1894.] OLO [Morris. 



is profitable for man, and what should be the ruling aim of his life ; and 

 the conclusion is given in the last verses. 



The propositions which Solomon maintains are : 



The omnipotence of God : 



The future life of man : and 



The judgment after death. 



The whole is cast into the form of a poem, as may easily be seen by put- 

 ting tlie verses of the xiuthorized Version in parallelism, or by following 

 the Septuagint translation, in which I find this already done. I have also 

 tried to analyze the differing arguments and sentiments, and to attribute 

 them respectively to an Egyptian, an Assyrian, andaTyrian speaker, and 

 to Solomon in reply, concluding with the verdict of the Assembly as 

 given by its "Shepherd " or presiding officer. 



As to the success of such an effort and how far it explains the whole 

 book, I leave to the candid reader and critic to determine. The "material- 

 istic" views of esoteric Egyptian philosophy, the successive passage of 

 earth, air, fire and water into each other, the perpetual round of ihe forces 

 of Nature, are first given ; then the dark "fatalism " of the East, "to 

 everything there is a season;" then selfish "opportunism," are succes- 

 sively discussed, and dismissed as insufficient or unworthy explanations of 

 this " sore travail of the sons of men." Then comes the solution, to walk 

 in the fear of God, in the wisdom of God, in the hope of a life beyond, 

 followed by the beautiful peroration, and summing up of the whole. 



Tlie compjsition of the book is easily explained by the circumstances 

 given, and its argument is complete, without any necessity for supposing 

 later Epicurean or Stoic or Platonic influences. The problems of human 

 existence had been thought out far beyond these in the East long before, 

 as we find from Pythagoras, and the monumental evidences we are dis- 

 covering in the present era of investigation among the remains of an- 

 tiquity. 



Brugsch Bey, in 1876, drew for me a schema which represented what 

 he considered the esoteric Egyptian philosophy : four altars in profile, 

 dedicated to earth, fire, air and water respectively, while a circle above 

 indicated the perpetual change of matter from one of these forms into 

 another. Each is worshiped as divine, and each has both a male and a 

 female name. From this I took my concept of the views of the Egyptian. 

 Omar Kayam's celebrated "Rubayat" furnished me with that of the 

 Assyrian, while the Chinese commissioner, Hon. Fung Kwang Yu, in his 

 statement before the Parliament of Religions, at Chicago, of the doctrines 

 and modes of worship of the followers of Confucius almost exactly 

 echoes the sentiments of my Tyrian. 



Since writing the above I have availed myself of the kind criticisms and 

 suggestions as to several passages of my friends : Rt. Rev. O. "W. Whitaker, 

 Dean Bartlett, Dr. McVickar, Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., Dr. W. F. Brand 

 and Dr. Benjamin Lee ; to whom, as well as to Rev. Mr. Elwynand Rev. 

 Dr. Cattell, I hereby return my thanks and acknowledgments. While 



