to the E P H E S I A N S. The way of wifdom is this, (for he takes wifdom in a diflind,on from Reve- ~ lattolt,) it is a knowing God by faith, makmg ufe of fanchfied reafon, takwg 1n Sermo11 fever.! truths of God, la>:ing the~ all together, workwg them uron a mans, XIX. heart by meditation, arguwg Gods excellency out of thiS and out of that, and ~ fo railing up a mans foul toadmmng ofh1m and dehghnng In lum;. by a way of difcourfe,by a way of wifdom, takmg w1fdom as oppofe.<i ~o and d1fhnct from revelation forfo I 0ow do. I' mans underflanding that IS fill ed With many not1- . ns of dad a holy heart he takes them and puttetl1 them all together, and he ~oy leth the;n together and the Concoction the ~efult of all is, that the foul is rai– fed up to a communion ":ith God'· and dehghtmg 1n hun whom he adm1reth. This is the ordinary way of commw~wn With God, for w•fdom you know IS a rational laying of things together, to fee the harmony of all thofe truths one with another, out of all which I gather how great and glonous a God he is, and fo my heart is affected with him. When .a man knoweth God out o~ a diflinct· conlideration of feveral Attnbutes, medaanng of feveral patrages, of Redemp– ttoll, &c. This is a way of wifdom my Brethren. And the Scnpture 1s Wntten fo as it cloth deal with a man Humrmo mo1·e, a fanct1fied reafon and med,tauon which the li<>ht of faith accompanietll, and by them converfeth With God, re~ folveth all a ~an knoweth into God, by peece meale, taking firfl this thought and then that. This is knowing God in a way ofwifdom, as I may fo exptefs it; Then there is a way of Revelation, which the Scripture and experience hold· eth forth more or lefs, and it is a fhorter cut. The Holy Ghofl cometh down in- ' to a mans heart fometimes in prayer with a beam from Heaven, he fees more at once of God, of the glory of God,flounding thoughts of God, inlarged appre" henfions of God, many beams meeting in one and Jailing into the center ofhis heart. They ufe to call thefe ofOld commings down of God,whereby he 1lideth into a mans Spirit by beams ofhimfelf; • man doth not come to have communion with God by way of many broken thoughts put together, but there is a contracti– on ofmany beams from Heaven which is 1l1ed into a mans Soul,fa that he knoweth more of God in one quarter ofan hour, then he knoweth the other "ay in a year, and bath more·communion and conl'erfe with God, This I take it is the way of Revdation as it is diflinguifhed fromWifdom. The Apoflle becaufe he would have them perfect Chriflians;prayeth for both, that they may grow up both in a way of wifdom fo to have communion with God, and in a way of Revelation likewife, that God might often come and vifit their Spirits in a more immediate manner, and fhew himfelf to them, The one my Brethren, the way of wifdom, is More ht~mano, accommodated and fuited unto' the reafon ofman, knowing God by way of difcourfing, yet reafon fanctified, for . that it cloth flill. The other is, Mort Angtlico, as fame of the Schools diflin·. guifl1ingof thefe two knowledges ufe to fpeak. The one is difcourfive, the mind nmneth to and fro, compareth one thing with another; but the other is more i11111itive, bath a profpect of God at once. The one is acquifite, wherein God ufcth a mans indu!lry, by m•ny confiderations working upon a mans heart which the Holy G,!Ofi accompanieth, leadeth a mans heart into communion with God, but the other is infufcd, more immediate. In the one the Spirit works in us, by applymg h1mfelf to our own thoughts; goeth our own pace. But in the other a man IS in.the Spirit, as the Phraf;,is of Paul, he.went bound in the Spirit; and as 1t IS fa1d of ,?oh11, He wMw rJ,ejpmt., and bemg fo '· h1s heart having this communwn wuh God, then h1s Revelatwn was made to !urn. The one is your Commons, (as I may fay,) The other is your Exceedings, The one is the common flanding light of Faith that goeth to Sermons with you, that goeth With you to all your yrayers more or lefs, and .caufeth your heart to cleave to God. But the other IS comparatively an extraordmary light. We walk6yfaith, ( fauh he,) andnot 6yjight; yet Chriflians now and then get a fight a fight com– paramvely,a IS a RevelatiOn comparatively to that of wifdom, though it be not that fight that we have of God in Heaven. Kk z.
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