Solomon's recantation Intituled Ecclesiastes, paraphras'd. With A Soliloquy or Meditation Upon Every Chapter. By Francis Quarles |
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| II. |
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| III. |
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| IV. |
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| V. |
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 | CHAP. I. Solomon's recantation |  |
I Solomon, whose choice Affections own
The Churches Service dearer than my Throne,
Was chosen and anointed King, and now
Wear Israel's Crown upon my studious Brow:
I bent my Heart, by Wisdom, to descry
What e're subsists beneath the spangled Skye;
With such hard Travel hath our God thought good
To exercise the Souls of Flesh and Blood.
My Thoughts have ponder'd all that hath been done
Betwixt the solid Centre and the Sun,
And lo! the Object of my Contemplation
Is but meer Vanity, and Souls Vexation.
Not all this Knowledge can reduce the State
Of crooked Nature to a perfect Strait;
Nor sum our Ignorances, which surmount
The Language of Arithmaticks Account.
I view'd my Heart, and there found greater Store
Of Wisdom, than all those that liv'd before:
No Knowledge could remain, no Wisdom lie
Close from mine Ear, nor clouded from mine Eye.
I gave my all-enquiring Heart to know
Not Wisdom only, but e'en Folly too:
And I perceiv'd that all this Contemplation
Was vain, and nothing but the Soul's Vexation:
For he that labours for much Wisdom, gains
Grief in th'Enjoyment; in pursuit but Pains:
And who improves his Knowledge, strives to borrow
A fair Advantage to increase his Sorrow.
The Churches Service dearer than my Throne,
Was chosen and anointed King, and now
Wear Israel's Crown upon my studious Brow:
I bent my Heart, by Wisdom, to descry
What e're subsists beneath the spangled Skye;
With such hard Travel hath our God thought good
To exercise the Souls of Flesh and Blood.
My Thoughts have ponder'd all that hath been done
Betwixt the solid Centre and the Sun,
And lo! the Object of my Contemplation
Is but meer Vanity, and Souls Vexation.
Not all this Knowledge can reduce the State
Of crooked Nature to a perfect Strait;
5
The Language of Arithmaticks Account.
I view'd my Heart, and there found greater Store
Of Wisdom, than all those that liv'd before:
No Knowledge could remain, no Wisdom lie
Close from mine Ear, nor clouded from mine Eye.
I gave my all-enquiring Heart to know
Not Wisdom only, but e'en Folly too:
And I perceiv'd that all this Contemplation
Was vain, and nothing but the Soul's Vexation:
For he that labours for much Wisdom, gains
Grief in th'Enjoyment; in pursuit but Pains:
And who improves his Knowledge, strives to borrow
A fair Advantage to increase his Sorrow.
| CHAP. I. Solomon's recantation | |