because sin in every shape moves toward exposure and penalty, while righteousness in all its forms travels toward its recognition and reward, therefore let tne spirit be reverent in presence of it~ Maker, let the life be filled with purity and worth, with integrity and goodness. let man be the dutiful child of his Father who is in heaven.-0. Vers. 8-12.-The epilogue. The sentence, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!_'' with which the Book of Ecclesiastes opened, is found here at its close. And doubt!ess to many it will seem disappointing that it should follow so bard upon the expression of belief in immortality. Surely we might say that the nobler view of life reached by the Preacher should have precluded bis return to the pessimistic opinions and feelings which we can scarcely avoid associating with the words, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity I" But on second thoughts the words are not contradictory of the hope fur the future which ver. 7 expresses. The fact that Christians can use the words as descriptive of the worthlessness of things that are seen and temporal, as com- pared with those that are unseen and eternal, forbids our concluding that they are necessarily the utterance of a despairing pessimism. A great deal depends upon the tone in which the words are uttered; e.nd the pious tone of the writer's mind, as revealed in the concluding passages or his book, would incline us to believe that the sentence," all is vanity," is equivalent to that in the Gospel," What shall it profit a man, if be gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" No one can deny that tho 'De Imitatione Christi' is a noble expression of certain aspects of Christian teaching with regard to life. And yet in the very first chapter of it we have these words of Solomon's quoted and expanded. "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity beside loving God and serving him alone. . . . It is vanity, therefore, to seek after riches which must perish, and to trust in them. It is vanity also to lay one's self out for honours, and to raise one's self to a high station. It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh, and to covet that for which we must afterwards be grievously punished. It is vanity to wish for long life, and to take little care of lee.ding a good life. It is vanity to miud only this present life, and not to look forward to those things which are to come. It is vanity to love that which passes with all speed, and not to hasten thither where ever- lasting joy abides." In the opinion of many eminent critics the eighth verse contains the concluding words of the Preacher, and those which follow are a.n epilogue, consisting of a." commendatory attestation" (vers. 9--12), and a summary of the teaching of 1he book (vers. 13, 14), which justifies its place in the sacred canon. On the whole, this seetns to be the most reasonable explanation of the passage. It seems more likely that the glowing eulogy upon the author was written by some one else than that it came from his own pell; e.nd e. somewhat analogous postscript is found in another book of Holy Scripture, the Gospel of St. John (xxi. 24). Those who collected the Jewish Scriptures into one, and drew the line between canonical and non-canonical literature, may have considered it advisable to append this paragraph as a testimony in favour of a book which contained so much that we.s perplexing, and to give a summary (iu vers. 13, 14) of what seemed to them its general teaching. The Preacher, they ~ay, was gifted with wisdom over and above his fellows, and taugbi; the people knowledge; aml for this pondered and investigated e.nd set in order many proverbs or parablCJs (ver. 9). Like the scribe, "who had been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven," "ho brought forth out of his treasure things new ond old" (Matt. xiii. 52). Knowledge of the wisdom of the past, ability to recognize in it what was most valuable, and to cast it into new forms aud zeal in the dischargo of his sacred office, were all found in him. He sought to attract men to wisdom by displaying it in its gracious aspect (cf. Lnko i:v. 22), e.nd to influence them by the sincerity of his purpose, and by the actual truth he brought to light (ver. 10). "He aimed to speak e.t once words that would please and words which were true-words which would be at once goads to the intellect, aud yet stakes that would uphold and shy the soul of man, botli corning alike from oue shepherd" (ver. 11, Bradley). Some of bis se.yir:gs were calculated to stimulate men into fresh fields of thought nnd new paths of duty, others to confirm them in the possession of truths of eternal vnlue and significance. Like the apostle, he was anxious thnt his reader~ should no longer be like" children tossed to and fro, and carried about with ovcry wiud of doctl'ine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error" (Eph. iv. 14) i but should" prove all things, and hold fast thl\t which is good" (1 Thcss. ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER.. [OH, XII, 1-14,
v. 21). H~w mucl~ better.to study in the school of such a teacher than to weary and perplex ones self with '' sCience falsely so called;" than to be versed in multitudinous literature, which dissipates mental energy, and in which the soul can find no sure resting- pince (ver. 12) ! All who set themselves, or who have been called, to be teachers of men, may find in the example of the Preachor guidance as to the motives and aims which will alone give t,hem success in their work.-J. W.