my heart to examine wisdom,"-this is, when he set about to search and define the value and advantage of worldly wisdom, "and to examine foolishness and ignorance," i.e. to find out the difference between wisdom and folly—not in themselves (for he states, chap. ii. verse 13, that the difference between them is like that between light and darkness), but in the respective individuals who possess them—and to see how much worldly wisdom can make happy the man who cultivates it, and how much ignorance makes unhappy the man to whom it cleaves. "Then I perceived that this too was vexation of spirit." He found out that all the worldly wisdom which a mortal can accumulate was not only very far from affording him reason to glory in, far from opening unto him a source of real happiness, or lasting advantage above the ignorant man, but that, on the contrary, it opened a new source of vexation to his spirit. This seemingly strange conclusion is followed by the explanation of verse 18, "For in much wisdom there is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth pain or affliction." Here the proud infidel, but decorated and farfamed worldly philosopher, will probably stop, gaze with astonishment, and even be indignant at such a positive and flat conclusion. What! Shall one dare to tell him that he, being an infidel, had to glory in nothing, and that all his wisdom and knowledge does not bring him one step farther, and can afford him no other advantage above the ignorant man than that of grief and pain! Ah! that is too hard! We will cease to think so when we examine the real moral condition of the infidel philosopher, and listen to the testimonies of those who have declared the wisdom and knowledge he possesses has ever been a source of grief and pain unto him. (CHAPTER II. VErs. 1, 2.) 1. I then said in mine heart, Come now, In the foregoing chap. Solomon informed us how he failed in two experiments of his, to find out the desired results. The first was one of observation and theory, i.e., an examination of the occupa tion, works, and toils of mankind in general, in order to see if they can afford any real satisfaction or solid pleasure to those engaged in them. This he found to be a mere vanity, a 66 sore occupation," the consequence of man's sin and degeneracy, without any fruits, without pleasure, and without any real advantage. The second experiment was a practical one, i.e., he devoted himself to the study of science, of worldly wisdom, he practised it himself and taught it to others. But when he entered this literary garden, with the expectation of plucking some fine flowers of his cultivation, behold, they are all withered. When he trusted to find in his accumulated science a source of glory and honour, he found it to be a source of grief and vexation of spirit. Too far gone in his straying excursion, *Cover thee." We take this to be the signification of DON (Anaschah), as it is in Isa. xv. 7, "The covering which is spread over all nations (see also Isa. xxviii. 20.) We cannot understand how the translators made out, "I will prove thee," for neither in noun nor in verb the word can ever signify "to prove." (Nessech), sub. is a cover," a thing spread over another-hence, figuratively, "a libation," because it is diffused and spread over the altar. (Nassach), "to spread over," hence it may also be rendered in our verse, "I will spread thee over," which is the same. נסֶךְ In verb already far remote from God and religion, he then, instead of returning, made at once a gigantic forward step towards vanity and ruin. The wise man who once gloried in the God of his fathers, who found the greatest satisfaction and delight in the religious rites of Jehovah's sanctuary, who realised the purest and highest joy in his silent meditations on the brilliant promises which he received from the great God of Israel,-this very man informs us how that, in a comparatively short time, he found himself in a pathless desert of vanity, plunged himself into the midst of a vortex of confusion, and struggled with all his might, even against his common sense. Yea, alas, that great man tried repeatedly to intoxicate his pleading conscience, to stop his ears with the rags of worldly vanities, in order not to hear the pleas and remonstrances of his injured soul, and thus to bury his rich and varied talents in a depth of mine from which they should never re-appear. The backsliding and erring king made diligent search on the mountains of vanity in order to find some compensation for the heavy losses he sustained by abandoning God and religion and the delights of the Lord's sanctuary. Among the ruins of a deceiving world he sought for some favourite object, worthy of bestowing on it his time and labour, on which he could for ever concentrate his affection, in which he could glory, and in which he should find substantial and lasting pleasures. The wisdom of God which once he cherished and cultivated, as well as his conscience, declared loudly unto him that out of the eternal God no mortal will ever find an earthly object worthy of concentrating on it his affection, or capable of affording him lasting pleasure or real satisfaction. But the world-wise man would not hear, would not believe, unless he tried the truth of their arguments by repeated experiment. Two experiments were now made at a great cost of time, meditation, and labour, but they failed to realize his expectations. Disappointed in his plans, and conquered by his conscience, which now triumphantly showed him how vain he was-not humbled by that lesson, but rather exasperated-he now resolved on a most fatal step, which was to check his conscience, by violence, to suffocate the increased clamours of his suffering and offended soul, and to extinguish at once the last spark of celestial light that yet remained in him from the days of his true greatness and real happiness. "I then said in mine heart, Come now, I shall cover thee with mirth, that thou mayest enjoy pleasures." In other words that is to say: "Come now, O thou poor and troubled Solomon, who art continually persecuted by a restless and cruel conscience; come, for I have found out a remedy by which to cure thee of that plague. I shall cover thee with mirth against the arrows of that relentless enemy. I shall protect thee against that irreconcilable persecutor, by putting a strong partition wall between you both. That wall shall consist of feastings and jollity, of merriment and gay pleasures, of singing and dancing, drinking and laughing. Thus shall the voice of that tormentor be heard no more-that devouring and plaguing worm be driven away out of thy mind-and thou then shalt enjoy pleasures undisturbed and unmolested." The arrangements and means for that partition wall were instantly procured, and Solomon was ready for action. Riches and ruling power soon prepared the ingredients of the prescribed medicine (or rather poison) for the cure (or murder) of the voice of conscience, and the morally dangerously ill monarch began to swallow the drug in rather large quantities. The wisest of men then delivered himself prisoner to his own unfortunate inventions, and at once precipitated himself into the rapid current of violent merriment, and dissipating pleasures of every sort and colour. Many days and nights, weeks and months, and even years, must have been destroyed in that lamentable manner, and conscience might have been silenced, by no means killed, in the midst of that wild turmoil of even unnatural indulgence. Nevertheless, it was utterly impossible for such a vast mind, for such a large heart, for such a person. age as Solomon, to remain very long bewildered in such a manner as to unfit him for serious reflection. The same violent means which he employed to relax his mind, and drive asunder remorse, brought on many sleepless and restless nights, and forced him to consider carefully his behaviour, and reflect earnestly on his present condition. Again he saw his great and dangerous mistake-again he found out that his new plan was not only vain, but most degrading and most perilous. After mature consideration he was brought to the conclusion that forced pleasures, mechanical laughter, artificial joy, and manufactured satisfaction, were pure madness, real insanity. He therefore exclaimed regarding the whole of his new system of folly, "What doth it produce?"- -as if he said-" What shall be the end of that wretched business? What will it, what can it produce but mischief? Shall I become a regular drunkard, and thus slowly destroy myself soul and body at once? Shall I sacrifice my various talents, my noble mind, and my vast knowledge, on the altar of such a miserable idol like this? No! this is not yet a right or prosperous plan, I must seek out another." Solomon having once lost the highway *There is a very interesting tale told about an Austrian prince, who lay encamped with his army in the neighbour |