6o8 4. of Egeííual S a c by their Authors; yet the childeof God derived: all his wifdom from the Seri. pture: Thofe Proverbs of Solomon may be called a Treafury ofwifdom; What bath a manto dossa man, as aChriftian, as in any Office, Relation or Condi. tion, for whichhe maynot fetch Divine rules from thence ? Thus in Deur.4,6, a place alledged before ; all Nations would wonder, and lay, What a wife and great people were the Jews,whohad tiefewife and holy Commandments to walk by ? andneeds/Mft theword of God bethe rule of all wildom, becaufe its the word of a wife God, heknoweth all things better then we can : Oh then take heed of leaning to thy ownunderftandmg, ofhearkning to carnal counfel, againft the wordof God ; for what that bids thee do, and what that bids thee foroear, thou wilt Rode to be the wifeftcounfel that may be. Our Saviour faith, What will it pr. fir a max, goyim the whole world, and fooje his own foal ? yet thou defpdeft this counfel, if thou hadft many fouls, thou woulofk damn them, togeta Lade pate of the world ; now thou thinkeft tb% tell fo wile en this, thou blared thy fell, and applaudeft thyown wifdom : Oh remember, Gods word is wifdom, he isa witeman,, that thinketh and ' clew th, andpre&feth accordingl; Thirdly, K'yifamfrom above, is 'eosin the aifctrxixg andjudging of what are the moil excellent thing:; What is true, and what is ralle, what is good, and what is evils what is tobe imbraced, andwhat is tobe Shunned, Sapiens eft exi res f,piuet rut fort, He is a wife man , to whom things are repretenred and perceived as they are. That is a diflempered palate, which judgeth the moil fo. veraign and excellent meat bitter and loachfom : Its agreatglory attributed to the fpirltual man, Thefpsruxal man juágeth all things, andhebimfelfu judged of no man, r Cor,a. t 4. A spiritual man , fo far as he is fpititual, is indowed with that admirable knowledge, as that h.: can judgebetween good and evil; they have their knits exercifed to make this difference : And herein lieth a great part of heavenly wifdom, it quickly difcovereth what are the fins that will prove de- ceitful ordangerous tohim : If the very butts havesnatural inftind todifference that which is good to them, from that which is hurtful ; howmuch more Both God give loch necelfarywifdom to his own children : To every wicked manwe may lay, Thou fool, who fwalloweftdown thy poyton, who defperately wound- eft and damneft thy own ['nut, yet take[}no noticeof it ; when wilt thou be wife ? when wilt thou Leek out for underftanding? We fay of the bodily health, every man is either a fool, or a l'hy titian ; itscertain, every ungodly man isa fool, and eco Phytician about his foul; heknowethnot what is good for him, he doth nor wif:ly confider what is for his advantage, and Ipiricual welfare : Give me (faith he) that which is pleolant or profitable, though it damnme. Fourthly, 1 rife wifdom lieth in propounding a good ana happy end to a mans Pelf, theenjoyment whereof will make a man indeed happy : The ultimate endof a man, is that wherein hjs happinels doch confer; now we read, even among w,fe men, how much this bath been difputed; fume placed it in riches, fome in honors, fomein pleafures; and certainly, there are many men, who propound the tamebappmets with beasts, even an earthly, fenfual pleafure : The Apoftle deferibeth fuck, Whore belly is their Çed, who miede earth) things, Phil. ;.ey. and Davidon the other fide, delcribeth his utmolt end, when he faith, whom have fin heavenbut thee, andwhom in earth in comparifon of thee? And often hemakes God his Portion, his Shepherd, his all in all : So then, confider with thy fell, its the great part of wifdom, to propound tome end to our felves in all our anions, otherwife we aft irrationally : Its the firft que(tion in good Cate- chifms, What ought to be the chiefelt and higheft end of everyman in this life: Hence, as ,/'riffotle in his Moral Phylolophy, doth fit[} treat of the endof all humane allions as the chiefelt thing, and if that be not firft determined, we (hoot at rovers : So tome D vines fay, brcaute Divinity is wholly pratícal, we mull fiat inform,what is the chief endof all our duties, why we live and move, wny we eat and drink, whywe have a being in this world, and atwhat markwe are
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