if any shall seek for the truth, he shall seek it in a wood. Surely there is no better manifester of the soul than He who is the Maker of it, and that is God Himself [Jermin].

Can anything be more marvellous or startling, unless we were used to it, than that we should have a race of beings about us whom we do but see, and as little know their state, or can describe their interests or their destiny, as we can tell the inhabitants of the sun and moon? We have more real knowledge about the angels than about the brutes. They have apparently passions, habits, and a certain accountableness, but all is mystery about them. We do not know whether they can sin or not, whether they are under punishment, whether they are to live after this life. . . Is it not plain to our senses that there is a world inferior to us in the scale of beings, with which we are connected without understanding what it is? [J. H. Newman.]

Verse 22. Only the moment that we live in life is our possession. Every hour lived sinks irrevocably into the sea of the past; the future is uncertain. Therefore is he a fool who lets the

present slip by unused, wastes it in vain amusement, or grieves with useless lamentations [Wohlfarth].

It is our duty to do the best with that which lies to hand, and not consume ourselves with vain longings after an ideal state. We must accept the conditions of our earthly existence as a fact, and we ought to lighten their burden by the spirit of joy.

With a firm conviction of the duty which the present demands, the tasks of life, though in themselves grievous, may be set to the music of the soul. No second lease of life will be granted We should therefore act well in the present, so that we might await with confidence the mysterious crown of eternity.

us.

The future is all uncertain. We cannot forecast history; or, to come closer home, that smaller portion of it interwoven with our own life and labours. Yet we may be assured that if we are good and true, the future hides nothing in it that can vanquish or distress us.

Within the vague and solemn mystery which rounds our little life here, there is yet some room for cheerfulness, contentment, and hope.

CHAPTER IV.

CRITICAL NOTES.-1. So I returned.] Passing from the reflections of the last chapter to a new subject of contemplation. They had no comforter The repetition of this phrase is intended to make the thought emphatic. 4. Every right work.] Every work marked by excellence and skill. But the writer has chiefly in view that successful work which excites the envy of others. 5. Eateth his own flesh.] Accomplishes his own ruin by indolence, exhausts his fortune, preys upon himself like one mad with hunger. 10. If they fall.] Not both together, but if one or the other falls. 12. A threefold cord.] Two cords would only suggest plurality, but three give the idea of strength. 13. Better is a poor and a wise child.] Not in the moral point of view, but happier-better off. 14. For out of prison he cometh to reign.] Reference is made to the youth mentioned in the previous verse. The writer may

have had the history of Joseph in his mind. Born in his kingdom becometh poor. Came to the possession of his kingly dignity by birth. His dethronement is the condition of the sudden elevation of this youth. 15. All the living which walk under the sun, with the second child.] The great number of the adherents of this upstart who has seized the throne.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.-Verses 1-3.

THE TYRANNY OF FORCE AGAINST RIGHT.

I. Such tyranny is an immense evil. 1. It is an old evil. From the days of Cain, who did the first murder, there have been tyrants who have used their power to oppress the innocent. Brute force, without the government of the reason and conscience, employed to crush the defenceless, is one of the earliest forms of human iniquity. 2. It is an inveterate evil. Since Abel's murder, the oppressors and the oppressed have been the chief actors in history. In every age, might has prevailed over right. No nation can show a clear page, purged from this blot. Humanity has become so indoctrinated with the claims of mere power that armies are still called "forces." Even now, society is not advanced enough to render supreme homage to reason and moral right. Still the ultimate appeal of nations is to force. II. Such tyranny gives rise to extreme suffering. The innocent may be strong in the sense of right, and in the defence of conscience; still human nature must feel. 1. These sufferings open the fountains of sorrow. When courage, goodness, and skill are of no avail against a vicious power; when the innocent are trampled under by the iron heel of tyranny, no wonder that the eye fills and the heart is overwhelmed with emotion. 2. These sufferings are sometimes aggravated by the circumstance that they have no earthly comforter. The good have often been alone in the sorrows inflicted by the oppressor, and have looked around in vain for a sympathetic heart. With no eye to pity, and no heart to cheer, the load of misery comes with crushing weight. III. Such tyranny causes existence to seem but a questionable benefit. The long record of human agony produced by the tyranny of the powerful; the cruel persecutions of some of the brightest ornaments of human nature-these things are a sore trial to our faith in the goodness of the Supreme Power. It seems as if God were indifferent to the most grievous wrongs of men. The existence of such evils in the world tempts a man to indulge in the most extravagant and desperate language. 1. He affirms that the dead are better off than the living. (Verse 2.) The thought of the wrongs which man inflicts on man so sickens the heart that we are plunged into that gloomy mood in which we are ready to hail the condition of the dead, and welcome the long sleep and the safe shelter of the grave. There are deeds so horrible that the contemplation of them is enough to make us loathe life. 2. That the gift of existence is itself an evil. (Verse 3.) There are seasons when the contemplation of the darker side of history so occupies the mind that we are tempted to regard the gift of life itself as a doubtful blessing. We almost wish as if our eye had never opened to the light of day, and that we had never been called from that dark negation which we once were. A state of non-existence appears to us preferable to a state of ill-existence. 3. There are times when this melancholy thought presses itself with peculiar force upon the mind. Times in the individual life-times in the life of nations. The state of mind, however, bere described, does not and cannot last. Though the soul may have to pass through this shadow, she emerges into the light of a better hope. Elsewhere the Royal Preacher praises life as a Divine gift. Our feeling regarding the wrongs of time is thus modified by the higher truths, and the belief in eternal justice.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES.

Verse 1. Grace, while fortifying the soul against the violence of trouble, does not seal up the fountains of

nature.

A tear is often the only tribute that the oppressed can give to misery.

The tears of the oppres ed are-1. A dumb protest against the cruel might

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Verses 4-6.

THE PENALTIES OF SUCCESS.

We have here the case of a man who has escaped many ills and disasters of life. His work has led to a successful issue. Such a man may be regarded as comparatively happy, yet society fixes certain penalties upon his condition. I. The successful man is often a mark for the envy of others. (Verse 4.) The world idolizes success, and gives credit to the man who has achieved it for deep contrivance and many virtues. Yet success has some drawbacks and disadvantages. It often draws upon itself the envy of others. But 1-This envy is unjust. Society should bow cheerfully to the condition by which a man enjoys

the fruit of his labour. The success of another should not be a huge object casting a dark shadow upon our own portion. Yet the language of Haman is that of most men (Esther v. 13). 2. This envy brings many evils in its train. The envious man may be tempted to ruin the successful, to attack his reputation, or to depreciate his work. Hence arise various forms of low cunning and deceit. The first murder had its bitter root in envy. 3. This envy is worthless. "This also is vanity," ending in no good result for those who indulge it a consuming fire in the breast. 4. This envy is unwise. In the proper ordering of human society, the wise and the good should rule, and come to place and power. Even in the present disorder, it often happens that talent and virtue are rewarded with success. But envy has prevented many a man from occupying his proper place, and thus the progress of society is retarded. II. The successful man has no unmixed enjoyment. He is above the reach of many evils, and has much to make him happy. Yet his lot is not pure and unmixed joy. He has much to chafe his affections-to worry and distract his mind. "Vexation of spirit" is also his portion. This may arise from the fact-1. That the skill he has shown meets with such an ungrateful return. He has been remarkable for industry and wisdom, and, it may be, has exerted himself for the public good; yet, for all his pains, he is only made the mark of envy. Ingratitude has often been the sad and vexatious heritage of some of the bravest and best workers. 2. That the evil affections of mankind are so far beyond the reach of remedy. All the efforts and reforms of the wisest can never eliminate the feeling of envy from mankind. Men are ever prone to envy that successful work in which they have taken no part. III. The work of the successful man is often depreciated by the indolent. The slothful man is described as working his own ruin. (Verse 5.) He cannot endure to witness the success of men of greater talents and energy than himself. Hence he assumes the features of wisdom, and counsels moderation. (Verse 6.) Why all this labour for so little result? It is better to manage life with sobriety than to gain success at the expense of proper repose. 1. This counsel is given by men who are the least ready to do any good work themselves. The idle man folds his hands, and calls that work useless which he cannot imitate, either from natural or moral unfitness. He waits for miracles, and expects the end without the means. 2. This counsel possesses an element of wisdom. It is not altogether foolish and vain advice, but has in it some features of truth. It is better to secure a little, and to enjoy it, than to aim at too much; and thus to purchase success by the loss of happiness and quiet. To cultivate contentment, and to cool the fever of ambition, should be the aim of every wise man. 3. This counsel is wrong in its extreme form. Men must have large aims if they would perform great and lasting works. A low and mean ideal cripples the energies of the soul. Every true man must have a purpose wider than himself.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES.

Verse 4. Envy is opposed to that expansive charity which rejoices in the success of another. Like love, it is not an intermittent, but a constant passion; thus it frets and consumes the possessor. The trail of the serpent Envy is traced across every earthly paradise.

"Envied of his neighbour," nay of his father-in-law; for did not this make Saul to envy David, so that David flying to Achish had rather be under an

enemy than under envy; nay, of his brother, when there was but one brother in the world [Jermin].

No man so secure in the peaceful results of his honest labour and skill as to be beyond the reach of the archers of envy.

Even he who gains the applause of men obtains a tribute often impaired by envy.

When a statue had been erected by

his fellow-citizens of Thasos to Theagenes, a celebrated victor in the public games of Greece, we are told that it excited so strongly the envious hatred of one of his rivals, that he went to it every night, and endeavoured to throw it down by repeated blows, till at last, unfortunately successful, he was able to move it from its pedestal, and was crushed to death beneath it on its fall. This, if we consider the self-consuming misery of envy, is truly what happens to every envious man. He may perhaps throw down his rival's glory; but he is crushed in his whole soul beneath the glory which he overturns [Dr. T. Brown].

Verse 5. Idleness makes a desert of the mind; multiplies the snares of temptation; and ends in self-destruction.

He who does not keep his powers in a state of healthy activity will find that they waste away. This is true of the physical, moral, and spiritual.

The difficulty of accomplishing successful work, and the envy it raises in others, should not cause us to fold our hands in indolence.

The purest pleasures are those which are won by exertion-the sweet rewards

of toil. He who folds his hands tastes not the honey of life, but consumes himself with long regrets and imaginary fears.

Verse 6. We may conceive that, as in the verse before, Solomon showeth his misery in his wasted estate; so here he showeth his misery in a plentiful estate. He who laboureth and getteth but a little, yet by labour hath a quiet mind free from a burdensome tediousness, is to be preferred before him [Jermin].

There is in human life a certain golden mean in which the greatest happiness can be enjoyed.

A competence with quietness is to be preferred to abundance with all its necessary train of anxieties and cares.

This speech can be put into the mouth either of a fool or of a wise man, for it has elements which suit both characters. As uttered by a fool, it springs from envy. It is the affectation of wisdom, used to despise the work of another. But as spoken by a wise man, it is a sober counsel to hit the happy medium between absolute indolence and that restless activity which pushes enjoyment out of life.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.-Verses 7-12.

PORTRAIT OF A MAMMON WORSHIPPER.

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Instead of using the gifts of fortune wisely, and gaining favour with mankind, some only increase their misery by depriving life of its proper happiness. Here is the picture of a man who is possessed by the spirit of avarice-a worshipper of Mammon. Of such an one, we may say :-I. That his conduct is unreasonable (Verse 8.) He has no child," nor "brother; no relation to care for, and yet he toils after money with restless anxiety, as if life itself depended upon it. This conduct is unreasonable. 1. It surpasses the proper bounds of prudence. Pruder ce ought to govern all conduct. A man should be diligent in work, striving to build for himself a defence against the storms of adversity. But when this passes to the extreme of greediness and grasping, so that a man forgets his own happiness to serve a base passion, his conduct is unreasonable. 2. The folly of it is sometimes apparent to himself. There are times when the voice of awakened reason within the avaricious man proclaims his folly. A better spirit possesses him for awhile, and he asks, “For whom do I labour?" &c. He feels, during this momentary fit of wisdom, that his conduct is utterly without useful purpose. He cannot spend all upon himself. He has no relations, and has made no friends. He wilfully deprives himself of happiness. 3. It is conduct which does violence to