Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 155
§ 155.
SEcondly, 2 Ignorance is the cauſe of all ſinne.another maine reaſon is ignorance; yea, ignorance, if we rightly conſider it, is the cauſe of all ſinne; ſinne indeed, at firſt was the cauſe of ignorance but now ignorance is the cauſe of ſinne. Swearing, and lying, and killing, and ſtealeing, and whoring, (I may well adde drunkenneſſe) abound, ſaith the Prophet, becauſe there is no knowledge of God in the Land, Hoſea, 4.1.2. It is a people that doe erre in their hearts, ſaith God, why? becauſe they have not knowne my wayes, Pſal. 95.10. yee are deceived, ſaith our Saviour, becauſe ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God, Matth. 22.29. when Chriſt wept over Hieruſalem, what was the cauſe? even their blindneſſe; If thou hadſt knowne, ſaith he, at the leaſt, in this thy day, thoſe things which now are hid from thine eyes, Luk. 19.42. Becauſe men know not the wages of evill, therefore they doe it; and becauſe they would ſecurely doe it, therefore they refuſe to know it. Oh that men knew how good it is to obay, to diſobay how evill, then ſhould we have a new world; but the Devill takes an order for that, where he can prevaile; and therefore he hath the Pope, in one part of the world, who will allow his ſubjects (I meane the Layty) no divine learning; the Turke in another, who denies to his any learning at all: and this is no ſmall advantage unto him, for that Edict of Iulianus the Emperour, whereby it was interdicted unto Chriſtians, to be admitted into Scholes, Lectures, and other exerciſes of learning, was eſteemed a more pernicious engine and machination againſt the Chriſtian faith, then were all the ſanguinary perſecutions of his predeceſſors.
Ob: But bleſſed be God, and our gracious Soveraigne, may ſome ſay, this is not our caſe, we have plenty of light in our Horizon, our Land abounds, both with humane and divine learning.
Anſw. Very true, and it is a bleſſing, which we can never be ſufficiently thankfull for; and yet the Devill takes ſuch an order, that the odds is not much, betweene our light, and their darkneſſe: for, either, Wizard-like, he preſents things in a falſe glaſſe; or, Sorcerer-like, he makes things appeare other then they are, by deception of our ſpirituall ſight; or, Sophiſter-like, he darkens the truth (which the Word will not ſuffer to bee conceald) with ſubtile diſtinctions, as a man that puts out the candle with ſnuffing it; or, Cauſiſtlike, he fills mens heads, with a world of Problemes and Paradoxes; their hearts and conſciences, with a thouſand needleſſe and endleſſe queſtions, unprofitable, cold, and bloodleſſe impertinencies, whereby the ſound and ſaving knowledge of Ieſus Chriſt, and him crucified (which was the onelyonly care and ſtudie of St. Paul: 1 Cor. 2.2.) is the portion but of a few, even amongſt us, as the effect ſhewes: for, are not moſt men, to whom the Goſpell is ſo gloriouſly preach't, chiefely guided according to the Rudiments of the world, and not after Chriſt? Col. 2.8.
Queſt. But will any now, in this cleare Sunne-ſhine of the Goſpell, be perſwaded that they know not Chriſt crucified?
Anſwer. It is too true, Rightly a monknowe no more … he practiſe….that few know him, for if they knew Chriſt, they could not but love him; and loving him, they would keepe his commandements, Ioh. 14.15. for hereby, ſaith St. Iohn, is it knowne that we know him, if we keepe his Commandements, 1 Ioh. 2.3. but he that ſaith, I know him, and yet keepeth not his Commandements, is a lyer, and there is no truth in him, ver. the 4.
Rightly, a man knowes no more then he practiſeth; it is ſaid of Chriſt, 2 Cor. 5.21. that he knew no ſin, becauſe he did no ſin; in which ſenſe, he knowes no good that doth no good; and he may know much, that cannot utter much, as a Martyr anſwered Biſhop Bonner, My Lord, I cannot diſpute for the truth, but I can dye for the truth: a good argument, to prove that he knew Chriſt, for mens actions expreſſe their knowledge better then their words.
Vertue is ordained a wife for knowledge, and where theſe two joyne, there will proceede from them a Noble prodiene, a generation of good workes: but they that wander in by pathes, declare themſelves ignorant of the right way of ſalvation, Rom. 3.17. That is but a raw knowledge, which is not digeſted into practiſe.
What's the difference, betweene Chriſtianity and infidelity, but holineſſe? For as Rhetoricke, is the Art of ſpeaking well; and Logicke, the art of diſputing well; and Magiſtracy, the art of governing well: ſo Christianity is the art of liveing well. It is not worth the name of knowledge, that may be heard onelyonly, and not ſeene: good diſcourſe is but the froth of wiſdome, the pure and ſolid ſubſtance of it, is in well framed actions; when we are wiſe in our hands, as the Dutch are ſaid to be. Theſe things if ye know, happy are ye if ye doe them, Iohn, 13.17. and in Deut. 4.6. keepe the Commandements of God, and doe them, for this is your wiſdome and underſtanding before God and men.
The knowledge that ſaves us, He that hath ſaveing knowledge, hath every other grace.is more then a bare apprehenſion of God; it knowes his power, and therefore feares him; knowes his juſtice, and therefore ſerves him; knowes his mercy, and therefore truſts him; knowes his goodneſſe, and therefore loves him; &c. for he that hath the ſaving knowledge of God, hath every other grace; there is a ſweete correſpondence betweene 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 ſoule without it's powers and faculties: ſo in the regeneration, where there is any one grace in truth, there is every one, 2 Cor. 5.17. but ſee it in particulars. They that know thy name, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, will truſt in thee, Pſal. 9.10. there's faith. Let him that rejoyceth, rejoyce in this, that he underſtandeth and knoweth me, Ier: 9 24. ther's joy. Hee that knoweth God, heareth us, 1 Ioh. 4.6. there is an awfull attention to the Word preach't. If thou knewest me, ſaith our Saviour, thou wouldeſt have asked of me, Iohn, 4.10. ther's the Spirit of prayer and ſupplication. He that knoweth God, loveth God, and the children of God. 1 Iohn, 4.7.8. He that knoweth God, keepeth his Commandements, 1 Iohn, 2.3. Now I know thee, ſaith Iob to God, I abhorre my ſelfe, and repent in dust and aſhes, Iob. 42.5.6. He that knoweth God, is borne of God, 1 Iohn. 4.7. there is love, obedience, humility, godly ſorrow, regeneration, I might goe on, and inſtance in every other grace. For as feeleing is inſeparable to all the Organs of ſenſe, the eye, ſees and feeles; the eare, heares and feeles; the palat, taſtes & feeles; the noſthrills, ſmell and feele: ſo knowledge is involved in every grace, faith, knowes and beleives; charity, knowes and loves; patience, knowes and ſuffers; temperance, knowes and abſtaines; humility, knowes and ſtoopes; repentance, knowes, and mournes; obedience, knowes and does; confidence, knowes and rejoyces; hope, knowes and expects; compaſſion, knowes and pities. Yea, as there is a power of water in every thing that growes, it is fatneſſe, in the Olive; ſweetneſſe, in the Figg; cheerefulneſſe, in the Grape; ſtrength, in the Oake; taleneſſe, in the Cedar; redneſſe, in the Roſe; whiteneſſe, in the Lilly, &c. ſo knowledge, is in the hand, obedience; in the mouth, benediction; in the knee, humility; in the eye, compaſſion; in the heart, charity; in the whole body and ſoule, piety.
Alaſſe! if men had the true knowledge of Ieſus Chriſt, it would diſperſe and diſpell all the blacke clouds of their raigning ſinnes in a moment: as the Sunne doth no ſooner ſhew his face, but the darkneſſe vaniſheth: or as Caeſar did no ſooner looke upon his enemies, but they were gone. Egypt ſwarmed with Locuſts, till the weſt winde came, that left not one. He cannot delight in ſinne, nor dote upon the world, that knowes Chriſt ſavingly.