The Trial of True Wisdom, Section 58
§ 58.
In the laſt place, Are not all wilfull ſinners arrant fools? who Adam-like, will receive what-ever comes, or is offered them? be it bribe, or other ſinful bait, not once thinking this is forbidden fruit, and thou ſhalt die the death. That think the vowed enemy of their ſouls, can offer them a bait without a hook? you cannot but acknowledg them ſtark fools, though thou thy ſelf beeſt one of the number.
Again, for men to diſhonour God, and blaſpheme his Name, while he does ſupport and relieve them, to runne from him, while he does call them, and forget him, while he does feed them. To imitate the Common Proteſtants in Queen Maries time, who laughed the Martyrs to ſcorn, and eſteemed them ſuperſtitious fools, to loſe their lives and fortunes, for matters of Religion, accounting faith, holineſſe, immortality of the ſoul, &c. meer fopperies and illuſions. To be quick-ſighted in other mens failings, and blinde to their own. Are not theſe ſo many infallible properties of a fool? and yet theſe are the lively characters, of every ſenſualliſt. In ſo much, that if I ſhould give you a liſt, or Catalogue of all the fools in one City, or County: You would bleſſe your ſelves, that there are ſo few Bedlam houſes, and yet ſo many out of their wits, that can not perceive or diſcern the ſame. And yet no wonder; for as I told you-ere-while, Senſual men are ſo be-nighted, and puzled with blindneſſe, that they know no other way, then the fleſh leads them. Yea, many by loſſe of conſcience become Atheiſts; and by loſſe of reaſon, Beaſts. Yea, to any thing that is ſpiritually good, the natural man is blinde, and deafe, and dead, as ye may ſee by theſe enſuing Scriptures, 1 Tim. 5. 6. Rom. 1. 21, 22, 25. Epheſ. 5. 14. Iſa. 6. 9, 10. John 12 40. Pſal. 69. 23. Matth. 4. 16 & 15. 14. Epheſ. 4. 18, 19. & 5. 8. 1 Pet. 2 9. Acts 28. 27. Rom. 11. 8. Matth. 23. 16, 17. 19. 24. 26. & 27. 3, 4, 5. 2 Pet. 2. 16. Revel. 3. 17. Rom. 6. 13. & 8. 11. Micah 7. 16. Pſal. 58. 4. Eph. 2. 1. If our Goſpel be hid, it is hid to them that are loſt, in whom the god of this world hath blinded, 2 Cor. 4. 3, 4.
But it is otherwiſe with the godly: as let Satan, or the world offer a wiſe Chriſtian the bait of pleaſure, or profit: his anſwer ſhall be, I will not buy repentance ſo dear: I will not loſe my ſoul, to pleaſe my ſenſe. If affliction comes, he will conſider, that Gods puniſhments for ſinne, calls for converſion from ſin: and in caſe God ſpeaks to him by his Word, to forſake his evill wayes, and turn again to him, he will amend his courſe, leſt if he heare not the word, he ſhould feel the ſword. Whereas nothing will confute a fool, but fire and brimſtone.
The Lord ſpake to Manaſſes and to his people; but they would not regard: Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Hoſt of the King of Aſhur, that took Manaſſes, and put him in fetters, and brought him in chains, and carried him to Babel, 2 Chron. 33. 10, 11.
Fools, ſaith holy David, by reaſon of their tranſgreſſion, and becauſe of their iniquity, Pſal. 107. 17. From which words, Muſculus infers, that all wilfull tranſgreſſors are arrant fools. And it is the ſaying of Cardan: That diſhoneſty is nothing elſe but folly and madneſſe. Yea, Solomon throughout all his Proverbs, by a fool, means the natural man; and by a wiſe man, a man ſanctified. O that it were rightly learned, and laid to heart by all, that are yet in the ſtate of un-regeneracy! for it is every one of their caſes. To conclude in a word, Without knowledge, the ſoul is not good, Prov. 19. 2. The ignorant cannot be innocent. I am the light of the world (ſayes our Saviour) John 8. 12. & 12. 46. Where light is not, Chriſt is not: for Chriſt is light.