Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

the lusts of the flesh unto ends of pleasure; and 'devilish,' managing the pride of life unto ends of power. But such wisdom as this, God esteems very foolishness. "My people are foolish, sottish children, they have no understanding" why? They are wise to do evil; but to do good they have no knowledged." Wisdom is only unto that which is good :—he is the wisest man, who is simple and ignorant in the trade of evil. "If any man amongst you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise."

[ocr errors]

On the other side, the true and ultimate end of righteous man, is Almighty God, as most glorious in himself, and most good unto us; or the seeking of his glory, that he may be honoured by us; and of our own salvation, that we may be glorified by him. The fruition of him as the highest and first 'in genere veri,' and the greatest and last in genere boni,' the chiefest object for the mind to rest in by knowledge, and the heart by love: this must needs be the best of all ends, both in regard of the excellency of it, as being infinitely and most absolutely good; and in regard of eternity, so that the soul, having once the possession of it, can never be to seek of that happiness which floweth from it. The proper means for the obtaining of this end, is the knowledge of God in Christ, as in his Word he hath revealed himself, to be known, worshipped, and obeyed; for there only he doth teach us the way unto himself; and true wisdom is the pursuing of this means in order unto that end. For though many approaches may be made towards God by the search and contemplation of the creature; yet, in his Word, he hath showed us a more full and excellent way, which only can make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,

SECT. 8. All the thoughts and wisdom of men is spent upon one of these two heads, either the obtaining of the good which we want, or avoiding and declining the evil which we fear. And by how much the more excellent and

.Rom. xvi. 19.

f 1 Cor. iii. 18.

d Jer. iv. 22. g Fecisti nos ad te; et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te: Aug. Conf. 1. 1. c. 1. Omnis mihi copia, quæ Deus meus non est, egestas est. 1. 13. c. 8. vid. de Trin. 1. 8. c. 3. de Civ. Dei, 1. 22. c. 1. h Beatitudo hæc duo requirit, fruitionem incommutabilis boni, et certitudinem æternæ fruitionis. Vid. Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. 11. c. 13. i John vi. 27, 28. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Prov. ix. 10. Eccles. xi. 12, 13. Jer. ix. 23, 24.

difficult the good is which we want, and by how much the more pernicious and imminent the evil is which we fear,— by so much greater is the wisdom, which, in both these, procures the end at which we aim. Now then, what are the most excellent good things which we want? Food is common to us with other creatures; raiment, houses, lands, possessions, common to us with the worst men : take the most admired perfections which are not heavenly, and we may find very wicked men excel in them. All men will confess the soul to be more excellent than the body, and therefore the good of that to be more excellent than of the other: and the chief good of it to be that, which doth most advance it towards the fountain of goodness, where is fulness of perfection, and perpetuity of fruition. The excellency of every thing standeth in two things: the perfection of beauty wherein it was made,-and the perfection of use, for which it was made. The beauty of man, especially in his soul, consists in this, that he was made like to God, after his image and his end and use in this, that he was made for God, first to serve him, and after to enjoy him; for “the Lord hath set apart him that is godly, for himself"." "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise "." Therefore to recover the image of God, which is in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness P; to work to the service and glory of God; to aspire and to enjoy the possession and fruition of God; must needs be man's greatest good; and, by consequence, to attend on the means hereof, must needs be his greatest wisdom.

What is the most pernicious and destructive evil, which a man is in danger of? not the loss of any outward good things whatsoever; for they are all, in their nature, perishable; we enjoy them upon these conditions,-to part with them again:—no wisdom can keep them. "Meat for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them." Not the suffering of any outward troubles, which the best of men have suffered, and triumphed over: but the greatest loss is, the loss of a precious soul, which is

1 Vid. Arist. de iis quæ bona sunt, et quæ meliora et majora. Rhet. I. i. c. 6, 7. Gen. i. 26, 27.

Ephes. iv. 24.

Folio Edition, p. 597.

n Psalm iv. 3.

q John xv. 8.

t1 Cor. vi. 13.

• Isai. xliii. 21.

P Col. iii. 10.

r Exod. xxxiii. 18. Phil. i. 23.

more worth than all the world; and the greatest suffering is the wrath of God upon the conscience". Therefore to avoid this danger, and to snatch this darling from the paw of the lion, is, of all other, the greatest wisdom. It is wisdom to deliver a city *, much more to deliver a soul: angelical, seraphical knowledge without this, is all worth nothing".

SECT. 9. Therefore we should learn to show ourselves wise indeed, by attendance on God's Word. If the most glorious creatures for wisdom and knowledge that ever God made, the blessed angels, were employed in publishing the law of God, and did, with great admiration, look into the mysteries of the gospel, and stoop down with their faces towards the mercy-seat,-it cannot but be also our chiefest wisdom to hide the Word in our hearts, and to make it our companion and counsellor, as David did. We esteem him the wisest man, who followeth the best and safest counsel, and that which will most preserve and promote his interest, his honour, and his conscience. Herein was Rehoboam's weakness, that, by passionate and temerarious counsels, he suffered his honour to be stained, his interest to be weakened, and his conscience to be defiled with resolutions of violence and injustice. Now, there is no counsel to that of God's Word: it enlighteneth the eyes; it maketh wise the simple f; it is able to make a man wise for himself, and unto salvation, which no other counsel can do". There is no case that can be put, though of never so great intricacy and perplexity, no doubt so difficult, no temptation so knotty and involved, no condition whereinto a man can be brought so desperate, no employment so dark and uncouth, no service so arduous or full of discouragements; in all which, so far as respecteth conscience and salvation, there are not most

Matth. xvi. 26. u Psalm xc. 11. Jsai. xxxiii. 14. Heb. x. 31. Matth. x. 28. Eccles. ix. 15. y Prov. xi. 10. 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. a Videntur ipsi Angeli ex scriptis Evangelicis et ministerio Apostolico plurima didicisse. Vid. Chrysos. Hom. 1. in Johan.-Gregor. Nissen. Hom. 8. in Cantic.— Theophylact. et Oecum. in Eph. 3. alios apud Sixt. Senens. 1. 6. Annot. 165. 182, et 199. b Acts vii. 53. Gal. iii. 19. I Pet. i. 22. Ephes. iii. 10. e Vide Greg. Tholosan. de Repub. 8 Μισῶ σοφιστὴν, ὅστις οὐδ ̓ αὐτῷ σοφός. Eurip. Fragm. iii. Priestley's edition, vol. 7. p. 696. Plut. de occulte vivendo. h2 Tim. iii. 15, 16.

Exod. xxxvii. 9. 1. 24.

d Psalm cxix. 24.

f Psalm xix. 7, 8.

clear and satisfactory expedients to be drawn out of God's Word, if a man have his judgement and senses, after a spiritual manner, exercised in the searching of it. That we are so often at a stand how to state such a question, how to satisfy such a scruple, how to clear and expedite such a difficulty, how to repel such a temptation, how to manage such an action, how to order our ways, with an even and composed spirit, in the various conditions whereinto we are cast in this world,-doth not arise from any defect in the Word of God, which is perfect, and able to furnish. us unto every good work; but only from our own ignorance and unacquaintance with it, who know not how to draw the general rule, and to apply it to our own particular cases. And this cannot but be matter of great humiliation unto us in these sad and distracted times, when, besides our civil breaches which threaten desolation to the state, there should be so many and wide divisions in the church;-that after so long enjoyment of the Word of God, the Scripture should be to so many men as a sealed book, and they, like the Egyptians, have the dark side of this glorious pillar towards them still; that men should be tossed to and fro like children, and carried about with every wind of doctrine; and suffer themselves to be bewitched, devoured, brought into bondage, spoiled, led away captive, unskilful in the word of righteousness, unable to discern good and evil, to prove and try the spirits whether they be of God; always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ;--and this not only in matters problematical, or circumstantial, wherein learned and godly men may differ one from another', and yet still the peace and unity of the church be preserved― (for things of this nature ought not to be occasions of schism, or secessions from one another; but in matters which concern life and godliness, touching the power of God's law, the nature of free grace, the subjection of the conscience unto moral precepts, confession of sin in prayer unto God, and begging pardon of it; the differencing of true Christian liberty, from loose, profane, and wanton li

* Sunt quædam falsæ opiniones, quæ ulcus non gignunt; sunt etiam errores venenati, qui animam depascuntur. Vid. Plut. de superstit.

centiousness, and a liberty to vent and publish what perverse things soever men please; the very being of churches, of ministers, of ordinances in the world; the necessity of humiliation and solemn repentance in times of public judgements; the tolerating of all kind of religions in Christian commonwealths; the mortality of the reasonable soul, and other the like pernicious and perverse doctrines of men of corrupt minds, the devil's emissaries, purposely by him stirred up to hinder and puzzle the reformation of the church: these things, I say, cannot but be matter of humiliation unto all that fear God, and love the prosperity of Sion, and occasions the more earnestly to excite them unto this wisdom in the text, to hear what God the Lord says, and to lay his righteous ways so to heart, as to walk steadfastly in them, and never to stumble at them, or fall from them.

SECT. 10. Now there are two things, which, I take it, the prophet, in this close of his prophecy, seems principally to aim at; namely, the judgements and the blessings of God. His righteous ways in his threatenings against impenitent, and in his promises made unto penitent sinners. These are the things which wise and prudent men will consider in times of trouble.

For judgements, there is a twofold knowledge of them: the one natural, by sense; the other spiritual, by faith. By the former way, wicked men do abundantly know the afflictions which they suffer, even unto vexation and anguish of spirit; they fret themselves; they are grey-headed with very trouble and sorrow1; they gnaw their tongues for pain"; they pine away in their iniquities"; they are mad in their calamities; have trembling hearts, failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind, &c. And yet for all this they are said, in the Scripture, when they burn, when they consume, when they are devoured, not to know any of this, or to lay it to heart and the reason is, because they knew it not by faith, nor in a spiritual manner in order unto God. They did not see his name; nor hear his rod; nor consider his hand and counsel in it; nor measure his judgements by his

:

i Folio-Edition, p. 598.

xvi. 10.
n Levit. xxvi. 39.
xlii. 25. Hos. vii. 9. Jer. xii. 11.

Isai. viii. 21.

Hos. vii. 9 o Deut. xxviii. 34, 65.

m Rev. P Isai.

« ForrigeFortsæt »