Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-06-01

Text of the Lesson, Feel. v, 1-12-Mcpa,
DRY Verses, I. - Golden Text, Rom.
xii, 11-Commentary by the Rev. ID. M.
SteaIns.
"This is the book and mirror of the natural
man. The thread of the book is the ex-
preston, Under the sum- which is found
In it more than 25 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. Erdmanl. 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
shapter iii, Is there is no time to pray"
/. keep 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
consider not that they do evil" Our
feet may take us to the house of Cod but
unless our hearts are right with God we
shall be as fools. The life of n Christian is
in the New Testament compared to n walk.
We nre to walk worthy of our vocation,
walk in love, walk rs children of light,
walk circumspectly Qph. iv, /; v, o s, l5),
.. BE not rash with thy mouth and let
not thine heart he 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, al said will take heed to
my ways that | sin not with my tongue"
(Ps. xxxix, ~ His prayer is always APP
propriate, Set watch, O Lord, before my
Il,
3) How can we order our words Alright be-
fore Cod? | know of no way so good as being
filled with His words. See how in Hos xiv,
Q, lie puts the very words in our mouths
which He would have us say. And there
are prayers throughout the Psalms suitable
to every possible occasion.
3. For a dream cometh through the
multitude of business, and FOOLS voice is
known by multitude Of words" There are
dreams from above the sun-from God him
self-of which many are recorded in Scrip
ture, but ordinary dreams are from worldly
cares Az to n multitude of words, we are
told that in such there wanteth not sin
prov x, 49, 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 i've minutes IN length.
4. 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 ver41 Mum xxx, Q;
| Deut. xiii q %. Ps Xvi, 10, IA, and he
careful how you make promises to God. He
| is the faithful promiser u Cor i, 9; X, 10;
Thess V, "a, II Thess. ill., 3; Heb X, 23) and
our part is to trust Him. confide in Him,
| for all His promises are in Christ, yea and
amen III Cor, i, 20)
! s. 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 U's CT, y. Some people called
| Christians think it all right to make prom
ses to their fellows which they have neither
| ability nor intention to meet. We would
commend TO such the last clause of Rev
xxi, s, All liars shall have their part in
the lake which burneth with fire and brim
stone"
6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy
! flesh to sin" 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
Cor xii. 1921 If we believed this, we
would be more careful Of others feelings
and watch lest we should thoughtlessly
cause another to suffer.
For in the multitude OF dreams and
many words there are also divers vani-
ties, but fear thou God" God said TO
Abram, II am the Almighty God; walk
before Me and be thou perfect"-margin,
upright or sincere-(Gen. xvii, y. Jesus
says to us, 40, | am with you always"
(Math. xviii, 20). This fact believed is
the greatest possible corrective of ones life