John Trapp on Proverbs 28:1

CHAP. XXVIII. Verſ. 1. The wicked fly when none purſueth.]

NOne but their own Conſciences; Facti ſunt à corde ſuo fugitivi, as Tertullian hath it. Such a fearful Fugitive was bloudy Cain, who cried out, when there were yet few or none to purſue him,Gen. 4. Joſh. 24.12 Every man that meets me, ſhall kill me. Such were thoſe curſed Canaanites, that were chaſed by Gods Hornet ſent amongſt them, that is, by the bloud-hounds of their own conſciences. Such were thoſe Syrians, that ſtruck with a Panick terrour, fled for their lives, and left their rich Camp for a booty to the Iſraelites, Deut. 28. 2 King. 7.7. The ſhadow of the Mountains ſeemed armed men to guilty Gaal. Judg. 9.36. The Burgundians expecting a battel, thought long thiſtles were launces. God ſends a faintneſſe into the hearts of the wicked, and the ſound of a ſhaken leaf frights them. In Arithmetick, of nothing comes nothing, yet they fear where no fear is: As Cardinal Creſcentius feared a fancied devil walking in his Chamber like a great Maſtiff,Act. & Mon. and couching under his table as he was writing Letters to Rome againſt the Proteſtants: As Richard the third thought he ſaw in his ſleep divers Images like terrible Devils,Polyd. Virgil. pulling and haling at him, after he had, Joab-like, ſlain two men more righteous than him, his two innocent Nephews: As Charls the ninth of France, Thuan. after the cruel Maſſacre, could neither ſleep nor wake without Muſick to divert his ſelf-accuſing thoughts; ſo hotly was hee haunted and followed with the furies of his own Conſcience: As the Spaniſh Fleet in eighty eight, Venit, vidit, fugit, as the Zelanders thereupon ſtamped their new coyn.Carltons Remembrancer. Speed. 1206. The Hollanders alſo ſtamped new monies with this invincible Armado (as the Spaniards in their pride had ſtiled it) having this Motto, Impius fugit, nemine ſequente, The wicked fly when no man purſueth. I pitty the loſſe of their ſouls (ſaith a reverend man) that ſerve themſelves as the Jeſuite in Lancaſhire, followed by one that found his Glove, with a deſire to reſtore it him,Mr. Sam. Ward but purſued inwardly with a guilty conſcience, leaps over a hedge, plunges into a Marle-pit behind it unſeen and unthought of, wherein he was drowned.

But the righteous is bold as a Lion] Conſcientia pura ſemper ſecura, a good Conſcience hath ſure confidence; and he that hath it, ſits, Noah like, Medius tranquillus in undis, quiet in the greateſt combuſtions, freed, if not from the common deſtruction, yet from the common diſtraction; for he knows whom hee hath truſted, and is ſure, that neither life nor death, nor things preſent, nor things to come,Rom. 8.38. can ever ſunder him from Gods love in Chriſt. He is bold as a Lion, ſaith the Text: yea as a young Lion, that is in his hot bloud, and therefore fears no other creature; yea when he is fiercely purſued, hee will never once alter his gate, though he dye for it. No more will the righteous man his reſolution againſt ſin, ſuch is his Chriſtian courage. Daniel choſe rather to be caſt to the lyons, than to bear a lyon in his own boſome, to violate his conſcience. The primitive Chriſtians choſe rather to be abandoned, ad leones, quam ad lenones, they preferred affliction before ſin. And this their perſecutors counted not courage and magnanimity, but wilfulneſs and obſtinacy;Tertul. in Apolog. But they knew not the power of the Spirit: nor the privy armour of proof, that the righteous have about their hearts, that inſuperable faith whereby ſome have ſtopped the mouths of lyons, quenched the violence of fire, &c. Heb. 11.33.34. and whereby they do all daily encounter, and conquer that roaring lyon, the devil, quenching his fiery darts, &c. Eph. 6.