at Athens the of Greece. eye Whence it is that St James, not contenting himself with the epithets of earthly and sensual,* brands it also with the name of Devilish wisdom. What else was Matchievel but the devil's professor in politics, as Arius, Socinus, (and such like masters of error) have been in Divinity! And of such Devilish wisdom what other issue can be expected but that it should lead men to the devil from whom it came ? where Bernard leaves them saying, Suffer the wise men of this world to go wisely down to hell.+ § 10. III. Anxiety. Wisdom is neither attained with ease, as requiring much study which is a weariness to the flesh; neither doth it, when attained, administer ease, but the contrary rather; for when study hath been midwife to knowledge, knowledge becomes nurse to grief. Let Solomon speak; I gave my heart to know wisdom, I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Many and dreadful are the damps that seize upon such as dig deep in the mines of learning. Sharp wits like sharp knives do often cut their owner's fingers. The deep reach of a prudent man makes him aggravate such evils as are already come up *James 3. 15. + Sinete sapientes hujus seculi alta sapientes, & terram linquentes sapienter descendere in infernum. De vita solitar. Eccles. 1. 17, 18. on him, by considering every circumstance so as to accent every sad consideration, and anticipate such as are yet to come, by galloping in his thoughts to meet them. Had not Achitophel been so wise, as to foresee his inevitable ruin in the remote causes of it, when Hushai's counsel was embraced, he would never have made so much haste, as he did, to hang himself. § 11. IV. Lastly, Insufficiency to render men either holy or happy. For when the worldly-wise have dived into the bottom of nature's sea, they are able to bring up from thence in stead of these pearls of price, nothing but hands full of shells and gravel. Knowledge indeed and good parts managed by grace are like the rod in Moses's hand, wonder-workers; but turn to serpents when they are cast upon the ground, and employed in promoting earthly designs. Learning in religious hearts, like that gold in the Israelites ear › rings, is a most precious ornament: But if men pervert it to base wicked ends, or begin to make an idol of it, as they did a golden calf of their ear-rings, it then becomes an abomination. Doubtless these later times, wherein so many knowing men are of a filthy conversation, and have joined feet of clay to their heads of gold, would have afforded good store of additional observations to him that wrote the famous book concerning the vanity of sciences,* which appeareth in nothing * Corn, Agrippa. more than their inability to produce suitable deportment in such as enjoy them; without which there can be no solid foundation laid for true happiness. 12. Wherefore bethink thyself at length, O deluded world, and write over all thy schooldoors, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom ;* over all thy court gates, Let not the mighty man glory in his might; over all thy exchanges and banks, Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Write upon thy looking-glasses that of Bathsheba, favour is deceitful and beauty is vain ;† upon thy mews and artillery-yards that of the Psalmist, God delighteth not in the strength of a horse, he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man; upon thy taverns, inns, and ale-houses, that of Solomon, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise; upon thy magazines and wardrobes, that of our Saviour, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. Write upon thy counting houses that of Habakkuk, wo to him that increaseth that which is not his, how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay. ** ** Thy play-houses that of Paul, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. †† Thy banqueting houses, that of the same holy apostle, Jerem. 9. 23. + Prov. 31, 30. Matth. 6. 19. ++ 2 Tim. 3. 4. Psal. 147. 10. **Habak. 2. 6. meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both them and it ;* yea upon all thine accommodations that of the preacher, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. † EXERCITATION II. A gloss upon Psalm xxxvi. 8. God in Christa soulsatisfying object. The circular motion of human souls, and their only rest. A threefold fulness of God and Christ opposite to the threefold vanity of the creatures. 1. WHAT shall we then say? Are the sons of men, in whom such strong desires and longings after blessedness are implanted, left without all possible means of attaining that in which rational appetites may acquiesce? God forbid. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures:‡ so David to God concerning such as put their trust under the shadow of his wings. Creature comforts are but lean blessings in comparison, there is a fat-' ness in God's house, such as satisfies, and that abundantly. They afford but drops, Christ a river of pleasures. Look as when an army of men comes to drink at a mighty river, a Jordan, a Thames, they all go satisfied away, none complaining of want, none envying another, because Psal. 36. 7, 8. 1 Cor. 6. 13 + Eccles. 1. 14. there was water enough for them all whereas had they come to a little brook there would not have been found enough to quench the thirst of every one. So here. The creatures are small brooks that have but a little water in them, yea broken cisterns that hold no water:* No wonder if souls return empty from them. But Christ hath a river for his followers, able to give them all satisfaction. We must not expect more from a thing then the Creator hath put into it. He never intended to put the virtue of soul-satisfying into any mere creature, but hath reserved to himself, Son and Spirit the contenting of spirits as a principal part of divine prerogative. To such as expect it elsewhere, that person or thing they rely upon may say as Jacob did to Rachel, Am I in God's stead ?† § 2. Certain it is that none can make our souls happy but God who made them, nor any &. ve satisfaction to them but Christ who gave satisfaction for them. They were fashioned at first according to the image of God, and nothing short of him who is stiled the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his pers son, can replenish them§. As when there is a Jerem. 2. 13. + Gen. 30. 2. Neque enim facit beatum hominem nisi qui fecit hominem Deus. Aug. epist. 52. Heb. 1. 3. Ad imaginem Dei facta anima rationalis cæteris omnibus occupari potest, repleri non potest. Bernard. Serm. de bonis deserend. |