God and by Christ and by the holy Ghost and by the Majesty of the Emperour which next after God was to be loved and honoured L. 2. Cap. 5. Where he adds this remarkable reason for it because to him when he hath remarkable the Name of Augustus faithful Devotion is to be performed and all vigilant service paid as unto a present and corporeal God The violation of which Oath though made to an Heathen Prince how heinously God takes even as a despising of an Oath made to himself and a breach of his own Covenant those terrible threats do sufficiently demonstrate XVII Ezek. 12 13 14 c. especially v. 19.20 Which are denounced against Zedekiah who rebelled against the King of Babylon who had made him swear by God 2 Chron. XXXVI 13. Some of the Pharisees were the first that we read of who would not take this Oath of Allegiance but as Josephus tells us L. XVII Antiq. Cap. 3. boasting themselves to be the most exact Observers of the Law of God and therefore the most in his favour while they were full of inward pride arrogance and fraud dared openly to oppose Kings and presumed by their motions to raise War against them and annoy them refusing saith he to take the Oath when all the Jews had sworn to be faithful to Caesar Of this Sect he adds there were above six thousand who were so far from lessening their crime by this refusal and making what they did against his Authority to be no Rebellion that it heightned it very much and was in it self a piece of Rebellion they having a natural Allegiance unto him by being born his Subjects There are some who from the beginning of this Verse argue this Book not to be Solomon's because he saith of himself I observe the mouth i. e. Commandment of the King So they translate the first words which the LXX translate as we do and so do the Chaldee the Syriack and Arabick Interpreters For though the Hebrew word be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego I it signifies nothing to this purpose because he doth not say I observe but simply I do thou observe There being a distinctive Note between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I and what follows showing that it is a short Form of Speech to be supplied by some such word as this I say or I command or counsel or rather charge thee And the reason perhaps why the principal Verb was omitted might be as the learned Primate of Ireland Usher conjectures because no word could be found significative enough to express the deepness of the Charge Some may think that I have dilated too much upon this Verse but they may be pleased to consider how useful if not necessary it is at this time when men begin again to plead the lawfulness of resistance Which is so plainly condemned in this Place that the most learned Assertors of the Old Cause were extremely puzzled to make it agree with their Principles in the late times of Rebellion There is one who in his Book called Natures Dowrie Chap. 21. calls in the assistance of a great many Hebrew Doctors to help him to another Translation of the words and yet after all is forced to acknowledge that our English is right enough and is content to admit it with this Proviso that the King manage well the affairs of the Common-wealth As much as to say do what they would have him c V. 3. The first word in this Verse is capable of several senses which I have endeavoured to express in the Paraphrase For it originally signifies such a passion and perturbation particularly that of anger and terror as makes a man precipitant in his motions being translated sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the LXX And the meaning of the Wise man is that in pursuance of the foregoing counsel v. 2. we must take care if we desire to live happily to suppress our passions and not to show the least discontent with the Government especially not hastily and rashly to fling our selves as we speak in a fume out of the Kings presence on any occasion much less receive his Commands with impatience or which is worst of all incur his just displeasure by sullen disobedience For though we may think to escape the effects of it we shall find our selves deceived Princes having long arms as the Phrase is to reach those that offend them though they flee never so far from them This is the sense of v. 3. d V. 4. And it is further enlarged in this Verse where Symmachus translates the first words thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Command of the King is authoritative carries such authority with it that it will be executed For the word Shilton from whence learned men have not unfitly derived the Titles of Sultan and Soldan denotes such a power as over-powers and cannot be resisted like that of Death v. 8. to which all must submit And so it follows in the end of this Verse Who may say unto him What doest thou i. e. first Who hath any authority to call him to an account as much as to say none hath but God alone According to that of an eminent Rabbi quoted by the forenamed Primate in the entrance of his Book about Obedience No Creature may judge the King but the Holy and Blessed God alone To allow the people either collective or representative to have power to do it is to make them Accusers Judges and Executioners also in their own cause and that against their Sovereign Nor secondly Can any man safely attempt it but he shall meet with punishment either here or hereafter Which is no new Doctrine but the same with that of St. Paul as Luther here honestly notes they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation which none shall be able to avoid Therefore it is safest simply to obey Magistrates Which he repeats again upon v. 7. A man cannot do better than simply to obey So Preachers saith he should exhort the tumultuous and seditious For judgment vengeance or punishment is ordained and decreed by God to all the disobedient which none shall escape And thus much the Author of Natures Dowry is forced to acknowledge from the evident light he saw in this place that the scope of the words is that as we tender our own safety we ought not to withstand the Magistrate in his Edicts which are consonant to the Word of God And it is Wisdom saith he out of Elisha Gallico an Hebrew Interpreter in a private man when the Magistrate enjoins what is repugnant to God's Will to remove out of his Dominions rather than contest with him Which some conceive to be imported by the word telec go out or go away in the foregoing Verse e V. 5. From whence he again concludes it is the most prudent course as well as most honest to comply with those that have authority over us in a dutiful obedience or
to speak much and wisely unto God that a man whose thoughts have been distracted with a great deal of troublesome business in the day is not more likely to be disturbed with confused Dreams in the Night than he who pours out abundance of words in his Prayers is in danger to vent a great many vain unseemly absurd if not impious things which are utterly unworthy of the Divine Majesty See Annot. c 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed 4. Yet this is not his greatest danger for such men having in a Fit of zeal bound themselves to God in magnificent promises are very loth to perform them when they are cool again And therefore let me further advise thee when in great straits and difficulties or after great Blessings received from Him thou art apt out of abundance of devout affection to vow what thou wilt do for Him to deliberate and consider as I said in the first place what thou art truly willing and able to give Him and then having once vowed it to Him be no less forward to perform than thou wast to promise For he is highly offended with those that Childishly trifle with Him or rather impiously mock Him with delusive promises and do not keep their word with Him as they are in danger not to do who delay to pay what they owe Him and therefore let me again advise thee to be very faithful and cheerful too in discharging such Obligations speedily See Annot. d 5. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay 5. For though the innumerable benefits He bestows on thee may require some such gratefull return from thee yet it is a less fault not to vow at all than having vowed not to perform the one being but a neglect the other an affront nay a contempt of his Majesty who needs nothing indeed that thou canst give Him but will not suffer a scorn to be put upon Him See Annot. d 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that it was an errour wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands 6. Therefore do not hastily engage thy self in such Vows as the weakness of humane Nature and thy fleshly refluctances will not suffer thee to perform much less think of being absolved from the Obligations thou layest on thy self in the Presence of God and of his only Angels by such foolish excuses as these It was a mistake I did not mind what I said or that was not my meaning for this will but more encrease thy guilt and why should'st thou farther incense the anger of the Almighty who is too much provoked already by thy breach of Faith with Him not only to defeat those designs for the success of which perhaps it was that thou madest thy Vows but blast all thy undertakings and bring thy whole Estate to ruine See Annot. e 7. For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities but fear thou God 7. For all this folly inconstancy and falshood of Mankind proceeds from the want of a serious awful sense of God in whose Worship and Service they therefore devise after the manner of men in Dreams a multitude of senseless things hampering themselves for instance in many Vows from which they seek afterward in vain to extricate themselves and therefore plainly violate and break the Cure of which lies in an holy fear of offending God with which possess thy Soul especially when thou comest into his House that it may preserve thee from speaking much unto Him and from vowing any thing which is either unworthy of Him or so inconvenient to thy self that afterward thou shalt not find in thy heart to make it good See Annot. f 8. ¶ If thou seest the oppression of he poor and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they 8. And this also will preserve thee if thou alway preservest it in mind from being too much troubled at that abuse of Power which began this Discourse III. 16. when thou seest for instance those who should vindicate and protect the poor become the Instruments of their oppression so that even in the Courts of Justice to which they fly for relief their Rights and their lives perhaps are violently wrested from them Be not dejected at this bold licence which they take but remember that these Great Men have one higher than themselves viz. the King whom God hath set over them as well as over others to inspect their Doings and to judge them and if he neglect his Duty too there are higher than them all viz. God and his holy Angels whom he will employ to punish both them and him See Annot. g 9. ¶ Moreover the profit of the earth is for all the king himself is served by the field 9. And now let us consider how senseless the love of money is which is the cause of all this rapine and violent dealing And this appears from the fruitfulness of the Earth which brings forth more than enough for all mens necessities if Husbandry be not neglected an employment no less noble than innocent for Kings themselves in former times have not disdained to give their mind unto it nor is there any Prince now who is not so much indebted to it that it ought to be one of his principal cares to encourage secure and protect it And yet such is the vanity of Mankind that disregarding these Riches which lie not very deep in the Earth all their business is with incessant pains and danger to dig into its Bowels for Gold and Silver which tempt them also to oppress and squeeze the Poor to pervert judgment and do all manner of evil to extort their money from them See Annot. h 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase this is also vanity 10. And what can it do for him that sets his heart upon it but only so encrease his desires that they can never be satisfied For though necessary things have certain Bounds set them by Nature beyond which we do not desire them yet Money and Riches and all unnecessary things are unlimited and therefore excite and endless appetite after them which very appetite also deprives him who indulges it of the fruit of all his abundance for imagining he parts with so much of his happiness as he doth of his Money he hath not the heart to make use of it for his pleasure nor scarce for his necessity This is another strange folly or rather madness which infests Mankind and miserably torments them See Annot. i 11. When goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good is there to be
sins or other mens calamities is apt to do his Soul good by giving him a right understanding of God and of himself and of all things else See Annot. c 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth 4. Whence it is that Wise men affect to think of such things when they do not see them as show them how vain all our worldly enjoyments are but Fools seek all occasions to put by such thoughts and to divert themselves with merriment and pleasure See Annot. d 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools 5. And he that would be in the number of these wise men must look upon this as one of the first steps towards it to lend an obedient ear unto the reproofs of him who is truly wise and vertuous which though never so sharp and rough are to be infinitely preferred before the smooth praises and commendations of a great many Fools nay ought to sound more gratefully in our ears than the most delicious Musick Songs and Jests of all the merry Companions in the World See Annot. e 6. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool this also is vanity 6. These jolly Fellows indeed make a great noise and show as if they were the only men that enjoy this World but alas their mirth and joy is but for a spurt and then ends in heaviness like the crackling of Thorns which sometimes blaze under a Pot as if they gave a mighty heat but leave the Water in it as cold as they found it All there jollity therefore is mere vanity See Annot. f 7. ¶ Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad and a gift destroyeth the heart 7. And there is the greater need to be well instructed and therefore to hearken to the wise v. 5. because there are other things besides vain pleasures and flatteries to disturb and unsettle our minds if we be not well fortified against them For the better any man is the more he is in danger to suffer from slanderers Revilers and all sorts of injurious persons whose violence sometime is so great that unless a man be provided with more than humane Wisdom and it be deeply rooted in his heart it will not only miserably disquier but even distract him Nor is this his only danger but that Power and Authority which raises him above the former may expose him to another unless he be armed with great integrity for his mind may be corrupted by Gifts and Presents to do injustice unto others which he hates should be done to himself See Annot. g 8. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit 8. And he will be the better able to resist them both who is so wise as to look not merely to the beginning of them but attend to their conclusion For that which seems grievous at the first appearance in the issue proves very advantageous and on the contrary that which promises fair at first hath a deadly farewel with it and therefore it is much better to endure patiently and humbly wait to see the issue than to be provoked by pride and disdain hastily to precipitate events for he that scorns to wait and attend upon the leisurely progressions of things commonly undoes himself and his Affairs by his fierce and violent attempts presently to compass his desires See Annot. h 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools 9. It is another Point therefore of that Wisdom which must make us happy to repress the motions of anger that we seel in our selves and not suffer them without great deliberation to have any effect for anger is an enemy to counsel and advice and is indeed the property of Fools who out of weakness of mind and shortness of thoughts are familiarly transported with it upon the slightest causes and not easily appeased again as wise men are when they chance to be incensed 10. Say not thou What is the cause that the former days were better than these for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this 10. It is Wisdom also to correct in our selves that complaining humour which is apt to be ever finding fault with the present times and commending the foregoing Ages as far better and happier than the present For perhaps it is not true and thus much is certain that he is foolishly inconsiderate who imagines that then there was no evil and that now there is no good or if it be true that there was more good in those times let us not murmur and repine asking why we are cast into a troublesome Age full of oppression suppose and violence and wrong v. 7. but rather submit to the Providence of God considering that there is no Age so bad as to hinder us which is the principal point of Wisdom from being good and therefore let us do our Duty believing God hath such reason for suffering the times to be as they are that we have no reason to quarrel at them or to call in Question his Wisdom Goodness or Justice See Annot. i 11. ¶ Wisdom is good with an inheritance and by it there is profit to them that see the sun 11. Yet do not think that Wisdom or Vertue consists in despising Riches but only in using them well when we have them and in being contented without them for as we cannot be happy by Riches alone without Wisdom so we cannot be compleatly happy with Wisdom alone without Riches For he hath a vast advantage to do good every way who is Rich as well as wise it giving him an authority even to speak more freely than other men and making what he speaks to be more regarded but of the two Wisdom and Vertue must alway be preferred which can do greater things and bestow nobler benefits upon Mankind than Treasures alone can do See Annot k 12. For wisdom is a defence and money is a defence but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom giveth life to them that have it 12. For as Wisdom for instance contrives many ways whereby a man may innocently defend himself from danger so can Money oft-times purchase his protection and safety but herein is the preheminence of Wisdom that when neither of them can shelter a man nor stave off the calamity that invades him it marvellously supports revives and comforts the Souls of those who are Owners of it under all the evils which it could not help them by honest means to avoid See Annot. l 13. Consider the work of God for who can make that straight which he hath made crooked 13. And in order to it the highest Piece of Wisdom is to live in a serious sense of the Sovereign Power of God and to consider that as he hath settled all things in
appear with a quite different face from what they have and when they are gone and shall be no more In the latter part of the Verse patient in Spirit is properly one that is long before he grow angry or fall into any passion who is opposed to proud in spirit because it is high-mindedness as the word signifies which makes mens passion rise and swell hastily It may have relation to the former part and be expounded in this manner A patient man and slow to anger dispatches business better than a proud huffing and blustering Spirit whose passion so disorders his mind and indisposes it for the management of Affairs that he seldom brings them to a good issue Or thus A proud man is a Boutefeau who begins the fray but the patient in spirit is the man that must end it if ever it be well ended and that is much the better work and the greater honour to him who is employed in it and effects it Or which is still clearer we ought to attend to the end of a thing with patience because it cannot be known what it will prove nor whither it tends in the beginning and we should be the more prone to be patient in spirit if we would expect the issue of every thing Thus Corranus paraphrases upon the words most excellently but a little too long It is no small part of Wisdom to judge of things and of business proposed to us slowly and maturely c. for we see frequently that inconsiderate men finding a thing very hard and difficult in the beginning and never thinking how profitable and pleasant the issue may prove immediately despond and out of an impatience shall I say or rashness of mind desist from the most excellent Enterprizes and many times betake themselves to worse From which rashness and inconstancy he will be very far removed who indued with Divine Wisdom waits for the desired and happy Conclusion of his Affairs And unto this nothing contributes more than a slow constant and patient mind that can endure labour and pains which stedfastly and quietly considering how fruitful the end may be which he affects will not suffer himself by any difficulty trouble or weariness which he meets withal in the beginning to be drawn from his purpose Far different from those who out of a proud arrogant humour think it is baseness and unbecoming a gallant man to attend upon the flow and leisurely progresses of things and to expect their events Thus he which sense I have not neglected in my Paraphrase but comprized it among the rest and it is thus in part expressed more briefly by a wise and good man in that Age when he told his Friend who was undone because he would not mind it that he was like an unskilful Player at Tennis ever running after the Ball whereas an expert Player will stand still to observe and discern where the Ball will light or where it will rebound and there with small travel will let it fall on his Racket or on his hand i V. 9 10. These two Verses depend on the foregoing showing that anger is inconsistent with Wisdom and so is murmuring and repining at the hardship we meet withal in evil times And therefore as the same Corranus well glosses let us not throw the causes of our anger upon the times but blame our selves who at all times if we want meekness of Wisdom shall grow angry upon the most frivolous occasions and not only let loose the Reins of our anger but of all other Vices But I think this advice v. 10. is not merely to be restrained to this but extended unto all sorts of discontent which are apt to make us complain of our present condition and so to admire what is past as not to mind what is present as if they had nothing but what was good who lived before us and we nothing but what is naught in these days Whereas they complained just as we do now and that of Thucidydes was true then as it ever will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present is always burthensome Because as Melancthon observes we have a feeling sense of present incommodities but know what was heretofore only by report and so we praise those ancient times but do not like our own which may be as good This we are sure of that all times have their troubles and it is the part of a wise and good man to bear them and not to increase them by a foolish Cure According to that Saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let not one evil be remedied by another And that of Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What portion of things fall to thy share take it and do not grumble nor be vexed at it And remember as Corranus glosses again that a truly wise man is never so transported with admiration of ancient times as to despise the present crying out those were the Golden these the Iron Ages nor will he solicitously enquire into the causes of what was then and what is now when this is certain that Vertue is the only cause of happiness and Vice of infelicity which in what time soever we fall always produce the same effect And to imagine that the ancient times had no evil in them and ours no good is the conceit of man that judges inconsiderately For our eyes ought not to be so fixed upon the present calamities of our days as blindly to overlook all the good nor is the ancient felicity to be so admired as not to remember that they also conflicted with many Tempests and perhaps greater than we as their frequent complaints of their times do abundantly testifie He therefore that is wise and fears God will make account as the truth is that it is in our own choice by his Grace whether the times shall be good or bad for if he live well they cannot be bad to him as on the contrary they cannot be good if he live wickedly I am the longer in these Observations because they are things of mighty moment but most of the rest I shall contract as much as is possible k V. 11. Most take this Verse as denoting their happiness who have Riches as well as Wisdom which commonly is despised without Wealth But the words may bear another construction which I have not neglected because it agrees well with what follows that Wisdom is equal to an Inheritance nay much to be preferred before it For they may be thus translated Both Wisdom and an Inheritance are profitable for men in this world but especially Wisdom Or as Maldonate renders the last Clause Et Residuum est videntibus Solem and there is a remainder to those that see the Sun That is when all things in this World fail us the fruits of Wisdom only remain with us l V. 12. This is further explained in this Verse Where it will be needless to do more than barely observe that the word we render defence is shadow in the Hebrew which in
as is wholly governed by his passions and lets the worst of men govern him Who like Children think all is well if they may but play and follow their pleasure Which they take so greedily that they are drinking when they should be at Council dancing when they should be judging Causes So Jo. Drufius I remember expounds eating in the morning in his Annotations on XVI Numb 5. where he applies that place of Jeremiah XXI 12. to illustrate this and observes that the morning is the time of Judgment and Counsel as the evening is for mirth or compotations According to that of Socrates In the Morning Counsel in the Evening Conversation And that of the Hebrews Non iudicant in hora Ebrietatis they do not sit to judge in the hour of drinking i. e. in the Evening Which is so prejudicial to Government that there was a Law among the Carthaginians that no Magistrate whatsoever should drink any Wine at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Year in which they bare any Office c. as we read in Plato L. 2. de Legibus p. 674. Edit Serrani And he admirably represents what the mischief of it is when a mere Youth governs who is not able to undergo so weighty a Charge in the next Book pag. 691. q V. 17. And on the other side the felicity of a Nation is unspeakable when it is under the care of a gallant Prince whom he calls ben chorim Which may either signifie his Descent or the excellent Qualities of his own person or rather both one who inherits the Vertue of his Ancestors Who though they should chance to leave him but a Child yet intrust him with such wise and faithful persons that they infuse into him the spirit of his Heroical Predecessors which makes the people willingly submit unto him For as Plato observes that Parents every where have the power of governing their Children so next to this it is consonant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that generous persons who do not degenerate from the Vertues of their Noble Ancestors should govern those that are mean and base L. III. de Legibus p. 690. Whence the Babylonian Princes are called by this Name XXXVI Isai 12. where the Chaldee hath bene herin the sons of ingenuous and free men or the sons of Heroical Persons For hence comes the name of Heros and thence Bacchus is called by the name of Liber i. e. a Prince or Noble Man as Bochartus rightly observes in his Canaan L. I. Cap. 18. And so the LXX translate ben chorim in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Word they elsewhere translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nobles V. Nehem. 7. VI. 17. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XXXIV Isai 12. It is vulgarly derived from the white garments or robes of fine linen wherein such great Persons appeared but it is more likely to be of some Foreign Original and may be best translated illustrious persons r V. 18. I have referred this and the next Verse unto the same matter And this represents how necessary it is to be very diligent and careful to make up the smallest Breaches and correct the beginning of Disorders by showing what ruine attends upon supine sloth remissness and negligence Which is expressed in two most significant Words the first slothfulness implying such a sluggish temper that a man will move neither hand to any Work the other idleness such a remissness and listlessness as there is in a man that is asleep when his hands hang down as the Phrase is XII Hebr. 12. which seems to be the import of shiphluth in this place coming from a Word that signifies humble and dejected f The next Verse represents the vast power of money which therefore a Prince should be sure to have at command because it commands all other things As he finds when he is in want of it and is thereby tempted to squeeze his people unjustly or to set all things to sale which is another way of expounding that Phrase Money answers all things I cannot omit here to note that it would not be absurd if this Verse should be connected with v. 17. to signifie the happiness of a Nation whose Prince taken care that his people want not provision bread and wine in the Language of the Hebrews signifying all that is necessary for humane life but especially that the money of the Nation whereby all things are purchased be not exported t V. 20. But whatsoever negligence or profuseness and waste there be it should not provoke any wise or good man to speak contemptuously of his Sovereign or of his Ministers if he consider merely how unsafe it is to make such reflections on him For there are no ears so faithful no place so secret as that they may be trusted with such Words the ears of Kings according to the old Saying being as long as their arms That is they can as easily discover crimes as punish them they have Spies on purpose every where or men to ingratiate themselves will turn Accusers or loyal persons may some way or other come by the knowledge of it and think themselves bound to let their Sovereign know who are his Enemies Thus most Interpreters and the most learned understand this Verse And therefore I have followed no other Interpretation in my Paraphrase For thus that admirable person S. Bochartus glosses upon these Words Epist qua respond ad 3. Quaest p. 37. The true mind of Solomon is that Kings do not want their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emissaries and curious Observers by whom they learn what is most secret Which was the reason that Midas was represented by the Poets with Asses ears because he had those that listned and hearkned in all parts of his Kingdom and brought him News of every thing that was but whispered by his Subjects And thus St. Hierom the simple sense is that we take care we be not overcome by anger and fury to speak evil of our Prince or detract from him for he may some way or other hear it contrary to our expectation and make us suffer for our ungoverned tongue That 's the meaning saith he of the last part of the Verse which is an Hyperbolical expression like that in common speech when we say The Walls that are conscious to what you speak will discover it Nay this very Proverbial Hyperbole is used in good Authors for a thing very secret Unless some Bird saw it So Aristophanes in his Comedy which hath its Name from Birds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None ever set eye upon my Treasure unless perhaps some Bird. And Suidas cites this Verse out of the same Poet which more illustrates the sense I have given of this Phrase in the Paraphrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None sees me unless the Bird that passeth by But I am not satisfied whether Solomon had not respect to something else and intimated that some Prophet might make the discovery as Elisha did of many things spoken in the Kings own