a good that can withstand corruption, and defend itself against the force of time, and all the accidents of this world.

In the prosecution of which supreme good, I commend your Grace to the blessing of the Almighty, who always favours the least desires of doing good, and therefore will never desert your sincere endeavours of it; which are not unknown to him, while you prefer the closet to the theatre, and look more to the inside of virtue, than to its outward appearances.

But I forget myself and stand in need of a pardon for this long address; which I shall the more easily obtain, if your Grace please to believe, nothing emboldened me to it, but the opinion I have that your goodness is as unlimited as my desires to approve myself, what I stand bound by many obligations to be,

May it please your Grace,

Your Grace's most humble,

and obedient servant,

S. PATRICK.

Nna

1. NE

EXT to the Psalms of David, which are an admirable collection of devotion, follow the Proverbs of Solomon, which contain most excellent rules of life. They are commonly called his Ethicks; correcting men's errors, and teaching them how to conduct themselves in all relations; but may as well be called his politics also, comprehending under that word, rules for the government of families, cities, and kingdoms, as well as of particular persons. For, as St Basil speaks, this book is as didanania Bix, an universal instruction and direction for all men, and for the whole life; containing frequent documents of what is to be done on all occasions.

II. And there being two ways of teaching, one by brief sentences and aphorisms, which are delivered also promiscuously, without any great care about the order of them; the other by methodical discourse, according to the rules of logic, proceeding orderly from one thing to another, till all that belongs to the matter in hand be reduced to one body, and make as it were an entire building; Solomon hath chosen the first way, which was the most ancient, as it would be very easy to shew, were there any necessity of it; and were not the great antiquity of this sententious way of speaking apparent enough from that passage of David's, 1 Sam. xxiv. 13. As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked:" which is much like that Greek adage, xaxỡ núęwn☞ xarov iv. For it was very usual with wise men of old, (as the lord Bacon observes, in his eighth Book of the Advancement of Learning), when their observations light upon any thing that might prove beneficial unto common life, to reduce it immediately, and contract it either into some short sentence or parable, or else into a fable. As for fables, they were only the substitutes and supplements of examples, to serve instead of them, while they were wanting, and no longer: when the world abounded with histories, they became unnecessary, because the shadows of things are useful only where the substance cannot be had, and because the aim is more exact and more pleasant when the mark is alive. Then those fables were to give place to the sententious way of instruction, comprising wise observations in a few words; which could be illustrated and enforced by a multitude of examples.

III. And therefore, in the fabulous times, we find those even among the poets, who forsook fables, and betook themselves to this more profitable way of instruction; particularly Phocylides and Theognis, whom Julian the apostate is bold not only to compare with Solomon, but to prefer before him. To whom St Cyril of Alexandria very judiciously answers, (Lib. vii. adv. Jul.), that as Solomon's work is of far greater antiquity, he being contemporary with Homer himself, and they living a long time after with Solon and Thales, in the reign of Croesus; so it is infinitely more weighty than theirs, who said indeed some pretty spruce things, but so weak and shallow, in comparison with the manly and deep sense of Solomon's Proverbs, that they were fit only for the use of nurses to prattle to their babes, or at the most for pedagogues to teach little bc ys. There is not, for instance, such a wise instruction to be found in all their books, as the very first of all in Solomon's, which he lays as the ground of all wisdom, (but they, alas! did not think of), that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This, as St Basil observes, is that Kadágio uxs (which their philosophers so much talked of, but did not understand), the only thing that can purge the soul, and prepare it to be capable of instruction; which it is as improper, says he, to give to a man of impure affections, as it is to pour a precious ointment into a sordid filthy vessel.

The like I might say of another most admirable precept in his book, to dispose the soul for wisdom, viz. « Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding." There is no such word in all their writings, not in Isocrates neither, (whom that apostate prince vainly magnified likewise above Solomon), who may be praised for some profitable lessons he gave to youth, but must stoop, as St Cyril speaks, to this great person, who, as he wrote long before him, so far out-went him in all sort of wisdom, for the instruction both

of young and old. Nor doth he only give precepts of manners, but many excellent admonitions about rewards and punishments; together with lively descriptions of the events of human actions, which serve much for our information. Many things also he discovers of men's most secret affections, of the causes and grounds of the greatest changes in human affairs, of the principal things that are of greatest moment in government, of the way to avoid all manner of dangers, and to preserve ourselves, our fame, our estates; with so many other things of like nature, that the son of Syrac justly said of him, Ecclus. xlvii. 14. 15. "He was as a flood filled with understanding. His soul covered the whole earth, and he filled it with dark parables."

IV. By that name some call these short sentences, which we call proverbs; though the word parable properly signifies only a comparison or similitude. The original of which name is this, (as Grotius hath observed in his Prolegomena to Stobæus), that the most ancient authors delivered their precepts about manners, or about government, by comparisons; either full and at length, (which the rhetoricians properly call Tagabon, parable), or curtailed, as we speak, and shortened. And these taken either from things plainly fabulous, (as that of the fruit-trees and the bramble, in Judges, ix. and that of the thistle and the cedar, 2 Chron. xxv. 18.; of the hawk and nightingale in Hesiod; the wolfs, dogs, and sheep, in Demosthenes; and the famous parable of Menenius, about the members of our body), or else from things likely and probable, as that of Nathan to David, and most of our blessed Saviour's.

V. But Solomon's sentences in this book are not of this nature, and therefore the LXX. use another word, signifying a saying as trite and common as the high-way; worn, as we say, threadbare, (to use St Basil's phrase), by every body's constant use. And so doth the Latin, and our English word proverb, denote some ancient common saying, which every body hath in his mouth. But the word in the Hebrew, denotes only "any acute and excellent saying, which is as worthy to be known by all, and to be in every one's mouth, as common proverbs are." And thus it is used in the most ancient book of holy scripture for an eloquent speech, much exceeding those that had been made before, in the beginning of the 27th and 29th of Job. And so the doctors of the church explain it. "A proverb," saith St Basil," is a profitable saying, delivered with a moderate concealment of the sense," &c, or a pithy sentence in a few words, expressing much sense.

This is the first signification of the word; though in after-times, every saying that was never so little out of the way of vulgar speech, began by the Hebrews to be called Mashal; as may be seen in Ezek. xx. 49. And whether it was figurative, or simple and plain, if it did contain any profitable instruction, it was called by the same name, as we learn from the sentences in this book.

VI. Which consists of a preface, and of the book itself. The preface is in the nine first chapters; seven of which seem to be an admonition what is to be done, and what to be avoided, to make a man capable of wisdom which in the 8th and 9th chapters sets forth her own praises.

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Then begins, as you find in the front of the 10th chapter, the Proverbs of Solomon; which consist of three parts or books. The first part, from the beginning of the 10th chapter, to the 17th verse of the 22d, where a new form of speech, any body may discern, begins, (as I have there noted), and continues to the 25th chapter; which may be called the second part. And then, from the 25th to the 30th, (which is the last part), follow such sentences as were colleeted afterwards out of his writings, or the writings of those who had recorded them, by some persons whom Hezekiah employed to search the ancient records. For we are told in 1 Kings, iv. that he spoke in all three thousand proverbs; which Josephus seems to think were so many books that perished in the captivity, but St Hierom takes for so many sentences contained in this book, that is, some of them, for there are in all but eight hundred verses. And some of them are not Solomon's; for in the end of the book are added certain sayings of Agur to his scholars, and the instructions of a pious mother to her son Lemuel; of all which I have given an account in their proper places.

VII. And, therefore, must intreat all those that would profit by this book, to read the argument of cach chapter, before they proceed to the paraphrase; or, at least, to consult the references which I have made to such passages in it as will help to make the sense clearer, or to explain difficult places; which sometimes are capable of more senses than one: and, therefore, if I have not represented them all in the paraphrase, I do it in the argument; designing all along this alone, to give the fullest and properest explication of every phrase; upon which, as I have not dilated, so I have expressed the meaning in the plainest words I could find. For, as St Hierom speaks concerning his own commentaries upon Ezekiel, (in the preface to the fifth book), "My business was not to study the art of rhetorick, nor of exact composition and graceful language; but to use a careful diligence to hit the sense; resting content with this praise alone, if the wise man's words be understood by my means." And indeed it ought to be the design of every good man, in such works as these, that the holy books, (as he speaks in another place), " may be made more intelligible by his endeavours; and not that his own writings may be commended, by occasion of those books."

VIII. And in his time nothing was commended, he saith, but only that which men fancied to be eloquence. In this the Latins were then altogether delighted, but nauseated the understanding of the holy scriptures. Which provoked God, in his just judgements, to deliver them into the hands of those rough nations, who in his days broke in like a flood upon them, and turned their vain affectation of neatness and elegance of speech, into rudeness and barbarism; which ought to be a caution unto us, not to give up ourselves to the admiration. only of the language, and of the wit of the stage; lest our minds thereby be so depraved, that we have no re

lish of the most serious, no, not of the sacred writings, but reject them as insipid things; with which disease if any be inf. cted, they might, by God's grace, be cured, if they would be pleased to apply their mind with due attention to the study of this one holy book, which wants nothing to entertain the minds of all men, though of the widest capacity, with the greatest variety of pleasure, if they have not perfectly lost their taste of that which will do them good, and make them truly happy.

IX. It is recorded, by Suetonius, of Cæsar Augustus, that in his reading all sort of Greck, as well as Latin authors, he chiefly observed, and transcribed such wholesome precepts or examples, as might serve him either for public or private use; which upon occasion he produced, for the instruction of his own domestics, or of the commanders of his armies, or the governors of provinces, or the magistrates in his several cities; according as he thought every one had need of admonition; whom if any man have the heart to imitate, Solomon hath saved him the labour which that great person underwent. He need not turn over many volumes, to search for all manner of wise instructions, but be furnished here, (and at an easy rate), out of the vast treasure of learning he hath left us in this small book, with the best advices that can be given, either to princes, counsellors, judges, and other public ministers, or to all sorts of subjects in their several relations, and in every condition, to make them both pious and politic; to direct them in the choice of their comforts, in the education of their children, in the management of domestic affairs, and in their transactions with other men; in contracting or conducting their friendships, in giving or taking good counsel and reproof, in making or preserving peace, in judging of men, and of the event of their designs; and, in short, (for it would be a new book to mention every thing particularly), to instruct every one in all sorts of virtue; especially in the government of the tongue, wherein men offend, and whereby they suffer so much, that there is no part of prudence more necessary than that, and therefore none more insisted on in this book.

X. Which contains the wisdom of that excellent prince, who could readily resolve all questions and doubts, penetrate into the nature of all things, and had his own family and kingdom in such admirable order, that it astonished her who came from the ends of the earth to discourse with him. And it was composed, if we may rely upon the judgement of the Jewish writers, in his best and most judicious years; when his kingdom also was in perfect peace, and there was no disturbance in his affairs.

For the book of Canticles, say they, was wrote in his youth; the Proverbs, when he was of riper years; the Ecclesiastes, when he was old, and repented of the sins he had been drawn into by the snares of woman, who had made this admirable person as great an example of folly as he had been before of wisdom. Whence that common saying of theirs: "Men compose songs, when they are young; parables, when they are grown to be perfect men; and discourses of the vanity of things, when they are old."

XI. But the time of his writing these books is not so material as the design; which is excellently expressed by St Basil, in a discourse of his upon the beginning of this book, (Tom. I. Hom. xii.) "The book of Proverbs," saith he," is an instruction of manners, and a correction of the passions, and an entire direction of the whole life; containing abundance of precepts about well-doing. The Ecclesiastes touches upon the nature of things, and evidently shews the vanity of every thing in this world; that so we may not think it worth our pains to be so solicitous as we are about things that swiftly pass away from us, nor waste the thoughts and cares of our mind about empty and vanishing enjoyments. The Song of Songs shews the manner of perfecting souls For it contains the happy concord of the bridegroom and the spouse; that is, the familiarity of the soul with God the Word."

XII. I conclude this preface, as that great man doth that discourse. "He is wise, not only who hath arrived at a complete habit of wisdom, but who hath made some progress towards it; nay, who doth as yet but love it, or desire it, and listen to it. Such as these, by the reading of this book, shall be made wiser; for they shall be instructed in much divine, and in no less human learning; it expelling vice divers ways, and with as great variety introducing all manner of virtues. It bridles the injurious tongue, corrects the wanton eye, and ties the unjust hands in chains. It persecutes sloth, chastises all absurd desires, teaches prudence, raises men's courage, and represents temperance and chastity after such a fashion, that one cannot but have them in veneration."

Let a man but consent to one thing, which this book desires, to make these precepts familiar to his mind, saying unto wisdom, (as you find the words, vii. 4.), Thou art my sister, and calling understanding his kinswoman, and he will not fail to be happy. For this is the sum of all, in a few words:

Love her, and she shall preserve thee.

A

PARAPHRASE

ON THE

BOOK OF PROVERBS.