Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	open_v	seal_n	seal_v	1,844	5	9.6479	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26566	The vanity of arts and sciences by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight ...	Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius, 1486?-1535.	1676 (1676)	Wing A790; ESTC R10955	221,809	392

Mysteries It was a name common to the Christians among the Romans to be call'd Asinarii and they were wont to paint the Image of Christ with the ears of an Ass as Tertullian witnesses Wherefore let neither Popes repute it to their shame if among those Giant like Elephants of Sciences there may be some Asses Neither let Christians wonder if among those Prelates and expert Doctors the better learned one is the less he be esteemed for the songs of Nightingales are not proper for the ears of Asses and it is a Proverb That the untuneable braying of Asses is not agreeable to the Harp And yet the best Pipes are made of the bones of Asses the marrow being taken out which as they far exceed the harmony of the Harp so these Religious Asses far surpass the Brangling and Braying of idle Sophisters Thus several Philosophers coming to visit Antony and to discourse with him being by him answer'd in a few words return'd with shame We read also of a certain Idiot that convinc'd a most learned and subtil Heretick and forc'd him to turn to the Faith whom the best and most learned Bishops at the Council of Nice with a long and difficult Disputation could not convince Who being afterwards demanded by his friends how it came to pass that he yielded to the Fool who had resisted and withstood so many and so great Learned Bishops replied That he had easily given the Bishops words for words but that he could not resist this Idiot who spake not according to humane wisdom but according to the Spirit The Conclusion of the Work YOu therefore O ye Asses who are now with your children under the command of Christ by means of his Apostles and Messengers and Readers of true wisdom in his holy Gospel being freed from the foggs and mists of flesh and bloud if ye desire to attain to this divine and true wisdom not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but of the tree of life set aside the Traditions of Men and every enquiry and discourse of flesh and bloud whether it concern Reason consideration of Causes or Effects conversing now not with the Schools of Philosophers and Sophisters but with your own selves For the Notions of all things are trusted within your own brests which as the Academicks confess the Scriptures themselves do testifie seeing that God created all things very good that is to say in the best degree they could consist He therefore as he created the trees full of fruit so he created our souls which are like rational trees full of Forms and Idea's though through the sin of our first parents all things were conceal'd and Oblivion took place the mother of Ignorance But you that can remove the Veil from your Understandings who are wrapt up in the darkness of Ignorance vomit up that Lethean Drench which has made ye drunk with Forgetfulness awake in the true light you that are drown'd in the sleep of Irrationality and then forthwith with an open countenance ye shall pass from light to light for ye are anointed as S. John saith by the holy Ghost and know all things And again There is no necessity that ye should be taught by any because his Anointing instructs ye in all things For he alone it is that giveth language and wisdome David Isaiah Ezekiel Jeremiah Daniel John Baptist and many other Prophets and Apostles were never bred up in Learning but of Shepherds Husbandmen and Fools became throughly learned in all things Solomon in a dream of one night was replenished with the knowledge of all things both sublunary and celestial and with so much prudence in the administration of Government that there was never any Prince equal to him Yet all these were mortal men as you are and sinners You will say perhaps that this has happen'd to a very few and those A few whom equal Jove Would signalize by his transcending love Or such whose ardent zeal divinely fir'd With constant motion to the Stars aspir'd However do not despair the hand of God is not shortned to them that call upon him that give a true obedience to his will Anthony and the Barbarian Christian servant gain'd the full knowledge of Divine things by the help of thrre days prayer as S. Austin testifies But you that cannot like the Prophets like the Apostles like those other holy men behold those things with a clear and unclouded Intellect may procure Understanding from them who have beheld these things with a clear sight There is also another way remaining as S. Jerome saith to Russinus that what the Spirit hath suggested to the Prophets and Apostles should be sought by you with diligent studie I mean the study of that Learning which is deliver'd in the Bible being the most sacred Oracles of the true God and received by the Church with an unanimous consent not of such things as have been invented by the Wit of men for they do not enlighten but darken the Understanding And therefore we must have recourse to Moses to Solomon to the Prophets to the Evangelists to the Apostles who shining with all sorts of Learning Wisdom Manners Languages Oracles Prophecies Miracles and Holiness of heavenly things have spoken from God himself of inferiour things above men delivering all the things of God and secrets of Nature distinctly and clearly to us For all the secrets of God and Nature all manner of Customs and Laws all understanding of things past present and to come are fairly taught in the Books of the holy Scripture Whither do ye therefore run headlong why seek ye knowledge of them who having spent all their days in searching have lost all their time labour being unable to attain to any thing of certain truth Fools and wicked men who not regarding the gifts of the holy Ghost strive to learn from lying Philosophers and Doctors of Errour those things which ye ought to receive from Christ and the holy Ghost Think ye to draw knowledge from the ignorance of Socrates or light out of the darkness of An●xagoras or vertue out of the Wells of Democritus and wisdom out of the madness of Empedocles Think ye to lave piety out of Diogenes's Tub or sence out of the stupidity of Carneades or wisdom from impious Aristotle or perfidious Averroes or faith out of the superstition of the Platonicks Ye are in an Errour being deceived by them who were themselves deceiv'd But recal your selves you who are desirous of the Truth descend from the clouds of mens Traditions and adhere to the true light Behold a voice from heaven a voice speaking from above and shewing more apparent than the Sun that ye are enemies to your selves and delay the receiving of wisdom Hear the Oracle of Baruch God is saith he and no other shall be compared to him He hath found out all manner of learning and hath taught it to Jacob his son and to Israel his beloved giving laws and precepts and ordaining sacrifices After this he was seen upon the earth conversed with men was made flesh teaching us plainly with his own mouth what was mysteriously deliver'd in the Law and by the Prophets And that ye may nor think the Scriptures relate onely to Divine and not to natural things hear what the Wise-man witnesseth of himself He hath given the true knowledge of those things which are that I might know the situation of the earths compass the vertues of the Elements the beginning ending middle and revolutions of the Times the course of the Year the influences of the Stars the nature of Animals Sympathy and Antipathy of Creatures the force of the Winds Thoughts of Men difference of Plants and the vertues of Roots In brief I have learnt whatever things are hidden and conceal'd for the Artificer of all things hath taught me wisdom The Divine wisdom faileth in nothing nothing escapes it there is no addition to it for it comprehends all things Know therefore that there needs not long Studie but Humility of spirit and Pureness of heart not the sumptuous furniture of many Books but a pure Understanding made fit for the Truth as the Lock is for the Key For number of Books hinders the learner and he that follows many Authors erres with many All things are contain'd and taught in the onely Volume of the Bible but with this Proviso That they are not to be understood but by those who are enlightned for to others they are onely Parables and Riddles seal'd up with many Seals Pray then to the Lord God in saith doubtful of nothing that the Lamb of the Tribe of Judah may come and open his Sealed Book which Lamb is onely holy and true who onely has the key of wisdom and knowledge wh● opens and no man shuts and shuts what no man opens● This is JESUS CHRIST the Word the So● of God the Father the true Teacher made Man lik● unto us that he might make us the children of God● like Himself blessed to all Eternity But lest 〈◊〉 should declaim beyond my Hour-glass let this be th● End of our Discourse FINIS