Ecclesiastes 1 :1-7
The words of David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem: 2. Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
VANITY OF HUMAN TOIL
3. What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun? 4. One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays. 5. The sun rises and the sun sets; then it presses on to the place where it rises. 6. Shifting south, then north, back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course. 7. All rivers flow to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they flow, the rivers continue to flow. - Ecclesiastes 1: 1-7
.... So that, if a man only abstains from doing evil in order to avoid punishment, Non pasces in cruce corvos, [Thou shalt not be hanged.], saith the Pagan; there, "thou hast thy reward." But even he will not allow such a harmless man as this to be so much as a good heathen. If, then, any man, from the same motive, viz., to avoid punishment, to avoid the loss of his friends, or his gain, or his reputation, should not only abstain from doing evil, but also do ever so much good; yea, and use all the means of grace; yet we could not with any propriety say, this man is even almost a Christian. If he has no better principle in his heart, he is only a hypocrite altogether.
- Dr. John Wesley
