Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

82 That worldly roifedome and policie is to be contemned. all vniulï world/my de.ff ife ere weake andabiell, is made the fa- cri iceofehesuii, And another oflatter times complaineth, Gillebert, fup, that well fightedfmplicitie, which is fo void of diimulation, as Cant. ferm.ia, that it to not blind in the truth,is in thefe dales a rare bird to be found on earth, or i f her haunt 6e any tbhere,it is very fecret,and hid in the clefts of the rockes, and 'in hollow walles, orabout the riuer bankes. For haw ie the domes eye of fimplicitie obfcured and hid ? who now followeth not the worlds deceits? who ioyeth not to vife them ?who ¡aneth not to haste them,or to be Paid that he bath them in him? who is not aJhamed of the doues eyes, and glorieth not in the eyes ofkitet? &c. And ifthis complaint wereiul }ly taken vp by there men in thofe titnes,howmuch more would they haue inueighed again£} this wicked policie of the worid,ifthey had hued to haued read Machiauels Leélures of diuellifh impietie, and feene the praé}ife ofmany of his fchollers, who farre excel] their mafler in the deepe skill of worldly fubtilties and hellifh rnyf}eries? §.Sei7. 13. And thus haue I £hewed how wicked this worldly wife - Thai worldly dome is in it felfe,and hurtfúll to others.ln thenext place let tv;fdomewider- vs confider what it is to thofe that vie it; where vpon due ,ßandethnot the examination we £hall find, firf} that it doth not bring vnto fßirituallthings > > efGod, them any true profit:fecondly,that it isexceeding hurtfull.It profiteth not:for firti,whereas the chiefe vie ofcvifdome and vnderf }andingisto know the fpirituall things of God, and the meanes and mylieries ofour faluation, the eye ofworld- ly wifdome is not only dimme righted, but CUM f}arke blind indifcerning this light; and as he that hath no eyes cannot t,Cor,a,to,tt poffïblie fee, becaufe hewanteth the organ and infirument offeeing; fo it is as impofible that the carnali worldling (how wite foeuer he be) lhould perceiue the things of God, becaufe hewanteth the infirument ofthis fpirituall difcer- ning , cuen the Spirit ofGod,whereby alone the darke mind ofrnan is illuminated with the knowledge ofthe truth. And this reafon the Apof }le rendreth of the ignorance ofcarnall a.Cor.2.,r4 worldlings, where he faith; 7hae the asse sera/I man perceirteth not the things of theSpirit of God, for they are fool f mete vnto him; neither.can he know them, becaufe they are £:ritually cerned, Rut he that is fpirúuall difcerneth allthinQs.And there- fore