John Trapp on Proverbs 5:3

Verſ. 3. For the lips of a ſtrange woman drop] Take heed therefore how thou exchange any words at all with her. But if thou bee firſt ſet upon, Jun in vita ſua. as Joſeph was by his Miſtreſs, and as Franciſcus Junius was by thoſe impudent Queans at Lions in France (whither hee was ſent by his Father for learning-ſake) who night and day ſolicited him; then to keep thee from the bitter-ſweet lips of theſe Enchantreſſes, let thy lips keep knowledge, anſwer them (as Joſeph did) with the words of truth and ſoberneſs, Act. 26.25. with gracious and wholeſome words, 1 Tim. 6.3. ſuch as have a cooling and healing property in them, with Scripture-language, which the Devil and his Agents cannot anſwer or away with. When therefore thou art tempted to this of any like ſin, ſay, No; I may not, I dare not; for it is forbidden in ſuch a place, and again in ſuch a place, How then can I do this great wickedneſs, and ſin againſt God? Gen. 39.9. Lo this is the way, walk in it. Let thy lips keep knowledge, and it ſhall keep thee from the lips of a ſtrange woman, though they drop as an hony-comb, and ſeem to have plenty of pleaſure and ſweetneſs in them.

Drop as an hony-comb] But is like that hony ſpoken of by Pliny, that had poyſon in it, as being ſucked out of poyſonous herbs and flowers. In the Cadiz voyage, at Alvelana three miles from Lisbon, many of our Engliſh Souldiers under the Earle of Eſſex periſhed by eating of hony, purpoſely left in the houſes, and ſpiced with poyſon, as it was thought. Speed. 12.10. How much better is it to bee preſerved in brine, than to rot in hony? to mortifie luſts, than to enjoy them? Rom. 8.13. Voluptatem viciſſe voluptas eſt maxima, ſaith Cyprian, nec ulla major eſt victoria, quam ea, quae è cupiditatibus refertur. De bon[illegible: 1 letter] pudicit. There is no ſuch pleaſure, as to have overcome an offered pleaſure; neither is there any greater conqueſt, than that that is gotten over a mans corruptions.