Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-06-02
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON X, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JUNE4.

SteaIns.
This sis 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 It's 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'
(NN. 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 iii, l-S, 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 God, but
unless our hearts are right with God we
shall be as fools The life of Christian is
in the New Testament compared to a walk.
We are to walk worthy of our vocation,
walk in love, walk as children of light,
walk circumspectly (Eph iv, |; v, 2, 8, 15).
2. BE 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 will take heed to
my ways that | sin not with my tongue"
Cps. xxx, y. His prayer is always ap-
propriate, "Set n watch, o Lord, before my
mouth; keep the door of my lips" FPS. cxli,
81. How can we order our words Alright be-
fore God! know of no way so good as being
filled with His words See how in Hos. xiv,
Q, 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 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 AS to a multitude of words, we are
told that in such there wanteth not sin
prov K, 1917, and this may be true even of
some prayers we know about which occupy
anywhere from 10 to 90 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.
4. when thou vowest a vow unto God,
defer not to pay it, for He hath no pleasure
in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed"
Compare with this ver.s Mum. xxx, q;
Deut. xiii. 81 23; Ps. Xvi, 10, IA, and be
careful how You make promises to God. He
is the faithful promiser Il Cor /, o; x, ID;
Thess v. "a, ii Thess iii, 8; Heb. X, 23), and
our part is to trust Him. confide in Him,
for all His promises are in Christ, yea and
amen I'll Cor i, 20)
s. Better is it that thou shouldest not
OF. Il
pay" because that would be simply lying,
and neither deceit nor lies can dwell in
Gods sight tPs. ci. y Some people called
Christians think it all right to make prom
Uses 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 brim-
stone
9. 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
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
I. For in the multitude of dreams and
many words there are also divers vani
ties, but fear thou God" God said tc
Abram, 81 am the Almighty God; walk
before Me and be thou perfect"-margin
/ upright or sincere-(Gen. xvii, y. Jesus
says to us, 10, | 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 He loves
and to avoid what He dislikes.
s. He that is higher than the highest re
gardeth, and there be higher than they
Oppression of the poor and perversion o.
justice are among the perplexing things Of
life even to this day. But it is very ole
story. David, Asaph and jeremiah were
all disturbed by these things (Ps, xxxvii,
Q; lxxiii, 8; Jer. xii, y, but light is found
in the context of each passage, and thi!
verse of our lesson assures us that Goo
does see and care. Our need is faith ant
patience (Heb. X, SO, 81; Rev. xiii, 10; xiv
12). The finished story will make all clear
o. Moreover, the profit of the earth il
for all; the king himself is served by tn,
field" Nothing lives unto itself; all thing
exist for the good of all; even the kinl
with all his wealth has to depend upon thu
produce of the field. No one can truly tall
of being independent The God in who's
hand our breath is, and whose are all oul
ways, in whom we live and move and hav,
our being dan. v, 90; Acts xvii, 28), will
require an account from us for these things
TO- HE that loveth silver shall not b.
satisfied with silver, nor he that lovetl
abundance with increase. This is ais
vanity" The king who could make silve
to be as plentiful as stones Il Kings x, "a
was qualified to speak upon this subject
A greater than Solomon has advised III
that we should lay up treasure in heaven
and by His Spirit has taught us that thu
love of money is the root of all evil (Math
vi, 1921; | Tim. vi, 10Y. Nothing unde
the sun can satisfy the human soul, but /
is written, MY people shall be satisfied
with My goodness, saith the Lord" der
XXI, l4).
IL. when goods increase, they are in
creased that eat them" To possess and en-
Joy is worth while, but to possess merel.
for the sake of gazing upon is surely van
ity, and yet take out of most lives all tina
is not truly profitable, and how very littl
of earth's goods will be left as the portion
| IL