Chap. 28, an xpofition upa, the Book of J o s. Verf. 2r, 291 fhadows, were wont to place the pi&ure or flatue of a Sphinx, before or at the entrance of their idolatrous Temples ; thereby intimating that the learning or wifdomof their facred or rather fuperflitious worfhip was a £ecrct ora riddle to the vulgar. And the Temple of (Minerva among the Heathens (whowas their God- defsofwildom) had this inicription upon it; I amall that ex- ifletb, is and (hall be, and no mortal did ever open or look within mr veflor hood. If Heathensdid efleem the wifdom of Idols and dunghill D.ities fo unfeen a fecret, may we not think that the wifdom ofJehovah , the true and living God, is.bidfrom the eyes ofall living? And (as itfollows in the next claufe Is kept daftfrom thefowls ofthe ayr. This, may fecal todiminifh or leffen the fence (though it it indeed an heightsing of it) For who would wonder that wifdom fbould be hid from the fowlsof the ayr, who have not fo much as the ufe of reafon. Who would expc t that what is hid from men , fhouldbe known to birds ? This fcruple will foon be removed in the explication of the text. The word which we cranflate is kept cleft, figniñethto keep a thing deice upon a twofold account; Firfl, that tt be not difcovered; Secondly, that it be not hurt or whiled. Here 'cis ufed in the former fence , Wifdom is kept fo cleft, that the fowls of the ayr cannot difcover it. But, what or whom are we to underfland by the fowls of the ayr. There isa fourfold interpretationof thefe words. Firl+, Some by the fowls of the ayr, underfland the Devils, or wickedlfpirits : Asif Jobhad Paid, This wifdom of God is hid not only from the eyes of all men living upon theearth, bat even from all the Devils in Hell. And we find in Scripture allufion, that evil fpirits are called fords of the ayr. It his faid in that Para- ble Luke 8. 5.) A fewer went out to fow bit feed : andas be (owed famefell by the waysfile, and it was trodden down, and the fowls ofthe ayr devoured it. Thefe fowls of theayr are expounded (v, ia) to be the devils Thefe by the wayfide are they that heart; then eameth the Devil, and taketb away the wordout of their hearts ; &c. Wifdom is bid from thefe fowls of the ayr, from the Devils ; who though they are fo fù!1 of knowledge, that they '(Pedigo, tol are calledknower: orcunningOnes ;yet if you would goe for coun- iunl cwv gna- cel to, or confuic with the Devil (as Saul did when he Went to rus peritus; P p 2 the
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