ii.5

M A T T H E W W 11 E N, I). I).

A SERMON of Bishop Wren’s,,

Pr ov. xxiv. 21. 1 .

Fear God my Son, j and the King.

N OLI Lmulari, Fret not thyself, because of the Ungodly , neither be thouenvious for the evil Doer, says King David the Father, Pjal. xxxvii. r.•And let not thy Heart be envious for she evil Doer, fays King Solomon theSon, Prov. xxiii. 17. Why the Son learnt it of his Father you will fay ; or’twas a good and a godly Lesson, and no marvel then, if the wife Kings,both of them, put it in among their holy Advices. 1

Tea, but be not thou envious for the evil Doer, fays King Solomon again, at thefourth Verse of this Chapter. What again ! and so soon, so few Verses between ?Surely then there is some extraordinary Matter in it, ’tis not only one of hisgood Counsels, but it is some special one of them, one that he would haveheeded and learned afore many, above any other.

It should seem so indeed, for noli cemulari, Fret not thyself because of theUngodly, neither be thou envious for the evil Doer, says he once more, in theVerses next before my Text. For fear it should not make so deep an Im-prestion in Mens Minds as was fitting, he sets it 011 the third Time, asloath to leave it, ’till it be thoroughly settled and fastened in their Hearts, butTertia jam vice, 2 Cor. xiii. ,. fays the Apostle, firmum erit omne verbum,the Admonition thrice repeated, will make it sure and immoveable.

Now who, in the Name of God, is that evil Doer, of whom he herewarns us so often ? Or what is it the Wiseman would have us do, to shewthat we are not envious for him ? Why, that the Spirit hath set down too,and that once and again ; in the preceding Chapter v. 17. it is, Let not thyHeart be envious for the evil Doer, but let it always be in the Fear of the Lord ;Timor domini , that’s the general Rule for it; but least that might prove notpunctual enough, he fays it over again, more particularly here at my Text,Be not envious for the evil Doer, but fear God, my Son, and the King ; andthen that S enough, Timor Dei <Sf Regis, when he had laid that, there need-ed (by like) no more Instruction ; the distinct Performance of these two,Knd the district unavoidance of such as perform them not, of presumptuousand wretchlefs Sinners, and of contemptuous and awleis Subjects, a noli cemularifor both these, not to fort or suit ourselves with them, neither with themthat fear not God, nor with them that pretend, forsooth, to fear God, butyet fear not the King, ’tis the very last and chiefest Lesson this of all, thatwhich Solomon, it seems, in his Wisdom chose to close up his own Book ofProverbs with.

. For, however he spake indeed, 1 Kings iv. 32. three thousand Proverbs111 all, and this of my Text now makes not above seven hundred, yet as itappears both by the Verse after my Text, these Things also belong to theP'fe, and by the first Verse of the Chapter following, these are also Proverbs°J _ Solomon, which Hezekiah’r Men copied out, it is more than probable, thatl bis Book of Proverbs went no further than this, to fear God and the King,3 pd then he had done ; and that all which now follows from my Text to theFnd of the Book, were but Fragments collected out of his other Works,Gatherings and Gleanings, which other Men afterwards got together, andw ben they had them, added them to this Book, but with this he himself^'ded it at first, as the very Sum and Crown, and Upshot of all, Time Deuni,Th mi, cU regent ; fear God my Son , and the King.

Now