The Trial of True Wisdom, Section 54
§ 54.
True, if men ſhall look upon them ſide-wayes, as Appelles painted Antigonus, that is, upon their ſtrength of …rain and parts alone, and not conſider them whole, and together, their abilities, with their deficiencies, they will take them for wiſe men, and ſo be miſtaken. But
If you would know how to call them, they are properly ſubtle perſens? as the Holy Ghost ſtiles Jonadab, who gave that wicked and crafty counſell to Amnon, 2 Sam. 13. 3, 5. And the woman of Tekoah, 2 Sam. 14. 2. And Elimas, Act. 13. 10. as being rarely gifted to deceive, and more crafty and wily then is uſual. But not wiſe men; for this is rather wiſdome back wàrd, and to ſtudy the dangerous art of ſelf-ſophyſiry, to the end they may play wily beguile themſelves, and to plot ſelf-treaſon, then which there is no greater, when the betrayer and betrayed, ſpell but one man.
Again, admit them the moſt, they are not wiſe in good, though they be wiſe to do evill: Or if you will, wiſe in goods, not wiſe in grace: For as that old Serpent ſeemed to boaſt, that he was richer then Chriſt, when he ſaid, All theſe are mine, Matth. 4. 9. So the Politician may truly ſay, for the moſt part, I am wiſer then my plain dealing neigbour by five hundred pounds. So that in ſome ſenſe it may be ſaid of them, as one ſpeaks of women, though partially, that they are more witty in wickedneſſe then men. Nor can I more fitly compare them, then to Dats, Night-crows, Owles, and Cats, which can ſee better in the darke, then in the light. Their wiſdome is like that of the Polipus: which is a moſt ſtupid and fooliſh fiſh, yet uſeth great skill in taking of other fiſhes. Never the leſſe, yield them all that hath been mentioned, this is the up-ſhot. They are blinde, and in darkneſſe, as having their beginning from Satan, the Prince of darkneſſe, and their end in Hell, which is the pit of darkneſs: and becauſe they are wiſe onelyonly to evill, their wiſdome ſhall have but an evill end.
In the dialect of the wiſe man, the greateſt ſinner is the greateſt fool, Prov. 1. 7. And David thinks, there is no fool to the Atheiſt, Pſal. 53. 1. & 49. 13. And Saint Auſtin tells us, that the wiſeſt Politician upon earth, the moſt ample, and cunning Machivillian that lives, be he a Doctor in that deep reaching faculty, is worſe then a foole: For if the Holy Ghoſt, ſaith he, termes him a fool that onelyonly laid up his own goods, Luke 12. 18, 20. finde out a name for him, that takes away other mens. And though worldly men call the ſimple fools, yet God calls the crafty fools, Jer. 8. 9. Mat. 6. 23. And of all atheiſis, and fools, which ſeeme wiſe, there be no ſuch fools in the world, as they that love money better then themſelves.
And ſo you have the wiſdome of Humaniſts, and Politicians deſciphered; together with the wiſdome of Gods ſervants. You ſee the difference between them, and therein as I ſuppoſe, that neither of the former are ſo wiſe as the godly man, nor ſo wiſe as the world reputes them, or they themſelves.
I confeſſe the one ſpeak Latine, Greek, and Hebrew, the other Statutes, Hiſtory, and Husbandry, well enough to make their neighbours think them wiſe: but the truth is, they ſeem wiſer then they are, as is ſaid of the Spaniard; whereas the godly, like the French, are wiſer then they ſeem. The former are wiſe men in fooliſh things, and fooliſh men in wiſe things. Sharp-eyed as Eagles, in the things of the earth, but blinde as Beetles in the matters of heaven. O that they had but the wit to know, that when all is done, Heaven is a brave place, where are ſuch joyes, as eye hath not ſeene, nor care heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared there for them that love him, 1 Cor. 2. 9.