s mad: and of mirth, what doeth it?" (Eccles. ii. 2-26).
And then he gave himself to wine and revelling, and after that to riches,
and pomp, and glory, and music, and the "fine arts," as we call them. "I
made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made
me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of
fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that
bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants
born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle
above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and
gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me
men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as
musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and
increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom
remained with me." And what was the end? "Then I looked on all the
works that my hand had done, and on the labour that I had laboured to do:
and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit
under the sun." Therefore, he says, that he hated all the labour he had
taken under the sun, because he must leave it to the men who came after
him, and found out at last, after years of labour and sorrow, trying to
make himself happy with this and that, and finding no rest with any of
them, that the conclusion of the whole matter was to "Fear God and keep
his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or
evil" (Eccles. xii. 13).

So said Solomon--and God knows, my dear friends, God knows, he said
truly. Ay, and I know it to be true; and I entreat you this day, in
God's name, to hear the conclusion of the whole matter. All this you
will find out by eating of the tree of knowledge, and "_seeing life_,"
and going your own way, and falling into sin, and smarting for it, for
weary years, in anxiety and perplexity, and shame, and sorrow of heart.

All that you will find out thereby--all that Solomon found out
thereby,--is just what you know already, and nothing more--just what you
have been taught ever since you could speak. "Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Why buy your own
experience dear, when you can get it gratis, for nothing already?

Yes; a simple, godly, industrious life,