In what sense this Booke is sometimes called Salomons, we haue shewed in the argument before the Booke of wisdom. As likewise that it is Canonical Scripture. wherto we might adde more testimonies of ancient Fathers: as S. Clement of Alexandria, li. 1. c. 8. ^note Pedagogi, Origen. ho. 8. in Numer. & ho. 1. in Ezech. S. Cyprian de opere & eleemos. S. Athanasius in Synopsi, & li. de virginitate. S. Basil in regul. disput. resp. 104. S. Gregorie Nazianzen. Orat. 2. aduers. Iulian. S. Epiphanius. hær. 76. & in Ancorato. S. Hilarie, in Psal. 144. S. Ambrose de bono mortis. c. 8. & Ser. 22. in Psal. 118. S. Chrysostom ho. 33. ad populum Antioch. S. Augustin, li. 2. ca. 8. Doct. Christ. & li. 17. c. 20. de Ciuit. S. Gregorie the great, in Psal. 50. and manie others expresly cite this booke as holie Scripture. But chiefly we relie vpon the auctoritie of the Church defining that it is Canonical.

It was written by Iesus the sonne of Sirach in Hebrew, about the time of Simon Iustus, otherwise called Priscus: and translated into Greke by the auctors Nephew, as the same Translator testifieth in his Prologue, but expresseth not his owne name. ^note It is called Ecclesiasticus, which signifieth a Collector or Gatherer, as a common title of euerie ordinarie preacher, instructing and exhorting the multitude gathered to a sermon: with difference from Ecclesiastes: which signifieth The Preacher, as a greater title of the chief or principal Preacher of anie Church, Citie, or Prouince, and agreeth most eminently to Christ our Sauiour: who preached, and sendeth preachers to the whole world. ^note And for the excellent contents, it may also rightly be called Panaretos, that is, a Receptacle, or storehouse of al vertues, for the instruction of al in general, to cooperate with Gods grace in this life, and so enherite eternal glorie. ^{note note} In fourtie and three whole chapters, are mixtly the commendations, and precepts of al sortes of vertues; sometimes in particular, but more often vnder the general names of wisdom and Iustice. In the other eight chapters are recited manie excellent examples of most renowmed holie men: with praises and thankes to God. The knowlege of manie and great thinges hath bene shewed vs by the Law, and the Prophetes, and others that folowed them: in which we ought ^note to prayse Israel for doctrine & wisdom: because not onlie they in speaking must nedes be cunning, but strangers also both lerning & writing, may become most lerned. My grandfather Iesus, after he gaue himselfe more amply to the diligence of reading the Law, and the Prophetes, and other Bookes, that were deliuered vs from our fathers: himself also would write some of those thinges, which perteyne to doctrine and wisdom: that such as are desirous to lerne, and to be made counning in the same thinges, may more and more be attent in minde, and be confirmed to the life that is according to the law. I exhort you therfore to come with beneuolence, and to read with attent studie, and to pardon vs for those thinges, wherein we seming to folow the image of wisdom, may

fayle in the composition of wordes: for the Hebrew wordes also ^notefayle when they shal be translated to an other tongue. And not onlie these, but the Law also itself, and the Prophetes, and the rest of other bookes, haue no smal difference, when they are spoken within themselues. For in the eight and thirteth yeare, in the time of Ptolomee Euergetes the king, after I came into Ægypt: and when I had bene there much time, I found there bookes leaft, of no smal nor contemptible doctrine. Therfore myself also thought it good, and necessarie ta adde some diligence and labour to interprete this booke: and with much watching I brought forth this doctrin in space of time, that men may lerne those thinges which teach them, that wil applie their minde, how they ought to order their maners, them that purpose to lead their life according to the Law of our Lord. ECCLESIASTICVS. Chap. I. ^note wisdom procedeth from God, appeareth in his creatures. 10. and is geuen in competent measure to al that feare God, ^note 16. it bringeth al vertues, 27. excludeth al vices, 33. and is to be sought in simplicitie of hart.

1   Al wisdom is of our Lord God, & hath bene alwayes with him, & is before al time.

2   The sand of the sea, & the droppes of rayne, & the dayes of the world ^notewho hath numbred? The height of heauen, and breadth of the earth, & profunditie of the depth who hath measured?

3   The wisdom of God that goeth before al thinges who hath searched out?

4   Wisdom was created before al thinges, & the vnderstanding of prudence from euerlasting.

5   A fountayne of wisdom the word of God on high, and the entrance therof euerlasting commandments.

6   The roote of wisdom to whom hath it bene reueled, & the subtilties therof who hath knowen?

7   The discipline of wisdom to whom hath it bene reueled, and made manifest, and the multiplication of her entrance who hath vnderstood?

8   There is one most high Creatour omnipotent, and mightie King, and to be feared excedingly, sitting vpon his throne and the God of dominion.

9   He created her in the Holie Ghost, and hath sene, and nummbred, and measured her.

10   And he hath powred her out vpon al his workes, and vpon al flesh according to his

gift, and hath geuen her to them that feare him.

11   The feare of our Lord is ^note glorie, and gloriation, and ioy, and a crowne of exultation.

12   The feare of our Lord shal delight the hart, and shal geue ioy, gladnes in length of dayes.

13   With him that feareth our Lord it shal be wel in the later end, and in the day of his death he shal be blessed.

14   The loue of God is honorable wisdom.

15   But they to whom she shal appeare in vision, they loue her in the vision, and in the agnising of her great workes.

16   The feare of our Lord, is the begynning of wisdom, and was created with the faythful in the wombe, and goeth with the elect wemen, and is knowen with the iust and faythful.

17   The feare of our Lord is religiositie of knowlege.

18   Religiositie shal keepe and iustifiie the hart, shal geue ioy and gladnes.

19   With him that feareth our Lord it shal be wel, and in the dayes of his consummation he shal be blessed.

20   The fulnesse of wisdom is to feare God, and fulnesse is of the fruites therof.

21   Al her house she shal fil with her generations, and the storehouses with her treasures.

22   A crowne of wisdom, the feare of our Lord, replenishing place, and the fruite of saluation :

23   and he hath sene, and numbred her: but both are the giftes of God.

24   Wisdom shal distribute knowlege, and vnderstanding of prudence: and exalteth the glotie of them that hold it.

25   The roote of wisdom is to feare our Lord: for the boughes therof are of long time.

26   In the treasures of wisdom is vnderstanding, & religiositie of knowlege, but to sinners wisdom is abomination.

27   The feare of our Lord expelleth sinne:

28   for he that is without feare, can not be iustified: for the anger of his animositie, is his subuersion.

29   Vntil a time the patient shal susteyne, and after shal be rewarded of ioyfulnes.

30   A good vnderstanding wil hide his wordes vntil a time, and the lippes of manie shal shew forth his vnderstanding.

31   In the treasures of wisdom is signification of discipline:

32   but the worshipe of God, ^note is abomination to a sinner.

33   Sonne, couering wisdom, keepe iustice, and God wil geue her to thee.

34   For the feare of our Lord is wisdom and discipline: and that which wel pleaseth him,

35   is fayth, and meeknes, and he wil fil his treasures.

36   Be not incredulous to the feare of our Lord: and come not to him with a duble hart.

37   Be not an hypocrite in the sight of men, and be not scandalized in thy lippes.

38   Attend to them, left perhaps thou fal, and bring dishonour to thy soule,

39   and God

reuele thy secretes, and in the middes of the synagogue cast thee downe:

40   because thou camest to our Lord wickedly, & thy hart is ful of guile and deceite. Chap. II. whosoeuer wil serue God must haue iustice, feare of God, and patience; 6. with confidence in God. 14. Dissemblers, incredulous, and impatient shal be miserable; 18. but the godlie shal receiue more grace.

1   Sonne coming to the seruice of God, stand in iustice, and in feare, & prepare thy soule to tentation.

2   Represse thy hart, & susteyne: incline thine eare, & receiue the wordes of vnderstanding: ^note and make no hast in the time of ^note obduction.

3   Susteyne the sustentations of God: be ioyned to God, and susteyne, that thy life may increase in the later end.

4   Al, that shal be applied to thee, receiue: and in sorow susteyne, and in thy humiliation haue patience:

5   for gold and siluer are tryed in the fyre, but acceptable men in the fornace of humiliation.

6   Beleue God, and he wil recouer thee: and direct thy way, and hope in him. Keepe his feare, and grow old therin.

7   Ye that feare our Lord expect his mercie: & decline not from him lest ye fal.

8   Ye that feare our Lord, beleue him, and your reward shal not be voyde.

9   Ye that feare our Lord, hope in him: and mercie shal come to your for your delectation.

10   Ye that feare our Lord, loue him, & your hartes shal be illuminated.

11   Children behold the nations of men: and know ye that none hath hoped in our Lord, and hath bene confounded.

12   For who hath continewed in his commandment, and hath bene forsaken? or who hath inuocated him, and he despised him?

13   Because God is pitiful and merciful, and wil forgeue sinnes in the day of tribulation: and he is protector to al that seeke him in truth.

14    ^noteWoe to them of a duble hart, and to wicked lippes, and to the handes that doe euil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two wayes.

15   Woe to them that be dissolute of hart, which beleue not God: and therefore they shal not be protected of him.

16   Woe be to them, that haue lost patience, and that haue forsaken the right wayes, and haue declined into peruerse wayes.

17   And what wil they doe, when our Lord shal begynne to looke on them?

18   They that feare our Lord, wil not be incredulous to his word: and they that loue him, wil kepe

his waye.

19   They that feare our Lord, wil seeke after the thinges that are wel pleasing to him: and they that loue him, shal be filled with his law.

20   They that feare our Lord, wil prepare their hartes, and in his sight wil sanctifie their soules.

21   They that feare our Lord, kepe his commandements, and wil haue patience euen vntil his visitation,

22   saying: If we doe not penance, we shal fal into the handes of our Lord, and not into the handes of men.

23   For according to his greatnes, so also his mercie is with him. Chap. III. ^note Honour of parents procureth Gods blessing, 11. dishonoring them his curse. 19. Mekenes and modestie auaile much: but curiositie to know secret mysteries is dangerous. 27. A charitable, sincere, and docile hart, 33. with workes of mercie merite reward.

1   The children of wisdom, are the Church of the iust: and their ^note nation, obedience and loue.

2    ^noteHeare your fathers iudgement ô children, and so doe that you may be saued.

3   For God hath honoured the father in the children: and inquiring of the mothers iudgement, hath confirmed it vpon the children.

4   He that loueth God, praying shal obteyne for sinnes, and shal refrayne himself from them, and shal be heard in the prayer of dayes.

5   And as he that gathereth treasure, so he also that honoureth his mother.

6   He that honoureth his father, shal haue ioy in children, and in the day of his prayer he shal be heard.

7   He that honoureth his father, shal liue the longer life: & he that obeyeth the father, shal refresh the mother.

8   He that feareth our Lord honoureth his parents, and as his lordes he wil serue them, that begat him.

9   In worke and word, & al patience honour thy father,

10   that blessing may come vpon thee from him, & his blessing may remayne in the later end.

11   The fathers blessing establisheth the houses of the children: but the mothers curse rooteth vp the foundation.

12   Glorie not in the contumelie of thy father: for his confusion is no glorie to thee.

13   For the glorie of a man is by the honour of his father, and the father without honour is the dishonour of the sonne.

14   Sonne receiue the old age of thy father, and make him not sorowful in his life:

15   and if he fayle in vnderstanding, pardon him, and despise him not in thy strength: for the almes to the father shal not be in obliuion.

16   For good shal be restored

thee ^note for the sinne of thy mother,

17   and in iustice it shal be builded to thee, and in the day of tribulation there shal be remembrance of thee: and as yce in the clere weather shal thy sinnes melt away.

18   Of what an euil fame is he, that forsaketh his father: and he is cursed of God, that doth exasperate his mother.

19   Sonne doe thy workes in meekenes, and thou shalt be beloued aboue the glorie of men.

20   The ^note greater thou art, humble thy self in al thinges, and thou shalt finde grace before God:

21   because the might of God onlie is great, and he is honoured of the humble.

22   Seeke not thinges higher then thy self, and search not thinges stronger then thy habilitie: but the thinges that God hath commanded thee, thincke on them alwayes, and in manie of his workes be not curious.

23   For it is not necessarie for thee, to see with thyne eies those thinges that are hid.

24   In superfluous thinges search not manie wayes, and in manie of his workes thou shalt not be curious.

25   For verie manie thinges are shewed to thee aboue the vnderstanding of men.

26   Manie also haue their suspicion supplanted, and haue held their senses in vanitie.

27   A hard hart shal fare il in the latet end: and he ^note that loueth danger, shal perish in it.

28   A hart that goeth two wayes, shal not haue successe, and the peruerse of hart shal be scandalized in them.

29   A wicked hart shal be laden with sorowes, and the sinner wil adde to commit sinne.

30   To the synagogue of the proude there shal be no health: for the shrubbe of sinne shal be rooted vp in them, and it shal not be perceiued.

31   The hart of the wise is vnderstood in wisdom, and a good eare wil heare wisdom with al desire.

32   A wise hart, and that which hath vnderstanding wil absteyne it self from sinnes, and in the workes of iustice shal haue successe.

33   Water quencheth burning fyre, and almes resisteth sinnes:

34   and God is the beholder of him that rendreth grace: he remembreth him afterward, and in the time of his fal he shal finde a sure stay. Chap. IIII. An exhortation to practise workes of mercie. 12. With commendation of wisdom: 23. (& obseruing due times) not to omite for anie feare, or sham fastnes, to say the truth, 34. also to be diligent, meke, and liberal.

1   Sonne defraude not the almes of the poore, and turne not away thyne eies from the poore.

2   Despise not the

hungrie soule: and exasperate not the poore in his pouertie.

3   Afflict not the hart of the needie, and deferre not the gift to him that is in distresse.

4   Reiect not the petition of him that is afflicted: and turne not away thy face from the needie.

5   From the poore turne not away thine eies for anger: and ^noteleaue not to them that aske of thee, to curse thee behinde thy backe.

6   For the prayer of him that curseth thee in the bitternes of his soule, ^note shal be heard: and he that made him, wil heare him.

7   Make thyself affable to the congregation of the poore, and to the ancient humble thy soule, and to a great man bow thy head.

8   Bow downe thyne eare to the poore without sadnesse, and render thy debt, and answer him peaceable wordes in mildenes.

9   Deliuer him that suffereth iniurie out of the hand of the proud: and be not faynt harted in thy soule.

10   In iudging be merciful to pupils as a father, & as an husband to their mother:

11   and thou shalt be as the obedient sonne of the Highest, and he wil haue mercie on thee more then a mother.

12   Wisdom inspireth life to her children, and receaueth them that seeke after her, and wil goe before them in the way of iustice.

13   And he that loueth her, loueth life: and they that shal watch to her, shal embrace her sweetnes.

14   They that shal hold her, shal inherite life: and whither soeuer he shal enter, God wil blesse him.

15   They that serue her, shal be seruants to the holie: and them that loue her God loueth.

16   He that heareth her, shal iudge nations: and he that beholdeth her, shal remayne confident.

17   If he beleue her, he shal inherite her, and her ^note creatures shal be in confirmation:

18   because in tentation she walketh with him, and first of al she chooseth him.

19   Feare and dread, and probation she wil bring vpon him: and she wil torment him in the tribulation of her doctrine, til she trie him in her cogitations, and credite his soule.

20   And she wil establish him, and make a direct way vnto him, and reioyce him,

21   and wil disclose her secretes to him, and wil heape vpon him as treasures knowlege and vnderstanding of iustice.

22   But if he goe amis, she wil forsake him, and deliuer him into the handes of his enimie.

23   Sonne obserue time, and avoyd from euil.

24   For thy soule be not ashamed to say the truth.

25   For there is ^noteshame that bringeth sinne, & there is ^note shame that bringeth glorie and grace.

26   Accept no face against thine owne face, nor against thy soule a lie.

27   Reuerence not thy neighbour

in his offence:

28   nor kepe in a word in time of saluation. Hide not thy wisdom in the beautie thereof.

29   For by the tongue wisdom is discerned: and vnderstanding, and knowlege, and doctrine by the word of the wise, and steedfastnes in the workes of iustice.

30    ^noteDoe not gaynesay the word of truth by any meanes, and be ashamed of the lie of thyne vnskilfulnes.

31   Be not ashamed to confesse thy sinnes, and submite not thy self to euerie man for sinne.

32   Resist not against the face of the mightie, neither labour against the streame of the riuer.

33   For ^note iustice contend for thy soule, and vnto death striue for iustice, and God wil ouerthrow thyne enemies for thee.

34   Be not hastie in thy tongue: and vnprofitable, and remisse in thy workes.

35   Be not as a lion in thy house, ouerthrowing them of thy houshold, and oppressing them that are subiect to thee.

36   Let not thine hand be stretched out to receiue, and closed to geue. Chap. V. ^note Let not riches, youth, nor streingth hold thee in sinne: 5. but do penance for sinnes remitted, and adde not sinne vpon sinne. 6. Neither presume to sinne, because God is merciful. 10. Be not couetous, nor unconstant. 13. Be meeke in lerning, and careful in teaching. 16. not a batemaker, nor duble tongued.

1   Attend not to vniust possessions, and say not: I haue sufficient liuelihood: for it shal nothing profite in the time of vengeance & affliction.

2   Folow not in ^note thy strength the concupiscence of thy hart:

3   and say not: How mightie am I? and who shal bring me vnder for my factes? for God reuenging wil reuenge.

4   Say not: I haue sinned, and what sorowful thing hath chanced to me? For the Highest is a patient rewarder.

5    ^noteOf sinne forgeuen be not without feare, neither adde thou sinne vpon sinne.

6   And say not: The mercie of our Lord is great, he wil haue mercie on the multitude of my sinnes.

7   For mercie and wrath quickly approch from God, and his wrath looketh vpon sinners.

8   Slacke not to be conuerted to our Lord, and differre not from day to day.

9   For his wrath shal come sodainly, and in the time of vengeance he wil destroy thee.

10   Be not careful in vniust riches: for they shal not profite thee in the day of ^note obduction and vengeance.

11   Tosse not thy self into euerie winde, and goe

not into euerie way: for so euerie sinner is proued by a duble tongue.

12    ^noteBe stedfast in the way of our Lord, & in the truth of thy vndestanding and in knowlege, and let the ^note word of peace and iustice accompanie thee.

13   Be milde to heare the word, thou maist vnderstand: and with wisdom vtter thou a true answer.

14   If thou haue vnderstanding, answer thy neighbour: but if not, let thine hand be vpon thy mouth, lest thou be taken in an vnskilful word, and be confounded.

15   Honour and glorie in the word of the wise, but the tongue of the vnwise is his subuersion.

16   Be not called a whisperer and be not taken in thy tongue, & confounded.

17   For vpon a theefe is confusion & repentance, and a verie euil condemnation vpon the duble tongued, but to the whisperer hatred, and emnitie, and contumelie.

18   Iustifie thou the litle one, and the great alike. Chap. VI. Reproch, enuie, and ferocitie hinder from louing our neighbour, 5. swetenes norisheth it. 6. A trustie freind is much worth. 18. Seeke and kepe wisdom, with al diligence. 35. Frequent the companie of the wise: and meditate in Gods law.

1   Be not for a frend made an enemie to thy neighbour: for the euil man shal inherite reproch and contumelie, and euerie sinner enuious and duble tongued.

2   Extol not thyself in the cogitation of thy soule as it were a bul: lest perhaps thy strength be quashed,

3   and it eate thy leaues, and destroy thy fruites, and thou be leaft as a drie tree in the wildernes.

4   For a wicked soule shal destroy him that hath it, and it geueth him to be a ioy to his enemies, and shal lead him into the lot of the impious.

5    ^noteA sweete word multiplieth frends, & appeaseth enemies, and a gratious tongue in a good man aboundeth.

6   Let there be manie at peace with thee, and let one of a thousand be thy counseler.

7   If thou possesse a frend, in tentation possesse him, and not easely credite him.

8   For he is a frend according to his owne time, and wil not abide in the day of tribulation.

9   And there is a frend that is turned to emnitie: and there is a frend that wil disclose hatred, and reproches.

10   And there is a frend companion at the table, and he wil not abide in the day of necessitie.

11   A frend if he continew stedfast, shal be to thee as an equal, and in them of thy houshold shal deale confidently:

12   if he humble himself

against thee, and hide himself from thy face, thou shalt haue frendshippe of one accord for good.

13   Be seperated from thine enemies, & take heede of thy frends.

14   A faithful frend, is a strong protection: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure.

15   To a faythful frend there is no comparison, and there is no poyse of gold and siluer able to counteruaile the goodnes of his fidelitie.

16   A faythful frend, is the medecine of life & immortalitie: & they that feare our Lord, shal finde him.

17   He that feareth God, shal likewise haue good frendshipe: because according to him shal his frend be.

18   Sonne, from thy youth receiue doctrine, and euen to thy hoare heares thou shalt finde wisdom.

19   As he that ploweth, and that soweth, goe to her, and expect her good fruites.

20   For in her worke thou shalt labour a litle, and shalt quickly eate of her generation.

21   How exceding sharpe is wisdom to the vnlerned men, and the vnwise wil not continew in her.

22   As the vertue of a stone she shal be a probation in them, and they wil not stay to cast her forth.

23   For ^note the wisdom of doctrine is according to her name, and she is not manifest to manie, but to whom she is knowen, she contineweth euen to the sight of God.

24   Heare my sonne, and take counsel of vnderstanding, and cast not away my counsel.

25   Thrust thy foote into her fetters, and thy necke into her cheynes:

26   put vnder thy shoulder, and carie her, and be not wearie of her bands.

27   With al thy minde goe to her, and with al thy strength keepe her wayes.

28   Search her out, and she shal be made manifest to thee, and hauing obteyned her, forsake her not:

29   for in the later end, thou shalt finde rest in her, and she shal be turned vnto delectation.

30   And her fetters shal be to thee for a protection of strength, and foundation of powre, & her cheynes for a stole of glorie:

31   For the beautie of life is in her, and her bands are a healthful bynding.

32   Thou shalt put on her a stole of glorie, and as a crowne of gratulation thou shalt set her vpon thee.

33   Sonne, if thou attend to me, thou shalt learne: and if thou wilt applie thy minde, thou shalt be wise.

34   If thou wilt incline thine eare, thou shalt receiue doctrine: and if thou loue to heare, thou shalt be wise.

35   Stand in the multitude of wise ancients, and be ioyned to their wisdom from thy hart, that thou maist heare al the narration of God, and the prayse may not escape thee.

36   And if thou see a wise man, watch after him, and let thy foote weare the steppes of his

doores.

27   Haue thy cogitation in the precepts of God, and in his commandements most of al be dayly conuersant: and he wil geue thee hart, and the desire of wisdom shal be geuen thee. Chap. VII. ^note Flie from al euil thinges, 4. as ambition, presumption, scandal, pusillanimitie, lying, and babling. 16. Husbandrie of the ground, 21. a good wife, and good seruantes are to be cherised, 25. kepe children in discipline. 29. Honour parents, and elders, 36. & pittie the poore. 40. Memorie of the last thinges preserueth from sinne.

1   Doe ^note not euils, and they shal nor apprehend thee.

2   Depart from the wicked, & euil shal fayle from thee.

3   Sonne, sow not euils in the surrowes of iustice, & thou shalt not reape them seuenfold.

4   Seeke not of the lord chiefe principalitie, nor of the king the chayre of honour.

5   Iustifie not thyself before God, because he is the knower of the hart: and before the king desire not to seme wise.

6    ^noteSeeke not to be made a iudge, vnles thou be able by power to breake iniquities: lest perhaps thou feare the face of the mightie, and put a scandal in thyne equitie.

7   Sinne not against the multitude of a citie, neither thrust thyself into the people,

8   nor binde together duble sinnes: for neither in one shalt thou be free from punishment.

9   Be not fayntharted in thy minde:

10   despise not to pray, and to geue almes.

11   Say not: In the multitude of my giftes God wil haue respect, and when I offer to God most high, he wil receiue my giftes.

12   Laugh not a man to scorne in the bitternes of his soule: for there is that humbleth and exalteth, God the ouerseer of al.

13   Plowe not a lie agaynst thy brother: neither doe thou likewise agaynst thy frend.

14   Be not willing to make any lie: for the custome therof is not good.

15   Be not ful of wordes in a multitude of ancients, and iterate not a word in thy speach.

16   Hate not laborious workes, and husbandrie created of the Highest.

17   Counte not thy selfe in the multitude of men without discipline.

18   Be mindeful of wrath, because it wil not slacke.

19   Humble thy spirit very much: because the vengeance of the flesh of the impious, is ^note fyre and the worme.

20   Doe not preuaricate against thy frend differring money, nor despise thy dearest brother for gold.

21   Depart not from a wise and good woman, which thou hast gotten in the feare of our

Lord: for the grace of her bashfulnes is aboue gold.

22   Hurt not the seruant that worketh in truth, nor the hyred man that geueth his soule.

23   Let a wise seruant be beloued of thee as thy soule, defraude him not of libertie, nor leaue him needie.

24   Hast thou cattel? looke wel to them: and if they be profitable, let them continew with thee.

25   Hast thou children? instruct them, & bowe them from their childehood.

26   Hast thou daughters? keepe their bodie, and shew not thy countenance merrie towards them.

27   Bestow thy daughter, and thou shalt doe a great worke, and geue her to a wise man.

28   If thou haue a wife according to thy soule, cast her not of: and to her that is hateful commit not thyself. With thy whole hart

29   honour thy father, and forget not the gronings of thy mother:

30   remember that thou hadst not bene borne but by them: and recompence them, as they also thee.

31   In al thy soule feare our Lord, and sanctifie his priestes.

32   With al thy strength loue him that made thee: & forsake not his ministers.

33   Honour God with al thy soule, and honour the priestes, and purge thyself with the armes.

34   Geue them the portion, as it is commanded thee, of the first fruites and purgation: and of thy negligence purge thy self with few.

35   The gift of thyne armes and the sacrifice of sanctification thou shalt offer to our Lord, and the first of holie thinges:

36   and to the poore stretch out thyne hand, that thy propitiation may be perfected, and thy blessing.

37   The grace of a gift is in the sight of al the liuing, ^note and from the dead stay not grace.

38   Want not in consolation to them that weepe, and walke with them that moorne.

39   Be not loth to visite the sicke: for by these thinges thou shalt be confirmed in loue.

40   In al thy workes ^note remember thy later ends, and thou wilt not sinne for euer. Chap. VIII. ^note Contend not with a man of powre, rich, ful of tongue, or very ignorant. 6. Despise not the penitent, nor old folke. 8. Reioyce not at an enemies death. 9. Lerne of the elder. 13. Obserue discretion in admonishing, lending, and in being suertie. 17. Reproue not Iudges. 18. Conuerse not with the furious, foolish, nor with strangers.

1   Strive not with a mightie man, lest perhaps thou fal into his handes.

2   Contend not with a rich man, lest perhaps he make an action against thee.

3   For ^note gold and siluer hath destroyed manie, and hath reached euen to the

hart of kinges, and hath turned them.

4   Striue not with a man ful of tongue, and thou shalt not heape stickes vpon his fyre.

5   Communicate not with the ignorant man, lest he speake il of thy progenie.

6   Despise not a man that turneth himself from sinne, nor vpbrayde him therwith: remember that we are al in state to be blamed.

7   Despise not a man in his old age: for we also shal become old.

8   Reioyce not of thine enemie dead knowing that we doe al die, and would not that others should ioy therat.

9   Despise not the narration of wise ancients, and in their prouerbes be thou conuersant.

10   For of them thou shalt lerne wisdom, and doctrine of vnderstanding, and to serue great men without blame.

11   Let not the narration of the ancients escape thee: for they lerned of their fathers:

12   because of them thou shalt lerne vnderstanding, and in time of necessitie to geue answer.

13   Kindle not the coles of sinners rebuking them, and be not kindled with the flame of the fire of their sinnes.

14   Stand not against the face of a contumelious person, lest he sitte as a spie in wayte for thy mouth.

15   Lend not to a man mightier then thyself, and if thou doest lend, count it as lost.

16   Be not suretie aboue thy power: and if thou be surerie, thinke as if thou were to pay it.

17   Judge not agaynst a iudge: because he iudgeth according to that which is iust.

18   With the audacious goe not on the way, lest perhaps he burden thee with his euils: for he goeth according to his owne wil, and thou shalt perish together with his follie.

19   With an angrie man make no brawle, and with the audacious goe not into the desert: because bloud is as nothing before him, and where there is no helpe, he wil ouerthrow thee.

20   Conferre no counsel ^note with fooles, for they can not loue but such thinges as please them.

21   Before a stranger doe no matter of counsel: for thou knowest not what he wil bring forth.

22   Make not thy hart manifest to euerie man: lest perhaps he repay thee false kindnes, and speake reprochfully to thee. Chap. IX. ^note Great prudence is required in conuersation betwen men and wemen. 14. Esteme of old freindes. 16. Emulate not sinners. 18. Auoide the companie of malicious. 21. Consult with the prudent, hauing God euer before thyne eyes.

1   Be ^note not ielous ouer the wife of thy bosome, lest she shew vpon thee the malice of wicked doctrine.

2   Geue not to a woman the power of thy soule, lest she goe in thy strength, and thou be confounded.

3   Looke not vpon a woman that is desirous of manie: lest perhaps thou fal into her snares.

4   With her that is a dauncer be not daily conuersant, nor heare her, lest perhaps thou perish in her efficacie.

5   Behold not a virgin, lest perhaps thou be scandalized in her beautie.

6   Geue not thy soule to harlottes in any poynt: lest thou destroy thyself, and thine inheritance.

7   Looke not round about in the wayes of the citie, nor wander vp and downe in the streates therof.

8   Turne away thy face from a trimmed woman, and gaze not about vpon an others beautie.

9   By the beautie of a woman manie haue perished: and hereby concupiscence is inflamed as a fire.

10   Euerie woman, that is an harlot, shal be troden vpon as dung in the way.

11   Manie hauing admired the beautie of an other mans wife, haue become reprobate. for her communication burneth as fire.

12   Sit not at al with an other mans wife, nor repose vpon the bed with her:

13   and striue not with her at the wine, lest perhapes thy hart decline toward her, & with thy bloud thou fal into perdition.

14    ^noteForsake not an old frend: for the new wil not be like to him.

15   A new frend, is as new wine: it shal waxe old, and thou shalt drinke it with sweetnes.

16    ^noteDoe not zelousely desire the glorie, and the riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not what his subuersion shal be.

17   Let not the iniurie of the vniust please thee, knowing that euen to hel the impious shal not please.

17   Be far from the man that hath power to kil, and thou shalt not suspect the feare of death.

18   And if thou come to him, committe nothing, lest perhaps he take away thy life.

20   Know it to be communication with death; because thou shalt goe in the middes of snarres, and shalt walke vpon the weapons of the sorowful.

21   According to thy powre beware thee of thy neighbour; and treate with the wise and prudent.

22   Let iust men be thy ghests, and let thy gloriation be in the feare of God,

23   and let the cogitation of God be in thy vnderstanding, & al thine enarration in the precepts of the Highest.

24   Workes shal be praysed in the handes of artificers, and the prince of the people in the wisdom of his speach, but the word of the ancients in the sense.

25   A man ful of tongue is terrible in his citie, and he that is rash in his word shal be odious.

Chap. X. ^note Wise superiors are very necessarie, because the multitude folow their example. 6. Remitte and forget iniuries, detest pride, iniustice, contumelie, and auarice. 12. Life is short. 14. Pride is the roote of al sinnes. 23. Iust pouertie is better then sinful riches. 31. Mekenes and modestie are necessarie in al men.

1   A wise iudge shal iudge his people, and the principalitie of the wise shal be stable.

2    ^noteAccording to the Iudge of the people, so also are his ministers: and what maner of man the ruler of a citie is, such also are the inhabitants therein.

3   An vnwise king shal destroy his people: and cities shal be inhabited by the vnderstanding of the prudent.

4   The powre of the earth is in the hand of God, and he wil rayse vp a profitable ruler for a time ouer it.

5   The prosperitie of man is in the hand of God, & vpon the face of the scribe he wil put his honour.

6   Anie iniurie of thy neighbour remember not, and doe nothing by workes of iniurie.

7   Pride is odious before God and men: and al the iniquitie of the nations is execrable.

8   A ^note kingdome is translated from nation vnto nation, because of iniustices, and iniuries, and contumelies, and diuerse deceites.

9   But ^note nothing is more wicked then the couetous man. Why is earth and ashes proud?

10   Nothing is more wicked then to loue money. For he hath his soule also to sel: because in his life he hath cast forth his most inward thinges:

11   Al power is of short life. Long sicknes greueth the Physicion.

12   Short sicknes the Physicion cutteth of at the first: so also the king is to day, & to morow he shal die.

13   For when a man shal die, he shal inherite serpents, and beasts, and wormes.

14   The begynning of the pride of man, is to apostatate from God:

15   because his hart is departed from him that made him, for ^note pride is the begynning of al sinne: he that holdeth it, shal be filled with curses, & it shal subuert him in the end.

16   Therfore hath our Lord dishonoured the congregations of the euil, & hath destroyed them euen to the end.

17   God hath destroyed the seates of proud princes, and hath made the meeke sitte in their stead.

18   God hath made the rootes of the proud nations to wither, and hath planted the humble of the nations themselues.

19   Our Lord hath subuerted the landes of the gentiles, and hath destroyed them euen to the fundation.

20   He hath made of them to wither, and hath destroyed them, and hath made the memorie of them to cease from the earth.

21   God hath destroyed the memorie of the proud, and hath left the memorie of them that are humble in vnderstanding.

22   Pride was not created to men: nor wrath to the nation of wemen.

23   That seede of men shal be honoured, which feareth God: but that seede shal be dishonoured, which transgresseth the commandments of our Lord.

24   In the middes of brethren their ruler shal be in honour: and they that feare our Lord, shal be in his eyes.

25   The glorie of the rich, of the honourable, and of the poore, is the feare of God:

26   Despise not the iust man that is poore, and magnifie not the sinful man that is rich.

27   The great one, and the iudge, and the mightie is in honour, and there is none greater then he, that feareth God.

28   Free men wil serue a seruant, that is wise: and a man that is prudent and hath discipline, wil not murmur being rebuked, and the ignorant shal not be honoured.

29   Extol not thyself in doing thy worke, and linger not in the time of distresse:

30   better is he that worketh, and abundeth in al thinges, then he that glorieth, and lacketh bread.

31   Sonne in mildenes keepe thy soule, and geue him honour according to his desert.

32   Him that sinneth agaynst his owne soule who shal iustifie? and who shal honour him that dishonoureth his owne soule?

33   The poore man is glorified by his discipline and feare: & there is a man that is honoured for his substance.

34   But he that is glorified in pouertie, how much more in substance? and he that is glorified in substance, let him feare pouertie. Chap. XI. ^note Wisdom by humilitie meriteth exaltation. 7. Iudge not before examination. 16. Trust not in riches. 14. God sendeth both prosperitie and aduersitie, for the good of his seruants. 31. Take heede of the deceiptful.

1   The ^note wisdom of the humble shal exalt his head, & shal make him sitte in the middes of great men.

2   Prayse not a man in his beautie, neither despise a man by his looke.

3   The bee is smal among fowles, and her fruite hath the beginning of sweetnes.

4   In apparel doe not glorie at any time, nor be extolled in the day of thine honour, because the workes of the Highest onlie be meruelous, and his workes are glorious,

and secrete, and not seene.

5   Manie tyrantes haue sitte in the throne, and he whom no man would thincke hath worne the crowne.

6   Manie mightie men haue bene greatly oppressed, and the glorious haue bene deliuered into the handes of others.

7   Before thou enquire, blame no man: and when thou hast enquired, chasten iustly.

8    ^noteBefore thou heare, answer not a word, and in the middes ^note of ancients adde not to speake.

9   Striue not for that thing, which doeth not molest thee: and consiste not in the iudgement of sinners.

10   Sonne let not thy doings be in manie thinges: and if thou be rich, thou shalt not be free from sinne. for if thou pursew, thou shalt not attayne: and if thou runne before, thou shalt not escape.

11   There is one that laboureth, and hasteneth, and is a sorowful impious man, and so much the more he shal not abound.

12   There is a lither man that wanteth recouerie, more fayling in strength, and abunding in pouertie:

13   and the eie of God hath respected him in good, and hath erected him from his low estate, and hath exalted his head: and manie haue merueled at him, and haue honoured God.

14   Good thinges and euil, life and death, pouertie and honestie are of God.

15   Wisdom and discipline, and the knowlege of the law are with God. Loue, and the wayes of good thinges are with him.

16    ^noteErrour and darkenes are created with sinners: and they that reioyce in euils, waxe old in euil.

17   The gift of God is permanent to the iust, and his prospering shal haue successe for euer.

18   There is that is enriched by doing sparingly, and this is the portion of his reward

19   in that he sayth: I haue found me rest, and now I wil eate of my goods alone:

20   and he knoweth not that time passeth, & death approcheth, and he must leaue al to others, and shal die.

21   Stand in thy couenant, and commen therein, and grow old in the worke of thy commandements.

22   Abide not in the workes of sinners. But trust in God, and tarie in thy place.

23   For it is easie in the eies of God sodainly to enrich the poore man.

24   The blessing of God hasteth to the reward of the iust, and in a swift houre his prospering fructifieth.

25   Say not: What neede I, and what good shal I haue by this?

26   Say not: I am sufficient for my self: and what shal I be made worse by this?

27    ^noteIn the day of good thinges be not vnmindful of euils: and in the day of euils be not vnmindful of good thinges:

28   because it is easie before God in the day of death to reward

euerie one according to his wayes.

29   The malice of an houre maketh obliuion of great voluptuousnes, and in the end of a man is the disclosing of his workes.

30   Before death prayse no man, because a man is knowen in his children.

31   Bring not euerie man into thine house: for there be manie traynes of the deceitful man.

32   For as the stomakes belche of stinking breathes, and as the partriche is brought in the cage, and as the doe into the snare: so also the hart of the proude, and as a watche man that seeth the fal of his neighbour.

33   For turning good thinges into euil he lyeth in wayte, and on the elect he wil lay a blot.

34   For of one sparke fire is increased, and of a deceitful man bloud is increased: and a sinful man lyeth in wayte for bloud.

35   Take heede to thy self of the pestiferous person, for he forgeth euils: lest perhaps he bring vpon thee derision for euer.

36   Admitte a straunger to thee, and he shal ouerthrow thee in an hurlewind, & shal make thee an aliene from thine owne. Chap. XII. Vse beneuolence towards good men. 10. Trust not enemies ouer much.

1   If thou wilt doe good, ^note know to whom thou doest it, and there shal be much thanke in thy good deedes.

2   Doe good to the iust, and thou shalt finde great rewarde: and if not of him, assuredly of our Lord.

3   For it is not wel with him, that is euer occupied in euil thinges, and that geueth not almes: because the Highest both hateth sinners, and hath mercie on them ^note that are penitent.

4   Geue to the merciful, and receiue not the sinner: both to the impious, & to sinners he wil repay vengeance, keping them vnto the day of vengeance.

5   Geue to the good, and receiue not a sinner.

6   Doe good to the humble, and geue not to the impious: prohibite to geue him bread, lest therin he be mightier then thou:

7   for thou shalt finde duble euils in al the good, whatsoeuer thou shalt do to him: because the Highest hateth sinners, and wil repay vengeance to the impious.

8   A freind shal not be knowen in prosperitie, and an enimie shal not be hid in aduersitie.

9   In the prosperitie of a man, his enimies are in sorow, and in affliction a freind is knowne.

10    ^noteCredite not thyn enemie for euer: for as a brasse potte his wickednes rusteth:

11   and if humbling himself he goe crouching, be aduised in thy mind, and beware of him.

12   Place him not by thee, neither

let him sitte on thy right hand, lest perhaps turning into thy place, he seke after thy seate: and at the last thou know my wordes, and be pricked in my sayinges.

13   Who wil haue pittie vpon the inchanter stricking of a serpent, or of anie that come nere to beastes? so also he that kepeth companie with a wicked man, and is wrapped in his sinnes.

14   For one houre he wil tarie with thee: but if thou decline, he wil not abide it.

15   In his lippes the enimie speaketh swetely, and in his hart he lyeth in wayte, that he may ouerthrow thee into the pitte.

16   In his eyes the enimie weepeth: and if he may finde a time, he wil not be satisfied with bloud:

17   and if euils happen to thee, thou shalt finde him there first.

18   In his eyes the enimie weepeth, and as it were helping thee, he wil vndermine thy feete.

19   He wil shake his head, and clappe his hand, and whispering manie thinges he wil change his countenance. Chap. XIII. ^note Conuersation with the proud, rich, and potent is dangerous. 9. Relie vpon Gods helpe, 11. Beware of pusillanimitie, & of presumption. 19. A meane is necessarie, and the companie of equals is most secure.

1   He that toucheth pitch, shal be defiled with it: and he that communicateth with the proud, shal put on pride.

2    ^noteHe shal take a burden vpon him that communicateth with one more honorable then himself. And be not companion with one richer then thyself.

3   What societie shal the caudron haue with the earthen potte? for when they shal knock one against the other, it shal be broken.

4   The rich man hath done vniustly, and he wil fume: but the poore man being hurt wil hold his peace.

5   If thou geue, he wil take thee: and if thou haue not, he wil forsake thee.

6   If thou haue, he wil liue with thee, and wil emptie thee, and he wil not be sorie for thee.

7   If thou be necessarie for him, he wil supplant thee, and smiling wil put thee in hope, telling thee good thinges, and wil say: What wantest thou?

8   And he wil confound theein his meates, til he emptie thee twise, & thrise, and at the last he wil mocke thee: and afterward seeing he wil forsake thee, and wil shake his head at thee.

9   Humble thyself to God, and expect his handes.

10   Take heede lest seduced into follie thou be humbled.

11    ^noteBe not humble in thy wisdom, lest hmbled thou be seduced into follie.

12   Being called of the mightier depart: for by this he wil cal thee the more.

13   Be

not importune, lest thou be reiected: and be not farre from him, lest thou goe into obliuion.

14   Stay not to speake felowlike with him: neither credite his manie wordes. For by much talke he wil proue thee, and smiling wil examine thee of thy secretes.

15   His cruel mind wil kepe thy wordes: and he wil not spare for malice, and for bandes.

16   Take heede to thyself, and attend diligently to thyn hearing: because thou walkest with thy subuersion.

17   But hearing those thinges see as it were in sleepe, and thou shalt watch.

18   Loue God al thy life, and inuocate him for thy saluation.

19   Euerie beast loueth the like to it self: so also euerie man the nerest to himself.

20   Al flesh wil match with the like to it self, and euerie man wil associate himself to his like.

21   If the woolf shal at anie time communicate with the lambe, so the sinner with the iust.

22   What fellowshippe hath an holy man with a dogge, or what part hath the riche with the poore?

23   The wilde asse in the deserte is the lyons pray: so the poore are also the pastures of the riche.

24   And as humilitie is abomination to the proude: so also the poore man is the execration of the riche.

25   The riche man being moued is confirmed by his frendes: but the humble when he is fallen, shal be thrust out euen of his familiars.

26   To the rich deceeued there are many recouerers: he hath spoken proud wordes, and they haue iustified him.

27   The humble was deceiued, he moreouer is rebuked also: he hath spoken wisely, and place was not geuen vnto him.

28    ^noteThe rich man spake, and al helde their peace, and they wil carry his worde euen to the cloudes.

29   The poore man spake and they say: Who is this? and if he stumble, they wil ouerthrowe him.

30   Substance is good, to him that hath no sinne in his conscience: and pouertie is most wicked in the mouth of the impious.

31   The hart of a man altereth his countenance, either into good, or into euil.

32   The token of a good hart, and a good countenance thou shalt hardly finde, and with labour. Chap. XIIII. ^note Offence of the tongue is a frequent and dangerous sinne. 3. Riches are hurtful to a couetous, and to an enuious mind. 11. workes of mercie necessarie. 22. and perseuerance in Wisdom.

1   Blessed is the man that hath not offended in a worde out of his mouth, and is not pricked with the sorrow

of sinne.

2   Happie is he, that hath not had heauines of his minde, and hath not fallen from his hope.

3   Substance is without reason to the couetous man and niggard, and for the spiteful enuious man to what purpose is gold?

4   He that heapeth together from his hart vniustly, gathereth for others, and in his goodes an other wil kepe riote.

5   He that is wicked to himselfe, to what other man wil he be good? and he shal haue no pleasure in his goodes.

6    ^noteHe that enuieth himselfe, nothing is worse then he, and this is the reward of his malice:

7   and if he doe good, he doth yt ignorantly, and not willing: and at the last he manifesteth his malice.

8   The eye of the enuious is wicked, and turneth away his face, and despiseth his owne soule.

9   The eye of the couetous man insatiable in a portion of iniquitie, wil not be satisfied til he consume his owne soule withering it.

10   An euil eye is towards euil thinges: & he shal haue his fil of bread, needie & in heauines shal he be at his table.

11   Sonne if thou haue it, doe good to thyselfe, and offer to God worthie oblations.

12   Be mindful that death slacketh not, and that ^note the couenant of hel hath beene shewed thee: for the couenant of this world shal dye the death.

13   Before death do good to thy freind, and according to thine abilitie stretching out thy hand, geue to the poore.

14   Be not defrauded of thy good day, and let not a litle portion of a good gift ouerpasse the.

15   Shalt thou not leaue to others thy sorrowes, & labours in the deuision of the lotte?

16   Geue and take, and iustifie thy soule.

17   Before thy death worke iustice: for in hel there can not meat be found.

18   Al flesh shal waxe olde as grasse, and as the leafe fructifying on a greene tree.

19   Some grow, and some are shaken of: so the generation of flesh and bloude, one is ended, and another is borne.

20   Al corruptible worke shal faile in the end: and he that worketh it shal goe therwith.

21   And ^note euerie excellent worke shal be iustified: and he that worketh it, shal be honoured therin.

22   Blessed is the man that shal continew in wisdom, and that shal meditate in his iustice, and in vnderstanding shal consider the prouidence of God.

23   He that considereth her wayes in his hart, and hath vnderstanding in her secrets, going after her as a searcher, and consisting in her wayes:

24   He that looketh through her windowes, and heareth in her gates:

25   He that resteth by her house, & in her walles fastening a stake wil set vp his cotage beside her handes,

and good thinges shal rest in his cottage for euer.

26   He shal set his children vnder her couering, and shal abide vnder her boughes:

17   he shal be protected vnder her couering from the heate, and shal rest in her glorie. Chap. XV. ^note The fruictes of fearing God; 7. which fooles, and liers reape not, but the wise only. 11. God is no way auctor of sinne, 14. but sinners themselues are the auctors, abusing their freewil.

1   He that feareth God, shal doe good thinges, and he that hath ^note iustice shal apprehend her,

2   and she wil meete him as an honourable mother, and as a wife from virginitie she wil receiue him.

3   She shal fede him with the bread of life and vnderstanding, and geue him the water of wholsome wisdom to drinke: and she shal be made sure in him, and he shal not be bowed:

4   and she shal hold him fast, and he shal not be confounded: and she shal exalt him before his neighbours,

5   and in the middest of the Chutch she shal open his mouth, and shal fil him with the spirite of wisdom and vnderstanding, and shal clothe him with a stole of glorie.

6   Ioy & exultation she shal heape vpon him, & shal make him inherite an euerlasting name.

7   Foolish men shal not apprehend her, & wise men shal meete her, foolish men shal not see her: for she is far from pride and deceite.

8   Lying men shal not be myndful of her: and true men shal be found in her, and shal haue successe, euen to the beholding of God.

9    ^notePrayse is not comelie in the mouth of a sinner:

10   Because wisdom proceded from God. For prayse shal be with the wisdom of God, & shal abound in a faithful mouth, & the dominator wil giue praise to yt.

11   Say not: ^note It is by God, that she is absent: for doe not thou the thinges that he hateth.

12   Say not: He hath made me erre: for impious men are not necessarie for him.

13   Our Lord hateth al abomination of errour, and it shal not be amiable to them, that feare him.

14   God from the beginning made man, and left him in the hand of his owne counsel.

15   He added his commandmentes and precepts.

16   If thou wilt keepe the commandment, and keepe acceptable fidelitie for euer, they shal preserue thee.

17   He hath set before thee water and fire: to which thou wilt, stretch forth thine hande.

18   Before man there is life and death, good and euil: what pleaseth him shal be geuen him:

19   Because the wisdom of God is much,

and he is strong in mighte, seing al men without intermission.

20   The eies of our Lord are towards them that feare him, and he knoweth al the worke of man.

21   He hath commanded no man to do impiously, and he hath geuen no man space to sinne:

22   for he desireth not a multitude of faithlesse and vnprofitable children. Chap. XVI. ^note A few good children, yea none at al, are better then manie wicked. 9. Gods wrath falleth vpon the euil, and his mercie on the good. 14. workes of mercie merite great reward. 15. Nothing is hid from God, 20. but manie thinges from men.

1   Reioice not in impious children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted vpon them, if the feare of God be not in them.

2   Credite not their life, and respect not their labours.

3   For better is one fearing God, then a thousand impious children.

4   And it is more profitable to die without children, rather then to leaue impious children.

5   By one wise a countrie shal be inhabited, and the tribe of the impious shal be made desolate.

6   Manie such thinges hath mine eie sene, and myne eare hath heard thinges of more force then these.

7   In the synagogue of sinners ^note a fire shal flame, and in an incredulous nation wrath shal waxe hotte.

8   The old giantes did not obteine for their sinnes, who were destroied trusting to their owne strength:

9   and he spared not the peregrination of Lot, and he detested them for the pride of their word.

10   He had not pitie on them, destroying the whole nation, and extolling themselues in their sinnes.

11   And as the six huudred thousand foote men, which were gathered together in the hardnes of their hart: and if one had bene stiffe necked, it is meruel if he had bene vnpunished.

12   For there is mercie and wrath with him. Mightie exoration, & powring our wrath:

13   according to his mercie, so his chastisement iudgeth a man according to his workes.

14   The sinner shal not escape in robberie, and the sufferance of him that doth mercie shal not slacke.

15   Al mercie shal make a place to euerie man according to ^note the merite of his workes, & according to the vnderstanding of his peregrination.

16   Say not; I shal be hid from God and from on high who shal remember me?

17   In a great people I shal not be knowen: for what is my soule among so innumerable creatures?

18   Behold heauen,

and the heauens of heauens, the depth, and al the earth, & the thinges that are in them, in his sight shal be moued,

19   the mountaines together, and the litle hilles, & the fundations of the earth: & when God shal behold them, they shal be shaken with trembling.

20   And in al these thinges the hart is senseles: and euerie hart is vnderstood of him:

21   and his wayes who doth vnderstand, and the storme, which neither the eie of man shal see?

22   For manie of his workes are in secretes: but the workes of his iustice who shal declare? or who shal susteine? For the testament is far from some, and the examination of al is in consummation.

23   He that is lesse of hart, thinketh vaine thinges: and the vnwise, and erring man, thinketh folish thinges.

24   Heare me my sonne, and lerne the discipline of vnderstanding, and attend to my wordes in thy hart,

25   and I wil speake discipline in equitie, and wil search to declare wisedom, and to my wordes attend in thy hart, and I speake in equitie of spirit the vertues, that God hath put vpon his workes from the beginning, and in truth I shew forth his knowlege.

26   In the iudgement of God are his workes from the beginning, and from the institution of them he distinguished their partes, and their beginninges in their nations.

27   He adorned their workes for euer, neither haue they hungred, nor laboured, and they haue not ceased from their workes.

28   Euerie one shal not vexe his neighbour for euer.

29   Be not incredulous to his word.

30   After this God looked vpon the earth, & filled it with his good thinges.

31   And ^note the soule of euerie liuing thing shal shew before the face thereof, and into it againe is their returne. Chap. XVII. ^note God creating man to his owne image, gaue him giftes, 9. and precepts. 14. chose the Israelites for his peculiar people. 18. Workes of mercie are commended to al men. 20. Repentance to sinners. 28. mercie is offered to al.

1   God created man of the earth, and after his owne image he made him.

2   And againe he turned him into it, and conformable to himselfe clothed him ^note with strength.

3   He gaue him a number of daies and time, and gaue him power of those thinges, that are vpon the earth.

4   He put his feare ouer al flesh, and he had dominion of beastes and fowles.

5   He created of him an helper like to himself: he gaue them counsel,

and tongue, and eies, & eares, and hart to deuise: and he filled them with the discipline of vnderstanding.

6   He created in them the knowlege of the spirit, he filled their hart with vnderstanding, and euil and good he shewed them.

7   He set his eie vpon their hartes to shew them the great thinges of his workes:

8   that they might praise the name of sanctification: and glorie in his meruelous workes, that thy might declare the glorious thinges of his workes.

9   He added ^note discipline vnto them, and made them inherite the lawe of life.

10   He made an euerlasting testament with them, & he shewed them iustice and his iudgementes.

11   And their eie saw the glorious thinges of his honour, and their eares heard the honour of his voice, and he said to them: Beware of euerie vniust thing.

12   And he gaue them commandment euerie one concerning his neighbour.

13   Their wayes are before him alwaies, they are not hid from his eies.

14   Ouer euerie nation he appointed a ruler.

15   And Israel was made the manifest portion of God.

16   And al their workes as the sunne in the sight of God: and his eies without intermission looking on their wayes.

17   The testamentes were not hid by their iniquitie, and al their iniquities are in the sight of God.

18   The almes of a man is as a seale with him, and shal preserue the grace of a man as the apple of the eie:

19   And afterward he shal arise, and shal render them reward, to euerie one vpon their head, and shal turne into the inner partes of the earth.

20   But to the penitent he hath geuen the way of iustice, and he hath confirmed them that faile to susteine, and hath appointed to them the lot of truth.

21   Turne to our Lord, and forsake thy sinnes:

22   pray before the face of our Lord, and diminish offences.

23   Returne to our Lord, and turne away from thine iniustice, and hate excedingly abomination:

24   and know the iniustices and iudgementes of God, and ^note stand in the lot of thy purpose, and ^noteof praier of the most high God.

25   Goe into the partes of the holie world, with the liuing, and them that geue praise to God.

26   Tarie not in the errour of the impious, before death confesse. From the dead as nothing, confession perisheth.

27   Thou shalt confesse liuing, aliue and in health thou shalt confesse, and shalt praise God, and shalt glorie in his mercies.

28   How great is the mercie of our Lord, and his propitiation to them that turne to him!

29   For al thinges can not be in men, because the sonne of man is not immortal, and they haue

delighted in the vanitie of malice.

30   What is brighter then the sunne? & it shal faile. Or what more wicked then that which flesh and bloud hath inuented? and this shal be reproued.

31   He beholdeth the powre of the height of heauen: and al men be earth and ashes. Chap. XVIII. ^note Gods wonderful workes excede mans capacitie. 7. Our weaknes is streingthened by grace. 15. wherto man must cooperate, 19. by purging his conscience, 22. by prayer, 24. by meditating Gods iudgements, 30. and by mortifying his owne concupiscence.

1   He that liueth for euer, created al thinges ^note together. God onlie shal be iustified, and remaineth an inuincible king for euer.

2   Who is sufficient to declare his workes?

3   For who shal search out his glorious thinges?

4   and who shal shew forth the powre of his greatnesse? or who shal adde to declare his mercie?

5   It is not possible to diminish, nor adde, neither is it possible to finde the glorious workes of God:

6   When a man shal haue done, then shal he beginne: and when he shal rest, he shal worke.

7   What is man, and what is his grace? and what is his good, or what his euil?

8   The number of the daies of men at the most an hundred yeares: as droppes of the water of the sea they are reputed: and as the grauel stone of the sand, so a few yeares in the day of eternitie.

9   For this cause God is patient toward them, and powreth out his mercie vpon them.

10   He hath senne the presumption of their hart that it is naught, and hath knowen their subuersion that it is euil.

11   Therefore hath he fulfilled his propitiation toward them, and hath shewed them the way of equitie.

12   Mans compassion is touching his neigbour: but the mercie of God is vpon al flesh.

13   He that hath mercie, teacheth, and instructeth, as a pastour his flocke.

14   He hath mercie on him that receiueth the doctrine of compassion, and he that hasteneth in his iudgementes.

15   Sonne in good deedes geue no blame, and in euerie gift geue not the sadnes of an euil word.

16   Shal not the dew coole heate? so also a word better then a gift.

17   Is not a word aboue a good gift? but both are with a iustified man.

18   A foole wil vpbraide bitterly: and the gift of one vntaught maketh the eies to drie away.

19   Before iudgement prepare thee iustice, and before thou speake lerne.

20   Before sickenes take medicine, and before

iudgement examine thyself, and in the sight of God thou shalt finde propitiation.

21   Before sickenes humble thy self, and in time of infirmitie shew thy conuersation.

22   Be not hindered ^noteto pray alwayes, & feare not to be iustified euen to death: because the reward of God abideth for euer.

23   Before praier prepare thy soule: and be not as a man that tempteth God.

24   Remember the wrath in the day of consummation, and the time of reward in conuersation of the face.

25   Remember pouertie in the time of abundance, and the necessities of pouertie in the day of riches.

26   From morning vnto euening time shal be changed, & al these are sowne in the eies of God.

27   A wise man in al thinges wil feare, & in the daies of offences wil beware of sloth.

28   Euerie subtile man knoweth wisdom, and to him that findeth her he wil geue prayse.

29   The wise in wordes, and they also haue done wisely: and haue vnderstood truth and iustice, and haue rayned prouerbes & iudgementes.

30   Goe not after thy concupiscences, and turne away from thy wil.

31   If thou geue to thy soule her concupiscences, she wil make thee a ioy to the enemies.

32   Be not delighted in multitudes, nor in few: for their concertation is continual.

33   Be not poore in contention of borowing, and thou hast nothing in thy purse: for thou shalt be enuious to thine owne life. Chap. XIX. ^note An admonition against drunkennes, luxurie, 4. light suspition, 7. and detraction. 13. Freindlie correption is necessarie, 23. and sincere humilitie. 27. Exterior carege is a signe of internal disposition.

1   A workman that is a drunkard shal not be rich: and he ^notethat contemneth smal thinges, shal fal by litle and litle.

2   Wine and wemen make wisemen to apostatate, and shal reproue the prudent:

3   and he that ioyneth himself to harlotes, shal be naught. Rottennes and wormes shal inherite him, and he shal be lifted vp for a greater example, and his life shal be taken out of the number.

4   He that geueth credite quickly, is light of hart, and shal be lessened: and he shal more ouer be counted one that sinneth against his owne soule.

5   He that reioyceth in iniquitie, shal be reprehended, and he that hateth chastisement, shal be diminished of life: and he that hateth babbling, extinguisheth malice.

6   He that sinneth against his owne soule, shal repent: and he that is delighted in

naughtinesse, shal be reprehended.

7   Iterate not a wicked and hard word, and thou shalt not be lessened.

8   To freind and foe tel not thy minde: and if thou haue sinne, ^note disclose it not.

9   For he wil heare thee, and wil watch thee, and as it were defending the sinne he wil hate thee, and so wil he be present with thee alwaies.

10   Hast thou heard a word against thy neighbour? let it die together in thee, trusting that it wil not burst thee.

11   At the presence of a word the foole traueleth, as the groning of the childbirth of an infant.

12   An arrow stickt in the thigh of flesh: so is a word in the hart of a foole.

13   Rebuke a freind, lest perhapes he hath not vnderstood, and say: I did it not: or if he did it, that he doe it not againe.

14   Rebuke thy neighbour, lest perhaps he said it not: and if he said it, lest perhaps he iterate it.

15   Rebuke thy freind: for there is often a fault committed.

16   And beleue not euerie word. There is that offendeth with the tongue, but not from his hart.

17   For who is there that hath not offended in his tongue? Rebuke thy neighbour before thou threaten.

18   And geue place to the feare of the Highest: because the feare of God is al wisedom, and to feare God is in it, & the disposition of the law is in al wisdom.

19   And the discipline of wickednes is not wisedom: and the cogitation of sinners is not prudence.

20   There is wickednes, and in it execration: and there is a foole that hath lesse wisedom.

21   Better is a man that hath lesse wisdom, and lacketh vnderstanding, in feare, then he that abundeth in vnderstanding, and transgresseth the law of the Highest.

22   There is an assured subtilitie, & the same wicked.

23   And there is that vttereth an exact word telling the truth. There is that ^note wickedly humbleth himselfe, and his inner partes be ful of deceite:

24   and there is a iust man ^note that submitteth himselfe ouermuch of great humilitie: and there is a iust one ^note that boweth his face, and feyneth himself not to see that which is vnknowen:

25   and if he be forbidden to sinne for imbecillitie of power, if he shal finde a time to do euil, he wil do euil.

26   A man is knowen by the sight, and a wiseman is knowen by the shew of his face.

27   The clothing of the bodie, and the laughing of the teeth, and the going of the man tel of him.

28   There is a lying chastisement in the anger of a contumelious person: and there is a iudgement, that is not allowed to be good: and there is that holdeth his peace, and he is wise.

Chap. XX. ^note Correction ought to be without passion of anger. 5. much discretion is required in speach, and in silence. 14. Also in geuing, 20. & promising, 29. and in vttering knowlege, where and when it behoueth.

1   How good a thing is it to rebuke, rather then to be angrie, and not to hinder him that confesseth in prayer!

2   The concupiscence of an eunuch shal defloure a young maide:

3   so he that by violence doth vniust iudgement.

4   How good a thing is it ^note being rebuked to shew repentance! for so thou shalt auoid wilful sinne.

5   There is that holdeth his peace, which is found wise: and there is that is odious, he which is malepert to speake.

6   There is that holdeth his peace hauing not vnderstanding to speake: and there is that holdeth his peace, knowing the time of fitte opportunitie.

7   A wise man wil hold his peace vntil a time: but a wanton, and the vnwise wil not obserue time.

8   He that vseth manie wordes, shal hurt his owne soule: & he that taketh authoritie to himself vniustly, shal be hated.

9   There is proceding in euils to a man without discipline, and there is finding to losse.

10   There is a gift, that is not profitable: and there is a gift, the reward whereof is duble.

11   There is debasing because of glorie: and there is that from humilitie shal lift vp the head.

12   There is that redemeth manie thinges for a smale price, and restoreth the same seuen fold.

13   A man wise in wordes shal make him selfe beloued: but the graces of fooles shal be powred out.

14   The gift of the vnwise shal not be profitable for thee: for his eies are ^note seuenfold.

15   He wil geue few thinges, and vpbraide manie: and the opening of his mouth is an inflammation.

16   To day a man lendeth, and to morow he asketh it againe: such a man is odious.

17   A foole shal haue no freind, and there shal be no thanke to his goodes.

18   For they that eate his bread, are of a false tongue. How often, and how manie wil laugh him to scorne?

19   For he doth not distribute with right vnderstanding, that which was to be had: in like manner also that which was not to be had.

20   The slipping of a false tongue, as he that falleth on the pauement: so the falles of the euil shal come hastely.

21   A man without grace is as a vaine fable, it shal be continual in the mouth of them that are without discipline.

22   A parable out of a fooles

mouth shal be reiected: for he doth not speake it in his time.

23   There is that is forbid to sinne for pouertie, and in his rest he shal be pricked.

24   There is that wil destroy his soule for shamfastnes, and by an vnwise person he wil destroy it: and by acception of person he wil destroy himself.

25   There is that for shamfastnes promiseth to his freind, and hath gotten an enemie of him for naught.

26   Lying is a wicked reproch in a man, and in the mouth of men without discipline it shal be continually.

27   Better is a theefe, then the continual custome of a lying man, but both shal inherite perdition.

28   The maners of lying men are without honour: and their confusion is with them without intermission.

29   A wiseman in his wordes shal vtter himself, and a prudent man shal please great persons.

30   He that tilleth his land, shal make an high heape of corne: and who so worketh iustice, he shal be exalted: and he that pleaseth great men, shal avoide iniquitie.

31   Presentes, & giftes blind the eies of iudges, and as one dumbe in the mouth turneth away their chastisementes.

32    ^noteWisdom hid, and treasure not sene: what profit is there in both?

33    ^noteBetter is he that concealeth his foolishnes, then the man that hideth his wisdom. Chap. XXI. An inuectiue against sinne in general, 5. and diuers in particular.

1   Sonne hast thou sinned? doe so no more: but for the old also pray that they may be forgeuen thee.

2    ^noteAs from the face of a serpent flee from sinnes: and if thou approch to them, they wil receiue thee.

3   The teeth of a lion the teeth thereof, killing the soules of men.

4   Al iniquitie is as a two edged sword, there is no remedie for the wound thereof.

5   Brawling and iniuries shal bring the substance to nothing: and the house that is verie rich, shal be made nothing by pride: so the substance of the proude shal be rooted out.

6   The prayer of the poore out of the mouth shal come to his eares, and iudgement shal come for him spedely.

7   He that hateth chastisement, is ^note the trace of a sinner: and he that feareth God, ^note wil turne to his owne hart.

8   The mightie in a bold tongue is knowen a far of, and a wiseman knoweth himself to fal by him.

9   He that buildeth his house at other menes charges, is as he that gathereth his stones ^note in the winter.

10   The synagogue of sinners is as tow gathered together,

and their consummation a flame of fire.

11   The way of sinners is paued with stones, & in their end, hel, & darkenes, and paines.

12   He that keepeth iustice, shal conteine the vnderstanding therof.

13   The consummation of the feare of God wisdom and vnderstanding.

14   He shal not be taught, that is not wise in good.

15   But there is wisdom that abundeth in euil: and there is no vnderstanding where bitternes is.

16   The knowlege of the wise shal abound as an inundation, and his counsel is permanent as a fountaine of life.

17   The hart of a foole is as a broken vessel, and al wisdom it shal not hold.

18   A man of knowlege wil praise whatsoeuer wise word he shal heare, and wil applie it to himself: the riotous man hath heard it, and it shal displease him, and he wil cast it behind his back.

19   The ^note narration of a foole is as a burden in the way: for in ^note the lippes of the wise shal grace be found.

20   The mouth of the prudent is sought in the Church, and they wil thinke vpon his wordes in their hartes.

21   As a house destroied, so is wisdom to a foole: & the knowlege of the vnwise inexplicable wordes.

22   Fetters on the feete, doctrine to a foole, and as manicles vpon the right hand.

23   A foole in laughter exalteth his voice: but a wiseman wil scarse laugh secretly.

24   Doctrine to the prudent is a golden ornament, and as it were a bracelet on the right arme.

25   The foote of a foole goeth easely into his neighbours house: & a cunning man wil be abashed at the person of the mightie.

26   A foole wil looke from the window into the house: but the nurtered wil stand without.

27   It is the follie of a man to harken by the dore: and a wiseman wil be greued with the contumelie.

28   The lippes of the vnwise shal tel foolish thinges: but the wordes of the wise shal be pondered in balance.

29   The hart of fooles is in their mouth: and the mouth of wisemen is in their hart.

30   Whiles ^note the impious curseth the diuel, he curseth his owne soule.

31   The whisperer shal defile his soule, and shal be hated in al: and he that shal abide with him, shal be odious: the stil man and wise shal be honored. Chap. XXII. ^note An other admonition against slouth, 3. dissolute children, 6. and mirth out of season. 7. Fooles are hardly corrected, 10. more to be bewayled then the dead. 14. Much talke doth not profite them. 24. Offend not, nor feare not a freind. 33. Kepe alwayes guard of thy tongue.

1   The sluggard is stoned ^note with a durtie stone, & al men wil speake of his disgrace.

2   The sluggard is stoned with the dung of oxen: and euerie one, that shal touch him, wil shake his handes.

3   The coufusion of the father is of a sonne without discipline: and the daughter shal be made of lesse account.

4   A wise daughter is an inheritance to her husband. for she that confoundeth, is made a contumelie to her father.

5   She that is bold shameth father and husband, and shal not be inferiour to the impious: but of them both she shal be dishonored.

6   Musike in mourning is a tale out of time: scourges and doctrine are at al time wisdom.

7   He that teacheth a foole, is as he that gleweth together a potshard.

8   He that telleth a word to him that heareth not, is as he that raiseth vp a man sleepeing out of an heauie sleepe.

9   He speaketh with him that sleepeth, which vttereth wisdom to a foole: and in the end of the narration he saieth: Who is this?

10   Weepe vpon the dead, for his light hath failed: and weepe vpon ^note a foole, for he faileth in vnderstanding.

11   Weepe a little vpon the dead, because he is at rest.

12   For the wicked life of the very wicked, aboue the death of a foole.

13   The moorning of the dead is seuen daies: but of a foole and of the impious, al the daies of their life.

14   Speake not much with a foole, and goe not with the vnwise.

15   Keepe thy selfe from him, that thou haue no molestation, and thou shalt not be defiled with his sinne.

16   Turne aside from him, and thou shalt finde rest, and shalt not be wearied with his follie:

17   What shal be heauier then lead? and what other name hath it but foole.

18   It is easier to beare sand and salt, and a masse of yron, then an vnwise man, and a foole, and impious.

19   A frame of wood bound together in the fundation of a building, shal not be dissolued: so also the hart confirmed in the cogitation of counsel.

20   The cogitation of the wise at al time, yea by feare shal not be depraued.

21   As stakes in high places, and plaisteringes laid without cost, shal not abide against the face of the winde:

22   so also a feareful hart in the cogitation of a foole shal not resist against the violence of feare.

23   As a trembling hart in the cogitation of a foole, al time wil not feare, so also he that continueth alwaies in the preceptes of God.

24   He that pricketh the eie, bringeth forth teares: and he that pricketh the hart, bringeth forth feeling.

25   He that casteth a

stone at fowles, and shal throw them downe: so he that speaketh reprochefully to his freind, dissolueth freindship.

26    ^noteAlthough thou drowest a sword at a freind, despaire not: for there is returning to a freind.

27   If thou open a sad mouth, feare not. for there is agreement: ^note except taunt, and reproch and pride, and reuealing of secret, and a traiterous wound: in al these thinges a freind wil flee away.

28   Possesse fidelitie with a freind in his prouertie, that in his goodes also thou maist reioyce.

29   In the time of his tribulation continew faithful to him, that in his inheritance also thou maist be heire with him.

30   Before the fire the vapour of the chimney, and the smoke of the fire riseth on high: so also before bloud euil wordes, and contumelies, & threates.

31   I wil not be ashamed to salute a freind, from his face I wil not hide myself: and if there chance euiles to me by him, I wil beare it.

32   Euerie one that shal heare, wil beware of him.

33   Who wil geue a gard to my mouth, and a sure seale vpon my lippes, that I fal nor by them, and my tongue destroy me? Chap. XXIII. ^note A prayer against pride, 6. gluttonie, and luxurie. 7. Beware of offending in speach. 9. especialliy of vnlawful swearing 15. blasphemie, 17. irreuerent and reprocheful wordes. 21. Also of auarice, 24. fornication, and adultrie, 30. al which God seeth, and wil seuerly punish. 33. with other sinnes that folow therof.

1   O Lord father, and dominatour of my life ^note leaue me not in their counsel: nor suffer me to fal in them.

2   Who laieth on stripes in my cogitation, and in my hart the doctrine of wisdom, and in their ignorances they spare me not, and their offences appeare not,

3   and my ignorances increase not, and my offences be multiplied, and my sinnes ahound, and I fal in the sight of mine aduersaries, & mine enemies reioyce.

4   O Lord father, and God of my life, leaue me not in their cogitation.

5   Hautines of mine eies geue me not, and al desire turne away from me.

6   Take from me the concupiscences of the bellie, and let not the concupiscences of copulation take hold of me, and geue me not ouer to a shamelesse and foolish minde.

7   O children heare ^note the doctrine of the mouth: and he that wil keepe it, shal not perish by his lippes, nor be scandalized in most wicked workes.

8   A sinner is taught in his

vanitie, and the proud and the euil speaker shal he scandalized in them.

9   Let not thy mouth be accustomed ^note to swearing: for there be manie falles in it.

10   But let not the naming of God be vsual in thy mouth, and meddle not with the names of Sainctes, because thou shalt not scape free from them.

11   For as a seruant daily examined, lacketh not the marke therof: so euerie one that sweareth, and nameth, shal not be wholy purged from sinne.

12   A man that sweareth much shal be filled with iniquitie, and plague shal not depart from his house.

13   And if he frustrate it, his sinne shal be vpon him: and if he dissemble, he offendeth duble:

14   and if he sweare in vaine, he shal not be iustified: for his house shal be filled with retribution.

15   There is an other ^note contrarie speach, also ^noteto death, be it not found in the inheritance of Iacob.

16   For of the merciful al those thinges shal be taken away, and they wil not wallow in sinnes.

17   Let not thy mouth be accustomed to ^note vnnurtered speach: for there is in it a word of sinne.

18    ^noteRemember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest in the middest of greate men:

19   lest perhapes God forget thee in their sight, and being sotted with thy dailie custome, thou suffer reproch, and hadst better not haue bene borne, and curse the day of thy natiuitie.

20   A man accustomed to the wordes of reproch, wil not be instructed in al his daies.

21   Two sortes abound in sinnes, and the third bringeth wrath and perdition.

22   An ^note hote soule as a burning fire wil not be quenched, til it swallow somewhat.

23   and a wicked man in the mouth of his flesh wil not cease til he kindle a fire.

24   To a man that is ^note a fornicatour al bread is sweete, he wil not be wearie transgressing vnto the end.

25   Euerie man that passeth ^notebeyond his owne bed, contemning against his owne soule, and saying: Who seeth me?

26   Darkenes compasseth me, and the walles couer me, and no man beholdeth me: whom do I feare? the Highest wil not be mindful of my sinnes.

27   And he vnderstandeth not that his eye seeth al thinges, for that such feare of man expelleth from him the feare of God, & the eies of men fearing him:

28   and he knoweth not that the eies of our Lord are much more brighter then the sunne, beholding round about al the waies of men, and the botome of the depth, and the hartes of men looking into the hidden partes.

29   For al thinges were knowen to our Lord God, before they were created: so also after it is perfected he beholdeth al

thinges.

30    ^noteReuenge shal be taken on this man in the streates of the cittie, and as an horsecolt he shal be chased: and where he expected not, he shal be apprehended.

31   And he shal be in dishonour with al men, for that he vnderstood not the feare of our Lord.

32   So euerie woman also that forsaketh her husband, & getteth inheritance by mariage of an other.

33   For first she hath bene vnfaithful in the law of the Highest: and secondly she hath sinned against her busband: thirdly she hath fornicated in adulterie, and hath gotten her children of an other man.

34   This woman shal be brought into the Church, and vpon her children there shal be examination.

35   Her children shal not take roote, and her boughes shal not yeld fruite.

36   She shal leaue her memorie to be cursed, and her dishonour shal not be wiped out.

37   And they that are leaft shal know, that nothing is better then the feare of God: and nothing sweter, then to haue regard to the commandmentes of our Lord.

38   It is great glorie to folow our Lord: for length of daies shal be taken of him. Chap. XXIIII. ^note True and laudable wisdom 5. proceding from God, 6. shineth in his workes: 12. especially in his Church; where she bringeth forth al vertues. 26. She inuiteth al vnto her. 44. and lighteneth her folowers with splendore of doctrine.

1   VVisdom shal praise ^note her soule, & shal be honoured in God, and shal glorie in the middes of her people,

2   and shal open her mouth in the churches of the Highest, and shal glorie in the sight of his power,

3   and in the middes of her people she shal be exalted, and in the holie assemblie she shal be admired,

4   and in the multitude of the elect she shal haue praise, and among the blessed, she shal be blessed, saying:

5   I come forth from the mouth of the Highest, the first begotten before al creatures.

6   I made that in the heauens there should rise light that faileth not, and as a cloud I couered al the earth.

7   I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in the pillar of a cloude.

8   I alone haue gone round about the compasse of heauen, and haue penetrated into the bottome of the depth, and haue walked in the waues of the sea,

9   and stood in al the earth: and in al people,

10   and in euerie nation I haue had the primacie:

11   and I haue by strength troden

downe the hartes of al the excellent, and the base; and in al these thinges ^note I sought rest, & I shal abide in the inheritance of our Lord.

12   Then the creatour of al commanded, and said to me: & he that ^note created me, rested in my tabernacle,

13   and he said to me: Inhabite ^note in Iacob, and inherite in Israel, and take roote in myne elect.

14   From the beginning and before the worlds was I created, and vnto the world to come I shal not cease, and in the holie habitation I haue ministred before him.

15   And so in Sion was I established, and in the sanctified cittie likewise I rested, and my power was in Ierusalem.

16   And I tooke roote in an honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abiding is in the ful assemblie of saintes.

17   I am exalted as a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypres tree in mount Sion.

18   As a palme tree in Cades am I exalted, and as a rose plant in Iericho:

19   As a faire oliue tree in the fieldes, and as a plane tree by the water in the streates am I exalted.

20   I gaue an odout as cinnamon, & aromatical balme: as chosen myrrhe haue I geuen the sweetenes of odour:

21   and as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as Libanus not cut, haue I perfumed myne habitation, and myne odour is as baulme non mingled.

22   I haue spred out my boughes as the terebinth, and my boughes are of honour and grace.

23   I as a vine haue fructified sweetenes of odour: and my flowers are fruite of honour and honestie.

24   I am the mother of beautiful loue, and of feare, and of knowlege, and of holie hope.

25   In me is al grace of way and truth, in me al hope of life and vertue.

26   Passe to me al ye that desire me, and be filled of my generations.

27   For my spirit is sweete aboue honie, and myne inheritance aboue honie and the honie combe.

28   My memorie is vnto generations of worldes.

29   They that ^note eate me, shal yet hunger: and they that drinke me, shal yet thirst.

30   He that heareth me, shal not be confounded: and they that worke in me, shal not sinne.

31   They that explicate me, shal haue life euerlasting.

32   Al these thinges are the booke of life, and the testament of the Highest, & the knowlege of truth.

33   Moyses commanded a law in the preceptes of iustices, and an inheritance to the house of Iacob, and the promises to Israel.

34   He appointed to Dauid his seruant for to raise vp a king of him most strong, and sitting in the throne of honour ^note for euer.

35   Who filleth wisdom as Phison, and as Tigris in the daies of new fruites.

36   Who

replenisheth vnderstanding as Euphrates, who multiplieth it as Iordan in the time of haruest.

37   Who sendeth discipline as the light, and assisting as Gehon in the day of vintage.

38   Who first hath perfect knowledge of it, & a weaker shal not searche it out.

39   For her cogitation shal abound aboue the sea, and her counsels aboue the greate depth.

40   I wisdom haue powred out riuers.

41   I as a sluse of a mightie water out of the riuer, I as the riuer Dioryx, & as a water coundite I came out of paradise.

42   I said: I wil water my garden of plantes, and wil inebriate the fruite of my medow.

43   And hehold my sluse was made aboundant, and my riuer came neere to a sea.

44   Because I illuminated doctrine to al as the morning light, & I wil declare it far.

45   I wil penetrate al the inferiour partes of the earth, and wil behold al that sleepe, and wil illuminate al that hope in our Lord.

46   I wil yet powre out doctrine as prophecie, and wil leaue it to them that seeke wisdom, and wil not cease vnto their progenies euen to the holie age.

47   See ye that I haue not laboured for myself only, but for al that seeke out the truth. Chap. XXV. ^note Concord betwen bretheren, neighboures, and man and wife, much pleaseth God. 3. A poore man proud, a richman a lier, and an old man doting in carnal, or worldlie thinges, are very hateful. 9. He that seeth his children good; and his enimies ouerthrowne; hath a good wife; offendeth not in speach; consenteth not to sinne; hath a true freind; teacheth good doctrine; hath sacred; and humane knowlege: hath vndoubtedly nine happie thinges: but to feare God conteyneth 14. and excelleth al. 17. A wicked woman (heresie) is very detestable, 30. and most vntolerable, if she haue supreme dominion.

1   In three thinges my spirit is pleased, which are approued before God, and men:

2    ^noteThe concord of bretheren, and the loue of neighboures, and man and wife wel agreeing together.

3   Three sortes my soule hateth, and I am greatly greeued at their life;

4    ^noteA poore man proud: & a rich man a lyer: an old man a foole, and doting.

5   The thinges that thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt thou find them in thy old age?

6   How beautiful is iudgement for a grey head, and for ancientes to know counsel!

7   How beautiful is wisdom for the aged, & vnderstanding glorious, and counsel!

8   Much cunning is the croune of old men, and the feare of

God is their glorie.

9    ^noteNine thinges not to be imagined of the hart haue I magnified, and the tenth I wil tel vnto men with my tongue:

10   A man that hath ioy in his children; liuing and seeing the subuersion of his enemies.

11   Blessed is he that dwelleth with a wise woman; & that hath not offended with his tongue; and that hath not serued such as are vnworthie of him.

12   Blessed is he that findeth a true freind; and that declareth iustice to an eare that heareth:

13   How great is he, that findeth wisdom; and knowlege; but he is not aboue him ^note that feareth our Lord.

14   The feare of God hath set it self aboue al thinges:

15   blessed is the man, to whom is geuen to haue the feare of God: he that holdeth it, to whom shal he be resembled?

16   The feare of God is the beginning of his loue: and the beginning of faith is to be fast ioyned vnto it.

17   The heauines of the hart is al plague: & al malice, ^note the wickednes of a woman.

18   And he wil see al plague, and not the plague of the hart:

19   & al wickednes, & not the wickednes of a woman:

20   and al obduction, and not the obduction of them that hate him:

21   and al reuenge, and not the reuenge of the enemies.

22   There is no head worse then the head of a serpent:

23   and there is no anger aboue the anger of woman. It shal be more pleasant to abide with a lyon and dragon, then to dwel with a wicked woman.

24   The wickednes of a woman changeth her face: and darkeneth her countenance as a beare: and wil shew it as a sacke. In the middes of her neighbours,

25   her husband groned, and hearing he sighed a litle.

26   Al malice is short to the malice of a woman, the lot of sinners fal vpon her.

27   As the goeing vp a grauelie way in the feete of the aged, so a woman ful of tongue to a quiet man.

28   Looke not vpon a womans beautie, and desire not a woman for beautie.

29   A womans anger, and impudencie, and confusion is great.

30   A woman ^note if she haue superioritie, is contrarie to her husband.

31   An humbled hart, and heauie countenance, and plague of hart, is a wicked woman.

32   Feeble handes, and disiointed knees, a woman that doth not make her husband happie.

33   From woman came the beginning of sinne, and by her we doe al die.

34   Geue not issue to thy water, no not a litle: nor to a wicked woman leaue, to goe forth.

35   If she walke not at thine hand, she wil confound thee in the sight of thyn enemies.

36   Cut her of from thy flesh, lest she alwaies abuse thee.

Chap. XXVI. The praises of a good woman. 5. The betraying of a citie, mutenie of people, and false accusation are terrible, but a ielous woman is more greuous. 10. Diuers il qualities of a bad woman. 16. More commendations of a good woman. 25. A doleful thing to see a valiant warier wanting liuelihood, a wiseman not regarded, and greatest griefe to see a iust man become wicked. 28. A man ful of busines hardly careth for his soule: and an Inne keper often sinneth in wordes.

1   The husband of a good wife is happie: for the number of his yeares is ^note duble.

2   A strong woman delighteth her husband, and shal accomplish the yeares of his life in peace.

3   A good woman is a good portion, in the good portion of them that feare God shal she be geuen to a man for good deedes:

4   And the hart of rich and poore is good, at al time their countenance is merie.

5   Of three thinges my hart hath bene afraid, and at the fourth my face hath trembled:

6   The betraying of a citie, and a gethering together of the people:

7   false calumnie, al more greuous then death.

8   A ielous woman, is the sorow and moorning of the hart.

9   In a ielous woman is a scourge of the tongue, communicating with al.

10   As ^note a yoke of oxen, that is moued, so also a wicked woman: he that holdeth her, is as he that taketh hold of a scorpion.

11   A woman geuen to drunkennes is great anger: & her contumelie and turpitude shal not be hid.

12   The fornication of a woman shal be knowen in the lifting vp of her eies, and in her eieliddes.

13   On thy daughter that turneth not away her self, set sure watche: lest occasion found she abuse herself.

14   Take heede of the impudencie of her eies, and meruel not if she contemne thee.

15   As a wayfaring man that thirsteth, wil she open her mouth to the fountaine, and wil drinke of euerie water that is next, and wil sit against euerie hedge, and open her quiuer against euerie arrow, vntil she faile.

16    ^noteThe grace of a diligent woman shal delight her husband, and shal fatte his bones.

17   Her discipline is the gift of God.

18   A wise and stil woman, there is no exchange for a soule instructed.

19   A holie, and a shamefast woman, is grace vpon grace.

20   And al weight is not worthie a continent soule.

21   As the sunne rysing to the world in the highest places of God, so is the beautie of a good woman for an ornament of her house.

22   A lampe shyning vpon the holie candlesticke, & the beautie of the face vpon stayed age.

23   Pillars of gold vpon feete of siluer, and stable feete vpon the soules of a stayed woman.

24   Eternal fundations vpon a sound rocke, and the commandments of God in the hart of a holie woman.

25   At two thinges my hart is greeued, and at the third anger is come vpon me:

26   A man of warre decaying by pouertie: and a wise man contemned:

27   and he that transgresseth from iustice to sinne, God hath prepared him to the sword.

28   Two sortes haue appeared vnto me hard and dangerous, a merchant is hardly rid of negligence: and ^note a viteler shal not be iustified from the sinnes of the lippes. Chap. XXVII. ^note For want, and desire of riches, manie committe sinne. 4. from which the feare of God preserueth. 6. Tentation proueth, who is iust, 12. constant, and modest. 17. Freindes are bond to secresie, 25. and fidelitie.

1   Throvgh pouertie manie haue offended: and he that seeketh to be made rich, turneth away his eie.

2   As a stake is fastened in the middes of stones compact together, so also in the middes of selling and buying, sinne shal be straytened.

3   Sinne shal be destroyed with the sinner.

4   If thou hold not thyself instantly in the feare of our Lord, ^note thy house shal quickly be subuerted.

5   As in the shaking of a sieue the dust wil remaine: so ^note the perplexitie of a man in his cogitation.

6   The fornace tryeth the potters vessels, and the tentation of tribulation iust men.

7   As the husbandrie about a tree sheweth the fruite thereof, so a word out of the thought of the hart of man.

8   Prayse not a man before ful discourse, for this is the trial of men.

9   If thou folow iustice, thou shalt apprehend it: and shalt put it on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwel with it: and it shal protect thee for euer, and in the day of knowleging thou shalt finde stedfastnes.

10   The foules flocke together to their like: and truth shal returne to them, that worke it.

11   The lion alwayes lyeth in wayte for a pray: so sinnes for them that worke iniquities.

12   A holie man continueth in wisdom ^note as the sunne: for a foole is changed as ^note the moone.

13   In the middes of the vnwise keepe the word til his time: but in the middes of deepe considerers be continually.

14   The narration of sinners is odious, & their laugther is in the deligthes of sinne.

15   Speach that sweareth much

shal make the heare of the head to stand vpright: and his lacke of reuerence is the stopping of the eares.

16   Sheding of bloud is in the brawling of the proud: and their cursing is a greeuous hearing.

17   He that discloseth the secrete of a freind, loseth credite, and he shal not finde a freind to his minde.

18   Loue thy neighhour, and be ioyned with him in fidelitie.

19   But if thou discouer his secrets, thou shalt not pursew after him.

20   For as a man that loseth his freind, so also he that loseth the freindshipe of his neigbbour.

21   And as he that letteth a bird goe out of his hand, so hast thou leaft thy neighbour, & shalt not take him.

22   Folow him not, because he is far absent, for he is fled, as a doe out of the snare: because his soule is wounded.

23   Thou canst no more blinde him, and of a curse there is reconciliation:

24   but to disclose the secrets of a freind, is the desperation of an vnhappie soule.

25   He that winketh with the eie, forgeth wicked thinges, and no man wil cast him of:

26   in the sight of thyne eyes he wil sweete his mouth, and wil be in admiration vpon thy wordes: but at the last he wil peruert his mouth, and in thy wordes he wil lay a scandal.

27   I haue heard manie thinges, & haue not esteemed them equal to him, and our Lord wil hate him.

28   He that ^notecasteth a stone on high, it wil fal vpon his head: and ^note the deceitful stroke wil diuide the woundes of the deceitful.

29   He that diggeth a pit, shal fal into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shal stumble on it: & he that layeth a snare for an other, shal perish in it.

30   To a man that doth most wicked counsel, it shal be turned vpon himself, and he shal not know from whence it cometh to him.

31   Derision & reproch of the proud, and vengeance as a lyon shal lie in waite for him.

32   They shal perish in a snare that are delighted with the fal of the iust: and sorow shal consume them before they die.

33   Anger and furie, both are execrable, and the sinful man shal be subiect to them. Chap. XXVIII. ^note Abstaine from reuenge, 8. and strife, 15. from making debate, 28. from hearing, and speaking euil.

1   He ^note that wil be reuenged, shal finde reuenge of our Lord, and keepeing he wil keepe his sinne.

2    ^noteForgeue thy neighbour hurting thee: & then shal thy sinnes be loosed

to thee when thou prayest.

3   Man to man reserueth anger, and doth he seeke remedie of God?

4   He hath not mercie on a man like vnto himself, and doth he intreate for his owne sinnes?

5   Himself whereas he is flesh, reserueth anger, and doth he aske propitiation of God? Who by prayer shal obteyne for his sinne?

6   Remember the last thinges, & cease to be at enmitie:

7   for consumption and death are imminent in his commandmentes.

8   Remember the feare of God, and be not angrie with thy neighbour.

9   Remember the testament of the High, & contemne the ignorance of thy neigbour.

10   Refraine thyself from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sinnes:

11   for an angrie man kindleth strife, and a sinful man wil truble his freindes, and in the middes of them that are at peace he wil cast in enmitie.

12   For according to the wood of the forest, so the fire burneth: and according to the power of a man, so shal his anger be, and according to his substance he wil increase his anger.

13   Hastie contention kindleth a fire: and hastie strife shedeth bloud: and an il testifying tongue bringeth death.

14   If thou blow vpon a sparck, it wil burne as a fire: and if thou spitte thereon, it shal be quenched: both procede out of the mouth.

15   The whisperer & duble tounged is accurst: for he hath trubled manie that were at peace.

16   A ^notethird tongue hath moued manie, and dispersed them from nation into nation.

17   It hath destroyed the walled citie of the rich, and hath digged downe the houses of great men.

18   It hath cut the forces of peoples, and vndone strong nations.

19   A third tongue hath cast out manlie wemen, and depriued them of their labours.

20   He that regardeth it, shal not haue rest, neither shal he haue a freind in whom he may repose.

21   The stroke of a whippe maketh a blew marke: but the stroke of the tongue wil breake the bones.

22   Manie haue fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so as they that haue perished by their tongue.

23   Blessed is he that is couered from a wicked tongue, that hath not passed into the anger therof, and that hath not drawen the yoke therof, and hath not bene tyed in the bandes therof:

24   for the yoke of it, is a yoke of yron: and the baud of it is a band of brasse.

25   The death of it, is a most wicked death: and hel is more profitable then it.

26   The continuance of it shal not be permanent, but it shal obteyne the waies of the vniust: and it shal not burne the iust in the flame therof.

27   They that forsake God, shal fal into it, and it shal

burne in them, and shal not be quenched, and it shal be sent in vpon them as a lion, and as a leopard it shal hurt them.

28    ^noteHedge thine eares with thornes, and heare not a wicked tongue, and make doores to thy mouth, and locks.

29   Lay together thy siluer, and make balance to thy wordes, and right bridles to thy mouth:

30   and take heede left perhaps thou slippe in thy tongue, & fal in the sight of the enemies, that lie in wayte for thee, and thy fal be vncurable vnto death. Chap. XXIX. ^note Lend charitably, 3. and restore faithfully. 10. For the fault of il debters, omitte not to helpe the honest. 12. rather geue almes where nede is. 19. Be thankful for suretiship, 28. Liue frugally. 32. Goe not a ghestning for delicate chere.

1   He that ^note lendeth to his neighbour, doth mercie: and he that preuayleth with hand, keepeth the commandments.

2   Lend to thy neighbour in the time of his necessitie, and ^note againe repay thy neighbour in his time.

3   Confirme thy word, and doe faithfully with him: & thou shalt finde at al time, that which is necessarie for thee.

4   Manie haue esteemed a thing lent as a thing found, and haue geuen molestation to them that did helpe them.

5   Til they receiue, they kisse the handes of the lender, and in promises they humble their voice:

6   and in the time of repaying they wil aske a time, and wil speake wordes of tediousnes and murmurings, and wil make the time an excuse:

7   and if he be able to pay, he wil resist, he wil pay scarse halfe of the whole, and wil accouut it as a thing found:

8   but if not, he wil defraude him of his money, and possesse him an enemie without cause:

9   and wil repay him reproches and curses, and for honour and benefite wil repay him contumelie.

10   Manie haue not lent, not because of wickednes, but they were afraid to be defrauded without cause.

11   But yet vpon the humble be stronger of minde, & for almes differre him not.

12   Because of the commandment receiue the poore: and because of his pouertie, send him not away emptie.

13   Lose money for thy brother and thy freind: and hide it not vnder a stone vnto perdition.

14   Put thy treasure in the precepts of the Highest, ^note & it shal profite thee more then gold.

15   Shut vp almes in the hart of the poore, and the same shal obteyne for thee against al euil.

16   Aboue the shilde of the mightie, & aboue the speare, it shal fight against

thyne enemie.

18   A good man becometh suretie for his neighbour: and he that hath lost shame, wil leaue him to himself.

19   Forget not the kindnes of a suertie: for he hath geuen his life for thee.

20   The sinner and vncleane person fleeth from his suretie.

21   A sinner counteth the goodes of his suretie to himself: and vnthankful in minde wil forsake him that deliuered him.

22   A man is suretie for his neigbour: and when he hath lost shame, he shal be forsaken of him.

23   Naughtie suretieshippe hath vndone manie, that were in good case, and hath tossed them as a waue of the sea.

24   Whurling round about, it hath made mightie men to remoue, and they haue wandred in strange nations.

25   A sinner that trangresseth the commandment of our Lord, shal fal into naughtie suretieshippe: and he that endeuoureth to doe manie thinges, shal fal into iudgement.

26   Recouer thy neighbour according to thy power, and ^note take heede to thy self that thou fal not.

27   The beginning of mans life water & bread, and garment, and house couering his turpitude.

28   Better is the poore mans fayre vnder a roofe of bordes, then sumptuous cheere in a strange place without a house.

29   Let the least thing please thee in steede of a great, and thou shalt not heare the reproach of peregrination.

30   It is a naughtie life to change lodging from house to house: and where he shal lodge, he shal not deale boldely, nor open his mouth.

31   He shal lodge, and feede, and make the vnthanckful drinke, and beside these thinges he shal heare bitter wordes.

32   Passe thou stranger, & furnish the table, & with the thinges thou hast in thy hand, feede the rest.

33   Depart from the presence of the honour of my freindes: for the necessitie of my house my brother is to be lodged with me.

34   These thinges be greuous to a man that hath vnderstanding: rebuke for the house, and the reproch of the lender. Chap. XXX. ^note Chastisment of children is necessarie, and indulgence very dangerous. 14. Health is better then riches. 17. A trublesome life is worse then death. 22. Be not pensiue but chereful in mind.

1   He that loueth his soune, doth accustome him to stripes, that he may reioyce in his later end, and not grope after the doores of his neighboures.

2   He that teacheth his sonne, shal be praised in him, & in the middes of them of his houshold he shal glorie in him.

3   He that teacheth his sonne, doth cast

the enemie into emulation, and in the middes of his freindes he shal glorie in him.

4   His father is dead, & he is as it were not dead: for he hath left behind him the like to himself.

5   In his life he sawe and reioyced in him: in his death he was not made sorie, neither was he confounded before the enemies.

6   For he left a defender of his house against the enemies, & one that should render thanck to his freindes.

7    ^noteFor the soules of his sonnes he wil binde vp his woundes, & at euerie voice his bowels shal be trubled.

8   An vntamed horse becometh stubburne, and a dissolute childe wil become headie.

9   Pamper thy sonne, and he wil make thee afraid: play with him, and he wil make thee sorowful.

10   Laugh not with him, lest thou be sorie, and at the last ^note thy teeth shal be on edge.

11   Geue him not power in his youth, and contemne not his cogitations.

12   Curbe his necke in youth, and knock his sides whiles he is a childe, lest perhaps he be hardned, and beleeue thee not, and he shal be sorow of minde to thee.

13   Teach thy sonne, and worke in him, that thou offend not in his dishonestie.

14   Better is a poore man whole, and strong of force, then a rich man weake and scourged with miserie.

15   The ^note health of the soule in holines of iustice, is better then al gold and siluer: and a sound bodie, then infinite reuenewes.

16   There is no riches aboue the riches of the health of the bodie: and there is noe delight aboue the ioy of the hart.

17   Better is death then a bitter life: and euerlasting rest, then continual sicknes.

18   Good thinges hid in a mouth that is shut, are as messes of meates set about a graue.

19   What shal sacrifice profite an idol? for neither shal he eate, nor smel:

20   so he that is chased away of our Lord, beareth the rewardes of iniquitie:

21   seing with his eies, & groning, as an eunuch embracing a virgin and sighing.

22    ^noteGeue not heuines to thy soule, & afflict not thyself in thy counsel.

23   Ioyfulnes of the hart, this is the life of a man, and a treasure without defect of holines: and the ioy of a man is long life.

24   Haue mercie on thine owne soule, ^note pleasing God, and refraine: and comfort thy hart in his holines: and expel sorow far from thee.

25   For sorow hath killed manie, and there is noe profite in it.

26   Enuie and anger diminish the daies, and thought wil bring old age before the time.

27   A magnifical hart, is good in bankettes: for his bankettes are made diligently.

Chap. XXXI. ^note By seeking vertue, and laboring for necessaries, the flesh is subdued to the spirite. 8. Moderate riches are best, 12. with temperance in diette, 30. especially in drinking.

1   VVatching ^note after honestie shal pine the flesh, & the thought thereof ^note taketh away sleepe.

2   The thought of foreknowlege turneth away the vnderstanding, & greuous infirmitie maketh a sober soule.

3   The riche man hath laboured in gathering of substance together, & in his rest he shal be replenished with his goodes.

4   The poore man hath laboured in the diminishing of his liuing, and in the end he is made poore.

5   He that loueth gold shal not be iustified: & he that foloweth after corruption, shal be replenished of it.

6   Manie haue bene geuen into falles for gold, and their perdition hath come by the beautie thereof.

7   The gold of them that sacrifice is a wood of offence: wo to them, that folow after it, and euerie vnwise man shal perish in it.

8   Blessed is the rich man that is found without spot: and that hath not gone after gold, nor hoped in money and treasures.

9   Who is this, & we wil praise him, for he hath done meruelous thinges in his life.

10   Who is proued therin, & perfect, shal haue eternal glorie. He that ^note could transgresse, and hath not transgressed: and doe euils, and hath not done:

11   therfore are his good thinges stablished in our Lord, & al the church of saintes shal declare his almes.

12   Art thou set at a great table? open not thy iawe therevpon first.

13   Say not this: There be manie thinges which are vpon it.

14   Remember that a naughtie eie is euil.

15   What is created worse then the eie? therefore shal it weepe at euerie face. When it shal see,

16   stretch not out thy hand first, and so contaminated with enuie thou be ashamed.

17   Be not oppressed in a feast.

18   Vnderstand by thyself what thy neighbours thinges are.

19   Vse as a frugal man those thinges, that are set before thee: lest thou be hated when thou eatest much.

20   Leaue of first, for maners sake, and exceede not, lest thou perhaps offend.

21   And if thou be set in the middes of manie, stretch not forth thy hand before them: neither doe thou first aske to drinke.

22   How sufficient is a little wine for a man wel taught, and in sleeping thou shalt not be pained with it, and thou shalt feele no griefe.

23   Watching, & choler, & torment to an vnsatiable man:

24   sleepe of health is in a man of spare diet:

he shal sleepe vntil morning, and his soule with him shal be deligted.

25   And if thou hast bene forced with eating much, rise from the middes, and vomite, and it shal refresh thee, and thou shalt not bring infirmitie to thy bodie.

26   Heare me my sonne, and despise me not: and in the end thou shalt finde my wordes.

27   In al thy workes be quicke, and al infirmitie shal not chance vnto thee.

28   The lippes of manie shal blesse him that is magnifical in breads, and the testimonie of his truth is faithful.

29   In ^note naughtie bread the cittie wil murmur, and the testimonie of the naughtines thereof is true.

30   Prouoke not them that loue wine: for wine hath destroyed very manie.

31   Fire tryeth hard yron: so wine dronken in drunkennes shal rebuke the hartes of the proud.

32   Equal life to al men, wine in sobrietie: if thou drinke it moderatly, thou shalt be sober.

33   What is the life that is diminished with wine?

34   What defraudeth life? death.

35   Wine was created for ioyfulnes, and not for drunkenes from the beginning.

36   Wine drunken moderately is the ioy of the soule, and the hart.

37   Sober drinking is health to soule and bodie.

38   Much wine drunken maketh prouocation, & wrath, & manie ruines.

39   Much wine drunken is bitternes of the soule.

40   The couragiousnes of drunkennes, is offence of the vnwise, lessening the strength, and making woundes.

41   In a banquet of wine rebuke not thy neighbour: and despise him not in his mirth.

42   Speake nor to him wordes of repoch: and presse him not in demanding againe. Chap. XXXII. ^note Superiors must rule with mekenes, 4. teaching those wisdom that are capable thereof. 7. Be moderate in musike, and in wine. 9. Let yongmen be diligent to heare, and sparing to speake. 13. especially before their betters. 15. Be alwayes wel occupied. 17. Serue, and feare God. 21. admitte correction. 24. do nothing without counsel.

1   Have they made thee Ruler? ^note be not extolled: be among them as one of them.

2   Haue care of them, and so sitte thou stil, and al thy care being dispatched, repose.

3   That thou maist reioyce for their sakes, & receiue a crowne as an ornament of grace, and obteyne the dignitie of the contribution.

4   Speake thou that art elder: for it becometh thee,

5   the first word to him that loueth with knowlege, & hinder not musike.

6   Where there is no hearing, power not out

speache, and extol not thyself out of time in thy wisdom.

7   A litle pearle of the carbuncle in an ornament of gold, and the comparison of musicians in a banket of wine.

8   As a signet of the emerauld is in the working of gold: so the melodie of musike in ioyful and moderate wine.

9   Heare holding thy peace, & for thy reuerence good grace shal come to thee.

10   Yong man speake in thine owne cause scarcely.

11   If thou be asked twise, let thyne answer haue an head.

12   In manie thinges be as it were ignorant, and heare holding thy peace and withal asking.

13   In the middes of greate men presume not: and where ancients are, speake not much.

14   Before haile there shal goe lightning: & grace shal goe before shamfastnes, & for thy reuerence good grace shal come to thee.

15   And at the houre of rysing slacke not thyself: but runne before first into thy house, and there withdraw thyself, and there play,

16   and doe thy conceites, and not in sinnes and proud word.

17   And aboue al these thinges blesse our Lord, that made thee, & that doth replenish thee with al his goodes.

18   He that feareth our Lord, shal receiue his doctrine: and they that wil watch after him, shal finde blessing.

19   He that seeketh the law, shal be replenished with it: and he that doth deceitfully, shal be scandalized by it.

20   They that feare our Lord, shal finde iust iudgement, and shal kindle iustices as light.

21   A sinful man wil flee reprehension, and according to his wil, wil finde excuse.

22   A man of counsel wil not destroy vnderstanding, an aliene and proud man wil not dread feare:

23   Yea after he hath done with feare without counsel, he shal be controwled euen by his owne pursuites.

24   Sonne ^note doe nothing without counsel, and after the fact thou shalt not repent.

25   Goe not in the way of ruine, and thou shalt not stumble at stones: commite not thyself to a laborious way, lest thou set a scandal to thy soule.

26   And beware of thy children, and take heede of them of thy household.

27   In al thy worke beleue thy soule ^note by faith: for this is the keeping of the commandmentes.

28   He thal beleueth God, attendeth to the commandmentes: and he that trusteth in him, shal not be lessened. Chap. XXXIII. ^note Feare of God defendeth from al aduersaries. 5. Follie is vnconstant. 8. God disposeth al to the best. 13. Man is in Gods hand, as clay in the potters. 20. Superiors must keepe their auctoritie: and their subiectes in discipline.

1   To him that feareth our Lord euils shal not happen, but in tentation God wil keepe him, and deliuer him from euils.

2   A wise man hateth not the commandments and iustices, and he shal not be shaken as a shippe in a storme.

3   A man of vnderstanding beleueth the law of God, and the law is sure to him.

4   He that repeteth an interrogation, shal better prepare his answer, and so shal be heard, and shal keepe discipline.

5    ^noteThe hart of a foole is as a wheele of a carte: & his cogitation as a turning axeltree.

6   A stalion horse neyeth vnder euerie one that sitteth vpon him, so a freind that is a scorner.

7   Why doth one day excel an other, and one light an other, and one yeare an other yeare of the sunne?

8   By the knowlege of our Lord they were seperated, the sunne being made, and keeping the precept.

9   And he changed times, and the festiual daies thereof, and in the same they celebrated the festiual daies at an houre.

10   Of them God exalted and magnified, and of them he put into the number of daies. And al men are of the ground, and of the earth, from whence Adam was created.

11   In the multitude of the discipline of our Lord he separated them, and changed their waies.

12   Of them he blessed, and exalted: and of them he sanctified, and applied to himself: and of them he cursed and humbled, and conuerted them from their separation.

13   As potters clay is in his hand, to fashion and dispose it.

14   Al his wayes according to his disposition: so man in the hand of him, and he wil render to him according to his iudgement.

15   Against euil is good, and against death life: so also against a iust man a sinner. And so looke vpon al the workes of the Highest. Two against two, and one against one.

16   And I awaked last, and as he that gathereth bearies after the grape gatherers.

17   In the blessing of God I also haue hoped: and as he that gathereth grapes, haue I filled the wine presse.

18   See that I haue not laboured for myself only, but for al that seeke out discipline.

19   Heare me ye great men, and al peoples, and ye rulers of the Church karken with your eares.

20   To sonne and wife, brother and freind, geue not power ouer thee in thy life: and geue not thy possession to an other: lest perhaps thou repent thee, and thou entreate for them.

21   Whiles thou art yet aliue and takest breath, al flesh shal not change thee.

22   For it is better that thy children aske of thee, then that thou looke toward the hands of thy children.

23   In al thy workes

be exquisite.

24   Geue no staine to thy glorie. In the day of the consummation of the dayes of thy life, and in the time of thy decease distribute thine inheritance.

25   Fodder, and wande, and burden for an asse: bread, and discipline, and worke for a seruant.

26   He worketh in discipline, and seeketh to rest: release him his handes, and he seeketh libertie.

27   The yoke and the reyne bend a stiff necke, and continual workes do bowe a seruant.

28   For a malicious seruant torment & fetters, send him into worke, that he be not idle.

29   For idlenes hath taught much naughtines.

30   Set him to worke: for so it becometh him. And if he be not obedient, bow him with fetters, and exceede not ouer al flesh: but without iudgement doe no greuous thing.

31   If thou haue a faithful seruant, let him be vnto thee as thy soule: as a brother so entreate him: because in the bloud of thy soule thou hast gotten him.

32   If thou hurt him vniustly, he wil runne away:

33   if rising vp he depart: thou knowest not whom to aske, and what way to seeke him. Chap. XXXIIII. ^note Trust not vaine dreames, southsayinges, nor lies. 9. Much good is got by experience: 14. and more by fearing God. 21. God reiecteth the oblations of the wicked. 24. Defrauding the poore is like to manslaughter. 28. Destroy not that an other buildeth. 30. Repentance without amendment is nothing worth.

1   Vaine hope, & lying is to a foolish man: & ^note dreames extol the vnwise.

2   As he that apprehendeth a shadow, and pursueth the winde: so is he also that attendeth to lying visions.

3   According to this is the vision of dreames: as a mans similitude before the face of a man.

4   Of the vncleane what shal be made cleane? and of a lyer what truth shal be said?

5   Diuination of errour, and lying southsayinges, and the dreames of them that do euil are vanitie.

6   And as a woman that traueleth thy hart suffereth phantasies: vnlesse it be a vision sent forth from the Highest, set not thy hart vpon them.

7   For dreames haue made manie to erre, and they that hoped in them haue failed.

8    ^noteThe word of the law shal be fulfilled without lying, and ^note wisedom in the mouth of the faithful shal be made plaine.

9   He that hath not bene proued, what knoweth he? A man expert in manie thinges, shal thinck manie thinges: and he that hath lerned manie thinges, shal declare vnderstanding.

10   He that is not tryed, knoweth

few thinges: and he that hath bene in manie things, multiplyeth wickednes.

11   He that hath not bene proued, what maner of thinges knoweth he? He that is deceiued, shal abound with wickednes.

12   I haue seene manie thinges in wandring to and fro, and very manie fashions of words.

13   Some times I haue bene in danger vnto death for these thinges, and I was deliuered by the grace of God.

14   The spirit of them that feare God is sought, & at his sight shal be blessed.

15   For their hope is on him that saueth them, and the eies of God vpon them that loue him.

16   He that feareth our Lord shal tremble at nothing, and shal not dread: because he is his hope.

17   His soule is blessed that feareth our Lord.

18   To whom doth he looke, and who is his strength?

19   The eies of our Lord are vpon them that feare him, a protectour of might, a stay of strength, a couer from the heate, and shadow for the noone time,

20   a sauing from offence, and helpe from falling, exalting the soule, and illuminating the eies, geuing health, and life, and blessing.

21   The oblation of him that immolateth of an vniust thing is spotted, and the scorninges of the vniust are not acceptable.

22   Our Lord is onlie theirs that expect him in the way of truth and iustice.

23   The Highest alloweth not the giftes of the wicked: neither hath he regard to the oblations of the vniust, neither wil he be made propitious for sinnes by the multitude of their sacrifices.

24   He that offereth sacrifice of poore mens substance, is as he that sacrificeth the sonne in the presence of his father.

25   The bread of the needie, is the life of the poore: he that defraudeth it, is a man of bloud.

26   He that taketh away bread in swet, is as he that killeth his neighbour.

27   He that sheddeth bloud, and that defraudeth the hired man, are bretheren.

28    ^noteOne building, and an other destroing: what profite haue they but the labour?

29   One praying, and an other cursing: whethers voice wil God heare?

30   He that is washed from the dead, ^note and toucheth him againe, what doth his washing profit?

31   so a man that fasteth in his sinnes: and doing the same againe, what doth he profite in humbling himself? who wil heare his prayer? Chap. XXXV. ^note Obseruation of the commandments, 4. and sacrifice of the iust please God, 12. not the sacrifice of the wicked. 14. God protecteth the poore and desolate, 19. heareth the prayer of the humble, and rendereth to al as they deserue.

1   He ^note that keepeth the law, multiplieth oblation.

2   It is an holsome sacrifice to attend to the commandments, and to depart from al iniquitie.

3   To depart from iniquitie is a thing that pleaseth our Lord wel: and to depart from iniustice is an intreating for sinnes.

4    ^noteThou shalt not appeare before the sight of our Lord emptie.

5   For al these thinges are done because of the commandment of God.

6   The oblation of the iust maketh a fatte altar, and is an odour of sweetenes in the sight of the Highest.

7   The sacrifice of the iust is acceptable, and our Lord wil not forget the memorie thereof.

8   Render glorie to God with a good minde: and diminish not the first fruites of thine handes.

9   In euerie gift make thy countenance chereful, and in ioyfulnes sanctifie thy tithes.

10   Geue to the Highest according to his gift, and with a good eie, doe according to the abilitie of thine handes:

11   because our Lord is a rewarder, and wil repay thee ^note seuen times so much.

12   Offer not wicked giftes, for he wil not receiue them.

13   And looke not vpon an vniust sacrifice, because our Lord is iudge, and there is not with him the glorie of person.

14   Our Lord wil not accept person against the poore, and he wil heare the prayer of him that is hurt.

15   He wil not despise the prayers of the pupil: nor the widow, if she power out speach of mourning.

16   Do not the widows teares runne downe to the cheeke, & her exclamation vpon him that causeth them to runne?

17   For from the cheeke they goe vp euen to heauen, and our Lord the hearer wil not be delighted in them.

18   He that adoreth God in delectation, shal be receiued, & his petition shal approch euen to the cloudes.

19   The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shal penetrate the cloudes: and til it approch he wil not be comforted: and he wil not depart til the Highest behold.

20   And our Lord wil not be long, but wil iudge the iust, and wil do iudgement: and the strongest wil not haue patience in them, that he may crush their backe:

21   and he wil repay vengeance to the Gentiles, til he take away the multitude of the proude: & breake the scepters of the vniust,

22   til he reward men according to their doings: and according to the workes of man, and according to his presumption,

23   til he iudge the iudgement of his people, and shal delight the iust with his mercie:

24   The mercie of God is beautiful in the time of tribulation, as a cloude of raine in the time of drught.

Chap. XXXVI. ^note A prayer for conuersion of al nations: 14. and for conseruation of the Israelites. 20. Discretion is necessarie in al actions, and desires.

1   Have mercie vpon vs ô God of al, and respect vs, and shew vs the light of thy mercies:

2   and send in thy feare vpon ^note the nations, that haue not sought after thee, that they may know that there is no God but thou, and that they may shewforth thy glorious thinges.

3   Lift vp thy hand ouer the strange Nations, that they may see thy might.

4   For as in their sight thou art sanctified in vs, so in our sight thou shalt be magnified in them,

5   that they may know thee, as we also haue knowen, that there is no God beside thee ô Lord.

6   Renewe signes, and change meruels.

7   Glorifie thy hand, and thy right arme.

8   Raise vp furie, and power out wrath.

9   Take away the aduersarie, and afflict the enemie.

10   Hasten the time, and remember the end, that they may declare thy meruels.

11   Let him that is saued be deuoured in the wrath of flame: and let them that euil intreate thy people, finde perdition.

12   Breake the head of princes of the enemies, that saie: There is none other beside vs.

13   Gather together al the tribes of Iacob: and let them know that there is no God but thou, that they may declare thy great workes: & thou shalt inherite them as from the beginning.

14   Haue mercie on thy people, vpon which thy name is inuocated: and vpon Israel, whom thou hast made equal to thy first begotten.

15   Haue mercie on the citie of thy sanctification Ierusalem, the citie of thy rest.

16   Replenish Sion with thy wordes that can not be vttered, & thy people with thy glorie.

17   Geue the testimonie to them, that are thy creatures from the beginning, and raise vp the prophecies, which the former prophets spake in thy name.

18   Geue reward to them that patiently expect thee, that thy prophets may be found faithful: and heare the prayers of thy seruants,

19   according to Aarons benediction of thy people, and direct vs into the way of iustice, and let al knowe that inhabite the earth, that thou art God the beholder of the worldes.

20   The ^note bellie wil eate al meate, and one meate is better then an other meate.

21   The iawes taist venison, & ^note the wise hart lying wordes,

22   A peruerse hart wil geue sorow, and a cunning man wil resist it.

23   Some woman wil receiue euerie man: and one daughter is better then an other daughter.

24   The beautie of a woman chereth the face of her husband, and increaseth the desire aboue al mans concupiscence.

25   If there be a tongue of curing, there is also of mitigating and of mercie: her husband is not according to the sonnes of men.

26   He that possesseth a good woman, beginneth riches: she is an helpe like vnto him, & a piller as ^note rest.

27   Where there is no hedge, the possession shal be spoiled: and where there is no wife, he mourneth wanting. Who doth credite him that hath no nest, and turning aside wheresoeuer it waxeth darke, as a robber girded, leaping from citie to citie. Chap. XXXVII. ^note Beware of a feaned, & loue a sure freind, 7. consult with the wise, trustie, 15. and vertuous, 19. especially relying vpon God. 21. The tongue is cause of much good, or much euil. 30. Be temperate in diet.

1   Everie freind wil say: I also haue ioyned freindshipe: ^notebut there is a freind, in name only a freind. Doth there not sorow remaine euen to death?

2   But a companion and freind wil be turned to enmitie.

3   O most wicked presumption, whence wast thou created to couer the drie land with malice, and with the deceitfulnes thereof?

4   A companion is pleasant with his freind in delectations, and in the time of tribulation he wil be an aduersarie.

5   A companion is sorie with his freind for his bellies sake, and he wil take a shield against the enemie.

6   Forgete not thy freind in thy minde, and be not vnmindeful of him in thy riches.

7   Consult not with him which betraieth, and hide thy counsel from them that enuie thee.

8   Euerie counseler vttereth counsel, but there is a counseler in him selfe.

9   From such a counseler keepe thy soule. First know what his necessitie is: for he wil deuise to his owne minde:

10   lest perhaps he thrust a sharpe stake into the ground and say to thee:

11   Thy way is good; and stand ouer against thee to see what wil befal thee.

12   With an irreligious man treate not of holines, and with the vniust of iustice, and with a woman of the thing whereof she is ielous: with a feareful man of warre, with a marchant of traficke, with a byer of selling, with an enuious man of geuing thankes,

13   with the impious of pietie, with the vnhonest of honestie, with the field labourer of al worke,

14   with him that worketh by the yeare of the ending of the yeare, with a slothful seruant of much working: attend not to these in al counsel.

15   But be

continual with a holie man, whomsoeuer thou shalt know to obserue the feare of God,

16   whose soule is according to thine owne soule: and who when thou shalt stumble in the darke, wil be sorie for thee.

17   And establish with thy self an hart of good counsel: for there is none other thing more worth to thee then it.

18   The soule of a holie man vttereth sometime true thinges, more then seuen watchmen that sitte in a high place to watch.

19   And in al these ^note beseech the Highest, that he direct thy way in truth.

20   Before al workes let a true word goe before thee, and stable counsel before euerie act.

21   A wicked word shal change the hart: out of which rise foure partes, good, and euil, life, and death: and the tongue is a continual ruler of them. There is a subtile man teacher of manie, and to his owne soule he is vnprofitable.

22   A cunning man hath taught manie, and is swete to his owne soule.

23   He that speaketh sophistically, is odious: in euerie thing he shal be defrauded.

24   Grace is not geuen him of our Lord: for he is defrauded of al wisdom.

25   There is a wise man, wise to his owne soule: and the fruite of his vnderstanding is laudable.

26   A wise man teacheth his people, and the fruites of his vnderstanding are faithful.

27   A wise man shal be filled with blessinges, and they that see wil praise him.

28   The life of a man is in the number of dayes: but the dayes ^note of Israel are innumerable.

29   A wise man in the people shal inherite honour, and his name shal liue for euer.

30   Sonne in thy life ^note proue thy soule: & if it be wicked, geue it not power:

31   for al thinges are not expedient for al, and euerie kinde pleaseth not euerie soule.

32   Be not greedie in al feasting, and power not out thy self vpon al meate:

33   for in manie meates there shal be infirmitie, and greedines shal approch euen to choler.

34   Because of surfet manie haue died: but he that is abstinent, shal adde life. Chap. XXXVIII. ^note God hath ordained corporal, 9. and spiritual medicines. 16. Vse moderate, not excessiue sorow for the dead. 26. Tradesmen and artificers are necessarie, much more spiritual pastors.

1   Honovr the phisition ^note for necessitie: for the Highest hath created him.

2   For al medicine is of God, & it shal receiue gift of the king.

3   The knowlege of the phisition shal exalt his head, and in the sight of great men he shal be praised.

4   The Highest hath created medicines of the earth, and a wise man wil not abhorre them.

5   Was not bitter water made sweete by wood?

6   The vertue of these thinges is come to the knowlege of men, and the Highest hath geuen knowlege to men, for to be honoured in his meruelous thinges.

7   Curing with these thinges he shal mitigate paine, and the apothecarie shal make confections of swetenes, and shal make ointments of health, and his workes shal not be consummated.

8   For the peace of God is vpon the face of the earth.

9   Sonne ^note in thine infirmitie contemne not thy self, but pray our Lord, and he wil cure thee.

10   Turne away from sinne, and direct thy handes, and from al offence cleanse thy hart.

11   Geue sweetenes and a memorial of fine floure, and make a fat oblation, and geue place to the phisition.

12   For our Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, because his workes be necessarie.

13   For there is a time when thou maist fal into their handes:

14   and they shal beseech our Lord, that he direct their rest, and healing; for their conuersation.

15   He that sinneth in his sight, that made him, shal fal into the handes of the phisition.

16   Sonne vpon the dead shed teares, and beginne to weepe as hauing suffered doleful thinges, and according to iudgement couer his bodie, and neglect not his burial.

17   But ^note for detraction beare bitterly the mourning of him one day, and be comforted for the heauines,

18   and make mourning according to his desert one day, or two, because of detraction.

19   For by heauines death hasteneth, and it couereth the strength, and sorow of the hart boweth the necke.

20   In abstraction sorow is permanent: and the substance of the poore is according to his hart.

21   Geue not thine hart into heauines, but expel it from thee: and remember the latter endes,

22   and forget not: for neither is there returne, and him thou shalt profit nothing, and thou shalt hurt thy self.

23   Be mindful of my iudgement: for thine also must be so: to me yesterday, and to thee to day.

24   In the repose of the dead make the memorie of him to rest, and comfort him in the departing of his spirit.

25    ^noteThe wisdom of a scribe in the time of vacance: and he that is lesse in action, shal receiue wisdom.

26   With what wisdom shal he be replenished, that holdeth the plough, and glorieth in the goade, driueth oxen with the prickle, and conuerseth in their workes, and his talke is in the breede of bulles?

27   He wil

geue his hart to turne vp furrowes, and his watching in the feeding of kine.

28   So euerie craftsman and workemaster that passeth the night as the day, that maketh grauen seales, and his continual diligence varieth the picture: he wil geue his hart to the similitude of the picture, and his watching wil perfect the worke.

29   So the yronsmith sitting by the anuil and considering the worke of yron. The vapour of the fire wil parche his flesh, and he striueth in the heate of the fournace:

30   The noyse of the hammer reneweth his care, and his eye is against the similitude of the vessel.

31   He wil geue his hart to the finishing of the workes, and his watching wil polish to perfection.

32   So the porter sitting at his worke, turning the wheele with his feete, who is alwayes set in carefulnes for his worke, and al his working is in number:

33   With his arme he wil fashion the clay, and before his feete he wil bend his strength:

34   He wil geue his hart to finish the vernishing thereof, and his watching wil make cleane the fournace.

35   Al these haue hoped in their handes, and euerie one is wise in his owne art.

36   Without these a citie is not built.

37   And they shal not inhabite, nor walke therein, and they shal not leape high into the congregation.

38   Vpon the iudges seate they shal not sitte, and the ordinance of iudgement they shal not vnderstand, neither shal they declare discipline and iudgement, and in parables they shal not be found:

39   but they shal confirme the creature of the world, and their prayer shal be in the worke of their art, applying their soule, & searching in the law of the Highest. Chap. XXXIX. ^note Godie knowlege, 16. puritie of soule, 20. humble conceipt of our selues, 27. and consideration of eternal reward, are good dispositions to spiritual contemplation.

1   The ^note wise man wil search out the wisdom of al the ancientes, and wil be occupied in the prophetes.

2   He wil keepe the narration of famous men, and wil enter withal into the subtilities of parables.

3   He wil search out the hidden senses of prouerbes, and wil conuerse in the secretes of parables.

4   In the middes of great men he wil minister, and in the sight of the president he shal appeare.

5   He shal passe into the land of strange nations: for he shal trie good and euil in men.

6   He wil geue his hart to watch early vnto our Lord, that

made him, and he wil pray in the sight of the Highest.

7   He Wil open his mouth in prayer, and wil entreate for his sinnes.

8   For if it shal please our great Lord, he wil fil him with ^note the spirit of vnderstanding:

9   and he wil power forth the wordes of his wisdom as showres, and in prayer wil confesse to our Lord.

10   And he wil direct his counsel, and discipline, and in his secretes he wil consult.

11   He wil open the discipline of his doctrine, and wil glorie in the law of the testament of our Lord.

12   Manie wil praise his wisdom, and it shal not be abolished for euer.

13   The memorie of him shal not depart, and his name shal be required from generation to generation.

14   Nations shal declare his wisdom, and the church wil shew forth his praise.

15   If he continew, he shal leaue a name more then a thousand: and if he rest, it shal profite him.

16   I wil yet consult that I may declare: For as with furie I am replenished.

17   In voice he saith: Heare me ye diuine fruites, and as the rose planted vpon the riuers of waters fructifie ye.

18   As Libanus ^note haue ye the odours of sweetnes.

19   Florish ye flowres, as the lilie, and geue forth an odour, and bring forth leaues in grace, and praise with songue, and blesse our Lord in his workes.

20    ^noteGeue magnificence to his name, and confesse vnto him in the voice of your lippes, and in songues of the lippes, and harpes, & thus shal ye say in confession:

21   Al the workes of our Lord are exceeding good.

22   At his word the water stood as an heape: and at the word of his mouth as it were receptacles of waters:

23   because in his commandment placabilitie is made, and there is no diminishing of his saluation.

24   The workes of al flesh are before him, and there is nothing hid from his eyes.

25   From world to world be beholdeth, and nothing is meruelous in his sight.

26   It is not to be saied: What is this, or what is that? for al thinges shal be sought in their time.

27    ^noteHis blessing hath ouerflowed as a streame.

28   And as a flood hath watered the drie land, so his wrath shal inherite the nations, that haue not sought him:

29   euen as he turned waters into drught, and the earth was made drie: and his waies are direct to the waies of them: so to sinners stumbling blockes in his wrath.

30   Good thinges were created for the good from the beginning, so for the wicked, good thinges and euil.

31    ^noteThe beginning of the thing necessarie for the life of men, water, fire, and yron, salt, milke, and bread of flower, and honie, and the cluster of grape, and

oyle, & clothing.

32   Al these shal be conuerted to saintes into good, so also to the impious and to sinners into euil.

33   There are spirites, that were created ^note for vengeance, and in their furie they haue confirmed their tormentes:

34   in the time of consummation they shal power out strength: and they shal accomplish the furie of him, that made them.

35   Fire, haile, famine, and death, al these were created fot vengeance:

36   the teeth of beastes, and scorpions, and serpentes, and sword reuenging the impious vnto destruction.

37   In his commandmentes they shal make merrie, and on the earth they shal be prepared when nede is, and in their times they shal not pretermitte a word.

38   Therefore from the beginning I was confirmed, and I haue consulted, and thought, and leaft written.

39   Al the workes of our Lord are good, & he wil geue euerie worke in his houre.

40   It is not to be said: This is worse then that: for al shal be approued in their time.

41   And now with al hart and mouth praise ye, and blesse the name of our Lord. Chap. XL. ^note The first matter of spiritual meditation may be mans miserie, contracted by original sinne, 4. and increased by actual, 17. reliued by Gods grace: 22. which geueth manie benefites, 27. man adding his voluntarie cooperation.

1   Great trauel is created to al men, and an heauie yoke vpon the children of Adam, from ^note the day of their coming forth of their mothers wombe, vntil the day of their burying, into the mother of al.

2   Their cogitations, and feares of the hart, imagination of thinges to come, and the day of their ending:

3   from him that sitteth vpon the glorious seate, vnto him that is humbled in earth & ashes.

4   From him that weareth hyacinth, and beareth the crowne, euen to him, that is couered with rude linen: furie, enuie, tumult, wauering, and the feare of death, anger perseuering, and contention,

5   and in the time of repose in bed, the sleepe of night changeth his knowlege.

6   A litle is as nothing in rest, and afterward in sleepe, as in the day of watche.

7   He is trubled in the vision of his hart, as he that hath escaped in the day of battel. In the time of his safetie he rose vp, and merueleth at noe feare:

8   With al flesh, from man euen to beast, and vpon sinners seuenfold.

9   Beside these thinges, death, bloud, contention, and sword, oppressions, famine,

and contrition, and scourges:

10   for the wicked al these were created, and for them the floud was made.

11   Al thinges that are of the earth, shal turne into the earth, and al waters shal returne into the sea.

12   Al bribing, and iniquitie shal be cleane taken away, and fidelitie shal stand for euer.

13   The riches of the vniust shal be dried vp as a riuer, and they shal sound as great thunder in rayne.

14   In opening his handes he shal reioyce: so transgressors shal pine away in consumption.

15   The nephewes of the impious shal not multiplie boughes, nor vncleane rootes sound vpon the toppe of a rocke.

16   Ouer al water grennes, and at the brincke of the riuer it shal be plucked vp before al grasse.

17   Grace is as paradise in blessinges, and mercie remayneth for euer.

18   The life of a workeman that is sufficient for himself shal be sweete, and in it thou shalt finde a treasure.

19   Children, and building of a citie shal confirme the name, and an vnspotted woman shal be counted aboue this.

20   Wine and musicke make a ioyful hart: and the loue of wisedom is aboue both.

21   Shalmes, and Psalterie make sweete melodie, and a sweete tongue is aboue both.

22   Thine eye wil desire grace and beautie, and ^note greene sowen fieldes are aboue this.

23   A freind and companion meeting together in time, and aboue them both is a woman with her husband.

24   Bretheren are an helpe in the time of tribulation, and mercie shal deliuer more then they.

25   Gold and siluer are the establishing of the feete: and counsel is wel accepted aboue them both.

26   Riches and strength exalt the hart, and aboue these is the feare of our Lord.

27   There is no diminution in the feare of our Lord, and in it there is no neede to seeke for helpe.

28   The feare of our Lord is as a paradise of blessing, and they haue couered it aboue al glorie.

29   Sonne in thy life time ^note want not: for it is better to die then to want.

30   A man that looketh toward an other mans table, his life is as no life, thinking how to liue, for he feedeth his soule with an other mans meates.

31   But a man nurtered, and taught wil looke to him selfe.

32   Pouertie wil be sweete in the mouth of the vnwise, and in his bellie a fire wil burne. Chap. XLI. ^note An other matter of meditation is death, 8. wherof sinne is the cause. 15. Care of a good same is necessarie. 19. Let shamfastnes be a bridle to auoide fornication, 22. iniquitie, 24. theft, and other sinnes.

1   O Death how bitter is thy memorie to a man that hath peace in his riches:

2   to a man that is at rest, and whose wayes are prosperous in al thinges, and that is yet able to take meate!

3   O death, thy iudgement is good to a needy man, and him that is diminished in strength,

4   and fayleth in age, and that is careful of al thinges, and to the incredulous, that loseth patience!

5   Feare not the iudgement of death. Remember what thinges haue bene before thee, and what come after thee: this is the iudgement from our Lord to al flesh:

6   and what shal come vpon thee by the good pleasure of the Highest? whether it be ten, or an hundred, or a thousand yeares.

7   For in hel there is no ^note accusing of life.

8   The children of sinners be come children of abominations, and they that conuerse neere the houses of the impious.

9   The inheritance of the children of sinners shal perish, and with their seede shal be continuance of reproch.

10   The children complaine of an impious father, because for him they are in reproch.

11   Woe to you ye impious men, which haue forsaken the law of our Lord the Highest.

12   And if ye be borne, ye shal be borne in malediction: and if ye die, in malediction shal be your portion.

13   Al thinges that are of the earth, shal returne into the earth: so the impious from malediction to perdition.

14   The moorning of men is in their bodie, but the name of the impious shal be cleane wyped out.

15   Haue care of a good name: for this shal be more permanent to thee, then a thousand treasures precious and great.

16   There is a number of the daies of a good life: but a good name shal continew for euer.

17   Children, keepe ye discipline in peace. For wisdom hid, and treasure not seene, what profite is there in them both?

18   Better is the man that hideth his follie, then the man that hideth his wisdom.

19   But yet ^note haue reuerence to these thinges, which proceede from my mouth.

20   For it is not good to obserue al shamfastnes: & ^note al thinges do not please al men in opinion.

21   Be ashamed before father & before mother, of fornication: and before the president and before the mightie, of lying:

22   before the prince, and before the iudge, of offence: before the sinagogue and the people, of iniquitie:

23    before companion and freind, of iniustice: and before the place where thou dwellest,

24   of theft, of the truth of God, and his testament: of leaning on the bread, and of reproofe for the thing geuen and taken:

25   before them that

salute thee, of silence: of beholding a woman that is an harlot: and of turning away thy countenance from thy kinsman.

26   Turne not away thy face from thy neighbour, & of taking away part and not restoring.

27   Behold not an other mans wife, and search not his handmayde, neither stand by her bed.

28   Before freindes of opprobrious wordes: and when thou hast geuen, vpbrayde not. Chap. XLII. ^note Further admonition to auoide sinnes in wordes, and deedes. 6. with care that others offend not by our negligence. 15. An other matter of meditation is Gods excellencie, appearing in his workes.

1   Repeate not the word ^note which thou hast heard, neither reueale thou of a secret word, & thou shalt in deede be without confusion, and shalt finde grace in the sight of al men: be not ashamed for al these thinges, and accept not person therby to sinne.

2   Of the law of the Highest, and his testament, and of iudgement to iustifie the impious,

3   of the word of companions and wayfaring men, and of the geuing of the inheritance of freindes,

4   of the equalitie of balance and weightes, of the getting of manie thinges and few,

5   of the corruption of bying, and of marchantes, and of much discipline of thy children, and to make bloudie the side of a wicked seruant.

6   Ouer a naughtie woman a seale is good.

7   Where there are manie handes, shut vp, and what soeuer thou shalt deliuer, number, and weigh it: and write euerie thing geuen and receiued.

8   Of the discipline of the vnwise and foolish, and of ancientes, that are iudged of young men: and thou shalt be wel instructed in al thinges, and approued in the sight of al the liuing.

9   A daughter is the secret watch of the father, and the care of her taketh away sleepe, lest perhaps in her youth she become past age, & abiding with an husband she become odious:

10   lest at anie time she be corrupted in her virginitie, and in her fathers house she be found with childe: lest perhaps abyding with her husband she transgresse, or at the least become barren.

11   Ouer a dissolute daughter keepe sure watch: lest at anie time she make thee come into reprooche with thine enemies, because of detraction in the citie, and the obiection of the people, and she confound thee in the multitude of the people.

12   Looke not on euerie bodie

for beautie sake: & among wemen tarie not.

13   For out of garments cometh forth the moth, and from a woman the iniquitie of a man.

14   For ^note better is the iniquitie of a man, then a woman doing a good turne, and a woman shaming vnto reproche.

15   I therefore wil be mindeful of the workes of our Lord, and I wil shew forth which I haue seene. By the words of our Lord are his workes.

16   The sunne illuminating hath looked through out al, and ful of the glorie of our Lord is his worke.

17   Hath not our Lord made the sainctes to declare al his meruelous thinges, which our Lord the omnipotent confirmed to be established in his glorie?

18   He hath searched out the depth, and the hart of men: and in their subtilitie he hath considered.

19   For our Lord hath knowen al knowlege, and hath beheld the signe of age, declaring what thinges are past, and what are to come, reueling ^note the tokens of secret thinges.

20   No cogitation escapeth him, and no word hideth it self from him.

21   The glorious workes of his wisdom he hath beautified: who is before the world and world without end, neither is there added,

22   nor diminised, and he needeth not anie mans counsel.

23   How are al his workes to be desired, and which is as it were a sparke to consider!

24   Al these liue, and remaine for euer, and in al necessitie al thinges obey him.

25   Al thinges duble, one against one, and he hath made nothing to want.

26   He hath confirmed the good thinges of euerie one. And who shal be filled seeing his glorie? Chap. XLIII. Gods incomparable excellencie appeareth in the heauens; 2. in the sunne, 6. moone, 9. other starres, 12. rainebow, 14. snow, 15. cloudes, 16. hayle, 17. winde, 18. thunder, 21. frost, 22. christal, 24. dew, 26. the sea, and innumerable thinges therin. 29. No man is able to praise God sufficiently.

1   The firmament of height is his beautie, the beautie of heauen is in the vision of glorie.

2   The ^note sunne in sight declaring at his coming forth, a meruelous instrument, the worke of the Highest.

3   At noone it burneth the earth, and who can abide in the presence of the heate thereof: kepeing a fornace in the workes of heate:

4   the sunne three times so much burning the mountaines, casting out fyrie beames, and shining with his beames blindeth the eyes.

5   Great is our

Lord that made it, and by his wordes it hath hastened his course.

6   And the moone in al in her time, is the shewing of season and the signe of age.

7   By the moone is the signe of a festiual day, a light that diminisheth in consummation.

8   The moneth is according to her name, increasing meruelously in consummation.

9   An instrument of the campe on high, shining gloriously in the firmament of heauen.

10   The glorie of the starres is the beautie of heauen, our Lord illuminating the world on high.

11   In the words of the holie one they shal stand to iudgement, and shal not faile in their watches.

12   See the bow, and blesse him that made it: it is very beautiful in his brightnes.

13   It hath compassed heauen in the circuite of his glorie, the handes of the Highest haue opened it.

14   But by his commandement he hath hastened snow, & he hasteth to send forth the lightninges of his iudgement.

15   Therefore are the treasures opened, and the cloudes flie sorth as birdes.

16   By his greatnes he hath set the cloudes, and the hailestones are broken.

17   In his sight the mountaines shal be moued, and at his wil the south winde hath blowen.

18   The noyse of his thunder shal beate the earth, the tempest of the northwind, and the gathering together of wind:

19   and as the bird lighting downe to sitte, he scatereth snow, and the falling thereof, is as the locust dyuing downeward.

20   The eye shal admire the beautie of the whitenes thereof, and the hart quaketh at the shower thereof.

21   He shal power out frost vpon the earth as salt: and when it freeseth, it shal be made as the toppes of a thistle.

22   The cold north winde blewe, & of water there frose chrystal, vpon al gathering together of waters it shal rest, & as a brest plate it shal put it self vpon the waters. ^note

23   And it shal deuoure the mountaines, & burne the desert, & extinguish that which is grene as fire.

24   The remedie of al is in the hastie coming of a cloude, and a dew meeting it by the heate that cometh, shal make it quaile.

25   At his word the wind was stil, and with his thought he appeased the depth, and our Lord planted Ilandes therein.

26   They that saile on the sea, tel the perils ther of: & hearing with our eares we shal meruel.

27   There are goodly workes, & meruelous: diuers kindes of beastes, & of al cattel, & the creature of mightie beastes.

28   Through him is the end of their iourney confirmed, and by his word al thinges are set in order.

29   We shal say manie thinges, & shal faile in wordes; but the summe of our wordes is, he is in al.

30   Glorifying

him how far shal we be able? for the omnipotent himself is aboue al his workes.

31   Our Lord is terrible, & exceeding great, & his might is meruelous.

32   Glorifying our Lord as much as euer you can, he shal yet surpasse, and his magnificence is meruelous.

33   Blessing our Lord, exalt him as much as you can: for he is greater then al praise.

34   Exalting him be ye replenished with strength. Labour not: for you shal not comprehend.

35   Who shal see him, and shal declare him? and who shal magnifie him as he is from the beginning?

36   Manie thinges hid are greater then these: for we haue seene few of his workes.

37   But our Lord made al thinges, and to them that liue piously he hath geuen wisdom. Chap. XLIIII. ^note Praises of holie fathers in general: ^note 16. and in particular of Enoch, 17. Noe, 20. Abraham, 24. Isaac, and Iacob.

1   Let vs praise glorious men, and our fathers in their generation.

2   Much glorie hath our Lord made by his magnificence from the beginning of the world.

3   Ruling in their ^note dominions, men great for force, and endued with their wisdom, declaring in the prophetes the dignitie of prophetes,

4   and ruling in the people that was present, and by the vertue of wisdom most holie wordes to the peoples.

5   In their kil seeking out musical melodies, & vttering songnes of scriptures.

6   Rich men in force studying beautifulnes: liuing at peace in their houses.

7   Al these in the generations of their nation haue obteyned glorie, and in their daies are praised.

8   They that were borne of them haue leaft a name to tel their praises:

9   and there are some of whom there is no memorie: they are perished, as they that neuer were; & are borne, as not borne at al, & their children with them.

10   But they are men of mercie, whose godlie deedes haue not failed:

11   good thinges continew with their seede,

12   their nephewes are an holie inheritance, and their seede hath stoode in the testamentes:

13   and their children because of them abide for euer: their seede and their glorie shal not be forsaken.

14   Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liueth vnto generation and generation.

15    ^noteLet peoples tel their wisdom, and the Church declare their praise.

16   Henoch pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he may ^note geue repentance to the nations.

17   Noe was found ^note perfect, iust, and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation.

18   Therefore was there a remnant leaft to the earth, when the flood was made.

19   The testaments of the world were made with him, that al flesh should no more be destroyed with the flood.

20   Abraham the great ^note father of the multitude of the nations, and there was not found the like to him in glorie, who kept the law of the Highest, and was in couenant with him.

21   In his flesh he made the couenant to stand, and in tentation he was found faithful.

22   Therefore by an oath he gaue him glorie in his nation, that he should encrease as an heape of earth,

23   and that he would exalt his seede as the starres, and they should inherite from sea to sea, and from the riuer to the endes of the earth.

24   And he did in like manner in Isaac for Abraham his father.

25   Our Lord gaue him the ^note blessing of al nations, and confirmed his couenant vpon the head of Iacob.

26   He knew him in his blessinges, and gaue him an inheritance, & diuided him his portion in twelue tribes.

27   And he preserued vnto him men of mercie, and found grace in the eies of al flesh. Chap. XLV. ^note Praises of Moyses, 7. Aaron, 16. and his priestlie progenie. 22. Against whom Chore with his complices rebelling, were destroyed.

1   Moyses beloued of God, and men: whose memorie is in benediction.

2   He made him like in the glorie of saintes, and magnified him in the feare of his enemies. And with his wordes he appeased monsters.

3   He glorified him in the sight of kinges, and gaue him commandment before his people, & shewed him his glorie.

4   In his faith and meekenes he made him holie, and chose him of al flesh.

5   For he heard him, and his voice, and brought him into a cloude.

6   And he gaue him precepts ^note face to face, and a law of life and discipline, to teach Iacob his testament, and Israel his iudgements.

7   He exalted Aaron his brother high, and like to himself of the tribe of Leui.

8   He established vnto him ^note an euerlasting testament, and gaue him the priesthood of the nation, and made him blessed in glorie,

9   and he girded him about with a girdle, and put vpon him a robe of glorie, and crowned him in furniture of power.

10   Garments to the feete, and breches, and an Ephod he put vpon him, and compassed him with litle

belles of gold very manie round about,

11   to geue a sound in his going, to make sound heard in the temple for a memorie to the children of his nation.

12   An holie robe, of gold, and hyacinthe, and purple, a wouen worke, of a wiseman, indued with iudgement and truth:

13   Of twisted scarlet the worke of an artificer, with precious stones figured in the closure of gold, and grauen by the worke of a lapidarie for a memorial, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

14   A crowne of gold vpon his miter grauen with a seale of holines, and the glorie of honour: a worke of power, and the adorned desires of the eies.

15   There were none such so faire before him, euen from the beginning.

16   No stranger was clothed with them, but only his children alone, and his nephewes for euer.

17   His sacrifices were consumed with fire euerie day.

18   Moyses filled his handes, & anoynted him with holie oile.

19   It was made vnto him for an euerlasting testament, and to his seede as the daies of heauen, to doe the function of priesthood, and to haue praise and to glorifie his people in his name.

20   He chose him of al that liued, to offer sacrifice to God, incense, and good odour, for a memorial to pacifie for his people:

21   and he gaue them power in his preceptes, in the testaments of his iudgementes, to teach Iacob his testimonies, and in his law to geue light to Israel.

22   Because strangers stood against him, and for enuie men compassed him about in the desert, they that were with Dathan and Abiron, and the congregation of Core in anger.

23   Our Lord God saw, and it pleased him not, and they were consumed in the violence of wrath.

24   He did prodigious thinges vnto them, and consumed them in flame of fire.

25   And he added glorie to Aaron, and gaue him an inheritance, and diuided vnto him the first fruites of the increase of the earth.

26   He prepared them bread in the first vnto satietie: for the sacrifices also of our Lord they shal eate, which he gaue to him, and to his seede.

27   But ^note he shal not inherite the nations in the land, and he hath no part in the nation: for himself is his portion & inheritance.

28   Phinees the sonne of Eleazar is the third in glorie, in imitating him in the feare of our Lord:

29   and to stand in the reuerence of the nation: in the goodnes and alacritie of his soule he pacified God for Israel.

30   Therefore did he establish vnto him a couenant of peace, to be the prince of the holies, and of his nation, that the dignitie of priesthood should

be to him and to his seede for euer.

31   And the testament to ^note Dauid king, the sonne of Iesse of the tribe of Iuda, and inheritance to him and to his seede, that he might geue wisdom into our hart to iudge his nation in iustice, that their good thinges might not be abolished, & their glorie in their nation he made euerlasting. Chap. XLVI. ^note Praises of Iosue, 9. Caleb, 13. the Iudges of Israel, 16. Namely of Samuel Iudge and Prophet.

1   Strong in battel was Iesus the sonne of Naue, ^note successour of Moyses among the prophets, who was great according to his name,

2   most great in the saluation of Gods elect, to ouerthrow the enemies rising vp, that he might get the inheritanc of Israel.

3   What glorie obteyned he in lifting vp his handes, and casting swordes against the cities?

4   Who before him did so resist? for our Lord himself brought the enemies.

5   Whether was not the sunne hindered in his anger, and one day was made as two?

6   He inuocated the mightie soueraine in assaulting of the enemies on euerie side, and the great and holie God heard him in haile stones of exceeding great force.

7   He made violent assault against the nation of his enemies, and in the goeing downe he destroyed the aduersaries,

8   that the nations might know his might, that it is not easie to fight against God. And he folowed at the back of the mightie.

9   And in the daies of Moyses did mercie, and Caleb the sonne of Iephone, did stand against the enemie, and stayed the nation from sinnes, and appeased the murmuring of malice. ^note

10   And they two being appointed, were deliuered out of danger from among the number of six hundred thousand footemen, to bring them into their inheritance, into the land that yeldeth milke and honie.

11   And our Lord gaue strength to Caleb himself, and his strength continued euen vntil old age, so that he went vp into the high place of the land, & his seede obteyned inheritance.

12   That al the children of Israel might see, that it is good to obey the holie God.

13   And ^note al the iudges by their name, whose hart was not corrupted: which were not turned away from our Lord,

14   that their memorie might be blessed, and their bones spring out of their place,

15   and their name continew for euer, the glorie of the holie men remayning vnto their children.

16   The beloued of our Lord his God

Samuel the prophet of our Lord, renewed the empire, and ^note anoynted princes in his nation.

17   By the law of our Lord he iudged the congregation, and the God of Iacob saw, and in his fidelitie was proued a prophet.

18   And he was knowen faithful in his wordes, because he saw the God of light:

19   and inuocated our Lord omnipotent, in assaulting the enemies besetting him on euerie side, in the oblation of an immaculate lambe.

20   And our Lord thundered from heauen, and in great sound he made his voice heard,

21   and he descomfited the princes of the Tyrians, and al the dukes of the Philisthiims:

22   and before the time of the end of his life, and the world, he gaue testimonie before our Lord, and his Christ, money and whatsoeuer besides vnto the verie shoes he tooke not of al flesh, and no man accused him.

23   And after this he slept, and ^note he notified to the king, and shewed him the end of his life, and he exalted his voice out of the earth in prophecie to take cleane away the impietie of the nation. Chap. XLVII. ^note Praises of Nathan, 2. Dauid, 14. and Salomon; in whose progenie (21. notwithstanding his fal) 27. the royal scepter remained for Dauids sake, though for his and the peoples sinnes, tenne tribes were cut of, and fel into schisme.

1   After these thinges arose Nathan the Prophet in the daies of Dauid.

2   And as the fatte separated from the flesh, so was Dauid from the children of Israel.

3   He plaied with lyons as it were with lambes: and with beares he did in like maner as with lambes of sheepe in his youth.

4   Did not he kil the giant, and tooke away reproch from his nation?

5   In lifting vp his hand, with a stone of the sling he ouerthrew the boasting of Goliah: for he inuocated our Lord the omnipotent, and he gaue in his right hand, to take away the man strong in battel, and to exalt the horne of his nation.

7   So in ten thousand did he glorifie him, and praised him in the blessinges of our Lord, in offering to him a crowne of glorie:

8   for he destroyed the enemies on euerie side, and rooted out the Philisthijms the aduersaries euen vntil this present day: he brake their horne for euer.

9   In euerie worke he gaue confession to the Holie one, and to the Highest, in the word of glorie.

10   From ^note al his hart he praised our Lord, & loued

God that made him: and gaue him might against his enemies:

11   and he made singers to stand before the altar, and by their sound he made sweete tunes.

12   And in the solennities he gaue honour, and adorned the times euen to the end of his life, that they should praise the holie name of our Lord, and magnifie the holines of God in the morning.

13   Our Lord purged his sinnes, and exalted his horne for euer: and he gaue him a testament of the kingdom, and the seate of glorie in Israel.

14   After him arose a wise sonne, and for ^note him did he ouerthrowe al the might of the enemies.

15   Salomon reigned in dayes of peace, to whom God subdewed al his enemies, that he might build an house in his name, and prepare holines for euer: as ^note thou art instructed in thy youth.

16   And thou art replenished as a riuer with wisdom, and thy soule discouered the earth.

17   And thou didst multiplie darke sayinges in comparisons: thy name was bruited to the ilandes far of, and thou wast beloued in thy peace.

18   The landes merueled at the songes and prouerbes, and comparisons, and interpretations,

19   and at the name of our Lord God, whose name is, God of Israel.

20   Thou didst gather gold as copper, and filledst siluer as lead,

21   and bowdest thy thighes to wemen: thou hast had power on thy bodie,

22   thou ^note hast made a blotte in thy glorie, and profaned thy seede to bring wrath to thy children, and thy follie to be kindled,

23   to make the kingdom diuided, and a stubburne kingdom to reigne of Ephraim.

24   But God wil not leaue his mercie, and he wil not corrupt, nor abolish his owne workes, neither wil he destroy from the stocke the nephewes of his elect: and he wil not corrupt the seede of him, that loueth our Lord.

25   But he gaue a remnant to Iacob, and to Dauid of the same stocke.

26   And Salomon had an end with his fathers.

27   And he leaft after him of his seede, the follie of the nation,

28   and Roboam hauing litle wisedom, who turned away the nation by his counsel,

29   and Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, who made Israel to sinne, and made a way of sinning to Ephraim, and their sinnes did abound very manie.

30   They remoued them away from their land very far.

31   And he sought al iniquities, til there came defense vnto them, and he rid them from al sinnes. Chap. XLVIII. ^note Praises of Elias, 13. Eliseus, 19. Ezechias, 23. and Isaias.

1   And there arose Elias the prophet, as it were fire, and his word burnt as a litle torche.

2   Who brought famine vpon them, and they prouoking him in their enuie, were made fewe. for they could not abide the preceptes of our Lord.

3   By the word of our Lord he stayed heauen, and he brought downe fire from heauen ^note thrise.

4   So was Elias magnified in his meruelous workes. And who can so glorie like vnto thee?

5   Who didst rayse vp the dead from hel, from the lotte of death, in the word of our Lord God.

6   Who didst cast downe kinges to destruction, and didst easily breake their might, and the glorious from their bed.

7   Who hearest iudgement in Sina, and in Horeb iudgementes of defence.

8   Who anoyntest kinges to repentance, and makest prophetes successoures after thee.

9   Who wast receiued in a whirlewind of fire, in a chariot of fierie horses.

10   09Q0299Who art written in the iudgements of times, to appease the wrath of our Lord, to reconcile the hart of the father to the sonne, and to restore the tribes of Iacob.

11   Blessed are they, that saw thee, and were honored in thy freindshipe.

12   For we liue by life only, but after death our name shal not be such.

13   Elias was in dede hid in the whirlewind, & his spirit was complete in Eliseus: in his daies he feared not the prince, and no man ouercame him by might.

14   Neither did any word ouercome him, and his bodie ^note prophecied being dead.

15   In his life he did wonders, and in death he wrought meruelous thinges.

16   In al these thinges the people repented not, and they departed not from their sinnes, til they were cast out of their land, and were dispersed into al the earth.

17   And there was leaft a verie smal nation, and a prince in the house of Dauid.

18   Some of them did that which pleased God: but others committed manie sinnes.

19   Ezechias fenced his citie, and brough in water into the middes thereof, and digged a rocke with yron, and built a wel for water.

20   In his daies came vp Sennacherib, and sent Rabsaces, and lifted vp his hand against them, and put forth his hand vpon Sion, and became proude by his mightines.

21   Then were their harts, and hands moued: and they were in sorow as trauailing wemen.

22   And they inuocated our merciful Lord, and spredding their handes, they lifted them vp to heauen: and the holie Lord God ^note quickly heard their voice.

23   He was not mindful of their sinnes, neither did he geue them to their

enemies, but purged them by the hand of Isaie the holie prophete.

24   He ouerthrew the campe of the Assirians, and the Angel of our Lord destroyed them.

25   For Ezechias did that which pleased God, and went strongly in the way of Dauid his father, which Isaie commanded him, the great prophet, and faithful in the sight of God.

26   In his daies the sunne returned backward, & added life to the king.

27   By a great spirite he saw the last thinges, and comforted the mourners in Sion.

28   For euer he shewed the thinges to come, & secret thinges before they came to passe. ^{note note} Chap. XLIX. ^note Praises of Iosias, who (like to Dauid, and Ezechias) tooke away occasions of idolatrie. 8. Praises of Ieremie, 10. Ezechiel, 12. and the twelue Prophetes. 13. Also of Zorobabel, Iesus the sonne of Iosedech, Nehemias, Enoch, Ioseph, Seth, Sem, and Adam.

1   The memorie of Iosias is according to the confection of perfume made by the worke of an apothecarie.

2   His remembrance shal be sweete as honie in euerie mouth, and as musick in banket of wine.

3   He was directed by God into the repentance of the nation, and he tooke away the abominations of impietie.

4   And he gouerned his hart toward our Lord, and in the daies of sinners he strengthened pietie.

5   Except Dauid, and Ezechias, and Iosias, ^note al committed sinne.

6   For the kinges of Iuda forsooke the law of the Highest, and contemned the feare of God.

7   For they gaue their kingdom to others, and their glorie to a strange nation.

8   They burnt the chosen citie of holines, and made the waies thereof desolate in the hand of Ieremie.

9   For they euil intreated him, who was consecrated a prophet from his mothers wombe, to ouerthrow, and pluck vp, and destroy, and to build againe, and renewe.

10   Ezechiel who saw the sight of glorie, which he shewed him in the chariote of Cherubs.

11   For he made mention of the enemies in rayne, to doe good vnto them, that haue shewed right waies.

12   And the bones of the twelue prophets wel may they spring out of their place: for they haue strengthened Iacob, and haue redeemed themselues in the fidelitie of power.

13   How may we magnifie Zorobabel, for he also was as a signet on the right hand,

14   and so Iesus the sonne of Iosedec? who in their daies built the house, and erected the holie temple to our Lord, prepared to euerlasting glorie.

15   And Nehemias in the memorie of much time, who erected vs our walles ouerthrowen, and set vp the gates and lockes, who built our houses.

16   No man hath bene borne in the earth like to Henoch: for ^note he also was taken vp from the earth.

17   Neither as Ioseph who was a man borne prince of his bretheren, the stay of the nation, the ruler of his bretheren, the stay of the people:

18   and his bones were visited, and after death ^note they prophecied.

19   Seth, and Sem obteyned glorie with men: and aboue euerie soule, in the beginning Adam. Chap. L. ^note Praises of Simon the High Priest. 27. Detestation of certaine persecuting aduersaries. 29. with conclusion that the obseruers of this doctrine shal be wise and happie,

1   Simon ^note the sonne of Onias, the high priest, who in his life held vp the house, and in his daies strengthned the temple.

2   The height also of the temple was founded by him, the duble building and high walles of the temple.

3   In his daies the welles of waters flowed out, and they were filled as the sea aboue measure.

4   Who had care of his nation, and deliuered it from perdition.

5   Who preuailed to amplifie the citie,

who obteyned glorie in conuersing with the nation: and amplified the entrance of the house, and the court.

6   As the morning starre in the middes of a cloude, and as the ful moone he shineth in his dayes.

7   And as the sunne shining, so did he shine in the temple of God.

8   As the rainbow that shineth among the cloudes of glorie, and as a flower of roses in the daies of the spring, and as the lilies that are in the passage of water, and as frankensence smelling in summer daies.

9   As fire glistering, and frankensence burning in the fire.

10   As a massie vessel of gold, adorned with euerie precious stone.

11   As an oliue tree budding, and a cypresse tree aduancing it self on high, when he tooke the robe of glorie, and was reuested to the consummation of strength.

12   In going vp to the holie altar, he made the vesture of holines, glorie.

13   And in receiuing the portions out of the hand of the priestes, himself also standing by the altar. About him was the ring of his bretheren: and as the ceder plant in mount Libanus,

14   so stoode they about him as boughes of the palme tree, & al the children of Aaron in their glorie.

15   And the oblation of our Lord in their handes, before al the synagogue of Israel: and executing the consummation on the altar, to amplifie the oblation of the high king,

16   he stretched forth his hand in ^note oblation of moist sacrifice, and offered of the blood of the grape.

17   He powred out on the fundation of the altar a diuine odour to the high prince.

18   Then cried out the children of Aaron, they sounded with beaten trumpets, and made a great voice to be heard for a remembrance before God.

19   Then al the people together made hast, and fel on their face vpon the earth, to adore our Lord their God, and to make prayers to God omnipotent the Highest.

20   And the singers amplified in their voices, and in the great house the sound was encreased ful of sweetenes.

21   And the people in prayer desired our Lord the Highest, vntil the honour of our Lord was perfected, and they finished their office.

22   Then coming downe, he lifted vp his handes ouer al the congregation of the children of Israel, to geue glorie to God from his lippes, and to glorie in his name,

23   and he repeated his prayer, willing to shew the power of God.

24   And now pray ye the God of al, who hath done great thinges in al the land, who hath encreased our daies from our mothers wombe, and hath done with vs according to his mercie:

25   geue he vnto vs ioyfulnes of

euerlasting:

26   that Israel may beleue that the mercie of God is with vs, to deliuer vs in his dayes.

27   Two nations my soule hateth: and the third is ^note no nation, which I hate:

28   they that sitte in mount Seir, and the Philisthijms, and the ^note foolish people that dwel in Sichem.

29   Iesus the sonne of Sirach, a man of Ierusalem, wrote the doctrine of wisdom and discipline in this booke, who renewed wisdom from his hart.

30   Blessed is he, that conuerseth in these good thinges: and he that layeth them in his hart, shal be wise always.

31   For if he doe them, he shal be able to doe al thinges: because his steppes are in the light of God. Chap. LI. The auctor rendereth praises and thankes to God; 18. and inuiteth others to do the same, by his owne example, 31. and by earnest exhortation.

1   The prayer of Iesus the sonne of Sirach. ^noteI wil confesse to thee ô Lord king, and wil praise thee God my sauiour.

2   I wil confesse to thy name: because thou art become my helper and protectour,

3   and hast deliuered my bodie from perdition, from the snare of an vniust tongue, and from the lippes of them that worke lying, and in the sight of them that stoode vp thou art become my helper.

4   And thou hast deliuered me according to the multitude of the mercie of thy name from them that did roare, prepared to deuoure,

5   out of the handes of them that seeke my soule, and from the gates of tribulations which haue compassed me:

6   from the oppression of the flame, which hath compassed me, and in the middes of fire I was not burnt.

7   From the depth of the bellie of hel, and from a defiled tongue, and from the word of lying, from a wicked king, and from an vniust tongue:

8   my soule shal praise our Lord euen to death,

9   and my life was approching to hel beneth.

10   They haue compassed me on euerie side, & there was none that would helpe. I looked toward the helpe of men, & there was none.

11   I remembred thy mercie ô Lord, and thy operation, which are from the beginning of the world.

12   Because thou deliuerest them that patiently expect thee ô Lord, and sauest them out of the handes of the nations.

13   Thou hast exalted my habitation vpon the earth, and I haue prayed for death to passe away.

14   I haue inuocated our Lord the father of my Lord, that he leaue me not in the

day of my tribulation, and in the time of the proude without helpe.

15   I wil praise thy name continually, and wil collaude it in confession, and my prayer was heard.

16   And thou hast deliuered me from perdition, and hast rescued me from the wicked time.

17   Therfore wil I confesse, & say praise to thee, and blesse the name of our Lord.

18   When I was yet ^note young, before I erred, I sought for wisdom openly in my prayer.

19   Before the temple I prayed for it, and vnto the later end I wil seeke after it, and it shal flourish as the grape timely ripe,

20   my hart hath reioyced in it, my foote hath walked the right way, from my youth I searched after it.

21   I bowed mine eare a litle, and receiued it.

22   I found much wisdom in myself, & I haue much profited therein.

23   To him that geueth me wisdom, wil I geue glorie.

24   For I haue consulted to doe it: I haue had a zele to good, and shal not be confounded.

25   My soule hath wrestled in it, and in doing it I was confirmed...

26   I stretched forth my handes on high, & I lamented foolishnes.

27   I directed my soule to wisdom, and in knowlege I found it.

28   I possessed with it an hart from the beginning: for this cause I shal not be forsaken.

29   My bellie was trubled in seeking it: therefore shal I possesse a good possession.

30   Our Lord hath geuen me a tongue for my reward: and with the same I wil praise him.

31   Approch vnto me ye vnlerned, and gather yourselues together into the house of discipline.

32   Why slacke ye yet? and what say you herein? your soules are exceeding thirstie.

33   I haue opened my mouth, and haue spoken: Bye it for you without siluer,

34   and submit your necke to the yoke, and let your soule receiue discipline: for it is very neere to finde it.

35   See with your eyes that I haue laboured a litle, and haue found much rest to myself.

36   Take ye discipline ^note in a great summe of siluer, and possesse abundance of gold in it.

37   Let your soule reioyce in his mercie, and you shal not be confounded in praise.

39   Worke your worke ^note before the time, and he wil geue you your reward in his time. The end of the Sapiential Bookes.

The argument of Prophetical bookes in general. ^note

Amongst manie great benefites, which God bestowed vpon his peculiar people in the old Testament, one principal, and very excellent was, that besides their ordinarie Pastors, and gouerners in spiritual causes, the Priestes of Aarons progenie, and other clergie men of the same tribe of Leui, in Ierarchical subordination of one chief, with other superiors and subiectes, disposed in sacred functions; he also gaue them other extraordinarie Prophetes of sundrie tribes, as admonitors and guides, to reduce them from errors of sinne, into the right way of vertue. which office the same Prophetes performed, as wel by threatning the offenders with Gods wrath, and punishment, as by exhorting them to repentance, and so to trust in Gods assured mercie, that he would geue them better times, and reliefe from their miseries. ^{note note} But most especially these holie Prophetes did foresee, and foretel the happie times of Grace in the New Testament. The coming of Messias, Christ our Redemer and Sauiour: with the mysteries of his Incarnation, Birth, Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, Coming of the Holie Ghost, Fundation, Propagation, perpetual Stabilitie of his Church; and finally the General Iudgement, Eternal Glorie of the blessed, and Euerlasting paine of the damned. For albeit they preached and prophecied manie thinges, properly and immediatly perteyning to the particular state, and people of the Iewes, and other nations, where they conuersed, yet the principal summe of al the prophetical bookes, is of Christ and his Church. Yea al the old Testament is a general prophecie, and forshewing of the New. which (as we noted in the beginning) is conteyned, and lieth hid in the old. Neuertheles speaking more distinctly of the proper arguments, or contents of the foure partes of the old

Testament, the former three more peculiarly setforth the Law, the Historie, and Sapiential precepts: and this last part chiefly conteyneth Prophecies of thinges to come. Of which the greatest part is now come to passe, or dayly fulfilled, and the rest shal likewise be performed in due time. ^note So now in order after the Legal, Historical, and Sapiential bookes, folow the Prophetical: and are these, according to the names of the Prophetes that writte them. Isaie, Ieremie with Baruch, Ezechiel, and Daniel, commonly called the greatter Prophetes: and the twelue lesser are Osee, Ioel, Amos, Abdias, Ionas, Micheas, Nahum, Abacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharie: and Malachie. who were al singularly inspired, and gouerned in their preachings and writinges, by the Holie Ghost, that they could not erre. Yea they were so illuminated in their vnderstanding, that they clerly saw that, which they vttered. And therfore their Prophecies are called Visions, for the assured infallibilitie of truth, which they auouch. ^note For as nothing is more certaine in vulgar knowlege then that, which we see with our corporal eyes, and therfore of al witnesses the eye witnes is estemed the surest: and as in al natural knowlege, that is most certaine, which is sene by discourse of reason: so in supernatural knowlege nothing is more assured then that, which is sene by supernatural light. whereof there be three sortes: the light of Faith, of Prophecie, and of Glorie. ^note Al three certaine, and vndoubted; but most clere and manifest is the vision by light of glorie: wherby God is sene in himself, and al thinges in him, that perteyne to the state of euerie glorious sainct. Next therto is the vision by light of prophecie, wherwith God illuminateth the vnderstanding of the Prophet by a special, extraordinarie, and transitorie light of grace, that either he clerly seeth the reueled truthes, or at least perfectly knoweth, that he is moued by the Holie Ghost, though he vnderstand not al, that the Holie Ghost intendeth; and so when, and where it is Gods wil, he vttereth the same, for instruction of others. The last, which is also certaine, but more obscure, is the supernatural knowlege, which al Catholique Christians haue by light of faith, assuredly beleuing al thinges which God reueleth by his Church.

Concerning therfore this excellent diuine gift of Prophecie, granted to few, for the benefite of al Gods seruants, we are here to informe the vulgar reader, that wheras these prophecies are for most part hard to be vnderstood, and as S. Peter teacheth, not knowen by priuate interpretation, but must be interpreted by the same Spirite, wherwith they were written, our purpose is not to explicate them, nor yet to produce large explications of the godlie lerned Fathers, but rather fewer and briffer notes then hertofore. and for the rest we remitte the more lerned and studious readers, according to their capacities, to search the same, in the commentaries of ancient and late Expositers: wishing others to content themselues, with the more easie partes

of holie Scriptures, and other godlie bookes, and daylie instructions of spiritual teachers. ^note And such as do also read these, may obserue with vs, these (amongst other) special causes of the hardnes of the Prophetes. ^note One cause is the frequent interruption of sentences, with suddaine change from one person, or matter to an other, without apparent coherence. which S. Ierom noteth in sundrie places. As Isaie. 7. after that the Prophet hath seuerely reprehended king Achab, for his distrust of Gods assistance against his temporal enimies (v. 13.) in the next wordes he prophecieth, that a Virgin shal conceiue, and beare a sonne, Christ our Sauiour, and the like in other places. ^note An other cause is, that the Prophetes speake thinges of some persons, which are to be fulfilled in others, either of their progenie, or prefigured by them. As the prophecie of the Iewes and Gentiles, comprised in the historie of Esau & Iacob. Likewise that which Iacob prophecied (Gen. 49.) of Simeon an Leui, not fulfilled in themselues but in the Scribes, and Priestes descending of their stock. Also much of that which Dauid semeth to speake of Salomon, Psal. 88. can only be vnderstood of Christ. ^note Other examples wil occurre in the Prophetes ensuing. Briefly, for we can not here expresse al the causes in few wordes, prophecies are often times vttered in figuratiue speaches, and often not in wordes, but in factes; other times so mixed with histories, and temporal thinges with spiritual, againe some thinges perteyning to the old Testament, so ioyned with mysteries of the new, and the like, that most hard it is to discerne, nay not possible without special reuelation, or instruction of others to know, to what purpose or thing euerie part perteyneth, or is to be applied: for some thinges are spoken only of the historie, some thinges of misteries, manie thinges of both. And the reason why the Holie Ghost doth so vtter these prophecies is noted by S. Ierom (in Nabum. 3.) that the proud and malicious enimies of Religion may not vnderstand them: left (sayth he) a holie thing should be geuen to dogges, pearles cast to swine, most sacred mysteries laide oppen before prophane persons. ^note S. Gregorie also alleageth an other reason (ho. 17. in Ezech.) that occasion of humilitie may be geuen vs by those thinges, which are hidden in holie Scriptures. And increase also of merite by beleuing more then we vnderstand, because faith hath not merite, where reason geueth experiment.

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