John Trapp on Proverbs 21:1

CHAP. XXI. Verſ 1. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord]

BEE Kings never ſo abſolute, and unaccountable to any, yet are they ruled and over-ruled by Him that is higher than the higheſt, Eccleſ. 5.8. Gods heart is not in the Kings hand, as that fooliſh Prince in Mexico pretends, when at his Coronation he ſwears that it ſhall not rain unſeaſonably, neither ſhall there be Famine or Peſtilence during his Reign in his Dominions: but the Kings heart, that is, his will, deſires, devices, reſolutions, are Gods to diſpoſe of; he turneth them this way or that way, with as much eaſe as the Plowman doth the water-courſe with his paddle, or the Gardiner with his hand. Thus he turned the heart of Pharaoh to Joſeph, of Saul to David, of Nebuchadnezzar to Jeremy, of Darius to Daniel, of Cyrus (and afterwards of Alexander the great) to the Jewes, of ſome of the Roman Perſecutors to the Primitive Chriſtians, and of Charls the fifth (who ruled over twenty eight flouriſhing Kingdoms) to the late Reformers, Melanchthon, Pomeran, and other famous men of God: whom when he had in his power (after hee had conquered the Proteſtant Princes) he not only determined not any thing extreamly againſt them,Act. & Mon. fol. 1784. but alſo intreating them gently, he ſent them away, not ſo much as once forbidding them to publiſh openly the Doctrine that they profeſſed: albeit all Chriſtendome had not a more prudent Prince than he was (ſaith Mr. Fox) nor the Church of Chriſt almoſt a ſorer enemy.