The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-05-24
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for June 4, 1893
Reverence and Fidelity-Eccl. 5;l-12.

y
GOLDEN TEXT-Not slothful in business;
leryent in spirit; serving the Lord.-Rom l2:ll
THE BOOK OF ECCLEsIAsTEs.
TIE NAME. - Ecclesiastes, or Ko-
heleth. Ecclesiastes is the Greek trans
lation of the Hebrew Koheleth, as
given in the Septuagint. 1t means
either one who calls an assembly to-
gether, to teach or talk to them, and
thus may be called a preacher; or
member of such an assembly who
takes part in its discussions, and thus
speaks to them.
AUTHORSHIP AND DATE.-lt lies on
the surface that the writer of the book
who, though he does not introduce the
name of Solomon, Identifies himself
(chap. 1:12-l6) with the historical son of
David, was either actually the king of
Israel whose name was famous for
wisdom and largeness of heart" or
that, for some reason or other, he
adopted the dramatic personation of
his character as form of authorship.
If Solomon was the author, the date
would be about 1000 b. c.
The tendency of modern scholarship
is to the opinion that the book of Ec-
clesiastes was written by some I'M
known author in the Persian period,
after the exile, and later than Ezra and
Nehemiah. In this case the author, in
his quest for the highest good, lets the
experience of Solomon utter its teach
ings in chapters /, 2, as if he would say:
This is what Solomon says to u.s." This
is no deception, but dramatic persona
| ton of character which has at all times
| been looked upon as legitimate form
of authorship. With some writer's of
the highest genius,as, e. g., with Robert
Browning and Tennyson, monologue
or soliloquy of this character has been
favorite form of composition. The
speeches in Herodotus and Thucydides,
the Apologies written in the name of
Socrates by Xenophon and Plato, the
Dialogues to Plato throughout, are in
stances in which no one would dream
of imputing fraud to the writers, though
in all these cases we have, with scarce
| ly the shadow of doubt, the thoughts
and words of the writers and not of the
men whom they represent as speaking.
The Purpose and Plan.-The object
of the book is to guide men in the
search for the highest good. 1t is a
series of pictures of the varying ex-
periences in searching after the best
life. From the many sources from
which men are continually seeking the
/ best good, come the voices of expert
ence, giving their testimony. None of
them can satisfy the soul; none can
tell where the weary soul can find rest
4 But at last is learned the lesson that
what is sought is found in simple en-
joyment of simple pleasures, patient
consistency under heavy trials, heartfelt
devotion to the service of God, and an
unwavering faith in the life to come.
Note in what sense many of the sayings
are true, in such book as this. They
are not always truths in themselves,
any more than the words of Satan in
the book of Job can be quoted as
truths. They are actual experiences.
They are true pictures of the way men
speak and feel.
We will follow in general the ar
rangement of Dr. Cox. 1.-THE contents
are, or may be, distributed into pro-
logue, four acts or sections, and an
epilogue. In the prologue Koheleth
states the problem to be solved"
Subject-The Quest of the Chief
Good. First Section. 1:12 to 2:26. Here
in are given the teachings of the ex-
perience of Solomon, the wisest and
richest man of his age, searching for the
Chief Good in Worldly Wisdom and
Pleasure. Every enjoyment that money
could buy, that wisdom could devise,
that lingly power could control, that
commerce could import from foreign
lands-all these were found by him,
and yet failed to satisfy his soul. Not in
beautiful gardens, not in palaces, not
in wine, not in music, not in the treas
ures of kings, not in the consciousness
of worldly wisdom, could he find the
chief good; and, looking over his eX-
perience, he could only say: Behold,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit"
Second Section. Chaps 8, 4, 5. The
Quest is Pursued in Business and Polite
al Life, He begins by showing that
there is time for everything. What
is the use, then, of laboring hard since
everything is settled? Then he looks
on the wrongs of men, and these weigh
on his spirit. Is it worth while tc
labor, when success but leads to envy,
and cuts him off from the companions
ship of his fellows? How was it with
the religious life of his time? Did he
find anything more satisfying there:
The answer was that he found hollow
ness, Journalism, hypocrisy, frivolous
excuses and dreams taken for realities
(vers 10 From the religious life he
turned to the political, and there also
all was anomalous and disheartening
"This is also vanity"
Third Section. 81 to Sis. The Quest
in Wealth and on the Golden Mean
The man who makes riches his CHIEF
good is haunted by fears and perplexitie:
Clio His soul cannot be satisfied
with riches (6:7), nor can he foresee
what is really good, nor know who viii
possess his wealth tG:12). Failing ir
wealth, he seeks what good there is il
modest competence (7:1-l4). In al
this is failure (S:14, 15). In this section
are many wise sayings worth remem
bering, as II, 8, s, 10; Sill, 10.
Fourth Section. SIG to 1877. In thi.
| eoot;a, ,VTba O,nc+ iS ocbinvcd ao1 III.
Chief Good found to consist in tran