John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 4:6

Verſ. 6. Better is an handful with quietneſſe] This is the ſluggards plea; whereby hee boulſtereth himſelf up in his wickedneſs, and would make you beleeve that he did, non ſine ratione inſanire, not play the Mad-man without good reaſon. To what end (ſaith he) ſhould a man toyl and tire out himſelf with hard labour to compaſſe commodity, making a drudge and a beaſt of himſelf for a little pelf; ſith he knows not who ſhall have the ſpending of it, and he is ſure to be either ſqueezed by his Superiours, as verſ. 1. of this Chapter, or elſe envied by his neighbours, as verſ. 4? Is not a little with [illegible: 1 letter]aſe better? a penny by begging better than two pence by true labour? It is well obſerved by an Interpreter, that this ſentence uttered by the ſluggard, is in its true meaning, not much different from that of the Wiſe-man, Prov. 17.1. but ill applyed by him. Good words are not alwayes to be truſted, from ill men eſpecially.