ent, great _fear_ came on all the _church_; whilst apostasy is
marked by men feeding, themselves without fear.

All shall be "_right_." It is the wrong and disorder and unrighteous
allotment prevailing here that caused the groans of our writer. Let us
listen to them. Their doleful, despairing sound shall again add
sweeter tone to the lovely music of God's revelation, speaking, as it
does, of One who solves every mystery, answers every question, heals
every hurt; yea, snatches His own from the very grasp of Death; for all
is _right_, for all is _light_, where Jesus is, and He is coming.
Patience! Wait!

CHAPTER IX.

The last two verses of Chapter VIII. connect with the opening words of
this chapter. The more Ecclesiastes applies every faculty he has to
solve the riddle under the sun, robbing himself of sleep and laboring
with strong energy and will, he becomes only the more aware that that
solution is altogether impossible. The contradictions of nature baffle
the wisdom of nature. There is no assured sequence, he reiterates,
between righteousness and happiness on the one hand, and sin and misery
on the other. The whole confusion is in the sovereign hand of God, and
the righteous and the wise must just leave the matter there, for "no
man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them." What
discrimination is there here? Do not all things happen alike to all?
Yes, further, does not Time, unchecked by any higher power, sweep all
relentlessly to one common end? Love cannot be inferred from the "end"
of the righteous, nor hatred from the "end" of the sinner; for it is
one and the same death that stops the course of each. Oh, this is
indeed an "evil under the sun."

Darker and darker the cloud settles over his spirit; denser and still
more dense the fogs of helpless ignorance and perplexity enwrap his
intelligence. For, worse still, do men recognize, and live at all
reasonably in view of, that common mortality? Alas, madness is in
their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead; and
then all hope for them, as far as can be seen, is over forever. Dead!
What does that mean? It means that every faculty, as far as can be
seen, is stilled forever. The dead lion, whose majesty and strength,
while living, would have even now struck me with awe, is less
formidable as it lies there than a living dog. So with the dead among
men: their hatred is no more to be feared, for it can harm