Chap. 1.
verse 1 Those sacred words king Dauids son did preach, who Israel taught
verse 2 All vanitie of vanities, he calls: more light then thought.
1.
The words of the Preacher the sonne of Dauid king in Ierusalem.
THe heauenly words of holy Dauids sonne,
Who ouer Israels race sometimes did raigne,
Wherewith to vertue he his subiects wonne,
Whilst in Ierusalem he did remaine,
And to instruct them thus did not disdaine.
Those words, no vaine discourse it is I write,
Pend by a Prince, as God did them indite.
Strange doctrines, which some paradoxes call,
But yet the quintessence of holy creed,
Liues pure Elixer, which is sought of all,
T'asswage cares corasiues, in heart that breed,
Of happinesse the generatiue seed,
Of morall speculation practise sound:
Of constant faith the quiet fruit he found.
2.
Vanitie of vanities, saith the Preacher: vanity of vanities, all is vanitie.
The farre fet happinesse which some propound,
In minds, in bodies, and in fortunes gifts:
(Which all conioyned seeldome times are found)
But to a vaine conceit the fancie lifts,
And their best Sectaries do lose their drifts;
The crowne it is, of heauens most glorious state,
Earths fruites all vaine: care, folly, and debate.
Yea vaine, all vaine (saith he) mans soule well proues,
What euer on earths spatious Orbe below
Hath breath, life, being, sense, or what so moues
By vegetatiue kind: or which doth ow
To nature a declyning state to grow.
Vaine in the roote, in bud, in flower all vaine:
Vaine fruit, whose of-springs vainly vades againe.
verse 3 What solid fruite finds tyred man, of trauell vnder Sunne?
verse 4 The earth is firme, whilst mans age past, another age doth runne.
3.
What remaineth vnto man in all his trauel, which he suffereth vnder the Sunne?
What if some one amids a multitude,
More happie in many points then others be?
Yet truly can you not thereby conclude,
That perfect happie, in all respects is he:
Nor long time can enioy the same we see.
Vpon a tickle point earths blessings stand,
And come and go in turning of a hand.
All must confesse, that nothing long remaines
To man, for all the trauels of his mynd,
Sustained in this life with bodies paines,
Since earth and earthly things all vade by kynd,
As doth a shadow or a puffe of wynd.
No prouidence preuenteth destinie,
Earth and her fruites do liue but for to die.
4.
One generatiō passeth, and an other generatiō succeedeth, but the earth remaineth for euer.
Mans life like to a burning lampe doth wast,
And like the ship on sea all stormes abyde,
Flies swift as thought, which straight is come and past:
Whose memorie as soone away doth slyde,
As trace which soaring fowle through aire did guyde,
Whose entercourse of change so swift doth go,
That sence can scarce discerne that it was so.
And as on stage new actors issue still,
Vntill each part expir'd, the play be done:
So generations newe the world do fill,
And ages newe past ages ouer-runne:
And shall till this worlds end haue new begun
That other world, which neuer shall haue end:
To which we posting thus, our hopes should bend.
verse 5 The mouing sun doth rise and set, and turnes from whence it came,
verse 6 The wind frō north to south blows roūd, & calmeth with the same.
5.
The sunne riseth, and the sunne goeth downe, and draweth to his place where he riseth.
Yea all heauens elements full well we see,
Though farre more durable then man by kind,
Yet for our vse, in motion still to bee,
And by their change of change put vs in mind,
As in the lightsome sunne we proofe may find;
Whose time in measuring out our time is spent,
Whilst we to marke his motion onely ment.
This glorious Bride, in loue of earth his spouse
From his Starchambered pallace of the sky,
Drawne on by mornings wings, betimes doth rouse
Through either Hemi-sphere, and passing by
Th'Antipodes, from East to East doth fly,
With euery step Horizons making new,
Wherewith the earth new bewties doth indew.
6.
The wind goeth toward the South, and cō passeth toward the North: the wind goeth round about, and returneth by his circuit.
This pure sweete aire wherein things breathing liue,
Th'all filling essence of vacuitie,
He vnto life the very spright doth giue,
And neuer rests, his presence to applie
To our behoofe: who languishing would lie,
If long he should retire his flagrant breath,
Whose vse (from vs restraind) doth menace death.
He being speedie guide to motions all,
In tender care and neighbour loue he owes
Vnto those lower regions, forth doth call
From hils and dales exhaled breaths, whence growes
As many winds as on earths compasse blowes,
Which cleansing clouds, and drying dampish soile,
Do whistling through earths hollow vaults recoile.
verse 7 Fresh waters from the sea thence flowes, their ebs yet fill not it.
verse 8 All is but toyle man sees or heares, with his insatiat wit.
7.
[...]
The liquid streames, of waters which arise,
Fro out the Cesterne of the Centors deepe,
Whose winding channels in a wondrous wise,
Through hils and dales, in curbed wise do creepe,
A constant progresse do by nature keepe,
Till they the Ocean (their deere mother) meet,
Whose brackish tears for thē, their drops make sweet.
Whose fruitfull wombe, in gratefull wise repaies
The yeelding earth, the tribute of her loue,
By sending strayned springs through forced waies,
And Porus passages for mans behoue,
That so her selfe in bounds might mildly moue:
Who yeelds likewise to beare earths heauy brood,
And breeds her selfe some store of humaine food.
8.
All things are full of labour: man can not vtter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the eare filled with hearing.
And not these compound elements alone
Are subiect to this intercourse of change,
But euen the foure pure elements ech one
Doe from themselues, to th'others natures range,
Though contrary by kind, with motion strange:
Earth into water turnes, moist into aire,
Pure aire to fire, Condenst they backe repaire.
So all things labour euermore and tend
Vnto their end, which when they once attaine,
That forme doth chaunge and to another bend,
Which likewise in his time hath end againe,
And nothing in one state doth long remaine;
Whose wondrous frame, in vaine man seekes to find,
Whilst no mans studie can suffise his mind.
verse 9 What euer hath bene, shall be done: for there is nothing new:
verse 10 What may we say is now, the which was not before thinke you?
9.
What is it that hath bene? that that shall be: and what is it that hath bene done? that which shall be done: and there is no new thing vnder the Sun.
For proofe, let me demaund but this of you,
Who most haue searched natures secret powre?
And you who are conuerst in stories true,
And you obseruers of ech day and howre,
Haue ye not found, that time doth all deuour?
And that new times the like things doth produce,
As any former ages had in vse.
We dreame of secrets daily, newly found,
And of inuentions passing former wits,
We thinke our world with wisedome doth abound,
And fame (for knowledge) vs much rather fits,
But ouer-weening thoughts this toy begits:
Their longer liues more temperately led
In holy studie, sure more knowledge bred.
10.
Is there any thing whereof one may say, behold this, it is new: it hath bene already in the old time that was before vs.
What one thing can we say is new indeed,
Excepting time it selfe, which still renewes?
New sinnes perhaps this wicked age would breed,
Yet can not other then first age did vse:
The name of new indeede we do abuse,
By calling new the thing we newly know,
Which rather ignorance of skill doth show.
Those elder times (no doubt) in golden age,
When natures strength was in her youthfull prime,
When Will on Wisedome tended as a Page,
And loue of vertue, banisht many a crime,
When humble thoughts did not for glory clime:
Then all things flourisht sure that now we see,
And actions all, that are, or that may bee.
verse 11 Things past forgotten are we see, and future so shalbee.
verse 12 In Ierusalem, Israels king I was, who teacheth thee.
11.
There is no memorie of the former, neither shall there be a remembrance of the latter that shall be, with them that shal come after
But they forgotten are, as ours once shall,
Mans few and euill dayes with cares of mind,
Make many worthy things to dust to fall,
And vs to predecessors grow vnkind,
Whose fames with theirs shall vanish with the wind,
And as our stealing wits would clips their fame,
Deuouring time, shall desolate our name.
For what more equall recompence is due,
To such as others merits doe depraue,
Then that like base contempt, do them insue,
And of successors they like guerdon haue,
And so we see fame leaues vs at the graue:
Build then his happinesse on earth who will,
He but himselfe with care and scorne shall fill.
12.
I the Preacher haue bene king ouer Israell in Ierusalem.
By proofe I speake, who once a mighty King
Did sway the Scepter of the holy seed,
Whose blessed name of peace, true peace did bring,
And publike wealth, which happinesse did breed,
And all delights whereon the world doth feed:
From Dan to Bersaba there, bound before,
And from Euphrates vnto Nylus shore.
My seat in Centor of earths Paradice,
In blest Ierusalem Gods dwelling place,
Neare to whereas mount Sion doth arise,
The holy hill, which doth the countrey grace,
Wherein I ruled not a litle space:
For fortie yeares, I raigned still in peace,
And in a ripened age I did decease.
verse 13 I gaue my heart (God gaue this care) true wisedome out to find,
verse 14 My studie found all vnder sunne, to be but griefe of mind.
13.
And I haue giuen mine heart to search and find out wisedome by all things that are done vnder the heauen, this sore trauell hath God giue to the sonnes of men to humble them thereby.
And all this time I bent my power and will,
To find faire wisedomes pallace, that I there
My homage due, might pay vnto her still,
And trophes to her in my heart might reare,
Her loue made me all other loue forbeare:
Welth I and honour, health, and euery thing
Disdaind, that did not me true wisedome bring.
I therefore first did God most humbly craue,
To guide my steps in such a holy care,
Who (thenceforth) thereof such a measure gaue,
As none for wisedome might with me compare:
To proue all things I did my heart prepare,
Insatiat still as man by nature is,
Of skill (so doomd) for Adams first amis.
14.
I haue considered all the works that are done vnder the sunne, and behold all is vanitie & vexation of the Spirit.
What euer nature of her selfe brings forth,
Or skilfull Art by practise could produce,
What euer did to any seeme of worth,
Or for necessitie might seeme of vse,
Was still the obiect of my studious Muse,
Which out of all to gather did desire,
That happinesse whereto we would aspire.
But for my paines on earth did nought attaine,
But losse of time and agony of Spright,
A vaine desire, replete with skill more vaine,
A carefull life, disguisd with vaine delight,
A puft vp braine, with dreames of wisedomes sight,
But to my heart vnfruitfull of content,
To wearied life, a lode of time mispent.
verse 15 The crooked thing can none make straight, or nūber things amis.
verse 16 I thought and said, in power or wit, none like me was or is.
15.
That which is crooked, can none make straight: and that which faile [...] can not be numbred.
For when I sought to practise what I knew,
My mind distracted diuersly was led,
In looking to preuent things to insew:
Much care in vaine I tooke, no fruit it bred,
To know the worlds amis, serues to small sted;
When no man can make straight the crooked tree,
Or mend the chance that is ordaind to bee.
To number forth mans miseries and woe
Is hard to doe, and litle would auaile:
To stay the Oceans course, he should but goe,
That would support, where nature meanes to faile:
It makes vs but our weaknesse more bewaile,
If any way our wisedome stood in sted,
It would suppresse the vices in vs bred.
16.
I thought in mine heart, and said, Behold I am become great, and excell in wisedom all them that haue bene before me in lerusalem: and mine hart hath seene much wisedome and knowledge
And though (alas) I might of all men best,
For wisedome be reputed mongst the great,
Whose knowledge farre surpassed all the rest,
Before me euer were in Israels seate,
Or any others whom Records repeat:
Yea then was Chalcoll, Darda, or Ethan,
Heman, Maholl, or any liuing man.
Yet I for all my knowledge must confesse,
That childish blindnesse raigneth ouer all,
The more I knew, I thought I knew the lesse,
My knowledge, ignorance I seem'd to call,
When to the skanning of it I did fall:
As farre to weake true wisedome to behold,
As man vnfit, Gods secrets to vnfold.
verse 17 I studied all both good and bad to know, in all I found
verse 18 Much grief, & as much wisedom grew, new cares & woes aboūd.
17.
And I gaue [...] heart to knowe wisedome and knowledge, madnesse and foolishnesse: I knew also, that this is a vexatiō of the spirit.
And that I might the better others iudge,
I bent my selfe to euery students vaine,
To reade each friuolous worke I did not grudge,
As well as writers of more pregnant braine:
The rules of obseruations I did gaine,
Which long experience maketh many see,
And to the vulgar sort instructions bee.
I put in practise what these arts did teach,
And tasted euerie toy for my delight.
Fond actions made in modest mind a breach:
For will with reason I did arme to fight;
Yet all in fine did but torment my spright.
In wisdoms graue restraint my boūds seeme straight,
On follie, shame, and sorow to awaight.
18.
For in the multitude of wisedome is much griefe: and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth griefe.
So wisedome proues a style of small auaile,
Which cannot yeeld a man one happie day,
His infant studies seruile feares do quaile,
His youthfull yeares with wantonnesse decay,
His manly thoughts worlds combers weare away:
His yeares of iudgement for true wisedome fit,
Deuoyd of powre, through weakned limbs do sit.
And yet suppose some one in ripened time,
In bodie and in mind haue some delight,
Yet he shall find, when he doth seeme in prime,
A world of woes to march before his sight,
Which past or presently shall with him fight:
Which if he scape, yet many thousands beare,
Whereof whilst yet he liues, he stands in feare.
Chap. 2.
verse 1 Then did I ioy proue at full, which also proued vaine.
verse 2 Mad laughter and short ioy, what ease do ye yeeld to my paine?
1.
I said in mine heart, goe to now, I will proue thee with ioy: therfore take thou pleasure in pleasant things: and behold this [...] vanitie.
THus tired with these studies I repinde,
And in my heart, I said, no more of this:
Now will I try if pleasure I may find,
To cheare my fainting soule in worlds amis:
Perhaps in mirth and ioy is plast true blis,
Let me to counsell, my affections take,
And let them to their likings frolike make.
From reasons bonds, thus set at large awhile,
They ech of them their appetites doe fit,
Each seuerall sense, himselfe seekes to beguile,
And all conspire the wished prise to git,
But (ouer gorg'd) full soone they all do surfit:
For lust complete sacietie doth breed,
And vaine the fruite, that growes from such a seed.
2.
I said of laughter, thou art mad: and of ioy, what is this that thou [...]
Then did I first begin indeed to know,
The vanitie of these vnconstant ioyes,
For while the foggie myst of lust doth grow,
As through a cloud, we see it so annoyes
Our purest iudgement, euen with childish toyes:
But then (as safe on shore) the storme I saw,
Whose raging billowes did soules perill draw.
Then cald I laughter a deformed grace,
More fit for fooles, then temp'rate men to try,
Graue maiestie expelling from the face,
And antike wise disguizing men, whereby
As madnesse, I beganne it to defy:
As forced mirth, which no sweet fruit doth bring,
But to relenting soule a poysned sting.
verse 3 With wine I wit and folly fed, to find mans liues content.
verse 4 In stately workes, of houses and of vineyards, study spent.
3.
I sought in mine hart to giue my selfe to wine, and to lead mine hart in wisedome, & to take hold of folly, till I might see whe [...] is that goodnes of the children of men, which they enioy vnder the sunne, the whole number of the daies of their life.
The Antidote of hearts with care opprest,
Earths bloud, wits bane, wines best delighting tast,
I gaue my selfe to proue in my vnrest,
To quicken so my sprights, with care defast,
Not glutton like, with drunkennesse disgrast,
But as in prickly bush men Roses take,
So in my plentie I not measure brake.
For why, the obiect of my actions were
So limited by wisedomes happy guyde,
That I in them, did Gods offence forbeare,
And in the bounds of temperance firme abyde:
I onely sought by all things to haue tryde,
Where, and what is, that good mans of-spring finds
In life on earth, which so inchaunts their minds.
4.
I haue made my great workes: I haue built me houses: I haue planted me vineyardes.
And for I held magnificence to bee
A vertue fitting well a princely mind,
I built and dedicated (Lord) to thee
A Temple, where thy Arke a rest might find:
A worthlesse present for a God so kind:
Yet best that skilfull Hyrams art could frame,
In seauen yeares time, and cost vpon the same.
I raysed and reedified beside,
Full many cities to withstand the foes,
And Libanus, whose beautie farre and wide,
In fame before all other cities goes:
Besides a Pallace for my Queene, like those
Where mightiest Monarks courts haue erst bin plast,
Which was with many vineyards greatly grast.
verse 5 I gardens had, and Orchards faire, of euery fruitfull tree.
verse 6 And Aqueducts to water them, the purest that might bee.
5.
I haue made me gardens & orchards, and planted in thē trees of all [...].
I made me spacious gardens therewithall,
Wherein to solace both my Queenes and mee,
In which all kind of herbes both great and small,
And all such flowers as either pleasing bee
To sight or smell, you there might plentie see,
Or which for health of man had any prayse,
Or for delight might serue him any wayes.
My Orchards like to Paradice were held,
Wherein for shadie walkes and sweete prospects,
Ingenious art had nature so exceld,
That things gainst kind produc'd most kind effects;
All fruitfull trees of tast that man affects,
Were planted plenteously, from Cedar tall
To little shrubbe, that clymbeth by the wall.
6.
I haue made me Cesterns of water, to water therewith the woods that grow with trees.
From top of farthest cliffes through hils and dales,
I set my fountaine heads and crystall springs,
I forced riuers from the lower vales,
To mount their neighbor hils, whose backs them brings
Vnto those Cesternes, which by spouts them flings,
Like Aprill showers dispersedly to fall,
And so bedeaw those bordering trees withall.
Whence softly they distilling to the ground,
Might coole the pride of sommers scorching rayes,
And cause the happy soyle with frute abound,
Which spring time like, thus flourished alwayes,
Whose ouerplus of streames in chanell stayes:
That euery fish and foule might solace take,
Or men might bath on banke, and banquet make.
verse 7 I housholds had of men & maids, and store of beefes and sheepe.
verse 8 With Princes treasures, singing folke, I did for pleasure keepe.
7.
I haue gotten seruants and maides, & had children borne in the house: also I had great possession of Beeues and sheepe, aboue all that were before me in lerusalem.
I was attended on in princely sort,
As well of Nobles as of seruile kynd,
Yea tributary kings did oft resort,
To doe the homage fealty did bynd,
Of Captiues I had store, vnto my mynd,
And families of these and their of-spring,
To populate a countrey for a king.
My flockes of sheepe, and heards of cattell great,
Wherewith my royall Court I dayly fed,
Who thirtie Beeues, and fiuescore Sheepe did eat,
Besides such dainties as the countrey bred,
I fortie thousand horse to battell led,
And Charets more I had, I dare well say,
Then any king in Iewry till this day.
8.
I haue gathered vnto me also siluer and gold, and the chief treasures of kings and prouinces: I haue prouided me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sonnes of men, as a woman taken captiue, & women taken captiues,
Of treasure I had store and reuenue,
Sixe hundreth Talents, sixtie sixe of gold,
Foure hundreth fiftie more, from Ophire due,
And custome for all marchandize was sold,
With tributes more then number well you could:
So that like stones or drosse, I siluer gaue,
And in my raigne for want few needed craue.
The choyse of all the spoyles of warre I had,
Both men and women singers rare of skill,
Whose melodie would cheare the mind most sad,
Whose beauties with delight the eye might fill,
And of these had varietie at will,
And what so euer humaine kind can craue,
To seeke delight therein, my selfe I gaue.
verse 9 More mightie then forefathers all, with wisedome ruling mind,
verse 10 I fed my will, my will pleasd me, this fruit my paines did find.
9.
And I was great, and encreased aboue all that were before me in Ierusalem: all my wisedome remained w [...]th me.
Thus grew I mightie, and of greater fame
Then any king Ierusalem had knowne:
From farre and neare, great Princes sent and came
To see my greatnesse, which abrode was blowne:
Admir'd I was, and loued of my owne,
Surpassing farre, report that went of mee,
As Saba Queene, confest that came to see.
And (which few men, in prosperous state can do).
By wisedomes rule I guided so my life,
That holy Iustice still I leand vnto,
And shielded innocence from Tyrants strife:
And (had I not transgrest through heathnish wife,
Who made me winke at her Idolatry)
Few errors in my life you should espy.
10.
And whatsoeuer mine eies desired, I withheld it not f [...]ō them: I withdrew not mine hart from any ioy: for mine h [...]rt reioyced in all my la [...]or: and this was my portion of all my trauell.
Thus did I fill my eyes with their desire,
And fed my heart at full with all content,
No sooner did my thought a thing require,
But forward to effect it straight I went:
Thus I my dayes in ioy and solace spent,
Peace gaue me wealth & power, power fed my will,
My will sought happinesse in all things still.
But happinesse I had not as I thought,
For though in vse of things I seemed glad,
Yet afterward they to me loathing brought,
And things begunne in ioy, were parting sad,
And yet that present ioy was all I had,
In recompence of all my trau'll and paine,
And to haue that, was more then many gaine.
verse 11 I viewd in fine all I had done, & found all vaine and fruitlesse.
verse 12 Both wit & folly, for of both none knew more: all prou'd bootlesse.
11.
Then I looked on all my workes that my hands had wrought, and on the trauell that I had laboured to doe: and behold, all is vanitie and vexation of the Spirit: & there is no profit vnder the iunn [...]
In fine, now surfetting indeede with all
My deare bought pleasure, both begunne and past,
Vnto a reckoning I my iudgement call,
And true account of gaine, of them I cast,
And did suruay my workes, which yet did last,
To see the benefit I reapt thereby,
Because I would the truth of all things try.
Which when I found for most part vanisht quight,
And those remaining, subiect to like fate;
I saw a world of vanitie and spight,
Which made me world and all her workes to hate,
As masse of miserie, and vnkind debate,
As they shall find, who thus forwarnd will proue,
Repentance being price of foolish loue.
12.
And I turned to behold wisedome, madnes, and folly: for who is the man that will come after the king in things which men now haue done.
Then I a new comparison did make,
Twixt sacred wisedome (heauens infused gift)
And humaine wisedome, which doth patterne take
Of presidents, of morall actions drift,
The skill wherein doth worldly minds vp lift,
And this compard with foolish ignorance,
Which in the world doth many sotts aduance.
For if that knowledge on experience grow,
And that experience be the child of time,
If time her powre do to the studious show,
And labour doth to highest knowledge clime,
If iudgement flourish where these are in prime,
Then who hath me surpast, or shall succeed
In these, whose censure may more credit breed?
verse 13 Yet found I wisedome it excell, as light doth darknes farre.
verse 14 It sees, that gropes, yet wise and fond, both in one hazard are.
13.
Then I sawe there is profite in wisedome, more then in folly: as the light is more excellent then darknesse.
And what I could, impartiall conceiue
Of ech of them, I will thee truely tell:
I found that folly did a man deceiue,
And woe to them within her snares that fell,
But wisedome did all earthly things excell,
Immortalizing man with worthy fame,
And couering the defects of natures shame.
And looke how much the sunne in sommers day,
When he in Zenith of our Hemis-pheres,
Most glorious beames of brightnesse doth display,
Suprasseth darkest nights that winter weares,
In frozen Zone for light some face he beares:
So farre and more, the wise do fooles surpasse,
Or more then precious stones doe brickle glasse.
14.
For the wise mans eyes are in h [...]s head, but the foole walketh in darknesse: yet I know also that the same condition falleth [...].
For why, the wise call passed things to mind,
Obserue the present, future doe fore-see,
Compare effects, whereby they courses find,
And make their actions to best rules agree,
Like Eagle eyes, and Linxes sights theirs bee,
Where fooles as blind-fold, groping misse the way,
And vnto euery daunger are a pray.
Although in deede one end befalleth all,
The wise and foolish, begger and the king:
All made of earth, againe to dust doe fall,
And euery state is crossed with some thing.
Wisedome breedes care, and folly want doth bring:
Wealth liues in feare, and pouertie in wo:
Honor enuide, base bloud contemn'd doth go.
verse 15 If so (thought I) then is it vaine, more wisedome to aspire,
verse 16 All is forgot in time to come, like death haue all for hire.
15.
Thē I thought in mine heart, it befalleth vnto me, as it befalleth to the foole: why therefore doe I then labour to be more wise? and I said in mine hart, that this also is vanitie.
I therefore in my heart beganne to thinke,
If all estates some miserie must haue,
If wise and foolish both of one cup drinke,
If all by death must draw vnto the graue,
If wisedome may not man from daunger saue:
If sicknesse be the common guide to death,
If death the end of all that draweth breath:
Why then do I contend for wisedomes prayse?
With studious trauell, why do I applie
My time, and spend away youthes pleasant dayes▪
With paine and toyle? why serues seueritie,
And temperance of life, since all must die?
It is meere madnesse to be too precise,
Though fooles be vaine, vaine also be the wise.
16.
For there shall be no remembrance of the wise, nor of the foole for euer: for that that now is, in the dayes to come shall all be forgotten: and how dieth the wise man, as doth the foole.
Vaine in the highest point of vanitie,
If they suppose on earth true blisse to find,
As on a stage, each step they tred awrie
Is markt, and fame defamd by slaunderous kind,
And their best name that they do leaue behind
Is soone forgot, as fooles facts also bee,
As we by daily proofe full well may see.
Alas! is there no difference at all,
In length of dayes betwixt the fond and wise?
Can nought protect from death, but must all fall?
As basest sort, so those in honour rise,
Can man no way to lengthen life deuise?
Then vaine is he in them reposeth trust,
Whose ioyes with them so soone determine must.
verse 17 Then lothd I life, all life bred griefe, and did the mind torment,
verse 18 My owne workes were vnpleasing then, possest by one vnment.
17.
Therefore I hated life: for the worke that is wrought vnder the sunne is grieuous vnto me: for all is vanitie & vexation of the Spirit.
The thought whereof made me the world to hate,
And euery circumstance of life to blame,
The day of birth, as day of cursed fate,
The length of life, as heape of woe and shame,
The dayly looke for death, as rotten frame
Of natures weakest building, earth doth beare,
Bred vp and nourished, with care and feare.
Conceiu'd in sinne, brought into world with paine,
With iust laments bewayling future case,
Who impotent, doth hopelesse still remaine,
(If pitie in the parents had not place,
Or foster mothers did him not embrace)
Whose youth sharpe tutors, age the lawes restraine,
Whose vexed soule still carkes and cares in vaine.
18.
I hated also all my labor, wherin I had trauelled vnder the Sunne, which I shall leaue to the man that shall be after me.
Yea, though my selfe was free from sundry things,
By reason of the greatnesse of my state,
With which the meaner sort full often wrings,
(As want, and suffering stroke of mighties hate)
Yet I my cares had in an other rate,
And far more forcible in me they were,
For prosperous states doe worst afflictions beare.
As feare of chaunge, care of the common good,
Desire to eternize my name on earth:
Yet nothing more (me thought) my ioy withstood,
Then that I traueld for an others mirth,
For whom, my fruits were gathred ere his birth,
Which made me all my workes of most desert
Hate and disdaine, euen from the very heart.
verse 19 Vnknowne if fond or wise, who yet shall all enioy leaue.
verse 20 Which as most vain, made me abhor, my works which me deceaue.
19.
And who knoweth whether he shall be wise or foolish, yet shal he haue rule euer all my labour, wherein I haue trauelled, & wherein I haue shewed my selfe wise vnder the sun. This is also vanitie.
For what knew I, who should to me succeed,
In vse of all the wealth and pompe I left,
An infant of mine owne, and proper breed,
Or else a stranger creeping in by theft;
I knew how easly crownes might be bereft,
If kings were Orphanes lacking yeares or wit,
Ne knew I if my child for rule were fit.
The proofe he yeelds, and sentence God did giue,
Prognosticateth little good at all:
Yet (as vnto mine heire in whom I liue)
I giue what wast he may, and feare he shall;
The fruit euen of my wisest trauels all,
So that the world which witnessed my paine,
May hap record my trauels meerely vaine.
20.
Therefore I went about to make mine hart abhorre all the labour, wherein I had trauelled vnder the Sunne.
This made me oft, aide reason to contend
With my affections and my pleased sence,
And gainst my selfe, my selfe my wits to bend,
The loue of all my workes expulsing thence,
And taking on me truths sincere defence,
Said perturbations (which affections guyde)
Should not giue iudgement where her cause is tryde.
I made my mind confesse, the studie vaine
Which was imployd, on transitory thing
I made my body graunt, too great the paine
Bestowd on any pleasure life doth bring,
My senses to conclude, there was a sting
And bitter tast attended on delight,
And so resolu'd, worlds loue to banish quight.
verse 21 One toyles to get with right and skill, a stocke for one most vaine,
verse 22 And no reward himselfe doth find, for all his trauell' and paine.
21.
For there is a man whose trauell is in wisedome, and in knowledge, & in equitie: yet to a man that hath not trauelled herein shall he giue [...] portion, this [...] vanitie and a great [...].
For could there be a greater griefe be [...]ide,
Or iuster cause to make a man repent
The paines and perils that he did abide,
In honest trade to purchase his intent,
Whereto his wits and diligence was bent:
Then for to thinke he doth for others toyle,
Manures the ground, where others reape the soyle.
Who buildeth but in hope to dwell therein?
Who planteh, but in hope the fruit to tast?
Though birdes and Bees their nests and combs begin,
Though sheepe beare fleece, & Oxe the land haue trast,
In hope of profite, which their masters wast:
Yet wise men grieue to spend in vaine their time,
For others sake the bush to beate or clime.
22.
For what hath man of all his trauell & griefe of his heart, wherin he hath trauelled vnder the sunne?
If man vncertaine be, as sure he is
This night, if he the morrow day shall see,
If he do doubt his dayes cannot endure,
If he foresee his bed, his graue may bee▪
And yet of world haue care, vnhappie hee,
I meane such care, as doth his powers possesse,
And suffers not his soule, some ioy expresse.
For what he leaueth him behind is lost,
What he enioyd, that only was his owne,
What hath he gain'd, by wealth that comfort cost,
If he not tast his fruits of trauell growne?
Possession best by vse of things is knowne:
Who doth not so, but lost his trauels are,
A heauie burden bootlesse fetched farre.
verse 23 His dayes are few and spent in cares, his nights in harts vnrest,
verse 24 If God yet grant to vse his wealth with ioy: then is he blest.
23.
For all his daies are sorrowes, & his trauel grief, his heart also taketh not rest in the night, which also is vanitie.
He doth thereby but massaker himselfe,
And seeme vnkind to natures true intent,
Whose bodie feeds not on the view of pelfe,
But on the food the hands to mouth do lend,
Which freely to ech part doth portion send:
He well may thinke his wofull dayes too long,
And trauell grieuous, thus requite with wrong.
If he the wished night ordain'd for rest,
Consume in carefull thoughts of greedie mind,
If he for others hoord his comforts best,
And to himselfe (gainst kind) do proue vnkind:
No blessednesse on earth then shall he find,
But like a bubble vanish soone away,
And in his life his vanitie bewray.
24.
There is no profit to man, but that he eat and drinke, and delight his soule with the profit of his labour: I saw also this, that it was of the hand of God.
For no true profit earth to earth can giue,
But (whilst on earth man yet doth make his stay)
The frutes of earth to vse by which we liue,
And ech dayes care, deferre vnto that day.
These Creatures plenteously enioy we may,
To needfull sustenance of bodies strength,
And to delight the mind, waxt dull at length.
Man onely must in plentie, plentie note
Of Gods abundant blessing shewd therein;
And not forget him whilst they passe the throte,
And them abuse, as instruments of sin,
But for his gifts, with prayse to him begin,
With almes proceed, the needy poore to feed,
And not repine, though oft they stand in need.
verse 25 Who knowes the vse of plentie more then I, yet this I find,
verse 26 God makes the iust know ioy, the bad leaue welth for good behind.
25.
For who could eat, and who could hast to outward things more then I.
Of all that I do say, I haue made proofe,
And therefore may the better thee aduise,
Which as I now set downe for thy behoofe:
So thereof make thy profit, be thou wise,
He is a foole that counsell doth despise:
And I who counsell thee, sure best could try,
Earths pleasures, and the fruits that come thereby.
As being King, I all things might commaund,
As being rich, I ech thing might procure,
As being lou'd, to please me all men fawnd:
As being feard, I might my will make sure:
As being wise, I could make choyse most pure,
If any earthlie thing might breed content,
Then may I say, that God me part hath sent.
26.
Surely to a mā that is good in his sight, God giueth wisdom, and knowledg, and ioy: but to the sinner he giueth paine, togather and to heap, to giue to him that is good before God: this is also vanitie, and vexation of the spirit.
And for a full report of my conceit,
I briefly say, as truth requires of mee,
That wisedome as a blessing doth awaight
Vpon the godly, who true knowledge see,
And perfect ioy alone in them can bee:
For God the author of all goodnesse is,
And with his feare associats endlesse blis.
But to the wicked he alotteth griefe,
In getting needfull things great wo and care,
In their possession little sweet reliefe,
In laying vp of wealth, a life still bare,
Which for the godly they doe but prepare:
Rent gathrers for the good, the wicked bee,
Vaine vexers of their soules themselues may see.
Chap. 3.
verse 1 All purposes haue proper times, all things fit seasons find,
verse 2 A time of birth, and death, to plant, and supplant is assignd.
1.
To all things there is an appointed time, and a time to euery purpose vnder the heauen.
BVt for I see the wordly wise will say,
They haue iust cause, to studie to attaine
The hidden course, which nature doth bewray
In interchange of times: which doth remaine
Inrold in writ of many a learned braine,
I will with them awhile conferre, and show
To thee the depth of all the skill they know.
Most true it is (I graunt) that hidden are,
In knowledge of Philosophy indeede,
Such rules profound, by learning fet so farre,
As in the mind doth admiration breed:
But yet that skill doth serue to little steed,
For God hath natures bounds prefixed so,
That from that course art cannot make them go.
2.
A time to be borne, and a time to die: a time to plant, and a time to plucke vp that which is planted.
Begin we first where we begin and end,
With birth of man in mothers wombe conceiu'd,
Which (fortie weekes expir'd) needs forth must send,
And age compels to yeeld the breath receiu'd,
In both of which, the wisest are deceiu'd:
The birth and death of diuerse, diuersely
Preuenting time, of birth and time to dy.
And as of men, so in increase of things
The which the earth brings forth in growing kind,
Although we know the Moone fit seasons brings,
To planted things to prosper, yet we find
They oft miscarie, and we chaunge our mind,
And (be their fruits once ripe) they gathered bee,
And stocke once rotten, we stub vp the tree.
verse 3 A time to cure and kill there is, to build and ouerthrow,
verse 4 To laugh and weepe, a mournfull cheare, and merry hart to show.
3.
A time to slay, and a time to heale: a time to break down, and a time to build.
And though it be a thing vnnaturall,
And most repugnant to societie,
The life of man by hand of man to fall,
And to shed bloud, wherein his life doth lie,
Yet iustice craues that male factors die,
Aswell as that the sicke, should phisicke haue,
Or salues imployd, the wounded corps to saue.
Yea though that cities first well founded were,
For safetie vnto men of ciuill sort:
Yet neuer Monarkes seat such fame did beare,
Or citie grow of much with great resort,
But time made cottages of small import
Suruiue their greatnesse, and surpasse them farre,
As Henok, Babell, Troy, true patterns are.
4.
A time to weepe, and a time to laugh: a time to mourne and a time to dance.
Though nothing be more needfull to our kind,
The rigors to alay of worldly care,
Though nothing better for the health we find,
Then mirth (at times we may well for it spare)
Yet in the vse of it we must beware,
And vse it so as if we readie were,
The brunt of greatest crosses straight to beare.
For times there are, when dutie doth require,
We should impart with neighbours woe and griefe,
For (partners in distresse) doe all desire,
And men suppose thereby they find reliefe
For sinne, so should we mourne, as cause most chiefe:
When Gods offended face, doth threat his rod,
Thus mirth and woe, are both requir'd by God.
verse 5 To scatter stones and gather them, t'embrace and thrust away,
verse 6 A season is to seeke, to loose, to keepe, to wast, I say.
5.
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones: a time to imbrace, and a time to be far from imbracing.
There is a time when we the quarries draw,
And from the bowels of the earth full deepe,
Rayse vp her bones, the stones which neuer saw
The lightsome aire, and them we carued keepe,
To rayse with them our towers, to heauen which peepe,
Which afterward decay, and we are faine,
Their ruines to transport abrode againe.
Euen so in youthfull yeares it seemeth fit,
As nature made it apt for loues imbrace,
So for the worlds increase to yeeld to it,
With due respect of person time and place:
Yet nothing more vnseemely in such case,
As when decrepit age creepes to the graue,
To dote in loue, and seeke a wife to haue,
6.
A time to seeke and a time to loose: a time to keepe, and a time to cast away.
There is a time, when man with reason may
With diligence indeuour for to gaine
A portion fit, his family to stay,
Although with sweat of browes, and daily paine;
But it were folly to torment his braine,
If losses happe, for there will losses fall,
Vnto most wise, if they haue ought at all.
Then he that's wise, knowes when to spend and spare,
For who hath most, before he die may need,
And he must spend sometimes that is most bare,
And he may thriue, that doth the needie feed:
Bountie doth loue, and neighbour liking breed:
It is a vertue, placed in a meane,
Although it rather doe to giuing leane.
verse 7 A time to reape and sow againe, for silence, and to speake,
verse 8 To loue, to hate, to talke of peace, and peace with war to breake.
7.
A time to reap, and a time to sow: a time to keepe silence, and a time to [...].
The rich attyres ordaynd by craft mans hand,
To couer shame, which sinne made man to see,
Be not so comely held in any land,
But that in other lands, dislikt they bee:
So what one sowes, the other reapes for thee:
Good workes for Taylers that new-fangled are,
None make more fast, then others mending marre.
What speake we of such common things as this?
Not speech it selfe (the Eccho to the hart)
May be so free, but it restrained is
To ciuill rules, and lawes of very art,
The tongues misuse, of [...] breedes the bodie smart:
We therefore learne, both how and when to speake,
And when we modest silence may not breake.
8.
A time to loue, and a time to hate: a time of warre and a time of peace.
Yea though that kindled heate of beauties fire,
And sympathy of natures liking good,
(Chast loue) be founded on a iust desire,
And beare such sway as hardly is withstood,
Infecting by the eye, both spirit and blood:
Yet such incounters grow in some respect,
That loue findes hate, best merit, base neglect.
Yea bloudie warre the scourge of peace misusd,
The fire-brand of ambition, hels owne chyld,
The wracke of iustice, value oft abusd
From common wealth may not be well exyld,
Though peace breed welth, welth yet with pride defyld,
Produceth warre, which pouertie doth breed,
To which heauens blessed peace doth yet succeed.
verse 9 What profit finds the toyle some man, of all his carke and care?
verse 10 To humble mans ambitious mind, God did these pames prepare.
9.
What profit hath he that worketh, of the thing wherein he trauelleth.
Which if so be, (as so it is indeed)
Then would I haue the Gimnosophists wise,
The Magy, Druides, and Stoicks breed,
The Sophis, and most wise of all Rabbies,
And all Philosophers of euery guise,
Who morall rules, and naturall skill did know,
Or iudgements supernaturall did show.
Them would I haue to tell to me in briefe,
What profit man, most properly may say▪
He hath, of all his dayes consumde in griefe,
Which he assured is with him shall stay:
The goods of fortune subiect to decay,
The strength of bodie, fayling euery houre,
the minds much more, which worldly cares deuour.
10.
I haue seene the trauell that God hath giuē to the sonnes of men to humble them thereby.
I see (me thinkes) a laborinth of woes
Enuiron man about, from day of birth
Till houre of death, what so about he goes,
With sower sauce, seasoning still his fained mirth,
Cares him accompan'ing vpon the earth,
For needfull things for life, yet foolish he,
With needlesse studies still will medling be.
And God hath iustly giuen this plague to all,
For our forefather Adams clyming mind,
That humbled so, we might before him fall,
Confessing that we are poore wormes, most blind,
And fly to him where we may comfort find,
Vpon his prouidence our selues to rest,
As thing whereby, we onely may be blest.
All beautious & desird God made, though al things mā not know.
This only good know I, with ioy, good works in life to show.
11.
[...] made e [...]ery thing beautiful in his time: also he hath [...]et the world in their heart, [...] can not man [...] out the worke that [...] hath [...] from the beginning, [...] to the end.
Indeede God so his creatures beautified,
And marshald so their musters euery one,
That in them his great wisedome is espied,
And in their season is their beautie showne,
Defect vnto their kind, they suffer none:
No maruell then, if heart of man desire
To see and know their vertue, and admire,
And God hath giuen to man a speciall will,
To search for knowledge euer while he liues,
Who therefore beates his braines about it still,
And vseth all endeuour nature giues,
But he in vaine about the matter striues:
He neuer can or shall, the depth attaine
Of Gods decree, his labours are but vaine.
12.
[...] that [...] is [...]Sthing good in them, but to reioyce, and [...] do good in his life.
Let wise men therefore learne to be content,
With knowledge of such things as vs befit,
Enioy the blessing God to vs hath sent,
And with contented mind in quiet sit:
His paine and trauell may not farther git,
Then God hath limited, of that be sure,
With patience therefore doe thy selfe indure.
For I no other good on earth can praise,
But present vse of blessings I possesse,
With chearefull heart to exercise my dayes,
To good of such, to whom I loue professe,
And deedes which charitie doe best expresse,
And that is all this world to thee can lend,
And vse, why God did them vnto thee send.
verse 13 To eat & drinke pains gained store, as gifts Gods blessings were.
verse 14 His wil (most firme) man may not change, but it admire with fere.
13.
And also that euery man eateth and drinketh, and seeth the commodity of all his labo [...]: this is the gift of God.
And to speake truth, what man with all his paine, And to speake truth, what man with all his paine,
Can promise to himselfe the vse to haue
Of what with greatest trauell he doth gaine,
To yeeld the sustenance his life doth craue?
What prouidence so wisely can it saue,
But in a moment it may vade away,
Twixt cup and lip, fall many a slip we say?
Then let man learne that Gods good gifts they are,
And lent but for a time, whereof to yeeld
Account how they are vsed, and how farre
Our confidence and trust on them we build:
For wealth cannot from heauenly iudgement shield;
Let God therefore haue part, the poore haue his,
With temp'rance do thou spend, remaine that is.
14.
I know that whatsoeuer God shall doe, it shall be for euer: to it can no man adde, and from it can none diminish: for God hath done it, that they should feare before him.
For well I know, God all things doth foresee,
And seeing doth foreknow their issues all,
Whose knowledge (when he will) makes things to bee
In such estate, as vnto vs they fall:
Whose prouidence herein some fortune call,
Because effects of cause to vs vnknowne,
By chance (as we suppose) hath to vs growne.
But they in his decree immutable,
From all beginnings were, and firme must stand,
Examples be, mans frustrate labours still,
If God assist not with his helping hand,
A haire from head, a bird falles not on land,
But with his heauenly will (which is a law)
And should vs to his feare and reu'rence draw.
verse 15 Things past are now, what is shalbe, for God will haue it so:
verse 16 Yet on the earth, wrong rules for right, and all peruerse doth go.
15.
What is that that hath bin? that is now: & that that shall be, hath now bene: for God requireth that which is past.
Hence nature hath this interchange of things,
This spring times clothing, of delightfull greene,
That scorched yellow colour sommer brings,
That tawney hew, in new spent haruest seene,
Those withered pale prospects in winter beene,
When trees and plants to root liues sap retyre,
And euery change, that seasons doe require.
This well deuided kingdome of the light,
Twixt Sunne and Moone, so needfull to our life,
Of th'one by day, th'other by the night,
Wherein they louingly, like man and wife,
With equall care doe trauell voyd of strife,
By Gods almightie hand were framed so,
Things past, and those to come in order go.
16.
And moreouer I haue seene vnder the Sun the place of iudgement, where was wickednesse, and the place of Iustice, where was iniquitie.
Yea though God be not author of our ill,
(Whereto by nature onely we are prone,)
Yet for our tryall, or our scourge, he will
Permit sometimes, (as I full oft haue knowne)
That euen his Magistrates, by whom alone
He leaues his lawes of Iustice to be tryde,
Into most foule enormities to slyde.
So wicked Tyrants vnto kingdomes rise,
And Iudges sit in holy Iustice seat,
Whose offices (ordain'd to beat downe vice,)
It fosters, and the Iust do worst intreat,
Which of all plagues to kingdomes is most great,
Yet God (who it permits) can it redresse,
Whose wondrous works therein we must confesse.
verse 17 My hart yet giues both good & bad, in due time God wil find.
verse 18 Who made mā pure, & gaue him wit, though brutish wil be blind.
17.
I thought in mine hart, God will iudge the iust and the wicked: for time is there for euery purpose, and for euery worke.
For God the great law-giuer, wise and iust,
Who sees the thoughts, and secrets of the raynes,
Though he a while, permit them in their lust
To range, in pride of their malicious braynes,
Yet when he please, their progresse he restraynes,
And makes them stand before his iudgement seat,
Whose sway on earth doth seeme most powrful great.
He cals each creature in his time at will,
To wreke the wrongs that innocents abyde:
Plague, famine, sword, attend vpon him still,
And all mishaps the wicked doe betyde,
Fro out the snares, the iust he safe doth guyde
In his due time, and them with honour crowne,
But their oppressors, headlong plucketh downe.
18.
I considered in mine heart, the state of the children of mē that God had purged them: yet to see to, they are in thē selues as beasts
Thus mayst thou see (as I do truly say)
By deepe consideration of the thing,
To humaine state on earth, each houre and day
Some chaunge, or alteration new to bring
To all estates, to subiects as to King:
And that albeit in creation, we
Were holy and pure, we now corrupted be.
Through which corruption, death did first creepe in,
And death with it, all plagues and wants hath brought,
The heauie recompence of parents sin,
By them infusd to vs, by vs still wrought:
Corrupt throughout, in word, in deed, in thought,
With more then brutish sins which in vs raigne,
And in our of-spring alwayes will remaine.
verse 19 Man beast like liues & dies, & both breath, liue, and die, in vaine.
verse 20 Of dust at first, all passe by death, vnto the earth againe.
19.
For the condition of the children of men, & the condition of beasts are euen as one cō dition vnto thē: as the one dyeth, [...] dieth the other: for they haue all one breath▪ & there is no excellencie of man aboue the beast: for all is vanity.
And as with brutish kind our liues pertake,
Or rather doth out passe them farre in ill:
(For Tygers, Wolues, Gotes, Swine, our sins vs make,
When wrath, deceit, lust, glut'ny, rule our will,)
So to our end with them we hasten still,
Foreseeing nothing deaths approching houre,
Which vs (like them) is readie to deuour.
In care and trauell, we like them doe liue,
We liue vncertaine of the houre of death,
Vncertaine thus, securely we doe giue
Our selues to pleasure, till it stop our breath:
When time is come, no art the houre prolongeth,
When we as they, againe returne to dust,
In earth (no more then they) may we haue trust.
20.
All goe to one place, and all was of the dust, and all shall returne to the dust.
One common matter was our stuffe and mould,
Euen earth and slime, the Element most vylde,
Which though our maker for our honour would,
With his owne hands vouchsafe to frame and bylde,
And with infused breath adopt as chyld,
Whilst by his word alone, the others all,
Take essence in the forme they were and shall.
Yet we as they, one common end do find,
One dissolution of this earthly frame:
Whose matter doth returne vnto the kind,
From whence at first creation forth it came;
The memory whereof, the mind should tame,
Of those ambitious braines vnbounded will,
Which whilst they liue, the world with comber fill.
verse 21 Who knows mans soule ascends, or beasts vnto the earth descēds?
verse 22 Best then say I, ioy in thy owne: which thee thy knowledge ends.
21.
Who knoweth whether the Spirit of man ascend vpward, and the Spirit of the beast descend downward to the earth?
And though indeed, the soules immortall seed,
Which had his being from a cause more pure,
Vpon a higher hope doth iustly feed,
And shall in all eternitie endure,
Yet to the eye of man, who can assure
The same, if faith (the light vnto the soule)
Did not distrustfull fleshes thoughts controule?
For euen the selfe same instruments of life,
The same necessities of nutriment,
The same effects of sicknesse with vs rife,
The same abhorred death, hath nature lent
To euery creature that on earth she sent:
And at, and after, parting of the spright,
The carkasses of both, seeme like to sight.
22.
Therfore I see that there is nothing better then that a mā should reioyse in his affayres, because that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
So that I see no vse of earths increase,
Fit for our bodies, but (whilst here we liue)
With them to cheere our sprights, and purchase peace,
And vnto God for them, due praise to giue,
Mans wit no further can his pleasure driue:
For he and they are subiect as you see
To chaunge, and to earths fraile mortalitee.
As for the care the wise and goodly haue,
Of their successors competent estate,
It is but due, and nature doth it craue,
But for their loue, our selues we ought not hate,
And toyling vex our soules with worlds debate,
What they will proue, or what in time may grow,
We know not, nor should curious be to know.
Chap. 4.
verse 1 Thē earths vnrights I viewd, & tears of wrōgd by worthles iudg,
verse 2 And therwith thought, thē blessed dead, need not the liuing grudge.
1.
So I turned, & con [...]idere [...] all the oppressions that are wrought vnder the sunne, and behold, the teares of the oppressed, and none conforteth them: and [...]o, the strength is of the hand of them that oppresse them, and none comforteth him.
BVt whither doth this passion me transport?
My thoghts with thinking haue forgot my thought,
Whilst (earthly I) with earthly worlds consort,
And to the bodies cares, haue comfort brought,
My meditations haue the heauens sought,
And those eternities which passe my skill,
But now descend to earth againe I will.
And of more humaine actions will intreat,
Where we a tragedie of woes shall see,
Whilst weaker ones (oppressed by the great)
Are destitute of place, whereto to flee
For succour, since their foes their Iudges bee,
And farre too powrefull, wherewith to contend,
And most men backward, poore men to defend.
2.
Wherefore I prayied the dead which now are dead, aboue the liuing, which are yet aliue.
Which makes me thinke, (though nature it deny)
That much more happie is the dead mans state,
Then those that in this life such troubles try,
And life like death, my heart begins to hate,
Death vnto endlesse life, is but the gate,
But life is vnto death a longsome way,
Where tyresome troubles vexe vs day by day.
And death (that lothsome state which life doth shun,)
By life itselfe, with care and toyle is sought:
Through perils men to purchase death do run,
And with lifes scorne, holde death but cheaply bought,
Which honour to them selues or countrey brought:
For life could not exempted be from wo,
Whilst dying they, all worldly cares forgo.
verse 3 The vnhorne better then them both, who such ill daies not saw,
verse 4 It vexed me the spight to see, that vertuous workes do draw.
3.
And I count him better thē them both, which hath not yet bin: for he hath not seene the euill works which are wrought vnder the suune.
But yet indeed, since both by life and death,
The state of many men is wretched still:
They may most happie seeme, which nere drew breath,
Or infants dyed, neuer knowing ill:
And reason good, for both produce I will:
The ones not being, making them to bee
Incapable of vengeance wicked see.
The other cleane exempt from humane care,
As being dead, now needing nothing more,
Whose actuall crimes; hels doome could not prepare,
Originall sinnes, by grace were cleansd before,
And mercie guiding them to high heau'ns dore,
Whose want of reason (liuing) knew no wo,
But voyd of feare, to death did mildly go.
4.
Also I beheld all trauell, and all perfection of workes that this is the enuy of a mā against his neighbour: this also is vanitie and vexation of the Spirit.
This other plague besides, doth follow man,
A vice (alas) too common in this age,
The more of vertue that he glory can,
The more the baser sort repine and rage,
And with reprochfull slander malice swage,
Depriuing, or deprauing best desart,
Or it Eclipsing with some guilefull art.
No foe to learning, like the ignorant,
Nor to the good, like to the bad we say:
Gods kingdome Beliall seeketh to supplant,
And vertue fayling his another way,
Euen viciously they vertue would betray,
Who herein yet themselues do but disgrace,
For slander can not iust deserts deface.
verse 5 The slothfull foole he folds his hands, but hunger staru'd he pines,
verse 6 Whilst to a poore (but lasie life) his chosen course inclines.
5.
The foole foldeth his hands, and eateth vp his owne flesh.
Themselues like fooles, and feeble helplesse wights,
Vnable or vnwilling to attaine
The trauell which belongs to vertues rights,
Doe poore disgracefull liue, and so remaine,
And caterpiller like, on others paine,
Doe feed and liue, to world improfitable,
Driuen to depend on scraps, of others table.
Nay well it were with some, if so it were,
Who foodlesse are compeld to begge or starue,
Because their idle fingers doe forbeare
The honest trades, which might their liuing serue,
Whose folded hands, no better doth deserue,
But as they to themselues do proue vnkind,
So they of others, should no better find.
6.
Better is an handfull with quietnes, then two handfuls with I [...]bor and vexation of the Spirit.
Yet, which is lamentable to be told,
They senselesse so in idlenesse delight,
That they their course of life to prayse are bold,
And all virilitie excluding quight,
Their base borne humours glose so well in sight,
As though an humble thought, and peace of mind,
From all industrie did the honest bind.
As though that peace and plentie neuer met,
As if wealth were attain'd with bare desire,
As though they carelesse were that liue in debt,
As if they grieselesse, who not wealth aspire,
As though God did not trauell'of vs require,
As though an humble mind appeard not best,
In modest vse of plentie and of rest.
verse 7 More vanitie I searched out, and this I found, that one
verse 8 Liues carefull to get vnheird wealth, and pyning liues alone.
7.
Againe I returned, and law vanitie vnder the Sunne.
Thus doth one error forth another bring,
Like Hydras heads, which ech way vs assayle,
Man vnto man, a Wolfe with Scorpions sting
Of force by fraud still seeketh to preuayle,
If Sathans forren practises do fayle,
Our selues against our selues he straight doth arme,
With ougly lusts of sinne, which in vs swarme.
So though we scape one snare, we soone may fall
Into some other snare, that he hath set,
Into despaire, if our estate be small,
Into presumption; if our power be great:
And euery sinne doth thousands more beget,
And we with euery waue of fortunes wind,
Do swell or sinke, in glorie of our mind.
8.
There is one alone, & there is not a second, which hath neither sonne nor brother, yet is there none end of all his trauell, neither can his eye be satisfied with riches: neither doth he thinke, for whom do I trauell and defraud my soule of pleasure: this also is vanitie, and this is an euill trauell.
And yet of all vaine humors that arise,
This seemes to me the greatest plague indeed,
When one (of powre) vnto himselfe denies
The lawfull pleasures might his comfort breed,
When he hath no man but himselfe to feed,
Ne child, ne heire, ne any friend at all,
To whom his horded wealth he wisht to fall.
And yet he ceaseth not, to trauell still
To gather wealth, he knoweth not how nor why,
Which though with plentie God into him fill:
He to himselfe doth natures wants deny,
And of the world, is made a scorne thereby,
Not hauing grace once to his mind to call,
To whom the wealth he gets, is like to fall.
verse 9 Not thinking, two do more deserue then one, and haue more hire,
verse 10 A readler helpe (if foot do slip) do find, if need require.
9.
Two are better then one: for they haue better wages for their labour.
Ne knowes he truly (as it should appeare)
The blessings that his wealth depend vpon,
For did he, he would hold no wealth too deare
To be bestowd in gaine of such a one,
As might his comfort breed, with whom alone
He might recount the secrets of his state,
And partner make, of good and aduerse fate.
For by the lawes of friendship and of loue,
Such mutuall frutes doth kindnesse counterchange,
That two as one, like tast of state do proue,
And eithers thoughts do in the other range,
With such a sympathy as seemeth strange,
Whilst gaine of both, to each one doth remaine,
And eithers kindnesse, kindnesse payes againe.
10.
For if they fall, the one will lift vp his fellow: but woe vnto him that is alone: for he falleth, & there is not a second to lift him vp.
If one of them an inconuenience haue,
The other readie is to yeeld reliefe,
His perill shall the others perill saue,
And with his yeelding shoulders beare his griefe,
And (which indeed of all is comfort chiefe)
His weale and woe, on th'others shall depend,
And loue in both, both ascend and descend.
Whilst that this wretched solitary wight,
Vnknowne and vnregarded quite of all,
Shall liue the obiect vnto all despight,
And helplesse perish, if he hap to fall,
No pittie finding, or but very small:
For who by gratitude, is bound to mone
His case, who carelesse seekes to liue alone?
verse 11 If two togither ly, they find, the heat that sole bed lackes,
verse 12 If wrōgd, reliu'd by friend, for three plight cord not lightly cracks.
11.
Also if two sleep together, then shall they haue heat: but to one how should there be heat?
Such one (me thinkes) may well compared bee,
Vnto a man that in long winters night,
(Through lacke of light) can no earths comfort see,
And in his bed can find no great delight,
When (lacking list to sleepe) he hath no wight,
With whom in speech the time to passe away,
But (wallowing in his bed) doth long for day.
Or rather to the withered aged man,
In whom the liues warmth bloud is waxen cold,
Whom when as shiuerings seaze, he seeketh than,
In many furres and clothes himselfe t'infold,
Which not suffising, then he also would
A bed-fellow wish, wherewith to haue withstood
His cold, by others heat of natiue blood.
12.
And if one ouercome him, two shall stand against him: and a threefold cord is not easily broken.
And that in all respects (I well may say)
The solitary man vnhappy is,
Do but mans nature herein truly way,
Which is directly opposite to this,
He in societie reposeth blisse:
Whose maker great, to whom he best was knowne,
Ordain'd a meanes he might not liue alone.
The diuerse wants (likewise) our liues sustaine,
Compels the wise a neighbour helpe to craue,
A single man is soone opprest by twaine,
Whose valour (though right great) will scarce him saue,
For great the strength small twigs in bundell haue,
And closely plighted threeds, strong Cables make,
And force vnited, greater force doth take.
verse 13 A poore wise child is better then an old fond king vnt aught,
verse 14 From prison to a crown he climbs, that poore king set at naught.
13.
Better is a poore and wise child, [...] an [...] and foolish king, which wil [...] more be [...].
The princely state of all most happie held,
And happiest sure (if worthie Prince haue place)
Hath not all common woes so well expeld,
But often times their crownes do cares imbrace,
(Though God as his owne deputies doth them grace)
For where in vertue and wisedome is defect,
Full hardly can that honour them perfect.
For though best subiects bodies do obay,
The tyranny of most iniust behest,
Yet doth their minds obedience oft denay,
When they do find that powre hath right supprest,
And then the poore wise child is held more blest,
That yeeldeth to aduice the sage doth bring,
Then ill aduised head-strong aged King.
14.
For out of the prison he commeth f [...]rth to raigne, when as he that is borne in his kingdome, is made poore.
Such one there hath (not seldom times) bene seene,
Of base descent by pedegree of kin,
Abandon'd so of hope, that you would weene
He hardly should his liuing poorely win,
(Much lesse of captiue euer free haue beene:)
Yet so by vertue he hath raysd his state,
In th'end he wore a crowne that pynde of late.
Whereas contrariwise, you oft behold,
The worthlesse child of many a worthy king,
On predecessors vertues grow so bold,
And to their state so little honor bring,
That from them, natiue right some others wring,
And they vnto the common state of men,
Poore and reiected do returne as then.
verse 15 I saw all liuing follow change, and on sunne rising gaze,
verse 16 No trust in peoples loue, now one, now other they will prayse.
15.
I beheld all the liuing, which walke vnder the sunne, with the secōd child which shall stand vp in his place.
For so iust God the Monarke maker great,
Disposeth of these Emperies below,
That as they well or ill their flocke intreat,
He moueth so their subiects harts to grow,
He maketh fierce Adonebesock know
Himselfe, of mightie Prince most wretch aliue,
And captiu'd Ioseph, by his bondage thriue.
Yea so vnstable are mens minds withall,
That nothing can long time their minds content,
Vnhappy are those men, who vnder-fall
The vulgar censure, which is lightly bent
Vnto new-fangled liking. And who rent
The right of rule from father, to bestow
On child ofttimes, before he merit show.
16.
There is none end of all the people, nor of all that were before them, and they that come after, shal not reioice in him, surely this is also vanitie, and vexation of the spirit.
So doth man gaze vpon the rising sunne,
So soone we surfet feeding on the best,
So fast the multitude to mischiefe runne,
So hardly can the fonder sort digest
Obedience, where their safest state should rest,
That (monster like) they many heads do reare,
And euery head ten thousand fancies beare.
In which their choice, by chance if they attaine
Vnto a worthy guyder of their state,
He in their likings can not long remaine,
Whilst (causelesse) malcontents turne loue to hate,
Which cares (with many more) their ioyes abate,
And makes their raysed state more deeply way,
That wo, which nature doth on all men lay.
verse 17 For all is vaine, saue to serue God, which whē thou dost prepare:
Heare ere thou speake, of sacrifice, of babbling foole beware.
17.
Take heed to thy foot, when thou enterest into the house of God, and be more neare to heare then to giue the sacrifice of fooles: for they know not that they do euill.
Now least my speech which tended to thy cure,
Should in thy mind worlds meere misliking breed,
Which yet perforce, a space thou must indure,
I will thee now with wholesome counsell feed,
With God and man, instructing thee the way
To liue in peace, and worldly cares alay.
And first (as chiefest comfort of the rest)
I will direct they steps to God aboue,
Vnto whose seruice when thou art addrest,
Let reuerent feare thy whole affection moue,
Come thou to learne, thy schoole his Temple make,
And fond prescriptious, of thy owne forsake.
Chap. 5.
verse 1 Vse few and pithy words to God, from heauen full well he heares,
verse 2 As busied braine (by dreames) so want of wit, by words appeares.
1.
Be not tas [...] with thy mouth not, let thine heart be hastie to vtter a thing before God, for God is in the heauens, and thou art on the earth, therfore let thy wordes be few.
BEthinke thee well ere thou begin to pray,
And so prepare thy humble soule thereto,
That thou thy worthlesse state do duely way,
Gods power beleeue, and will, thee good to do,
And then thy needfull wants craue and commend
To his best pleasure, to restraine or send.
For he inthronized in mercies seat,
All-seeing is, all-powerfull, alwayes prest,
To view our wants, to yeeld what we intreat,
If (as they ought) our prayers be addrest;
Few words (if feruent) will to heauen ascend,
He knowes our thoughts ere hart to pray we bend.
2.
For as a dream commeth by the multitude of businesse: so the voice of a foole is in the multitude of words.
The multitude of numbred words we heare
Some vse in prayer, sheweth want of faith,
Like Balaams Priests their passions do appeare,
Whose hope on their enchaunting fury stayeth,
And doth not (as it should) on God depend,
Who kno [...]wes the fittest time thy cares to end.
For looke how cares of passed day do cause,
A swarme of aparitions in the night,
Which on the sleeping senses terror drawes,
And doth the tyred body oft affright:
So folly moues the tongue, which vainely speakes,
And vaine that is, which modest measure breakes.
verse 3 If ought thou vow, performe it soone, God likes not fond del [...]y,
verse 4 It better were, vow were not made, then deede should it denay.
3.
[...]
And as in prayer, so aduise thee well,
When vnto God thou any thing wilt vow,
Earth is his footstoole, heau'n his throne to dwell,
What need hath he then, of thy presents now?
Yet free will offrings he doth kindly take,
If gratefull heart a lawfull promise make.
Be therefore sure, thou dally not therein,
But (if thou vow such things) performe the same,
Vntruth with men, but foule defame doth win, [...]
With God it can not then but purchase blame,
Ne ignorance, ne rashnesse may excuse
So foule a fault, refraine it then to vse.
4.
It is better that thou shouldest not vow, then that thou shouldest v [...]w, and not pay it.
Thou hadst bene better farre, to haue with-held
Thy promise, when thou first the same didst make:
Thou wast not then by any law compeld
Thereto, but freely didst it vndertake,
Compulsiue promises, no promise bee,
But vow premeditate, it bindeth thee.
It bindeth thee, euen by the highest band,
That heauen and earth affordeth vnto man,
Thy hart (as spokes-man) for thee long doth stand,
And God the hearer, who conceiue it can,
Thy selfe (faith breaker) vnto God art found,
If thou performe not then, what vow hath bound.
verse 5 Sin not by words, ne ignorance plead, least God thy works cōfound,
verse 6 But feare thou God, & count as dreams, those vaine words which abound.
5.
Suffer not thy mouth to make thy flesh to sin: neither say before the Angel, that this is ignorance: wherfore shall God be angry by thy voice, and destroy the worke of thine hand?
Yet if thy promise were, to do the thing,
Which is contrary to his holy law,
I rather wish thee it forbeare, then bring
The price of sinne that should more iudgements draw:
Of euils two, the least the wise do chuse,
If vow were wicked, rather it refuse.
And first beware (as I before did say)
That thou no euill thing in vow pretend,
Then how thou canst performe it, see thou way,
And freely then, with speed performe intend,
Least God and Angels witnesse thee vntrew,
And thou and thine, with vengeance for it rew.
6.
For in the multitude of dreames and vanities, are also many words: but feare thou God.
Thus (in a word) I haue informed thee,
How vaine a rash and foolish prayer is,
How daungerous, a heape of words that bee
Impertinent, and vowes that are amisse:
Euen fruitlesse vapors of corrupted braine,
Which like vaine dreames, the rest of soule do staine.
Leaue them therefore, and do thou wholly bend
Thy holy thoughts to please thy God aright,
In word and deed, and pray him grace to send,
That thy weake workes be pleasing in his sight,
So (though the world, with wrong and woe abound)
Thy faith and peace of conscience, shall be sound.
verse 7 If poore oppressed be, feare not: one sits in heauen it seeth,
verse 8 Earths plenty passeth all the rest, and kings are fed therewith.
7.
If in a countrie thou seest the oppression of the poore, and the defrauding of iudgement and iustice, be not astonied at the matter, for he that is higher thē the highest, regardeth, and there be higher then they.
What if the wicked age wherein we liue,
Or lawlesse place wherein thou hapst to dwell,
Do sacred Iustice from her Scepter driue,
And make the poore mans life seeme worse then hell,
As though there were no God, nor prouidence
To punish sinne, or yeeld the iust defence?
Yet be thou sure, God seeth all full well,
And though he pacient be, yet (moued long)
He will dismount from heauen where he doth dwell,
To do thee right, and wreke thee of their wrong,
With hoast of Angels, and earths meanes beside,
To powre his wrath on them for lawlesse pride.
8.
And the aboū dance of the earth is ouer all, the king also consisteth by the field that is tilled.
When happie shall be held their blessed state,
Who humbly yeelded vnto Gods decree,
Who with the sweat of browes their liuing gate,
And with liues needfull food contented bee,
Whose trauell on this earth of mans vnrest,
With fruitfull crop, from God aboue is blest.
Thrise blest (thou silly swaine) that tilst the ground,
Voide of the crafts and cares in Courts that bee,
More honest profit, or content not found
In Princes pallace, then in cot with thee,
Kings (without thee) ne liue, ne can be kings,
Thy paine to Court and Countrey plently brings.
verse 9 Who loueth gold shall lacke, and he who couets much want store,
verse 10 With wealth charge growes, the owner but, moreaseth paine the more.
9.
He that loueth siluer, shall not be satisfied with siluer, and he that loueth riches, shall be without the fruit thereof: this also is vanitie.
What though the world (through hateful lust of gold)
Be thus transported with a greedy mind,
To purchase wealth, which makes the coward bold,
To search land, sea, and hell, the same to find?
Yet (as it doth increase) so doth desire,
And soone consume as oyle amidst the fire.
A iust reward of so vnworthy trade,
As doth debase nobilitie of soule,
Which (made immortal) scornes those things that vade,
And in the wise should earthly'affects controule:
But mouldwarp like, these blindfold grope in vaine,
Vaine their desires, more vaine the fruit they gaine.
10.
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good commeth to the owners thereof, but the beholding therof with their eyes?
If honor, wealth, and calling do excell
The common sort, so charge doth grow with all:
Few with a litle sure, may liue as well,
As many may, though greater wealth befall:
It is not wealth, to haue of goods great store,
But wealth to be suffisd and need no more.
Who hath aboundance, and it vseth well,
Is but a steward to his family,
A purse-bearer for such as neare him dwell,
An Amner to the poore (that helplessely)
He but his share doth spend (though somwhat better)
And what he leaues, he is to world a detter.
verse 11 Poore labourers (empty mawd) sleep sound, whilst gluttons want their sleepe,
verse 12 This plague I see, some with their wealth, their proper mischiefe keepe.
11.
The sleepe of him that trauelleth is sweet whether he eat litle or much: but the societie of the rich will not suffer him [...] sleepe.
The labouring man, that in his lawfull trade,
Hath past the toylesome day to gaine to liue,
No surfet hath his stomacke to vpbrayd,
Nor fearefull dreames, which into horror driue
His fraudlesse soule, whilst he the longsome night
Doth rest, and rise (to worke) as day doth light.
When as the glutton after crammed gorge,
Whose surfets vpon surfets buried bee
In his insatiat maw of hellish forge,
In bed no rest can find, but slumbering see
A swarme of visions breed by vapours vaine,
Which from a putride stomacke rise to braine.
12.
There is an euil sicknesse that I haue seene vnder the sun: to wit, riches reserued to the [...]wners thereof for their euill.
And which I further see doth oft ensew
The wealthier sort, and which I much lament,
Is that they often times themselues do rew
Their euill gotten wealth, with time mispent
As meanes (for so it proues) of greater care,
And which in end, doth leaue them poore and bare.
Like to a spunge, which store of sap hath suckt,
Or to the Bee, that hony hath in hyue:
Their wealth is wrong, their hony combe is pluckt
Out of their hord, by which they thought to thryue,
Their liues do for their goods, fare oft the worse,
For enuious eyes pursue the plenteous purse.
verse 13 Their riches perish with their pains, their childrē poore remaine,
verse 14 As naked buried, as were borne, leaue all their trauels gaine.
13.
And these riches perish by euil trauell, and he begetteth a sonne, and in his hand is nothing.
Which though they hap to scape, yet many wayes
There are besides, which doth their ioyes bereaue,
Ill gotten goods (we say) not long time stayes,
And hastie wealth few heires, to heires do leaue:
The getters faults or follies all may lose,
And chance or change of times it new dispose.
So that the of-spring of these mightie men,
By due vicisitude do oft descend
From their aspired greatnesse, hoped then
Vnto the meanest ranke from whence they wend,
Each Crow his feather hath, and naked they,
Their parents sinnes by their mishaps bewray.
14.
As he came forth of his mothers belly▪ he shall returne naked to go as he came, and shall beare away nothing of his labor, which he hath caused to passe by his hand.
The Father he, all naked went before
Vnto the earth, whence first he naked came:
The sonne (as readie) standeth at the dore
To follow fathers steps, and with the same,
Poore, naked, helplesse state, that borne he was
From all his pompe, vnto his graue to pas.
Not any thing with him, from hence to beare,
Of earthly substance that he did possesse,
The soule immortall is, and may not weare,
Nor any vertues that our way addresse
To heauen, they shall suruiue vs after death,
Whē death shal liue, by liues soone smothred breath.
verse 15 Gone as they came (ô griefe of griefes) his trauels paid with wind,
verse 16 His daies in darknes spent, his bread consumd with grief of mind.
15.
And this also is an euill sicknes that in al points as he came, so [...] he go, and what profit hath he that he [...]th trauelled [...] the wind [...]
If so it be (alas what woe is this)
That not alone (as poorest man beside)
All naked vnto graue he posting is,
But euen the common pangs must him betide,
That to all flesh at houre of death is rife,
When soule and bodie (parting) finish life.
And that with him his trauels fruits do end,
Who hath no share in all his former gaine,
But what soeuer blisse he did pretend,
His haps (as others chance) do voide remaine:
His hopes (like dust) dispersed with the wind,
Or sownd on sea, where they no root could find.
16.
Also all his daies he eateth in darknesse with much griefe, and in his sorrow and anger.
Which when he doth fore-think with heauy cheare,
He pines away the remnant of his dayes,
How much the more he happie did appeare,
The more vnhappy he his state bewrayes,
For contraries, by contraries are showne,
As blacke from white, so good by ill is knowne.
As one that for some passed publike crime
Is scandaled, and pointed at of all,
With shame retyres himselfe in future time,
Least into more disgrace he yet should fall:
And hanging downe his head, doth sigh (alas)
And rage with griefe, so he his dayes doth pas.
verse 17 These hold I good, with ioy to feed, on portion God doth giue,
verse 18 And whom God giues (with this) his grace, he in Gods loue doth liue.
17.
Behold then, what I haue seene good, that it is comely to eat, and to drinke, and to take pleasure in all his labour, wherein he trauelleth vnder the sunne, the whole number of the dayes of his life, which God giueth him▪ for this is his portion.
Then this (for earthly good) I count the best,
(For other good, I scarcely any know)
That with those goods thou hast, thou pleased rest,
And for thy owne behoofe thou them bestow,
Such part (I meane) as nature craues to vse,
Euen plenteously: so thou it not abuse.
And hold this all thou hast, of that is thine,
For that is left, thou seest may be lost:
God gaue the plentie of both corne and wine,
To cheere mans troubled soule, with combers tost:
This if thou hast, and grace to vse it right,
Thou hast earths good, the most on thee may light.
18.
Also to euery man to whom God hath giuē riches and treasures, & giueth him power to eat thereof, & to take his part and to enioy his labour: this is the gift of God.
And they are rightly vsde, when vsde they bee
As he ordaines, that did them first bestow:
God was the author of all good to thee,
To him thy life all thankfulnesse doth owe:
So vsing them, they to thee blessings are,
Else wealth breeds woe, peace proues as ill as warre.
Thou seest many starue, in plenteous place,
Thou seest lusty youth suruyn'd by age,
Thou seest honour stoope to foule disgrace,
And heauy cheere the greatest ioyes asswage,
And (for men do not yeeld the praise of all
To God) these mischiefes do vpon them fall.
verse 19 He need not sure, thinke long his daies, of pilgrimage on earth,
Since God doth answere harts desire, to him with ioy and myrth.
19.
Surely he will not much remember the daies of his life, because God answereth to the ioy of his heart.
O rare and happie they, that God doth blesse
With grace, to know and vse his gifts aright,
Sure they more easly may support (I gesse)
The common cares that do to all men light,
For present comforts, cancell passed care,
As pleasures past, do way to woe prepare.
Such season so the actions of their life,
That common cares, seeme but the needfull sauce,
To quicken tast, as peace insuing strife,
More gratefull is, and hath the more applause,
They God in wealth and woe, a father find,
And vnto him will not appeare vnkind.
Chap. 6.
verse 1 This mischief more mōgst mē I find, some haue their wish at will,
verse 2 Of honor and wealth, yet liue in lacke; a strangers mouth to fill.
1.
There is an euill, which I saw vnder the sunne, and it is much among men.
BVt not one woe alone I must disclose,
For many woes do follow humane kind,
Great were these griefes, but not more great then those
That vnrecorded yet do rest behind:
One mischiefe seldome time alone doth fall,
One care or other sure doth follow all.
To speake of woes will lesse vnpleasing bee,
To such as heare (not feele) thereof the smart:
Thou (who so happie art) mayst better see,
(By others harme) thy happie peace of hart,
Then heare and learne more happinesse to gaine,
If thou (from others ill) thy selfe refraine.
2.
A man to whō God hath giuē riches & treasures & honor, & he wanteth nothing for his soule of all that it desireth: but God giueth him not power to eat thereof, but a strange man shall eat it vp: this is vanitie, and this is an euill sicknes.
Thou mayst well see full oft a man enioy,
In show, all blessings nature can bestow;
Lands, honors, wealth, whose wants breeds thee annoy,
Whilst he (to world) doth happy seeme in show,
Not wanting any thing that thou wouldst craue,
Yet some one want makes him small comfort haue.
He hath no wife, or else he hath no child,
Or hath them both, but both vngracious proue,
He wants his health, imprisond, or exild,
Or cares of common weale his ioyes remoue:
His restlesse mind thus thirsting midst the streame,
He pines in care, and finds his blisse a dreame.
verse 3 And more if hundreth sonnes & yeares he haue, if lack content,
verse 4 If die contemnd, worse then abortiue child to graue he went.
3.
If a man beget a hundred children and liue many yeares, and the dayes of his yeares be multiplied, and his soule be not satisfied with good things, and he be not buried, I say that an vntimely frute is better then he.
Suppose a hundreth children he begot,
And liu [...]d as long, as old Methusalem,
Yet if defame his family do spot,
And he do lack the common loue of men,
And want the honor of his funerall,
How can you any wayes him happie call?
True happinesse on vertue hath his ground,
And only measurd is by peace of mind:
What though all earthly blessings do abound?
If that the soule no inward comfort find,
Is not th'abortiue child more happie farre,
Then those that liuing, thus perplexed are?
4.
For he cōmeth into vanitie & goeth into darknesse: and his name shall be couered with darknesse.
In farre more happie state, in very deed
Is he, whose timelesse birth his life denyes,
Whose mothers wombe vnable him to feed,
Vnperfect him reiects, and doth despise
Vnprofitable burden also long
To beare, that nature hath compounded wrong.
For (being) he is not the same he seemes,
The others seeming proues not so indeed,
This liuelesse humane shape, a man none deemes,
That deemed man with dreames our eyes doth feed:
This neuer being knowen, none knoweth not,
Of all men this admyrd, of all forgot.
verse 5 That neuer saw nor knew this life: this did, the worse his state,
verse 6 Two thousand yeres spent, void of ioy, makes death seeme ouer late.
5.
[...] he hath: not seene the sunne nor known it: therfore this hath more rest then the other.
How much it better is in true account,
To be a happie man, or so esteemd?
So farre th'abortiue th'other doth surmount,
Though naught it seeme, the other much is deemd:
For (hauing nothing good) it hath no ill,
But his expected good, all woes do fill.
His closed eyes which neuer saw this light,
Those woes nere saw, which th'other saw and felt,
His senslesse braine which knoweth no delight,
(Incapable of cares with th'other dwelt)
Makes his estate lesse ill, much better held,
Than his that thus, in wretchednesse exceld.
6.
And if he had liued a thousand yeares twise told, and had seene no good, shall not all go to one place.
The multitude of yeares, but multiply
To the vnhappie, multitude of cares,
Two thousand yeares, to him that dead doth ly,
Are but one moment: all alike he fares,
But hours seem days, daies yeres, yeres millions seeme,
In care, griefe, agony, that spent we deeme.
Then how vnhappy is that hated man,
Whose long and wealthy life, in boorlesse blis,
In life no peace or ioy, enioy he can:
In death not honor haue, that proper is
To such, as by their liues do merit well,
Who dead, in sacred tombe do famous dwell.
verse 7 All toyle man takes, is for the mouth, his mind yet neuer easd:
verse 8 The foole & wise cā both but liue, the wise (thogh poore) is pleasd.
7.
All the labour of man is for his mouth: yet the soule is not [...]lled.
Alas, what gaineth man by all his paine,
Which in his pilgrimage on earth he takes?
Sure nothing but a life he doth maintaine,
And as his state permits he dyet makes,
For which (our backes and bellies nutriment)
Our times, our cares, our hopes and feares are spent.
And yet this food so carefully attaynd,
Cannot sustaine our life one longer day,
Then God by prouidence hath it ordaynd:
And when our time is come, we must away,
And though a little food will life sustaine,
Yet long without supply we not remaine.
8.
For what hath the wise man more then the foole? what hath the poore that knoweth how to walke before the [...] ▪
What hath the wise, in all he doth possesse
More then the foole, whereof he may reioyce?
The vse of needfull things, he hath no lesse
That simple is, then who of wit hath choyce:
Both do but eat to liue, and liue to die,
Both like afflictions in their fortunes trie.
What doth the misers care increase his state,
More then free spenders honest thrift doth his?
Yet th'one by wretchednesse doth purchase hate,
The others bountie alwayes praysed is:
Both care to liue, both can but liue thereby,
And both of force, must yeeld (ere long) to dy.
verse 9 To take thy share and wish no more, is best: desire is vaine.
verse 10 What art thou mā, to striue with God? his wil thou must sustain.
9.
The sight of of the eye is better then to walke in the lusts: this also is vanitie, and vexation of spirit.
And therefore sure, whilst we are here to liue,
It is the best to liue with chearefull hart,
And cause of good report the world to giue,
And not for vs to breed our proper smart:
Our daies consume vnpleasing to our selues,
Offensiuely to such as with vs dwels.
Yet both in end are vaine, and soone haue end,
No constancie or permanence in either,
The one or other can not life defend,
Both to the graue, are like to go togither:
Vaine and inconstant, is the fruit of all,
Wise, fond, sad, glad, into the earth must fall.
10.
What is that that hath bin▪ the name therof is now named: and it is knowne that it is man, and he cannot striue with him that is stronger then he.
What can a man attaine by any thing,
Which he on earth, atchieueth any way,
But euen a name and fame, the which doth bring
A swelling Eccho of his prayse a day,
But is assoone forgotten as is gaynd,
And with a thousand slaunders may be staynd.
His prayse cannot exceed, nor soone attaine
The like that many worthies had before,
Their fame is gone, thine cannot long remaine,
If thou be wise expect not any more:
For God thy maker hath ordayned so,
When he sayth yea, flesh may not answere no.
Chap. 7.
verse 1 Sure many vaine things do increase, which mans wit cannot mend,
verse 2 Who knowes his best in life, or what God afterward will send?
1.
Surely there be many things that encrease vanitie: & what auayleth it mā.
SVre many things besides do yet remaine,
Our vanitie appeares in euery thing,
But they best knowledge of the fame attaine,
To whom a prosperous state, did plentie bring:
For plenty best affoords to feed our will,
And will most soone, to folly runneth still.
Which folly is the vanitie I meane,
A fruitlesse trauell of a carefull hart,
When midst the choyce of good, the ill we gleane,
And weaue vnto our selues our proper smart,
When wit is captiuated vnto fense,
Which doth produce both Gods and mans offence.
2.
For who knoweth what is good for man in the life, and in the number of the dayes of the life of his va [...]itie, seeing he maketh thē as a shadow? for who can shew vnto man what shall be after him vnder the [...].
And sure in this sense, foolish are we all,
For who discernes aright twixt good and ill,
Whose knowledge truly can you perfect call,
Who (knowing good) effectuates goodnes still:
Mans dayes are few, and like a shadow fly,
In which small good, he many woes doth try.
The wisest men themselues do scarcely know,
Of others minds their knowledge is but blind,
Their present actions do them foolish show,
How should man then a solyde knowledge find,
Of future things which after him shall bee,
Since he conceaues not what his eye doth fee?
verse 3 A good name sweeter is then oyle: deaths day, then day of birth.
verse 4 In mourning house more good is learnd, then in the house of mirth.
3.
A good name is better then a good oyntmēt, and the day of death, then the day that one is borne.
Then let man cease his wisedome to bestow,
In seeking foorth on earth a happy state:
Let him endeuour rather good to grow,
The fruit and fame whereof cannot abate
Through age or death, but like a sweet perfume,
Will follow man vnto his day of doome.
The trust wherein shall make him death desire,
As path to leade him vnto blisse prepard,
And loath this life, whose cares him so do tyre,
Where vanitie and death is sole reward:
Yea he shall farre preferre the day of death,
Before the houre he first drew liuing breath.
4.
It is better to go to the house of mourning, then to the house of feasting, because this is the end of all men: and the liuing shall lay it to his hart.
For better preparation whereunto,
The wise will exercise their eyes and mind,
In contemplation of their states, who do
By death forerun their corse not farre behind:
And (by the view thereof) resolued grow,
The worlds contempt in rest of life to show.
The feasts and sports which do his senses charme,
With deepe forgetfulnesse of woes approch,
He will refraine, and rather thinke it harme,
That vnprepared death should him incroch:
(For euils looked for, lesse euill seeme,
And ioyes expected long, we doubled deeme.)
verse 5 Sharp lookes (then smyling shows) more soone the euil mind correct,
verse 6 The wise delight in grauitie, whilst fooles the same reiect.
5.
Anger is better then laughten for by a sad looke the hart is made better.
And though awhile our minds therewith distract,
We feele a conflict twixt the flesh and spright,
Which lothly would dissolue the old compact,
Which flesh and world, contracted in delight:
Yet sweeter in the end we shall digest
Deathes bitter pill, which nature doth detest.
Yea though we in a sort offended wax
With euils, which we see so much abound
Within our selues, and for the good that lacks
In vs, and others which the good doth wound:
Yet this a cheerefull mendment will procure,
And rayse our hearts in sinne to fore secure.
6.
The hart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth.
The wise they will (like heedfull watchmen keepe)
A curious Sentinell in all their wayes,
Least death and ruine should vpon them creepe,
And turne to mournfull night their merry dayes,
They do obserue the frailtie of their state,
And rather fawne on death, then feare too late.
Whilst foolish worldlings surfet with the ioy,
Which they vnfitly plast in earths vaine sweet,
And are surprisd with euery small annoy
So sore, that it to beare they are not meet,
And vnder euery aduerse cause do sinke,
Whilst others hope and ioy at perils brinke.
verse 7 More sweet are wise rebukes, then notes, which flattering fooles do sing.
verse 8 As blase of thornes, so vainely passe, the pleasures they do bring.
7.
Better it is to heare the rebuke of a wise man, then that a man should heare the song of fooles.
And (for we hardly see our owne amisse,
And each in others eyes a mote can spy)
My best aduice (to do thee good) is this:
That to thy friends reproofe thou do apply,
Yea such a friend, as knoweth good from ill,
And thy misdeeds in thee reproue that will.
For better are the blowes that friends do giue,
Then smoothed actions, flatt'rers do bestow,
Those to amendment do the wiser driue,
By th'others, fooles from ill to worse do grow,
There Syrens songs, do make thee sleepe in sin,
These rougher words, thy soule from ruine win.
8.
For like the noyse of the thornes vnder the pot, so is the laughter of the foole: this also is vanitie.
And what delight (indeed) can wise men take,
In foolish tattle of the lewder sort?
Like crackling bushes in the fire, they make
A blast, and blase foorth straight in their disport,
An outward show of mirth, which ends with smart,
And laugh with mouth, that haue a heauie hart.
The wise in ioy and myrth are temperate,
They ground their mirth on greater cause of ioy.
They are not so raysd vp with good estate,
Or beaten downe with any'aduerse annoy,
But that they can beare either state aswell,
As time or chaunce, can make them ebbe or swell.
verse 9 Sure wise men wax with wrongs nere mad, to see brybs so preuaile,
verse 10 But th'end is al, who patient stayes, shal thriue best without faile.
9.
Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad, and the reward destroyeth the hart.
And yet it is (I graunt) a heauie thing,
And hardly is digested of the best,
To see how some the lawes to lust do wring,
And how thereby the weaker are opprest,
How wrong for right sometimes doth freely pas,
And no man will, or dare, say bad it was.
And to behold how bribes are busie still,
To blind the eyes that else would wisely see,
That Lay, and Clergie, great and small, most will
Giue, take, buy, sell, things that most holy bee,
Would make a man of sob'rest spright halfe mad,
And any good man be perplex'd and sad.
10.
The end of a thing, is better then the beginning thereof, & the patient in spirit is better then the proud in spirit.
But men that note Gods iudgemēts for these things,
And can (as sure they ought) his pleasure stay,
Shall see the plagues that sinne vpon them brings,
And shall according to the prouerbe say,
That that is onely good, and doth excell,
Which doth begin, and also endeth well.
And therefore will with patience long expect,
The issue which God hath decreed before,
And as he limits times, his will t'effect,
So till that time be silent euermore:
The rather since their agony and griefe,
Might wo increase, not yeeld one iot reliefe.
verse 11 Be thou therefore to anger slow, it fooles doth best befit,
verse 12 Muse not why tunes are chang'd, it doth import but want of wit.
11.
Be not thou of an hasty spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosome of fooles.
Then be not thou with worlds peruerse euent
Disquieted, or moued vnto yre,
No though with malice men against thee bent,
With iust offence might kindle cholers fyre:
It is a passion that aboundant is
In fooles, and not reformes the thing amis.
If thou with reason be (as be thou may)
Offended with the euils that abound,
Thou mayst reproue them sure (I say not nay)
And hate the place whereas such sinnes are found,
For fooles they are, and dog-like bite the stone,
That blame offence, yet doer let alone.
12.
Say not thou, why is it that the former daies were better then these? for thou dost not enquire wisely of this thing.
But yet (withall) beware thou do not blame
Thy God, in gouernment of present age,
By calling him t'account, why not the same
Most hatefull vices, which with vs do rage,
Did not in former times so much excell,
And we with them compare in doing well.
For it were folly, and offensiue much
To God and man, and signe of hatefull pride,
In weale or woe we may at nothing grutch,
For through our sinnes those scourges vs betide:
And God that sends the ill, can it amend,
Vpon his will our liking must depend.
verse 13 Wisedome with welth grees euer best, of all things vnder sunne.
verse 14 They calme the mind, yet quiet heart, by wisedome best is wonne.
13.
Wisedome is good with an inheritance & excellent to them that see the sunne.
Sure well is he that wisedome hath, and grace
To vse it alwayes well, in weale and wo:
But who hath wealth withall, in better case
By farre (I do confesse) though few are so:
Few though there be, yet some such may you find,
Though many more, with worldly wealth are blind.
Wealth giueth meanes for exercise of good,
Wealth the temptations wants, to many a sin,
By wealth mens faults are hid, their foes withstood,
Wealth may performe such workes as fauour win:
Which wealth, if (by dissent, not care) we haue
And wisedome both, what can we farther craue?
14.
For man shall rest in the shadow of wisedome, and in the shadow of siluer: but the excellencie of the knowledge of wisedome, giueth life to the possessors thereof.
This wisedome armed thus with worldly powers,
For pleasant shadow, may compared bee
Vnto an Arbour deckt with fragrant flowers,
Which sweetly from sunne beames protecteth thee,
From wind and raine, that can thee well defend,
And sweet repast vnto thy bodie lend.
For wisedome teacheth thee thy wealth to vse,
Vnto the needfull ends they were ordaynd,
And (as vnwise) you may them well accuse,
That will reiect the goods may well be gaynd:
But wisedome wealth can get, and spends it well,
And wisedome therefore chiefly doth excell.
verse 15 Behold Gods works: who can reforme his will? then be content
verse 16 In weale or wo, both (sent from God) do serue the turne he ment.
15.
Behold the worke of God: for who can make straight that which he hath made crooked?
In wisedome therefore, set thy chiefe delight,
Come wealth, come woe, take all as God doth send,
Against the Lords decree it's vaine to fight,
He knowes thy need, and giues what thou shalt spend,
More then he hath decreed, thou shalt not haue,
Toyle while thou wilt, and moyle vnto thy graue.
Canst thou reuoke the times the which are past?
Canst thou recount, the dayes that are behind?
Canst thou pursew the chaffe that slyeth fast?
Canst thou proportion out the waight of wind?
Canst thou make straight the tree once crooked growne?
No nor thy state amend, but God alone.
16.
In the day of wealth be of good comfort, and in the day of affliction cosider: God also hath made this cōtrary to that, to the intent that man shold find nothing after him.
Then with thy state content thy quiet mind,
If wealth abound, with ioy then vse the same,
If lesse thy store, yet thinke not God vnkind,
And to thy portion do thy compasse frame:
In all estates a chearefull heart doth well,
What God intends for thee thou canst not tell.
God vseth (like as wise Phisitians do)
By want sometimes to purge our humors ill,
And after plentie giues to strengthen vs to
The worke whereto, imploy our powers he will,
By proofe of contraries, to teach vs how
To vse those gifts, as he doth best allow.
verse 17 In my short life, the iust (I saw) decay, and wicked thriue,
verse 18 Muse not hereof too much, least it thee into dumps do driue.
17.
I haue seene all things in the dayes of my vanitie: there is a iust man that pe [...]heth in his iustice, and there is a wicked man that cōtinueth long in his malice.
As for such new incounters as befall,
To thee in crossing of thy quiet life,
Assure thy selfe, they are not new at all,
But in my dayes (and long before) were rife,
Euen full of vanities and care, I found
My life, as well as thy life to abound.
I saw both wise, and honest men full oft,
Insnared by the wicked, and destroyd,
Their counsels and their actions mockt and scoft,
Their innocencies, cause they were annoyd:
The force, the folly, rapine and the wrong,
The wicked vsd, protect their liues full long.
18.
[...]e not thou iust ouermuch, neither make thy selfe ouer wise: wherfore shouldest thou be desolate?
What was the cause hereof thou maist inquire,
Sure first the hate, the ill to good do show,
Then Gods decree, whose iustice did require,
Their hidden sins, a publike shame should know,
Some ouerweening wits, do foolish proue,
And cause of these mishaps do fondly moue.
For excellence procureth enuy much,
And wise mens small offences haynous seeme,
And busie braines such tickle points may touch,
As vndiscreet you may their iudgement deeme,
Be thou not too precise, nor ouer wise,
But with a modest meane thy gifts disguise.
verse 19 Be not too curious things to know, least God correct thy pryde,
verse 20 Yet learne things fit, and fearing God, no ill shall thee betyde.
19.
Be not thou wicked ouermuch, neither be thou foolish: wherefore shouldest thou perish not in thy time.
Yet do not thou extenuate so thy skill,
That thereby into scandall thou do fall,
The very wicked so contemne thee will,
And good and bad, will so condemne thee all,
None is so vile, that vice he will commend,
Although his deeds, to little better tend.
Ne do thou folly any whit affect,
For that doth ruine all that it doth vse,
Who will the foole or vndescreet protect,
Or trust to him, or vse him (may he chuse?)
Well may men laugh at him and make disport,
But neuer trust, in cause that doth import.
20.
It is good that thou lay hold on this: but yet withdraw not thy hand from that: for lie that feareth God shal come forth of them all.
In measure is (we say) a merry meane,
Twixt two extremes doth sacred vertue dwell,
Who will vnto true heauenly wisedome leane,
Must fly defect, and all excesse expell,
With serpents wisedome must his iudgement see,
With Turtles humble mind, yet clothed bee.
The loftie thought, presumption doth instruct,
The abiect mind dispaire doth soone perswade,
From wings of Lucifer, this quill is pluckt,
To hatefull serpents den, that leades the trade:
But he whom heauenly wisedome doth inspire,
From both those snares in safetie shall retire.
verse 21 The wise by wisedome safer liue, then Princes in their holds:
verse 22 Yet none so perfect liues, their deed no sinne at all vnfolds.
21.
Wisedome shal strengthen the [...]ise man, more then ten mightie Princes that are in the citie.
For wisedome is (indeed) a heauenly gift,
Insusde to guide vs in earths pilgrimage;
Blest is his choice who therewith not vplift,
Doth peace procure, and worldly cares asswage,
Who trusteth in the comfort of her ayd,
In no affliction need to be affrayd.
She stronger is, and much of greater might,
Then any Princes power that euer was:
Yea Princes ten, combind gainst her to fight,
In force and prowesse shall her no way pas,
The strongest bulwarks that they can erect,
Doth art (by wisedome) soone to earth deiect.
22.
Surely there is no man [...] in the earth, that doth good and [...]nneth not.
This wisedome makes thee haue a secret peace,
Twixt God and thee, which if thou once attaine,
To feede the same, his grace will neuer ceace,
And that content for euer will remaine:
As for content the world afford thee can,
Its nothing worth, for vaine is euery man.
Let this therefore, be grounded in thy mind,
That man and all his workes vnperfect are,
That on the earth one man thou shalt not find,
That from true righteousnesse not strayeth farre,
Whose peruerse deeds, do oftentimes bewray
The wicked thoughts that in his bosome stay.
verse 23 Heare not all words of wrong, lest thou thy seruāts slāders heare,
verse 24 Thou know'st thy self hast don the like, though it did not appeare.
23.
Giue not thine heart also to all the words that men speake, least thou doe heare thy seruant cursing thee.
How much then lesse shouldst thou be moued much
By words of any one that thee offend:
Yea though euen very neere thy fame they touch,
And to thy great disgrace they seeme to tend:
Let passe like wind the blast of slanderous tong,
And thinke the best, sometimes euen so are wrong.
Yea though thou oft mightst heare, yet do not heare,
Or if thou do, seeme as thou diddest not,
Its better farre both deafe and dumbe t'appeare,
Then listening ouermuch, it were thy lot
To heare thy seruant, or some other speake
The thing, that being heard, thy hart would breake.
24.
For oftentimes also thine hart knoweth that thou likewise hast cursed others.
Thou mayst remember what thy selfe hast done,
In like case vnto others absent oft:
And what dislike therefore thou mightst haue wonne,
If that thy speech had not bene vttered soft,
(Or not conceald by such as heard the same)
Which will thee make another lesse to blame.
For it were meere iniustice, to condemne
Our vnderlings, for lauish speech of vs,
When we our betters farre, do more contemne,
Yet lothly would therefore be serued thus:
The rule of Charitie doth will thee do,
As thou thy selfe wouldst faine be done vnto.
verse 25 This haue I prou'd, & wisdom sought to know, which fled frōme,
verse 26 It is too high and deepe, my reach cannot her secrets see.
25.
All this haue I proued by wisedome: I thought, I will be wise, but it went farre from me.
All this haue I found by experience true,
And so mayst thou, if that thou way it well,
Apply thy selfe the same then to ensue,
And let her lawes within thy actions dwell,
And of thy wisedome do not ouerweene,
For many times the wise are ouerseene.
My selfe by nature was inclynd to skill,
By education was instructed much,
A heauenly gift did more my knowledge fill,
And all the world supposd my wisedome such,
As few attaynd, and I supposd no lesse,
But found my folly great, I must confesse.
26.
It is farre of, what may it be? and it is a profound deepnesse who can find it?
For of three things (all worthy to be knowne)
The past, the present, and the future things,
Whose first in writs record (in part) is showne,
Whose last with deepe obscurenesse blindnesse brings,
In th'one I had but euen a very tast,
In seeking th'other out, I time did wast.
That vulgar knowledge which by moderne view,
I did obserue, to make my profit by
Did somewhat me instruct, and much more trew
Then passed things forgotten presently,
Or dreamd supposals of succeeding time,
Which for to fetch, to heauen my thoughts should clime.
verse 27 My hart & mind hath wisely searcht, both good & bad to know,
verse 28 And worse thē death a womans snares, I found: God sheld thē fro.
27.
I haue compassed about both I & mine heart, to know and to enquire and to search wisedome and reason, and to know the wickednesse of folly, and the foolishnesse of madnesse.
That knowledge which I had, I did bestow
With heart and mind in searching round about,
The true effect of euery thing to know,
And of effects the causes out of doubt
(For happie they are held that can define
Of causes and effect, how they incline.)
And chiefly I obseru'd, whence good and ill
Haue their originall and nutriment,
What bounds they haue, and how the soule they kill,
And in the vse of them sought mans intent:
And so of mirth, of folly, and delight,
And what so seemd, most pleasant vnto sight.
28.
And I find more bitter then death, the woman whose heart is as nets and snares, and her hands as bands: he that is good before God shall be deliuered from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her.
And loe, I found all sinne to end with shame,
Yea euen the sinne which doth most men allure,
The lawlesse loue of women of defame,
Who bitterer plagues (then death) to vs procure,
Insnaring in their bands of beauties gift
The wretched soules, which yeeld vnto their drift.
A fatall furie of the flesh (alasse)
In idle braine begot, with plentie fed,
Whose smallest sparckles to a flame do passe,
If by the eye the fancie will be led,
But such as God doth loue, shall lust refraine,
Whilst wicked ones intrapped do remaine.
verse 29 The wicked fall, by her faire bayts, this I the preacher find,
verse 30 Of thousand men scarce one proue good: of women none by kind.
29.
Behold [...]th the Preacher, this haue I found seeking one by one to find the count.
Beleeue me well, I know it ouer well,
By many a one my selfe haue found it true,
I teach thee this, who best the same could tell,
And for the same with all my hart do rue,
And wish thee by my harme the like beware,
And for their new assaults thy selfe prepare.
For few or none, but do assaults abide
At first or last, and ouer many fall,
Thou doest not know thy strength, what may betide,
The wisest sort fall herein most of all:
In any case then trust not to thy strength,
Some dally with the fire, but burne at length.
30.
And yet my soule seeketh but I find it not: I haue found one man of a thousand: but a woman among them all haue I not found.
I must confesse, I would not men acquit,
From equall blame in this so grosse a sinne,
Beseeming not (in truth) their stronger wit,
To yeeld to them whom they from ill should winne,
And in this point, mongst thousands that I know,
One wise and perfect man, I scarce could show.
But of a world of women that this day,
Do prostrate their affections to their lust,
By my experience, sure I cannot say,
(Though others can perchance, and will I trust)
That one hath so reclaymd her life to good,
As that a new assault would be withstood.
verse 31 This only haue I found, that God did man most righteous make:
But men (for their originall grace) their owne inuentions take.
31.
Onely loe this haue I found, that God hath made man righteous, but they haue sought many inuentions.
So we and they, as wofull president
Of parents fall, to euill do incline,
He'is best at ease, that doth his sins repent,
And not of others sinnes too much define,
Nor yet his owne excuse: bad is the best,
This sinne, is but one sinne among the rest.
For though God made vs holy, pure and iust,
And gaue vs powre in righteousnesse to dwell,
Yet did our wils, so to our senses trust,
That it the vse of reason did expell:
Since which, a swarme of hatefull sinnes increase,
On thought, word, deed, and all our actions prease.
Chap. 8.
verse 1 Who is like the wise, who al things knows? his face with fauor shines
verse 2 The wise his Princes hests obserues, and to Gods word inclines.
1.
Who is as the wise man, and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? the wisedome of a man doth make his face to shine: & the strength of his face shall be changed.
IT stands him then vpon, who would withstand
This great calamitie of humane kind,
Another course of life to take in hand,
Then in the practise of the most we find,
And arm'd with wisedome gainst the flesh to fight,
Not yeelding cowardlike to lewd delight.
That is true wisedome worthy lasting fame,
That doth adorne with honor and with prayse,
Such as sincerely do imbrace the same,
That will transforme their life to better wayes,
And giue them grace with Prince and people still,
And in the end aduance their state it will.
2.
I aduertise thee to take heede [...] the mouth of the king, and to the word of the oth of God
It teacheth man his dutie vnto God,
And how with ciuill men he should conuerse,
With neighbours how to haue a kind abode,
Or with a people that are most peruerse:
To know what doth beseeme in euery case,
And how to walke, to win our soueraignes grace.
It will aduise thee (as I also do)
To be attentiue to thy Prince behest,
To be obsequious also thereunto,
So farre as may accord with all the rest,
Of lawes of God, of nature, and of state,
And to attend his pleasure rare and late.
verse 3 In ill persist not, but giue place, Princes their pleasure craue:
verse 4 His word of power who may withstand the thing he likes to haue?
3.
Hast not to go forth of his sight: stand not in an euil thing: for he will do whatsoeuer pleaseth him.
If so his liking did of thee require
A thing vnfit, not pleasing vnto thee,
I would not wish thee there withall retyre,
Or discontent in count'nance ought to bee,
But yeeld with patience rather to the same,
For to obedience, subiects ought to frame.
But if thy selfe by indiscretion haue
Offended him, persist not in thy wrong:
Of him it is no shame thy pardon craue,
For vnto Princes homage doth belong,
They haue the power of subiects to dispose,
Thy life and goods, to saue or else to loose.
4.
Where the word of the king is, there is power, and who shall say vnto him, what dost thou?
The Princes wrath is messenger of death,
His will a law, his words are firme decrees,
Their instruments are readie at a breath,
To pull the proudest rebels on their knees,
Such Maiestie and power in them is found,
With euery frowne a loyall hart they wound.
Who dare vnto account his soueraigne call,
Who to no power in earth inferiour is?
Who will not at his feet all prostrate fall,
Who hath the power to punish his amis?
As deputies to God, on earth they raigne,
And by his sword of Iustice state maintaine.
verse 5 Who keepes the law, is free from blame, the wise they times do know:
verse 6 The wise, with iudgement chuseth time, for things, lest trouble grow.
5.
He that keepeth the commaundements shal know none euill thing, and the hart of the wise shal know the time and iudgement.
Whose lawes (the godly wise) both must and will
Indeuour most exactly to obserue,
In euery point and tittle to fulfill,
And wittingly in nothing much to swarue:
So shall he for himselfe, best safety find,
And leaue the better name to world behind.
And (for they hardly can discharge aright
Their duetie, that their natiue lawes not know,
And that their ignorance cannot acquight,
Who may, and will not learne, more wise to grow)
The wise will therefore learne their duties furst:
The good, refraine th'euill, they might and durst.
6.
For to euery purpose there is a time and iudgement, because the miserie of man is great vpon him
And as in publike causes wise men vse,
To guide their actions warily and well:
And proper times and seasons euer chuse
For all they do, before therewith they mell:
(For proper times there are for euery thing,
Which good or ill successe with it doth bring.)
So in their priuate life they do obserue,
Expediencie of that they take in hand:
From care whereof, whilst some do rashly swarue,
(Because true wisedome they not vnderstand)
They into many mischiefes headlong fall,
Which afterwards too late they would recall.
verse 7 For what knowes he what shall succeed? he can not mend his fate,
verse 8 In life, death, battell, sinne cannot protect the wickeds state.
7.
For he knowes not that which shal be: for who can tell him when it shalbe.
For it lies not (no doubt) in powre of man,
To iudge aright of sequels and euents,
Though (by obseruance of things past) we can
Sometimes right neere coniecture of intents,
As like to haue successe as we desire:
But none can iudge the truth that they require.
It is but chance not iudgement if they hit,
So many errors do incounter them:
Those future knowledges for God are fit,
And none but he, that priuileage can claime;
For as for Reuelations few are now,
And diuelish arts, Gods word will not allow.
8.
Man is not Lord ouer the spirit to retaine the spirit: neither hath he power in the day of death, nor deliuerance in battell, neither shall wickednesse deliuer the possessors thereof.
And how should he be able to foretell,
An others haps or actions, can you thinke,
That not foresaw, what to himselfe befell,
Nor knew his perill being at pits brinke?
Nor could deferre his death or destiny,
With all the care he did thereto apply?
That could not tell the place, the dart should light,
That he in battell flong against his foe?
That cannot saue himselfe amidst the fight,
But beares the brunt (perhaps) of ouerthroe?
No wicked slight or art can sinners saue,
But that they sure (in fine) their merits haue.
verse 9 All these I note, and find sometime, mans powre his ouerthrow.
verse 10 These wicked die, yet worse succeed: the godly, none to know.
9.
All this haue I seen [...], and giuē mine heart to euery worke which is wrought vnder the sunne, and I saw a time that man ruleth ouer man to his owne hurt.
How farre (alas) doth all our skill come short
Of that great knowledge we pretend to haue?
My selfe haue tryed the same in euery sort
Of studie, to the which my selfe I gaue,
And yet there is no knowledge so obscure
Or easie, but I did the same inure.
Nay of the things, most common in my sight,
Which enery man can say, and witnesse true,
I groped at, as in obscurest night,
And could not see the reason how it grew:
That men (euen to themselues) most ruine bring,
And Magistrates their owne dependants wring.
10.
And likewise I saw the wicked buried, & they returned, and they that came from the holy place, were yet forgotten in the citie where they had done right: this also is vanitie.
For which the foolish world become so farre
From iust dislike of their iniust oppressions,
That liue and dead, they fear'd and praysed are,
And whose posterities get more possessions?
They flourish rather most by doing wrong,
As if the earth, did all to them belong.
But such as haue led long a holy life,
Deserued well of world and country all,
Haue bene pursued in life with hate and strife,
And euen at home forgot when death did call,
O vaine affection of the vulgar sort,
That maketh vice and vertue but a sport.
verse 11 Gods patience makes the wicked ones, more bold to heap vp sin,
verse 12 Which long deferd, is plagud in fine: when iust men blessed bin.
11.
Because sentence against an euill worke is not executed speedily, therefore the hart of the children of men is fully set on them to do euill.
These worldlings whilst they see the day deferd,
Of plague and iudgement of these wicked ones,
They do suppose their actions haue not erd,
But wisely were decreed for the nonce,
And so grew bold in practise of the same,
Till all the world, therewith grew out of frame.
These wicked ones themselues grow insolent,
And pride their minds in their presumpteous trade,
They are so farre from meaning to repent,
That wrong on wrong vpon the iust they lade,
Euen whilst they able are no more to beare,
So voide they are of any kind of feare.
12.
Though a sinner do euill an hundreth times, and God prolongeth his dayes, yet I know that it shall be well with them that feare the Lord, and do reue [...]ence before him.
But though they scape vnpunished awhile,
(For hundred yeares are but a while with God)
Though flatteringly them selues they do beguile,
And feele no smart of Gods correcting rod:
But rather find their dayes prolongd with peace,
As though their happinesse should neuer cease.
Yet sure I am, it one day shall be well
With such as in the feare of God do liue,
As in his holy lawes and Church do dwell,
And proofe of their beliefe in life do giue,
That they exempted farre from tyrants rage,
Shall liue and rest in peace an endlesse age.
verse 13 Who feares not God shall not escape: his daies as shadows pa [...];
verse 14 Though wicked men triumph sometimes, & iust men waile alas.
13.
But it shall not be well to the wicked, neither shal he prolong his dayes, he shall be like a shadow, because he feareth not before God.
When as contrariwise, the wicked one
Shall be dismounted from his seat of trust,
Dismayd and desolate, forlorne alone,
Pursu'd by heauen and earth, by iudgement iust:
Of God and man, forsaken and contemnd:
As he the innocent before condemnd.
The pompe and glory of his passed pride,
Like to a flowre, shall vanish and decay,
His life like ruines, downe shall headlong slide,
His fame like to a shadow vade away;
Because he feared not the God of might,
In iustice shall these woes vpon him light.
14.
There is a vanitie which is done vpon the earth▪ that ther be righteous men to whom it commeth according to the worke of the wicked: and there be wicked men to whom it commeth according to the worke of the iust: I thought also that this is vanitie.
And yet in truth, it is a wondrous case,
To see the iust so many woes sustaine,
(Not that I thinke that pitie can haue place
With wicked ones, to make them wrong refraine:
But that the God of iustice doth permit
His seruants, to be subiect vnto it.)
For you shall lightly see, the better man
The more afflicted in his worldly state,
The vilest person (worst that find you can)
Most wealthy'and loued most, though worthy hate,
But it is vaine to search Gods mind herein,
Thereof to descant I will not begin.
verse 15 I best commend a ioyfull vse, of blessings falne to share,
verse 16 For wisedome made me but behold, mans life more full of care.
15.
And I praysed ioy: for there is no goodnesse to man vnder the sunne, saue to eat and to drinke, and to reioyce: for this is adioined to his labour, the daies of his life, that God hath giuen him vnder the sunne
But drawing this discourse vnto an end,
Concluding it as I the former did,
I say, that in this life who doth intend,
Himselfe of many combers well to rid,
And to enioy the blisse that earth can giue,
Must cast off care, and seeke in peace to liue.
I meane those curious studies fore-reprou'd,
Which do but multiply a bootlesse care,
And ioy himselfe, when ioy may best be mou'd,
With vse of euery creature, and prepare
To take a plenteous part of them, as gaine
Of all his trauels to him shall remaine.
16.
When I applyed mine heart to know wisedome, and to behold the businesse that is done on earth, that neither day nor night the eies of man take sleepe.
For though it be a thing some wisemen vse,
And man by nature is thereto inclind,
And I my selfe the same did not refuse,
(Euen studies trauell to inrich my mind)
Who knew thereby what studie might attaine,
Or which a forward wit and will might gaine.
Who searched had mens actions curiously,
And all the accident that world doth yeeld:
Who in my selfe great part of them did try,
On others proofe did likewise knowledge build,
Both day and night applying thereunto
My busie braines, as many others do.
verse 17 I see therby Gods works profound, beyond mans reach to sound,
Be'he nere so wise: toile nere so much, their depth cannot be found.
17.
Then I beheld the whole works of God, that man can not find out the worke that is wrought vnder the sunne: for the which man laboureth to seeke it, and cannot find it: yea, & though the wise man thinke to know it, he cannot find it.
Yet (loe) I found that I much time had lost,
That all my studie was imployd in vaine,
That I in vaine my bookes had turnd and tost,
That my experience did small knowledge gaine,
That out the meanest creature God did make,
I might a new, full many a lesson take.
That all we know but meere supposall is,
That we know not the least of truth of them,
That in the principles of art we mis,
That we vniustly name of knowledge claime,
Who only truely know, we nothing know:
As wise men in the end, to see do grow.
Chap. 9.
verse 1 All this I know that wise & iust are Gods, whose loue showes not,
verse 2 By hap they haue: wise, fooles, good, bad, are subiect to like lot.
1.
I haue surely giuen mine hart to all this, and to declare all this, that the iust, and the wise, and their workes are in the hand of God: and no man knoweth either loue or hatred of all that is before them.
IT resteth now my part to perfect that,
I in my former speeches haue begunne,
That I may hit the marke I aymed at,
And so my course vnto your comfort runne,
That I may see that some, haue profit wonne.
Which I will do by laying plaine to thee,
The proofes which both by good and bad I make,
Their weale, nor woe, no perfect markes to bee
Of loue or hate of God, from whom we take
All powre, and all successe: and vaine are they
That mens intentions by their issue way.
2.
Al things come a like to all: and the same condition is to the iust, and to the wicked, to the good and to the pure, & to the polluted, and to him that sacri [...]iceth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner, he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oth.
For much a like, you all mens states shall find,
And like euents to good and bad befall,
To wisest men, as men most grossely blind,
To rich, as poore, and wretchedst man of all,
For in this life you none can happie call.
Obserue the man that is of honest mind,
And marke the most deceitfull man aliue,
Looke on the Athiest most profane by kind,
And holy man, and you shall see them thriue,
Both oft a like, the foule blaspheming wight,
As he that prayes, and serues God day and night.
verse 3 All during life to folly sold: a like all go to graue.
verse 4 In life is hope, liue dogs, more price (then once dead) Lyons haue.
3.
This is euill among all that is done vnder the sunne, that there is one cō dition to all, & also the heart of the sonnes of men is full of euill, and madnesse is in their hearts whilest they liue, and after that they go to the dead.
And sure of all the things that I do know,
It is the thing that seemes most strange to me,
That maketh wise men most amazed grow,
And best men most discouraged to bee,
When they their states, as hard as others see.
And that like others is their death in show,
As subiect vnto paine as wicked men,
Forgotten, be they once in graue below,
Their vertues (as not done) vnthought of then:
So that their cares, and fooles vnquiet dayes,
Both madnesse seeme, both die deuoide of prayse.
4.
Surely who so euer is ioyned to al the liuing, there is hope: for it is better to a liuing dog, then to a dead Lyon.
Hence doth proceede (no doubt) the prouerbe old,
That liuing dogge, dead Lyon doth excell,
With princely beast of noble courage bold,
Then, euery barking curre dare [...]ausly mell,
That liuing, durst not come within his smell.
The reason is right easie to be told,
Because he liuing could himselfe relieue:
Life doth in time new hopes and haps vnfold,
But death no hope or earthly hap doth giue;
Time worketh wonders (if our time we take)
Occasion (at our death) doth vs forsake.
verse 5 The liuing know that they must die, but dead things are forgot:
verse 6 Their loue & hate is quēcht, the earth more fruit affords thē not.
5.
For the liuing know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing at all: neither haue they any more reward: for their remembrance is forgotten.
And so accordingly do wise men vse,
Whilst yet they liue (and liuing haue the powre
To worke their wils) they proper times do chuse,
To perfect their intent, least death deflowre
Their sweetest hopes, who all things doth deuowre.
For well they see and may (it is no newes)
The man that now triumphes, to morne to die,
That dead, the foole the wisest will abuse,
And that the wisest then do senslesse lie,
And what vnperfected they left behind,
Neglected, and themselues soone out of mind.
6.
Also their loue, and their hatred, and their enuy is now perished, and they haue no more portion for euer, in all that is done vnder the sunne.
Their loue, their solace, and their chiefe delights,
Euen with their liues, expired and at end,
Their hate, their plots of high reuenge and spights,
And euery action that they did pretend,
Dead into graue with them each one descend.
Into that cabbin of eternall nights,
Where they no more the gladsome beames shall see,
Of shining sunne, the comfort of the wights
That in this mortall life yet lingring bee,
Those perturbations ryfe with humane kind,
Their now exchanged state no more shall find.
verse 7 With bread & wine, cheere then thy hart, the pledges of gods loue,
verse 8 With comely'aray cloth thou thy corps, thou pleasant balmes maist proue.
7.
Go, eate thy bread with ioy, and drinke thy wine with a cheereful hart: for God now accepte [...]h thy workes.
Thy part of earthly things, that lawfully
Thou mayst inioy, I therefore thee aduise,
Vse whilst thou mayest, for death comes speedily,
And crosses vnsuspected oft arise,
As euery mans experience daily tries.
Vse thou thy owne with plentie'and cheerefully,
Hurt not, but helpe thou others to thy powre,
And (if God gaue thee meanes aboundantly)
Do not thy selfe the same alone deuoure:
But as God gaue, so freely do thou giue,
Those almes best please, we vse whilst yet we liue.
8.
At all times let thy garments be white and let not oyle be lacking vpon thine head.
Thou needst not in thy dyet be precise,
As some perswade, and onely eat to liue,
Where choyse is set, to chuse in thee it lies,
All things were made for man, God all doth giue,
By bounty vs to thankfulnesse to driue.
Yea all the rich attyres thou canst deuise,
For different states of men ordayned were:
For Princes purples, for to please the eyes,
And all the precious gems that earth doth beare;
Yea sweet perfumes, for delicace ordaynd,
(If thou mayst haue them) need not be refraynd.
verse 9 Reioyce in thy chast spouses bed: since God her to thee gaue,
verse 10 What so thou woldst atchiue dispatch, no works are don in graue.
9.
Reioyce with thy wise whom thou hast loued all the dayes of the life of thy vanitie, which God hath giuē thee vnder the sunne, all the dayes of thy vanitie: for this is thy portion in the life, and in thy trauell wherein thou labourest vnder the sunne.
If that thy eyes behold a beautie rare,
Which doth delight thy hart, and loue inflame,
If that in lawfull band she proue thy share,
And that vnto thy loue, her loue she frame,
Thou mayst with comfort ioy thee in the same.
A comfort sure, to mitigate the care,
Which worldly troubles may on thee inflict,
The sweetest, God or nature could prepare,
Or out of all earths beauties could be pickt,
So great as none can iudge that are vnkind,
And on a single life do set their mind.
10.
All that thine hand shall find to do, do it with all thy power: for ther is neither work, nor intention, nor knowledg, nor wisedom in the graue whither thou goest.
And (at a word for all) what else beside
In all the world, thou hast a mind vnto,
(So that in vse thereof a measure guide)
Thou art no whit restraind the same to do,
But do it quickly, least death all vndo.
For death diuerteth all, who can abide
The fury of his force, if once he smight?
To do (what thou woulst do) then take thy tide,
For in the darkesome graue of deadly night
No knowledge, wisedom, powre, there doth remaine,
All is forgot, all purposes are vaine.
verse 11 The worthy want, the wise, the strōg haue oft times guerdon smal.
verse 12 None knows his houre, as birds in snare are caught, so mē do fall.
11.
I returned and saw vnder the sunne that the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor also riches to men of vnderstanding, neither yet fauor to mē of knowledge: but time & chance commeth to them all.
By these obseruances I sought to win,
The happinesse which I did in part attaine,
But all gaine not the goale, the running bin,
Nor haue the spoyle that fight the field to gaine,
Nor to the wise doth alwayes wealth remaine.
Nay many needy sterne, and new begin
The world, whose wits and industries were good,
Their best indeuours stand on tickle pin,
And consterd are as they are vnderstood,
By such on whom the common wealth doth stay,
And time and chance in each thing beares a sway.
12.
For neither doth mā know his time, but as the fishes, which are taken in an euill net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the children of mē snared in the euill time when it falleth vpon them suddenly.
We must acknowledge it in very deed,
The ordinance of God it should be so,
For well I know, that none can take such heed,
But headlong he into the snare may go,
(Say yea who will) if God alone say no.
Like harmelesse fish, that in the waters breed,
And fearelesse fowle that in the ayre are free,
Whose innocencies serue to little steed,
When nets and snares by fraud extended bee:
So man, by time and chance intrapped is,
(If wicked will) though nothing his amis.
verse 13 This thing in wisdome I haue markt, which seemeth strāge to me,
verse 14 A city weake of strength and men, by Monarke sieg'd to be.
13.
I haue also seene this wisedome vnder the sunne, and it is great vnto me.
Which being (as we see the Lords decree)
Improperly we attribute to chance,
His will in time, produceth that to thee
Which thou supposest, fortune did aduance,
So wide, mans wisedome from the truth doth glance.
True wisedome rather, sure will let thee see
How to apply thy state, to each euent,
With no aduerse incounter quaild to bee,
But all things take and vse, as God them sent,
And seeing this ingratefull peruerse age,
(By view of others wrongs) thy griefe asswage:
14.
A litle citie and few men in it, and a great king came against it, and campassed it about, & builded fortes against it.
As I my selfe haue done, who sometimes saw,
A weake vnfortified citie sieg'd,
By powrefull Prince, who armies great did draw
T'ingirt their wals, and libertie abridge,
That none could scape, though wings were nere so flidge.
The towne not populate to scape their iaw,
By any skirmishes of saly out,
His raised bulwarkes kept them so in awe,
And forside trenches compast so about,
As if the Eagle houering ouer pray,
At pleasure readie were his talents lay.
verse 15 Which one wise mā though poore relieu'd, yet was his worth forgot
verse 16 Yet (say I) wisedome more auaild then force: yet boots it not.
15.
And there was found therein a poore and wise man, and he deliuered the citie by his wisedome: but none remembred this poore man.
When yet I saw (a worthy thing to see)
A man of small account for wealth or state,
But yet (indeed) both bold and wise was hee,
Who raysd the siege, and so did foes abate,
That towne and people, thereby freedome gate.
But when they were miraculously free,
(Lo strange vngratitude but common sin)
This worthy man began neglect to bee,
And deeds forgot, as they had neuer bin:
Though all did tast the fruit of his desart,
Not one layd vp his vertues in his hart.
16.
Then said I, better is wisedome then strength: yet the wisedome of the poore is dispised, and his words are not heard.
Yet this, his worthy prowesse in my sight
Was such, as I could neuer but admire,
And makes me thinke that they in vaine do fight,
That haue all wealth and powre they can desire,
If pollicie they want, if cause require.
And them vnwise (I hold) that iudge a wight
By his apparance outwardly or pealth,
In poore mens words the rich haue small delight,
For they account them fooles that haue not wealth,
Yet at their need, their helpe perforce they vse,
Their owne turne seru'd, to helpe them they refuse.
verse 17 Yet wise mens words the good regard: though fooles aduise reiect.
verse 18 And wisedome passeth powre of armes, & sin brings woes effect.
17.
The words of the wise are more heard in quietnesse, then the cry of him that ruleth among fooles.
But these my words I know that some will hold,
To be a partiall speech of litle wit,
For tales vnto the foolish wisely told,
Can scarce haue hearing, and small fauour git,
Vnlesse vnto their humors it do fit.
Vnto the wise I speake, of such I would
Haue credit, euen as they the truth do know,
I might grow hoarce with preaching if I should,
Seeke some to win to bend vnto my bow:
Few words among the wise, haue greater place,
Then long orations, with vnskilfull race.
18.
Better is wisedome then weapons of warre: but one sinner destroyeth much good
To such I say (as this example proues)
That wisedome is a thing of greater powre,
And that a solid reason sooner moues,
If well applyed, in conuenient howre,
Then Cannons shot, that batters on a towre.
And that one action more then well behoues,
(Mistaking or neglecting of his due)
All former wisedome of a man reproues,
And maketh many errors more insue:
For as one bitter herbe the broth doth spill,
So one misdeed may worke to many ill.
Chap. 10.
verse 1 Dead flies do sweetest oyles corrupt, so follies small the wise
verse 2 Disgrace: but wise men things feresee, though foole insnard he lies.
1.
Dead flies cause to stinke and putrifie the oyntment of the Apothecarie: so doth a little folly him that is in estimation for wisdome and for glory.
THou therefore, who art once reputed wise,
Hadst need full warily thy selfe to guide,
For looke how much more high thy fame doth rise,
More sharper censure art thou like to bide,
If in a slender matter thou shouldst slide.
For looke how soone thou seest the drowned flyes,
In sweetest droogs Apothecaries make,
Corrupt them so, that men it straight despise,
Which they before, did for most precious take:
So be thou sure one vice shall staine thee more,
Then many vertuous deedes, thee praysd before.
2.
The heart of a wise man is as his right hand: but the hart of a foole is as his left hand.
Thou farther seest, that wisedome is the thing
In all assayes, best worthy of esteeme,
Who doth her followers vnto honour bring,
And makes their actions alwayes gracious seeme,
And men their words, like Oracles to deeme.
From all extremes she shields them with her wing,
They find reliefe euen readie at their hand,
When foolish folke (with euery trifle) wring,
And like left-handed helpes amazed stand,
Not knowing how to othe [...]s helpe to breed,
Nor yet themselues to hel [...]e in time of need.
verse 3 The foole to all men showes his wit, each thing doth him amaze,
verse 4 The wise (though Prince offended be) his fitter time he stayes.
3.
And also when the foole goeth by the way, his heart faileth, and he telleth vnto all, that he is a foole.
If they in iudgement, once do go astray,
They headlong fall, and neuer see the same,
If once they misse the vsuall common way,
Vnto a better course they cannot frame,
But lie and perish to their lasting shame.
Their downefals they haue not the wit to stay,
Nor to conceale their fault from any one,
Nay they will blase their shame (say who will nay)
To euery one, though done a part alone,
Yea they will boast thereof, and it defend,
If that the standers by will hearing lend.
4.
If the spirit of him that ruleth rise vp against thee, leaue not thy place: for gentlenesse pacifieth great sinnes.
Which if they should, and that their powre permit,
Be not dismayd, but vse thou wisedome then,
Giue them the honour, for their place is fit,
And then remember that they are but men,
And vse good words, as wisedome teacheth when.
For words well vsed, workes the grossest wits
Vnto a plient patience, more to heare,
And patience, fauour more in time begits;
And time forgetfulnesse, if thou forbeare,
And mild forbearance, makes thy fault the lesse,
And him his fault (if grace he haue) confesse.
verse 5 This euill on earth I oft haue seene, great rulers greatly fall,
verse 6 The foole aduanst, the rich and wise reiected most of all.
5.
There is an euil that I haue seene vnder the sunne, as an error that proceedeth from the face of him that ruleth.
But yet this rule I find not alwayes true,
Nay rather often times it fayleth quight,
(A thing I cannot mend, though it I rue,
And is the thing I hold the greatest spight,
That euer may to common wealth alight.)
To see that those to whom all rule is due,
And should be guides to other men in good,
Should all the vices of the world insue,
And may not be by any meanes withstood;
By whose examples, many others fall
To ruine; as do shrubs with Cedar tall.
6.
Folly is set in great excellencie, and the rich set in the low place.
How can it be in any other wise,
If folly sit in seat of excellence,
Like will to like, and as the bad arise,
Downe goes the good, and vertue'is banisht thence,
(For wicked ones in wicked seeke defence.)
Pure vertue naked in a beggers guise,
May wander for protection and for ayde,
For euery one her merits will despise,
Because like gifts, their natures haue denayd,
Thus topsie turuie euery thing will grow,
As cart, the horse: the sterne, ships way should show.
verse 7 Slaues by desart a cockhorse ride, right nobles lackie by,
verse 8 But who layes snares, himselfe may fall: and pricks in hedges try.
7.
I haue seene seruants on horses, & Princes walking as seruants on the ground.
For what obsurder thing can you suppose,
Then what is oftentimes before your eye?
When you on cockhorse see a prauncing those,
Whose birth and qualities you may despise,
Whilst wise and noble both contemned lies.
Nay lackie-like in trotting, time do loose,
In seruing such as know not true desart,
A worser life there could be no way chose,
Or that could more torment an honest hart:
For where shall they expect their paines reward,
Which they to foole all readie see is shard.
8.
He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it, and he that breaketh the hedge a Serpent shall bite him.
But for my part I can be well content,
To yeeld all honor where God honor giues,
But yet oppressors should in time repent,
For God in heauen a iudge for euer liues,
And to confusion wicked worldlings driues.
He doth preuent their fraudulent intent,
And makes them fall into the pit they cast,
Whilst they indeuour others to preuent,
The Serpents sting to martyr them as fast:
For fraud with fraud, is oftentimes repayd,
And wicked snard, in grin for others layd.
verse 9 Bounds changers, and wood stealers are, oft tane and punished:
verse 10 By slight & force men may do much, but blunt wits cut like lead.
9.
He that remoueth stones, shall hurt himselfe thereby, and he that cutteth wood, shall be in danger thereby.
If lawes of kingdomes chastisement procure,
For such as alter auncient bounds of land,
If that poore pilfring hedge-breakers be sure
To sit in stockes, if owners vnderstand,
And euery crime is punisht out of hand.
Shall wrong, or shall oppression still assure
The mightie ones, to tread the weaker downe,
Nay God the king of kings will not endure,
But in his wrath on them will fiercely frowne,
For though his patient suffring doth excell,
(Yet moued long) he striketh downe to hell.
10.
If the yron be blunt, and one hath not whet the edge, he must then put too more strength: but the excellencie to direct a thing is wisedome.
Let no man therefore so misuse his wit,
To hurt of neighbour, or to proper shame,
But let him do the thing he findeth fit,
And let him wisely his intentions frame,
So shall lesse toyle, more sweet insue the same.
For as the dulled toole craues force with it,
Of doubled strength to make it pierce aright,
Yet will (with all thy paines) scarce cut awhit,
Vnlesse thou ioyne thy skill vnto thy might:
So in all actions reason must be guide,
Else no good issue will the same betide.
verse 11 As serpents sting, if charmes do want; so babbling tongs do bight,
verse 12 Himselfe he doth deuour: whilst words of wise men do delight.
11.
If the Serpent bite when he is not charmed, no better is a babbler.
And as in deeds, euen so in words beware
How thou dost guide thy tongue in any case,
Wherein to find a wise man, it is rare,
Licentious speech hath now so common place,
And slanderous tongues, do find such speciall grace.
Yet not the Serpents which in Lybia are,
Whilst they vncharmed lye in wait for man,
More daungerously do sting: or do prepare
More present poyson, then vile slander can,
If it haue hearing once, and credit lent,
It will destroy the saint most innocent.
12.
The words of the mouth of a wise man haue grace: but the lips of a foole deuoure himselfe.
The lauish tatling tongue on prating set,
Spares no man, nor regardeth what it sayth,
It cuts like to a razor which is whet,
And prickes himselfe which rashly with it playth,
And him that so it vseth, fond bewrayth.
But wise men speake when matter good they get,
With modestie, and vnto matter good,
Out of their lips no vaine vntruths they let,
They speake distinctly to be vnderstood,
And words accompany'd with matter graue,
For which of all they commendations haue.
verse 13 His speech begins with foolish talke, with wicked madnesse ends,
verse 14 Increasing words of future things, strange questions he defends.
13.
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishnesse, and the latter end of his mouth is wickednesse.
Fooles if they once begin, can neuer end,
And with their will they all the words will haue,
They loue to heare themselues, and will defend
Their follies, euen before the wise and graue,
And thinke they (brauely) do themselues behaue.
They do begin their speech (if eare you lend)
With vaine and foolish talkes, or lying toyes,
But in the middle they to mischiefe bend,
In fine with madnesse ends he, and annoyes
The honest eare and soule, that heares him speake,
And them compell his senslesse tale to breake.
14.
For the foole multiplyeth words, saying▪ man knoweth not what shall be, and who can tell him what shall be after him.
From table talke and childish toyes, he growes
To highest points of learning and of skill,
In deepe points of diuinitie he showes,
That with best learned clarke compare he will,
And all the world with paradoxes fill.
Gods secrets he by inspiration knowes,
He prophecies of things yet long to come,
With super-naturall skill he ouerflowes,
And in each science seemeth to haue some,
When silly wretch, his knowledge is but small,
For in those points, the best knowe nought at all.
verse 15 He tyres himselfe in highest points, yet knowes not common way,
verse 16 O wretched land, ruld by such child, whose peeres do feast by day.
15.
The labour of the foolish doth weary him: for he knoweth not to go into the citie.
Thus do the foolish vainely take in hand,
To vexe their braines, with things for them to hie,
They know that future things none vnderstand,
Yet they their faculties therein will try,
Such wise fooles (fondly wise) the world hath many.
It fares with them (if it be rightly scand)
As with the blind that would the seeing guide,
As if one wandring in an vncouth land,
Would those instruct, the way dwell hard beside:
They silly fooles, know not their next way home,
And yet their wits would ouer all things rome.
16.
Wo to thee, ô land, when the king is a child; and thy Princes eat in the morning,
Wo be to such, that by such ruled are,
But speciall wo be to thee land, where they
Do beare the Scepter, least they all do marre,
As ill as infants when they beare the sway,
Who not themselues, much lesse thy state can stay.
And doubled is thy woe and mischiefe farre,
If that thy Magistrates (who should aduise
Their Prince in highest points of peace or warre)
To banqueting and surfets early rise,
Neglecting common good, which first of all
With temperate braine, they should to counsell call.
verse 17 But blest ô land, where honor rules, where Nobles feed to liue.
verse 18 By sloth the house decays, & rain through top of roofe doth driue.
17.
[...]lessed art thou [...] land, when thy king is the sonne of Nobles, and thy Princes eat in time, for strength and not for drunkennesse.
And thou thrice happy soyle, whose Prince descends
Of pedegree of Emp'rors and of Kings
Of auncient honor, which to vertue bends;
Whose rule both peace and plenty to thee brings,
Where through thy fame, mōgst forrē regions rings.
And happy Prince, whom God a Councell sends
Of noble Peeres and wise, whose watchfull eyes
Thy subiects from all forren foes defends,
And ciuill broyles that might at home arise,
Such do in temperate wise their plentie vse,
And feed for strength, and plenty not abuse.
18.
By slothfulnes the roofe of the house goeth to decay, & by the idlenes of the hand the house droppeth through.
They cause the Pesant, in sweet peace manure
The land, the treasury of wealths encrease:
Vnto the needy they do worke procure,
And see the poore, with wealthy liue in peace,
And all oppression in the land to cease.
Their waking eyes doth Princes state assure,
Doth to the people courage giue to toyle,
Gaines to themselues a fame shall aye indure,
Giues to the foe the most disgracefull foyle;
All this with paine and diligence is wonne,
Slouth ruines all, makes all to hauock ronne.
verse 19 Bread strēgthens hart, wine cheers the mind, but siluer al doth by,
verse 20 Curse not thy king or Peeres in thought, lest birds the same descry.
19.
They prepare bread for laughter, and wine comforteth the liuing, but siluer answereth to all.
They giue the safetie, for to vse thy owne,
And peace, of plentie that thou mayest feed,
Thou feedst by them, of best on earth hath growne,
Of fatlings, which thy flocks and heards do breed,
To recreate thy soule at time of need.
And for by gold and siluer wealth is showne,
They do inrich the land with purest quine,
By which thy trafficke farre and neere is knowne,
And Indian gems, and Arabian drugs are thine,
Gold gayneth all, and Ophire gold thou hast,
Then happie thou, if hap in wealth be plast.
20.
Curse not the king, no not in thy thought, neither curse the rich in thy bed chamber: for the heauen shall carry thy voice, and that which hath wings, shall declare the matter.
Then slander not such Prince, that counsell graue,
By whom so many benefits we find,
Their many merits, many thankes do craue,
Each honest hart to reuerent loue they bind,
And base backbiters only are vnkind.
The lawes of God, and nature willed haue,
The Magistrate should reuerenced bee,
The lawes of man the bounds vnto thee gaue
Of words and deeds, but God the thought doth see,
In deed then, word, and thought them honor aye,
Least flying fowles of ayre, thy guilt bewray.
Chap. 11.
verse 1 Cast bread on waters, freely spend: ere long thou shalt it find.
verse 2 To seuen & seuen, giue if they need: earths wants are great behind
1.
Cast thy bread vpō the waters: for after many days thou shalt find it.
NOw since no lesse discretion is requir'd
In vsing wealth, then getting of the same,
And that the bounteous mind is most admir'd,
Doth profit others most, and gaines best name,
I therefore wish thereto thy hart to frame.
I would not haue thy hand too quickly tyrde,
Nor too respectiue vnto whom to giue,
Some I haue seene for shame haue not desyrde
An almes, whom greatest need to craue might driue:
Though water powred in the sea seeme vaine,
Yet needlesse gift, a gratefull hart may gaine.
2.
Giue a portion to seuen, & also to eight: for thou knowest not what euill shall be vpon the earth.
Some giue in hope a gift to gaine thereby,
Such gifts, I rather bribes, then gifts do call,
Some feare to giue, least they themselues may try
Like want ere long: and so giue nought at all,
Some sometimes giue, but yet their gifts are small.
But I would haue thy almes giuen cheerefully
Vnaskt, sometimes if crau'd, to none denide,
Let none lacke (to thy powre) in need that lye,
And to preuent their need, some goods deuide,
For God all bountie is, and so should we
Dispose our goods, if like him we would be.
verse 3 If clouds be full, raine fals on earth: and trees in north & south.
verse 4 Who sowes and reapes by rules of wind, but little land he plow'th.
3.
If the clo [...]des be full, they wil powre forth raine vpon the earth: and if the tree do fall toward the South, or toward the North, in the place that the tree falleth, there it shal be.
Yea looke how plenteously thou seest the raine,
Fro out the deaw-fild clouds on earth distill,
So long as any drops in them remaine,
Wherewith earths dryed cesterns vp to fill,
So in thy almes be thou as forward still.
And as each soile, some sap from heauen doth gaine,
And euery tree and shrub of deaw hath part,
So thinke thou not thy gift bestowd in vaine,
To whom or when so ere thou giuing art:
And if thy store be great, more mayst thou spend,
If lesse, yet some, vnto more needy lend.
4.
He that obserueth the wind, shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shal not reape.
Take all occasions to be doing well,
Let euery season for it proper seeme,
The husbandmen that most in skill excell,
Though sometimes they to sow more fit do deeme,
Yet to be too precise, vnfit esteeme.
Who marketh alwaies where the wind doth dwell,
And feareth euery cloud that is in sky,
But little corne shall sow or reape to sell,
If alwaies he do guide his workes thereby:
So giue thou when thou maist, and thinke thy store
Increast thereby, no whit impaird the more.
verse 5 As child in wombe, so al things God makes grow vnknown to thee.
verse 6 Thē morn & euen, sow thou thy seed: God knows which best shalbe
5.
As thou knowest not which is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the wombe of her that is with child: so thou knowest not the worke of God that worketh all.
Thinke this, that euen that God which gaue to thee
The present blessings that thou dost possesse,
Thy charitable workes, from heauen doth see.
And will thy labours in due season blesse,
If thou thy faith, by neighbours loue expresse.
And thinke that as the infants borne that bee,
Conceiued are, do grow, do liue, do feed,
And be by birth in time from prison free,
By meanes vnknowne, to mothers them that breed,
Se be assur'd, that God which it hath wrought,
Can wealth restore, by meanes to thee vnthought.
6.
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the euening let not thine hand rest: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, this or that, or whether both shall be a like good.
Both rath and late at euery time and tide,
Then do vnto thy power, some almes deed,
Without some others good, let no day slide,
So oft as thou canst find aman hath need,
And who this can performe, is blest indeed.
For man can not his worke so wisely guide,
To know to whom, and when to giue is best,
But who for pittie giues, and not for pride,
Though needlesly some fall among the rest,
Yet some (no doubt) is blessedly bestowd,
And in thy will of good, good worke is showd.
verse 7 Sure life is sweete; and all desire, long time to see the sunne.
verse 8 Though long life last, yet death maks hast: & times do vainly run.
7.
Surely the light is a pleasant thing: and it is a good thing to the eyes to see the sunne.
And since (but whilst thou liu'st) thy goods are thine,
And what thou freely giu'st deserueth prayse,
Giue while thou mayst, so mayst thou find in fine,
Well sau'd, what well was spent in liuing dayes,
(For godly worke, with God aye present stayes.)
Long mayst thou liue, but must in end decline
To death, the end of euery liuing thing:
To yeeld to death, yet needst thou not repine,
If liuing thou to man, no good canst bring:
And hauing left some good by life to men,
More welcome death may be vnto thee then.
8.
Though a man liue many yeares, and in them all he reioyce, yet he shal remember the dayes of darknesse, because they are many, all that commeth is vanitie.
For death thou knowest, vnto life is due,
And life doth but prepare a man to die,
Liues cares, a daily death in vs renue,
To worke in vs consent to death thereby,
Which else no flesh (with patience) sure would try.
The many dayes or yeares which do insue,
Of wariest gouernment to happiest wight,
Cannot perswade him but that this is true,
That lightsome day will turne to darksome night,
That times most long haue end and what doth vade,
Is little better then a very shade.
verse 9 Reioyce in youth, fulfill desire, yet know God iudgeth all,
verse 10 To clense thy hart, & wicked flesh: graue age, vain youth doth cal.
9.
Reioyce ô young man in thy youth, and let thine h [...]rt chere thee in the dayes of thy youth: and wa [...]ke in the wayes of thine h [...]rt, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know that for all these things, God will bring thee to iudgement.
Delight he then in what so ere he please,
In youth, in beauty, strength, or wealthy store,
Let him delight himselfe, in vse of these,
And cheare his hart (as cause he hath) therefore
Yet let him thinke death knocketh at his dore.
And that they all, do vanish with their wayes,
That God alone remayneth euer [...]ure,
That only vertue with vs longest stayes,
And can eternall blessednesse procure,
When to the iudgement of a God seuere,
Our workes must come, who all in mind doth beare.
10.
Therefore take away griefe out of thine heart, & cause euill to depart from thy flesh, for childhood and youth are vanitie.
Let him, and all the wise whilst yet they may,
Prepare themselues to beare with chearefull mind,
The fierce assaults, in death that for vs stay,
And but by faith can strong resistance find,
Since all our other workes come short behind.
Let vs abandon euery wicked way,
And lay our treasure vp in heauen aboue,
Youth is a flowre that springeth out in May,
But euery frost or blast doth soone remoue,
But heauen and heauenly ioyes will still remaine,
When youth and earthly works proue meerely vaine.
Chap. 12.
verse 1 Remember thy creator then, in these thy youthfull dayes,
Ere croked age all pleasure to thy lothed life denayes.
1.
Remember now thy creator in the daies of thy youth, whilst the euill dayes come not,
ANd since thou canst not shun deaths fatall day,
And as the tree doth fall so shall it rise,
(Whilst yet thou mayst) prepare a quiet way
Vnto thy soule, which in such danger lies,
If thou in time reliefe do not deuise.
The earth and earthly things, do helpe denay,
Heauen is the harbor, where thy soule doth dwell,
Let not thy hope on earth then longer stay,
But it and workes thereof from hart expell,
Delay no time in hope long life to haue,
Youth may, age must, ere long time go to graue.
Nor the yeares approach wherein thou shalt say, I haue no pleasure in them.
To heauen thy progresse thou dost wish to make,
Then cloth thy selfe accordingly therefore,
The clogs of worldly loue and lust forsake,
And thinke them burdens to thee euermore,
And in thy life, haue lights of vertue store.
Let thought of thy creator thee awake
From sinnes of youth, hart burdensome in age,
Remember God account of thee will take,
If thy repentance not his wrath asswage,
Yea leaue thou sinne, ere lust leaue tempting thee,
Thy abstinence else, can not vertue bee.
verse 2 Whilst sunne, moone, stars seeme light: and rayny clouds are farre,
verse 3 Whilst keepers of thy house are strong, whose pillers stedfast are.
2.
Wh [...]les the sunne is not darke, nor the light, nor the moone, nor the starres, nor the clouds returne after the raine.
The feeble members which haue lost their might,
(Through which their senses did affection proue)
No maruell now, if they take lesse delight
In vaine prospects which they tofore did loue,
Since they the meanes do want doth liking moue.
The sunne, moone, stars (heauens ornamēt, earths light)
Can yeeld small comfort to the senslesse corse,
When all thy ioynts begin by day and night,
Do tyre thy life, and breed the soules remorse,
No maruell if thou then, proue continent,
But thou shouldst temp'rance euen in youth frequent.
3.
When the keepers of the house shall trē ble, and the strong mē shall [...]ow thēselues.
Before this glorious building do decay,
Wherein thy soule doth soiourne as a guest,
Thy comely body which erecteth aye,
The thought and eyes to heauen as mansion blest,
Grow feeble, and therein thou find no rest.
When trembling hand, his duety doth denay,
And brainefalne thighes, and legs bend vnder thee,
When lamed limbs on others strength must stay,
And crouches (in their steed) of force must bee,
What time thou twise a child, shalt weary grow,
That thou the strength of youth didst euer kuow.
Ere teeth wax few, and windowes closd, deny thy eyes the light.
verse 4 And dore shut vp, thy grinding iaws, to chaw haue lost their might.
4.
And the grinders shal cease, because they are few, & they wax darke that looke out by the windowes.
Before the Cators of thy diet fayle,
Those Iuorie teeth which do thy food prepare,
Which lost or loose, their labours not auayle,
But broths and minst-meats must become thy share,
And sharpned knife, thy toothlesse gums must spare.
Before that darksome mists thy eyes assayle,
Whose watchfull sight thy Centinell should bee,
When (christall humor failing) they shall quayle,
And spectacles must teach them now to see,
Or closed windowes force thee take thy leaue
Of worlds vaine shades, which did the soule deceaue.
And the dores shall be shut out by the base sound of the grinding.
Before thy wanny cheekes sinke hollowed in,
(In which well formed words should fashion haue)
And corrall lips which haue their portall bin,
And plyant tongue which elocution gaue,
Now faltering signes, for interpretors do craue.
Whilst those white cliffes (the bounders which begin,
The repercussion causing sweet resound)
Stand firme on rocke of their iaw ioyning chin,
Through which they gracious passage somtimes found,
And form'd that powrefull gift of eloquence,
The root of sweet content and sharp offence.
Ere sleeplesse braine, at birds voice start, and singing pipes be base.
verse 5 And high assents, do make thee feard, and almonds bud on face.
5.
And he shall rise vp at the voice of the bird: and all the daughters of singing shall be abased.
Before thy dryed braynes doe rest denye
Vnto thy tyred bones, and carefull mind,
And comfortlesse the longsome night thou lye
In bed (thy graue) for ease tofore assignd,
And starts at each birds chirpe, or puffe of wind.
Before thy organe pypes with horcenesse dry,
Restraine the passage of thy breathing voyce,
Wherewith (resembling heauens true harmony)
Thy musicke notes vsed eares and hearts reioyce,
In liew whereof should hollow coffes succeede,
Which in corrupted loongs obstructions breed.
Also they shall be affraid of the hie thing, and feare shall be in the way, and the Almond tree shall flourish.
Before thou tyr'd at euery step must stay,
And clamber small assents on hand and knee,
And stumbling at each straw lyes in the way,
A spectacle of feeble nature bee,
To all that doth thy fearefull fashion see.
Before the harbengers of age (I say)
Euen grie [...]ly haires do blossome on thy chin,
(Which for most part declyning state bewray,
As Almond bud, showes sommer to begin)
Prepare thy selfe, for death the haruest due,
Which after spring time, must of course insue.
Ere weaknesse make the grashopper, a burden seeme, and lust
Consume, for sure concupiscence, with age doth weare to dust.
5 (cont.).
And the Grashopper shall be a burden▪
Before the childish toyes of infants lust,
Begin to want the wings of warmed blood,
And that thy body yeeld (as once it must)
To age, by which that humor is withstood,
To leaue the vse thereof I thinke it good.
For looke how of May deaw, and sommers dust,
The wanton Grashopper doth quickly grow,
And singes in haruest tide vntill he brust,
So doth lusts pleasure vanish ere you know,
Like to Ephemeris, that Tanaish flie,
Morne bred, noone borne, that very night to die.
And concupiscence shall be driuen away.
Not those faire frutes which by Gemorra grow,
Which touched once, straight vnto dust do fall,
Are more deceitfull then this sinne in show,
Nor yet that fruit which first deceiu'd vs all,
Although regard thereof we haue but small.
Lust like a Torrent soone doth ouerflow,
If that accesse of nutriment abound,
But in a moment straight it waxeth low,
As by experience hath bene euer found:
Not Ammons (of faire Thamor) foule desyre
So fierce, but quencht, with loathing did retyre.
Before in ages [...]ed (thy graue) thou he, whilst thee they morne.
verse 6 Thy siluer cord and golden ewre, and liues pure cesterne worne,
6.
For a mā goeth to the house of his age, and the mourners go about in the streete.
Then leaue that lothsome snare of humane kind,
The common cankor of the best concait,
Most powrefull passion that doth reason blind,
And to more brutish sins, th'alluring bait,
And thinke on death which doth on thee awaight.
Suppose each ringing knell puts thee in mind,
That thou art in the way vnto thy graue,
Take heed that death thee vnprepar'd not find,
But so in all thy life, thy selfe behaue,
As if thou were the man whose turne is next,
And wouldst not with a sudden death be vext.
Whiles the siluer cord is not lengthened, nor the golden ewre broken, nor the pitcher broken at the well, nor the whele broken at the cesterne.
Before (I say) the vitall spirits faile,
Or that thy radick humors all be spent,
That cramps do siluer cords of raynes assaile,
And natures intercourse no more be sent
From liuer hart and braine as earst it went.
Before warme bloud with I sey fleame do quaile,
And pulslesse leaue thy ouer emptie vaine,
Before the (cesterne made for liues auaile)
Thy stomake now no sustenance retaine,
But all the wheles of nature lacking strength
To giue them motion, they do faile at length.
verse 7 And flesh to dust, thy spright to God returne that it did make:
verse 8 For all is vaine (the preacher saith) and all will vs forsake.
7.
And dust returne to the earth as it was, and the spirit returne to God that gaue it.
For then (be sure) thy dayes are neere an end,
And flesh dissolued turneth vnto dust,
Then yeeld thereto, before perforce thou bend,
And in thy strength of youth repose no trust,
Nor place thy ioy in earth or earthly lust.
Thy nobler part (thy soule) it did descend
From God, first mouer of all life and grace,
Who therefore doth chiefe interest pretend
In thee and it, and will thy soule imbrace,
Amidst the heauens of his eternall rest,
If faith and loue haue once thy way adrest.
8.
Vanitie of vanities, sayth the Preacher, all is vanitie.
Thus haue I (sayth this Preacher) proued true,
The proposition that I first did make,
That earthly things are vaine in vse and view,
That in them we, can not sound comfort take,
And that in th'end we must them all forsake.
That wisedome only, vertue should insue,
And vertue is the way to happinesse,
Which after death, doth life againe renue,
A life more happie then the world can gesse,
When we shall liue from lewd affections free,
And in that world no vaine delights shall bee.
verse 9 These things and more he spake, for more he knew the more he taught,
His people knowledge, for their good, in all his words he sought.
9.
And the more wise the Preacher was, the more he taught the people knowledge,
Full many other learned workes beside
He wrote, for more he knew the more he taught,
Whereby themselues the godly sort might guide,
Vnto the wisedome which they wrongly sought,
And he with care and study dearely bought.
Three thousand morall rules in writ abide,
In prouerbs and in adages for skill,
So sound that they worlds censure may abide,
And to a ciuill life reduce thee will,
Without offence of lawes, and with content
Of such with whom thou daily shalt frequent.
And caused them to heare.
Of natures workes with supernaturall skill,
He many volumes did compose likewise,
Not curious workes as some profanely will,
Of Alcumy, or iudgements which arise
By heauenly motions, farre aboue the skies.
But he his knowledge hath contained still,
Within the lawfull bounds of Gods decree,
And therefore many volumes he did fill
With medcinable vse, of things which bee
Abstracted out, of tree, shrub, mettall, stone,
Of beast, fish, fowle, and creatures euery one.
He sought by parables to giue, them precepts how to liue.
verse 10 And with adorned words, to them he doubly grace did giue.
10.
And searched forth, and prepared many parables.
His heauenly Muse with wings of zeale did fly
Aboue the common pitch of earthly men,
And so inflamed were his thoughts thereby,
With holy liking of his loue as then,
That he could not containe his gratefull pen.
In thousand songs and fiue his powers did try,
The prayses of his sacred soules delight,
In whom sweet peace and loue he did espy,
Which from him, loue of world did banish quight;
Among the which that song of songs by name,
Describes her beautie, did him so inflame.
The preacher sought to find out pleasant words, and an vpright writing, euen the words of truth.
But this his large discourse was chiefly ment,
To teach the world to know how farre they stray,
That do by earthly helpes a meane inuent
To leade their liues vnto a happie day,
Since nature wholy doth the same denay.
Which (for it crosseth carnall mens content,
And hardly may amongst most wise haue place)
By this most pleasant stile, about he went
To giue to naked truth a comely grace:
For hardly can corrupted man digest
Right wholesome food, vnlesse it well be drest.
verse 11 For wise words, are like goades and nailes which workmens hands do ding
verse 12 Vaine bookes and reading shun, they wearinesse of flesh do bring.
11.
The words of the wise are like goades, & like nayles fastened by the masters of the assemblies, which are giuē by one Pastor.
And wise mens sayings, spoken to the wise,
Well fraught with matter couched well by art,
Adornd with words, and figures (whence arise
Content vnto the eare, and moue the hart)
Most soone do worke impressions in each part.
And as they sooner pierce, so firmlier lies,
The mind resolued in such fownded ground,
Than any planke or post you can deuise,
With nayle (by hammers) forced nere to sound;
And such this princely Prophets words esteeme,
Which are more waighty far, thē thou woulst deeme.
12.
And of other things besides these my sonne take thou heed: for there is none end in making many bookes, and much reading is a wearinesse of the flesh.
And let this graue aduice of father mild,
Which louingly he wrote, I bring to thee,
Be neuer from thy hart so farre exild,
That with the world againe sedust thou bee,
Wherein is nought but wretchednesse you see.
And striue to practise as you knowledge build,
Else is your learning vnto little end,
These many bookes wherewith this world is fild,
Do slender profit to the readers lend,
Which stuft with words of superficiall show,
But little fruit by them to world doth grow.
verse 13 Heare th'end of all; feare God, & keepe his law, this is mans dew:
verse 14 For God wil iudge ech work, & bring our secret thoghts to vew.
13.
Let vs heare the end of all: feare God and keepe his commaundements▪ for this is the whole dutie of a man.
The end of all true wisedome is in this,
To know the will of God, and it obserue;
To know his will, and yet to walke amis,
A double chastisement must needs deserue,
Then feare henceforth therefro so oft to swarue.
No seruile feare which I perswade it is,
But such as gratefull child to parent owes,
VVho though he feele the smart, the rod will kisse,
Because the fruit of fathers loue he knowes;
And this doth God require of man indeed,
That our obedience should from loue proceed.
14.
For God will bring euery worke vnto iudgment, with euery secret thing, whether it be good or euill.
The breach whereof will heauie iudgement call,
VVhen God the searcher of the heart and raines,
Shall vnto reckning with vs for them fall,
And pay our passed ioyes with lasting paines;
For sinfull worke no other guerdon gaines.
O happie then shall they be most of all,
VVhose heedfull liues, in holy workes were spent,
The gaine of this their trauell, is not small;
For blessed they the narrow path that went.
And though this narrow gate few enter in,
Yet who runs on this race, the prize shall win.
FINIS.