CHAPTER IX.
ECCLESIASTES FROM A MORAL AND RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW.
We have seen how large a Christian element penetrates and
glorifies the bold questionings of the Book of Job. Whatever
be our view on obscure problems of criticism, the character-drama
which the book in its present form presents is one
which it almost requires a Christian to appreciate adequately.
It is different with the Book of Ecclesiastes. 'He who will
allow that book to speak for itself, and does not read other
meanings into almost every verse, must feel at every step that
he is breathing a different atmosphere from that of the teaching
of the Gospels.'[1] Still more is this the case if we claim
the right of free criticism, and deny that the hints of a
growing tendency to believe are due to the morbidly sceptical
author of the book (if it may be called a book). Certainly
the religious use of Koheleth is more directly affected by
modern criticism and exegesis than that of any other Old
Testament writing. The early theologians could dispense
with criticism, because they so frequently allegorised or unconsciously
gave a gentle twist to the literal meaning. But
we, if for a religious purpose we use the book uncritically,
must be well aware that we often misrepresent both the
author of Koheleth himself and Christian faith. Let me only
mention three texts in the use of which this misrepresentation
very commonly takes place. The fixity of the spiritual state
in which a man is at death may or may not be an essential
Christian doctrine, but we have no right to quote either
- ↑ Dean Bradley, Lectures on Ecclesiastes (1885), p. 7.
