d, out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made them kings
and priests, and they shall reign over the earth." That is the _new_
song. Oh, blessed contrast! Does it not make Him who Himself has
replaced the groan by the song precious? Has it, then, no value?

And this is just the purpose of the whole book, to furnish such
striking contrasts whereby the "new" is set off in its glories against
the dark background of the "old,"--rest against labor, hope against
despair, song against groan; and so the third verse puts this very
explicitly,--"What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh
under the sun?"

The wisest and the greatest of men is seeking for an answer to this
question. And this verse is too important in its bearing on the whole
book to permit our passing it without looking at that significant word
"profit" a little closer. And here one feels the advantage of those
helps that a gracious God has put into our hands in these days of
special attack upon His revelation, whereby even the unlearned may, by
a little diligence, arrive at the exact shade of the meaning of a word.
The word "profit," then, is, in the Hebrew, _yithrohn_, and is found in
this exact form only in this book, where it is translated "profit," as
here, or "excellency," as in chap. ii. 13. The Septuagint translates
it into a Greek one, meaning "advantage," or perhaps more literally,
"that which remains over and above." In Eph. iii. 20 it is rendered
"exceeding abundantly above." Hence we gather that our word intends to
convey to us the question, "After life is over, after man has given his
labor, his time, his powers, and his talents, what has he received in
exchange that shall satisfy him for all that he has lost? Do the
pleasures obtained during life fully compensate for what is spent in
obtaining them? Do they satisfy? and do they remain to him as "profit"
over and above that expenditure? In a word, what "under the sun" can
satisfy the longing, thirsting, hungering heart of man, so that he can
say, "My heart is filled to overflowing, its restless longings are
stilled, I have found a food that satisfies its hunger, a water that
quenches its thirst"? A question all-important, surely, and it will be
well worth listening to the experience of this seeker, who is fitted
far above his fellows for finding this satisfactory good, if it can be
found "under the sun."

First, then, the Preacher, like a good w