John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 7:5

Verſ. 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wiſe] Sharp truth takes better with an honeſt heart, than a ſmooth ſupparaſitation. Seneca compares flattery to a ſong or ſymphony: but it is a Syrens ſong, and our ears muſt bee ſtopt to it: for like the poiſon of Aſps, it caſts one into a ſleep, but that ſleep is deadly. Thoſe that had the Sudor Anglicus or ſweating ſickneſs, died aſſuredly, if ſuffered to ſleep: thoſe then were their beſt friends that kept them waking, though haply they had no thank for it: So are wiſe and merciful reprovers. Faithful are theſe wounds of a friend, Prov. 7.26. See the Note there. David was full glad of them, Pſal. 141.5. So was Gerſon, who never took any thing more kindly (ſaith hee that writes his life) than to bee plainly dealt with. The Bee can ſuck ſweet hony out of bitter Thyme, yea out of poiſonous Hemlock: So can a wiſe man make benefit of his friends, nay of his enemies. It is good to have friends, (as the Oratour ſaid of Judges) modo audeant quo ſentiunt, ſo they dare deal freely: this an enemy will do for ſpite; and malice, though it bee an ill Judge, yet is a good Informer. Auſtin in an Epiſtle to Hierome, approves well of him that ſaid, there is more good to bee gotten by enemies railing, than friends flattering. Theſe ſing Satans lullaby, ſuch as caſts into a dead lethargy; and ſhould therefore bee ſerved as Alexander the Great ſerved a certain Philoſopher whom hee chaſed out of his preſence, and gave this reaſon, becauſe hee had lived long with him, and never reproved any vice in him, Or as the ſame Alexander dealt by Ariſtobulus the falſe Hiſtorian, who had written a book of his Noble Acts, and had magnified them beyond truth, hoping thereby to ingratiate and curry favour: Alexander having read the book, caſt it into the River Hydaſpes, Curt. and told the Author, it were a good deed to throw him after, Qui ſolus me ſic pugnantem facis.