sacrificeth not; the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong; all human things seem the sport of chance25; moreover, the condition of the soul after death is involved in the same or even greater uncertainty; the wise man dies as well as the fool; all go to one place, beyond which there is nothing but obscurity and doubt 26, and which is probably a state of mere forgetfulness or unconsciousness". "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea they have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence (in this respect) above a beast.' But, granting all this, it is at the same time indisputable that amidst the changes and chances of life the mind is able to discern certain though partial indications of a strict inevitable necessity controling all nature, and overruling the operations and destiny of man". Change the name necessity into moral Providence, to a God inscrutable and inflexible yet beneficent and just, who will eventually bring every work to judgment, and the result becomes the most natural form of the first

"28

Hebrew philosophy. What expedient could a writer with these views select as the practical summum bonum, the true secret of happiness? It could not be wealth or any of those external objects or pursuits already admitted to be unsatisfying, to be only "vanity and vexation;" nor could it be wisdom, for wisdom, though in itself a priceless treasure, can never by man be purely or perfectly attained; man after intense and wasting labour finds himself unable thoroughly to understand the mysterious circle of events", and his wisdom, such as it is, is so constantly thwarted by frailty and folly as to become nearly useless to himself and others". The resource recommended, the only seemingly which remained open, is that of a

25 Eccles. ix. 2. 11; vii. 15.

27 Eccles. ix. 10.

26 Eccles. ii. 15, 16; iii. 20, 21. 28 Eccles. iii. 19.

29 Eccles i. 2-11; iii. 14; vii. 13; ix. 1; xi. 3.

30 Eccles. xii. 14.

31 Eccles. i. 13; ii. 15; iii. 11; viii. 17; xi. 5. 32 Eccles. vii. 20; ix. 3, and 13-18.

cheerful enjoyment of the hour, like the subuμia of Democritus. Enjoyment is the true zest and realization of existence; naturally inseparable from it, it is the gift of God himself, the "portion" allotted by him to man, certain therefore and indestructible, and containing in itself the evidence of God's favour. This maxim might easily be perverted; a considerable part of the book is therefore devoted to guard against misconstruction by marking its limits and conditions. As the gift of God it must of course be something pure and holy; not mere idle levity, or inconsiderate pursuit of the things contemptuously termed vanities, but the happiness which results from doing good 36, from keeping God's commands", from general habits of activity and discretion. Its external aspect will be exempt from all that is one-sided and overstrained, since it is guided by the sobriety and moderation of true wisdom"; hence the bitter contempt which the writer expresses for men's vain pursuits, vain, because in themselves incapable of supplying happiness, and also apt to fall into ridiculous extremes; hence his untiring keenness in dissecting the follies and eccentrities of life. The true felicity may be called fear of God, accompanied with cheerfulness and confidence; it reposes on a conviction of the fixity and justice of the divine purposes, and includes therefore faith; a faith, which if not to be literally realized in the mythical retribution of the grave, will nevertheless be in some way fully and speedily accomplished"1. This holy and reverential joy is the " peace of God;"4" it is conformed to the right, the expedient, the opportune13; it is often more akin to seriousness and sorrow than to feasting and

33 Eccles. ii. 24 to 26; iii. 12; viii. 15.

34 Eccles. iii. 22; v. 18.

36 Eccles. iii. 12; xi. 1.

38 Eccles. ix. 10.

40 Eccles. iii. 14; v. 7; vii. 18; xii. 13.

35 Eccles. v. 20; ix. 7.

37 Eccles. v. 7.

39 Eceles. ii. 26; vii. 16.

41 Eccles. iii. 17; v. 8; vii. 15. 18; viii. 11, 12; xi. 9; xii. 14. Comp. Job

xiii. 26. Psal. xxv. 7.

42 Psal. xxix. 11; xxxiv. 14; xxxvii. 37; lxxxv. 10.

43 Eccles. iii. 1.

laughter; it loves patience rather than pride, and views the end of things as of more importance than the beginning". At an earlier and more unsophisticated age this pure and holy joy seemed to dwell with man naturally and inalienably; it required not to be learned or studied, but made its abode with the spirits of the pious, and animated the voices of psalmist and prophet. It was only when after the golden age had expired, when continued misfortune had produced among the Hebrews that mental depression which on the grand scale of human nature has been called the Fall, that their religion seemed to wear a sombre aspect, and to be in danger of undergoing disadvantageous comparison with the superstitions of the heathen. The object of Ecclesiastes seems to be to vindicate under these disadvantages the old religion when fairly and rationally interpreted; to discover amidst corruption and misfortune an impregnable stronghold of holy yet cheerful confidence; to make life pleasant and supportable without fanaticism or vice; and by solving as far as possible the great moral problem, to reconcile the mind anew to God and to itself. "And if," says Ewald", "the attempt was less successful than the revolution which occurred four centuries later, if much is inadequately treated, and much, as the doctrine of immortality, left unnoticed and unresolved, still the book is an interesting and memorable attempt to adapt antiquated forms to altered circumstances, which in recapitulating and rationalizing the old religion lights on many thoughts which may be regarded as preparatory elements of the doctrine of the New Testament."

$3.

DOCTRINE OF FAITH.

In regard to matters which though not beyond hope lie beyond human comprehension and control, the only resource "Comp. Aristot. Eth. Nic. 1, ch. x.

45 Kohelet, p. 187.

is faith.

But faith has several aspects; that which in the worldly is philosophic indifference, with the religious be comes an animated resignation, often degenerating through enthusiastic earnestness into superstition. The great boast of oriental religion was faith in a God confessed to be inscrutable. Uncompromising faith in God was the palladium of the Hebrews'; and while the majority maintained the fervent spirit of their ancestors, their prophets bitterly reproved that ignoble Epicureanism which countenanced loose morals in distrust of God's justice. They held invincible belief in the protecting care of Jehovah over his people', at least over those among them who might be properly called his children, an idea which ancient mythus had beautifully expressed by the image of angels encamping round them*, bearing them as it were in their hands to prevent their stumbling. Man is unceasingly watched by God; by him his days are numbered' and his limit fixed. God exercises special superintendence over the heart and person of every worthy Israelite, a privilege eventually extended to the Christian". The miraculous was not the exception but the rule; he who pours out seasonable rain from the bottles of heaven 10 on his chosen did but enlarge the flow to cause the disastrous deluge; the fires of Sodom were but the same meteoric agents or “angels who would hereafter wreak vengeance on the enemies of the Hebrews in the same locality 12. Faith no doubt produced its own verification, and, confirmed by long experience, became approved as the infallible token of 'Gen. xv. 1-6. Comp. Psal. vii. 10; xviii. 2; lix. 9; lxii. 2. 6; lxxxix. 18; xciv. 22. 3 Psal. lxxiii. 15.

2 Job xxxiv. 21.

4 Gen. xxxii. 1.

"11

Psal. xxii. 10; cxxxix. 16. Psal. xxxiv. 1. 2 Kings vi. 17. 5 Psal. xxxvii. 17; xci. passim. Prov. iii. 23.

" Job xiv. 16; xxxiv. 21. Prov. v. 21.

7 Job xiv. 5. Psal. cxxxix. 16.

Job i. 10. Psal. xci. Prov. xxi. 1.

10 Job xxxvi. 27; xxxviii. 37.

11 Job xxxvii. 2, 3. Psal. xxix. 3. 7; cxlviii. 8.

12 Ezek. xxxviii. 22; xxxix. 15. Gfrörer, Urchrist. ii. 258.

Matt. x. 29, 30,

12

establishment and success13, since it engendered the fanaticism which, whether in Israelite, Islamite, or Covenanter, often equalled wisdom in council and discipline in the field. Faith was the general feeling of which the Messianic theory was the political expression. It is this assurance of God's protection, unconquerable and inexhaustible as its source, that sown in the people's hearts by the voices of the prophets and fed with the blood of martyrs 14, has ever proved the miraculous talisman of Hebrew nationality, responding to the severity of pressure by more eager and elastic expectation. The Pharisee was the legitimate descendant of the ancient zealot, of that rigorous devotion to the law matured during the exile among the party afterwards called Asideans 15, who on several occasions preferred certain death rather than eat pork or violate the Sabbath, and whose energy mainly contributed to establish the political independence of the Asmonean princes. Faith in God might be manifested in various ways; for instance, in reliance on his word and promises communicated by his authorized interpreters, the prophets; or that sanguine confidence in the partially favourable dispensations of heaven which seemed as an immediate revelation to the mind of every Jew, providing him with a neverfailing resource against despair. As the earth shook and the waters of the sea fled away of old when God miraculously interposed in favour of his people, so Habakkuk anticipates the ultimate confirmation of his grand principle or prophecy" in a convulsion of nature accompanying the fall of the Chaldæans. "Though the fig-tree blossoms not, and the vines. yield no fruit; though the growth of the olive fail, and the fields yield no meat; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the God of my salvation; Jehovah the Lord is my strength, he 13 Comp. Isa. vii. 9. 2 Chron. xx. 20. Hab. ii. 4. Psal. xxxvii. 3. 14 Comp. Dan. xii. 3. Isa. liii. 5, with Comment. 2 Mac. vi. and vii. 15 Hasidim." 1 Mac. ii. 42.

16 Psal. xviii. 6; lxviii. 7; lxxiv. 12; lxxvi. ; lxxvii. ; cvi. 7; cxxxvi. 13. meek," i. e., the Jews. Psal. lxxvi. 9; cxlvii. 6; cxlix. 4; xxxvii. 11.

17 Hab. ii. 4.

"The