and then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear;" but it must be: 2. Actual, otherwise there is no reason to suppose the individual has become possessed of wisdom; and it will eventually .be : 3. Visible to all, so that all beholding him shall recognize in him the gentleness of one who has studied in wisdom's school. Christ, in whom are .hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. ii. 3), was the highest impersonation the world ever witnessed of true gentleness and refinement. Vers. 2-6.-" Honowr the king." I. THE SUBJECT'S DUTY TOWARDS THE KING. l. To keep the lcing's command. Unless conscience interposes with a clear and distinct veto, as in the cases of Moses' parents (Heb. xi. 23), Daniel and his companions in Babylon (eh. i. 8; iiL 16-18; vi. 10), and the apostles before the Sanhedrin (Acts iv. 19, 20), it is the duty of all to render obedience to the civil power, kingly or magisterial, even though the doing of this should entail suffering and hardship (Rom. xiii. 1-7; Titus iii. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 13-15). 2. To abide (n the king's service. The subject should not be hasty " to go out of the king's presence," in the sense of either renouncing allegiance to the king's throne, or deserting the post of duty he bas received from the king. The obligation to preserve one's loyalty, however, is not absolute. '.l'imes may come when insurrection is a duty, as in the revolution which overthrew Athaliah (2 Chron. xxiii. 15; 2 Kings xi. 16). Nor can it be maintained that states- men should never desert their sovereigns. When these embark on projects the con- sciences of their ministers cannot approve, it is incumbent on these ministers to leave them. Only nations should not resort to revolutionary practices without due con- sideration, and statesmen should not resign their portfolios in a :fit of haste. 3. To preserve the king's favour. This the subject will usually do, if be "persist not in an evil thing," i.e. if he take no part in conspiracies against the king's power or person ; as he certainly will lose the king's favour by acting otherwise. II. THE CiBOUNDB ON WBI0B THE SUBJEOT'B DUTY RESTS. 1. The sanctions of religion. These as much bind the subject as if the subject had individually sworn an oath in God's presence. The relationship existing between king and people being of Divine appointment, the subject is practically bound as by a solemn covenant in God's sight to render obedience and loyalty to his sovereign (cf. 2 Cbron. xxiii. 16; xxxvi. 13). Nor does religion exempt the subject from such '.obligation even when the king is unworthy and his rule oppressive (Jer. xxix. 7; Matt. xidi. 21). 2. The power of the king. This also a reason why the subject should not raise the standard of rebellion without just cause, or offer unreasonable resistance to the carrying out of royal com- mo.nds, that the king, as representative of the supreme power of the state, is usually able to enforce obedience and loyalty at least of an external kind. "The king doeth what- soever pleaseth him," etc. (vers. 3, 4). The language applies to Oriental despots more than to constitutional monarchs. 3. The safety of the subject. Under arbitrary rule such as the Preacher alluded to, the way of submission was the way of safety. It might not, indeed, promise much good to the individual quietly to submit to a power be could not resist; but at least it would largely protect him against evil. Ideal rulers should be a fountain of blessing to their loyal as well as a force of repression to their disloyal subjects (Rom. xiii. 3). 4. The dictates of wisdom. The subject who might feel impelled to rebellion and disobedience perceives that, as "to every purpose there is a time and judgment" (i.e. a boundary beyond which it cannot pass, and CL judicial decision upon its char9.cter which it car.not evade), since otherwise man's misery beneath the whips and scorns of time would become intolerable, so the oppression under which he groans will one day exhaust itself, come to an end, and be called up for judgroent at the bar of the Supreme, if not in time and on earth, at least at the world's close, and in the unseen; and, perceiving this, the wise subject cleems it better to keep the king's commandment, and maintain allegiance to the king's throne, than to enter on the dubious paths of insnrrection and revolt. Learn: 1. 'l'he superior honour due from man to him who is the King of kings. 2. The loftier grounds on which the Christian soul's allegianee to God and Jesus Christ is claimed. 3. The blessedness of those who are faithful subjects of the heavenly Kiug. 4. The folly of attempting to elude God's presence, and the danger of persisting in an evil thing. 5. The high argument for patience supplied by the certain prospect of a future judgment. ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. [en. vm, 1-17.
Vers. i-9.-'l1ie soi-rowful tale of man's misei·y upon the earth. I. No KNOWLEDGE <'F THE FUTURE. Neither himself can foresee, nor can any one inform him either what shall be or how it shall be. Man's acquaintance with the futur<l amount; at best to a "perhaps." II. No EXEMPTION FROM DEATH, This great truth stated in a threefold form. 1. No man can retain his spirit, or hold it back, when the hour strikes for it to be hrcathed forth, any more than he can hold back the winds of heaven when the moment !ins arrived fo: them ~o blow. . 2. No man has power over the day of his death, to defer it, to remo,·e 1t to a dim and distant future, or to hasten it to bring it near, any more 1hnn he has power over the day of his birth. His times both of comina into and of going out from the world are in God's hand. 3. No man can procu;e a discharge from the war with the king of terrors, either for himself or another, any more than a conscript could escape the battle when drawn for service by an Oriental despot. All without exception must go forth to the final conflict (Heb. ix. 27). III._ No ESCAPE FROM RETRIBUTION. The wicked may hope that in some way or 0ther 1t ma;y be possible for them to evade the due reward of their transgressions; but ~uch hope 1s taken from them by the fact that God will one day bring every secret thing into judgment, whether it has been good,or whether it haa been evil (eh. xii. 14). IV. No IMt.nn,""ITY FROM OPPRESSION. Though it cannot be affirmed that all are oppressed-else where were the oppressors ?-yet it cannot be guaranteed beforehand 1 hat any one will not be oppressed, since "there is a time wherein one man bath power ornr another to his hurt" (ver. 9). LESSON'S. 1. Leave the future with God, and live in the present. 2. Prepare for that day which will come on all like a thief in the :night. 3. So live that the recom- pense of the future will be that which belongs to righteousness. 4. Avoid being an oppressor, and rather be oppressed,