The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-12-24
BeIi9ious dflistellanp.
Vanity Of yanities.

But it is said so in the Bible. Yes?
But then / do not believe everything
that is in the Bible. Well WE'LL WE'LL
There is no Godl DO you believe
that? Does the Bible say that? No.
Neither does the Bible say, All
is vanity. The fool says, There
is no God; and the preacher says,
All is vanity; and 1 neither believe the
fool nor the preacher. If you are
going through the Bible to pick out
what you like and believe that, and re-
ject what you do not like and disbe-
lieve that, | do not see that there is
any authority left in the Bible, or that
it is in any sense n standard. What
sort of standard would a set of
weights be if the grocer measured with
them when he sold his goods, but re-
fused to measure with them when he
bought? Your illustration is very
fair one. And l quite agree with you
that he who uses his own notions to
measure the moral teaching of the
Bible, and rejects what he does not
like and accepts what he does. practi-
cally rejects the Bible as standard or
an authority altogether. None the less,
he is to use his common sense in using
the Bible; and he is not to accept every
thing he finds in the Bible as authori-
tative merely because he finds it be-
tween the covers of the sacred Book.
The devils declaration to Adam, Ye
shall not surely die" is not a whit
more true because it is reported in the
Bible. The book of Job is the report
of hot debate between job and his
three friends, in which they take op-
,t, 81 Z, -. IL.
cannot be- But men will take a dec
laration of job or of Eliphas and quote
it as a text from the Bible and as an
authority for their views, without ever
looking to see who said it. Temper
ance orators will quote, Touch not,
taste not, handle not, to give divine
authority to their eXhortations without
considering, perhaps without even
knowing, that Paul cites it as an ex-
ample of an ascetic precept from which
Christians are emancipated by the law
of faith and the liberty of the gospel.
" If we be dead with Christ" he says,
"from the rudiments of the world, why,
as though living in the world, are We sub
ject to ordinances (such as) Touch not,
taste not, handle not" The Bible is
a record of human experience, some of
it very noble and divine, some of it ig-
noble and very human; some of it for
our inspiration; some of it for our
warning. But what reason have you
for not believing that the preacher
was an inspired preacher, and spoke by
divine authority as much as David or
Isaiah or Paul? Who was the preacher?
You have asked the question; suppose
you answerit. He was repentant roue.
l suppose him to have been Solomon.
This has been the general opinion of the
church. Some modern scholars think
differently. Dean Plumptre, for ex-
ample, supposes that he was an I'm
known who lived in the second or third
century before Christ. But if so, his
life was Solomonic. Like Solomon, he
had made trial of the world, and in
this book writes out the result of his
experience. TO him, whether solomon
or the Unknown, the devil had made
the same promise he made to Christ;
he had shown him all the kingdoms of
the earth and promised them to him if
he would serve the devil. This Hebrew
Faust accepted the offer; and the king
doms had proved a mirage. He had
enjoyed religious education; he had
known the Lord; had been taught his
Law at home and at school. But as he
grew up into manhood, he had grown
away from his early teaching. He had
desired to enjoy life" The Puritan
ism of his home had become irksome
to him; the yoke of obedience had
CALLED him; he had set himself to find
enjoyment, not by duty, but by pleas
ure; not by self-denial and service, but
by self-indulgence. He had every ia
cility, and he tried every avenue that
leads to the enchanted palace, which
always seems to the pursuer close at
hand, and always vanishes when he APP
proaches it. He was rich; had plenty
of good companions, as the world
counts good companionship: had all
the advantage of ripened culture and
the widest intellectual life and fellow
ship. He tried mirth and wine and
folly; builded houses and planted gar
dens; got servants and singers; and
acquainted himself with wisdom -
the worlds philosophy. "The wine
sparkled at his banquets, and singing
men and singing women were hired to
sing songs of revelry and love, and the
Greek het6rp, the delights of the sons
of men, surrounded him with their
ldSClndllollS' Ills ne became one OF
reckless sensuality Like the son in
the parable, he wasted his substance in
riotous living and devoured his wealth
with harlots." The end was what the
end of this experience always is-sa-
tiety, cynicism, disgust with self and
with the world. The cry, Vanity of
vanities, is the cry of a man of the
world, of a wearied roue, of one sa-
tiated with experience of goddess and
worldly pleasure. 1t Is the echo Of the
WEAKNESS of heart of one who has tried
to find satisfaction for son of God in
the pleasures of merely worldly and
animal existence; of king who has
allowed himself to be allured out to
feed with the cattle on the grass of the
field; the same cry which the wealthy
noble, cultured, talented, and wretched
Lord Byron uttered in many verse
like the following:
Yet Time, who changes all, had altered him
In soul and aspect as In age; years steal
Fire from the mind as vigor from the tomb
And life's enchanted cup but sparkles tho
brim
His had been quafed too quickly, and he found
The dregs were NORWOOD; but he filled again,
And from purer fount, ON holier ground,
And deemed Its spring perpetuali but In vainl
Stu chung around him lnvisbly chain
Which CALLED forever, lettering, though unseen,