Right Thoughts, Part 2 · Section 23
Sect. XXIII.
God All-wiſe omniſcient.HE is alſo to be Holily and Reverently remembred in the Immenſity of his Wiſdome and OMNISCIENCE as well Omni-preſence, That He is All Wiſe,Knows Us. 1 John 3.20. as well as OnelyOnly-Wiſe, that knows us, better then we know our own Hearts, who is greater then our hearts, and KNOWS all things. He knows whereof we are made, Our frame. Pſal. 103.14. Pſal. 139.16. Our Sins. Job 13 27. Chap. 14.16, 17.his eyes did ſee our ſubſtance being yet imperfect, He books our members; He knows wherein we have ſinned, he looks narrowly to all our paths, and ſets a print upon the heels (or as the Hebrew, upon the Roots) of our feet; And as he books our Members, ſo he bags …our Sins; Thou numbreſt my ſteps, doſt thou not watch over my ſin? my tranſgreſſion is ſealed up in a bag, and thou ſoweſt up mine Iniquity. But then he knows our Sorrows too as well as our Sins,Our ſorrows. Pſal. 56.8. thou telleſt my wandrings, put thou my tears into thy Bottle. Thou ſeeſt how I have Sinned, obſerve how I mourn; and indeed he doth ſo; I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himſelf. Jer. 31.18.I ſaw him ſinning, and I hear him groaning. He that hath a Book for our Members, a Bag for our Sins, hath a Bottle alſo for our tears. He knows our Soul in Sin, and he hath (ſaith David) known my Soul in adverſity; Pſal. 31.7. Our need. Matth. 6.8. Job 23.10. 2 Pet. 2.9. All Man. 1 Cor. 3.20. Iſaiah 2.15.So that he knows alſo whereof we have need. Our heavenly Father doth ſo, even before we ask, as he knows our ſins before we confeſs. He knows the way that we take, and he knows what way to take with us, He knows how to deliver, if we be Righteous, And how to reſerve the wicked to the day of Judgment to be puniſhed. He knows the Thoughts of the wiſe, the way that they take (yea though they dig deep to hide their Counſel from the Lord,) and knows too how to take them in that way that they take,1 Cor. 3.19. ſo that the Wiſdom of the World is fooliſhneſs with God, as it is written, he taketh the wiſe in their own craftineſs, Knows how to bring good out of ſin.Be they Men, or Devils. We muſt think him a God ſo holy, as that he would never ſuffer Sin in the World, and ſo Pittiful and Gracious, that he would never ſuffer ſorrows and ſufferings on his Saints,Sufferings. but that he is a God ſo WISE that he knows how to bring Glory to himſelf, and good to his Choſen, out of All, to break Leviathans heads, Pſal. 74.14.and to make it Food for his People; As the Apothecary would never ſuffer ſo many Poyſons in his ſhop, but that he knows one way or other how to make them to conduce to the honour of his Art, And good of his Patient; for known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the World: Acts 15.18.And his wayes are higher then our wayes, becauſe his Thoughts are alſo higher then our Thoughts, as the heavens are high above the earth; Iſaiah 15.18. Iſaiah 55.9. Chap. 40.28. James 1.5. Job. 13.3. Pſalm 2. Pſalm 9.12. Pſalm 16.11. Pſalm 43.3.So that there is no ſearching out of his underſtanding. And therefore think, If any man want wiſdom, he is to ask it of God; Would I know my Sins, Lord make me to know my Tranſgreſſion and my Sin! Would I know the meaſure of my dayes, how frail I am, Lord make me to know my end, ſo teach me to number my dayes, as that I may apply my heart unto wiſdom; would I know thy Path of Life, Lord ſhew it me; In thy light I ſhall ſee light; O ſend out therefore, thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, and bring me to thy holy …ll, O thou Father of lights,James 1.5. in whom there is no darkneſs at all.
Seeing therefore that we are to light our Fire at this SUN, this Parent of Lights, 1 John 1.5. All wiſdom to be fought of God, but only in means and meaſure preſcribed. 2 Tim. 3.15. Rom. 12.3.who affords us the Burning Glaſs of his Word for our help herein, We are to think thus, ſurely, of his Wiſdom, if we will think of it rightly, That as we are to be thankful for the Means, ſo contented with the Meaſures of KNOWING that he preſcribes and allows, inaſmuch as they are ſuch as are able to make us WISE to Salvation; for he hath expreſly cautioned us foreign. Ne quis ſapiat ſupra quam oportet, &c. (for ſo Beza, uulg. &c. not to be wiſe above what we ought, but to be wiſe unto ſobriety.
I know indeed that there is in corrupted man a Natural deſire to KNOW, Rom. 1.25.but it is to ſtudy the Creature more then the Creator, who is bleſſed for ever; to purſue the Science of other things, whileſt the EXCELLENCY of the knowledge of Chriſt Jeſus our Lord, Phil. 3.8.is neglected, All which Natural Knowledge ſhould deſignedly be made ſubſervient to ſuch a Spiritual end as the holy Pſalmiſt purſues in his ASTRONOMICAL Obſervations,Pſal. 8.3, 4. When I conſider (ſaith he) THY heavens, the work of thy Fingers, the Moon and Stars which thou haſt ordained, What is Man that thou art mindful of him? &c. But when Solomon himſelf who knew more,1 Kings 4.29. Eccleſ. 2.12. in Naturals, then any meer Man, ſince Adam, caſts up the total ſum, he tells you, that what he did arrive at by all this knowledg, was to know this, that the increaſe thereof is the increaſe of ſorrow, Chap. 1.18.and moſt notorious it is that ever ſince, who ſo comes neareſt to him in that point of knowledge, Troubleſomeneſs and uncertainty of natural lawful knowledge.doth ſo likewiſe in that part of experience. Alas how long have ſome of us been learning, how ignorant we are? And how great is his Wiſdom, that hath lock'd up from us, in the intricate labyrinths of vexatious uncertainty, the knowledge of that which he finds ſo apt to draw us from him, who make ſo little right uſe of ſo much that is clearly revealed, being ſufficient in its kind to draw us to him? We know where it is ſaid,Deut. 29.29. that ſecret things belong to God, but things that are revealed belong to us, and to our Children; that it is not for US to KNOW the times and ſeaſons that the Father hath put into his own power; Acts 1.7. 2 Pet 2.18.But grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chriſt, John 17.3. Sinfulneſs of affecting to know by familiar ſpirits. Wizards. Iſaiah 8.19.for this is life Eternal, &c.
But beſides a natural and lawful (if duely moderated and ordered) Deſire of natural knowledge, there is a deſire of knowing ſuch things, and by ſuch means, as we are to think ſinful and Satanical, being no way approved in the Word or the Wiſdom of God; ſuch is theirs, who ſeek unto them that have familiar ſpirits, and unto Wizards that peep, and that mutter (as 'tis expreſſed by the Prophet Iſaiah) or that uſe divination, Ezek. 21.21.that conſult with Teraphim, that look into the liver, (that is, the intrails of Birds or Beaſts, &c. as Ezekiel ſpeaks) to direct actions, or foretel future events thereby.Judicial Aſtrology. Iſaiah 47.13. So alſo we find a ſevere and black brand faſtened by the Scripture upon ASTROLOGERS, Star-gazers, and Monethly Prognoſticators, and ſuch as are drawn by them from their ſole Dependencies upon God;1 Tim. 6.20. for admit we forbear to ſay that here is Science falſly ſo called, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, whoſe Principles and Concluſions are certainly uncertain,Its uncertainty. and deluſory (for the Conjunctions and Aſpects of the STARS being the ſame when divers Children are conceived or born in the ſame Place and inſtant of Time, (as in ſome great and Populous Cities,) how come they to divers and contrary Fortunes, (to uſe their own phraſe) ſome to live longer, others under the ſame Stars to die ſooner, ſome to live and die in Wealth, Honour, and Proſperity; Others born in the ſame article of time, and under as auſpitious and benigne a Planet, to a life of Miſery, and a death of Shame; or to add, that undeniable experience frequently confutes the moſt poſitive Predictions from the moſt acurately erected Schemes, and of the moſt confident Practitioners and Maſters in theſe curious Arts; Admit, I ſay,Pernitiouſneſs. Curioſity of forbidden knowledge. Out firſt Ruine. Gen. 3.6. that ſome gratification might indeed be expected to the curioſity and pride of Knowing more then others, or then otherwiſe we could poſſibly arrive unto, ſay the Tree were to be deſired to make one WISE, yet methinks the Burnt Children of EVE, ſhould Dread that Fire that God will certainly make even of a Tree of KNOWLEDGE if a Forbidden Tree; Verſe 17.and certainly were the BOOK of GOD admitted in its power into the hearts and minds of Men, it would bring ſuch BOOKS OF CURIOUS ARTS,Acts 19.19. as the prevailing Goſpel ſometimes did, to be burned in the Fire, inſtead of the Authors, and ſuch as truſt to them who are (except they repent) doom'd to the ſame Condemnation by the ſame Book of God,Iſaiah 47.13, 14. for of Aſtrologers, Star-gazers, and monethly Prognoſticators, ſaith God by the Prophet, BEHOLD, they ſhall he as Stubble, the Fire ſhall burn them, &c. read alſo Deut. 8. to 16.