to the E P H E S I A N S. themfelves. The more knowledge and light a man bath in his underflanding, the ~ more his whole life is earned after fuch A k1low!edge. _He need pray for notlung Ser.XIX. lfe if he have fuch akiJow!etige, for all dfe wtll falltn Wtth tt. ~ e Look in all the Prayers he makes for the Churches, for the Phi!ippians, Ch,zp. I. ver. 9 , 1 o. he prayeth, that thetr Love may a6otmd, but how ? I11 all knowledge and fenfe, an cxpenmental knowled~c, that fees and tafies the thtngs th t a man knows That )'Ott may approve the th111gs that are excelln1t, fo faah v:r ; 0 So Jor theCo!o!)i~ms,Ghap. L he prayeth, that they might walk worthy ~0 ;!I wellpleajing,fo at the wth Verfe; but at the gth Verfc llrfl he prayetiJ, they may be filled WJth all Sp1rt1t1al wzjdom a11d u11derflatJdmg. So that fitll, I fay, obferve, that all his Prayers in thefc Epiflles, it is for Knowledge in the firfl place that is the mam Spnng of all the reH. My flr;thren, There is indeed a Notio11al ktJOw!edge, or, as I may call it, a Fa/Jtaftnatiwt k11owletige of SpiCJtual thmgs, that ts, whereby • man knows them· but it is by fuch a kmd of hght as IS m any knowledge and Sctence what– foeve;, whereby he knoweth the Rationality of things, but by Images as the Fancy delivereth up to the Underfiandmg to work upon, by hear-fay. B~t then there is a Real ktJOw!edge, that bnngeth down the tlungs tmo a mans heart. Saith Paul, 2 Cor. l· t<!t, With opf11-[au we behold the glory of the Lord, M 111 a g!afl, a11d are cha11ged i11to the fame Image. Put but the diffe– rence in the fimilitude that the Apoflle exprelfeth It, and you lhall fee how all knowledge falleth 01ort of Spzritua! knowledge, which changeth the heart. Tal<e a man now that is a rational Divine, and no more, he knoweth the truth' of the Scripture, and the reafon and the harmony that is between one principle ond another, as a man doth of things by hear-fay, and the Underfionding works upon the Reafon that is in them, and the conc.ordance and harmony that is in them. Take a temporary Believer, and his k11ow!edge bath more life in it; it is as the knowledge that one harh of a man in a dream, he bath heard much of a man and he dreams of him ·and fancietiJ him to be fuch a man, and thinks he fees him lively and really, and is affected by being in his prefence. But Spiritual /wow/edge the Apofile expreffeth to beho!di11g M in a gtafl, Now mark, If you were looking in a Glafs, and a man you never faw before flood behind you, and you fee his Face; here now is fuch a real fight as plltteth down all hear-fays, all Pictures, all Dreams of a man ; yet you do not fee thts man face to face. Now viilonin Heaveni$feeitJgGodfacetoJace; but (faith he) in the mean time we !Jrbo!d him as i11 a glafs. We have a real knowledge of him through the artifice of the HolyGhofi, and this knowledge now changcth the heart into the fame image; therefore no wonder if the Apofile here prayet11 for Spiritu,ll bJOw– !edge, and for that only, for thefe Epbijians. There is a K11owledge (my Brethren) by way of Gifts that is in Chriftians, that is not this Spiritual knowledge; ' Men may have large Gifts, and yet be Babes in refpect of this knowledge, and they themfelves be Saints. That in– fiance of the Cori11thia11s is full to this purpofc, The Apofile teUeth them, I U>r. I. 5,6,7· that in every thing they were enriched ill all111trrmta a11d 111 tJ!l /mow/edge. Mark it, It was fuch a knowledge which they had as ferved for Utterance; they could exprefs thei~ minds f~lly and punctually, framp their mtnds upon another man about Spmtual thmgs, whtch was from a difiinet knowledge of the things: .A11d (faith he) you come behind hand ill no gift. Well, but thcfe k»owi11g mm, how doth the Apofile talk to them afterward I He tells them firfi,that there is another manner of knowledge than this, whtch.is a Spmtual k.Jowiedge; whtch (faith he, Ghup.2.) theSpirJI of the world doth not teoch us, but the Spzrzt of thrtf/ m a more eminent manner, and that to a man as a Spiritual man, This Y?u have io the 12,tj,14,and 1~lh Verfcs of that [eco11d Chapter; Wt have11ot, faah he, received the Spirit of tht world, we do not know Spiritual things by that ur,derfranding, only in a notional way that a man underflandeth worldly things; but (faith he) there is apeculiar revealing of them by the HolyGhofr to~ man's heart made fpiritt~al, fu ited to the things. 'Now when he had told them there was a Spiritual knowledge, what faith he to them ? Why, (faith he, Chap.3.) you that have all this knowledge, ;•et I cannot !peak ttlltO)'OU as u11!oJpirituat, but as 111tto camat: For all they were enriched in
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