The Trial of True Wisdom, Section 46 – Section 47
Sect. 46.
ANd that I am not miſtaken, the effect ſhews: For if men knew either God, or Chriſt, they could not but love him; and loveing him, they would keep his commandments, Ioh. 14. 15. For hereby (ſaith St. John) It is manifeſt that we know him, if we keep his commandments, 1 Joh. 2. 3. But he that ſayeth, I know him, and yet keepeth not his commandments is a lyar, and there is no truth in him, ver. 4. What ſaith our Saviour? This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent, Joh. 17. 3. But how ſhall a man know, whether he hath this knowledge? Anſw. St. John tells you in thoſe laſt words mentioned, and ſo plainly, that you cannot be deceived, except you deſire to deceive your own ſoul.
The knowledge of God that ſaves us, is more than a bare apprehenſion of him; it knows his power, and therefore fears him; knows his juſtice, and therefore ſerves him; knows his mercy, and therefore truſts him; knows his goodneſs, and therefore loves him, &c. For he that hath the ſaving knowledge of God, or of Chriſt, hath every other Grace: There is a ſweet correſpondence between every one, where there is any one in truth: As in the generation, the head is not without the body, nor the body without each member, nor the ſoul without its powers and faculties; ſo in the regeneration, where there is any one grace in truth, there is every one, 2 Cor. 5. 17. If you will ſee it in particulars, read Pſa. 9. 10. Jer. 9. 24. 1 Joh. 4. 6. Joh. 4. 10. 1 Joh 4. 7, 8. & 2. 3. Joh 42. 5, 6. 1 Ioh. 4. 7. which Scriptures ſhew, that as feeling is inſeparable to all the organs of ſenſe; the eye ſees and feels, the ear hears and feels, the pallat taſtes and feels, the noſtrils ſmell and feel; ſo knowledge is involved in every grace: Faith knows and believes, Charity knows and loves, Patience knows and ſuffers, Temperance knows and abſtains, Humility knows and ſtoops, Repentance knows and mourns, Obedience knows and does, Confidence knows and rejoyces, Hope knows and expects, Compaſſion knows and pities. Yea, as there is a power of water in every thing that grows; it is fatneſs in the olive, ſweetneſs in the figg, cheerfulneſs in the grape, ſtrength in the oak, taleneſs in the cedar, redneſs in the roſe, whiteneſs in the lilly, &c. ſo knowledge is in the hand obedience, in the mouth benediction, in the knee humility, in the eye compaſſion, in the heart charity, in the whole body and ſoul, piety.
Alas! If men had the true knowledg of Jeſus Chriſt, it would diſperſe and diſpel, all the black clouds of their reigning ſins in a moment; as the Sun does no ſooner ſhew his face, but the darkneſs vaniſheth: or as Caeſar did no ſooner look upon his enemies, but they were gone: Egypt ſwarmed with locuſts, till the weſt wind came, that left not one: He cannot delight in ſin, nor dote upon this world, that knows Chriſt ſavingly.
Vertue is ordained a wife for knowledg; and where theſe two joyn, there will proceed from them a noble progine, a generation of good works. Again, as the water engendereth ice, and the ice again engendereth water; ſo knowledg begets righteouſneſs, and righteouſneſs again begetteth knowledg. It is between ſcience and conſcience, as it is between the ſtomack and the head; for as in mans body, the raw ſtomack maketh a thumatick head, and the thumatick head maketh a raw ſtomach; ſo ſcience makes our conſcience good, and conſcience makes our ſcience good: Nor is it ſo much ſcientiae capitis, as conſcientia cordis, that knows Chriſt and ourſelves; whence Solomon ſaith, Give thine heart to wiſdom, Prov. 2. 10. and let wiſdom enter into thine heart, Prov. 4. 4. And when he would acquaint us how to become wiſe, he tells us, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wiſdom, Prov. 1. 7. as if the firſt leſſon to be wiſe, were to be holy. Again, If it be asked, Why the natural man perceiveth not the things of the ſpirit of God? Saint Paul anſwers, he cannot know them, becauſe they are ſpiritually diſcerned, 1 Cor. 2. 14 and indeed if they are ſpiritually diſcerned, how ſhould they deſcern them that have not the ſpirit? For though the outward man receives the elements and rudiments of Religion by breeding and education, yet his inward man receiveth them by heavenly inſpiration, 1 … 2. 11, 12, 13. & 12. 3. 8. Matth. 16. 16, 17. Deut. 29 2, 3, 4, Pſa. 111. 10. Luke 24. 45. Ioh. 15. 15. And this alone is enough to prove, that no wicked man is a wiſe man; for if God alone be the giver of it, we may be ſure that he will reveal his ſecrets to none but ſuch as he knows will improve their knowledge to his glory, and the good of others: Even as the husband man will not caſt his ſeed but into ground that will return him a good harveſt, Pſa. 25. 14. Luke 24. 45. Mark 4. 34. Gen. 18. 17. 1 Joh. 4. 7.
Sect. 47.
BUt would theſe men (any one, even the beſt of them) thus improve, or imploy their knowledge? Or do they deſire it to any ſuch end? No: but to ſome other end, as I ſhall in the next place acquaint you.
Some men deſire not to know, ſome deſire only to know; Or rather thus, Few men in compariſon deſire knowledge, fewer that deſire divine and ſupernatural knowledge; feweſt of all that deſire to be the better, or that others ſhould be the better for their knowledge: More particularly, a world of men deſire knowledg for no other end but to remove their ignorance; as Pharach uſed Moſes, but to remove the plagues. Others again ſtudy the Scriptures, and other good Books, only to make gain thereof; or to be the abler to diſpute and diſcourſe, as boys go into the water, only to play and paddle there, not to waſh and be clean. With Eve, they highly deſire the tree of knowledg, but regard not the tree of life.
As I would fain know, what fruit or effect the knowledge of moſt men produces in them, except it be to inable them to dispute and diſcourſe, to increaſe wit, or to increaſe wealth, or to increaſe pride, or perhaps to increaſe Athiesm, and to make them the more able and cunning to argue againſt the truth and power of Religion? Whether the utmoſt of their aim be not to enrich, dignifie, and pleaſe themſelves; not once caſting the eye of their ſouls at Gods glory, their neighbors good, or their own ſalvation? Whether their main drift be not purchaſing of a great eſtate for them and theirs, with out either fear of God, regard of men, or the diſcharge of their duty and calling? Again, whereas a godly man and a good Chriſtian, thinks himſelf as happy in giving light to others, as in receiving it himſelf; how many are there, who as themſelves are never the better, (I mean in regard of Grace) for their great wiſdom and learning, ſo no more are others; for commonly they reſemble dark Lanthorns which have light, but ſo ſhut up and reſerved as if it were not: and what is the difference betwixt concealed skill, and ignorance; It is the nature and praiſe of good, to be communicative, whereas if their hidden knowledge do ever look out, it caſts ſo ſparing a light, that it only argues it ſelf to have an unprofitable being.
And for the moſt part theſe men if they may be thought great Rabbies, deep and profound Schollars; this is the hight of their ambition, though neither the Church be benefited, nor God glorified by it; whereas they ought the contrary: for as the grace of God is the fountain from which our wiſdom flows; ſo the glory of God ſhould be the Ocean to which it ſhould run: yea, that God may be honoured with, and by our wiſdom, is the only end for which he gives us to be …: And for default of this end, he not ſeldom croffeth the mean…, whereby while men ſtrive to expel ignorance, they fall into …; as an E…rick to cure one Diſeaſe, cauſeth a worſe. Briefly, to conclude this …, So many as are puſt up with their knowledge, or do not part with their ſins, th…w that they never ſought it for Gods glory, but for their own honour and glory. And certainly if we ſeek not Gods glory in doing his work, he will give us no wages at the latter end.