John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 7:10-11

Verſ. 10. Say not thou, What is the cauſe? Granger. &c.] This (ſaith an Interpreter) is the continual complaint of the wicked moody, and the wicked needy. The moody Papiſts would murder all the godly; for they bee Canaanites and Hagarens. The needy prophane would murther all the rich, for they are Lions in the grate. Thus Hee. It is the manner and humour of too many (ſaith another) who would bee thought wiſe,Dr. Jermin. to condemn the times in an impatient diſcontentment againſt them, eſpecially if themſelves do not thrive, or bee not favoured in the times, as they deſire, and as they think they ſhould bee. And theſe malecontents are commonly great Queſtioniſts, What is the cauſe? ſay they, &c. It might bee anſwered, In promptu cauſa eſt, Themſelves are the cauſe; for the times are therefore the worſe, becauſe they are no better. Hard hearts make hard times. But the Preacher anſwers better, Thou doſt not wiſely enquire concerning this, q. d. The Objection is idle, and once to have recited it, is enough to have confuted it. Oh if wee had been in the daies of our Fore-Fathers (ſaid thoſe hypocrites, Matth. 23.30.) great buſineſs would have been done; I, no doubt of it, ſaith our Saviour, when as you fill up the meaſure of your Fathers ſins, and are every whit as good at reſiſting of the Holy Ghoſt, as they were, Act. 7.51. Or if there were any good heretofore more than is now, it may bee ſaid of theſe Wiſe fools, as it was antiently of Demoſthenes, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Plutarch. that he was excellent at praiſing the worthy acts of Anceſtours, not ſo at imitating of them. In all ages of the world, there were complaints of the times, and not altogether without cauſe. Henoch the ſeventh from Adam complained, ſo did Noah, Lot, Moſes, and the Prophets, Chriſt the Arch-Prophet, and all his Apoſtles, the Primitive Fathers and Profeſſors of the truth. The common cry ever was O tempora! O mores! Num Eccleſias ſuat dereliquit Dominus? ſaid Baſil, Hath the Lord utterly left his Church? Is it now the laſt hour? Father Latimer ſaw ſo much wickedneſs in his days, that he thought it could not be, but that Chriſt muſt come to Judgement immediately: like as Elmerius a Monk of Malmesbury from the ſame ground gathered the certainty of Antichriſts preſent reign. What pitiful complaints make Bernard, Bradwardine, Everard Arch-Biſhop of Canterbury (who wrote a Volume called Objurgatorium temporis, the rebuke of the time) Petrarch, Mantuan, Savanarola, &c? In the time of Pope Clement 5. Frederick King of Sicily was ſo farre offended at the ill government of the Church, that he called into queſtion the truth of the Chriſtian Religion, till hee was better reſolved and ſetled in the point by Arnoldus de Villa nova, Rev. de vit. Pont. who ſhewed him, that it was long ſince fore-told of theſe laſt and looſeſt times, that iniquity ſhould abound, that men ſhould bee proud, lewd, heady, high-minded, &c. 1 Tim. 4.1. & 2 Tim. 3.1, 2, 3, 4. Lay aſide therefore theſe frivolous enquiries, and diſcontented cryings out againſt the times, which (in ſome ſenſe) reflect upon God the Author of times (for can there be evil in an Age, and hee hath not done it?) and bleſſing God for our Goſpel-priviledges, (which indeed ſhould drown all our diſcontents) let every one mend one, and then let the world run its circuits, take its courſe, Vadat mundus quo vult: nam vult vadere quo vult, ſaith Luther bluntly, Let the world goe which way it will: for it will goe which way it will: The thing that hath been is that which ſhall be,Hieronym. &c. Eccleſ. 2.9, 10. Tu ſic debes vivere, ut ſemper praeſentes dies meliores tibi ſinc quum praeteriti, ſaith a Father, Thou ſhouldeſt ſo live, that thy laſt dayes may be thy beſt dayes, and the time preſent better to thee, than the by-paſt was to thoſe that then lived.

Ʋtilior eſt ſapientia cum divitiis: So the Septu. here. In vit.Verſ. 11. Wiſdome is good with an inheritance] So is it without it: but not ſo good, becauſe wealth is both an ornament, an inſtrument, and an encouragement to wiſdome. Ariſtides (ſaith Plutarch) ſlandered and made juſtice odious by his poverty: as if it were a thing that made men poor, and were more profitable to others, than to himſelf that uſeth it. God will not have wealth always entailed to wiſdome, that wiſdome may bee admired for it ſelf; and that it may appear, that the love and ſervice of the Saints is not mercenary and meretricious. But godlineſs hath the promiſes of both lives. And the righteous ſhall leave inheritance to his childrens children. Or if he doe not ſo, yet he ſhall leave them a better thing: for by wiſdome (abſtracted from wealth) there is profit, 1 Cor. 12.31 or, it is more excellent or better (as the Hebrew word ſignifies) as the Apoſtle in another caſe, And yet ſhew I you a more excellent way, viz. that graces are better than gifts: So here, that wiſdome is better than wealth. And if Jacob may ſee his children the work of Gods hands, framed and fitted by the word of Gods grace (the wiſdome of God in a myſtery) this would better preſerve him from confuſion,Pſal. 45. and his face from waxing pale, than if hee could make his children Princes in all lands; yea, this will make him to ſanctifie Gods name, yea, to ſanctifie the Holy One, and with ſingular encouragement from the God of Iſrael, Eſay 29.22, 23.