rving Him perfectly, of enjoying Him perfectly,--think
of such a Christian saying, as He looks forward to this bliss, "All
that cometh is _vanity_," and we may get some measure of the value of
the precious word of God.

But now with a stronger blow our writer strikes the same doleful chord:
"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in
the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the
sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will
bring thee into judgment."

One would think that there could be no possible misunderstanding the
sorrowful irony of the counsel "to walk in the ways of thy heart, and
in the sight of thine eyes,"--expressions invariably used in an evil
sense (compare Num. xv. 39; Isa. lvii. 17); and yet, to be consistent
with the interpretation to similar counsel in other parts of the book,
expounders have sought to give them a _Christian_ meaning, as if they
were given in the light of revelation and not in the semi-darkness of
nature. But here the concluding sentence, "know thou, that for all
these things God will bring thee into judgment," is quite unmistakable.

But here is indeed a startling assertion. Where has our writer
learned, with such emphatic certainty, of a judgment to come? Have we
mistaken the standpoint whence our book was written? Has the writer,
after all, been listening to another Voice that has taught him what is
on the other side of the grave? Does Revelation make itself heard here
at last? Or may, perhaps, even this be in perfect harmony with all
that has gone before, and be one step further--almost the last
step--along the path that unaided (but not depraved) human Reason may
tread? In a word, does Nature herself give Reason sufficient light to
enable her, when in right exercise, to discover a judgment-seat in the
shadows of the future?

This is surely a question of deepest--yes, thrilling--interest; and, we
are confident, must be answered in the affirmative. It is to this
point that our writer has been climbing, step by step. Nature has
taught him that the future must be looked at rather than the present;
or, rather, the present must be looked at in the light of the future;
for that future corresponds _in its character_ to the present, as the
crop does to the seed, only exceeds it _in intensity_ as the harvest
exceeds the grain sown. Thus bread hoarded gives no harvest; or, in
other words, he who lives for t