I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
Ver. 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps] I would tell him all that ever I know by myself, and turn him the inside outward, deal ingeniously with him, and make him my confessor; and so help him make up his book. Elice igitur hine, Therefore entice this, saith Lavater. Hence we may learn so to demean ourselves in all companies and conditions of life, that we may neither be ashamed to live nor afraid to die; and that we need not care though our greatest enemies knew of our worst practices, though our faults were written in our foreheads, as they say. Of Socrates Pliny saith, that his name was not the name of a man, but of integrity itself (Nat. Hist. 1. 7, c. 31). Of Cato Major Paterculus saith, that he was free from all human vices, and as like to virtue itself as might be. Cicero saith, that he was one of those few that lived and died with glory. How much more truly and boldly may we affirm the like of Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Daniel, Nehemiah, Paul, who knew nothing by himself, Melancthon, George, prince of Anhalt, John Bradford, and many others famous in their generations, whom, for their piety and patience, as their enemies could not but admire, so their friends could never sufficiently extol them. This is no small help to the cause, said Erasmus concerning Luther, that his enemies could find no fault or flaw in his life.
As a prince would I go near unto him] Id est, Animo heroico et imperterrito, quippe bene sibi conscio (Piscat.); that is, with a heroic spirit, and an undaunted courage: I would not shrink back, or flinch him a jot, as having a clearing, cheering conscience that feareth no colours, that would not budge or yield a hair for an angel's authority, Galatians 1:8. Quasi Princeps, hoc est, animo liberrimo et expositissimo, &c., saith Brentius, As a prince against whom there is no rising up. I would speak my mind, and lay open the whole matter of my deportment very freely and fully, that both present and future ages might judge it. Of Trajan the emperor it is recorded, that he neither hated nor feared any man living. And of Trajan, general to Valens, the Arian emperor, that as he could speak his mind fitly, so he dared speak it freely. Think the same of Job.