Thoughts from Ecclesiastes 5

Ecclesiastes five tells us how man's outward and secular life is unable to secure happiness and satisfaction--but can these be found in popular religion? The chapter lists out exercises of strict religious rules to be observed when serving God.

We must be careful of our conduct, to remember what we are about, and whither we are going.

When we are ignorant and without knowledge, it is better to be silent than to do any evil from our ignorance. Those who don't knwo how to worship God  heartily and propery, and thinging to please him with their formal acts of decotion, fall into a grievous sin.

We should weigh well our wishes, arrange them discreetly, ponder whether they are such as we can rightly make subjects of petition, before we lay them in words before the Lord. Let your words always be few in the presence of God, according as it is proper.

It is good to use the common blessings which God bestows with thankfulness and contentment. These temporal blessings are God's gifts, and aren't to be considered as the natural and assured result of man's own exertion. Man, indeed, must labor, but God giveth the increase. This calm enjoyments is allotted to man by God, and nothing more must be expected. These are gifts from God, a great and special bounty from a loving and gracious God. The man who has learned the lesson of calm enjoyment does not concern himself with the shortness, uncertainty, or possible trouble of life. And the man passes a calm and contented life, because God shows that he is pleased with him by the tranquil joy shed over his heart.