Chap. 3ç. an Expoftion upon theRook of Jo sn Verf. Li. fowls of heaven, they have a natural forecafi ; But what is the wifdome, with which the fowls of heaven are indued, to that wif- dome with which man is indued, thnfe men efpecially ,. who ( through grace ) are heires of heaven ? What is the wifdome which beafis have by a common Militia, to the wifdomewhich man hath bydivine inflrxe,tion, yea fometimes by divine infpira- tion. Beans and birds are wife, theyare taught by God what is convenient for their flare, yet the ben of their knowledge is ig- norance, and the top of their underfianding folly, compared with man. And hence it is that when men ac`t foolifhly or uncomely, they are faid in Scripture to be like beat}s, to corrupt themfelves like brute beans, to be brutifh in their knowledge. We may eafi- onli Do for- ly conclude the wifdome of birds and beans exrreamly below mtcif., cnntcu. mans , feeing whenfoever man aas below himfelf, or doth any raneedr,,- thing unwifely, he is laid to be and do like a bean. The Hebrew non quedErrant word which we tranflate wnfer, being applyed in Scripture to Em- quid dv cnra- mets or Ants, to Conies, toLccuns, CO Spiders, Pro. 30. 24. ) gane, fed quoit doth not imply, that they truly know eitherwhat or why they ¡PAP' opto$hav do fuch or fuch a work,it only fheweth that thework which they bear do, hath an order, ufefulnefs, and reafon in ir, according ro know- tatttonee ledge. Solomon faith ìndeed,thofe foure little creatures are ex- Coc; reeding wife, not that they exceed the wifdomeof man, but among brutes they exceed , or are among them of the first forme for wifdome. Flemaketh res wafer than the fowlr of the air. Hence observe , Firf},, The beaflr of theearth, and fowls ofthe air,ha'tìe a kind oflZ,row- lede, andwifdome; They have fomewhat which is Analogous to or like knowledge and wifdome, yet neither knowledge nor wifdome nrid}ly taken. Sorne of the Ancients have reported rous, the opinion of the Buguflinto5 e.Z2anichees, and Marcionites, who maintained, that the beansof 14. 6. c ntre the earth, and fowls of the air, were indued with reafon, proper- Fichllæ.im aa- ly fo called ; which 'opinion was by them ju(ily numbred among p}ph.lib r. herefes, and indeed a little reafon may ferve for the refutation } r: ofthat opinion,which afferrs beans and fowls indued with reafon; ThoughTome other learned arten intheir time, and Great Philo- fophers have afferred as much as the Manichees or Marcionites in this poynt, tantihian.faid, that beafis did rather want an ahi_ ligy, 77 ---,
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