¶ Amonyeyon so beware of rasshe communication. We ought nat to meruayle at the oppressyon of the ••ort. The to ••••tous is not satisfyed with hys ryches.
CAPIT. V.
BE NOT hasty with thy month, and [unspec A] let not thyne herte speake any thynge rashely before God. For God is in Hea∣uen, and thou vppon earthe, therfore let thy wordes be fewe. For where muche careful∣nesse is, there are many dreames: and where many wordes are / there men maye heare fooles. If thou make a vowe vnto God be nat slacke to perfourme it. As for folyshe vowes, he hath no plesure in them. If thou promyse any thynge, paye it: for better it is that thou make no vowe, thē that thou shul best promyse, and nat paye. ☞ Suffre not thy mouth to cause thy flesh for to synne / nei¦ther saye thou before the aungell, that it is thy ignoraūce. For then God wylbe angrye at thy voyce / and destroye all the workes of thyne handes. And why▪ where as are ma∣ny dreames and many wordes, there are al∣so dyuers vanities: but loke that thou feare [unspec B] God. If thou feyst the poore to be oppres∣sed and wrongefully dealte withall, so that equyte and the ryght of the lawe is wrested in the lande: meruayle not thou at suche a thynge, for one greate man kepeth touche with another, and the myghtye helpe them selues together. The whole lande also with the feldes, and all that is therein, is in sub∣ieccion and bondage vnto the Kynge. He that loueth money, wyll neuer be satysfyed with money: and who so delyteth in ryches shall haue no profyte therof. This is also a vayne thyage. Where as muche ryches is / there are many also that spende them away And what pleasure more hathe he that pos∣sesseth them, sauynge that he maye loke v∣pon [unspec C] thē with his eyes? A labouring man sle¦peth swetely, whether it be lytle or muche that he eateth: but the aboundaunce of the ryche wyll nat suffre hym to slepe. Yet is there a sore plage, whiche I haue sene vn∣der the sonne (namely) ryches kepte to the hurte of hym that hathe them in possessyon.
For oft tymes they perysh with his great mysery and trouble, and yf he haue a chylde it getteth nothynge. Lyke as he came na∣ked out of his mothers wombe, so goeth he thither agayne, and caryeth nothyng away with hym of all his laboure. This is a my∣serable plage, that he shall go away euē as he came. What helpeth it hym then, that he [unspec D] hathe laboured in the wynde? All the dayes of his lyfe also he did eate in the darke, with greate carefulnesse, syckenesse and sorowe. Therfore me thyncke it a better & a fayrer thyng, a man to eate and dryncke, and to be refreshed of al his labour, that he taketh vn¦ter the Sonne al the daies of his lyfe, which God geueth hym, for this is his poreyon. For vnto whom soeuer God geueth ryches goodes and power, he geueth it hym to en∣ioye it, to take it for hys porcyon, and to be refreshed of his laboure: this is the gyfte of God. For he thynketh nat much howe lōge he shal lyue, for so muche as God fylleth his herte with gladnesse.