John Trapp on Proverbs 14:34

Verſ. 34. Righteouſneſs exalteth a Nation] True Religion and the power of godlineſs is the beauty and bulwark of a State: So are good Laws enacted and executed.Deut. 28.13. This made the faithful City (Iſa. 1.21.) to bee the Princeſs of Provinces, Lam. 1.1. that land, a land of deſire, an heritage of glory, Jer. 3.19. even the glory of all Nations, Ezek. 20.6. Joſephus calls that Commonwealth, [non-Latin text not transcribed], and Prospers conceit is, that Judae[illegible: 1 letter] were ſo called, becauſe they received jus Dei. It was ſaid of old, Angli quaſi Angeli, and Anglia regnum Dei. England was called the Kingdome of God; and Albion quaſi Olbion, Polyd. Virg. a happy Country, the Paradiſe of pleaſure, and Garden of God. Now the Lord is with us, while wee are with him, &c. But if wee caſt off the yoke of his obedience, as Capernaum, though lifted up to heaven, wee ſhall bee brought down to hell. Sins are the Snuffes that dim our Candleſtick, and threaten the removal of it: The leven that defiles our Paſſeovers, and urges God to paſs away and depart from us; The reproach that will render us a Proverb and a by-word, Deut. 28. an aſtoniſhment and an hiſſing, Jer. 25.9. like Sodome and her ſiſters, a reproach and a taunt, Ezek, 5.15. which to prevent,Iſidor. Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat ſententia. Mittamus preces & lachrymas cordis legatos. Cyprian. Let us break off our ſins, and cry mightily to God; For otherwiſe a diſmal change, a ſad removal of our Candleſtick may bee as certainly foreſeen, and foretold, as if viſions and letters were ſent us from heaven, as once to thoſe ſeven Churches of Aſia, Rev. 2. & 3.