John Trapp on Daniel 4:30

Ver. 30. The King ſpake and ſaid] No man asking him any queſtion, but himſelf trumpetting out his own praiſes. Ordinarily the greateſt wealth is tumourd up with the greateſt ſwelth againſt the Lord. What hath this proud Prince yet in him of a man, Great means make great minds. Joſeph. Antiq. l. 16. c. 11. Ʋrbem ſuam opponit coelo, eamque pro coelo habet. more then his voice, and ſhape?

Is not this great Babylon that I have built?] Why no: it was built above a thouſand years before you were born: you have only beautified and fortified it. It is God that buildeth the City, Pſal. 127.1. And they were your Anceſtors, Nimrod and Ninus, whom he made uſe of for that purpoſe: why then ſhould you rob him of his glory, and them of their right by your arrogancy? The proud man (Scianus-like) ſacrificeth only to himſelf: and (Polyphemus-like) ſetteth up himſelf for the ſole-doer. God is not in all his thoughts, Pſal. 10. And for his words, hear Nebuchadnezzar here, or Mezentius in Virgil, Dextramihi Deus, & telum quod miſſile libro.Aeneid. Or that of Grevinchovius the Arminian, Ego meipſum diſcerno, atque in to cur non mihi liceat ut demeo gloriari? I do by my free-will make my ſelf to differ from others, and why may not I boaſt of ſuch a thing as of mine own, in anſwer to that of the Apoſtle, Who maketh thee to differ? and what haſt thou which thou haſt not received? Wittily doth Luther call thoſe Braggers Faces or Dregs, who have much in their mouthes Haec ego feci, This was my doing: and worthily is that ſpeech of Charles the fifth Emperour commended Veni, vidi, ſed vicit Chriſtus, A Lap. in 2 Sam. 17.1. beyond that of Julius Caeſar Veni, Vidi, Vici: becauſe he aſcribeth to Chrirſt the honour of his conqueſt.

For the houſe of the kingdom] The Palace indeed he had built, though not the City: and therein he now prideth himſelf. The Bramble thinks it a goodly thing to raign; and hath great thoughts and words too of his ſhaddow: and yet all's but a ſhaddow. The Turks build no ſtately edifices (beſides their Moſches or Churches) becauſe their abode upon earth is to be but ſhort, they ſay, and therefore any dwelling may ſerve turn. That was a memorable ſpeech of the forementioned Charles the fifth, to whom when the Duke of Venice had ſhewed his princely Palace, like a Paradiſe upon earth, and now expected that the Emperour ſhould have exceedingly praiſed it, all that he ſaid to it was this, Haec ſunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori. Theſe are the things that make us loth to depart out of the world. And no leſſe memorable was that ſaying of Another to a great Lord who had ſhewed him his ſtately houſe and pleaſant gardens, You had need, my Lord, make ſure of heaven: or elſe when you dye, you will be a very great loſer.

By the might of my power] See Habak. 1.16. with the Note.