house of mourning is fitted to improve the serious listener. Should it sometimes lay rebukes npon one's spirit, these are felt to be better from a moral and spiritual point of view than the low and grovelling, frequently prurient and obscene, songs that in the Preacher'~ day were_ hea:d, as in our day they are not unknown, in a pothouse. 2. The proficiency acquired in the house of feasting. By no means in wisdom, either human or Divine. One will hardly assert that a person will become shrewder in business or brighter in intelligence by indulging in chambering and wantonness; it is certain be will not grow either holier or more spiritually minded. 'Whatever apologies may l>e offered for frequenting carousals-innocent feasting requires none-this cannot be urg;~, that it tends to make one purer in heart or devouter in spirit, incites one to holy hvmg, or prepares one for happy dying. Rather, the instruction received in such haunts of dissipation is for the most part instruction in vice, or at the best in frivolity- a poor accomplishment for a man with a soul. Vers. 7-10.-Counsels for evil times. I. T!IE WRONG WAY OF BEHAVIOUR UNDER OPPRESSION. 1. .Allowing it to unsettle one's fudgment. " Surely oppression," or ex tor.:. tion, "maketh a wise man mad," or foolish; i.e. driveth him to foolish actions through indignation and vexation, through the misery he endures, the hardship he suffers, tho sense of injustice he feels, the rising doubts of which he is conscious. A soul thus driven to the wall and set at bay through the woes inflicted by imperious and pitiless tyranny, is prone to be unsettled in its judgments, fierce and even reckless in its actions. Of course, no amount of oppression or extortion should have this effect on any; but it sometimes has. 2. .Attempting to remove it by bribery. "And a gift destroyeth the understanding." Equally of him that gives and him that receives a bribe is the saying true, that it perverts the judgment, disturbs the soul's perceptions of right and wrong, and leaves a blot upon the conscience. To seek the removal of oppression by currying favour with the oppressor through presentation of gifts, is to seek a right thing in a wrong way, and is to that extent to be condemned. 3. Indulging in anger on account of it. "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry." Whether this anger be directed against the oppressor or against the oppression, or against God's providence, who has suffered both to come together and co-operate against the wise man, to give way to it is to part with one's wisdom, since "anger resteth in the bosom of fools," if it is not also (in the last case it is) to sin against God. It is always difficult to be angry and sin not (Ps. iv. 4, margin; Eph. iv. 26); hence Christians are exhorted not to be soon angry (Titus i. 7), indeed, to put off (Col. iii. 8) and put away (Eph. iv. 31) anger, as one of the works of the flesh (Gal. v. 20). 4. Giving way to despair because of it. Saying in one's heart that " the former days were better than these," and that all things are going to the bad. The Preacher pretty plainly hints that such a sentiment is an error, and yet it is one widely entertained by the ignorant and prone to be adopted by the unfortunate. II. TnE RIGHT WAY OF BEHAVING UNDEB OPPRESSION. 1. Permitting the evil to avenge itself on its perpetrator. This it will do, if the propositions be correct that oppression practised even by a wise man will make him mad, and that a bribe accepted by a good man will corrupt his heart and destroy his understanding. "The oppressive exercise of power is so demoralizing that even the wise man, skilled in statecraft, loses his wisdom. '!'here comes upon him, as the history of crime so often i;hows, something like a mania of tyrannous cruelty. And the same effect follows on the practice of corruption" (Pluruptre). 2. Reflecting that the evil will not continue for ever. It will run its course, have its day, and come to an end as other evil things have done before it; and "better will its end be than its beginning." In the course of history this has often been observed, that seasons of oppression and periods of persecution have not been suffered to continue for ever, and have often been terminated (by some sudden turn in providence, by the death of the oppressor, or by a change of purpose in the persec~tor) sooner than the victims expected. 3, Exercising patience while the evil day continues. "Better is the patient in spirit than the proud in spirit," better in respect of moral character and religious profiting. Philosophy and religion both teach that th? way to rise superior to injustice and oppression, to extract the largest amount of profitm~ from it, and to bring it most speedily to an end, is to meekly endure it. Patience disarms the oppressor of hiB strongest weapon, and imparts to his victim double advantage over OH, vu.1-20.J ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 171
his foe. Without patience tribulation cannot work out the sonl's good (Rom. v. 3; Ja.s. i. 4). 4. Ohel'ishing a hopeful spirit in the darkest times. Net despairing of the future either for one's self or for the world, but believing that all things work together for good to them that love God, and that through evil times as well as good times the world is slowly but surely moving on towards a better day. LESSONS. 1. Never oppress. 2. Cultivate meekness. 3. Be hopeful.