John Trapp on Proverbs 7:1

CHAP. VII. Verſ. 1. My Son, keep my words]

ARiſtotle hath obſerved, and daily experience makes it good, that man ſhews his weakneſs no way more than about moderating the pleaſure of his Taſting and Touching; For as much as they belong to him, not as a man, but as a living creature.Turpe eſt ſeneſcere atatem, non tamen ſeneſcere laſciv[illegible: 1 letter]am. Nazianz. Now therefore as where the hedge is loweſt, there the beaſt leaps over ſooneſt: So Satan will bee ſure to aſſault us, where wee are leaſt able to withſtand him. And whereas old men have no cauſe to bee ſecure (David was old, when hee went in to Bathſheba, and Lot not young when hee defloured his two daughters: Of the Brabants it is ſaid, that quo magis ſeneſcunt, to magis ſt[illegible: 2 letters]l[illegible: 1 letter]eſcunt, Contra [non-Latin text not transcribed] & [non-Latin text not transcribed]: & Sen[illegible: 2 letters]c quaſi Semint[illegible: 2 letters]. the elder the fooliſher: And the Heathen Sages ſay, Metuendam [illegible: 1 letter]ſſe ſenectam, quod non veniat ſola, that old age is to bee feared, as that which comes not alone, but being it ſelf a diſeaſe[illegible: 1 letter], it comes accompained with many diſeaſes both of body and minde) young men eſpecially whom the Greeks call [non-Latin text not transcribed] of [non-Latin text not transcribed] to bee hot, and [non-Latin text not transcribed] of [non-Latin text not transcribed] to boyl, and who think they have a licence helluari, ſcortari, fores effringere, to drink and drab, which they count and call a trick of youth, have but more than need to bee conſtantly and carefully cautioned and called upon (as here they are) to fly fornication, 1 Cor. 6.8. to fly youthful luſts, 2 Tim. 2.22. with poſt-haſte to flee them, to abſtain from fleſhly luſts (Tanquam à mellito veneno) which war againſt the ſoul, 1 Pet. 2.11. The body cannot bee ſo wounded with weapons, as the ſoul is with luſts. Holy Timothy (ſo temperate a young man,1 Tim. 5.23. that Saint Paul was fain to preſcribe him phyſick, bidding him no longer to drink water, but a little wine for his ſtomacks ſake, and his often infirmities, contracted happily by his too much abſtinence, for the better keeping under his body, and bringing it into ſubjection) is in the ſame Chapter by the ſame Apoſtle exhorted,1 Tim. 5.2 to exhort the younger women with all Purity: Whereby is intimated, that through the deceit of his heart, and the ſlipperineſs of his age, even while hee was preſſing thoſe young women to purity, ſome impure motion might preſs in upon him; Which though but a ſtranger to Timothy (as Peter Martyr and others obſerve out of that paſſage in Nathans parable, 2 Sam. 12.5. that luſt was to David) yet might prove a troubleſome inmate if not ſuddenly ejected. It is no marvel therefore that the Wiſeman is ſo exceeding earneſt with his Son about the buſineſs of abhorring harlotry, the hatefulneſs whereof hee now paints out in a parable, ſetting it forth in livelieſt colours.