in the blessed Scripture, which their shallow reason cannot fathom ! They are only a company of fools in folio, that affect to know more than God woidd have them. Did not Adam's tree of knowledge make him and his posterity mere fools ? He that goes to school to his own reason, hath a fool for his schoolmaster. The ready way to grow stark blmd is to be still prying and gazing upon the body of the sun : so the ready way to spiritual blindness is to be still prying into the most secret and hidden things of God, Deut. xxix. 29. Are there not many who, by prying long into the secrets of nature, are become arch-enemies to the grace of God ? Rom. ix. 20. Oh that we were wise to admire those deep mysteries which we cannot understand, and to adore those depths and counsels which we cannot reach, Rom. xi. 33. Oh let us check our curiosity in the things of God, and sit down satisfied and contented to resolve many of God's actions into some hidden causes which He secret in the abyss of his eternal knowledge and infallible will. Christ, when he was on earth, very frequently, severely, and sharply condemned curious inquirers, as is evident by the scriptures in the margin ;' and the great reason why our Saviour did so frequently check this humour of curiosity, was because the great indulgers of it were too frequent neglecters of the more great, necessary, and important points of religion- Curiosity is one of Satan's most dangerous engines, by which he keeps many souls out of their closets, yea, out of heaven. When many a poor soul begins in good earnest to look towards heaven, and to apply himself to closet duties, then Satan begins to bestir him- self, and to labour with all his might, so to busy the poor soul with vain inquiries, and curious speculations, and unprofitable curiosities, that the soul hath no time for closet prayer. Ah ! how well might it have been with many a man, had he but spent one quarter of that time in closet prayer, that he hath spent in curious inquiries after things that have not been fundamental to his happiness.
The heathenish priests affected curiosity, they had their mythologies, and strange canting expressions of their imaginary inaccessible deities, to amaze and amuse their blind superstitious followers, and thereby to hold up their popish and apish idola>feries in greater veneration. Oh that there were none of this heathenish spirit among many in these days, who have their faces toward heaven ! Ah • how many are there that busy themselves more in searching after the reasons of the irre- coverableness of man's fall, than they do to recover themselves out of their fallen estate ! Ah, how many are there [that busy themselves more about the apostasy of the angels, than they do about securing their interest in Christ ! And what a deal of precious time have some spent in discovering the natures, distinctions, properties, and orders of angels.2 ,
That high-soaring, counterfeit Dionysius describes the hierachy of angels as exactly as if he had dwelt among them. He saith there are nine orders of them, which he grounds upon nine words, which are found partly in the Old Testament, and partly in the New; as seraphims,
' John xxi. 22, Acts i. 6. T.
* Peter Martyr saith, that to inqiiire of the angels accurately and SHbtilly, is maffit ad euriositatem nostram, quam ad talutem ; and he wisheth that the Bchoolinen in their knotty, thorny, and unprofitable discourses had observed this.
282 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MaT. VI. 6.
cherubims, thrones, powers, hosts, dominions, principalities, archangels, and angels ; and at large he describes their several natures, distinctions, and properties, as that the first three orders are for immediate attend- ance on the Almighty, and the next three orders for the general govern- ment of the creatures, and the last three orders for the particular good of God's elect ; that the archangel surpasses the beauty of angelaten times, principalities surpass the archangels twenty times, and that powers surpass the principalities forty times, &c. How he came by this learning is not known, and yet this hierarchy in these nine several orders hath passed for current through many ages of the church.
The Platonics were the first that divided the angels into three orders, as, some above heaven, called superccelestes ; others in heaven, called ccelestes ; and others under heaven, called suhcaelestes, and accordingly they assign them several offices. As,
First, They above heaven, I mean this visible heaven, continually stand before God, as they say, praising, and lauding, and magnifying of his name.
Secondly, They in heaven are there seated to move, and rule, and govern the stars.
Thirdly, They under heaven are, some to rule kingdoms, others pro- vinces, others cities, others particular men.
Several Christian writers, that have written on the hierarchy of angels, follow these opinions. Now, if we should take these surmises . for real truths, then it will follow, that the highest angels do not minister to the saints, but only and immediately to God himself, which is expressly contrary to several scriptures, as you may see by them in the margin among others.^ When I was upon the ministration of the blessed angels, I did then prove in several exercises, as some of you may remember, * that all the angels in heaven were commanded and commissionated by God to be serviceable and useful to the heirs of salvation. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? ' The devil knows he is no loser, and the curious soul but a very little gainer, if he can but per- suade him to spend most of hig precious time in studying and poring upon the most dark, mysterious, and hidden things of God. He that affects to read the Revelation of John more than his plain epistles, or Daniel's prophecies more than David's Psalms, and is more busy about reconciling difficult scriptures than he is about mortifyipg of unruly lusts, or that is set more upon vain speculations than upon things that make mostfor edification, he is notthe man that is cut outfor closet-prayer. Such as affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, and are men of abstracted conceits, are but a company of wise fools, that will never take any delight to be with God i^ a corner. Had many men spent but half that time in secret prayei', that they have spent in seeking after the philosopher's stone, how happy might they have been ! Oh how holy, how happy, how heavenly, how humble, how wise, how knowing, might many men have been, had they spent but half that time in closet prayer, that they have spent in searching after those things that are hard to be understood ! 2 Peter iii. 16. But, .
(4.) Fourthly, Take heed of engaging yourselves in a crowd of ^ Jude 9 ; Luke i, 19, 26 ; Zech. iv. 10 ; Rev. v. 6 ; Heb. i. 14.
Mat. VI. 6.] the privy key of heaven. 283