John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 4:8

Verſ. 8. There is one alone, and there is not a ſecond] A matchleſſe Miſer, a fellow that hardly hath a fellow, a ſolivagant or ſolitary vagrant, that dare not marry for fear of a numerous off-ſpring. Child he hath none to ſucceed him, nor brother to ſhare with him, and yet there is no end of all his labour: he takes unceſſant pains, and works like an horſe, neither is his eye ſatisfied with riches, that luſt of the eye (as St. John calls covetouſneſſe) is as a bottomleſſe gulf,1 Joh. 2.15 as an unquenchable fire, as Leviathan that wanteth room in the main Ocean, or as Behemoth, (Job 40.23.) that truſteth that hee can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

Neither ſaith he, for whom doe I labour and bereave] Si haec duo tecum verba reputaſſes, Orat. pro Quintio. Quid ago? reſpiraſſet cupiditas & avaritia panlulum, ſaith Cicero to Nevius. If thou wouldſt but take up thoſe two words, and ſay to thy ſelf, What doe I? thy luſt and covetouſneſſe would bee ſomewhat rebated thereby. But luſt is inconſiderate and headlong: neither is any thing more irrational than irreligion. The rich glutton bethought himſelf of his ſtore, and reſolved to take part of it.Luk. 12.17 1 Cor. 9 So did Nabal; but this wretch here hath not a ſecond: he plants a Vineyard, and eats not of the fruit, &c.

And bereave my ſoul of good) i. e. deprive my ſelf of neceſſary conveniencies and comforts, and defraud my Genius of that which God hath given me richly to enjoy, 1 Tim. 6. Or, bereave my ſoul of good, of God, of grace, of heaven, never thinking of eternity,1 Tim. 6.18 of laying up for my ſelf a good foundation, that I may lay hold upon eternal life: but by low ends, even in religious duties, making earth my throne, and heaven my footstool. This is vanity in the abſtract; this is a ſore travel, becauſe Nulla emolumenta laborum, no good to be gotten by it, no pay for a mans pains. But as the Bird that ſitteth on the Serpents eggs, by breaking and hatching them brings forth a perillous brood, to her own deſtruction; ſo doe thoſe that ſit abrood on the worlds vanities.