John Trapp on Haggai 1:4

Verſe 4. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houſes, &c.] Not covered onely, but cieled with cedar, (as the Chaldee here hath it) arched and garniſhed, as the Greek, carved and trimmed, as Ambroſe rendreth it. Sure,Lib. 3. epiſt. 12. either your beds are very ſoft, or your hearts very hard, that you can, not onely come into the tabernacles of your houſes, but give ſleep to your eyes, Pſal. 132.4, 5. or ſlumber to your eyelids. Before ye have found a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Good David, could not finde in his heart to dwell in an houſe of Cedar, when the Ark of God dwelt within curtains, 2 Sam. 7.2. Valiant Ʋriah, deemed it altogether unfit and unreaſonable, that when the Ark, and Iſrael, and Judah abode in tents, he ſhould goe to his houſe to eat, and drink, and to take his eaſe and pleaſure, 2 Sam. 11.11. Solomon firſt built an houſe for God, and then for himſelf. The Chriſtian Emperours, Conſtantine, Theodoſius, Honorius, &c. exceeded in building Churches,Turk. hiſt. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Herodet. which, from their ſtatelineſſe were ſtiled Baſilica, or places for a King. The very Turks at this day, though content to dwell in mean and homely houſes, yet their Moſchees or Meeting-houſes, are very ſumptuouſly built, and ſet forth. It is a principle in Nature, that the things of God are elder, and more to bee reſpected then the things of men. A profeſſor of the Turks law proclaims, before they attempt any thing, that nothing be done againſt religion. This is better then that which was written over the gate of the Senate-houſe in Rome (which yet is not to be diſliked, in its place and order) Ne quid detrimenti Reſp. capiat. Give unto Caeſar the things that are Caeſars: but with all and above all, Give unto God the things that are Gods: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Mat. 22.21. The Greek article is twice repeated by our Saviour, when he ſpeaketh for God, more then when for Caeſar: to ſhew, that our ſpecial care ſhould be, to give God his due, to ſeek firſt the kingdome of God and his righteouſneſſe, and then all other things ſhall ſeek us. Cicero. Caetera aut aderunt, aut caetera non oberunt. But moſt people are ſo buſied about their own houſes, their cottaeges of clay, the body, that Gods houſe,2 Cor. 5.1. the ſoul lies waſt and neglected: the lean kine eat up the fat: the ſtrength of the ground is ſpent in nouriſhing weeds. Earthly mindedneſſe ſucketh the ſap of grace from the heart, as the Ivy doth from the Oake, and maketh it unfruitfull. Men are ſo taken up about the world, that they think not on Gods kingdome: as the Duke of Alva told the French king,Fren. Hiſt. who asked him whether he had obſerved the late great Eclipſe? No, ſaid he, I have ſo much to doe upon earth, that I have no leiſure to look toward heaven. But is not one thing neceſſary, and all other but by-buſineſſes? And have we not in our dayly prayer, five petitions for ſpirituals, and but one for temporals? Are we not taught to make it our firſt requeſt, that Gods name may be hallowed, though our turnes ſhould not be ſerved? Is not Eſau ſtigmatized for ſelling his birth-right, for a meſſe of broth? And is not Shemei chronicled for a foole,Heb. 12.16. who, by ſeeking after his ſervants, loſt his life? Pope Sixtus for a mad man, that ſold his ſoul to the devil, to enjoy the Popedome for ſeven years? what ſhall it profit a man to win the world and loſe his own ſoul? to win Venice, and then be hanged at the gates thereof, as the Italian proverb hath it? Surely ſuch a mans loſſe will be 1.Mat. 16. Incomparable, 2. Irreparable: for what ſhall a man give in exchange of his ſoul? It was no evill counſel, that was given to John the third, King of Portugal, to meditate every day a quarter of an hour on that divine ſentence. It would be time well ſpent to ponder as oft and as long together on this Text, Is it time for you, O ye, that are ſo ſharp ſet upon the world, ſo wholly taken up about your private profits, your pleaſures and preferments, to ſit in your ceiled houſes, as Ahab once did in his ivory Palace, or Nebuchadnezzar in his houſe of the kingdome (as he vain-gloriouſly calleth it, Dan. 4.30.) and Gods houſe lie waſte, and his ſervice neglected, to whom we owe our ſelves, 1 Cor. 6.19. our lives Mat. 16.25. our parents, children, friends, means Mat. 19.29. our gifts and abilities, 1 Cor. 4.7. our honours and offices, Pſal. 2.10, 11, 12. all that we are, and have? How juſtly may God curſe our bleſſings, Job 16.15.16.18, 21. 1 Cor. 12.21. (as he threateneth theſe ſelfe-ſeeking, God-neglecting Jews both here, and Mal. 2.2.) ſcatter brimſtone upon our houſes, drp up our roots beneath, and above, cut off our branches, drive us from light into darkneſſe, and chaſe us out of the world with his terrours. Col. 3.2. Phil. 2.21. Surely ſuch are the (ceiled) dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God, that inverteth the order appointed of him, by coveting, not the beſt guiſts, but an evil covetouſneſſe, Hab. 2.9. by ſetting his affections, not on things above, but on things on the earth, by ſeeking their own things, every man, and not the things of Jeſus Chriſt.