tell him that his own life the comfort of his marriage his estate his credit his content are wrapt up in them Reason 1. That God may work upon mans judgement that so if his command will not work upon mans will as it should reason may convince their judgement 2. That he may work upon their affections Upon their love by recording former benefits and promising more as to David I annointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul And I gave thee thy Masters house and thy Masters wives into thy bosome and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandement of the Lord. 2 Sam. 12.7 c. Kindnesse breeds love God works upon fear by judgements and threatning more Upon hatred by seting out the ugliness of sin and the hurt it brings on all the World and in particular on our selves Upon confidence by setting out his great power and infinite mercy which are the two main Pillars of confidence Use To lament our wretched sinfull disposition that have by nature so far cast off Gods soveraignty that he is as it were forced to use reasons to perswade us to obey his Commands which we should do without any reason given Yea which is more that we will not be perswaded by a world of reasons laid down in scripture but remain disobedient who would keep a servant that neither of himself nor by perswasion would be obedient God keeps thousands of such in the World Yea the best of men are guilty of disobedience to the Commands of God against duty and known reasons David knew that though he were a King yet he might not commit adultery nor murder and therefore is said not to be ignorant of but to despise Gods Commandement 2 Sam. 12.9 And it cost him dear Hee paid for it in both kinds by the sword and the abuse of his own Concubines Let every one of us lay it to his own heart and mourne for his own known disobedience 2. Doct. Teachers should not onely informe but perswade also So Paul exhorts wives to do their duty from their subjection to the husband as to the head and from the Churches examplâ— Wives submit your selves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the Church and he is the Saviour of his body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be unto their own husbands in every thing Eph. 5.22 23 24. Husbands are prest to their duty from Christs example Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church Eph. 5.25 From marriage union So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies Eph. 5.28 From leaving Parents for a wife For this cause shall a man leave his Father and Mother and shall be joyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Eph. 5.31 Children are urged to their duty from right and Gods promise Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandement with promise That it may be well with thee and that thou maist live long on the earth Eph. 6.1.2.3 Servants from reward Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters c. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free Eph. 6.5 8. Masters from their account to God And ye masters doe the same things unto them forbearing threatning knowing that your Master also is in heaven neither is there respect of persons with him Eph. 6.9 See the like duties pressed with reasons Col. 3.18 and 4.1 Reas 1. That the hearers may be brought to believe what is taught which bare information will not do 2. That they may be brought to obey it perswasive arguments are weights to draw to obedience Use Think not much that Ministers do not coldly deliver divine truths but earnestly presse them it were easier for them to do otherwise but ye have need of it and it is for your good Doct. 3. Correction comes from Gods love Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chastneth his son so the Lord thy God chastneth thee Deut. 8.5 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. 3.9 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities Ames 3.2 Reas 1. God doth it to prevent much evill that might otherwise befall them and that is a sign of love as not correcting is of hatred I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom nor your spouses when they commit adultery therefore the people that do not understand shall fall Hos 4.14 So a tender father by timely correction keeps his children from untimely ends A Physician keeps his patient from death by putting him to pain Gregory the great afflicted with the gout and other bodily infirmities cries out In hoc miâ—i placent quod nihil in hoâ— mundo placere permittunt Herein they please me in that they suffer nothing in this world to please me By correction God keeps his children from many sins or brings them to repentance Est in eo qui corripitur à Domius aliquid quod displicet id sc propter quod eum castigat et quod emendatum cupit Jansen in Text. There is in him that is chastned by the Lord something that displeaseth God to wit that for which he corrects him and which he would have amended God also by correction keeps his from eternall perdition Afflietions are a bridle that keeps the horse from falling and the rider from breaking his neck So doth God by them keep his children from many sins that might bring on them speedy destruction The child of God may say to God with Augustine in Psal 98. Et cum blandiris pater es cum caedis pater es Blandiris ne deficiam caedis ne peream Both when thou strokest and when thou strskest thou art afather Thou strokest that I should not faint thou strikest that I should not perish And on the same Psalm Illi Deus irasciter quem peccantem non flagellat Nam cui verè propitius est non solum donat peccata ne noceant ad futurum seculum sed etiam castigat ne semper peccare delectet God is angry with him whom he doth not scourge for sin For whom he favours indeed to him he not only forgives sins that they may not hurt him in the world to come but also chastens him that he may not delight to be alwaies sinning 2. God corrects his children to do them Good hereby he exerciseth and increaseth many graces in them as faith and patience he also fits them for glory hereafter as souldiers by pains and perills are fitted
imitated in sinfull courses The summe is That all the courses that are used in the house of the adulterers tend to death both of body and soul that so the young man if he love the safety of his own soul and body should take heed of coming there Figures Her house The sins comitted in her house The subject for the adjunct Her paths A Metaphor from Travellers often used in this Book Note 1. The hurt gotten in her house Death 2. The bad company it brings men to Dead and damned men worse then to bring men among Lazars in the Hospitall In the former observe 1. The word of coherence For. 2. The cause her house 3. The effect inclineth 4. The object unto death In the latter note 1. The way And her paths 2. The end unto the dead 1. Doct. Much hurt is gotten by conversing with lewd women If Samson were alive he would tell you how by Dalilah's acquaintance he loft his strength liberty sight lise besides the danger of his soul Solomon would inform you how he fell from God to Idolatry by such company and how thereby his posterity lost the greatest part of their Kingdome Reason 1. Because nothing can be expected from creatures but what their nature yeelds Fire will burn Seas drown Ravenous birds feed on carkasses Wilde beasts devour them Evil women are naught Evil trees bring forth bad fruit not good Mat. 12.33 35. All the houshold of the adulterers and all her wayes tend to death temporall and eternall as in the text 2. All men and women speak according to their disposition and employment Navita de ventis de tauris narrat arator Enumerat miles vulnera pastor eves Of Winds the Sea-man of his Bulls The Plow-man speaks his Wounds The Souldier reckons of his Sheep The Shepherd talk propounds A covetous man speaks of bargains a voluptuous man of games a proud man of titles an angry man of injuries a strumpet of wantonnesse Evil communication corrupts good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 Vse Letus observe the carriage of women and if we evidently see wantonnesse in their words and deeds set a crosse upon their houses with Lord have mercy upon them as over houses infected Cum foeminâ semper esse non cognoscere foeminam plus est quam mortuum suscitare Bern. in Cant. Serm. 65. To be alwayes with a woman and not to know a woman is more then to raise up a dead man Touch not pitch lest ye be defiled Ye have fire enough in your owne natures seek not fuell abroad The young man when he grows acquainted with strumpets hopes to spend his dayes merrily in fine houses and is suddenly carried to death and hell He looked for a storehouse of pleasure fine gardens c. and behold desolation The Heathen man could say Nolo tanti poenitentiam emere I will not buy repentance so deer And the Proverb is Caveat emptor Let the buyer beware It serves then to admonish us to take heed of haunting the company of Harlots lest we defile our selves and consent to their filthinesse We would not willingly come neer a rotten and ruinous house lest it should fall and bruise or kill our bodies There is more reason to avoyd the company of Harlots whose society may not onely break our bones but eternally damn our souls 2. Doct. Many miseries attend upon adultery It cost the Israelites and the Benjamites deer the losse of many thousand lives and almost the destruction of an whole Tribe Judg. 19. 20. 21. It cost David deer 2 Sam. 12. The losse of his childe the abuse of his wives a lasting sword on his house besides the rape of Tamar and rebellion of Absolon and Adonijah with the murder of Amnon Reason 1. Because it was death by Gods Law and so it is now by ours Lose life and lose all comfort 2. It is infamous all the world over No modest persons care for joyning with adul torous families 3. It breeds many quarrels between the Husband and the Adulterers Wives and Strumpets Adulterers one among another and Strumpets also 4. It brings many murders The adulterers will hunt for the pretious life chap. 6.26 The Husband enraged will kill the Adulterer ch 6.34 35. 5. It brings bastards which is a disgrace to posterity 6. It procures disinheriting of Children when men suspect their Wives want of chastity 7. It breeds diseases in the body and shamefull ones too as characters of that wickednesse 8. It brings poverty on the state by Gods curse or the Whores covetousnesse For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread ch 6.26 Vse Think of the many mischiefs that attend upon adultery when thou art tempted to it A needfull theam for we naturally look not at sin as it is in it self but as it is to us not in its odious and filthy nature as we should doe though no danger followed it but in its hurtfull effects which is to fear the smoak more then the fire Yet so to look at it may be profitable to keep us from the fin if not for hatred of it yet for fear of the ensuing mischiefs Think with thy self there is great danger and much wickednesse in adultery else God which is so mercifull would never punish it with a double death temporall and eternall Remember that all conversing with strumpets tend to destruction And though she speak flattering words yet shamefull death follows adultery as well as theft or murder In Adrian's Gymnasium or place of exercise Venus is set forth as the ancientest of the Destinies not spinning the thread of life but cutting it asunder Quid Venus est quaeris est antiquissima Parca Filáque mox resecans at neque nens eadem Thou askest what Venus is She is The ancient'st Destiny That quickly cuts the threads of lise But knits them not truly Plutarch writes of a Temple inscribed Saerum Veneri homicidae Sacred to Venus the Man-stayer Chrysostome on Psal 50. saith What is an whorrsh woman but a sepulchre and the common burying place of mankinde is her house And in Rome because old Harlots were not permitted openly they harboured in caves of earth called Fornices from whence the word Fornication cometh and in this regard it is fitly sald in the text Her house enclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead To the grave an hole in the earth where the dead are laid A dark place fit for sin and fit for punishment Terence calls Harlots Cruces because they crucifie men Venery is deaths quickest Harbinger Pope John 12. being taken with an Adulteresse was stabbed to death by her Husband Aâ—xander the Great and Otho the third lost their lives by their lusts But how many alas by this means have lost their souls fleshly lusts do in an especiall manner fight against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 And nothing hath enriched hell so much saith one as beautifull faces Let the young man think on these great examples
he hates Ye that love the Lord hate evill Psal 97.10 6. Doct. If men will not for their owne sakes forsake sin they should do it for their childrens sake God promises good to children if their parents be obedient O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my commandements alwayes that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Deut. 5.29 Therefore they must take heed they bring not evill on their children by disobedience Manasseh brings destruction on Jerusalem after his death though he repented in his life Surely at the commandement of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did 2 King 24.3 And Ahab brought Gods judgement on his posterity though he humbled himself Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me Because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evill in his dayes but in his Sons dayes will I bring the evill upon his house 1 King 21.29 Reason 1. Because much evill may come on our posterity for our sins as hereditary diseases poverty losses crosses 2. Our affection is great to our children We prefer them before friends and many times before our selves Why then should we doe any thing to hurt them Vse It teacheth us to bewail the madnesse of those parents that are so fond of their children that they love the ground the better they tread on and yet live in those sins that shorten their childrens dayes and lay them under ground before their time by nature They give them bad examples and no correction for their sins and so are accessary to their ruine Let us be wiser and give good example and correction to our children and then may we look to see much good of them Which God grant to all godly parents through Jesus Christ our onely Lord and Saviour Amen CHAP. III. VER 1. My Son forget not my law but let thine heart keep my commandments THe order of Solomon is to be observed he had formerly exhorted the young man to seek after Wisdome and shewed him what evils it would preserve him from now he gives him some directions how to practise what he should be taught and shews what good he should get by it He had disswaded him from cruelty in the first Chapter and from adultery in the second now he perswades him to piety and equity in this Chapter and lest the keeping of so many precepts imposed upon the young man should trouble him he promiseth in general and afterwards interlaceth in particulars divers promises of good and sure rewards to allure him to audience and obedience Solomon had a floud or a wood of words a Sylva Synonymorum and therefore urges the same things with elegant variation of phrase as a Father often inculcats the same things daily in other words to affect his child the more that so what works not upon him at first may at last The two first verses are a general preface to the rest of the Chapter wherein is 1. an exhortation in the first verse 2 ly a promise to set it on Verse 2. For the words My Son see on Chap. 1.18 He often useth the amiable name of a Son intimating that he speaks not as an Enemy nor a Neighbour or Friend or Master or King but as a loving Father to his beloved child And wel might he call the hearer or reader his Son on whom he had bestowed so many godly instructions and whom he goes on to instruct stil like a Father Forget not See on Chap. 2.17 Let my law stick fast in thy memory whatsoever thou forget either children businesse or whatever els is deer unto thee be sure thou forget not my Law sooner forget musick and singing as the godly Jews would rather forget them then Jerusalem Psal 137.5.6 My Law See on Chap. 1.8 Here it is taken for those good instructions Solomon gave and which are written in this book therefore he calls it his Law which being agreeable to Gods Law his children were tyed to observe So Gods law is called Moses Law Mal. 4.4 This book is a Law how to guide our life containing many excellent practical instructions But. See on Chap. 1.25.2.22 an opposition between keeping and forgetting Let thine heart See on Chap. 2.2 The heart here may be taken for the memory which is the chest of the soul or rather for the wil which is King in the Soul and to which the understanding is councellor and the affections are servants Keep See on Chap. 2.11 Keep them both in memory and life He speaks not of a bare remembring but of a practical keeping also shewing that it is not profitable for us to have them in our heart unlesse we also exercise them in our conversation The sum is that we must remember these precepts to keep and do them Deut. 7.12 For remembring the law in the heart without practising it in the life will not bring the blessing annexed Ver. 2. Length of daies c. Thou must remember them so that thou hearcily practise them and that thy heart not only have the knowledge of them ready upon all occasions but also be ever studying for occasions and how to do them My commandments See on Chap 2.1 Thou must not only look to this book in general but have respect to every particular direction in it that concernes thee then shalt thou be like Zechariah and Elizabeth walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamlesse Luke 1.6 And maist conclude with the Psalmist Then shal I not be ashamed when I have respect unto thy commandements Psalm 119.6 The sum is as if Solomon had said Thou hast heard O my Son that thou art not able by thine own pains and study to get Wisdome but thou must get teachers and accommodate the ears both of thy soul and body to their words yet is not this enough to make thee wise but thou must also retain those instructions in thy memory ready for practise when opportunity shal be offered Figures none Note 1. A prohibition 2. An Exhortation In the former note 1. The person spoken to Myson 2. The thing forbidden Forget not 3. The Object My Law In the latter observe 1 The opposition or rather augmentation But Or it may be read Yea See on Chap. 2.22 Be so far from forgetting that thou remember to practise my Commands on all occasions 2. The agent Let thine heart 3. The Act. Keep 4. The object My Commandments 1. Doct. Great affection ought to be in a teacher He must look upon his hearers as upon his Children This is Paulâ— tone My little Children Of whom I travail in birth again Gal. 4.19 Wherefore Because I love you not God knoweth 2 Cor. 11.11 I will gladâ—y spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the lesse I be loved 2 Cor. 12.15 Spoken as by an indulgent Father This is Iohns
would be loth to think they should answer for neglect of knowledge at the day of Judgement yet they must Else why sit ye at home and lose so many good Sermons your absence is a reall sleighting of wisdome Vers 8. My Son hear the instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother In the rest of this Chapter and the two Chapters following Solomon's words consisting of many exhortations and promises do not well admit of any division but by the Chapters In the rest of this Chapter there is 1. A commendation of domesticall instruction v. 8 9. 2. A disswasion from hearkening to bad counsels from v. 10 to v. 20. 3. Wisdomes exhortation to men to follow her directions from vers 20. to the end of the Chapter In the first ye have 1. An exhortation in this vers 2. A promise in the next For the exhortation and first for the words My Son See on v. 1. Hear See on v. 5. Here it is taken for giving ear and heart to parents instructions beleeving or obeying them according to the nature of them Instruction The means to get learning See on vers 2. Of thy Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Father from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wish well for parents naturally bear good will to their children Amor descendit non ascendit Love descends but ascends not They are part of them and their care is great for them The word is not alwayes used for naturall Parents but sometimes for Mosters or elder persons or men in authority as Children for inferiors in the fist Commandement and elsewhere Solomon was a Father as a Ruler Teacher naturall Father And it may be that these Proverbs were written for instruction to his owne children and so to be communicated by other parents to their children as King James writ his Basilicon Doron for his Son Yet Solomon chooseth the name of a Father rather then of a King or Master to perswade them to be the more willing to receive instruction from him for Parents look to their childrens good when Masters and Kings having not that naturall band look to their owne ends Because Solomon took upon him principally to teach young men therefore he takes to him the name of a Father shewing withall that he desires nothing more then their spirituall good And forsake not Hearing and not forsaking must be applyed to the instruction of both Parents by the rule given in the last vers For as a Childe must not refuse to hear his Father at first so he must not be drawn away from the truth or good learned by his Father afterwards And as he must not be drawn from his Mothers counsels afterwards so he must not slight them at the first Hearing is to be given to the Father because Children are more ready to hearken to their Mothers though the Fathers be for the most part best able to advise And not forsaking looks to the Mothers Law because Children taken from the Mothers care and imployed by the Father are ready to slight her and to forget what she taught them in their childehood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports not being drawn away by our owne corruption or other mens perswasion from what we have learned of our godly Mothers Others read pluck not up but that comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and comes short of the other intending a mans owne seduction by himself and not so well forbidding seduction by others also Entisement is set down more plainly vers 10. The Law The teaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shoot or rain or teach Precepts are dropt into young children by pious Mothers by little and little and as it were suckt in with their milk and fastned by often repeating Such teaching becomes Mothers and children It is translated Law rather then teaching because it bindes more and children think themselves lesse bound to Mothers then Fathers because Mothers are more tender over them and familiar with them Equals also may teach but not command Of thy Mother It is taken here for the naturall Mother for Solomon begins with houshold instruction Leave not the course of godlinesse wherein she bred thee Figures none Note 1. The Childes duty to his Father 2. To his Mother In the first note 1. The agent My Son 2. The act hear 3. The object the instruction 4. The subject of thy Father In the second note 1. The act and forsake not 2. The object the Law 3. The subject of thy Mother He had begun with Religion and duty to God vers 7. next he requires duty to Parents in this vers 1. Doct. Next after the care of Religion is the care of our duty to Parents Therefore God hath placed the fifth Commandement in the beginning of the second Table Philo thinks it was written in the border of both Tables Aben Ezra placeth it in the first Table but behinde Tindall conceives it was written in the first Table after the fourth Commandement so that the first Table should contain all duties to Superiours God and Magistrates and Parents c. and the second all duties to Equals Diis parentibus nunquam satis fit Aristotle God and Parents cannot be sufficiently requited The Heathen punished injuries to God and Parents alike Valer. l. 1. Qui dubitat utrum oporteat Deos revereri aut parentes non indiget ratione sed pari paena Aristot Topic. l. 8. He that doubts whether God or Parents be to be reverenced needs not be confuted by reason but by the same punishment All fatherhood is from God Men are fathers of some God of all in some sense or other Resisting them is in some sense resisting God as resisting a Constable is resisting the King or supreme Magistrate Parents are chosen in the fist Commandement to expresseall Superiors rather then Magistrates or Ministers these are comprehended under Parents The safety or ruine of Church and Common-wealth depends upon them for families are seminaries of both Divine right and naturall give Parents power over Children 1. Vse To inform us of what great weight this duty is both in the Text and Decalogue set next after our duty to God 2. To reprove disobedient Children This sin is next to impiety against God and before sins committed against equals Many have confessed at the Gallows that God justly brought them thither for disobedience to religious Parents And some have been troubled for their disobedience after their Parents death Object Our Parents are testy Answ Yet they must be born withall Multa ex quo fuerunt commoda ejus incommoda aequum est ferre Terent. We must bear with them by whom we get much Love thy Parent if he be kinde otherwise bear with him Ames parentem si aequus est aliter feras Mimus Servants must obey froward Masters 1. Pet. 2.18 Much more Children froward Parents 2. Doct. The beginning of Christian knowledge and piety ariseth for the most part from domesticall instruction
Children hearken to such willingly that they may obtain the Rechabiles blessing Not to want a man of their posterity to stand before God for ever Jer. 35.19 Children can hearken to their Parents worldly counsels and remember them when they are dead and gone Much more account should they make of their spirituall advices 5. Doct. Children must never be drawn from their Parents good instructions They must not forsake them if they live to be old Prov. 22.6 Abraham's Children and houshold after him must keep the way of the Lord taught by him Gen. 18.19 Reason 1. Because Parents good instructions are a treasure and men are very carefull of their treasures Not onely to get but to keep them till old age against a time of need 2. There is much danger of losing this treasure Thine owne corruptions Satans temptations bad counsels examples like theeves seek to rob thee of it Vse 1. Take heed of seducers and all that would mislead thee Too many now have forgot their pious education both by errors and loosenesse of life whose Parents would scarce owne them if they were alive 2. Ye that are children lay up your Parents godly counsels not in your brains onely but in your hearts Ye may have need of them in age and death 6. Doct. Mothers must take pains to teach their children piety Else how should they obey their Mother ch 30.17 So did Solomon's Mother ch 31.1 Mothers of good and bad Kings are named in Kings and Chronicles as having a share in their childrens goodnesse or badnesse by their education Our first dayes are spent for the most part under our Mothers care while our Fathers are busied in their calling about matters of the Church or Common-wealth She therefore should take advantage thereof to teach us goodnesse Vse It condemns many fond Mothers that are careful to provide all things needfull for their children save onely good education and instruction They lose an opportunity of doing much good to their souls Children are more ready to hear Mothers then Fathers because they converse more with them and they are lesse stubborne then when they are bigger and come to their Fathers care We say they speak the Mother-tongue 7. Doct. Children must not slight their Mothers counsels If they do their eyes shall be pickt out by ravens and eagles Prov. 30.17 Solomon records his Mothers instruction Pro. 31.1 as well as his Fathers ch 4.4 The fifth Commandement requires honor to Mothers as well as to Fathers Exod. 20.12 A foolish man despiseth his Mother Prov. 15.20 Reason 1. Because Mothers bear great affection to their children and therefore ought to be heard 2. They endure most pain in breeding and bearing them and take most pains in nursing and tending them in tender yeers when they are least able to help themselves 3. Instruction is attributed to the Father which is accompanyed with correction but a milde law such as good Subjects live comfortably under or gentle teaching to the Mother She teacheth more mildely Vse To blame children that will hearken to their Fathers for fear of correction but account their Mothers instructions as words of weak and doting women because they cannot or will not correct them Though they be not so wise as men ordinarily yet love will teach them to give good counsel and women sometimes are wiser and better then their husbands who may be won by the conversation of their wives 1 Pet. 3.1 And many are beholding to their Mothers for their best instructions who as sometimes they are better so oftentimes have more leasure then their husbands 8. Doct. Mothers instructions agreeable to Gods Word should be as a Law to children The same words are repeated Prov. 6.20 Forsake not the law of thy Mother Disobeyers of Mothers must be punished as Law-breakers She may instruct well in precepts of life though it may be not so fully in matters of saith Now Laws concerning life are needfull also Vse Let good children look upon their Mothers instructions as Laws not to be broken all their life long Vers 9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neek The reason to perswade Children to obey their Parents and to encourage them follows And Solomon being to teach children or simple ones like to children takes therefore his argument from Garlands and Chains that make a fair shew in the eyes of such persons as suiting to their capacity and affections to whom he speaks They are delighted in them and they please the vulgar much Thus the Spirit of God accommodates himself to Childrens temper They love shining things For the words For. The word carries not alwayes a cause with it but a reason or motive for the most part and often by way of promise So it is used chap. 23.17 18. Fear the Lord for surely there is an end or reward For so the word sometimes signifies and the sense requires it there Know thou the God of thy Father c. for the Lord searcheth all hearts 1 Chron. 28.9 They. The instruction of thy Father and law of thy Mother vers 8. Mothers may help to preferre their children as well as Fathers Shall be It is not in the Originall and therefore is written in lesser letters yet needfully added for children must not look for such preferment or respect while they are young but when learned and of yeers Harvest follows Seed-time presently An ornament of grace As the note of similitude is wanting They shall be as an ornament of grace See the like Job 7.7 My life is wind that is my life is as wind Heb. An addition of favour or joyning of grace Hence Levi had his name Now at this time my husband will be joyned unto me therefore was his name called Levi Gen. 29.34 But it must be an addition of ornament not for nothing nor for infamy but for honor or at least for acceptation To make thee amiable or honorable before others and comely in their eyes as Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord Gen. 6.8 As use-money brings an increase and Conquerors had garlands given them Vnto thy head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to or for thy head as this particle is rendred Psal 84. A Psalme for the Sons of Korah This shews that he means a garland or crown such as Kings and Priests used to wear upon their heads the highest member and most looked at in token of honour Zach. 3.5 6.11 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 1. The head which is the beginning or highest part of the body Job 19.9 He hath taken the crown from my head 2. The highest part of any thing which stands above the rest as the head above the other members The top of the ladder reaebed to heaven Gen. 28.12 3. A Commander in war or peace who is above the rest and guides them by reason as the head doth the members Numb 14.4 Let us make a Captain 4. The beginning of a thing In
drank they married wives they were given in marriage untill the day that Noe entred into the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all Luk. 17.27 Nebuchadnezzar's casting down came suddenly Dan. 4. and Belshazzar's death Dan. 5. When they shal say Peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with childe and they shall not escape 1 Thess 5.3 Reason 1. Because their sins hinder them and blind them so that they cannot see the danger till it be upon them 2. Their businesses hinder them and leave them no time to think of danger 3. Their pleasures so content them that no fear of alteration can sink into them many times and then lightly danger comes 4. Their hearts will not let them think of danger but soon cast out such thoughts lest they make them melancholy Vse 1. Let not wicked men flatter themselves Danger may be neerest when they think it farthest off It is more terrible to perish suddenly then by degrees Trees houses ships that are strong are suddenly overthrown by a rising wind As the whirlewind passeth so is the wicked no more Prov. 10.25 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an East wind Psal 48.7 2. Let them prepare for a better condition They know not how soon they may lose this Who would live a Tenant at will that may get a Lease of yeers or a Fee-simple Make sure of heaven quickly and then all will be well 2. Doct. The destruction of wicked men is irresistible Who can refist a strong invading enemy or a whirlewind And what will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far To whom will ye flee for help and where will ye leave your glory Isa 10.3 Therefore shall evill come upon thee thou shalt not know from whence it riseth and mischief shall fall upon thee thou shalt not be able to put it off and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly which thou shalt not know Isa 47.11 Reason 1. Because their destruction comes from God whose power and wisdome no man can resist 2. He can goe beyond all their power and wisdome though the greatest that is or can be in any or all the creatures 3. He can disappoint all their friends and all supplies 4. He can set all creatures against them And how can the strongest creature resist all other in heaven earth and hell Vse It shews the great misery of ungodly men they cannot resist destruction If an enemy come into a Land or besiege a City if there be force enough to resist destruction will not follow else all will be laid waste Wicked men cannot resist God therefore they must needs perish 3. Doct. The destruction of wicked men shall be totall or universall An enemy layes all waste Cities Houses Gardens A whirlewind or flood sweeps all away Reason 1. It appears in particulars Their credit will be gone Not onely their good name shall decay but their name it self shall be lost as a rotten thing stinks and wears away The name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 Their goods shall be gone Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Luk. 12.20 Yea Cujus eris tu Whose shalt thou be saith Bernard Their life shall be lost Whosoever shall save his life by sinful wayes shall lose it Mat. 16.25 Yea their soul and all shal be lost What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mat. 16.26 2. By the causes of it Their fins are universall Their thoughts words deeds altogether sinfull Humours that run over all the body make all the body sick They sin against all Gods commandements and that wilfully and constantly and therefore must perish wholly Vse Let wicked men labour to get out of this condition A man would be loth to live in a trade wherein he should get nothing more loth to live in a calling wherein he were sure to lose all and spend his stock This is the wicked mans condition get out of it else ye perish totally 4. Doct. The destruction of wicked men will be irrecoverable Such was the destruction of those two rich fools Luk. ch 12. 16. Reason 1. Because they are carried clean out of the world Here a man may be poor one day and rich another after this life poor once and poor for ever 2. They are carried to hell immediately after death and out of hell is no redemption Vse Take heed of impenitency lest it bring you to irrecoverable punishment Bajazet the great Turk could say Resipiscentia sera nulli unquam profuit Too late repentance never did any man good Men inclining to a dropsie or consumption wil seek for cure before it grow incurable Repent in time lest ye perish for ever Ad Deum redeundum aut per Deum pereundum Return to God or perish by God 5. Doct. The destruction of wicked men will be miserable Such was the destruction of old Babylon Jerem. 49.25 c. A sword upon men and beasts Such of new Babylon Rev. 18.7 c. Torment death mourning famine c. Reason 1. Because it is helplesse condition Evill men cannot help others if they would for they are in the same danger and need help themselves Good men would not help them if they could because they are Gods enemies devoted by him to eternal destruction 2. It is a comfortlesse condition No ease or comfort will be afforded to them Not a drop of cold water to cool the tongue Luk. 16.24 Vse Let us blesse God that frees us from so great a destruction which we have deserved as much yea more then many that are in hell Should not we praise God for deliverance from so a great a destruction who are in the same condenmation Luk. 23.40 6. Doct. The destruction of ungodly men is lamentable Jeremy takes the destruction of the people so to heart that he wishes his head a fountain of waters and himself in a wildernesse to weep his belly full alone without interruption Jer. 9.1 c. Kings and Merchants must weep and lament for the downfall of Babylon Rev. 18.9 11. See the truth of it in two glasses one here the other hereafter The one in the Aegyptians who had dominatered over the Israelites yet at last the Israelites see them swimming dead on the Sea Ex. 14. The other in hell where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched Mar. 9.44 This causeth weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 8.12 Vse Remember the woe to them that laugh now their state shall be lamentable Luk. 6.25 Wicked mens joy terminates in this world Better weep for sin here then for punishment in hell Vers 28. There shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shal seek me early but they shall not finde me Wisdome having set out their misery before now removes all help from them in their
both labour in sin Gain he looks for from it His Motto is Dulcis â—dor lucri è re qualibet Gold smels well though raked out of a dunghill He can gain by wantonnesse oppression lying flattery c. Vse Here is an help to judge of our estate Is our way a way of sin or of goodnesse We must not try our selves by one act either to cleer our selves for one good act or to condemne our selves for one bad one Our course of life must cleer or condemne us 5. Doct. Abundance of troubles shall come upon wicked men The back-slider in heart shall be filled with his owne wayes Prov. 14.14 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked Psal 32.10 Reason 1. Their fins bring on them store of spirituall evils as shame grief despair wherewith the mind is overburdened as the flomach overprest with meat and made fick of a surfet 2. Bodily evils as diseases pains c. 3. Their ill life brings an ill death violent or despairing 4. Wicked men cannot be filled with sin here but they must be filled with misery in hell A way of sin here and a way of eternal sorrow there Vse It declares to us what is the portion of sinners They take great content in sinfull wayes as if they were the onely free and happy men but their end will be misery 6. Doct. Ungodly men have many devices to undoe themselves So Achitophel and Judas were wise enough to hang themselves Reason 1. Because God overpowers them in their owne way and beats them at their owne weapons and takes them in their subtilty He countermines and voyds their mines He taketh the wise in their owne craftinesse 1 Cor. 3.19 2. Because their Wisdome is imperfect They know not how to prevent all dangers Vse See the misery of wicked men Their wittends to self-destruction Vers 32. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them Wisdome having in the former vers set out the effect to wit the destruction of ungodly men here she concludes her threatnings with another cause of it This vers gives a reason why wicked men shall be so horribly and inevitably destroyed And therein both expounds the former verse and gives answer to a secret objection It might be demanded Who are they that shall eat of the fruit of their labours The answer is in the text simple ones and fools that turn away from Wisdomes instructions It might be further demanded But how shall they eat of the fruit of their labors The answer is in the Text again They will slay them and bring them to destruction But then it may be objected Wicked men thrive most and they that slight Wisdomes counsels grow richest The answer is ready It may be so but yet it will turn to their destruction in the end as the Oxe to be slain goes in the best pastures The Sun-shine of prosperity ripens the sin of the wicked Bernard calls it Misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem A mercy that he had no minde to as being worse then all cruelty What good is there in having a fine Suit with the plague in it As soon may a man miscarry upon the soft sands as upon the hard rocks For the words For. It gives a reason of what was said before See on v. 9. They cannot justly complain of my severity because they themselves are the cause of their owne ruine They will not be taught how to escape it though they have not wit enough of themselves to do it Others read it But as it is translated ch 9.18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there And then they understand the former vers thus God will suffer wicked men to eat of their labours and prosper for a time but will destroy them in the end by their owne prosperity The former reading agrees best with the scope which is neer threatning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The turning away Some take it to be meant of turning away from God and goodnesse to error and wickednesse of life Others take it for their turning away from seeking after heaven to look after the world So Demas forsook Paul having loved this present world 2 Tim. 4.10 Others take it for turning away from Wisdomes counsels given before which they are charged withall v. 25.30 An unwillingnesse to be taught by Gods Ministers And that agrees well with what went before When men will not be taught by Gods Ministers destruction follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the simple See on v. 4.22 Shall slay them Shall destroy themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the prosperity The word fignifies quietnesse and abundance which useth to follow peace Of fools See on v. 22. Shall destroy them Shall lay them open to death temporal and eternall This is Scripture language In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 Figures Turning away A Metaphor from a Traveller that misseth his way Shall slay them Shall be the cause of their death A Metaphor from an Executioner So also in Destroy them Wisdome sets down two causes of their destruction The first is an aversenesse to instruction The second is love of prosperity These two concur in most sinfull men and had before punishment answerable set down to wit Gods not hearing them and their destruction In the former note 1. The word of coherence For. 1. The act the turning away 3. The agent of the simple 4. The effect shall slay 5. The object them In the later observe 1. The cause And the prosperity of fools 2. The effect shall destroy them 1. Doct. God is content to give a reason of his judgements though he need not Here are two things to be proved 1. That God need not give a reason of his judgements 2. That God will give a reason of them neverthelesse For the first God need not give a reason of his judgements Who shall say unto him What dost thou Job 9.12 O man who art thou that replyest against God Rom. 9.20 The Potter need give no reason why one piece of clay is made a vessell of honour and another of dishonour Reason 1. Because God is of supreme authority Superiors need not give account to Inferiors of their proceedings Inferiors must to Superiors 2. He is in infite in justice No doubt but his judgements are all just though men do not alwayes understand the reason of them A man may be mis-informed or judge amisse out of passion but God cannot For the second God will give a reason of his judgements though he need not Reason 1. Because of his love to man being willing to inform him of his proceedings God will not hide his proceedings about Sodome from Abraham because he shall have a great posterity and will acquaint them therewith and so bring much glory to God Gen. 18.17 18. 2. For mans good that he may bring him to repentance How shall the Childe mend if the Father tell him not why he strikes
restlesse in evill The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt Isa 57. â—0 He deviseth mischief upon his bed he setteth himselfe in a way that is not good he abhorreth not evill Psal 36.4 Reason 1. Because they have a body of sin in them which hath many active members upon earth fornication uncleannesse c. Col. 3.5 A fountain will run and fire will burn 2. They have objects of sin in the world in abundance in all places to feed their eyes ears and all their senses A fountain will run if it find a river Fire will burn if it meet with fuel 3. God hath not healed wicked men by his sanctifying Spirit Bad humours will work in mens bodies till they be purged away And the more purged away the lesse they work 4. God is pleased sometimes not to restrain wicked men but to let them run on to their own perdition and the hurt of many others So an unruly horse with the bridle out of his mouth runs furiously till he overthrow himself and his rider Vse 1. Marvell not that men are never weary of sinning The drunkard is never weary of the Alehouse The adulterer of places of wantonnesse Is it marvell that birds fly or fishes swim why else have they wings or fins 2. Let us be provoked to be restlesse in good Else wicked men the children of this generation restlesse in their wayes to give themselves content are wiser then we that professe our selves to be the children of light Luk. 16.8 And the Queen of Sheba who came so far to hear Solomon's wisdome will condemne us at the day of judgement Matt. 12.42 3. Doct. Wicked men lives are often cut short by their wicked courses Bloudy and deceitfull men shall not live out half their dayes Psal 55.23 Reason 1. Drunkennesse breeds dropsies gluttony breeds feavers wantonnesse foul diseases all murderers and shorten mens lives as the floud drowned many young men in the world When the strength of the body is worne by drinking and whoring men must die All the Physicians in the world cannot put in new marrow into dead bones 2. Trouble of conscience sometimes ends their dayes Sin of betraying his Master made Judas hang himself Spira would have killed himself and did waste his body to death for his Apostasie Some in our times have ended their dayes in pangs of conscience for sin 3. By Gods just judgements who like a Gardiner pulls up weeds roots out unfruitfull trees and like a wind blows out the candle or like a storm lodges the corn before it be ripe 4. By enemies and those often of their owne stamp One drunkard kills another in his drink even his neerest friend as Alexander murdered Clitus One adulterer kills another because the strumpet loves him better Vse 1. Gaze not too much at the prosperity of sinners lest thou be tempted to do like them The common people are like boyes who when they see knaves upon the stage gorgeously apparelled and acting Kings think them happy and could wish to be like them but they consider not the poverty and misery that may befall them when they are stript of their gay clothes So the common people are bewitcht with the riches of sinners not confidering they may die or lose all before their age 2. Grudge not at their prosperity They may die sooner then meaner men Every plant saith our blessed Saviour which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Mat. 15.13 Who would be a flourishing tree to be rooted out or an oxe fatted to be killed A brutish man knows not neither doth a fool understand this When the wicked spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever Psal 92.7 They shall be cut off certainly suddenly utterly Tum ferè auferuntur à terra cum maximè velint vivere Then are they for the most part taken away from the earth when they are most desirous to live in it Baine When they have feathered their nest and reckon upon long life as the fool in the Gospel Luk. 12. God will destroy them when they least look for it Therefore Fret not thy self because of evill doers neither be thou envyous against the workers of iniquity For they shall soon be cut down like the grasse and wither as the green herb Psal 37.2 4. Doct. Transgressors deal treacherously with God The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously Isa 21.2 The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously Isa 24.16 They are all adulterers and an assembly of treacherous men Jer. 9.2 Reason 1. Because they fail in the trust committed to them as a Servant or Steward deceiving his Master is treacherous So was he that had received one talent though he had not spent it because he did not improve it Thou wicked and slothfull servant c. Mat. 25.26 2. Because they act against their trust which is an higher degree of treachery As if a Servant or Steward should rise up against his Master in stead of obedience So Judas is called the traitor Luk. 6.16 3. Because they betray Gods honour as much as in them lies An Embassador is treacherous that dishonors his Prince in stead of honoring him 4. Because they labour to undoe Gods Church Is not a servant treacherous that should go about to poyson all the family So are wicked men endevouring to ruine the Church by bad counsel and example Vse Let us hate all sinfull courses Treason is odious Men that love the Treason hate the Traitor God hates both it and them Many fair promises are made by men to Traitors but an Halter or an Axe is their end So Satan promises much to sinners but will bring them to hell 5. Doct. Sin roots out the posterity of wicked men He shall neither have Son nor Nephew among his people nor any remaining in his dwelling Job 18.19 So it did Jeroboam's His posterity must lose the Kingdome and his good Son must die 1 King 13.34 14.10 c. So Ahab's numerous posterity must die for his Idolatry 2 King 10.7 c. Reason 1. Because sin goes by propagation and no wonder then if the Serpents brood be cut off We kill young Snakes for the poyson they have from the old ones 2. Sin goes by imitation If children of godly parents will imitate other men in evill rather then their parents in good no wonder if children of ungodly parents be evill like their parents and perish with them We read not of one good among all the Kings of the ten Tribes All were idolatrous like their predecessors Vse Hate sinfull courses which God so much hates that he will punish them in children to the fourth generation as in the second Commandement And no wonder if God hate finfull courses as being contrary both to his nature and will Let us therefore shew our love to God in hating what
them up that they may be ready in time of need Keep by meditation what is got by study VER 22. So shall they be life unto thy Soul and grace to thy neck UNto the former exhortation are added many gratious promises of life and honour in this Verse and of safety Verse 23.24 He shews hereby what good wisdome brings to the soul body and estate it brings life honour security He had said as much before verse 18. but in a similitude She is a tree of life here he speaks more plainly she is life it selfe and that to the Soul also For the words So shall they To wit wisdome and discretion well kept and followed Verse 21. Be life Be the means to bring spirituall life into thy soul and to keep it there For life see on verse 2. Vnto thy Soul See on Chap. 1.18 on the word lives And grace to thy neck See on Chap. 1.9 Only take notice of the strange note of the Popish English Doway Bible which reads Grace to thy jaws and in the margin thus Merit for the words of thy mouth So willing are Popish writers every where to take a sleight occasion to set up mans merit and pull down Gods grace forgetting that these two are contrary If the reward be of grace then not of works if of works then not of grace Rom. 11.6 So if of grace as in the Text then not of merit as in the Popish note However it is very strange to call grace merit Figures Life The cause or means of life unto the soul the cause for the effect Note 1. What they bring to the soul 2. What to the body In the former observe 1. The cause So shall they To wit Wisdome and discretion 2. The effect Be life 3. The object Unto thy Soul In the latter note 1. The gift And grace 2. The subject of it Vnto thy neck Doct. 1. A foolish Soul is a dead Soul Having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their heart Eph. 4.18 Reas 1. Because there is no life in the Soul till knowledge come into it There was no living creature in the world till light was made God clears the understanding before he rectifie the will and affections he keeps the same method in the little world that he did in the great world We are no better by nature then the Ephesians of whom the Apostle speaks in the place newly cited As the body is dead without the soul so the Soul is dead without wisdome which is the soul of the soul Though the Soul be the life of the body yet it selfe is dead if without knowledge and such a man differs not from a beast unlesse it be in being subject to eternall miserie That a man then may live spiritually and not sensually like a beast it is the gift of heavenly wisdom and thy soul hath life with God if thou keep wisdomes precepts although thy flesh be pressed down under the discipline of correction or of the fear of death it selfe 2. Because as the foolish soul hath no life being without justification so it can have no health nor strength being without sanctification Health is a second life without which the first is a burden Better not to live then to live in pain or weaknesse 3. It hath no spirituall breath and without breath no life It cannot breath out prayers nor praises to God 4 It hath no spirituall motion and all living things move in one way or another dead things do not No motion to any spirituall duty till wisdome take possession of the soul Use 1. Pitty those thousands of poor souls that walk in the world yet are spiritually dead Ignorant men think dead bodies walk but we know dead souls walk Many are like scpulchers that have only the names of living men written on them 2. See if thy soul be not one of these dead souls If thou have not true wisdome thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead Rev. 3.1 It is not thy great birth wealth nor strength that can make thee alive it must be wisdome Doct. 2. Wisdome makes the soul live Keep my commandements and live Chap. 7.2 Hear and your soul shal live Isa 55.3 Reas 1. From the confession of the heathen Is proprie vereque homo est cujus omnis in anima rationali substantia existit Qua propter quicquid extra hunc hominem sit id ad se minimè pertinet Plato in Alcibiade He is properly and truly a man all whose substance is in the reasonable soule wherefore whatsoever is out of this man that belongs not to him in his own account 2. From the contrary Folly is the death of the soul sin that kills it is commonly called folly in Scripture 3. From the beginning of life Wisdom is as it were the seed of spirituall life 4. From the Progresse it maintaines the life of the soul as meat doth the life of the body Use 1. Take pains to get true and heavenly wisdome What pains doth the Husbandman take to get his seed into the ground he plows and sows What pains do poor men take for food they work hard early and late and all or almost all for the belly So do thou for wisdome And as the merchant runs through pain and perill for wealth so do thou for understanding 2. Spare for no cost to get it The husbandman Tradseman Merchant drive on their trades with great cost wisdoms trade is better It concerns eternity Spare then no cost to get and keep it 3. Doct. Wisdom is a great grace to any man The wise shall inherit glory ver 35. of this Chap. They shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chaines about thy neck Chap. 1.9 Reason 1. Because it is a sign of worth and dignity in a man Men nobly born or in great place wear gold chains and jewells Wise men are Gods children of the highest birth and more honoured with spirituall graces and holy behaviour then any other can be with gold and silver though never so rich costly They need not fear coming into Gods presence nor disgrace from men for good men will reverence them though they be never so mean and none will contemn them but wicked men which are themselves the most contemptible of all the creatures 2. Because it doth adorn men as gold-chains do Such as are beautifull themselves are more beautifull in costly dressings A wise man is more worthy to be looked at then Agrippa with all his pompous train that was but a fancy as the Greek text calls it He came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much fancy Act. 25.23 A wise mans honour is reall Use It discovers the blindnesse of worldlings who cannot see this heavenly wisdom as moles and earthworms see not the Sunshine Let us then account those most honourable that have most of this heavenly wisdom though they want worldly
the field and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee Job 5.22.23 What need he then be affraid to travail any where about his lawfull businesse 6. He knows nothing can hurt him for he hath such a command over all the faculties of his soul by Gods grace and the wisdom given him from above that he can make them harken unto reason Vse To encourage good men in troublesome times to go about their affairs without fear He that hath so many and so strong guards why should he fear Let Adam's children fear who are yet in their naked condition but let the righteous be bold as a Lyon Chap. 28.1 Doct. 3. Nothing can hinder a godly wise man from good successe Whatsoever he doth shall prosper Psal 1.3 He shall eat the labour of his hands Ps 128.2 Reas 1. In regard of the things themselves there is great probability of good successe for wisdome is of more force then power to effect any great design in peace or war And diligence is not wanting to a godly wise man who studies practicall divinity as well as theoricall and Gods blessing attends him which crowns every good action 2 In respect of the person he is he unto whom God hath engaged himselfe to do good in the end though he afflict him in the way Speed well in the end and speed well ever Vse to teach us a lesson of policy Who would not have good successe in what he undertakes Riches strength power friends carnall policy may fail him but godly wisdome will never fail him Strange things have been effected by human policy what may not be effected by heavenly wisdome Good successe in the way may be crossed again what is crowned with good successe in the end can never be crossed Be therefore godly wise and prosper to eternity VER 24. When thou liest down thou shalt not be affraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet A Man awake walking or working can look to himselfe and use means to avoid danger he hath most need of a guard for safetie when he is laid down to sleep wisdom will watch over him then also and keep him safe For the words When thou liest down As he had promised the wise man security in motion in the former verse so here safety in rest The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinarily signifies If but here it sets not out a condition but a time and is well translated When. So When the Jubile of the children of Israel shall be Numb 36.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lying down here is to sleep or take rest it is understood sometimes of the sleep of death When thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers 2 Sam. 7.12 but here of naturall sleep for it is opposed to the motion and travells of the day in the former verse and a man need not fear trouble nor cannot feel sweetnesse when he is dead and laid in the grave Thou shalt not be affraid See on Chap. 1.26 Yea. This word not only couples things together but augments Thou shalt be so far from being affraid that thou shalt sleep continually and sweetly without interruption or frightings Thou shalt lie down and none shall make thee affraid Job 11.19 Thou shalt lie down See on this verse before And thy sleep This shews that the former lying down was for sleep Shal be sweet Shall be very pleasing no sudden accidents nor dreams shall fright thee Figures Sweet A metaphor It shall be as pleasing to thee as sweet meat or drink is to the tast Note 1. A promise of safe sleep 2. Of sweet sleep Excludit timorem includit saporem He excludes fear he includes favour Holcot In the first note 1. The adjunct of time When thou liest down 2. The subject Thou shalt not be affraid In the second note 1. The adjunct of time Yea thou shalt lie down 2. The subject And thy sleep 3. The adjunct of quality Shall be sweet Doct. 1. God affords us rest after labour Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour untill the evening Psal 104.23 For so or rightly he giveth his beloved sleep Psal 127.2 Reas 1. Because God is not an hard Master as he requires store of work so he affords sufficient time for rest which covetous men do not to their servants 2. To make men the more willing to serve him every man is willing to offer his service to a kind Master 3. Because he knows his service cannot be done unlesse he allow his servants competent rest Life and strength will fail for want of rest as for want of food 4. It would be uncomfortably done and neither give content to him nor to his servants as drousie work gives no content to men Use 1. Let us blesse God that takes care as well for our rest as for his work 2. Let us do his work with the more cheerfulnesse in the day being refreshed with comfortable rest the night before so may we the night following comfortably betake us to our bees gain not to fall to immoderate sleep but expecting good sleep from God who allowes it and can only give it and we must thereby be fitted for the service of so good a Master day by day Doct. 2. A godly wise man may go to bed without fear Thou shalt lie down and none shall make thee affraid Job 11.19 Ye shall lie down and none shall make thee affraid Levit. 26.6 Reas 1. Because he carries himselfe so inoffensively when he is awake that he gives no just occasion to any man living to hurt him when he is asleep Neminem laedens neminem timebis Senec. Hurt no man and fear no man Metus cum venit rarò lo um habet somnus Mimus Fear will seldome give way to sleep He that is quiet in his mind by reason of the hope of a good conscience treads underfoot cares and vexations 2. Because God who is his keeper is alwaies awake and watcheth to defend him when he cannot defend himselfe Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord is thy keeper Psal 121.4 5. 3. Because he is a member of Jesus Christ and he will lose none of his members The Shepheard wakes when others aâ—e asleep that he may keep his sheep from the woolfe So the heathen man describes a good Prince he is one who wakes that others may sleep Securus dormit et vigilat et quiescit et ambulat qui se innocentâ—m ante Deum meminit He sleeps wakes rests walks securely who remembers that he is innocent before God Gloss Ordin Every member of Jesus Christ is so through faith in him Obdormit in Deo et in statu salutis Lyra. He sleeps in God and in the state of salvation 4. Because if they be hurt Christ accounts himselfe hurt Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9.4 So doth God the Father also He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye Zach. 2.8 In all their afflictions
done by they trouble others that trouble not them 3. It is against the law of humanity and society which is preserved by concord and destroyed by discord 4. It is against the law of piety which bids do good for evill and then much more forbids doing evill without a cause A Christian should abhor nothing more then unprofitable contentions Non contentio sed collatio debet esse inter christianos There should be no contention but communication among Christians Recuperus Insont is tutor aut vindex est judex an t certè Deus The tutor or revenger of the innocent man is the Judge or certainly God Lapide If the Judge will not right them surely God will Use Take heed therefore for time to come of causelesse contentions Continuance in known sins certainly damns men The heathen man could say Cum pari contendere anceps est cum superiore furiosum cum inferiore sordidum Seneca To contend with an equall is a doubtfull businesse to contend with a superiour a mad prank to contend with an inferiour is sordid It is madnesse for a man to delight in needlesse contentions It may become Papists to do so as Cardinal Wolsey when he was Lord Chancellor paid home Sir James Paulet without any provocation then onely because hee had laid him by the heeles when he was a schoolmaster Cranmer would not strive with them that gave him cause when hee was Archbishop It was a proverb then Do the Bishop of Canterbury a shrewd turn and you shall have him your friend ever after And Robert Holgat Archbishop of York though he was a Papist being when he was a Priest sued by Sir Francis Askew when he was Lord President of the North shewed him all lawfull favour in a suit saying He was much beholdden to him for had not he been hee must have lived a poor hedge-Priest all the daies of his life yet may a godly man by lawfull means keep off injury maintain his right and punish sin This is not causelesse contention VER 31. Envy thou not the oppressour and chuse none of his waies THE Dehortation is not needlesse It comes to passe sometimes in the world that many men thrive and grow very rich by wicked plots Then proud men envy them Why should not I thrive as well as they They were of as meane Parentage as I and it may be of meaner Covetous men imitate them If these waies will make them rich they will make me rich also I am not a fool I can paly my game as well as they to go beyond others There was need therefore to warn the young man that he erre not on the right hand out of pride nor on the left hand out of covetousness This precept is fitly joyned to the former For as we must not abuse other mens simplicity nor innocency to do them hurt so wee must not abuse their prosperity to envy them nor imitate their wicked waies of gain For the words Envy thou not The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken sometimes in a good sense and then it is construed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for He was zealous for his God Numb 25.13 And then it signifies to grieve that a person or thing dear unto one should be abused by another and to seek to defend or vindicate him or it Then it is translated zealous Sometimes it is taken in a bad sense I the Lord thy God am a jealous God Exod. 20.5 And then the verb is ordinarily construed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rachel envied her fister Gen. 30.1 And it imports a grieving and envying that another should enjoy what we desire or think to belong to-us Then it is translated to be jealous or to envy And so it is taken here for envying that others are richer then we The oppressour or Be not envious against the oppressour So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob Numb 23.23 Heb. The man of violence That is an ungodly man that grows rich by oppressing others Men may dislike him for his cruelty but they would not envy him unlesse hee were rich Invidus alterius rebus macrescit opimis The envious man grows lean to see other mens estates grow fat Be not troubled that wicked men thrive by wicked waies Look not on such as happy men to be envied nor applaud the courses they take nor follow them to get wealth by those unlawfull waies The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used 1. For a man by nature whither male or female as opposed to a beast I am God and not Man Hos 11.9 2. For any man None shall deliver out of my hand Heb. Not aman That is not any man Hos 2.10 3. For a male opposed to a female The male and his female Gen. 7.2 4. For an husband She gave also unto her Husband Gen. 3.6 5. For an excellent man for strength or nobility Art not thou a valiant man 1 Sam. 26.15 Heb. Art not thou a man Here it is taken in the first sense for a man opposed to a beast And chuse none of his waies Do not do wickedly as hee doth that thou maist be as rich as he Although some of his evill waies may be fairly covered over with vizards that the evill of them may not be seen or be more gainfull then other yet shew that thou hast more wisdom then to prefer any way above good waies or to chuse one wicked way though thou refuse other for they are all to be refused Regard not worldly wickednesse joyned with greatnesse neither bee wicked as they are that thou maist be great as they are Be not allured by the ungodly mans example however he speed in the world to follow him in the same steps For as wicked mens prosperity makes other men to envy them at the first so it makes them to imitate them at last that they may be rich also For chuse see on Chap. 1.29 For None or Not any see on Chap. 1.13 on the word All. For Waies see on Chap. 1.15 Figures A Metaphor in the word waies Men that oppresse do not now and then do an unjust action but walk on constantly in such courses to their death as travellers do in their way till they come to their journies end Two sins are here forbidden 1. Envying of evill rich men 2. Imitating of them In the first note 1. The Sin forbidden Envy not 2. The Object The oppressour In the second observe 1. The Sin forbidden And chuse not 2. The Object Any of his waies 1. Doct. Many live by oppressing others So vild beasts and great birds and fishes live on the weaker and smaller By reason of the multitude of the oppressions they make the oppressed to cry Job 35.9 I considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sun Eccl. 4.1 Reason 1. Because it is an easie way of living when men need not work themselves but make others to work for them as men go easily in