Reynolds - Houston-Packer Collection BX5133.R485 T47 1642

,llanitf of the Creature. 33 glory of God ; and then our fwect oyntment is degene- rated into a curfe; Woe bee unto you, when all men fhall #eate well of you. Riches of themfelves are the good gifts and bleflings of G o D, as Salomon faith, 7 he ofthe Lord maketh rich, but corruption is apt to breed by this mcanes covetoufneffe, pride, felfe-dependencie, for - getfulneffe of God, fcorne of the Gofpell, and the like ant then thofe earthly bleffings are turned into the curie' of the earth, into Thornes and Bryers, as the Apoille fpeakes, They that will bee rich pierce themfelves thorow with many forrowes. Learning in it felfe is an honou- rable and a noble endowment; it is recorded for the glory of c Mofes, that hee was learned in all the wife - dome of the Egyptians but corruption is apt to turne learning into leaven , to infed the heart with pride, which being armed and fcconded with wit, breakes forth into perverfe difputes, and corrupts the minde. There - fore Saint `Paul advifed the Chriftians of his time, to be- ware let any man ffoile them through Philofophie, and be- guile them with entifing words, And the ancient Fathers counted rhea Philofophers the Seminaries of heretic. Proofe whereof, to let paffe the Antitrinarians and Pc- lagians,and other ancient Heretickes, who out of the nice - neífe of a quaint wit perverted Gods truth to the pa- tronage of their lyes ; And to paffe by the Schoole -Inen and Iefuites of late Ages, who have made the way to heaven a very labyrinth of crooked fubtilties , and have weaved Divinitie into Cobwebs; wee may have abun- dantly in thofe Libertines and Cyrenians , who difputed with Stephen, and thofe Stoickes that wrangled with Saint Paul about the refurreaion.- And now learning being thus corrupted is not onely turned into weari- neffe, but into very notorious and damnable folly, for thinking themfelves wife, faith the Apoi }le, they became fooles, and their folly (hall bee made k, Towne unto Omen. To get wealth in an hone& and painefull Calling, is ,a D great Luke 6,z5,, I Tim.6.I0. AEì.7.zz. Col. z.4.8. a rcrtul. dc pra- (cript. cap. 7. de Idolatr. cap. ro. Hieran. contr. Loiter. cam prafat. Erafrri. vid. l'et. Erodi- um. D ecret. lib . I.7'it.6. f::L. H641.51:3 b See Reynolds Confer. with Hart. c.z. di- viJ 3. pag.7z. Aft, 6. and i7. /. /, xom.i.zz. z Tim.3 9,

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