John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 7:1

CHAP. VII. Verſ. 1. A good name is better than precious ointment.

YEa, than great riches, Prov. 22.1. See the Note. The initial letter of the Hebrew word for Good here, is bigger than ordinary;& Majuſculum. to ſhew the more than ordinary excellency of a good name and fame amongſt men. If whatſoever David doth doth pleaſe the people,Rom. 1.2 if Mary Magdalens coſt upon Chriſt bee well ſpoken of in all the Churches, if the Romans Faith bee famous throughout the whole world, if Demetrius have a good report of all good men, and St. John ſet his ſeal to it: this muſt needs bee better than precious ointments; the one being but a perfume of the noſtrils, the other of the heart: Sweet ointment, olfactum afficit, ſpiritum reficit, cerebrum juvat, affects the ſmell, refreſheth the ſpirit, comforts the brain: A good name doth all this and more. For,

Firſt, As a fragrant ſcent, it affects the ſoul, amidſt the ſtench of evil [illegible: 2 pages] courſes and companies: It is as a freſh gale of ſweet air to him that lives (as Noah did) among ſuch as are no better than walking dunghills, and living ſepulchres of themſelves, ſtinking much more worſe than Lazarus did, after hee had lain four daies in the grave. A good name preſerveth the ſoul as a Pomander, and refreſheth it more than musk or civil doth the body.

Secondly, It comforts the conſcience, and exhilatates the heart; cheers up the mind amidſt all diſcouragements, and fatteth the bones, Prov. 15.30. doing a man good, like a medicine. And whereas ſweet ointments may bee corrupted by dead flies, a good name, proceeding from a good conſcience, cannot bee ſo. Fly blown it may bee for a ſeaſon, and ſomewhat obſcured: but as the Moon wades out of a cloud, ſo ſhall the Saints innocency break forth as the light, and their righteouſneſs as the noon-day, Pſal. 37.6. Buried it may beee in the open ſepulchres of evil throats, but it ſhall ſurely riſe again: A Reſurrection there ſhall bee of names, as well as of bodies at the laſt day, at utmoſt. But uſually a good name comforts a Chriſtian at his death, and continues after it. For though the name of the wicked ſhall rot, his lamp ſhall bee put out in obſcurity, and leave a vile ſnuff behinde it, yet the righteous ſhall bee had in everlaſting remembrance, they ſhall leave their names for a bleſſing, Iſa. 65.15.

And the day of death, than the day of ones birth] The Greeks call a mans birth-day, [non-Latin text not transcribed], the beginning of his Nativity, they call the begetting of his miſery. Man that is born of a woman, is born to trouble, ſaith Job, chap. 14.1. The word there rendred Born, ſignifieth alſo generated or conceived: to note that man is miſerable, even ſo ſoon as hee is warm in the womb, as David hath it, Pſal. 51.5. If hee lives to ſee the light, hee comes crying into the world,Ad Marc. cap. 11. a flet is vitam anſpicatur, ſaith Seneca: Inſomuch as the Lawyers defined [illegible: 1 word] by crying, and a ſtill-born childe is all one as dead in Law. Onely Zo[illegible: 2 letters]ſta[illegible: 1 letter] is ſaid to have been born laughing; but that laughter was both monſtrous and ominous.Juſtin. lib. 1. For hee firſt found out the black Art, which yet profited him not ſo far as to the vain felicity of this preſent life. For being King) of the Bactrians, hee was overcome and ſlain in battel by Ninus King of the Aſſyrians. St. Auſtin, who relates this ſtory, ſaith of mans firſt entrance into the world, Nondum loquitur, & tamen prophetat, Ere ever a childe ſpeaks, hee propheſies, by his tears, of his enſuing ſorrows. Nec prius natus, quam damnat no, No ſooner is hee born, but hee is condemned to the Mines or Gallies as it were of ſin and ſuffering. Hence Solomon here prefers his Coffin before his Cradle. And there was ſome truth in that ſaying of the Heathen, Optimum eſt non naſci, proximum quam celorrime mori. For wicked men it had been beſt not to have been born, or being born, to dye quickly; ſith by living long they heap up firſt ſin, and then wrath againſt the day of wrath. As for good men, there is no doubt but the day of death is beſt to them, becauſe it is the day-break of Eternal Righteouſneſs: and after a ſhort brightneſs, as that Martyr ſaid, gives them, Malorum ademptionem, bonorum ademptionem, freedome from all evil, fruition of all good. Hence the antient Fathers called thoſe daies wherein the Martyrs ſuffered, their birth-daies; becauſe then they began to live indeed: ſith here to live is but to lye a dying. Eternal life is the onely true life, ſaith Auſtin.