A Treatise of Knowledge and Love, Part 1 · Chapter 16
Chap. 16.
Proofs of the Little Knowledge that is in the world, to move us to a due diſtruſt of our underſtandings.
IF you think this ſin of a Proud Underſtanding, and Pretended Knowledge, doth need for the cure a fuller diſcovery of its vanity, I know not how to do it more convincingly, than by ſhewing you How little True Knowledge is in the world, and conſequently that all Mankind have cauſe to think meanly of their Underſtandings.
I. The great Imperfection of all the Sciences, is a plain diſcovery of it: When Mankind hath had above 5000 years already to have grown to more perfection; yet how much is ſtill dark, and controverted? and how much unknown in compariſon of what we know? But above all, though nothing is perfectly known which is not methodically known; yet how few have a true methodical knowledge? He that ſeeth but ſome parcels of Truth, or ſeeth them but confuſedly, or in a falſe method, not agreeable to the things, doth know but little, becauſe he knoweth not the place, and order, and reſpects of Truths to one another, and conſequently neither their compoſition, harmony, ſtrength or uſe. Like a Philoſopher that knew nothing but Elements, and not mixt bodies, or animate beings: Or like an Anatomiſt that is but an Atomiſt, and can ſay no more of the body of a man, but that it is made up of Atoms, or at moſt, can only enumerate the ſimilar parts: Or like a man that knoweth no more of his Clock and Watch, but as the pieces of it lie on a heap, or at beſt, ſetteth ſome one part out of its place, which diſableth the whole Engine: Or like one that knoweth the Cheſs-men only as they are in the Bag, or at beſt in ſome diſorder. Who will make me ſo happy as to ſhew me one true Scheme of Phyſicks, of Metaphyſicks, of Logick, yea of Theology, which I cannot preſently prove guilty of ſuch miſtake, confuſion, miſorder, as tendeth to great errour in the ſubſequent parts, I know of no ſmall number that have been offered to the world, but never ſaw one that ſatisfied my underſtanding. And I think I ſcarce know any thing to purpoſe, till I can draw a true Scheme of it, and ſet each compounding notion in its place.
II. And the great Diverſity and Contrariety of Opinions, of Notions and of Methods, proveth that our Knowledge indeed is yet but ſmall. How many Methods of Logick have we? How many Hypotheſes in Phyſicks, yea how many contentious Volumes written againſt one another, in Philoſophy and Theology it ſelf▪ What loads of Videtur's in the Schoolmen? How many Sects and Opinions in Religion? Phyſicians agree not about mens Lives. Lawyers agree not about mens Eſtates; no nor about the very fundamental Laws. If there be a Civil War, where both ſides appeal to the Law, there will be Lawyers on both ſides. And doth not this prove that we know but little?
III. But mens rage and confidence in theſe Contrarieties doth diſcover it yet more. Read their contentious writings of Philoſophy and Theology; obſerve their uſage of one another, what contempt, what reproach, what cruelties they can proceed to? The Papiſt ſilenceth and burneth the Proteſtant; the Lutheran ſilenceth and revileth the Calviniſt; the Calviniſt ſharply judgeth the Arminians, and ſo round: And may I not judge that this wiſeſt part of the world is low in Knowledge, when not the vulgar only, but the Leaders and Doctors are ſo commonly miſtaken in their greateſt Zeal? And that Solomon erred not in ſaying, [The fool rageth, and is confident.]
IV. If our knowledge were not very low, the long experience of the World would have long ago reconciled our Controverſies. The ſtrivings and diſtractions about them (both in Philoſophy, Politicks and Theology) have torn Churches, and raiſed Wars, and ſet Kingdoms on Fire, and ſhould in reaſon be to us as a Bone out of Joint, which by the pain ſhould force us all to ſeek out for a cure: And ſure in ſo many thouſand years, many Remedies have been tryed: The iſſues of ſuch diſingenuous-ingenious Wars, do furniſh men with ſuch experience as ſhould teach them the cure. And yet after ſo many years War of wits, to be ſo witleſs as to find no End, no Remedy, no Peace, doth ſhew that the wit of man is not a thing to be proud of.
V. The great mutability of our apprehenſions doth ſhew that they are not many things that we are certain of. Do we not feel in our ſelves how new thoughts and new reaſons are ready to breed new conjectures in us, and that looketh doubtful to us, upon further thoughts, of which long before we had no doubt. Beſides the multitudes that change their very Religion, every ſtudious Perſon ſo oft changeth his conceptions, as may teſtifie the ſhallowneſs of our minds.
VI. The general barbarouſneſs of the World, the few Countreys that have polite Learning, or true Civility or Chriſtianity, do tell us that knowledge in the World is low: When beſides the vaſt unknown Regions of the World, all that are of late diſcovery in the Weſt-Indies, or elſewhere, are found to be ſo rude and barbarous; ſome little differing from ſubtile Brutes: When the vaſt Regions of Africk, of Tartary, and other parts of Aſia, are no wiſer to this day. When the Roman Eaſtern Empire ſo eaſily parted with Chriſtianity, and is turned to ſo much barbarous ignorance; this ſheweth what we are: For theſe men are all Born as capable as we.
VII. Eſpecially the ſottiſh Opinions which the Heathen and Mahometan World do generally entertain, do tell us how dark a Creature man is. That four parts of the whole World (if not much more, that is unknown) ſhould receive all the ſottiſh Opinions as they do, both againſt the light of Nature (knowing ſo little of God) and by ſuch vain conceits of their Prophets and petty Deities: That above the fifth part of the known World, ſhould receive, and ſo long and quietly retain, ſo ſottiſh an Opinion as Mahometaniſm is, and Build upon it the hopes of their Salvation. If the Greek Church can be corrupted into ſo groſs a foolery, why may not the Latine, and the Engliſh, if they had the ſame temptations? O what a ſad proof is here of humane folly.
VIII. But in the Latine Church (be it ſpoken without any comparing Mahometaniſm with Chriſtianity) the wonder is yet greater, and the diſcovery of the fallaciouſneſs of mans underſtanding is yet more clear: Were there no proof of it, but the very being of Popery in the World, and the reception of it by ſuch and ſo many, it affordeth the ſtrongeſt temptation that ever I thought of in the World, to the Brutiſt, to queſtion whether Inſtinct advance not Brutes above man! The Brutes diſtruſt not their right diſpoſed ſenſes; but the Papiſts not only diſtruſt them, but renounce them: Bread is no Bread, and Wine is no Wine with them, All mens ſenſes are deceived that think otherwiſe: It is neceſſary to Salvation to believe that Gods natural Revelations to ſenſe here are falſe,Of this oft before. and not to be believed. Every man that will be ſaved muſt believe that Bread is no Bread, that Quantity, Locality, Colour, Weight, Figure, are the Quantity, Locality, Colour, Weight, Figure, of nothing: And God worketh Grand Miracles by every Prieſt, as frequently as he Conſecrateth in the Maſs: And if any man refuſe to Swear to this Renunciation of Humane Senſe, and the Truth of theſe Miracles, he muſt be no Prieſt, but a combuſtible Heretick. And if any Temporal Lord refuſe to exterminate all thoſe from their Dominions who will believe their Senſes, and not think it neceſſary to renounce them as deceived, he muſt be Excommunicated and Diſpoſſeſt himſelf, his Subjects abſolved from their Oaths and Allegiance, and his Dominions given to another: And this is their very Religion, being the Decree of a great General Council, (queſtioned indeed by ſome few Proteſtants, but not at all by them, but largely vindicated:) Later. ſub. Innoc. 3. Can. 1, 3. The ſum is, No man that will not renounce not only his Humanity, but his Animality, muſt be ſuffered to live in any ones Dominions, and he that will ſuffer men in his Dominions, muſt be himſelf turned out? this is plain truth: And yet this is the Religion of Popes and Emperors, and Kings, of Lords and Councellors, of Prelates and Doctors, Univerſities, Churches and famous Kingdoms; and ſuch as men, all theſe wiſe men dare lay their Salvation upon; and dare Maſſacre men by Thouſands and Hundred Thouſands upon, and Burn their Neighbours to Aſhes upon; and what greater confidence of certainty can be expreſt! And yet ſhall man be proud of Wit? O what is man! How dark, how ſottiſh and mad a thing! All theſe great Princes, Doctors, Cardinals, Univerſities and Kingdoms, are Born with Natures as capacious as ours. They are in other things as wiſe: They pity us as Hereticks, becauſe we will not ceaſe to be men: The Infidel that denieth mans Reaſon and Immortality, would but level us with the Brutes, and allow us the pre-eminence among them in ſubtlety: But all theſe Papiſts Forſwear or Renounce that Senſe which is common to Brutes and us, and ſentence us either below the Brutes, or unto Hell. Pretend no more, poor man, to great knowledge▪ as the ſight of a Grave and a rotten Carcaſs may humble the Fool that is proud of Beauty, ſo the thought of the Popiſh, Mahometan and Heathen World, may humble him that is proud of his underſtanding. I tell thee, man, thou art capable of that madneſs as to believe that an Ox or an Onion is a God; or to believe that a bit of Bread is God; yea more, to believe as neceſſary to Salvation that thy own and all mens ſenſes about their proper objects are deceived, and the Bread which thou ſeeſt and eateſt is no Bread; yea though it be three times in the three next verſes, 1 Cor. 11. Called Bread after Conſecration by an inſpired Expoſitor of Chriſts words.
IX. Moreover the poverty of mans underſtanding appeareth by the great time and labour that muſt be beſtowed for Knowledge: We muſt be Learning as ſoon as we have the uſe of reaſon, and all our Life muſt be beſtowed in it; I know by experience; Knowledge will not be got, without long, hard and patient ſtudies; O what abundance of Books muſt we read! What abundance of deep Meditations muſt we uſe! What help of Teachers, do we need? And when all's done, how little do we obtain? Is this an Intellect to be proud of?
X. And it is obſervable how every man ſlighteth anothers Reaſons, while he would have all to magnify his own. All the Arguments that in diſputation are uſed againſt him, how frivolous and fooliſh are they? All the Books that are written againſt him, are little better than Nonſence, or Hereſie or Blaſphemy. Contempt is anſwer enough to moſt that is ſaid againſt them. And yet the men in other mens Eyes, are perhaps wiſer and better than themſelves. Moſt men are fools in the judgment of others! Whatever ſide or party you are of, there are many parties againſt you, who all pity your ignorance, and judge you ſilly deceived Souls. So that if one man be to be believed of another, and if the moſt of mankind be not deceived, we are all poor ſilly cheated Souls: But if moſt be deceived, mankind is a very deceivable creature. How know I that I muſt believe you when you befool twenty other Sects, any more than I ſhould believe thoſe twenty Sects when they as confidently befool you; if no other Evidence turn the Scales?
XI. And verily I think that the Wars and Contentions, and Diſtractions of the Kingdoms of the World, do ſhew us that man is a pitiful, ſilly deceiveable thing. I am not at all ſo ſharp againſt Wars and Souldiers as Eraſmus was; But I ſhould think that if men were wiſe, they might keep their peace, and ſave the lives of thouſands, which muſt be dearly anſwered for. Were all the Princes of Chriſtendom as wiſe as proud wits conceit themſelves to be, how eaſy were it for them to agree among themſelves, and equally to diſtribute the charge of two or three Armies, which might quickly ſhake in pieces the Turks Dominions, and recover Conſtantinople, and free the Greek Church from their Captivity.
XII. And what need we more than every days miſcarriages to tell us of our folly▪ Do we not miſs it in one degree or other in almoſt all that we take in hand! Hence cometh the ruine of Eſtates, the ill education of Children, the diſſentions among Neighbours and in Families: Parents have ſcarce wit enough to breed and teach a Child; Nor Husbands and Wives to live together according to their Relations; nor Maſters to teach their Servants. If I write a Book how many can find folly and errour in it: And I as eaſily in theirs. If I Preach, how many faults can the ſillieſt Woman find in it: And I as many perhaps in other mens. Do we live in ſuch weakneſs, and ſhall we not know it?
XIII. And the uncureableneſs of ancient errours is no ſmall evidence of our folly: If our anceſtors have but been deceived before us, though their errour be never ſo Palpable, we plead their venerable antiquity, for an honour to their Ignorance and miſtakes: The wiſdom of wiſe anceſtors almoſt dieth with them; But the errours of the miſtaken muſt be Succeſſive, leſt they be diſhonoured. We will deny reaſon, and deny Scripture, and deny ſenſe for fear of being wiſer for our Souls than ſome of our forefathers were.
XIV. The ſelf-deſtroying courſes of mankind, one would think ſhould be enough to evince mans folly. Who almoſt ſuffer but by themſelves? Few ſickneſſes befall us which folly brings not on us by exceſs of Eating or Drinking, or by ſloth or ſome unwiſe neglect. Few ruines of Eſtates but by our own folly! Few calamities in Families and Relations but by our ſelves! What Churches diſtracted and ruined, but by the Paſtors and Children of the Church themſelves! What Kingdom ruined without its own procurement. It need not be ſaid, Quos perdere vult Jupiter hos dementat; It is enough to ſay, Inſaniam eorum non curat: If he cure not our madneſs, we ſhall certainly deſtroy our ſelves. Whoſe hands kindled all the flames that have waſted the Glory, Wealth and Peace of England in State and Church except our own? Were they Forreign Enemies that did it, and ſtill keep open our wounds, or is it our ſelves? And yet are we wiſe men?
XV. But the greateſt evidence in all the world of the madneſs of Mankind, is the obſtinate ſelf-deſtruction of all the ungodly. Conſider but 1. The weight of the Caſe; 2. The plainneſs of the Caſe; 3. The means uſed to undeceive them; 4. And yet the number of the madly erroneous; and then bethink you what man's Underſtanding is.
1. It is their Souls and everlaſting Hopes that are caſt away! It is no leſs than Heaven and Endleſs Happineſs which they reject: It is no better than Hell and Endleſs Miſery which they run into; and are theſe men in their wits?
2. It is themſelves that do all this; neither Man nor Devils elſe could do it: They do it for nothing: What have the wretches for their Salvation! a few cups of drink; a filthy Whore; a little preferment or proviſion for a corruptible fleſh, which muſt ſhortly lie and rot in darkneſs: The applauſe and breath of flatterers as ſilly as themſelves. O profane perſons, worſe than Eſau, who will fell their birth-right for ſo poor a morſel! Come ſee the madneſs of Mankind! It is a doubt to them whether God or a filthy luſt ſhould be more loved and obeyed! It is a doubt with them whether Heaven or Earth be better worth their labour! Whether Eternity or an inch of Time; whether a Soul or a periſhing Body ſhould be more cared for! Are theſe wiſe men? Did I ſay, It is a doubt? yea their choice and practice ſheweth that at the preſent they are reſolved: Vanity, and ſhadows and dreams are preferred: Heaven is neglected: They are lovers of pleaſure more than God: They ſet leſs than a Feather in the ballance againſt more than all the world, and they chuſe the firſt, and neglect the latter! This is the wiſe world!
3. And all this they do, againſt common reaſon, againſt daily teaching of appointed Paſtors, againſt the Judgment of the Learnedeſt and Wiſeſt men in the world; againſt the expreſs Word of God; againſt the obligation of daily mercies; againſt the warnings of many afflictions; againſt the experience of all the world, who pronounce all this Vanity which they ſell their Souls for; even while men die daily before their Eyes, and they are certain that they muſt ſhortly die themſelves; while they walk over the Church-yard, and tread on the Graves of thoſe that went before them; yet will they take no warning, but neglect God and their Souls, and ſin on to the very death.
4. And this is not the caſe only of here and there one; we need not go to Bedlam to ſeek them. Alas! in how much more honoured and ſplendid habitations and conditions may they be found! In what reverend and honourable garbs! And in how great numbers throughout the world! And theſe are not only Sots and Idiots, that never were told of better things; but thoſe that would be accounted witty, or men of Learning and venerable aſpect and eſteem. But this is a ſubject that we uſe to Preach on to the people; it being eaſie, by a multitude of arguments, to prove the Madneſs of all ungodly perſons. And is this nothing to humble us, who were naturally like them, and who, ſo far as we are ſinners, are, alas! too like them ſtill?
XVI. And the fewneſs of wiſe men in all Profeſſions, doth tell us how rare true Wiſdom is: Among men, whoſe Wiſdom lieth in Speculation, where the Effects of it do not openly difference it much from Prefidence, the difference is not commonly diſcerned: A prating Speculator goeth for a wiſe man: But in Practicals the difference appeareth by the Effects. All men ſee, that among Phyſicians and Lawyers, thoſe that are excellent are few. And even among the Godly Preachers of the Goſpel, O that it were more eaſie and common, to meet with men ſuited to the majeſty, myſtery, greatneſs, neceſſity and holineſs of their works, that ſpeak to God, and from God, like Divines indeed, and have the true frame of found Theology ready in their Heads and Hearts; and that in publick and private ſpeak to ſinners, as beſeemeth thoſe that believe that they and we are at the door of Eternity, and that we ſpeak, and they hear for the life of Souls, and that are uncertain whether ever they ſhall ſpeak again. Alas! Lord, thy Treaſure is not only in Earthen Veſſels, but how ordinarily in polluted Veſſels, and how common are empty ſounding Veſſels, or ſuch as have Dirt or Air inſtead of holy Treaſure!
And as for Philoſophers and Judicious Speculators in Divinity, do I need to ſay, that the number is too ſmall? Of ſuch as are able judiciouſly to reſolve a difficulty, to anſwer Caſes of Conſcience, to defend the Truth, to ſtop the mouths of all gainſayers, and to Teach holy Doctrine clearly and in true Method, without confuſion, or running into any extreams? We bleſs God this Land, and the other Reformed Churches, have had a laudable degree of this mercy: The Lord reſtore it to them and us, and continue the comfortable meaſure that we poſſeſs.
XVII. And it is a notorious diſcovery of the common Ignorance, that a wiſe man is ſo hardly known: And men that have not wiſdom to imitate them, have not wit enough to value them: So that as Seneca ſaith, He that will have the pleaſure of wiſdom, muſt be content with it for it ſelf, without Applauſe: Two or three approvers muſt ſuffice him. The Blind know not who hath the beſt Eye-ſight. Swine trample upon Pearls. Nay, it is well if when they have increaſed knowledge they increaſe not ſorrow? And become not the mark of Envy and Hatred, and of the venom of malignant Tongues and Hands, yea and that meerly for their knowledge ſake. All the Learning of Socrates, Demoſthenes, Cicero, Seneca, Lucane, and many more; and all the Learning and Piety of Cyprian, and all the Martyrs of thoſe ages; of Boetius, of the African Biſhops that periſhed by Hunnerichus; of Peter Ramus, Marlorate, Cranmer, Ridley, Philpot, Bradford and abundance ſuch, could not keep them from a cruel Death: All the excellency of Greg. Nazianzene, Chryſoſtome, and many others could not keep them from ſuffering by Orthodox Biſhops: no nor all the Holineſs and Miracles of Martin. Inſomuch that Nazianzene leaveth it to his People as a mark of the man whom he would have them value and chooſe, when he was dead. This one thing I require; that he be one of thoſe that are envyed, not pitied by others: who obey not all men in all things; but for the love of Truth in ſome things incurreth mens offence. And of himſelf he profeſſeth, that, Though moſt thought otherwiſe than he did, that this was nothing to him who cared only for the truth, as that which muſt condemn him or abſolve him, and make him happy or miſerable. But what other men thought was nothing to him, any more than what another dreameth. Orat. 27. page 468. And therefore he ſaith, Orat. 26. p. 443. [As for me, I am a ſmall and poor Paſtor, and to ſpeak ſparingly, not yet grateful and accepted with other Paſtors, which whether it be done by right judgment and reaſon, or by malevolence of mind and ſtudy of contention, I know not] — And Orat. 32. p. 523. [I am tired, while I fight both with Speech and Envy, with Enemies and with thoſe that are our own: Thoſe ſtrike at the Breaſt, and obtain not their deſire: For an open Enemy is eaſily taken heed of: But theſe come behind my back and are more troubleſome.]
Such obloquy had Hierome, ſuch had Auguſtine himſelf, and who knoweth not that Envy is Virtues Shadow? And what talk I of others, when all godly men are hated by the world, and the Apoſtles and Chriſt himſelf were uſed as they were, and Chriſt ſaith, Which of the Prophets did not your Fathers Kill and Perſecute, Math. 23. If Hating, Perſecuting, Slandering, Silencing, Killing men that know more than the reſt be a ſign of wiſdom, the world hath been wiſe ſince Cains Age until this.
Even a Galilaeus, a Savonarola, a Campanella, &c. Shall feel it, if they will be wiſer than the reſt: So that Solomons warning, Eccl. 7.16. concerneth them that will ſave heir Skin; Be not Righteous over-much, neither make thy ſelf over wiſe: Why wilt thou deſtroy thy ſelf? But again I may Prognoſticate with Antiſthenes in Laert. Then Cities are periſhing, when they are not wiſe enough to know the good from the bad. And with Cicero, Rhet. 1. That mans ſafety is deſperate whoſe Ears are ſhut againſt the truth, ſo that even from a Friend he cannot hear it.
XVIII. And this leadeth me to the next diſcovery, How rare wiſdom is in the world, in that the wiſeſt men and Learnedſt Teachers have ſo ſmall Succeſs. How few are much the wiſer for them? If they praiſe them, they will not Learn of them, till they reach to their degree. Men may delight in the ſweetneſs of truth themſelves; but it is a Feaſt where few will ſtrive for part with them. A very few men that have firſt ſprung up in obſcure times have had great Succeſs; So had Origine at Alexandria, and Chryſoſtom at Conſtantinople, but with bitter ſauce. Pythagoras, Plato, and Ariſtotle at Athens, and Auguſtine at Hippo had the moſt that Hiſtory maketh mention of (with Demoſthenes and Cicero in Oratory;) Melanchthon at Wittenberge (with Luther) and Zwinglius in Helvetia, and Calvin at Geneva prevailed much: And now and then an age hath been fruitful of Learned, Wiſe and Godly men: And when we are ready to expect, that each of theſe ſhould have a multitude of Scholars like themſelves, ſuddenly all declineth, and Ignorance and Senſuality get uppermoſt again. And all this is becauſe that all men are born Ignorant and Senſual; But no man attaineth to any excellency of Wiſdom, without ſo long and laborious ſtudies, as the fleſh will give leave to few men to perform. So that he that hath moſt laboriouſly ſearcht for knowledge all his days, knoweth not how to make others partakers of it: No not his own Children of whom he hath the education: Unleſs it be here and there one Scaliger, one Paraeus, one Toſſanus, one Trelcatius, one Voſſius, &c. how few excellent men do leave one excellent Son behind them! O what would a wiſe man give, that he could but bequeath all his wiſdom to others when he dieth.
XIX. And it's evident that great Knowledge is more rare than Prefidence, in that the hardeſt Students, and moſt knowing men, complain more than others of Difficulties and Ignorance. When certainly other men have more cauſe. They that ſtudy a little, know little, and think they know much: They that ſtudy very hard, but not to maturity, oft become Sceptick, and think nothing certain. But they that follow it till they have digeſted their ſtudies, do find a certainty in the great and neceſſary things, but confeſs their ignorance in abundance of things which the preſumptuous are confident in. I will not leave this out, to eſcape the carping of thoſe that will ſay, that by this Character I proclaim my ſelf one of the wiſeſt, as long as it is but the confeſſion of my Ignorance which is their occaſion. But I will ſay as Auguſtine, to Hierome, Epiſt. 29. Adverſus eos qui ſibi videntur ſcire quod neſciunt, hoc tutiores ſumus, quod hanc ignorantiam noſtram non ignoramus.
XX. Laſtly, Every mans nature, in the midſt of his pride, is conſcious of the Fallibility and Frailty of his own underſtanding. And thence it is that men are ſo fearful in great matters of being over-reacht. And where ever any concluſion dependeth upon a contexture of many proofs, or on any long, operous work of Reaſon, men have a natural conſciouſneſs of the uncertainty of it. Yea though our Doctrines of the Immortality of our own Souls, and of the Life of Retribution after this, and the Truth of the Goſpel, have ſo much certain Evidence as they have, yet a Lively certain Faith is the more rare and difficult, becauſe men are ſo conſcious of the fallibility of their own underſtandings, that about things unſeen & unſenſible, they are ſtill apt to doubt, whether they be not deceived in their apprehenſions of the Evidence.
By theſe twenty inſtances it is too plain that there is little ſolid wiſdom in the world; that wiſe men are few, and thoſe few are but a little wiſe. And ſhould not this ſuffice to make all men, but eſpecially the unlearned, half-learned, the young and unexperienced, to abate their ungrounded confidence and to have humble and ſuſpicious thoughts of their own apprehenſions.