“ALL IS VANITY AND VEXATION OF SPIRIT.”
By P. A. Foster
“Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.” These impressive words were spoken by one who knew “whereof he affirmed;” for he had made full trial of all that earth is able to afford, and had found all empty and unsatisfying. He was ruler “over a people like the dust of the earth for multitude,” and withal was wise, rich, and glorious. And it would seem that he was in possession of all that heart could wish or imagination crave. To use his own words: “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me at Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy.” But in after years, when his sun had passed its meridian, and was just ready to drop below the horizon, he turns and takes a retrospective view of his long career of fame and unrivaled greatness; and, as he glances over his life, which had been passed 'mid scenes of untold splendor and magnificence, and realized that his glittering pageantry, which none before him had possessed, and remembers that it has forever passed away, he is filled with sorrow at the transitory nature of all earthly things, and exclaims in anguish of spirit, “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Thousands have trod in the same path to earthly glory, have run “foremost in honor's dusty race,” and have braved almost every hazard for a “fanciful wreath in glory's romantic career.” Some have
“Drank every cup of joy, heard every
Trump of fame; drank early; deeply drank;
Drank draughts that common millions
Might have quenched, then died
Of thirst, because there was no more
To drink.” Yes, dear reader, you and I can bear witness to the fact that “hours of pleasure are short,” and our brightest hopes are often crushed in the blossom by the blighting hand of time and change. “Oh! ever thus, from childhood's hour,
I've seen my fondest hopes decay;
I never loved a tree, or flower,
But 't was the first to fade away.” Let us then, in view of these things, choose, like Mary, that better part which can never be taken from us. Let us shun the light and trifling scenes of earth, and set our feet toward the New Jerusalem. There we shall find pleasures that never grow old, and bliss that never fades. How will the baubles of earth sink in the scale, when we look back from eternity's shores to this miserable, sin-cursed earth, which now occupies so much of our time and attention. We, the youth of the last generation, are too much given to pleasure, mirth, and levity. I fear there is danger of our becoming lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. This is one of the characteristics of the last days. We who profess to be looking for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, should not join in the sinful pleasures of the age. Let us arouse ourselves and do “works meet for repentance.”