John Trapp on Proverbs 31:30

Verſ. 30. Favour is deceitful] Some marry by their eyes, and ſome by their fingers ends; Dos non Deus makes ſuch marriages: but they commonly prove unhappy. There's eſh, eſh, fire, fire of debate and diſcord betwixt that Iſh and Iſhah, that Man and Wife, where Jah is not the Match-maker, as the Cabbaliſts have collected: Favour will fade, and beauty wither; an herd of pox will marre the faireſt face, and of a Nireus make a Therſites. Forma bonum fragile eſt, ſaith one Poet. Res eſt forma fugax, ſaith another.Ovid. Seneca. But better than they both, the Prophet Eſay, All fleſh is graſſe, and the glory thereof as the flower of the field. All theſe outward accoutrements are non tantum fallacia quia dubia, verum etiam inſidioſa quia dulcia, ſaith Lactantius; as there is no truſting to them, ſo there is great danger in them, as Abſolom and his Siſter Tamar found in their beauty.

But a woman that feareth the Lord] That is indeed the crown of all commendation: as that which makes one all glorious within, amiable and admirable beyond belief. Nicoſtratus in Aelian, himſelf being a cunning Artiſan, finding a curious piece of Work, and being wondred at by one, and asked what pleaſure hee could take to ſtand gazing as hee did on the Picture, anſwered; Hadſt thou mine eyes, thou wouldſt not wonder, but rather bee raviſht as I am at the inimitable Art of this rare Piece. So if men had Saints eyes to ſee the beauty of Holineſs, the excellency of the New Creature, they would prize and preferre it before the ſhining rubbiſh of all Earths beauty and bravery. But as Auguſtus in his ſolemn Feaſts gave to ſome Gold, to others Gawdes and Trifles, ſo doth God to ſome give his Fear, to others Beauty, Wealth, Honour, and with theſe they reſt contented. But what ſaith the Pſalmiſt? The Lord that made heaven and earth bleſſe thee out of Sion. q. d. The bleſſings that come out of Sion are choyce bleſſings, even above any that come out of Heaven and Earth.

She ſhall be praiſed] Shall live and dye with honour. The body of Honour is Vertue, the ſoul of it, Humility. Whoſoever riſes without the one, or ſtands without the other, embraces but the ſhadow of a ſhadow, may bee notable or notorious, cannot be truly noble.