No Wicked Man a Wise Man True Wisdom DESCRIBED The EXCELLENCY OF Spiritual Experimental and Saving Knowledge above all Humane Wisdom and Learning With Directions how to become Wise. Wherein also is proved what Sensual Men account the greatest Freedom is indeed the most perfect Slavery and Vassalage BEING A choice & cheap Gift to profit & please a Friend By R. Young 〈…〉 in Essex Florilegu● Licenced and Entered according to Order Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it Prov. 8. 10 11. See Job 28. 15 to 20. Prov. 1. 23. Psal. 111. 10. Joh. 7. 17. Psal. 25. 9 14. Eccles. 2. 26. Prov. 28. 5. James 1. 5. Rare Scriptures touching Wisdom London Printed by Tho. Milbourn and are to be sold by James Crumpe in little St. bartholomew's Well-yard and by Peter Parker in Popes-Head-Alley With 39 other pieces composed by the same Author 1666. True WISDOM Described etc. Section 1. MEn no more differ from beasts plants stones in shape speech reason than some men differ from others in brain in heart in life Whence the very heathen Poets usually and most fitly compare some men to stones for their hardness and ●nsensibleness others to plants that only fill their veins a third sort to beasts that please their senses too a fourth to evil Angels that only sin and cause others to sin a fifth to good Angels that are still in motion always serving God and doing good yet ever rest Besides experience teaches that men's judgements and censures are as various as their palates for what one admires another slights as is evident by our Saviors auditors of which some admired others censured a third sort wept a fourth scoffed a fifth trembled a sixth blasphemed when they heard him And how should it be otherwise when the greater part are as deeply in love with vice and error as the rest are with virtue and truth when men's conditions and constitutions vary as much as their faces as the holy Ghost intimates in comparing several men to almost every several creature in the Universe Nor is the Epicure more like a Swine the Lustful person a Goat ●udulent man a Fox the Backbiter a barking Dog 〈…〉 an Asp the Oppressor a Wolf the Persecutor the Church-robber a Wild Boar the Seducer a Serpent yea a Devil the Traitor a Viper etc. 2 Tim. 4. 17. Luk. 13. 32. Phil. 3. 2. Psal. 22. 12 13 16 20 21. & 74. 13 14 19 & 80. 13. Mat. 23. 33. Dan. 7. 4 5 6. etc. Zeph. 3. 3 4 etc. Cant. 2. 15 17. etc. then every of them is unlike another Amidst so much variety I have chosen to acquaint you how one man differs from and excels another in knowledge and wisdom and to prove that to be wise indeed is the portion but of a few even in our Goshen where is so much means of Light and Grace All sorts of men may be comprised under one of these three Heads The Sensual Rational Spiritual For if you observe it some men like the Moon at Full have all their light towards earth none towards heaven Others like the Moon at Wain or Change have all their light to heaven wards none to the earth a third sort like to the Moon in Eclipse as having no light in itself neither towards earth nor towards heaven Insomuch that one excels another in wisdom as the stars excel one another in glory Of which particularly First There is no less difference between the rational and sensual the wise & simple the learned & unlearned then there is between men and beasts as Menander speaks or between the living and the dead as another hath it and yet the rational do not so far excel the sensual as the spiritual excel the rational Touching these three degrees of comparison I begin with the sensual Sensual or as wise Solomon calls them brutish men that have been ill bred are so drowned in sin and sensuality and their spirits so frozen and pitifully benumbed with worldliness and wicked customs that they cannot judge aright either of spiritual matters or rectified reason They know no other way then the flesh leads them It is the weight that sets all their wheels a going the horses that draw their chariot the very life of their corruption the corruption of their life without which they do nothing Yea in matters divine and spiritual they are of as deep a judgement as was calico who stuffed his pillow a brass pot with straw to make it soft Or that Germane Clown who undertook to be very ready in the ten Commandments but being demanded by the Minister which was the first made answer Thou shalt not eat Or that simple Fellow who thought Pontius Pilate must needs be a Saint because his name was put into the Creed They are like the Ostrich Job 39 17. whom God hath deprived of wisdom & to whom he hath given no part of understanding And which leaves them without all hope of being wiser they had rather keep conscience blind that it may flatter them then inform it that it may give a just verdict against them counting it less trouble to believe a  falsehood then to examine whether it be true Secondly They are so far from receiving instruction that they will scorn and scoff at their Admonishers As do but tell them of their swearing drinking whoring you are sure to be called Quaker Fanatic or the like Yea what a clamour will the blundering rabble make if they but hear one reprove a blasphemer or any way endeavour to stop them in their way to destruction and what a number of sharp and deadly arrows will each of them shoot both at the good and goodness affirming with incredible impudence accompanied with invincible ignorance that there are not worse men in the world than the Religious and still the more sottish the more censorious It is the nature of ignorant and carnal men that walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleanness whom St. Peter calls Brute beasts led with sensuality and made to be taken and destroyed to speak evil of the things which they understand not 2 Pet. 2. 12. Nor will they believe any thing but what they see with their eyes or feel with their fingers And as in spiritual so in natural things also An Ignorant Rustic seeing a Geometrician drawing of Lines not knowing to what end he doth the same is apt to judge him foolish and fantastic Tell a plain Country fellow that the Sun is bigger than his Cartwheel and swifter in course then the best of his Horses he will laugh you to scorn yea I have red of a simple Clown that killed his Ass for drinking up the Moon which he had a little before seen in the water and of another that looking into his Well and seeing face answer face ran home 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 Axletree lusts and passions th● 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 oil to the lamp of our reason and makes it burn clearer but faith & illumination of the Spirit more than doubles the s●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 God's spirit & faith above all other men I am the light 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 than night can do with more than Argos eyes So that as mere 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 only proper to men so to know the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven is only 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 show 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 traveled for wisdom and David who to get wisdom made the word his counsellor 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 virtues 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 Oil 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 mistake 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 Absalon who thought it wisdom to lie with his Father's Con●●●es in the sight of all the people and the false Steward who thought it wisdom to deceive his Master And so of joseph's brethren of Pharaoh and his deep Counsellors of Ach●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 ruin 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 grossly 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 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 Alchemists spend all their Estates to find out the Philosopher's 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 virtue 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 Theseus' the perswas●●e art of Tully etc. if withal he wants Grace and lives remissly With the Astronomer 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 Lawmaker 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 says 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 virtue or happiness And being demanded Who was the wisest and happiest man He answered He that offends least He is the best scholar that learns of Christ obedience humility etc. 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 ourselves 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 rocky 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 than 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 walk 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 mere 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 world's account than 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 than 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 spoke truer than 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 than 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 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 only care and study of St. Paul 1 Cor. 2. 2. Sect. 5. And that I am not mistaken the effect shows 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 liar and there is no truth in him ver 4. What saith our Saviour This is life eternal to know thee the only 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 than 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 etc. 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 show that as feeling is inseparable to all the organs of sense the eye sees and feels the ear hears and feels the palate 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 & rejoices 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 Lily etc. 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 show 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 Virtue is ordained a wife for knowledge and where these two join there will proceed from them a noble proginie a generation of good works Again as the water engendereth ice and the ice again engendereth 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 man's body the raw stomach maketh a rheumatic head and the rheumatic 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 ourselves 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 employ 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 only 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 enable them to dispute and discourse to increase wit or to increase wealth or to increase pride or perhaps to increase Atheism 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 dignify and please themselves not on● casting the eye of their souls at God's 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 lanterns 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 only argues itself to have an unprofitable being And for the most part these men if they may be thought great Rabbis deep and profound Scholars 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 error as an Empiric to cure one disease causeth a worse Briefly to conclude this point So many as are puffed up with their knowledge or do not part with their sins show that they never sought it for God's glory but for their own honour and glory And certainly if we seek not God's 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 ●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 money 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 owner's ruin 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 ourselves at the last Many men's knowledge to them being like the Ark to the Philistines 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 soil usually yieldeth 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 earrings 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 Talon 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. ●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. ● 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 says 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 prise 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 undervalue and  it hate it and are prejudiced against 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 mere foolishness or madness Wisd. 5. 3. to 9 and the Professors thereof to be fools and madmen Elisha was counted no better 2 Kings 9 11. and the rest of the Prophets Host 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 world's 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 outstrip the best ●f God's 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 Loadstone should draw Iron or incline to the polestar 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 Unregenerate 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 employ 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 i● nor advise with others that have already attained to it O● 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 intent 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 Hindrances 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 Herod's 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 God's 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 liquor 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 God's account no better than fools I come now to prove that the greatest Politician is a verier fool than 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 hypocrisy into statism yea into Atheism making Christianity a very footstool to policy I consese they are wiser in their generation than 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 show as much cunning as Tertullus yes surely if they would but because their Ma●●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 hereupon the Fo●●es wiles never enter into the Lion's head But to speak of them as they are These cunning Politicians in stead of being wise as serpents they are wise serpents they are so arted in subtleties through time and practice that they are near upon as wise as that old serpent the devil Indeed he hath one trick beyond all theirs for like a cunning fencer he that taught them all their tricks kept this one to himself namely how to cheat them of their souls But take a short character of them They are such cunning dissemblers that like Pope Alexander the sixth what they think they never speak Why is this cast away saith Judas Crafty ●ub he would have had it himself They are like a fellow that rides to the Pillory they go not the way they look They will cut a man's throat under colour of courtesy as Ulysses by gold and forged letters was the means of stoning Palamedes even while he made show of defending him And then to wipe off all suspicion from themselves their gesture and countenance shall be like Julius Cesar's who seeing Pompey's head sell a weeping as if he had been sorry for it when by his only means it was cut off So like Rowers in a boat whilst in their pretence they look one way in their intent they go the quite contra●y As our Saviour found it to fa●e with the Pharisees and Sadduces Ma. t 16. 1 3. which made him to conclude with O hypocrites Nor shall any man be able to determine either by their gesture words or actions what they resolve though like Hebrew letters you spell them backward Only this you may be sure of that they do not intend what they pretend Like as in juggling feats though we know not how they are done yet we know well that they are not done as they seem to be Now if they can any way advantage themselves by another's ruin and do it cunningly as Jezabel did when she killed Naboth by suborning false witness against him and proclaimed a Fast before the murder Though all such policy be but misery and all such knowlendge ignorance Yet O how wise they think themselves but they are grossly mistaken for wherein doth this their great wisdom consist but first in being wise to deceive others as the Old serpent did our first Parents or secondly in the end to deceive themselves as the same serpent did which brought a curse upon himself for so doing Gen 3. The crafty Fox hugged himself to think how he had cozened the Crow of her breakfast but when he had eaten it and found himself poisoned with it he wished the Crow her own ag●in Wealth got by deceit is like a piece of buttered sponge an Italian Trick it goes down glib but in the stomach swells and will never be got out again The gains a man gets by deceiving at last he may put in his eye and yet see himself miserable Sin is the greatest cheater in the world for it deceives the deceiver Sect. 10. That it is so with them and all others who go to counsel and leave the God of wisdom behind them let their case be viewed in other persons What saith Pharaoh to his deep Counsellors Come let us do wisely when indeed he went about that which destroyed both him and his Country The Scribes Pharisees and Elders took counsel against Christ as though they would most wisely prevent their own salvation joseph's brethren to prevent his having dominion over them as his dreams imported thought they had taken a very wise course in selling him to the Ishmaelitish Merchants which was indeed the only means to effect it They murder Christ lest the Romans should come and by so doing their coming was hastened The Jews say Come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours but in killing him they ●ost the inheritance and themselves too And so it always fares with our Machivilians in the end speed they never so well for a time For let the Devil promise them never so fair suppose it be a Kingdom the upshot will be but sad and doleful as it fared with Athaliah who having slain all the King's seed that she alone might reign lost both the government and her life too Or as it did with Abimelech who slew seventy of his brethren that he might with safety enjoy the Kingdom lost both it and his life with it And many the like we read of Whence St. Ambrose observes that the plots of the wicked always return upon their own heads A● Pope Hildebrands servant by stumbling was killed with that stone he should have thrown down on Frederick the Emperor at his Devotions Or as Griphus his Mother was made to take that draught wherewith she intended to poison him Yea how little was Judas set by of the High Priests when once he had served their turn How did they shake him off in that pitiful distress with Look thou to it And so how poor are the witches that in confidence of these promises even sell their souls to the Devil See here in these few Examples you have the depth and solidity of our greatest and wisest Politicians and yet lewd men most ridiculously and absurdly call wicked policies wisdom and their success happiness But herein Satan makes them of all fools the superlative in mistaking villainy and madness for the best virtues And what is the summa totalis of all but this Faux-like they project other men's overthrow purchase their own Neither hath any man been wise to do evil but his wisdom hath had an evil end As O the multitude of Examples that are recorded to give credit to this Doctrine was not the wisdom of the serpent turned into a curse the wisdom of the Pharisees into a woe the wisdom of A●ithophel into folly● the wisdom of Nimrod into confusion the wisdom of the unjust Steward into expulsion out of Heaven the wisdom of Jezabel into a shameful death etc. So that in the issue their case proves but like the Spiders that was weaving a curious net to catch the swallow who when she came bore away both net and web and weaver too Wherefore O God make me but soul-wise and I shall never envy their knowledge that pity my simplicity Let me be weak in policy so I may be wise to salvation And I cannot but wonder to see how the most are mistaken in them but being thus discovered I hope it will appear that as love and lust are not all one so a cunning Politician and a wise man are not both one As we have seen some that could pack the Cards and yet were not able to play well Sect. 11. True if men shall look upon them side-ways as Apelles painted Antigonus that is upon their strength of brain and parts alone and not consider them whole and together their abilities with their deficiencies they will take them for wise men and so be mistaken But If you would know how to call them they are properly subtle persons as the Holy Ghost styles Jonadab who gave that wicked and crafty counsel to Amnon 2 Sam. 13. 3 5. And the woman of Tekoah 2 Sam. 14. 2. And Elimas' Acts 13. 10. as being rarely gifted to deceive and more crafty and wily then is usual But not wise men for this is rather wisdom backward and to study the dangerous art of self-sophistry to the end they may play wily beguile themselves and to plot Self-treason than which there is no greater when the Betrayer and Betrayed spell but one man Again admit them the most they are not wise in good though they be wise to do evil Or if you will wise in goods not wise in grace For as that old Serpent seemed to boast that he was richer than Christ when he said All these are mine Mat. 4. 9 So the Politician may truly say for the most part I am wiser than my plain dealing neighbour by five hundred pounds So that in some sense it may be said of them as one speaks of women though partially that they are more witty in wickedness than men Nor can I more fitly compare them then to Bats Night-crows Owls and Cats which can see better in the dark then in the light Their wisdom is like that of the Polypus which is a most stupid and foolish fish yet useth great skill in taking of other fishes Nevertheless yield them all that hath been mentioned this is the upshot They are blind and in darkness as having their beginning from Satan the Prince of darkness and their end in Hell which is the pit of darkness and because they are wise only to evil their wisdom shall have but an evil end In the dialect of the wise man the greatest sinner is the greatest fool Prov. 1. 7. And David thinks there is no fool to the Atheist Psa. 53. 1. & 49. 13. And St. Austin tells us that the wisest Politician upon earth the most ample and cunning Machevilian that lives be he a Doctor in that deep reaching faculty is worse than a fool for if the Holy Ghost saith he terms him a fool that only laid up his own goods Luke 19 18 20. find out a name for him that takes away other men's And though worldly men call the simple fools yet God calls the crafty fools Jer. 8 9 Mat. 6. 23 And of all Athie●s and fools which seem wise there ●e no such fools in the world as they that love money better than themselves And so you have the wisdom of ●●umani●s and Politicians deciphered together with the wisdom of God's servants Y●u see the difference between them and therein as I suppose that neither of the former are so wise as the godly man nor so wise as the world reputes them or they themselves I confess the one speak Latin Greek and Hebrew the other Statutes History and Husbandry well enough to make their neighbours think them wise but the truth is they seem wiser than are as is said of the Spaniard whereas the godly like the French are wiser than they seem The former are wise men in foolish things and fo●lish men in wise things sharp eyed as Eagles in the things of the Earth but blind as Beetles in the matters of Heaven O that they had 〈…〉 wit to know that when all is done Heaven is a brave place where are such joys as eye hath not seen nor e'er heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared there for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9 Sect. 12 Now as I have shown these two sorts of men their folly so it were as easy to prove that all sorts of sinners are no better than Sots and Shallow-brains in comparison of the conscientious Christian. I 'll give you some particular Instances And the next that I will speak to shall be such as come nearest to these last mentioned that is your Covetous Miserly Muck-worms who though they be near neighbours to those Ambodexters I last spoke of yet they are not the same men Now although you cannot name one property of a natural fool but the Covetous man is in that particular a greater fool Yet I will make the parallel in one only lest I should weary my Reader before I have dispatched all my Clients or half Li●●ed my men The Covetous Miser if you mark it esteems not of things according to their true value but prefers babbles and tri●●es before things of greatest worth which is the most remarkable property of a natural fool that is being like the ignorant Indians in Florida Vi●ginia New-England and Ken●da who for a Copper and a few toys as Beads and Hatchets will depart from the purest gold and sell you a whole Country with the house's and ground which they dwell upon As Judas preferred thi●ty pieces of si●ver before him that was Lord of the whole world and ●ansom of mankind so the covetous man prese●s earth yea hell to heaven time to his b●dy before his soul yea his outward estate before either soul or body Whereas the godly care for the s●ul as the chief Jewel and only treasure and for the body for the souls sake and settle their inheritance in no land but the land of promise their end being to possess a Kingdom without end They are not like Sh●bna who built his Sepulchre in ●n● Country and was buried in another But like our English Merchant's that traffic in Turkey wealth in Turk●y yet plant not in Turkey but transport for England It cannot be said of them as it may of the most that they worship the Golden Calf because they consider that Pe●unia the World's Queen I mean that world whereof the Devil is King extends her Regiments but to the brim of the grave and is not current one step farther Worldly hearts are pennywise and pound foolish they know how to set high prizes upon the worthless trash of this world but for heavenly things or the God that owns them they shamefully undervalue Like Judas who valued Mar●es Ointment which she bestowed upon the feet of Christ at three hundred pieces of silver and sold his Master on whom that odour was spent for thirty But it is not so with the godly they think it the best purchase that ever was in the world to buy him who bought them in comparison of whom all things else are dross and dung as Paul speaks Phil. 3. 8 And indeed if we once hav● him we have all things as the Apostle argues Rom. 8. 32. 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. So that the godly man is only rich the servant of Christ is Lord of all Whereas by a just judgement of God upon the covetous Mise● who makes Mamm●n his god the Devil makes them his Drudge's to get and bring him in Gold as the King of Spain does the poor Indian's that he may keep it in bank for the next prodigal to spend as ill as the other got it As how often is that spent upon one Christmas revelling by the Son which was forty years a getting by the Father O fools incomparable to take a world of care and pains en●ure so much grief sting of conscience loss of credit to deprive themselves of heaven damn their own souls to get wealth and when they have got it not to be a ●ot the better for it Yea they are less satisfied and con●ented then other men accommodated then mean men Yea a beggar that hath n●thing here is in better estate than a rich Miser that hath nothing in effect either here or hereafter O that they would but use that yea ha●f that wit study and industry hereafter to save their souls that they have f●rmerly done to damn them But hear more Aristippus cared only for his body as if he had had no soul Zeno but for his soul as if he had had no body Achitophel for his Family alone as if neither soul nor body had been worth caring for but these neither for body nor soul nor any thing but for a little muck to leave behind them Yea he can find in his heart to go to h●ll for another that wishes him gone and will damn his own soul to leave his son rich Yea what a deal of pains and care does the covetous man take for his own damnation ever tormenting himself to get that for getting whereof he shall be tormented so himself is voluntarily miserable here and hereafter that others may be happy And so much of the Miser The next I will fall upon shall be such as equal these in their Idolatry another way as Sect. 13. Fourthly what think you of common Idolaters are not they arrant fools I 'll give you but one instance mentioned Exod. 32. and you will need no more Turn to the place and there you shall find that those blockish Israelites made them a mo●ten Calf and then said This is thy god that brought thee out of the land of Egypt ver 34. This is such a pregnant example that there needs no mo●e to prove it that a Beast should be their god yea and a Beast of their own making and that this Beast should have brought them out of Egypt which could not move itself but as it was moved and that before it had any being This is such a blockish absurdity that as one would think should never enter into the heart of him who is endowed with a reasonable soul. But what can the Prince of darkness propound that a wicked heart blinded with the custom of sin and given up by God to be further blinded by Satan will not believe as appears by Isa. 6. 9 10. Psal. 69. 23. Mat. 13. 15. Joh. 12. 3● 39 40. Rom. 1 21 to 33. 2 The. 2. 10 11 12 2 Cor. ● 3 4. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Ephe. 2. 2. And such other fools are the Papists though great Clerks and Wise men who i● I could intend to acquaint you maintain a thousand ridiculous tenants stiffly defending those things for truth which the Holy Ghost calls in express words The doctrine of devils 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. And most 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 If Idolaters will needs set up a false god for the true is it not equal that the true God should give them over to the false Again Fifthly how does Lust blind and be●ot men when the Adulterer prefers a filthy Strumpet before his own chaste Wife though his own lawful Consort is known to be more comely and lovely than the strange woman Yea when they shall confess the same as it was the speech of a Nobleman That were she not his Wife he could love her above all women in the world a word able to ●ot out the tongue that spoke it But take an instance of this nature I 'll give you one amongst many very remarkable We read Judg. 16. that Samson cared more for this very sin than his life O strange debauchedness his filthy lust of a Nazarite leaves him scarce a man He that might not drink wine is drunk with the cup of fornication How could he other then think if Lust had not blinded and bewitched him She whose body is mercenary to me will easily sell me to others she will be fal●e if she be an Harlot Was there ever such a motion made to a reasonable man Tell me wherewith thou mayst be bound to do thee hurt Who would not have spurned such a suitor out of doors And when upon the trial he saw such apparent treachery he yet wilfully betrays his life by her to his enemies All sins all passions have power to blind and infatuate but lust most of all Never man that had drank flagons of wine had less reason left him than this Nazarite Many an one loses his life but he casts it away not in hatred to himself but in love to a Strumpet He knew ●he aimed at nothing but his slavery and death yet had not power to deny her He had wit enough to deceive her thrice nor enough to keep himself from being deceived by her Thrice had he seen the Philistines in her chamber ready to surprise him upon her bands and yet will needs be a Slave to his Traitor Yea in effect bids her bind him and call in her Executioners to cut his throat O beware of a Harlot as you would of the Devil And the rather for that under the habi● of a woman it may be the Devil in shape of a woman as some have so been cheated But Sixthly what can we think of an improvident Gamester Is not he a Fool who will hazard his whole estate upon the chance of a treacherous Die that flatters him with his own hand to throw away his wealth to another And a Thief he is too for if he wins he robs another if he loses he no less robs himself Sect. 14. Seventhly let me refer it to any rational man whether the Voluptuous Prodigal is not a sta●k Fool who suffers himself to be stolen away for an Apple For for a little tickling of the Palate a kind of running Banquet he will hazard the loss of eternal comfort and expose himself to a devouring fire an everlasting burning Isai. 33. 14. And what greater folly Is it not a dear purchase an ill pennyworth yea a desperate madness to buy the merriment of a day yea possibly the pleasure of an hour may determine it with ages of pangs with eternity of unsufferable torments that are capable of neither ●ase nor end Nor is this all for they run upon God's judgements as Balaam did upon the swords point in the Angel's hand and yet are so far from being afraid that they applaud their own wisdom for giving such liberty to their lusts thinking no men in the world enjoy the like freedom When indeed their bondage is much worse than the cruel and tyrannical bondage and slavery of Egypt For first that bondage was of the body only but the service of sin is of the whole man body and soul. Secondly in the bondage of Egypt they served men but in this bondage service is done to sin and Satan most vile Lords which command most base and filthy works Thirdly in the bondage of Egypt the most harm was temporal loss of liberty smart and pain of body in this service of sin the loss is eternal even destruction in Hell for ever without the infinite goodness of God Fourthly in this bondage under Phoraoh they had a sense of their thraldom and desired liberty in this of sin men do not so much as suspect themselves to be bound but think themselves f●ee and despise liberty Lastly in all outward bondage they which are bound may possibly help themselves as by running away or by entreaty or by ●ansom In this bondage we lie still as it were bound hand and foot ●ill God by his mercy deliver us not having so much as the least thought of relieving ourselves By all which it appears that such who take the most liberty to sin a●e the most perfect slaves in the world because most voluntary slaves and that Christ's service is the only true freedom his yoke an eas●● yoke his bu●den but as the burden of wings to ab●●d which makes her ●lie the higher Wherefore as we serve the laws that we may be free so let us serve Christ and we shall be the f●eest people a●●ve A godly man being demanded what he thought was the strangest and foolish●st thing in the world answered an impenitent sinner or an V●believer For said he that a man should provoke God so gracious and mighty that he should believe Satan the Father of lies and cruelty forget his own death so imminent and inevitable obey the command of his flesh a Drudge so ignoble admire the world so fickle and dangerous prefer it before Heaven so blessed and glorious wilfully cast himself into Hell a place so woeful and dolorous and all for vanity such a wretched emptiness that he should fear the blasts of men's breath and not the God's wrath weep for the loss of friends and not f●r his soul. And lastly that Christ should stand at the door of his heart craving for entrance that he may remedy all and make him everlastingly happy and God call him every day either by his Wo●d in the mouths of his Messengers or by strange judgements or extraordinary mercies upon himself or others and all in vain Such an one says he is the most foolish and degenerate creature alive Thus I might go on to Traitors Murderers Backbiters Seducers Drunkard's Blasphemes Persecuters of the godly proud persons Hypocrites Thiefs Atheists and what other sinners you can name and prove them all fools alike But I have already upon one occesion or other done it in some other Tract only a word or two more that may reach to all that are in their natural condition and I shall concude Sect. 15. In the last place Are not all wilful sinners a●●ant fo●ls who Adam like will receive whatever comes or is offered them be it bribe or other sinful bait not once thinking this is forbidden fruit and thou shalt die the death That think the unwed enemy of their souls can offer them a bait without a ho●k you cannot but acknowledge them stark fools though thy self be'st one of the number Again for men to dishonour God and blaspheme his Name while he does support and relieve them to run from him while he does call them and forget him whiles he does ●eed them To imitate the common Protestants in Queen mary time who laughed the Martyrs to scorn and esteemed them superstitious fools to lose their lives and fortunes for matters of Religion accounting Faith Holiness Immortality of the soul etc. mee● fopperies and illusions To be quick sighted in other men's failings and blind to their own Are these so many infallible properties of a fool and yet these are the lively characters of every sensualist Insomuch that if I should give you a List or Catalogue of all the fools in one City or County you would bless yourselves that there are so few Bedlam-houses & yet so many out of their wits that cannot perceive or discern the same And yet no wonder for as before I told you sensual men are so benighted & puzzled with blindness that they know no other way than the fl●sh leads them Yea many by loss of conscience become Atheists and by loss of Reason Beasts Yea to any thing that is spiritually good the natural man is blind and deaf and dead as ye may see by these en●uing Scriptures 1 Tim. 5. 6. Rom. 1. 21 22 25. Eph. 5. 14. Isa 6. 9 10. John 12. 40. Psal 69 23. Mat. 4. 16. & 15. 14. Eph. 4. 18 19 & 5. 8. 1 Pet. 2. 9 Acts 28. 27. Rom. 11. 8. Mat. 23. 16 17 19 24 26. & 27. 3 4 5. 2 Pet. 2. 16. Rev. 3. 1● Rom. 6. 13. & 8. 11. Micah 7. 16. Psal. 58 4. Eph. 2. 1. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost whom the god of this wo●ld hath blinded 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. But it is otherwise with the godly as let Satan and the world offer a wise Christian the bait of pleasure or profit his answer shall be I will not buy repentance so dear I will not lose my s●ul to please my sense If affliction comes he will consider that God's punishments for sin calls for conversion from sin and in case God speaks to him by his Word to forsake his evil ways and turn again to him he will amend his cou●se lest i● he hear not the wo●d he should feel the sword Whereas nothing will con●ute a fool but fire and brimstone The Lo●d spoke to Manasses and to his people but they would not regard Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Ashur that took Manasses and put him in fetters and brought him in chains and carried him to Babel 2 Ch●on 33. 10. 11. Fools saith holy David by reason of their transgression & because of their iniquity Psal. 107. 17. From which words Musculus infers that all wilful transgressor's are a●●ant f●●ls And it is the saying of Cardan That dishonesty is nothing else but folly and madness Yea Solomon throughout all his Proverbs by a fool means the natural man and by a wise man a man sanctified O that it were rightly learned and laid to heart by all that are yet in the state of unregeneracy for it is every one of their cases To conclude in a word Without knowledge the soul is not good Pro. 19 2. The ignorant cannot be innocent I am the light of the world says our Saviour John 8 12. & 12. 46. Where light is not Christ is not for Christ is light Sect. 16 Object But here 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 myself 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 Christ's faithful Messengers For He that will do my Father's Will says 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 says holy David Ps. 111. 10. and proves it true by his own example and experience I understood says 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 encouragements for men to become godly and conscientious I mean practical Christians Secondly If thou wouldst get this precious grace of saving knowledge the way is to be frequent in hearing the word preached and to become studious in the Scriptures for they and they alone make wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. Ye err saith our Saviour not knowing the Scripture Matth. 22. 29. Ma●k 12. 24. We must not in the search of heavenly matters either do as we see others do neither must we follow the blind guide carnal reas●● or the deceitful guid● our corrupt hearts but the undeceivable and infallible guide of God's Wo●d which is truth itself and great need there is for as we cannot perceive the fullness of our faces unless it be told us or we take a glass and look ourselves therein so neither can we see the blemishes of our Souls which is a notable degree of spiritual Wisdom but either God must make i● known to us by his Spi●● or we must collect the same out of the Scriptures that celestial glass though this also must be done by the Spirits help Therefore Thirdly If thou wilt be Soul-wis● 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 u●he●ed in by meditation is the cure of all obscurity Especially being accompanied with fervour and fervency as you may see Matth. 21. 22 If any ●ack wisdom saith St. James let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man and it shall 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 itself 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-knowledge as to be Soul-wise and then you will employ 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 God's Will that thou mayst do it and before the knowledge of all other things desire to know thyself and in thyself 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 God's word thy judgement and whole conversation that what the natural man knoweth by rote 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 Apollo's 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 Wisdom 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. Unto 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. ● 10. Mark 3. 11. Matth. 13. 13. Again It is not enough to pray except also it be in Christ's 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 God's Spirit that you may more firmly believe more sound repent more zealously do more patiently suffer and more constantly persevere in the practice and profession of every duty But above all you must know that as Sampsons' companions could ne●er have found out his Riddle if they had not ploughed with his Heifer so ●o man can knew the secrets of God but by the revelation of his Spirit 1 Cor. ●2 8. Mat. 16. 17. Yea suppose a man be not inferior to Portius or Pythagoras who kept all things in Memory that ever they had read ●eard or seen To Virgil of whom it is reported that if all Sciences ●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 ●●ght it again and that his head was a throne of Wisdom or Josephus maligar 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 ●●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 God's counsels Luk. 21. 15. which is no small privilege 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. P●●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 knowing enough is one of the greatest causes fou● knowing so li●●le for what we presume to have attained we s●ek not after Ye● 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 le●●on is not fit to take out a new Pride is a great l●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 reform Joh 9 39 And fo● this cause also did out Saviour propound his woes to the Pharisees his doctrines to the Pe●ple A heart full of Pride is like a vessel full of This self-opinion must be blown out of us before saving knowledge will be p●u●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 Peacock's 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 ignorant of and the more we know the more we know we want Prov 1. 5 7. Psal. 73. 22. And the less ●ensible we are of our blind●ess sickness deformity etc. the more blind sick and deformed 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 tho●e things which are hid both from the eye of sense and the of reason John 12. 46. Unregenerate m●n that want saith are like blind Samson without his guide or like P●liphemus who never had but one eye and that V●ysses put out For so does the pleasure and custom of sin blind the Sensualist We must have minds lifted above nature 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 Ma●k 4. 11. If it seem not foolishness 1 Cor. 2. 7 8 14. To them that are lost the Gospel is hid 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. Whereas the Believer discerns all 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 will as much as in you lies employ the same to the glory of the give● An end of the first part as a pennyworth 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