Commentary on Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel

CHAP. III. Vers. 1. To everything there is a season.

A Set time, such as we can neither alter nor order. This is one of those keys that God carries under his own girdle, Act. 1.7. To seek, to do or get anything before the time, is to pull apples before they are ripe, saith a Father, which set the teeth on edge, and breed stomach-worms. They labor in vain that would prevent the time prefixed by God, as those hasty Ephraimites in Egypt, 1 Chron. 7.22. with Psal. 78.9. those heady Israelites in the Wilderness, Numb. 14.40. Moses would be acting the Judge before his time, Exod. 2.12. he is therefore sent to keep sheep in Midian, verse. 15. David staid God's leisure for the Kingdom; those in Esther, for deliverance, they knew that God would keep his day exactly, as he did with the Israelites in Egypt, Exod. 12.40, 41. Ev • n the self-same day, when the four hundred and thirty years fore-told were expired, God's people were thrust out of Egypt. So Dan. 5.30. In that night was Belshazzar slain; because then exactly the seventy years were ended. And as God fails not his own time, so he seldom comes at ours, J • r. 8.20. for he loves not to be limited. We are short-breathed, short-sighted, apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment, Hab. 2.2. And no less apt to out-stand our own markets, to let slip opportunities of grace, which are ever head-long, and (once past) irrecoverable. O if thou hadst known at the least in this thy day, &c. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Therefore shall everyone that is godly seek thee in a time when thou mayst be found. There is a certain time set for men to come in and be saved; as Alexander set up a Taper, when he besieged a Town: as Tamerlan hanged out first a white flag, and then a red. Many a man loseth his soul as Saul did his Kingdom, by not discerning his time. Esau came too late: so did the foolish Virgins. If the gate of grace be over-past, the gate shut, the draw-bridge taken up, there is no possibility of entrance. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us, and an overture made us of entering into God's rest, any of us should seem to fall short, or come late, a day after the fair, an hour after the feast. God, who in his eternal Counsel hath appointed things to be done, hath also ordained the opportunity and time wherein each thing should be done; which to neglect is such a presumption, as he usually punisheth with final hardening, Ezek. 24.13.

Vers. 2. There is a time to be born, and a time to die] We do not hear the Wiseman say, There is a time to live. What is more fleeting than time? yet life is not long enough to be worthy the title of time. Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in our grave. Orimur, Morimur.

How many have we seen carried from the Womb to the Tomb; from the birth to the burial? And what a short cut hath the longest liver from the grave of the womb, to the womb of the grave? Men chop into the earth before they are aware many times; like as he that walks in a field covered with snow, falls suddenly into a marle pit.

A time to plant, &c.] In point of good husbandry fit seasons are to be observed, or else little increase can be expected. God also, the great vine-dresser, plants and plucks up more Churches or particular persons at his pleasure, Isaiah 5.1. to the 8. Mat. 15.13. Jerusalem (that plant of renown) is now of an Eden become a Sodom; and that which Moses threatened, Deut. 28.49. &c. fulfilled to the utmost. Susa in Persia signifies a Lily, and was so called for the beauty and delectable sight: Now it is called Valdac, of the poverty of the place. Nineveh that great City, that once had more people within her walls, than are now in someone Kingdom, is at this day become a sepulture of itself, a little Town of small Trade, where the Patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his • eat at the devotion of the Turks.

Vers. 3. A time to kill] viz. To cut off corrupt members by the sword of Justice, or of War, ne pars sincera trahatur: There is a cruel mercy, saith one, there is a pious cruelty, saith another. But cursed is he that doth the Lord's work negligently: and cursed is he that (in a good cause, and upon a good calling) keepeth back his sword from blood, Jer. 48.10. But that soldier can never answer it before God, that striketh not more as a Justice of Peace, than as a soldier of fortune.

A time to break down, and a time to build up] This and the rest, though everyone knows to be so in common experience, yet one and the same thing (in effect) is oft repeated, that it may be once remembered: viz. that this whole world is nothing else but a mass of mutabilities; that every man, every State, everything is a planet, whose spherical revolutions are some of longer, some of shorter continuance. Omnia versantur in perpetuo ascensu & descensu, there is a perpetual ascending and descending of life and state.

Vers. 4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh] Only we must not invert the order, but weep with men, that we may laugh with Angels; lay godly sorrow as a foundation of spiritual joy. Surely out of this eater, comes meat; out of this strong, sweet: strong and sweet refreshments follow upon penitential performances: these April showers bring on May flowers. Tertullian saith, that he was nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae, born for no other purpose, but to repent: but then, he that truly repenteth, de peccatis dolet, & de dolore gandet, is grieved for his sins, and then is glad of such a grief. Those that so sow in tears shall reap in joy: whereas those that will not (in an evil time, especially when God calls to weeping and mourning, and even thrusts men down as it were with a thump on the back) weep here, where there are weeping handkerchiefs in the hands of Christ, are like to have their eyes whipt out in hell, and to howl with devils.

A time to mourn] Matter enough of mourning we shall be sure of (and we should be soberly sensible of it) whiles we are in this vale of misery, valley of tears, in hoc exilio, in hoc ergastulo, in hoc peregrinatione, (as Bernard hath it) in this Prison-house, Purgatory, Pilgrimage, in this place of banishment and bondage, how can we look for better? God set us not here, as he did Adam in Paradise, to take his pleasure, or as he did Leviathan in the Sea, to sport and dally. We must not think to do as the people of Tombutum in Africa, who are said to spend their whole time in singing and dancing. The way of this world is like the wilderness of Sin, or the vale of Siddim, or the Pacifique Sea, which Captain Drake found tempestuous and troublous above measure. Many miseries and molestations both, Satanical and secular, we are sure to meet with, to make us mourn. Jerome complains that he had furrows in his face, and Isicles from his lips with continual weeping. Origen is thought to have died of grief. Chrysostom calls the days of his life, the days of his sorrow. Basil was made old and unprofitable for God's Church, before his time, with travel and trouble. Rebecca is weary of her life, so is Elijah; Naomi will be Naomi no longer, but Marah-Paul veyls all his top-sails, and sits down in the dust, 1 Tim. 1.15. besides his sympathizing with others, 2 Cor. 11.29, 30.

And a time to dance] Or skip as young Cattle do at spring-tide. Here is nothing for mixed immodest dancings. Quid opus est talibus sa •• amentis? What need people provoke themselves to that evil they so naturally incline to? Nemo sobrius saltat, said the Heathen Orator, No sober man will offer to dance. Where there is dancing, there the Devil is, saith a Father: and cannot men be merry, unless they have the Devil for their Play-fellow? Dancing (saith Another) is a circle, whose center is the Devil, but busily blowing up the fire of lust, as in Herod, that old Goat.

Vers. 5. A time to cast away stones] As when King Henry the eighth pulled down the Abbyes and other religious Houses, (as they called them) saying, Corvorum nidos esse penitus disturbandos, ne iterum ab cohabitandum convolent, that the Crows nests were to be pulled in pieces, that they might never nestle there anymore. And herein he did but as Cardinal Wolsey did before him: for he, by the Popes own license▪ had a little before, pulled down forty Monasteries, and taken their stones and revenues, to build and endow his two Colleges at Oxford, and Ipswich. Elapidation is a piece of the Churches happiness, Esa. 5.2.

And a time to gather stones together] As in building Forts, Castles, Colleges, Bridges, Causeys, such as was that, 1 Chron. 26.16, 18. 1 King. 10.5. 2 Chron. 9.11. See 2 Chron. 16.6.

A time to embrace] With honest conjugal embracements (as the Chaldee Paraphrast interprets it) not with those libidinous embracings of the bosom of a stranger, Prov. 5.20. No time for such, 1 Pet. 4.3. Diabolus capite blanditur, ventre oblectat, cauda ligat.

And a time to refrain] As in times of common calamity: for should we then make mirth? Ezek. 21.10. Should not the Bridegroom come forth of his chamber, and the Bride out of her Closet? Joel 2.16. Some of the Ancients do very much note the manner of Noah's going into the Ark, and how the father and the sons went together, the mother and her daughters in Law went together: God himself dividing at that time those whom himself had joined together. Others tell us, that & bruta ipsa intra Arcam, quamdiu diluvium duravit, continuerint, the very brute creatures coupled not in the Ark, during the deluge. There is both an intemperate and an intempestive abuse of the marriage Bed, which ought to be kept undefiled, Heb. 13.3. and not stained and dishonored with either unseasonable or sensual excesses, and uncleannesses; which God will certainly plague, (though they lie without the walk of human censure) without true and timely repentance. Lutheri nuptias amici etiam improbabant, &c. Luther's marrying a wise then when all Germany was in a hurly-burly, and all Saxony in heaviness for the death of their good Elector Frederick (Luther's greatest friend) was no small grief to his best friends; and afterward also to himself, as Melanchthon testifieth in an Epistle to Camerarius.

Vers. 6. A time to get] Heb. to seek: for men do but seek here, they do not properly get what they cannot long hold. How much better therefore were it to seek God? Cujus inventio est ipsum semper quaerere, (as Nyssen hath it here) the finding of whom is always to seek him, and in seeking of whom there is so great reward, Heb. 11.6. Seek ye me, and ye shall live, Amos 5.4. Seek him that maketh the seven Stars and Orion, verse. 8. Seek him in a time when he may be found, Psal. 32.6. Now is th • • ccepted time, now is the day of Salvation, 2 Cor. 6.2. Take the present Now and be serious, and then God scorns to do as Heathen Idols did, viz. to say to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain, Isa. 45.9. How greedy are men of getting gain? Get God, and you get all: Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia.

And a time to lose] There is an uncertainty in riches, 1 Tim. 6.27. a deceitfulness, Mark 4.19. alye, Joh. 2.8. they were never true to those that trusted them, subject they are to vanity or violence, Matth. 6. How seldom do Gamesters grow rich? Vitrea est fortuna; cum splende • , frangitur. And as they say of the metal, they make glass of; it is nearest melting, when it shines brightest in the fire: so are many rich men nearest ruin, when at greatest luster, as Haman, Herod, Pythius, &c.

A time to keep] 'It is good for a man to keep somewhat by him. Bonus Servatius facit bonum Bonifacium, according to the Dutch blunt Proverb, A good Saver, makes a good well-doer. See the Note on Prov. 6.8.

And a time to cast away] To cast bread upon the waters, upon those poor Creatures that pinched with penury, water their plants, feed upon tears. And although bread and other comforts cast upon such may seem cast down the waters, because no hope of recompense, yet thou shalt be recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just (saith Christ to such) and blessed in the mean while, Luk. 14.14. Temporalia Dei servis impensa non pereunt, sed paer • uriunt, Alms perisheth not, but is put to use.

Vers. 7. A time to rent, and a time to sew] As in making a new, or translating an old garment. Turks wonder at English for pincking or cutting their clothes, and making holes in whole cloth, which time of itself would tear too soon. It was a custom among the Jews, to rent their clothes in case of sad occurrences. The Prophet Ahijah rent Jeroboams new garment in twelve pieces, to show that God would rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, 1 King. 11.31. Schismatics rend the Church, Heretics the Scriptures: God will stitch up all in his own time, and heal the breaches thereof, Psal. 60.2.

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak] It is a singular skill to time a word, Isa. 50.4. to set it upon its wheels, Prov. 25.11. as Abigail did for her family, 1 Sam. 25. as Esther did against Haman. And it is an happy thing when a man can pray as one once did, Det Deus ut sermo meus adeo commodus sit, quam sit accommodus, God grant my speech may be as profitable as it is seasonable. He that would be able to speak when and as he ought, must first learn silence, as the Pythagoreans did of old, as the Turks do at this day, Perpetuum silentium tenent ut muti, they are not suffered to speak: Discamus prius non loqui, saith Jerome upon this text. Let us first learn not to speak, that afterwards we may open our mouths to speak wisely. Silence is fitly set here before speaking, and first takes its time and turn. It is a good rule that one gives, either keep silence, or speak that that is better than silence.

Vers. 8. A time to love, and a time to hate] Yet I like not his counsel that said. Ama tanquam osurus, odi tanquam amaturus. Let a man choose whom he may love, and then love whom he hath chosen. Let love be without dissimulation: abhor the evil, cleave to the good, Rom. 12.9. Hate we may (but then it must be) Non virum, sed vitium, not the man, but his evil qualities; whereof also we must seek to bereave him, that he may be totus desiderabilis, altogether lovely, Cant. 5.16.

A time of war, and a time of peace] Time (saith an Interpreter) is a circle; and the Preacher shutteth up this passage of time in a circle. For having begun with a time to be born, and a time to die, he endeth with a time of war, which is a time of dying, and with a time of peace, which is a time, wherein people, by bringing forth, are multiplied.

Vers. 9. What profit hath he that worketh, &c.] i. e. How can any man by any means he can use, help, or hinder this volubility and vanity that he meets with in every creature? What profit? see the Note on chap. 1.3. whereunto this verse relateth, as being a conclusion of the principal argument.

Vers. 10. I have seen the travel that God, &c.] Not Fortune, but Providence ordereth all cross occurrences: a wheel there is within a wheel, Ezek. 1. then when men may think things run on wheels, at sixes and sevens▪ as they say. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, 1 Pet. 5.6. His holy hand hath a special stroke in all our travels. He both ordaineth, Act. 2. and ordereth all, Gen. 50.20. altering the property, Rom. 8.28. and disposing them to good, raising profit from all. Thus men afflicted Job for covetousness, the Devil for malice, chap. 1. God, for trial and exercise of his graces; to be exercised therein, saith the text, or (as the word signifieth) to be humbled therewith, to hide pride from man, Job 33. to tame and take him a link lower. Their hearts are brought down, saith the Prophet, they speak out of the ground that erst set their mouths against Heaven, and said, I am, and besides me there is none.

Vers. 11. He hath made everything beautiful, &c.] Plato was wont to say, that God did always 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 work by Geometry. Another sage said, Pondere, me sura, numero, Deus omnia fecit, God hath done all in number, weight, and measure; made and set all things in comely and curious order and equipage: he hath also prefined afore-hand a convenient and beautiful season for everything; ordering the disorders of the world to his own glory and his Churches good.

Also he hath set the world in their heart] i. e. He hath given to men the Creature to contemplate; together with an earnest desire to search into Natures secrets. The Vulgar renders this Text thus, Et mundum tradidit disputationi corum, And he hath delivered the world to their disputations. But so foolishly and impiously have men disputed of God, of his Providence, of his Judgments, of the chief happiness, &c. that they have reasoned, or rather wrangled away the truth: being neither able to find out the beginning nor end of the causes or uses of God's works. See Rom. 1.21, 22. Veritatem Philosophiae quaerit, Theologia invenit, Religio possidet, said Picus Mirandula; Philosophy inquires after truth, Divinity finds it out, and Religion only improves it.

Vers. 12. I know that there is no good in them] i. e. No other good, but for a man to rejoice and do good in his life, i. e. Frui praesentibus & facere quod in futuro profit, to enjoy things present, and to do that that may do him good a thousand years hence: to expend what he hath upon himself, and to extend it unto others that are in necessity; this is to lay up in store for himself a good foundation against the time to come, this is to lay hold upon eternal life, 1 Tim. 6.18, 19.

Vers. 13. And enjoy the good of all his labor] They that will not labor must not eat, saith the Apostle: As they that do shall enjoy the good of all their labor, eat the labor of their hands, and be thrice happy, Psal. 12.8, 12. Jabal and Jubal, Frugality and Music, good husbandry and good content, dwell together? and yet not always, but where God gives the gift. He gives strength to labor, and health to enjoy the good of our labor. This the rich fool in the Gospel either knew not, or considered not: Eat, drink, and be merry, said he to himself: but God was not in all his thoughts. How much better David? Hope in the Lord, saith he to himself and others, and be doing good: dwell in the Land, and verily thou shalt be fed, Psal. 37.3.

Vers. 14. I know that whatsoever God doth it shall be forever] i. e. That his Decree is unchangeable, that his counsel shall stand, Prov. 19. that the Sun may sooner be stopped in his course, than God hindered of his will, or in his work: since his power and grace is irresistable. Nature, Angels, Devils, Men, may all be resisted, and so miss of their design; Not so God: For who hath resisted his will? Vain men, whiles (like proud, and yet brittle clay) they will be knocking their sides against the solid and eternal Decree of God, break themselves in pieces, as Adonijah did. And whilst, with Pompey, vanquished by Julius Caesar, they complain that there is a great mist upon the eye of Divine Providence, they do but blame the Sun, because of the sorenesse of their blear eyes. Certain it is, and Solomon knows it (though the best of Heathens doubted of it when they saw good men suffer, bad men prosper) that every Creature walks blind-fold; only he that dwells in light sees whither they go: and that the Charrets of all effects and actions come forth from between those mountains of Brasse, God's provident Decrees and counsels most firm and immutable, Zach. 5.6.

That men should fear before him] And not lay the reigns in the neck, casting away all care upon pretence of God's decree, as that French King did, that thus desperately argued, Si salvabor, salvabor; si vero damnabor, damnabor; If I shall be saved, I shall be saved, and if I shall be damned, I shall be damned; therefore I will live as I list. This was to suck poison out of a sweet flower, to dash against the Rock of ages, to fall into the pit (like a profane beast) which was digged for better purpose, to stumble at the word (an ill sign, and yet an ordinary sin) whereunto also they were appointed, 1 Pet. 2.8. A bridge is made to give men safe passage over a dangerous River: but he that stumbleth on the bridge is in danger to fall into the River: So here.

Vers. 15. That which hath been, is now, &c.] viz. With God, to whom all things are present, Rom. 4.17. 2 Pet. 3.8. Jer. 1.5, 6, 7. Hence God is said to know future things, Exod. 3.9. John 18.4. not to foreknow them. For indeed neither foreknowledge nor remembrance are properly in God, since his whole Essence is wholly an eye or a mind; it is the example or pattern of all things, so that he needs but to look upon himself, and then he seeth all things, as in a glass. The eye of man beholds many things at once, as Ants in a mole-hill: but if it will see other things at the same time, it must remove the sight. The mind of man can take in a larger circuit, even a City, a Country, a World: but this it doth only in the lump or whole mass of it; for else it must remove from form to form, and from thought to thought. But God takes all at once most steadfastly, and perfectly. All things without him are but as a point or ball, which with as much ease he discerneth, as we turn our eyes.

And God requireth that which is past] Or inquireth, asketh, that which is by-gone; he bespeaks it as present, calling those things that are not as if they were. Non aliter scivit Deus creatae quam creanda, saith Austin. God knew things to be created, as if they had been before created.

Vers. 16. The place of judgment, that wickedness was there] i. e. That wrong reigned in the places of Judicature, that Justice was shamefully perverted, and public Authority abused to public injury. Cato saw as much in the Roman States, and complained, that private robbers were laid in cold irons, when public thieves went in gold chains, and were clothed in Purple. Another, not without cause, complains, that even among us Christians, some follow the administration of Justice as a trade only; with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain: which justifies the common resemblance of the Courts of Justice to the Bush, whereto whiles the Sheep flies for defense in ill weather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece. Such wickedness saw the Wiseman in the place of Judgment, where he least looked for it. God himself looked for judgment, but behold a scab, Isa. 5.7. So the Hebrew hath it.

Vers. 17. I said in my heart, God shall judge, &c.] He did not deny the Divine Providence, as Averroes for this cause did; much less did he turn Atheist with Diagoras, because he could not have Justice done upon a fellow that had stolen a Poem of his, and published it in his own name. But he concluded within himself, that God would surely take the matter into his own hand, Judge those unrighteous Judges, right and relieve the oppressed, bring forth their righteousness as the light, and their innocence as the noon-day, if not in this world, yet certainly at that great Assizes to be held by his son. (Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, whereof he hath given assurance to allmen, &c.) His petty Sessions he keepeth now, letting the Law pass upon some few corrupt Judges by untimely death, disgraces, banishment, remorse of conscience, &c. (as he did upon Judge Morgan, that condemned the Lady Jane Gray, Judge Hales, Belknap, Empson, Dudley, that I speak not of Pilate, Felix, &c.] reserving the rest till the great Assizes, 1 Tim. 5.24. Some he punisheth here, lest his Providence, but not all, lest his patience and promise of Judgment should be called into question; as Austin well observeth. His two and twenty learned Books, De civitate Dei, were purposely written to clear up this truth. And so were Salvians eight Books, De gubernatione Dei, & de justo praesentique ejus judicio.

Vers. 18. That they might see that they themselves are beasts] It is reckoned a great matter that wicked men are made to know themselves to be but men, and no more, Psal. 9.20. But God will make good men see and say with David, So foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a Beast before thee. Pulchre addidit, Apúd te, saith Ambrose upon those words; Elegantly said the Psalmist, Before thee, because in respect of God, what is man but an unreasonable Beast? He that is wisest among men, said Socrates, (who himself was held the wisest of men) if he be compared to God, Simia videbitur, non sapiens, he will seem rather an Ape than a wise man. David calls himself not a Beast only, but Beasts in the plural, Behemoth; or at least, a very great Beast, not an Ape, but an Elephant. And this is that which God would have all good men see, h • mmah lahem, (as this text hath it) themselves to themselves, in their humble account of themselves, as holy Agur did, Prov: 30. 2. See the Note there.

Vers. 19. For that which befalleth the sons of men] As hunger, thirst, heat, cold, diseases, aches, and other ill accidents.

As the one dieth] They are sure to die, both of them.

Yea they have all one breath] They breathe in the same air, and exspire alike, in respect of the body.

So that a man hath no preeminence] Unless it be in reason and speech, which he frequently abuseth to his own utter destruction. But otherwise,

Vers. 20. All are of the dust] See the Note on Gen. 3.19.

Vers. 21. Who knoweth the Spirit] q. d. Who but a man that is spiritually rational, and rationally spiritual? Who but he that hath the mind of Christ? that hath seen the Insides of Nature and Grace? Whether Plato and Tully believed themselves in what they wrote touching the immortality of the soul, is a great question.

Vers. 22. Whether I perceive] He resumeth his assertion, v. 13. and concludeth. See chap. 2.24.

CHAP. IV. Vers. 1. So I returned, and considered.

HEre's a second instance of corruption in civil State, added to that, chap. 3.16. to fill up the nest of vanities.

And behold the tears of such, &c.] Heb. Tear; as if they had wept their utmost, Et vix unicam lachrymulam extorquere possent, and could hardly squeeze out one poor tear more, for their own ease. For as Hinds by calving, so men by weeping cast out their sorrows. Job 39.3. Now tears are of many sorts: Lachrymas angustiae exprimit crux: lachrymas poenitentiae, peccatum: lachrymas sympathia, affectus: lachrymas letitiae, excellentia gandii: denique lachrymas nequitiae, vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas. Oppression draws tears of grief: Sin, tears of repentance: affection, tears of compassion: good success, tears of joy: hypocrisy, or spite, tears of wickedness.

And they had no comforter] This was Jobs doleful case, and David's, Psal. 69.21. and the Churches in the Lamentations, chap. 1.2. Affert solatium lugentibus suspiriorum societas, saith Basil. Pitty allays misery: but incompassionateness of others, increaseth it. This was one of Sodom's sins, Ezek. 16.49. and of those Epicures in Amos, chap. 6.6. The King and Haman sat drinking in the gate; but the whole City of Susan was in heaviness, Esth. 3.15.

And on the side of their oppressors, &c.] The oppressed Romans sighed out to Pompey, Nostra miseria tu es Magnus. The world hath almost as many wild Beasts and Monsters, as it hath Landlords, in divers places. It is a woeful thing, surely, to see how great ones quaff the tears of the oppressed, and to hear them make music of shricks.

Vers. 2. Wherefore I praised the dead] Because they are out of the reach of wrong-doers; and if dead in the Lord, they have entered into peace, they do rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness, Isa. 57.2. But if otherwise, men had better do anything, suffer anything here, than die: since by death (as by a trap-do • e) they enter into those terrors and torments that shall never either mend or end. Men, (like silly fishes) see one another caught and jerkt out of the Pond of life; but they see not (alas) the fire and pan into the which they are cast, that die in their sins. Oh! it had been better (surely) for such; if they had never been born, as Christ said of Judas; than thus to be brought forth to the murderer, (to that old Man-slayer,) to be hurled into Hell, there to suffer such things, as they shall never be able to avoid or abide.

Vers. 3. Yea better is he than both they] The Heathen could say, Optimum non nasci: proximum mori. Life is certainly a blessing of God, though never so calamitous. Why is living man sorrowful? saith the Prophet: and it is as if he should say; Man, if alive, hath some cause of comfort, amidst all his miseries: if he may scape though but with the skin of his teeth, and have his life for a prey, he should see matter of thankfulness, and say, It is the Lord's mercy that I am not consumed, that I am yet on this side hell. But those that have set their hearts upon earthly things, if ever they lose them, they are filled almost with unmedicinable sorrows; so as they will praise the dead above the living, and wish they had never been born. These are they whom Solomon in this sentence is by some thought to personate.

Vers. 4. That for this a man is envied of his neighbor] This is another piece of life's vanity; that as greater men will lie heavy upon you and oppress you, so meaner men will be envying at you, and oppose you; as Cain did Abel, Saul's Courtiers did David, the Peers of Persia, Daniel; the Scribes and Pharisees, our Savior: Every Zopyrus shall be sure to have his Zoilus. The garment of righteousness, party-coloured with all variety of graces, is a great eye-sore to the wicked, and makes the Saints maligned. See Prov. 27.4. with the note there.

Vers. 5. The fool foldeth his hands together] A graphical and lively description of a Sluggard, fitly called a fool, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a naughty person. Thou idle and evil servant, Matth. 25.26. God puts no difference betwixt Nequaquam and Nequam, a drone and a naughty-pack, seem he never so wise in his own eyes, Prov. 26.16. and have he never so much reason to allege for himself (as in the verse here next following) a fool he is, and so he will soon prove himself. For, he folds up his hands, and hides them in his own bosom, Prov. 26.15. A great many chares he is likely to do the while. See the Note on Prov. 19.24. And as ( Neque mola, neque farina, nothing do, nothing have) he cateth hit own flesh, he maketh many an hungry meal, he hath a Doggs life, as we say; Ease slayeth this fool, Prov. 1.32. poverty comes upon him as an armed man. Grief also slays him, Prov. 21.25. envy consumes his flesh, and he is vexed at the plenty of painful persons; and because he cannot come at, or rather pull out their hearts, he feeds upon his own.

Vers. 6. Better is an handful with quietness] This is the sluggards plea; whereby he boulstereth himself up in his wickedness, and would make you believe that he did, non sine ration insanire, not play the Mad-man without good reason. To what end (saith he) should a man toil and tire out himself with hard labor to compass commodity, making a drudge and a beast of himself for a little pelf; since he knows not who shall have the spending of it, and he is sure to be either squeezed by his Superiors, as verse. 1. of this Chapter, or else envied by his neighbors, as verse. 4? Is not a little with • ase better? a penny by begging better than two pence by true labor? 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 Wiseman, Prov. 17.1. but ill applied by him. Good words are not always to be trusted, from ill men especially.

Vers. 7. Then I returned, and saw vanity, &c.] i. e. another extreme of vanity, visible where-ever the Sun is seen. Dum vitant stulti vitium, in contrariae currant: Fools whiles they shun the sands, rush upon the rocks; as Herod would needs prevent perjury by murder. The sluggard here, seeing those that do best to be envied of others, resolves to do just nothing. Again, the covetous Miser, seeing the sluggard lie under so much infamy for doing nothing, se laboribus conficit, undoes himself with over-doing. Sed nemo ita perplexus tenetur inter duo vitia, quinexitus pateat, absque tertio, saith an Ancient: But no man is so held hampered betwixt two vices, but that he may well get off, without falling into a third. What need Eutyches fall into the other extreme of Nestorius? or Stancarus of Osiander? or Illyricus of Strigelius? but that they were for their pride justly given up to a spirit of giddiness.

Vers. 8. There is one alone, and there is not a second] A matchless Miser, a fellow that hardly hath a fellow, a solivagant or solitary vagrant, that dare not marry for fear of a numerous offspring. Child he hath none to succeed him, nor brother to share with him, and yet there is no end of all his labor: 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 covetousness ) is as a bottomless gulf, as an unquenchable fire, as Leviathan that wanteth room in the main Ocean, or as Behemoth, (Job 40.23.) that trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

Neither saith he, for whom do I labor and bereave] Si haec duo tecum verba reputasses, Quid ago? respirasset cupiditas & avaritia panlulum, saith Cicero to Nevius. If thou wouldst but take up those two words, and say to thyself, What do I? thy lust and covetousness would be somewhat rebated thereby. But lust is inconsiderate and headlong: neither is anything more irrational than irreligion. The rich glutton bethought himself of his store, and resolved to take part of it. 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 myself 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, of laying up for myself 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 man's pains. But as the Bird that sitteth on the Serpents eggs, by breaking and hatching them brings forth a perilous brood, to her own destruction; so do those that sit abrood on the worlds vanities.

Vers. 9. Two are better than one] Friendly society is far beyond that wretched alonenesse of the covetous Caitiff, verse. 8. He joins house to house, and land to land, that he may live alone in the earth, Isaiah 5.8.

Let him enjoy his moping solitariness, if he can. It is not good for man to be alone, saith God. And he that loves to be alone, is either a beast or a god, saith the Philosopher. Man is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a sociable creature, he is Natures good-fellow, and holds this for a Rule, Optimum solatium sodalitium, There is great comfort in good company: next to communion with God is the communion of Saints. Christ sent out his Apostles by two and two, Mar. 6.7. He himself came from Heaven to converse with us; and shall we like Stoics, sty up ourselves, and not daily run into good company? The evil spirit is for solitariness, God is for society. He dwells in the Assembly of his Saints; yea, there he hath a delight to dwell, calling the Church his Chepht sibah, Isaiah 62.4. and the Saints were David's Chaphtfibam, his delight, Psal. 16.2. Neither doth God nor good men take pleasure in a stern froward austerity, or wild retiredness: but in a mild affablenesse and amiable conversation.

Vers. 10. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow] Provided, that they hold together, and be both of a mind. That which is stronger shoreth up that which is weaker. While Latimer and Ridley lived, they kept up Cranmer by intercourse of Letters and otherwise, from entertaining counsels of revolt. Bishop Ridley being Prisoner in the Tower, had the liberty of the same; to prove, belike, whether he would go to Mass or no: which once he did. And Mr. Bradford being there Prisoner, and hearing thereof, wrote an effectual Letter to persuade him from the same, which did Mr. Ridley no little good; for he repented, &c. Bishop Farrar also being in the Kings-bench Prisoner, was travelled withal by the Papists in the end of Lent, to receive the Sacrament at Easter in one kind; who after much persuading, yielded to them, and promised so to do. But, by God's good providence, the Easter-even, the day before he should have done it, was Bradford brought to the same Prison, where, the Lord making him his instrument, Bradford only was the means that the said Bishop revoked his promise, and would never after yield to be spotted with that Papistical pitch. Dr. Taylor for like cause rejoiced that ever he came into prison there to be acquainted with that Angel of God, John Bradford: so he called him, for the good he received from him. One man may be an Angel to another in regard of counsel and comfort: nay, a God to another, as Moses was to Aaron. Though he fall he shall arise, for the Lord puts under his hand, Psal. 37.24.

But woe to him that is alone] Because Satan is readiest to assault, when none is by to assist: Solitarinesse therefore is not to be affected, because it is the hour of temptation.

For he hath not a second to help him up] As Elizabeth Cowper the Martyr in Queen Mary's days had, who being condemned, and at the stake with Simon Miller, when the fire came unto her, she a little shrank thereat, crying once Ha; when Simon heard the same, he put his hand behind him toward her, and willed her to be strong and of good cheer: for, Good Sister, said he, we shall soon have a joyful and sweet supper: it is but winking a little and you are in heaven. With these, and the like speeches she being strengthened stood still and quiet, as one most glad to finish that good work. It was therefore a devilish policy in Julian and other Heathen Persecutors, to banish Christians into far Countries one from another, and to confine them to Isles and Mines, where they could not have access one to another.

Vers. 11. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat] Heat of zeal and good affection. Did not our hearts burn within us, said those two Disciples, when Christ once made the third with them, and by holy conference kindled them? So when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit, Acts 18.5. Warm he was before, but now all of a light fire, as it were. Those dull daughters of Jerusalem, by hearing the Spouse describe her beloved, as she doth from top to toe, were fired up with desire to join with her in seeking after him whom her soul loved. The lying together of the dead body of one with the bones of Elisha, gave life to it: so doth good company give life to those that are dead in sin. Let two cold flints be smitten together, and fire will come forth: So let two dull Christians confer and communicate their soul-secrets, and it shall not repent them, they shall find the benefit of it. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades? saith God to Job, chap. 38.31. These Pleiades be the seven Stars, that have all one name, because they all help one another in their work; which is to bring the Spring; and like seven Sisters, so are they joined together in one constellation, and in one company. We see that God will have the sweetest works in Nature to be performed with mutual help. The best time of the year, the sweetest warmth cometh with these Pleiades; and the best time of our life cometh when we lie together in true love and fellowship. No sooner had the Philippians received the Gospel, but they were in fellowship to a day, Phil. 1.5. They knew, that as sincerity is the life of Religion, so is society the life of sincerity.

Vers. 12. And if one prevail against him, &c.] Vis unita fortior. God bade Gideon to go down to the Camp of the Midianites: and if he feared to go, then to take with him his servant Phurah. Jonathan will not go without his armor-bearer, David without Abishai. Christ, when to begin his Passion in the Garden, took Peter, James, and John with him, for the benefit of their prayers and company, though they served him but sorrily. My dove is but one, Cant. 6.9. Jerusalem is a City compact together. The Church is terrible as an Army with banners: the gates of Hell cannot prevail against her. Unity hath victory, but division breeds dissolution, as it did once in this Island when Caesar first entered it. Dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur, saith Tacitus of the ancient Britons. The Turks pray daily, that the differences amongst us Christians may be heightened, for that will soonest undo us. And one of their Emperors, when his Council dissuaded him from a War against the Germans, because of their multitude, said, that he feared them not, because sooner would his fingers be all of one length, than their Princes all of one mind.

And a three-fold cord is not easily broken] A proverbial confirmation well interpreted by Lyra; Quanto plures & boni in amicitia conjuncti sunt, tanto status corum melioratur. The more they are that unite, so they be good, the better it is with them. See 2 Sam. 10.9, 10, 11, 12. We lose much of our strength in the loss of friends; our cable is as it were untwisted. Hence David so bemoans the loss of Jonathan, and made him an Epitaph. Hence St. Paul counted it a special mercy to him that Epaphroditus recovered, Phil. 1.27.

Vers. 13. Better is a poor and wise child] Such as was Joseph, David, Daniel, and his three Camerades, &c. apt to learn, ready to receive instruction, and as careful to follow it. And well doth the Preacher join poverty with wisdom; for, Nescio quomodo bonae mentis soror est paupertas, saith he in Petronius: and, Paupertas est Philosophiae vernacula, Poverty is the proper language of Philosophy; and wisdom is undervalued and little set by. Those wisest of the Greeks were very poor, Aristides, Phocion, Pelopidas, Epaminondas, Socrates, Ephialtes. So were those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. 11.38. They wandered about in Sheep-skins, and Goat-skins, being destitute, &c. Sweet-smelling Smyrna was the poorest of all the seven Churches, yet hath the richest price set upon it. Lactantius died miserable poor, so did Theodorus Gaza that learned Greek. Of Archimedes thus sings Silius,

But I am fully of Aeneas Sylvius his judgment; that Popular men should esteem wisdom as silver, Noble-men as gold, Princes as pearls. Of Queen Elizabeth (that peerless Princesse) it is said, that she hated no less than did Mithridates, such as despised virtue forsaken of fortune:

Than an old and foolish King] Brabanti quo magis senescunt, eo magis stultescunt. So do many men of quality, Monarchs and others, weak and yet willful, short-witted, and yet self-conceited; such as were Saul, Rehoboam, Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, our Henry the third, called Regni dilapidator, and that James that reigned in Scotland in our Edward the fourths time; of whom it is storied, that he was so much wedded to his own opinion, that he could not endure any man's advice (how good soever) that he fancied not; he would seldom ask counsel, but never follow any. Xerxes in his expedition against Greece, is reported to have called his Princes together, and thus to have spoken to them; Lest I should seem to follow mine own counsel, I have assembled you: and now do you remember, that it becomes you rather to obey than to advise.

Vers. 14. For out of prison he cometh to reign] As Valentinian the Emperor, Sultan Mustapha the great Turk, Anno Dom. 1622. Our Henry the fourth, who was crowned the very same day, that the year before he had been banished the realm. As on the other side, Henry the sixth was sent again prisoner to the Tower the same day that he had been carried through the City as it were in triumph, and had heard the shouts of the commons in every street, crying, God save King HENRY: Loe, He that had been the most potent Monarch for Dominions (saith the Chronicler) that ever England had, was not now the master of a mole-hill, nor owner of his own liberty. So that in him it appeared, that mortality was but the stage of mutability; when a man born in his Kingdom, yea born to a Kingdom, became thus miserably poor. Furthermore, Henry Holland Duke of Excester, grand-child to John of Gaunt, may serve as a fit instance and example to all, how uncertain Adams sons are of any continuing greatness. For, (saith Phil. Commines ) I once saw him run on foot bare-legged after the Duke of Burgundies train, begging his bread for God's sake: but he uttered not his name, he being the nearest of the house of Lancaster, and brother in Law unto King Edward the fourth, from whom he fled. And being known what he was, Burgundy gave him a small pension to maintain his estate.

Vers. 15. I considered all the living, &c.] He means the multitude (that shallow-brained, but great and many-headed beast ) making defection from their old Prince, though never so prudent; and setting up his own son against him (as they dealt by David more than once) merely out of an itch of instability, and affectation of novelty. Now as this is to others, so to Kings also a vexation, to see already the common aspect of their people bent upon another object before the time; to behold them worshipping the rising sun, as the Proverb is, and themselves laid aside, in a manner, as broken vessels out of request, in comparison. Crowns have their cares and crosses, and high seats are never but uneasy. O vilis pannus! O base clout! said one King concerning his diadem: were it but known how many molestations and miseries do attend thee, Nemo foret qui te tollere vellet humo, no man would deign to take thee up lying at his feet. Antoninus the Philosopher said often, that the Empire was Malorum Oceanus, an ocean of mischiefs: and another caused it to be written upon his tomb, Felix si non imperitassem, Happy had I been if I had never reigned. It is seldom seen (as before hath been observed) that God allows unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment, be they never so well deserving. Something they must have to complain of, that shall give an unsavory verdure to their sweetest morsels, and make their very felicity miserable.

Vers. 16. There is no end of all the people] i. e. They are infinitely discontented and restless in their desires after a new and another Governor. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Thucydides long since observed, the present government be it never so good, is always grievous. O that I were made Judge in the Land, said Absalom. O that thou wert, said the people, who yet had soon enough of him. And so had they of their new King Saul, whom contra gentes, they would needlessly have, after the manner of all other nations, 1 Sam. 8.6, 7. How soon did the Baptist grow stale to the Jews (that had lately heard him gladly) and was no more set by than a reed shaken with the wind? How suddenly did they change their note concerning Christ, from Hosanna to Crucifige? The common people are like to children (saith an Interpreter) that rest not contented with any School-master: & like to servants that love to change every year their masters. People are desirous to hear new Preachers, as Feasters to hear new Songs, and new Instruments, Ezek. 33.32.

CHAP. V. Vers. 1. Keep thy foot.

QUa. d. Wouldst thou see more of the worlds vanity than hitherto hath been discoursed? get thee to the Sanctuary, as David did, Psal. 73. For as they that walk in a mist, see it not so well as those that stand on a hill: so they that have their hands elbow-deep in the world, cannot so easily discern what they do, as those that go a little out from it. To the House of God therefore, to the Temple and Synagogues, to the Churches and Oratories steer thy course, take thy way. Only see to thy feet, i. e. keep thy senses and affections with all manner of custody, from the mire of wicked and worldly matters. Shooes we have all upon our feet, that is, (to speak in St. James his phrase) filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness in our hearts, that must be put off at God's School-door, as God taught Moses and Joshua. And Pythagoras (having read Moses belike) taught his scholars as much, when he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Put off thy shoes when thou sacrificest, and worshippest. His followers the Pythagorians expounded his meaning, when they would not have men, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , worship God carelessly, or by the way; but prepare themselves at home aforehand. And Numa Pompilius (one that had tasted of his learning) would not have men worship the God's 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , by the by, and for fashion, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , at good leisure, and as making Religion their business. In the Law of Moses, the Priests were commanded to wash the inwards and the feet of the sacrifice in water. And this was done, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Philo, not without a mystery, sc. to teach us to keep our feet clean when we draw nigh to God. Antonius Margarita in his Book of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews, tells us, that before their Synagogues they have an iron plate, against which they wipe and make clean their shoes before they enter: and that being entered they sit solemnly there for a season, not once opening their mouths; but considering who it is with whom they have to do. Thus it was wont to be with them: But alate, though they come to their Synagogues with washen hands and feet; yet for any show of devotion or elevation of spirit, they are as reverent (saith one that was an eye-witness) as Grammar-boys are at school when their master is absent: Their holiness is the mere outward work itself, being a brain-less head, and a soul-less body. And yet upon the walls of their Synagogues they write usually this sentence, by an abbreviature, Tephillan belo canvannah ceguph belo neshamah: i. e. A prayer without affection, is like a body without a soul. Solinus reporteth of the Cretans, that they do very religiously worship Diana: and that no man may presume to come into her Temple, but bare-footed: Satan Dei aemulus, the Devil is God's ape: he led these superstitious Ethnics captive, as the Chaldeans did the Egyptians, naked and bare-foot, Isaiah 20.2, 4.

When thou goest to the House of God] Called the Gate of Heaven, Gen. 28.17. such as none but the righteous may enter, Psal. 118.20. the beauty of holiness, the place of Angels, and Arch-angels, the Kingdom of God, yea Heaven itself, as Chrysostom calls it. The French Protestants called their Meeting-house in Paris, Paradise. The primitive Christians called such places 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , (whence Kirks, Churches) and the Lord's Houses, and Basilicas, Kingly palaces. Now it is held an uncivil thing to come to the palace of a King with dirty shoes, or to cat at his table with foul hands. Men wash their hands every day of course, but when to dine with a Prince, they wash them with balls. So it should be here; when we come to God's house, we should come with the best preparation we can make; we should also be there with the first, and stay till the last, as door-keepers use to do; which office in God's House David held an high preferment. And whiles we are there, let our whole deportment be as in the presence of the great God, whom we must look full in the face, and be ready to hear, as those good souls, Act. 10.33. Now therefore we are all here present before God, say they, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. Neither must we hear only with the hearing of the ear, but with the obedience of the heart and life, (for so the Original word here signifieth) Gen. 3.17. Because thou hast heard, that is, obeyed the voice of thy wife, &c. hearing diligently without distraction, and doing readily without sciscitation.

Than to give the sacrifice of fools] i. e. The formalities and external services of profligate professors, that think to set off with God for their sins, by their sacrifices; for their evil deeds, by their good. Hence they burden God's altar, and even cover it with their sacrifices; sticking in the bark, and gnabling upon the shell of holy services, not once piercing to the heart, or tasting of the kernel thereof: and are therefore abominable, because disobedient, and to every good work reprobate, Tit. 1.16. How many be there at this day, that not only pray by tale, as Papists do by their beads, but turn over other duties of Religion as a mere task; holding only a certain stint of them, as Malt-horses do their pace, or Mill-horses their round, merely out of form and custom, those banes and break-necks of due devotion? These do not only lose their labor, but commit sin, Isaiah 1.14. compass God with a lie, Hos. 11.12. because they wash not their feet before they compass God's altar. The Heathen Orator can tell these fools of the people, Deum non superstitione coli velle, sed pietate, that God requires the heart in all holy duties, and must be served in Spirit, even totocorde, id est amore summo, more vero, ore fideli, re omni.

For they consider not that they do evil] That they despite him with seeming honors, with displeasing service, which is double dishonor; with seeming sanctity, which is double iniquity, and deserves double damnation. This they so little consider, that they think God is greatly beholden to them, and does them no small wrong, that he so little regards and rewards them, Esa. 58.3. Mal. 3.14. Non sic Deos coluimus ut ill nos vinceret, said that Emperor going into the field against his enemy. We have not so served the God's, that they should serve us no better, than to give the enemy the better of us.

Vers. 2. Be not rash with thy month] From hearing, the Preacher proceeds to give directions for speaking, whether it be of God or to him. For the first, the very Heathens could say, Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine, We may not speak of God without a light, i. e. without a deliberate premeditation, and well-advised consideration. In speaking of God, saith one, our best eloquence is our silence. And if we speak at all on this subject, saith another, no words will so well become us, as those quae ignorantiam nostram praetendunt, that most discover our small knowledge of him: How little a portion or pittance is heard of him, saith holy Job, (chap. 26.14. The Hebrew word signifies a little bit or particle, nay a little piece of a word, such as an echo resoundeth) But the thunder of his power who can understand? it is ineffable, because inconceivable. Here, if ever,

But although Jerome thinks it best to understand the Preacher here of a speaking of God, yet others, and for better reason, conceive his meaning to be rather of a speaking to God by prayer, and particularly by a Vow, which implies a prayer, (as the Greek words 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 import) Here then,

Let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything] Heb. Let not thine heart through haste, be so troubled or disturbed, as to tumble over, and throw out words without wisdom, in a confused manner, in a slubbering sort. But as there was half an hours silence in heaven when the seventh seal was opened, and or ever the seven Trumpets sounded: so should there be a sad and serious weighing of our petitions, before we utter them. Nescit poenitenda loqui, qui proferenda prius suo tradidit examini, He repents not of his requests, who first duly deliberates what to request. Whereas he that blurts out whatsoever lies uppermost, as some good men have done in their haste, and heat of passion, (as Job, chap. 6.5. David, Psal. 116.11. Jeremy, chap. 15.10, 18. Jonah, chap. 4. who brawled with God instead of praying to him) displeaseth God no less than the Muscovy-Ministers do their hearers, if they mispronounce but any syllable in their whole Liturgy.

For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth] He is the High and Holy One; that inhabiteth Eternity, and thou art Epalude sua procedens & repens vilis ranuncula, (as Bernard hath it) a base toad creeping or crawling out of a ditch: there is an infinite distance and disproportion between Him and thee; therefore see to it that thou come to him with all possible reverence, humility, and self-abasement. See Job 42.6. 1 King. 18.42. Matth. 26.38. It is observable, that when the great Turk comes into his Mosche, or Temple, he lays by all his State, and hath none to attend him all the while.

Therefore let thy words be few] But full, as the Publicans were, Luk. 18.13. O quam multa quam paucis! Oh how much in a little! said Tully of Brutus his Epistle; so may we say of that Publicans prayer; how much more of the Lord's prayer, set in flat opposition to the Heathenish Battologies and vain repetitions, usual with Pagans and Papagans, &c. See the Note on Mat. 6.7, 8, 9. It is reported of the ancient Christians of Egypt, Quod brevissimis & raptim jaculatis orationibus uti voluerint, ne per moras evanesceret & hebetaretur intentio, that they made very short prayers, that their devotion might not be dulled by longer doings. Cassian also makes mention of certain religious persons in his time, Qui utilius censebant breves quidem orationes sed creberrimas fieri, &c. who thought it best that our prayers should be short, but frequent: the one, that there might be continual intercourse maintained between God and us: the other, that by shortness we might avoid the Devils darts, which he throws especially at us, while we are praying. These be good reasons; and more may be added out of Matth. 6. as that our Heavenly Father knows what we need, &c. That which the Preacher here presseth, is, the transcendent Excellency and surpassing Majesty of Almighty God. I am a great King, saith He, Mal. 1. And I look to be served like myself. Therefore take unto you words, neither over curious, nor over careless, but such as are humble, earnest, direct to the point, avoiding vain babblings, needless and endless repetitions, heartless digressions, tedious prolixities, wild and idle discourses of such extemporary petitioners, as not disposing their matter in due order by premeditation (and withal being word-bound ) are forced to go forward and backward, like Hounds at a loss; and having hastily begun, they know not how handsomely to make an end.

Vers. 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business] When all the rest of the senses are bound up by sleep, the soul entereth into the shop of the fancy, and operates there usually according to the businesses and employments of the day past; & fierividentur quae fieri tamen non videntur, saith Tertullian, those things seem to be done in a dream, which yet are not seen to be done at all: these are but vanae jactationes negotiosae animae, the idle toffings of a busy mind. In like sort, a fool, a heartless, sapless fellow, (that being sensual and void of the spirit of grace and supplications, hath neither the affections nor expressions of holy prayer) multiplies words without knowledge, thinks to make out in words what he wants in worth, being 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Plutarch saith of Alcibicdes, one that could talk much, but speak little: His voice is known by multitude of words. It is but a voice that is heard, it is but a sound that is made, like the uncertain sound of a Trumpet, that none can tell what it meaneth, what to make of it. Corniculas citius in Africa, quam res ration • sque solidas in Turriani scriptis reperias, saith one: So here. If there be any worth of matter in the fools words, it is but by chance, as Aristotle saith, that dreams do by chance fore-tell those things that come to pass. Let it be our care to shun as much as may be all lavish and superfluous talkativenesse and tediousness, but especially in prayer: lest we offer the sacrifice of fools, and God be angry with us. For as it is not the loudness of a Preachers voice, but the weight and holiness of his matter, and the spirit of the Preacher that moves a wife and intelligent hearer: so it is not the labor of the lips, but the travel of the heart that prevails with God. The Baalites Prayer was not more tedious than Elijah's short: yet more pithy than short. And it was Elijah that spake loud and sped in heaven. Let the fool learn therefore to show more wit in his discourse than words, lest being known by his voice, he meet (as the Nightingale did) with some Laconian that will not let to tell him, Vox in es, praeterea nihil, Thou art a voice, and that's all.

Vers. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it] See the Note on Deut. 23.21. It is in thy power to vow or not to vow. Vovere nusquam est praeceptum, saith Bellarmine, We have no command to vow. That of David, Vow and perform to the Lord your God, is not purum praeceptum, saith Mr. Cartwright, a pure precept, but like that other, Be angry, and sin not; where anger is not commanded, but limited. So neither are we simply commanded to vow, but having voluntarily vowed, we may not defer to pay it; delays are taken for denials, excuses for refusals.

For he hath no pleasure in fools] He needs them as little as King Achish did, he abhors them, Psal. 5.5. as deceitful workers, as mockers of God. Jephta in vovendo fuit stultus, in praestando impius, Jephta was a fool in vowing, and wicked in performing. But he that vows a thing lawful and possible, and yet de-defers to perform it, or seeks an evasion, is two fools for failing; since

Vers. 5. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow] q. d. Who bad thee be so forward? Why wouldst thou become a voluntary Votary, and so rashly engage to the loss of thy liberty, and the offense of thy God, who expected thou shouldst have kept touch, and not have dealt thus slipperily with him? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God, Acts 5.4. As the truth of Christ is in me, saith Paul, 2 Cor. 11.10. so he binds himself by an oath, as the learned have observed. And as God is true, our word toward you was not Yea and Nay: for the Son of God who was preached among you by me was not Yea and Nay: but in him all the promises of God are Yea, and Amen. Why? what of that, might some say? and what's all this to the purpose? Very much: for it implieth, that what a Christian doth promise to men (how much more to God?) he is bound by the earnest penny of God's Spirit to perform. He dares no more alter or falsify his word, than the Spirit of God can lie. And as he looks that God's promises should be made good to him, so is he careful to pay that he hath vowed to God; since his is a Covenant of Mercy, ours of obedience, and if he shall be All-sufficient to us, we must be Altogether his, Cant. 2.16.

Vers. 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin] Heb. Nec des, Give not liberty to thy mouth, which of itself is so apt to over-flow and run riot in sinful and superfluous language. Reign it in therefore, and lay Laws upon it, lest it cause thy flesh to sin, thyself to become a sinner against thine own soul. Say to it in this case, as Christ did to those Pharisees in the Gospel, Why temptest thou me thou hypocrite? or as the Witch said to Saul that sought to her, Wherefore layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 1 Sam. 28.9. Shall my prayer become sin, and my religious vows through non-payment, a cause of a curse, Psal. 109.7? When thou art making such an ill bargain, say to thy mouth, as Boaz said to his Kinsman, At what time thou buyest it, thou must have Ruth with it, so thou must have God's curse with it (for that's the just hire of the least sin, how much more of thy crimson crime?) And let thy mouth answer, No: I may not do it, I shall mar and spoil a better inheritance, I shall anger the Angel of the Covenant; who if his wrath be kindled, yea but a little, he will not pardon my transgression, for God's an • is in him, Exod. 23.21. Who as he is Pater miserationum, the Father of mercies, so he is eus ultionum, the God of recompenses, Psal. 94.1. True it is that Anger is not properly in God, Fury is not in me, Isa. 27.4. but because he chides and smites for sin (as angry men use to do) therefore is Anger here and elsewhere attributed to him, that men may stand in awe and not sin, since sin and punishment are linked together with chains of Adamant.

Vers. 7. For in the multitude of dreams, and in many words] i. e. As in the multitude of dreams, so in many words, &c. There may be some matter in some of either: but neither of either wants their vanities. Dreams are of divers sorts. (See the Note on Gen. 20.3.) Epicurus judged them all vain. The Telmisenses, nulla somnia evacuabant, saith Tertullian, made no dreams to be vain. But that some dreams are Divine, some diabolical, and some natural, Peculiare solatium naturalis oraculi, as one speaketh, good symptoms and indications of the natural constitution, no wise man ever doubted. That of the Philosopher hath a truth in it, Justum ab injusto non somno, sed somnio discerni, that a good man may be distinguished from a bad, though not by his sleep, yet by his dreams in his sleep.

But fear thou God] And so eschew this evil of fond babbling (in God's service especially) which is no less a vanity than plain doting; and procures Divine displeasure. Deum siquis parum metuit, valde contemnit. He that fears not God's wrath, is sure to feel it, Psal. 90.11.

Vers. 8. If thou seest the oppression of the poor] And so mayst be drawn to doubt of Divine providence, and to with-draw thine awful regard to the Divine Majesty, to forgo godliness, and to turn flat Atheist, as Diagoras and Averroes did.

Marvel not at the matter] Nil admirari prope res est una Numici. A wise man wonders at nothing: he knows there is good cause why God should suffer it so to be, and gives him his glory. Opera Dei sunt in mediis contrariis, saith Luther, God's works are effected usually by contraries. And this he doth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that he may be the more marvelled at, saith Nazianzen. Hence he commonly goes a way by himself, drawing light out of darkness, good out of evil, heaven out of hell: that his people may feelingly say, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing Wonders? Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeeth in the earth, Psal. 58.11.

For he that is higher than the highest regardeth] And wherein they deal proudly, he is above them, Exod. 18.11. and over-tops them, Psal. 2.4. sets a day for them, and sees that their day is coming. Psal. 37.16. The most High cuts off the spirit of Princes (he slips them off, as one should slip off a flower between his fingers, or he cuts them off, as Grape-gatherers do the clusters off the Vines, such a Metaphor there is in the Original) He is terrible to all the Kings of the earth, those dread Sovereigns, those Hammers of the earth, and Scourges of the world (as Attilas styled himself) such as Sennacherib, whom God so subdued and mastered, that the Egyptians in memory of it, set up his statue in the Temple of Vulcan with this inscription, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Let all that behold me, learn to fear God. It was therefore excellent counsel that Jehoshaphat gave his Judges: Take heed what you do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord our God be upon you, take heed and do it. Look upon him that over-looks all your doings, saith he; and then learn to sit upon the Tribunal, in as great, though not in so slavish a fear of doing wrong, as Olanes in the History did upon the flayed skin of his Father Sisannus, nailed by Cambyses on the Judgment-Seat: or as a Russian Judge that fears the boiling Caldron, or open battocking: or the Turkish Senate, when they think the great Turk to stand behind the Arras at the dangerous door. In fine, let the Grandees and Potentates of the Earth know, and acknowledge with Constantine, Valentinian, and Theodosius, three great Emperors (as Socrates reports it of them) that they are but Christi Vasalli, Christ's Vassals: and that as he is Excelsus super Excelsos, High above all, even the highest, so he hath other high ones at hand, viz. the Holy Angels; who can resist the King of Persia, as Michael the Prince did, Dan. 10.13. Fright the Syrians with a panic terror, 2 King. 7.6. smite the Assyrians with an utter destruction, Isa. 37.36. deliver Peter from the hand of Herod, and from the expectation of the Jews, Acts 12.11. make a wonderful difference in the slaughter of the first-born of Egypt. Tyrants shall be sure, sooner, or later, to meet with their match. Look what a hand the Ephori had over the King of Sparta, the Tribunes had over the Roman Consuls, and the Prince Palsgrave of Rhine ought, by the ancient orders, to have over the Emperor of Germany, (Palatino haec dignitatis praerogativa est, ut ipsum Caesarem judicare & damnare possit, quoties scilicet lis ei ab aliquo Ordinum imperii movetur, the Palsgrave hath power to judge and pass sentence upon the Emperor himself, when any of the States of Germany do sue him at the Law) the same and more hath God and his Angels over the mightiest Magnificoes in the world, Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one, i. e. by an Angel, as some interpret it, Isa. 10.34.

Vers. 9. Moreover the profit of the Earth is for all] viz. For all sorts of men, and for all kind of uses. Alma mater, Terra ferax. Then shall the Earth yield her increase: and (therein) God, even our own God shall bless us, Psal. 67.6. Can any of the Vanities of the Heathens give rain or grain? no, neither, Jer. 14.22. Can the Earth bring forth fruit of herself? So indeed our Savior seems to say, first the Blade, then the Ear, after that the full Corn in the Ear, Mark 4.28. but then it is after the good husband hath sowed it, and God by his blessing given the increase. The drift of the Preacher here, is, to set forth the excellency of tillage first, and then to show the vanity of it. Tillage is the life and blood of a Common-wealth: it is beyond all pecuniary possessions. Jacob had money and other fruits of the Earth: and yet if Egypt, (the worlds Granary, as one calls it) had not supplied them with Corn, he and his might have perished.

The King himself is served by the field] Not the Lyon, Dragon, Unicorn, &c. But the Plough and the Ship are the supporters of a Crown. Some read it thus, Rex agro servit, The King is a servant to the field; It concerns him to have care of tillage, plantation of fruits, breeding of Cattle, &c. or else all will soon run to wrack and ruin. King Uzziah loved husbandry, and used it much, 2 Chron. 26.10. and Amos 7.1. we read of the Kings mowings. And Pliny hath observed, that Corn was never so plentiful and good-cheap at Rome, as when the same men tilled the Land, that ruled the Commonwealth, Quasi gauderet terra laureato vomere scilicet & aratore triumphali.

Vers. 10. He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver] As he cannot fill his belly, nor clothe his back with it, so neither can he satisfy his inordinate appetite and desire after it, though he had heaped and horded it up, as the great Calyph of Babylon had, that covetous caytiff, starved to death by Haalon brother to Mango, the great Cham of Cataia, in the midst of his gold, silver, and precious stones, whereof, till then, he could never have enough. Auri nempe fames parto fit major ab auro, A man may as soon fill a chest with grace, as an heart with wealth. As a circle cannot fill a triangle: so neither can the whole world (if it could be compassed) possibly fill the heart of man. Animarationalis caeteris omnibus occupari potest, impleri non potest, The reasonable soul may be busied about other things, but it cannot be filled with them. Non plus satiatur cor auro, quam corpus aura, As air fills not the body, so neither doth money the mind. It cannot therefore be Mans chiefest good (as Mammonists make it) since it doth not terminate his appetite, but that although he hath never so much of it, yet is he as hungry after more, as if he were not worth an half-penny. Theocritus brings in the covetous person first wishing,

That he had a thousand sheep in his flock. And this when he hath gotten, then, Pauperis est numerare pecus. He would have Cattle without number. The Greeks derive their word for Desire, from a root that signifieth to burn. Now if one should heap never so much fuel upon a fire, it would not quench it, but kindle it the more. So here. Surely as a Ship may be overladen with silver even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more: so a covetous wretch, though he hath enough to sink him, yet never hath he enough to satisfy him. Cataline was ever alieni appetens, sui profusus, not more prodigal of his own, than desirous after other men's estates.

Vers. 11. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them] Servants, friends, flatterers, trencher-men, pensioners, and other hang-bies, that will flock to a rich man, as Crows do to a dead carcass: not to defend, but to devour it. Caesar perished in the midst of his friends, whose boundless hopes and expectations he was not able to satisfy. The King of Spain (were it not for the West-India Fleet) were never able to subsist: though he be by far the greatest Prince in Christendom, gives for his Motto, Totus non sufficit orbis, and hath his Empire so far extended, that he may truly say, Sol mihi semper lucet, The Sun ever shines upon my Dominions; The Duke of Bavaria 's house is so pestered with Friars and Jesuits, that, notwithstanding the greatness of his Revenue, he is very poor: as spending all his estate on those Popish flesh-flies, those inutiles & ribaldi, (Lyra 's words upon this text) useless, needless, ribaldry fellows.

Saving the beholding of them with his eyes] To see such a large retinue, such a numerous family, as Job, who had a very great household, chap. 1.3. and Abraham, who had a Trained band in his family, but especially as Solomon, who had thousands of servants and work-folk. Whereunto I may add Cardinal Wolsey his pompous family; consisting of one Earl, nine Barons, Knights and Esquires very many, Chaplains and other servants (besides retainers) at bed and board, no fewer than four hundred. Or, to see so much wealth, and to tumble in it, as Caligula the Emperor was wont to do, contrectandae pecuniae cupidine incensus, loving to handle his money, to walk upon it with his bare feet, and to roll amongst it with his whole body, as Suetonius relateth. The like is reported of Heliogabalus, who also, besides what he did eat, is said to have provided himself (in case he should be in danger to be surprised by his enemies) silken halters to hang himself withal, ponds of sweet water to drown himself, gilded poisons to poison himself with, &c.

Vers. 12. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet] Sleep is the nurse of nature, the wages that she pays the poor man for his uncessant pains. His fare is not so high, his care is not so great, but that without distemper or distraction he can hug his rest most sweetly, and feel no disturbance, until the due time of rising awakeneth him. These laboring men are as sound as a Roche, as hungry as Hunters, as weary as ever was dog of day, as they say: and therefore no sooner laid in their beds, but fast asleep, their hard labor causing easy digestion, and uninterrupted rest. Whereas the restless spirit of the rich wretch rideth his body day and night: care of getting, fear of keeping, grief of losing, these three vultures feed upon him continually. He rowls a Sisyphus his stone; his abundance, like a lump of lead, lies heavy upon his heart, and breaks his sleep: Much like the disease called the Mare or Ephialtes; in which men in their slumber think they feel a thing as big as a mountain lying upon their breasts, which they can no way remove. His evil conscience eftsoons lasheth and launceth him, as it did our Richard 3. after the murder of his two innocent nephews; and Charles 9. of France after the bloody massacre. God also terrifies him with dreams, throws hand-fulls of hell fire in his face, interpellat cogitantem, excitat dormientem, as Ambrose hath it, interrupts him while he is thinking, awakeneth him while he is sleeping, rings that doleful peal in his ears, that makes him start and stare, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee: Veni miser in judicium, Come, thou wretch, receive thy judgment.

Vers. 13. There is a sore evil] Or, an evil disease, such as breaks the sleep, Hinc pallor & genae pendulae, item furiales somni & inquies nocturna, causing paleness, leanness, restlessness by night. This disease is the Dropsy or Bulimy of covetousness, as seldom cured as Heresy, Frensy, Jealousy, which three are held incurable maladies.

Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt] Worldlings sit abrood upon their wealth, and hatch to their hurt; as the silly bird doth the eggs of the Cockatrice. Riches are called goods; but it hath been well observed, that he that first called them so, was a better Husband than Divine. Such an Husband was he in the Gospel, who reckoned upon much goods laid up for many years. But how come these goods to prove evil to the owners, but by the evil usage of them? riches in themselves are of an indifferent nature; and it is through men's corruption, ut magna sit cognatio & nominis & rei divitiis & vitiis, that riches are weapons of wickedness, Engines of evil. He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall die a poor fool.

He that keepeth his riches (having no quick silver, no current money) when God calls him to part with them for pious and charitable uses, keepeth them to his own greatest hurt. For the rust of his canker-eaten gold shall rise up in judgment against him at that great day, James 5.3.

See the Note on Prov. 1.19.

Vers. 14. But those riches perish by evil travel] i. e. By evil trading, trafficking, or other cross event and accident. They waste and wither either by vanity or violence; they slip out of the hand, as the panting bird, or wrigling Eel; there is no hold to be taken of them, no trust to be put in them, they were never true to those that trusted in them. See the Note on Prov. 23.5.

Vers. 15. As he came forth of his Mothers womb] q. d. If riches leave not us while we live, yet we are sure to leave them when we die. Look how a false harlot leaves her lover, when arrested for debt, and follows other customers: so is it here. And as Doggs, though they go along with us in company, yet at parting they run everyone to his own Master; so do these to the world, when we come to leave the world. Death as a Porter stands at the gate, and strips us of all our thick clay, wherewith we are laden. See the Note on chap. 2.22.

To go as he came] Like an unwelcome guest, or an unprofitable servant, a cipher, and excrement. Oh live, live, live, (saith a Reverend man) quickly, much, long; so you are welcome to the world. Else you are but hissed and kicked off this stage of the world, as Phocas was by Heraclius. Nay, many (as Job 27.23.) who were buried before half dead, &c.

And shall take nothing of his labor] Ne obolum quo naulum Charonti solvant. Some have had great store of gold and silver buried with them; and others would needs be buried in a Monks cowl, out of a superstitious conceit of speeding the better in another world; but it hath profited them nothing at all, Eccles. 9.10.

Vers. 16. And this also is a sore evil] Malum dolorificum, so it will prove: a singular vexation, a sharp corrosive, when Balaam and his bribes, Laban and his bags, Nabal and his flocks, Achan and his wedge, Baltasar and his bowls, Herod and his harlots, Dives and his dishes, &c. shall part asunder forever: when they shall look from their death-beds, & see that terrible spectacle, Death, Judgment, Hell, and all to be passed thorough by their poor souls: Oh! what a dreadful shrick gives the guilty soul at death, to see itself launching into an ocean of scalding lead, and must swim naked in it forever! Who therefore (unless he had rather burn with Dives, than reign with Lazarus ) will henceforth reach out his hand to bribery, usury, robbery, deceit, sacrilege, or any such like wickedness or worldliness, which drown men's souls in perdition and destruction? If rich men could stave off death, or stop its mouth with a bag of gold, it were somewhat like. But that cannot be, as Henry Beauford, that rich and wretched Cardinal found by experience; as the King of Persia told Constantine the Emperor, who had shown him all the glory and bravery of Rome, Mira quidem haec, said he, sed ut video, sicut in Persia, sic Romae homines moriuntur, i. e. These be brave things, but yet I see, that as in Persia, so at Rome also, the owners of these things must needs die. Agreeable whereunto was that speech of Nugas the Scythian Monarch, to whom when Michael Paleologus the Emperor sent certain rich robes for a present, he asked, Nunquid calamitates, morbos, mortem depellere possent? whether they could drive away calamities, sicknesses, death? for if they could not do so, they were not much to be regarded.

What profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?] i. e. For just nothing. See Hos. 12.1. Jer. 22.22. The Greeks express the same by hunting after, and husbanding the wind. The Apostle speaks of beating the air, 1 Cor. 9. as he doth, that fights with his own shadow, that disquiets himself in vain. The four Monarchies are called the four winds of Heaven, Zech. 6.3, 4. And at the Popes inthronization a wad of straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say, Sic transit gloria mundi, The glory of this world is but a blaze or blast.

Vers. 17. All his days also he eats in darkness] i. e. he lives besides that he hath; and cannot so much as be merry at meat. Hence is much sorrow, wrath and sickness; especially, if spoiled of his goods which he made his god, he is no less troubled than Laban was for his Teraphim, or Micah for his Mawmet, Judge. 18. He is mad almost, and ready to hang himself for woe; having much fretting, foaming, fuming anger, languor, ready to fly at God and men.

Vers. 18. It is good and comely for one to eat, &c.] Niggardise and baseness is an ugly evil, making a man, though never so rich, to be vilipended and despised of all. Nabal shall not be called Nadib, the vile person liberal, the churl bountiful, Isa. 32.5. See the Notes on chap. 2.24. & 3.12.

Vers. 19. This is the gift of God] A gift of his right hand, donum throni, non scabelli: Godliness only hath contentedness. The comfort of wealth comes in by no other door, than by the assurance of God's love in bestowing it, and of his grace in sanctifying it. God give thee the dew of Heaven, &c. Gen. 27. 28. Esau likewise had the like, but not with a God give thee. A carnal heart cares not how, so he may have it; hence his so little comfort and enjoyment. A godly man will have God with it, or else he is all amort. Moses would not be put off with an Angel to go along with them; Luther protessed, when great gifts were offered him, that he would not be satisfied or quieted with those rattles.

Vers. 20. For he shall not much remember, &c.] He vexeth not at the brevity or misery of his life: but looketh upon himself as a stranger here; and therefore if he can have a better condition, he useth it rather: as if a traveler can get a better room in an Inn, he will, if not, he can be content; for saith he, it is but for a night.

CHAP. VI. Vers. 1. There is an evil that I have seen under the Sun.

THis wretched life is so pestered with evils, that the Preacher could hardly cast his eye beside one or other of them. A diligent observer he was of human miseries, that he might hang loose to life, and the better press upon others the vanity of doting upon it. One would wonder (surely) that our life here being so grievously afflicted, should yet be so inordinately affected; and that even by those that are in deaths often, that have born God's yoke from their youth, that have suffered troubles without, and terrors within, and who, if they had hope in this life only, were (by their own confession) of all men the most unhappy. And yet so it is, God is forced to smoke us out of our clayie cottages, and to make life unto us to be nothing better than a lingering death, that we may grow weary of it, and breathe after a better, where are riches without rust, pleasure without pain, youth without decay, joy without sorrow; Ubi nihil sit quod nolis, & totum sit quod velis, where is all that heart can wish, &c. The skillful Chirurgeon mortifieth with straight binding the member that must be cut off: So doth God fit us for our cutting off, by binding us with the cords of afflictions. He crieth not when God bindeth him, Job 36.13. saith Elihu of hypocrites; a Generation of men, than the which nothing is more stupid and insensible; till at length, God making forcible entry upon them, doth violently break that cursed Covenant that they have made with Death and Hell, dash the very breath out of their bodies with one plague upon another, turn them out of their earthly Tabernacles, with a firma ejectione, and send them packing to their place in Hell, from which they would not be stopped, by all those crosses, that, for that purpose, he cast in their way.

And it is common amongst men] Proper to men, (for beasts are not subject to this evil disease) and common to all sorts of men. One evil may well be common among many, when many evils are so commonly upon one. It fell out to be a part of Mithridates misery, that he had made himself unpoisonable. And Cato so left this miserable life, ut causam moriendi nactum se esse gauderet, that he was glad of an occasion to go out of the world.

Vers. 2. So that he wanteth nothing] Nothing but everything, because he dare not make use of anything almost; but is Tantalized by his own baseness. He famisheth at a full feast, he starveth at a fire side. And this is often repeated in this book, because it can never enough be observed and abhorred.

Yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof] i. e. He with-holdeth his grace from him, that he cannot use it to his comfort. Herein he is like a Stag that hath great horns, but no courage to use them: or rather like an Ass loaded with gold and victuals, but feeding upon thistles. Pray we therefore, that God would together with riches give us all things richly to enjoy. Vel mihi da clavem, vel mihi tolle seram. Either give me the key, saith One, or take away the lock. The Greeks describe a good householder to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a good husband, as in getting, keeping and setting out what he hath to the best, so in making good use of it, for his own and others behoof and benefit.

But a stranger eats it] God so providing, that if one will not, another shall; that if the owner will not eat, but sit pidling or sparing, a stranger, and perhaps an enemy shall take away. That if men will not serve God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, they should fast another while, and be forced to serve their enemies in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness; and by the want of all be taught the worth of them, carendo quam fruendo.

Vers. 3. If a man beget an hundred children] As Ahab did half an hundred, after that God had threatened to cut off all his house, as it were in contempt of the divine threatening: And as Proculus Caesar got twenty Maids with child in fifteen days space, as Pliny reporteth. Erasmus mentioneth a Maid of Euboea, called Comb, that being married to an husband, brought him an hundred children. Like enough it might be luctuosa foecunditas, as Jerome saith of Laeta, who buried many children.

And live many years] So that he be trisaeclisenex, as Nestor was of old, and Johannes de temporibus, a French-man, not many ages since: to whom I may add that old, old, very old man, that died of late years, having been born in Henry the sevenths days, or Edward the fourths.

And his soul be not filled with good] Though he be filled with years, and filled with children, that may survive and succeed him in his estate, yet if he be a covetous caytiff, a miserable muckworm, that enjoys nothing (as in the former verse) is not Master of his wealth, but is mastered by it, lives beside what he hath, and dies to save charges.

And also that he have no burial] He leaves nothing to bring him honestly home, as they say, or if he do, yet his ungrateful greedy heirs deny him that last honor, so that he is buried with the burial of an Ass, as Coniah; suffered to rot and stink above ground, as that Assyrian Monarch, Isa, 14. 19, 20. and after him Alexander the Great, who lay unburied thirty days together. So Pompey the Great, of whom Claudian the Poet sings thus,

And the like is storied of our William the Conqueror, and divers other greedy engrossers of the worlds good. See here the poisonful and pernicious nature of niggardise and covetousness, that turns long life, and large issue, (those sweetest blessings of God) into bitter curses: And withal take notice of the just hand of God upon covetous old men, that they should want comely burial; which is usually one of their greatest cares, as Plutarch observeth. For giving the reason why old men, that are going out of the world, should be so earnestly bent upon the world, he saith, it is out of fear that they shall not have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , friends to keep them whiles alive, and some to bury them when they are dead.

I say that an untimely birth] I affirm it in the word of truth, and upon mature deliberation, That an untimely birth (not only a naked young child, (as aforesaid) that is carried ab utero, ad urnam, from the womb, to the tomb, from the birth, to the burial) but an abortive, that coming too soon into the world, comes not at all; and, by having no name, finds itself a name, as Pliny speaks of the herb Anonymous.

Vers. 4. For he cometh in with vanity, &c.] As nothing, being senseless of good or evil. And departeth in darkness, is buried in huggermugger. And his Name shall be covered, &c. that is, there is no more talk of this abortive.

Vers. 5. Moreover he hath not seen the Sun] A second privilege and prerogative of the poor abortive. None are so miserable we see, but they may be comparatively happy. It is ever best to look at those below us, and then we shall see cause to be better contented.

This hath more rest than the other] The Corn that is cropped as soon as it appeareth, or is bruised in pieces when it lies in sprout, is better than the old weed that is hated while it standeth, and in the end is cut down for the fire.

Vers. 6. Yea though he live a thousand years] Which yet never any man did ( Methusalah wanted thirty two of a thousand.) The reason thereof is given by Occolampadius, quia numerus iste typum habeat perfectionis, ut qui constet e centenario decies revoluto, because the number of a thousand types out per • ection, as consisting of an hundred ten times told. But there is no perfection here saith he.

Yet hath he seen no good] For, All the days of the afflicted are evil, saith Solomon. And man's days are few and full of trouble, saith Job. Few and evil are the days of my pilgrimage, saith Jacob, and I have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my Fathers, &c. For Abraham lived one hundred seventy five years, and Isaac one hundred eighty, near upon forty years longer than Jacob, but to his small comfort, for he was blind all that time: yet nothing so blind as the rich wretch in the Text, qui privatus interno lumine, tamen in hac vita din vult perpeti caecitatem suam, as one speaketh, who being blind as a Mole, lies rooting and poring incessantly in the bowels of the earth; as if he would that way dig himself a new and a nearer way to Hell, and with his own hands addeth to the load of this miserable life. As he hath done no good, so he hath seen or enjoyed none; but goes to his place (Do not all go to one place?) the place that Adam provided for all his posterity, the house appointed for all living, as Job calls it, chap. 30.23. the Congregation-house, as One renders it. Heaven the Apostle calls the Congregation-house of the first-born, whose names also are there said to be written in Heaven: But covetous persons, as they are called, the inhabitants of the earth, in opposition to those Coelicola, Citizens of Heaven, the Saints; so their names are written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns that can hold no water. What marvel then if they live long, and yet see no good? if they are driven to that doleful complaint that Saul made, God hath forsaken me, and the Philistines are upon me, sickness, death, hell is upon me, I am even now about to make my bed in the dark, and all the comfort I can have from God is, that dismal sentence, This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow, Isa. 50.11. Loe, this is the cursed condition of the covetous carl, as he hath lived beside his goods, having jaded his body, broken his brains, and burdened his conscience; so he dies hated of God, and loathed of men; the Earth groans under him, Heaven is shut against him, Hell gapes for him, 1 Cor. 6.8, 9. Phil. 3.18. Thus many a Miser spins a fair thread to strangle himself, both temporally and eternally. O that they would seriously think of this before the cold grave hold their bodies, and hot hell torment their souls! before death come with a writ of Habeas corpus, and the Devil with a writ of Habeas animam, as once to that rich fool, Luk. 12.

Vers. 7. All the labor of man is for his mouth] That is, for food and raiment, as 1 Tim. 6. a little whereof will content nature, which hath therefore given us a little mouth and stomach, to teach us moderation, as Chrysostom well observeth; to the shame of those beastly belly-gods, that glut themselves, and devour the creatures, as if they were of kin to that Pope that was called Os porci, fattening themselves like boars, till they be brawned, and having, as Eliphaz speaketh, collops in their flank. A man would think by their greedy and great eating, that their throats were whirl-pools, and their bellies bottomless: that they were like locusts which have but one gut, the Ass-fish that hath his heart in his belly, or the Dolphin that hath his mouth in his maw, as Solinus saith.

And yet the appetite is not filled] And yet what birds soever fly, what fishes soever swim, what beasts soever run about, are all buried in our bellies, saith Seneca. Heliogabalus was served at one supper with seven thousand fishes, and five thousand fowls. He had also six hundred harlots following him in Chariots, and yet gave great rewards to him that could invent any new pleasure. His thirst was unquenchable, his appetite like the hill Aetna, ever on fire after more. Now as in water face answereth to face, so doth the appetite of a man to man; we are all as irregular if God suffer us to range.

Vers. 8. For what hath the wise more than the fool?] Nothing at all in this vanity of human nature, that it needeth still new supply of nourishment to preserve it. When a wise man hath eaten, is he not again hungry? and must not his hunger again be satisfied as well as a fools hunger? Indeed, as any man is more wise, he is more temperate; he eats to live, not lives to eat. He needs not much, nor is a slave to his appetite, or to his palate. He can feed upon gruel (for a need) with Daniel, upon Coleworts with Elisha, upon a cake on the coals, and a cruse of water with Elijah, upon locusts and wild-honey with the Baptist, upon Barley bread with the Disciples, upon an Herring or two, as Luther, &c. This a fool can ill frame to. He eats as a beast with the old world, and feeds without fear, Jud. 12. he caters for the flesh, Rom. 13. ult. and overchargeth it with surfeiting and drunkenness, Luk. 21.34. he measureth not his cheer by that which nature requireth, but that which greedy appetite desireth, as if therein consisteth his whole happiness.

What hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living] viz. The poor wise man that lives by his wits, can serve the time, in St. Paul's sense (if ever he meant it there, Rom. 12.11.) and make an honest shift to rub through the world? what hath such a one more than a simpler man in this particular? doth not his hunger return, his stomach crave new nourishment? Animantis cujusque vita est fuga, saith the Philosopher: Were it not for the repair of nutrition, the natural life would be soon extinguished.

Vers. 9. Better is the sight of the eyes, &c.] i. e. (as some sense it,) Better it is to overlook dainty dishes, than to over-charge the stomach with them; to fill the eyes than the belly, to gratify that, than to pamper this: though that is a vanity too in the issue, and may prove a vexation of spirit, may breed inward inquietation; the best that can come of it, is repentance, and self-revenge, 2 Cor. 7.11. as in Epaminondas. Symmachus reads the words thus, Melim est providere, quam ambalare ut libet, Better it is to provide, than to walk at random. The Septnagint thus, Melius est videre quod cupias, quam desiderare quod nescias, Better is it to see what thou desirest, than to desire what thou knowest not. The best Expositors make it an answer to an objection: For whereas the rich man might reply, Better see wealth, than be always seeking it; better have it, than hawk after it: The Preacher answers, that Misery may be somewhat mitigated by this means, but never fully cured or cashiered.

Vers. 10. That which hath been, is named already] Or thus, That which is the name of it, hath been named already (viz. Eccles. 1.2, 3.) and it is known that it is Adam, or earthly man. The very notation of his name, argues him mortal and miserable; whether he be wise or foolish, rich or poor, &c. that alters not the case: Homo sum, said one, humanum nihil a me alienum puto: I am a man, and therefore may not think strange of misery, whereunto I am born, as the sparks fly upward, Job. 5.7. he that forgets not that he is a man, will not take it ill that evils befall him, saith another. When Francis King of France being held prisoner by Charles the fifth Emperor of Germany, saw the Emperors Motto, Plus Ultra, written on the wall of his chamber, He under-wrote these words, Hodie mihi, cras tibi. To day is my turn to suffer, tomorrow thine. The Emperor observed it, and wrote underneath that, Fatcer me esse hominem, I confess I am a man, and therefore subject to misery. Metellus was by the Romans counted and called Felix, Happy, so was Sylla, But he proved true that holy proverb, Better is the end of a thing, than the beginning, for he died miserably of the lousie disease, that dashed all his former happiness. The Delphian Oracle pronounced one Aglaus a poor contented Arcadian, the only happy man alive. Solon preferred Tellus the Athenian, and Cleobis, and Bitus also, before rich Croesus, telling him further, that he might be called rich and mighty, but not Blessed, till he had made an happy end; and so confuting his fond conceit of an imaginary felicity. The Greeks, when they would call a man thrice-miserable, they call him thrice a man. The Hebrews, whereas they name a Be from the order of her working, a Grass-hopper from devouring, an Ant from gnawing, an Adamant from strokes-bearing, a Serpent from curious observing, a Horse from neying, &c. they give man his name Adam, from the dust whereof be was made, and Enoch sorry-man, sick of a deadly disease, and so no way fit to contend with God that is much mightier than He, to require a reason of his judgments, which are sometimes secret, always just. God hath shut up all persons and things (as it were close prisoners) under vanity, by an irresistible decree. To strive against this stream, and by heaping riches, honors, pleasures, to seek to break prison, and to withstand God's will, is lost labor. Misery need not go to find such out, they run to meet their bane: which yet will (as we say of foul weather) come time enough, before it is sent for.

Vers. 11. Seeing there he many things that increase] Seeing it is in vain to wrestle or wrangle with God, to seek to ward off his blow, to mo • up ones self against his fire: Why should vain man contend with his Maker? Why should he beat himself to froth, as the surges of the Sea do against the Rock? Why should he (like the untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the yoke) gall his neck by wrigling? make his crosses heavier than God makes them, by crosseness and impatience? The very Heathen could tell him that,

God will have the better of those that contend with him: and his own Reason will tell him, that it is not fit that God should cast down the bucklers first: and that the deeper a man wades, the more he shall be wet.

Vers. 12. For who knoweth what is good for man] He may think this and that to be good, but is (mostly) mistaken and disappointed. Ambrose hath well observed, that other creatures are led by the instinct of Nature, to that which is good for them. The Lion when he is sick, cures himself by devouring an Ape, the Bear by devouring Ants, the wounded Dear, by feeding upon Dittany, &c. in ignoras, O homo, remedia tuo, but thou, O man, knowest not what is good for thee. He hath shown thee, O man, what is good, saith the Prophet; and what doth the Lord require of thee but this (instead of raking riches together) to do justly, and to love mercy, and (instead of contending with him) to humble thyself to walk with thy God? Micah 6.8.

For who can tell a man what shall be after him] When the Worms shall be scrambling for his body, the Devils (haply) for his soul, and his friends for his goods. A false Jesuit published in print, some years after Queen Elizabeth's death, that she died despairing, and that she wished she might after her death, hang a while in the air, to see what striving would be for her Kingdom: I loved the man (said Ambrose of Theodosius ) for this, that when he died, he was more affected with care of the Churches good, than of his own.

CHAP. VII. Vers. 1. A good name is better than precious ointment.

YEa, than great riches, Prov. 22.1. See the Note. The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here, is bigger than ordinary; to show the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongst men. If whatsoever David doth doth please the people, if Mary Magdalens cost upon Christ be well spoken of in all the Churches, if the Romans Faith be famous throughout the whole world, if Demetrius have a good report of all good men, and St. John set his seal to it: this must needs be better than precious ointments; the one being but a perfume of the nostrils, the other of the heart: Sweet ointment, olfactum afficit, spiritum reficit, cerebrum juvat, affects the smell, refresheth the spirit, comforts the brain: A good name doth all this and more. For,

First, As a fragrant scent, it affects the soul, amidst the stench of evil 〈2 pages missing〉 courses and companies: It is as a fresh gale of sweet air to him that lives (as Noah did) among such as are no better than walking dunghills, and living sepulchers of themselves, stinking much more worse than Lazarus did, after he had lain four days in the grave. A good name preserveth the soul as a Pomander, and refresheth it more than musk or civil doth the body.

Secondly, It comforts the conscience, and exhilatates the heart; cheers up the mind amidst all discouragements, and fatteth the bones, Prov. 15.30. doing a man good, like a medicine. And whereas sweet ointments may be corrupted by dead flies, a good name, proceeding from a good conscience, cannot be so. Fly blown it may be for a season, and somewhat obscured: but as the Moon wades out of a cloud, so shall the Saints innocence break forth as the light, and their righteousness as the noon-day, Psal. 37.6. Buried it may beee in the open sepulchers of evil throats, but it shall surely rise again: A Resurrection there shall be of names, as well as of bodies at the last day, at utmost. But usually a good name comforts a Christian at his death, and continues after it. For though the name of the wicked shall rot, his lamp shall be put out in obscurity, and leave a vile snuff behind it, yet the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, they shall leave their names for a blessing, Isa. 65.15.

And the day of death, than the day of ones birth] The Greeks call a man's birth-day, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the beginning of his Nativity, they call the begetting of his misery. Man that is born of a woman, is born to trouble, saith Job, chap. 14.1. The word there rendered Born, signifieth also generated or conceived: to note that man is miserable, even so soon as he is warm in the womb, as David hath it, Psal. 51.5. If he lives to see the light, he comes crying into the world, a flet is vitam anspicatur, saith Seneca: Insomuch as the Lawyers defined 〈◊〉 by crying, and a still-born child is all one as dead in Law. Only Zo •• sta • is said to have been born laughing; but that laughter was both monstrous and ominous. For he first found out the black Art, which yet profited him not so far as to the vain felicity of this present life. For being King) of the Bactrians, he was overcome and slain in battle by Ninus King of the Assyrians. St. Austin, who relates this story, saith of man's first entrance into the world, Nondum loquitur, & tamen prophetat, Ere ever a child speaks, he prophesies, by his tears, of his ensuing sorrows. Nec prius natus, quam damnat no, No sooner is he born, but he is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of sin and suffering. Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle. And there was some truth in that saying of the Heathen, Optimum est non nasci, proximum quam celorrime mori. For wicked men it had been best not to have been born, or being born, to die quickly; since by living long they heap up first sin, and then wrath against the day of wrath. As for good men, there is no doubt but the day of death is best to them, because it is the daybreak of Eternal Righteousness: and after a short brightness, as that Martyr said, gives them, Malorum ademptionem, bonorum ademptionem, freedom from all evil, fruition of all good. Hence the ancient Fathers called those days wherein the Martyrs suffered, their birth-days; because then they began to live indeed: since here to live is but to lie a dying. Eternal life is the only true life, saith Austin.

Vers. 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning] To the terming-house (as they term it) where a dead corps is laid forth for burial, and in that respect weeping and wailing, which is one of the dues of the dead, whose bodies are sown in corruption, and watered usually with tears. It is better therefore to sort with such, to mingle with mourners, to follow the Herse, to weep with those that weep, to visit the heavy-hearted (this being a special means of mortification) than to go to the house of feasting, where is nothing but joy and jollity, slaying Oxen, and killing Sheep, eating Flesh, and drinking Wine, yea therefore eating and drinking, because tomorrow they shall die. Ede, bibe, lude, post mortem nulla voluptas. What good can be gotten amongst such swinish Epicures? What sound remedy against life's vanity? It is far better therefore to go to the house of mourning, where a man may be moved with compassion, with compunction, with due and deep consideration of his doleful and dying condition; where he may hear dead Abel by a dumb eloquence preaching and pressing this necessary, but much neglected lesson, that this is the end of all men, and the living should lay it to heart, or (as the Hebrew hath it) lay it upon his heart, work it upon his affections, inditurus est illud animo suo, so Tremellius renders it, he will so mind it, as to make his best use of it, so as to say with Job, I know that thou wilt bring me unto death. And with David, Behold, thou hast made my days as a span, &c. And as Moses, who when he saw the people's carcasses fall so fast in the wilderness, Lord teach us, said he, so to number our days, as to cause our hearts (of themselves never a whit willing) to come to wisdom.

Vers. 3. Sorrow is better than laughter] Here (as likewise in the two former verses) is a collation, and praelation, Sorrow or indignation conceived for sin, is better than laughter, i. e. carnal and profane mitth. This is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Nazianzen speaks in another case, a Paradox to the world, but such as may sooner and better be proved than those Paradoxes of the ancient Stoics. The world is a perfect stranger to the truth of this sacred position, as being all set upon the merry Pin, and having so far banished sadness, as that they are no less enemies to seriousness, than the old Romans were to the name of the Tarquins. These Philistines cannot see how out of this Eater can come Meat, and out of this Strong, Sweet; how any man should reasonably persuade them to turn their laughter into mourning, and joy into heaviness, James 4.9. A pound of grief, say they, will not pay an ounce of debt, a little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow; there is nothing better than for a man to eat and drink, and laugh himself fat: Spiritus Calvinianus, Spiritus Melancholicus (a Popish Proverb) to be precise and godly, is to bid adue to all mirth and jollity, and to spend his days in heaviness and horror. This is the judgment of the mad world, ever beside itself in point of Salvation. But what saith our Preacher, who had the experience of both, and could best tell? Sorrow is better, for it makes the heart better; It betters the better part; and is therefore compared to fire, that purgeth out the dross of sin, to water, that washeth out the dregs of sin, yea, to eye-water, sharp, but sovereign. By washing in these troubled waters, the conscience is cured, and God's Naaman's cleansed. By feeding upon this bitter-sweet root, God's penitentiaries are fenced against the temptations of Satan, the corruption of their own hearts, and the allurements of this present evil world. These tears drive away the Devil much better than Holy-water, as they called it; they quench Hell flames, and as April showers, they bring on a man the May -flowers, both of grace, 1 Pet. 5.5. and of glory, Jer. 4.14. What an ill match therefore make our Mirth-mongers, that purchase laughter many times with shame, loss, misery, beggary, rottenness of body, distress, damnation, that hunt after it to Hell, and light a candle at the Devil for lightsomeness of heart, by haunting Ale-houses, Brothel-houses, conventicles of good fellowship, sinful and unseasonable sports, and other vain fooleries, in the froth whereof is bred and fed that worm that never dies? A man is nearest danger, when he is most merry, said Mr. Greenham. And, God cast not man out of Paradise, (saith another Reverend Man) that he might here build him another; but that, as that bird of Paradise, he might always be upon the wing, and if at any time taken, never leave groaning and grieving till he be delivered. This will bring him a Paradise of sweetest peace, and make much for the lengthening of his tranquility and consolation, Dan. 4.27. Oh how sweet a thing is it, at the feet of Jesus, to stand weeping, to water them with tears, to dry them with sighs, and to kiss them with our mouths! Only those that have made their eyes a fountain to wash Christ's feet in, may look to have Christ's heart a fountain to bathe their souls in.

Vers. 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning] He gladly makes use of all good means of minding his mortality; and holds it an high point of heavenly wisdom, so to do. Hence he frequents funerals, mingles with mourners, hears etiam muta clamare cadavera, makes every tomb a teacher, every Monument a Monitor, lays him down in his bed, as in his grave, looks upon his sheets, as his winding-sheet. Ut somnus mortis, sic lectus imago sepulchri. If he hears but the clock strike, sees the glass run out, it is as a Death-head to preach Momento mori to him; he remembers the days of darkness, as Solomon bids, Eccles. 11.8. acts death aforehand, takes up many sad and serious thoughts of it, and makes it his continual practice so to do, as Job and David did. The wiser Jews digged their graves long before, as that old Prophet, 1 King. 13.30. Joseph of Arimathea had his in his garden, to season his delights. John Patriarch of Alexandria, (surnamed Eleemosynarius for his bounty to the poor) having his tomb in building, gave his people charge it should be left unfinished, and that every day one should put him in mind to perfect it, that he might remember his mortality. The Christians in some part of the Primitive Church, took the Sacrament every day, because they looked to die every day. Austin would not for the gain of a million of worlds be an Atheist for half an hour, because he had no certainty of his life for so short a time. His Mother Monica was heard oft to say, How is it that I am here still? The women of the Isle of Man (saith Speed ) whensoever they go out of their doors, gird themselves about with the winding sheet that they purpose to be buried in, to show themselves mindful of their mortality. The Philosopher affirms, that man is therefore the wisest of creatures, because he alone can number. Bruta non numerant: this is an essential difference; but especially in that divine Arithmetic of so numbering his days, as to apply his heart to wisdom. This speaks him wise indeed, right in his judgment, right also in his affections: This will render him right in his practice too; as it did Waldus the Merchant of Lions; who seeing one suddenly fall down dead before him, became a new man, and chief of those old Protestants, the poor men of Lions, called also Waldenses from this Waldus.

But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth] See the Note one verse 3. As the heart of the wicked is light, and little worth, so it is their trade to hunt after lying vanities (as the child doth after Butter-flies) to rejoice in a thing of nothing, Amos 6.13. he wilders away his time, either in weaving spiders webs, or hatching Cockatrice eggs, Isa. 59.5. froth or filth ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Mark 7.22.) is their recreation. Sad and serious thoughts they banish; and therefore love not to be alone. They hate to hear of that terrible word Death: as Lewis the eleventh of France commanded his servants not once to mention it to him, though he lay upon his death-bed. They live and laugh, as if they were out of the reach of God's Rod, or as if their lives were rivetted upon eternity. They can see death in other men's brows and visages, not feel it in their own bowels and bosoms. When they behold any laid in their graves, they can shake their heads and say, This is it we must all come to; but after a while all is forgotten: As water stirred with a stone cast in to it, hath circle upon circle on the surface for present, but by and by all is smooth as before. As chickens in a storm haste to be under the Hens wing; but, when that is a little over, they lie dusting themselves again in the sunshine: So it is here. Good thoughts fall upon evil hearts, as sparks upon wet tinder: or if they kindle there, fools bring their buckets to quench them, run into merry company to drink, or otherwise drive away those troublesome heart-qualms and melancholy dumps (as they call them.) This is to excel in madness, &c. See the Note on Prov. 10.23.

Vers. 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise] Sharp truth takes better with an honest heart, than a smooth supparasitation. Seneca compares flattery to a song or symphony: but it is a Sirens song, and our ears must be stopped to it: for like the poison of Asps, it casts one into a sleep, but that sleep is deadly. Those that had the Sudor Anglicus or sweating sickness, died assuredly, if suffered to sleep: those then were their best friends that kept them waking, though haply they had no thank for it: So are wise and merciful reprovers. Faithful are these wounds of a friend, Prov. 7.26. See the Note there. David was full glad of them, Psal. 141.5. So was Gerson, who never took anything more kindly (saith he that writes his life) than to be plainly dealt with. The Be can suck sweet honey out of bitter Thyme, yea out of poisonous Hemlock: So can a wise man make benefit of his friends, nay of his enemies. It is good to have friends, (as the Orator said of Judges) modo audeant quo sentiunt, so they dare deal freely: this an enemy will do for spite; and malice, though it be an ill Judge, yet is a good Informer. Austin in an Epistle to Jerome, approves well of him that said, there is more good to be gotten by enemies railing, than friends flattering. These sing Satan's lullaby, such as casts into a dead lethargy; and should therefore be served as Alexander the Great served a certain Philosopher whom he chased out of his presence, and gave this reason, because he had lived long with him, and never reproved any vice in him, Or as the same Alexander dealt by Aristobulus the false Historian, who had written a book of his Noble Acts, and had magnified them beyond truth, hoping thereby to ingratiate and curry favor: Alexander having read the book, cast it into the River Hydaspes, and told the Author, it were a good deed to throw him after, Qui solus me sic pugnantem facis.

Vers. 6. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot] Much noise, little fire; much light, little heat: So here is much mirth, little cause; a blaze it may yield, but is suddenly extinct; this blaze is also under a pot; the gallantry of it is checked with troubles and terrors, it is insincere many times, it is but the hypocrisy of mirth, as one calls it. It is truly and trimly here compared to a handful of brushwood, or sear thorn under the pot. Ecquando vidisti flammam stipula exortam, claro strepitu, largo fulgere, cito incremento, sed enim materia levi, caduco incendio, nullis reliquiis, saith Apuleius: a very dainty description of carnal joy, and agreeable to this text. And herewith also very well suits that of the Psalmist, Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath: Fools themselves are but thorns twisted and folded together, Nahum 1.10. briers, Micah 7.4. brambles, Judge. 9.14. Their laughter is also fitly compared to thorns; because it chokes good motions, scratcheth the conscience, harbours the vermin of base and baggage lusts. And as themselves (like thorns) shall be thrust away, and utterly burnt with fire in the same place, 2 Sam. 23.6. So their joy soon expireth, and proves to be rather desolation, than consolation; as lightning is followed with rending and roaring; as Comets out-blaze the very stars, but when their exhaled matter is wasted, they vanish and fill the air with pestilent vapors. The Prophet Amos telleth the wicked, that their Sun shall go down at noon-day, chap. 8.9. Surely as metals are then nearest melting, when they shine brightest in the fire: and as the fishes swim merrily down the silver-streams of Jordan, till they suddenly fall into the dead Sea, where presently they perish: So it fares with these merry Greeks, that flear when they should fear, and laugh when they should lament. Woe to you that laugh, saith Christ: How suddenly are they put out as the fire of thorns!

Vers. 7. Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad] viz. Till such time as he hath recollected himself, and summoned the sobriety of his senses before his own judgment: till he hath reasoned himself, and prayed himself out of his distemper, as David did, Psal. 73. Anger is a short madness, fury a frenzy; and who so apprehensive of an injury, as the wise man? and who so wise, as not sometimes to be over-carried by his passion to his cost? Oppression may express that from the meekest Moses, that he may sorely repent, but knows not how to remedy. Anger anteverts reason in the wisest sometimes, and especially in case of calumny (for the eye and the good name will bear no jeasts, as the Proverb hath it) A man can better bear a thultch on the back, than a touch on the eye. You shall find some, saith Erasmus, that if death be threatened, can despise it: but to be belied, they cannot brook, nor from revenge contain themselves. How could we digest that calumny (might Erasmus well think then) that he basely casts upon our Profession in his Epistle to Bilihaldus? Ubicunque regnat Lutherns, ibi literarum est interitus: duo tantum quaerunt, censum, & uxorem. Wheresoever Luther prevails, learning goes down; wealth and wives is all they look after. How ill himself, with all his wisdom, could endure this kind of oppression, appears by his Hyperaspistes, and many other his Apologies (for by his playing on both hands, Nec Evangelicorum vitavit censuras, nec apud Episcopos & Monachos gratiam inivit, he was beaten on both sides, which made him little less than mad; and it was but just upon him. David's grief was, that his enemies traduced and abused him without cause. Job and Jeremy make the same complaint, and were much troubled. Defamations, they knew well, do usually leave a kind of lower estimation many times, even where they are not believed. Hence Paul 's Apologies and self-commendation, even to suspicion of madness almost. Hence Basil in an Epistle ad Bosphorum Episcop: Quo putas animum meum dolore affecit fama calumnia illius quam mihi offuderunt quidam, non metuentes Judicem perditurum omnes loquentes mendacium? Tanto videlicet ut prope totam noctem insomnem duxerim, &c. with what grief dost thou think (saith He) did that calumny oppress my mind, which some (not fearing the Judge, that shall destroy all them that speak lies) did cast upon me? Even so much, that I slept not almost all the night; so had the apprehended sadness possessed the secrets of mine heart, &c.

And a gift destroyeth the heart] i. e. Corrupts it, makes it blind; and so destroys it: as the Eagle lights upon the Harts horns, flutters dust in his eyes, and so by blinding him, brings him to destruction. See Deut. 16.19. with the Note. Let a Judge be both wise (for his understanding) and righteous (for his will) a gift will mar all, as it is there: it dazleth the eyes, and maketh a wise man mad.

Vers. 8. Better is the end of a thing, than the beginning] No right judgment can be made of anything, unless we can see the end of it. God seems oft to go a contrary way to work; but by that time both ends be brought together, all is as it should be, and it appears that he doth all things in number, weight and measure. We may learn (said Mr. Hooper Martyr in a certain letter exhorting to patience) by things that nourish and maintain us, both meat and drink, to what loathsome and abhorring they come unto, before they work their perfection in us; From life they be brought to the fire; and clean altered from what they were, when they were alive: from the fire to the trencher and knife, and all to be hacked; from the trencher to the mouth, and as small ground as the teeth can grind them; from the mouth into the stomach, and there so boiled and digested before they nourish, that whosoever saw the same would loathe and adhor his own nourishment, till it come to perfection. But as a man looketh for the nourishment of his meat, when it is full digested, and not before, so must he look for deliverance when he hath suffered much trouble, and for Salvation when he hath passed thorough the straight gate, &c. Let the wise man look to the end, and to the right which in the end God will do him, in the destruction of his oppressors; and this will patient his heart, and heal his distemper. We have heard of the patience of Job, and what end the Lord made with him. Be ye also patient, you shall shortly have help, if ye hold out waiting. Mark the upright man, and behold the just, for (whatever his beginning or his middle be) the end of that man is peace, Psal. 37.37. Only he must hold out Faith and Patience; and not fall off from good beginnings; for as the evening crowneth the day, and as the grace of an Interlude, is in the last Scene; so it is constancy that crowneth all graces, and he only that continueth to the end, that shall be saved. Laban was very kind at first, but he shown himself at parting. Saul's three first years were good. Judas carried himself fair, usque ad loculorum officium, saith Tertullian, till the bag was committed to him. Many set out for Heaven wi • h as much seeming resolution, as Lots wife did out of Sodom; as Orphah did out of Moab; as the young man in the Gospel came to Christ. But after a while they fall away, they stumble at the cross, and fall backwards. Now to such it may well be said, The end is better than the beginning. Better it had been for such never to have known the way of God, &c. Christ loves no lookers back: See how he thunders against them, Heb. 10.26, 27, 38, 39. So doth St. Paul against the Galatians, because they did run well, but lying down in that heat, they caught a surfeit, and fell into a consumption.

And the patient in spirit is better than the proud, &c.] Pride is the Mother of impatiency, as infidelity is of pride. The just shall live by Faith, live upon promises, reversions, hopes, wait deliverance, or want it, if God will have it so. But his soul, which (for want of Faith to ballast it) is lifted up, and so presumes to set God a time wherein to come or never come, 2 King. 6.33. is not upright in him: some things he doth, as it were a mad man, not knowing, or greatly caring what he doth, saith Gregory. He frets at God, and rails at men, lays about him on all hands, and never ceaseth, till in that distemperature he depart the world, which so oftentimes himself had distempered, as the Chronicler concludes the life of our Henry the second.

Vers. 9. Be not hasty in thy Spirit to be angry] The hasty man (we say) never wants woe. For wrath is an evil counselor, and enwrappeth a man in manifold troubles, mischiefs and miseries. It makes man alike the Be (that vindictive creature) which to be revenged, loseth her sting, and becomes a drone: or like Tamar, who to be even with her Father in Law, defiled him and herself with incest. Cease therefore from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil, Psal. 37.8. Athenodorus counseled Augustus to determine nothing rashly, when he was angry, till he had repeated the Greek Alphabet. Ambrose taught Theodosius, in that case, to repeat the Lord's Prayer. What a shame is it to see a Christian act like Hercules furens, or like Solomon's fool, that casts fire-brands, or as that Demoniac, Mark 2.3. out of measure fierce? That Demoniac was among the tombs, but these are among the living, and molest those most, that are nearest to them.

For anger resteth in the bosom of fools] Rush it may into a wise man's bosom, but not rest there, lodge there, dwell there. And only where it dwells, it domineers, and that is only, where a fool is Master of the family. Thunder, hail, tempest, neither trouble nor hurt celestial bodies. See that the Sun go not down upon this evil guest; see that the soul be not soured or impured with it; for anger corrupts the heart, as leaven doth the lump, or vinegar the vessel, wherein it doth continue.

Vers. 10. Say not thou, What is the cause? &c.] This (saith an Interpreter) is the continual complaint of the wicked moody, and the wicked needy. The moody Papists would murder all the godly; for they be Canaanites and Hagarens. The needy profane would murder all the rich, for they are Lions in the grate. Thus He. It is the manner and humor of too many (saith another) who would be thought wise, to condemn the times in an impatient discontentment against them, especially if themselves do not thrive, or be not favored in the times, as they desire, and as they think they should be. And these malecontents are commonly great Questionists, What is the cause? say they, &c. It might be answered, In promptu causa est, Themselves are the cause; for the times are therefore the worse, because they are no better. Hard hearts make hard times. But the Preacher answers better, Thou dost not wisely inquire concerning this, q. d. The Objection is idle, and once to have recited it, is enough to have confuted it. Oh if we had been in the days of our Fore-Fathers (said those hypocrites, Matth. 23.30.) great business would have been done; I, no doubt of it, saith our Savior, when as you fill up the measure of your Fathers sins, and are every whit as good at resisting of the Holy Ghost, as they were, Act. 7.51. Or if there were any good heretofore more than is now, it may be said of these Wise fools, as it was anciently of Demosthenes, that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of Ancestors, not so at imitating of them. In all ages of the world, there were complaints of the times, and not altogether without cause. Enoch the seventh from Adam complained, so did Noah, Lot, Moses, and the Prophets, Christ the Arch-Prophet, and all his Apostles, the Primitive Fathers and Professors of the truth. The common cry ever was O tempora! O mores! Num Ecclesias suat dereliquit Dominus? said Basil, Hath the Lord utterly left his Church? Is it now the last hour? Father Latimer saw so much wickedness in his days, that he thought it could not be, but that Christ must come to Judgment immediately: like as Elmerius a Monk of Malmesbury from the same ground gathered the certainty of Antichrists present reign. What pitiful complaints make Bernard, Bradwardine, Everard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury (who wrote a Volume called Objurgatorium temporis, the rebuke of the time) Petrarch, Mantuan, Savanarola, &c? In the time of Pope Clement 5. Frederick King of Sicily was so far offended at the ill government of the Church, that he called into question the truth of the Christian Religion, till he was better resolved and settled in the point by Arnoldus de Villa nova, who shown him, that it was long since fore-told of these last and loosest times, that iniquity should abound, that men should be proud, lewd, heady, high-minded, &c. 1 Tim. 4.1. & 2 Tim. 3.1, 2, 3, 4. Lay aside therefore these frivolous enquiries, and discontented cryings out against the times, which (in some sense) reflect upon God the Author of times (for can there be evil in an Age, and he hath not done it?) and blessing God for our Gospel-privileges, (which indeed should drown all our discontents) let everyone mend one, and then let the world run its circuits, take its course, Vadat mundus quo vult: nam vult vadere quo vult, saith Luther bluntly, Let the world go which way it will: for it will go which way it will: The thing that hath been is that which shall be, &c. Eccles. 2.9, 10. Tu sic debes vivere, ut semper praesentes dies meliores tibi sinc quum praeteriti, saith a Father, Thou shouldest so live, that thy last days may be thy best days, and the time present better to thee, than the by-past was to those that then lived.

Vers. 11. Wisdom is good with an inheritance] So is it without it: but not so good, because wealth is both an ornament, an instrument, and an encouragement to wisdom. Aristides (saith Plutarch ) slandered and made justice odious by his poverty: as if it were a thing that made men poor, and were more profitable to others, than to himself that useth it. God will not have wealth always entailed to wisdom, that wisdom may be admired for itself; and that it may appear, that the love and service of the Saints is not mercenary and meretricious. But godliness hath the promises of both lives. And the righteous shall leave inheritance to his children's children. Or if he do not so, yet he shall leave them a better thing: for by wisdom (abstracted from wealth) there is profit, or, it is more excellent or better (as the Hebrew word signifies) as the Apostle in another case, And yet show I you a more excellent way, viz. that graces are better than gifts: So here, that wisdom is better than wealth. And if Jacob may see his children the work of God's hands, framed and fitted by the word of God's grace (the wisdom of God in a mystery ) this would better preserve him from confusion, and his face from waxing pale, than if he could make his children Princes in all lands; yea, this will make him to sanctify God's name, yea, to sanctify the Holy One, and with singular encouragement from the God of Israel, Isaiah 29.22, 23.

Vers. 12. For wisdom is a defense, and money, &c.] Heb. a shadow, viz. to those that have seen the Sun, (as in the former verse) and are scorched with the heat of it, that are under the miseries and molestations of life: Wisdom in this case is a wall of defense, and a well of life: Money also is a thorn-hedge, of very good use. Job 1.10. so it be set without the affections, and get not into the heart, as the Pharisees 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 did, Luk. 11.41. their riches were got within them, and by choking the seed, kept wisdom out.

Wisdom giveth life to them that have it] For God is both a Sun, and a shield or shadow, he will give grace and glory, &c. Psal. 84.11. Life in any sense is a sweet mercy; but the life of grace and of glory may well challenge the precellency: No marvel therefore though wisdom bear away the bell from wealth, which as it serves only to the uses of life natural; so being misused, it drowns many a soul in perdition and destruction, 1 Tim. 6.9. and proves the root of all evil, ch. 16.10. yea it taketh away the life of the owner thereof, Prov. 1.19. See the Note there. It is confessed, that wealth sometimes giveth life to them that have it, as it did to those ten Jews that had treasures in the field, Jer. 41.8. and doth to those condemned men that can take a lease of their lives. But Nabal's wealth had undone him, if Abigail's wisdom had not interposed: And in the other life, money bears no mastery. Adam had it not in Paradise, and in Heaven there is no need of it.

Vers. 13. Consider the work of God, &c.] q. d. Stoop, since there is no standing out. See God in that thou sufferest, and submit. God by a crooked tool many times makes straight work; he avengeth the quarrel of his Covenant by the Assyrian that rod of God's wrath, though he thinks not so, Isaiah 10.7. Job could discern God's arrows in Satan's hand, and God's hand on the Arms of the Sabcan robbers. He it is that killeth and maketh alive, saith holy Hannah, he maketh poor and maketh rich, he bringeth low and lifteth up, 1 Sam. 2.6, 7. All is done according to the counsel of his will; who as he may do what he pleases, so he will be sure never to over-do: his holy hand shall never be further stretched out to smite, than to save, Isaiah 59.1. This made David dumb, for he knew it was God's doing. It is the Lord, said Eli, let him do, and I will suffer, lest I add passive disobedience to active. Aaron his Predecessor had done the like before him upon the same consideration, in the untimely end of his untowardly children, Levite. 10.3. Jacob likewise in the rape of Dinah, Gen. 34.5. Agnovit hand dubie ferulam divinam, saith Pareus on that text, he considered the work of God in it, and that it was in vain for him to seek to make that straight which God had made crooked. There is no standing before a Lion, no hoysing up sail in a tempest, no contending with the Almighty. Whoever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Job 9.4. Who ever got anything by kicking against the pricks, by biting the rod which they should rather have kissed? See Isaiah 14.27. Job 9.12, 13. & 34.12.10. Set God before your passions, when they are up in a hurry, and all will be husht. Set down proud flesh when it bustles and bristles under God's fatherly chastisements, and say soberly to yourselves; shall I not drink of the cup that my Father (who is also my Physician) hath put into mine hands? stand under the cross that he hath laid on my shoulders? stoop unto the yoke that he hangeth on my neck? Drink off God's cup willingly (said Mr. Bradford the Martyr) and at first when it is full, lest if we linger we drink at length of the dregs with the wicked. Ferre minora volo, ne graviora feram. That was a very good saying of Demosthenes (who was ever better at praising of virtue than at practicing of it) good men should ever do the best, and then hope the best. But if anything happen worse than was hoped for, let that which God will have done, be born with patience.

Vers. 14. In the day of prosperity be joyful] Here we have some fair days, some foul: crosses (like foul weather) come afore they are sent for; for as fair weather (the more is the pity) may do hurt, so may prospenity, as it did to David, Psal. 30.6. who therefore had his interchanges of a worse condition, (as it was but needful) his prosperity like checker-work was intermingled with adversity. See the circle God goes in with his people, in that thirtieth Psalm, David was afflicted, verse. 5. he was delivered and grew wanton. Then troubled again, verse. 7. cries again, 8, 9 God turns his mourning into joy again. Thus God sets the one against the other, as it were in aequilibrio, in even balance for our greatest good. Sometimes he weighs us in the balance; and finds us too light: Then he thinks best to make us heavy through manifold temptations, 1 Pet. 1.6. Sometimes he finds our water somewhat too high, and then as a Physician no less cunning than loving, he fits us with that which will reduce all to the healthsome temper of a broken spirit. But if we be but prosperity-proof, there is no such danger of adversity. Some of those in Queen Mary's days, who kept their garments close about them, wore them afterwards more loosely. Prosperity makes the Saints rust sometimes; therefore God sets his Scullions to scour them & make them bright, though they make themselves black. This scouring if they will scape, let Solomon's counsel be taken, In the day of prosperity be joyful, i. e. serve God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things; and reckon upon it, the more wages the more work: Is it not good reason? Solomon's Altar was four times as big as Moses his; and Ezekiel's Temple ten times bigger than Solomon's; to teach, that where God gives much, he expects much. Otherwise God will curse our blessings, Mal. 2.2. Make us ashamed of our revenues through his fierce anger, and destroy us after he hath done us good, Josh. 24.20.

In the day of adversity consider] Sit alone, and be in meditation of the matter, Lam. 3.28. commune with your own consciences and be still, or make a pause. See who it is that smites thee, and for what, Lam. 3.40. Take God's part against thyself, as a Physician observes, which way nature works, and helps it. Consider, that God afflicts not willingly, or from his heart; it goes as much against the heart with him, as against the hair with us, Lam. 3.33. He is forced of very faithfulness to afflict us, because he will be true to our souls and save them: he is forced to diet us, who have surfeited of prosperity, and keep us short. He is forced to purge us (as wise Physicians do some Patients) till he bring us almost to skin and bone; and to let us blood even ad deliquium animae, till we swoon again, that there may be a spring of better blood and spirits. Consider of all those precious passages, Heb. 12.3. to 12. and then lift up the languishing hands, and feeble knees. For your further help herein, read my Treatise called God's Love-tokens, and The afflicted man's Lessons, passim.

Vers. 15. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity] i. e. of my life, which is so very a vanity, that no man can perfectly describe it, or directly tell what it is. He came somewhat near the matter, that said, it was a spot of time betwixt two eternities.

There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness] The first man that died, died for Religion. How early did Martyrdom come into the world? How valiant for the truth, and violent for the Kingdom have God's suffering Saints been ever since, preferring affliction before sin, and choosing rather to perish in their righteousness, than to part with it? Ignatius triumphed in his voyage to Rome to suffer, to think that his blood should be found among the mighty Worthies; and that when the Lord makes inquisition for blood, he will recount from the blood of righteous Abel, not only to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, but also to the blood of mean Ignatius. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake, Mat. 5.10.

And there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life] This (as the former event likewise) proves a great stumbling-block to many: to see good men perish, bad men flourish and live long in sin, with impunity, credit, and countenance, as Manasseh (that Monster of men) who reigned longest of any King of Judah. Jeroboam lived to see three Successions in the Throne of Judah. Thus the Ivy lives, when the Oak is dead. David George (that odious Heretic) lived to a great age, and died in peace and plenty. Anne Stanhop Duchess of Somerset (Wife of the Protector Edw. Seymor ) after she had raised such Tragedies about precedency with Queen Katherine, and caused the ruin of her Husband, and his Brother the Admiral, died Anno 1587. being ninety nine years of age. Length of days is no sure rule of God's favor. As Plants last longer than Sensitive Creatures, and Brute Creatures out-live the reasonable; so amongst the reasonable, it is no news (neither should it trouble us) that the wickedly great do inherit these worldly glories longer than the best; It is all they are like to have, let them make them merry with it. Some wicked men live long, that they may aggravate their judgment: others die sooner, that they may hasten it.

Vers. 16. Be not righteous over much, neither make, &c.] Virtue consists in a mediocrity. Omne quod est nimium. vertitur in vicium. A rigid severity may mar all. Let your moderation be known to all men, prefer equity before extremity: utmost right may be utmost wrong. He is righteous over-much, that will remit nothing of his right, but exercise great censures for light offenses: this is (as one said) to kill a fly upon a man's forehead with a beetle. Justice, if not mixed with mercy, degenerates into cruelty. Again, he is righteous more than is meee, that maketh sins where God hath made none; as those superstitiosuli of old, and the Papists at this day do with their Touch not, Taste not, handle not: Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, &c. Col. 2.21, 23. Will-worshippers are usually over-wise, i. e. over-weening, and too too well conceited of their own wisdom and worth. Hence it is, that they cannot do, but they must over-do, till wearied in the greatness of their way, Isa. 57.10. they see and say that it had been best to have held the Kings high-way, chalked out unto them by the royal Law, James 2.8. that perfect Law of liberty, James 1.25. Via regia temperata est, nec plus in se habons, nec minus. The middle way is the way of God; neither having too much, nor yet too little. True it is (saith the Heathen Orator) that Nemo pius est qui pietatem caver, No man is godly that is afraid of being so: But then it is no less true (and the same Author speaks it) Modum esse religions, nimium esse superstitiosum non oportere: that there is a reason in being religious, and that men must see they be not superstitious. Solomon saith, that he that wrings his nose over hard, brings blood out of it. Pliny saith, he that tills his Land over-well, doth it to his loss. Apelles said, those Painters were too blame, qui non sentirent quid esset satis, that could not see when they had done sufficient. It is reported of the River Nile, that if it either exceeed or be defective in its due overflowings of the Land of Egypt, it causeth famine; The planet Jupiter, situate betwixt cold Saturn, and hot Mars, Ex utroque temperatus est; & salutaris, saith Pliny, partakes of both, and is benign and wholesome to the sublunary creatures.

Vers. 17. Be not wicked over-much] viz. Because thou seest some wicked men live long, and scape scot-free for the present, as verse. 15. For God may cut thee short enough, and make thee die before thy time, i. e. before thou art fit to die; and when it were better for thee to do anything, rather than die, since thou diest in thy sins, which is much worse than to die in a ditch. Now they are over-much wicked, and egregiously foolish, that add rebellion to sin, drunkenness to thirst, doing wickedly with both hands earnestly, refusing to be reformed, hating to be healed. These take long strides toward the burning lake, which is but a little before them. The Law many times lays hold of them, the gallows claims its right, they preach in a Tiburn-tippet, as they say. Or otherwise, God cuts them off betime, even long before, as he knows their thoughts and dispositions long before. We use to destroy hemlock even in the midst of winter; because we know what it will do, if suffered to grow. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, Psal. 55.25. God cut off Eli's two sons in one day, for their overmuch wickedness; and further threatened their Father, that there should not be an old man left in his house forever, 1 Samuel 2.32. Wicked men die tempore non suo, as the Text is by some rendered. The Saints die not till the best time, not till their work is done (and then God sends them to bed; the two witnesses could not be killed whiles they were doing it) not till that time, when if they were but rightly informed, they would even desire to die.

Vers. 18. It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this] i. e. Of this golden mean; walking accurately by line and by rule, and continuing constant in thine integrity, not turning aside to the right hand, or to the left. As for those that turn aside unto those crooked ways of being just over-much, by needless scrupulosity, or wicked over-much, by detestable exorbitancy, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, as cattle led to the slaughter, or malefactors to execution. When he that feareth God shall come out of them all. He shall look forthright, Prov. 4.25. and shall have no occasion of stumbling, 1 Joh. 2.10. He shall also be freed from, or pulled as a firebrand out of the fire, Zach. 3.2.

Vers. 19. Wisdom strengtheneth the wise, &c.] Prudence excelleth puissance, and counsel valor. This made Agamenon set such a price upon Ulysses, Darius upon Zopyrus, the Siracusans upon Archimedes, the Spartans upon Leonidas, who with six hundred men, dispersed five hundred thousand of Xerxes his Host. Those that are wise to salvation, go ever under a double guard, the peace of God with in them, the power of God without them. No Sultan of Babylon or Egypt (who have that title from the Hebrew word here rendered Mighty men) did ever go so well guarded. See the Note on Prov. 21.22.

Vers. 20. For there is not a just man upon earth] No, this is reserved for the state of perfection in Heaven, where are the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb. 12.23. It was the cavil wherewith the Pelagians troubled Saint Austin, whether it were impossible that by the absolute power of God a just man might not live on earth without sin? But what have we to do here with the absolute power of God? His revealed will is, That there is not a just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not; nay, that sinneth not, even in his doing of good. Our righteousness (whiles we are on earth) is mixed, as light and darkness (dimness at least) in a painted glass died with some obscure and dim color; it is transparent, and giveth good, but not clear and pure light. It is a witty observation of a late learned Divine, that the present tense in Grammar is accompanied with the Imperfect, the Future with the Praeter-pluperfect tense; and thar such is the condition of our present and future holiness. Our future is more than perfect, our present is imperfect indeed, but yet true holiness and happiness. See the Note on Prov. 20.9.

Vers. 21. Also take no head] But be as a deaf man that heareth not, and as a dumb man, in whose mouth there is no reproof, Psal. 38.13. If thou answer anything, say as he in Tacitus did to one that railed at him, Tu linguae, ego vero aurium dominus, Thou mayest say what thou wilt, but I will hear as I list; or as once a certain Steward did to his passionate Lord, when he called him knave, &c. Your Honor may speak as you please, but I believe not a word that you say, for I know myself an honest man. The language of reproachers must be read like Hebrew, backwards. Princes use to correct the indecencies of Ambassadors, by denying them audience. Certain it is, that he enjoys a brave composedness, that sets himself above the flight of the injurious claw. Isaac 's apology to his brother Ishmael, viz. patience and silence, is the best answer to words of scorn and petulancy, said learned Hooker. I care not for man's day, saith Paul, Non curo vanum calumniatorem, I regard not a vain slanderer, saith Austin. Wicelius and Cochleus gave out, that we Lutherans betrayed the Rhodes to the Turk, saith Melanchthon. These impudent lies need no confutation, dicant ipsi talia quoad velint, let them tell such loud and lewd lies as many as they will. When a net is spread for a bird, saith Austin, the manner is to throw stones at the hedge. These stones hurt not the bird, but she hearing and fearing this vain sound, falls into the net. In like manner saith he, men that fear and regard the vain sound of all ill words, what do they but fall into the Devils net, who thereby carries them captive into much evil, many troubles and inconveniencies?

Lest thou hear thy servant curse thee] Who should in duty speak the best of thee, though frample and froward, cross and crooked, 1 Pet. 2.18. Or by servant understand base inferior people, such as were Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and those abjects that tare David's name, and ceased not.

Vers. 22. For oftentimes also thine own heart knows] Conscience is God's spy, and Mans over-seer; and though some can make a sorry shift to muzzle her for a time, or to stop their own cars, yet ipsa se offert, ipsa se ingerit, saith Bernard, sooner or later she will tell a man his own to some tune, as they say, she will not go behind the door to let him know, that he himself likewise hath cursed others, as now by God's just judgment, others curse him. The conscience of our own evil doings, though hid from the world, should meeken us toward those that do amiss. See Titus 3.3. Say to yourselves,

The wrong that David had done to Uriah, helped him to bear the barkings of that dead Dogg Shimei. Here then Take no heed unto all words, &c. as in the former verse. For, nihil amarius quam id ipsum pati quod feceris, there is nothing more bitter, than to suffer that which thou hast done to others; because those sufferings sting the conscience with unquestionable conviction and horror, as is to be seen in Adonibezek, who acknowledged with a regret, a just remuneration, Judge. 1.7.

Vers. 23. I said I will be wise, but it was far from me] Solomon here seems to say of wisdom, as Nazianzen doth of God the author of it, Tantum recedit, quantum capitur. Not that wisdom itself doth fly away, but because that they who have most of it, do especially understand, that it exceedeth the capacity of any one to be able to comprehend it (as Basil gives the reason) so that they that think they have got demonstrations, perceive afterwards that they are no more than topicae aut sophisticae rations, topical or sophistical arguments, as Lyra here noteth. Bonus quidam vir solebat esse solus, &c. saith Melancthon. A certain well-meaning man was wont to walk and study much alone, and lighting upon Aristotle's discourse concerning the nature of the Rainbow, he fell into many odd speculations, and strange conceits; and writing to a friend of his, told him, that in all other matters, though dark and obscure, he had out-gone Aristotle, but in the matter of the Rainbow he had out-gone himself. After this he came into the public schools, and disputed of that argument, Et toto prorsus coelo à veritate aberrabat suis phantasi • , and then he came to see that he had been utterly out, and strangely miscarried by those phantasies, which he had so strongly fancied.

Vers. 24. That which is far off and exceeding deep] Not the Minions of the Muses, Mentemque habere queis bonam, & esse corculis datum est: For though they should eviscerate themselves, like Spiders, crack their sconces, or study themselves to death, yet can they not understand all mysteries, and all knowledge in natural things, how much less in supernatural? whereas weak-sighted, and sand-blind persons, the more they strain their eyes to discern a thing perfectly, the less they see of it, as Vives hath observed. It is utterly impossible for a mere Naturalist that cannot tell the form, the quintessence; that cannot enter into the depth of the flower, or the grass he treads on, to have the wit to enter into the deep things of God, the mystery of Christ which was hid from Angels till the discovery, and since that they are still Students in it. David, though he saw further than his Ancients, Psal. 119.99. yet he was still to seek of that which might be known, verse. 96. Even as those great discoverers of the New-found-lands in America, at their return were wont to confess, that there was still a Plus ultra, something more beyond yet. Not only in innumerable other things am I very ignorant (saith Austin ) but also in the very Scriptures, multo plura nescio quam scio,