John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 8:4

Verſ. 4. Where the word of a King is, there is power] Ibi dominatio. Hee hath long hands, and can reach thee at a great diſtance; as Mithridates did when with one letter he ſlew fourſcore thouſand Citizens of Rome, Val. Max. lib. 9 that were ſcattered up and down his Kingdome for Trading-ſake. So Selimus the Great Turk, Turk. hist. fol. 885 in revenge of the loſs received at the battel of Lepanto, was once in a minde to have put to death all the Chriſtians in his Dominions, in number infinite. Charls the Ninth of France, is reported to have been the death of thirty thouſand of his Proteſtant Subjects in one years ſpace, Anno 1572. See Dan. 5.19.

And who may ſay unto him, What doſt thou] viz. Without danger. What ſafety can there bee in taking a Bear by the tooth, or a Lion by the beard? I dare not diſpute (ſaid the Philoſopher to the Emperour Adrian) with him that hath thirty Legions at his command, Neque in cum ſcribere, qui poteſt proſcribere, Praeſcus praeſentem Pontiſicem redarguit, & Polycraticon conſcripſit. Jac. Rev. 145. nor write againſt him that can as eaſily undo mee, as bid it to be done. How be it Elias, Micaiah, John Baptiſt, and other holy Prophets and Miniſters have dealt plainly with great Princes, and God hath ſecured them. John Biſhop of Salisbury reproved the Pope to his face: and yet the Canoniſts ſay, that although the Pope ſhould draw millions of ſouls to Hell with him, none may dare to ſay unto him, What doſt thou? But Philip the Fair made bold with his Holineſs, when hee began his letter to him with Sciat Fatuitas Tua, &c. So did the Barons of England in King John's daies,Marcidi Ribaldi. Walſing. Epit. hiſt. Gallic. p. 30. Godw. Catal. when declaring againſt the Pope and his Conclave (by whom they were excommunicated) they cried out thus in their Remonſtrance, Fy on ſuch raſcal ribals, &c. Adelmelect Biſhop of Sherborn, Anno 705. reproved Pope Sergius ſharply to his face, for his Adultery. So did Biſhop Lambert reprehend King Pepin for the ſame fault, Anno 798. And Archbiſhop Odo, King Edwin; burning his Concubines in the fore-head with an hot Iron, and baniſhing them into Ireland. Father Latimer dealt no leſs faithfully with King Henry the Eighth in his Sermons at Court. And being asked by the King how hee durſt bee ſo bold to preach after that manner? hee anſwered, that duty to God, and to his Prince had enforced him to it: and now that hee had diſcharged his conſcience, his life was in his Majeſties hands, &c. Truth muſt bee ſpoken however it be taken. If Gods Meſſengers muſt be mannerly in the form, yet in the matter of their meſſage to Great ones they muſt bee reſolute. It is probable that Joſeph uſed ſome kinde of Preface to Pharaoh's Baker in reading him that hard deſtiny,Dan. 4.19 Gen. 40.19. Such likely as was that of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, My Lord, the Dream bee to them that hate thee, &c. or as Philo brings him in with an Utinam tale ſomnium non vidiſſes, &c. But for the matter, hee gives him a ſound, though ſharp interpretation.