606 of Epinal Calling. SBCT.XII. ttO0IdgatiMItt tdotttitOdItit SERMON CIV. s Of true Jpiritual Wifdom, the .Nture and .Pro- perties of it , di jcovering 'who are the real m f men in theworld, zCox. r.z6. Not many wife according to the flyth. He paflage introdunory of the matter contained inthe Text, bath been difpatched. Let us obferve the particulars of the difiribution, which the Apofile bete intendeth : And Flit, There is that which is a Goddefs, as it were, in the world, admired by all ; Not many wije men. Several Countries have heretofore ftriven about the appropriatingof the famous leven wife men tothemfelves ; fome ¡hiving to make this man their Countrey man, others to make that : But here you fec God palling over fuch, and chooflag the babes and footifhones of the world: So that you have.the perlons paffed by, defcribed, firft, By theirabfolute qua- hey, Nat many wife, a. By a refiridtion or limitation of this wifdom, Net matey wife menafter the field. Now wifdom after the flefh may have a twofold feule; as Aefli hath, s. That which is earthly, corrupt, and fistful craftinefe, which the Scripture in many places fpeaks againft. a. For Humane civil prudence; as flefh is fometimes tiled for man, denoting indeed weaknefs, besaufe not God or Angel, but not linfulnefs: And this political civil prudence, is a natural perfeftion, and a good gift of God ; yea, its a duty, to which the people of God are exhorted ; but even of fuchypolitical wife men, God doth not choofe many, Gad dieer,ih though fume he doch : Thus Solomon had fuch wifdom to admiration; and Da font wife men niel is noted for a wileman, becaufe Tyre is reproved for hetfoolilh confidence, thinking her fell wiser t henDaniel, Ezek,a8.3. and Heman, thatmade the fa- mous Ffalm of one troubled and afflid ed in confdence, diflraded with the ter- ror of the Lord daily, a King. 4.3t. yet the Scripture fpeaksof him asoneofthe great wife menin his time. We read of Achitophel, a man fo politically wife, that his counfel was accounted as the Oracle of God, yet he was rejeftedby God, and his wifdom proved fatal to him ; but of this more in-time. For the prefeneconfider, how the Apofllecloth imply a diltinision of neceffary ufe,:about wifdom, onely he names one part of the diftribution, A wifdom after thefejJy the compleat fade is this, There is an heavenly wifdom , a wildom after the fpirit, highly efeemed by God, which all that are called do partakeof : And Oiche ne,- there is Awifdomafter the field, in an earthly,carnal, and worldly manner,when of ,h, favor not the things of God, but what makes for their own advantages; dem, and wiC- g dom of -she infomuch,that the Scripture fometimes defcribesthem by this,Tbat they are rvìjeta ;pint. do evil,Ier.d.aa. I purpole to fpeak famething largely to this head; for godlinefs is reputed of, as folly, madnefs, and fimplicity ; and flefhly or craftypradhces, or fablimeand high reaches, theft are judged the onely wifdom in the world. Lee a man feuupon the powerful wayof godlinefs, let him endeavor to walk uprigh! y
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