Chapter IV
That it was the multitude of sins was in his eye that made him to say, Ifind not.
If any will yet make query (if perhaps after all this there be any need), what it was in his own sinfulness that Solomon found to be thus infinite ; for which query, because there may seem this ground, that there are two
infinites in sin, one of greatness for guilt, the other of number and multi
tude, and so which of these should be intended might be yet a question ; but chiefly because the resolution gives further opportunity to confirm the
very point or main of this my intended subject, I therefore shall give further answer thereunto.
I easily grant the first of these two to be included ; for his sad bewailment in ver. 26, argues it, I find more bitter than death, speaking of that one way of sinning by women. Yet still it was in a more eminent manner the number and the multitude of sins in his whole life, which he hath in his eye, in this 27th verse, that caused him to utter the infiniteness thereof by this
{ I find not.
unexpressing expression,
I. That his eye was upon the number, that phrase in the middle of the
words, counting one by one, argues ; for it most properly imports an hav
ing sought an account by numbering. And though the word counting is not
in the original, yet our translators understood that to be evidently implied as the sense of that phrase, one by one, and so they choose to render it,
* counting one by one, and if that word counting should be left out, yet the
phrase itself, one one, or one and one, or, as some, one unto one, as in num
bering by addition, or one and the other (all which are several readings which
the original doth bear), still all comes to one as to our purpose ; for each of them properly concern numbering.* And further, one and one, or one and
other, are in ordinary phrase of speech put to express, 1st, universality, or the
all of things, as we use to say, one and all ; and, 2dly, withal import a particular distinct view of things, and not in the gross only. In like sense we also use to
say, one and i* other, or, neither one nor t
1 other, so noting forth particularity. And thus the mind of that passage, counting one by one, proves to be this, that Solomon going about to find out the account of all and the whole of his
sinfulness, had unto that end considered his sins distinctly and particularly, one and one, and not contented himself with a confused knowledge and sense
of them, such as the generality of men have of their sinfulness, who use in * Ilia est simplex et genuina exponendi ratio, quam Hieronimus, Albinus, Nicolaus,
Lyra, et Hebrseizantes omnes sequuntur, ut unum et alterum referatur ad numerum.
Rursus, numerus (nempe iste Binarius), unum et alterum, significet universitatem comprehendentem omnia. Pineda in verba, et in titulo 2, procfixo. Some read it copulative, unum et iinum, Campensis ; unum et alterum, Vulgate. Others with prepositions, unam adunam, Symmachus; unumadaliud, pariendo scilicet grandem summam. Hieron. in Comment, in locum, pia. ty pix, Septuagint.
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 453
< We are all sinners, and so pass it over, and think such a conviction sufficient ; but it was not so in Solomon. This, then, is the first evidence, that it refers unto an account by numbering; or, which is equivalent in sense thereto, unto a weighing and
a slight and common reckless manner to speak of it,
considering all and each distinctly aud particularly. Now, if it were such an account by numbering, then it follows, that it was the superabounding multitude or number which did put the stand or set to his apprehensions, or which made him to say, I find it not, as that which was infinite in that
respect.
But, further, and more particularly, it appears, if we either consult the words immediately afore, or if we consider what follows in the sum and con clusion of all in ver. 29.
II. The words afore. For although, as was observed, the heinousness and the dangerousness of those ways of sinning to his soul are the eminent
things set out in ver. 26, yet there also a multitude and a variety of sinnings are intimated and connotated. And he begins even from thence to shew he had found many and manifold evils to be the concomitants and consequents thereof. This, those similitudes of nets and snares, and bonds, which he 60 cries out of, evidently import, and they signify not only that they were man}% but manifold, variously wrought and interwoven contrivements and
artificial webs of many threads, and engines of many links ; for such works of art and variety are nets, and snares, and chains. And he intends thereby to set forth his own seducements and entanglements, for multitude and
variety, and what they had been to him. And thus, though he cries out of the bitterness or greatness of his sin in them, yet particularly in and by those expressions he further points to the multitude of temptations he fell
into.
And to illustrate this, I may pertinently reassume that scripture I did before but mention, and thereby anew set forth the mind of Solomon as to
this, both these scriptures being in scope and expressions exceeding parallel each to other. It is, 1 Tim. vi. 9, They that will be rich, fall into tempta tion and a snare, and into many and hurtful lusts, which drown men in
perdition. Thus speaks the apostle of the love of riches. And further in the following verse, in respect unto those many lusts, he styles it, a root of
all evil. There are many things in this the apostle s speech, that are
parallel to Solomon s case, and unto his expressions here about it. The very phrases and allusions there are like and near of kin to these here, if we will but look round about the words ; as whilst he entitleth his sin, folly and mad
ness, ver. 25, the apostle doth the same, foolish lusts. Solomon com-
pareth his temptations unto snares, in which beasts, made to be taken and
destroyed, are caught; the apostle in express words useththe same metaphor. Again, as Solomon compares them to nets for fowls or fishes, so the apostle s
* drowned in perdition, even as fishes and fowls when caught are
phrase is,
destroyed in boiling hot water, or such scalding liquor, so these in perdition. But that which I principally called in the help of this place for, was to shew
that in Scripture-phrase a snare or temptation, when applied thus unto a
bosom-sin, in such a case as this of Solomon s, implieth a many and mani
fold, yea, an innumerable company of sins, which it leads into, and which
accompany it. For unto that purpose it is the apostle there useth the
phrase, whilst he declares the danger of such a sin to be a falling into
* temptation and a snare, which he then further amplifies and explains by
* into many foolish lusts ; yea, and for the same respect terms it
this, and
* root of all evil. Now, let us but first understand Solomon, when
also, a
speaking of his bosom-sin in respect of the consequences thereof, to intend,
454 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XI.
by snares, a many hurtful follies, which he had run into by reason and occa sion thereof, and this according to the intent of the same Spirit, who wrote both the one and the other, in the Old and New Testament, and knows his own language ; and then it may be evident, that in like manner he here intended that this bosom-sin of his had been a root of many evils to him.
And, then, if there were such a multitude of sins that sprung out of the womb of this one sin, which he had the apprehension of, in writing ver. 26,
it is then obvious enough, that in these next verses, in which he sets down the account of his whole life, together with these, that he intends to express an infinitely far greater number, which caused him with astonishment to cry out, Behold, this I have found, I find not; and so, that this, of the multi
tude, is that very thing which he drives along in all.
III. In the words after. If all this might, not persuade that this was indeed his drift, you have Solomon himself, ere he takes off his pen, inter
preting himself, in using the very same plain word, which the apostle inter
preted his meaning also by ; for in the centre and conclusion of the whole
discourse (and which sums up the whole) he terms all these and other sins, the
* many inventions, namely, which he himself for his share, and all man kind each of them for theirs, had sought out to sin against God withal, and
brings it in, in the conclusion, as that which had been one main thing this
his account of folly throughout his discourse had run upon, and which he had in contemplation all along.
I should here enforce this third and last evidence (for so in order it is), whiah may be extracted from that word many, as it stands in ver. 29, as
that which is strongly pertinent to prove the numberless multitude of sins
to have been in Solomon s eye, in these verses now expounded, and all
along. But there lies a brief remainder of ver. 28, in my way first to be
explained.
One man among a thousand have 2 found, but a woman among all those have 1 not found. Because these words lie as a seeming interruption be tween that which I mainly am in prosecution of, namely, that third evidence from the many, ver. 29, I shall at present give but a brief account of them ;
yet some, to the end I may hold an equipage about this parcel of this scrip
ture, with what I have done in the former, which I have expounded, and so
I shall this.
The account hereof shall be : (1.) Of the occasion of their insertion ;
(2.) Their coherence with the former ; (3.) To what purpose they come in ; and (4.) also the sense of them. All which will remove any stumbles that
might arise from them, to divert from the sense of the foregoing words
hitherto given.
First, Let it be needfully remembered, that they are utterly a new maxim, and no part of the sentence foregoing, or of the account there spoken of. This their having a new have Ifound given them, shews that, in common,
having been used by Solomon as a mark or post of distinction given to four
several complete periods (whereof this is one), to sever them each from other, in this paragraph. See the first resolve in answer to the first query above.
Secondly, His insertion of it besides had a pertinent occasion and rise from
the foregoing. For in his having, as a penitent, taken a view of the sins of
his whole life past, he found, and could not but find, his own sins to have been complicate and interwoven with the sins of multitudes of others, both men and women, he having (being a king) had more occasion of access
to, and so of converse with varieties of both sexes, more than any other man. And they generally having been occasions of temptations to him, and
of his so much sinning, which he now with grief remembers, he therefore in
CHAP. IV.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 455
remembering his own remembereth theirs, and so aptly subjoins his observa tions about their wickedness also, after he had despatched and spoken that of the account of his own, in the foregoing words.
Thirdly, His annexing it was to this end and further scope, to render his discourse and account about folly and wickedness the more complete. For
(1.), by the annexing of this he should as then have comprehensively spoken to the corruption of either sex, and so of all mankind, and given in a judg ment thereof as well as of his own. And (2.) thereby further make a fair and advantageous introduction into that general and final maxim wherein he
centres, ver. 29, which was to comprehend the demonstration of his own and
all mankind s sinfulness: God made man upright, but they, &c., and there fore full meet it was to insert this before.
Fourthly, For the sense and meaning of the axiom itself, that will be cleared by putting, and then answering, a query ; the ground for which is this ; That if his scope be asserted to be to set out the wickedness and madness in all the sons of Adam, this maxim seems to except some few of men from that general corruption : One man of a thousand have I found. The answer whereunto will rise from the genuine sense of the words, which we shall arrive at, by considering them either,
1st, Simply ; or,
2dly, As they are a comparative between men and women.
1st, If we consider them simply, or how men and women are simply repre sented by him, without comparison one with another ; and then their scope is that,
1. As towards God, they are both and all universally corrupt ; he supposes that here, for the next words do expressly affirm it : God made man (all men) upright (in Adam), but they (all of them) have sought out, &c. And his father David had aforehand instructed him in two psalms, xiv. 3,
liii. 3, that unto God s eye, who is said to look down from heaven upon the
children of men ; every one of them is gone back ; they are altogether become filthy
: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. So as in rela
* fallen short of the glory of God, as the apostle s
tion unto God, they are all
interpretation of these sayings is, Rom. iii. 23. It is not therefore his drift
here to exempt any one man, no, not his one of a thousand, from his share
in that common corruption and apostasy. But,
2. His speech is to be understood as relating to the working of corruption in them, in the way of human converse, and intercourse of their relations, one to and with another, and so far as they are any way outward occasions
or temptations to others of sinnings through mutual converse. And the
reason is, for by what himself had had in converse with either sex, and by
experience had/ounc/, as his word is, of either sex, to have been of damage to him ; on that occasion it is, and so with a great eye and respect thereunto, he utters this.
3. He pronounceth the generality of men to be every whit as bad as women : never barrel (or basket rather, as Jeremiah s allusion is, chap,
xxiv.) better, &c. For whilst he says but one man of a thousand, that is,
of a great number, he concludes the generality of men under the same con
demnation he doth the universality of women, all alike. Thus simply.
2dly, As for his comparative considering them (in that so small difference
of but one he had found), it is thus to be understood.
7 , in two respects. 1. Not in respect of grace, as if more men were godly, and comparatively fewer or none of women ; for,
First, Negativel}
(1.) It holds not true either in the Old Testament or the New ; and that
456 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XI.
equal privilege, neither male nor female in Christ, &c., preferring neither before the other, as to that respect, cuts off all supposition of such a mean
ing here.
(2.) Solomon, professing to utter this from experience, I find, &c. ; his judgment or verdict had been founded upon a partial and not competent evi
dence, if that should have been his meaning ; for as to women, his knowledge and converse had been most with heathenish idolatrous women, 1 Kings xi. And as to men, it was mostly with his own countrymen the Jews (and sal vation was of the Jews then, as Christ says, John iv.). And therefore such a general sentence of such a difference between the sexes, as to point of grace, upon his experience of persons so unequally compared, as to that respect attested, had been notoriously incompetent, and liable to exception.
(3.) This did no way pertain to his scope or design at first proposed, ver. 25, which was to search into folly, madness, &c., which is therefore the measure of that which follows, and according to the line thereof, this saying must be understood. It had therefore been a going out of his line to have pronounced what difference grace doth put ; this was no part of his cogni sance. His general drift, then, must relate to the workings of corruption and madness, which may be observed to be in men and women comparatively in either state, whether of grace or not ; cowparatis comparand is, that is, comparing whether godly men with godly women, or ungodly with ungodly.
2. As to persons. Nor is this sense (as not that speech neither in the
* whorish women only, for the Old Testament gives not heathenish wives that language, but of
former, ver. 26) about women to be limited unto the
strange wives, &c. And again, in that sense to have said, he had not found one among a thousand of such, had been all one as to have said, I find not one good or virtuous woman among so many whores. But it is women in the general, as denoting that sex in distinction from men. This as to the negative.
Secondly, Positively, "and so the difference intended respects, 1. The outward breakings forth and workings of corruption in a visible manner, unto what such a man as Solomon or others may find (that is his
word), that is observe in them.
2. How that, in respect of visible breakings forth in human converse, &c., you may perhaps find a man, who by reason of a strength of wisdom, and
deeper stamps of moral virtues accompanying it (which the masculine tem
per renders men more capable of), are in respect to a running out into a visible madness of folly, or an excess of folly (which is Solomon s measure, ver. 25), as disingenuities to reason, weaknesses of passions, humours (all which the female temper is universally, yea, and men generally, more prone and exposed unto). In respect, I say, unto these excesses, there may be found some of men, who is a* sober moderate sinner, and their corrupt nature so poised and attempered as they may be conversed withal more safely by their relations and associates, without affrication, or catching and con
veying the itch of any great distemper ; as also in relation to human societies and public f good. Such paragons of virtue were some among the heathen, as Fabritius, Socrates, &c., and some such Solomon had found among the Jews in his time, as Ethan, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, of whose
excelling wisdom mention is made, 1 Kings iv. 31.
3. Nor that rigidly neither, that none, none among women such ; fur him-
* Tolerabilem. So Clarius on the words,
t Politick probum. f erdinandus. Virum cordatum et sapientem, fidelem et constantem. A Lapide. Virum fidelem, cui tuto quis se credere possit. Pineda.
CHAP. V.J IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 457
self sets out a virtuous woman in all respects, Prov. xxxi., but yet more
* A virtuous woman who can find ? Parum
rarely than among men, ver. 10.
pro nullo reputatur.
The ground of this difference I will not insist on, which even philosophers have been much upon, inasmuch as virtue among the Romans had its name derived (a viro et a viribus) from what excels in* men : et midier quasi mollior. Women, their name from softness and weakness, their temper being as soft
wax, not capable of a permanent virtue and stayedness, or as thin and slighter paper, wherein ink doth dlffluere, run into stains, blots, passions, humours, whereas other is compact. Nor are the Scriptures altogether silent in taking notice of this reason of the difference. Besides that place quoted in the last
marginal note, that also in 1 Peter iii. 7, Let the men dwell according to
knowledge, namely, as becometh men, by which the Holy Ghost attributeth wisdom and knowledge to the man, and wisdom is the governor of virtue, but then terms the woman the weaker vessel, which even in innocency she
was, and therefore noticed to have been first set upon by Satan, and first in
the transgression. And now, in this fallen estate, weakness of sin being added to weakness of constitution, it makes the weakness comparatively
greater. And Solomon here is not far off from this whilst he thus expresses
* One man (in the original it is an Adam) have I found, &c. For an high paragon of virtue, wisdom, constancy, &c., is the nearest shadow
himself,
(which some term the relics) of that image of uprightness (of which in the
next verse) which Adam was created in ; even as temporary enlightenings,
&c., which are in men not attaining regeneration, are the shadow and coun
terfeit of saving evangelical grace.
Having thus cleared the way, I come now to the exposition of verse 29.