John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 2:23

Verſ. 23. For all his days are ſorrows, &c.] All the days of the afflicted are evil, Prov. 1[illegible: 1 letter].15. and every day hath a ſufficient evil laid upon it by God, Matth. 16.34. Few and evil were the days of Jacobs pilgrimage.Gen. 47.9 God gave him not a draught only of the cup of affliction, but made him a diet-drink. Man is born to trouble (ſaith Eliphaz, Job 5.7.) as the ſpark flyes upward. [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. Iſocr. Man and Miſerable are in a manner terms convertible: He that remembers that himſelf is a man, will not think much of any ſorrow betides him, ſaith the Heathen Oratour. For, Si niſi res cujus nulla eſt contraria votis Vivere nemo poteſt, vivere nemo poteſt.

Yea, his heart taketh no reſt in the night] As a clock can never ſtand ſtill, ſo long as the plummets hang thereat; ſo neither can a worldlings heart for cares and anxieties. Theſe gnats will not ſuffer him to ſleep, theſe flyes of Aegypt are continually ſtinging him, Nocte ac die non dabunt requiem, as thoſe Tyrants, Jer. 16. Night and day he is diſquieted with them; he lyes upon a pillow ſtuft with thorns. Not ſo the godly man, he contracts his cares into a narrow compaſſe, communes with his own heart upon his bed; and having made all even with God, ſleeps undiſturbed, Pſal. 3. & 4. Jacob reſts ſweetly when his head lay upon a hard ſtone at Bethel: Ahaſueroſh cannot reſt, though upon a Bed of Doun, but calls for the Chronicles. It was wiſely done of Burleigh L. Treaſurer, to put off his cares together with his clothes,Camden. when he laid by his Gown, he would commonly ſay, Lye there Lord Treaſurer, and ſo quietly compoſe himſelf to take his ſleep. In nothing be careful (ſaith the Apoſtle) but let the peace of God guard your hearts and mindes in Chriſt Jeſus, Phil. 4.6, 7.