John Trapp on Micah 7:5

Verſe. 5. Truſt ye not in a friend] Friends (ſaid Socrates) there is no friend: And a friend is a changeable creature, ſaith Another: all in changeable colours as the Peacock, as often changed as moved. Beſides, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. many friends are not more fickle then falſe, like deep ponds, cleer at the top, and all muddy at the bottome. Fide ergo: ſed cui vide. Try before you truſt: and when you have tried your utmoſt, truſt not over-farre, leſt you cry out at length, as Queen Elizabeth did, In truſt I have found treaſon: or as Julius Caefar, when ſtabb'd by Brutus among others, What thou my ſonne Brutus? He was ſlain in the Senate-houſe, with 23. wounds, given (moſt part) by them whoſe lives he had preſerved.

Put ye not confidence in a guide] Potenti & pollenti conſilio & auxilio. Tarnou. Be he never ſo potent, or politick, beyond thouſand others, as the word importeth: and as the people ſaid to David, But now thou art worth ten thouſand of us, 2 Sam. 18.3. thou art the light of Iſrael, thou art the breath of our noſtrils: ſo that if thou miſtary, we ſhall all breath out our laſt. All which notwithſtanding, Princes are not to be truſted, Pſal. 62.7. and 118.8, 9. and 146.3. for either they may die, or their affections may die; all their golden thoughts may periſh. Great mens words, ſaith One, are like dead mens ſhooes: hee may go bare-foot that waiteth for them.

Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy boſom] from thy wife, thine [non-Latin text not transcribed], called the wife of thy boſome, becauſe ſhe ſhould be as dear unto thee as the heart in thy boſom. Be not too open-hearted to her, leſt ſhe tell all, as Sampſons wife: or as Fulvia in Saluſt, who declared all the ſecrets of Cncius, In bell. Catilinar. a noble Roman, her fooliſh lover. A fool telleth all, ſaith Solomon, Prov. 29.11. he is as little able to keep, as to give counſel. He is full of chinks, and leaks every way: the doors of his mouth are ſeldome kept ſhut: you may know him by his gaping: fools are called by Ariſtophanes, and Lucian, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Gapers. but a wiſe man keepeth it in till afterwards, Prov. 29.11. Tacitus he holds to be the beſt Hiſtorian: and keeps his mouth with a bridle as David did, Pſal. 39. and as the Poets fain of Pegaſus, that he had a golden bridle put upon him by Minerva, their goddeſſe of Wiſdome. God and Nature have taught us by the ſite of the tongue in a mans mouth to take heed to it, and to keep the doors of it: and when all's done, to pray God to keep that door, Pſal. 141.3. The tongue is ever in udo, in a moiſture: but yet tied by the roots, that it may not ſtirre out of place; It is alſo guarded with a percullis of teeth, and a two-leaved gate of lips, which we muſt carefully keep, and hold that for an Oracle, Si ſapis, arcano vina recende cado.