they are no niggards of their labour nor do they leave any thing unstudied but themselves They know all parts and places of the created world can discourse of every thing visible and invisible divine humane and mundane whether it be meant of substances or accidents are ignorant of nothing but the way to heaven are acquainted with all Laws and Customs save the Law of God and Customs of Christianity they are strangers no where but in the Court of their own Consciences Yea they build as hard and erect as high as did the Babel-builders but all to no purpose they never come to the roof and when they die they are undone They spend all their time in seeking after wisdom as Alchimists spend all their Estates to find out the Philosophers stone but never find it they never attain to that which is true wisdom indeed For as the ragged Poet told Petronius that Poetry was a kind of learning that never made any man rich so humane learning of its self never made a wise man As thus if I may be so bold what is it or what does it profit a man to have the etymology and derivation of wisdom and knowledge without being affected with that which is true wisdom indeed to be able to decline vertue yet not love it to have the theory and be able to prattle of wisdom by rote yet not know what it is by effect and experience To have as expert a tongue and as quick a memory as Portius a perfect understanding great science profound eloquence a sweet stile To have the force of Demosthenes the depth of Thesius the perswasâ—â—e art of Tully c. if withal he wants Grace and lives remisly With the Aâ—â—ronomer to observe the motion of the heavens while his heart is buried in the earth to search out the cause of many effects and let pass the consideration of the principal and most necessary With the Historian to know what others have done and how they have sped while he neglects the imitation of such as are gone the right way With the Law-maker to set down many Laws in particular and not to remember the common Law of nature or Law general that all must die Or lastly with Adam to know the Nature of all the Creatures and with Solomon to be able to dispute of ever thing even from the Cedar to the Hyssop or Pellitory when in the mean time he lives like Dives dies like Nabal and after all goes to his own place with Judas Alas many a Fool goes to hell with less costs less pains and far more quiet That is but raw knowledge which is not digested into practice It is not worth the name of knowledge that may be heard only and not seen Joh. 13. 17. Deut. 4. 6. Good discourse is but the froth of wisdom the sweet and solid fruit of it is in well framed actions that is true knowledge that makes the knower blessed We only praise that Mariner that brings the Ship safe to the Haven What saies Aristotle to be wise and happy are terms reciprocal And Socrates That learning saith he pleaseth me but a little which nothing profits the owner of it either to vertue or happiness And being demanded Who was the wisest and happiest man He answered He that offends least He is the best schollar that learns of Christ obedience humility c. He is the best Arithmetician that can add grace to grace he is the best learned that knows how to be saved Yea all the Arts in the world are artless Arts to this Sect. 4. The best knowledge is about the best things and the perfection of all knowledge to know God and our selves Knowledge and learning saith Aristotle consisteth not so much in the quantity as in the quality not in the greatness but in the goodness of it A little gold we know is more worth than much dross a little Diamond than a rockie Mountain So one drop of wisdom guided by the fear of God one spark of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge is more worth than all humane wisdom and learning yea one scruple of holiness one dram of faith one grain of grace is more worth than many pounds of natural parts And indeed Faith and Holiness are the nerves and sinews yea the soul of saving knowledge What saith Aristotle No more then the knowledge of goodness maketh one to be named a good man no more doth the knowledge of wisdom alone cause any person properly to be called a wiseman Saving knowledge of the truth works a love of the truth known yea it is a uniform consent of knowledge and action He only is wise that is wise for his own soul he whose conscience pulleth all he hears and reads to his heart and his heart to God who turneth his knowledge to faith his faith to feeling all to vvalk worthy of his Redeemer He that subdues his sensual desires and appetite to the more noble faculties of reason and understanding and makes that understanding of his to serve him by whom it is and doth understand He that subdues his lusts to his will submits his will to reason his reason to faith his saith his reason his will himself to the will of God this is practical experimental and saving knowledge to which the other is but a bare name or title A competent estate we know well husbanded is better than a vast patrimony neglected Never any meer man since the first knew so much as Solomon many that have known less have had more command of themselves Alas they are not always the wisest that know most for none more wise and learned in the worlds account then the Scribes and Pharisees yet Christ calls them four times blind and twice fools in one chapter Mat. 23. And the like of Balaam 2 Pet. 2. 16. who had such a prophetical knowledge that scarce any of the Prophets had a clearer revelation of the Messiah to come And the same may be affirmed of Judas and Achitophel for many that know a great deal less are far wiser Yea one poor crucified thief being converted in an hours time had more true wisdom and knowledge infused into him then had all the Rulers Scribes and Pharisees It is very observable what the high Priest told the Council as they were set to condemn Christ Ye know nothing at all he spake truer then he meant it for if we know not the Lord Jesus our knowledge is either nothing or nothing worth Rightly a man knows no more then he practiseth It is said of Christ 2 Cor. 5. 21. that he knew no sin because he did no sin in which sense he knows no good that doth no good These things if ye know saith our Saviour happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13. 17. and in Deut. 4. 6. Keep the commandments of God and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding before God and man What is the notional sweetness of honey to the experimental taste
the Professors thereof to be fools and madmen Elisha was counted no better 2 Kings 9. 11. and the rest of the Prophets Hos. 9. 7. St. Paul Acts 26. 20. and all the Apostles 1 Cor. 4. 10. Yea our Saviour Christ himself with open mouth was pronounced mad by his carnal hearers Joh. 10. 20. Mark 3. 21. and this hath been the worlds vote ever since The sincere Christian was so reputed in Pliny's time and after in St. Austin's time yea Julian the Pelagian could give St. Austin that he had none of the wise Sages nor the learned Senate of Philosophers on his side but only a company of mean Tradesmen of the vulgar sort that took part with him whose answer was Thou reproachest the weak things of the world which God hath chosen to confound the things that are mighty To worldly men Christian wisdom seems folly faith Gregory And well it may for even the wisdom of God is foolishness with the world 1 Cor. 1. 18 23. therefore no disparagement to us his servants if they repute us fools nor I think any honour to such sensualists that so repute us However we will give them their due For Sect. 8. I grant that in some kind of skill they out-strip the best â—f Gods people who if they are put to it may answer as Themistocles did when one invited him to touch a Lute for as he said I cannot fiddle but I can make a small town a great State So the godly may say we cannot give a solid reason in Nature why Nilus should over flow only in the Summer when waters are at the lowest Why the Load-stone should draw Iron or incâ—ine to the pole-star How the heat of the stomach and the strength of the nether chap should be so great Why a flash of lightning should melt the sword without making any impression in the scabbard Kill the child in the womb and never hurt the Mother How the waters should stand upon a heap and yet not over flow the earth Why the clouds above being heavy with water should not fall to the earth suddenly seeing every heavy thing descendeth Except the reason which God giveth Gen. 1. 6. Job 38. 8. to 12. 26 8. Psa. 104. 9. But we know the mystery of the Gospel and what it is to be born a new and can give a solid reason of our faith we know that God is reconciled to us the Law satisfied for us our sins pardoned our souls acquitted and that we are in favour with God which many of these with their great learning do not know And thus the godly are proved wiser than the wisest humanist that wants grace You have likewise the reasons why these great knowers know nothing yet as they might and ought to know that is to say First Because they are mistaken in the thing they take speculative knowledge for soul wisdom and soul saving wisdom to be foolishness and madness Now if a man take his aim amiss he may shoot long enough ere he hit the white and these men are as one that is gone a good part of his journey but must come back again because he hath mistaken his way Secondly Because they are Vnregenerate and want the Eye of Faith Thirdly For that they seek not to God for it who is the giver thereof without whose spirit there is no attaining it Fourthly Because they are proud and so seek not after it as supposing they have it already Fifthly Because if they had never so much knowledge they would be never the holier or the better for it but rather the worse nor would they imploy it to the honour of God or the good of others Sixthly Because they either do or would do mischief in stead of good with their knowledge Seventhly Because they will not consult with the word about iâ— nor advise with others that have already attained to it Oâ— thus They read and hear the Scriptures and mind not I mean the spirituality of the word or mind and understand not or understand and remember not or remember and practise not No this they intend not of all the rest and they that are unwilling to obey God thinks unworthy to know When the Serpent taught knowledge he said If ye eat the forbidden fruit your eyes shall be opened and you shall know good and evil But God teacheth another lesson and saith If ye will not eat the forbidden fruit your eyes shall be opened and you shall know good and evil Rom. 12. 2. See Psa. 111. 10. 119. 97 98 99 100. Or if you do eat it you shall be like images that have ears and cannot hear Rom. 11. 8. Isa. 6. 10. Mat. 13. 14. Psal. 115. 6. From all which Reasons we may collect That there are but a few amongst us that are wise indeed and to purpose for these Seven Hinderances are appliable to seventy seven parts of men in the Nation Besides if these great knowers know so little how ignorant are the rude rabble that despise all knowledge Nor can it be denied but all impenitent persons all unbelievers who prefer their profits and pleasures before pleasing of God as Herodias preferred John Baptists head before the one half of Herods Kingdom are arrant fools yea fools in Folio For if they were wise says Bernard they would foresee the torments of Hell and prevent them And so wise are the godly for they prefer grace and glory and Gods favour before ten thousand worlds And so much to prove that he is the wisest man whose knowledge lies in the best things as the weaker vessel may hold the better liquour and that if men be never so learned except they have learned the Mystery of the Gospel and what it is to be born again by their own experience which few with their great learning do indeed know they are in Gods account no better then fools I come now to prove that the greatest Politician is a verier fool then the former Sect. 9. Secondly if we shall look upon the most cunning Politician with a single eye judge righteous judgement and not according to appearance only we shall find that the greatest Politician is the greatest fool For he turns all his Religion into hypocrisie into statism yea into Atheism making Christianity a very footstool to policy I consese they are wiser in their generation then the children of light are so acknowledged by Christ himself Luke 16. 8. But why not that there is a deficiency of power in the godly but will for could not David go as far as Achithophel could not Paul shew as much cunning as Tertullus yes surely if they would but because their Maâ—â—er Christ hath commanded them to be innocent as Doves They have resolved in an heroical disposition with Abraham Gen. 14. 21. that the King of Sodom shall not make them rich No crooked or indirect means shall bring them in profit they will not be beholden to the King of Hell for a shoo-tie And
thou wilt say or at least thou hast reason to say if there be so few that are soul-wise I have all the reason in the world to mistrust my self wherefore good Sir tell me how I shall be able to get this spiritual and experimental knowledge this divine and supernatural wisdom Answ. By observing these Five Rules First Let such a willing and ingenious soul resolve to practise what he does already know or shall hereafter be acquainted with from the Word of God and Christs faithful Messengers For He that will do my Fathers Will saies our Saviour shall know the doctrine whether it be of God or no John 7. 17. A good understanding have all they that keep the Commandments saies holy David Ps. 111. 10. and proves it true by his own example and experience I understood saies he more than the Ancient and became wiser than my teachers because I kept thy precepts Psal. 119. 97 98 99 100. To a man that is good in his sight God giveth knowledge and wisdom Eccle. 2. 26. The spiritual man understandeth all things 1 Cor. 2. 15. Wicked men understand not judgement but they that seek the Lord understand all things Prov. 28. 5. Admirable â—ncâ—uragements for men to become godly and conscientious I mean pâ—actical Christians Secondly If thou wouldst get this precious grace of saving knowledge the way is to be frequent in hâ—aring the word preached and to become studious in the Scriptures for they and they alone make wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. Ye erre saith our Saviour not knowing the Scripture Matth. 22. 29. Maâ—k 12. 24. We must not in the search of heavenly matters either do as we see others do neither must we follow the blinde guide carnal reasâ—â— or the deceitful guidâ— our corrupt hearts but the undeceivablâ— and inâ—alâ—ible guide of Gods Woâ—d which is truth it self and great need there is for as we cannot perceive the fulness of our faces unless it be told us or we take a glass and look our selves therein so neither can we see the blemishes of our Souls which is a notable degree of spiritual Wisdom but either God must make iâ— known to us by his Spiâ—â— or we must collect the same out of the Scâ—iptures that celâ—stial glass though this also must be done by the Spirits help Therefore Thirdly If thou wilt be Soul-wisâ— and truly profit by studying the Scriptures be 〈◊〉 and fervent in Prayer to God who is the only giver of it for the direction of his holy Spirit For first humble and faithful Prayer uâ—heâ—ed in by meditation is the cure of all obscurity Especially being accompanied with fâ—rvour and fervenâ—y as you may see Matth. 21. 22 If any â—ack wisdom saith St. James let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man and it shal be given him Jam. 1. 5. Mark the words it is said if any wherefore let no man deny his soul this comfort Again ask and have It cannot come upon easier terms Yea God seems to like this suit so well in Solomon as if he were beholding to his Creature for wishing well to it self And in vain do we expect that alms of grace for which we do not so much as beg But in praying for Wisdom do not pray for it without putting difference desire not so much brain-brain-knowledge as to be Soul-wise and then you will imploy your wisdom to the glory of the giver Let thine hearts desire be to know God in Christ Christ in Faith Faith in good works to know Gods Will that thou mayst do it and before the knowledge of all other things desire to know thy self and in thy self not so much thy strength as thy weakness Pray that thine heart may serve thee in stead of a commentary to help thee understand such points of Religion as are most needful and necessary and that thy Life may be an Exposition of thy inward man that there may be a sweet harmony betwixt Gods word thy judgement and whole conversation that what the natural man knoweth by roat thou mayst double by feeling the same in thine heart and affections As indeed experimental and saving knowledge is no less felt then known and I cannot tell how comes rather out of the abundance of the heart than by extreme study or rather is sent by God unto good men like the Ram that was brought to Abraham when he would have Sacrificed his son Isaac When Christ taught in the Temple they asked How knoweth this man the Scriptures seeing he never learned them So it is a wonder what learning some men have that have no learning Like Prisilla and Aquila poor Tent-makers who were able to school Apollos that great Clerk a man renowned for his learning What can we say to it For no other reason can be given but as Christ said Father so it pleaseth thee For as Jacob said of his Venison when his Father asked how he came by it so suddenly Because the Lord thy God brought it suddenly to my hands So holy righteous men do more easily understand the words of God than do the wicked because God brings the meaning suddenly to their hearts as we read Luk. 24. That Christ standing in the midst of his Apostles after he was risen from the dead opened their understandings that they might understand clearly the Scriptures and what was written of him in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms ver 44. 45. Lo how suddenly their knowledge came unto them But see what a general promise God in the Person of Wisdâ—m hath made to all that serve him Prov. 1. Turn you at my reproof and behold I will pour out my spirit unto you and make known my words unto you vers 23. And Psal. 25. The secrets of the Lord are revealed to them that fear him and his covenant is to give them understanding ver 14. These secrets are hid from the wicked neither hath he made any such covenant with them but the contrary As see Dan. 12. 10. Vnto you it is given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others in Parables that they seeing should not see and hearing they should not understand Luk. â— 10. Mark 3. 11. Matth. 13. 13. Again It is not enough to pray except also it be in Christs name and according to his will believing to be heard for his sake and that it be the intercession of Gods own spirit in you And being truly sensible of your sins and wants that you chiefly pray for the pardon of sin the effusion of grace and for the assistance of Gods Spirit that you may more firmly believe more soundly repent more zealously do more patiently suffer and more constantly persevere in the practise and profession of every duty But above all you must know that as Sampsons companions could neâ—er have found out his Riddle if they had not plowed with his Heifer so â—o man can knew the secrets of God but
of it It is one thing to know what riches are and another thing to be Master of them it is not the knowing but the possessing of them that makes rich Many have a depth of knowledge and yet are not soul-wise have a Library of Divinity in their heads not so much as the least Catechism in their Consciences full brains empty hearts Yea you shall hear a flood in the tongue when you cannot see one drop in the life Insomuch that in the midst of our so much light and means of Grace there be few I fear that have the sound and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified which was the onely care and study of St. Paul 1 Cor. 2. 2. Sect. 5. And that I am not mistaken the effect shews For if men knew either God or Christ they could not but love him and loving him they would keep his Commandments Joh. 14. 15. For hereby saith St. John it is manifest that we know him if we keep his commandments 1 Joh. 2. 3. But he that saith I know him and yet keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and there is no truth in him ver 4. What saith our Saviour This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou 〈◊〉 sent Joh. 17. 3. But how shall a man know whether he hath this knowledge Answ. St. John tells you 1 Joh. 2. 3. and so plainly that you cannot be deceived except you desire to deceive your own soul. The knowledge of God that saves us is more then a bare apprehension of him it knows his power and therefore fears him knows his Justice and therefore serves him knows his mercy and therefore truis him knows his goodness and therefore loves him c. For he that hath the saving knowledge of God or of Christ hath every other Grace there is a sweet correspondence between every one where there is any one in truth As in the generation the head is not without the body nor the body without each member nor the soul without its powers faculties so in the regeneration where there is any one grace in truth there is every one 2 Cor. 5. 17. If you will see it in particulars read Psal. 9. 10. Jer. 9. 24. 1 Joh. 4. 6. Joh. 4. 10. 1 Joh. 4. 7 8 2. 3. Job 42. 5 6. which Scriptures shew that as feeling is inseparable to all the organs of sense the eye sees and feels the ear hears and feels the pallate tastes and feels the nostrils smell and feel so knowledge is involved in every grace Faith knows and believes Charity knows and loves Patience knows and suffers Temperance knows and abstains Humility knows stoops Repentance knows mourns Obedience knows does Confidence knows reioyces Hope knows and expects Compassion knows and pities Yea as there is a power of water in every thing that grows it is fatness in the Olive sweetness in the fig cheerfulness in the grape strength in the Oak talness in the Cedar redness in the Rose whiteness in the Lilly c. So knowledge is in the hand obedience in the mouth benediction in the knee humility in the eye compassion in the heart charity in the whole body and soul piety Alas If men had the true knowledge of Jesus Christ it would disperse and dispel all the black clouds of their reigning sins in a moment as the Sun doth no sooner shew his face but the darkness vanisheth or as Caesar did no sooner look upon his enemies but they were gone Egypt swarmed with locusts till the west wind came that left not one He cannot delight in sin nor dote upon this world that know◠Christ savingly Vertue is ordained a wife for knowledge and where these two joyn there will proceed from them a noble proginie a generation of good works Again as the water engendreth ice and the ice again engendreth water so knowledge begets righteousness and righteousness again begetteth knowledge It is between science and conscience as it is between the stomach and the head for as in mans body the raw stomach maketh a rhumatick head and the rhumatick head maketh a raw stomach so science makes our conscience good conscience makes our science good Nor is it so much scientiae capitis as conscientia cordis that knows Christ and our selves whence Solomon saith Give thine heart to wisdom Prov. 2. 10. and let wisdom enter into thine heart Prov. 4. 4. And when he would acquaint us how to become wise he tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1. 7. as if the first lesson to be wise were to be holy Again if it be asked Why the natural man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God Saint Paul answers he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. and indeed if they are spiritually discerned how should they discern them that have not the spirit For though the outward man receives the elements and rudiments of Religion by breeding and education yet his inward man receiveth them by heavenly inspiration 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 13. 12. 3 8. Mat. 16. 16 17. Deut. 29. 2. 3 4. Psal. 111. 10. Luke 24. 45. John 15. 15. And this alone is enough to prove that no wicked man is a wise man for if God alone be the giver of it we may be sure that he will reveal his secrets to none but such as he knows will improve their knowledge to his glory and the good of others Even as the husbandman will not cast his seed but into ground that will return him a good harvest Psal. 25. 14. Luk. 24. 45. Mark 4. 34. Gen. 18. 17. 1 John 4. 7. Sect. 6. But would there men any one even the best of them thus improve or imploy their knowledge Or do they desire it to any such end No but to some other end as I shall in the next place acquaint you Some men desire not to know some desire onely to know Or rather thus Few men in comparison desire knowledge fewer that desire divine and supernatural knowledge fewest of all that desire to be the better or that others should be the better for their knowledge More particularly a world of men desire knowledge for no other end but to remove their ignorance as Pharaoh used Moses but to remove the plagues Others again study the Scriptures and other good Books only to make gain thereof or to be the abler to dispute and discourse as boys go into the water only to play and paddle there not to wash and be clean With Eve they highly desire the tree of knowledge but regard not the tree of life As I would fain know what fruit or effect the knowledge of most men produces in them except it be to inable them to dispute and discourse to increase wit or to increase wealth or to increase pride or perhaps to increase Athism and to make them the more able and cunning
to argue against the truth and power of Religion Whether the utmost of their aim be not to enrich dignifie and please themselves not onâ— casting the eye of their souls at Gods glory their neighbours good or their own salvation Whether their main drift be not purchasing of a great estate for them and theirs without either fear of God regard of men or the discharge of their duty and calling Again whereas a godly man and a good Christian thinks himself as happy in giving light to others as in receiving it himself how many are there who as themselves are never the better I mean in regard of grace for their great wisdom and learning so no more are others for commonly they resemble dark lanthorns which have light but so shut up and reserved as if it were not and what is the difference betwixt concealed skill and ignorance it is the nature and praise of good to be communicative whereas if their hidden knowledge do ever look out it casts so sparing a light that it onely argues it self to have an unprofitable being And for the most part these men if they may be thought great Rabbies deep and profound Schollars this is the height of their ambition though neither the Church be benefited nor God glorified by it whereas they ought the contrary for as the grace of God is the fountain from which our wisdom flows so the glory of God should be the Ocean to which it should run yea that God may be honoured with and by our wisdom is the only end for which he gives us to be wise And for default of this end he not seldom crosseth the means whereby while men strive to expel ignorance they fail into errour as an Emperick to cure one disease causeth a worse Briefly to conclude this point So many as are puft up with their knowledge or do not part with their sins shew that they never sought it for Gods glory but for their own honour and glory And certainly if we seek not Gods glory in doing his work he will give us no wages at the latter end Sect. 7. But for men to do no good with their gifts is not all yea it were well if that were the worst for not a few of them resemble Achitophel and Jonadab who employed their wit wickedly and do mischief instead of good with their wisdom like Herod whom you shall see turning over the Bible searching the Scriptures examining the Prophets â—ut to what end and purpose To know good but to do evil yea the greatest evil under the Sun slay Christ in the cradle With many their knowledge and learning is not for God for Gideon but for Antichrist and for Babylon and so of all other gifts how many are the worse for them As give Saul a Kingdom and he will tyrannize give Nabal plenty and he will be drunk give Judas an Apostleship and he will sell his Master for mony let Sermantus have a good wit he will exercise it in scoffing at holiness Briefly how oft doth wisdom without grace prove like a fair estate in the hands of a fool which not seldom becomes the owners ruine Or Absoloms hair which was an ornanent wherewith he hanged himself So that wisdom without grace is nothing else but a cunning way of undoing our selves at the last Many mens knowledge to them being like the Ark to the Philistims which did them more hurt than good when their knowledge makes them prouder not better more rebellious not more serviceable as it is Isa. 47. 10. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge they have caused thee to rebel And very often this falls out that as the best soyl usually yeildeth the worst air so without grace there is nothing more pestilent than a deep wit no such prey for the Devil as a good wit unsanctified Wit and learning well used is like the golden ear-rings and bracelets of the Israelites abused like the same gold cast into an Idol than which nothing more abominable Now when it comes to this That they fight against God with the weapon he hath given them when with those the Psalmist speaks of Psal. 73. 9. They set their mouths against heaven and are like an unruly Jade that being full fed kicks at his Master what course doth the Lord take with them Answ. Read but that Parable Luke 19. 24. John 7. 17. it will inform you For to him that useth his Talent of knowledge well he giveth more as to the servant that used his talents well he doubled them but to them that use not their knowledge well much more if they abuse it he taketh away that which he had formerly given them as he took heat from the fire when it would burn his Children Dan. 3. 27. As you may see Isa. 44. 25. 〈◊〉 Thess. 2. 10 11 12. Joh. 7. 17. Psal. 111. 10. 1 〈…〉 26. Prov. 28. 5. Mat. 21. 43. Acts 26. â—8 Isa 〈…〉 44. 25. 6. 9 10. Dan. 2. 19 23. Job 5. 13 14. John 9. 39. 12. 40. Rom. 1. 28. Eph. 4. 18 19. 1 Cor. 1. 20. 2 Thess. â— 10 11 12. turn to the places for they are rare I will destroy the tokens of the South sayers and make them that conjecture fools I will turn the wise men backward and make their knowledge foolishness saith the Lord Isa. 44. 25. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsel of the wicked is made foolish Job 5. 13. the case of Achitophel And justly are they forsaken of their reason who have abandoned God yea most just it is that they who want grace should want wit too And so much of abusing their gifts Lastly These great knowers and wise men are so far from desiring soul wisdom and saving knowledge to the ends before specified that they do not at all desire it for that it suits not with their condition For Natural men desire only humane and mundane knowledge Spiritual men that which is heavenly and supernatural and the reason why they desire it not is for that they know it not A man desireth not that he knoweth not saies Chrysostom neither are unknown evils feared wherefore the work of Regeneration begins at Illumination Acts 26. 18. Col. 1. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Now according as men are wise they prize and value this wisdom and endeavour to obtain it Prov. 18. 15. For it is more true of divine wisdom than it was of that Grecian beauty No man ever loved her that never saw her no man ever saw her but he loved her And so on the contrary according as men are ignorant and blockish they under-value and dis-esteem it hate it and are prejudiced aginst it And hereupon carnal men being blinded by the Prince of darkness together with their own wickedness and being of a reprobate judgement do most usually and familiarly term and esteem this soul-wisdom this divine spiritual experimental and saving-knowledge to be meer foolishness or madness Wisd. 5. 3. to 9. and
by the revelation of his Spirit 1 Cor. â—2 8. Mat. 16. 17. Yea suppose a man be not inferiour to Portius or Pythagoras who kept all things in Memory that ever they had read â—eard or seen To Virgil of whom it is reported that if all Sciences â—ere lost they might be found again in him To Aben Ezra of whom 〈◊〉 was said that if knowledge had put out her Candle at his brain she might â—â—ght it again and that his head was a throne of Wisdom or Josephus â—aligar who was skilled in thirty Languages Yet if he want the Spirit 〈◊〉 God to be his teacher he is a dunce to the meanest and most illiterate â—â—liever For one excellent and necessary prerogative of the spiritual man 〈◊〉 this he hath God for his teacher he learns the counsels of God of that Spirit which only knoweth Gods counsels Luk. 21. 15. which is no small priviledge for the Scholar learns quickly when the holy Ghost is his Teacher the Eye sees distinctly when the holy Ghost doth enlighten it With the Spirits help the means can never be too weak without never strong enough Luk. 24. 44 45. Pâ—â—v 1. 23. Sect. 17. Fourthly Thou must get an humble conceit of thine own wisdom The first step to knowledge is to know our own Ignorance We must become fools in our own opinion before we can be truly wise as the Apostle sets it down 1 Cor. 3. 18. And indeed the opinion of our kâ—owing enough is one of the greatest causes fouâ— knowing so liâ—â—le for what we pâ—esume to have attained we sâ—ek not after Yeâ— the very first 〈◊〉 of a Christian is humility He will teach the humble his way Psal. 25. 9. Jam. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5 5. And he that hath not learned the first leâ—â—on is not fit to take out a new Pride is a great lâ—t to true wisdom For God resisteth the 〈◊〉 and giveth grace to the humble Jam. 4. 6. 1 Pet 5. 5. Whence it comes to pass that few proud wits are reformed Joh 9. 39. And foâ— this cause also did out Saviour propound his woes to the Phaâ—â—sâ—es his dâ—ctâ—ines to the Peâ—ple A heart full of Pride is like a vessel full of 〈◊〉 This self-opinion must be blown out of us before saving knowledgâ— will be pâ—uâ—ed into us Christ will know none but the humble and none but humble souls truly know Christ. Now the way to become humble is by taking a serious view of our wants The Pâ—acoâ—ks pride is much abated when she looks on the blackness of her legs and feet Now suppose we know never so much yet that which we know is 〈◊〉 then that which we are ignoranâ— of and the more we know the more we know we want Prov 1. 5 7. Psal. 73. 22. And the less â—ensible we are of our blindâ—ess sickness dâ—formity c. the more blind sick and dâ—foâ—med we are Fifthly Thou must labour to get a true and lively faith for as without faith we cannot please God so without faith no man can know God Faith most clearly beholds thoâ—e things which are hid both from the eye of sense and the 〈◊〉 of reason John 12. 46. Vnregenerate mâ—n that want saith are like blind Sampson without his guide or like Pâ—liphemus who never had but one eye and that Vâ—ysses put out For so does the pleasure and custom of sin blind the Senâ—ualist We must have minds lifted above natuâ—e to see and love things above nature heavenly wisdom to see heavenly truth or else that truth which is saving will be to us a Mystery Maâ—k 4. 11. If it seem not foolishnâ—ss 1 Cor. 2. 7 8 14. To them that are lost the Gospel is hid 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. Whereas the Believer discerns al things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. 2 15 16 Yea God giveth him a mouth and wisdom where-against all his Adversaries shall not be able to speak or resist Luke 21. 15. These are the five steps which lead up to the palace of wisdom which all must ascend by that mean to enter If you have once attained this precious grace of saving knowledge you wil as much as in you lies employ the same to the glory of the giveâ— An end of the first part as a penyworth of Lawn out of the whole piece Such as would have the residue let them read the Trial of true Wisdom as it is in the first part of my Christian Library out of which Quiver this Arrow is drawn FINIS
in all haste to call for aid to apprehend the thief And commonly as they have no reason so they will hear none Now he that will learn of none but himself hath a fool to his Teacher and such as refuse admonition are bruitsh as the holy Ghost affirms Prov. 12. 1. And destroy their own souls chap. 15. 32. By all which it appears that their knowledge is ignorance their wisdom folly their sight blindness They neither consider what reason speaketh or religion commandeth but what the will appetite affecteth For will is the Axeltree lusts and passions thâ— wheels whereupon all their actions are carried and do run Appetite being their Lord Reason their Servant and Religion their Slave Whereas religion should govern their judgement judgement and reason their wills and affections as Adam should have done Eve They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8. 5 to 9. So that it is impossible for fleshly minded men to believe what Sots they are touching the good of their souls Wherefore when we see the folly and misery of those that serve sin and Satan and how peevishly averse they are to their own eternal salvation let us pity them as being so much more worthy our commiseration as they are more uncapable of their own misery And so much of the first sort namely Sensualists Sect. 2. Secondly There is another degree of knowledge that is accrued or obtained by education learning observation experience called natural or speculative knowledge or reason improved For humane learning is as oyl to the lamp of our reason and makes it burn clearer but faith illumination of the Spirit more then doubles the sâ—ght of our minds as a prospective glass does the corporal sight Mat. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 2. 7 to 17. Joh. 12. 46. For as the soul is the lamp of the body and reason of the soul and religion of reason and faith of religion so Christ is the light and life of Faith Joh. 1. 9 8. 12. Acts 26. 18. Ephes. 5. 14. Christ is the sun of the soul reason faith the two eyes reason discerns natural object faith spiritual and supernatural We may see far with our bodily eye sense farther with the minds eye reason but farther with the souls eye saith then with both And the believer hath the addition of Gods spirit faith above all other men I am the lighâ— of the world saith our Saviour he that followeth me meaning by a lively faith shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life Joh. 8. 12. more see two eyes then one yea the day with one eye does far more things descry then night can do with more then Argos eyes So that as meer sense is uncapable of the rules of reason so reason is no less uncapable of the things that are divine and supernatural Jer. 10. 14. 1 Cor. 2. 14 15 16. Eph. 5. 8. And as to speak is onely proper to men so to know the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven is onely proper to believers Psal. 25. 14. Prov. 3. 32. Amos 3. 7. Now of natural and speculative knowledge the wicked have as large a share as the godly but of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge which is supernatural and descendeth from above Jam. 3. 17. and keepeth a man from every evil way Prov. 2. 12. the wicked have no part with the godly Whence all men in their natural condition are said to be blind in darkness Mat. 4. 16. 15. 14. Eph. 4. 18 19. 5. 8. whereas believers are called children of light and of the day 1 Thes. 5. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Nor is this kind of knowledge any way attainable but by grace from above No learning experience or pains in study and books will bring them to it Ephes. 1. 17 18. 3. 19. except they become new creatures have hearts eyes and ears sanctified from above and that the holy Ghost becomes their teacher Deut. 29. 2 3. 4. Psal. 111. 10. Joh. 15. 15. Rom. 8. 14 15. Nor is it saving knowledge that they seek after for though many of them be great seekers after knowledge great pains-takers to become wise yet it is not divine and supernatural knowledge that they labour for or desire Indeed wisdom in the largest sense hath ever carried that shew of excellency with it that not only the good have highly affected it as Moses who studied for wisdom and Solomon who prayed for wisdom and the Queen of Sheba who travelled for wisdom and David who to get wisdom made the word his counsellour hated every false way and was a man after Gods own heart but the very wicked have laboured for it who are ashamed of other vertues as O the pleasure that rational men take in it Prov. 2. 3 10 11. 10. 14. Phil. 3. 8. Knowledge is so fair a Virgin that every clear eye is in love with her it is a Pearl despised of none but Swine Prov. 2. 3 10 11. whereas brutish and blockish men as little regard it they who care not for one dram of goodness would yet have a full scale of knowledge Amongst all the trees of the garden none so pleaseth them as the tree of knowledge And as wisdom is excellent above all so it is affected of all as Oyl was both of the wise and foolish Virgins It hath been a Mark that every man hath shot at ever since Eve sought to be as wise as her Maker but as an hundred shoot for one that hits the White so an hundred aim at wisdom for one that lights upon it Eccles. 7. 28. because they are mistaken in the thing for as Jacob in the dark mistook Leah for Rachel so many a blind soul takes that to be wisdom which is not like Eve who thought it wisdom to eat the forbidden fruit and Absalom who thought it wisdom to lie with his Fathers Conâ—â—â—es in the sight of all the people and the false Steward who thought it wisdom to deceive his Master And so of Josephs brethren of Pharaoh and his deep Counsellors of Achâ—ophel of Herod of the Pharisees in their project to destroy Jesus and many the like All these thought they did wisely but they were mistaken and their projects proved foolish and turned to their own ruine Sect. 3. But take some instances to prove that all sorts of Naturians are Fools in comparison of the Godly I 'll begin with those that repute themselves are reputed by others the wisest amongst men And they are your profound Humanist and cunning Politicians wherein you shall see whether the most and greatest number are not grosly mistaken in their opinions and verdicts touching wisdom First for profound Humanists a man would think that they were incomparably wise for none so thirst after knowledge and wisdom as they and to get it