Study Desk

Be not haistely angrie in yi mynde, for wrath resteth in the bosome of a foole.

Saye not thou: What is the cause that ye dayes of ye olde tyme were better, then they yt be now? for that were no wyse question.

For wy?dome defendeth as well as moneye, and the excellent knowlege and wy?dome geueth life vnto him that hath it in possession.

Vse well the tyme of prosperite, and remembre the tyme of mysfortune: for God maketh the one by the other, so that a man can fynde nothinge els.

These ij. thiges also haue I cosidred in ye tyme of vanite: yt the iust man perisheth for his rightuousnes sake, & the vngodly liueth in his wickednesse.

It is good for the to take holde of this, & not to let yt go out of thy hande. For he yt feareth God shal escape them all.

for there is not one iust vpo earth, yt doth good, & sinneth not.

for thine owne hert knoweth, that thou thy self also hast oft tymes spoke euell by other men.

All these thinges haue I proued because of wy?dome: for I thought to be wyse, but she wente farther fro me

And I founde, that a woman is bytterer then death: for she is a very angle, hir hert is a nett, and hir handes are cheynes. Who so pleaseth God shal escape from her, but the synner will be taken wt her.

Be not haistie to go out of his sight, & se thou cotynue in no euell thinge: for what so euer it pleaseth him, yt doeth he.

For euery thinge wil haue opportunite and iudgment, and this is the thinge that maketh men full of carefulnes & sorowe.

And why? a man knoweth not what is for to come, for who wyll tell him?

For I haue oft sene ye vngodly brought to their graues, and fallen downe from the hye and glorious place: in so moch yt they were forgotten in the cite, where they were had in so hye & greate reputacion. This is also a vayne thinge.

Agayne, as for the vngodly, it shall not be well with him, nether shal he prologe his dayes: but euen as a shadowe, so shall he be that feareth not God.

Therfore I commende gladnesse, because a man hath no better thinge vnder the Sonne, then to eate and drynke, and to be mery: for that shal he haue of his laboure all the daies of his life, which God geueth him vnder the Sonne.+

I vnderstode of all ye workes of God, that it is not possible for a man, to attayne vnto ye workes that are done vnder ye Sonne: and though he bestowe his laboure to seke them out, yet can he not reach vnto the: yee though a wyse man wolde vndertake to knowe them, yet might he not fynde them.

For all these thinges purposed I in my mynde to seke out. The righteus and wyse yee and their workes also are in the hande of God: and there is no man that knoweth ether the loue or hate of the thinge that he hath before him.

And why? As longe as a man lyueth, he is careles: for a quyck dogg (saye they) is better the a deed lion:

for they that be lyuynge, knowe yt they shall dye: but they yt be deed, knowe nothinge, nether deserue they eny more. For their memoriall is forgotte,