John Trapp on Job 11:12

Verſe 12. For vain man would be wiſe] Heb. Hollow man, that is, as void of grace, as an hollow tree is of heart of oak. Would be wiſe.] Heb. would be hearty, [illegible: 1 letter]gregiè cordatus home, there is an elegancy in the Original that cannot be Engliſhed. Wilt thou know, O vain man, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. ſaith St. James chap. 2.20. The Greek is, thou empty man, thou that haſt nothing in thee, and yet art highly conceited: thou that art (Ephraim-like) a ſilly dove without an heart, Hoſ. 7.11. and yet in ſuperbiam erect[illegible: 2 letters] (as the Vulgar here hath it) raiſed up to pride: that little knowledge he hath, puffeth him up, 1 Cor. 8.1. So hollows-like is the natural ſoul, or rather ſo bladder-like, like, that filled with earthly vanities, it growes great, and ſwelleth in pride: but prick'd with the leaſt pin of piercing grief, it ſhriveleth to nothing. The Prophet Iſaiah fitly compareth it to a bul-ruſh, chap. 58.5. the colour whereof is freſh, the skin ſmooth: but if you pill it, what is under but a kind of ſpongious, unſubſtantial ſubſtance, of no uſe in the world worth the ſpeaking of? Formalliſts and pretenders to holineſſe, are flat nothing, worſe then nothing, iniquity, Matth. 23.28.

Though man he born as a wilde aſſes colt] Take him in his pure naturals, he is no wiſer;Eph. 4. created he was in Gods image, which conſiſted in knowledg, righteouſneſſe and holineſſe: knowledg in his underſtanding, rightneſſe or ſtraightneſſe in his will, and holineſſe in his affections. But ſince the fall, all this is loſt and gone quite: he hath principium laeſum, neither can he know the things of God, no though he be [non-Latin text not transcribed], a ſouly man, one that doth excolere animam, ſuch as Tully and Aristotle: yet is he in ſpirituals, as blind as a beetle, a meer aſſe-colt: a colt is none of the wiſeſt creature, much leſſe an aſſe-colt, leaſt of all a wilde aſſe-colt; and yet ſuch is man, ſenſual man, Judg. 19. ſapleſſe man, Pſalm 14.1. he is as an aſſes foale for rudeneſſe, a wilde aſſes for unrulineſſe, untamed, and untractable. Surely, as a wilde aſſe-colt, (ſaith Gregory upon this text) not uſed to the yoak, runneth up and down the large fields and woods at his pleaſure, and when he is weary, lieth down, and thus doth from day to day: So man by nature is licentious, running as his luſts carry him, to all manner of ſin, and giveth not overrunning till he is weary: he will not be held in by any reins, or kept to do the work he ſhould by any yoak which the Lord by teaching ſeeks to put upon him. Surely (ſaith another) God is fain to deal with ſuch,Marbury. as men do with frisking jades in a paſture, that cannot take them up, till they get them to a gate:Theatr. hiſt. pag 127.128. ſo till the hour of death &c. Thomas Blaverus chief counſellour ſometime to the King of Scots, believed not that there was God or divel, heaven or hell, till he came to die, and then cryed out, he was damned: ſo alſo died one Arthur Miller: Sword againſt ſwear. pag. 34. Hiſt. of world. and before him, a deſperate Dean of Pauls. When death comes (ſaith Sir Walter Raleigh) which hates and deſtroys men, that is believed. But God that loveth and maketh men, he is not regarded. O eloquent death! O mighty death! whom none could adviſe, thou art able to perſwade &c.