life is subjected to a continual round of the 9 same things; for the thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done, [is] that which shall be done and 10 [there is] no new [thing] under the sun. Is there [any] thing whereof it may be said, See, this [is] new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. This is certain; yet we need not be surprised if it should not appear so to us, considering the defects of all 11 historical records, since [there is] no perfect remembrance of former [things;] neither shall there be [any] perfect remembrance of [things] that are to come with [those] that shall come afterwards.

SECT. III. THE VANITY OF LABORIOUS
INQUIRIES INTO THE WAYS AND WORKS
OF MAN.

12* I, Solomon, the Preacher, am king over 13 Israel, in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all human [things] that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man, to be exercised therewith, i. e. as a trial of their patience, humility, and resignation. 14 I have seen and diligently investigated all the

works that are done by men under the sun: and, behold, all such study and inquiry [is] vanity in regard to the Chief Good of man,

and rather produces vexation of spirit than 15 substantial happiness. [That which is] crooked cannot be made straight by such knowledge; and it is at best so imperfect, that that which is wanting and defective in it cannot be num16 bered. This conclusion is confirmed by my own experience, for I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom, respecting the pursuits and works of man, than all [they] that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart had great experience of this 17 kind of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart, laboured diligently to know the works and pursuits of human wisdom, and also to know the works and pursuits of human madness and folly; but I perceived that the ardent thirst after this knowledge also is pro18 ductive of vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom, of this description, [is] much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge of the labours, either of human wisdom or human folly, increaseth sorrow, since he perceives the more clearly, and thereby laments the more deeply, the vanity of all human pursuits.

SECT. IV. LUXURY AND PLEASURE ARE ONLY VANITY AND VEXATION OF SPIRIT.

CHAP. II. 1. BEING disappointed in my expectations of happiness from curious and

philosophical speculations, I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure, and try whether luxury and merriment afford more solid satisfaction; and, behold, this also [is] vanity, as I found 2 from experience. I said of loud and excessive laughter, [it is] mad; it is a mere phrensy of the mind; and of extravagant mirth, what 3 doeth [it] as to rational satisfaction? I also made trial of another kind of luxury and pleasure, and sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, (yet, at the same time, acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and conducting myself with discretion,) and to lay hold on other pleasures which, in the end, are found to be folly, till, by these experiments, I might see what [was] that real good for the sons of men, which they should do and pursue under the 4 heaven all the days of their life. In furtherance of this object, I made me great and magnificent works; I builded me houses; I 5 planted me vineyards; I made me gardens

and orchards; and I planted trees in them of 6 all [kind of] fruits; I made me pools of

water, to water therewith the wood or nursery 7 that bringeth forth trees; I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle, of herds and flocks, above

8*all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I gat me men-singers and womensingers; and, in short, I procured all the de9 lights of human luxury. So I was great, and increased in wealth and splendour more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also amid these scenes of royal luxury and magnificence my wisdom, which was the gift of God, remained with me unimpaired; (ver. 3.) 10 And thus, preserving the empire of reason, I proved my heart with pleasure, and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy it desired; and I enjoyed all the delights this could afford, for my heart rejoiced for a season in all my labour which I took in the pursuit of pleasure; and, after all, this was my portion, the only thing that accrued to me, of all my labour, 11*that I looked and mused on all the works that

my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do in expectation of obtaining happiness from luxury and selfindulgence; and, behold, all [was] vanity in respect to the Supreme Good, and produced vexation of spirit, instead of substantial happiness: and, as far as regards the real end of life, [there was] no profit in them under the sun.

12

SECT. V. THOUGH THE WISE EXCEL FOOLS,
YET, AS DEATH HAPPENS TO THEM BOTH,
HUMAN LEARNING IS BUT VANITY.

And I turned myself to behold and to contemplate the wisdom, and madness, and folly of mankind; (and the result merits attention, for what more in this research [can] the man [do,] whoever he may be, that cometh after the king? He can only do [even] that which hath been already done by me; he can form no other 13 judgment than I have done.) Then I saw, indeed, from such an inquiry, that human wisdom excelleth human folly, as far as light, which discloses the beauties of creation, excelleth darkness, which conceals them in obscurity: because 14 the wise man's eyes [are] in his head, in con

sequence of which he sees and avoids dangers; but the fool walketh in darkness, and stumbles into fatal errors: and yet, notwithstanding this superiority of worldly wisdom, I, myself, perceived also that one event, death, happeneth 15 to them all. Then said I in my heart, This is the case that as it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me who excel in wisdom, both being subject to misery and death; and why was I then solicitous to become more wise than others, since I am not thereby exempted from the stroke of fate? Then I said in my heart, that this earthly wisdom also [is] vanity