Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

asessmomminimpiimil 76 That werldlyVoifdemeandpolicieis to becontemned. Rom.8.7. that the trfedome of the fefh is emnitie With God. And con- trariwife the wifedome of God oppofeth againfa the wife- dome of the world,and fo detefleth it,that he cannot abide that there fhould be any mixture thereof with his fpirituall wifedome,in the worke of his miniflerie, which he hath or- dained for the gathering of his Church,and for their edifi- cation in the holy faith. So the Apofile faith,rhat Clori/i fest 1.Cor.1.17. him to preach the giofpell, not with wifedome ofwords, left the crop ofChrifl fhould be made of nose efea. That hispreach- ing fl *ad not in the enticing fjieech ofmanswifedome, but in the plaine euidence of the fJ irie and power ,and that he did not fpeake r.Cor.z.ç.ç. the wifedome of this world,nettherof ehe`Prince:of this world &c. Which come to naught, but the wifedome of God, which none of thePrinces of this world bath kZnolbne, &c. And by reafon of this oppofition, the one doth not allow and approue of the other,but interchangeably cenfure and condemne one the other ofineere follie. So the wifedome of the world iud- geth ofthe wifedome ofGod; for the Apofilefaith,that the i.Cor.1.t8.2.3. preaching of the Gofpell is to them that perifh, and to the wife Grecians,efieemed foolifhnes : and therefore when Chrifîs worldly kinred heard him in his fermons deliuer this fpirituall wifedome from his Father; they went to lay hold Mar.3a1, onhim, becaufe they thought him out othiswits. The rea- fon hereofis,becaufe worldlywifedome can rellifhnothing, but that which is fubiea to the fenfes, or may bee demon - firated by carnall reafon; to which rules Gods wifedome fubmitteth not it felfe, but oftentimes foareth an higher picch,fpeaking and doing things which are betides, aboue, and contrary to Naturall reafon, that the infinite depth and power thereof may better àápeare. 'lb this purpofe one Anibrol.in faith,that there is another wifedome of the flee), which being Pfal.st s.fer.za paged vp with 'orld ÿ reafon, doth deny that any thing can be 4 SeE1.. done,ofwhich a naturall reafon may not be giuen, and therefore That the wife- it skprneth and derideth the myfíeries of religion. dome So contrariwife the wifedome of God condemneth the world itf ollb- wifedome of the world ofmeere foolifhnes : for fo the Apo - oses with God. (Ile faith, that the a wifedome of the world is foolifhnes with a r.Cor.3.12. god. And the reafon is,becaufe it is alwaiesmixt with linty, Pfal.ç.4.y. 7 which