John Trapp on Job 29:24

Verſe 24. If I laughed on them, they beleeved it not] They took it for a great favour, and could hardly think that I would grace them ſo far as to ſmile upon them, or jeſt with them: which if I did at any time, they were over-joyed.Eccleſ. 10.19. Prov. 29.9. De Orat. lib. 2. Ingeni fractus tenniſſimus eſt riſus, ſaith Tully. To break a jeſt is no ſuch witty thing, as men conceit it. Howbeit, an harmleſs jeſt (that hath nothing in it which may juſtly grieve or offend another) may very well conſiſt with Piety and Chriſtian gravity, whatever ſome ſowre Anabaptiſts have held to the contrary. Jocularity indeed and ſcurrility are flatly forbidden; and reckoned among thoſe [non-Latin text not transcribed], things that conduce not to the main end of our lives, Epheſ. 5 4. But Socrates would be very merry when he liked his company; yet ſo as that his mirth ſhould be ſome way profitable, ſaith Xenophon. And Eraſmus did the Papiſts more prejudice by his jeſting, ſaith a grave Author, than Luther did by his ſtomaching and ſtorming.Lib 4 de dic. & fact. Socr. Good mens jeſts ſhould have ſomething in them of ſeriouſneſs and uſefulneſs. All their ſpeeches ſhould be ſeaſoned with falt of grace: and in the midſt of their recreations they ſhould ſhew, that their beſt affections are upon better things. Great care muſt be taken, that too much familiarity with thoſe below us, breed not contempt; which ſome think is meant by the next clauſe, And the light of my countenance they caſt not down; Or, Tet the light, &c. that is, they did not ſlight me becauſe of this familiar carriage; they did not therefore count me ridiculous and vain: as men did that Rodulphus the 35. Archbiſhop of Canterbury that ſucceeded Anſelm; whom for his jeſting and merry toyes,Godw. Catalog. p. 82. unbeſeeming the gravity of his age and place, they ſirnamed, or rather nick-named, Nugax, the Triſter: Sed authoritatem m[illegible: 1 letter]am non ſpernehant, nihilominùs me reverebantur; Vatab. They deſpiſed not mine authority; they reverenced me no whit the leſs: but rather they took care that nothing might be done whereby of merry I might be made ſad: they cheriſhed this ſigne of complacency in me as a rare thing, and ſo much the more accepted, as leſs expected and unuſual: neither would they be ſo bold and ſo bob with me, as to return me jeſt for jeſt, as if I had been their compeer, and hail fellow well met. One Paraphraſt ſenſeth the whole verſe thus; If I by my ſmiles gave any intimation of any report or buſineſs,Mr. Abbot. it was preſently diſtruſted and diſſented from of all the reſt. And on the other hand; my leaſt countenance or ſhew of approbation to any cauſe was obſerved of others, as a rule to go by. He goes on to give the meaning of the next words thus: