Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings.

XXIII.

Be not among winebibbers;

Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at the wine;

They that go to seek out mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,

When it giveth its colour in the cup,

When it goeth down smoothly:

At the last it biteth like a serpent,

And stingeth like an adder.

XXV.

Go not forth hastily to strive,

Lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof,
When thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself,

And disclose not the secret of another:
Lest he that heareth it revile thee,

And thine infamy turn not away.

A word fitly spoken

Is like apples of gold in baskets of silver.

Let thy feet be seldom in thy neighbour's house ;
Lest he be weary of thee, and hate thee.

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat ;
And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink :
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
And the LORD shall reward thee.

XXVI.

For lack of wood the fire goeth out:

And where there is no whisperer, contention ceaseth,
As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire,

So is a contentious man to inflame strife.

XXVII.

Boast not thyself of to-morrow;

For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth;
A stranger, and not thine own lips.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous;
But who is able to stand before jealousy?
Better is open rebuke

Than love that is hidden.

ECCLESIASTES, OR THE PREACHER

SAYS Professor Cheyne: "Jewish tradition, while admitting a Hezekian or post-Hezekian redaction to the book, assigns the original authorship of Ecclesiastes to Solomon." But he adds: "Whichever way we look, whether to the social picture, or to the language, or to the ideas of the book, its recent origin forces itself upon us. The judgment of

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.

Ewald, as already expressed in 1837, appears to me on the whole satisfactory: One might easily imagine Koheleth [by which Hebrew name, signifying The Preacher, the book Ecclesiastes is commonly known among the critics] to be the very latest book in the Old Testament. . . But though not the latest, it cannot have been written till long after Aramaic had begun powerfully to influence Hebrew, and therefore not before the last century of the Persian rule'" - in other words, not before the fourth century B. C.

SELECTIONS FROM ECCLESIASTES.

CHAPTER V.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh with a multitude of business; and a fool's voice with a multitude of words. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou vowest. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was

an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For thus it cometh to pass through the multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: but fear thou God.

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of judgement and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for one higher than the high regardeth; and there be higher than they. Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all: the King himself is served by the field.

:

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase this also is vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, saving the beholding of them with his eyes? The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to

sleep.

:

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt: and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he hath begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he laboureth for the wind?

VII.

A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter:

:

for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity. Surely extortion maketh a wise man foolish; and a gift destroyeth the understanding. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. Wisdom is as good as an inheritance yea, more excellent is it for them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it. Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God hath even made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out any thing that shall be after him.

VIII.

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and prolong his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be righteous men, unto

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