ousy, and makes him the object not of love, but of envy,
to all about him. Success, then, and a position of pre-eminence above
one's competitors, gained by skillful toil, is rather to be avoided as
vanity and pursuit of the wind,--a grasping at an empty nothingness.

Is the opposite extreme of perfect idleness any better? No; for
plainly the idler is a fool who "eateth his own flesh"; that is,
necessarily brings ruin upon himself. So human wisdom here closes the
meditation with--what human wisdom always does take refuge in--the
"golden mean," as it is called, "better a single handful with quiet
rest, than both hands filled only by wearying toil and vexation of
spirit." And true enough this is, as every man who has tested things
at all in this world will confirm. Accumulation brings with it only
disappointment and added care,--everything is permeated with a common
poison; and here the wisdom of the old is, in one sense, in full
harmony with the higher wisdom of the new, which says "godliness, with
contentment, is great gain," and "having food and raiment, let us be
therewith content."

If we look "above the sun," however, there is a scene where no sting
lurks in all that attracts, as here. Where God Himself approves the
desires of His people for more of their own, and says to them with
gracious encouragement, "covet earnestly the best gifts." Yes; but
mark the root-difference between the two: the skillful, or right labor,
that appears at first so desirable to the Preacher, is only for the
worker's own advantage,--it exalts him above his fellows, where he
becomes a mark for their bitter envy; but these "gifts" that are to be
coveted are as far removed from this as the poles. In that higher
scene, the more a gift exalts "self," the less is that gift. The
"best"--those which God calls "best"--are those that awake no envy in
others; but bring their happy owner lower and ever lower to the feet of
his brethren to serve them, to build _them_ up. The Corinthians
themselves had the lesser gifts in the more showy "tongues," and
"knowledge"; but one family amongst them had the _greater_,--"the
household of Stephanas," for it had addicted itself to the _service_ of
the saints.

But let us not leave this theme till we have sought to set our hearts
a-singing by a sight of Him who is, and ever shall be, the source as
well as the theme of all our songs. We but recently traced Him in His
glorious upward path till we found H