University of Virginia Library

50 ECCLESIASTES 3.

Like to the stereles boote that swerues with euery wynde,
The slipper topp of worldely welthe by crewell prof I fynde.
Skace hath the seade, wherof that nature foremethe man,
Receuid lief, when deathe him yeldes to earth wher he began.
The grafted plants with payn, wherof wee hoped frute,
To roote them vpp, with blossomes sprede, then is our chief porsute.
That erst we rered vpp, we undermyne agame;
And shred the spraies whose grouthe some tyme we laboured with paine.
Eache frowarde thretning chere of fortune maiks vs playne,
And euery plesant showe reuiues our wofull herts againe.
Auncient walles to race is our unstable guyse,
And of their wether beten stones to buylde some new deuyse.
New fanzes dayly spring, which vaade returning moo;
And now we practyse to optaine that strayt we must forgoo.
Some tyme we seke to spare that afterward we wast,
And that we trauelid sore to knitt for to unclose as fast.
In sober sylence now our quiet lipps we closse,
And with vnbrydled toungs furth with our secret herts disclosse.
Suche as in folded armes we did embrace, we haate;
Whom strayte we reconsill againe and banishe all debate.
My sede with labour sowne, suche frute produceth me,
To wast my lief in contraries that neuer shall agree.
From God these heuy cares ar sent for our vnrests,
And with suche burdens for our welth he frauteth full our brests.
All that the Lord hathe wrought, hath bewtey and good grace,
And to eache thing assined is the proper tyme and place.
And graunted eke to man, of all the worldes estate
And of eache thinge wrought in the same, to argue and debate.
Which arte though it approche the heuenly knowlege moste,
To serche the naturall grounde of things yet all is labor loste.
But then the wandering eyes, that longe for suertey sought,
Founde that by paine no certayne welth might in this world be bought.
Who lieuth in delight and seks no gredy thryfte,
But frely spends his goods, may thinke it as a secret gifte.
Fulfilled shall it be, what so the Lorde intende,
Which no deuice of mans witt may advaunce, nor yet defende;
Who made all thing of nought, that Adams chyldren might
Lerne how to dread the Lord, that wrought suche wonders in their sight.
The gresly wonders past, which tyme wearse owt of mynde,
To be renewed in our dayes the Lord hath so assynde.
Lo! thuse his carfull skourge dothe stele on us vnware,
Which, when the fleshe hath clene forgott, he dothe againe repaire.
When I in this uaine serche had wanderyd sore my witt,
I saw a rioall throne wheras that Iustice should haue sitt;
In stede of whom I saw, with fyerce and crwell mode,
Wher Wrong was set, that blody beast, that drounke the giltles blode.
Then thought I thus: “One day the Lord shall sitt in dome,
To vewe his flock, and chose the pure; the spotted haue no rome.”
Ye be suche skourges sent that eache agreuid mynde,
Lyke the brute beasts that swell in rage and fury by ther kynde,
His erroure may confesse, when he hath wreasteled longe;
And then with pacience may him arme, the sure defence of wronge.
For death, that of the beaste the carion doth deuoure,
Unto the noble kynde of man presents the fatall hower.
The perfitt forme that God hathe ether geuen to man
Or other beast, dissolue it shall to earth wher it began.
And who can tell yf that the sowle of man ascende,
Or with the body if it dye, and to the ground decende.
Wherfore eache gredy hart that riches seks to gayne,
Gather may he that sauery frutte that springeth of his payne.
A meane conuenient welth I meane to take in worth,
And with a hand of larges eke in measure poore it fourth.
For treasure spent in lyef, the bodye dothe sustayne;
The heire shall waste the whourlded gold amassed with muche payne.
Ne may foresight of man suche order geue in lyef,
For to foreknow who shall reioyce their gotten good with stryef.