John Trapp on Proverbs 6:2

Verſ. 2. Thou art ſnared] i. e. Endangered to ſlavery or poverty, or both. Hence the proverb, Sponde, noxa praeſto eſt: Give thy word, and thou art not far from a miſchief. Shun therefore ſuretiſhip, if fairly thou canſt: or if not, propound the worſt, and undertake for no more than thou canſt well perform without thy very great prejudice: ne, ut leo caſſibus irretitus dixeris, Si praeſciviſſem? leſt thou being got into the hamble trambles come in too late with thy tools Had I wiſt.

Thou art taken] For a bargain binds a man by the Law of Nature, and of Nations. Judah, though in a ſhameful buſineſs, would make good his engagement to the Harlot, Gen. 38.23. Every godly man will do ſo, though it bee to his own hinderance, Pſal. 15.4. The Romans had a great care alwaies to perform their word; inſomuch that the firſt Temple built in Rome was dedicated to the goddeſſe Fidelity. The Athenians were ſo careful this way, that Atticus teſtis is uſed for one that keeps touch; and Attica fides is ſure hold; as contrarily, Punica fides, there was no hold to bee taken of Carthaginian promiſes. Of a certain Pope and his Nephew, it is ſaid, that the one never ſpoke as hee thought, the other never performed what hee ſpake.Rom. 13. This was ſmall to their commendation. Debt is a burden to every well-minded man, neither can hee bee at reſt, till hee come to Owe nothing to any man but this, that yee love one another. When Arch-biſhop Cranmer diſcerned the ſtorm which afterwards fell upon him in Queen Maries daies,Act. & Mon. vol. 2. p. 1541. hee took expreſs order for the payment of all his debts, and ingagements; which when it was once done, a moſt joyful man was hee, ſaith Maſter Fox in his life. For bills and obligations do mancipate the moſt free and ingenuous ſpirit, and ſo put a man out of aim, that hee can neither ſerve God without diſtraction, nor do good to others, nor ſet his own ſtate in any good order; but lives and dies intangled and puzled with cares and ſnares; and after a tedious and laborious life paſſed in a circle of fretting thoughts, hee leaves at laſt, inſtead of better patrimony, a world of intricate troubles to his poſterity, who are alſo taken with the words of his mouth.