delight is with the sons of men as Solomon witnesseth of her And S. Iames bids us pray for her If any man want Wisdom let him ask it of God So that when the Prophet Baruch saith No man knoweth her way nor thinketh on her path is as much as if he should say No man by the Natural Spirit of a man can reach so far But S. Peter faith that we have precious promises of being made partakers of the Divine Nature And our Blessed Saviour argueth thus in the 11th of S. Luke If so be that men being evil know how to give good gifts to their children How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him But what Shall therefore every one that saith Lord Lord or that can repeat their Pater noster receive the Holy Spirit of Wisdom No in no wise Only they that do the will of my Father which is in Heaven saith our Saviour If I encline to wickedness in my heart saith the Psalmist the Lord will not hear my prayer And indeed the old blind Poet could see so far into Divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that obeys God God hears him So that we see that the foundation or beginning of this great work of Wisdom is that which the present Text points at viz. The fear of God The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom The words are plain and without ambiguity In the English especially The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not of so a determinate sense but that it may signifie the principal the first best or chiefest of Wisdom as well as the beginning of Wisdom But the latter I take to be the better if not the only sense For Fear hath torment saith the Apostle but perfect love casteth out fear Wherefore this Fear is not the choicest or chiefest of true Wisdom But if we compare this place with its parallel we shall yet more plainly see that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies merely a beginning or entrance Prov. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The entrance or first impenetration into Wisdom is the fear of God For the word comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to boar or pierce So that it is evident that the English Translation is the only sense of this place of Scripture In the handling whereof I will endeavour these two things 1. To shew somewhat more largely out of other places of Scripture the truth of this present Text That the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom 2. Why there is no other entrance than this into true Wisdom THE former is manifest out of many places of Scripture 1. Ecclesiastie 4. 17. For first she will walk with him by crooked wayes and bring him unto fear and dread and torment him with her discipline until she have tryed his soul and have proved him by her judgments Then will she return the streight way unto him and comfort him and shew him her secrets and heap upon him her treasures of Knowledge 2. Also Esai 66. at the beginning of the Chapter Thus saith the Lord The heaven is my throne and the earth is my foot-stool Where is that house that you will build unto me And where is that place of my rest Presently after he subjoineth To him will I look even to him that is of a poor and contrite spirit and trembleth at my words He therefore that fears the Lord shall become the Temple of God And it should seem no strange thing to us being the Apostle makes mention of the same more than once or twice Know you not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost in the first Epistle to the Corinthians And in the same Epistle Know you not that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you Now what Benefit accrues to us by being the Temple of God we may gather by the nature and use of these Material Temples these Temples made with hands In these we know amongst the Heathen were the Initiations into the Mysteries of whatsoever Deity the place was Consecrate to But we need not straggle We see the use of outward Temples dayly here among our selves They are for Prayers Hymns and for Instruction out of the Word of God the literal Word of God in a gross material Temple Therefore in analogy in the Temple of our Souls and Spirits shall the essential word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal Word of God or God himself teach and instruct us And who teacheth like him as is said in Iob. There was so great Vertue in the very presence of the Person of Socrates as you may see in Plato that his Scholars profited very much merely by being in the same Room with him though he spake not unto them How much more shall they profit with whom the Spirit of Christ abideth as in his own proper House and Temple With what joy and admiration shall they be taken when in the Synagogue of their Hearts he shall stand up and read as in that Synagogue at Nazareth He hath sent me that I should heal the broken-hearted that I should preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind When he shall begin to say This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears Then shall all the powers and faculties of a mans Soul bear him witness and wonder at the gracious words that proceed out of his mouth Such a Teacher shall all such have that truly fear God 3. Again That Wisdom is usherd in by terrour fear and horrour seems to be the subject of the 29th Psalm The voice of the Lord is upon the waters the God of glory maketh it to thunder the Lord is upon the great waters Now that Waters are an Emblem of the moveable and tumultuous flowings of the Earthly Nature that Learned Iew doth teach us when as he calls the Waters of Edom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Waters towards which the King of Egypt made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Platonists make but a sliding passing dream of corporeal and sensible things saying of them that they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they slide continually from the true essence by perpetual flowing So the Soul being united cum rebus fluxis caducis dissolved as it were and incorporate after a manner into their Watery nature and lost amongst it The mighty energy of the All-powerful Voice of God or Word of God doth operate upon these Waters for the producing of Light in them as in the first Creation And according to this Analogy speaks the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. But to proceed further in the Psalm The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars yea the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon The voice of the Lord maketh
that Tyrannick Prince that rules in the Sons of Disobedience he shall be excluded from the everlasting light of God and his Holy Truth And thus briefly under one we have seen how we are said to deceive our selves and the way to escape this self-deceit God that commanded the light to shine out of darkness shine in our hearts and give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ that we may walk before him in the truth of Life To Him with the Father and the Blessed Spirit c. DISCOURSE VII PROV xv 15. All the dayes of the afflicted are evil but a good conscience is a continual feast THE Text is a description of the estate of the wicked man and the righteous man Which will be more evident if we consult with the Septuagints Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The eyes of the wicked continually expect evil but the Godly or good men are alwayes at rest Here do the LXX Interpreters express plainly that opposition of those persons and of their conditions Vngodly and good or godly unquietness of mind and perpetual rest As I pronounced concerning this Text at first that it is a description of the opposite conditions of those ever opposite off-springs of God and the Devil the Sons of Christ and the Sons of Belial the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness This Sense have the LXX put upon this portion of Scripture though the words themselves answer not so fitly to the Hebrew Text. To devise the occasion of their variation would be more easie though curious than profitable I intend not to mispend time or abuse your attention with the husks of words or fruitless discourse of Translations I will follow Symmachus in the first part of the Verse exactly answering to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the dayes of the poor are evil in the second part the Hebrew it self But a good heart is a continual feast or as the words will bear He that hath a good heart feasts continually Now therefore that this Poverty is not to be understood of outward poverty is plain out of the Text. Continual feasting and constant poverty or affliction are contrary So that we must either exclude the poor man from having a good Heart and Conscience whereby all sorrow is dispell'd and continual joy and chearfulness obtained or else if he hath these joyes make him rich in outward wealth But sith the poor upright honest man through the continual comfort of his own good Conscience Dives like fares deliciously every day though poor in estate then surely none of his dayes are evil though he poor outwardly in them all So that this present Text is to be understood of an inward kind of poverty that makes a mans life full of evil and misery This evil poverty and miserable want is described in the Revelation of S. Iohn Ch. 3. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not how thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked I counsel thee to buy of me gold tryed in the fire that thou mayst be made rich and white rayment that thou mayst be clothed and that thy filthy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayst see Here 's good store of penury a wardrobe of want want of Money want of Clothes to cover their shame want of Eye-sight to be able to do that which is but a misery to go from door to door to beg But hear what 's said Verse 21. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my Throne even as I overcame and sit with my Father in his Throne See what a change From a Begger to a King from a Dunghil to a Throne from a blind Wretch to a Judge upon a Throne that shall discern the right that shall judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel He that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man We have by this time plainly seen what this poor man is whose dayes are said all to be full of evil That he is one that wants those white Robes which is the Righteousness of the Saints wants that old precious coin whose image and superscription is Righteousness and true Holiness the figure of Christ the Son of God the express Portraiture of his Father He wants his Eye-sight the true Spiritual Wisdom holy Discretion the sense of Spirits and discovery of the mysterious working of that Prince of Darkness and Deceit He 's plainly destitute though not of the necessaries of this Life yet of that main one and only necessary thing as our Saviour calls it that better part that Mary chose and could not be taken from her Virtus nec eripi nec surripi◠potest Nor force nor fraud can deprive a man of that inward good And now I have described this poor man I think it is not hard to prove that all his dayes are evil By how much better the Soul is than the Body by so much worse are the Defects of the Soul than those of the Body 1. Is an Vlcer or Wound grievous in the Body Much more grievous is it then in the Soul or Spirit The Spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 18. 14. 2. Is Blindness or Darkness an horrid thing to the Body then is Ignorance much more to the Soul As may appear from that excellent description of this AEgyptian darkness in the Book of Wisdom Chap. 17. When the unrighteous people thought to have thy holy people in subjection they were bound with the bands of darkness and long night and being shut up under the roof did lye there to escape the eternal providence But now that we think not only of outward darkness in the Air see what followes And while they thought to be hid in their dark sins they were scattered abroad in the dark covering of forgetfulness fearing horribly and troubled with visions For the den that hid them kept them not from fear But the sounds that were about them troubled them and terrible visions and horrible sights did appear No power of the fire might give light neither might the clear flames of the stars lighten the dreadful night And a few Verses after For it is a fearful thing when malice is condemned by her own testimony and a conscience that is touched doth ever forecast cruel things Thus having their eyes closed in misty sleep it doth not secure them from the trouble of fear For they that endure this intolerable night breath'd out of the dungeon of Hell as they sleep the same sleep so are they in like manner tortured with the same monstrous visions sounding for fear and perplexity of Spirit as is largely described in that Chapter But that this evil condition may appear more evil I will set the contrary by it God is light and in him
they have for their light as lame and deformed as the Poets Vulcan It is fain to be underpropt with ill rubbish crass fewel to be fed with the foul oyl that sweats from that active body of sinful corruption and having so course a pabulum it is no wonder that it is as all Sublunary fires are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bitter ebullitions and gross injuriousness are the proper effects of such illumination And although this fewel and blaze may transmit some strange steam into their Brains that they be drunkenly merry yet surely if they ever come to themselves they will fall into as deep and dull a Melancholly to see how horribly they have been deceived They shall lye down in sorrow An Emblem of this Knowledge may be that Egypt from which the Israelites were delivered This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earthly Wisdom as S. Iames stiles it and indeed it sutes well with the Emblem For AEgypt is watered by Nilus whose name is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Dionysius intimates in his Geographical Poem A River ever affording new mud For although it be as that Verse in Strabo calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a River come from Heaven as indeed every thing as much as is good of it is from the First Being yet it abounds so with the admixture of earthly filth that by its overflowing it begets nothing but half-formed or rather deform'd monsters glued to the slimy cloth of the earth Here is that numerous progeny of dirty ridiculous Opinions This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the same Apostle calls it no better indeed than the uncertain conjectures of misty-minded Devils Whom I must needs confess I cannot conceive to be so great Clerks as they are vulgarly taken to be but rather wonder what madness possesseth mens minds that they should either say that the perversness of corruption is stronger than Gods Grace or the Devil wiser than Holy men But I fear such as cry up the power of Evil and the wisdom of that wicked Spirit so partially as if they had sworn confederacy with them ar become slaves to them magnifying them above the light and strength of God will then become Wise themselves when the Devil becomes Honest What commission or authority these men have to set him at liberty and enjoyment of the light of the Sun whom God hath prison'd up in the darkest dungeon I know not Sure I am they are not able to procure him bail they themselves being but fetter'd Vassals of foulest Ignorance But see how basely Disobedience contracts a mans Spirits that through the pusillanimity of his Soul he casts himself down before every petty Creature How doth honour riches or the dull and languid beauty of sensible forms subjugate and enslave him Nay how highly doth he admire and reverendly adore with more than American Superstition that piece of darkness and deformity the Devil So we see what small hope we have of attaining to Wisdom by any other means than that which that Wise King hath prescribed us The Fear of God 2. As for that other Query about Books I will dispatch it in a word It is said in Wisdom That it is not the increase of fruit that feedeth men But it is the Word that preserveth them that trust in God And yet no man abstains from these outward ordinary helps for his preservation Therefore that this Discourse beget in no man a lazy superstitious phrensie let them be Active in good and read such Books as conduce best for the finding of the truth of such Theories as they aim at having alwayes a special care that they never disjoin Knowledge from Righteousness but that they ever prize such Treatises as point a man to Obedience and purging a mans Soul from wickedness far above those that do but vex a mans Mind and consume his Body with unfruitful subtilties Which indeed would be no subtilties at all did not our dull and slow apprehension make them so for we are rather weak-brain'd than they hard Theories Or if you will they are so subtil that if a man could see clearly he would not see them at all they being indeed nothing or else worse And therefore rather to seek to have our eye-sight strengthen'd and clear'd by Purity of life than to weary and weaken them still more by unprofitable objects And alwayes to consider this That our Labour is nothing without the Benediction of God and his direction Nostra haec in literarum studiis peregrinatio sine supernâ luce miserabilis quaedam erratio est is the ingenuous Confession of that Great Scholar Scaliger And O! that we could sensibly feel as well as imagine that the Subsistence of all things is but liberum spiraculum a free breathing out of the mouth of the Almighty which if he revoke Things are closely again locked up and gathered in into their Centre of Darkness And that true Knowledge is nothing else but an arbitrarious emission of the pure rayes of God upon impolluted Souls And therefore wholly to depend upon him and wait upon him in Righteousness even upon the Fountain of all Truth and Father of Lights the only Wise God to whom be all Honour Glory Power Praise henceforth for ever Amen DISCOURSE V. JOHN iv 31. 32 33 34. In the mean time his disciples prayed him saying Master eat But he said unto them I have meat to eat that you know not of Therefore said the disciples one to another Hath any man brought him ought to eat Iesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work OUR Saviour Christ here in the Text propounds a Riddle or Parable to his Disciples I have meat to eat that you know not of Whatever is in the Text may be hither refer'd as the Occasion or Consequent thereof The Occasion of the proposal of this AEnigma is in Ver. 31. In the mean time his disciples prayed him saying Master eat i. e. So soon as he had broken off his serious Discourse with the Samaritan Woman his Disciples then took occasion to invite him to his seasonable repast Which gives him occasion to propound something to them aenigmatically of more concernment and of an higher nature than this outward perishable food Ver. 32. I have meat to eat that you know not of There 's the proposal of the Riddle Of which there is a double Consequent The Disciples misinterpretation or false collection and then our Saviours own true solution Their misinterpretation Ver. 33. Has any man brought him ought to eat His true solution Ver. 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work These parts I shall prosecute in the same order that they lye in the Text without further preface or more curious division First therefore of the Occasion In the mean time his disciples prayed him saying Master eat In the mean time i. e. in the Interim betwixt