John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 10:18

Verſ. 18. By much ſlothfulneſs the building decayeth] So doth the Common-wealth, not ſheltered with good Government: For as the houſholder is in his houſe, ſo is the Magiſtrate in the City, and the King in his Dominions. In his palace hee may ſee a pattern of his Kingdome, a draught of his City: Eſpecially if it bee, as George Prince of Anhalts was, Eccleſia, Academia, Curia, a Church, an Univerſity, and a Court.Melch. Ad. in vit. For the better diſpatch of civil buſineſſes, there was daily praying, reading, writing, yea and preaching too, as Melanchthon and Scultetus report. Here was no place for ſloth and ſluggiſhneſſe within this moſt pious Princes Territories.Cant. 1.17 1 Pet. 2. His houſe was built of Cedar-beams, of living-ſtones: his polity a Theocratie, as Joſephus ſaith of the Jewiſh Government: and of his people it might bee ſaid, as Polydor Virgil ſaith of the Engliſh, Regnum Angliae Regnum Dei: O the bleſſedneſſes of ſuch a Country!

And through idleneſs of the hands, the houſe droppeth, &c.] Stillicidia praecedunt ruinam, ſic poenas graviſſimas, leviores, ſaith Hierome. If courſe bee not timely taken, the houſe will run to ruine for want of people or reparation: So will that perſon that takes not warning by lighter puniſhments. Surely as one cloud follows another, till the Sun diſperſeth them: So do judgements; greater ſucceed leſſer, till men meeting God by repentance diſarm his wrath.