AS41nt er 4 Brate~ Part • · .part, which they followed after with fo much diligence and pati– ,. ence as they did . . ~ Hear me a few words, you proud and fdf-conceited [Inners~ t~1at will plead for your ungodly wnys, and plead againfl: a holy -hfe, and quarre-l wtth the mofl: faithful adminifirations of you~ Pafiors : I~ is a matter o( EverlaRing moment that: you and we do differ about: and which of us is liker w be in the right? I con.. fefs I ama weak and ignorant man ; but is the fowfh ungodly quarreller any wifer then Jam ? How camefi thou man to thy knowl6dge, that thou thinkefi thy felf wifer then me, and all the Paflorsof the Church? MyKnowledge tha~ is but little, hath coil: me almofl: forty years hard fiudy? Haft thou re.ad and medica. red and fiuctied more ? Hadil: thou better helps and means of Knowledge? God ufually giveth his gifts in the painful ufe o£ means. l f I flwuld think my felf wifcr in thy trade, and a-ble eo control thee, thou wouldfi judge me ~ felf-conceited fool. What batl: thou clone for thy knowledge that I have not done ? Hafi thou prayed for it day and night ? So have I. Hafi thou had any private way of Learning that no man knoweth ? Truly I have rnanrellecl at the faces of many ignorant carekfs men, that they do not blufh when we have thus expofiulated with them, when they quarrel with their Teachers, and fet againfl: them with as brazen a face as if they were all Doctors, or had fl:udied forty years, and we were as they are : Yea as if they were wifer then all the ApofHes, Doctors and Pa£1:ors of the Church. Were it nO·E a wonder indeed if God fhould give more knowledge about the matters of falvation to a fenfual voluptuous Gentleman, or to an idle droan, or afellow that fcarce ever read over rhe. Bible, and to fuch as live aworldly flefhly and ungodly life, then to all his Minifl:ers and Servants that love his Laws, and meditate in them day_ and night, and live in Prayer, and other holy exer. cife%, and make it their daily care and bufinefs, to conform the~r hearts and lives to the holy DoCtrine which they fiudy ?. Surely ~odwill foontr reveal his mind to adilitcnt {earcher, chat: fuzreth and lrwethhim, then to a lu/fful Epicure, or a drunkeA, fwearing, worldly for. He that: every day abufeth the Holy 6hQft that fhould be his Teacher, is not fo likely to wme to Knowledge, .as he that humbly learneth and ohyeth him. It is a ftrange evidence that roofi wick_.ed men do give us. to prove them– fdves wifer then th-eir Teachers: when thty can fcarce give us a -· - \Vifc
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