each PERSON d inc`1lj. 281 ro the glorifying of God: After all their endeavours they ate í1i11 blind and dark, yea darknefs it felf, knowing nothing as they Ihould. I know how the men of theft attainments are apt to fay, Are we blind alfo? with great contempt of others ; but God hath Wafted all their pride ; Where, faith he, is the wife? where the fcribe, &c. (a) t Cor. i. 20. I (hall not add what Paul bath further cautioned us to the feeming con- demning of (b) Philofopby as being fitted to make fpoil of fouls ; nor what Tertidiiam with force other of the ancients have fpoken of it ; being very confident, that it was the abufe and not the true ufe and advantage of ir, that they oppofed. But, (2. The darknefs'and ignorance that it irives to remove, being comeup- on us as a curfe, it is not in the leaf} meafure. as it is a eurfe, able to re- move it or take it away. He that bath attained tothe greateft height of li- terature, yet if he bath nothing elfe, if he have not Chrift, is as much un- der the curfe of blindnefs, ignorance, ftupidity, dulnefs, as the pooreft, fillie(t foul in the world. The curfe is only removed in him who was made a curfe for us. Every thing that is penal is taken away only by him, on whom all- our fins did meet in a way of punifhment, yea upon this ac- counta. Themore abilities the mind is furmlhed withal, the more it clofes with the eurfe; and ftrengthens it felf to alt its enmity againft God. All that it receives cloth but lielp it to fet up high thoughts and imaginations againf1 the Lord Chrift. So that this knowledge comes Ihort ofwhat in par- ticular it is defigned unto, and therefore cannot be that folid wifdom we are enquiring after, There be fundry other things whereby it were eafy to blur the coon- tenance of this wifílom, and from its intricacy, difficulty, uncertainty, un- fatisfaiorinefs, betraying its followers into that which they molt profefs to avoid, blindnefs and folly, to write upon it vanity and vexation of fpirit. I_ hope I fhall not need to add any thing to clear nay felf for not giving a due efteem and refpe&unto literature, my intendment being on- ly to . call it down at-the feet Of Jefus Chrift, and to fet the crown upon his head. 2. Neither can the fecond part of the choiceft wifdom out of Chrift attain the peculiar end whereunto it is appointed ; and that is pru- dence in the management of civil affairs, than which no perifhing thing is more glorious, nothing more ufeful for the common good of humane kind. Now the immediate end of this prudence is to keep the ra- tional world in bounds and order, to draw circles about the fons of men, and to keep them from patting their alotted bounds and limits, to the mu- tual difturbance and deftrudion of each other. All manner of trouble and (a) O fapienria fupe ba irridens Chriftum c ucifixum ! Aug ft. Expof. In job. Tear. a. de cap. ri (b)Haretes a philofophiafubornanmr,inde icones,forme, &oefcio quatrinitas hominumapud Valeneinum,. p] tonicus fuera,; mode Marcionis dens meliordeomnquiligte ; à Stoici, venera,,& obi anima interimdim - en,, ab epicureis obfervatur, & ue carni, reftienrio negrece, de una omnium philofophornm fchola fumi- tur, quid ergo Arbrnir & Hierefolamir ? quid academia& "cleft ? quid hareoicis &Chrifíz. nofra initimrio de poetics; Shamireft, nobis curiofirate non opus eft paf )efum Chrifum; nee inquiftione poll evangelium, cum credimus, nihil defderamu, ultra credere, hoc root priu, credimu; non rife quod ultra crederedebemos. Tertul. de pr f ipr. ad Hare?. Ere Bier iearñcFir. ,'lf medeceer deee »i v7J 4n,aod4av ward, ieuv,yxlar die,liaaa?d dn, dyrof- `ra+.aì amens gars lu »aben, os. 14. Mart. ad Orse. Cohort. Who Beal 4í60r tons Ai)uar %bbl®'; ois auodyr+e9r Main i n, Aran ne, nul'E,,addy iu @ Aaxraa, Tots 4»a »ía5 ifrdynan .aaXdt *vox, or, a me? »Jaát í1p ríanú da»seep mar? /romped*, %%alma, ''pe 1u sees was taS Says, Sr pa xa,.Jmena taáera 41o4 R4enias st,rddr saundba pCOar, Creg, Fat. Car, t. de rd.fair, B b b b diftur-
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