The Divine Life, Treatise 1 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
7. THe next Attribute that must work upon us, is the Infinite Wisdom, or Omniscience of God. Psal. 147. 5. His understandig is Infinite] And the Impressions that this should make upon our souls are these.
1. Delight in Wisdom, that you may in your places be like to God. The New man is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that Created him, Col. 3. 10. If God be infinitely Wise, those then are the most excellent that are the Wisest. Ignorance is the souls blindness, and the privation of the Image of God on the understanding. [Wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness, Eccles. 2. 13.] To desire as Adam did any of that Knowledge that God hath reserved to himself, or is unnecessary for us, is not indeed to be Wise in our desires: Unnecessary Knowledge is but a trouble. But to Know the Lord, and his revealed Will; and the way of life, is the light and glory of our minds. He that hath lost his eye sight, hath lost his principal natural delight, and is as out of the world while he is in it. And the ignorant souls that are void of the heavenly Illumination, must needs be void of the delights of Grace: and though they live in the visible Church, where the beauty of Holiness is the excellency of the Saints, yet they do not see this beauty, but are like the Infidels that are out of the Church while they are in it. The Blind are in continual danger; They know not where they set their feet. And they know not when to be confident, nor when to fear; sometimes they are afraid where there is no cause, because there may be cause for ought they know; And sometime they are fearless at the very brink of death, and little think of the evil that they are neer. Why do our poor deluded people so boldly live in an unconverted state, but because they Know not where they are? Why do they so carelesly lie down and rise in an unsanctified condition, unpardoned, unready for death and judgement, and under the condemnation of the Law, but because they know not the misery or danger in which they stand? Why do they go on so carelesly and wilfully in sin, and despise the counsel of their Teachers and of the Lord, and take a holy life as needless, but because they Know not what they do? Men could not go so quietly or merrily to Hell, with their eyes open, as they do when they are shut by Ignorance. Whence is it that such Multitudes are still ungodly under all the Teachings and warnings of the Lord? but because [they have their understandings darkened, being alienated from the life of God by the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: and therefore many being past feeling have given them over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with gr…ediness, Eph. 4. 18, 19.] Sin is the fruit of folly, and the greatest folly; They are fools that make a jest of it, Prov. 14. 9. And it is for want of wisdom that they die, Prov. 10. 21. & 1. 32. The ignorant are prisoners to the Prince of darkness, Eph. 6. 12. & 5. 8. Knowledge is despised by none but fools, Prov. 1. 7, 22. The conquest of so many subtil enemies, the performance of so many spiritual duties, which we must go through if we will be saved, are works too hard for fools to do. The saving of a mans soul, is a work that requireth the greatest wisdom. And therefore the Illumination of the mind is Gods first work in the Conversion of a sinner, Act. 26. 18. Eph. 1. 18. If Infinite wisdom communicate to you but the smallest beam of heavenly light, it will change your minds, and make you other men then before, and set you on another course; Wisdom will be your guide, and keep you in safe paths; It will cause you to refuse the evil, and to choose the good: It will shew you true Happiness, and the way to obtain it: It will cause you to foresee the evil, and escape it, when fools go on and are destroyed, Prov. 22. 3. Wisdom will teach you to know the season, and Redeem your Time, and walk exactly, when folly will leave you to too late repentance, Eph. 5. 15. There is not a soul in Hell but was brought thither by sinful folly; Nor is there a soul in Heaven (of them at age) but by heavenly wisdom was conducted thither. In worldly matters the wicked may seem wisest; and many a Saint may be very ignorant: But when you see the end, you will all consess that those were the wise men that had wisdom to repell temptations, and to refuse the entising baits of sin, and to make sure of everlasting Joyes.
O therefore apply your hearts to Wisdom! Go to Christ for it, who is the Wisdom of God, 1 Cor. 1. 24. and is appointed by him to be our Wisdom, 1 Cor. 1. 30. He will teach it you, who is the best Master in the world, so you will but keep in his School, that is his Church, and will humbly learn as little Children, and apply your selves submissively to his spirit, word and Ministers: Ask Wisdom of God, that giveth liberally, and upbraideth not with former ignorance, Jam. 1. 5. Think not any pains in holy means too much to get it, Prov. 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. [If thou wilt receive the words of God, and hide his Commandments with thee, and encline thy heart to wisdom, and apply it to understanding; yea if thou cryest after Knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God; For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth is Knowledge and understanding.] And fear not being a loser by thy cost or labour. For [Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth undestanding: For the merchandise of it is better then silver, and the gain thereof then of fine gold: she is more precious then Rubies, and all the things thou canst desire, are not to be compared to her; Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace—] Prov. 3. 13. to 18.
2 The Infinite Wisdom of God, must resolve you to take him for your principal Teacher, Counseller and director in all your undertakings. Who would go seek the advice of a fool, when he may have Infallible wisdom to direct him? In a work of so great difficulty and concernment, a work that Hell and Earth and Flesh opposeth; a work that our Everlasting state dependeth on, I think it behoveth us to take the best advice that we can get. And who knoweth the will of God like God? or who knoweth the certain means of salvation like him that is …ver of salvation? would you know whether it …a …ortified holy life? Who shall be your coun… you advise with your Flesh, you know that it would …. If you advise with the World of wicked men, you know that they would be imitated, and judge as they are; and are not like to be wise for you, that are so foolish for themselves, as to part with Heaven for a merry dream. If you advise with the Devil, you know he would be obeyed, and have company in his misery. You can advise with none but God, but such as are your Enemies; And will you ask an enemy, a deadly enemy, what course you should take to make you happy? Will you ask the Devil how you may be saved? Or will you ask the blind ungodly world, what course you should take to please the Lord? Or will you ask the Flesh, by what means you may subdue it and become spiritual? If you take advice of Scripture, of the spirit, of a holy well informed Minister, or Christian, or of a renewed well informed Conscience, I take this for your advising with the Lord; But besides these that are his mouth, you can ask advice of none but enemies. But if they were never so much your friends, and wanted wisdom, they could but ignorantly seduce you. And do you think that any of them all, is as wise as God? It is the constant course of a worldly man to advise with the world, and of carnal men to advise with the flesh; and therefore it is that they are hurried to perdition. The flesh is brutish, and will lead you to a brutish life, and if you live after it, undoubtedly you shall die, Rom. 8. 13. and if you sow to it, you shall but reap Corruption, Gal. 6. 6, 7. If you are tempted to Lust, will you ask the flesh that tempteth you whether you should yield? If the cup of excess be offered to you, or flesh-pleasing feasts prepared for you, will you ask the flesh whether you should take them or refuse them? You may easily know what counsel it will give you. The Counsel of God, and of your flesh are contrary, and therefore the lives of the carnal and spiritual man are contrary. And will you venture on the advice of a brutish appetite, and refuse the counsel of the all knowing God? such as is your Guide, and Counsellor, such will be your End. Never m…n miscarried by obeying God: and never man …ped well by obeying the flesh: God leadeth no man to perdition, and the flesh leadeth no man to his Salvation. Gods motions are all for our Eternal good, though they seem to be for our temporal hurt: The motions of the flesh are for our Eternal hurt, though at present they seem to be for our Corporal benefit. If at any time you be at a loss; and your carnal friends, or your commodity, or pleasure adviseth you one way, and the Word of God, and his faithful Ministers advise you another way, use but your Reason well, and consider whether God or those that contradict him be the wiser, and accordingly suit your practice. Alas man, thy friend is ignorant and knows not what is good for himself. Thy flesh is ignorant, and knows not what is good for thy soul! But God knoweth all things. Your flesh and friends do feel what pleaseth them at present, and judge accordingly: but what will be hereafter they understand not, or consider not: But God knoweth as well what will be as what is: He counselleth you as one that knoweth how your actions will appear at last, and what it is that will save you or undo you to all eternity. If you be but sick, its too to one but the Counsel of your Physition and of your Appetite will differ. And if you will obey your Physition before your Appetite, for your health or life, should you not obey God before it for your Salvation? Do you think in your Consciences that any that perswade you to a careless worldly fleshly life, are as Wise as God that perswadeth you to the contrary? you dare not say so with your tongues? and yet the most dare say so with their lives. O how justly do the ungodly perish, that deliberately choose a brutish appetite, a malignant world, and a malicious Devil, as a wiser or fitter conducter then the Lord! But blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, but his delight is in the Law of the Lord, Psal. 1. 1, 2. And wo to the ungodly that reject and set at nought the counsel of the Lord, Prov. 1. 25, 30. Luke 7. 30. and will have none of it! that wait not for his counsel, Psal. 106. 13. that rehell against the words of God, and contemn the counsel of the most High, Psal. 107. 11. And wo to them that take counsel against the Lord and his Christ, that they may break asunder his bondt, and cast away his obligations, Psal. 2. 1, 2, 3. And wo to them that are given up to the lusts of their own hearts, and to walk in their own counsels, Psal. 81. 12. For by their own counsels shall they fall, Psal. 5. 10. But had they harkened to the Lord, and walked in his way, with the fulness of his blessings would he have satisfied them, Psal. 81. 13, 16. Resolve therefore what ever the flesh or the world say, that the Testimonies of God shall be your Counsellors, Psal. 119. …4. and bless the Lord that giveth thee counsel, Psal. 16. 7. For his counsel is infallible; having guided thee by his counsel be will bring thee to his glory, Psal▪ 73. 24.
3. The Infinite Wisdome of God, must resolve the soul to Rest in his determinations. We are most certain that God is not deceived. Though all men seem Lyers to you, let God be true: for it is impossible for him to lye, Heb. 6. 18. If our Reason be to seek, so is not God. When we are saying with Nicodemus, How can these things be? God knoweth how: and it is enough for us to know that they are so. If Infinite wisdome say the word, Believe it, though all the world contradict it. Though proud unbelievers say, that the words of God are improbable, let them know that God is not at a loss when ever mens dark understandings are at a loss: The Sun is not taken out of the firmament, when ever a man closeth or loseth his eyes. What? will those cavillers puzzle the Almighty! will they pose Omniscience? Doth it follow that the course of the Planets, and the Heavens, and all the Creatures are out of order, if these silly Moles understand not the order of them? No more will it follow that any word of God is false, or any Rule of God is crooked, because they see not its truth and rectitude. Shall dust and ashes judge the Lord? who hath been his Counseller? and with whom hath he advised for the making, redeeming or governing of the world? There is no Rest to an inquisitive soul but in the Infinite wisdome of the Lord. Find once that it is his word, and enquire no further. Its madness to demand a further proof. As all Goodness is comprized in his Will and Love; so all Truth is comprized in his Wisdom and Revelations. There are no Arguments but what are lower and subordinate to this. And therefore if thy Reason be at a loss, as to the cause or manner, yet hast thou the greatest Reason to believe that all is just and true that proceedeth from the Wisdom of the Lord. I… flesh and blood and all the world gain say it, yet Rest in the Word of God.
4. And thats the next effect that Gods Omniscience should have upon our minds. Take all the sayings of men as folly that are against the Lord. Let them be high or low, learned or unlearned if they contradict the God of Infinite wisdome, take it but as the words of a distracted man. Did you ever meet with any man of them, that durst say he was wiser than God himself? Herod that was eaten to death with vermine, was applauded by the flattering crowd, but with this acclamation, It is the voice of a God, and not of a man, Act. 12. 22. And will you say of any man that he is wiser than God? If you dare not say so, how dare you hear them and believe them against the Word of God? How dare you be drawn from a holy life, or from a selfdenying duty, or from the truth of God, by the words of a man, yea perhaps of a very sot, that speaks against the Word of God! To the Law, and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to these, it is because there is no Light in them, Isa. 8. 20.]
5. The Infinite wisdom of God, should establish our confidence concerning the fulfilling of all his Word. He will not fail for want of Knowledge: when he spoke that Prophesie, that Promise or that Threatning, he perfectly knew all things that would come to pass, to all eternity. He knew therefore what he said when he gave out his Word, and therefore will fulfill it. Heaven and earth may pass away, but one Iota or tittle of his word shall not pass away till all be accomplished, Mat. 5. 18
6. And from the Infinite wisdom of God, the Church must be encouraged in its greatest straits, and against all the cunning subtilty of their enemies. Are we ever in such straits, that God knows not how to bring us out? when we see no way for our deliverance, doth it follow that he sees none? If cunning Serpents are too subtle for us, do we think that they can overwit the Lord? what had become of us long ago, if God had not known what ever is plotted at Rome, or Spain, or Hell against us? If he knoweth not of all the consultations of the conclave, and of all the contrivances of Jesuits and Fryers; and of all the juglings of the masked Emissaries; If God had not known of Vaux and his Powder mine, it might have blown up all our hopes. But while we know that God is in their Councils, and heareth every word they say, and knoweth every secret of their hearts, and every mischief which they enterprise, let us do our duty, and rest in the wisdom of our great Protector, who will prove all his adversaries to have plaid the fools: For as sure as his Omnipstency shall be glorified by overtopping all opposing powers, so sure shall his Infinite wisdom be glorified, by conquering and befooling the wisdom that is against him.
7. Lstly, if God be Infinite in Knowledge, it must resolve us all to live accordingly. O Remember what ever thou Thinkest, that God is acquainted with all thy Thoughts. And wilt thou feed on lustful, or covetous, or malicious, or unbelieving Thoughts, in the eye of God? Remember in thy prayers and every duty, that he knows the very frame of all thy affections, and the manner as well as the matter of thy services. And wilt thou be cold and careless in the sight of God? O Remember in thy secretst sins, and thy works of darkness, that nothing is unknown to God; and that before him thou art in the open light. And fearest thou not the face of the Almighty? Wilt thou do that when he knoweth it, that thou wouldst not do if man did know? He knows whether thou deceive thy neighbour, or deal uprightly! Defraud not therefore; for the Lord is the avenger, 1 Thes. 4. 6. Do nothing that thou wouldst not have God to know. For certainly he knoweth all things. Shall he not see that made and illuminateth the eye? and shall he not hear that made both tongue and ears? and shall he not know that giveth us understanding, and by whom we know? Psal. 94. 8, 9, 10.
And let this be thy comfort in thy secret duties. He that knoweth thy Heart, will not overlook the desires of thy Heart, though thou hadst not words as thou desirest to express them. And he that knoweth thy uprightness, will justifie thee, if all the world condemn thee. He that seeth thee in thy secret Alms, or Prayers, or Tears, will openly reward thee, Mat. 6. 4 6. Let this also comfort thee under all the slanders of malicious or misinformed men. He that must be thy Judge and theirs, is acquainted with the truth: who will certainly bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgement as the noone day, Psal. 37. 6. O how many souls are justified with the Omniscient God that are condemned by the malignant world! And how many blots will be wiped off before the world at the day of Judgement, that here did lie upon the names of faithful upright men! O how many Hypocrites shall be then disclosed! And what a cutting thought should it be to the dissembler, that his secret falshood is known to God! And when he hath the Reputation that he sought with men, he hath his reward! Mat. 6. 2. For its a sadder reward that God will give him.