John Trapp on Proverbs 25:5

Verſ. 5. Take away the wicked] Who are compared elſewhere alſo to droſs, Ezek. 22.19. and fitly: for as droſs is a kind of unprofitable earth, and hath no good metal in it; ſo in the wicked is no good to be found but pride, worldlineſs, &c. Forbiſher in his voyage to diſcover the Straits, being toſſed up and down with foul weather, ſnows, and unconſtant winds, returned home, having gathered a great quantity of ſtones, which he thought to be minerals, from which when there could be drawn neither gold nor ſilver, nor any other metal, we have ſeen them (ſaith Maſter Camden) caſt forth to mend the high ways. Evill Counſellours about a Prince,Camd. Eliſah. fol. 189. are means of a great deal of miſchief, as were Do[illegible: 1 letter]g, Haman, Rheoboams and Herods flatterers, Pharoahs ſorcerers, &c. Of a certain Prince of Germany it was ſaid, Eſſet alius, ſi eſſet apud alios; He would be another man, if he were but amongſt other men. Say they be not ſo droſſie, but that ſome good oar is to be found in them, yet all is not good that hath ſome good in it. It is Scaligers Note, Malum non eſt niſi in bono. The original nature of the Devil is good, wherein all his wickedneſs ſubſiſteth. When one highly commended the Cardinal Julian to Sigiſmund; hee anſwered, Tamen Romanus eſt, yet he is a Roman, and therefore not to bee truſted. Thoſe Cardinals and Popiſh Biſhops being much about Princes, have greatly impoyſoned them, and hindered the Reformation. Zuinglius fitly compares them to that wakeful Dragon that kept the golden fleece, as the Poets have feigned. They get the royalty of their ear, and then doe with them whatſoever they liſt. David therefore vows, as a good Finer, to quit the Court of ſuch droſſe, Pſal. 101.4. and gives order upon his death-bed to his Son Salomon, to take out of the way thoſe men of bloud, 1 King. 1. that his throne might be eſtabliſhed in righteouſneſſe.