SECOND SECTION
The Quest Of The Chief Good In Devotion To The Affairs Of Business
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - Ecclesiastes 5:20
I. IF the true Good is not to be found in the School where Wisdom
utters her voice, nor in the Garden in which Pleasure spreads her
lures: may it not be found in the Market, in de... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BY HUMAN INJUSTICE AND PERVERSITY.
Ecclesiastes 3:16; Ecclesiastes 4:1
But not only are our endeavours to find the "good" of our labours
thwarted by the gracious, inflexible laws of the just God; they are
often baffled by the injustice of ungracious men. In the days of
Coheleth, iniquity sat i... [ Continue Reading ]
DEVOTION TO BUSINESS SPRINGS FROM JEALOUS COMPETITION:
Ecclesiastes 4:4
(a) Let us glance once more at the several symptoms we have already
heard him discuss, and consider whether or not they accord with the
results of our own observation and experience, is it true, then-or,
rather, is it not true-... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS RENDERED HOPELESS BY THE BASE ORIGIN OF HUMAN INDUSTRIES.
Ecclesiastes 4:4
This stinging sense of the miserable estate of his race has, however,
diverted the Preacher from the conduct of the main argument he had in
hand: to that he now returns (Ecclesiastes 4:4). And now he argues:
You cannot... [ Continue Reading ]
IT TENDS TO FORM A COVETOUS TEMPER
Ecclesiastes 4:8
(b) Nor, in the face of facts patent to the most cursory observer, can
we deny that this eager successful conduct of business and excessive
devotion to it tends to produce a grasping, covetous temper which,
however much it has gained, is forever s... [ Continue Reading ]
YET THESE ARE CAPABLE OF A NOBLER MOTIVE AND MODE.
Ecclesiastes 4:9
Now a jealous rivalry culminating in mere avarice, -that surely is not
the wisest or noblest spirit of which those are capable who devote
themselves to affairs. Even "the idols of the market" may have a purer
cult. Business, like w... [ Continue Reading ]