John Trapp on Matthew 3:4

Verse 4. And the same Iohn had his raiment of Camels hair.] Bradford. Sutable to Elias (in whose spirit and power he came) who wasEphes. 5. 15. thus habited. So those worthies, of whom the world was not worthy, wandered about in [illegible: 1 word]-[illegible: 1 word] and Goat-[illegible: 1 word]: but theyHeb. 11. 37. were like the Ark, without, covered with Goats-hair, within,Saepe sub [illegible: 1 word] latitat sapientia [illegible: 1 word]. all of pure gold. God cloathed our first parents in leather, when there was means of better cloathing, to humble them, [illegible: 1 word]:Vestes sunt peccati testes. and to shame all such as are proud of their cloathes, which are the ensigns of our shame, and came in with sin, as it's [illegible: 1 word].Vestium curiofit as deformitatis mentium & morum indiciū est. Bern. And a leathern girdle about his [illegible: 1 word].] So had Elias, and God takes notice of it, and records it: when the pomp and pride of many Monarchs lie hid in obscurity, buried in oblivion. Such love beareth the Lord to his people, that every thing in them is remarked and registred. He thinks the better of the very ground they goe upon, Psal. 87. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. their walls are ever in his sight, and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell, Isa. 40. 16. And his meat was locusts.] These creatures have their name in [non-Latin text not transcribed] Greek from the top of the ears of [illegible: 1 word], which, as they fled, they sed upon. That they were mans meat in those Eastern Countries appears, Levit. 11. 22. and Pliny testifieth as much. Course meat Lib. 11. cap [illegible: 2 words]. Hieron. in ep. they were: but nature is content with little, grace with lesse. Cibus & potus sunt divitiae Christianorum, saith that Father.Greenham. [illegible: 1 word] and water with the Gospel are good chear, saith another.Horat. Opponit panem libis & placent is, lib. 1. epist. 10. [illegible: 1 word] Saviour hath taught us to pray for bread, not for manchet [illegible: 1 word] junkets, but down right houshold bread: and himself gave thanks for barley-bread and broiled fishes. A little of the creature will serve turn to carry thee thorow thy pilgrimage. One told aAdulator est qui [illegible: 2 words]. Becman. Philosopher, If you will be content to please Dionysius, you need not feed upon green herbs. He replied, And if you can feed upon green herbs, you need not please Dionysius; you need not flatter, Holus ab [non-Latin text not transcribed]. comply, be base, &c. The Ancients held green herbs to be goodPrisci [illegible: 2 words] obsonij sibi deesse [illegible: 2 words] deesset [illegible: 1 word]. chear: and accounted it wealth enough, [non-Latin text not transcribed], not to be [illegible: 1 word], nor cold, saith [illegible: 1 word]. But what [illegible: 1 word] were [illegible: 1 word] Jews that for [non-Latin text not transcribed], locusts, read [non-Latin text not transcribed], sweetmeats, as Epiphanius noteth against the Ebionites. The best, we see, are liable to be belied. And wilde honey,] Such as naturally distilled out of trees; as did that which Jonathan tasted with the tip of his rod, called honey of the wood, 1 Sam 14. 27. God made [illegible: 1 word] suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, Deut. 32. 13. Hence Iudea was called, Sumen totius orbis. And Strabo, that spitefully [illegible: 1 word]. affirmeth it to be a dry, barren countrey, had not so much ingenuity Lib. 16. as that railing Rabshakeh, 2 King. 18. 32.