to the E PH E SI AN S. 1J3 ----------:----:-:-'-----:--------- ~----- ----~ hold rhofe fafl; and by a good Confcience he means (by a Me!OIIJ'in)') holinefs ,.~ and obedience, the thngs we know we ought to do, whereof a good Confcience J'en"· IX. is the principle. Now then as all thtng< 111 rho Word are reduced to thefe two~...., Heads; fo all the work of Grace upon a Chriflians hearr, they are reduced to two Heads: Ftrf/, Aprinciple of WifJom to take in and believe andfee the worrh and ex– cellen-cy (as by Faith we do) ofthmgs that are to be believed by us, and wh:ch God revea!eth tor our S•l vanon. And, . . . Seco 11 dfJ•, To have a pnnc1ple of prudence favmgly, fpmtuall y, and effecrual– ly to fee rhat hol10efs and obed1ence we owe to God, 1t we bel!eve, and 1f we be,faved,and fo to fee them as to have the heatt taken with them; and that ispru– dence. . . , . . Ftrf/ W1fdom is that gift of Knowledge or Fatth, whereby we beheve all fp1· ritual tr 1 uths that are to be believed, and our hearts are affctl:ed wi rh the goodnefs of them: For (Brethren) therein lies Wifdom, to fee the excellency of a thing, and to be taken with it, and to choofe it; a man is wife, when he is wife for him– felf as it is laid, Pro. 9· 12. when a man knows what is good for him. That fa.;e Merchant by whom, and by whofe carriage the converfion of a finner i• exprefl eo us, he was a wife Merchant, for he faw a Pearl of grelt value, and he had the wtlaom to like it, a~d to Id! all he had for it; and this was by Faith wrought, as I fl1all fl1 ew you by and by. When Wifdom enters into the heart and becomes pleafant unto a man (as it is fa id, Pro. 2, 10. ) takes the wliole man when a man fees by Faith thofe fpiritual things fo really as his whole heart is dr;wn alier them, he chufeth them as excellent for him, this is Wifdom. You have it exprefl by the Apoflle, in Phi!, r. 9, 10. (for he ufeth feveral expre!Iions in feveral Epiflles (as his manner is) but intends one and the fame thing: ) he prays that the:r love may abound in Knowledge and in all Judgment, that they migh; approve the things that are excellent, Where you have fuch a knowledge as works a love to the things known, and an approving of the excellency of them. This is fpiritual knowledge; this is Wifdom, for bi,_,.~,, the chiefeft part of Wifdom, ~s .Ariflotlt, faith well of it; it is to difcern what is good, and to pitch upon 1t and c~oofe lt. Nowwhen a man fee_s all the truths of the Gofpel, and the excellenctes of themfpmtually, fo as all hts heart 1s. taken witli them, and they become pleafatit to hiS foul (not the knowledge of them only, but the thing ) when they are as the only Pearl for which he fells all, then is :i man made wife to Salvation (you have the expre!Iion, 2 Tim. 5· 1 5'• ) when a man is made wife to fave his own foul, fees the things of the Gofpel fo as he is taken with them, and hath the wit never to leave them after, this is the firfl thing that is wrought. Now(my llrethren)it is Faith that doth inahle you thus to fee the excellency of fpiritual things,to choofe them,to embrace them, and never to depart from them ; therefore Faith is truly called Wifdom here. I will give you a Scripture, in which you !hall have two infiances of it, to name no more, it is in Hr6. 11.1 j, '4· at the q Verfe, Tke{e all died ilt Faith, not having receivedthe Promi(es, bttt fning tbem (by Faith) afar off' (for that is the meaning) thry were pnjwflded of thrm; (They believed the truth of them) and they embracedthem, they laid hold up· o": them as good for them. This Faith makes you to do, to fee all the fpiritual ~hlngs m_the Word really, and to embrace them as ~;~ood for you. And :the other mflance IS that of Mofes, verf. 24. By Fmth, Mojes when be was comttoyears, re(t•fed tobe called the {im ofPharaoh's daughter; chiifing rather tofuffer af1Mli01J with the people of God, than to enjoy tht ptea{ttres •f jiizfor a{tajim: Ejleem– ;,,g the reproa.ch of Chrifl greater riches tha11 the tl-eafiwes ofEgjpt. Here Faith made him wife, he faw what was the befi bargain, it niade him put a value upon the true riches, it made him to leave all the World,t6 refufe to be called tlie fon of Pharaoh's daugh~er,or whatfoever preferment elfe he had at Court,and tochoofe affitCl:I?n rather w~th the people of God,becaufe by Faith he cfleemed the reproacl1 ofChnfl greater nches than the Tre•fures of Eg;opt. So that now to have that Wifdom as to fee fpiritual things,the real nature ofthem,to fet a value upon them, to approve the excellency ofthem, to be taken with them more than with all the things of the World, and he bath that light and knowleage of them begotten Q in
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