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Fashion of it perifheth; fo alfo fhall the rich Man fade away in his Ways.

a Riches are not for ever; neither doth the Crown endure to every Generation.

When Goods increafe, they are increased that eat them; and what good is there to the Owners thereof, faving the beholding of them with their Eyes?

Sometimes Riches are kept for the Owners thereof to their Hurt: For thofe Riches perish by evil Travail; and he begetteth a Son, and there is nothing in his Hand. All his Days alfo he eateth in Darknefs, and he hath much Sorrow and Wrath in his Sickness."

◄ There is an Evil common among Men; namely, a Man to whom God giveth Riches, Wealth, and Honour; fo that he wanteth nothing for his Soul of all: that he defireth; yet God giveth him not Power to cat thereof, but a Stranger eateth it. This is Vanity, and it is an evil Disease.

eThere is one who hath neither Child nor Brother; yet is there no End of all his Labour; neither is his Eye fatisfied with Riches; neither faith he, For whom do I labour and bereave my Soul of Good? This is alfo Vanity; yea, it is a fore Travail..

There be juft Men, unto whom it happeneth according to the Work of the Wicked. Again, there be wicked Men, to whom it happeneth according to the Work of the Righteous. This is allo Vanity.

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Sometimes likewife it fo happens that Servants are feen upon Horfes, and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth.

For this is an Evil among all Things that are done under the Sun, that there is one Event unto all; and no Man knoweth either Love or Hatred, by all that is before them.

i The Eye is not fatisfied with feeing, nor the Ear filled with hearing. All the Labour of Man is for the Mouth; and yet the Appetite is not filled. He that loveth Silver, is not fatisfied with Silver; nor he that loveth Abundance, with Increase: For that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

The Wandring of the Defire. This is alfo Vanity and Vexation of Spirit.

1 Favour is deceitful, and Beauty is vain. In the Multitude of Dreams and many Words, there are alfo divers Vanities.

m

Seeing then there be many Things that increase Vanity, what is Man the better?

• Man, whofe Breath is in his Noftrils, wherein is he to be accounted of? As he came forth of his Mother's Womb, naked fhall he return, to go as he came; and fhall take nothing of his Labour which he may carry away in his Hand, in all Points as he came, fo fhall he go: And what Profit hath he that hath laboured for the Wind?

g Ecclef. 10. 7.

h Ecclef. 9. 3. I.

Ecclef. 1. 8.

Ecclef. 6. 7. Ecclef. 5. 10. Ecclef. I. 15. k Ecclef. 6. 9.

Prov. 31. 30.
m Ecclef. 5. 7.
Ecclef. 5. 15, 16.

2.22.

Ecclef. 6. 11.

o Ifa.

He

He heapeth up Riches, and knoweth not who fhall gather them; his Sons come to Honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

a There is no Remembrance of former Things, neither shall there be any Remembrance of Things that are to come, with those that shall come after.

The Thing that hath been, it is that which fhall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new Thing under the Sun. Surely our Fathers have inherited Lies, Vanity, and Things wherein there is no Profit; and though their Way were Folly, yet their Posterity approve their Sayings.

S

Behold, is it not of the Lord that the People labour in the very Fire, and weary themselves for very Vanity? They weave the Spider's Web: their Web fhall not become Garments; neither hall they cover themselves with their Works. Wherefore turn not afide from following the Lord; for then fhall you go after vain Things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. For the Creature was made fubject to Vanity.

I would not live always, because my Days are Vanity. As a Servant earnestly defireth the Shadow, and as an Hireling looketh for the Reward of his Work; fa longeth my Soul for thee, O God, becaufe thy Loving-kindness is better than Life.

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The IGNORANCE of MAN.

Vain Man would be wife, though Man be born like a wild Afs's Colt. He faith he will be wife, but it is far from him; for the Thoughts of the Wife are vain.

* We are but of Yesterday, and know nothing.

We wait for Light, but behold Obfcurity; for Brightnefs, but we walk in Darknefs; we grope for the Wall like the Blind; we ftumble at Noon-day as in the Night.

The Way of Peace we know not, there is no Judgment in our Goings; we have made us

crooked Paths.

The Way of a Mán is not in himself; it is not in Man that walketh to direct his Steps. Man's Goings are of the Lord: How can a Man then understand his own Way? His Heart devifeth his Way, but the Lord directeth his Steps.

If any Man think that he knoweth any Thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

Boaft not thyself of To-morrow; for thou knoweft not what a Day may bring forth. We know not what thall be on the Morrow.

Great Men are not always wife, neither do the Aged understand Judgment.

e Where is the Wife? Where is the Scribe? Where is the Difputer of this World? Their

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Ecclef. 7. 23.

1 Cor. 3. 20. x Job 8. 9. z Ifa. 59. 8. a Jer. 10. 23. Prov. 16. 9. b 1 Cor. 8. 2.

↓ Job 32.9.

c Prov. 27. I. Ifa.

e 1 Cor. 1. 20.

Wisdom,

Wisdom, and their Knowledge, it hath perverted them: They are wearied in the Multitude of their Counfels. For the Wifdom of this World, and of the Princes of this World, cometh to nought.

There is a Way that feemeth right unto a Man; but the End thereof are the Ways of Death.

The Foolithnefs of Man perverteth his Way; and his Heart fretteth against the Lord.

A Where fhall Wisdom be found? and where is the Place of Understanding? Man knoweth not the Price thereof; neither is it found in the Land of the Living.

The WEAKNESS and INSUFFICIENCY of MAN.

i We are not fufficient of ourselves to think any Thing as of ourselves; but our Sufficiency is of God.

* We have no Might, neither know we what to do, but our Eyes are upon thee, O Lord. We could have no Power at all, except it were given us from above. And we cannot go beyond the Commandment or Permiffion of the Lord, to do Good or Bad, lefs or more, of our own Mind.

It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure, Thou, Lord, haft wrought all our good Works in us. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that theweth Mercy. Neither is he

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