A Treatise of Knowledge and Love, Part 2 · Chapter 4
Chap. IV.
And therefore thoſe are to be accounted the wiſeſt and beſt knowing men, that love God moſt; and not thoſe that are ſtored with unholy knowledge.
THis fourth Doctrine, is alſo a diſcernable part of the meaning of the Apoſtle in the Text. His purpoſe is to humble thoſe that judge themſelves wiſe for that which is no wiſdom, but uſeleſs, ludicrous notions and ſelf-conceitedneſs: And to ſhew men wherein true wiſdom doth conſiſt. Many thouſands there are that heartily love God, and are devoted to him, and live to his ſervice in the World, who never read Logick, Phyſicks, Metaphyſicks or Mathematicks; nor laid in that ſtock of artificial notions, which are the Glory and Utenſils of the Learned World. And yet that theſe are truly and happily wiſe and knowing, the Apoſtle judgeth, and I thus further prove.
1. Becauſe they know the things themſelves, and not only the names and definitions of them: As he that knoweth food by eating it, the Military Art, or Navigation by Experience, or a Countrey by travelling or dwelling in it. Others lick the outſide of the Glaſs, but taſte not the ſweet that is within.
2. Becauſe they know the greateſt and moſt excellent things: God is infinitely greater and better than the Creatures: And Heaven incomparably better than the riches and pleaſures of this Earth. To know how to Build a City, or a Navy, and how to Govern an Army or a Kingdom, is more than to know how to pick Sticks or Straws, or to dreſs and undreſs us. Underſtanding is valuable by the dignity of its objects; therefore how much doth the wiſdom of a holy Soul excell all the Craft and Learning of the ungodly? Let not the rich man glory in his riches—But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he knoweth God; if he ſo know him as to love him.
3. Becauſe they know the moſt Neceſſary things, and the moſt Profitable. They know how to be Good, and how to do their duty, and how to attain their End, and how to pleaſe God, and how to eſcape damnation, and how to be happy in everlaſting joy and glory. And I think he is wiſe, that is wiſe enough to be Happy, and to attain all that the Soul of man can well deſire.
But who will deſire the Wiſdom that maketh a man never the better? and that will not ſave his Soul from Hell? What Soul in Hell doth think that Wiſdom brought him thither? It were a thouſand times better, not to know how to ſpeak or go, to dreſs or undreſs us, than not to know how to be holy and happy, and to eſcape ſin and everlaſting miſery.
4. A holy Soul underſtandeth that which his underſtanding was made for; and for which he hath his life, and time, and teaching; which is but to be good, and Love God and Goodneſs, and to do good. And Wiſdom, as is afore proved, as as all other means, is to be eſtimated by its end.
But an ungodly man knoweth not that which he was made for. He is like a Knife that cannot cut; a Ship that will not endure the Water; a Houſe that is not fit to dwell in. What is a man's wit worth, but for its proper end? If man was made but to eat, and drink, and play, and ſleep, and build, and plant, and ſtir a while about the Earth, and have his will over others, and his fleſhly pleaſure, and then die, then the ungodly may be called wiſe: But if he be made to prepare for another world, and to Know, and Love, and Live to God, they are then worſe than Bedlams, and more dangerouſly beſide themſelves.
5. A holy Soul knowing God the beginning and end, knoweth all things; Becauſe he knoweth them, 1. In the chiefeſt excellency of their natures, as they bear the Impreſs of God; 2. And in their Order as governed by him; 3. And in their Uſefulneſs as tending to him: Though neither they, nor any others, be well acquainted with their material part, which the Philoſopher thinketh that he knoweth beſt. Who think you beſt knoweth what Money is? He that knoweth the King's Impreſs, and the Value, and what it is good for, and how to get and uſe it? or he that can only tell you whether it be Copper or Silver, or Gold (not knowing well what any of theſe are,) and knoweth nothing of the Impreſs, or Value, or Uſe? I tell you, the humble holy perſon, that ſeeth God in all, and knoweth all things to be Of Him, and By Him, and To Him, and Loveth Him in and for all, and ſerveth Him by all, is the beſt Philoſopher, and hath the greateſt, moſt excellent and profitable Knowledge. In compariſon of which, the unholy Learning of the world is well called Fooliſhneſs with God. (For I believe not that Paraphraſer who would perſwade us, that it is but the Phanatick conceits and pretenſions of the Gnoſticks, that the Apoſtle here and elſewhere ſpeaketh of. But I reſt ſatisfied that it is primarily the unholy Arts and Sciences of the Philoſophical Heathens; and ſecondarily the Platonick Hereticks pretenſions to extraordinary Wiſdom, becauſe of their ſpeculations about Angels, Spirits, and other inviſible and myſterious things, which they thought were peculiarly opened unto them.) Doting about queſtions that engender ſtrife, and not edification, and do increaſe to more ungodlineſs, is the true deſcription of unholy Learning.
6. The Lovers of God are wiſe for perpetuity: They ſee before them: They know what is to come; even as far as to Eternity: They know what will be beſt at laſt, and what will be valued, and ſerve our turn in the hour of our extremity: They judge of things as all will judge of them, and as they ſhall conſtantly judge of them for ever. But others are wiſe but for a few hours, or a preſent job: They ſee not before them: They are preparing for repentance: They are ſhamefully mutable in their Judgments; magnifying thoſe pleaſures, wealth and honours to day, which they vilifie and cry out againſt at death and to eternity! A pang of ſickneſs, the ſight of a grave, the ſentence of death, the awakening of Conſcience, can change their Judgments, and make them ſpeak in other Language, and confeſs a thouſand times over that they were fools: And if they come to any thing like Wiſdom, 'tis too late, when time is paſt, and hope is gone. But the godly know the day of their viſitation, and are wiſe in time; as knowing the ſeaſon of all duties, and the duties of every ſeaſon. And as ſome Schoolmen ſay, that All things are known to the Glorified, in ſpeculo Trinitatis; ſo I may ſay, that All things are morally and ſavingly known, to him that knoweth and Loveth God, as the Efficient, Governour and End of all.
Yet, to avoid miſtakes and cavils, remember, that I take no true Knowledge as contemptible. And when I truly ſay, that he knoweth nothing as he ought to know, that doth not know and Love his God, and is not wiſe to his duty and ſalvation; yet if this Fundamental Knowledge be preſuppoſed, we ſhould build all other uſeful Knowledge on it, to the utmoſt of our capacity: And from this one ſtock, may ſpring and ſpread a thouſand branches, which may all bear fruit. I would put no limits to a Chriſtian's deſires and endeavours to know, but that he deſire only to know uſeful and revealed things. Every degree of knowledge tendeth to more: And every known Truth befriendeth others; and like Fire, tendeth to the ſpreading of our knowledge, to all neighbour Truths that are intelligible. And the want of acquaintance with ſome one Truth among an hundred, may hinder us from knowing rightly moſt of the reſt; or may breed an hundred Errours in us. As the abſence of one wheel or particle in a Watch, or the ignorance of it, may put all the reſt into an uſeleſs diſorder. What if I ſay that Wiſdom lieth more, in knowing the things that belong to ſalvation, to publick good, to life, health, and ſolid comfort, than in knowing how to ſing, or play on the Lute, or to ſpeak or carry our ſelves with commendable decency, &c. It doth not follow that all theſe are of no worth at all; and that in their places theſe little matters may not be allowed and deſired: For even Hair and Nails are appurtenances of a man, which a wiſe man would not be without; though they are ſmall matters in compariſon of the animal, vital and nobler parts. And indeed he that can ſee God in all things, and hath all this ſanctified by the Love of God, ſhould above all men value each particle of Knowledge, of which ſo holy an uſe may be made: As we value every grain of Gold.