My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
Ver. 11. Despise not the chastening of the Lord.] Slight it not, but "sit alone," Lam 3:28 and "consider." Ecc 7:14 Some think it a goodly thing to bear out a cross by head and shoulders, and wear it out as they may, never improving it. As a dog that getting out of the water into which he is cast shakes his ears; or as a man, that coming out of a shower of rain, dries again, and all is as before. Perdidistis fructum afflictionis, saith Augustine of such scape thrifts. a Thus the proud Greeks (having lost two castles in Chersonesus, taken from them by the Turks) commonly said, that there was but a hog sty lost, alluding to the name of that country. Whereas that was the first footing that the Turks got in Europe, and afterwards possessed themselves of the imperial city of Constantinople. Shortly after, 1358 AD, Callipolis also being lost, the mad Greeks, to extenuate the matter, when they had any talk thereof, in jesting ways commonly said, that the Turks had but taken from them a bottle of wine. b So Galienus, the Roman Emperor, hearing that Egypt was revolted, said, Quid? sine lino Ægyptio esse non possumus? What? cannot we be without the hemp of Egypt? So when Calais was taken from us by the French, the court parasites, to ease Queen Mary's mind (which yet they could not), said, that it was only a refuge for renagade heretics; and that no true Roman Catholic ought to deplore, but rather rejoice at the damage. c
At Regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura
Vulnus alit venis. - Virgil.
Monsieur de Cordes used to say that he would be content with all his heart to lie in hell seven years, on the condition that Calais were taken from the English. d And a considerate English captain being asked by a proud Frenchman, When will ye fetch Calais again? gravely replied, Quando peccata vestra erunt nostris graviora, When your sins shall weigh down ours. God is to be seen in everything we suffer, since light afflictions, not improved, are but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great storms, a crack forerunniug the ruin of the whole.
Neither be weary of his correction.] This is the other extreme, despair and despondency of spirit. e See my "Love Tokens," p. 44, &c.
a Miserrimi facti estis, et pessimi permansistis. - Aug., De Civit. Dei, lib. i. cap. 33.
b Turk. Hist., fol. 185,186.
c England's Elisabeth.
d Heyl., Geog.
e Non quia dura, sed quia molles patimur. - Sen.