Daniel 4:30

The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

Ver. 30. The king spake and said.] No man asking him any question, but himself trumpeting out his own praises. Ordinarily the greatest wealth is tumoured up with the greatest swelth against the Lord. Great means make great minds; yet what hath this proud prince in him of a man more than his voice and shape?

Is not this great Babylon a that I have built?] Why, no; it was built over a thousand years before you were born: b you have only beautified and fortified it. It is God that buildeth the city. Psa 127:1 And they were your ancestors, Nimrod and Ninus, whom he made use of for that purpose. Why, then, should you rob him of his glory, and them of their right, by your arrogance? The proud man, Sejanus-like, sacrificeth only to himself, and, Polyphemus-like, setteth up himself for the sole doer. God is not in all his thoughts. Psa 10:4 And for his words, hear Nebuchadnezzar here, or Mezentius in Virgil,

“ Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro. ”

- Aeneid.

Or that of Grevinchovius, the Arminian, Ego meipsum discerno, atque in eo cur non mihi liceat ut de meo gloriarer? I do by my freewill make myself to differ from others, and why may not I boast of such a thing as of mine own, in answer to that of the apostle, "Who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received?" Wittily doth Luther call those braggers faeces or dregs, who have much in their mouths, haec ego feci, This was my doing; and worthily is that speech of Charles V emperor commended, Veni, vidi, sed vicit Christus, c beyond that of Julius Caesar, Veni, vidi, vici, because he ascribeth to Christ the honour of his conquest.

For the house of the kingdom.] The palace indeed he had built, though not the city, and therein he now prideth himself. The bramble thinks it a goodly thing to reign, and hath great thoughts and words too of his shadow, and yet all is but a shadow. The Turks build no stately edifices, besides their mosques or churches, because their abode upon earth is to be but short, they say, and therefore any dwelling may serve turn. That was a memorable speech of the forementioned Charles V, to whom, when the Duke of Venice had shown his princely palace, like a paradise upon earth, and now expected that the emperor should have exceedingly praised it, all that he said to it was this, Haec sunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori. These are the things that make us loath to depart out of the world. And no less memorable was that saying of another to a great lord who had showed him his stately house and pleasant garden, You had need, my lord, make sure of heaven; or else, when you die, you will be a very great loser.

By the might of my power.] See Habakkuk 1:16. See Trapp on " Hab 1:16 "

a Urbem suam opponit coelo, eamque pro coelo habet.

b Joseph. Antiq., lib. xvi. cap. 1l.

c A Lap. in 2 Samuel 17:1 .