The Modern Statesman, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV.
The benefit of Humane Learning, with an anſwer to ſome objections made againſt it.
ANother ſort there is wriggled in amongſt us, who even in print and pulpits publickly bray againſt learning, endeavouring to ſeduce people into a belief that humane learning as they call it, is in no meaſure to be tolerated in a Goſpel-Teacher, moſt wretchedly wreſting Scripture to apply thoſe texts againſt preaching themſelves to overthrow it; a fallacie ſo baſe that they had need to cry up ignorance leſt the cheat ſhould be deſcried: as if learning and preaching themſelves were termini convertibiles, the one neceſſarily implying the other; whereas it is commonly quite contrary; it is your Scioliſt, your fellow that hath ſcarce wet his lips in that ſacred fountain, who will be dabling and patching that he may be thought a Scholer, when as the moſt learned men, who are conſcious of their own ſufficiency, ſeldome or never, unleſs upon juſt, and neceſſary occaſions make the leaſt ſhew of it in their publick teaching. The truth of this is verified dayly in our eyes by the continual practice of many learned men amongſt us. Where ſhall we find more powerfull plainneſs, than in the works of the learned Bolton, to omit the names of the reſt, which are ſo well known to all? thus ſhall we ſee your coward, the common Braggadochio, and thoſe the greateſt boaſters who have the leaſt in them; for ſuch being conſcious off their own baſeneſs, endeavour to make others believe them to be brave Fellows, which they know themſelves not to be, and to make up in ſhew what they want in reality; whereas your valiant man is ſtill ſilent, and lets his acts ſpeak for him, knowing according to the proverb, that Good Wine needs no Buſh, and that worth will be taken notice of without proclaiming it at the Market Croſs.
2. But the Apoſtles were poor Fiſhrmen, and the like, altogether unlearned, and therefore the Goſpel Miniſters ought to be ſo too. O Horrid, Jeſuitical, nay Diabolical Sophiſtry! We acknowledge that the only wiſe God in the carrying on of his great and glorious works uſually makes uſe of ſuch inſtruments, as ſeem deſpicable, and contemptible in the eyes of men, yea ſuch as are altogether unable and unfit to hatch and carry on defigns of their own, the more to manifeſt that it is his work, and to ſhew his ſtrength in their weakneſs, which, unleſs ſupported by Omnipotency, would ſink under it, as alſo to leave the obstinate without excuſe: but though theſe may ſeem weak, yet are they made mighty through the power of God that ſtrengthens them, and are abundantly ſupplyed from above with what gifts and graces ſoever are neceſſary for them: Thus the Apoſtles being poor unlearned Fiſhermen, and the like, once called, and inveſted with the Apoſtleſhip, were endued from above, had the gift of Tongues, immediately were taught by the Holy Ghost: and who dares affirm them unlearned then? or deny ſkill in the tongues neceſſary for the office of a Teacher, which God, who doth nothing in vain, by Miracle beſtowed upon them? And what now though they wanted acquired Learning, ſo they had it infuſed? and God was pleaſed in that extraordinary time, in an extraordinary manner to endow them, muſt we therefore now neglect the ordinary means, and tempt God to work a Miracle to be able to anſwer a Gainſayer? but let us but conſider how faithful an handmaid learning hath been to religion; how the Armor-bearer hath helped Jonathan to deſtroy the Philiſtimes; how neceſſary it hath been to maintain Religion, and oppoſe Idolatry; by the help of Learning have the Ministery of England been enabled to defend the truth, and oppoſe errour, to ward off, and put by the blowes and thruſts of their Antichristian adverſaries, and to ſtrike with the edge, and give them the true point, to the wounding & deſtroying of their ſuperſtitious tenents. Thus we ſee the learned Whitacre diſarm their Goliah, confute their Bellarmine, foyl their choſen Champion, unwind the ſubtil Jeſuite, trace him through all his Maeanders, meet him at every turn, beat him from outwork to outwork, from ſconce to ſconce, till he hath driven him out of all his ſtrengths, and left him not a lurking hole to hide his head in; when the moſt that we could expect from a Dean of Dunſtable could be Bellarmine thou lyeſt, neither ſhewing ſenſe or reaſon, but his ſay ſo. But it may be ſaid, thank a good cauſe: yet may the beſt cauſe be ſpoiled by an evil mannaging, and the moſt bright and ſhining truths be obſcured in a dark Lanthorn, yea let them be whiter than Snow, they may be ſullied by dirty fingers, and more tranſparent than glaſs, yet may be cracked when clumſie fiſts ſhall come to handle them. This the Jeſuites know, which hath been the cauſe of this ſtrange attempt, for it is moſt plain by the poyſon now vomited, that ſome of thoſe Serpents are wriggled in amongſt us; they have tryed our weapons, and to their ſmart know the ſharpneſs of them, no marvel then they endeavour to diſarm us; Learning hath kept them out, no wonder then they attempt to introduce ignorance the Mother, which could they effect, they are aſſured Popiſh Devotion the Daughter would not be long kept out.
Neither can this ſeem ſtrange unto us, if we but conſider their practice in the Lutheran Church, where it hath been uſual with the Ieſuites to ſeem to become Proſelites, to heighten and continue the diviſion between them and the Calviniſts; or what a late Author of our own, who ſeems not to be unacquainted of their practices, writes of them, The Jeſuit reckons it in the number of his merits, if he may by any ſinister wayes ruffle and diſorder Heretical Kingdomes (ſo he calls them) encourage weak and unſtable minds to ſlight Magiſtracy, irritate diviſions, tumults, rebellions, abſolve from oaths, and all ſacred tyes; ſo that its hard to find any tragical ſcene, or bloody theatre, into which the Jeſuite hath not intruded, and been as buſie as Davus in the Comedy, contributing in a very high meaſure to every fanatick inſolence, juſtifying the old lemma of Loyola's picture, Cavete vobis principes: theſe are the firebrands of Europe, the forge, and bellows of Sedition, infernal Emiſſaries, the peſts of the age, men that live as if huge ſins would merit heaven by an antiperiſtaſis. Concutiunt populos, vexant regna, ſolicitant bella, diruunt Eccleſias.
And it is for certain written from beyond the Seas, that the Engliſh Colleges are emptyed, and all thoſe Emiſſaries ſent abroad, whither, unleſs amongſt …s?