20 The frowarde hearte findeth no good: and he that hath a naughtie tongue, shal fall into euill.
Wee may see before our eies that the wicked and froward haue temporal felicitie and ioy, that they are at their ease, and doe great∣ly florishe: and therefore, it seemeth at the first sight that Solomon standeth against experience, when he saith,
The frowarde heart findeth no good, &c. But if wee consi∣der the nature of the frowarde heart, which is to deuise euil conti∣nually, and to giue no rest vnto his minde, wee shal knowe that the froward heart howe florishing soeuer hee bee, shal not finde the good that is spoken of in this place: for Solomon speaketh not heere of temporall goods which are common both to good and to bad: but of those goods whereof Dauid speaketh in his Psalme. 34. ver. 13. If such goods are not founde by the froward heart, it is no wonder, for hee neither asketh nor seeketh it: the which is re∣quired in the finding thereof, and also hee is in abhomination too the Lorde.
Nowe the Lorde doeth not giue vnto the frowarde whome hee hateth and abhorreth, that which hee hath ordeined properly for his children, whome hee loueth, and in whom hee taketh his de∣light, but sendeth them euil, whereinto they fal and perishe. Solo∣mon pronounceth this fal and perdition, saying, And he that hath a naughtie tongue, shall fall into euill. For although he speaketh heere of the tongue, yet doeth hee not say any thing which is not ioyned to the former part, and which followeth not also: for sith there can come nothing out of the poke and sacke, but that which is within, euen so it followeth, that it is necessary for the frowarde heart to haue also a lewd & naughtie tongue, the which speaketh frō the abundance therof. And so, they which speake euil, cannot be said to bee good and honest men, if they wil not lie, and falsifie the vn∣fallible