John Trapp on Proverbs 16:27

Verſ. 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil] i. e. Hee ranſacketh and raketh out of the duſt, out of the dunghil, ſuch old evils as have long lain hid, to lay in the Saints diſhes, and to upbraid them with. Thus the Manichees dealt by Auſtin, when they could not anſwer his Arguments, they hit him in the teeth with his youthful follies; whereunto his reply was onely this, Quae vos reprehenditis, ego damnavi. What you diſcommend in mee, I have long ſince condemned. The malicious Papiſts did the like to Reverend Beza, reprinting his Wit-wanton Poems (put forth in his youth) on purpoſe to deſpite him; and objecting to him his former miſcarriages which hee had ſorely repented. This when one of them did with great bitterneſſe, all the anſwer hee had, was, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Chriſti. This man envies mee the Grace of Jeſus Chriſt. Neither dealt Aaron and Miriam much more gently with their Brother Moſes, Numb. 12.1. when they ſpake againſt him, becauſe of the Ethiopian woman, whom hee had married. Who was this Ethiopian woman, but Zipporah? (for an Ethiopian and a Midianite are all one.) And when did hee marry her? many a year ago, Exod. 2. But they were reſolved to pick a hole in Moſes coat; and having nothing elſe to faſten on, they digge up this evil, and throw it as dirt in his face.

In his lips there is a burning fire] The tongue (in its ſhape and colour) reſembleth a flame of fire. It is oft ſet on fire of Hell,James 3. and it ſelf ſetteth on fire the whole courſe of nature. Their breath, as fire, ſhall devoure you, Iſa. 33.10. as the fire of Aetna devoured Empedocles, that would needs go too near it. But what ſhall bee given unto thee, or what ſhall bee done unto thee thou falſe tongue? (falſe, though thou ſpeak the truth, if with a minde to do miſchief:) Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of Juniper, yea that very fire of Hell from whence thou waſt enkindled, Pſal. 120.3, 4.