Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 161
§ 161.
ANd thus you have the wiſdome of humaniſts and Politicians decyphered, together with the wiſdome of Gods people: you ſee the difference betweene them, and therein, as I ſuppoſe, that the former are none of the wiſeſt, and that the later, viz. the vviſeſt politician upon earth, the moſt ample and cunning Machevilian that lives; be he a doctor in that deep reaching faculty, is a ſtarke foole, in ſix main particulars: ergo, not ſo vviſe as the godly man, nor ſo vviſe as the vvorld reputes him, or he himſelfe. Yea, he is vvorſe then a foole, for, ſaith Saint Augustine, If the Holy Ghoſt tearmes him a foole, that only laid up his owne goods, Luke 12.18.20. find out a name for him, that takes away other mens.
Yet by the way, miſtake me not, I am farre from adviſing thee to truſt them ever the more, for their ſimplicity: I would rather wiſh thee to beware them; for though the Divell makes fooles of them, yet withall, he makes them wiſe enough, to make fooles of us; and though they be but one eyed, with Gorgon, yet have they alſo iron talons; and though with the Oſprey, a ravenous bird, they have one flat hand to ſtroake, yet have they another with clawes, which wil cruelly gripe; yea, though they have the faces and tongues of men, yet they have the talons of Gryffons, full of rapine, cruelty, and oppreſſion.
But you will tell me, that the world is of another Judgement.
I anſwer. So ſhall we if we looke upon them ſidewayes, as moſt men doe, (like as Apelles pictured Antigonus, making ſhew only of that halfe of his face, which was perfect, but hiding the other ſide, wherein he was blind and deformed) then we ſhall take them for wiſe men, and ſo be miſtaken.
I confeſſe, They are wiſe men in fooliſh things, and fooliſh men in wiſe things.the one ſpeak Latine, Greek and Hebrew; the other Statutes, Hiſtory, and Husbandry well enough, to make their neighbours think them wiſe men; but the truth is, they ſeeme wiſer then they are, as we uſe to ſay of the Spanyards: whereas the godly, like the French, are wiſer then they ſeeme; as thus, they are wiſe men in fooliſh things, and fooliſh men in wiſe things; ſharp eyed, as Eagles, in the things of the earth, but as blind as Beetles, in the matters of heaven; and may be compared to Bats, Night-crowes, Owles, and Cats, which can ſee better in the darke, then in the light: their wiſdome is like that of Moles, which will dig under ground with great dexterity; but are blind when they come into the Sunne; or Cats (eſpecially the later ſort) that are onelyonly gifted to catch Mice, being in every thing elſe the ſimplieſt creatures that live: or the fiſh Polypus, which is a moſt ſtupid and fooliſh fiſh, yet uſeth great skill, in taking of other fiſhes: yea, theſe are directly like witches, and that in foure particulars. Firſt, a witch is rarely pregnant in doing that which is evill, 2. a witch neither can, nor will doe good: 3. a witch will ſell her ſoule to the divel, that ſhee may a little excell others in miſchiefe; 4. both they, and theſe, are indeed blind and in darkneſſe, as having their beginning from Sathan, the Prince of darkneſſe, and their end in hell, which is the pit of darknes: for as they and witches, do the ſame worke; ſo they ſhall have the ſame wages, becauſe they are wiſe to evill, their wiſdome ſhall have but an evill end.
Againe, if innocency be acknowledged meere ſimplicity, then none are ſo ſimple as the religious; for, as it ſeemes, their ignorance will not ſuffer them to doe evill. Yea, as Pliſtonax the Sonne of Pauſanias, when an Orator of Athens ſaid, the Lacedaemonians were unlearned and ignorant: anſwered, thou ſayeſt true, for we only, of all the Grecians, have learned none of thine ill conditions: ſo may I ſay to theſe; the godly, of all others, have learnt none of your Atheiſticall practiſes.
But let the Holy Ghoſt determine, that knowes better how to judge then any: and then, he is moſt wiſe, that is moſt holy: for goodneſſe, in the Scripture, is tearmed wiſdom; and vice, folly; ſinners and fooles, Sy…omina, Prov. 1.7. In the dialect of the wiſe man it is plaine, that the greateſt ſinner is the greateſt foole: and David thinkes there is no foole to the Atheiſt, Pſa. 53.1. whoſe wayes utter his fooliſhneſſe, Pſ. 49.13. And though worldly men call the ſimple, fooles, yet God calls the crafty, fooles, Ieremiah 8.9. Luke 12.18.20 Mat. 6.23. and of all Atheiſts, which ſeeme wiſe, there bee no ſuch fooles in the world, as they which love money better then themſelves.
To conclude, the feare of the Lord, is wiſdome; and to depart from evill, is underſtanding, Iob 28.28. and hee that is truly wiſe, thinks that to be wiſdome and folly, which God thinks ſo.