A20556:548
A plain and familiar exposition of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of the…A plaine and familiar exposition of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of the…
A plain and familiar exposition of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of the Proverbs of SolomonA plaine and familiar exposition of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of the Prouerbs of Salomon
London: printed by Thomas Haveland for Thomas Man, 1609London: printed by Thomas Haueland for Thomas Man, 1609
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Verse 2. A discreet servant shall have rule over a lewd son, and he shall divide the inheritance among the brethren.
Verse 2. A discreet seruant shall haue rule ouer a leaud sonne, and he shall diuide the inheritance among the brethren.
A Discreet servant] A faithful, painful, and wise servant, though a bondman, [shall have rule over a lewd son] ⟨p. 112⟩shall be preferred before a rude and dissolute child, and sometimes be set over him as a governor: [and he shall divide the inheritance among the brethren] shall be as one of them, and have a portion among them, and be as it were in the room of the eldest brother, having the chief hand in making division of the goods and lands between the other sons and daughters.
A Discreet seruant] A faithfull, painfull, and wise seruant, though a bondman, [shall haue rule ouer a leaud sonne] ⟨p. 112⟩shall be preferred before a rude and dissolute childe, and sometimes be set ouer him as a gouernour: [and he shall diuide the inheritance among the brethren] shall be as one of them, and haue a portion among them, and be as it were in the roome of the eldest brother, hauing the chiefe hand in making diuision of the goods and lands betweene the other sonnes and daughters.
This indeed is sometimes verified according to the letter and words of the sentence, that servants be made Executors to their masters, and guardians to their masters children: but the drift hereof is to show, that they which are low may be exalted by virtue, and they which are high, may be brought down by vice: that wisdom preferreth divers above them that might have been their betters, and folly depriveth many of those prerogatives which otherwise they should have enjoyed.