ought to bear with all manner of grievances as a less mischief than the want of Government by Rebellion against it Which begins in undutiful Discourse the folly and danger of which he admirably represents with many other things tending to our present peace and settlement 1. DEad flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour 1. AND the Wiser or better any man is so much the more cautious ought he to be in all his words and actions if he mean to preserve that credit esteem and authority in the World which give him great advantages of doing good For as dead Flies though very small Creatures falling into a Pot of Ointment and bursting there corrupt that precious Composition which the Apothecary hath made with excellent Art so that it turns the Persume into a stink in like manner doth a small errour or miscarriage blemish him who was highly valued for his Discretion and Vertue and the least sordid action destroys his reputation who was honoured for his noble way of living See Annot. a 2. A wise mans heart is at his right hand but a fools heart is at his left 2. It is hard indeed to be thus circumspect but herein a truly Wise mans worth is discovered that his judgment never fails him in the greatest difficulties wherein he not only resolves aright and takes things by the right handle but is ready also in the execution of what he designs and manages his Affairs with ease and with dexterity whereas a Fool both mistakes in his aim and fumbles also in the easiest business which he handles so awkerdly and untowardly that it commonly miscarries See Annot. b 3. Yea also when he that is a fool walketh by the way his wisdom faileth him and he saith to every one that he is a fool 3. And though he would dissemble his folly and endeavour to seem wise he is so far from his aim that in every thing he doth whether great or small he openly betrays his want of judgment nay by his very gate and behaviour as well as by his words and actions he tells every Body as plainly as if he said it in so many words that he is a Fool Which appears in nothing more than in his holding all for Fools in comparison with himself See Annot. c 4. If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifieth great offences 4. But a mans Wisdom hath seldom a greater tryal than when his Prince is angry with him and perhaps treats him hardly which incenses a Fool and makes him leave the Court if not grow factious and rebellious But it is better and safer Advice to keep in the station wherein thou art and to do thy Duty faithfully with a patient but yet pensive spirit For nothing so appeases a Princes offended mind as to give way to his fury by mild and gentle words and by modest humble and submissive behaviour whereby a man also prevents a World of sins into which he throws himself if he yield unto disloyal thoughts See Annot d 5. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun as an errour which proceedeth from the ruler 5. And there are worse evils than this that a wise and good man must patiently bear withal particularly that great errour which Princes it must be acknowledged either through ignorance imprudence surprize easiness and being imposted upon by other mens false representations subtilties or ill affections are too frequently guilty of whereby they derive many mischiefs upon all their people for which they must answer as if they were committed by themselves See Annot. e 6. Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place 6. In advancing I mean which I have too often observed the most witless careless men and of base condition or suffering such who are noted for nothing but their folly and their vices to creep up to the most eminent Dignities and Offices and in the mean time depressing noble persons or making no account of them though indowed no less with all excellent Qualities than with Riches and Honour See Annot. f 7. I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth 7. By the like senseless folly I have observed mere Slaves that deserved not the meanest Office in a private Family being sitter to be kept under by every Body than to be intrusted with the smallest power appear in the greatest state by reason of their high preferment and men of great Families or of singular worth and merit altogether slighted nay forced to wait upon them as if they had been their Lacqueys See Annot. g 8. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it and whoso breaketh an hedge a serpent shall bite him 8. Which foul indignities notwithstanding a wise and vertuous person should chuse rather to wink at and patiently endure than think of moving any publick disturbance for such counsels are extremely hazardous and commonly end in the ruine of those that give them according to that known Proverb among us which admonishes us how dangerous it is to pursue our own desires and passions violently especially against Kings and Princes whereby men in a heat forgetting their own contrivances have run themselves into that very ruine as Hunters do into the Pit which they prepared for others and that other common Saying which warns us not to overthrow the well-setled Laws and Customs of Church or State for that is like the breaking down a Hedge wherein as a Serpent many times lurks which gives him that attempts it a deadly bire so they frequently draw upon themselves their own destruction who pull down the ancient Government See Annot. b 9. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby 9. We abound with 9. We abound with Proverbs to this purpose Which teach us that the giving publick disturbance by invading the Rights of others especially of Kings and endeavouring to change the Form of Government is like removing the Boundaries of Lands which raises great troubles or like the taking much pains to pull down a Building without judgment some of the Stones of which fall upon him that meddles with it and crush him in pieces Such is his folly also that fansies he can mend every thing that is amiss and form and square the people exactly according to his Rule which proves just like an unskilful Workmans cutting a knotty Piece of Wood who only makes Clefts and Chips as the other doth Factions and Rents and in the issue gives a grievous gash to himself See Annot. i 10. If the iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge then must he put to more strength but wisdom is profitable to direct 10. This is sufficient to show how unprofitable all our endeavours are without true judgment For as a rusty Tool though
this Book and is capable of many senses all pertinent to the scope of this place For according to the several Fountains from whence it may be derived this Phrase may be interpreted either anguish of Spirit or breaking of Spirit or preying upon the Spirits or in another sense of the word Spirit feeding on the Wind or Air none of which I have neglected in the Paraprase k V. 15. The shortness of humane Wit though never so much improved is here represented by two things first that it cannot remove what is inconvenient secondly that it cannot supply what is deficient in any condition of life Or as others will have it the first part of the Verse refers to the inability of man to rectifie that perverseness as the Hebrew word we translate crooked signifies which he finds in himself or others and the latter part to the small reach os humane understanding which can attain but a very imperfect knowledge either of words things times persons or actions as some branch out the innumerable Particulars of which we must be content to be ignorant l V. 16. I have not curiously distinguished between Wisdom and Knowledge either in this Verse or in the 18th But there may be this difference pertinently made That Wisdom directs a man in the practical affairs of life unto that which is most fit for his purpose according to the various circumstances wherein he may be It consists chiefly in a clear judgment to discern our true interest and the proper means to compass it together with a presentness of mind to obviate sudden accidents And then Knowledge relates to the speculation of natural things in their causes and effects their properties and differences and such like things m V. 17. Madness and Folly may refer also to all the idle Speculations wherein men of Parts and Wit sometimes not only imploy but applaud themselves as the first of those words seems to import in the Hebrew This trifling sort of Knowledge is notably described by Erasmus in his Praise of Folly n V. 18. If there be any difference to be made between Wisdom and Knowledge I have noted it above upon v. 16. As for grief and sorrow they may be thus distinguished That the former in the Original word includes in it indignation which is a sharp anger mingled with scorn to find either our Persons and Counsels contemned or our Projects and well laid Designs defeated Such as was in Achitophel whose penetrating Wit made his rage the greater to see his judicious advice rejected and the whole Conspiracy utterly disappointed The other word sorrow properly denotes an extreme great trouble and sickness of mind and is sometimes applied to pains in the Body which is the effect too frequently of over-hard study Melancthon understands the whole Verse as he did v. 13 14. of the trouble that wise men have when they are intrusted with Government to see the confusions errors vices and calamities of Mankind And their afflictions are the greater because they are not only more sensible than other men of present evils but foresee by the present those that are future and therefore are tormented with a sore pain and grief both for what they feel and for what they fear For they know that from the first disorders there commonly follow greater confusions as when Pericles had once stirred up a War there followed the destruction of almost all the great Cities of Greece And it is too truly said by Pindar that it is easie for any body to disturb a City but God alone can restore peace unto it This I take to be too limited a sense but it is no small trouble to a wise and prudent person as Corranus excellently expresses it to behold the miserable disorders and confusions of humane affairs For how is it possible to avoid it nay how can a man chuse but be filled with indignation to see Justice Equity Probity Fidelity Integrity and Constancy and all other such like Vertues slighted and disregarded by mankind and on the contrary Injustice Baseness Perfidiousness Flattery and such like Vices possess the World and carry all before them Or what man can without vexation observe the preposterous judgment of mankind which magnifies those things that are not only vain but hurtful and pernicious and not only contemn but hate those things which are truly good for them nay alone desirable No man can either be wise alone to himself in such a multitude of Fools and mad men without the greatest grief and indignation nor can be accommodate himself with an equal mind to the dotages of the common people when he sees that which is better I shall conclude this Chapter with the Lord Bacon's Observation concerning this anxiety of spirit which ariseth out of Knowledge in the beginning of his Book of the Advancement of Learning Solomon saith he doth not pass this censure absolutely upon Wisdom and Knowledge but only sets forth the true Bounds wherein humane knowledge is to be circumscribed which if we do not observe it will prove very troublesome to us and others And those limitations are three First That we do not so place our felicity in Knowledge as to forget our mortality Secondly That we use not our Knowledge to beget anxiety but repose and contentment of mind and Thirdly That we do not presume by the contemplation of Nature to think our selves able to comprehend the Mysteries of God The first and the last of these are plain enough and therefore I shall only note what he saith of the second that it is certain no anxiety or perturbation of mind ariseth from Knowledge but by mere accident For all Knowledge and Admiration which is the Seed of Knowledge is pleasant in it self but when we fall to frame Conclusions from thence which obliquely applied to our own affairs beget either weak fears or immoderate desires then ariseth that torment and trouble of mind whereof Solomon here speaketh For then Knowledge is no longer dry light which Heraclitus was wont to say was the best but moist light steeped and infused in the humours of the affections As for that Exposition which some have given of these words that he increaseth the number of his stripes or wounds who increaseth knowledge but makes no use of it nor takes care that his obedience rise in some good proportion with it it is not the proper sense of the place but rather an accommodation of the words to another profitable purpose CHAP. II. ARGUMENT Having passed his censure upon the first way men take to find satisfaction mentioned in the Notes upon v. 12. of the first Chapter which without all contradiction is the chief and the best of the four he proceeds here to consider the second which is the more common most men immersing themselves in pleasure as their highest Good Of which he was more capable to judge than any other man because he denied himself no delights that he desired and yet did not plung himself wholly into
my wisdom remained with me 9. Thus I was not only great in place and power and riches but by such means as these added splendor also to my greatness and made it more conspicuous and illustrious and which is still more glorious I was not greater in any thing than in Wisdom which was not undermined by all these pleasures but when they were in danger to dethrone my Reason this settled it again in its former State and Authority See Annot. i 10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoyced in all my labour and this was my portion of all my labour 10. And on the other side my Wisdom did not lay such restraints upon me but that I took the liberty to please my eyes and all my senses with every thing that fell within the wide compass of their desires It did not deny me any joy to which I had a mind but taught me rather to reap this as the sweet fruit of all my labours there being nothing it showed me that came to my share of all that I had gotten with so much care and diligence but only the free enjoyment of it without which I had as good have been without it See Annot. k 11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun 11. But then after I had considered seriously how small a thing this pleasure was how short and how often interrupted and laid in the balance against it all the time I had spent and the pains I had taken in contriving these magnificent Buildings Gardens Paradises and all the rest it seemed to me as nothing and I cannot but leave this Observacion behind me That all this is empty and unsatisfying to the Spirit of man and there is also much vexation and torment in it to see how cross things go many times to our desires how negligent they are who should look after such great works as mine were but especially in this that a man can reap so little benefit and so transient from such vast and long labours v. chap. I. v. 3 14. See Annot. l 12. And I turned my self to behold wisdom and madness and folly for what can the man do that cometh after the king even that which hath been already done 12. Wherefore I began to reflect upon my former thoughts and to turn them back again towards Wisdom as the only Good of man ch I. 13 17. and especially that Wisdom which moderates our pleasures and keeps them from running into madness and folly and who is there that can give a better account of this than I who have had such advantages above any private man to know the History of former times as well as of my own that I am confident they who come after can pass no other judgment upon things than I do now 13. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness 13. For I clearly discerned that there is as wide a difference between Wisdom and Folly as there is between the light of the Sun which beautifies the whole World and shows all things distinctly to us and the darkness of the Night which wraps up all in dismal confusion and hides even our dangers from us 14. The wise mans eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darkness and I my self perceived also that one event happeneth to them all 14. Whence it is that a Wise man having this light in his mind looks before him and round about him which makes him cautious and well aware of dangers into which a blundering Fool whose mind is blinded with the sottish love of pleasure falls rashly and inconsiderately And yet with all his circumspection so imperfect are all things here in which we place our happiness the wisest man is not able to avoid a great many calamities which are common to the whole race of mankind 15. Then said I in my heart As it happeneth to the fool so it happeneth even to me and why was I then more wise Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity 15. Which reflection made me sigh and think with my self if notwithstanding this excellence of Wisdom above Folly the very same Diseases loss of Children and Friends and innumerable Casualties happen unto me even unto me who know so much that there do unto a Fool to what purpose have I taken all this pains and studied so hard to be wiser than he and upon this review of all that Wisdom can and cannot do for us I concluded again the second time that there is a Vanity also in this which makes it uncapable of giving us full satisfaction See Annot. m 16. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever seeing that which now is in the days to come shall be forgotten and how dieth the wise man as the fool 16. For as both wise and foolish are alike subject unto Death so when they are dead their Names live not long after them but they and all their famous atchievements are forgotten there being few of those things which are now done that will be so much as thought of in the next Generation much less in future Ages when the Memory of them will be utterly lost and cannot be recovered and is not this a lamentable Case that a Wise man hath no more privilege than a Fool either from Death or from its inseparable Companion Oblivion See Annot. n 17. Therefore I hated life because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me for all is vanity and vexation of spirit 17. This put me quite out of love with life because the toil and labour of it is so great and grievous and the pleasure it yields either interrupted and spoiled by many unforeseen accidents or quite taken away by Death which leaves no footsteps of us behind us for nothing is constant or of long continuance nothing solid nothing satisfactory here but all our enjoyments leave us as empty as he is that feeds only upon the Wind nay it torments us to see that we must take great pains too for such vain and fading things chap. I. 14. 18. ¶ Yea I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me 18. And besides all this there are other Reasons which made me despise all those goodly Structures which I had erected and those beautiful works which I had contrived v. 4 5 6 c. because as I cannot keep them long my self so I must leave them to I know not whom to a Stranger perhaps who without any pains of his enjoys the fruit of all my labour 19. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool yet shall he
present possession be not much moved with this fond humour nor make any great matter of it as neither Scylla nor Tiberius did nay they smile it is possible at the levity of men and do not stand to fight with Dreams for Hope is but the Dream of a man awake yet it cannot but inwardly vex them to see themselves slighted even by those on whom they have bestowed many benefits merely in hope of receiving more from their next supposed Successor For they cannot reasonably expect more perhaps from him that now reigns and therefore they make timely applications to the next Heir He hath done enough for them and therefore they betake themselves to him who hath yet done nothing And besides old men grow tenacious morose and sowre whereas Youth is commonly liberal jocound without care and ambitious to do great things especially at his entrance upon the Kingdom This saith another learned Writer makes the long life of Princes and their power troublesome and grievous both to Courtiers and people of which they that live at Rome do not want ocular demonstration There is nothing more needful for the explication of this Verse but only to observe that the Child or Youth who is here called the second doth not suppose another Child or Youth that is first but only signifie that this Youth is second in the Kingdom Not second in respect to another Son but second in respect to his Father who reigns before him and when he dies this Son succeeds him i V. 16. The first words of this last Verse L. de Dieu seems to me to have expressed better than any other Interpreter they running thus word for word in the Hebrew There is no end to any people That is no end of their fickleness no bounds to their inconstancy but one Nation is as subject to it as another And as this Age follows the former so the next will follow this in its levity and mutability And therefore those young Princes who are transported with the acclamations of the people do but feed upon Wind as some I observed upon the first Chapter translate those words which we render vexation of Spirit For their applauses are like to their affections as changeable as the Wind which will turn another way to some other person when this present Prince grows old or he rules ill or the peoples fancy and humour alters And then it will indeed be a sore affliction to him to see himself despised by those who formerly cried him up as if he had been their Darling It may be referred also to the very Government it self with which the Israelites were not pleased For when they were under Judges they desired a King and then they were not pleased with the Monarchy but wished for the old Aristocracy again Though that in truth was the most exeellent Monarchy which they would not understand under the immediate Government of God Himself CHAP. V. ARGUMENT Under an ill Government in the State Religion it self is commonly corrupted in the Church And therefore having set forth the miseries people endure under the oppressions of an abused Power and the extreams of folly into which it drives them he begins this Chapter with a Correction of those errours that are in Religion Which is the only remedy indeed the only comfort we have against all the troubles to which we are subject in this World but such is the Vanity of Mankind they spoil their very remedy and take away all the Vertue of that which should be their support turning it into mere Ceremony whilst their minds remain impure and without any true sense of God For they do not consider that He who is a pure mind Himself must be better pleased with pure thoughts and affections composed to the observance of his Will and acquiescence in his pleasure than with all the Sacrifices and Offerings in the World which the wicked may bring Him as well as the good To prevent therefore this new folly into which men are apt to run when they intend to cure all the rest Solomon shows all those who would attain true tranquillity of mind what they must do and what they must avoid in the Worship of God And about the middle of the Chapter as I shall observe in the Annotations proceeds to consider the last of those four things wherein men place their happiness 1. KEep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil 1. AND now lest any man add to the affliction and torment of his Spirit even by that which is the only cure for it let every one who would be a true Worshipper of God in whom alone lies the happiness we seek take care to avoid that negligence which is observable in many people and to opproach with all reverence both of Body and Soul into his Blessed Presence but do not think to please Him with mere postures of Devotion no nor with Sacrifices and Incense without the Oblation of an obedient heart disposed to do what He would have thee For the worst men in the World may be able to offer Him the richest Sacrifices but are very impious as well as foolish if they think He delights in the fat and the Blood of Beasts save only as testimonies of love to Him and acts of obedience unto his Will for in that very thought they offend Him and make no conscience what evil they do while they believe their Sacrifices atone for all See Annot. a 2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few 2. And next to this when thou makest thy Prayers to God or givest Him thanks for his benefits deliberate with thy self beforehand what it is fit for thee to ask of Him or to vow unto him and let not any sudden passion make thee inconsiderately either with thy mouth or in thy mind desire what is nor fit for thee to have or promise what is not fit for Him to receive or thou art not able or willing to give But remember first how infinitely great the Lord and Governour of the World is who comprehends all things and then how little and vile thou art who prostratest thy self before Him and therefore do not dare to speak to Him as an Equal whatsoever comes into thy mind much less to make Him large promises which thou canst not perform but let a sense of his Majesty and of thy meanness overcome thee into a profound Reverence of Him expressing it self rather in ardent sighs and groans than in abundance of words which signifie nothing but want of a serious apprehension of Him See Annot. b 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fools voice is known by multitude of words 3. It is so difficult at the same time
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
humble submission So I have expounded the word Commandment for the Commandment of the King before mentioned Which if we do not oppose it is the way to preserve us from knowing sorrow as we speak very agreeably to the Hebrew Phrase in this place if by evil thing we understand the evil of Punishment rather than of sin Many indeed by Commandment understand the Precepts of God which if we keep we shall not fall into any Evil practices particularly not into Rebellion Which is a good sense and the Reader may follow which he pleases for the latter part of the Verse will agree with either Wherein he suggests that the wisest thing we can do when Princes require any thing grievous unto us is not to rebel but to watch the fittest opportunities to petition for redress and that after such a manner as may not give offence So I have expounded time and judgment in this and in the next Verse f V. 6. For the truth is a great part of the happiness of our life depends upon our discretion in observing and chusing the fittest opportunity for every thing and the right manner of doing it Especially when we have to do with Kings and Great Persons concerning whom the Wise man may still be thought to speak both in this and in the following Verses g V. 7. If the Hebrew reading would bear it the Vulgar Translation which the Syriack follows of this Verse hath given an excellent reason why a man is at such a loss to discern what is fit for him to do upon all occasions especially how to direct his behaviour towards Kings Because he knows little of what is past and less or rather nothing of what is future For Prudence consists in the remembrance of things past consideration of things present and foresight of things likely to come hereafter Luther refers it wholly to the miserable condition of a Rebell in this manner He desires various things and hopes for mighty matters by his disobedience but is lamentably deceived For of the very impunity which he promised himself he cannot be secure but in an hour when he thinks not of it Judgment overtakes him and he perishes in his disobedience In short the wicked contemns present obedience and minds not future punishment The Wise man acts quite otherways and remembring what mischiefs attend upon the rebellious is studious therefore to be obedient h V. 8. Hence he takes occasion to give some good Advice to Princes themselves which seems to me the plainest sense of this Verse not to abuse their Power because none can withstand them or so much as question them but to remember how weak they are upon many accounts and therefore ought to be moderate in their Government if they intend to live happily For otherwise they must expect their peoples hatred which they cannot hinder no more than they can Death which is not in their power to resist And if they be engaged in War they will find their Subjects assist them so coldly that it may endanger the loss of their Crown So that Clause may be understood which we translate there is no discharge in War the word that being not in the Original that is it will be too late then to discharge their Subjects from the heavy burdens whereby they have oppressed them when they have need of their service against an Enemy Or as I have expressed it in the Paraphrase they cannot command what success they please in War but the event will be dubious taking the word Mislachat for a Dart a Javelin or such like Weapon which we cannot direct and guide in that confusion so as certainly to hit the Mark at which it is thrown So the Targum translates it Nor do the Instruments of Arms profit Or we may take it for a Commission to raise Forces it being but once more used in the Bible LXXVIII Psal 49. and there the Mislachat of evil Angels seems to be a Company of Angels sent with a Commission to do the Execution there mentioned which is too late to issue in the day of Battel if he be beaten or if he be not yet let him not flatter himself which is the sense of the last Clause of the Verse as if he should alway escape for the Divine Justice will one day lay hold on him and punish him Thus with reference to Princes the LXX seem to understand this Verse who having said v. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King commands with Authority thus translate the first words of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but no man no not the King himself hath authority in all things for example not over the spirit of a man But this Verse also may be expounded as some Interpreters understand it to be a continuance of the foregoing Discourse in this manner that no man can bridle the wrath of the Prince by spirit understanding anger or hinder the irruption of it And it is in vain also for men to seek to save themselves from the Sentence of Death which he hath pronounced against them for if they should wage War with him it is not likely they would overcome or escape in the day of battle or if they did they would meet some time or other with a just punishment for their Rebellion Which is the meaning of the last Clause if the words be thus taken Wickedness that is Rebellion shall not deliver those that are the Authors of it i V. 9. This and the following Verse agree very well with that Exposition which refers v 8. to Princes who sometimes are advanced to rule over others to their own hurt So we translate the last words of this Verse which Luther who is not alone in that Opinion will have still to belong to Subjects over whom a Prince is sometimes placed to be a Scourge unto them Notwithstanding which saith he the Kings Commandment is to be observed and Sedition not to be moved Which he repeats again so full he was of this Doctrine The Wise man here grants that there may be evil Governours to punish their Subjects and yet these also are to be tolerated k V. 10. This Verse I have taken wholly to belong to wicked Rulers because all the ancient Translations do so as well as our English Though most of the modern Interpreters will have the first part of the Verse to refer unto wicked Governours and the latter part unto good whose memory is abolished when the other so bad is mankind are extolled and honoured For which I see no reason but look upon it as contrary to the design of the Wise man in this place and therefore I have rejected it The place of the Holy may be expounded divers ways but it seems to me most natural to take it for a Periphrase of the Place of Judgment mentioned III. 16. in which the Judges sustained the Person of God who was in their Assembly and judged in the midst of them LXXXI Psal 1. Whence the Judgment-Seat was called the
have in Saul who hoped to have left the Kingdom to his Posteritys and in David himself who thought once of having Absolom for his Successor But Solomon here teaches us to consider how infinitely the wise Providence of God excels our greatest wit and cunning and can more easily over-reach all our Counsels and overturn our well-laid designs than we can out-wit the silly Birds and Fishes k V. 13 c. Which should not discourage wise and regular Proceedings but only make us refer our selves unto God who as He thus disappoints the most probable hopes so at other times makes men successful when they have no hope at all As Solomon here shows in the following Observation v. 13 14. Upon which St. Hierom glosses in this manner It hath been often seen that a small City and few Inhabitants being beset by an Army of innumerable Enemies and besieged so straitly that they were in danger if not otherways to perish by Famine were on a sudden contrary to all mens-expectation delivered by a mean person who having more Wisdom than all the wealthy great powerful and proud Citizens thought of a way to save them when they gave themselves for lost and effected that also of which they utterly despaired And yet O the ungrateful forgetfulness of Mankind after the Seige was raised after the liberty of their Country was restored there was no body thought of this poor man no body gave him thanks for their safety but all honoured the rich who in their danger could do them no service l V. 15. Which sets forth as the Lord Bacon observes upon this Verse L. 8. de Aug. Scient C. 2. Parab 21. the depraved and malignant Nature of Mankind Who in extremities and straits commonly flee to men of wisdom and courage whom before they despised but so soon as the Storm is over they become unthankful Wretches to their Preservers Machiavel not without reason propounds the Question Whether should be most grateful to well-deserving persons the Prince or the People but in the mean time he taxeth them both of ingratitude Though this doth not arise merely from the ingratitude of the Prince or the people alone but there is added too oft to this the envy of the Nobility who in secret repine at the event though happy and prosperous because it proceeded not from themselves For which cause they extenuate the merit of the act and depress the Author Thus Themistocles was served as Luther here observes who having performed great things for his Citizens was basely requited by them Nay David himself was soon forgotten who had been the greatest Benefactor to Israel ten of whose Tribes soon renounced all dependance on his house and fell off quite from their subjection to it So that to do good to the World saith he is to throw away the benefits we bestow or to cast Gold into Dung and Pearls before Swine And therefore it is best to enjoy what we have and to mind our present business casting away care of the future For as Phaedria saith in Terence It is better my benefits should be lost than I should be lost together with them And not to be moved from our Duty by the Worlds ingratitude is an Advice he oft repeats very profitably in this Chapter that we may be like to our heavenly Father who doth good to the evil and to the unthankful m V. 16. The beginning of this Verse may be illustrated out of Dion Prusaeus Orat. 2. de Regno who observes that Agamemnon wisht rather for ten such grave Counsellors as Nestor than so many valiant Youths as Ajax and Achilles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he shows also how great the power of Oratory is to subdue mens minds n V. 17. Yet it must be added that the best and safest Counsels cannot be so much as heard or regarded though never so wise till peoples straits have made them humble sad and serious as Aben Ezra expounds this 17th Verse The words of the Wise are despised by the people when they are in prosperity but when they are in distress almost famished by such a Seige as is before-mentioned and silenced by fear and grief then they listen greedily and diligently Which Melancthon expresses better The words of the Wise are heard by the silent i. e. by such as do not rage with any desire but seek the truth and what is wholesome for them This and another obvious sense of the Words I have expressed in the Paraphrase but have taken little notice of this which seems not so near the meaning that it is better to hearken to wise men who perswade to peace than to tumultuous spirits who incite silly people unto War He that rules among Fools is an Hebraism for a great Fool or we may understand it of one whose authority sways much among Fools or of a foolish Commander And St. Hierom expounds it of a bawling Orator or Preacher Whatsoever Declaimer saith he thou seest in the Church by the inticement and Elegance of words exciting applauses moving laughter or stirring up the people to affections of joy know that it is a sign of folly both in him that speaks and in them that bear him for the words of the wise are heard in quiet and moderate silence c. o V. 18. All Authors furnish us with abundance of Examples of the truth of the last Clause of the last Verse but I shall only briefly mention a little of Melancthon's Gloss upon the place There are Vessels of wrath and Vessels of mercy The Vessels of wrath are unhappy men who bring destruction upon themselves and others though sometimes they be great and wise persons According to that of Solon Commonwealths are overturned by great and excellent Wits Such were Ahaz Zedekiah Cataline Anthony and others And in the Church Samosatenus Arius Manichaeus and many other pernicious Doctors Of all which Solomon says One Sinner destroys much good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vessels of mercy are such men whose course is salutary to themselves and others such a poor man in the City was Jeremiah by whose counsels if they had been followed Jerusalem might have been saved from destruction Let us therefore pray to God with continual groans that we may be Vessels of mercy and that He would preserve us from being the Pests and Furies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of mankind driving a violent course to our own and others ruine CHAP. X. ARGUMENT The summ of this Chapter is That as true Wisdom and Vertue is the only thing that can give us tranquility so that part of it which teaches us to govern our tongue and to behave our selves dutifully towards our Governours though they do not manage things to our content nor to the general good conduces more unto it than men are willing to believe For this is in a manner the scope of the whole Chapter to make every one sensible of the great Blessing of Government especially of good Government and that therefore they
another sense of the last Words of the Verse beside that in our Translation which I have not neglected because the Words will bear the sense of the Vulgar viz. He saith every Body is a Fool. Which St. Hierom interprets thus He judges all men by himself Symmachus thus He fansies himself the only Wise man The LXX as St. Hierom observes seem wide from the sense who translate it thus All that he thinks is very vain Maldonate understands it differently from them all in this manner In that wherein he himself offends he reprehends others d V. 4. And then Solomon proceeds to give a particular instance of this Folly and Wisdom especially in the Publick State and Government Where it is great folly for a Governour to carry himself haughtily and furiously but if he do it is no less folly in his people to oppose him with the like passions and not rather to be patient and peaceable which is the sense of v. 4. Which some take for a Counsel to Governours others to the Subject They that understand it as Counsel to Governours translate it some of these ways If the spirit of a Governour come upon thee that is if thou art fitted for Government and advanced unto Dignity behave thy self humbly and administer all things with great lenity for that is the best way to heal publick Distempers Or thus If thou art made a Prince discharge this Office diligently and with vigilance for if thou art remiss and careless it will make thee fall into great errours Or as some will have it in this manner Thou hast a desire to be in authority suppress it or if it be offered thee accept not of it a private life is better and less subject to the occasions of sin and danger And some translate it thus If thou art in singular favour with the Governour keep thy station notwithstanding and be not ambitious of Preferment c. Which is Counsel unto Subjects and by ruach spirit of the Ruler most do not understand his favour but his anger and then also it may be taken in a different sense from that in our Translation making it still an Advice to him that is in Authority that if anger come upon him he should reflect and consider the station wherein he is lest this passion make him act undecently and transport him into great sins But the greatest part of Interpreters taking the Verse to be Counsel to a Subject in case he incur the displeasure of his Prince I have followed that sense which is almost agreeable to the coherence And I have interpreted that Advice not to leave his place as most do for not quitting the Duty of a Subject but have taken in also the most ingenious Interpretation of the Lord Bacon Who makes this a Political Advice to Courtiers not to relinquish their Place and Office nor to retire from the execution of their Charge as many do when they see their Prince angry with them Which arises partly out of an impatience of disgrace partly lest they should make the wound bleed afresh by coming into the presence partly that their Prince may see how sorrowful and humble they are which makes them think fit to withdraw themselves from their employments nay to resign perhaps the Offices and Dignities themselves into the Princes hands But Solomon disallows this way of Cure as hurtful and prejudicial and that upon very good grounds For first this course doth too much publish the disgrace it self from whence both Enemies and Enviers grow more bold to hurt and Friends more timorous to help Secondly By this means it comes to pass that the wrath of the Prince which if it had not been made publick would have died perhaps of it self becomes now more fixt and having begun to overthrow the man is carried on to his utter ruine And lastly this retiring savours something of a malignant humour that is fallen out with the times which heaps the mischief of indignation upon the mischief of suspicion The proper Precepts therefore for a Cure are these which he thinks are contained in the last Words Pliant demeanour pacifies great offences First Above all things not to seem insensible or not so affected as in Duty he ought to be for the Princes displeasure either through stupidity or a stubbornness and pride of spirit That is Let his countenance be composed not to a sullen and contumacious but to a grave and modest pensiveness and in all manner of employments let him show himself less pleasant and cheerful than he was wont to be Which it may be expedient also that some Friend or other should represent to the Prince and insinuate seasonably with what sensible grief he is inwardly afflicted Secondly Let him carefully avoid all even the least occasions whereby either the thing it self which was the first cause of the indignation may be revived or the Prince apprehend a new occasion to be displeased with him again or upon any account whatsoever to chide him before others Thirdly Let him with all diligence seek on the other side all manner of occasions wherein his service may be acceptable to his Prince that both he may show a prompt and forward affection to redeem his forepast offence and his Prince may understand what a good Servant he is likely to lose if he thus cast him off Fourthly Let him sagaciously either lay the fault upon others or insinuate that it was committed with no ill intention in himself or remonstrate their malice who accused him to the King or aggravated his fault more than it deserved To conclude Let him be diligent and watchful in all things and intent uponthe Cure There is another Great Man of our own who seems to take this for an Admonition not to be false-hearted by flinching from our station when mighty men frown upon us In an upright course saith Bishop Sanderson in his Sermon upon 1. Cor. VII 24. Sect. 46. Fear not the face of man neither leave thy place though the spirit of a Ruler rise up against thee patience will conjure down again that Spirit in time only if thou keep thy self within thy Circle But I look upon this which agrees not with the latter part of the Verse as an accommodation only of these Words to his present purpose and not as intended for the proper sense of them e But of all other follies this is the most mischievous of which Princes themselves are sometimes guilty in preferring as it follows v. 6 7. unworthy men who are so unfit to govern others that they cannot govern themselves to the highest Dignities and perhaps trusts and at the same time neglecting if not depressing men of worth and honour of Noble Families and sometime of Heroical Vertue Which is more provoking because more pernicious than the personal displeasure before mentioned v. 4. which they express towards any private man For it is an universal grievance and as if the Ruler himself should give order for all the mischief which
taken away from thee which now thou wilt not bestow upon needy people c. c V. 3. In this Verse he illustrates both the Duty and the reason of it The former by the Clouds which are a fit Emblem of Charity the second by the Trees which can bring forth Fruit no longer than they continue joined to their Root from which being separated they bear no more nor can be fixed to their Root as the Clouds may be filled with Water again So I have interpreted the latter part of this Verse which Grotius understands as if it meant no more than the foregoing Do good to men without distinction like him who when he cuts down a Tree regards not which way it falls I omit other Interpretations and shall only mention Maldonate's Gloss upon this Verse which is ingenious enough He urges us saith he to do good while we live by two Reasons First From the profit of it because we shall receive more than we give like the Clouds which receive from the Earth but a thin Vapour which they return to it in most copious Showres The second From the impossibility of being in a capacity to do good when we are dead for then like a Tree we must continue as we are when Death seizes us and never be restored to our former condition again Corranus alone as far as I can find expounds the latter part thus in his Annotations A Tree in what place soever it is planted there abides and brings forth Fruit and so ought we to help others by all manner of means in whatsoever place or time we live And he takes North and South for all Parts of the World If any think fit to apply this unto the unalterable condition wherein we must remain in the other World like a Tree cut down which if it fall toward the North cannot change its positure and turn to the South they cannot follow a fitter Gloss upon the Words than this of Luther's If the Lord find thee in the South that is fruitful and rich in good works it will be well but if in the North that is barren of good works it will be ill with thee Howsoever thou art found so thou shalt be judged and so thou shalt likewise receive d V. 4. And then follows here an Admonition to take the first opportunity of doing good and not to deferr it because now it may seem unseasonable and we fansie it may do better another time Which the Lord Bacon extends unto all other things as well as Alms. There is no greater or more frequent impediment of action saith be in the Conclusion of the First Chapter of the VIIIth Book of Advancement of Learning than an over-curious observation of decency and of that other Ceremony attending on it which is too scrupulous election of time and opportunity For Solomon saith excellently He that observeth the Wind c. We must make opportunity oftner than find it And thus that great Prince Xerxes otherwise not very prudent speaks very discreetly in Herodotus L.VII. Be not fearful of all things nor consider every thing minutely for if in the considertion of business thou wilt weigh every thing alike thou shalt never be able to do any thing And thus Melancthon understands this place As events are not in our power which he takes to be the meaning of v. 3. so he that will have certain and circumscribed events that is such and such things come to pass before he act will never attempt any thing And so a great Divine of our own expounds it If we will suspend our resolution till we can bethink our selves of something free from all inconveniencies in most of our deliberations we shall never resolve upon any thing at all God having so tempered things that every commodity hath its incommodiousness every conveniency some inconvenience attending it which many times all the wit and industry of man is not able to sever Bishop Sanderson's Sermon upon 1 Corinth X. 23. p. 245. Saint Hierom also elegantly accommodates these Words to negligent Pastors who will not preach but when the people are very desirous to hear and there is a fair Gale breathing to favour their design And gives this Advice to us Do not say this is a fit time that is unprofitable for we are ignorant what is the way and what is the will of the Spirit which dispenseth all things e V. 5. In this Verse he seems to pursue the same Metaphor of the Wind which blows uncertainly and no body knows whence nor from what causes And therefore from our ignorance of that and indeed of all other things which we are here conversant withal of our own Soul for instance which our Translators understand by the Word Ruach Spirit and of our own Body or of that vis formatrix how it goes about its Work to make this Body of ours in the Womb which may possibly be meant by Spirit XXXIII Job 4. CIV Psal 30. Solomon perswades us not to presume to know how God intends to order the course of this World in his over-ruling Providence and therefore to do our Duty and leave events to Him f V. 6. Imitating the Husbandman with which Metaphor he began this Discourse and now concludes it who not knowing which will prosper sows both early Corn and late So Symmachus understands this Verse to be an allusion to those that sow some very forward Seed which perhaps may hit when that which is sown at the ordinary time doth not Or perhaps both may succeed and bring forth Fruit to their great enriching Others take morning and evening only to signifie all times g V. 7. I have continued this Verse with the foregoing and supposed what all Interpreters do in the third and fourth Verses that the comparison is imperfect there being only the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hermogenes speaks the Proposition of the Sentence and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which answers unto it left to be made by the Reader Which I have supplied from the sense of the whole foregoing Discourse in this Chapter Others think a new Discourse here begins for the Conclusion of the whole Book and that after all he had said of happiness he advises every one to think of another life and not expect to find it in this Or as some understand him his meaning is Now you have seen wherein happiness doth not and wherein it doth consist therefore do not either imagine there is none at all here in this World or that it is greater than really it is But take a middle course which I have shown you and look upon this life as having pleasure in it but not absolutely perfect yet such as our condition will permit begun here and to be completed in another World h V. 8. The beginning of this Verse I have expounded according to the Hebrew where the Words run thus as St. Hierom himself translates them If a man live many years let him rejoyce in all these things
fast in the memory as Nails do when they are driven into a Board and to collect also the thoughts affections and resolutions unto one certain end especially when they are fastned by the skilful hand of those who rule the Assemblies of God's people and are ruled themselves by one and the same supreme Governour whose Holy Spirit directs them all See Annot. l 12. And further by these my son be admonished of makeing many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh 12. Therefore my Son or whosoever thou art that shall read these things whose happiness I wish as my own be advised by me and not only believe these things but rest contented with such useful Knowledge and do not trouble thy self either in composing or reading many Books For all that is needful to instruct men how to be happy may be comprized in a few wise Precepts and if thou extendest thy desires beyond this thou mayst turn over infinite Volumes which are encreasing continually and serve only to distract thy mind and tire thy spirits and impair thy health but yield little profit after the expence of a great deal of pains and time See Annot. m 13. ¶ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man 13. Let us draw up all then that can be said in this matter into as small a compass as is possible If thou wouldst be happy preserve in thy mind such an awful sense of God as to have a greater regard to Him both as thy Creator and Governour and as thy Judge than to any thing in this World and dreading his displeasure not only worship Him religiously but observe all His Commandments For as unto this all men are bound so in this consists all their Duty and their whole happiness and therefore they ought to make this their main business and employ their best endeavours in it See Annot. n 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 14. As they would with all seriousness did they but believe and remember what is most certainly true That though now the wicked and the good sometimes fare alike yet there will be a notorious distinction one day made between them when God whose knowledge nothing can escape and out of whose memory nothing can slip will pass an exact Sentence upon every thing we do here in this World though never so secret and known to none but Himself and then no evil thing though only designed and never actually committed shall go unpunished and no good thing though only heartily intended for want of power to accomplish it shall be unrewarded See Annot. o ANNOTATIONS a Verse 1. From the consideration of what he had said in the Conclusion of the foregoing Chapter that Youth is attended with folly and folly attended with destruction as Greg. Thaumaturgus excellently explains those Words he begins this with the most weighty Lesson which ought to be perpetually inculcated and beaten into the mind and memory of young men viz. That they would reflect so far as to consider who gave them their being and what upon that account they owe unto Him who as He is the sole Author of all things that give us any delight so He is of all the abilities and faculties which make us capable to take pleasure in them and the sole Disposer likewise of all opportunities that bring us and those Delights together All this may well be comprehended in the Word Creator if this place be compared with XL. Isai 28. XLV 7.18 LXV 17 18. Which being in the Hebrew a Word of the Plural Number some from thence draw the Mystery of the Holy Trinity which I cannot certainly say is here intended because it is very ordinary in the Scripture to put the Plural for the Singular especially when God is spoken of Thus when the Israelites had made the golden Calf they said These are thy Gods O Israel c. so we translate it XXXII Exod. 4. as if there had been more Gods than one in that Calf But it should be translated This is thy God O Israel as appears by what follows which brought thee out of the land of Egypt signifying they worshipped in this Image Him who had wrought that great deliverance for them And thus Jonathan there understands it and Theodoret upon 1 Book of Kings Quest 10 More places like to this are observed by Bochartus L. II. de Animal Sacr. C. 34. P. 1. in whom the Learned Reader may find many such Latine Words that are only of the Plural not Singular Number And I will only mention one remarkable place which he might have added 1 Sam. XXVIII 9. where the Woman says she saw Gods ascending out of the Earth and Saul thereupon asks her What form is he of understanding she saw a single person But what ever becomes of this we Christians to whom this Mystery is now plainly revealed ought when we read such places as these to think of the obligations we have unto God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost into whose Name we are baptized And not only to consider such things as are above-mentioned but to be moved and affected with them for that is here included in the Word Remember according unto their weight and importance And to do this betime the first thing we do because the days of our youth are our best and choicest days as the Word in the Hebrew signifies whence in 2 Sam. VI. 1. where David is said to gather all the chosen men the LXX hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the young men in Israel in which we are apt to take the greatest delight in our selves or in any thing truly delightful our spirits being then most fresh lively and vigorous So that the measure of our delight whether in our selves or in any thing without us being then truly taken it would constrain us unto an equal delight in Him who is the Author of both and unto a correspondent gratulation for them Whereas if we deferr this remembrance till Old Age come upon us when life grows a burden and the wonted delights of it are either irksome or insipid unpleasant or without all taste or relish our thankfulness for them will be but faint our gratulation worthless our Devotion cold and lumpish as Dr. Jackson excellently glosses upon these Words B. XI upon the Creed C. 33. Which he had expressed long before more briefly in his Treatise of Faith Chap. 8. p. 125 thus The Inventory of what we have received from God in our Creation should be taken in those days wherein we most delight because then the Characters of his Blessings bestowed upon us and their true worth are most fresh and sensible in all our faculties well knowing that if we deferr this Survey till Old Age in which life it self becomes a burden our return of
Casement through which all things are transmitted to the inward sense of Seeing Until the Skins and the humours also grow too thick and the very Figure of the Eye as some have observed be changed by the dryness of the Chrystalline humour and then the house is darkned Aristotle in his Problems Sect. 31. Quaest 14. expresses it thus in short 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. when men grow into years their sight grows dull because in the eyes of Old men the Skin is both hard and also rugged so that their sight is obscured d V. 4. this Verse hath greater difficulty in it especially in the beginning and the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low But the LXX suggest an unexceptionable sense of this Passage in my Opinion which is that they are shut out of all publick meetings because of the lowness of their voice which formerly was as loud as a Mill. And there is little reason to doubt but by doors are meant the lips it being a frequent expression in Scripture and by the lowness of the sound of grinding the lowness of the voice from the loss of teeth or the weakness of respiration in short from the defect there is in the Organs of Speech Nor do I see why Maldonate's Translation may not be allowed which is still more simple and therefore I have taken notice of it in my Paraphrase the lips are shut without so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be translated foris extrinsecus that is they sink and are compressed when the voice grows weak and tremulous because of those that grind that is by the falling of the teeth Thus he But it may more exactly be translated thus by the falling low of the voice of which the teeth are the principal instruments And the whole I have sometimes thought may not incongruously be translated in this manner His lips are shut in his mouth for the mouth is the street or high-way into this house of which Solomon is speaking by the falling down of the voice of grinding i. e. the voice that is made by grinding the Air as it were between the teeth and the roof of the mouth c. It might be referred to the eating meat seldom because of his bad digestion the Meat being ground in the Stomach as in a Mill if the word voice or sound would agree to this Which renders Dr. Smith's Interpretation very difficult in my judgment Who by doors understands all the inlets and outlets of the Body and by streets the open ways and Passages in the Body in which the matter of nourishment is conveyed and passeth without lett or molestation and by shutting these doors the ceasing from their use and by grinding the digestions and concoctions in the Stomach Bowels Mesentery Glandules c. all which is well enough though perhaps too Philosophical and by the voice of these concoctions the natural symptoms significative of digestions all those indications which demonstrate the work of Nature to proceed aright Which seems to me very far fetcht and too great a straining of the Word voice or sound however I have here mentioned it that they who are pleased with it may follow that Interpretation which is very ingenious The next Passage in this Verse is easier though it is uncertain whether he mean that the chirping of the least Bird wakes him or that he wakes early when the Birds do For tzippor signifies all kind of Birds great and small and may be interpreted of the Cock as well as any other and the meaning be He gets up at the Cock-crowing This last seems most probable because being thick of hearing as the next Passage signifies it cannot be supposed that the least noise disturbs him Though I confess the meaning may be that a small noise wakes him sooner than Thunder would have done in his young days The daughters of Musick if it refer to the Parts of the Body I take not to be those Organs of it which make Musick but which receive it being made For the Hebrews call that the Son of a thing which is fitted or designed for that of which it is said to be the Son Thus an Arrow is called the Son of the Bow or Quiver XLI Isai 19. III. Lament 13. and Wheat called the Son of the Threshing floor XXI Isai 18. and so the Daughters of Musick may be those parts where Musick is entertained Yet there is one Objection against this which lies in the Word all which cannot properly be applied to the ears because there are but two of them and we never say all the ears but both the ears Which makes some think that hereby we are rather to understand all sorts of Musick which are made either by instruments or voice But to this it may be answered that the Word all refers to the several parts of the ear in which the sound is formed both the winding chanels in the outward part and the Tympanum and the three cavities and as many little bones in the inward part together with the auditory nerve it self All which are manifestly contrived on purpose to receive sounds which are born here and so may be called their Daughters which in Youth are brisk and spritely but are humbled as the LXX translates it and flat in Old Age. There is no necessity I acknowledge of interpreting this Passage thus though it seem most agreeable to the rest of the description because it may be translated the daughters of a song that is singing women are not valued at all by old men They account them nothing worth and would not give as we say a Farthing for them Old Barzillai confesses this imperfection 2 Sam. XIX 35. Which place Saint Hierom thinks may very well explain this e V. 5. And it is attended with a greater which is the passion of fear unto which Old Age is very subject from defect of Spirits weakness of imagination as well as of Bodily Organs which are unable to resist any dangers which Old men also are apt to apprehend greater than they really are For as their heads turn giddy if they ascend to any high place so they tremble in the plain way for fear of a Stone a Clod an Hole any unevenness by the rising or depression of the Earth for so Grotius thinks the Words may be expounded though the antient Interpreters do not favour it He is afraid to stumble at the rising or falling of the Earth or he fears he may be pusht down by others if he do not fall of himself in a word he knows not what he may meet withal and therefore fears Or it may be expounded as Maldonate takes it He never thinks himself safe though he be in an high Fortress Or dreads an high Wall though never so firm lest it should fall upon him There are some that expound the first Words of this Verse thus He is afraid of Spirits and separate Souls of those excellent Beings which dwell
presently hearkned and obeyed his heavenly call she had avoided all these inconveniencies There are those not only among us but also in the Romish Church who apply all this laziness to the State of the Church after the time of the Great Constantine For which I see no warrant but think we may rather apply it to those Churches who presently after our Saviour's departure to Heaven left their first Love and grew cold as we read in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation For it seems probable by the VIth Chapter of this Book in the beginning of it that here he speaks of particular Societies not of the whole Body of the Church d V. 4. Yet such is the infinite Goodness of the Divine Nature he immediately represents the Messiah as not provoked by this neglect wholly to cast off his Spouse but rather stretching forth his hand to awaken her out of this security For so it follows He put in his hand by the hole i. e. at the Window or Casement as if he would draw her out of her Bed or as it may be interpreted in a threatning manner to punish her for her sloth For so putting forth the hand signifies to do some execution 1 Sam. XXVI 9 11 23. Which agrees with what follows that presently she was mightily moved thereby and more than awakened being full of solicitude and fear and grief and trouble Which shows indeed that she did not intend to deny but only to delay Him and yet He took this so ill as to put her in great fear of some danger from it as our Saviour doth in his Letters to the Churches II. Revel 5 16 22 23 c. For the Word Bowels signifies the affections and passions and the Hebrew Word hamu which we translate was moved signifies made a noise or was tumultuous and therefore denotes the passion of trouble and grief and of fear also nay of great fear and perplexity For so St. Hierom here renders it My Belly trembled as he doth in VII Ezek. 16. where it is applied to Doves to whom the Spouse was here compared ver 2. and we translate it mourning but it should be rather trembling like Doves For that is their nature XI Hos 11 all Authors observing them to be exceeding timorous and therefore so it may be translated here I was so full of trouble that I quivered like a Dove Others by putting forth the hand understand the touches He gives by his Holy Spirit which doth not contradict what I have said threatnings being employed by Him for that purpose e V. 5. And having had this glance of Him whose voice only she heard before v. 2. she starts up immediately and endeavours to correct her errour And is here represented as making such haste to open the door that she broke the Vessel of myrrh which she snatcht up when she rose intending therewith to anoint and refresh his head which was wet with Dew Or rather her hands shaked in that panick fear wherein she was and so she spilt some of the Myrrh and it ran about her Fingers By which is denoted the great speed she made to shake off her sloth now she saw her danger and the fear that came upon her lest she should lose her Beloved to whom she now resolved to express the greatest affection imaginable For it was not barely Myrrh which was one of the most excellent Spices XIX Joh. 39. but the most precious Myrrh which she took up to carry to Him So mur ober signifies which we well translate sweet-smelling Myrrh but word for word is current Myrrh Either in that sense wherein Money is called current XXIII Gen. 16. as some fansie or as Rasi thinks because the Spirit that is the odor of it diffused it self round about the place where it was that is was exceeding fragrant or as Bochart will have it was that which wept as they speak and dropt from the Tree of it self which as it was the most unctuous so was the richest and best for all manner of uses See his Phaleg L. II. C. 22. And besides this Theophrastus observes that out of Myrrh being beaten there flowed an Oil called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was very precious as I find in Athenaeus L. XV. C. 11. And accordingly the Chaldee and Aquila translate ober in this place choice Myrrh Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime from whom the Vulgar the most approved Myrrh f V. 6. But notwithstanding her repentance she was thus far punished for her sloth that her Beloved absented himself from her for a time and she could not hear the least tydings from Him or notice of Him Which cast her into such an excess of grief and fear that she swooned away and was like a dead Body so that Phrase my Soul went forth signifies to die XXXV Gen. 18. XLII 28. and other places And recovering her self again was extremely troubled by the reflections she made upon his kindness and her insensibleness of it For which she askt his pardon and sought his favour but could receive no tokens of it g V. 7. I take Watchmen here in a good sense as before III. 3. unto which I refer the Reader And only observe that to find a person signifies sometimes in Scripture-Phrase as much as to fall upon him as we speak and that on a sudden I. Judg. 5. XXI Psal 8. CXIX 143. X. Isai 10. And so I have expounded it here and referred the smitting and wounding her to the reproaches they cast upon her For there is a smiting with the tongue as well as with the hand and that not only by Enemies unjustly XVIII Jer. 18. but by Friends out of love and charity CXLI Psal 5. For there is not a greater kindness than sometimes even to upbraid us with our faults Which is further expressed by taking away her Veil from her as much as to say exposing her to shame a Veil being thrown over Womens faces for modesty-sake as well as in token of subjection XX. Gen. 16. And so St. Hierom in his Epistle to Laeta takes this Veil or Pallium as he calls it to be pudicitiae signum a sign of chastity and therefore to take it away was to represent her as an impudent whorish Woman Greg. Nyssen adds that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. XII upon this Book the Nuptial Veil which together with the face covered the whole Body and therefore to be disrobed of it was the greater reproach because it was to disown her to be his Spouse as she professed her self h V. 8. This Verse is very plain expressing the admirable temper of a true Penitent who leaves nothing unattempted to recover the favour of her Lord for finding no comfort from the Watchmen she implores the help of all good people and yet doth not complain of what she suffered nor of the harshness of those who should have helpt to restore her and not dealt so severely with her according to that of the Apostle
denote the extreme dissatisfaction he found in all things which made a show of affording him contentment but performed nothing of that which they seemed to promise So the Word Vanity is also used for that which is false lying and deceitful LXII Psal 9. and other places where Idols are called Vanities c V. 3. Here begins the Proof of his Assertion by considering first the mind of man which runs from one thing to another without any end but finds no satisfaction remaining after all its restless thoughts And then the body of man V. 4. which as proud and lofty as it now looks must moulder into Dust and the poorest person perhaps shall tread upon its Grave For it cannot last like the Earth from whence it comes which stands for ever as a publick Theatre whereon men enter and act their Part and then go off and never appear again and when they go as some prettily rather than solidly gloss upon those Words The Earth abideth for ever they can carry none of it along with them but leave it all behind them unto those that come after who pass away also leaving the Earth where they found it d V. 5. The Sun also in a settled course observes its times of rising and setting whereas man when he goes down to the Earth cannot like the Sun come up again So the fifth Verse seems to be most naturally connected with the foregoing and in like manner the sixth and seventh Verses are to be expounded There are many Interpreters indeed who look upon the things mentioned in these three Verses only as Emblems of the instability of all humane Affairs and of the constant revolutions of the same miseries which cannot be hindred by any humane counsels but will return after all the changes whereby we think to mend our selves Upon which sense I have just touched in my Paraphrase but not followed it because it doth not seem to me to be the scope of these Verses In which man is represented by four comparisons with the Earth the Sun the Wind and the Sea to be more subject to Vanity than other things e V. 8. Which having thus illustrated he proceeds here more particularly to consider what he had said in general words V. 3. of mans vain endeavour to satisfie himself in worldly designs and contrivances in which he is tired but comes to no end of his desires How should he when his whole business here is only to do and to enjoy the very same things over and over again as all men have done before us and shall do after us v. 9 10 11. f V. 9. We may fansie indeed that we have found some new thing but this conceit proceeds merely from our ignorance as the Lord Bacon excellently discourses in his first Book of the Advancement of Learning Chap. 8. Learning and Knowledge saith he takes away vain and excessive admiration which is the very root of all weak counsels For we admire things either because they are new or because they are great As for Novelty there is no man that considers things thoroughly but hath this printed in his heart There is nothing new under the Sun nor can any man much admire a Puppet-Play who doth but thrust his head behind the Curtain and seeth the Instruments and Wires whereby they are moved As for Greatness we may say as Alexander who after his great Conquests in Asia receiving Letters of some small Fights or Skirmishes in Greece at the taking of some Bridge or Fort was wont to tell his Friends that it seemed to him that they had sent him News of the Battles of Homer 's Frogs and Mice so certainly if a man consider the Universe and the Fabrick of it to him this Globe of Earth with the men upon it and their busie motions excepting always the Divineness of Souls will not seem much more considerable than an Hillock of Ants whereon some creep up and down with their Corn others with their Eggs others empty all about a very little heap of Dust And as Melancthon well observes the same desires the same counsels the same ends the same causes of War and calamitous events return again according to that of Thucydides While humane nature continues what it is the like mischiefs will happen sometimes less sometimes more direfully g V. 12. Thus having confirmed his main Propositions by such general Arguments as reach to all things in this World he proceeds here to a more particular proof of it from his own proper experience And designing before he declared his own Opinion of the Chief Good and by what means it may be attained to confute the vain fancies of men about it he reduces them as I have shown in the Preface to four Heads And observing that some place it in knowledge and curious inquiries into all manner of things others in pleasure or in both these together others in honour and power others in riches and heaps of wealth he begins with that which is the most plausible And demonstrates from the 13th Verse to the end of this Chapter how little satisfaction is to be found in the mere speculation of things though a man arrive at the highest degree of humane knowledge h V. 13 14. Melancthon restrains these two Verses to political Wisdom in the Government of Kingdoms Which gives men a double affliction first in that the Wisest men often err in their counsels and secondly that events sometimes do not answer to the best counsels that men can follow Examples of the first are innumerable Sometime they err through ambition as Perdiccas after Alexander sometime through a false opinion of Right as Brutus sometime through over-doing busie headedness and inquietude of mind as Pericles sometime through anger as Marius And how many ways good counsels have miscarried it is too long here to remember because it is here further observable that sometime more doubtfulness and uncertainty of mind what course to take is as great a torment to the mind as any other Thus Pompey was first perplexed in his Counsels before he saw the disastrous event of his Error To conclude this All Government is so full of cares perplexities and impediments that it made Demosthenes say If he were to begin the World again he would rather die than be promoted to it And Aeschines that he was as glad when he was rid of his Office as he would have been to be delivered from a mad Dog But this I take to be too straight a sense though it be agreeable enough to what he saith v. 12. of his Kingly Office and therefore I have inlarged it further in my Paraphrase though Greg. Nazianzen also seem to have a respect to it when he thus interprets this place Orat. LIII p. 750. That all things here below are possessed with an uncouth and execrable spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that a man cannot comprehend how absurdly all humane affairs are managed i V. 14. The word we translate vexation is found only in