginations and desires. Over both we must exercise control if we are to offer acceptabfo prayers. One great safeguard against offending in this matter is 'brevity in our addresses to heaven's King. In a multitude of words even the wisest are in danger of giving indications of folly. Definite petitions, duly weighed, and expressed in simple, earnest language, become us who stand at such a distance from the throne of God. Our Lord reiterates the admonition in the sermon on the mount (Matt. vi. 7, 8): "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." And in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke xviii. 9-14) he contrasts the voluble utterance of the self- righteous and complacent worshipper with the brief, sincere confession and supplication of the true penitent. 'l'he greatest of all safeguards against the evil here condemned consists in our having before our minds a true idea of what prayer is. It is our offering petitions to God as creatures who o.re dependent upon his goodness, as children whom be loves. If we take as our example that offered by our Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. xxvi. 39), we learn that the aim of prayer is not to determine the will of God. Some one thing we may ask for, but we leave it to God to grant or to deny, and seek above all that our will may be changed into his will (see Robertson of Brighton, vol. iv. serm. 3, "Prayer ").-J. W.
Vers. 4-7.-Vanity in religion: 3. Broken vows. A vow is a promise to dedicate something to God, on certain conditions, such as his granting deliverance from death or danger, success in one's undertakings, or the like, and is one of the most ancient and widespread of religious customs. The earliest we read of is that of Jacob at Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 18-22; xxxi. 13). '!'he Mosaic Law regulated the practice, and the passage before us is an almost exact reproduction of the section in Deuteronomy (xxiii. 21-23) in which general directions are given about the discharge of such obligations. 'l'he vow consisted in the dedication of persons or possessions to sacred uses. 'l'he worshipper's self, or child, or slave, or property, might be devoted to God. Vows were entirely voluntary, but, once made, were regarded as compulsory, and evasion of performance of them was held to be highly irreligious (Numb. xxx. 2; Deut. xxiii. 21-23; eh. v. 4). The kind of sin referred to here is that of making a vow inconsiderately, and drawing back when the time of performance comes. No obligation to vow rested upon any man (Deut. xxiii. 22), but when the vow had once been made, no one could without dishonour refuse to fulfil it. Of course, it was to b& taken for granted that the vow was such as could be fulfilled without violating any law or ordinance of God. And, accordingly, provision was made in the Mosaic Law for the cancelling of any such obligation undertaken inadvertently, and found on maturer consideration to be immoral. It could be set aside, and the offence of having made it be atoned for as a sin of ignorance (Lev. v. 4-6). But when no such obstacle stood in the way of performance, nothing but a prompt and cheerful fulfilment of the vow could be accepted as satisfactory. A twofold fault is described in the passage beforo us: (1) an unseemly delay in fulfilling the vow (ver. 4) leading, perhaps, to an omission to fulfil it at all; and (2) a deliberate evasion of it, the insincere worshipper going to 134 ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER, [on. v. 1-20.
the angel (priest), and saying that the vow had been made in ignorance, and should not therefore be kept literally (ver. 6). And in correspondence with the respective degrees of guilt incurred by such conduct, the Divine indignation takes a less or more intense form: ver. 4, "He hath no pleasure in fools;" ver. 6, "Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?" The idea of the former of the two statements of the Divine displeasure is far from being trivial or from being a tame anticipation of the latter. "'l'he Lord first ceases to delight in a man, and 1
then, after long forbearance, gives him over to destruction" (Wright). The one great sonrce of these three forms of evil which so often vitiate religious life-thoughtlessness, 1·1Uh pmyers, and 'broken vows-is irreverence, and against it the Preacher lifts up his voice (ver. 7): "For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God." Just as occasional <lreams may be coherent, so fe1v well-considered utterances may be characterized by wisdom. But a crowd .of dreams, and hasty, babbling speech, are sure to contain confused images and offensive folly. The fear of God, therefore, if it habitually influence the mind, will preserve· a man from being "rash with his mouth;" it will hinder his making inconsiderate vows, and afterwards seeking excuses for not fulfilling them.-J. W. · •