Books, Bible, Old Testament, Book of Ecclesiastes

NIV. To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

John Evelyn's Diary. 6th January 1692. At the funeral of Mr. Boyle, at St. Martin's [Map], Dr. Burnet (age 48), Bishop of Salisbury, preached on Eccles. II 26. He concluded with an eulogy due to the deceased, who made God and religion the scope of all his excellent talents in the knowledge of nature, and who had arrived to so high a degree in it, accompanied with such zeal and extraordinary piety, which he showed in the whole course of his life, particularly in his exemplary charity on all occasions,-that he gave £1,000 yearly to the distressed refugees of France and Ireland; was at the charge of translating the Scriptures into the Irish and Indian tongues, and was now promoting a Turkish translation, as he had formerly done of Grotius "on the Truth of the Christian Religion" into Arabic, which he caused to be dispersed in the eastern countries; that he had settled a fund for preachers who should preach expressly against Atheists, Libertines, Socinians, and Jews; that he had in his will given £8,000 to charitable uses; but that his private charities were extraordinary. He dilated on his learning in Hebrew and Greek, his reading of the fathers, and solid knowledge in theology, once deliberating about taking Holy Orders, and that at the time of restoration of King Charles II, when he might have made a great figure in the nation as to secular honor and titles, his fear of not being able to discharge so weighty a duty as the first, made him decline that, and his humility the other. He spoke of his civility to strangers, the great good which he did by his experience in medicine and chemistry, and to what noble ends he applied himself to his darling studies; the works, both pious and useful, which he published; the exact life he led, and the happy end he made. Something was touched of his sister, the Lady Ranelagh, who died but a few days before him. And truly all this was but his due, without any grain of flattery.

NIV. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

KJB. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.

NIV. Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning.

KJB. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

vae tibi terra cuius rex est puer et cuius principes mane comedunt

Thomas Walsingham Chronicon Angliæ 1422. Reflecting upon these things and his notable deeds, his subjects greatly feared and deeply mourned the sudden and terrible change of the hand of the Most High; and no wonder, since in place of such a powerful and wise King and Lord, adorned with all good virtues, they received as their King and Lord his son, not yet of age, weak and inexperienced, to rule so many and such great kingdoms and dominions inherited by him. Fearing that saying of Solomon, 'Woe² to the land whose king is a child,' etc., unless the mercy of His goodness should intervene, who works wonders as much in small things as in great, whose hand is not shortened that it cannot do good, provided that, like our King, we become humble and small in His eyes and in ours, and remain undivided in our actions and good counsel.

Hæc et ejus gesta notabilia ejus subditi animo revolventes, do tam subitanea et terribili mutatione dextræ Excelsi plurimum formidabant, ac indicibiliter condolebant; nec mirum, cum pro tam potentissimo Rege et Domino sapiente, et omnibus bonis moribus adornato, reciperent pro eorum Rege et Domino ejus filium nondum annalem, invalidum et improvidura, ad regendum tot et tanta regna et dominia sibi hæreditaria¹ pcrtinentia; illud "Væ," Salomonis metuentes, "cujus² terræ rex puer est, etc.;" nisi Ejus bonitatis dementia subveniat, qui asque mirabilia operatur in minimis ut in magnis, cujus manus non est abbreviata quin faciat bonum, dummodo in ejus et nostris oculis, ad modum nostri Regis, humiles efficiamur et parvuli, et in nostris actibus et bonis consiliis indivisi.

Note 1. hæreditarie in the printed texts.

Note 2. Eccles. X. 16.

NIV. Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.

KJB. Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.

KJV. But if a man lives many years And rejoices in them all, Yet let him remember the days of darkness, For they will be many. All that is coming is vanity.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 20th January 1667. Having done with him, home mightily satisfied with my being with him, and coming home I to church, and there, beyond expectation, find our seat, and all the church crammed, by twice as many people as used to be: and to my great joy find Mr. Frampton (age 44) in the pulpit; so to my great joy I hear him preach, and I think the best sermon, for goodness and oratory, without affectation or study, that ever I heard in my life. The truth is, he preaches the most like an apostle that ever I heard man; and it was much the best time that ever I spent in my life at church. His text, Ecclesiastes xi., verse 8th - the words, "But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity". He done, I home, and there Michell and his wife, and we dined and mighty merry, I mightily taken more and more with her.