John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 10:16

Verſ. 16 Woe to thee O Land, when thy King is a Childe] ſc. In underſtanding, though not in years, ſuch as was Shechem (Gen. 34.19. Neque diſtulit puer) and Rehoboam, 1 King. 14.21. with 2 Chron. 13.7. Solomon was a Childe-King, ſo was Joſiah, Ʋzziah, our Edward the Sixth: and yet it was well with the Land in their dayes.

Hic regum decus & juvenum flos, ſpeſque bonorum, Deliciae ſaecli, & gloria gentis erat.

Acts and Mon.As Cardan ſings of King Edward in his Epitaph. As hee was the higheſt, ſo I verily beleeve hee was the holieſt in the whole Kingdom, ſaith Mr. Ridley Martyr. And whileſt things were carried on by himſelf, in his health time, all went very well here: and ſi per leges fas illi fuiſſet omnia proprio nutu & voluntate regere, if by the Lawes of the Land hee might have done all himſelf, without Officers, all ſhould have been farre better done, ſaith Mr. Cartwright upon this text. By Childe is here therefore meant a weak or wicked King, that lets looſe the golden reigns of Government, is carried by his paſſions, lyeth heavie upon his Subjects: See Eſay 3.6. compared with verſ. 13. Such Princes are threatned as a plague to a people, Levit. 26.17. and they prove no leſſe: this child-hood of theirs is the maturity of their Subjects miſery, the Land it ſelf is woe, and woe it ſelf the Land, as one Expoſitor obſerved from the word [non-Latin text not transcribed] here uſed; which ſignifieth both Woe and Land. See Job 34.30.

And the Princes eat in the morning] As children uſe to call for meat, as ſoon as they have rubbed ſleep out of their eyes. If the King be a Childe, the State-Officers will be looſe and luxurious: yea, like morning Wolves, will devour the prey,Jam. 5.4 and nouriſh themſelves as in a day of ſlaughter. The morning is a time to ſeek God, and ſearch for wiſdome, Prov. 8.17. to ſit in Counſel, and diſpatch buſineſſe, as was Moſes his manner, Exod. 18. and the ancient Romans. Scipio Africanus was wont before day to goe into the Capitol, in cellam ſovis, into Jupiters Chappel, and there to ſtay a great while, quaſiconſultans de republica cum Jove, ſaith Gellius, Lib. 7. cap. 1 as if hee were conſulting with Jupiter, concerning the Weal publick: whence his deeds were pleraque admiranda, admirable for the moſt paſt, ſaith that Heathen Author.