Passaic City record., 1893-06-03
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
JUNE 4.
Lesson Text: reverence and Fidel-
ity," Ecclesiastes W, 1-12-
Golden Text: Romans
xiii, 11-Commentary.

"This is the book and mirror of the natura
man. The thread of the book is the expires
sion, Under the sun, which is found in il
more than twenty-five times. Its conclusion
Fear God and keep His commandments. has
in it no redemptive power, but prepares the
way for the Redeemer from above the sun,
who alone can make all things new" CIV. J.
Erdman). The life of Ecclesiastes compared
with that of the Song of Solomon is like the
seventh of Romans compared with the eighth.
1t is the fruitless effort to do good and be
good apart from Him who alone is good. In
all the ''times' of chapter ill.,, Is, there is no
''time to pray"
/. 'sKeep thy foot when thou goest to the
house of God and be more ready to hear than
to give the sacrifice of fools, for they con-
slider not that they do evil. Our feet may
take US to the house of God, but unless our
hearts are right with God we shall be as FOOLS
The life of Christian is in the New Testa-
ment compared to q walk. We are to walk
worthy of our vocation, walk in love, walk as
children of light, walk circumspectly (Eph.
iv., /, ", 2, 8, 15).
g. ssBe not rash with thy mouth and let not
thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God. for God is In heaven and thou upon
earth. Therefore let thy words be few" Not
only do our feet need keeping, but also our
mouths David's resolution was good one,
81 said I will take heed to my ways that I
sin not with my tongue CPS xxxix., y. His
prayer is always appropriate, "Set watch,
o Lord, before my mouth keep the door of
my lips'' Cps. cxli., 81. How can we order
our words Alright before God? l know of no
way so good as being filed with His words.
See how in Hos. xiv, 2, He puts the very
words in our mouths which He would have
us say. And there are prayers throughout
the Psalms suitable to every possible occa-
sion.
3. "For dream cometh through the null
titude of business, and FOOLS voice is known
by multitude of Words There are dreams
from above the sun-from God Himself-of
which many are recorded in Scripture. but
ordinary dreams are from worldly cares. AS
to multitude of words, we are told that
in such there wanteth not sin (Prov. x, 19),
and this may be true even of some prayers
we know about which occupy anywhere from
10 to 20 minutes or more. Contrast with such
waste of words and time the prayer of our
Lord in John xvii, not over five minutes in
length
f. 'When thou vowest vow unto God,
defer not to pay it, for He hath no pleasure
in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed"
Compare with this verse Mum. XXX, 2; Deut
xiii, 21-23; Ps. Xvi, 13, IA, and be careful
how you make promises to God. He is the
faithful promiser q Cor. l., 81 x, 10; I
Thess. W, "a; II Thess. ill.,, 8 Heb. x, 23),
and our part is to trust Him, confide in Him,
for all His promises are in Christ, yea and
amen Ill Cor. l., 2U).
5. ''Better is it that thou shouldest not
VOW than that thou shouldest vow and not
pay" because that would be simply lying,
and neither deceit nor lies can dwell in Gods
sight (Ps. ci., ". Some people called Chris
tians think it all right to make promises to
their fellows which they have neither ability
nor intention to meet We would commend
to such the last clause of Rev. xxi, 8, "All
liars shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimGfOne -
6. ''Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh
to SIM One member of the body may cause
another member or even the whole body to
suffer. We know this to be true physically.
1t is also true spiritually. See I Cor. xii,
1927. If we believed this we would be more
careful of others feelings and watch lest we
should thoughtlessly cause another to suffer.
z. "For in the multitude of dreams and
many words there are also divers vanities,
but fear thou God" God said to Abram. ''I
am the Almighty God; walk before Me and be
thou perfect ct'-margin, upright or sincere
(Gen. xvii. L. Jesus says to US, "Lo
am with you always" (Math. xviii, 20.) This
fact believed is the greatest possible corrective
of ones life if we think of Him as the One
who SO loved US that He gave Himself for us.
Then His love will constrain US to love what
De loves and to avoid what He dislikes.
8. ''He that is higher than the highest re-
gardeth, and there be higher than they"
Oppression of the poor and perversion of
justice are among the perplexing things of
life even to this day. But it is a very old
story. David, Asaph and jeremiah were all
disturbed by these things Cps. Axxvii, /, 2 :;
lxxiii., 3; Jer. xii, u, but light is found in
the context of each passage, and this verse
OF our lesson assures us that God does see
and care. Our need is faith and patience
(Heb *, 36, 81 Rev. xiii. 10 xiv, ~. The
finished story will make all clear
9. Moreover, the profit of the earth is for
all the king himself is served by the field"
Nothing lives unto itself all things exist for
the good of all; even the king with all his
wealth has to depend upon the produce of
the field. No one can truly talk OF being in
dependent. The God in whose hand our
breath is, and whose are all our ways, in
whom We live and move and haze our being
(Dan. ", %; Acts xvii, 28), will require an
account from us for these things.
10. HE that loveth silver shall not be satis-
fed with silver, nor he that loveth abundance
with increase This is also vanity" The
king who could make silver to be as plentiful
as stone (I Kings X, 20 Was qualfed to
speak upon this subject. A greater than
Solomon has advised us that we should lay up
treasure in heaven, and by His Spirit has
taught us that the love of money is the root
of all evil (Math vi, 1921 I Tim. vi, 1O).
Nothing under the sun can satisfy the human
soul, but it is written, ''My people shall be
satisfied with My goodness, saith the Lord"
(Jer. XXI, 14).
II. "When goods increase, they are in
creased that eat them To possess and en-
JOY is worth while, but to possess merely for
the sake of gazing upon is surely vanity, and
yet take oursf most lives all that is not truly
profitable, and how very little of earth's
goods will be LETT as the portion which gives
satisfaction? Nothing under the sun can
satisfy the eye nor fill the ear (chapter l., 81,
but let us behold our Creator and Redeemer
in the person of Jesus Christ, and He will be
to us the chiefest among 10000-yes, Alto
gether lovely (Song ", 10, 16).
IL. "The sleep of laboring man is sweet,
whether he eats little or much, but the
abundance of the rich will not suffer him to
sleep" Riches are uncertain, and profit not
in the day of wrath Il Tim. vi, II Prov. XII,
A., but there are durable riches which accom-
pany righteousness, even the riches of His
grace and glory prov. viii, 1S; Eph. l., z,
18), which the poorest laboring man can have
without money and without price, and which