John Trapp on Psalms 37:1

PSAL. XXXVII.

VErſ. 1. Fret not thy ſelf becauſe of evill doers] Who proſper in the World, when better men ſuffer many times. This made good David ſick of the Fret, as himſelf teſtifieth, Pſal. 73. till better informed and ſetled, by repairing to the Sanctuary, Verſ. 17. he wrote this thirty ſeventh Pſalm for the good of Gods people; leſt they being ſcandalized in like manner, and ſtumbling at the ſame ſtone that he had done, ſhould want direction, and ſo fall into inconvenience, temptation and a ſnare. David was old when he wrote this Pſalm (as appeareth Verſ. 25. I have been young, and now am old) therefore ſhould his counſel here given be the more acceptable. He might as well ſay to mens tumultuating paſſions, as once Auguſtus did to his mutinous ſouldiers, and thereby quieted them, Audite ſenem juvenes, quem juvenem ſenes aud[illegible: 1 letter]erunt. Fret not your ſelves, Fret not your ſelves, I ſay, to do evill. Be not angry at God, as Jonah was; or aggrieved, as Jeremy, chap. 12.1. and Habbakkuk, chap. 1.13. as if the divine providence did not juſtly divide to every man his due demenſe, and do him right; But have patience a while, yea let patience have line and rope, her perfect work, as St. James hath it; and quiet your boyling ſpirits with that word, wherewith Chriſt becalmed the raging ſea, Peace, be still. God will unriddle his providences erelong; and then men ſhall ſee the reaſon of all occurrences, and that all was done in ſingular wiſdome. Pompoy beaten out of the field by Ceſar, complained that there was a miſt over the eye of providence; when as indeed all the fault was in the ſoreneſſe or dimneſſe of his own eyes, and the twinkling light of Natures ruſh-candle. Seneca ſaw as farre, and ſaid as much to this matter as a Heathen could, in his Tract, Cur malis bene ſit, &c. But it is the Sanctuary alone that can afford ſound ſatisfaction to a ſoul thus puzzled; as for Philoſophicall comforts and counſells in this caſe, Cicero ſaid well of them, N[illegible: 1 letter]ſ[illegible: 1 letter]io quommodo imbe[illegible: 1 letter]illior eſt medicina quam morbus, However it cometh to paſs, the diſeaſe is too hard for the medicine.

Neither be thou envious againſt, &c.] Their proſperity is their portion, all they are like to have, Pſal. 17.14. and what is it more than a ſmall annuity for term of life, in the utmoſt part of that large Lord-ſhip, whereof thou art the heir, and ſhalt ſhortly be the poſſeſſour? Queen Elizabeth envyed the Milkmaid, when ſhe was in priſon. But if ſhe had known what a glorious reign ſhe ſhould have had afterwards for forty four years, ſhe would not have envyed her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in miſery, to envy a wicked man in the ruffe of all his proſperity and jollity, conſidering what he hath in hand, much more what hee hath in hope.